Invasions and Ice Cream

by Thrashing-Light

Loki had an invasion to prevent and two worlds to convince. Which is why he enlisted the help of an old friend of his, a certain stoic Demon Lord. Thanos and his Armada will come, and Loki and Sesshomaru will fight them. They just will also partake in ice cream, and two Avengers along the way. Just maybe they will all survive. AU Set after 1st Avengers movie: Sess/Tony, Loki/Clint.

40. Clint and the Graveyard Spiral

Clint and the Graveyard Spiral

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A Graveyard Spiral in the world of aviation, is when a pilot experiences spatial disorientation and loses awareness of the aircraft's attitude. In other words: you think you're flying with your wings level, but really you're about to spiral to your death. Clint knew the definition of that as well as he knew the back of his own hand.

Clint had never piloted a Graveyard Spiral before. He had been in one, when that pilot 'with the hair' lost concentration.

The acid of panic climbing up his throat told him clear as day that he was experiencing one now.

Only he wasn't piloting a plane.

He was watching the love of his life get incinerated.

*(*

---

"Hey, hey, Hey! Nat said we gotta meet in like, twenty minutes and you know to Nat that means ten." Clint's smile brightly curled his cheeks as Loki caged him from above with pale, toned arms.

"All I need is five." Loki pounced quick to nip quick, mischievous kisses down his chest. Clint rolled his eyes, but he relished it. He never thought he'd be the kind of guy who required this much attention. He was used to being the one giving the attention, being the doting boyfriend, holding open doors, holding hands, holding purses…

Loki sucked a kiss right at the juncture of his right leg and his cock. This GUY.

"You're distracted." Loki almost pouted and Clint huffed and bent over and hauled up the sulky god to his eye level. While Loki intently tried to make sure he was good and fucked for like, life, Clint was fine for the moment. He didn't want a blow job, right now, even though he wasn't going to necessarily stop Loki if he wanted to give one to him.

He wanted Loki to have what he wanted. After all, he was a bit of a softie, and sometimes even a pushover.

But really.

They were about to haul out in an tactical defensive to DC. The Aethon and the Nycteus had begun to move from the dark side of the moon and he just wanted Loki tucked in beside him. Maybe he was turning into the biggest bleeding heart romantic after all. Over Loki, God of Mischief, Lies, Sex, Calamity, Mayhem, and pouting.

Taking a deep inhale he smile small. He wouldn't change a thing. But he wasn't about to let Loki know this. His head would explode from the ego boost.

"Come'ere. Yeah, I'm distracted by...us." Clint wasn't sure where he was going with any of this, but it felt right to say. Loki, uncharacteristically, placed his head on Clint's chest and Clint carded his fingers through Loki's silky hair, detangling it.

"Us?" Loki repeated, lips brushing his chest. Clint almost thought he came across as thoughtful. Clint wapped his other arm tight around Loki's upper back, feeling the strong traps under his slightly sweaty skin. Clint didn't know why, but he could sense that Loki needed comfort here. Clint could tell Loki wasn't the type of person to actively seek something out like this.

He wondered, now, if Loki felt like deserved it.

"Yeah. Us. I know its colossally bad timing to be getting together, Alien invasion and end of the world and all, but...I don't know. This feels nice. Ugh, nevermind. That sounded dumb, It's good. We're good. We work. I like us, together." Holy. Shit. Clint. Could you be less articulate? Was he always this bad at talking about relationship...stuff?

Wait.

Seriously, when was the last time he talked about this sort of thing? It had been a while. Long while.

Maybe not since Jake was locked-up back in Iowa for assault. He was with someone then. Jenny? Maybe? They had a fight when he took another one of their date weekends to visit him. She had a point, Jake's wife and kids would visit. He didn't need to. Maybe that was a sign they weren't working. Priorities.

Loki shifted and caressed his fingers down his side and his fingers dancing across his skin felt way more hot, way more pleasing than it really should.

Clint wondered what hot-shit snarky comment Loki would say next.

"Clint, thank you." Loki's voice hovered barely above a whisper. Clint almost thought it sounded somber. He scratched a bit behind Loki's ear, thinking.

"For wha-" Clint was cut off by a sharp knock at the door and in a poof of green smoke Loki disappeared as if startled or shocked. Clint made a face he knew that had to be Nat. It was her knock.

Why would that spook Loki?

"Almost ready!" He called out. He waited a minute for Loki, but he never reappeared or teleported back or whatever he did. He got geared up, he had a new custom recurve bow and the fancy gold one he just called Val.

Just what was Loki thanking him for? And why did it leave a really bad taste in his mouth?

---

*(*

Fire.

No.

Firestorm.

No.

Inferno. A deafening inferno.

The entire Capitol building, National Gallery, Air and Space Museum, National Museum of Art, Smithsonian, all strangled in flames. They'd all be nothing but ash in no time.

And the HEAT. He'd never felt anything like it. Demon fire burned hotter than napalm.

Clint didn't care.

He didn't give a loose shit in India.

He just kept tugging arrows out of his quiver and shouting into his com. He would fire every arrow he had.

The smoke stung sharp and hot in his eyes and lungs, making it near impossible for a regular agent to get off any shot. But he wasn't a regular agent. The Chitauri swarmed everywhere, never giving him an opening, much less a chance to breathe. Rage and frustration fueled every snipe, and every headshot. Clint's senses tunneled deep in the zone, like a machine he churned out clean kill after clean kill.

It wasn't enough. He had to up his game, use his magic.

He had to matter here.

Of all his gear that had to fall, he had to lose the damn magic bow. Nice fuck up Clint.

Clint kept charging towards the edge of the roof, despite the risk of a Chitauri hitting him dead on(even though none explicably did), he had to get some space to get Val.

Val had been shot from his utility belt at the very beginning of the battle and had fallen down from the top level of the roof he was perched on, to the lower one. He had to get down there without breaking his neck.

Anything else broken. Fine.

Loki.

He was fighting an Angel of Death and losing. His chest constricted like a ravenous shark had clamped down on it and began to shred it.

Clint could see the green magic fading fast in the throes of the most horrifying wildfire Clint had ever seen. Clint had seen modern day Napalm used from the Mark-77 bomb. It had NOTHING on this.

They weren't prepared for this. No fire team could put out all these Demon flames.

But, Clint could.

He just needed Val, and to sink one magic arrow in that Angel's forehead. Just like Nate showed him with deer all those years ago, he would hunt this Demon Angel.

Clint Barton, Demon Slayer. He just needed his damn bow.

'Keep fighting Loki, I know you can.' Clint, finally with an opening, shot a grappling arrow into the outer wall of the Museum of Natural History and flung himself down onto a rough, sunfaded rooftop not far above the raging sea of fire.

He had to back up Loki.

Loki.

He stored his usual recurve bow, and tumbled and dove, scrabbling to clutch the Magic one. Val instantly warmed in his hand, a different kind of warm than the heat radiating from the National Mall.

"Gotta go." Clint swallowed; his pulse was a snare drum in his neck. He bolted up to the raised edge of the tarred roof. The ceaseless waves of heat and choking smoke radiating from the fires from here would have overwhelmed a lesser agent.

He didn't know how Loki held out as long as he already had.

Loki stood as a slim emerald oasis in a raging desert of orange flame and black smoke.

"I got you!" He didn't know if he was yelling at the Demon Angel, or calling out to Loki but he pulled back the glimmering string of Ichaival.

Clint shouldn't be focusing on the Demon Angel. He was ordered to kill as many Chitauri as possible to keep them from leeching into the parts of Washington DC that may have not been fully evacuated.

Orders be damned. Loki needed him. Plus he had been doing a fine job sniping the Chitauri.

The God he was absolutely crazy about needed him. Clint wiped his brow. It dawned on him that really told Loki how much he meant. How crazy he drove him. How much he had to run his fingers through his tangly hair again.

He'd get the chance. He would.

Clint's hands never trembled, but...If he didn't step up here...

If he didn't have Loki's back…

They were partners, damnit. A team, and It was about time he carried his weight. He just had to focus on forming that magic bolt again, and not the sweat pouring down his brow. A thin rod of purple formed and rapidly warped into a honed, tipped arrow. He readied his aim right at her furious face.

'Eat my magic dust.' Clint sneered and let the arrow fly. Despite the magic arrow having no weight, the bowstring didn't snap.

Clint held his breath as the arrow zipped as purified purple streak, clearing the air of the youki fire smoke and fire as it went. Wait, did that mean he could put out some of these fires? No time to worry about that now. He'd let the whole damn city burn to save Loki.

He kept the air in his lungs, pent up as if he exhaled the arrow wouldn't sing true.

C'moooonnnnn hit!

He smirked too soon.

At the last possible second she blurred away from it. Clint's heart stopped and stuffed itself into his throat. She was just as fast as Fancy Pants. In a straight fight Clint would be hard pressed to land anything against him. It was the same with this Angel bitch.

This…wasn't good.

He couldn't give u— a ray blast from a Chitauri whizzed by him, almost taking his blockhead clean off.

Without missing a beat he fired back with Val and hit the Chitauri clean through his chest, burning a bright purple hole though his sternum that ripped through him and the Chitauri behind him. In any other fight, Clint would have thought it was cool his magic arrows basically melted through the Chitauri. Not here.

He turned his attention back towards the black and green smudge that was slowly smoldering out.

"LOKI!" Clint yelled hoarsely through the coiling smoke.

He saw the faint glow of his green magic against the gold trumpet of the Angel. He had to keep trying. Maybe he could hit her if Loki distracted her.

