Chapter Trigger Warnings: None
Chapter 11
"Clint, what are we doing here again?" Wanda growls as they enter the flea market for the fourth day in a row.
"When we hear from Kate, we can stop coming." Clint stomps over to the peach seller and growls, "Do you have any pit-less peaches?"
"Still none, stop asking!" The seller snaps back with just as much frustration and venom.
"See? Even he's tired of seeing us." Wanda pulls Clint away and walks him far from the rest of the crowd, "She is your sister-in-law, there has to be another way to contact her other than passing a vague code-phrase around."
Clint hisses back at her, "THERE ISN'T!"
"How did you and Laura tell her whenever a baby was born? Huh?" Wanda threw her arms up, "There has to be a way to contact her in case of an emergency, you can't have come here EVERY time you needed to speak with her!"
"Oh, gee, you're right, I totally forgot I have her cell on speed-dial!" Clint stormed off a few feet, "We had a way to call her, it was in our house, it's charcoal now!"
"Oh, yeah, that's smart, make a scene. Attract attention." A dark skinned woman strolls out from between the tents and crosses her arms. Her shorts and tank top only serve to highlight impressively toned muscles, and even though she may look harmless and unimposing with her hair in braided pigtails, a sharp eye saw her for what she was- a fighter. And a very well trained one at that.
Clint barely hesitates while he assesses her, "We need to talk to Kate."
"That's not happening."
"You don't get it-"
"If Kate wanted to be an Avenger, she'd have sought you out. Just because you're a fugitive now, Hawkeye, doesn't mean she's any more interested in the job."
Wanda sizes the girl up, "Hydra has a Kate Bishop of their own, but we know it isn't her. We need to know if the real Kate Bishop has any idea who has stolen her name."
"When did she surface?" The woman isn't surprised in the least.
"We don't know."
The woman chews her upper lip as she thinks, "I'm only telling you this because you were an Avenger, otherwise I'd keep my trap shut, but… Kate and I are roommates-"
"You're Monique?"
"I'm Monique. You knowing my name means Kate trusted you more than she let on." There is bitterness in her voice. "Three months ago Kate was getting ready to go out on a mission- looking to work her way through a cartel that's been bringing in shipments of human cargo. Kate opened the window and Marco was standing on the fire escape waiting for her. His men broke down the front door and forced me into a dining room chair, Marco took Kate back to her room and closed the door. About ten minutes later they came out and Marco's men dragged Kate out of the apartment. The guys on me stayed for a while- probably until Marco and Kate were away- then they handcuffed me to the chair and left. Took me an hour to get loose and I had to break two thumbs to do it." She shakes her head and her voice wobbles slightly, "I don't even know if Kate's alive. I don't want to think about what that sick fuck is doing to her if she is…"
"Thank you for letting us know," Clint nods to Monique. "Kate is… She's important to me, a longtime friend. I'll do what I can to get her back."
"You can't take down Marco. He's the most powerful crime lord in the country." Monique shakes her head, "Don't feed false hope."
"I know exactly what kind of man Marco is." Clint's snarl is a rare display of temper from the Avenger.
Wanda puts a hand on his arm, noting the white knuckles of his fist, aching to punch something, "Thank you, Monique, for the information. We will do what we can to get Kate back, do not worry." She nodded and Monique took the hint. The woman looks Clint up and down, then walks back towards the stalls and the crowd. Almost as soon as she enters the crowd, she's vanished.
"Now we have to find Marco. Great."
"Do you think Kate is still alive?" Wanda keeps her tone soft as she follows Clint away from the market and towards the road.
"She's still alive," Clint is positive, "Marco is territorial. He won't kill her, but that doesn't mean he's above keeping her under house arrest- in his house."
"What do you mean territorial?" Wanda frowns, "What is Kate's relationship with Marco?"
"None, directly." Clint casts a glance to Wanda, then sighs, "It's kind of a touchy subject."
"I'm here to help you find Kate. Now that means going to Marco. We are friends, Clint, and I am with you on this mission. I need to know what you know about this man."
Clint hangs his head for a moment and mumbles something.
"I did not catch that."
"Marco mmph-mummnr."
"Try again."
