Chapter 7

*Just a heads-up, Barney is here and with him comes foul language.

While Natasha was looking into Barney, Clint was meeting with him as they had planned the night before. Except Barney was currently thirty minutes late. Sitting in the hot sun, sweat running down his back, Clint was torn between annoyance and concern. He shifted on the park bench as the ache in his arm went from background noise to ever more present as the time ticked by in this new level of humidity. A shadow fell across him and he was surprised to find he hadn't noticed his brother's approach. Barney slid onto the bench, thoughtlessly bumping into Clint's arm as he did. "Miss me?"

Clint cursed under his breath as the hit ricocheted, "Thought we agreed to meet at one."

Barney looked at a watch that wasn't there, "So I'm late. You got other places to be Frannie?"

He could think of a few names he'd like to call him as a non-answer to his non-question, but let it go. "So why are you late?"

"Don't worry about it." When Clint was clearly not taking that for an answer, he added. "It didn't have anything to do with you."

Clint watched him squirm a moment before moving on, "I saw your shop today."

"You mean what's left of it. What a fuckin' waste."

"I saw your neighbor too. He thinks a lot of you."

"Who Ricky? He's senile. He doesn't know what he's sayin' half the time."

"He's worried about you."

"Yeah, well that's nice. Pointless and all, but nice."

"It's good you know, having people care about you." It was amazing how hard that could be to realize.

"Sure." Barney shifted uncomfortably. "You wanna talk shop or tickle my titties all day?"

Clint shook his head and looked away, "And to think you rub people the wrong way."

"Mystery of my life."

Clint watched him a moment. Barney wasn't about to let the conversation get into his personal life beyond the situation at hand. That door was closed and locked from the inside. If Clint were honest, he completely understood it. "So, have you heard from them?"

"Nah."

"Nothings changed?"

"Nope."

"Where do they want you tomorrow?"

"Me?"

"Yeah. To get your girlfriend once...once I'm in the market." He would need to ask Natasha to stay with Barney. To make sure the exchange happened, if he couldn't. After all, his gamble would be for nothing if the woman caught in the middle was lost. If she wasn't already.

Barney was silent, absently picking at his fingernails. Clint watched him a moment, "They haven't set up an exchange? A meeting place?"

"Nooope." Barney popped the "p" and looked up and into the distance.

He was lying. He had to be. It didn't make sense that they wouldn't have set up an exchange and that Barney would accept it without question. "What are you hiding?"

"A lot, but nothing you need to know."

He sat up a little straighter, "You better give me something. I got next to no trust as it is." He watched Barney avoid eye contact before finally saying, "Work with me or I'm out."

Barney scoffed, "Sure. So you can save your own ass and let us be damned."

"You have a lot of balls..." He dropped his head, clenched his jaw, and took a deep breath. "I'm trying to help the both of you." Did he really need to point that out?

"And you want to save your own ass."

"Yes. Shit Barnes, yeah I wanna save my own ass! You blame me?" He looked around and lowered his voice, "But damn it, I wouldn't risk her life to do it. Or yours." He leaned forward to make Barney look him in the eyes, "What's going on?"

Barney slumped back in the bench, "What do you want me to say?"

"The truth."

"The truth. You got a question or should I pull somethin' outta my ass?"

"Where do they want you to be tomorrow to get her back?" Clint repeated the question. It shouldn't have been such a difficult thing for him to answer.

Barney watched him a moment, weighing his options. He shifted, "They'll drop her at my place after..." Barney trailed off.

"After?"

He looked Clint in the eyes, "They want me to come with you. To be in the market. I don't know why, I swear."

Clint shifted in his seat and pulled on the brace straps. The last minute change of demands could mean anything from Barney's girlfriend was gone and they were scrambling or her abductors were simply toying with them because they could. Keeping them off balance, uncertain. Whatever the reason it didn't add up to anything good, "Shit."

"We're fucked right." Barney rubbed his hand through his hair and down his face.

Clint leaned farther forward, resting his elbow on his knee. Natasha could cover him, between the two of them he stood a chance of getting through whatever would come, but if he had to watch out for Barney all of their odds plummeted. "It's not good."

Barney watched him. Clint looked tired, he stared off and his eyes looked nearly as old or older than his own. He suddenly felt the distance between them. Somewhere along the way the kid he had felt so responsible for that it had sucked the youth from his marrow, had become a lightning rod for all his anger and frustration. It was an anger time had only seemed to intensify until a couple years ago when he had begun to get his own life together. As he stared at Clint now, with eyes free of some of that old hate, it was clear the kid he had been was long gone. He was looking at a burnt-out, tired man. A man who would ask no one for help, who would lean on no one but those closest to him, and maybe not even then. It was in no small measure because of Barney and he couldn't deny it. "I'm sorry Fran...Clint."

