About to Blink

AN: I know you all thought that I was dead because it's been so long since this story was updated, but here's a new chapter. Sorry for the long, long wait. This is definitely hot off the press, so I apologise in advance for any typos that I've missed.

Smoke was currently fighting both Steve and Thor and no one seemed to be winning. Thor's hammer and Captain America's shield both seemed to have some effect on Smoke, although it wasn't as pronounced as the reaction to Clint's adamantium tipped arrows. The weapons simply passed through him, occasionally dragging particles of smoke with them as they moved. It seemed to be enough to keep the monster at bay, even if they couldn't defeat him this way. The arc reactor was making a series of loud noises that sounded both annoyed and urgent.

Clint only had his handgun and that was useless here. He could empty the mag into Smoke and it wouldn't do a thing.

"Clint!?" shouted Steve, in surprise. He caught his shield, and saw Clint as he did so.

"Yeah, ignore me," the archer shouted back, he moved over to the arc reactor to see if there was anything he could do. "Concentrate on the bad guy."

Iron Man flew into the room a few seconds after Hawkeye's arrival and did a double take when he saw Clint already there.

"Weren't you trying to avoid the magic act?" asked Iron Man, as he looked first at the ongoing fight to his right and then turned toward the arc reactor.

"Apparently I failed," said Clint. "This thing doesn't sound happy."

"That's because it isn't. All this EM radiation is interfering with the control circuits. I need to shut it down before the entire thing goes critical and blows this building sky high. Get that smog cloud out of here!"

Clint gave Tony a look, but gave up trying to help and ran towards Thor and Steve, completely unsure how he was going to deal with this situation. "Hey, guys. We need to take this fight elsewhere."

Smoke suddenly coalesced into the shape of a man. It held up its hands in what could only be taken as a gesture of surrender. The thing knelt down on the ground.

"Please, Hawkeye, I need help," said Smoke, glowing red eyes fixed on the archer's own. Its voice was the same combination of nails, razor blades and gravel that he'd heard in the Tower when Smoke had attacked him alone. Clint was surprised that he'd specifically spoken to him. The monster began to have trouble remaining in human form, but with obvious effort stayed in the shape of a man. "Please. Only the Avengers can help me."

"Get that thing out of here!" shouted Stark.

"You heard him," said Steve. "If you want our help then you have to leave this room."

"Tony, is there somewhere that's shielded from EM radiation down here?" asked Clint.

"Yeah, take a left and you'll find a lab where I work on delicate stuff," replied Tony. "It's shielded from everything."

"Move it," said Clint, waving his rather useless gun in the direction of the door. It still made him feel better to have a weapon in his hand.

Smoke obliged, with surprising ease and enthusiasm. The three Avengers walked him down the corridor to the lab that Tony had mentioned. The entity wasn't solid enough for them to get a grip on him, so all they could do was herd him in the right direction. They entered the room, a white painted lab with pieces of mechanical contraptions scattered across the benches, and Clint closed the door behind them. The room was only lit by the dim light of the emergency illumination, like most of the rest of the building.

"Start talking," said Steve, anger in his voice. "By showing up here, you nearly killed us all."

"That was the point," ground out Smoke.

Thor growled and got a better grip on his hammer. He looked like he was about to take a swing at their prisoner.

"Hang on," said Clint. "Why didn't you? The reactor was going critical and you might just have held on long enough for it to have been unsalvageable."

"I don't want to be this thing," said Smoke, with his distorted voice. "I don't want to be a monster. I was promised power, and instead I can't go out in public. I can't even pass for human. My form is unstable and I need doses of the same thing that they used to create me to keep me from just disintegrating. I work for the Corvallo family because I have no choice. I'm a dog on a leash."

Clint exchanged glances with Steve and Thor.

"Why should we believe what you say?" asked Thor. "You have attacked us twice."

"Like you said, I could have destroyed your reactor, but I didn't and I'm here talking to you now," said Smoke.

"Why are you here? You said we could help you…" said Steve.

