My feet slid along the muddy ground as I raced to the opposite end of the compound. Clint had gone for the crane bucket and I was heading for the command tower. It wasn't an ideal position to shoot from but I didn't have time to go and set myself up on the hill.
"Barton, Kari, talk to me," Coulson's voice crackled to life in my ear. Despite the situation, he sounded calm and composed.
I was still climbing up the tower, winded by the swift run over here. Clint answered first, giving me time to get up the tall ladder. It was times like this I was very glad I wasn't scared of heights. Especially in the torrential downpour.
"You want me to slow him down Sir?" Clint asked, amusement dripping from his voice. "Or are you sending in more guys for him to beat up?"
I couldn't contain my snort of amusement. Over the radio I could almost hear Coulson rolling his eyes at Clint.
"I'll let you know." Coulson was all business. "Kari, where are you?"
In the little exchange I'd managed to get to the top of the tower, set up my AWSM with ease and I was peering through my scope, following the blur of shadows through the tunnel system they'd built around the hammer.
"Tower, in position," I said briskly, trying to mask my heavy breathing. I felt so out of shape. I was dreading what was going to happen when I got back to DC. Clint was going to kick my ass. I didn't even want to think was going to happen when Natasha got her hands on me. I shook my head, bringing myself back to what I was doing. I focused on the big guy running through the shadows of the tunnel system. "Hello there handsome."
All of a sudden 2 people came crashing out of the tunnels. One was one of the Charlie team boys and the other guy was a massive blond male.
"Whoa." I couldn't stop the exclamation slipping out. Riggs, the Charlie team guy was huge. His biceps were the size of my head. But the blond guy was even bigger. Riggs wasn't standing a chance as the 2 of them fought in the mud.
I couldn't get a clear shot of the intruder without hitting Riggs. I grumbled under my breath in frustration as Riggs delivered a brutal blow. It barely knocked down the bigger blonde guy. But it left Riggs wide open. With a brutal double chest kick that would even impress Natasha, Riggs went down into the mud. I swear I could hear his ribs crack from where I was position. The blonde guy didn't stop there. As Riggs crawled onto all fours, the intruder kicked him square in the face. Riggs went down and didn't move, though I could still see his chest moving through the scope. I didn't miss the hiss of sympathy coming from Clint either.
"I have a clear shot Coulson," I said briskly as the blonde guy stood up, wiping his hand across his face. It only succeeded in covering him in more mud as he walked back towards the hammer. His arrogance was incredible. The guy walked around like he was supposed to be there and we were the enemy.
"You better call it Coulson, cuz I'm starting to root for this guy," Clint added, he sounded amused and impressed by the display in front of us.
"Give him a warning shot Kari," Coulson's voice crackled to life in my ear. Those 6 words just made my night.
No sooner had the words left Coulson's mouth, I squeezed the trigger. A second later, the shot bounced off the metal support a few inches near the intruder. He didn't jump, he didn't even look around to see where the shot came from. It was like he had no idea a .338 was about to rip through his body and leave a big mess behind.
"The fuck?" Clint's echoed the words on my mind. There wasn't a lot of people who could shrug off a sniper shooting at them. This guy was either incredibly well trained, like Red Room trained, or he had no idea what damage I could actually do to him. Grams words from before echoed in my head, making me inch away from the trigger. This was definitely something new.
The intruder ripped the side of the structure away and strode in to where the hammer was. My position only let me see the shadow of him behind the wall as he walked straight up to the hammer. He paused a foot away from it, standing still for a few seconds.
"Last chance Sir," Clint's voice was back to all business. I took in a deep breath and got back into position. Even through the flimsy wall, I had a perfect shot.
"Wait." Coulson's firm command made my finger move away from the trigger again."I want to see this."
The intruder took a step forward, like he had all the confidence in the world for what was about to happen. I could just make out him gripping the hammer with one hand. As expected, the hammer didn't budge. The intruder went to 2 hands, looking like he was yanking with all his might. I don't know why, but I got the strangest feeling that whoever this guy was, he truly believed something was going to happen.
