This is it, folks! The final confrontation! The West Coast Avengers are in peril while the possible reinforcements are still a bit far away, but the worst part is that one of the bad guys is CLINT! Will Bobbi made it in time? How will Kate react? Let's find out, shall we?
Enjoy the reading!
AFTER THE FALL, WE TAKE FLIGHT: A HAWKEYE AND MOCKINGBIRD STORY
Chapter 17: The Truth Shall Set You Free, Part 1 – Fight for Freedom
She hears and feels the breeze of the wind as she slowly begins to wake up, aside from the pounding headache that starts to affect her. Right then, the images begin to flash into her eyes, remembering a big battle that transpired couple of hours ago.
"Seems the little girl is finally reacting" a female voice is heard faintly, and then she sees a blurry figure approaching her, but as her vision sharpens, the mask becomes more recognizable "Wakey-Wakey Little Hawk" Masque mocks her victim as she forces her victim, the fallen Kate Bishop, to react. Kate tries to move but she discovers that her hands are tied up behind her back while Masque forces her to get on her knees, and it is then when the pieces begin to fall and fit in.
Masque's new Masters of Evil raided the West Coast Avengers Headquarters, and in spite of the best efforts of the surrounding C.R.A.D.L.E. agents and the fighting capacities of her teammates, Masque's crew made a full work against them in matter of hours. America tried her best to buy time, but Clash and Titania dispatched her, Alloy failed to match Good Night's fighting expertise while Fuse went toe-to-toe with the Absorbing Man, but the veteran villain proved his best.
Kate fought alongside the C.R.A.D.L.E. agents, but she fell against a figure she tried to recognize, and who matched her moves in every aspect, yet he proved to be the superior and knocked her down, leaving her at the mercy of Madame Masque and her Masters of Evil.
"Gotta say, these kids did put up a fight" Absorbing Man comments as he looks at Kate's beaten teammates, also tied up and on their knees "But in the end, we proved why we're Masters" he mocks directly into Fuse's face, further adding insult to injury "Now you've learned who's the best absorber, Punk".
"Yeah, that sounds so threatening" Clash mocks Creel's last few words, stifling a laughter while Creel holds his ball-and-chain ready to attack his teammate, but his wife Titania holds him.
"Those agents are trained, but not trained enough" Good Night comments while he looks at the pile of defeated and possibly dead agents who tried their best to defend the WCA's base, but failed upon the sheer power combined with the strategy of their field leader.
"Congratulations, you've beaten up what was left of the West Coast Avengers" Kate angrily comments to Masque "What's your game now; broadcast your victory as a message to your rivals and the other heroes out there?" she asks, trying to buy more time until she can think of a move to escape.
"Yes, but not by having you tied up" Masque replies "More like I'll send the message by showing them how dead serious I am, and what better way to do it than with the public execution of the West Coast Avengers" she adds, prompting the remaining members to try to break their restraints to no avail "Don't bother kids, they're power dampening restraints" she tells the tied up heroes and then turns her face to Kate.
"Execution…gotta admit that it does sounds brutal, but then again, you're known to be quite the brute head" Kate's sharp tongue aims at Masque, who simply laughs at her comments.
"Sassy 'till the end" Masque sarcastically comments and then slaps Kate's face with the back of her hand "God, that felt good"
"What are you waiting for, then?" Kate angrily asks "Aren't you gonna pull the trigger?"
"As tempting as it sounds, that honor doesn't belong to me" Masque replies while she takes out her phone, setting it up to record the execution "It belongs…to him" she points towards the man who will do the execution, the field leader of the Masters, Ronin.
"C-Clint?" Kate asks as her eyes become wide open at the sight of her friend and mentor standing in front of her, holding her own bow and arrow, which he slowly lifts up, setting up the arrow aiming at her head.
"You know what? Hang on" Masque gestures with her hands to hold up and then walks towards him to take off his mask "Much better, adds more drama to the scene" she then steps back to start recording the moment and looks back at Kate "So…any last words?" Kate begins to breathe heavily, angry and scared at the same time, but she closes her eyes as she lowers her head.
"I forgive you Clint" Kate speaks, slowly lifting her head and opening her eyes "I forgive you, because this actually is my fault" she begins to speak with a sad tone in her voice "I tried to reach out with you and you didn't answer, I should've remembered that you're so stubborn that you don't tend to ask for help and I just gave up and let you take the burden instead of insisting…so I guess this should be my punishment" Kate adds, shedding a couple of tears as she once again close her eyes "Do it, Clint" she concludes, waiting for Barton to do the deed, but all he does is stand there, holding the arrow as if he was literally paralyzed, and that makes Masque's patience go thinner.
"Come on Barton, we don't have all night" Masque begins to complain, yet Barton remains still, holding the arrow as if he still does not want to do the execution "Barton! Move! NOW!" Masque's voice begins to grow more impatient, but before anyone could react, the ground below them begins to shake and rumble, putting the whole team off balance, and in that moment, a baton flies, hitting Barton in his hand, forcing him to drop the bow and arrow.