Yeah. This was Loki, God of Mischief and Chaos. He survived The Other torturing him and Asgardian prison and they'd get through this because they were Avengers and that's what they did. Survive.

This was just some angry ex-girlfriend. He drew back a second arrow, and it flared to life like a live wire.

"Dodge this, bitch." He shot true, but Clint's exhale stuck in his lungs. Her face contorted into this menacing sneer and a circle of crimson fire spun around her trumpet. A sharp, pervasive dread knotted itself deep in his chest.

"Look out!" Clint screamed and time slowed down. His arrow slogged through the smoke as if anchored.

Too slow. Like slow motion.

The wheels of searing flame accelerated. They careened right towards Loki like hellfire. But he could teleport away. Right?!

Teleport!

Instead, Loki looked back and Clint swore they made eye contact. His armor, charred from the flames revealed savage third degree burns and Loki's singed hair flickered as flames. His arrow streamed towards Loki, but his magic didn't seem strong enough, quick enough.

He reached out his dagger back to him, as if waiting for something. The bitter tang of panic pooled in the base of Clint's throat.

Why did this this feel just like before in bed?

Like goodbye?

"LOKI, PLEASE!" He yelled out, coughing on smoke. "GET OUT OF THE WAY!" Clint's pulse jacked itself high like a rabbit's in his neck. The tornado of fire closed in, enveloping him as if he had never been there. The acrid smoke choked the sky around him, but Clint could still see his fading green magic. Even with his eyesight, he couldn't exactly see his facial features, but he could tell Loki wasn't smiling, and he wasn't angry.

He was just like he was three years ago. Serious and set. Terror trickled thinly down Clint's spine.

Time stopped still. The crackle and roar of the fire, silent. The whizzing Chitauri, vanished. Loki was ready for something.

Was he too late again?

The flames closed in.

The green magic snuffed out in an instant.

"LOKI!" Clint screamed high as his violet arrow sang through the flames. "LOKI! FUCK, LOKI!"

His heart stung. Why. Why when it mattered why did he always fail?! Too late.

He strung back another arrow when suddenly the flames at the epicenter of the inferno tempered.

A faint violet slice cut through the smoke.

Loki.

Clint finally exhaled.

He spotted through the hazy smoke a dark was slumped forward with a dagger glowed purple deep in the chest of the angel. The smoke obscured any details, but Clint could at least make out he was standing.

"Thank God." Clint wheeze as the angel vanished into stars. "Thank…" and this wasn't fair. The haze lifted. Loki barely looked recognizable, his armor burned and scorched off his body.

Loki slumped backwards, staggering and crumpling like carbon paper.

Clint's jaw slackened.

Loki hit the pavement.

Did he even have any skin left? It was all black and blue. He didn't have any hair left either. That soft hair… the smooth skin… It didn't matter if he had a pulse. He just needed a pulse…maybe a smile.

Ichaival burned in his grip then flashed icy and cold. Instinctively, he knew Ichaival was talking to him just like Tenseiga and Bakusaiga did.

"Stay with me, I'll be right the—" Clint got cut off by a smattering of ray blasts crumbling the roof beneath him. His heart reached his throat when his feet fell to air. He took out his recurve bow, but it took a fraction more slowly than it should have if he had his recurve bow out to begin with.

Jesus, what kind of archer carried around two bows?! He fought the panic as he fastened Ichaival quickly to his belt, whipped out a grappling arrow and fired it into the stone. He waited for the satisfying catch of the cable and was about to swing to the scaffolding.

The cable went slack and Clint's stomach lodged in his throat.

The stone jolted loose as soon as soon as the arrow cable held his full weight.

He was going to plummet his death in the fire sea.

Shit.

"I got your six, Clint!" Clint almost got the wind knocked out of him as he was caught by bulky metal arms. Rhodey thank the lord.

Clint craned his neck back to the still raging firestorm to spot Loki, but couldn't spot him, the angle was off.

An ear splitting crumbling rumble echoed through the air as a mushroom cloud of ash and dirt bloomed into the hazy sky. The Capitol building finally collapsed in a grey, ashen implosion. It should have really chilled him more, to see such a prominent symbol of America to fall, but it didn't hardly phase him. It was just a building. It could be rebuilt.

Loki couldn't be rebuilt.

Nate. The gun, the stream.

Pietro. The weights, the lake.

Loki. The angel, the fire sea.

"Put me down next to Loki, I gotta help him out." Clint insisted, but Rhodes didn't double back.

"Are you crazy? You'll be burned alive, I can't even get near it! Plus Thor and Tony need our cover fire!" Rhodes's usually steady voice sounded confused and panicked. He cruised low and Clint struggled. He had his back to Rhodes, and he was awkwardly held with the back of his head against his chest.

He knew a part of what he said made sense, but he could dispel the Demon Fire with Ichaival. He saw the purple arrow purify the Demon Smoke.

"Rhodes just put me down!" Clint got what he asked for.

A cannon strike shocked into Rhodes somewhere. Rhodes didn't even yell. In a second they spiraled tightly down to the pavement. Rhodes grip went slack at the last moment and he slipped free as they careened towards the ground.

Graveyard Spiral.

Rhodes' suit broke the fall and Clint's body rocked from the sudden, jarring impact. His vision swam and blacked out into spots. His ribs positively killed. Bruised at least, most likely cracked. Clint's body practically bounced and rolled out onto the pavement.

Clint groaned, ok, that was definitely worse than having Fancy Pants catch him in his pelt thing. Clint gazed up into the sky, catching the main cannon of the Aethon firing up.

"Rhodes, c'mon we gotta-" Clint gasped, uncharacteristically. Eyes wide, chest heavy.

Where Rhodes' helmet, head, should be, was nothing but blood. The cannon must have taken a clean shot. Clint ran a hand through his hair and felt tacky, sticky mess.

"Rhodes..."He didn't even want to look at it as he flung it the excess...brain goop? off onto the cement. Was that rude to do? Oh damn.

"Shit...Rhodes..." Dead. Rhodes was dead and it was his fault.

If he hadn't dropped Ichaival…or been at his post….

No. He didn't have time to process this.

He had to keep moving. He couldn't help Rhodes now, but he could help Loki.

"Man… man down. Rhodes. God. Nothing I can do for him. KIA repeat. KIA. God. I'm so sorry." Clint forced the bile in his throat down like a punch to someone's kidney. Why was it now that he couldn't get his shit together? He had training for this. He had seen worse, far worse…

This was not the first ally he had seen die. Not the first friend. Not that Rhodes and he were that friendly.

Damnit.

"Clint this isn't funny. Position." Tony chattered in his ear and asked for his position as if he didn't already know it or could scan for it.

"I can't do anything for him. Tony, I'm sorry, I can't. Position in front of Air and Space Museum. I'm on the move to Loki." Clint wasn't going to even bother with Tony berating him. He couldn't resuscitate someone who didn't have a head. He couldn't stay with someone who he couldn't help when there was someone he loved and could help dying in a fire.

Clint took off in a wind sprint fighting his ribs and dodging errant Chitauri blasts and finding of all things a damned bicycle.

He grabbed it off the street, thanked his lucky stars the tires were intact and pedaled like a madman. He sort of felt like a fool cycling during an alien invasion, but everything else around him was in ruin and if got him to Loki faster, he didn't give a damn.

Love.

Damnit Loki hang in there.

Loki had told him on at least two occasions that he, Thor, and Sesshomaru weren't immortal, but that didn't mean he'd die at the first battle ri—

The hair on the back of Clint's neck pricked up and he looked up.

The Aethon's primary cannon whittled and pulsed an otherworldly ultraviolet light. Clint didn't need to be genius Tony Stark to know that cannon could wipe out the entire city of DC with a single, shattering blast.

Fuck.

They lost.

Two electric yellow beams lasered with pinpoint accuracy to the cannon on the Aethon, obliterating the violet shield to grey dust. Clint chanced a look down the mall towards the Potomac river.

A translucent, horrifying Sea Serpent with glowing neon eyes howled into the sky.

Go Frogger go!

One more hit after disabling the shields and the cannon should be taken out! Clint silently cheered to himself as he pedaled closer and closer to the raging wildfire. He chanced a look back to see Jaken, eyes glowing, being lassoed in place by magic harnesses of over a dozen Chitauri chariots.

If Jaken didn't have the movement freedom to dive into the river to dodge the cannons…

ZING. POP. POP. POP.

Clint pursed his lips as the aft cannons fired mercilessly towards the direction of Jaken. Clint's mouth dried out to powder as the cannons pummeled Jaken's sharp face head on before he could recharge.

An otherworldly shriek speared the air and rattled his spine. A similar dormant inherent fear to the first time he encountered Bakusaiga needled deep in his spine. As a dark blue, viscous blood gushed and sprayed through the sky, Clint inherently knew one fact: Jaken was dying.

"This whole op is going sideways…." This couldn't really be happening, could it? He had prepared for this his whole life. He could eat a bullet for SHIELD on any assignment, at any battlefront, in any scenario.

Yet, this sixth sense of his was pinging off the map. His skin crawled, jittery and erratic across the nape of his neck and down his back.

He heard voices chattering in his scrambled com, but couldn't actually register them. He knew one call was Cap rushing to Loki's position. He was closest trying to secure Chitauri from getting down into the metro tunnels.

He knew Cap wouldn't leave Loki hanging. He trusted him.

