And, the moment we've been building up to...here's Barney! Yes, as a couple of reviewers have said, shit is going to hit the fan, and our Avengers are going to avenge. This is the main storyline I've had in my head since the saga began. I know how I want it to go in my brain, but my fingers can sometimes have other ideas, so we'll see what the characters have to say. This chapter's a little shorter than usual, but I felt I owed it to you for making you wait for the previous chapter.

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"Barney, you son of a bitch." Everyone's head popped up when they heard Barney's name being growled. Tony immediately asked Friday to triangulate the call, then tossed Sam his flight pack he'd brought from the house, then clicked a button. His Iron Man suit appeared, and the two took to the air to see if they could spot Barney or Mikayla. Misty didn't know what to do, so she stood by in case Clint needed her. While waiting, she pulled out her phone and called Mikayla's number repeatedly, leaving multiple messages.

"Is that any way to talk to your big brother?"

"Where is she?"

"Tsk, tsk, bro. I haven't had time to introduce myself to her yet properly. Hell, Clint, I may decide to keep her for myself. I think she deserves the best, don't you?"

Clint knew he needed to keep Barney talking so Friday could locate the phone. "That sure as hell isn't you."

"Wow, you've become judgmental since going straight, little brother. Don't worry. I'll take care of your precious Mikayla."

"I'm asking again, where the hell is she?"

"In time, Clint. All shall be revealed in time."

"The time is now, asshole." It was taking all the restraint Clint had not to toss his phone against the wall. "Let me talk to her."

"No can do. She's taking a little siesta. Maybe when she wakes up, I'll have her call you." He paused. "Oh, look at the time. Have to run. Later, Clint…if you're lucky." Clint looked over to Misty, who swore she'd never seen such fury and anger coming from one person. "Son of a bitch has her."

"I tried calling her, but it keeps going to voice mail." Misty's phone rang, and she looked at the display. "It's her!" She put the phone on speaker. "Mikayla, where are you?" There were a lot of garbled and muffled noises, but nothing intelligible.

"Mikayla," Clint said, hoping his voice wasn't trembling. "One grunt for yes, two for no. Are you still at the restaurant?" Two grunts were heard. "Was it Barney?" One grunt. "Are you in a car?" One grunt again. "Tied up?" One grunt. "Mouth taped?" One grunt. "In the trunk?" One grunt. "OK, he's got you in the trunk of a car. Is the car moving?" One grunt. He got a text message. 'Red sedan, north, fine.' "Tony, going north, in a red sedan."

"On it." Misty looked up and saw Tony and Sam flying in a northerly direction.

His phone buzzed again. 'Love you, will be waiting.' "You know I'll catch you, Mikayla."

"Not yet you won't, little bro." Barney's voice came through the phone, followed by what sounded like a slap. "I can see why you like her. She's feisty. I'll be in touch." The last noise they heard was the phone being broken. Clint and Misty stood dumbfounded, staring at Clint's phone as if willing Mikayla to call.

Tony and Sam landed a short time later. "We found the car. This is what they left behind," Tony said as Sam held out her broken phone and GPS glasses. "Let's go back to the house, come up with a plan to get her back."

"I'll drive us," Misty said. Sam looked over at her, kissed her cheek, then flew off with Tony.

"I'll drive."

"Barton, you're in no condition to drive."

"I'm fine."

"Give me the damn keys, Clint. It'll give me something to do. Please?" Clint looked over and saw Misty trying to hold it together. He realized he wasn't the only one affected by this, so he nodded and handed her the keys.

When they got back to the house, Tony and Sam had filled everyone in. Natasha met Clint and Misty at the door. "We'll get her back."

"I know. There's no other choice." He knew this meant he would have to delve into his past, a topic which he tried to avoid at all costs. "I'm going to have to bring it all up again, Tasha. I hate that part of my life."

