ONWARD, VALIANT STEED!
48 HOURS NO SLEEP! I HAVE A CHEST INFECTION AND IT WON'T LET ME SLEEP! BUT THAT MEANS MORE WRITING!
MY LOVELY AMAZING REVIEWERS WHO I WILL POST COOKIES OR PUPPIES TO ONE DAY!
BlackHawk's Child; Man, I've missed you pal! Glad you're liking it!
Niom Lamboise; My dear, I'm glad you liked the last chapter! I love this story so I hope you do too!
ENJOY FOLKS!
DISCLAIMER!; THIS WENCH DOST NOT OWN ANYTHING THAT INVOLVES MARVEL! SHE DOST JUSTITH PLAYITH WITH THINE CHARACTERS A LITTLE!
Screaming.
It took his mind a while to place the sound he was hearing, but it was someone screaming, yelling for something to stop before it went quiet. Then, a moment would pass, and it would start again.
That continued on for a while. He knew he was conscious, but he just couldn't will his eyes open just yet.
He hadn't a clue where he was, why someone was screaming, or why every part of his body was screaming at him in pain.
What was the last thing he remembered..?
Worried eyes. Natasha's eyes. He'd know them anywhere.
What had her worried though? The fog in his mind wouldn't clear.
He let out a little yelp when he tried move his arm up to rub his cheek, the familiar tug of stitches meeting his efforts.
Right, right! Bullet! Hydra guys! Damn Clint, you're an idiot sometimes..
He willed his eyes opened and noticed that there wasn't much light at all in the place they were in. Warehouse. He remembered that much, they were to meet here after he took out the stragglers.
He had to take another minute to clear his vision, something had his head all muddled up and foggy.
"Ok.. One, two.." A grunt replaced the number three as he tried to sit himself up, his bad arm held protectively against his chest while he tried.
He had such a dry throat, so that told him he's been out for a while! Everywhere hurt, but that was more than likely because he had been lying on a rock hard floor rather than a nice comfortable bed. The ones that stuck out were his head and his arm though. He had a bandage on both, but he couldn't remember patching himself up.
He smiled a little when he remembered that's where the worried eyes came from. Once again, Natasha had to patch him up and save his ass. He owed her yet another one!
Another scream tore through the place, and his head whipped to the door of the room they were in to see if he could place where it was coming from. No doubt that's where she was.
With a bit too much effort, he stood up, allowing himself to lean against the wall for a moment to regain some of his strength. Out for a fair old while then! This was a hunger faint, a dehydrated faint.
Once he had his balance, he wandered out of the room and followed the screaming and shouts, luckily only to the next room so he didn't have to travel too far.
Natasha was sitting in a chair in front of a fairly beat up asshole. She was using a lighter to heat up the end of a metal prod, one of the most useful torture methods they found. Constantly burning and re-burning the skin in a sensitive area until they crack. She used ribs, real sensitive there. He always suggested the lower region, but she never let him! That would get a guy squealing uncle in no time!
He looked like hell. Bloody, bruised, swollen face. Looked like Nat was taking no shit while he was asleep!
"Having fun without me?" He asked with a slight grin as he walked into the room, going to the table where some water was when he realised just how dry his mouth and throat were.
Natasha turned in her chair and smiled at him, casually dropping the metal prod onto the guys lap to let it burn through to his skin. She got up then and approached him, the smile she had on gave him one of his own.
"About time, sleeping beauty." She said softly, placing her hand on his forehead when she got close enough. Guess he had a fever while he was out! "40 hours of sleep and you still look like an ugly step sister.. Might have to knock you out again."
"Oh please.." He laughed, rolling his eyes at her comment before taking another swig of water. He was leaning against the table with her standing in front of him. He just needed the support of something. "I constantly look fabulous, no need to be so jealous!"
"I-is this happening?" He heard a weak voice say, and he looked over Natasha's shoulders with a confused pout.