Clint leaned back, "I can't even tell you how strange that sounds."

"I really am. I never meant to-" he struggled to find the right words. Sentiment was a foreign language.

"You never do." He clenched his jaw, looked down and up. His words had sounded too close to self-pity for his liking. "It doesn't matter now." He didn't want apologies or deep meaningful conversations either. They could get into that after the storm had passed. If they were still standing.

Barney watched him. "Sure. Sure, yeah."

Clint was planning the next day, weighing their options, and Barney's unexpected apology was already pushed aside. "You'll have to be at the market tomorrow. There's no other choice. Nat will be watching us, she'll be on coms so I should know what she sees when she sees it. If I tell you to do something you do it. Got me?"

"Got it."

"Don't try to pull a rabbit out of your hat." He stared him down a beat.

Barney smirked, "Like I got a damn rabbit."

"I wouldn't be surprised if you have a litter." Clint looked off. A sparrow was fighting a jay off of its nest in one of the trees across from them. He was momentarily transfixed by the fight.

Watching him, Barney asked, "How are you doin'?" He couldn't stop seeing the weariness in Clint's eyes now that he had acknowledged it. For all their troubled history Clint was still his little brother. It was a feeling he had tuned out, an emotion he had pushed away, but in this moment when Clint was clearly struggling in front of him in a dozen tiny ways, he couldn't deny he still cared.

Clint looked at him, his eyes going up and down his form, as if he was suspicious of the sentiment. As if there was some ulterior motive that would show itself in his body language. Why the hell else would Barney suddenly give a damn how he was doing? He looked away, "Doing great."

"Yeah I can tell."

Clint looked at him again. He seemed genuinely interested. It was thoughtfulness he hadn't seen in his brother for a long time, not sincerely anyway, and it threw him off. "You really wanna know Barnes? I'm fucking exhausted."

"You look like hell."

"Well, at least that's an improvement." He looked away.

"You know I wouldn't have pulled you into this if I saw another way."

"How hard did you look?" He shook his head, there wouldn't have been any way for Barney to save his girlfriend on his own. Even if he had actually tried.

"You got friends in high places, man. I thought you'd bust into this with a small army. How was I supposed to know you'd be the same old stubborn, self-sacrificing ass you've always been?"

"That your way of thanking me?"

"No, that's my way of calling you stupid." One side of Barney's mouth was turned up into a grin.

Clint seethed a moment before bursting into a bitter grin as well. "Guess it runs in the family."

"That's for fucking sure." Barney elbowed him slightly while pulling a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and lighting it up. Clint watched the tip turn to embers before looking away.

Clint's mind went back to the problem at hand instinctively. "How are these guys talking to you anyway?"

Barney inhaled. When he spoke smoke tumbled out of his mouth, "Notes, slapped in my hand out of the blue. Pretty sure they're watching me all the time, paying passers-by to deliver 'em."

"Smart."

Barney shrugged, unimpressed, "Old-school."

Clint looked around. They were no doubt being watched. Their meeting last night was probably seen, him dining with Natasha before that, which had lead to the change in plans. They would be following her too if they had enough men. He suddenly felt the need to wrap things up and find her. There was no more keeping her away from this. It would be more dangerous for her now if he tried. He should have known. He stood, "I have to find Natasha." He looked down at Barney, "You might as well stay with me."

"Oh, She'll be happy to see me." Barney stood as well, flicking his cigarette ashes, "Lead the way."

Clint didn't move. He had to make something clear here and now, before Natasha was near enough to hear. "If anything happens to her...Barney I...you had better stay away from me. You had better disappear for a while."

Barney sucked in and exhaled over Clint's head, "That's the plan."

"Really?" Why was he surprised? "Good. We're clear then."

"Crystal." Barney bit his lip and looked away, smoke barreling out his nose. Whatever emotional reconnection they had just had took a hit by Clint's warning and Barney's admission. He pulled out his phone but the battery was dead. "Damn." Barney looked over his shoulder before backing off and looking back around the park.

Clint turned around to look at him, "Guess we start at the hotel."

Barney shrugged and made a mock step-aside, with the wave of his arm, lead the way. Clint walked passed him and toward the hotel. It was a short walk from the city park and they had only made it within a few doors when Barney spoke up, "Isn't that her?"

