The Avengers were in the main room of Stark Tower, trying to choose a movie.
"What about Brief Encounters?" suggested Steve.
"NO! Les Misérables!" yelled Clint.
"Lord of the Rings!" demanded Thor.
"Mr and Mrs Smith." was Natasha's idea.
"Sherlock Holmes!" cried Tony.
Bruce sat there and waited for the arguments to finish. He wasn't bothered as long as it wasn't Brief Encounters. Tony sat bolt upright, his eyes shining.
"I've got an idea. Let's play Truth Time. We each get to ask a person a question and the last person still in, the person that doesn't reject the question or lie, gets to choose the movie."
"OK."
The others were understandably worried. Tony got to ask a question first since it was his game.
"Alright… Barton…"
Before Tony could ask the question the phone rang. Natasha picked it up and went into the kitchen. She re-emerged before Tony could think which question he wanted to ask.
"Clint!" called Natasha.
Clint twisted his head to look up at her.
"Yeah? What's up?"
"That was General Sanderton. He wondered if he and the Dynamic Duo could bring a Colonel Rhodes to meet you."
"Sandy's coming over?! Awesome!"
"Colonel James Rhodes? That's my friend!"
"Excellent." muttered Clint under his breath.
The lift buzzed and two men entered. Tony rushed to hug one of them. The other was older with slicked back silver hair and a balding patch. He had a hint of a gut and sharp green eyes. Clint backflipped over the sofa, spun around and saluted.
"At ease soldier."
Steve also got to his feet and saluted.
"Ah. Captain America huh? And Hawkeye under the same roof. I bet that's interesting. So who's in charge of the team?"
"Captain America sir." replied Clint.
The man raised an eyebrow and stretched a hand over to Steve.
"Pleased to meet you Captain. I'm General Sanderton. I have to say, I'm impressed. It was hell getting this boy to listen when he was in the Army. If he wasn't such a good shot I'd have had him dishonourably discharged years ago."
Clint looked uncomfortable at that.
The general continued, "And I would have regretted it for the rest of my life. Although… it wouldn't have been a long life."
Clint looked down at the ground for a second. Colonel Rhodes walked over.
"Barton, it's an honour to meet you. I've heard a lot about you throughout my career. Apparently you forced somebody in my department to make you a bow and arrow."
Clint allowed himself a smirk. "I did. It worked beautifully. Took out three suicide bombers before the unit was compromised."
Sanderton smiled. "That's not all. They had a dead man's switch on." Seeing the confusion on Thor's face he elaborated, "Any normal shot would have blown them up. Somehow Barton took the shots and killed them without collateral."
"That's my job sir."
Rhodes laughed. "We have to talk. I think you could be brilliant in training our snipers."
"I'd be honoured sir." replied Clint.
Sanderton asked, "How are you? Health-wise I mean."
Clint straightened his shoulders and answered, "I had two broken ribs and cracked the others. Broke a leg and sprained my shoulder during the fight sir. But I'm top condition now sir."
Sanderton pressed a comm link in his ear and said, "He's in perfect condition. You can commence Operation Flying Hawk."
"What is-"
Clint's question was cut off when he saw the lift doors swish open and two men shot out. They were both taller than Clint, scarred with buzz-cut hair.
"HAWKEYE!" they shouted as they charged into him.
Clint almost fell over but kept his balance expertly. The two men beamed at him.
"Everybody meet Lester Poindexter and Wade Wilson. They're the two best men in my unit now that I've left."
Lester grinned. "I was always a better sniper than you."
"Bullshit. Plus, you were lousy at hand-to-hand combat. How many times did I drop you?"
Wade argued, "But I was a better hand-to-hand combatant than you."
Clint replied, "Yes but terrible at long-distance. I was a better all-rounder therefore I was the better man. I was you two merged together."
Tony offered his hand out. "Tony Stark. This is my marvellous tower."
The looks on their faces morphed instantly into ones of hatred and dislike.
Tony threw his hands into the air and asked, "Alright, why do you all hate me?! You're perfectly nice to Thor, Bruce, Steve, Natasha and Clint! What is it about me?!"
Lester looked at Clint seriously. "Do you want us to tell him?"
Clint shook his head. "Thanks but no. I'll have to do it. You guys can go if you want."
Wade and Lester promptly curled into chairs. Clint rolled his eyes at them.
"Do you want to stay sir?"
Sanderton also made himself comfortable. "At ease Major."
Clint relaxed and rolled himself onto the floor.
"Major? You have a higher rank than Steve?" asked Bruce.