"What's that, pal?" He asked softly, moving away from Natasha to go grab her seat, turning it the opposite way so he'd sit backwards on it, his arms crossing over on the back support. The guy she was dealing with for the past nearly two days just stared at Clint with shocked eyes.
"You two.." He croaked out, and Clint just waited for him to continue. "Deadly assassins, best in the business.. Making jokes while torturing someone..?"
Clint grinned a little and looked back at Romanoff, who was now leaning against the table he was just at and watching the pair with a smirk.
"Have you been mean to him, Widow? He's our guest, get him a drink!" He said through a tut, and she laughed in response.
"Well he was mean by not giving me information." She soon replied, and he turned back to pout at the man.
"Well, you brought this on yourself then man.." He sighed, pushing the chair back with his footso the guy fell onto his back. Clint stood then and looked over at their little captive, his eyes were screwed shut as pain no doubt raced trough his body. "We could be joking around with you over some beers right now if you just played nice.. Oh well.."
He turned and walked back over to Natasha, catching an apple she threw at him with his good arm.
"Never miss a beat, huh?" She commented with a grin, and he just shrugged with a shy smile.
"Way too good at my job to!"
She rolled her eyes and moved away from the table, heading out the door. He followed after her, the two of them going back to their little room.
"Get anything out of him?" Clint asked as he sat into a chair with a soft sigh, he really needed to work out his body.
"Not a thing." She replied with a shake of her head, busying herself with cleaning up where Clint was just sleeping.
He hummed a little in thought and took a bite of the apple, his body already loving him a little more for giving it some food and water.
"My guy let it slip that Anderson was around here."
"Really?" She asked with an impressed face, he couldn't help but wink at her.
"You have your ways of getting information, I have mine." He smirked, knowing from the grin that spread across her face he chose the wrong words entirely.
"You're hurt, I won't tease you for that." She eventually laughed, which usually means she had so many horrible words floating around that evil mind of hers that she couldn't choose just one to use!
"Should get hurt more often then." He said through a grin, finishing up his apple and bottle and water before standing once more.
"I think you get hurt enough, bird brain." She sighed, and he gave her a soft smile.
"Sorry for worrying you.." He said softly, but she waved off his words with a little smile of her own before throwing more wood onto the dying fire.
"If I don't worry about your sorry ass, no one will."
"Got a point there!" He laughed, going over to his duffel bag as he spoke to find some clothes. He was still in his mission gear and he wanted something more comfortable. "Want me to head out scouting, ma'am?"
"Might be our best chance." She sighed after a while, taking long enough for Clint to have already changed into a shirt and jeans. He guessed she was trying to figure out if there was a way to keep him inside. "Not too long, ok? You still need some rest."
"Relax." He laughed, giving her cheek a soft kiss before heading towards the door. "I'll check in every hour."
He heard a faint 'Be safe.' as he left the room, leaving the warehouse entirely then after grabbing his trusty bow and arrows.
Sure, he had to scout. But he more so needed some air to clear his head, some space to work out his muscles.
And maybe a drink or two.
"Like I just need a location, man.." Clint sighed, the words leaving his mouth for the billionth time already.
Hydra agents weren't too difficult to find, it would seem. He just followed some guy in black gear and a comms link in his ear and he came across an apartment with five of them in it!
This was after three hours of searching though, it wasn't like he just stepped outside the warehouse door and found this guy. God no, he'd never be that lucky!
It was down by the main street, the guy wasn't exactly hiding in a crowd or being safe. He was just wandering around doing some shopping. Clint actually felt bad about ruining their night, looked like they were going to be making some pizza!
He followed the guy, up the apartment block, threw a flash-bang into the door, knocked out four of them with some poison tipped arrows, and disabled another with an elctro-arrow.
Hawkeye bitches, don't underestimate him just because he's injured!
Currently, he was just sitting on the kid he followed. Sitting right on the chest with his legs sprawled out in front of him and his arms folded across his own as he watched the kid beneath him. He'll call him Fredward!