"You have the Chitauri research," said Smoke. "I knew that Hawkeye downloaded a copy of the research from Eaglestar, and I'd hoped that you'd made some progress on finding out how this was done. That was why I came here before for the Corvallos."

"And found me asleep on the couch," said Clint.

"It was a surprise, but there's a standing order to kill you on sight," said Smoke. "Crossfire doesn't like that you took his eye. If I could have been the one to kill you then it would have bought me a lot of gratitude."

Clint stood slightly straighter at that news. It wasn't unexpected, but it definitely wasn't exactly what he wanted to hear.

"So you were one of the test subjects from Aqiria?" asked Clint.

"Yes, after they thought they'd got it perfected. They were wrong. I was supposed to be stronger and faster, instead I became this," said Smoke.

"You must have had a name before all this," said Steve.

"Hayes, Kieran Hayes," said the monster. Smoke turned his eyes on Clint.

Clint was in shock, and took half a step away from Smoke. "I thought Loki killed you."

Smoke shook his head. "I was still useful and unlike you, he didn't need to use his glowing stick on me. I was happy just to get paid. How do you think they got that contraption to the top of Stark Tower? Loki still needed people to fetch and carry right up until his army came through that hole in the sky."

"What does this have to do with my brother?" asked Thor, his voice tight.

"He was one of the mercenaries that I hired to work for Loki," said Clint, shame filtering into his tone. "Kieran Hayes, no job too small, too bloody or too dirty for you."

"It paid well," said Smoke, his voice grating on Clint's nerves.

"If you want our help then we need something in return," said Steve. "We want every piece of information that you have on the Corvallo family and their Chitauri experiments."

"You're not thinking about working with him?" asked Clint. "For all we know, he's lying and just here to see what we've got on the Chitauri."

"Or he might be telling the truth and we'd be passing up a chance to get some good intelligence on the enemy," said Steve.

The lights around them flickered and brightened.

"I guess Tony got the arc reactor fixed," said Steve.

"What are we going to do with him?" asked Thor. "His abilities make it difficult to think of a way of imprisoning him."

"I bet Tony can come up with something," said Clint.

"You don't need to hold me in a prison. I'm here because I want to be here," said Smoke. "I know that the Corvallo family have another Chitauri specimen and I know where they're keeping it. I can give you all the evidence that you need to take them down. And Crossfire too."

That gave Clint pause. He wanted Crossfire. He wanted him a lot. He didn't get the chance to continue that thought, because the door was flung open and Iron Man walked in with Natasha and Bruce a half step behind him.

"Okay, not what I expected to find," said Tony, his voice sounding metallic through the suit. "Aren't we supposed to be capturing the bad guy?"

"He surrendered," said Clint. "Didn't you Kieran?"

"Yes," said Smoke.

"Kieran?" asked Natasha.

"Yes, I'd like you all to meet Kieran Hayes, AKA Smoke. Once upon a time he helped me to attack the helicarrier," said Clint, crossly.

"Working for the highest bidder not quite working out for you then," said Tony.

"I have bank accounts full of money and no way to spent it," said Smoke. "My last contract was a mistake. I'm offering you information in exchange for your help."

Bruce frowned. "What kind of help?"

"A cure," said Smoke.

Bruce's eyebrows disappeared into his hair.

"Okay, well that's interesting but we don't trust you," said Tony. "So, for now, I'm going to seal you in this room until I can discuss your proposal with my friends. Jarvis, magnetic seals. Avengers voice code activation and release only."

"Yes, sir," replied Jarvis.

No one liked Clint being reminded of his actions whilst brainwashed by Loki, especially not Natasha who had watched how Clint had torn himself apart with guilt over it. Steve had filled everyone in on the gist of the conversation that had taken place before Tony, Natasha and Bruce arrived, and they were now discussing their next move.

"Are we sure he's Kieran Hayes?" Natasha asked, once they were all back in the Common Room.

