The Hunters and the Prey - Chapter Eleven

Author: Milady Dragon

Clint was a little disappointed that he wasn't going to be in the meeting with Phil and the other Grand Masters, but he certainly understood why he wasn't invited. They had magical business to take care of, and despite his own senses the Elf really knew very little about it. They'd need to discuss Guild issues, as well, and as he wasn't a member he really didn't need to know…unless Phil decided to confide in him. One thing Clint had come to learn, was that there were things he was good at, and things he wasn't, and running an entire order of Wizards didn't even enter into his many talents. The best thing he could do was support his lover, and help out if asked. That meant he'd be left out of stuff, and it wasn't personal, so Clint didn't let it bother him. He'd just leave Phil to it.

Still, that left him with Jack, Daisy, and Toshiko Sato.

Ianto had mentioned Toshiko back at Shield Keep, when the archer had been having some doubts about his relationship with Phil. Not wanting to put the man he loved through the pain of eventually losing him, knowing that Phil would potentially live forever. He was destined to lose everyone, and Clint would have given anything to keep that from happening.

Toshiko had been the example that Ianto had used to get Clint to realize that he needed to seize what he wanted with Phil with both hands and hold on for as long as he possibly could. Toshiko, being an Elf, had an extended lifespan, and yet she'd taken a human husband and had had children with him. She'd taken the chance, and had lived a wonderful life that she didn't regret, according to Ianto. Yes, it had hurt her badly when Tommy had eventually passed, but she'd considered it worth it.

Clint certainly hoped that Phil would consider it worth it, as well.

"I wanted to talk to you," Toshiko said, as the four of them got comfortable in the sitting room with coffee. The sun was still bright through the curtains, but it would be going down, and night was approaching. This far north, daytime was a little shorter, and even though it was spring it wouldn't be long before it was full dark.

At least he and Phil wouldn't be riding horses in order to get home.

Home.

Shield Keep was home now.

Wait until he told Natasha. She was going to either going to kiss him, or slap him. Probably both.

Clint took a sip of the excellent coffee he'd been given. Apparently, Ianto had made it, and it was awesome. Possibly the best he'd ever had. He wondered if he could sneak one of Phil's Teleport artifacts and show up at the house every morning for a cup or three.

He nodded at her to continue, not wanting to let his mind wander with plots to have this good stuff every single day. And not have Andrew find out about it.

"I was talking to Ianto earlier," the Elven woman said, "and he agrees that we should probably put out the word with the various teams of mercenaries to see if they can sniff out any word of Hydra as well."

Clint considered. "That's not a bad idea, although I can tell you that my partner, Natasha, will be doing the same thing." Natasha had contacts that even Clint didn't know of, and they'd been living out of each other's pockets for years.

"It's been a little while since I've been a member of the Mercenary Guild, really ever since Jack's team was chartered by the Crown," the other Elf admitted. "I do have quite a few people I can approach, but I'm guessing you're a lot more in touch than I am at this point. And I didn't know about your partner." She cast a pointed glance at Jack, who raised his hands in surrender.

"Hey, I would have said something if I'd known you and Ianto had talked about it," he defended himself. "By the way, Clint's partner is the Widow, which even I didn't know all that much about."

Toshiko nodded. "Ianto informed me." She narrowed her eyes at Clint. "Then, that would make you the Hawk."

"Guilty as charged." There wasn't any reason to deny it, since he'd long ago turned over a new leaf.

"I understand congratulations are in order for what you all did at Buda-Pest."

Honestly, he really didn't think there was anything to be impressed with, but he let it slide. He and the others had only done what had needed to be done. Children should never be treated in that way; he should know, having had an asshole father who'd thought he hadn't deserved what he'd gotten, and had taken it out on him, his mother, and his brother.

Barney had turned into his own, different, brand of asshole. But that was beside the point.

"To be fair," he said, "we don't have that sort of Guild in the Western Lands." The Guild system only existed within the United Kingdom…except for the whole Wizard thing, which had grown up out of the Guild system that Toshiko was familiar with. "So there's no central governing body we could go to, in order to get the word out."

Toshiko swore softly. "I didn't even think of that."

Clint shrugged. He could understand it, since the team she worked with really didn't come to his side of the ocean all that often…if at all.

"Still," Jack stepped in, "there are networks you may be able to touch upon, Clint, to get us some leads on Hydra."

"Look, you really want Nat for that. She's the spy of our team. I know for a fact that she's pulling on every thread in her web of contacts now, trying to find any sort of whisper on Hydra." He hadn't heard from her in days, but that wasn't unusual. He wouldn't worry until it'd been weeks and Nick came calling. "Sure, ask whoever you want here in the United Kingdom, but the Widow will have things covered at home. I'm just pretty sure I'm not going to be able to help out much."

