The plane touched down in London. Clint was the first one out, carrying his bag over one shoulder. Spotting his acquaintance waiting for him, he walked over to her.

"Monsieur Charles, it is good to see you." She said in a heavy French accent.

"It's good to see you too Julie."

"I must admit, I was intrigued when you called me. You said you had some people you wanted me to meet."

"Yeah." Clint gestured behind him to where Agent Coulson was standing with the children. "They're war refugees. Orphans. I was hoping you could put them in foster care, if you still work in the system."

"I can. If I may ask, why are you transporting war refugees?"

"Work." He replied tersely. "Just make sure they find good foster homes."

She nodded. "Of course."

"Thanks Julie."

Clint rejoined Agent Coulson. Addressing the children, he said, "This is Julie. She's going to find you homes."

From the back of the group, Gracie spoke. "That's what the last people said. How do we know she's not just going to use us?"

"Do you trust me?"

Most of the kids nodded.

"I trust her. She's going to help you."

Seeming satisfied, the children followed Julie to her car. Clint waved as she drove away. Once they were gone, Clint turned to face Coulson.

"Will you please tell me why you didn't use one of Shield's quinjets to come here?" Coulson demanded.

Clint sighed, knowing it was impossible to avoid the conversation any longer. "Fine. But we should get some coffee first." He led the way to a small cafe a few blocks away. Once they were seated at an outdoor table with their coffees, Clint spoke. "I didn't use one of the quinjets because Shield didn't authorize this mission."

"I had figured that much out. I just assumed you had been brought along by an agent for an unofficial mission."

"No. I'm the only one who came." Coulson frowned and Clint continued. "I overheard Director Fury talking to a few high level agents in his office, looking for volunteers to try and complete your mission. Apparently, the council told him they didn't have enough agents to provide an extraction team, so Shield was just going to hope that you could fend for yourself. After that, I left Shield, stole a jet from Stark Industries and flew here."

"So this is an unauthorized solo mission carried out by a trainee who's still on probation."

"Yeah. And I think technically I'm a rogue agent - trainee - by now. I wasn't exactly stealthy about my departure." Clint said, chuckling a little. He tucked his leg up into the chair and took a sip of his coffee.

"Well, once we get back to base, I'll get things sorted out." Coulson said.

Clint's face became stony. "I'm not going back."

"Why?"

"Director Fury doesn't trust me, and neither do most of the agents. Sure plenty of them respect or even fear my skill set, but they don't trust me. I'm always going to be the assassin Agent Coulson dragged in to them."

"What will you do instead?"

"Lie low for a while. After that, who knows? Maybe I'll go back to being an assassin for hire." Clint stood. "It was nice to meet you." He turned and started to walk away.

"So, you're going to spend a few more years as an assassin for hire until a contract goes bad or an old enemy catches up to you and you die." Clint froze as Coulson spoke. "Barton, Shield is made up of spies. No one trust new recruits, especially ones with pasts as complicated as yours. Show them you deserve to be trusted. Show them you're not who they think you are." He paused for a moment before continuing in a quieter tone. "For what it's worth, I trust you with my life."

Clint walked back to where Coulson sat. "Even if I did come back, Fury would never let me stay."

"I'll deal with Fury."

Hesitantly, Clint sat down at the table. Coulson smiled internally, knowing he had made his point.

"When do we leave?" Clint asked.

"Now. We'll get tickets for a flight back to New York and leave your 'borrowed' plane here."


Agent Coulson walked into the New York Shield base, Clint following a few steps behind. All the agents making their way through the halls stopped, staring at the pair. Ignoring them, Coulson turned to Clint.

"I'll meet you in the old training room in an hour. Try and stay out of trouble until then."

Clint grinned. "Whatever you say boss." He walked off towards the weapons range.

Coulson shook his head as he started towards Director Fury's office. That kid and his antics. He was in for a lot of paperwork as Barton's handler.The crowded hallways parted as he walked through them and he could hear the younger agents whispering.

"That's Agent Coulson. The one who went missing."

"Why do you think his arm's in a sling?"

"I heard he single-handedly took out six men with guns."

"Who was the short archer with him?"

Coulson grinned. Barton would no doubt hate his latest nickname. He knocked on Director Fury's door and walked in without waiting for a reply.

Director Fury looked up from the pile of paperwork on his desk as Agent Coulson. "Agent Coulson. It's good to have you back."

"What do you plan to do with Barton?" Coulson asked, not in the mood for chit chat.

"He came back?" Fury sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "The council wants me to lock him up."

"Since when do you do anything the council wants you to do if it doesn't follow your agenda? Barton is on track to become one of the best agents Shield has ever seen. It would be a shame to throw that away."

"I'll let him stay on one condition. You're responsible for him."

"I was hoping I could be his handler anyways. He's quite likable."

"He's a pain in my ass. But you're right, he has a lot of potential."

"There was one other thing sir."

"What?"

"Make Barton a full agent. You and I both know it's pointless to leave him a trainee. He's just going to get into more trouble."

Fury sighed again. "Give him his final evals and make sure he gets another psyche eval as well. If he passes, you can make him a fully-fledged agent. Don't make a huge ceremony about it, I'm going to get enough crap for this as it is."