"No," said Clint, "but he doesn't gain a lot by pretending to be him. We never liked each other much even when we were both working for Loki."

Clint had taken a seat on his favourite couch, and was putting a blanket around his shoulders. The others had arrayed themselves around the room on the various armchairs and recliners. Bruce sat down next to Clint and without any words being exchanged put his fingers around Clint's wrist to take his pulse. Natasha had seen Clint severely injure medical professionals who'd done that in the past. It was interesting that Bruce was allowed to get away with it, and she doubted that it was because he was the Hulk. It still got a scowl from Clint and a general sigh.

"I've always wanted an electromagnetic smoke monster that's allergic to adamantium in my basement," said Tony. "He's currently locked in probably the only room in the Tower that can hold him, and I'm having a really hard time believing he's here to help us out."

"Me too," said Clint.

"I don't know," said Steve. "If what he said is true then he's in a lot of trouble. We might be the only people who can help him."

"Kieran Hayes only ever did things for money," said Clint.

"He said it, though," said Bruce. "You can't spend money when you look like that, not without emptying the shop. Believe me, I have some experience. He could actually be desperate enough that he's willing to do a deal."

"He also said that there was another Chitauri specimen," Thor pointed out.

"The files that I downloaded back that up," said Natasha.

"That isn't good news," said Steve.

"Can we also talk about the fact that Clint teleported again?" said Tony. "And looked like death after he'd done it."

"No," said Clint, and pulled his blanket closer.

"Yes," said Bruce. "You're cold again. You also said you weren't going to try teleporting again."

"I didn't try, I just thought about it and I was there," said Clint. "I think, maybe, it was because I wanted to be there. I was thinking about how Steve and Thor needed backup."

"How did it feel?" asked Tony.

"How did it feel…?" asked Clint, perplexed by the question.

"Is there an echo in here? Yes, I want to know what it felt like to teleport. Did you see anything? Hear anything? Smell anything?" asked Tony. "All our data suggests that you're not disappearing and reappearing, you're walking through portals."

"I don't know. I felt cold. I saw a grey landscape, lots of rocks and gravel. There was a night sky, with really bright stars, then I was downstairs in the arc reactor room," said Clint.

Thor frowned. "If Heimdall is correct and you are indeed making use of the weakness in the fabric between the nine realms… The rocky world that you describe sounds like Svartalfheim, the home of the Dark Elves. It is a dead world and inhospitable to humans, although it does still have a breathable atmosphere."

"That would explain why you're always cold when you teleport," said Bruce. "We should keep an eye on that. The virus was already meaning that your body was having trouble regulating its temperature, this isn't going to help."

"But I'm getting better," said Clint.

Bruce shook his head. "I'm not completely certain on that. You're still tired which, along with the body temperature fluctuations, suggests that your body is still fighting something. It's why Doctor Henderson thought it might be a wound infection or Guillain-Barré."

"But you can't say for sure?" said Clint, he gave an involuntary shiver. "That is just awesome." Natasha had a totally irrational urge to go to her partner and hug him. He looked so vulnerable and unhappy.

"Normally we'd check your blood for an elevated white blood cell count, but one of the symptoms of Dengue fever is a low white blood cell count, so even a normal white cell count might just be an offset of the Dengue symptoms," said Bruce. "Like I keep saying, this is all new ground. What they were doing at Eaglestar was stupid and dangerous. And then there's the fact that your weren't dosed with whatever they gave Kieran Hayes to turn him into Smoke…"

"I got a transfer via a mosquito," said Clint.

"Exactly," said Bruce. "I have actual data on what they did to the test subjects, even if it isn't very enlightening."

"So maybe we could cure Smoke? And that could help cure Clint too?" asked Steve, hopefully.

"There are a lot of variables," said Bruce, "but I was already working on the problem so I do have a few leads."

"But this teleportation thing could be kind of useful," said Clint. "I got down to the basement in record time."

Natasha's gaze snapped towards Clint. "We still don't know what teleporting is doing to you, Clint."

