ITS THE DRAMATIC CONCLUSION! Get your hankies ready people!
Epilogue
The cast lasted precisely three weeks before Clint walked down into Tony's lab, and used a miter saw to cut it off his forearm. If he planned to use his bow for this death match, he couldn't have the extra cast weight keeping him down, and working against his aim. He found Tony's old air cast, from his first broken arm, in the shared bathroom, and decided to go with that instead. At least now he could fit it in his long sleeves. He stocked his quiver with trick arrows and standard tips, and zipped up his vest as he grabbed the entire lot of them.
Arrow knew something changed in the air. The growing wolf paced back and forth, keeping right on his owner's leg as the man walked around the lab. To the wolf, this meant a trip; a ride in the car with his head shoved out a window, or the possibility of a great adventure to the closest Brooklyn pizza shop for a slice of meat lovers. The pink tongue poked out the side of his mouth as he salivated in excitement.
Occasionally, Clint would drop his hand to the wolf's head and stroke the fur. "Going on a trip? Get your stuff, we won't be back here for a while. Go get your bowl."
Arrow bounded away on four overgrown paws. He grabbed the tin dog dish Tony fabricated out of, what he considered, the "Hawkeye" colors: amethyst and black metal. Arrow returned to set it on the workbench. Clint slid it into the duffle bag along with a few spare arrow tips.
"Don't forget your toys." Clint said to the wolf.
Arrow's ears perked. He pounced off to the steel box beside his food, and dropped his nose inside. He returned carrying a softball, a three foot squeaky gecko, and a bumble ball all at the same time. Clint chuckled at the selection and set them inside the bowl.
The lab elevator opened and Tony strode out, flipping through the hologram of his cell phone. Noticing Clint and Arrow with the ready duty pack, brought him up short. He slipped a hand across the hologram and placed the phone in his pocket.
"Did Fury call, or are you and Molotov off for another sexy weekend?"
"You know what this is." Clint said. Arrow's head went from one of his favorite people to the other. His tail fanned the air in nervous excitement.
Tony tensed. "We just got you back. Did you forget asking me to score you crack? I didn't! Is this really the best time to be doing this?"
"We already discussed this, Tony. And it's been three weeks." Clint replied easily. This wasn't coming as a surprise to anyone. They needed to act swiftly. If Clint had any hope of tracking down these leads in Blackstone he had to start working on them now before they caught on to him.
"I know we talked about it, but—"
Clint zipped his duffle closed and swung it over his shoulder. "It should happen now, while there is still a good excuse. What Barney did to me, those scientists, really screwed me up. I felt betrayed that no one found us ahead of time, that SHIELD sat on their hands and it took Phil's call to get the search party underway. I want revenge, Cap wants justice, you try to talk me out of it, and I take off."
The Asgardian bow shimmered to life, appearing in his left hand.
Tony may not like it, but there was no denying the point Clint made. He tried his final card, to prevent this meeting from being the last for months to come. "What about Natasha?"
"Already said goodbye." Clint returned without missing a beat.
Tony opened his mouth, and then closed it. He held an expression of pure disgruntlement. It was his intention to be far away from the Tower when this bit of Hell came crashing down on them, but unfortunately for him, Clint decided to take some initiative. His eyes diverted around the room, as if intending to manufacture another excuse, but coming up with none. They'd put this off long enough with one mission or another. He'd worked himself to the bone, the entire team had, to track down Charles Barton once and for all to no avail. When the man disappeared, he truly fell off the planet. Thor himself was still out tracking down a potential lead on the southern coast of Canada. Clint's departure may flush Charles out.
The GH serum leads got them no where fast. Even a heated call to Phil produced no more information on the origin, make, or model. Coulson assured him he intended to look more in depth at the case and planned to contact them if anything new arose. As for what exactly was contained in the parcel Clint and the Captain transported in the first place, SHIELD went silent. Not willingly to accept that as an answer, Steve and Romanov both took a trip to D.C. in order to shake information out of some Level 10 agents.
It was high time to get this over with.