She nodded, knowing exactly how he felt. "Except this time, you've got a whole family supporting you." Natasha looked at him and realized he was already slipping into mission mode, turning into SHIELD Agent Clint Barton. He was in his element, even though she hated he had to be. She knew he was focusing on his target, almost to the point of becoming the enemy. That was how Clint worked. It got to the point he could think like the person thought and was almost able to predict the target's movements. "Come on. We're in here." She led him into a conference room where everyone, including Misty, Pepper, and Happy, was seated.

Once Clint and Natasha sat down, Steve asked. "Any idea what his plan is?"

"To humiliate and torture me. He wants to punish me for deserting him, leaving him behind." Most of the people in the room knew Clint's background. He figured the rest could be filled in later. "I'm putting myself in his place, figuring out where he would take her. We know after kidnapping her, he put her in the trunk of a car and headed north."

"Is he still involved with circuses?" Steve asked.

"To be honest, I don't know. Before Mikayla, I hadn't heard from him in years." Clint crossed his arms and tried to remember the last time his brother had contacted him. "I guess it was right after I joined SHIELD." He looked over at Natasha, hoping he wouldn't have to tell that story now. All he wanted to do was focus on getting Mikayla back. "Normally, I'd say she could fight back, but she's at a disadvantage with her injuries. I wouldn't put anything past her, though." He expected his phone to ring any time, and it is her on the other end.

"Barton?" Thor asked. "Would your brother hurt her in any way?" If anyone in this group knew anything about troubled siblings, it would be him. He knew what damage Loki did while under Thanos' control. Thor dreaded thinking about what heinous acts the archer's brother had in mind for Mikayla.

"I don't know. I think it depends on her. We didn't have the best examples growing up on how to treat women. If she fights back, I don't think he'd hesitate to inflict damage." Clint remembered the vision he had when in the coma. 'Power and control, man, you've got to beat it into them, then they do whatever you want them to.', that's what Barney had said to him. Clint had a sinking suspicious Barney wouldn't hesitate to hurt her, taking his frustrations with Clint out on her.

"We need everyone on deck for this, Clint. We need to call Fury," Steve said. Clint nodded. All he could think of was how much of a failure he was, unable to protect the woman he loved from his asshole brother. "Natasha?"

"I'll call him."

"In the meantime, we need to have someone look at the car, see if any clues can be found."

Tony spoke up. "We'll have it brought here. The police can give it a once-over after I'm done with it." He left the room before anyone could argue with him.

Steve paced back and forth, trying to formulate a plan. "Sam, reach out to whoever's holding the guys that assaulted her, see if they've had any contact. Bucky? You and I can go back out to the restaurant and see if we can find any clues in the area. Thor, it's a stretch, but – "

"I'll go back to Asgard and check-in with Heimdall to see if he has seen anything. I shall return." Thor went outside, lifted his hammer, and caused a small storm as he returned to Asgard.

"Nat, after contacting Fury, see if you can find info on circuses north of here." She nodded. "Clint?"

"I'll be in the gym." Steve nodded, looked at Bucky, and the two of them left for the restaurant. Happy had additional guards assigned to the property, then went to talk to them and see if they'd noticed anything.

Pepper looked over at Misty, who was about to cry. "Let go make coffee and sandwiches. It's going to be a long one." Misty nodded and followed Pepper into the kitchen.

Natasha stood and went into the office. "Yes, Agent Romanoff?"

"Mikayla's been kidnapped by Barney."

"What happened?" Natasha relayed the story and what avenues the team was taking. "Barton?"

"In the gym, probably picturing an arrow or knife in every part of his brother's body."

"Hill and I will work on it from this end." Fury hung up. Natasha fired up the computer and searched for circuses in the area.

Several hours later, everyone but Clint gathered in the conference room to report their findings. "Where's Barton?" Steve asked.

"Here, Cap." Clint entered and sat as he was wrapping his hands. Nat looked at him, telling him with her eyes she would treat the injuries later.

"Tony," Steve looked toward Stark. "Any findings from the car?"

"It was stolen, no surprise. Police are taking fingerprints and hair samples. Phone was a burner, recently purchased."

"Bucky and I walked around the restaurant area. I'd suggest cameras, but they were destroyed in the fire. I talked to one of the authorities on the scene, and they're fairly sure it was arson."

