I am so, so, so sorry! this chapter was supposed to be up a week ago! but i live on Long Island, and got hit by Hurricane Sandy, who kindly knocked out my power till Wednesday, and my internet till Sunday. and then my school, inconsiderate as it is, decided not to cancel the major tests that we have this week, despite the fact that half of the kids in our school don't have power and are currently displayced all over the 5 boroughs of Manhattan, the 5 towns, and New Jersey. so i stayed up till who knows what time last night studing for a Algebra II test, which went fine today, thanks for asking. But I still have a Chumash (that's the Bible in Hebrew, for the majority of you who don't speak the language. and we learn it really in depth, and the class is murder) tomorrow and a chemistry test the day after. So i won't get much writing done. So I appologize in advance for the cliffie, but i didn't have enough time to finish it, and i just wanted to give you guys this update. This chapter was actually really hard to write, and has been taking a while. AND I'm supposed to be writing my 1,000 words a day for NaNoWriMo YWP, so that I can reach my goal of 30,000 words. Yeah, that hasn't been happening so far. Instead of 6,000 words, so far, I have 3,000. Not so good. So please yell at me so that I'll feel the need to write. I need motivation, people!

Please read, enjoy, and don't forget to review!

The prank wars were well under way when JARVIS alerted Tony. They had been going on for about a week. So far, Clint's hair had been died pink, the captains punching bags filled with sand, Thor and Loki's capes were stolen and then returned ripped, and someone had put rainbow stickers all over Natasha's guns. Everyone fessed up to what they had done, or it was forced out of them. But they never did find out who dyed all of Bruce's pants green. And at the end of it all, Tony was the only one who went unscathed. No one was quite sure how he'd managed that.
After the 1st week, Fury had nearly given up on them. That's when Tony made a joke that Fury would have to revive Coulson from the dead to keep them in line. And that's when they saw it. A little flicker, barely there, of uncertainty in the director's eyes. Almost regret. As if there was something he wanted to say, but couldn't.
"Now that's unlike Fury," Tony thought absentmindedly. At first he brushed it off, but all throughout the day, the thought kept pestering him. He couldn't even concentrate on planning pranks, for G-d's sake! What was this world coming to?
Eventually, he gave into the annoying voice in the back of his head, and let himself in through the electronic backdoor Tony had left for himself in S.H.E.I.L.D.'S computers and got to work. And after only 25 minutes, he found what he was looking for.
Within 5 minutes, the entire team was assembled in the family room.
"You found WHAT?" Natasha yelled.
"I know, I know, I'm shocked too." Tony said calmly, "and right now all I want to do is take out Fury's other eye. But let's stay calm for a moment."
The entire team was on different levels of shock. Steve looked like a deer in headlights. Thor was practically dancing around the room in sheer happiness. Natasha seemed to have tears in her eyes. Bruce was grinning from ear to ear, and shaking his head in slight disbelief, but didn't seem the least bit surprised. Loki, well, the guy probably didn't know how to feel. Loki had felt terrible about killing him but now that he might be alive?
Suddenly, Natasha turned to Clint. He had sunken down to the sofa with his head in his hands. He was shaking, and heavy sobs wracked his body. Natasha sat down next to him, and put an arm on his shoulder. The archer looked up at her, his eyes filled with tears of joy.
"Tasha," he whispered, "he's alive!" Natasha smiled back at him.
"I know. Now let's get off our buts and go find your boyfriend."

The next few hours were a complete blur to Clint. He was vaguely aware of everyone piling into one of the Quinjets and flying towards the Helicarrier, which was currently stationed of the coast of Africa, dealing with a situation in Wakanda.

The plan was simple. They would fly directly onto the Helicarier, find Fury, and force the one eyed jerk to tell them where Phil was.

Phil. G-d, it had been so log. Clint remembered that awful feeling he'd gotten the moment he'd asked Tasha where his boyfriend was. They were on the Quinjet, on the flight down to Manhattan. When he asked, Natasha's face went pale. Steve, not realizing the full gravity of what he was about to say, announced frankly,

"Agent Coulson is down. Loki got to him."