The strangled scream of anger and frustration made me jump as the intruder fell to his knees. It was a gut wrenching cry of someone who sounded like he was in serious pain. Like he'd just had something precious ripped away from him. I took my face away from the scope, swallowing hard at the anguish in his voice. I didn't know the man so why was I feeling sorry for him? He had broke into a secure complex and beat most of a STRIKE team down. He didn't deserve an ounce of pity coming from me. But I couldn't help but feel sympathy towards him. Whatever his mission was, he'd just failed in a big way. There was no hiding the raw agony in that scream of his.
"All right, shows over," Coulson's voice came over the radio. "Grounds units move in."
I blew out a small breath, rubbing my eyes tiredly. It'd been a long ass day and my little hit of adrenaline was wearing off quickly. I stayed up in the tower long enough to see the ground units move in and cuff our intruder. This night wasn't going to end well for whoever this guy was. I was half frozen and completely soaked through by the time I got back on the ground but thankfully the rain had eased up. Clint was waiting for me, bow slung over his back. He helped me down the last few rungs of the ladder before shrugging his jacket off.
"There was waterproof gear in the armoury," Clint said, looking exasperated as he handed his jacket over to me. I swapped him the jacket for my AWSM.
"I was more concerned about getting up into the tower so I could call first shot," I joked around my chattering teeth, gratefully pulling the jacket on. It was still warm from Clint's body heat, making me snuggle into it. "Cuz you never let me have any fun."
"I would have let you have first shot if you asked really nicely," Clint said with a small laugh. He gave me a fond look as he handed me back to AWSM. "You've come a long way."
"Still got a ways to go though." My smile fell a little, thinking back to watching the intruder and how bad I felt for him as he knelt to the ground screaming like he was in physical pain. I wasn't meant to feel sorry for people were we fighting against. But I couldn't help it.
"There is nothing wrong with a little empathy for people," Clint didn't need to ask what was going on in my head. I knew it was written all over my face. He reached over and gave me a small hug. I leant into his touch, enjoying the solid warmth that was Clint. It was nice to get a hug. I was feeling a little touch starved at the moment. "Come on, lets get you out of those wet clothes and see if Coulson wants us to interrogate him."
I nodded, letting go of Clint. Even in his warm jacket I was still shivering. Knowing my luck I'd catch pneumonia if I stayed in my wet clothes. I didn't need any more time off work this year. It was a good thing SHIELD has incredible health insurance and unlimited sick days otherwise I would have been very poor with all my time off. While I found my bag and got changed out of my wet clothes, Clint managed to get us both a coffee making the cool evening a little more bearable.
The entire compound is in chaos after our little intrusion. The dog squad on site had spread out and were looking for any signs of a partner or traces of where he had come from. What was left of the STRIKE team who didn't get an ass kicking were doing perimeter sweeps. I tagged along with Clint, pretending I knew what was going on, my mind ticking over the entire time. It was such a bizarre situation. It was almost like this guy was expecting that hammer to move when he touched it. There was no faking the anguish in his voice when it wouldn't budge. Everything Grams said kept coming back to the front of my mind.
It wasn't a huge area to cover so Clint and I ended up back at command centre. Coulson was stepping out just as we reached the room where the intruder was being held.
"Did you get anything out of him?" Clint asked, handing over the half a coffee he still had. Coulson took the cup, draining in a few quick gulps.
"Not a damn word," Coulson said, sounding frustrated. "Do either of you want to go in there?"
Clint's nose wrinkled in response, but I perked up quickly. I nodded, a little plan forming in my mind. Maybe what Grams had said earlier wasn't so crazy after all. Or the guy would think I was a nut job. Either way, I might be able to get something out of him.
"Be careful," Coulson warned me, before stepping aside to let me in the door. I felt a small rush of pride at his easy acceptance. I would have never been allowed to do this a few months ago. Clint was right, I really was coming along. As I stepped through the door, the intruder's mouth snapped shut like he was just talking to someone. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a flash of green. Tilting my head so I didn't give myself away, I got a better look at the corner of the room. There was nothing there. It was only my over active imagination.
