[We Will Fight as Long as We Live]
"Get down on your knees!" Rough hands snatched at Clint's arms, and acting on instinct Clint grabbed one of the men's arms and flipped the man onto his back. He had the man on the gravel with the man's arm twisted and with his boot on the man's chest.
"Clint!" Joanna yelled at him. "Let him go. They're my backup. They're here to help."
Clint let out his breath slowly, and released the writhing man.
"Sorry." He mumbled, taking a few steps back from the man and Joanna. He looked down at his bloodstained hands and gritted his teeth.
"That's fine, son." A deep voice rang out. "Don't try something like that again. We're the good guys."
Clint looked up and caught sight of the man who had spoken. A bald, black man was striding to him, his leather jacket flapping out behind him.
"Nick Fury." The man said, holding his hand out for Clint to grasp. "We're here to help you."
Clint led the way into the dark building with Natasha following closely behind him. She didn't say a word as they made their way to one of the side doors of the building, but Clint could feel her disapprove radiating from her.
They stopped at the metal door that was located on the right side of the building. Clint walked forward silently and pressed his palms against the door.
"It's locked." He reported, receiving a snort from Natasha.
"What did you expect?" She said. "It's not as if they would leave us an easy way in."
Clint chose to ignore her remarks and said instead, "Do you want to pick it or shall I?"
"Do you want to know more about your brother?" Tombstone asked softly. He leaned in to his prisoners, his eyes glinting in the dim light.
Castle glared at the man and shook his head. "No, I don't need to hear anything more."
"Why? Is it because you're afraid of what you'll learn of the man that you thought you knew?" Tombstone asked, amused.
"No." Castle said, "It's because I don't need to hear more to know that Clint is, and will always be, my brother. It doesn't matter what he's done. That's in his past now."
"Is it?" Tombstone said, hoping to plant a seed of doubt in Castle's mind.
"Yes, it is." Beckett said, speaking for the first time since she had found out that Tombstone had sent a man to kill her mother. "Clint is a good man, Castle, you know that. Don't believe this man's lies."
Tombstone turned his gaze on her with mild irritation on his face. "You hardly know Clint. How can you presume to know him?"
Beckett glared at Tombstone. "I can read people. I know that Clint is a good man, despite what he may have done in his past." She paused and then said, "I also know that you are an evil son of a bitch that will pay for what you did to my mother."
For the first time Tombstone looked angry. He strode forward and slapped Beckett across the face. Her head snapped to the side, as Castle let out a furious yell from his chair.
"It would be wise not to speak to me like that." Tombstone warned in a quiet tone. He stepped away from both of his prisoners and crossed his arms over his chest.
Beckett lifted her head, her lip spilt and bleeding, but looking all the more defiant.
Tombstone looked away from her gaze, just as a loud cry sounded from outside the door.
He turned back with a thin smile on his lips. "It appears our young friend has arrived."
The men that were waiting inside the building were some of the easiest hired muscle that Clint and Natasha had ever had to take care of. They fell like pins as the two assassins plowed their way through them.
For a quick second amidst his fist flying, Clint couldn't help but wonder if it was too easy. But he brushed that thought aside; he couldn't afford to let doubts fill his mind.
Out of the corner of Clint's eye, he saw Natasha take down one of the last men with a quick jab to his face. The man's face was one of complete surprise before he tipped backward, landing on the cement ground.
Clint gave her a grunt of approval, turning to face the last man, but the man, seeing that he was outnumbered and the damage that the agents had caused turned on his heel and took off running the opposite direction from them.
Clint grinned at Natasha. "Seems that we're scarier then I first believed." Natasha didn't respond, her mind on the mission at hand.
"Come on." She said, leading the way through the dark building. "They'll probably be held in a storage room or something."
Clint nodded his agreement and followed Natasha's lead without question.
"There." Natasha jerked her chin in the direction of a metal door that was firmly shut. Clint nodded his agreement; that seemed like one of the most likely places for his brother and the detective to be kept.
"Let's see if anyone's in." He quipped, striding forward. He placed his palm against the door, pushing against it.
"We're not going to be kicking this down anytime soon." Clint said quietly, looking over to his friend.
"Should we blow it?" Natasha responded, her hand going down to her belt where she kept the explosives.
