OK! 8! YES! YAY! I THINK! I DON'T KNOW! YAY! :P

I dunno man, I like the last three chapters, cause I like writing this Clint!

HOPE YOU ENJOY!

Reviewers at the end this time, cause AnimeGirl58 reasons!

DISCLAIMER!; OWN NOTHING! NOT EVEN THE IDEA! I'M JUST THE WRITING MONKEY THIS TIME!


"Just.. Keep an eye on him."

"Worried, Stark?"

"You're not, Widow?"

"He's been through worse." She shrugged, shooting the billionaire a slight smirk as she folded her arms across her chest. "I gotta say though; this little protective side you have is amusing us all. Never knew you had it in you."

"Well, I like keeping you all guessing." He shrugged, daring a glance over his shoulder from his position flying the jet.

They were trying to get Clint back into the swing of things.

Trying to get Clint back full stop.

He never knew the archer all that well, couldn't say he ever held much of a conversation with the man or cared too much about who he was other than a damn fine marksman. But even Tony could tell that something wasn't right, that something wasn't Clint. He got his memories back, he got his arm back miracuously. The warnings and beeping's on the screen were all false. He still had to figure out how a simple serum could trick some of his best equipment into malfunctioning. A number of theories were flying around his mind; the heat caused from the initial injection was too much for the sensors to handle and they simply broke, the readings were so bizarre to the system that it just assumed no human could live through it and called a flat line, or the worst one and the one he thought most likely; Clint did actually die for a while before the serum brought him back.

The team weren't happy with him. While Clint was out, he could just feel the tense 'If this doesn't work out, Tony..' vibe coming off each of them through the month. Honestly, if it didn't work out and they lost the archer, there'd be a line to kill Tony and he thought for a while that he'd be at the front of it.

But they took him from the pod and he had an arm! A fully functional right arm once more! Banner ran so many tests that Tony was convinced the arm would be left like a pin cushion. What amazed them each time was the pin pricks from needles drawing blood would heal straight away. Without the others knowing - because he was on thin enough - they ran some more serious tests; cutting Barton at various depths, breaking a finger, burning the skin - basically anything that would cause physical injury to the archer. Each and every time the spot would glow a dangerously hot orange and the wound would heal right before their eyes.

It was a scary thing to witness.

Tony had seen it before. He's fought these guys, fought the ones who were yielding the original formula. They'd heal from repulser shots, gun shot wounds, even explosions within a matter of seconds and look like nothing had happened. Yet, even knowing that, knowing how inhuman and scary these guys were, he turned Barton into one of them.

But he had to help.

"But you know as well as I do something's not right.." He said quietly, looking back out from the other team members to the skies they were soaring through.

Clint was everyone's main focus as of late, after they learned he snapped at something as simple as missing a target in the gym. They had been watching him. Tony was sure he knew exactly what they were doing, studying him, waiting for anything to let them know that this was the worst mistake Tony had ever made.

He was sitting in between Bucky and Steve on the other side of the jet, cleaning out his rifle just as Bucky did his. The pair of them made on hell of a team, made missions so much better knowing that there were two expert snipers with near impeccable records to their name watching your back. Hopefully neither would be needed - but it was nice knowing they were there! Today was the first mission they were letting Barton out of his sniper nest and back onto the ground.

He didn't talk. Which was the most worrying thing. Usually, on the way to missions - regardless of how dangerous or serious they were - Clint would be joking and singing, trying to bring the whole team into a relaxed mood. Of course, it would piss some of them off sometimes, but it was always a feigned pissed off to try get to the archer just like he was trying to get to them.

"You think that'll have an effect on his mission skills?" Natasha asked with an eyebrow raised. She was leaning against the control panel of the jet while watching Clint. She was never as subtle as the others about watching him, but Clint seemed to be used to it, so he never paid any attention when her eyes were on him other than to smirk and wink at her the odd time.

"I don't know." He shrugged. Maybe not in a bad way, but not in a good way either. "He's more aggressive, more short tempered. But he'd faster and stronger and not even Barnes could catch him off guard once he got used to his body again. I don't know how this'll play out."

"Well, it's a simple in and out job." She shrugged, moving away from the console then to move to the others. "It'll be fine."