Clint turned to look where he was gesturing. Sure enough Natasha was across the street from the hotel and walking toward them. How had he missed seeing her before Barney? He was really slipping. She was staring behind him, directly at his brother. She had the look on her face that she usually reserved for someone about to get their ass handed to them in a basket. Clint stopped, "Nat." He said once she was within range.

"I see you found him." She was still glaring at Barney who was standing beside Clint now.

"Yeah. We-"

"Natasha." Barney said. Clint didn't need to turn to see the smirk on his face, he could hear it clearly enough.

"You have a lot to explain." Natasha glanced between he and Clint.

"Do I?" Barney claimed the accusation.

She looked to Clint, "Should we go inside?" She assumed that's where they were headed.

"Yeah." Clint answered.

With that she turned and the trio walked to the hotel and inside, up to their room. Once through the door Natasha turned on Barney, "Talk." She dropped the copied documents, and news articles she had collected onto the nearby stand. Barney glanced their way but didn't give them much care.

Clint leaned against the small chair tucked into the corner of the room and watched the exchange. Barney owed her some answers and he wasn't about to get in the way. Not when he owed her just as much if not more than that.

Barney grinned obnoxiously, "What'ya want to know sweetcheeks?"

"Watch it Barnes." Clint piped up from across the room.

"Why are we here for a start?" She crossed her arms.

"He didn't tell you anything?" He looked around her toward Clint and laughed.

Natasha leaned in front of him, "Why don't you."

He watched her a beat, "Somebody has my girl. They want Clint for her. Bing-bang-boom, here we are."

She turned around and looked at Clint, he dropped his head. "And you're doing it? The meet-up in the market is a switch-off?"

He looked up at her and took a deep breath, "Something like that. There's no other way."

"Really? No other way? You're sure?" She turned back to Barney, "And you let him step into this? Do you see the shape he's in?"

"Hey I'm right here." Clint said unheard across the room.

Barney raised his hands, "In my defense I thought he would have enough brains to not go at it alone."

She turned back around, "I can not believe Barney has more sense than you right now. I'm calling the others in."

Clint stood, hand out, "Don't. Listen. We're being watched. If they see Rogers, or Stark...They'll do whatever they have to do to get what they want. You saw Barney's place. Who's to say they wouldn't take out a city block." He shifted, "We've done enough damage lately. Let's just keep this small. Barney and I will go in. You'll follow, track down...what's your girlfriends name Barnes?"

"Mara."

"Track down Mara, and we'll get out. Take some bad guys with us. Simple."

She watched him, "Simple. Except you're their end goal right? They won't keep you alive to get to something else. What makes you think you'll have a chance to get out of this once it starts?"

"There's always a chance."

"Bullshit." She glanced at Barney before looking back to Clint. Speaking in a hushed tone she said, "What if Mara is-?"

Clint cut her off, "We have to try."

"This is beyond stupid and you know it."

"She's pregnant Nat." Her eyes widened at his words and she turned to Barney. "You are a piece of work."

"I love her." Barney said.

"It shows." She pinched the bridge of her nose. "This idiocy is spreading." She looked at Clint, "Where do you want me tomorrow?"

"Same spot. North-"

"Center building. Got it."

"You know the drill. Be our eyes. Watch our backs and wait."

"I'm taking anyone out who makes a lethal move. Period."

"Just don't be jumpy on the trigger. We need to get as far in as we can."

"He's with you then? In the market." She gestured toward Barney.

"He is now. They switched plans on him."

"Why the change?"

"I don't know exactly but it's pretty clear he's being watched."

"And they saw you speaking with each other last night..."

"Yeah, but I think it's more that he was following us, they were following him, and they probably saw you and I together."

"Shit." Natasha walked over to the window. Any slight advantage they could have had was lost. They had been too sloppy.

Barney watched her walk away and looked at Clint. He raised his eyebrows, "If she's nervous, I'm scared."

Before Clint could respond she turned around. Speaking to Clint she said, "You think this is Cross working from prison?"

"That or someone following a plan he had already set in motion."

"You find out anything about Yoshida?"

"Just that he's out. No location, no appearances, but I still think it was his bomb that took out the building."

"Are you thinking he made it but someone else planted it?"

"Yeah, there's a handful of people that came south to set up shop after SHIELD went down. We could be dealing with any one of them."

"Or all."

"Cross was CIA. Not everybody will work with him."

"Does that mean you've narrowed down a list?"

"Just of who we can count out."

She stepped away from the window, "We should order something to eat. There's nothing to do for now but stick together and talk in circles." She crossed the room and went into the restroom, closing the door behind her.

Clint rubbed his hand across his hair before rubbing it down his face and looking at Barney. "You want some pizza?"