"Look alive! We got intruders!" Absorbing Man holds his chain while he looks around and right then, every member of Masque's crew is hit with webbing in their faces.
"What's going on?" Fuse asks, but then he feels a sudden vibration in his restraints that causes them to break, setting him free; he turns around and sees a young woman in a dark blue uniform with white details and metallic gauntlets in her arms "Who are you?"
"Call me Quake, we're your reinforcements" she replies while she does the same procedure to the restraints of Alloy and America, setting them free.
"HEY! THEY'RE ESCAPING!" Clash yells as he finally removes the webbing from his face and looks above to see a female silhouette attacking him with a flying kick, then she jumps to the side striking Good Night with a pair of spinning kicks and jumps to take him down with a web-line, then she shoots at Titania, using her as a slingshot to jump towards Absorbing Man and connect a punch to force him to drop his chain-and-ball and then dodges Titania's punch, jumping to grab her neck and use the momentum to drop her to the floor.
"Whoa! Who are you?" Alloy asks with an impressed tone to the young woman, clad in a black and white form-fitting suit with web patterns and a red facemask that covers her nose and mouth.
"I'm Silk" she replies, and then turns her sights towards Clash "You don't learn, do ya Clayton?" she asks while she shoots a pair of web-lines to his hands to prevent him to access to his tech in the suit.
"God, I really hate Spider-People" Clash mutters, just so he could then receive a punch from the now free America.
"Callate and take your beating, Idiota" America comments while she gives Clash a hard punch that throws him down the ground.
Good Night steps in and hits America with his staff, but right then Quake jumps from behind and shakes his body with her powers, or more concretely, she uses them to shake his vital organs just enough to give him nausea, a moment that later Silk capitalizes when she wraps him up in webbing and America hits him with a punch that sends him a few feet against the wall of the semi-wrecked headquarters.
"That's a hell of a punch" Silk comments to America's move, who looks back at them with a smirk.
"That's a hell of a combo" America replies to the combo moves of Quake and Silk, complimenting her new allies.
Absorbing Man and Titania prepare to take their stand face to face against the Watts siblings, but this time, they are getting the assistance from Silk and Quake. Alloy holds Titania with the strings that extrude from her Vibranium armor, giving Quake the advantage to come from behind and hold her to shake her internal organs just like she did with Good Night and right then America flies by punching her with a pair of stiff hits to her jaw.
Fuse channels the vibranium from his rings, absorbing them to become the virtually unbreakable metal, while Absorbing Man uses the metal of his ball to absorb its properties, going 'Metal vs. Metal'. They both clash with hard punches, but Creel's size plays on his favor once again, until Quake shakes the ground beneath him and gives Fuse the opening to strike back and hit him hard, separating him from his chain to make him turn back to flesh and give him the knockout punch.
"Absorb that, #$%&+!" Fuse taunts him, raising his arms as he celebrates and then turns his sight to the gathered girls "Thanks for the assist" he comments, giving them the thumbs up sign.
MEANWHILE
Barton had his former protégé on his crosshairs, all he had to do was to release the arrow, but he refused to do so, right on time since an earthquake shook the ground underneath him and then a baton struck him forcing him to release the weapon.
"WHO'S THERE!? SHOW YOURSELF!" Masque yells, waiting for the attacker to appear, and as if on cue, a figure flies from above and strikes Masque with a kick that makes her drop her phone and herself to the floor, landing right next to Kate in order to break her restraints with her other baton, looking right at Barton who is still standing there.
"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR #$%& %$& MIND!?" Morse yells at Barton, who remains frozen upon what he's looking at the woman he thought she died days ago in Vegas "YOU REALLY WERE GONNA SHOOT HER!?" she keeps yelling, but fails to realize that Masque is trying to stand up, tackling her to drop her and punch her, but then Masque is struck by Kate, hitting her with her bow and then holds her with a full-nelson, allowing Morse to stand up and strike her with a series un punches to the gut, finishing with an uppercut that knocks the mask off her face. Morse looks at her with such a fury that she can barely contain, clenching her fist ready for another punch, but her move is suddenly stopped by Barton who holds her arm, surprising both Morse and Kate, and causing Masque to show a smirk "Clint? What are you doing?"
"Is…is that you?" Barton asks, still finding hard to believe that she is right there in front of him "But I…I saw you die" he tries to find some logic upon what he is seeing.
"Of course it's me Clint" Morse replies, now a bit more calmed down considering the shock Barton must be going through "I didn't die, it was a Life Model De…" she fails to finish the words when Masque breaks Kate's hold and kicks Morse, now standing directly in front of Barton.
"Who cares if she's alive or not, she's here to arrest you, and may I remind you, you're still under my orders Barton!" she then turns around searching for her crew "Masters! Attack Bishop Now!" she orders, but to her astonishment she finds Quake and Silk standing a few feet away, giving her the mother of all stink-eyes while a star-shaped portal is open behind them and America and the Watts siblings are tossing away the members of Masque's crew into it.
"Where are we sending them, again?" Alloy asks while America tosses Good Night and Alloy tosses Clash inside.
