Summer is here! Yay! Though, I'm addicted to Breath of the Wild so I will try to update at least every other day. Lol. Thank you Grammarosprey, m klindt, and TimeBlaze for taking the time to review my story! Hope you enjoy this!

Chapter 7: Father Figure

"The gun wasn't loaded. But you already knew that didn't you." Coulson sat down in front of Clint with an important looking file. Clint just stared at the floor in front of him, not bothering to answer. "Not that it would have mattered, you wouldn't have shot her anyway." Still no response. "She didn't know that." Clint flinched and Coulson leaned back in his chair. So the kid did have a conscious. "Tell me, why did you become an assassin?"

Clint shrugged. "Good money." Coulson knew it was a lie or at least only part of the truth. The kid was trying to look tough, heartless, but Coulson knew he still had human left in him. He knew what that was like. It never worked for long.

"Tell me about yourself. Your past." Coulson invited.

Clint shrugged. "Why? You wouldn't care anyway." Coulson had heard many responses to that question. That was not one of them.

"Try me." Clint did his best to ignore the man but his intense yet gentle stare was making it hard. He shrugged again.

"I killed my parents, went to work for the circus of crime, became an assassin, then got kidnapped by a bunch of people with an unhealthy obsession with black suits."

"How did you kill your parents?"

"I…" Clint didn't know what to say. He had never considered that Barney had been lying all those years. How had he been responsible? He thought for a moment. "I don't know. I guess I wasn't. That's just what he always told me."

"Who?"

"Barney, my older brother."

"Barney, like the purple dinosaur?"

Clint suppressed a flinch when he remembered a little boy asking that question when they had first come to the circus. Clint wasn't sure if the boy had survived. But the ambulance took him, and that was the last he had ever seen of him.

He nodded in answer, but Coulson could sense his hesitation. He had a suspicion, well more he knew, and stood up. "I'll send medic down to patch up your arm." He left sent a text to medical.

Patch up the kid, and give him an examination, He probably has some stuff that didn't heal properly.

Yes, sir. Omw.

What?

Omw.

Yes, I got that part what does it mean?

On My Way

Why didn't you just say that?

Gtg

What?

Got To Go, sir.

Clint sat staring at the ground. It wasn't very interesting, but it was better than staring out of the mirror that people could see him through, but he couldn't see out of. His thoughts were swirling, when four men came in. Two were obviously soldiers. They had machine guns and full armor. The other two were medics, one of them looked flustered and the other was obviously trying not to laugh. Clint didn't know what these people had to laugh about. Coulson entered, and he suddenly felt the urge to impress him. They led him to a room that smelled like hand sanitizer. The medic grabbed his arm and looked at it carefully, then put something on it. Clint bit back a hiss of pain. But his outward appearance didn't change. He stayed still but kept a wary eye on everybody while the medics finished their examination. He hadn't had one since the night his parents died.

Coulson took him to his office and sat down across the desk. An orange cat wandered in and sniffed his leg, then sat down next to him. "Are you ready to tell me about the circus?" Clint shrugged. "Look, kid, I need what's in your head, yes, but we also need you. I'm giving you a chance to do it in private, without a bunch of snobs who think that they understand what we go through, listening in and judging you. So you have right now to tell me or-"

He was cut off by the cat jumping on the table and rubbing his face. Coulson jerked back spitting out cat hair. "Goose! Bad cat!" Goose just yawned then pawed at his desk. "No. You just lost that privilege." Goose mewed pitifully and Clint cracked a smile. "Goose no! Now git! Shoo." He tried to pick up the feline, but it went slack in his hands and dropped back on the desk. "Off!" Goose purred and rubbed against him again. Clint lost it. He snickered, then laughed. Goose batted at him, then began stalking him. Coulson began laughing too, and they laughed like idiots for a few minutes before it subsided. Goose flicked his tail then raced out of the room all puffed up like he was under attack. Fury opened the door right when Goose reached it and the cat climbed up the man like a tree and hid behind his head.