Toshiko looked a little disappointed, which Clint frankly felt unapologetic for. He knew what his strengths were, and what she was suggesting wasn't all that much in his wheelhouse. Add to that fact that he really didn't have any sort of close contact in this country…yeah, he was pretty useless in that regard.

"Do you think we should be looking to hear from your partner soon?" Jack inquired, changing the subject slightly.

"No idea." Clint shrugged.

"Yes, I figured that was what you'd say." Jack didn't look bothered by Clint's admission, which the Elf thought was pretty good of him.

"What are we going to do once we get a lead?" Daisy wanted to know. She looked as if she wanted to be doing something, and Clint could totally understand.

Usually, Clint was the one who wanted to be out and working on the problem, but for some reason he was content to let Natasha do the 'heavy lifting' on this one. Maybe it was because he was with Phil, and his future wasn't going to be doing work for Nick anymore. He was settling down, with the man he'd loved for years and the daughter he wanted to get to know. The traveling life was over for him now, and for the first time since he'd left the traveling show he and Barney had joined as children he wanted to put down roots.

Hm…well, that was an idea…

"What are you thinking?" Jack asked, obviously noticing something in Clint's expression that he was curious about.

Clint waved the Deathless off. "It's a bad idea." Now that he'd thought of it, he realized he didn't want to do it.

"Nothing at this point is a bad idea until it doesn't work."

Alright, the man had a point.

"It's just that there are other groups out there besides mercenaries…like the traveling shows. I have… certain contacts among them, we could spread the word that way, too."

He'd expected to be dismissed, but he hadn't expected for Jack to go pale.

"What is it?" Toshiko asked worriedly.

Jack shook his head. "It's nothing."

"It was obviously something." She glared at him. "Spill it, Jack."

He huffed, rolling his eyes. "Fine. I…had a bad experience with a traveling show, once. They called themselves the Night Travelers, and while I never really discovered what they were up to, rumors had it they were responsible for deaths and disappearances all throughout the United Kingdom and Albion."

"Well, shit." Clint couldn't help cursing about that.

The Night Travelers were the boogeymen of the traveling shows. No one wanted to run into them, because Jack was right…death followed them, and the more superstitious of the villages would run the show he'd been in off when they'd get too close. No one had heard of them in centuries, but that didn't matter…their reputation was still out there, possibly blown up beyond the truth, but even if half of what was said was true then the Night Travelers were just plain evil.

"Yeah, that wasn't us," the archer denied. "I was with Carson's with my brother. It's where I earned my nickname…well, they called me Hawkeye, the World's Greatest Marksman back then; I shortened it to Hawk when I left." There was a lot more to that story than that, but Clint wasn't about to share. He didn't want to depress anyone. "But we still heard all sorts of stories about the Night Travelers, and none of them were good. I can understand why you'd be bothered by my suggestion."

"No, you're right," Jack sighed. "Not all the traveling shows are the Night Travelers, and I shouldn't tar them all with the same brush. You think you can find one of your contacts and get the word out?"

"I can try." Contacting Barney was never the problem. It was keeping himself out of his older brother's schemes that was the real issue.

Still, they needed to track down the members of Hydra. If spreading the news that way would do it, then that was what he'd do.

A sudden chiming noise sounded in the room. Daisy jumped, surprised, as she dug around in her pocket for something…

A speaking stone.

Clint had heard about Daisy and her friends enchanting their own stones. He thought that was amazing, that a group of students could do that without help from a Master Wizard. The Elf knew that Phil was very proud of his daughter for it, but then he was her Dad and pride was what a father should feel toward a talented child.

Not that Clint would know anything about that, since his own father had been a drunken, violent coward.

Daisy cupped the stone in her hand. It was a plain river stone, smooth from the movement of water over years, and was a dark gray. She tapped on the stone with a fingernail, cutting off the chiming sound and saying, "Hello?"

"Daisy," the unmistakable voice of Nicholas Fury, once mercenary Marcus Johnson and now Baron Triskelia, echoed a little as it emanated from the stone, "I can't get Phil on his own stone."

"He's in some sort of Grand Masters' meeting, down in Ianto's casting chamber." She looked a little less surprised, but it was still there. "How did you get in touch with me? You don't have a stone attuned to mine!"

The snort was sharp and irritated. "Don't ask questions you don't want to know the answer for."

Clint wondered just which one of Daisy's friends were carrying around a replacement stone. Because it would be just like Nick to pick a child's pocket.

"I've heard from Natasha," Nick went on. "She's found Ward."