Alright! Only 4 left written!

Will have to stop for a few soon enough to study a little, but hopefully not too long!

REVIEWERS!

BlackHawk's Child; Sorry to hear that! And here I am spamming you with chapters while you're busy! Sending my love and hope you're better soon!

Review and let me know!

No more letting me write at 3am though..

DISCLAIMER! DON'T OWN! NOTHING OF MARVEL IS MINE!

Oh that thumping.. Oh good lord how hard did he go last night..?

He groaned a little and rolled from his stomach onto his back, trying his best to tell whatever little bit of food he had in his stomach to stay the hell down there. It just kept threatening him though.

He frowned a little when he couldn't hear. Not only were his aids off, they were out of his ears entirely.

Panic stricken, his eyes shot open. Did he leave them in the bar? Lose them on the way home or something? Dammit, he didn't have a spare set! He wouldn't be able to finish the mission with no fucking hearing!

He looked around the little room for Natasha, but she was no where to be seen. He figured that meant she'd be in with Adam.

Pushing himself up off the floor, he managed to stand without throwing up, which was his first accomplishment of the day!

He didn't want to put clothes on, he didn't know why he was only in boxers, but it was some sort of decent clothing so he'd be fine!

Leaving the room, he went to the next one over, and sure enough Natasha was infront of their captive, just talking to him it would seem. It's an information day, minimal torture.

Adam's eyes scanned over to Clint for a moment, and that drew Natasha's attention to him as well. She gave him a smile and stood from her chair, signing as she walked over to him.

'Morning idiot.' He raised an eyebrow as she led him out of the room and back to theirs. How did she know to sign to him instead of speak? Was she there when he lost his aids?

'I'm fucked without them.' He quickly signed, and the shake of her shoulders told him she laughed. He took one of the seats close to the fire as she went to the table, returning then with his aids in her hands.

He raised an eyebrow once more, but she just rolled her eyes and placed them in his ears for him, turning them on then.

"I keep telling you to take them out at night." She said softly, going over to the desk again to turn the little kettle on. He loved her coffee more than anything when hungover! "They're gonna break sooner or later and Stark won't be happy."

"I just like being able to hear at night." He shrugged with a smile, feeling a little more at ease now that he could hear again. It always hit him when that happened, always made him recoil into himself a little, just a protective mode he had. "Otherwise you could easily kill me in my sleep."

"Oh please." She laughed, bringing over two cups of coffee, handing him his before sitting across from him with her own one. "If I wanted you dead, you would be already."

"Tried plenty of times." He chuckled, sipping the hot liquid like it was a life saver. Maybe because it was!

"I forgot how happy a drunk you are, Francis." She suddenly said with an amused smile, and he groaned a little.

What sort of stories was she going to bring back to Tony..?

"Think the last time you saw me blatantly drunk was my birthday with Tony and Steve.." He said with a slight smile, watching the coffee in his mug now. The rest of the times, he's tried his damnedest to hide it from her. Hide it from everyone. Hide it and they won't know it's there.

"Well that was a pretty long time ago." She said with a sad smile, and he just shrugged. "Though, you weren't dancing that night.."

Oh no..

"I swear to god Nat, if you tell the guys about this.." He started with a groan, but her laugh told him it was useless.

"Already sent the video's to Tony!" She laughed out, and he just felt like falling off the chair and never getting up again.

"He's going to have it on every big screen in New York by noon! How could you betray me!?" He pouted at her, but it just made her laugh that little bit harder.

"He promised me the only one going viral is the one of you singing Taylor Swift with some college kid!"

Oh god.. Oh no, this is bad..

"You're never coming drinking with me again.." He growled, shaking his head a little at her teasing. Though, he wished she was just teasing! She never lied about these things!

"Our friend been cracked at today?" He asked after a while, standing to bring his cup over to make another coffee. It was helping, he'd have another cup though before attempting food.

"Not yet. Wanna give it a go? He's been giving some things, all I need is a location." She replied from her chair, having grabbed the mission file during their silence to give it a read through.

He nodded slightly and grabbed his freshly made coffee, going over then to throw on some clothes and grab his hand gun from his duffel. "Bit of Russian Roulette Barton Style ok today?"