"A dimension where everything is built around teddy bears and plushy toys" America replies with a smirk on her face "Their faces of disgust are priceless" she pokes fun at their disgrace as they are being tossed into the portal.
"Don't worry, we'll get them out of there later" Kate tells Masque who begins to feel surrounded to the enemy but gives one last plea to Barton.
"Ronin, you have to get me out of here, NOW!" Masque becomes more anxious as she looks at Barton, who now becomes angrier at the sight of Masque.
"You put a Life Model Decoy in there? YOU DID ALL OF THIS!?" Barton grabs Masque by the collar of her suit, screaming at her with a threatening tone, but Masque pulls away from him and looks back at him with rage in her eyes.
"Yes, alright? I did it, I send that LMD to make sure you finally comply and kill Marchegianni" Masque finally reveals her plan to him "I wanted to break you, to make everyone hate you and hunt you down and you can finally surrender and do what I tell you to do" she explains, showing a wicked smile after that last sentence "And at least in that part I succeeded, because you're still a murderer and a wanted man, and no one cares about you"
"Wanna bet on that?" Morse interjects and connects one hard punch to her face, giving her another, and another, and another, and another, giving her two black eyes, a swollen face, and more bruises that it would take a long time to recover, prompting Quake and Silk to grab Morse and separate her from Masque "I TOLD YOU I'D BREAK YOUR FACE!" she yells at her while she struggles, wanting to go after once again, but Kate finally stands between them.
"Hey! Hey! Is alright, you've beaten her enough!" Kate talks to her, trying to calm her down "Save some for the police" she adds while Barton approaches the fallen Masque.
"You said no one cares about me, huh?" Barton comments and then turns to look at the gathered group of heroes "You were wrong" he adds, looking at them, focusing on Mockingbird, the one who stubbornly fought for him in her own way "And yet…I still don't think I deserve this help" he muses, believing that no one should help him after what he did.
"Hey Clint" Kate calls him, walking slowly towards him "I really meant what I said, I should've insisted" Kate talks to the man she still considers a friend, even though he almost tried to kill her "You and I still have to talk but…right now, I think you should get some rest, we all need it" she then steps aside, seeing that Morse is approaching him.
"You really can't tell the difference between and LMD and the real me?" Bobbi jokingly complains, playfully punching Barton in his shoulder "Hey, you can relax now, it's all over now" she comes face to face at him, smiling as she feels relieved that they won, but Barton shows a sad smile because while this particular situation is over, he still feels the blood in his hands.
The sound of the police sirens echo in the streets, approaching rapidly at the location alongside a truck full of C.R.A.D.L.E. agents ready to engage if necessary. The first patrol stops nearby, with Detective Rivera stepping out to face the group, shaking her head in denial at the prospect of dealing once again with one of Kate Bishop's shenanigans.
"You'll be the death of me Bishop, you and your…" Rivera begins to complain, but stops when she sees who is present with them "Barton…" she mutters, looking at a man who is wanted. Barton lowers his head but Kate and Morse immediately interject.
"Barton helps us in the capture of Madame Masque, she is the true mastermind behind the attack and everything related" Morse begins to defend herself.
"Besides, if you want to pin him for the murder, that was in Vegas, way out of your jurisdiction" Kate points out to her, defending her friend to the surprise of her teammates and the other people gathered.
"Girls, stop" Barton interjects, stepping between them and looking at Kate first "I'm really thankful for trying to help me" he then turns to look at Morse "And I truly appreciate that you fought for me, even after all the mess I made but…I made this mess, and I have to pay for it" Barton comments, stepping in front of Detective Rivera, extending his arms to voluntarily turn himself in, just like he did back at the Second Superhero Civil War when he shot the arrow that killed –albeit temporarily- the Hulk.
"Very well…" Rivera solemnly whispers as she grabs the handcuffs and puts them on Barton "Clint Barton, you're under arrest for the murder of Vittorio Marchegianni".
A couple of officers arrive and escort Barton to the cop car while Morse, Kate and the rest of the gathered heroes just watch as the hero who fell from grace is taking the steps into his sentence.
"No" Morse whispers, refusing to believe that he chose to turn himself in "All this effort, for nothing?" she sounds frustrated, but Kate steps in.
"I wouldn't say that" Kate responds "You did what we should've done, you fought for him…and you saved him" she comforts her by pointing out that Barton could have truly become everything Masque envisioned and wanted to be if Morse had not insisted in helping him, so in a way, Mockingbird brought Barton back from the abyss, and yet…she feels like her work is far from over.
"This is not over Kate" Morse replies "I won't let Clint Barton spend the rest of his life behind bars, you can mark my words".
It was a very tough ordeal, but Mockingbird finally brought Barton back to his senses and stopped him from going way too far off the line, but the question is: Was it all for nothing? Will he spend the rest of his life in prison? There's only one way to find out…in our FINAL Chapter!
That's right, next chapter is the final one of our story, so how will our heroes fare? Stay tuned to find out!
NEXT CHAPTER: REUNITED…BUT IT FEELS SO GOOD?