"One of your friends already let me know he was in the city. My partner is working on another for all the details. But I just need a location." He was getting bored of this, and was so very tempted just to kill Fredward and leave it at that! But, he had to get this guy so he could go home and relax with some pizza of his own, maybe fix his tv so he can watch some, fix the heating too actually since it's coming into bad winter weather.
Mission, Barton!
"I swear, I don't know where he is!" Fredward yelled again, his breath coming out short since he had a pretty heavy fully grown Clint Barton ontop of him. Barton could normally tell when people were lying, and it didn't sound like this kid was, but he just had to be sure.
"You able to contact him?" The archer then asked, softening his tone a little. He didn't want to scare the guy into a heart attack! Not until he could get some answers!
"We're not in his division." He replied with a quick shake of his head, panic coming back to his eyes since Clint took an arrow from his quiver and was spinning it between his hands.
"So, if I let you guys live, you won't be able to go telling on me? Cause that would be awkward." He hummed, looking to the kids' face then with a slight pout as he rest the tip of the arrow over his heart. "And if we find him, and learn that our surprise is blown, I'll be coming after you, y'know?"
"I.. I promise!" He quickly stuttered out, and Barton grinned. "I dunno who the guy even is! Not my division!"
"Good lad! I know someone back home around your age! I'll tell her to give you a call, quit Hydra, settle down, get her out of my hair!" He cheered, patting Fredward's cheek gently before standing up.
The kid began sitting up himself, but Clint couldn't risk him following, so he aimed up a poison tipped arrow in his bow and smiled a little sadly at him.
"Sorry sport, protocol. Can't keep anyone conscious." He shrugged, and he could see the kids shoulders sag. "It'll wear off in about five hours, don't worry! Hopefully won't remember too much. The place looks like it was just a mugging anyway, so I'm sure the lot of you will figure it out."
He let the arrow fly and hit the kids arm before he could reply, and he instantly fell back down unconscious. He hummed at his handy work and went around collecting the arrows he had used, grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl on the little table, then was gone as if he was never there.
He really shouldn't be out with his bow and arrows so freely on show, he knew that, so he paused in the lobby of the apartment block after climbing down a billion flights of stairs (how he climbed up them so easily will forever be a mystery) and took them and his jacket off. With the apple held in his mouth, he secured the bow and quiver on his back once again then put his jacket on to conceal them from the world.
Not comfortable, but it'd do!
Walking outside, he took his phone out of his pocket. He dialled the familiar number and held it to his ear as he munched away on his apple.
"You're late." Came the voice on the other end, not annoyed, more like joking, like she knew it would happen. "What happened to checking in every hour?"
"Was sitting on a kid, couldn't call!" He defended with a smile, still munching away as he passed by the night goers of Chicago. He had left at about 5:30, so that meant it was close to 9pm.. Oh, he was going back to the girls in that bar!
"Hey, whatever you're into man!" She laughed, and he growled at her teasing. "Just next time wait until after the mission to get your bit on the side, right?"
"Funny." He remarked dryly, shaking his head a little at her sense of humour. "I got no leads. Agents I found weren't in Anderson's division or some shit like that."
"Divisions huh?" She hummed, it was news to them after all. No one ever really knew the structure of the Hydra organisation. Knowing that only people in each others division could contact each other was some big news. "So, we might be barking up the wrong tree with this one?"
"Don't think so." He mumbled through a full mouth, looking up and down the road before crossing over. Safety first kids! "Those three in the theatre knew where he was. And were working with our little guest. So all them work with Anderson."
"Smart boy." She said, and he could hear the smile in her voice.
"Well, one of us has to be the brains of this team!" He grinned, throwing the apple core into a trash can as he passed by it.
"That's just because I'm the strength." Dammit, he walked himself into that one.. "You staying out so?"
"Gonna see how much more info I can dig up." He nodded, pausing in the middle of the side walk incase she told him to come back.
"Just remember to check in, Hawk." Came the soft reply, and he gave a slight smile. She knew what he was up to. "I'm gonna get some sleep before his wake up call, ok?"