"You're an evil bastard when hungover, Clinton." She laughed, but her nodding let him know it was ok.

He gave a slight smirk and took a bow, leaving the room then to go see to their guest.

He held a smile as he walked into the room, he loved this game more than any of their other ones!

"Mornin' pal!" He cheered, but the guy didn't reply, his head was hung and he honestly looked dead. But they were smart, each time anyone they had captured passed out, an iv would be set up for a while to make sure they didn't die on their watch. "Heard you were being nice and tattling some things."

"Your partner's very persuasive.." He mumbled out, so at least Clint knew he was conscious.

"Oh, don't gotta tell me that!" He laughed, sitting infront of the kid as he took a sip of his coffee. "You think your injuries are bad? Should've seen me the first time we met. Man, I'm telling you, let a girl live and she'll try kill you in a nanosecond!"

Natasha had a different method than he did. It's what made them work well as a team.

She broke their spirits, broke their bodies, brought them to the brink of death and made it so they could see no way out.

Clint was taught to get them to trust you, get their tongue loose, get them talking and building some sort of relationship. Then use the tactics of any means necessary to get the information.

So, when she went first, she'd break them down, get all she could, have them thinking there's no way out and no escape. Then he'd come in as a friend, as someone who offers them an out, just for the last bit of information.

Just one more way they're perfect with each other!

"But, I hear you're not giving her the one bit of information we really need.." He said with a sad pout, resting back in the chair with his coffee on his knee, the gun visible now in his other hand. "We need a location, man."

"We all need something.." He replied lowly, and Barton noticed how his eyes seemed to harden when he noticed the location. They were pretty much dead up until then. "But I can't give you the location. He'd kill me."

"You're dead either way, pal." Clint sighed, taking a last gulp from his coffee so he could place it on the floor. "But, instead of death, Nat and I can get you a nice SHIELD issued prison cell if you just give us a location."

The guy just smirked and kept his mouth shut, which annoyed Clint. He thought it would be easier than this, what had the guy to loose like?

"Alright man, hard ball it is then." He clicked the barrel of the gun open, a revolver type otherwise Russian Roulette would never work! He showed the guy six bullets inside the revolver. "I'm giving you five chances. Might work, might make it till then, might not. I don't know."

The guys eyes were confused now, and Clint had to smirk.

He never kept all six in. He always took one bullet out. It was the fear of what might happen that broke them, so he could never risk any bullets being in it incase they did go off.

So, he slyly took one out, leaving five bullets inside the gun.

"Ever hear of Russian Roulette?" Clint asked with a smile, and Adam's eyes grew a little wide. "I have my own version.. Not fatal, but it'll hurt.."

He closed the revolver and aimed at the wall, shooting five times. The kid flinched each time the gun went off, and Clint couldn't help but smirk at it.

He held the gun out for the kid to see then, spinning the revolver magazine around so the bullet he thinks is inside could be anywhere.

"So, I'll ask again.." He started, head tilting a little to the side to see if the kid would co-operate. "Location of Anderson."

"You're bluffing.." He stuttered after a moment, a cautious smirk coming across his face. "You need me, you wouldn't shoot.."

Never one to back down from a challenge, Clint placed the gun over the kids balls and pulled the trigger.

He could have sworn Adam just shit his pants! The kid jumped so high that the chair actually bounced backwards.

"Are you crazy!?" He screamed, and Clint just nodded.

"Only figuring that out now? Location."

"Just stop! Let's talk this through!"

Another trigger pull, another jump and scream.

"We tried talking. You didn't want to."

"Widow! Get your crazy partner out of here!"

Another trigger pull, that makes three, and the kid was near tears now.

"Location."

"Please! Look, I don't know the address!"

Now we're getting somewhere..

"In Chicago?" Clint asked with a blank face, his voice stern now.

"Y-yeah.."

"Around where?"

"I can't say!" He suddenly yelled, so Clint pulled two more times.

"That makes five man. Next one and it's bye bye to your balls."

"Ok, ok!" He screamed, tears flowing freely now. Clint had to stop himself smirking, Nat owed him $50. She always said this trick wouldn't get someone crying! "Oak Lawn! Some apartment block around there! He owns it! He turned the place into a research facility! Please, don't shoot!"