Clint's legs and lungs burned tightly as debris and blasts crashed around him, miraculously missing him. It had to be that magic spell Loki put on him, he thought. Loki's lucky magic spell. He was always looking after him and now he had to-

Clint swerved as a blinding purple light radiated from the bow of the Aethon. The pulse cannon. Primed and ready it pivoted and lurched down towards the city. Clint's breath caught in his throat like a nest of barbed wire.

Was anyone close by? What happened to Jaken? Tony? Thor!?

He caught a glimpse of lightning crackle far away and a holler over the coms told him Tony had found Rhodes. Clint ignored the pang of guilt. He had a purpose. A rumbling vibration sung through the air and deep into his bones. A sphere of pure purple energy had crested the mouth of the cannon.

They were toast.

Clint kept pedaling like a maniac anyway because he'd rather die in action than standing slack jawed at some dipshit alien space cruiser. Loki was right… his sixth sense was right on target.

They're were all going to die.

At least Nat, Bruce, and Fancy Pants were still kicking. Thor might make it too. If Tony made it at least he couldn't hate him long for killing his best friend.

Clint had reached the edge of the inferno and to his panic and dismay, realized it was impassible. Not for long. He took out Ichaival and fired a shot through the fire.

The fire snuffed out a tunnel through the fire that immediately closed back up.

"Shit!" He gritted out as he heat from the fire blew out the front tire and he nearly flipped over the handle bars. He bailed and immediately started running, Ichaival gripped in his hand as he began to shoot outlying Chitauri still firing down upon the scorched sidewalk in front of him. He had to find an opening in the fire.

"Enough already!" Clint turned another Chitauri into goo as he continued to try to find any break in the fire.

Then the air jolted with an underlying, tense electricity. Clint's mouth would have run dry if he hadn't already been breathless. Ichaival warmed against his chest where he had slung the bow around him.

Green.

Emerald green magic punched upwards like a huge tree.

LOKI.

He still had enough energy to do that?!

Clint allowed himself to watch as a torrent of sparkling magic grew rapidly into a mighty redwood tree. The magic branches sprung and twined out, grappling and crunching the Aethon's hull. The grating, shriek of metal grinding against itself almost drowned out the explosions puckering down the length of its side. The monumental tree positively crushed the cannon with its powerful branches and sharp leaves.

Yet, another thought shocked his mind. Sesshomaru and the interceptor! He kited the ship away from the center of New York so the ship wouldn't fall and basically turn them into mush. Clint's worry eased as the shrapnel that blasted through the air didn't hail down on any of them. When they struck the green magic shields they all disintegrated into dust.

Ichaival burned against his chest as he coasted his bicycle to a stop.

"He saved us." Clint's panic warmed and smoothed his lungs into relief. Not just for everyone, but if Loki had that much magic left then he had to be alright. He had to have healed himself just like he did after the sniper shots.

The raging fire that threatened to burn the rest of the buildings in the mall to ashes from Suzuka's feathers had been snuffed out as well. He was almost past the Smithsonian to where Loki was. He could cover that distance despite the smoke inhalation in his lungs.

Ichaival, just like the air, cooled and chilled against his arm as he continued his sprint.

"Loki…I'm almost there." Clint hadn't even realized he had said that into the com when he heard a surprising response from Steve to hurry.

Hurry? Why? Loki had just decimated the Aethon. He just won them this battle so he had to…

No.

"I existed once, I truly did, you know that."

"Don't ever think you're anything near as disgraceful as I."

"Thank you."

He WOULDN'T.

He couldn't have….have…

Nate's brown eyes and Pantera posters, smoking himself out to calm his Demons.

Pietro's curly blond hair and Addidas track suits, gambling his paycheck away to pay off those human traffickers.

Loki's predatory green eyes and his ace up his sleeve.

Steve called for a medic over the com and Clint could have set a world record in the 400 meter dash towards the center of the ashen mall. He saw Steve and a group of other soldiers closing in on Loki's position, making a perimeter, firing at Chitauri that converged on their position due to the lack of smoke and flames.

He couldn't be too late.

Clint didn't remember covering the distance between the Smithsonian and where Loki lay, but he did.

He skidded to a halt on the ash, slick like dead leaves.

Steve fronted strong in his space saying something, but all he heard was buzzing and white noise. He pushed Steve aside and a part of him knew that Steve must have let him because there was no way he could actually shove Steve on his own strength.

Loki had told him on more than one occasion that he wasn't immortal, but it didn't really sink in. Loki was…too smart. Too resilient. He survived. That's what he did. He promised to be his shadow. To stick by his side, to always be there, flickering and moving when he did.

So why was he so still, when he was still moving?

Why was his skin blue, and what were these raised lines?

Why were his irises red? They were supposed to be green. His green.

Why wasn't he blinking?

Third degree burns charred at least sixty… seventy percent of his body… but he was Loki, tougher than a a human. Way tougher.

Clint scrabbled his hand on Loki's blistered, flaking chest and choked back something like a thick sob. With his other he cupped his blistered cheek and recoiled at how his cold skin bit him.

Ice cold.

Not good.

Clint's hands shook for the first time in a long, long time.

CPR.

"Not you too…." Clint grunted and went to perform CPR when Steve hauled him off Loki with an embarrassingly placid display of strength.

Clint snarled and almost jacked back to sock Steve right in the chest.

"Clint. He's gone. He's gone and so is Colonel Rhodes, Jaken, and countless more. The Chitauri and the Leviathans are still decimating DC and we need to fight them off. We need you, especially if more Demon Spirits come. We need you, Clint." Steve's eyes softened in grief and Clint swallowed and relaxed a little.

He pursed his lips and swore he heard Loki's laughter ring in his ears.

"He… didn't…couldn't say anything, but he did leave me a message. He wrote '808s'. I don't know wha—" Clint cut him off with a gruff, clap of a laugh. He didn't even recognize his own, scratchy voice.

"808's and Heartbreak. It's an album we listened to. I'm too late, again." Clint said, almost robotically. It was the last album they listened to together. The last.

His mind flashed to the Scorpions blasting on the cassette tape in Nate's f-150. That awful Russian trance techno Pietro blasted on his boombox.

The gunshot.

The lake.

Loki and the fire.

"Clint, I'm sorry, but we gotta keep moving before more are lost." Steve's voice sounded like a whip even though Clint was certain that was the opposite of his intention. Steve's hand rested on his back and it was then that Clint had realized he was bent over, buckled like he was about to wretch.

Clint swallowed hard. He couldn't allow his mind to process this right now. Steve was right, they had a battle to win. If he didn't help win back DC then not only Loki's sacrifice would be in vain, but Rhodes' Jaken's and so many others would be as well.

But seriously...this couldn't be happening. He couldn't be this useless.

No. He wasn't useless. He was an Avenger. If he was going to be too late saving Loki, he would damn sure Avenge him. His heart rate spiked so fast he could feel it drum in his neck.

"Where do you need me?" Clint asked, and Ichaival glowed a wicked purple.

He was going to do some damage. Real damage.

Chitauri buzzed around him and he wasted no time sniping five from the sky with shimmering magic bolts. He hadn't even registered pulling Ichaival's bowstring back five times.

He smirked as the Chitauri powdered out to purple sand.

They were going to pay for this. He'd take Thanos on himself, He'd sink so many arrows into his face dental records wouldn't be possible.

"The leviathan are congregating near the Lincoln Memorial, we think they may make a move on Reagan International Airport, or possibl—" Clint tuned Steve out as spotted one of his favorite things, a police motorcycle laid out on the ground under some debris

He sprinted over to it as a crook of lightning split the asphalt to his right.

He didn't have time for Thor. His reaction would undo him. He liked Thor, really, but he just couldn't deal with his protective big brother act that he only put on when it was convenient for him.

So, he admitted it, maybe he was bitter. Maybe he was holding a grudge for Asgard, but if that's what it took right now to get through this, he was OK with that.

He had done worse things. Was about to do worse things.

"Brother…you can't be… " Thor's voice rasped out smoky and stilted. Thor's reaction was completely different than when Loki was sniped back in New York. Instead of raw and red anger, he blanked out, all drifting, pale and quiet.

Where were you Thor, Mr. protective big brother?

Clint's fist glowed ultraviolet as he put away Ichaival and picked up the dinged motorcycle, one blue light still flashing intermittently.

"He is… fuck he is, OK Thor?! HE'S DEAD! DEAD! SO, LET'S GO." Clint yelling hoarsely at the brother of a Demigod probably wasn't his smartest move, but the buzzing and crackling in his chest drove him to lash out.

"He used his very body as a vessel for Yggdrasil…" Thor continued as if he hadn't even heard Clint which should have pissed him off more, but didn't because it wasn't like he and Thor were all that great of friends anyway. If Thor wanted to play sad, older brother right now, Steve could deal with it.

He swung his right leg over the bike and revved it. It barked to life. His throat clamped suddenly shut, he thought of that pool game in that bar, where Loki sank that behind-the-back shot.

He'd never get to ride a Ducati with Loki.

He'd never get a rematch at billiards. Those long fingers tented on the green felt, the cue resting on his scarred knuckles.

The shower and the suds. Diva.

No.

Focus, Clint. Damnit.

"I'm going after that Leviathan, Steve." He blamed his wet cheeks on the wind that whipped by him as he trailed a gliding leviathan. The massive alien groaned out low and Clint wasted no time steadying the bike, and pulling back the gleaming string of Ichaival.

Lightning spiraled all around him, and peals of grumbling thunder echoed through encroaching thunderheads. It finally sunk in for Thor.