Clint shook his head. "No. We don't know who's in there and we don't want Rick or Beckett getting hurt by the blast."
Natasha nodded, waiting for his lead.
"I think the door might be unlocked." Clint said after a few moments of staring at the door. "If they're in here, like I expect they are, Tombstone wants me to come to him."
"Is Tombstone here?" Natasha asked, feeling as if she had missed the memo, which was a feeling that she didn't have often.
Clint pressed his lips into a thin line. "I think so. This whole thing just feels like him. I don't think that he would pass up the opportunity to get at me again."
Clint's eyes were locked onto Natasha's and he could see that she understood what he was saying even though it was irrational to think that Tombstone was in the room or even in the building when they had seen no sign of it.
Clint looked back to the door and reached for the handle. It was cold against his hand and Clint shivered, trying not to think of what he would do if Tombstone really was in the room.
Clint gave Natasha one last nod, before he wrenched the door open in one swift moment.
He dove into the room, his bow in hand. Clint felt Natasha behind him, but his eyes were fixed on the tall figure that stood in the back of the room.
"Tombstone." Clint hissed, nocking an arrow to his bow string.
"Hello, Clint." Tombstone replied calmly, "Nice of you to join us." He gestured to Castle and Beckett with one hand.
Clint's eyes flickered over his brother and Beckett.
"Wow, Lonnie, you must have wanted me pretty badly if you've kept them alive this long." Clint said, slowly walking farther into the room. The muscles in his arm were taunt from holding the string back.
"How's that helping, Clint?" Castle said through gritted teeth.
"Shut up, Rick." Clint said without missing a beat. "I've got this handled."
"It's true," Tombstone said also ignoring Castle. "I did want to talk to my hawk again."
"I'm not your hawk." Clint was quick to say. "How about this: let them go―," He jerked his chin in Castle and Beckett's direction. "―And I'll stay to talk to you."
Tombstone let out a laugh. "You have changed. Before, you never would have cared about what happened to your brother or anyone else."
Clint inclined his head in agreement, saying, "And I never would have brought backup with me."
For the first time Tombstone looked confused. Then there was soft cough from Clint's left, and Black Widow stepped into the light with two Glocks in both hands. One of the guns was pointed at Tombstone, while the other was pointed at Michael, who was cowering in the corner of the room.
Tombstone's eyebrows went up, as a gasp came from both Beckett and Castle.
"The famous Black Widow." Tombstone said mildly. "I should have known that Clint would team up with a killer like him."
"Wait—what?" Castle said, "Agent Carter is working with Clint?"
"I knew it!" Beckett exclaimed from her chair, "I knew there was something wrong with you."
Natasha flashed Beckett a quick smile, which didn't do much to reassure her.
Tombstone slowly raised his large hands, "Now, what, Clint? There's two of you against two of us." Clint's eyes glanced over to where Michael stood huddled in his corner. Clint's blue eyes widened.
"Magic Mike?" He asked in disbelief.
"Funny, isn't it?" Tombstone commented. "How your old skeletons come falling out of your closet when you least expect it."
Clint turned his focus back to Tombstone, ignoring Mike. "How are you still alive? I stabbed you myself." Clint said buying time as he edged closer to his brother.
Tombstone laughed. "Look at me. My skin is rock hard; your little knife couldn't harm me…and neither can your arrow."
"Well, I can do a hell of a lot with it." Clint said, suddenly turning his bow at Mike and releasing the arrow, while at the same time moving to where Castle and Beckett were tied. In two swift motions Clint had cut through their bonds. In another quick motion, Clint had his bow slung over his back and had grabbed both Castle and Beckett by their collars and was dragging them backward toward the door.
"Sonuvabitch." Mike moaned slumping to the floor with the arrow protruding from his shoulder.
He lifted his head up and glared at Clint, "You missed." He bit out angrily.
Clint laughed harshly. "Trust me, if I wanted you dead, you'd be dead."
Mike's face blanched and he fell silent.
There was a slow clapping from the back of the room where Tombstone stood.
"Very good." He said. "I wouldn't have expected anything less from you, Clint."
He glanced over to where Natasha was started to move to the door, her guns still up and pointed at him.
"Except you've forgotten one thing."
"Yeah, what's that?" Clint said his bow back in his hands with another arrow nocked.
"I brought back up as well."