"Then maybe we'd better find out," said Clint.

Natasha watched as one moment the archer was huddled under the blanket and the next moment he was gone in a flash of light.

"Damn it," she said.

"I guess he worked out how to do it," said Bruce. "Unless he didn't mean to do that."

Steve was on his feet. "Where did he go?"

"The roof?" asked Tony.

"It's a good guess," said Natasha.

"Should we go to find him?" asked Thor.

Natasha shook her head. "He needs the space. I think we've been crowding him too much."

"He's been ill," said Tony, crossly. "We've been looking after him. Isn't that what friends are supposed to do?" He looked around at the assembled Avengers. "No, really, I'm asking. I'm kind of bad at this stuff."

"Yes, Tony, it's what friends are supposed to do," said Steve, with exasperation. "Unfortunately, Clint's not exactly good at being looked after."

"He definitely has issues," said Bruce.

"If you'd had his life then you would too, Doctor," retorted Natasha, with some annoyance.

"Want to elaborate for the rest of the class?" asked Tony. "'Cos we all have issues."

"Imagine how anyone gets to be that good with a bow," said Natasha. "There's a reason that we're good at what we do. There's a reason that we're assassins. Neither of us had happy childhoods and usually anyone that tried to help wanted something in return."

"So, he thinks we're going to expect him to do something for us in return for keeping him safe and looking after him? Didn't he get that out of his system after the whole Loki meningitis thing? Wow, okay, I hadn't realised just how screwed up our archer was," said Tony. "Why is it that your boyfriend keeps thinking that he has something to prove to us?"

"It takes time, and he's not screwed up," said Natasha, angrily. "He's who he is, and he's saved my life more times than I care to count. And he trusts you more than he did."

"How far are you from working out what they were doing at Eaglestar?" asked Steve, turning to Bruce and apparently trying to calm things down.

Bruce rubbed a hand over his face. "I don't know. I can tell you what they did, but it's the effects it had that are more problematic. So for example, the first wave of test subjects just got injections of neat Chitauri blood, and that really didn't go very well for them. After that they modified the blood they took, but also extracted spinal fluid and other bodily fluids. It doesn't look like they were working to much of a plan, just stumbling around until they found something that worked."

"Urgh, it was disgusting enough when we were reading the files," said Tony.

"Not helping, Tony," said Steve. He looked back at Bruce. "What else?"

"I'm expecting the SHIELD lab analyses of Clint's blood back this morning. I also asked them to send me some samples of Chitauri blood for comparison. That may be the key to the entire thing or not get us any further. That's just how it goes sometimes."

"Why did it give him this ability?" asked Thor.

"I don't know," asked Bruce. "I can only assume that the Chitauri are attuned to the conjunctions between our world. It may not even be something that they're conscious of, but when it's paired with Clint's unique DNA, you get whatever this thing is. Teleportation."

"And is teleporting dangerous for him?" asked Natasha.

"No idea," said Bruce. "I'd err on the side of caution and suggest he doesn't do it too much. Apart from anything else, he's exposing himself to low levels of radiation of a kind that we've only seen in objects that have been through the Bifrost. We don't have much basis for comparison when it comes to the effect that might have on a human. And then there's the way the Chitauri compound is interacting with the Dengue fever and Clint's body. That's all just so much speculation on my part at the moment, but he's not over the Dengue fever, no matter what he wants to believe."

"Okay, I'm going to say we should give Smoke what he wants," said Tony. "If he has information then we need it now, and whatever the Costello family are up to, it can't be good."

"I agree," said Steve.

"Really?" said Tony, with total surprise. "I was expecting an argument."

"We don't have any other leads," said Steve. "And he's a victim as well as a criminal."

"A victim?" asked Natasha with undisguised incredulity. "If he'd got what he wanted then he'd be happily attacking us, and working for the highest bidder. He tried to kill Clint."

"I know," said Steve. "But they still did something terrible to him."

