Hello! Thanks for reading chapter 1, but before we continue I'm going to explain a few things that were unclear before. So basically Phil is going all over the place, effectively following Clint's childhood. He's doing this to try and find out why Clint became the assassin Hawkeye to see if he could become an agent of SHIELD. Whist this is going on, Clint is holed up somewhere (I'm not saying where or why- you'll find out later) and is having flashbacks of the events that Phil is discovering. I want to show Clint's childhood through Clint's eyes, but Phil's as well. Sorry if that was confusing, I should have explained in the first chapter- but feel free to ask me any questions, I'll be happy to explain. Oh and a couple of warnings- angst, angst angst, and I have the medical knowledge of a sloth, so I heavy rely on Google and Wikipedia (and Google maps for Phil's little tour of America)

Sadly I do not own the Avengers, Marvel or any of their characters.

Please review, reviews are awesome and I'm always open to advice.

Thanks!

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Clint

Clint's peripheral vision was beginning to narrow, and his panic was building. He desperately wanted to sleep, but for some reason, possibly from the blood flowing still flowing out of his arm, he couldn't. Still no one had come to talk to him. Normally in situations like this someone came to get information out of him but this seemed to just be punishment. But no matter what they did to him, he wouldn't kill the girl. He didn't kill children. He wouldn't- at least, that's what he kept telling himself.

Clint could never remember much of the Peter Moore's home for boys. This worried him slightly- it had been two years of his life, and yet he could only had a handful of memories. But one in particular stood out.

It was his third night. It was strange sleeping in a room with so many other boys. He had his own bed and a blanket box beside it, but everything else was communal. There were about 30 boys in the home in all, though they were split up into two groups- the younger boys and then the boys over 13 years of age. Barney was with the other group, and Clint couldn't express how ecstatic he was to get away from his father and his brother at the same time.

There were 18 other boys in his dormitory. And yet there hadn't been much socializing they woke at seven and went to bed at eight. Their free time was spent doing chores such as cooking or cleaning, or outside work like milking the cows or feeding the animals. The home was partially self sufficient, but the meals were measly anyway so that wasn't so hard. Clint was very used to measly meals, of course.

After dinner time they had about an hour which was spent in the common room, where boys would read comics or books which they had brought on their days out- Clint was told that they went into the city once a month and spent any money their relatives may have sent them. Or the boys just talked or played board games with missing pieces. Then of course there was school- Clint was a little worried about starting a new school, as he was small and easily picked on. But it was the holidays at the moment, and school didn't start again for another week.

Around 11 o'clock, late at night, someone came in. His breathing was slow but audible, and as he was silhouetted in the light from the hall way, Clint recognized him as Mr Peter Moore. Clint hadn't officially met him yet as the only adult he had talked too had been the matron.

As he got closer to Clint's bed, Clint realized that Mr Moore also had a distinctive smell, sort of musty but sweet at the same time. Unlike his father, Clint could easily remember what Mr Moore had looked like. He had been very tall and thin, with narrow waxy features. His nose had been long and prominent and his skin was very pale. His eyes had been watery and a peculiar shade of washed out blue. But however hard he tried, Clint could never remember what had happened next, or any of the other frequent nights. Of course he knew what had happened- though at the time he had been naive and really didn't know what it was until a while later. But he had no memory of it actually happening. Sometimes he had dreams which vividly sketched the entire thing out for him, but he could never remember the events of those specific nights, other than the smell and the sound of Mr Moore's labored breathing, which he had learnt to dread.

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Phil

That evening Phil finished his report, detailing all that he had discovered about Clint Barton. He left nothing out, because the report was going straight to the top, and if there was one man Phil trusted over all others, it was Nick Fury.

He spent the night at the safe house/apartment and then left the in the morning. The next event in Clint Barton's life was his two year stay at Peter Moore's home for boys on the outskirts of Waterloo, a city a 30 minute drive away from Waverly. However, the orphanage had been shut down only a year after Barney and Clint left due to lack of funding. The building had been demolished and an apartment block had been put up in its place, but Phil had one other lead to follow up about this particular period in Barton's life.

SHIELD had managed to pull up the files on the other boys who had been in the orphanage at the same time as Clint. One such boy, named Jason Carter, had been fostered shortly after the close of the orphanage and was living on the south side of Waterloo, and would have been the same age as Clint.

Phil knocked, and a few moments later Marie, Jason's foster mother opened the door. The file said she was 40 years old, though her curly shoulder length brown hair had yet to turn gray, and her face was kindly, round and unwrinkled. She took in Phil's pristine black suit and frowned. "Can I help you?"