Clint didn't spend too much time dwelling on what exactly Tombstone meant by that comment. He shoved Castle and Beckett out the door, following them closely with Natasha at his side.
All four of them were running away from the room, when they heard it; the sound of pounding feet.
Clint skidded to a halt, the others stopping as well. He squinted into the dark corridor, his grip on his bow tightening.
"Looks like we're gonna have company." He said calmly as he pulled the bow string back so that the string was touching against his cheek.
"Wait, what?" Castle said from beside his brother. "There are more people coming?" He couldn't keep the high pitched nervousness out of his voice.
Clint glanced at Castle and Beckett, who were looking at him with a mixture of blame and pleading.
Clint slowly loosened the taunt string and reached down to his boot where he kept his extra berretta. He pulled it out and gave it to Castle.
"There. Now you're armed." He turned his attention back to the oncoming men.
"We should probably find cover, Hawkeye." Natasha commented from next to him.
He looked over at his friend, and nodded. She was right of course. He should have thought of it, but he was too emotional and strung up to think straight; the exact reason why Fury hadn't wanted him on this mission.
Clint's eyes flicked across the dim hall, and landed on his brother and Beckett, who stood at his side. Castle looked terrified, but had a determined look as he clutched the gun that Clint had given him.
Clint caught Natasha's eyes and nodded at the other two. She gave him a slow nod in return.
"You both need to go." Clint said aloud to Castle and Beckett. "Now."
Beckett looked outraged. "No!" She snapped. "We've come too far to leave now. I owe it to my mother to stay and take in her killer."
Clint's eyes flashed. "Don't worry about him. I'll make sure he's taken care of. You both need to go. This isn't your fight anymore."
"No." This time it was Castle who spoke up. Castle's voice had become firm, "This became my fight when they threatened my little brother."
Clint let out an exasperated sigh. "Fine! You're going to get yourselves killed." He snapped, and turned his attention to Tombstone's men that were coming into view.
"We need to get out of this hall." Clint said to Natasha. She gave him a curt nod and then led the way out of the hall and into the main room. This room was open and had heavy pillars lining either side of the room.
Clint jerked his chin at the closest pillar, "Take cover behind those." He said. Castle and Beckett did as he commanded, hiding behind the nearest pillar to the only exit.
Clint positioned himself behind the pillar that was the closet to the hall entrance. He looked over at his red headed friend and gave her a small nod as Tombstone's men started to come through the doorway.
Clint let his arrow fly from his bow. It flew straight and pierced through the first soldier's throat, knocking him off his feet. The other soldiers, Clint counted at least fifteen, ignored their fallen comrade and continued to come at them, their assault rifles firing into the cement pillars.
There was a burst of gunfire from behind Clint and another soldier was down. Clint spared a quick glance behind, where Castle was gripping a smoking gun, his face tight, but determined.
"Nice shot." Clint commented, as he let loose another arrow. The arrow took down another soldier, but now the soldiers were concentrating their bullets onto his pillar. Clint winced as the bullets thudded into the pillar, and kept his head and body behind the protection.
There was a abrupt pause in the firing of his pillar, and then a soldier was sudden around the corner, his gun poking into Clint's face.
Clint jerked back, his hand snapping out to push the barrel of the gun to the side of his head. The gun went off, missing his head by inches.
Clint brought his heavy bow up and smashed it into the side of the soldier's head, knocking him off his feet and onto the ground. He felt a moment of satisfaction before he was wrenched off his feet and then thrown to the side.
He flew across the room until his body slammed into the nearest wall. His bow flew from his hands and he slumped against the wall, momentarily dazed.
Clint felt hands grab the front of his jacket and then he was slammed against the wall again; his feet dangled inches above the floor and his head bounced into the wall causing a ringing to fill his head.
Clint struggled in the much larger man's grasp, bringing a hand up to push at the man's face. The giant of a man didn't seem to be affected by Clint's hand in his face. Instead, he tightened his grip on Clint and pressed him harder into the wall.
Clint let out an involuntary gasp of pain, as his back was crushed against the cement wall.
The man's eyes suddenly widened and rolled into the back of his head. His grip on Clint loosened as he dropped to the ground. Beckett stood behind the man, a large steel pipe in her hand; she had obviously just bashed the man on the head with it.