"Was that so hard?" Barton said with a proud smile, his voice as if he was praising one of his children for telling the truth.

He loved this part the most though.

Without another word, Clint pulled the trigger for what would be the sixth time.

Oh the scream! The kid jumped from fright so much that the chair leg ended up breaking and he fell flat on his back.

Barton had to stop himself from laughing as he stood from his chair, hovering over the kid before letting the last bullet fall from his hand and onto his chest.

"Like you said; it was a bluff. Like I'd kill you, kind of taken a liking to you!"

The guy stared at the bullet on his chest in disbelief, obviously only remembering to breathe when he saw it because he was panting now.

"Thanks for co-operating! I'll get Tash to call someone to take you to that cell!"

He left without another word then, heading back into the room where Natasha was.

She looked at him with a slight smirk when he entered.

"Did you have to scare him so bad?" She asked through an amused laughed, and he just grinned and shrugged as he refilled his gun.

"Got the information, didn't I?"

"Heard that alright." She laughed, and he noticed she already had the map out looking for where the kid said.

"Good, good.." He said with a soft sigh, lowering himself down onto the sleeping bag to rest a little while more. His head really wasn't happy with those gun shots and all that shouting. So he closed his eyes and lay his arm over them to block out every bit of light he could.

"You know, if you stopped drinking.."

"Romanoff." He cut her off with a warning tone, not wanting to have that kind of conversation right now.

"I'm just saying." She sighed, his eyes were closed but he could hear her moving over closer to him. "We're all pretty worried about this Clint."

"Don't have to be." He shrugged, moving his arm to look up at her. She was giving him those worried eyes, the ones he only sees when he's injured. But he wasn't injured, was he..? "I'm a big boy, can look after myself."

"Drinking yourself into a stupor each night isn't looking after yourself." She sighed once again, sitting down cross legged beside him. "Look, I know none of us were really there after the divorce.."

"Or during.." He said quietly, cutting her off once more. He closed his eyes again and replaced his arm, not wanting to look at her now.

"Or during.." She added, and he could hear the regret in her voice. "We should have been.. And we're here now."

"Too busy saving the world." He shrugged, knowing that was the reason why none of his friends could help him out. "Kind of comes before these things."

"Well, it shouldn't have." She simply said, and that caused him to look at her. He didn't realise she actually felt bad about leaving him completely alone that time. "You should have said.."

"I fucking tried.." He sighed, shaking his head a little before looking away from her. "When Laura kicked me out, you were the first person I went to Tash.."

"But I was.."

"I know, you were on a mission." He frowned, watching anything just so he wouldn't have to look at her. "Like Steve, Thor was on a whole other world, Tony was busy at some conference in Japan.. I tried all of you.."

"Clint.."

He shook his head to stop her, looking to her with new determination as he sat up to be level with her. He didn't want pity, and the pity seeping from her voice was just something he couldn't handle.

"So, I went to our old apartment. I found some drink." He continued, staring her in the eyes as he spoke. "It's the only thing that's helped me since then. It's the only thing that helps me now."

"We tried to get you to talk." She frowned, and she was right. They did. He remembered each of them sitting him down to try get the story from him, he remembered getting a call from the lawyer Stark hired for him saying he tried get Clint's case file from her, remembered Steve bringing him training and not so subtly bringing up the subject.

"You all asked when the problem was already there." He said quietly, looking away again. "I just can't tell you, Tash.. I can't tell any of you.."

"Why not?" She asked a little higher, he could tell she was getting annoyed and that just pissed him off a little bit. "We're a team Clint. And this is something pretty fucking major.."

"Because she blamed you guys." He said through clenched teeth, looking at her to see shock across her face. "She blamed you guys."

"Why?" She asked in a shocked whisper, causing him to sigh and rub his forehead. He didn't want to talk about this, but she wasn't backing down.

"Because I constantly got called away.. We have three kids, Nat.. But one week it would be you and Fury, then I'd get home and Steve would need a sniper for a mission, then I'd get home again for maybe an hour and Tony would need security decal or Banner would want some help with tracking and it all got too much.."

