Chapter 9- one plus one always equal two

Recollection-roof Empire hotel

On the rooftop of the Empire Hotel the arrow had been inches from his chest. Ethan did not close his eyes chosing to stare the man right in the face. Hawkeye, that was how Ethan preferred to think of him, not Brandt. Obviously appealing to the side that was their colleague had not worked and now he was going to pay the price. All was still around him, Hawkeye poked him with the arrow then gestured toward his ear. He was making sure the others did not know his fate. It was almost cruel, what you'd prefer they listen Hunt as you die, he told himself. Actually he was not which one was worse. But he took the ear piece out and Hawkeye stamped on it. "So what now Hawkeye, you just finish me off", Ethan asked. "If I wanted you dead Hunt you would be dead", it had never occurred to him before that the voice might sound different as well. "That explosive charge I shot into the elevator shaft could have been double yield. It would have dropped you straight down to the bottom where they would have had to scrape you all off the roof." Then Hawkeye simply held out his hand, "get up", he said.

The arrow dropped down now away from him. Jumping to his feet Ethan stood inches away from the man that had ruined his entire mission .A boiling anger built within him and he lashed out. Hawkeye was quick though grabbing him and holding him steady." Truce Hunt", he requested . No matter how much Ethan twisted he found he could not get free. He recognized the fact that Hawkeye could easily cause him a lot of damage. But all he was doing was holding on. Still it was hard not to think of this man as anything other than a killer. "How do I know I can trust you", he asked bluntly. "Would you trust him", came the counter question. Ethan did not have to ask who him was. "Yes I would trust Brandt", he said it firmly. "Then trust me", Hawkeye asked. Ethan nodded slowly. "Come", Hawkeye asked gesturing off the roof. "No, I have a mission to finish', Ethan stood his ground. "Get off the roof now', in one fluid motion the arrow came back to confront him. It was hard not to flinch but Ethan managed it, "you said I could trust you", he reminded the archer.

"I'll still knock your sorry ass out and drag you off, if you don't listen", Hawkeye growled. He was deadly serious. "Yeah you and whose army', Ethan retorted with a fair dose of bravado. In truth he did not fancy a fight with this man but he most definitely would if it came to that . "I could call an army that would bend you into a pretzel", Hawkeye told him flatly with a glint in his eye. That was most definitely scary thought Ethan. He knew the other man was not bluffing. "Now get off the frigging roof", the arrow poked him again. Ethan hit it off, 'watch where you are pointing that thing', he muttered. He had been thinking rapidly , Hawkeye had never tried to actually kill any of them. Sure he had injured them but not seriously. Obviously they were not his target. Now he asked himself if Hawkeye actually did work for number 2. When he had rescued Benji he would have been seen as a liability to the super spy. The answer was that he was freelance and had his own agenda .He was also still a killer. "So you want the files then ", that was the logical conclusion. Hawkeye shook his head at him "Hunt don't you get it", he growled," there aren't any files". That was such a stunning announcement that it stopped him in his tracks. "What have I been doing then", he muttered almost to himself. "Running around like an idiot", it was very a sarcastic reply from Hawkeye.

"Geez thanks for that Hawkeye. I prefer Brandt's wit, when do you think you might change back into my agent", Ethan asked firmly. He wondered how the whole transformation thing occurred. For an answer Hawkeye pulled up his sleeve to reveal a bleeding gash, "you are not such a bad shot Hunt. You hit me in the elevator shaft "." Ethan actually felt himself wobble in shock ,he knew that Brandt had not been injured. But his mind would still not accept the truth. However then Hawkeye went and said the words, " I am not William Brandt. "You look like him", Ethan stated. "Yes ,I know", came the reply. "If you aren't him then where is he. He disappeared from the hotel room", Ethan remarked."I had even drugged him, so that's why I thought you and him were the same person."

Now Hawkeye wobbled, "you need to find him Hunt. He'll be unconscious somewhere ',he told Ethan.