Clint gave her a grim nod, before stooping to the ground to pick up his bow again. He turned to face the remaining men that were streaming from the hall.
"How we doing, Nat?" Clint called as he moved to a new position. He let another arrow fly into the crowd of oncoming men. It hit its target, piercing the man's throat.
"We've had worse." Natasha shot back, as she fired off her gun and ducked behind the wall. Bullets from the enemy thudded into the wall.
Clint silently agreed. The morons couldn't have been too smart, since they didn't realize that by coming through the hallway door, they were basically forcing themselves to come through only one or two at a time, making it easy for Clint and Natasha to pick them off with their weapons.
"There can't be too many more." Castle exclaimed from where he was hiding behind his pillar.
As it turned out, Castle was right. After a few more minutes of the not too bright soldiers coming through the door, the flow slowed and then stopped altogether.
Clint cautiously stepped out from his pillar and prodded one of the dead soldiers with his toe.
"That was way easier than I thought." Clint said looking up to Natasha with a grin on his face.
She rolled her eyes in return, coming out from behind her pillar.
Clint turned his gaze to where Castle was standing, his brother's mouth opening and closing like he couldn't believe what had just happened.
Clint vaguely saw Beckett go to the hall door, poking her head through it, but most of his attention was on his brother.
"You're as good a shot as I remember." Clint said, walking forward until he was standing in front of Castle.
Castle regained some of his composure and nodded at Clint. "You too." He said. "I don't think you missed once." Castle added, awe in his voice.
Clint shrugged modestly, but felt his ego rising. "I could probably show you a few pointers, though guns aren't really my forte."
Castle rolled his eyes and opened his mouth to respond when there was a cry from the hallway door. Both Clint and Castle's heads snapped in the direction of the noise.
Tombstone was standing just in view with Beckett clasped against his ice hard chest. His forearm covered her throat, stopping anymore noise coming from the detective. She was trying not to show it, but the fear was evident in her wide eyes.
"Beckett!" Castle cried his voice cracking. He started to run forward, but was stopped by Clint. His brother held Castle's forearm with one hand and though Castle tried, there was no getting away from Clint.
"Stop!" Clint snapped. Castle glared at his bother and tried to wrench his arm out of Clint's grasp, but didn't succeed; Clint was a lot stronger than he remembered.
"But he's got Kate. That bastard is going to kill her." Castle hissed.
"I'm not going to let that happen." Clint snapped, his blue eyes flashing. "I let one of the Becketts die before and it's not going to happen. Not again."
Castle stopped his struggling, frowning at his brother. Slowly, he nodded and Clint released him.
Clint turned to face his former boss. "Let her go, Tombstone."
Tombstone laughed loudly. He shook Beckett. "She is my only ticket out of here." He spat back.
Tombstone started to move forward, where Clint, Natasha and Castle blocked the only exit. "You don't want to see her killed and I don't want to end up in jail again. So here's the deal, Clint, I walk out of here taking the lovely Katherine Beckett with me. You don't follow me and you don't call backup."
"You couldn't have me so you're taking the next best thing, right, Tombstone?" Clint snarled; bring his bow up with an arrow nocked.
Tombstone froze, "Don't even think about it, boy. You know that your puny arrow won't hurt me and you wouldn't risk me killing your beloved Beckett."
Castle touched Clint's arm and said, "Don't. You'll kill her."
Clint shrugged off Castle's hand. "I know what I'm doing."
"Do you?" Tombstone said. "Do you really want to see what happens if you shoot your arrow at me?"
"I know what's going to happen." Clint replied with a cocky grin. "You're going to die and Beckett will walk free."
"Try it." Tombstone snapped. "I dare you."
"Clint!" Castle pleaded, "You can't hurt him. You've tried to kill him before and he didn't die."
Clint didn't look at Castle; his gaze was focused on Tombstone. The muscles in his jaw jumped as he clenched his teeth.
"Do it." Beckett's voice rang out suddenly. Her eyes were hard and determined. "Take the shot, dammit."
"Kate, no!" Castle moaned.
Clint turned his gaze to Beckett. His face was mask and didn't show any emotion, but after a few moments Clint let out a cry of anger and slowly lowered his bow.
Tombstone's smile gleamed in the dim lighting. "Good boy." The man started to move forward, preparing to go through Clint and the others to get to the exit.