"Sleep well, Tash.." He said softly, hanging up the phone then.
He got so damn lucky to have her as a partner.. Anyone else wouldn't let him do this sort of stuff while on a mission. Hell, his other partners through the years were pretty much kill joys!
He glanced up the street and smiled a little more when he saw the neon lights of the karaoke bar he was in the other night, happily heading up the road to have a bit of a night for himself!
He'd bring Tash out one night, just for now though, it was him and whoever was willing to buy him some drinks!
"So we get to this place, minus about twenty billion degrees, and I'm in these mission clothes that are just a vest and some combats.. Sure I had this long coat thing, but Stark made it leather, so it was still freezing!"
College kids man..
College fucking kids..
You go to a group of them, just talk about anything, and they'd be buying you rounds all night!
This group was no different! Though, they kind of sort of were, he was actually only in the place and some of the guys recognised him. It freaked him for a moment, and he was about to high tail it out of there, but fuck it man! If Hydra were in here, then so be it! Let them spot him out of mission! He didn't know why they'd be at some karaoke place, and if they were, then maybe they aren't the bad guys he thinks they are!
So these guys have been filling the archer with drinks all night in exchange for Hawkeye stories.
They were probably getting a good laugh out of him, not because he was funny or anything, but because he was so horribly piss drunk that he just kept jumping from story to story. They were in just as bad shape so it probably didn't matter!
"So, we're fighting our way past hundreds of them, in this fucking Jeep, and Nat topples the thing right over! We go flying over this embankment and man did that hurt!"
"So you guys just, like, totally sat it out right?" One of the guys said, he was sitting opposite Clint in the little corner booth, his arm was constantly around this girl and the two just kept asking for stories. The other five or six around him just happily listened!
He could get used to this.. It was like when he would tell Kate about missions. It just helped him go on little rambles,made him remember the good ones to fight away the bad ones.
Damn, so that's why the kid always asks about missions.. Not to hear the stories, but to lighten the mood..
"Like hell we did!" He laughed, taking the last swig of his beer before going onto another that someone set infront of him.
"But those guys have super powers and super armour, and one's a Hulk! They could've handled it!" One of the other kids said, hoodie guy, and Clint pouted.
"Well, thanks man!" He looked scared that he offended the archer, but Barton soon smiled to let him know it was fine. "They're a time bomb! Without me and Nat, they'd fall apart!"
"Yeah Eric!" The girl yelled with a frown, hitting the kids arm for his stupid comment. He liked this girl more and more each story!
"So we're shooting and blasting and taking fire aswell. So I line a shot up on a battlement.." He was using beer mats and empty glasses as little figures in his story. "Took my shot, explosive arrow, hid behind the tree again, and waited for the boom.."
"Bet it took it out no bother!" One guy grinned, he was beside Clint, he heard him being called Ben a few times.
Clint grinned sheepishly and shook his head, and the kids grew silent. "Took aim again, thinking it was a dud arrow or something. And it missed again!"
"You missed..?" Someone asked, and he shook his head quickly.
"More like I was blocked! So I aimed one more time, and something just knocked me right on my ass! Complete blur, couldn't see it!"
Some more had gathered around, he realised when he shifted his stool back and hit someone by mistake. That was fine! He liked story time!
"What was it..?" Someone asked behind him, but he was hoping to leave it there.
He never liked thinking about any of his encounters with Pietro..
As far as he could recall, each time he had a run in with the kid, he was trying threatening to kill him one way or another. Then he went and..
He shook his head a little and leaned on the table, his arms folded as he watched a beer mat spin in his hand.
"We call them enhanced, our term for people with super powers we haven't yet seen.. This kid could run at the speed of sound, and he was only learning his powers so he probably would've been faster given time.. He was just a blur."
They probably knew they hit a nerve, because they were all quiet now. Clint just shook his head a little to shake off the sad mood and swallowed down half his pint, sitting up straight then to smile at them.