Coulson turned and left. Just before the door closed all the way, Fury said, "And Phil, go get yourself checked out by medical."


Clint wandered into one of the main training rooms. A group of trainees was standing in clusters around the sparring ring, watching an intense fight between Agent Kingston and another senior agent. Clint walked over, standing a little ways apart from the rest of the trainees as he watched. A few minutes later, Agent Kingston pinned the other agent down. She held him down for a few seconds before springing lithely to her feet and offering him a hand. Clint could see beads of sweat glistening on the other man's dark skin as he shoved rudely past Clint towards the door.

"Anyone else fancy going against me?" Agent Kingston asked, leaning against the edge of the ring.

"I will." Clint replied, vaulting into the ring.

"Trainee Barton. I see you're back." She said, lowering her voice.

"Yup. Now, are we going to fight or not?"

"Of course." She stood and moved towards the center of the ring.

Clint feinted a right cross towards her face and kicked out at her ribs. She dodged his kick and launched an attack of her own, several rapid fire punches aimed at various spots. He danced away from them with ease, laughing. Deciding to put on a show, Clint pushed off the rope at the edge of the ring and flipped over Agent Kingston's head. Only touching the ground for a second, Clint launched himself into a backflip, landing lightly on the rope behind Agent Kingston. She spun to face him and they began to fight in earnest. Punches and kicks flew as they fought back and forth, both struggling to gain the upper hand. Eventually, they slowed down, both breathing heavy. Agent Kingston aimed a punch at Clint's shoulder. Instead of dodging, he grabbed her fist and used it to roll over her shoulder. He pinned her arm behind her, ending the match.

The gathered agents were silent as Clint leapt out of the ring and walked away.


Coulson walked into the old training room to finds Clint leaning lazily against the back wall.

"So staying out of trouble means sparring with - and beating - one of Shield's senior agents?"

"She did ask for volunteers."

"I spoke with Agent Kingston and she said you did quite well. We're going to count that as your physical eval, since I can't exactly spar with you." Coulson said, gesturing to the cast encasing his left wrist.

"What do you mean, my physical eval?"

"Director Fury gave me permission to do your final evaluations. If you pass, you'll be a level one agent. Now, you want to show me what you can do with that bow of yours?"

Without hesitation, Clint nocked an arrow and drew back the string. In one fluid motion, he released the string and sent the arrow flying towards its target.

Thwump.

Spinning on the spot, Clint fired arrows at each of the targets scattered around the room.

Thwump.

Thwump.

Thwump.

Thwump.

"Satisfied?"

"Agent Kingston had told me you were a good shot. I'm glad to see she was right."

Clint smiled. "Does that mean I'm an agent now?"

Coulson chuckled. "You still have to go down to the psyche department and get a final eval there."

Clint groaned, but shouldered his quiver and walked quickly towards the psyche department.


Madison Fisher knocked on the open door to Agent Coulson's office.

"Come on in Madison." Agent Coulson called.

Madison pushed the door open a little further and sat down across from Coulson. She shuffled the papers in her file for a minute before speaking. "I just finished Barton's psyche eval. He passed."

"What else is there?" Coulson asked. "I'm assuming you didn't come down here just to tell me he passed."

"His past is more than a little troubled."

"I had figured that much out myself." Coulson replied, unable to keep a hint of impatience out of his voice. "I'm still not sure what you wanted to tell me."

"If you end up as his handler, he'll end up trusting you. It's just who you are and who he is. Don't betray that trust."

Softly Coulson said, "I know. He would never forgive someone for betraying his trust, especially someone he considers a friend."

Madison nodded and stood. "I'm glad you understand. Barton has a lot of potential… and I think there is a caring, friendly person hidden under all the snark."

Without another word, she left, pulling the door closed behind her. Coulson listened as her footsteps receded down the hall before he got up and headed for the roof.


Clint was sitting on the roof, out of sight of the cameras, dangling his feet over the edge. He heard Coulson push open the door from the stairwell.

"Hi."

"I have something you might want."

Clint turned to face Coulson. "What could that possibly be?"

Coulson ignored the question as he walked over and crouched beside Clint. He picked up the book sitting next to Clint, turning it over in his hands. "I see you took my advice and started reading The Ranger's Apprentice."

"You left it in the old classroom and I needed a book to read. Now, will you please tell me what it is you have?"

In response, Coulson reached into his jacket's interior pocket and pulled out a badge. He tossed it to Clint. Clint caught it easily and turned it over in his hands. Hesitantly, he opened it.

"Is this for real?" Clint asked.

"It is. Welcome to Shield, Agent Barton."


And there you have it. The story (in this universe) of how Clint Barton came to join Shield. Hopefully it was okay; I'd love to hear your thoughts on it.

Ps. I think we can all agree Clint would hate the nickname 'short archer'.

The next story I'm going to write for this universe is called Germany.
Summary: Clint and Natasha are on a mission. Take out a terrorist group. Simple. But when Natasha takes a bullet for Clint, he is left with an injured and unconscious partner, a dead body, a city locking down, and no extraction. As they sit in her hidden safehouse, something in their relationship changes.