After an intense call with Romanoff, Hunter can't face going back to see Clint. They were once best of friends, but that was ages ago. He'd cut all ties with the guy, and he's still not sure if he wants him back in his life. He knows the others will have questions so he heads to the lab. The moment he crosses the threshold, Simmons is in his face.
"Why isn't Coulson forcing Mr. Barton back into bed. He needs rest, and May won't listen to me."
"Emma, Emma, shhh." Hunter puts a finger to his mouth, and makes a hushing noise. "Barton will be fine, I've seen him go into battle in worse shape than he is right now."
"Whether he can move or not is not the issue here. The issue is if his injuries will heal properly."
"You know what, by all means if you can convince him to go back to medical, go ahead and try. But I know from experience, he's not going back."
"'What exactly does that experience entail?" Skye pauses the video game she and Mack had been playing to pass the time. "You don't exactly seem to like the guy, and I don't know, he doesn't seem to like you."
"Awe, he was just a tad pissed off about what came out of my mouth." Hunter walks to the fridge and pulls out a beer popping the top. "Barton and I go back years, used to be the best of friends."
"What happened between you two?"
"Dunno." Hunter pretends to play innocent while sprawling himself across the couch. "Could have been anything really. I drank too much, he was always working for SHIELD, I was a criminal for a while, he was depressed, I screwed his ex-wife, he disappeared for awhile..."
"Woah, woah, woah." Skye's eyes bulge. "You want to explain that?"
"Oh, Barton is notorious for dropping off the face of the earth."
"Not that, the thing before."
"Oh, yeah. You might have heard earlier that Barton and I share an ex-wife. Well he was married to Bobbi first. He's actually how I met her. Anyhow when their marriage fell to shit and Barton disappeared I realized I had feelings for Bobbi. Next thing I know, I'm with my best mate's ex. I guess I was Bobbi's rebound, only she never really got over him."
"How'd their marriage fall apart?" Skye's absorbed into the story.
"Skye." May speaks from the corner of the room. "It's not really your business."
"Come on May, it's not like it's not common knowledge. They were young and Barton was a bloody mess. Do you know how many times I dragged his sorry ass home to Bobbi? Too many times to count. The worst part was it wasn't bars I was dragging him out of, I could have understood that. No, the bloke just couldn't face life, couldn't face her. Broke her bloody heart he did. No one blamed her when she asked him to split, not even him. He knew what he was doing to her, he just couldn't bring himself to fix it. Coulson should have smacked him upside the head, might have brought him out of it might not have, but it would have at least gotten some kind of reaction. He was practically a zombie. Instead Barton just disappeared off the side of the earth whenever he fancied, leaving his wife at home worrying about him. That relationship wasn't even close to healthy."
"And yours with her was?"
"At least with me, Bobbi knew what she was getting herself into. I told her from the start I was a slosh, and I lived up to that. She'd come find me, smack me upside the head and I'd go home. Case closed, she never had to wonder where I was."
"Did he really have a family?" Fittz speaks at just above a whisper.
"Yeah, mate." Hunter's own voice shows a shadow of the pain Clint's had. He'd never met the kids but Barton had sent Bobbi pictures over the years, Bobbi had gone to visit on occasion. She had said they were angels. "That part was true too."
"Who was the man?" Skye's face shows empathy, herself having lost her family more than once.
"That's the best part Ladies and Gents, the man who killed everyone Barton loved was his own flesh and blood. Barney Barton, the pinnacle of evil. Clint never saw it until it was too late."
"How long have you known Barton?" May asks her eyes narrowing in on Hunter. She's known Clint since he joined SHIELD yet until Bobbi had mentioned that Hunter and Clint were once friends a few years back, she had never realized the two knew each other.
"Long enough. Clint was once one of the few people who knew me in life. Not complaining or anything, but I kind of miss those times."
"How long?"
"Fifteen years?" Hunter offers up his best guess.
"So longer than he's been with SHIELD?"
"Yeah, you think I was the kind of bloke to hang around SHIELD agents? Come on May. You know better than that. Barton and I knew each other through a job, turned out we got along great so we kept in touch. He was my best mate."
"Then how come…?"
"Come off it May, you and I both know Barton's secrets have secrets. Are you really surprised he hid who his best mate was from you all?" Hunter picks himself up off of the couch.
"Hunter, you weren't dismissed."
"Really, cause I thought we were just hanging around. If you want to make a deal of this, by all means go right ahead. But it's going to be your arse explaining things to Romanoff and I don't think she'll take to your version all that lightly seems as you don't have all the pieces.
With that Hunter storms out of the room, headed for the garage side of the base. He'd promised Romanoff that he'd pick her and Clint's other friends up from the airport. Where he'd bring them after that we wasn't quite sure, but he's not about to be the one to stand her up.