2. The Cumberts
STILLWATER, PENNSLVANIA
Less than 7 hours later, Natasha was driving into the tiny town of around 200 people. Once again, Tasha and Clint were not without a backup plan. If there wasn't time for Barney to leave a message, he was instructed to take Nathan to the safe house. It was set up in a small town in which everyone knew everyone. Natasha bought the property under the name Lorelei Cumbert and made sure she was no stranger to the neighborhood, strangers tended to attract attention around here.
Natasha, Clint, Barney, and Nathan all spent a week at this safe house every year. Barney masqueraded as Lorelei Cumbert's brother, Russell, who always brought his "son" Nathan. This was how the town knew them, anyway. Barney and Nathan couldn't be strangers and Tasha and Clint's identities needed to be kept secret in order to keep the safe house…well…safe. Because of this, Clint was always confined to the house on these trips, so that if anyone asked questions about him, no one in town would have anything to say.
She rolled to a stop in front of a small, one-story house. Its wood-paneled walls were painted dusty yellow with white window frames and doors. There was a single rocking chair placed on the wrap-around porch. The lawn was trimmed, but impersonal; no lawn gnomes, no gardens, no loose toys. The paved driveway lead to a one-car garage that hadn't been used in over 5 years.
The curtains in the small windows were drawn. The house appeared empty. With a sinking heart, Natasha made her way up the cracked sidewalk. She walked across the porch and knocked on the cream-colored door and waited. No one answered. She knocked again. Still, there was no answer.
"Barney?" She called through the door hopelessly, "Barney, it's me! Please tell me you're in there." There was no movement behind the door, no reply of any kind. No sign that there was anyone inside, or that there had been at all recently. Losing her patience she took a step back and kicked the door in with practiced efficiency. The door swung open to reveal a dark house.
She stepped across the threshold into the small family room. The room was furnished with black leather furniture, a coffee table, and a boxy TV. The walls were pale blue that compliment the stainless steel appliances in the kitchenette on the far side of the room. Coffee mugs hung from the white counters. The refrigerator was outfitted with a single crayon drawing of Captain America's shield. She walked through the narrow hallway on her left and peaked in the bathroom and two bedrooms. One of the bedrooms belonged to Natasha and Clint, it was small and mostly taken up by a large bed with a gold comforter and an obscene amount of throw pillows. A single dresser and a mirror were also shoved into the cramped room. The other bedroom was shared by Barney and Nathan. It had two twin beds, both with superhero bedspreads (she smiled at the memory of Barney's dismay). There were superhero logos covering the walls and a single Captain America poster. There was also a desk at the end of Nathan bed, which the child usually used to play with his action figures. He liked to pit Captain America against Iron Man, but Iron Man always ended up getting thrown off the desk onto the bed, which Nathan insisted was alright, though, because "he can fly". As she had feared, it was completely empty. She moved outback to the patio, which was outfitted with a grill and a wicker love seat that was still coated in leaves from last fall. The grill was scarcely used, seeing as Clint and Natasha were hardly domestic. She walked around the porch to the front of the house and closed the front door again.
Natasha closed her eyes and took a deep breath, biting her bottom lip. Her throat felt tight and her eyes burned, it had been a long time since she had wanted to cry. Years, in fact.
"Lori?" A familiar male voice pulled her out of her reverie. She took a moment to pull herself together before turning to face the voice. The call had come from the porch of the house next door. It was nearly identical to the house she now stood in front of, except that there were flowers planted in a bed of dirt next to the porch and a garden gnome stood in front of it. It was obvious that someone lived in this house. That someone was standing on the porch and Natasha summoned a smile for the neighbor, an elderly man named Louie. He had dark brown skin and thinning black hair. He had smile lines and joyful brown eyes. Louie was a smart, friendly man, but he was no stranger to reality. He was a police officer before he retired a year ago, and those years had obviously taken a toll on him. Beneath his bushy mustache his mouth was usually set in a grim line.
"Louie." Natasha greeted him, her voice not betraying her emotions. Louie was the person that Natasha had entrusted to watch over the house. As far as he was concerned, the house was a country home that needed tending to while no one was living in it. Of course, he only knew her a Lorelei, or Lori for short.
"I wasn't expecting you." Louie commented. Not that he ever really expected her, she showed up randomly, but she paid him enough to keep him from asking questions.