He wished he could believe that. He really did.


They'd never admit it, and if he ever asked they'd deny it to the high heavens; but this mission was a set up. It was something they were using to try see how Clint would react in an actual mission situation rather than just training with them. They knew how he reacted to things that'd frustrate him, knew how fast he could run and how heavy a thing he could lift and throw, he knew he was still as reliable a shot as ever as he watched over them. They just didn't know how his mind would make decisions just yet in battle, in the heat of the moment.

So, Stark looked up an active AIM base, a tiny little place just outside of Boston. There couldn't be more than 50 agents in the place so in terms of Avenger work it was piss easy.

'Come on, Cap. Not tired yet, are you?'

Tony smiled a little to himself at Clint's voice echoing through the jet, the comms on loud speaker so himself and Banner wouldn't have to have those damn earpieces in while monitoring the mission. He had to admit; he was impressed. Sure, on normal days the skill Clint showed would impress him to no ends. But now the archer was moving through the base and taking out the guards like a whole new man. It was fluid and smooth. He never missed a beat, never paused for a breath, and Tony couldn't help but feel a little tinge of pride swell up at the fact that he helped this side of Clint surface!

While he felt pride, while he loved how well Clint was doing because it showed the team he was right to take the risk, he still knew this wasn't right. Something wasn't right. And he couldn't place his finger on it. If Natasha wasn't worried - and the woman knows better when it comes to Clint Barton - then he shouldn't be either.

'You wish, Barton.' Tony looked to the monitor which followed Steve when he spoke, seeing the Captain take out three guards just as easily as Clint did. 'Just keep your eyes open and don't worry about me.'

'Have to make sure you don't drop dead, old man!' Clint laughed out. Tony raised his eyebrows when he spotted the archer literally flying across the rafters in an acrobatic master class, taking out guards with expertly placed bullets as he went along. None dead, all incapacitated though.

"Still think this was a bad idea?" Tony smirked. He sat back in his chair with his hands behind his head as he looked to Bruce for an answer.

"I do." Bruce nodded with a slight frown. "He's reckless. Clint was never like that."

"He was just given powers that he'd normally only be able to dream of! Banner, come on, admit that it worked and the others will get off my case!" Tony clapped a hand on his friends shoulder and gave it a slight squeeze as he grinned at the man.

"This is just one mission." Bruce sighed, using his index finger to rub at his chin in thought. His eyes stayed glued to the monitor showing Clint's progress through the camp. "And so far I don't like what I'm seeing."

"What's not to like?" Tony asked with an eyebrow raised. From what he could see; it was damn perfect! "You see that kid moving through there like he's Captain America? How can you not like that!?"

"Because he's not Captain America." Bruce frowned. Tony looked back to the screen when Banner leaned in closed, his elbows resting on his knees. "Tony, I know you think you created one; but he's not a super soldier. This stuff is dangerous and you're just throwing him in the deep end.."

"Call it a trial by fire." Tony shrugged. Clint was laughing his way through the base now. Even Steve was amazed at it, but the good Captain took up the archers challenges anyway!

"How did you solve the over heating?" Bruce asked slowly. That was Tony's way of knowing the question had only dawned on the doctor. He'd usually blurt it out if he had been thinking on it a while.

Tony shrugged.

"Tell me you solved it." Banner groaned and Tony could see from the corner of his eyes that he was facepalming.

A smirk and another shrug met Bruce's question.

"Honestly doc, I haven't a clue." He admitted finally, leaning back in his chair once more as the mission wound down. Clint was meeting up with Natasha now and it seemed the assassin wasn't too happy with all of Clint's joking around! "I thought I solved it years ago in that hotel room. But it didn't work, otherwise AIM agents wouldn't have been blowing up in my face. I just increased the measure of the solution in the formula and hope it worked!"

"Hope it worked..?" The tone of Bruce's voice made Tony chuckle. It always amused the billionaire when he completely and totally shocked Banner! "It's a virus, Tony. You have to find some way to release it's natur-"

"Release it's natural tendencies or it will change those tendencies and become both unpredictable and unstable." Tony interrupted Bruce's explanation, his tone bored and his eyes rolling as he rattled off the passage he knew from nearly all virus control text books. "Yeah, got that."