"This is for Rhodes." Clint muttered and from the twang of the bowstring erupted a flare of violet. Raw, unfocused, and lethal, the purple ray of energy zigzagged towards the Leviathan.

The violet bolt flared a brilliant magenta when it struck the leviathan right behind its jaw. A rough, blackened, puckering welt erupted out across its skin along with fading rays of purple light.

The wounded Leviathan it let out a terrific roar and dropped from the sky like a wet rug into what was left of the reflecting pool. Clint wanted to feel that rush of victory, but that horrible buzzing just kept slicing through his chest. He didn't feel any better even though he had just taken out a leviathan with a single shot.

He didn't even marvel at how much better he had gotten with Val. He just did it and he'd do it again.

Clint didn't break concentration as he put his left hand back onto the throttle and sped closer to the Lincoln Memorial for another killshot on the last three remaining Leviathan.

He was going to take them all out. He was going to-

Tony's damaged, but still half functioning, suit landed right in front of him and he braked the bike to a squealing stop.

"Tony, what?!" Clint snapped.

"You were either ignoring your com, or it got shorted out by Thor's tantrum. Cap and I will handle these guys, you and Thor have to head back to Stark Tower. Now. " Tony ordered and Clint's eyebrows furrowed. What did he miss? Irritation caused Clint's neck to itch.

"What's going on at Stark Tower? Why can't you go?" Clint sniped back with questions. He was needed on the front-lines. He had to do more damage. He had to avenge more. He couldn't just go back to the safe-zone. What the hell was Jarvis for anyway?!

"Suit's too damaged to make it in time to respond, But Thunderclap can still sprint. Demon Spirits have infiltrated the tower. You have to go back and protect Pepper, Sunshine, and Inky because you're the only one who can exorcise them. Clint, I get it, I get what you want to do here, but go. Please." Tony's voice didn't really sound like Tony's voice just then. It almost sounded like a plea.

Tony never plead.

Rhodes.

Tony lost Rhodes.

No. He took Rhodes from Tony.

He couldn't let himself process that guilt either. Death happened in war. It just happened.

"Yeah, of course." What else could he say?

He was the only one who could dust these Demon spirits. And Rin, she was in danger. He couldn't handle it if anything happened to her. He couldn't allow her to get hurt. Especially if Fancy Pants and Nat, whose coms died off long ago, hadn't...

No. He had to believe they were fine.

Well, Fancy Pants wouldn't be once he heard what happened to Loki. And Jaken.

It was crazy thinking how just a couple weeks ago he had just seen Loki as Fancy Pants. Shot him full of arrows. Those manic, twitchy hands all over his back...

NO. FOCUS.

"Hawk's eye, we must make haste. I fear something nefarious is underway." Thor failed to sound as commanding as he probably wanted but Clint wasn't going to argue. Thor's lightning had subsided somewhat, but mjolnir shook in his white-knuckled grip.

If he couldn't light the enemy up here, he'd do it in Tony's overly-designed living room. He'd work this out of his system. He wouldn't be too late for Rin and Pepper.

"I think it's a little late Thor, this whole fubar situation is nefarious." Clint bit grimly as Thor placed a dusty, meaty hand on his shoulder. His busted knuckles bled a bit.

"Aye…I take responsibility for this. I should not have let Loki take on that Demoness alone." Clint didn't bother to look up to Thor. That wasn't on him. It was on Clint. Thor couldn't have hit her with his lightning.

He should have put her down long before Loki got charred by her flames. But, he couldn't turn back time. He couldn't bring Loki back… he couldn't ever… no.

Clint sighed through his nose and clapped his own calloused hand on Thor's. His and Loki's hands couldn't be anymore dissimilar.

"It's… not on you." Thor's credit, he was holding together pretty well for someone who just lost a younger brother. Clint wasn't in the mood for humor, but he did lighten a bit at having to be picked up yet again.

"Aye, we shall Avenge my brother together, and protect Man of Iron's tower." Thor's chest vibrated deep and yeah, he and Thor were both Avengers and at the end of the day they were going to do what they needed.

For Loki. Rhodes. Even Little Green.

Oh shit, Fancy Pants was going to be so pissed they couldn't protect him. Any of them. He doubted he cared much for Rhodes, but Tony did.

Clint's stomach lurched as Thor launched himself into the air, Mjolnir leading. Wind and rain whipped and stung his face and Clint squinted his eyes shut. It just went to show the vast differences between himself and Thor that he could fly at speeds to rival the Quinjet.

Thor's vicegrip on his chest also reminded him that if he ever had to fly with a super being again, he'd take Fancy Pants' lightshow over this any day.

Clint actually much preferred being teleported but...

Clint inwardly winced. He wasn't about to touch that. He couldn't allow his emotions to control him. He controlled them, he was a soldier and a spy and he could handle this. Breathe in...breathe out. Inhale, exhale.

"-down." Clint couldn't hear Thor over the roar of the wind except that one word.

Down.

He let Loki down.

Clint swallowed and opened his eyes and while he couldn't make out much, he figured they had to be getting close because he swore they were slowing down somewhat.

How long had they been flying anyway? It couldn't have been more than a few seconds. Right?

Maybe not. Maybe he needed to focus more. Damn feedback loop, getting frustrated he wasn't focusing more was causing him NOT to focus.

Sure enough, he blinked a few times, bringing things into focus. and made out the Manhattan skyline they were careening towards. Nothing looked out of place, he couldn't make out any spaceships or Chitauri even.

That didn't mean nothing wasn't happening. Tony wouldn't have said 'please' if some serious shit wasn't going down.

With a crunching, quaking thud, Thor landed on the helipad of Stark Tower. Cracks and splintered concrete webbed out from his feet and Clint wasted no time shaking himself free of Thor's grasp.

So much for stealth.

Storm clouds conjured from nowhere from previously blue sky.

Clint wasted no time surveying the situation and instantly eyeing the door to staircase on the roof had been kicked in.

Was the attack on DC and Norfolk just feints? Was the attack on Stark Tower their primary target? What could they be…

The scepter!

"Thor, the scepter. Their objective is the scepter. They're going to try to steal it and…" Clint's mind finally caught up with what was really at play.

They'd been trying to capture Loki or Sesshomaru this whole time to get the cosmic gems. With Loki dead—not able to be turned by the scepter anymore, they could use the scepter on Sesshomaru, and there wasn't a damn thing he could do about it.

Fancy Pants was still cursed by the Other's magic. The scepter could turn him against them.

Clint's pulse spiked.

Clint's mind flashed to the scry Fancy Pants' mother showed them. Thor and Loki fighting against them… killing them. Only instead of Thor and Loki fighting against them, it could be Sesshomaru against them.

If Sesshomaru was turned against them without Loki to help… that could certainly tip the scales in the direction of their enemy. Maybe.

They still had Bruce and Thor. They could stop Fancy Pants.

Tony...well...Tony would probably get on board.

But, it still left a sharp ache in his gut.

Clint caught Thor's eyes as they widened in shock. He didn't know if Thor put all the pieces of puzzle together like he did, but he definitely realized enough.

"Thor, get to the scepter room now. I'll be right behind you." Clint ordered, not even stopping to consider he just ordered Thor around.

Thor flew off the side of the tower and Clint broke into a sprint to the edge of Stark Tower as well. He could get down there just fine on his own, and could flank Thor's initial attack.

The hacker must have been able to shut Jarvis down. He didn't hear any alarms going off, and the tower seemed utterly defenseless. Clint reeled, who would be in the tower...Pepper stayed behind, Polly the damned ice cream girl was in the tower too...Squirt! Rin.

No, Pepper would know exactly what to do. She would have taken them to safety as soon as Jarvis shut down. Pepper could have been a SHIELD agent if she had wanted.

Clint dove off the side of Stark tower, recurve bow in hand.

Wind whipped by him, but this time, he was completely in control, he streamlined his body and flipped to his back.

This time he'd stick the arrow.

10th story...

9th story...

8th story...

Now.

He whipped out his last grappling arrow, strung it like he had thousands of times before, and let her fly. It struck the side of Stark Tower and he swung through the glass on the second story.

Nat told him about the hidden ventilation shaft she used to drop in on Loki and Sesshomaru when they almost brought the whole tower down. He could access it on the second story

As stealthy as he could be after making a mess of crashing broken glass, he made a bee line for the vent opening. He listened for any sort of sign of agents, aliens, humans, whatever roaming the halls but heard nothing.

Silence was never good.

No, they weren't too late. They had to still be in the tower. He kicked in the vent lid and immediately started shimmying down the vent shaft. The sounds here echoed a bit, and now if he really strained his senses, he could feel faint, uneven vibrations. A fight.

Thor had to be down there giving them hell.

He reached the part of the shaft where he'd have to drop a few floors and he braced himself for a bit until...

Fuck it.

He dropped the rest of the way.

Clint's boots hit the lid of the vent and it caved quick and he braced himself for an uneven landing when his chest, right where his tattoo was, warmed up quick.

Loki's protection magic? It still worked?!

Clint's feet connected with a SHIELD agent's head and shoulders and he immediately twisted his body into a takedown manuever.

"Clint!" Polly called his name out just before gunshots erupted and Clint had a hairsbreath of time to duck behind one of those many crates that Tony had moved into the hall to make room for the scepter containment room.

Bullets rang and splintered the wood of the boxes. Clint pulled out his recurve bow, he couldn't chance that Ichaival wouldn't work on normal, non-magic or demon enemies.

He didn't even need to look as he angle-shot two arrows, sinking them effortlessly into two of the agents. Polly should be able to get free now… well maybe he was thinking too much for her. She was just basically a kid with no training.