"I was in the area, thought I'd stop by to say hello." Natasha replied conversationally a she walked the short distance between the houses to stand on the porch with Louie.
"Mh-hm." Louie grunted with a disbelieving nod. However, he knew that he'd get nothing more out of his mysterious neighbor.
"Louie, have you seen anyone come by the house recently?" Natasha asked in a last ditch effort to find her son safe and sound.
"No one's been by in months, not since you were last here." The old man answered seriously. Tasha nodded knowingly.
"Well, thanks for looking after the house as always." She said before turning away. Louie retreated into his house and Tasha stopped as soon as she reached the sidewalk. She tried to still her shaking hands as she pulled out her phone and hit the speed dial.
"Yeah?" Clint answered anxiously.
"I'm at the safe house." She paused for a beat before adding, "They're not here." As soon as the words left her mouth, she heard giant crash as Clint flipped a table over. He didn't stop there, Natasha sat on the phone for several minutes as she heard the sounds of wood breaking and glass shattering, there were thuds as furniture was knocked aside and papers littered the ground and crunched under Clint's feet when he finally calmed down.
"So that's it. They're gone." He said hopelessly, all the fight out of his body.
"We'll find them." Natasha said, her voice steely instead of comforting, "We are going to get our son back. I'm heading back to Stark Tower, I'll be there tomorrow. We can decide what to do next then. Don't speak of this to anyone, including Fury. Wait for me."
"Of course." Clint mumbled, "Hurry."
"On my way."
STARK TOWER, NEW YORK CITY
Clint hung up the phone and tossed it dejectedly onto his bed. There was a knock on the door and it opened before he had a chance to say anything. Steve Rogers stuck his head in.
"Barton? Fury sent me to check on-" He trailed off as he saw Clint standing amongst the wreckage of the room. Tables were flipped and papers were scattered everywhere, walls were missing chunks that Clint's arrows had torn out, there was shattered glass underneath Clint's feet, making the carpet sparkle, and everything was covered with a light layer of feathers from a couple of torn throw pillows. And in the middle of it stood Clint, his arms at his sides, looking like a kid who'd been caught doing something he knew he shouldn't.
"Um," Steve said slowly, "Were you attacked?"
"No." Clint answered tightly.
"Are you sure?" Steve asked. Clint didn't answer so Steve dared to venture, "Then what did happen?"
"Tell Fury do run his own errands and that if he-and anyone else-values their lives, everyone will stay away. Understand me?"
Captain America looked at the other man evenly for a few moments before nodding. "If you change your mind and want to talk about it or something, you know where to find me." He slipped out of the room and closed the door behind him.
Steve headed straight for the lab where he found Tony sitting on a table with a hologram of words with friends projected in front of him.
When Steve finally navigated his foe the complex keypad, he opened the door to Tony stating forcefully, "No, Jarvis, that's not a word!"
"My dictionary database says otherwise." The computer replied coolly.
"Yeah? Well, I've read the dictionary too, and that was not in it."
"With all due respect, sir, did you read the book in the past decade?"
"You don't respect me." Tony muttered bitterly.
"On the contrary, I hold you in the highest regard."
"Somehow I doubt that."
"Hey, Stark." Steve interrupted. Tony whirled around and stepped in front of the hologram, but Steve had already seen it. Bruce had once tried to teach the First Avenger how to play while teaching him how to deal with technology, but the lessons rarely stuck. "I thought the point of this game was to play it with your friends, not your computer. Though I suppose you don't have many friends."
"Ha." Tony rolled his eyes, "I happen to have plenty of friends. It's just that it's not really fair for me to play with real people since I don't want to make them feel insignificant."
"Ah." Rogers smiled sardonically. Tony scowled.
"Did you need something?" He asked bitterly.
"So Barton's room is a mess…"
"You came to ask me for a clean up on isle Hawkeye? I'm not a maid."
"No! Just thought you'd want to know the guy's destroying your precious tower." Steve informed him. The billionaire waved a hand dismissively. "And…" He trailed off. Tony looked at him with an arched eyebrow, a grin spreading across his face.
"And you want to know if I found out why he's so moody?" He finished smugly. Steve narrowed his eyes and pursed his lips in resignation as Tony continued to grin like a fool as he opened up Natasha's file. "So, Mr. High and Mighty, lowering your standards? Curiosity driving you to snoop? Feel like joining the rest of us on our lower plane?" Captain America just stared at his comrade evenly. "Has anyone ever told you that you are absolutely no fun?"