"He's a time bomb." Bruce suddenly said in a hushed whisper, and maybe he was right.

Both watched in slight horror as the scene on screen became a little more heated. Natasha was pissed off at him, that was nothing new as far as Tony was concerned. Usually happened once a mission and this didn't even look anywhere near their worst little spat. But Natasha shoved Clint. Again, not uncommon. Actually, it is. Other times if he annoyed her through the whole mission like Tony thought he did on this one then the laughing idiot would get a kick to the groin and be left there doubled over!

But Clint didn't take too kindly to having someone put their hands on him. While his rifle had been slung over his back after taking out the last guard - in one swift and nearly unseen motion it was in his hands once more and raised, aiming right at Natasha's forehead. A whole lot of shouting was filling the jet through the comms - both Steve and Bucky yelling to drop the weapon, Thor trying to reason with Clint that this was no way to treat a fellow team member. Natasha was calm enough, she knew like Tony did that Clint wouldn't take the shot. Clint was quiet though. A little too quiet. On the video feed he could see the archers jaw set square, his eyes drilling holes into Natasha and his hands unwavering in their position. His finger was ghosting over the trigger, and that was when Tony knew something went wrong, that's when he knew Clint wasn't right somewhere in there, because sure he'd aim weapons at them all the time, always threatening in that joking Barton way. But his finger was always safe and clear, the bow string was always held in a fist so the arrow would never release. Never had he been so close to it.

He knew that something was wrong, but he wouldn't admit it. He always admitted that the only way he knew that day he fucked up was when the video feed picked up on the orange glow travelling through Barton's body. When it disappeared, Clint was heard taking a deep breath. The next second, the rifle was place back in it's place around his shoulders and he was walking away from the team who all had their weapons and confused looks trained on him.

Tony and Bruce let out a sigh of relief and sagged in their seats. He didn't even know he was holding himself tense through that encounter!

The feed continued to follow the trackers in each team member, though Tony's eyes were just on the archers screen. He was looking straight ahead of him as he walked out of the base, not even bothering with any of the injured men he passed, not bothering to help the rest of the team clear the final office.

Tony shook his head a little as he realised that maybe, just maybe, he was wrong this time around. He whispered Bruce's words from only moments ago under his breath as the realisation set in.

"He's a time bomb.."

I made a time bomb out of my friend..


"So, what do we do?"

Tony ignored Steve's question, too busy watching the mission footage for what must be the tenth time in a row. He sighed and shook his head to let the captain know he had no idea.

The jet ride back was.. Tense, to say the least. No one spoke, no one looked at Clint, no one dared go near him. He just sat in the seat at the back of the jet, put his head back against the wall, and fell asleep for the whole ride back. What were they to say after what happened? They could hardly act like nothing happened, and bringing it up would most likely just spark something in him again. So, it was best just to leave him be and let him cool down.

Literally.

He didn't know if it was a heat thing, didn't know if Barton really was about to blow the place sky high, but Tony had to be careful. He couldn't risk that happening. Sure, he had a soft spot for Clint after everything. He thought they were friends, even if Clint was now avoiding the billionaire like the plague after giving him his arm back - but none of that meant he could endanger the lives of the rest of the team.

Himself, Bruce, and Steve had been holed up in the lab for the past three hours, having headed down to the most secure part of the building right after landing to see if they could sort this mess out.

"He feel threatened?" Tony asked after thinking for a moment. Natasha pushed him, sure. But it was only a playful shove, after Clint told Natasha some crappy joke to try make her laugh. Even new-and-not-so-improved-asshole Clint should have realised that it was nothing more than play.

"I don't think so." Steve said though a sigh. He was leaning against one of the benches with his arms folded across his chest. He hadn't even gotten a chance to change out of his star spangled get up yet. "He didn't seem angry. He seemed pretty damn calm actually."

"I don't think a calm person aims a rifle at someone's head." Bruce sighed. He placed a cup of coffee infront of Tony and the billionaire took a grateful swig as he enhanced the footage once more, trying to get every single little detail possible.