"Coulson! What did you do to my cat?" Coulson had thought he had seen Fury mad, but this was a whole new level. Forget being framed, or ignored when he had relevant information, this was his new top.

"Nothing sir. He-"

"Nothing? Does this look like nothing to you?" He gestured to the cat hiding behind his head. I've seen Goose normal, and that is not- Goose!" Apparently, the cat had gotten over its fear of the crazy humans, because he began eating Fury's hair. "Goose will you cut that out!"

"That is what happened, sir," Coulson said with a straight face.

"I want you to finish this interrogation, while I'm getting a haircut!" Fury whirled around a marched out of the room, muttering some very colorful words to his cat.

The next few minutes were spent with Clint regaling Coulson with tales of his life, and the circus of crime. He had no qualms betraying them. They had betrayed him first. After he was finished he and Coulson went out to a nearby cafe to grab some lunch. Coulson was astounded when he heard the Clint had never had or even heard of a malt. Clint thought that he liked Shield very much.

"So are you in?" Coulson asked. Clint jerked his head back from the waitress he was checking out. "With us."

"Oh. Ummm." Clint thought. He was choosing between facing justice, running, or joining a faceless organization. It should have been a no brainer, but something told him that running wouldn't work. Also, he was tired of always looking over his shoulder. He sipped his malt slowly, then nodded. "Yeah, I'm in."

"Good." Coulson waved a waiter over. "You made a good call."

"Bad call! Very bad call!" Clint shouted as he ran while bullets ricocheted around him.

"Well, maybe you should have gone to your actual left!" Coulson replied over the earpiece.

"I did!"

"That was your right!"

"No that was my left and your right!"

"We are facing the same direction!"

Clint ducked behind a building. "Now we're not!"

Coulson sighed. "Okay, now go to your RIGHT!" Clint ran off in that direction. "See that building? Get to the roof." Clint ran, he was almost there, when a bullet crashed into his leg. He went down as he cried out in pain. "Barton? Where are you hit."

"Leg, it grazed me. I'm fine." He struggled to his feet and saw the waitress from the cafe staring at him. "Uhhh, we're filming for a TV show."

"You have a bullet in your leg!"

"Umm no I don't." He denied weakly.

"You were just shot in the leg!"

"Special effect?"

"Clint get out of there!" Coulson ordered.

"Umm, I got to go, ummm. What's your name?"

"Clint!"

"Laura."

"Can I have your number?"

"BARTON!"

"Never mind, bye Laura!" He took off running.

"Barton, do you know how many protocols you just broke?"

"What?"

"You asked a girl for her number while on a mission!"

"So?"

"What do you mean so!? If you don't get up here right now I'll put you on KP duty for a year!" Clint ran faster. "I'm counting to three!One!" Clint reached the roof. "Two!" He sprinted towards the quinjet. "Thr- Barton?" The young man sprinted onto the quinjet gave a cocky smile, then collapsed.

He woke up in the infirmary. With Coulson speaking. "Clint, you're safe." It was a little thing they had come up with after Barton had broken IV needles, a few noses, and even a crash cart once. No one was sure how he managed that one. He opened his eyes and groaned. It was too bright. "Do you realize how stupid that was?" Coulson snapped angrily.

"Yes." Clint groaned. "My head hurts now. I should have kept my eyes closed."

"Not that!" He gave a frustrated growl. "You said the bulletin grazed you! That was definitely not a graze. You're running made you bleed out more as your heart pumped faster!"

"But I don't have to do KP duty. It was worth it."

"I need to be able to trust you, Clint. You need to tell me exactly what is going on!"

"Sure."

"Good." Coulson paused. "And about the girl…" Coulson launched into a lecture. About five minutes later he noticed Clint had fallen asleep. He smiled, then touched the bed. "Night kid." He got up and sighed taking out a notebook.

Bartonize:

I've eaten- I ate within the past few days.

Nothing- everything

Yes-no

No-yes

Fine-everything is wrong

I'm not tired-going to fall over

Leave me alone-stay

Grazed-hit

Sure-stop talking already