Clint nodded. "Alright, settle down children. This story's guaranteed to keep you up at night. Let's start with the small sniper base in Afghanistan."
Tony had an uneasy feeling he knew why Clint hated him now.
"I'll tell the part about the new sniper who came onto my base." said Sanderton.
It was a typical day at the snipers' nest. The snipers stayed well away from the regular soldiers, feeling uneasy in the heart of a crowd. So when they'd heard about a new sniper they were understandably interested.
"Aw shut the fuck up guys. So what, there's a new sniper. Big deal." drawled out Eagle.
Eagle was tied as one of the best snipers on the base. Second best at hand-to-hand and second best as a sniper. He was an all-rounder who didn't tend to break the rules. His friends, Poindexter and Wilson, on the other hand were a different matter. Major Sanderton walked in.
"Alright you miserable lot. Here's your new sniper, Clint Barton."
Eagle lifted his head as the new sniper walked forwards. He was mobbed instantly.
"MOVE!" roared Eagle.
The small crowd parted to let the new boy through. He was young, the youngest there. His blond hair was spiked with gel and his stormy-gray eyes sparked.
"Well, well, well. Look what the cat dragged in."
Sanderton stiffened. If Eagle didn't like a sniper the sniper usually asked for a transfer in a few months. And Sanderton knew why. The other snipers respected Eagle so much that they would make a new recruit's life hell if he didn't like Eagle. Clint Barton however, broke into a broad smile.
"Trust me, it ain't nothin' to what the dog sicked up."
Eagle laughed out loud and got to his feet. He towered over the new recruit and wrapped Barton into a lung-crushing bear-hug. Eagle then wrapped an arm around Barton.
He loudly declared, "Anybody who pisses on him… deals with me."
The scowl was enough to convince most to leave the new recruit well alone.
"My go! My go!" said Wade loudly.
Clint rested his head against Natasha's knee and smiled. He liked this bit. It was about the only bit he did like.
At first most people believed that Eagle had no business making a favourite out of a loudmouthed Iowan arsehole. Eagle had even given Barton his own nickname; Hawkeye. Only Poindexter and Wilson weren't bothered. Then the other snipers saw why. Hawkeye was challenged to a sniper match by Poindexter. Poindexter shot the targets perfectly, forming a bullseye. Hawkeye smirked and asked for extra cartridges. Eagle handed it over. Hawkeye then shot out the image of a hawk in bullets around the target. Then he hit the target.
"Do I win?"
Eagle laughed again and ruffled Hawkeye's hair.
"I always knew you were the World's Greatest Marksman."
Hawkeye had almost blushed at that. Instead he'd broken out into a huge grin. That night Hawkeye was matched against Wilson in a sparring contest.
"Go!" shouted Poindexter.
Wilson lashed a leg out to Hawkeye's face. Hawkeye ducked and rolled forwards, hitting Wilson's leg. He punched him in the face, hard enough to knock him out. When Wilson came round he only had one word to say.
"Jesus!"
Hawkeye shrugged. "I just got lucky that time. No, the sniping was skill but that fight was pure luck. If your kick had been a centimetre to either side I wouldn't have been able to hit your leg."
Wilson grinned. "Pleased to meet an honest sniper."
Hawkeye broke into one of his rare smiles. Eagle walked over.
"I hope my little brother isn't causing you too much trouble."
"Little brother?!"
Bruce interrupted here. "That isn't the norm, is it?"
Sanderton replied, "No. But neither Barton saw fit to mention that they had a brother on their application. We needed the best snipers at that base and both of them were in the top five snipers in the world."
"Were?" asked Steve.
Clint roughly said, "Les, want to share?"
Poindexter answered, "You're telling the bit after this."
"I'll have to."
Poindexter, Eagle, Hawkeye, Wilson and two other soldiers were given a routine mission. They were told to go into a mountain and to shoot it out.
"I spy with my little eyes something beginning with r."
Summers rolled his eyes. "Road?"
Howlett ground out, "Rock?"
"How did you guess?"
"Because there is nothing but rock!" snarled Howlett. "Eagle, shut ya brother up."
Eagle ignored him. They finished the mission in record time and more soldiers came up to join them. Even Sanderton joined them. Then they were attacked by terrorists. Hawkeye put an arrow through the eye of the terrorists. One man dragged Sanderton to the edge of the building. It was a sixty-metre drop onto solid rock.
"I have your leader! Tell us your plans."
Hawkeye took a step forward and replied, "Bullshit. You clearly don't have the leader. I'm stood right here. Dropping a soldier who's gettin' too old to do his job won't affect us."