"Unconscious",Ethan remarked, "well I suppose the sedative must have had a delayed effect.

"It wasn't the sedative . I am sure it has happened before on this mission". Though I am not sure he'd admit to it. That's why he never knew what was going on some of the time" Hawkeye told him.

"Brandt did tell me he had passed out and could not remember what happened. "I guess he needed help and not being locked up", Ethan reflected sadly. "Then find him Hunt and take him to the person whose address I am going to give to you', Hawkeye requested.

"There are many things I want to know before I do that. Why you killed Logan and Jennifer is top of the list", Ethan demanded.

"I don't have time to answer your questions. Number 2 had only been delayed for a short time. If you want to live you must go now", Hawkeye insisted.

"I'm not scared of number 2", Ethan replied firmly. He did not like being ordered around especially by a Brandt look a like." I also need to contact my people and let them know what has happened". Hawkeye grabbed him firmly, and stared into his eyes, "if you do not go now you won't be the only person to die". You may not be able to trust your own people", he said seriously. "But you can trust me", he let Ethan go as he said that. So he had a choice to make . Trusting a man like Hawkeye was difficult. But it was perfectly true that Hawkeye could have killed all of them. The comment about not trusting his own people also hit home. So he decided to do what the archer suggested.

Ethan still had one thing to get out of his system "Oh Hawkeye, Ethan turned lazily then hit out hard with his fist. "That is for making Brandt suffer""he growled. Half expecting to find his blow blocked he was surprised when it hit home firmly on Hawkeye's face. It barely made the archer sway though. Okay thought Ethan my turn now. He waited but Hawkeye did not retaliate.

The archer just rubbed his face, " that was a free hit because you are right I endangered Will but I honestly did not know he was on this mission until it was too late." Now I am not sure I can undo what has happened", Hawkeye looked a little sad as he said that. "That is why you must do what I tell you".

Xxxxxx

Ethan finished his account of what had happened on the roof. Benji and Jane listened intently to every detail. "So Hawkeye, you were going to explain why you killed 2 innocent people", Jane prompted.

"Yes,repeated Benji, " Yes", echoed Dr Bruce Banner. The others all looked at the doctor surprised.

Bruce was feeling off balance. Not in an angry Hulk inducing way but still skittish. He did not like having so many people around him. Especially not people who were engaged in occupations which would cause violence to descend upon him. But he supposed Clint had warned him. The call from the archer had come late at nght, "Doc I need your help', Clint Barton had sounded shaken and uncertain. It was definitely not normal to hear Clint sound like that. "Whats the matter Clint", he asked gently. "I umm have a problem Doc, it's the type of problem I want to keep off the record',Clint told him. That meant no S.H.I.E.l. D. involvement. Bruce did not really have a problem with that request. But he was wondering why Barton had chosen him. "I don't really know if you can help doc, but I'd like you to try",Hawkeye continued being vague. "Clint perhaps a little more detail would be better", he had suggested. "No, Doc, I can't not yet, you'll understand when you see my problem", Clint had told him. "Please Doc", he added.

Since Clint Barton was not a man who asked for much Banner was intrigued. He was about to agree when Clint warned, "if you help me Doc, trouble might descend upon you". It could even lead to an issue of Hulking proportions", he was not being direct because of the fear of being overheard. Banner had known what he meant. That made him pause, " I don't know who else to go to", that last line said in an almost broken tone convinced him.

The minute he had met the man called William Brandt he had been surprised, he looked exactly lile Clint. He also asked himself why Clint had never mentioned him. There was some type of secret here hence Bartons request for no agency involvement.

The people with Brandt were all agents themselves, he recognized the type. What they were saying about his friend was deeply concerning.

"Hawk is this true", he asked. "Yeah Doc, I did kill two people", Hawkeye acknowledged." Now it is time to tell you why".

