I give you my greatest thanks for reading this, please R&R, because there is nothing better.
This is the last oneshot of this series, I am focusing on two other projects now, one of which is a bit more romance-y and the other is more of an origin story, both of which I wish to pursue beyond a few oneshot chapters. I am sad that I only got four chapters out of this, but I feel any more and it would become boring and repetitive. I got what I wanted, my first story published and an amazing response (Thankyou for that), and I don't wasn't to drag anything out.
I hardly own any clothes, let alone Marvel. I wouldn't even want to, because I couldn't do half as good as the awesome people of Marvel do.
This will be completely Clint-centric, focusing on his weapon of choice.
The first thing you would be told after asking a S.H.I.E.L.D agent about Hawkeye would be his choice of weapons. His bow and arrow, to be precise.
Everyone assumed that Clint Barton used an bow and arrow for personal reasons. Some people, who knew a little of his history, would assume that maybe it was because when he was in the circus, where he earned the alias he now used as his codename, he had used a bow and arrow as his prop. Well, prop may have been a bit to loose. He had been the star of the circus, the boy who could walk on tight ropes or hang upside down on a trapeze and hit any target dead centre with a simple arrow. It had been used because it was such a seemingly harmless weapon, one that was showier than anything else. At least, that was the logic Carson, the boss, had used.
After years of corruption and persuasion, Clint had been moulded into a killer. A silent, ruthless, killer. It was his weapon that made him so deadly, even from the distance of a sniper, he could take a target down with a single, soundless, arrow. It was the most customisable weapon, with any detail having the ability to be adjustable or completely removable. It was so simple that Clint had made the majority of his weapons on his own, added his own accessories and perfected every last curve.
The S.H.I.E.L.D Research and Development department had experienced excessive grief over their recurve bow designs and the functionality of their quivers, until they had finally caved and allowed one Agent Barton to help them design the weapons. It turned out to be the best choice they had ever made, and there was a significant decline in the quantities of paracetamol and ibuprofen taken from the medical wing.
Clint Barton used all kinds of bow, from simple recurves to double crossbows and longbows. A weapon was, by very definition, designed to hurt. Clint thought of it as a bonus that people were ignorant when it came to bows and arrows, choosing to simply kick them aside rather than use the weapon as their own. While not everyone could use a bow, everyone had the ability to at least pick up an arrow and attempt to use it as a spear, or to use the limbs as a simple blunt force weapon. He took the time to teach Natasha about bows, particularly the names of each specific part, how to make each part and how to loose an arrow with the best chance of hitting a target. It was useful, particularly when she was the one who replaced parts of the bow or when she was the one left holding the bow.
No matter how long Clint had used a bow for, or how many benefits there were when using a bow or how much he loved bows, Clint's preferred weapon would never be a bow.
No, his preferred weapon was simply a knife.
A knife could be concealed in the sole of a shoe, in the side of a boot, it could be strapped to a limb or tucked in the waist band of pants. There were many more ways to hide a knife than a bow, and there were many more advantages. Knives were still projectiles, but they were better in close combat and much easier to maintain. A blunt knife could easily be distinguished from a newly sharpened blade, and they were not exclusive to any one material. A wooden knife, while weaker than a steel knife, could hold up if carved correctly. There was no fussing with shafts and fletching or grooves and grips.
A knife was the one weapon Clint would choose above all other weapons, because the small blade could save a life or take a life. A blade could dig out a bullet or pierce a heart, leaving very few traces behind. A knife was discreet, yet effective.
While a bow and arrow would always be important to Clint, the weapon was not very high on his list of favourites. A sniper rifle, a submachine gun, a handgun and a knife would always be the weapons he would prefer, the weapons he chose when there were no constraints.