"So," Tony said, folding his arms. "You've planned this out. Baywatch is out playing mounty. Tasha-tots is down with the Capsicle and won't be back till tomorrow. Pepper just left ten minutes ago to drive with Bruce back to Princeton. It's just you and me."
"Yeah, that's how I planned it."
"So are we fixing to wrestle, Carny-boy?"
"Something like that. Put on your suit."
No sooner had the words left his mouth, the room exploded with light and movement. Clint drew his first trick arrow, a flash bomb, and the lab engulfed in crackles of smoke and light. Confused, Arrow instantly fell back on his training and stuck to Clint's side. The closest Iron Man suit leaped from the shelf, guided by Tony's invisible call as it clung against him piece by piece.
This was a first for them. Stark and Clint had numerous small skirmishes in their past. Their second meeting included a poolside bout that left Tony nearly drowning, while Clint held his damaged ribs and laughed. Since that time, they were common sparring partners. Similar in height and body mass, they hit the gym to kick the crap out of each other in the name of practice. After over two years of this continuous amount of conditioning to one another's fighting style, this moment would be their most epic yet. No holds barred.
Clint knew his arm would be his handicap, so he had to strike soon and fast. Both knew very well that for this plan of theirs to work, they had to move out into public. Destroying a little bit of the Tower in the meantime would score a considerable amount of bonus points for the, Clint-has-gone-rogue, column. That, and the archer took a little sadistic pleasure in destroying the toys Tony often tormented him with.
Bucket containing dry ice? Exploded. Phosphoric acid used to melt through his door handle? A blunt arrow threw that bottle over Tony's desk top. Fire extinguisher at three am? It exploded in a hailstorm of canister parts and white smoke.
Clint got lost in the cloud for a moment before Tony rushed him from behind, and threw him into a bear hug. He was in full armor now.
"So, what story are we running with?" Tony asked curiously as he squeezed Clint's arms against his chest.
"Just follow my lead and try to keep up." Clint replied. He dropped his weight forward, pulling Stark off balance before he twisted himself sideways, dragging Tony's right arm with him. Now, Clint stood behind him with Stark's arm at an impossible angle.
Tony fired the repulsor and Clint flew forward with the force. The archer recovered through a forward body tumble, and came to his knees with an arrow ready. A net tip rocketed from the shaft, and tied Tony to the floor beneath the weight of it.
The growing wolf remained off to the side of the battle scene, watching its masters' duel fiercely against each other. Usually, if Clint invited him into the fray, he would attack on an instant, but this time, he remained on the sidelines in wonderment. Together, the men grappled one another first in front of him, and then to his left, lastly they shot up toward the ceiling with the aid of Tony's anti-gravs, until Clint's exploding tip hit the lab floor. Suddenly, the first level of R&D had a new elevator shaft leading directly down to the office below. Workers scattered, screaming. Their audience prepped, Tony released Clint to fall his way to the desk stations. Arrow trotted over and leaped down as well.
"Mr. Hawkeye?" A woman cried, shocked to see the archer sprawled over her table top.
Clint grunted, carefully cradling his arm as he pushed himself up. "Mrs. Holloway! How's Bohdi?"
"Why . . . uh, fine - "
Stark dropped from the ceiling, and destroyed the desk beside Clint.
"You know, we could have settled this without you wrecking my stuff."
Clint reached into his quiver and grabbed the next great trick tip. "You think this could have gone any other way?"
"Yeah, actually, I can have JARVIS calculate the - "
Clint fired an EMP, shorting out Tony's suit, if only temporarily. He stood, grabbing the next arrow, ignoring the attempts the office workers made to separate them.
"Shut up! That's all you do! You know what, Stark, maybe for once I'd like to have a life, and not just be some stooge for SHIELD, or Cap, or you!"
Tony managed to lift his faceplate, allowing them to stare eye-to-eye. The genuine concern was there, just as Clint expected it to be. Tony attempted to weigh how much of what Clint threw at him came from deep seated facts he never shared. This mission in Mexico rattled the team in more ways than one. It drudged up thoughts and feelings, either left buried or ignored. Tony saw a side of Clint, in that nanotech feed, he never thought could exist in his smart-mouth friend. As much as he didn't want to let the words hurt him, what Clint said now would stay with him forever.