The man shoved Sanderton away and aimed his gun at Hawkeye. Hawkeye raised his hands and threw a knife into the man's throat. All hell broke loose again but the terrorists were all killed or captured.
"Thank you Hawkeye. You saved my life."
Hawkeye shrugged. "Couldn't let you die, could I sir?"
Wilson said, "And he just disarmed a bomb. That lucky bastard saved our lives."
Hawkeye ducked his head under the praise. Eagle wrapped an arm tightly around his younger brother.
"I'm proud of you baby brother. But don't ever pull any kind of crap like that again. You leave the protecting to me."
Hawkeye grinned.
"That was the first time he'd ever said he was proud of me." said Hawkeye in a voice that was cracking.
"Your turn now." said Poindexter softly.
The convoy bumped along the road. Cage, Rand, Howlett, Summers, Wilson, Poindexter and both Bartons were crammed into one car. Then the car exploded. There was a scream. Hawkeye had flown through the air. He hit the ground and groaned. Twisting round he shot a terrorist in the head. Another scream echoed through the air. Hawkeye forced his legs to lurch forwards as he surveyed the carnage. Summers was lying dead on the ground, buried under metal. Hawkeye found Howlett and Eagle hiding by a rock. Eagle had a bullet wound to his side and Howlett was similarly covered in blood.
"Let's move!" growled out Howlett as they ran.
A rocket landed on the ground near them.
"Shit! It's a Stark one!" shouted Eagle as they scrambled away.
Howlett threw himself over the rocket. It blew up and the dog tags hit Hawkeye in the face.
"Logan!" yelled Hawkeye.
Guns surrounded them and they were dragged into a cave.
Clint paused for a minute.
"Hang on. This bit always gets me." he muttered.
"Take your time kid. Where were you General?" asked Rhodes.
"I was in a car further back. Summers died on impact. Rand was fatally wounded. It took Cage all his strength to pull his friend nearer to our car. He let off a flare and shot most of the terrorists. The leader put a bullet through his skull. Rand's last action was to break the neck of one terrorist and shoot two more. The whole unit was given medals."
"OK. I'm ready." said Clint suddenly.
Hawkeye woke up to see Eagle plunged under water. The terrorists gave up after five hours and tossed them aside. Hawkeye curled up next to Eagle and shook him gently.
"Hey, wake up!" hissed Hawkeye.
"Don't worry. I've get a plan." muttered Eagle.
The two of them were tortured mercilessly, every day. Eagle managed to lift a pistol from one terrorist and Hawkeye got three knives and two pistols.
"Today Hawkeye."
"Got it."
They ran through the compound, shooting and throwing knives.
"I'll hold them off! Find somewhere safe!" shouted Eagle.
Hawkeye nodded and tore away. He found one place and waited. And waited. Eagle eventually reappeared, bleeding from everywhere.
"Hey kid. You found a good place. I got some extra ammo. Put it in your gun."
Hawkeye did as he was told and put down the terrorists that had found them.
"Finest piece of action I've ever seen. Especially with that shrapnel in you."
"What shrapnel?" asked Bruce.
Clint pulled it out of his boot.
"Christ!" shouted Tony.
The shrapnel was about a foot long and half a foot wide. It was also extremely sharp. Clint got to his feet and lifted his shirt. On his back was a long ugly scar.
"How long ago was this?" asked Steve.
"Let's see… I was twenty and I'm twenty-seven now so that's seven years."
"And it's still that clear?! Jesus that must have been one hell of a wound."
Clint shrugged miserably. "I didn't feel anything."
He got to his feet and walked off. Tony followed him.
"Clint, I understand why you might hate me because of the weapons. But that was Stane not me."
Clint looked over at him. His normally expressionless eyes were dark with pain.
"Everybody needs somebody to blame. It was you or me. I'm sick of everything being my fault."
"Clint… this was the terrorists' fault."
Clint nodded sadly. "I know. But I can't make the terrorists feel bad. Plus, you met the doctor who pulled the shrapnel out. He was in the cave with you."
Tony opened his mouth to speak but Clint was already in the air vent. He headed back to the group and sat down.
"You have to understand," said Poindexter, "Clint hero-worshipped his older brother. Eagle was Clint's saviour and protector. When we found him he was surrounded by dead terrorists and cradling his brother's dead body. He knocked three soldiers out when they tried to move him away. He was crying, begging Eagle to wake up."
"That's why he got the Purple Heart." added Sanderton.
The next day at breakfast Tony found an egg and a single piece of toast with nothing on it on a plate in his seat. He smiled. Baby steps were still steps.