"They have Pepper! It's my fault, they're all in there with the scepter. Thor too. It's all my fault. I thought I heard something, but I didn't say anything…and it just happened so fast! Rin's gone somewhere...I don't know!" Polly called out, voice hoarse and panicked. Clint whipped around and saw her shaking due to shock and adrenaline.

He closed the distance and put a hand on her shoulder to steady her. She swallowed thickly, eyes wet.

"None of this is your fault. I'm going to get in there and Thor and I are going to set everything right. We will be fine, I need you to tell me who is in there and to get out of danger and hide. More will be on the way." Clint locked eyes with Polly, and she nodded firmly.

"OK, so like five agents, oh and Happy! I think Mis—Pepper knew one of them, a blue terminator chick, and maybe someone else. They took Pepper and I heard a crash so I'm pretty sure Thor had to be in there. I was going to find Rin, but then they chased me. We told her to run and hide, but I don't know where she went." Polly responded, fidgeting with her earrings.

"Yeah, find Rin, hide out till this blows over." Clint clapped his hand on her slim shoulder one last time. They should have never involved her in this. But he couldn't turn back time no matter how much he wished he could.

Clint switched bows and Ichaival thrummed to life in his hand as a steady stream of warmth.

He pushed his back flush up against the door. He could hear pounding on the other side but not much else. Tony had reinforced the door pretty well. No signs of tampering with the lock, they must have somehow hacked their way inside.

He inhaled deep. He had no way of knowing what was on the other side. What he was about to throw himself into?

But he trusted his training, his instincts, and his skill.

Ichaival warmed in his hand. Loki.

Yeah. He trusted Loki's protection magic and his now as well.

Did he ever properly thank him for the bow? He couldn't think if he did. He couldn't remember.

He pushed the thought from his head.

One.

Two.

Go.

Clint burst through the heavy, titanium door as a blur, Ichaival zipping through the air in his bow-hand as a violent, magenta streak.

Clint didn't hardly need a split second to survey the rest of the containment room as he tumbled behind a crate left behind from when Fancy Pants and the Hulk played 'catch me if you can.'

The room was a sight, but he wasn't too late.

The scepter still stood, locked in its bullet...well 'almost anything proof' containment case in the center of the room.

It gave him the the heebie-jeebies still.

The blue youki which had previously swirled around the entire room in some sort of surreal, whirlpool, now spiked and ebbed completely unstable. Just like back when Sesshomaru fired Bakusaiga at the Chitauri over New York, the hair on the back of his neck pricked up.

This wasn't a good sign. If the youki surrounding the scepter completely dispersed the call of the scepter would certainly due them in.

The absolute last thing Clint wanted was to be a puppet to Thanos again. He had to end this NOW and re-stabilize the youki perimeter.

Nebula stood on the far-left side of the room, typing into the control console, her cold black eyes darted immediately up to him. He knew she could cross the room to engage him at a moment's notice.

He really didn't want to engage her close-combat. She went toe-to-toe with Steve after all. He had to keep her at a distance if he were to have a chance.

On the far right, Thor wild eyed, bloody and angry swung Mjolnir at...

Hakudoshi.

Hakudoshi, also on the opposite side of the room as Nebula smugly brandished his polearm, blood slicked down its blade. He appeared to be enjoying slicing up Thor since there wasn't anything the big guy could do about it.

Thor seemed to SEE Hakudoshi, (maybe because of the youki in the room?) but it was clear to Clint Thor couldn't connect any swing with Mjolnir.

Just like back in DC with that Phoenix Demoness.

"Hawk's eye, I can't land a proper hit against this...aggravating child!" Thor thundered and managed to dodge the quicker, but smaller Hakudoshi.

"For the last time, you infernal moron, I am NO child." Hakudoshi's face scrunched up. "Now, listen closely this time, you blundering false-god. We've already won. You see, you've all played into our hands perfectly. I tried to warn that magician, but look what happened to him. And Sesshomaru? Where is your supposed savior? Ah yes, convening with Kagura who has always been a useful distraction. That Demon Lord eventually will fare no better once we use him to obtain the Cosmic Cube, and then I will possess his body. You wouldn't call me child then, would you? No you'd be too dead to call me anything at all!" Hakudoshi taunted and in a blink he was gone and behind Thor.

That was Hakudoshi's plan? To possess Sesshomaru after this was all said and done? Could he do that?

Why was he telling them this? What was with this guy?

Clint had a lot of questions, but unlike Tony, he didn't need the answers to all of them. He still had a shot though. Narrow, but he wasn't called Hawkeye for no reason.

And.

Most importantly.

He couldn't wait to singe the smug head off those creepy, pale shoulders.

His fingers curled around the mystic bowstring of Ichaival and his heart stopped beating. Calm as a frozen lake, solid as a stone, Clint took aim and an arrow, far more expertly formed brighter than before formed in the bow.

It glowed almost pale pink, a blinding white light.

"Geez, you talk too much." Clint muttered as the arrow seared through the youki, leaving an indigo trail of dust as the two merged.

Clint reveled in the wide, shocked eyes of Hakudoshi, jaw ajar.

At the last second Hakudoshi tipped the bolt with his polearm just barely and the arrow veered off course and glanced his left shoulder, searing it black and grey.

"A damned PRIEST?! Never the matter, you're nothing compared to Kikyo's former power. I do find it interesting though, you have that magician's magic active within you. I wonder, Priest, how close you were with him. I bet you're really worked up, you and his brother, the thunder god." Hakudoshi hissed, regaining composure.

"You arrogant runt, stay sharp. You're going to ruin Operation Ultron, and then I'll have to answer to Ronan!" Nebula scathed from across the room, she reached for her weapon, that quarterstaff again before Thor flung Mjolnir her way, forcing her to duck.

"Stay put, foul-tempered robot!" Thor shouted as Mjolnir crunched into the wall, and almost through it. Geez, Tony really did reinforce those walls.

Clint's chest warmed up again as a spike through his sternum. Danger. He ducked immediately. A horrific blast crested over him, unfortunately clipping the tip of his recurve bow, rendering it useless. The incoming fire came from across the room, his eleven o'clock. There he saw four bodies, the rogue agents Polly mentioned.

Who? How...?

The destroyer gun? He probably shouldn't be surprised.

Reflexively, Clint fired back with Ichaival, the violet arrow singing through the unstable youki again.

Another destroyer gun blast hit the arrow and a rippling shockwave of fire and purple magic knocked everyone back.

Clint blinked and narrowed his eyes when he poised himself. Two people stepped out from behind a few crates.

Coulson.

Coulson had Pepper by the hair, tape over her mouth, hands bound in front of her with zipties. Her face red, probably from anger, her cheeks wet as well. Sticky blood caked to the side of her temple which had oozed down over her left ear and neck.

How much had he hurt her? Shock and indignation spiked in his brain.

Then he saw a pair of legs sticking out from behind a crate. Big, probably overweight.

...Happy?!

"I have to hand it to you, Barton, you've always been resilient, a survivalist. I thought for sure the Quinjet would do you in, I suppose I underestimated Loki's devil friend." Clint's mouth went dry. Coulson.

Coulson led the rebellion against SHIELD. He went rogue. He should have seen it coming, but at the same time...why?! How? When?

"Coulson. Let Pepper go! This is between you and me." Clint bargained as he launched another bolt at Hakudoshi, who this time managed to dodge.

If he and Thor had been engaging the Chitauri and the Leviathans, they could handle a three on two.

This though...Hakudoshi, Nebula, Coulson...these three were far too skilled and Thor couldn't even hit Hakudoshi.

Clint gritted his teeth. He had been through worse. They could make it through this. They had to.

"You and me? This is bigger than just us. Our world is about to be conquered by an intergalactic warlord who has never lost a battle. Our only chance at staving off his invasion is to use his own weapon, the scepter, against him, and stop him from acquiring the Tesseract and completing the Soul stone. Earth's forces aren't strong enough to do this alone. The Avengers' initiative isn't mighty enough for this." Coulson spoke as if he had written a speech he wanted to deliver. Clint processed a few things at once. One, Coulson knew about the Tesseract and the Soul Stone, which made sense, but what didn't make sense was why he would work this hard to work against the Avengers.

Clint couldn't wrap his head around it. How could he betray them like this? Betray Steve Rogers, Captain America?!

"That's crap and you know it, Coulson! You betrayed us. You...I can't believe it. You lost faith in the Avengers and teamed up to kill us! You can't trust these guys! You know the enemy of my enemy isn't my friend." Clint tumbled behind some crates as Hakudoshi blinked forward and carved one straight in half.

The contents, telescope parts, and other lenses and mirrors, exploded everywhere and the parts that hit the youki sparked and melted. Broken, mirrored glass lay shattered across the floor.

"You're getting distracted, Priest. Remember, what you're fighting for. Oh, and best not bore me too easily, be interesting." Clint cursed as the long spear came sloping down blocking it with Ichaival.

Wait. Blocked.

The violet bow pulsed and Clint used every muscle in his body into parrying the blow.

"How's this for interesting?!" Clint shouted as Ichaival flared a sinister, blinding purple and flung Hakudoshi back across the room like a rag-doll. Hakudoshi hit the wall, as if solid, and fell to the floor, smoking slightly.

Off to the side, Thor and Nebula had begun to square off. Nebula, quicker than Thor, was just able to dodge his backhanded swipe with Mjolnir.