I leant against the wall, propping one foot up on the wall and crossed my arms. Besides his brief glance at me, there was no expression on his face at all. I still had my AWSM slung across my back. The majority of people would at least look at it with mild interest. A tall woman with a big ass sniper rifle was more than enough to get people's attention. The way this guy sat was almost like he didn't know what it was. Or who SHIELD really were. But I had to admit, this guy was extremely good looking. Up close his muscle definition would put any of the STRIKE guys to shame. Even covered in mud, the guy looked like a god chiseled from marble.I stared at the guy for a long few moments, trying to work out how to put this into words.
"My Grandmother worked with a special division in World War 2," I decided to spit it out, no matter how stupid it may sound. "She saw…. things, that most people wouldn't consider."
Nothing. Not even a flicker of interest or acknowledgement coming from our intruder. Maybe the idea that the hammer wasn't of this Earth was as crazy as it sounded. It would certainly explain why he looked like he had no idea what was really going on around him.
"The Red Skull believed that Norse mythology wasn't a myth at all," I continued, feeling a little less confident than before. "So does my Grams. Most people would say she's crazy. But then again, lots of things back then were crazy."
The flicker of interest was so brief that I nearly missed it. I quickly squashed down my glee at getting some kind of reaction out of him.
"You looked so determined to get that hammer, like you knew something would happen if you lifted it," I pressed on, keeping my tone gentle trying to build a rapport with this guy. "What are we missing here?"
He finally looked up at me. The silence was almost deafening as he stared at me with intense blue eyes. The curiosity was there, but it was so brief. Now he just looked sad.
"What did you Grams believe?"
Hearing his voice nearly made me jump. I managed to squash it down and keep myself from grinning like a fool. I was so damn proud of myself all of a sudden.
"That Norse gods had been here before, that they were just beings for another part of the universe we don't know about," I said, keeping my voice carefully neutral despite how excited I felt. It was a little bit of a stretch of the truth, but given that I had his interest, I wasn't going to split hairs.
"Your Grams sounds like a smart woman," he said, almost sounding as sad as he looked. I tilted my head at him, hoping I'd get something more than that. But seconds ticked by and he went back to staring at the wall. I sighed quietly. So much for my good progress. But still, 2 sentences was better than nothing.
"If you feel like keeping this riveting conversation going, I'm Agent Lyngley," I said dryly, running out of patience as I pushed myself off the wall and walked to the door. "You can ask for me directly."
"Goodbye."
I nearly missed the softly spoken words. I turned to look at him and there was a flash of a dark haired man in green in the corner of my vision. It took every bit of my self control to not whirl around to see what it was. The slight turn of my head revealed an empty room. Again. It was a little creepy. Especially when he wasn't looking at me anymore, but to the corner where I swear I'd just seen someone. Or something. The feeling of someone watching me made the hairs on the corner of my neck stand up as I left the room.
I must be going a bit crazy from lack of sleep. It'd been a stupidly busy few weeks. My brain must have been playing tricks on me. There was no other explanation for seeing something that wasn't there. If there was someone in here with us, the security feed would have easily picked it up and I'd have Clint in here in a heartbeat.
"Well done." Coulson congratulated me with a smile on his face. It fell away as he looked at me a little more carefully. "What's up?"
"I got this creepy feeling like someone was in there watching me." I couldn't stop the little shudder that passed through me. It was a bizarre feeling. "I think I'm overtired."
"Nothing on the security feed," Clint put in, looking at me with concern all over his face. "We were watching the entire time. You think there's an Enhanced hanging around?"
"No." I shook my head, pushing it out of my mind. There was nothing on the security feed so it really was my imagination. "It was probably just my brain being stupid."
"Just like your face," Clint quipped at me. I scowled and reached over, punching him in the arm. It hurt my fist, but it also made him flinch. The serious mood of the last 45 minutes was gone in an instant.
"Anything is better than your face," I shot back.
"If you two are going to argue like 5 year olds, get out," Coulson groaned, giving Clint a shove in the direction of the door. Coulson looked like he was having a hard time keeping a smile off his face despite kicking us out. "Go play with the hammer, or something."