"What I don't understand is how he knew we would be there. I confirmed we weren't followed."

Happy spoke up. "I checked with security, and there hasn't been anyone suspicious in the area."

"Friday? Conduct a sweep of electronics and cameras."

"On it, boss."

"Thor?"

"Heimdall did not see anything, but he is now focused on locating her and will keep me updated."

"Thanks, Thor. Sam?"

"The scumbags haven't received any visitors or phone calls. The only contact they've had is with other prisoners, but they mostly stay to themselves."

"Nat?"

"Fury's letting Hill know. She responded and talked to Amy to see if she's had contact with her brother. On the circuses, there are several going on in northern California." She'd already made up her mind she would check them out, whether Steve asked her to or not.

"Thanks, Nat," Steve replied. "I hadn't thought of that." He looked over at Tony. "How's Banner?"

"He's down in the Hulk zone." No one was surprised the incident brought out the green guy. "Friday? Results of the scan?"

"Nothing unusual, boss." Tony nodded.

"Unfortunately, there's not much more we can do at this point other than wait. We'll reconvene at eight tonight and share any updates." Everyone nodded, stood, and left the conference room.

Clint disappeared before anyone could talk to him. He didn't need platitudes. He needed answers. He was getting claustrophobic, so he went where he did his best thinking, which is where Natasha found him. She sat next to him and let her legs dangle over the roof eave to where they were mirroring each other. "This is the hardest part, the not knowing."

"Yep."

The partners sat in silence, staring out over the landscape, lost in their thoughts. Natasha was the action half, whereas Clint was the thinking half of their partnership, but they were both going crazy. No one would be able to tell by looking at them, though. "You'll know he hurt her."

"I know, trying to figure out how to limit it. He's already slapped her. Any sign of rebellion, and he'll feel the need to put her in her place. The quicker I can figure out where he is, the sooner this will all be over, and he'll no longer be a problem."

"Any idea where he'll head?"

"My first thought was Iowa, but the farmhouse is nothing but an old ramshackle of a structure if it's even still standing, so he'd have nowhere to hide."

"We could do a fly-over just to make sure."

"Why not? That way, I feel like I'm doing something." Clint stood, waited for Natasha to stand, then the pair went back inside to tell Steve their plan. "We'll be back in a bit. Let you know what we find." Steve nodded. Clint and Nat went to the Quinjet. Clint strapped himself into the pilot's seat, Natasha into the co-pilot's chair, and they took off. They were quiet on the flight to Iowa. Once they flew over Waverly, they began scanning the outskirts. "Anything, Tash?" Clint asked as they hovered over his old homestead.

"You're right, nothing but a couple of rundown structures, same as the last time we were here."

"Was worth a shot."

"Never hurts to check out every possibility. So, back to the compound." Nat nodded in agreement, and they returned to Malibu and advised what they didn't find.

This went on for the next few days with no word from Barney or his crew. Clint spent most of his waking hours either in the gym or on the roof. Tony joked he was going to add a seating arrangement up there. Clint spent a lot of time staring at the horizon, wondering what Mikayla was going through. He refused to believe she was dead. Barney wouldn't end his torture of his brother that easily or that soon. No, he knew the older Barton would drag it out. It was the not knowing that was getting to him. It had been a week since he'd heard her voice. He knew in the big scheme of things that wasn't a lot of time, but the fact it was because of his brother made it that much worse. Where the hell could Barney have taken Mikayla? As much as he tried to put himself in Barney's shoes, he realized he didn't know his brother as well as he thought he did. He decided to do some research to see what he could find. Clint left the roof and went down to the office, and logged into the computer. He typed 'Barney Barton' and 'Trickshot' into the search engine.

As the computer brought up results, he looked to the side and noticed a coffee mug. He picked it up and grinned. 'Less talkie, more coffee,' it said on the side. "That had to be Mikayla's. It's her sense of humor." Seeing the cup made him miss her even more. "Had it been a week? Why does it seem so much longer?" Clint began reviewing the results. He found many references to Barney's crimes while still in the circus, and shortly after, the brothers ran away from it. His phone rang. "Barton."