Clint wondered absently if he wasn't calling upon his lightning because he was underground, or the youki chamber, or both.

"Useless, bloodthirsty Devil. You'll never see your little spirit friend again if you can't even kill a brainwashed, exploited SHIELD agent." Coulson fired another cannon shot from the destroyer gun and Clint in the nick of time fired off another magic arrow to nullify it midair.

Spirit friend? This psycho had FRIENDS?!

"The only one being exploited is you! It's not too late to let Pepper go and help us keep the scepter safe. We're stronger than these guys." Clint tried one last time to get Coulson to see reason. As much as he just wanted his revenge...

That's right. Revenge.

A renewed wave of adrenaline shocked through his system. Hakudoshi finally got to his feet, eyes hard.

He wanted pulverize that psycho ghost who sliced up Loki. The bitter taste of adrenaline coated the bottom of his mouth. Right as he was about to launch another shot,

"It's already too late. Thor is strong, sure. But we've already seen… the Aesir aren't quite Gods, are they?" Coulson's voice echoed louder than the destroyer gun did.

Clint knew Coulson just said it to provoke him. Clint KNEW he was baiting him. Everything in his training was shouting not to rise to bite it.

Ichaival pulsed pink at his side.

"Oh, yes, it went according to our plan, we knew all about the Phoenix Demoness thanks to a certain ally of ours." Coulson started Hakudoshi and he rolled his eyes.

"Ally is not a word I would use to describe that glory-hound Mephisto. He betrayed my race to rule them. Once a traitor, always a traitor." Hakudoshi smirked viciously at Coulson and then to Nebula who groaned and shrugged it off. Did he just call Nebula and Coulson both traitors?

Did Hakudoshi seriously hold a grudge against Mephisto betraying the Demons?

"Loki had it coming. There was no way he would save this world even if he could. He was a coward and a fraud, and most of all weak. He fell to The Other once before and, and brainwashed you all into thinking he wouldn't again." Coulson continued and the skin on Clint's neck and behind his ears burned like the wildfire he just faced in DC.

Pepper screamed something under the tape on her mouth.

Ichaival practically rumbled next to him and he pursed his lips. He'd just have to trust his instincts that Ichaival would fire and work against normal humans, not just Hakudoshi.

Because he really wanted to shut Coulson up.

Coulson framed him for being the mole.

Coulson tried to blow him and Sesshomaru up in the Quinjet, possibly trying to kill Dr. Selvig as well, though Thor got to them in time.

But, selfishly, that all took a back seat to him talking shit about Loki.

He had no right. He didn't know him. Loki was the only reason there weren't casualties.

He was the smartest man he knew, Tony be damned. He knew their enemy and survived the worst they threw at him. He could stop an entire spaceship from vanquishing an entire city. He could teleport people to other dimensions! He killed an invincible Phoenix Demon! He could also, in the same day be mind-blowingly tender, and selfless, bold and insatiable. Loki could make him laugh, and that wasn't easy. Loki could sway like a predator one minute, and reveal intense vulnerabilities making him like prey the next.

He was amazing.

He was gone.

"How dare you speak ill of my brother! He died protecting Midgard!" Thor boomed and his eyes glowed blue. An eerie blue, it reminded him of when Loki's eyes darkened all black, or when Sesshomaru's eyes bled fully red when he transformed to that dog form.

Lightning began to spark through the room, shorting out some of the lights and the electric interface Nebula had been using.

"Is he even really your brother, Thor? Loki is the reason Thanos is here in the first place." Coulson grimly stated, unperturbed by the lightning. "It was in your report after all. If he hadn't tried to take the throne from Odin, if he hadn't tried to slay the people of Jotunheim, we wouldn't be here. He fell from grace. He told The Other of the Tesseract. He led Thanos here. It's because of him hundreds, maybe thousands of people have died. It is because of him our world is under siege, again. It's because of him I died protecting Earth, not Loki. Loki died protecting nothing, Loki died because he deserved to. Loki was evil." Coulson scathed. Clint's insides ignited hotter than the wildfire he braved earlier that day.

Ichaival's golden hue changed to a brilliant, opalescent white and warmed up like a branding iron in his hand.

Clint locked eyes with Pepper. She was quick and smart as whip. She had to know what he had planned.

If not, he could hit Coulson if she didn't duck anyway.

"You couldn't be any more wrong. He has more honor than I could hope to have." Clint gritted his teeth. He had enough of this traitor telling him where he should have his loyalties. He raised his bow and he swore this time he actually felt a true bowstring taut in his fingers.

And the arrow…the arrow that formed was unlike any other he had formed before. A svelte, spiraled shaft hummed quietly in the bow. A viciously barbed, star shaped arrowhead sparked from the tip and plumes of fiery feathers burned in front of his fingers.

Pepper suddenly ducked and with a smooth exhale, he let the arrow fly.

Coulson fired the destroyer gun again to intercept the magic arrow, however it sliced through the destroyer gun's cannon fire, only veering slightly off course.

The instantaneous look of shock widened Coulson's eyes at the arrow flew nearly true to its mark and sinking itself deep into Coulson's right shoulder, pinning him to the wall behind him.

Clint, however, realized his oversight once he let the vindication settle in his system.

The dazzling, lavender sparks radiating from the arrow had rendered the swirling youki around the scepter to cancel out into indigo dust.

"Yes, the youki interference has weakened enough!" Nebula wheezed, from the corner of the room which Thor had backed her up into. She took a disc from her belt and launched it at the cylindrical case holding the scepter. The disc separated into five separate wedges that encircled the case.

The crunching and cracking of what Tony described as glass 'unbreakable as Sesshomaru's poker face' sharply echoed through the room. It'd take no time for the glass to shatter completely.

Thor pivoted.

Nebula lunged.

Coulson yelled.

Hakudoshi vanished.

The glass shattered.

A familiar, scratching melodic call sang through the air. Instantly the protection spell inlaid in his chest tattoo flared hot.

'Hello Clint, are you ready to achieve true greatness? That cheap, gaudy bow has nothing on my raw power, come, take me and use me for your own desires!'

"The scepter is MINE. GLORY IS MINE!" Nebula announced. He had to get closer to the case, he couldn't allow Nebula or Hakudoshi to get his hands on it. He remembered what the scepter sounded like. He remembered the haunting sensation of being controlled, even by proxy, by the scepter.

In a split instant, before Thor could even take a step or Clint could pivot his bowhand, Hakudoshi blipped in the scepter's space. Even still smoking from his purification blast earlier, he looked lethal and sharp like the polearm he held.

There was no way he could grab it; he was a ghost! Right?

A shimmering barrier erected itself like a snow-globe, leaving everyone inside save Thor, Nebula, and himself. Clint went to string another purification bow, but Ichaival had cooled off. Inert.

Had he used all the ammunition in it? Was his weapon empty?

Nebula broke into a sprint to get through the barrier and Thor moved to intercept her. With a might heave Mjolnir crashed into the barrier and stayed sparking against the barrier in midair.

"The last thing I need is for you to succumb to its call, Nebula. Come here and let's be off. The sooner you get this wand to that Fantatic Kree, Ronan, so he can beat your meat-headed father, the sooner I can find my Kanna." Hakudoshi lectured as Nebula made it through the Demonic barrier, composing herself. His eyes narrowed and he cursed under his breath as he noticed something.

Clint vaulted forward just in time to see Pepper get into a kneel, picking up the dropped Destroyer gun, hands bloody. Bloody? The glass! Pepper must have cut herself free. And she was within the barrier!

"Get out of my tower!" Pepper snarled, aiming the gun at Nebula.

Clint, with his razor sharp eyesight, saw three things happen at once:

Mjolnir, ringed with jagged lightning, began to indent the spherical barrier.

Nebula, jaw set, lunged for the scepter, dauntless of the destroyer gun.

Coulson, also well within the barrier though still pinned to the wall, reached behind him for his sidearm.

"PEPPER!" Clint shouted from outside the barrier. Just like with Loki, all he could do was watch completely powerless. Clint's chest clenched tight and he tried Ichaival again. Nothing would light.

Rhodes. Jaken. Loki.

The Beretta fired first.

A flash of red puckered out from Pepper's chest. Her eyes caught wide, unfocused. Next, the Destroyer gun clattered heavily to the floor next to Pepper.

Clint's shout caught in his chest just like the bullet in Pepper's.

Pepper.

"Miss Potts!" Clint whipped around and his heart went to his throat. That was Polly's voice. A small blur of white skidded past him.

Rin!

Clint vaulted into a tumble and wrapped Rin into a tight embrace, rolling them across the floor to the edge of the barrier.

"He killed Miss Pepper!" Rin's voice sounded clear enough though muffled into his shirt. "That bandit killed her!" Clint clutched her tighter, and noticed she had crumpled peonies clipped in her hair.

He didn't know if Pepper was dead or not, but agents like Coulson, bleeding out or not, didn't miss much from that distance.

A quiver shook through his chest and he fought a deep sob. Everything was catching up with him.

"Get out of here squir-" a static boom sounded through the air. Mjolnir punctured through the youki barrier, disintegrating it. Mjolnir careened towards Nebula, lighting shooting off like stars around it.

Mjolnir struck Nebula square on with a sickening crunch of cybernetics and both shot like a rocket into the wall behind Clint, cratering it. Plaster cracked through the walls and ceiling raining down white powdered dust over all of them.

Ashes to ashes.