He beckoned them over to a table. There they all sat, Ethan, Jane and Benji together and Banner next to him. They were still giving him as wide a berth as possible. He shook off the anger he could feel within them. "I was taken off active agent status to work on a special project", he told them.

"Who exactly do you work for", Benji asked. Hawkeye did not answer just continuing his explanation.

"Over the last year or so I have noticed something very troubling happening within our agency. Orders were not getting through to teams, back up would not arrive and facts of missions were being changed .This had the result of the amount of agents being killed during missions rising dramatically".

"It seemed though that nobody was ever responsible for these things. We could never trace the errors to anything other than some sort of computer glich. Yet top experts were saying there was nothing wrong with our systems. After I had to fight my way out of a set up on one of my missions I began to research further and found that these things were happening in other agencies as well. " I was given a higher security clearance for this mission and it enabled to access mission files of those other agencies. The search was looking for any sort of anomalies and that's when your mission specifications came up. There was a vast difference between what was on our data base and what was on yours." Hawkeye pushed a button under the table and activated a screen. "You know this man, Kyle Kitson aka Number 2, he is known to my people as well." The face of the super spy glared down at them solemnly. . So far this was not telling them a lot. But the next photographs induced that cold feeling of betrayal within all of him. "Number 2 stopped working alone just recently, recruiting members of his own family. They too have built up an impressive portfolio of criminal acts", Hawkeye brought up three more photos. Benji, Jane and Ethan recognized two of them. "Logan and Jennifer are both wanted criminals who have a history as disturbing as the man they worked for. "They already have an impressive list of kills to their names" .'The third photo is Monica Lawrence, the fiancé of number 2, she was at the hotel as well waiting for her opportunity to act".

Hawkeye watched as the three members of team Hunt rubbed the chill off their bodies. He knew what it felt like to find out you were part of something that was not within your control. "Now you see what I mean", Hawkeye told them. "I intervened on your mission because I was sure that if you did not have the data on the true identities of Logan and Jennifer then you were probably unaware of their goal".

"Ethan was thinking rapidly over what had gone down in the mission. A horrible suspicion was creeping in upon him. "We had heard that Number 2 and his colleagues were carrying out an elimination contract on agents. " Another press of a button and Ethan's photo came up. "You agent Hunt were at the top of the list. I guess you have pissed off the wrong people. Any other agent with you would be included upon the death contract'". "Even if you had known their purpose you would have thought you could handle it ,four against four. Only it would not have been a fair fight because that is not how they work".

"You may remember tht Logan wanted to know if you'd all be together in the conference room." Ethan did remember that." His computer system was booby trapped with a giant charge of electricity. Logan knew where to stand to be safe but you would all have been toast. However I made sure he never got the opportunity to spring the trap upon you. The second trap was planned by Jennifer who tried to get you all on the rooftop to collect these non existent files".

"That whole roof was rigged to explode. It would have killed you and half the occupants of that Hotel. "The family may have been together but they were competing to find the most creative way to put an end to you." I did have some advantages as Tony Stark gave me a few toys to help work certain systems in that Hotel. We did not want to risk taking total control because Number 2 might have just resorted to something even more extreme."

" His ultimate aim was for your own agency to take the blame for the loss of any innocent lives" , Hawkeye told them. "That is what I am seeing a slow destruction of every agency within this country. Perhaps the disease even extends to other countries. I do not know who is causing it, but I do know we are losing the fight".

He wound down and waited.

Ethan regarded Hawkeye steadily, he had gone from enemy number 1 to friend in a very short space of time. He had to acknowledge that without the man's intervention all of them would be dead. But Hawkeye had delivered his story in a tone that told Ethan he was not entirely happy with being on the mission. So far Hawkeye was not very likeable. He had not even bothered to give them a proper name.

"You could have warned us", Jane chastised the archer firmly. "If you didn't know whether I was friend or enemy then neither did they"." All our communications during that time were being monitored. 'That how I know what was happening with you.'" It kept number 2 off balance having to worry if I was competition for his title or the enemy". "As for warning your agency I would never know if the message ever got back to you."