"Yeah, whilst this debate is truly fascinating, can we get back to extracting information from the bad guy?" asked Tony.

"I'm going to need samples," said Bruce. "If we're going to produce a cure then the more data I have the better, but I need sleep before I can do anymore work."

"Seconded," said Tony, holding up a hand.

Natasha had been up for as long as the two scientists, so she nodded.

"Okay," said Steve. "How secure is Smoke in that room?"

"About as secure as he can be," said Tony. "He's on a separate air filtration system and locked in with magnetic seals. That should screw up his biology enough that he's not going anywhere until we let him out."

"Then we will wait for you to rest," said Thor.

"We'll meet back here in six hours," said Steve, nodding in agreement. "I'll see if I can track down Hawkeye in the meantime."

Clint had just thought about being on the roof but that didn't seem to be enough. When he actively wanted to be on the roof, he was there in a flash. He felt himself pulled sideways, his stomach being tied in knots by the strange sensation. He once again caught a glimpse of wherever it was that was used as the in-between from one destination to another. This time it was barely a glimpse. The cold sank in quickly though and he hadn't really warmed up following his previous jump.

His feet hit the gravel of the roof, and he was stood looking out across New York. He never tired of this view. It was early morning, barely light and the day promised to be grey and cloudy. He stood for a while there, just watching the morning begin across the city and shivering from the cold inside and out. Eventually he took a seat on the ledge around the rooftop, wrapping his arms around his body in an attempt to keep in the heat.

About fifteen minutes later there was the sound of someone throwing open the roof hatch and stepping out onto the small area that topped Avengers Tower.

"Hi, Steve," said Clint, without turning around. The distinctive footfalls meant he'd known instantly who it was who had come to find him. Steve was heavier than Natasha, Bruce or Tony, due to his muscle mass, but not as heavy as Thor.

"That's quite some trick," said Steve. "I know if it was me then I'd be thinking of all the ways that this would be useful." He approached Clint on his right side, and sat on the ledge beside him, facing the roof.

"I am," said Clint. "I'm also thinking about where this ability came from."

"The Chitauri?"

"The experiments that they did," said Clint.

Steve nodded. "It's not a pleasant thought, but you didn't ask to have this ability given to you. You weren't like Smoke, looking for power and asking for trouble."

"No, but I'm beginning to think that I should ask Bruce to stop looking for a cure," said Clint. "And I'm wondering if that makes me a bad person."

"I don't think so. It's what you do with the abilities that you have that counts," said Steve. "The question is whether it's safe."

Clint let out a mirthless laugh. "I don't think teleporting could ever be called safe. I mean what's to stop me appearing in a wall or a rock face, or just rematerializing ankle deep in the floor. I suppose practice makes perfect."

Steve shrugged. "Well, you haven't so far, so you seem to have some control over it. But Bruce thinks that you shouldn't use it too much until we can be sure it's not hurting you."

"I guess," said Clint, non-committally. "At least I worked out how to use it."

"That's probably a good thing," said Steve. "You don't want to end up accidentally teleporting somewhere in the middle of a battle, but listen to Bruce. He knows what he's talking about."

Clint nodded, taking a deep breath. There was a pause in the conversation for a moment.

"I was expecting Natasha," said the archer, shivering again.

"She went to get some sleep, so did Tony and Bruce. I thought you might need some company though," said Steve.

Clint shrugged, still shivering a little. "I just needed a moment. Sometimes I get claustrophobic when I'm the centre of attention, stuck inside with nowhere to go. I need a view to the horizon."

"You shouldn't be out here too long," said Steve. "January in New York can be pretty cold. Why don't you come down and have some breakfast while the others are sleeping?"

"I could do with a shower and a change of clothes first," said Clint, stretching a little. He noted with some amusement the way Steve shifted so that he could grab him if he fell. Clint didn't fall unless he was pushed by someone or something.

Steve nodded. "I need to change out of my uniform."

A small and rather evil thought entered his brain. Clint allowed a smile to grace his lips. "Race you."