'Oh...Sharpshooter, come claim me. I can help you become more powerful than your wildest dreams. You can achieve your destiny of defending yours...and regaining what you lost! With power, anything is possible, even getting back those most important to you.' The scepter's voice cooed in his head, freed from behind the youki barrier Hakudoshi erected...that familiar, haunting echo.

He knew it was all lies.

Clint looked up and Thor had lightning sparking blue and deep in his eyes and white powder across his face and hair. It almost looked like he had somehow evolved, reached a new level of power. Maybe he had.

A thick chain of lightning crooked out and struck the ground near Hakudoshi, snapping and sparking. Hakudoshi's recoiled in pain, face stony in confusion.

Clint spotted something odd, Hakudoshi's feet had dissipated where the lighting snapped at them, much like what had happened to Sesshomaru's mother.

"The scepter will never be yours, small brat. Stand down or will cut your legs out from under you." Thor boomed, approaching the scepter. Hakudoshi frowned and stilled, and Clint swore the Demon Spirit was thinking in overdrive.

"Fine. Go ahead, claim your prize." Hakudoshi spoke evenly, lowering his pole arm smoothly and slowly. Clint breathed a sigh of cautious relief. They did it. They got Hakudoshi to back down.

They weren't too late. They stopped the rogue faction from completing Operation: Ultron.

"This is NO prize. For once and for all, I will destroy this weapon and stop this invasion!" Clint tried to keep Rin's head down as lightning kept fingering across the room and air. Her now white-dusted head kept popping up.

Thor's lightning laced hand opened and crackled with raw energy as the bolts raced up and down the scepter's metal frame. His sure fingers grasped it and a static, high pitched humming struck across the room as pure white, yellow and blue lightning bolts streamed up and down out of the scepter.

It illuminated like a beacon, radiating such a bright light that even Hawkeye had to squint a bit. The double helix of lightning and torrents of scepter energy crackled to the ceiling and floor, shooting out like a five pointed star. It bathed everything in an eerie, light yellow energy.

Coulson stilled, and Hakudoshi backed up, polearm out as if it block an attack that hadn't come yet.

'Oh, so you don't want to achieve your full potential? You don't want to save those remaining closest to you and step out of the shadow of these more powerful beings? I'll make you see witness what true power is' Clint's brow furrowed. True power, those were Loki's words under the scepter...The scepter was still talking to him.

No...

At once, all the hair stood on its end on the back of his neck and his triceps. That meant...

The warm, protection magic in his chest surged high. Every instinct inside him was beckoning him to run.

Thor wasn't about to destroy the scepter...

Retreat. FLEE.

He was about to wield it!

Clint's focus had been so foolishly on the scepter waiting for it to combust into blackened shards that he hadn't even looked at what Thor's face had become.

An icy grin had crooked itself upon Thor's rugged features. A grin that Loki wore much better. But it wasn't the grin that chilled Clint's bones.

The whites Thor's fully electric blue eyes returned to normal, but his irises had darkened and hardened into an ominous shade of cerulean. He had seen Thor's eyes this blue before. Clint's gut pitched itself into the top of his throat.

Sesshomaru's scry.

"Chikushou...Thor?" Japanese? The voice came from behind him and he looked back to see Polly standing in the doorway, a glock 30 shaking in her hand. Rin wriggled in his grip and finally poked her head out of his arms.

A crisp, hard bark of laughter sliced through the room and in an instant all the energy vacuumed back into the scepter.

"Polly said Storm God's in trouble!" Rin exclaimed right as Thor swung the scepter slowly and carefully in Polly's direction. She ran forward next to Clint and Rin, raised the glock and clumsily released the safety.

"Thor, it's me. Polly Tanaka, Ice cream girl?! I know you can hear me..." Polly tried to reason, but her arms rose the gun anyway.

"Kare wa anata no iu koto ga kikoenai, baka." Hakudoshi answered for Thor in a thoughtful monotone. Clint wished he had paid closer attention in language training.

Polly shot a dark look towards Hakudoshi and opened her mouth to say something, but stopped when Thor's face darkened.

"No one speaks for me! You and that skinny mortal girl will be the first victims of my glorious destiny." Thor fired the scepter at Hakudoshi and Clint's jaw dropped at the lightning connected and Hakudoshi fell to the floor, more of his legs dissipating beneath him.

"If you have any sense in your head, mortal girl, you will run." Hakudoshi spat.

Polly pursed her lips and her weapon shook more in her thin arms.

"The devil, no...spirit...said he's fully under control of the scepter... We've all lost...Oh...what have I done? Miss Potts?!" Coulson wretched thick, red blood down his front. Clint studied Coulson quickly. He had never seen this expression on his face before.

Confusion.

Was Coulson subjected to some sort of mind bending from the scepter earlier? Is that why defected?

Shit, was Coulson some sort of puppet as well?

"Polly, run!" Clint shouted desperately, flipping himself onto his feet, letting Rin scramble loose. He willed a small, warm tingle out of Ichaival. The gilded bow hummed with weak, purple energy. Maybe enough for one shot.

"I will silence you!" Thor hollered and before Polly could even look his way, or he even he could line up a shot, a rocket of electric energy collected at the tip of the scepter.

POP.

Polly looked down at her gun in shock. She didn't pull the trigger.

Blood trickled from the left temple of Thor. Thor whipped around to Coulson, who almost took his eye out.

"She's a civilian." Coulson simply said. "I can't let you hurt her."

"I needn't your permission, weak mortal." Thor fluidly arced the scepter back towards Coulson. His movements were so unlike Thor that Clint knew it was true: the Scepter had full control, Thor couldn't even fight it.

The scepter fired once and Coulson's chest cavity erupted with blood, bone and smoke.

"OH MY GOD!" Polly screamed and fired her weapon unintentionally. The shot went wide of Thor and he turned around stonily.

No.

He had to stop Thor.

He lifted Ichaival and forced it to wake up. To feel his desperation, his power. This was his last chance to right everything. He just had to separate the scepter from Thor. That's all.

Dread trickled up his spine as he tried to shove the scry out of his mind.

Clint had Ichaival drawn and slowly but surely a bright purple bolt began to condense and form in the faint bowstring.

"Hawk's Eye, join us or I will end her life." A small spark ignited out of Thor's free hand, hitting Polly's hand. Polly yelped as the glock clattered to the floor.

"Been there, done that, got the scars to prove it. Do you think this is what Loki would want, Thor? I know you can hear me. You can fight this." Clint had to bide some time...he just had to reach Thor.

Thor hesitated.

"Thor, you're stronger than this. You're the God of Thunder! You're the big older brother of a God of Chaos, and by proxy a Demon Lord. This has got to be easy compared to this." Clint stole a quick peek down at Ichaival. It had almost gotten back to fully charged.

Pause.

"They said they were no brothers of mine!" Thor roared and horizontally lashed out with the scepter. A battery of golden shots all shot towards her, one clipping her in the side sending her to the floor.

"Polly-chan!" Rin screamed, eyes pinpricks. Her white hair and flowers in her hair, along with her white dress even made her look like a ghost.

Hakudoshi turned his attention to Rin, but didn't say or do anything. Just stared blankly.

Polly's body smoked on the floor just like Nat's had in the scry. He didn't know if she was dead or simply unconscious.

No...no...this was all wrong. Since when was he fighting with the intruders and against an Avenger?! Tony sent them here to defend his home, so he had to stop this. Why couldn't he have been in time to save Loki?! This is the last thing Loki would have wanted, Thor to be under the scepter's control.

Val hummed. One last shot.

POP!

The sudden gunshot shocked Clint so much he would have jumped if it wasn't for his training. He side eyed Rin, covered in white dust, holding the glock.

"Please give us Storm God back." Rin sobbed. Oh yeah. Nat had trained her to shoot one didn't she?

The bullet hit Thor directly in the upper chest, but Thor merely looked at it amused.

"Little mortal whelp, that was quite foolish. You have incurred the wrath of the heir of Asgard. Prepare for death." Thor warned glacially. It was Thor's voice alright, but it didn't sound like Thor at all. The arrow finished forming in Ichaival. FINALLY.

He directed the scepter in Rin's direction.

NO. He failed Polly, Pepper, Loki, Jaken, Rhodes. He wouldn't fail Squirt.

"Her name is Rin, and you're not killing anyone else." Clint let the luminescent arrow fly. The arrow sang through the air, but was swatted out of the sky with a wave of the golden scepter.

"So, you too yearn for death, Hawks-eye? Sorry to say, but our Lord the Mad Titan has plans for us. If we cannot turn Son of Taisho then you'd be a most suitable opponent for him. With proper enhancements, you could purify the last living Demon! I wonder how irate and irrational he will be, once I slay his daughter..." Thor's voice bellowed and a wave of fear and wrath shook Clint to the core. Him turned to purify Sesshomaru? Kill Rin just to piss off a Demon Lord? This Mad Titan was really off his rocker.

Another crook of lightning infused energy flooded out of the scepter right at Rin.

Clint dove through the air like he had springs in his feet. He had to get Rin down! Clint braced himself for the shot to either hit him or Rin.

Pause.

Nothing.

He twisted his head and saw Hakudoshi planted in front of Rin, youki barrier up in full force. Hakudoshi's face had twisted into a reddened rage and he set his jaw hard. His youki spiked around him and the barrier gleamed stronger than ever crackling with the energy blow it absorbed. Clint would say it was an odd display of heroism if it was anyone but Hakudoshi doing it.

Hakudoshi was heavily leaning on his Polearm, but other than that looked strong as ever.