"Long time, no talk, little brother."

"Where is she, Barney?"

"That's you, getting right to the point. I'm fine, thanks for asking."

"I could care less about you. Let me talk to her."

"I'm afraid she's momentarily indisposed, buddy. Check your text." The call ended. Clint looked at his text and ran into the room. "Friday, put the text on the big screen."

"Right away, Agent Barton."

"Got a text," Clint announced as he went into the living room and pulled it up on the television. The words said, 'Little Rock,' and attached was a picture of Mikayla. Pepper and Misty gasped when the image appeared. Mikayla was lying on a concrete floor, hands and feet bound together, duct tape covering her mouth. Thankfully, her ankle and wrist still had casts. There was bruising on her cheeks and eyes, with one eye almost swollen shut. Dried blood could be seen coming from under the tape. It didn't look like her hair had been washed during the week she'd been gone. Clint noticed she was wearing the same clothes she'd worn to the restaurant.

"Little Rock?" Bucky asked. "He took her to Arkansas?"

"Friday, call the big green machine, tell him I need his other half to meet me in the lab. We'll analyze the hell out of the photo, come up with something." As he flew by, he ripped Clint's phone out of his hands. "See if I can get anything from it, have it back soon."

"I'm going for a walk." Clint went back to his room, grabbed another phone, then left.

"Should we be worried?" Misty asked.

Natasha shook her head. "He's doing recon, retracing steps, seeing if we missed anything." Misty shook her head. "He'll call when if he needs us." Natasha went into the kitchen and grabbed a sandwich and a bottle of water.

Misty went to the sliding doors and looked out at the pool, wondering what her best friend was going through and what she could do to help. 'Come on, M, talk to me. Let me know where you're at. Please let me know you're okay.'

Sam walked up and stood next to her. "We'll find her, Misty. She's strong. She'll make it."

Misty crossed her arms and leaned on Sam's shoulder. "She has to. I've got a bachelorette party to humiliate her at." Sam put his arm around her as they stared outside.

About an hour later, Clint returned. "Found something." Everyone followed him to the conference room. "Found a spot off the side of the road, looked like someone had been camping out there. Guessing that's how we were spotted. They knew she was here, figured she'd travel down that road at some point. That's when they'd nab her."

"We should check the other roads around here, see if there are any more encampments."

"Already done, and no. They picked the most used route. I would've done the same thing, have done the same thing before. Trail the mark, watch their every move without being noticed for however long I needed to." Bucky nodded in agreement. He'd done the same thing. He wished he would've come to them sooner. Maybe he could've helped in some way, put his skills to use.

"Clint?" Steve asked. "Did you find any evidence?"

Clint handed him a bag. "Cigarette butts and paper coffee cups. Hopefully, they'll help." He left the room.

Thor spoke up. "I'll get these to Stark." He picked up the evidence and took it to the lab.

"More waiting," Natasha said to no one in particular. She looked over at Clint and recognized the look on his face. To everyone else, his face was stoic and focused. What she saw was his jaw muscle twitching slightly, signifying he was planning something; whether he'd tell or not was another story. Natasha looked at him and motioned with her eyes to the gym, then stood and left the room. Clint followed along shortly. "Share, Barton."

"He said Little Rock for a reason."

"What's significant about Arkansas?"

Clint shrugged his shoulders. "No clue. We never went there."

"Not even with the circus?"

"Nope," he shook his head. "We stayed around Iowa and the immediate area. Not like we were in the greatest show on earth." He chuckled wryly. "It's got to mean something. I don't think he'd just throw it out there." Clint thought for a bit. "Thought about hopping on the Quinjet and flying there, but don't know what I'd be looking for, so I'll wait to see what Stark finds."