His words were spoken so quickly and so quietly that they probably blended together.

"When I missed Nate's first birthday because I was on that Chad assignment and it ran over time, she filed the papers.."

"Clint.."

"Don't." He said sternly, watching the ground now. He didn't want her pity, didn't deserve her pity. "It's my fault.. I wasn't a husband.."

"But she couldn't have expected you to be.. Not in the proper sense of the word." Her hand was on his shoulder now, and he felt her push it slightly so it would relax. He didn't realise he was holding them tight.

"You don't get it.." He whispered, and no response from her told him to go on. "When I was gone, I was an Avenger.. When I was home, I was a mess. I wasn't sleeping, wasn't eating. Wasn't doing any of the jobs I told her I would. I was short, snappy, I just couldn't handle being around her or the kids, not after Sokovia.."

"Maximoff's death hit you hard, huh..?" She said softly, and he had to curse her for being so good at getting him to talk.

"I was blaming myself.. Still do. The kid took those hits for me, died for me. I just couldn't do normal everyday things knowing that.."

"He knew what he was doing." She eventually said, and he figured she was just giving him a moment to calm down a little.

That doesn't make what happened any easier to handle.

"She was right to divorce my sorry ass." He said through a rough sigh, falling back so he was lying down and staring at the roof. "Worrying while I'm gone, worrying while I'm home, not having a husband 9 months of the year, having an injured or worn out one the other three months, having to deal with three kids alone.. Who could live like that?"

"She did for the longest time Clint. People just change." She was up again, he didn't know where she moved to.

"How do you do that?" He asked after a moment of quiet, a slight smile crossing his lips. He felt a million tonnes lighter and he didn't even realise it.

"Master of interrogation.. Not all my methods involve torture." She laughed, and he had to smile a little bit more at it.

Damn, she was good..

"Thanks Tash.." He whispered, his eyes closing again.

He felt something be draped over him and he soon realised it was her sleeping bag. She ruffled his hair a little before moving away again.

"Get some rest little Hawk. I'll make up a plan and we can get this guy tonight, but I need you hangover free for that. You can be home in time for the kids weekend visit that way."

He could honestly cry. She really was the best partner anyone could possibly have.

He'd be completely and totally lost without Natasha Romanoff..

"So.. We're just running in.. And grabbing him..?" He asked slowly, buckling up his tact vest as they prepared to get this guy.

"Pretty much." She nodded, currently on the other side of the room already in her mission gear. She was just making sure all her weapons were in check.

He stared at her for a moment with a confused face, his mouth opening and closing a few times as he tried form some words for her plan.

"And that took you all night?" He eventually asked, and a bullet was thrown his way with a growl.

"Well it's better than you sleeping all night!" She pouted, and he found he couldn't argue with that! "It's a built up area, so we cant have a big fight going on. We gotta scale down, Adam says Anderson stays in the top right room of the building. We grab him, one person brings him to a waiting chopper, another runs the length of the building and places explosive so no one will be left. When they're clear, the one in the chopper blows the place to nothing. No evidence to link us to it. Just an unstable building finally falling."

He nodded in understanding, finding that it actually was a pretty sound plan. In, capture, out, boom. Simple!

"Two guesses who the idiot who runs down with the explosives is.." He sighed, knowing full well planting those temperamental little bombs is always left up to him.

"Well you're so good at it.." She smirked, strapping her weapons to different parts of her body before handing him the little pile of explosives.

Stark made, obviously. Tiny things, circular, size of about his hand. There were about thirty in this pile and they were no taller than the length of a mobile phone. Tiny, but powerful.

He packed them into his quiver for easy access later, like all the other times he's been tasked with this job, before putting his bow and quiver in their usual places on his back.

He made a mental check to make sure he had everything, then smiled at his partner and held his arm out in the direction of the door.

"After you, ma'am."

"Damn straight, bitch."

He didn't like trusting the helicopter flying to the newbies.. He really didn't..

But he was supposed to jump out and onto the roof top, so he could hardly fly it himself.

But he really wanted to!

He glanced over at Natasha who was shouting last minute commands to the newbie controlling the aircraft, just alot of stay close and watch for her, she'll radio him, have the cell ready for their prisoner, blah blah blah. He was lowering them down close enough to the building to not need a parachute, but far enough away to look like someone just trying to avoid a high wind.