"He didn't fire. Even with a shield, a rifle, and a hammer trained his way." Tony said quietly, under his breath, maybe hoping they wouldn't hear him.

"I don't think that makes his actions ok." Steve frowned. Tony turned to look at him with an eyebrow raised.

"How many times has he aimed an arrow at you for eating the brownies he saved?" Tony asked with a 'Hmm?' added at the end. Steve frowned a little in confusion, but Tony didn't expect him to answer. He looked to Bruce then. "Or a taser at you because he wanted to bring out the big guy? This is still Clint. You guys just over reacted!"

"That wasn't Clint." Steve said sternly. Great, Tony brought out the Captain voice! "Clint jokes around those times, he laughs and has his fingers no where near ready to release. From the replay, it seems like he was applying a nice amount of pressure on that trigger."

"I don't know what you want me to say, Cap." Tony sighed in defeat. "Something went wrong today, I'll admit that. But he's making progress!"

"Nearly pulling a trigger on his oldest friend isn't progress." Bruce frowned. The video was now as clear as it could possibly be, and they were all staring at it. The orange glow was alot more prominent. Tony couldn't doubt that the other two saw it this time. "If that was someone else, if it wasn't Natasha staring him down that calmly rather than antagonising him, then we'd be having an awfully different conversation right now."

"We need a contingency plan." Steve finally said, stepping up to pause the video on a frame that showed just how blank Clint's eyes were during the whole incident. "Like we have a green plan for a Hulk incident. We need a plan to-"

"You're suggesting we plan to take Clint out?" Tony interrupted in shock, sure his eyebrows were through the roof at the captain's suggestion. Steve just held Tony's gaze. "He's not like the hulk who we just have to shoot at a few times until he wears himself out! We can do some serious damage!"

"And you don't think you've done damage to him!?" Steve spat back, the pair in each others faces now. "You've unleashed something you have no idea about! How do we know he isn't planning on taking all of us out right now!?"

"Guys, arguing isn't gonna-"

"This is Clint!" Tony yelled for what seemed like the millionth time. He ignored Bruce's attempts at trying to calm the pair down. "He wouldn't do that! This is just a little bum-"

"Clint's gone!" Steve yelled back. It caused the billionaire to take pause which gave Steve the chance to pull the screen between them so Tony was staring right at it. He averted his gaze. "You haven't even looked at his face all the times we've played this! You know like we all do that Clint's gone and we're not getting him back. This stuff makes good things great, that's for sure. But it makes bad things worse. Clint was a great guy, but who knows how much dark he had in him before the accident. I don't know who you brought back, but it's not Clint, and you have to stop pretending it is."

Silence.

Steve won this one.

This wasn't Clint. He couldn't look at the man on the screen because it wasn't his friend no matter how much he hoped and prayed to a God he never believed in. That wasn't Clint. Clint was gone. And there was no way of getting him back.

But, they had to make do with the Clint they had. They had to make sure they could get the archer back to as close as normal as they could, get rid of the anger, make sure he didn't fall to the pits like the AIM agents and subjects all did. They had to fix whatever was broken.

"How's Thor getting on with Odin..?" Tony asked quietly, his shoulders sagging in defeat. Steve took that as the que to move the screen back to it's original position.

"He's more than happy to send healers down or take Clint up." Bruce said softly. The tension in the room was making it burst at the seams. Perfect weather for a green rage monster to grow. "Only if we need to get that stuff out of him."

"Do we?" Steve asked calmly, the famous eyebrow raise following which told Tony that he well knew the answer.

Do we?

He didn't think they'd ever have to. Like any new powers, like any new addition to the body, Clint just needs to learn to control it, to master it and make it not a threat anymore. If anyone can do it, Clint can. He just needs time, needs practice. Tony has no doubt in his mind that Barton can get through whatever mood he's in and come out the other side as the calm and respectful archer they all know.

What was the mood though? He glanced at the video still and frowned to himself. He'd be in control one moment, showing them that the old Clint is in there somewhere and it's just taking time to bring him back. He'd be joking, he'd be fighting like usual, he'd be kicking ass and taking names and it would be perfectly fine. Then something small would be done, something said, something to annoy him, and he'd snap like that.