His footsteps were loud and deliberate, taking his time to walk the short distance across the room. "You've made the right decision, Clint." Tombstone said, his voice mocking the archer.
"I know." Clint said unexpectedly. In one fluid and sudden motion Clint brought his bow back up. A second later his arrow flew from his bow.
Castle let out a horrified yell and dived forward, knocking Clint to the ground.
"You son of a bitch!" He screamed at his brother, "You've killed her!"
Clint flipped Castle off him and sprang to his feet. "I haven't killed anyone but Tombstone."
Castle took a breath and looked to where Clint was pointing, afraid to see Beckett's dead body slumped to the ground. Instead, Tombstone was on his back, not moving. Beckett was in the process of untangling herself from the big man's deadly embrace.
"Kate…" Castle said in a strangled whisper. He got up to his feet and rushed forward.
Castle reached Beckett just as the detective stood to her feet. He crushed her to him in a tight embrace.
Clint moved forward and stopped next to Tombstone's body. An arrow was protruding from his former boss's eye; the one place where Tombstone didn't have the protection of his ice hard skin. The arrow had shot straight and true; it had entered Tombstone's right eye and had gone half way through the man's head before hitting the back of Tombstone's skull.
Clint nudged Tombstone's body with his booted toe and took a large gulp of air. He had done it; killed the man that had had him under his thumb for years. Finally, it was all over.
Natasha appeared next to his elbow and gave his arm a nudge. He looked at his friend and slowly smiled.
"I did good, didn't I?" He asked with a shit eating grin.
"Yeah." Natasha said, her own lips twitching into something close to a smile. "You did good."
Tombstone didn't die when Clint stabbed him. The man had skin that was as hard as stone and the KA-BAR merely wounded him. The knife wound could barely be called that. It was shallow and didn't require much medical attention. Clint had been lucky that SHIELD had arrived on the scene when they had.
Clint watched from the side of one the vehicles as the EMTs wheeled Tombstone out of the building. Clint's former boss was strapped down to the gurney so that he couldn't move, but Clint could feel fear prickling under his skin.
He saw Tombstone's head turn so that he was looking over at Clint. Tombstone smiled and his teeth glinted in the glare of the headlights.
"I'm coming for you, hawk." Tombstone mouthed silently before he was loaded onto the SHIELD ambulance.
Clint shivered suddenly and pulled his jacket tighter against to his body.
"Clint." Joanna's voice came from his left and he turned to look at her. Clint met her eyes for a second before he glanced down at his dirty boots.
"I'm sorry." He mumbled. "I guess you see why Tombstone liked me so much."
"No." Joanna said, touching his arm with her hand. "I see a young man with so much potential to be the most amazing person that this world has ever seen. You can be anything you want, Clint. You can change the world."
Clint sniffled a little and reached up to scrub a hand across his nose. "Really?" He said skeptically, looking up.
"Really." Joanna replied firmly. She pulled him closer to her and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. They stood like that, Clint wrapped in Joanna's embrace, for several moments.
"It's time." A voice came from Clint's right causing Joanna to pull away. An apologetic man stood a respectful distance from the two.
"Director Fury wants the boy on his way. He also requested me to tell you that you should be on your way home as well. Job well done." The young man gave Joanna a polite smile.
Joanna turned to Clint. "Looks like this is it."
Clint nodded in return. She gave Clint's arm one final squeeze before she turned away.
"Keep in touch." She said as she walked away. "I'll be seeing you soon, Hawkeye."
A/N: So here's the big chapter. Tombstone is finally dead and there's hugs all around. Seriously, though, this chapter was so hard to write and I'm still not happy with how it turned out. I hope it's good enough for all of you. Let me know if you see any mistakes (I didn't have anyone else look at this before I posted it) and I'll make sure to change them.
I'm really sorry that it's taken me so long to get this out to you all. I've had the worst writer's block with this chapter, as well as school and work. The next and final chapter should be out much faster. I have most of it written, I just need to add a few more parts and edit it and then I'll post it.
And, as always, I'm so grateful to all of the reviews, favorites and follows.
On a side note, the title for this chapter is from the song "Song of the Lonely Mountain" by Neil Finn. It's the song that plays in the credits of "The Hobbit."