"But we could have killed you", Benji remarked. Hawkeye looked at him, "It was a risk I was prepared to take . I must warn you that it is not over Number 2." He is a clever man and I found he countered every move I made. I could not kill him , only delay him. He will lose face if he does not fulfill his contract. Sometime in the future both he and his fiancé will come after you again".You must make sure that this time you choose the battlefield".

It was a sobering thought thinking they would never be safe until Number 2 and his fiancé were eliminated. Ethan saw the others looking over at the archer. "He could see their feelings toward him had eased, yet tension still remained. Ethan knew the cause was the man that looked like Hawkeye, the one who had already earned their friendship.

He wondered which of them was going to bring it up first. "Okay so you are not the enemy", Jane remarked ," but I still want an answer that question I asked before, "why is your brother locked up in a cage instead of being out here with us".

"He told me to do that", Banner chipped in. That had the effect of heightening the tension again. Benji and Jane looked ready to begin a fight even though they were injured. "Oh thank so much for that Doc", Hawkeye chastised Banner. "Well you did",Banner continued twisting the knife , "and you never gave me a proper explanation". Hawkeye felt a little like he was under siege. His emotions were barely restrained and he found himself doing something he never expected, shedding tears. He got up from the table and turned his back on them. The urge to flee the room was very strong. He did not want others to see his weakness. He made his feet stay still and told them, "Doc do you think I want to put Will in there. I had no choice. Even now I am sitting here agonizing over the fact that I am the cause of all his pain".

Suddenly Hawkeyes attitude was making sense, his emotions were barely contained and sorrow was at the top of the list. He had the aura of such a strong assured man that Ethan knew he felt very uncomfortable right now. The white faces of the others indicated their distress over what Hawkeye had just said was rising . They all needed answers . Ethan remembered his comments on the roof. "You said to me that you did'nt know Will was on the mission unti lit was to late and you didn't know if you could undo the damage. ' What did you mean by that", he prodded.

Banners had stood up and gently hand gripped hawkeyes shoulder in silent support." I never knew about Will until just recently, Hawkeye told them. "You never knew you had a twin", Benji gasped out.

"My parents only gave birth to one child and that was me", Hawkeye explained." It was on a mission in Croatia that I found out about Will."

Croatia, that place was one of those where a lot had happened. Ethan still had strong memories of that place. He had to shut out his own feelings to concentrate on what Hawkeye was saying.

" I was there to meet a contact with a lead on someone our agency was looking for", Hawkeye continued. The contact was a man with a nasty reputation but I had no choice if I wanted the information. "It was a weird meeting because the contact swore he'd seen me just that morning talking to one of his rivals" .I knew I would have to do some slick talking before he was going to relax. Even then he wanted me to meet with one of his colleagues who was playing both sides of the fence by also working for the rival. He would know all the people the rival had contact with .If he gave me clearance then I could get the information. There was such tension in the room that I knew that if I did not get clearance I would be dead. I had to wait in that room for an hour before the other man came."He took one look at me and said yes I looked like the man the rival had been meeting". It was one of those moments when you expect bullets to start flying. But before they did the man added, "but I know he is not".

"Seconds later an unconscious Will gets dragged into the room. Can you imagine my shock at finding someone who looks identical. It was that shock that saved my life. The contact believed I knew nothing about my lookalike. They would give me the information I came for. However they were going to kill Will".

"Even though I knew nothing about him there was this fierce desire within me to save his life. So I called for backup and fought my way out of that room".

"Once all the enemies were neutralized I tried to wake Will up. I found I could not. My people took him to a safe house and checked him over for injuries ,they could find none. I was at a loss for answers until my boss came and told everyone else to leave. It was then that I finally got told the truth".

"Apparently my parents had tried for a child for many years without success. They had spent thousands on fertility treatments and were in debt. When an opportunity came to join a special program that paid participants and almost guaranteed a child they signed up".