At that, Clint had frozen and his hands went frozen at the controls. Natasha quickly put the plane on autopilot. It stayed that way until Clint was forced to return to the controls to land the plane. The rest of the time, Clint sat in a stupor, refusing to face the cold, harsh, truth.

Phil. His Phil. Phil he was gone. Forever. It simply wasn't possible. All this time, Phil was his only constant, when he'd come back from a mission, Phil would be there with a fresh mug of coffee and a welcome embrace. He would sit quietly while and patiently while Clint would rant about Fury, S.H.E.I.L.D., and basically anyone else involved in the mission that might possibly have done something stupid or annoying. Phil would help hide him from medical even if he really did need the doctors' attention. Instead, the two of them would sit quietly on that couch in Phil's office. Clint would lay his head down on his lap, and the two of them would just sit there quietly while Phil stroked Clint's hair softly. He never told anyone, because it was pretty embarrassing. When Natasha walked in on them once, she just smirked, and walked out. She never said another word about it. That was only one of the hundreds of moments that were running through his head, all demanding to be listened to and remembered. All those perfect moments, all their time together. And now, Phil was just gone.

It was odd, fighting, without Phil's constant updates flooding the earpiece channel. To no go directly to his boyfriend's office right when they landed and stake out there until Fury dragged him to a debriefing. But he'd gotten used to it. Reluctantly. Natasha had forced him to move on after she found him in his room, surrounded by at least half a dozen bottles of scotch for the second night in a row. She was right, of course, however much Clint hated to admit it. But there was no way he'd be able function, living like that. So he'd moved on. Tried to forget him. But forgetting Phil- it was impossible. It was like trying to cut off a piece of yourself.

The stoic expression that he always seemed to be able to hold whenever he was working. The grin that broke through when Clint made him laugh, despite his attempt to be serious. The look of exasperation and fondness that followed the grin. His laugh, and the way his face lit up when he talked about his dad and his new girlfriend, and cellist from Portland. Phil's mom had passed away when he was a baby, and growing up, it was him, his dad, and three younger brothers. His dad had only started dating again recently, and he'd moved to Portland to live with his girlfriend who he'd met on the internet, not a week before the attack on Manhattan.

Somehow, Clint had managed to move on. And when Fury ordered the to Stark Tower, he was revived. Since the attack, every time he finished a mission, he would go home o a cold, empty apartment. The tower offered a distraction. It was constantly busy, there was never a dull moment. It seemed impossible to be alone in that place, despite its size. And that was just what Clint needed. And it worked. S the days went by, he found himself thinking about Phil less and less. He got wrapped up in the life of the tower- the pranks and crazy Stark-esque schemes, a whole different type of missions, and just having a new, if not beyond dysfunctional, family. The team was even convinced that he and Natasha had a thing for each other, which was beyond laughable. Natasha was like a sister to him, the little sister he never had. The thought of hooking up frankly grossed them out. It was fun watching the rest of the team try to interpret every innuendo; each mixed message they made sent on just to drive them nuts. But despite his newfound happiness, there was still an empty void in his heart, one that could never be filled by anything or anyone else. And then Tony showed them the video feed that JARVIS uncovered.

He still wanted to throttle to idiotic genius for making them watch the entire clip. Watching Loki stab the love of his lie through the back made his heart twist inside if him. He had been able to feel Loki shift awkwardly next to him, clearly ashamed and embarrassed. Clint ignored the obviously uncomfortably god beside him and focused n Phil's prone form displayed in brought Technicolor before him. He'd stared, slightly confused. Were those wires coming out of his body? And why was the med team simply dragging Phil's body away? Did the bastard have no respect for him? Those doctors were going to pay, he'd thought angrily. He'd turned to Tony, about to grill the idiot why the hell he was making them watch this. But Tony just pointed to the screen, and lint turned, just in time to watch Phil, perfectly healthy and whole step out of the shadows. What the f-in hell? Clint watched in shock as Phil turned to Fury and had an entire conversation wit him, as if nothing had just happened-as if Phil hadn't just DIED.