"Does this mean we've got hammer time?" I said, trying to hold back my grin at the cheesy song lyrics I wanted to burst out in.
"Kari if you start singing that, you'll be doing the Siberia run for the next 6 months," Coulson warned pointing his clipboard at me. He was failing miserably at keeping a straight face.
"Don't worry Coulson, I'll make her stop," Clint paused dramatically. I knew exactly what was about to come out of his mouth before he even said it. The idiotic smirk on his face gave it away. "And hammer time."
"Get out," Coulson said, but he laughed despite his serious words. For good measure he smacked Clint with his clipboard as we both scampered out the door.
"You're terrible," I laughed as soon as we were out of earshot. "Now I have that in my head. Thanks."
"Can't touch this," Clint sang bopping his head along to the imaginary beat. "And I don't know the rest of the words."
"Oh oh oh and so forth, can't touch this," I filled in while laughing at our antics. We were such idiots when we wanted to be. I was going to have that song stuck in my head for weeks now. "Maybe we should start singing 'Can't Lift This' instead."
"Can't lift this," Clint started singing." Oh oh, Can't…."
Clint trailed off bursting into laughter. I wasn't far behind him. It took us a minute before we were composed enough to walk off and get back to work.
Clint and I wandered around the complex randomly bursting into song. The scientists very promptly kicked us out of the hammer site when we tried to get too close. The fact we were still singing 'Can't Touch This' probably didn't help our case. Sometimes SHIELD could be very much like being back in the Air Force. Hours and hours of waiting around for 5 minutes of action. Being down in the canyon made my phone got nuts again so I wasn't even able to text to pass the boredom. We'd done a full sweep of the perimeter and made it back just in time to see Dr Selvig standing at the bottom of the stairs with Coulson looking down on him. Clint and I both stopped in our tracks, covered by the shadow of the building so we could eavesdrop on what was happening.
"You can understand how a man could go off like that." Dr Selvig looked so nervous his hands were trembling a little. "I mean, a big faceless government organisation like yours coming in with their jack booted thugs…"
Selvig trailed off at the unamused look Coulson shot him.
"…That's how he put it."
I had to give it to Selvig. It was a smooth save. Even Coulson looked mildly impressed at the quick cover up.
"That doesn't explain how he managed to tear through our security," Coulson said, glancing back to the screen behind him.
"Steriods!" Selvig explained with a strained laugh. "He's a bit of a fitness nut."
Even I could tell Selvig was lying. But he was doing a remarkable job at keeping his cool. It was a very good explanation though. The guy was incredibly ripped.
"It says here that he's an M.D," Coulson pointed out.
"He is, that is he was," Selvig stumbled over his words far too quickly. "He switched careers and became a physicist."
"He lies worse than I do," I murmured under my breath, only loud enough for Clint to hear. Next to me, Clint's hand flew to his mouth to hide his snicker. We were well positioned in the shadows that most people wouldn't see us. But bursting out laughing would definitely give that away.
"A brilliant physicist," Selvig started to stammer under the pressure of Coulson's stare. "He's a wonderful man, a man in pain."
Coulson continued to stare at Selvig for a long half a minute. The other man did well not to fidget under that stare. Coulson finally nodded to one of the Charlie team guys who was standing beside Selvig. He motioned for Selvig to follow him and the pair walked off to where our mystery guest was being held.
"Kari, Barton."
As soon as Selvig was out of earshot, Coulson turned towards us and motioned for us to come in close to him. Dammit, maybe we hadn't been as hidden as we thought. But this was Coulson. He had an uncanny knack of knowing exactly where we were and what we were doing. Clint and I climbed the stairs to the command post of where Coulson was standing. Behind him on the computer, the drivers license of Donald Blake was flashing up a falsified data warning all over the screen.
"Follow them. Discreetly."
Clint and I didn't need to be told twice. It took us less than 5 minutes to get changed into civilian clothes and heading into town in the car Clint had been using while he was out here by himself.
"So, what's the plan?" I asked as soon as we were driving away from the complex.