But this wasn't the place for Clint's big reveal. They needed to be outside, captured by the world of camera phones and video uploads. Clint initiated it. The next tip he fired, exploded in Stark's core, throwing him backwards through a plate glass window. The cut he received scarred over, creating an indent through his left eyebrow. Barton followed him out, after grabbing his duffle, and ordering Arrow to head for the street. He knew the office workers would see to it he didn't get lost.
He had to fire two grappling arrows to make it down to street level. Tony, recovering most of his motor functions already, peeled out of a crushed powder blue Prius. Clint hit the roadway across from him, with the duffle slung over his chest and his bow set with a second arrow.
"Get up, Stark!" he shouted, circling the fellow Avenger.
Tony shook his head to clear the cobwebs of the thirty story drop. The streets were busy, and getting more congested by the second. A ring of the New York populace surrounded them. As suspected, the sight of the two warring Avengers was all they needed to collect in thicker masses.
"Get up!" Clint roared. He fired the first arrow, a standard tip which imbedded in Tony's shoulder plate, and readied a second on his bowstring.
Tony stood slowly to face him.
"I had everything I ever wanted!" Clint continued to shout, loud enough for the whole world to hear his words over and over on every news station for the next two months. "I had everything, and you just took it away from me!"
"It wasn't real!" Tony shouted back. He rubbed a gauntlet in his face, smearing the blood from his eye.
"It didn't matter!"
"It's the only thing that matters!" Tony stepped down from the wrecked hood of the Prius and crossed the sidewalk. Clint stood smack in the middle of the avenue. Traffic stopped, though even on this busy street of the city, no one honked to get them out of the way. The world was paralyzed as they watched.
"That world wasn't real! I found you, and brought you home! I fought hard to get you back, and how do you decide to show your gratitude? Like this?" Tony acted less and felt more. It was impossible with Clint to know what words he meant, and those he conjured up.
"You saved me?" Clint asked incredulously.
"Yes! I - "
The archer rushed him. Tony grabbed him sideways, throwing him into the asphalt, but Barton broke free on the ground, ramming an arrow tip between his plates of armor so hard, Tony could feel the tip meet skin. Mercifully he didn't jab harder, though Tony imagined it didn't look much different for those standing around them. Tony peeled back, rolling onto his side as he gingerly touched the arrow shaft.
Clint scrambled free, grabbed the end of his Asgardian bow like a club, and tried to swing it toward Stark's face. Tony barely dodged in time to avoid the full brunt of the weapon. He shot backwards with his repulsors, got some air beneath them, and hovered just out of reach. Clint pulled another standard tip, keeping the center of Stark's forehead in his sights.
"You know what would have stopped this? YOU, actually showing up and saving someone who mattered. We're friends, Tony! Where were you when I needed you? The one time I need someone else to bail me out, and where were you? You didn't even know I was gone! SHIELD would have left me there to die! If Captain America wasn't there, would you have even come to find me?"
Tony's heart beat frantically in his throat. He had to remind himself this was all an act, and that Clint didn't really hate him. Keeping his head on straight wasn't easy. He lost himself in the passion of Clint's accusations, and the words he came to regret poured out of him.
"You want that fake life of yours back? Then why don't you go back to sticking a needle in your arm to bring them all back? Your kids, your wife, that great big life you want so much. All just waiting at the end of your PCP pipe. Why don't you just get it over with?"
Another arrow fired in his direction, and Tony caught it before the tip burrowed into his chest plate. But this one was another trick shot. Half a second after Tony grasped the shaft, the tip erupted in a gaseous cloud. He held his breath, dropped his face plate, and went back on the offensive side.
He hit Clint with a right shoulder, lifting the archer off his feet and into a light post. Clint cried out with the force of the hit and the accompanying grasp around his still healing arm. Tony swung the archer by the offended limb, and flung him, straight into the arms of the shocked populace. Four Avengers fans worked in tandem to get Clint back of his feet, but that did little to his roughened arm. If he wasn't careful, the newspapers in the morning would report something very similar to his Deathlock story; only, instead of the faceless cyborg, Iron Man would be the cause of him never shooting again.