"It's been brought to my attention." Steve deadpanned. Tony shook his head as he turned his attention back to the hologram that showed a loading bar as Jarvis worked to decode the encrypted case file.
"Well, Jarvis hasn't quite been able to crack the code just yet. Jarvis, how much longer do you think it will take?"
"I should have the files available by tomorrow evening." Jarvis stated.
"There you go." Tony turned back to Steve with finality, "We'll know tomorrow."
"If Hawkeye lasts that long."
Natasha practically flew through the front doors of Stark Tower. She ignored the people who greeted her and stomped to the conference room where Nick Fury was waiting for her.
"Assemble the Avengers!" She screeched.
"Natasha, calm down." Fury said forcefully.
"My son is missing, don't tell me to calm down!" Tasha barked, slamming her hands on the table. "I need to know where he is!"
"I've sent for Agent Barton, he'll be here in a minute. Until he gets here I need you to control yourself so we can get to the bottom of this." He urged her. "Sit down."
"I-"
"That's an order." Fury fixed her with a steely gaze. Tasha bit her cheek and crossed her arms before belligerently taking a seat. "There." He sat down across from her, "Now walk me through what happened." Natasha opened her mouth to explain, but before she'd taken a breath the door burst open and a bedraggled Clint entered. There were bags under his eyes and his hair stuck out in every direction.
"You look terrible." Tasha snapped at him.
"Right back at you." Clint responded wearily, noting the dark smudges on her otherwise pale face.
"Barton, take a seat." Fury ordered. Clint sat next to Tasha without hesitation. "Now," Fury continued solemnly, "Tell us what happened." Natasha briskly explained the events (or lack thereof) from the day before.
"I talked to the caretaker and no one has been to the house." Tasha finished. The two men took a minute to digest the information.
"Do we have any suspects?" Fury finally asked.
"The list is miles long, there's no shortage of people who have it out for Clint and I." Tasha answered dejectedly.
"And Nathan was with your brother at the time?" Fury addressed Clint, who nodded. Natasha bit the inside of her cheek again as she turned to the father of her child.
"Clint, you're going to hate me for saying this, but we can't rule Barney out as a suspect." She muttered. Again, Clint's only response was to nod.
"I know." He said tiredly after several moments of silence, rubbing a hand over his chin stubble.
"I'm not saying it's his fault or anything, but he could be involved."
"Or he could be another victim." Clint corrected.
"Yes." Tasha agreed softly, "But given his history, he's always been just a little questionable."
"He's my brother." Clint reminded her, becoming irate, "I don't expect you to understand."
Barney and his younger brother Clint had been orphaned at a young age. They stayed at an orphanage for a few years, then ran off to join the Carson Carnival of Traveling Wonder. It was there that Clint met his mentor, the Swordsman, who chose the younger brother as his apprentice instead of Barney. Then a bitter Barney left to join the army, inviting Clint to come with him. Clint had refused.
"I don't remember hearing about your brother when he got out of the army." Fury said.
"He joined the FBI," Clint answered, looking down in shame, "He was working for them when I was one of the bad guys. I tried to rob a mansion that he was guarding, even wounded him. But when I found out it was him…Barney's the reason I became a good guy."
"Why do you suspect him?" Fury asked Tasha.
Before she had a chance to answer, Clint cut in, "While we were fighting together, he was mortally wounded."
"I don't think his intentions have been honorable. He's held bitterness towards you his whole life, I can't believe that he'd abandon all that for the sake of our son." Natasha argued.
"He fought at my side! My brother died a hero!"
"Yes, but he died, Clint!" Tasha turned her attention back to Fury, "Barney Barton died in that battle. He sacrificed himself to save the world. He had a funeral. There's no way he could have survived that."
"But he did." Clint retorted hotly.
"We never really questioned it. I think that we should now."
"I don't think he did it." Clint stated stubbornly.
"I don't think he did, either." Tasha laid one of her hands on his.
"Then might I just ask who did?" Fury demanded, returning to the crisis at hand.
"Sounds like we need to start running names and tracking them down." The fatigue returned to Hawkeye's voice. Natasha cut her eyes to him before saying,
"We're going to need help. Which means we'll have to explain…" She paused and Fury finished for her,
"Everything."
Sorry that these chapters have been so..."meh". But the next chapter is my baby and you're gonna love it!