"If you're having a hell of a day, where would the first place a normal person head to?"
"To a bar." It was a simple question. Selvig had just lied in a big way to bust his friend out of SHIELD. Any sane person would head straight to strong liquor after something like that.
"There's only one bar in town." Clint nodded at my answer. "It's almost a hole in the wall type place. Plenty of dark corners to lurk in. But they have really good wings."
"You sound like you know from experience." Despite my teasing, wings and beer actually sounded pretty good. Having both would let us blend in easily.
"They do a $5 all you can eat wings and beer there on Thursday nights." Clint looked over at me with a grin. "And people are dumb enough to still challenge me to play pool. They even bet money."
I cringed but it still made me laugh. Pool, darts and beer pong were 3 things no one in SHIELD was dumb enough to challenge Clint to. Even when he was as drunk he had perfect aim. Every single time. It was maddening. I had no doubt Clint would have cleaned out a few people's wallets while he was here.
"So whats your cover story out here?" I asked, sliding down in the chair and putting my feet up on the dashboard.
"Just a guy traveling around," Clint said with a small shrug. "No one really asks. My resting murder face makes most people back away."
I snorted with laughter at that. He wasn't lying. But I was pretty sure Clint had picked that up off Coulson. We chatted about nothing as Clint drove us into town. It was pretty deserted at this time of night. So it wasn't hard to find a parking spot right in front of the bar. I found a booth right in the back corner with a perfect view of the entire bar. Clint went up and grabbed a beer for each of us before settling in the booth with me. Selvig and Donald, or whatever the guys name was, hadn't arrived yet so we had time to relax. I took a sip of the beer and pulled a mildly disgusted face. Whatever was on tap was cheap, at least it wasn't too nasty. It was drinkable.
"There's not much of a selection," Clint chuckled at me, sipping his own beer. "Its better than the $7 bottle of whiskey they have."
I shuddered at the thought of scotch that cheap. You may as well drink paint thinner instead. My phone vibrated in my pocket, making me go digging for the it. There were a ton of unread messages piling up again. The latest one was from Gareth telling me he was out playing pool with some of the guys from work.
"Greg?"
"No." I shook my head as I started to tap out a reply to Gareth. "Gareth."
"You never did explain how you two are suddenly talking after you were very adamant you weren't going to speak to him again," Clint said as he took a sip of beer.
"Apparently tequila makes me horny," I explained dryly, not looking up from my phone. "And he was the candidate for me wanting phone sex that night. Thankfully he thought it was funny."
And sexy. But Clint probably need to hear that part, or need any new material to tease me about. Gareth certainly wasn't being shy about his flirting. Tonight the text messages were starting to border on sexting. It was probably a good stepping stone for me. A bit of fun without any type of real commitment to anything. I could ignore the messages if I wanted, or pour a bit of petrol on the fire. Like I was currently doing. I was feeling bold enough to flirt back right now.
Clint snickered in his beer glass but otherwise didn't make any smart ass comment. He was watching my phone screen very intently though. I tilted the screen a little so he couldn't read exactly what I was typing. It was silent for about 5 seconds before Clint's face broke into a mischievous grin.
"Why yes Kari, I'm sure he will love the mental imagine of you bent over the pool table, probably in that little red dress you wore." Clint couldn't help himself. "Tell him your g-string and bra match the dress as well. He'll love it."
"You are surprisingly helpful when you want to be." I bit my lip to stop myself laughing, typing exactly what Clint had just said. Sometimes a guy's perspective could be very handy, especially with how out of practice I was. I wasn't surprised he'd caught onto what I was doing. "Though I'm sure he doesn't need to hear about how super padded my bra was that night to make it look like I had boobs."
"I'm sure he'd be too busy gawking about the carpet matching the drapes," Clint said, his mischievous grin growing wider. "I'd imagine you get that a lot."
"More than I'd like to admit but then again, so does Nat," I laughed, shaking my head a little as I finished the message. I wasn't going to rise to Clint's bait tonight. I was glad for the dark room though because I was sure I was blushing from what I just wrote. Speaking of Natasha, I scrolled back through my messages to double check she hadn't replied to me. She'd been very quiet since I left Malibu. Just like I suspected, there was no reply from the text I'd sent her early this morning. "Have you heard from Nat?"