"Couldn't get a clean shot on the guy, and when I was trying, the fucking battlement shot me right in the side." He lifted his jacket and shirt a bit to show the nice big scar he received that day. It may have been fixed by some fancy healing machine, but it scarred weird man! Completely different colour to the rest of him.
The night wore on, and he stayed with those guys, telling crappy stories, like how he saved Nat instead of killing her, how he was about to send an arrow through Thor's skull the first time he came to earth. Then it just got to the crappy pranks they'd play on each other, or what it was like living with the Avengers.
It was just nice for him, to feel like people actually cared about him. Even Natasha got a little more recognition than he did since she was on tv mouthing off on Capital Hill after SHIELD fell.
He wasn't jealous, or petty. It was just nice to be appreciated for saving the world his whole working life. Even if that's just by some fan boy college kids asking him for stories and photos.
It was probably one of the best nights out he's had in a long time.
11pm, so many pints, so very many shots, and they convinced him to have a go at the karaoke.
So he did! And once they got him on it, once they found the country songs, they couldn't get him off of it!
He paused mid way through his usual Country Roads when he noticed a familiar face walk through the door, and he couldn't help but grin.
She didn't look mad when she saw him, didn't look annoyed, she just smiled at him and nodded to the bar, letting him know she'd be over there in their own silent way.
"Guys!" He cheered into the microphone, a little giddy now since she decided to join him. "Look! It's my friend Natasha! Natasha, my friend! I told y'all she'd come!"
The group he was with looked around to where he pointed and, indeed, a confused looking Natasha was sitting on a bar stool with a vodka infront of her.
"To my best friend Natasha!" He grinned, holding up the pint in his hand as a toast. "The best friend I could EVER have! Even when I'm a brainwashed idiot, or shot through with bullets! Through everything, she has my back, and I love her for it!"
He grinned when the place cheered, but he was just focused on her smiling face. He looked to her hands when she signed something; 'You're drunk, you idiot.'
He smirked a little and hopped down from the little platform they had as a stage, wobbling his way through the crowd and over to her.
"Thanks for letting me out, Tash.." He smiled when he got over to her, placing his pint on the bar since he was finished.
"Don't mention it, big guy." She smiled back, and it was that smile that he's seen before, it was the 'I'm going to use this as blackmail so many times!' smile.
He didn't think of his next actions, didn't care about who was looking, he couldn't resist any longer. He had been good around her for so long, been normal, he just couldn't any more. So he just leaned down to her level and gave her lips the softest of kisses. It only lasted a second, then he was away again, ordering them a round of drinks.
"But, honey, you haven't seen drunk yet!"
The place was spinning. That's all he knew.
He didn't know what was spinning it, or why it was spinning, but he was just going round and round!
He was naked. No, he was in his boxers, close to naked. Not under his sleeping bag, but he could feel it under him aswell as a pillow.
How did he get back to the warehouse?
The drink was still there, so he pulled his eyes open to see the fire still lighting away.
What could he remember..?
Tash came to the bar..
Damn, she'd have left him if he was a drunk idiot..
He poked his head up to view the room a little more, lying on his stomach though so it was a little difficult to. She wasn't beside him on her sleeping bag..
"Natasha..?" He called softly, coming out as a broken word though, his voice pretty much gone. He was obviously singing all night.. Or shouting, both possible!
"Shh.. I'm here, you drunk idiot.." He heard the quiet reply, and he looked over to see her sitting at the desk with a cup of tea. That wasn't important though, what's important is that she had a smile on her face so he obviously didn't end up doing something totally wrong! "You were only out for an hour Clint.. Go back to sleep.."
He gave her a little smile and rolled over to face away from her, nuzzling the pillow with a happy sigh then.
"Tash, I love you.." He said softly, curling up into himself to sleep.
Just as he drifted off, he could hear a quiet "Sweet dreams, Little Hawk..", and that was all he needed to lull him into the best sleep he'd had in months.
It was definitely the best night he'd had in such a long time.
And that was all down to the woman he currently shared a room with. The woman he loved.