"No one hurts Kanna." Hakudoshi pointed his polearm at Thor. "Especially not another dull puppet of another arrogant Lord." Hakudoshi's barrier redirected the energy from the blow back at Thor, sending him careening back into the wall with a sick smack.

"Kagura's friend? Is she your friend too? But, I'm not Kanna!" Rin protested, but Hakudoshi ignored her.

Clint had no idea what was going on in Hakudoshi's head, but if he was willing to protect Rin, that's all the mattered to him.

Clint heard a crumbling sound from behind him and Nebula, sparking chest cavity and an arm missing, staggered from the wall she had been punched through.

"I will get that scepter from that overcharged battery if it's the last thing I do. Thanos WILL die by my hands." Nebula hissed with pain, cybernetics sparking and short circuiting across her body.

He had to admire her tenacity. It kinda reminded him of Loki. He wondered what she went though as a daughter of Thanos. Didn't look like a picnic.

He spotted the control panel on the far side of the room. Jarvis.

He couldn't believe he was about to do this. He couldn't believe he was about to do exactly what Coulson did.

Enemy of my enemy is my friend...but his enemy was also a friend.

He was really in way over his head.

His other choices, though, left him in a body bag, and Thor taking the scepter back to Thanos to fight alongside him.

"Hey, Terminator, if you want that scepter so bad, get to that console and undo whatever hack you infected Jarvis with and reactivate it. Tony's defense systems will definitely slow the big man down. I'll keep him busy." Clint ordered and committed. Nebula gave him an odd look then scowled.

"Do you really think you can fight a battle on two fronts in your condition, Nebula? I'd do as he says." Hakudoshi… the voice of reason?! "You'll get your revenge soon enough."

"It will take some time to de-sync the systems. You're crazy if you think you can take on an Aesir in one on one combat, Terran Priest." Nebula berated, and this time Clint was confused. It almost sounded like a warning.

"I got some aces up my sleeve." He didn't. "Just activate Jarvis, and Casper," he directed at Hakudoshi, "keep her safe. " Clint willed Ichaival to activate. He poured his concentration into the bow until it glowed again. This time the light was a deep violet.

"My spiritual form is losing its grip on this dimension thanks to you, I'll have to get creative and borrow something." Hakudoshi grimaced and Clint didn't stick around to figure out what that meant.

Thor had roused himself from the wall.

"Hey big guy, let's spar! Loki taught me a few things." Clint fired up another bolt and shot it right between Thor's unnaturally blue eyes.

Thor dodged and engaged with vigor.

Clint almost immediately regretted his plan. If you could even call it a plan. Thor swung the scepter with a lot more force and speed than Clint counted on. He barely had time to parry or block the blows with Ichaival, much less attack back.

He could sense his strength waning. It'd only be a matter of time before his body gave out or…

Thor knocked Ichaival from Clint's sweat slicked grip and with a front kick knocked the wind out Clint. Clint flew through the air, landing hard on his back.

A sharp flare of pain erupted… definitely broke a few ribs. Until then, the adrenaline kicking through his system made him ignore the previously cracked ribs he got from the harsh landing he had with Rhodes. Now each breath stabbed with pain. Clint wheezed and got to his knees just in time to for to take the tip of the scepter to his chest.

"Time to answer his call once more, Hawk's-eye!" Thor's face broke into a crooked grin. Clint cursed his luck, he just had to fail again. Loki would be so disappointed in him.

The scepter beamed bright blue and the point dug into his chest.

Clint's breath caught and his chest erupted in a fiery heat. That was it! Loki's protection spell!

Clint's chest glowed green from under his Kevlar and in a shock of runes, the scepter repelled from his chest like the same ends magnet.

"You're not turning me. I will never stand by you again. I'm an Avenger first and foremost, and I will Avenge Loki." Clint staggered to a standing position, undaunted.

"What trickery… if you will not stand beside me, Hawk's eye you shall not stand at all!" Thor swooped the scepter back.

"Uncle Clint, no!" Don't look Rin. Clint couldn't close his eyes. Ichaival was too far away across the floor. He reached behind himself and grabbed an explosive arrow. If Thor swung at him then at least he could damage him with the resulting blast.

SHIIIING.

"My turn. If you're the best Priest you humans have to offer, you're all surely doomed for eradication." That was Polly's voice. Clint's eyes shot wide.

Polly stood straight, and in perfect form had Hakudoshi's polearm out in attack stance, the scepter blocking it.

"You had your pathetic attempt; it's time for my fun." Polly showed all her teeth...except it obviously wasn't her. Hakudoshi had definitely possessed her or something. "Remember me, Thunder God? Our duel was cut short and I wish to continue it." Clint didn't really know what to say about this. Did Hakudoshi, on his own volition, save him?

"We are definitely going to have to talk about what you mean by borrow... Nebula, status report!" Clint winced heavy getting to his feet, his ribs burst in raw, throbbing pain. He limped to get Ichaival, which had grown cold and inert in his grip. Spent.

"This is not a simple task, Terran Priest! Give me two more clicks." Nebula typed furiously across the panel with her one good hand. Clint made his move to Ichaival with a couple hobbled steps.

Polly's face flushed purple in exertion as the deadlock broke in a stalemate. With a fluid, well-practiced jab she thrusted the polearm, catching Thor in the inside of the arm. Blood sprayed and Thor cursed in a language Clint didn't recognize.

"Ahaha! Even though this human body reduces my power to that of a Hanyou, I finally can taste the blood! How spicy! How vibrant the battle feels. I feel so ALIVE!" Polly cackled with glee, eyes bright and teeth gleaming. Clint knew he should really, really be against this, but at the moment he had no idea how to convince Hakudoshi to stop possessing Polly who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

He could probably try to use Val to make him come out, but then Thor would just kill them all and take off the scepter. A chill went up his spine. Yet again, he found himself in way over his head.

"I've had enough of your games! I am the heir of Asgard and I have far higher goals to reach than to spar with you mortals." Thor reached out with the hand not holding the scepter and Clint heard the crumble and rumble of drywall and metal before he saw it.

How could they be so stupid?!

Mjolnir and the scepter. He was going to hit Polly with a pincer attack.

With every last ounce of energy and coordination he could muster he simultaneously threw his exploding arrow at Thor's hand holding the scepter, and then threw himself between Mjolnir's path and Polly in an attempt to block the hurtling hammer. Clint set Ichaival out horizontally in front of him as Mjolnir thrummed through the air.

Clint set himself and prayed to any god that would hear him that he'd survive this stupid act of heroism.

He heard the explosion and the concussion of the blast pushed him forward.

Mjolnir collided with Ichaival with a mighty tang of metal and a shockwave of magic. Clint's left wrist and left arm, already weakened from the fall, immediately broke and Mjonlir's trajectory barely defected as it struck him full on in the left side of his chest.

Stars.

Stars and inky black blobs.

Lava. Magma hot pain.

A splintering, shattering pain erupted across Clint's nervous system. Clint cried out in terrific agony as black and white spots sparked into his faded vision. He felt like the entire left side of his body had been crushed by an industrial vice.

Time slowed down as Clint hit the deck. Ichaival clanged to the floor by his side, dull and tarnished. Clint sputtered out blood and his head lolled to the side to see the lights and Jarvis' defense systems go back online. Warped voices clamored in his head and he couldn't breathe.

So. This was death. Huh. At least they got Jarvis back online. At least Rin was safe. He wasn't too little too late. He made a difference.

He could be with Loki. Nate. Pietro.

Except...

Why all of the sudden did he feel so sad?

Something forced Clint's jaw up. A hand.

Rin. She had tears in her eyes and was mouthing something. Despite his extensive SHIELD training of lip-reading, his vision had dimmed too much and he could only make out 'Sesshomaru-sama...fix'

Clint burbled on his own teeth and blood and despite how ridiculous it sounded, it warmed him that even still Rin believed that her father could make everything right. Tears slipped from his eyes.

Loki's vibrant green eyes, his cackling, hot laugh, the sway of his hips, the brush of his fingertips...he listened to his music, he loved him, a mortal! Loki wanted to know everything about him, wanted to open him up, yet was so patient, which, really...Loki patient?

Did he really ever look deeper into Loki? Did he ever get underneath all those layers? Those centuries that made Loki, Loki? Did Loki get loved as much by him, as he was loved by Loki? Was he too selfish? Was he stuck in too much awe of being loved by a God to see him as Loki?

It had been so long since he had felt such a deep stab of regret. Maybe he hadn't...

He should have said those words. Those three little words.

He should have told Loki he loved him, and that he wasn't alone anymore.

He'd never get the chance.

Loki never got to hear the truth.

A sob, a knot of a deeper, darker pain lodged in his gut as he let himself close his eyes. The opening of 'Pinocchio Story' a song on 808s & Heartbreaks that was a bit underrated, beat in his head

'You'll never figure out real love
Never figure out real love
You'll never figure out real love'

And with that, Clint graveyard spiraled into the lonely abyss of death.

---

Hi all! I hope you haven't given up on this fic. I have been though a lot in the past six months. I lost my father and a close friend suddenly and tragically to heart attacks and have been finally treating my depression that snuck up on me. This fic became simply too stressful to work on. I tried really hard to get this chapter out as soon as I could, and I hope you are happy (or at least satisified with it). There may be some odd spelling or grammar errors here and there, but i wanted to make sure it got out as soon as it could. I made it extra long for our poor, poor Clint.

Next chapter will be Sesshomaru's what happened to him, and what will happen to our remaining Avengers next!

Thank you all for your consistent encouragement. You all make my day and please let me know what you think of this chapter with a review!

-TL