He just had time to see Steve's eyes widen, before he disappeared and was in his apartment. This new development had a lot of promise and was actually turning out to be sort of fun. The main drawback was the wash of cold that swept over him and the crashing nausea that was assailing him again. He threw off his rumpled clothes and had one of the quickest, hottest showers that he'd ever managed. The warmth penetrated his skin until he felt back up to temperature. It was followed by rapid drying and throwing on a clean t-shirt and pair of pants.

A second later he was in the Common Room kitchen. He shrugged off the nausea and cold, although ice crystals had formed in his slightly damp hair, and went to the kitchen to begin making pancake batter. He didn't cook often, but he probably owed Steve an apology of some sort and this might help.

By the time a rather annoyed looking Steve made his way into the room, Clint had already started the pancakes cooking. There was a pleasing smell of hot pancakes wafting through the kitchen. Thor had emerged from wherever he had been and was looking enthusiastically at the pile of pancakes on the counter top.

"Clint, you can't do that," said Steve, ignoring the food. "Didn't I just get through telling you that Bruce doesn't want you teleporting until he can work out whether this is dangerous or not."

"I know, but apart from being cold, I feel better than I have since I got back from Aqiria. Bruce is worrying too much," said Clint. "And I have super powers. You've got to let me have some fun with them. I mean tell me you don't enjoy lapping me in the park every time we go jogging."

"That's not really the same thing," said Steve. "You've got to be careful with this new ability, at least until Bruce has done more analysis."

"The Captain speaks wisely," said Thor. "There are forces at work here that even I have little understanding of."

Clint sighed. "Okay. I'll give it a rest for now."

He served up the remaining pancakes and the three men sat down to eat. Clint found that he was properly hungry for the first time in a while. His appetite had been low since his illness, but today the nausea from his teleporting had settled into ravenous hunger. It was sort of unexpected, but it seemed to be a good development. Both Henderson and Bruce had told him that he needed to eat more than he was if he wanted to build his strength back up.

He was so hungry that he was nearly able to keep up with Thor and Steve's consumption of pancakes, although not quite. However almost immediately after that, he was overcome with a wave of tiredness, so much that he was close to falling asleep with his head on the table.

"Clint, go and lie down," said Steve. "Thor and I can do the kitchen clean up."

Clint yawned. "Uh, thanks."

He headed for the Common Room couch, and collapsed onto it. He closed his eyes and was immediately asleep.

He was awoken by someone talking to him.

"Hey, Birdbrain, want some lunch?" asked Tony. "Then we're going to go play twenty questions with our Smoke monster friend."

Clint blinked up at Tony. "Lunch? Did I sleep all morning?"

"Five hours according to Steve," said Tony. "Also you may want to stay out of Bruce's way for a bit. He nearly turned green when he heard you'd teleported again, twice." He whispered the last bit, looking around at the Physicist across the room, who had been standing chatting with Natasha.

"Sirs and Agent Romanoff," said Jarvis. "I have Agents Halifax and McRoth incoming on a Quinjet. They have the samples that Doctor Banner requested."

"Tell them to land on the pad, we'll be there once we're done eating," said Tony.

"Sir, they have issued a Mayday and appear to be having engine trouble," said Jarvis. "Correction, they are under attack."

"What?" asked Tony. "J, armour now."

"Yes, sir. Armour incoming."

Clint was throwing off his blankets and reaching for his weapons before he'd even had a moment to think. Tony was being hit by the latest incarnation of his armour, which Clint noticed had been upgraded and modified even since the previous day.

"Natasha, where's my backup bow?" shouted the archer, as he remembered that someone had moved it.

The red headed assassin wasn't far away. She reached behind the bar in the Common Room and threw Clint a black case that contained both his bow and a quiver with arrows.

"Really? It was across the room?" asked Clint, opening the case.

"I knew you'd never think to check," said Natasha, with the hint of a dangerous smile. This was why he liked her, and he was even beginning to think there might be something more to that, although in their line of work it was dangerous to contemplate such things.