"Marie Reed? I'm Phil Coulson from the FBI. I'm investigated a number of cases involving Peter Moore's home for boys, which I believe your foster son, Jason Carter attended in 1994. Would I be able to speak to him?"

Marie took in Phil's fake ID and her frowned deepened. "Is he in trouble?"

Phil shook his head. "Not at all. We're investigating the actions of Peter Moore, the head of the orphanage. I only need to talk to Jason as he may have some information."

Marie nodded slowly. "Come in." She led Phil into her kitchen, a sizable room that had a very cluttered feel. Marie seemed to have been half way through the dishwasher, so the work surface beside the sink was laden with dishes. The fridge was covered in magnetic letters and photographs of two boys, one about 17, presumably Jason, and another maybe 8. "I have two sons, both in permanent foster care. That means I will care for them until they reach adulthood. Jason only has a year left with me before he's leaving for university- he's studying maths, you know." She smiled slightly. "Though of course, he'll always be welcome back." Marie ushered Phil into one of the chairs at the kitchen table. She heaved a simply astounding amount of A level maths homework off the table and onto the already cluttered work surface, giving Phil a bit of room. "Would you like a drink? Tea, coffee?"

Phil smiled and shook his head. "Thanks, but I shouldn't be long here."

Marie nodded. "Should I go and get Jason?"

Phil hesitated. "Actually, would I be able to talk to you first?" Marie turned round and leaned on the work surface behind her.

"Do you know if anything… unusual happened up at the orphanage?" Phil asked.

Marie frowned, and was silent for a second. "They say that the orphanage just ran out of funding. But I heard that it was something else- very hush hush, you know, and only a rumor. Nothing was ever confirmed, but that man, Peter Moore… well, I don't know anything for certain. But Jason came to me when he was 11, and he wasn't quite right, you know?"

Phil frowned and leaned forward, resting his forearms on the table. "In what way?"

"Well, he had lots of little things he didn't like. I learnt not to come into his bedroom at night without knocking, for instance. For some reason that always freaked him out. Mr Coulson, as a foster mother, I have to have a certain level of understanding in child psychology, and the signs certainly weren't good. I told Jason many times that that he could talk to me if he wanted, but he never did, and I didn't push him. Gradually, he got better. I don't know what Mr Moore did to those boys, but I think he left Jason mostly alone."

Phil sighed. He realized that this stage in Clint's life didn't seem to be all happiness and rainbows either. It seemed as if Clint had managed to get away from his father only to run into a certain Peter Moore. "Thank you, Miss Reed, I'd like to talk to Jason now."

Marie nodded and bustled out of the room. Phil heard her go up the stairs, and then come back down with someone else.

Jason was tall and thin, with an athletic build. His hair was brown and messy, and glasses with thick black frames covered his brown eyes. He grinned nervously at Phil, pushing his hands into his jean pockets.

Phil moved forward to shake his hand. "Hi, I'm Phil Coulson from the FBI."

Jason nodded warily. "Yeah, Marie explained." He took a seat opposite Coulson at the table.

Marie glanced at them both, and then said, "Should I leave you to it?"

Phil smiled. "Yes, please." Marie left, closing the door behind her.

Jason exhaled uneasily and straightened imaginary creases on his jeans. "So… what do you want to know?"

Phil folded his hands in front of him. "Anything you can remember about the orphanage. What was Peter Moore like?"

Jason swallowed. "Uh, Moore wasn't a nice guy. Well, he was pedophile." Jason said frankly. "And I don't mean as in he looked at us funny. I mean it literally."

Phil nodded slowly. "What did he do?"

Jason paled instantly. A muscle in his jaw twitched, and he laughed shakily. "I get that you're the government, and what you're doing is important. But... please, don't ask me that question. Don't ask me that."

Phil hesitated, stuck between pushing Jason into telling him more, and letting it go, but decided on the latter. "I understand. Do you remember a boy called Clint Barton?"

Jason looked surprised at this sudden change of subject. "Clint Barton? Sure, I remember Clint. Everyone knew of Clint."

"What do you mean by that?"

Jason looked away from Phil and bit his lips. "Moore… he always picked on the new kids. But Clint… well he never really left Clint alone."

Phil sighed. Once again, he hadn't quite been expecting this. "OK… how often did Moore pick on Clint?"

Jason rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "At least once every other week, I'd say. Mostly more often."

"And how did Clint feel about it?"