"Marco's my brother, OK?!" Even though he's whispering, Clint manages to sound as though he'd screamed it, "Marco won't hurt Kate because she's my sister-in-law, but that doesn't mean he won't sell her identity to the highest bidder if they've got enough coin! He could have sold it to some assassin trying to kill Laura and the kids, he wouldn't ask questions like that!"
Wanda is stunned, "Your brother is the most powerful crime lord in the United States?"
"He's a greedy little prick who only thinks about himself. Twenty years ago he was the right-hand man to the last Marco. He saw an opening, turned Marco's generals to his side, and when he was ready he slit the man's throat and took his place. SHIELD's been trying to take him out for ages. I've been trying to take him down since I was eighteen. He's a smart little dick-head."
"Who somehow knows Kate is your sister-in-law?" Clint hadn't even told the Avengers about Laura until he absolutely had to, why had he told a brother he so clearly hated with every fiber of his being?
Clint waves for a taxi, but none stop- probably because he looks like he's ready to murder the first person who looks at him wrong, "Laura and I were married in secret. Only Fury knew- and we honeymooned in a hunting cabin deep in the middle of nowhere. By morning there was a 'Welcome to the family' bouquet for Laura on the porch. He's got a stupid rule about family, but don't be fooled- Monique is lucky to be alive. Kate must have had some sort of leverage over him to negotiate that. He doesn't leave witnesses."
Wanda waves off the one taxi that finally slows down and spins Clint to face her, "You need to tell me what our next move is. Do we join the others in Virginia, or do we go after your brother?"
"Ooh, I vote for going after the brother," Clint spins and throws a dagger at the man who seemed to appear out of nowhere behind them. Wanda readies her powers to block anything he might throw at them- but he simply catches the blade and begins to casually spin it around his knuckles.
Clint doesn't leave it at the knife. He takes a step towards him- probably meaning to make a violent scene in public, but the man holds up a hand and he freezes. Wanda watches him carefully. He's extremely well dressed in a fitted gray suit, accented with silver embroidery that makes it look as though his clothes ripple in the sunlight. His sandy hair is short, but not so short he does not have it immaculately styled in that chic I-didn't-try kind of way. Straight nose, sharp jaw, high cheekbones- his face is too sculpted- as though an admittedly skilled plastic surgeon went to town all over.
Two red dots are on Clint's chest, and Hawkeye eyes them before looking up at the gray-suited man, "Where. Is. Kate."
"Surely even Avengers know how to say 'please'?"
"Fuck yourself in the ass with a rusty crowbar."
Wanda gets it then, "You're Marco?"
"My friends get to call me Berny. Berny Barton." He holds out a hand that is obviously going to be ignored.
"Yeah, so you're Marco." Wanda doesn't miss the glint of approval in Clint's eye as she swats his outstretched hand, "He asked you where Kate Bishop is, it's time to answer."
"Kate Bishop is a very skilled mercenary with an impressive kill record," Marco's smile is nothing short of angelic. "I believe she is proudly serving as a member of Hydra now."
"The real Kate Bishop." Clint snaps through gritted teeth.
Marco feigns surprise, "Oh her? Well, she's… around." He sighs, "Truthfully she's horrible company. Too much swearing for my taste, but you know how much I love blonds, especially spunky ones... Mmmh, spunky blonds who smell nice..."
"Drop the act, we both know you wouldn't touch her, she's not your type. So, why did you take her?"
"Client needed Kate's kill record, she came to me, I sold it to her. Can't have Kate popping up and ruining it, so I'm keeping her. For now. The lease on her ID was only a six-month one. She's already made the halfway point! We had a party, with an ice cream cake an everything! Well- those of us who weren't potty-mouths did."
Clint was shaking with rage, "Do you have any idea who's also in that Hydra base?"
Marco's smile goes from innocent to wolfish, "If the rumors are to be believed, my darling sister-in-law and her brood." He gasps again at the look of disgust and rage on Clint's face, "Oh no, you thought maybe I didn't know? Someone asked for an identity, I sold it to them and secured their purchase. It is no business of mine what their goals may or may not be, and your family is your responsibility. Clinton, what is it mommy always said was the most important thing in the world?"
He waits expectantly. More to speed the discussion along than anything else, Clint barks out the answer, "Family."
"That's right. Family. A big, happy family. Now I tried to mend fences- as you mentioned to this charming Sokovian witch here, I did send flowers after the wedding. What did you do?"
"I set them on fire."