He snapped open the bow and put the quiver on his back. It wasn't one of Tony's hi-tech masterpieces which could give him any arrowhead he might need, but it would do. He pulled on the arm guard in the case and the two fingered glove that Natasha had put there. She knew the he'd happily go without both, but the guard protected his arm from the occasional misfire if he was knocked as he released and the glove meant he didn't damage his hands and could pull harder.

"Under attack from what?" asked Steve, grabbing his shield.

Thor was already in his armour and Mjolnir flew into his hand mere seconds after it was called.

"Unknown," said Jarvis. "The agents are not able to identify the method of attack."

"Damn it," said Tony. "What the hell is going on? Why would you even bother to attack a quinjet?"

"They want the samples?" suggested Bruce.

"I'm going out to see if I can help," said Tony.

"I will accompany you," said Thor.

"Yeah, me too," added Clint.

"You can't fly. Birdbrain is just a nickname, in case you were under a false impression," said Tony.

"No, but I can teleport," said Clint. "I just need to want to be there."

"How is that even going to work?" asked Tony.

"I don't care. But I have friends on that quinjet," said Clint. "I trained those agents."

"Yeah, we can debate this another time," said Tony. "They need help. I'm gone."

Iron Man's repulsors fired and he sped out of the window that opened automatically for him. Thor jogged out onto the quinjet landing pad and was in the air a moment later, following Iron Man.

Clint wasn't in his full battle gear, he was just wearing the t-shirt and combats he'd put on that morning, but he'd have to manage without his body armour because there was no time to get it. He dashed through the doors and out onto the landing pad, followed by Steve, Natasha and Bruce. They could see Iron Man and Thor reach the speck in the distance that was the quinjet. There seemed to be objects swarming around the quinjet, like birds or insects.

"What the hell?" asked Bruce.

"I'm assuming that none of you have ever seen anything like this before," said Steve.

"Yeah, I have no idea what we're looking at," said Natasha.

"Guys, you are not going to believe what these are," said Tony, over the com link.

Clint's sharp eyes could see Iron Man firing on the things, and Thor was hitting them away with his hammer, but they seemed to have some kind of armour and perhaps even intelligence. The targets were too far away from here. He went to the edge of the pad and calculated carefully the best position for him to land.

"Clint, don't," said Natasha, interpreting the look in his eyes correctly.

"Sorry, Nat, but I can't just stand here when I could help," said Clint.

He concentrated hard on wanting to be on top of the quinjet, and then there was a flash of light, followed by the usual sensation of both tugging and flying, a short glimpse of dark sky and then coldness, nausea and landing. His feet hit the top of the bucking quinjet and he struggled for balance, as the cold bit into his skin and the nausea made him want to throw up. He lost his footing for a second, but the jet levelled and he was able to stand again.

"Iron Man, report," Steve was asking urgently over the com link.

Clint had a great view now, as he nocked an arrow and began firing. There was a hole in the side of the quinjet, and he could see why.

"They're Chitauri space whales, Leviathans, but small sized ones," said Tony. "We've got thirty of them, and I guess each one's about four feet long. They're trying for kamikaze runs on the quinjet."

One of Clint's arrows bounced off the carapace of one of the things. It resembled a sort of woodlouse that had got too big for its boots, but also flew. Apparently the armour was just as hard as their larger cousins. Clint aimed for the mouth and was rewarded with a direct hit and a kill.

"I can't penetrate their armour with my arrows, but aim for the mouth and that seems to work," he broadcast to the other Avengers.

"Roger that," said Iron Man.

"Understood," added Thor, who was barbecuing his own chosen target with a blast of lightening.

Then one of the creatures belched a blue sizzling ball of energy towards Thor. The God of Thunder simply pushed it away with his hammer towards one of the other attackers.

"Fuck me, that's a new trick," said Iron Man. "Guys, apparently they spit energy balls now."