"Not that I know of." Clint frowned, pulling out his own phone, flicking through it. "Nope, she's probably busy."
"Probably." I put my phone on the table, face down so whatever Gareth came back with wouldn't be seen by Clint. He was too intent on replying back to one of his messages to notice. "Are you sexting as well?"
"A little," Clint admitted with a laugh, his fingers flying over the phone screen. "She's at work, so I'm more being a distracting pain in the ass than anything else."
"I'm glad you two are getting through the rough patch." I smiled at the goofy grin on Clint's face as he typed out the message. Thinking of Laura made me realise I hadn't replied to a message from Greg earlier, so I opened up my phone again. "Say hi for me."
"You and me both," Clint said with a short laugh. "I'm sure she'd say hi back, but I may have distracted her a little too much to get her to form a coherent sentence. Hows Gareth going with the mental imagine you just sent him?"
"Probably to the toilet to jerk off," I laughed as well. The message had come up as read, but Gareth hadn't replied yet. Then again, he was out being social. He could have ignored it for the time being until later on. Greg had asked me about how my day was going so I tapped out a slightly vague response to him. Magical hammers that couldn't be moved were probably a bit to classified to speak about.
"I can't wait to get home." Clint stared at his phone, looking wistful as his fingers stopped typing. "I miss my wife. I miss my kids."
"I miss everyone," I said with a smile, looking up from my phone over to Clint. "I feel like I've been away for months."
"Trust me, we've all missed you too," Clint smiled back and went back to texting. I couldn't help but smile as I went back to my own message to Greg. It was little things like that which made me feel very much part of this team and their own very private lives. We were such a close little family. It was a nice feeling to be missed and loved.
Our wings came out as I finished my message to Greg. Clint was still texting Laura, so I dug into the bowl without him. The first bite made my mouth burn and eyes water from the spice. But they were seriously good wings. My face was on fire and I couldn't stop my nose running by the time I finished the first one.
"The sauce is good too." Clint finally put up his phone and grabbed his own wings. His attention suddenly perked up and his gaze shifted to the bar. Still stuffing my face with wings, I casually shifted so I could see what he was looking at. Dr Selvig and our mystery man had come to sit at the bar. Although the bar was quiet, there was too much background noise to hear anything they were saying. Both of their backs were turned to us, so Clint wouldn't be able to read their lips either.
"Fuck it," Clint grumbled, shifting in his seat. "Can't hear or see a damn thing."
The two men didn't do anything for a few minutes until the bartender served them. The large mugs of beer with a shot of whiskey made me cringe. This probably wasn't going to end well for anyone involved.
"Not much we can do now except drink with them," I said, turning my attention back to the wings. Clint had been right, the ranch sauce was really good with them.
"And hope they don't get into too much trouble." Clint picked up another wing, blowing on it before dunking it in an almost sinful amount of ranch sauce.
By the time we'd finished our bowl of wings, Clint had gotten us another beer. The 2 men at the bar didn't even give him a second glance as he stood there pretending he was texting while waiting for our beers. Other than a few drunken barks of laughter, the pair were remarkably well behaved. I was getting into more mischief with the progressively naughtier texts I was sending Gareth. Between texts, Clint and I made plans on what we were going to do once we got home. HeeBeen was definitely on the menu. So was a beer and wings night at JoJo's. I'd frustrated Gareth enough that he hadn't been able to concentrate on his game and he was heading home to bed. Greg had gone quiet, no doubt at work given the late hour. It passed away the time very easily. I barely noticed the hours tick by.
The sound of a glass shattering on the ground made both Clint and I jump mid conversation.
"Another!" Dr Selvig shouted, throwing his arms up in the air in his drunken glee. I couldn't help but laugh quietly at how drunk he was. The older man could barely stand up straight. He was swaying dangerously on his feet. I thought he was going to topple over at any second.
"Another!" His drinking partner echoed.