He gave her a slight smile when she looked back at him, the usual pre-mission nerves knotting in his stomach. Once he got into it though, he was usually perfectly fine!

"Ladies first!" She shouted over the sound of the blades, and he just smirked at her.

"Well I am the most beautiful of the two of us!" He shouted back, giving her a wink before jumping from the side of the chopper.

While they were kind of close, it was still like a four story fall. So he tucked, rolled across the roof like he was taught to, but didn't jump right to his feet.

Damn, your arm was NOT healed enough for that, Barton..

He lay there for a moment to see if the shooting pain would leave him alone, and it was long enough for Natasha to run over and take a knee next to him, worry clear in her eyes.

He just shot her a little smile and sat up, rolling his shoulder out to test it. "Landed wrong.."

"You're an absolute disaster Barton.." She sighed, taking his good hand to help pull him up. "I want no bullet wounds this time, got it?"

"Twenty bucks says I can do it." He smirked, offering her his hand to shake and make it official.

"You're on." She smirked back before shaking his hand.

He gave her another wink then went to the edge of the roof, taking his bow and a corded arrow from his from quiver. He shot the arrow into the concrete edge of the rooftop before doing the same once again next to the first.

Natasha was already strapping the wire to her harness belt while he was putting his bow back on his back. He followed suit, making sure it was nice and secure at both ends so he wouldn't go falling ten stories. She'd never let him live that down!

"Follow me in, got it?" She said as they stepped up to the edge, and he nodded. "Have your bow at the ready to cover me in case he attacks, then your line.."

"Nat." He cut her off, looking to her with an amused smile. "Not the first time we've used this plan."

"Just have to be sure, bird brain." She laughed, testing the comms for what must have been the hundredth time since leaving the warehouse before then scaling down the building.

He followed after her, leaving a bit of a distance so they wouldn't hit into eachother. Just like he was told to do, and as he's done countless times before, he grabbed his bow and had an arrow necked as he scaled down the side of the building.

He stopped just above Natasha, waiting as she grabbed a flash bang form her belt. She glanced up at him and he nodded for her to go ahead, so she threw the device into the room. Before it could flash and bang, like the name suggests, he pressed the button on the handle of his bow to retract her wire up, clearing her of the window incase it managed to hurt her aswell.

When it settled down enough, she scaled back down and jumped through the window. He followed, landing on his feet by the window, the crunch of broken glass beneath his boots hitting his ears as he quickly raised his bow incase he needed to send the arrow flying.

There were a number of people in the place, all on the floor unconscious from the device.

He didn't care about most of them, he only cared about the one Natasha was currently dragging over to his position.

Tyler Anderson..

His jaw locked at the sight of him. This guy put him through so much hell that it couldn't even be described.

He felt sick just at the sight of him, the pain from those days under the influence of his little test drug coming rushing back.

"Hey, Barton!" He snapped back to the present when she shouted his name, and he looked to her face to see concern written all over it. He only realised then that he had broken into a sweat. "You told me you'd be fine Clint.."

"I am, I am.. Sorry.." He said with a shake of his head, un-clipping his harness after putting his bow and arrow back in place before going to strap it around Anderson. They had to get him out before a)he came to and shouted for back up and/or b) back up realised that was, in fact, an explosion they heard and rush in anyway.

"Ok, out you get Widow." He said sternly, back in mission mode now. She nodded and climbed out of the window as he grabbed his bow again, pressing the button on it to adjust her wire so it stayed taught. He didn't need her falling to her death right now!

Anderson though.. Well, maybe he'll forget to press the button..

Nah, he had plans for interrogating this bastard!

When Romanoff was in position just above the window frame, Barton heaved the older man up to the window sill and pressed the other button on the handle, so his wire would start retracting too.

"Got him." He heard over the comms, so he reeled both wires up at the same time to send the two back up to the roof.

He went alot slower up than they did coming down, so he leaned against the wall with an arrow poised and ready for anyone who might enter as he let them scale to the top.

"We're up. You have ten minutes until we leave Barton." He smiled at the challenging voice she held, grabbing the little explosives from the quiver and strapping them to his belt before heading for the door.