"You were like my brother! I thought I could count on you!" Clint roared.
"Well isn't that some angel to get compared to! Maybe next time you should get yourself out of danger, and leave the damsel in distress routine to people who aren't trying to be drug addicts." Tony's words were harsher than he ever meant them to be.
The phrase hit Clint like a closed fist. This was it, the final straw. Clint opened his bow hand, and the Asgardian bow faded away from view. He next grabbed the quiver from his back, and threw it in the street.
"I'm done." He said quietly.
"What do you mean, 'you're done'?"
Clint's wolf blasted through the front doors of Stark Tower to stand beside his master. The tension between them was as palpable as an electric current. Men and women stood to the side, and watched with bated breath as the Avengers came to terms with this massive change in their lives.
"I mean, I'm out!" Clint clarified.
"So what? You QUIT SHIELD, and now you're quitting US? Just like that?"
"Just like that." Clint emptied his pockets of the stray arrow tips and nocks. Even in reality, that little part of him didn't change.
"You can't quit!"
Clint grabbed the arrow head necklace he'd worn since just after his and Tony's first mission together. A woman he reportedly rescued, gave it to him and he had yet to take it off since. He tugged the cord until the leather strap ripped in half. That too, he tossed into the pile of gear on the sidewalk.
"I can. I am."
He crossed the asphalt to grab his bag, which dislodged in their fight. He reached for it with his right hand, and the minute he attempted to lift it, the acute pain of his freshly broken forearm shot through him. He felt like he was replaying those scenes in his memories. The ones where he could no longer shoot, where he was no longer SHIELD or an Avenger. Only this time, he carved the future himself. His decision had been made without the need for coercion, or drugs, or nanotech.
He hit his knees, playing up the pain Tony caused him. It was nothing compared to being electrocuted with a cattle prod, but to a public who had never been exposed to such visceral weakness in their heroes, Clint crumbled up on that asphalt was like watching him die.
Tony stepped toward him, the shock on his face hidden beneath the shadow of his mask.
Clint brushed him off, taking up his packed bag with his opposite hand. He made a motion to Arrow and the wolf fell in line beside him.
"Where are you going? Hawkeye, don't—"
"I'm not Hawkeye. Not anymore."
With his life carried by a single strap, his wolf trotting with lowered ears and tail by his side, and not a single arrow, Clint Barton brushed his way through the crowd. Men, women, and children cleared a path as he walked through them. A few of the braver souls offered a kind word, three tried to stop him, to talk some sense into him, but Clint didn't listen. He removed the transmitters to his hearing aids, and switched off the frequency. Walking deaf, lessened the blow of those hearts he crushed. He tried not to look in their faces. This had to be done. For the safety of the world, he had to fall on this sword.
Tony remained where he stood, watching Clint turn his back and run away with the mess of abandoned gear left behind. It felt real. It felt like he and Clint were parting ways once and for all, no matter what happened with Blackstone. Tony wanted to run after him, stop him, but Clint was a trained spy. Within half a minute, even the street gawkers lost him in their midst. Arrow most likely changed shape, and that would be all.
Phase one of their plan to catch Charles Barton, Blackstone, and the rest of Clint's captors was in motion. They had to play their parts, or everything would be worthless. All the torture Clint endured, would boil down to nothing gained.
So Tony watched him go, even as Clint never looked back.
THE CLIFFHANGER ENDING!
muhahahahaha.
want to know what happens next? Stay tuned for the next installment of my epic adventure!
Untitled: Alone in the world after a staged fight with Tony Stark, Clint goes under deep cover to infiltrate the secret organization known only as Blackstone and hopefully in the process find his own sadistic brother, Charles Barton. He knows they work with in SHIELD, and the dying breath of the Blackstone agent he knew came only with a single word: "Hydra". With little to go on, Clint needs to bring in outside assistance to catch these sleeper agents working within SHIELD. For that help, he goes to his own eye-in-the-sky, Peter Parker. But will Peter accept working with a man who the world considers a loser, dropout, drunkard, ex-hero crucified by all those who once esteemed him? Read and find out!
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