"Life model decoys." Tasha had muttered. OF COURSE! He was such an idiot.

Then the extent of what that meant hit Clint full force. His mind began to race a million miles a minute. Phil was alive! After these heartrenching past months, he was alive! Clint had sunk to the couch, and tears of joy streaming down his cheeks unabashedly.

After a moment, though, he'd composed himself. He knew just who was responsible for keeping Phil, his Phil, from him.

"Fury's gonna pay." He'd hissed, anger filling his eyes.

Apparently the rest of the team shared his sentiment, because here they were, cruising at 2,000 feet above the Atlantic.

"Helicarrier in 30." He heard Steve call fro the cockpit. Clint steadied his nerves. He was not going to let himself break down over this.

As soon as they landed, Clint was out of the plane and on the Helicarrier's tarmac, marching towards the bridge. As he walked, the team flanked him on either side; Tony and Thor on his right, Natasha, Steve, and Bruce on his left. Clint realized that they probably all did it almost unconsciously by now. It felt good to be surrounded by his teammates. He was going to be strong. He could do this.

They marched through the Helicarrier's many corridors. They passed dozens of S.H.E.I.L.D agents, all who looked terrified out of their wits to see the hailed Avengers on board, and looking angry. All except one that it.

"And what exactly are you all doing here?" Maria Hill asked. She looked none to happy to see them.

"Hill, I like you." Tony said, taking control of the situation immediately. "I don't want to include you on my warpath of revenge that will start in about, oh, fifteen minutes or so. So if you would be a dear and just tell us when darling Nicky is and we'll leave you alone."

Maria looked at them, not impressed. But she jerked her head to the left. "His office is a few doors down that way. Try not to kill him. Without me being there to witness it, at least."

Tony grinned and Clint could have sworn that Tony skipped the few feet to Fury's office, a gleeful smile on his face. Stark probably felt like a kid in a candy store- he was about to piss someone off, and people were actually asking him to do it.

It was only after they walked into Fury's office that Clint realized that he'd never actually been in the director's office. He took a second to look around the room silently as Stark began his tirade.
He had an impressive view. The shore of Wakanda sparkled beneath them, set aflame by the setting sun in the distance. The office itself was nicely sized, as offices on the Helicarrier. Phil's office was more like a closet.
'Is'. Clint corrected himself mentally.
Then he decided to tune back into Tony's rant, because it was probably drawing to a close by now.
"How could possibly think this was a good idea? What good would ever come this? Did you think I wasn't going to find out?" Tony raged.
Ok, not done yet. Clint stared Fury, trying to gauge his reaction to all this. He sat there stoically, taking in the shouting with a complelty straight face- absolutely devoid of any emotion or reaction. What was this guy, stone?
"So where is he?" Demanded Stark as he finished his speech.
"And what makes you think I'm going to tell you where he is?" Clint stared at Fury. He was seriously not going to tell them?
"I've had enough of this sh*." Clint said. He turned on his heel and stalked out of the room. He heard the entire team run after him. Surprisingly, it was Bruce who caught up with him first.
"Uh. Clint?" He asked, slightly hesitatingly. "Why did you just run out of there?"
"Because I'm not going to bother to wait for Fury's blessing." Clint practically spit, as he made a sharp left, turning onto yet another corridor.
"Ok, I get that. But where are we goi-Oh." Clint had stopped in front of a door, which was seemingly identical to all the others in the hallway. But this door said "Coulson" on it.
"You do think he's inside, do you?" Steve asked, having caught up to them.
"I know he's inside." Clint said firmly, and pushed the door open wide. The rest of the team filed in behind him silently.
And it was empty.
They all stood there for a moment, not saying anything.