It was the most noise they'd made all night. But the bartender wasn't having any of it. With a few snapped words in their direction, the two men stumbled towards the door. Clint and I casually drained the last of our cheap beer before heading out the door, less than a minute after them. The pair were singing as they staggered down the road, back towards Dr Foster's lab. Or what was left of it after SHIELD stripping it bare.
"This way." Clint grabbed my hand and tugged me away from the road before I could follow them.
We ducked down one of the side streets, quiet except for the sound of our breathing. I could see my breath misting in front of me as we came to one of the buildings on the outskirts of town. Clint motioned to the fire ladder on the side of the building.
"Head up there, it's the perfect spot to see the observatory," Clint said, nodding up towards the roof. "I'll be back in a few minutes."
I did as I was told, shivering in the frosty night air as I settled on the edge of the building. Clint was right. You could see through the entire observatory and to Dr Foster's caravan as well. Despite the cold, it was a beautiful night. The tiny amount of light pollution from the sleepy town did nothing to block out the stars here. The ink black sky was dotted with thousands of tiny bright lights, stretching through the horizon. I tipped my head back to get a better view of the stars. It was perfect timing. A shooting star streaked over my head just as I tipped my head back. I watched the trail of light until it died out with a small smile on my face. There was something oddly soothing about sitting in the middle of nowhere watching the stars. It almost felt like it was soul cleansing. I stayed like that until Clint came onto the roof.
"Beautiful isn't it?" Clint didn't need to ask what I was doing. He came over, handing me the paper cup he'd brought up with him. I took a sip before I responded. It was terrible coffee, but it was warm and caffeinated. I wasn't going to complain. Gas station coffee was better than none at all.
"I haven't seen this many stars in months." I smiled as I tipped my head back up to the sky, "I saw a shooting star before."
"Did you make a wish?" Clint teased me gently, bumping my shoulder with his.
"Yes, I wished for a big meal of greasy McDonalds and some really fucking expensive scotch," I joked. "Or pizza. Yeah I could definitely go for pizza."
The wings hadn't done much to fill my stomach, despite how tasty they were.
"Sorry the pizza place is shut," Clint laughed, reaching into his jacket. He pulled out 2 small paper bags. "But I have donuts."
"Donuts will do." I reached over and took one of the bags from Clint. "What happens now?"
"Now we do what all good snipers do, sit and wait," Clint said, plonking himself down onto the ground. I followed suit, sitting close together with our knees touching. The edge of the building wasn't that high so we could easily see over it. We'd only been sitting there 5 minutes before there was movement on the rooftop.
"It's Dr Foster and our pretend doctor," Clint said before I could ask him what it was. He stared out over the buildings for another few seconds before a wry smile came onto his face. "They're too far away to make out what they're saying. But Dr Foster is smiling."
"I envy your eyesight," I chuckled, looking over to where Clint's gaze was. While I could just make out Dr Foster and the intruder, I couldn't make out their facial expressions at all.
Clint smiled but said nothing in reply. We sat there, sipping on our coffee and nibbling on the donuts are the night stretched on. The small town eventually grew so quiet you could catch the occasional bit of laughter coming from the roof. But otherwise, nothing else stirred in the town. The last of the lights were turned off from the gas station, plunging everything into darkness. If I thought the stars were bright before, it was nothing compared to now. My gaze eventually went upwards back to the night sky. Eventually, even the laughter from the observatory roof stopped. My eyelids began to droop, despite my best efforts to keep them open. I put my head on Clint's shoulder and cuddled in closer to him, trying to stay warm.
"Have a nap," Clint suggested, breaking the long silence. "I'll wake you when I need one."
I checked my phone, squinting a little at the bright light I tried to keep mostly hidden in my pocket. It was just after 0200. It'd been a very, very long day. I didn't argue with Clint. I put my head back on his shoulder and closed my eyes. He put his arm around me, pulling me in a little closer for warmth. It wasn't hard to drift off to sleep within seconds.