"What's setting you off..?" Tony whispered to himself, leaning on the table to stare at the Clint on screen, briefly glancing at the live security feed following Clint to see him happily snoozing on one of the sofa's in the common area.

"Everything." Steve said from Tony's side, even though it wasn't really a question directed at the Captain. "Any little incident sends him out of control."

Maybe it wasn't directed at Rogers, but dammit his answer helped Tony!

"Out of control.." Tony repeated, his mouth forming a little 'o' before he turned to look at the other two. "He doesn't want to be out of control."

"Well I didn't mean to imply he did want to lose it, Tony." Steve defended. "I know he's not that far gone."

"No, no." Tony shook his head quickly to dismiss the captains words. Everything was falling in place for him now! "Not like that. He got trapped in that room, he lost his arm, he had that stuff put in him, he got his life thrown in so many different directions in the past few months all because he was out of control."

Bruce's eyes snapped to understanding in an instant, though Steve was still looking confused, so Tony continued.

"The few time's he's snapped; when he couldn't hit the targets with his arrows, when he couldn't stop himself falling off the rafters cause his foot slipped, when Barnes took him out in sparring, and then when Natasha shoved him. All those times-"

"Control over himself and something he knew he could control was taken from him." Steve finished with a nod of understanding. "He's loosing it because he wants it back."

"How do we fix something like that?" Bruce asked with a curious frown. That was the question.

All the lack of control over the past while could be traced back to one moment, one time when he lost it all because he lost control over the situation entirely. It could all be traced back to one split second decision that cost him everything.

Tony frowned and turned back to look at the security feed. He looked so peaceful while sleeping, so at ease, even though that mind was more messed up than even Bruce could ever comprehend.

He hated the only idea in his mind to get Clint to calm down, to get over this funk he was in, but it slipped from his lips anyway and shocked the others.

"We need to send him back against Doom.."


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REVIEWERS!

Niom Lamboise; Glad you liked it pal! Hope you like this one! By the way, that's two chapters updated since our last talk, just reminding you! ;)

IWriteSinsOrTragedies; Yeah, I'm already too bored with college so have my next three stories nearly written :P Should've known there'd be no keeping me away! Glad you liked the last one :) Something tells me Clint would be way too restless a type for meditating to work! I think he only stays still when he has a rifle in his hand!

amy. d. fuller. 9; Kinda like writing new Clint! But yeah, I do feel bad for not giving the team old Clint back! But, super powers can change people! Glad you liked the last one :)

AnimeGirl58; Not many feely touchy moments left, me thinks, so you should be fine! But *Give you a Hawkeye teddy* There we go!
Lots of questions there :P The whole serum thing is complicated. It's a well developed serum in both comics and movies, therefore I don't have much room to play with it but I try! Tony did change it as best he could so Clint wouldn't go boom in this story, so yes, it is trying to find other ways to cope. The one I have most fun with is toying with Barton's fury! Because he's usually level headed, yeah, but that's from years and years of training. So, I like to think that anything that upsets him or annoys him will make him nearly go boom!
Speaking as someone with metal holding both their elbow, hip, and shin together after a horse riding accident; I can safely say that metal just becomes part of your body after a while. So, the serum would see it that way too! It's a virus, it would never get rid of something that is helping it's hosts body unless it's threatening the virus itself. So, it left the metal as was, because it was essential in keeping the host moving and intact even if the virus could heal him afterwards!
Glad you liked it and sorry for confusing you but you have a teddy now so it's fine and a long response that's the reason why I put the comments at the ends this time! :P

ELOSHAZZY; Well, if you know StumpyTPDimples as well as you all should at this stage, you would know that she'd mess with the science experiment and never leave it as just a happily ever after! So many side effects planned, but just one major one that's pointed out in this chapter! Extremis, like I said above, is such a developed virus already that there isn't much play room. Clint is a super soldier who can probably breathe fire right now, that's kinda set in the definition of the virus, but it has not many known side effects other than blowing up it's host. So I'm gonna have fun in the next two chapters messing with Clint a little to see how many side effects I can draw out! ;) Glad you liked the last chapter and hope you like this one :)