"Quinjet Two Niner Five, this is Hawkeye. I'm on your roof, Agents," said Clint. "We're going to try to keep these things off you back, but you're going to have to get the jet to the pad."

"I think we can manage it," said a male voice that Clint recognised as Agent Halifax.

"Okay, do it by the numbers. No heroics and try to remember that I'm using you as my shooting platform," said Clint.

"Yes, sir," replied two voices.

"We've got a pack splitting off," said Clint. "They're coming your way, Nat, Steve."

"We see them, Hawkeye," said Steve.

Iron Man flew in closer to Clint so that the two of them could stand back to back on the hull of the quinjet.

"You're certifiable. You do know that right?" asked Tony, as he set down behind Clint.

"I think you'll find that my latest psych eval proclaimed me completely sane," replied Clint, as he nocked another arrow and fired on another mini-Leviathan. He had his eyes on his next target as he fired the first arrow.

"Then I think SHIELD need to re-evaluate their evaluations," said Tony.

"Says the guy in the red and gold suit of armour stood next to me," replied Clint.

Tony didn't get the chance to reply properly, as three of the small leviathans ganged up on him in a suicide run. He just managed an annoyed "Shit," as he fired. He got the first two and missed the final one.

Clint ducked as the final one fired on them and the ball of energy hit Tony's suit full force. Clint got it in the tail with an arrow as it went past, but Iron Man had a huge black impact mark on his armour. The lights of the eyes were flickering, along with the arc reactor.

"Damn it, Tony, are you okay?" asked Clint, whilst keeping half an eye on the rest of the pack.

"Ouch, that hurt. Those little bastards really pack a punch," said Tony.

"You're more manoeuvrable in the air. Take off and go help Thor. I'm fine protecting the quinjet from the ones that get too close," said Clint. He had a suspicion that Tony had only landed because he was worried about Clint.

"Okay, but shout if you need us," said Tony, his repulsors kicking to life and lifting him into the air again.

Clint saw that the group of creatures that had split off were now being engaged by Natasha and Steve, with Bruce wisely staying out of the way. They seemed to be holding their own, and the quinjet was getting closer to a safe landing. Clint was in full battle mode, with his attention narrowing to the fight. He nocked, pulled and fired in a seamless rhythm with shots that found their mark every time.

"This is Agent McRoth, I'm going to need a space to land this thing and medical on standby. Halifax isn't looking so hot," said the female agent's voice. "We're down to one engine and I don't think I can limp this crate much further."

"We're doing our best to clear the pad," said Steve. "We could use some back-up, Iron Man."

"On my way," said Tony.

Iron Man moving back towards the others seemed to be some kind of signal as the remaining mini-leviathans all turned towards him. They seemed to all head straight for Tony at ramming speed with blue energy crackling in their mouths.

"Crap," said Clint, as his fire rate went into overdrive so that he could take out as many as possible before they hit Tony. "Iron Man, you've got incoming."

Steve was flinging his shield at the creatures with all his might and taking down several in one go. Natasha's pistols were firing constantly, picking off the closest ones to the Tower. Thor had moved in a little closer and was smashing the carapaces of any that got within range with his hammer. Tony turned to see a horde of about ten of them aiming straight at him from three directions, and there was no easy way to evade them.

He fired his repulsors, burning as many as he could, but he was about to be sandwiched in a scrum of grey carapaced, baby alien leviathans. Clint didn't really think, he just jumped. One moment he was on top of the quinjet, the next he was clinging to Iron Man, and the moment after that there was a flash and he and Iron Man were both gone.

They landed in a crumpled heap on a grey, gravelly surface. Clint made it onto all fours, then proceeded to empty the entire contents of his stomach onto the ground.

Beside him Tony had got himself up onto his knees and flipped up the faceplate of his suit. He looked very much like he was about to do the same thing himself, but so far had kept it under control.

"Nice save, Toto, but I don't think we're in Kansas anymore," said Tony.

Clint looked up and saw the stars of a night sky that was nowhere near home. He began to shiver.