"It was one of those programs where scientists were trying to make humans more perfect, in other words they were genetically manipulating DNA."Of course when you play around like that some of the results can be unpredictable. They abandoned many of the experiments before finally coming up with a DNA sequence theu believed would work. Up to now they had used computers to try out the results. Now they were ready to use it on people".

"My mother had donated one eggs which were both split to create a set of identical twins. By testing on identical subjects the scientists figured they would be able to control the changes to the DNA more effectively. They started growing the eggs artificially while applying the changes to the DNA sequencing. The results were interesting as the embryos development increased almost immediately . At this stage they had studied the embryos separately. The next stage of testing meant they had to be together and that when their results changed .They found that when put next to its twin one embryos development was adversely affected".

"Not knowing the end result of this, they chose to only use the embryo that was not affected. The end result was me. Yes I am still human, but many of my senses are enhanced. That is why I am so good at what I do. Anyway the scientists were going to destroy that second embryo. But before they could a break in occurred at the laboratory and the embryo was stolen".The obvious place to look was the black market. An embryo would fetch a very high price for a merchant. But it was never found and hence they could never say for certain if I had a twin".

"Then they found Will. As I stood there still trying to understand what had just happened Will's condition worsened. Our scientists believed his body was reacting adversely to my presence. When his heart started to go into arrhythmias the scientists had me dragged from the room. They told me that the effects were caused by the fact that Will is more than just an identical twin I he is an exact duplicate designed to have the same abilities as mine. But where as my DNA sequencing worked Wills did not".

"Even though they worked for many hours they could not find away to reverse the damaging effects my presence has upon Will. They found that distance helped mute the effects. So the solution was to live apart for the rest of our lives".

"This I was prepared to do to save Will. Although separation was one solution my people were skeptical about just letting Will go. He was afterall not meant to exist. His DNA was unstable and they could not say what the long term effects would be. They were scared that with his enhanced abilities he could turn rogue and do harm to others. It was then that I realized I would have to fight to save Will's life".

"Basically I refused to ever work for them again if they touched even one hair on Will's head. That convinced them to send Will back to your agency. Our director talked to yours and made sure Will was safely kept behind a desk. They also had to inform us of Will's whereabouts at all times".

"The last time I heard he was still behind a desk, well and healthy. Then I stepped out onto the roof of the business centre and found Will unconscious".

"At that point I should have left. But I knew I would be abandoning not only you to death at the hands of number 2 and his family but innocent people as well. I moved away from time to time to help Will recover. But each time I came close again he would fall unconscious".

"So sorry for the attitude but saving your lives has had a very high price", Hawkeye told them sadly.

Ethan , Jane and Benji all sat reflecting upon what Hawkeye had told them. It was a stunning story.

"But you are together now", Jane remarked . "That chamber is designed to stop the effects of ummm many things", Ethan wondered why he looked at Banner when he said that. "I thought it should block the effects of my presence". Banner was nodding, "you are right Clint', he stated.

Now the others had a first name ,it seemed to make him more like a friend. "I brought Will to Bruce because he is an expert at genetic manipulations and may be able to help Will", Clint concluded.

Ethan noted the doc did not look to sure about that. So he had to go and ask a question he was sure had haunted Clint. "What if you can't fix Will'.

"He will have to return to inactive status. You will have to tell him some story to make him never want to go back to the field again. With misinformation affecting both our agencies systems we can never be sure that some mistake won't happen and we will meet again on a mission".

Benji had been quiet so far, his mind on Brandt. His compassion was raging and it saw something that maybe the others had missed. ""Will doesn't know about you does he", he asked.

"No, he does not. If he is not cured then he must never know. We have this almost magnetic bond that pulls me strongly toward him. I find myself fighting to be pulled apart . It is almost painful to resist", Clint told him. "Will must resist or the affects upon his body will become to much and he will die".