"Got the timer ready?" He called into the comms, hand on the door knob.

He could hear the helicopter above him and over the comms. Thank god she was at least safe!

"Alright... Go!" She said to him and he ran for it.

Missions got repetitive sometimes. Especially these easy ones. So they always made sure to have little games at the ready to make things more interesting.

He took the stairs two at a time, descending two floors before placing an explosive in both the south corner and north corner.

He had his bow in his hand, knowing there were more goons around the place than just those in the room on the top level. None showed their faces yet though.

"Five minutes Barton." Came the smug voice of his partner, and he cursed under his breath. He still had over half!

Halfway down though, he paused at the end of the stairs, eyes going wide at the sight that met him.

Easily twenty Hydra thugs all had their guns pointed at him, blocking the corridor on him. He gave a nervous chuckle.

"Hey there fellas.." He smiled, holding his arms up so they wouldn't shoot. "Nice night, huh?"

"Barton?" She was worried, she knew something was up when he got the weird nice voice on.

"I have a 20 on.. Well, 20, Romanoff." He said through the comms, trying to subtly change arrow heads with the controls on the bow as he fell to his knees, per the request of the very loud shouting middle man.

"Alright, you have an added on three minutes then."

He smirked at her reply, only she could do something like that after hearing he partner was outnumbers 20 to 1!

"Deal!" He grinned, in a flash he had an explosive arrow necked. Before they could react, it flew towards the Hydra agents and exploded, he used the cover to run back up the stairs.

"New plan! I'm heading back to the roof, there's enough explosives down to topple the building from the top down!" He shouted down the comms, running up the stairs as quick as he possibly could.

"Sounds good!" He heard after a moment, she must have been thinking if there was any better plan she could come up with.

He ducked when he heard a gun firing, they were catching up to him, so he fired another explosive arrow to make some more cover for himself.

"Five more floors." He said to her, his breath coming in quick bursts now. He hadn't run this much in a while!

"Choppers here waiting." She called back, and he could faintly hear her giving some commands to the newbie.

He paused when he was met with another issue.

This looks bad..

When he ran to the second last floor, he was faced with the same problem.

This time, there was only five of them, the ones the flash bang had disorientated in the room.

He could hear the others approaching aswell.

Shit..

"Tash. Blow the place." He called into the comms without even thinking, and he could hear her choke a little at the request.

"Don't be so stupid you idiot!" She shouted, but he was beaten. He was forced to fall to his knees with his hands behind his head. "We can get you out! Give me a second and I'll be down to help!"

"Dammit Natasha! That's a fucking order!" He yelled, not caring that the Hydra agents were about to fire at him for shouting. "Get the bird in the fucking air and blow the place! I'll be fine!"

There was silence for the longest time, and he was worried that she wouldn't do it.

He couldn't be taken captive.

He wouldn't survive another round with these guys.

He barely survived the last one.

"Clint.. You meet me outside in ten minutes, ok?" Her voice was soft now, he knew how difficult a position he put her in.

"Time me, Natasha.. I'll make it in seven."

He could hear the chopper rise over the comms, his only hope of escape leaving him.

Taking a deep breath, he shut his eyes, the agents realising what command he had given Natasha so they were running for safety.

They wouldn't make it. None of them would.

"3.. 2..1."

He fell to the ground and curled into a protective ball when she reached 1, eyes screwed shut as he heard the blasts of the explosives go off all around the building.

He thought about his kids, how they wouldn't get to see him again.

Thought about missing them grow up, about missing them learn to shoot a bow or run a trial course like their old man.

He thought about the other avengers, wondered how they'd survive without him holding their asses together.

Even about Kate, she never did get to hear the Budapest story.

Thought about Barney of all people! How he never managaed to see him again, never managed to say he loved him.

As the block started crumbling, and he could feel himself begin to fall, only one thought managed to calm him enough to accept all of this.

And that was of Natasha Romanoff holding him one more time.

He'd survive this, he had to, he had to hold her one more time!

Something hit his head and darkness took him into nothingness, but it didn't matter.

He had the image her smile in his head. That was enough.

It was always enough.