"You. Set. Them. On. Fire." Marco slips the knife into a sleeve and crosses his arms, "And I sent more flowers after every child was born, all three girls-"
"Two boys, one girl."
"-all three whatevers. I sent flowers to Laura and even made little contributions to their college funds in lieu of gifts over the years." He nods to Wanda conspiratorially, "Harder to set money in a bank account on fire." Marco turns his attention back to Clinton, "You didn't want me in your family's life, and yet here I am- without the blood of your sister-in-law on my hands, even though my men made fun of me for only keeping her as a pet."
"No they didn't." Clint spits, "You'd have killed them if they tried."
Marco laughs, "That's true. Even so, I've answered your questions, and you didn't even have to threaten me. What's that worth if not the love of a brother?"
"Your life." Wanda smiles, and sends a bolt of power towards him, stopping it just between his eyes, "Tell your men to fire, and I will block their bullets before they are within fifty feet of Clint." She glances to her companion, "Do you want him? You said SHIELD's been trying to get at him."
Clint stares at Marco for a long time before making his decision, "No, Wanda. The damage is done, and I won't risk Kate. Not yet. I will kill you, little brother, but I'll get my wife back and kill your little imposter first."
"Better hurry, she's a gal on a mission," Marco waves sarcastically. A taxi pulls up behind Clint and Wanda- clearly one of Marco's men. He walks past the Avengers and waits while the cabbie holds the door open for him, then closes it with a quick bow, "Oh, one more thing, Clint-" Marco rolls down the window as the driver returns to his seat, "I just want you to know that even if the improved Kate Bishop told me her mission was to go into that facility and skin Mrs. Barton alive- I would still have given her what she wanted." The glare returns, "Family gets you a foot in the door, but don't ever think it gives you a free pass to behave as you wish. Frankly speaking? You've been extra intolerable ever since that stupid bitch fell into your life- if you'll pardon the French. It was only a matter of time before someone did the world a favor and took her out of it."
The icy darkness that filled Marco's eyes as he spoke abruptly brakes into another pleasant grin as the cab pulls away and the red dots vanish from Clint's back, "See you at Thanksgiving, big brother!"
"Are you sure you don't want me to kill him? He isn't out of my range yet." Wanda glares after the cab as it vanishes into the busy throng of LA traffic.
"No, because I want to take my time breaking his bones… Or having Bucky break his bones. He seems like a guy who could give me tips on torture." Clint's fists clench and unclench.
"Deep breaths," Wanda reminds her friend as he continues to tremble with rage, "just picture that Thanksgiving dinner- you, Laura, the kids- everyone around the table, happy as can be… And your brother with a skewer shoved up his ass roasting over the fire."
Clint forces a smile and waves down a taxi of their own, "That's actually a nice image. Maybe I can get Steve to paint me a mural of it. Especially the part with that smug son-of-a-bitch on fire."
"I'm sure he's just riling you," Wanda assures him as they climb into the cab, "he won't let anything happen to the children, at least. No matter his feelings towards their mother." She was aware of the cabbie as she spoke.
Clint gives the man directions to the hostel they were hiding at and sat back with a sigh, "The problem with my brother is- I can't even believe that right now… Saving Kate, damning Laura… I guess there's one silver lining."
"What's that?"
"Nat's not here." Clint smiles sadly at Wanda, "She and-" he glanced to the driver, a notorious crime lord's name might draw unwanted attention, "-and Berny have a bit of a history of trying to kill each other."
"Too bad she took Anthony's side then." Wanda rolls her eyes, "I'd give everything to see that grin wiped off of Berny's face. Permanently."
Clint did not reply. His rage at seeing his brother was beginning to ebb, and dread was sinking in. It was a week since you entered the Hydra facility. Any day now you would be let out for a bit of a reprieve. If Bucky could get close to you- and if you hadn't decided to sell everyone down the river- then there is a chance you would have more intel on Laura and the kids, or on Agent Kate Bishop. Or that Bucky would get a picture of Kate's face- enough perhaps for Clint to look over and see who exactly was gunning for his family so he could know just how screwed everyone was.
"Have faith," Wanda puts a hand on Clint's shoulder, "everything will be alright."
As Clint smiles feebly in response, he cannot know that on the other side of the country, Hydra's Lazarus device has already claimed a life.