"Sounds like a plan." Natasha watched as Clint picked up his bow and some arrows, then started shooting. She was still amazed how one he was with his weapon. It was the same with her and her guns, knives, and stingers, she guessed. Honestly, he was also just as fluent with guns and knives as he was with his bow. After she first signed up with SHIELD, she asked him why a bow since it was such an unusual weapon. He told her it was more personal, more old-fashioned, and the least expected of all his weapons, so it took enemies by surprise. She knew he was deflecting his focus away from Mikayla and onto something he knew. At this point, there were too many unknowns surrounding her, too many possibilities, so until they could narrow the situations down, he would focus his concentration on what he knew and could control.

Meanwhile, in another part of town, Mikayla woke up with a ferocious headache. 'Where am I? What the hell happened?' It took her some time to focus on her surroundings, providing she could get through the fog that had filled her brain for however long she'd been here. She struggled to sit up, not realizing how much energy it took for that one simple maneuver. Mikayla tried to think back and remember what had happened. There was a fire at the restaurant. As smoke filled the place, she reached out to take Clint's hand, then an arm grabbed her around the waist and pulled her in the opposite direction. Someone tied up her hands and feet, put duct tape over her mouth (after she tried to bite them), and threw her into the trunk of a car. Thankfully, she'd put her phone in her front pocket, so she was able to maneuver it out of her pocket and send off a text and make a call. Unfortunately, she was discovered as soon as the trunk lid flew up. 'I remember thinking I could see the family resemblance between Clint and Barney, but they were two different personalities.' Whether that was by design or developed by their life choices, she didn't know. What she did know was where Clint was patient and kind; Barney was impulsive and rough. He maltreated her as if she was a piece of meat. When he found out she was using her phone, he slapped her then destroyed her phone. He leaned down, put his hand over her windpipe, and pressed. "You pull another stunt like that again, and I can damn well guarantee the next time Clint sees you, he won't recognize you." After the threat, Barney slammed the trunk lid and drove the car away. Mikayla noticed they stayed on paved roads for most of the trip, then pulled off onto a dirt road. She was inhaling the dust from the road that came through the cracks. The car stopped, and she was carried into some building and tossed onto the cement floor. That was several days ago (she thought). 'Clint will find me. I know he will. He promised me he always would.' She could picture in her head what was happening back at Tony's house. The group would be figuring out ways to track her down. She had to believe Tony, Thor, and Sam would be flying all over the place, while Clint and Nat would be searching on the ground. She grimaced. 'All this thinking is making my head hurt more. Come on, Fitzgerald, sit up.'

When she was unceremoniously tossed into the structure, she'd made sure to land on her right side so her casts would still be intact. Of course, she couldn't keep her mouth shut when Barney showed up. She hoped she'd be able to rile him up so much he'd lose control and let it slip where she was. Unfortunately, the more she tried, the worse her beatings progressed. "You forget, my dear, I was beaten by the best. What? Did little brother not tell you about how we were treated? Here, let me demonstrate. This is what would happen when we gave our dearly departed father backtalk." Barney proceeded to punch her in both eyes and the chest, further bruising her already injured ribs. She hadn't heard any cracks, so she had to guess nothing was broken. Yes, Clint had shared snippets of his childhood with her, enough to know it wasn't a pleasant one. Mikayla decided to change tactics and be calm, to channel her inner Nat. Barney would have no idea what she was feeling or thinking, and she would survey her surroundings to find escape routes. Unfortunately, she couldn't find any in this room, so she bided her time, assuming she wouldn't be held here. She wished she knew what his endgame was and how she fit into it. He didn't appear to be in any hurry to share that information with her. This went on for the first week of her captivity. Barney would come in and talk to her, would have one of his henchmen bring her some food. Her right wrist and right ankle were getting raw and chafed from being tied up. They wouldn't untie her to eat, so said bad guy would feed her…or not. It appeared to depend upon what mood they were in on that day. By the end of the first week, (she finally started keeping track by going over her playlist in her head and measured time by the song lengths), her hope that she would be found began to waver, until Barney appeared with a cell phone. "Smile pretty for the camera, Mikayla. Have to let little bro know you're still with us." At that point, she hadn't eaten in a couple of days and didn't have the strength to sit up, so she remained still as Barney snapped the photo.