Clint shook me awake at 0403, looking grey and haggard. I yawned and nodded my consent to taking over watching, despite feeling bone tired. Clint lay down in my lap, pulling his jacket around him tightly. Like I had been, he was asleep very quickly. His quiet snores reached my ears as I sat looking out in the darkness feeling groggy and disorientated. It took until the sun was just starting to peek over the edges of the horizon for me to wake up properly. Like the hours before, the roof on the observatory was quiet. In the grey morning light I could barely make out 2 figures asleep on what looked to be reclining chairs.
The lights at the gas station flicked on just before the sun was fully up over the horizon. The first few rays of sunlight hitting the roof were enough to wake up Clint. I felt a little guilty as I watched him blink sleepily in the morning light. It took a few minutes for him to fully wake up. Even then, he barely looked human. My nap seemed like a full night sleep compared to what Clint just had.
"I will chew off my own arm for a coffee," Clint said with a groan as he pushed himself upright. "Please, make some magic happen."
"Good, cuz I need to pee." I got up straight away. I didn't need much excuse to get up and move. My muscles bitched in protest at the sudden movement, making me wince. My legs took a few steps to work properly as I staggered across the roof. It took a lot more coordination that I was feeling this morning to get back down the narrow ladder and across the street to the gas station. The toilet was thankfully unlocked and clean. I splashed water on my face, trying to get rid of some of the tiredness. It didn't really work, so I staggered into the shop for the next best thing. Caffeine. Even the attendant barely looked awake as I got coffee for Clint and I, along with some breakfast burritos from the warmer. It was quite the balancing act to get back up the ladder, but I managed without spilling any coffee. I walked over and sat back down in my previous spot, handing the warm beverage and breakfast to my tired partner. He gave me a grunt of acknowledgement, but kept his eyes over on the building.
I felt slightly more human by the time I finished my burrito and coffee. The two figures on the roof across from us both stirred and left while we were having breakfast. I could only just make out the bodies moving around below through the glass.
Despite the sleep deprivation, it was oddly calmly sitting here watching the sleepy town come to life. Slowly but surely, the shops started to open. The smell of bacon and pancakes wafted up to us from the diner across the street. Cars started to move along the road as people started their days.
"Those pancakes smell epic," Clint finally spoke, turning his gaze away from the observatory over towards the diner. "I wish Coulson would hurry…."
Clint's voice trailed off, making me follow his gaze. I actually had to rub my eyes to make sure I wasn't seeing things.
3 men and 1 woman, all dressed in armour and carrying medieval weapons were walking down the street. Straight towards the observatory.
"Shit."
Clint and I said the explicate at the same time. Clint scrambled for his phone as I could only watch dumbly as the 4 people walked straight up to the observatory. To my surprise, they just tapped on the window, waving merrily. The sound of one of the men could be clearly heard in the morning air.
"Found you!"
"Coulson, we have a small problem here," Clint's voice made my attention pull back towards him. He was on the phone, staring at the scene in front of him. I looked at him for guidance, completely clueless what to do. Whoever these people were definitely knew our mystery intruder.
Whatever response Clint got was suddenly cut off by a loud explosion coming from behind us. It was so loud, Clint dropped his phone. It landed with clatter before the sound of breaking glass reached my ears. We both jumped, whirling around to face the sound of the impact. In the distance, something, I had no idea what it actually was, stepped out of the cloud of fire and dust.
"Is that one of Stark's?" Clint turned to face me, sounding as confused as I felt.
"I have no fucking idea."
Once the dust settled, I could make out what looked to be an enormous metal figure. It certainly looked like it could have been one of Stark's. But where had it come from? It was like it'd appeared out of thin air.
An explosion ripped through the air, looking like it had come straight from the robot's face. Smoke and fire billows around where it had been standing. I could hear the faint sound of explosive fire from where we were standing.
I had a bad feeling that my morning was about to get very messy.
Authors Note
I promised myself I'd have this uploaded by the end of the month. So here it is! Thanks for being patient with me everyone while I sort my screwy body out. I was going to make this a lot longer, but decided it probably needed to be cut in half.
As always I cherish every single review I get. Thank you all to review/favourite/follow. The support you all give me for this story is incredible.
Until next time.