Jason chewed his lips again. "He was only a little kid, same age as me. At first I don't think he got what was going on. But he worked it out eventually."

"What was he like? Clint, I mean." Phil asked.

Jason frowned, and studied the table top intently. "At first he was a nice kid. Cheerful, you know. Clever, and funny. And he was a good shot- no matter what he was throwing, he never missed. Everyone always wanted him on their baseball team. But after a while, I don't know, he kinda gave up. I think his life before the orphanage hadn't been too good. So at first he was happy to get away. But then I think he realized that the orphanage was just as bad as wherever he'd been before. He just sort of… he went all quiet. Before, he would never shut up. He was always the one talking even after the lights went out at night. But he changed. He spent any free moment off on his own in the woods, trying to get away from Moore I guess. And he read a lot- I suppose it meant he could get out of his head. He avoided everyone else, and we didn't talk to him."

Phil sighed. "Was Clint ever violent?"

To his surprise, Jason smirked. "Oh yeah, he could be. I mean, we were a group of about 30 boys, so fights weren't too unusual. There was this time Clint got in a fight with some other kid- I can't remember what over, I think the other kid insulted his mom or something like that. So Clint just punched the kid in the face- wasn't much of a fight, I guess, as the kid backed right off. Clint looked a bit surprised at what he'd done, actually. Scared, maybe. But we all learnt not to get in his way after that, and he didn't get into many other fights. But after a year or so of being there, he could get real angry real fast. I guess he had a nasty temper, and after Moore pissed him off so bad for so long he couldn't control it anymore."

"He had a brother, Barney. Do you know what his and Clint's relationship was like? Did Barney know what Moore was doing to his brother?"

Jason turned bitter. "Oh yeah, he knew. But he never stood up for Clint. Barney was a big guy, muscles and everything. He was angry too, bit like Clint apart from Clint was alright but he'd get angry real fast and it would last for an hour or so before he'd calm down. Barney was just kinda like, low level anger all the time. He used to pick on the littler kids, but Clint tended to stick up for them, even if he got beat up for it. They didn't get on at all, so we were surprised when they ran away together. But Clint just wanted to get away, even if it was with Barney."

"Why didn't Clint run away sooner? Couldn't he have managed on his own?"

"Nah, Clint was really independent. I recon he had to fend for himself lots before he came to the orphanage. He was only a little guy, but he'd of been alright. I don't know…" Jason looked uncertain for a moment. "This isn't definite, OK? But… when Moore was picking on Clint, he wasn't picking on the other kids so much. And Clint, well, he could kinda deal with it. He was tough, maybe he'd had some kinda of abuse before. Maybe he stuck around for a while so Moore would leave the others alone. But I don't know. That's just what I'd think."

Phil nodded slowly. "OK. Would you say Clint was a good guy? Or was he more like Barney?"

Jason shook his head. "Clint wasn't anything like Barney. Barney was mean. Clint… well, Clint wouldn't hurt anyone unless they hurt him first- physically or verbally. He only did it to protect himself. And he often stuck up for the littler kids when the bigger ones picked on them. He was at the orphanage for a year, but half way through he gave up. But even then, he was alright. If he was in a real good mood- which wasn't that often, but it still happened- he could joke around a bit. And he was funny, real funny. He could make us all laugh if he wanted to. I think he just wanted Moore to leave us all alone. He didn't like Moore doing what he did to him, but I think he preferred it if it was to him than to any of the others."

"Did you hear anything from Clint or Barney after they ran away?"

Jason shook his head again. "Nothing. I don't know where he went either. But the orphanage was closed just a year after they left- and it was 'cause they found out what Moore had been doing, not because of 'lack of funding'" Jason said bitterly. "But I often thought that if only Clint had waited, he could have got adopted or fostered, or something. And then he could have had an actual home. But then again, I don't think he could have held on that long."

Phil nodded slowly. "Thank you for your help, I think I have all I need." He moved to get up.

Jason frowned as they walked towards the door. "I know you probably can't tell me, but what are you doing with Clint?"

Phil opened the door, but hesitated in the doorway, looking back at Jason. "At first, I was just trying to find him. Now, I'm going to help him."

Jason swallowed, and nodded. "Please, do all you can. Clint was a good guy, just life was too harsh on him."

Phil smiled sadly, and nodded. "I will. And thank you for your help. I'm just sorry this all happened. And I'm sorry to bring it all back up again."

Jason smiled nervously, and sighed shakily. "It's OK, I understand. Clint helped all of us; it's only fair that I help him back."