(A/N) Hey so if you haven't read the comic books, which is fine I know some people get on a high horse about that, then you probably don't know that Clint is 80% deaf. How is a long story and it's very interesting so I would suggest at least looking into it but it comes up in this chapter so I just wanted to let you know.
The door to the helicarrier opened slowly giving Steve a full view of the turquoise water below. Wind whipped his face so he slid on his helmet to keep his hair out of his eyes. This wouldn't be the first time he jumped out of a speeding jet but it would be the first without a parachute.
"How long until we get there?" He called up to Clint who surprisingly was less than two feet away. Steve looked up to his spot near Natasha that Agent Hill had filled.
"What?" Clint asked making sure his bow was tightly collapsed and in it's holster; as well as the quiver being tightly covered. "You think that I would let you get all of the glory of being the daring hero? Besides I trained most of the infiltration recruiters everything she knows about keeping people out I know better."
"This still feels risky." He looked out at the water again.
Clint agreed, but it wasn't the riskiest thing he had ever done. Budapest had that won. "This bitch has been ahead of us every step of the game. If she is half as good as I think she is than somehow she spoofed the satellite footage. After a thermal imaging we found that this was the only ship with two people on it. She is expecting us to fly past, and she's cocky enough to not think that you and I are actually on board."
"Then I hope you're ready for a swim." Said Steve grateful for Hawkeye's presence in this mission. This was Clint's area of expertise and he had already proved himself capable more than once since they had met.
"Well I forgot my swimsuit." He looked to the water and gauged how fast they were going. "Guess I'll just have to compromise." His smile was confident though that wasn't exactly how he was feeling at the moment.
Clint was good at hiding it but he was still shaken by the events with Loki. The night after the Battle of New York he had woken with a start in the middle of his exhaustion driven sleep. He woke with a hand clutched to his chest; the feeling of ice spreading through his entire body taking over his mind. An echo of his nightmare still clung to him as he heard Loki's voice over and over in his head telling him to murder any S.H.I.E.L.D. agent that went in his way. The things the trickster told him to do to Natasha he would never forget.
Twenty two agents had the misfortune of running going him on to helicarrier. On account for the murders being against he will Clint had been cleared of any punishment, but each of the faces of the people he had killed that day stuck with him. Having all of the guilt of twenty two deaths but no punishment was enough to make him feel like he couldn't breathe and somewhere he felt as if Loki was laughing at him. This was his final victory, he had still won Clint's mind.
If Clinton had told anyone, even Natasha, how he sometimes felt so guilty he could barely think past the faces of the twenty two agents. Clint Barton was compromised, but his personal issues weren't going to be the cause of another death. Especially the death of a friend.
"Barton?" Steve snapped his fingers in front of the archers face taking him out of his thoughts. "Are you alright?"
Clint nodded and put his goggles on. "Fine. Let's do this." Almost to casually Clint walked to the edge so the wind tore at his clothes.
Once Steve had joined him they both gave each other a nod before stepping out of the jet and into the air. Falling through the air was not only exhilarating and terrifying but it was also a lot faster without a parachute. Within seconds they were diving into the water feet first. After the short swim the Avengers reached the side of the ship and with some special tech that S.H.I.E.L.D. had loaned them were able to scale the side of the shipping vessel with ease.
While still handing off the edge of the ship Clint peaked over the rails to get the layout of the ship. "There are two security camera's in the immediate area one of them facing us."
"How are we going to get past them?" Steve asked peeking over to see the two little red lights blinking repeatedly. One ten feet away while the other was so far that Steve was unsure how his partner even was able to notice it with the quick glance he had.
Clint pulled a device about the size of a pen. "With a bit of good old fashioned payback." He clicked the end or the device causing it to emit a small beep. "She put our camera's on loop; so do we." He pocketed the device. "Karma's a bitch."
He pulled himself over the railing and landed on the deck without making barely any sound as his feet touched the ground. Quickly, as though on relex, the archer released his bow, uncovered his arrows, and got into a ready stance.
Though Steve wasn't some blundering idiot he was nowhere near a spy. He could be stealthy if he wanted but it was like someone had muted Clint. A quick mental note was made to begin training with him and Natasha.
Slowly they made their way through the ship until coming up to one of the shipping containers before they stopped. Clint held up another device and held it up to the container. A thermal image went on the screen that showed a mainly blue container but in the middle there was a red hot body sitting in a chair.
"He's in here." Clint whispered before opening the door to the container carefully looking for any traps. Not seeing any they entered the container.
Tony was unconscious, his head lolled on his chest. Blood covered the ground beneath him from a leg wound that had been poorly treated as a crimson stain had formed over the bandages. He was also covered in a cold sweat and there were some burn marks in his shirt.
"Natasha," Clint said into his comm, "we got him. Rendezvous in ten minutes." There was a reply and he started listing of Tony's injuries while the Captain went to the injured mechanic.
"Tony?" Steve shook his shoulder in attempts to rouse him. "Stark, wake up." He tapped Tony's face lightly which got a reaction from him.
"Either I've finally cracked or you were outsmarted my host." He joked as Steve used his shield to break the clasps on the restraints. "Remind me to get one of those. They seem handy."
As Steve inspected the wound he tried to keep up conversation to keep the billionaire from going into shock. "Good luck getting your hands on vibranium."
Clint came over and kneeled in front of Tony. "Hey sleeping beauty last I saw you were in a coma."
"More like Snow White actually, I was poisoned." Tony stated as they helped him up and slung his arms over both of their shoulders. "My heroes." He joked.
With no warning Clint fell to his knee's screaming. His hands covered his ears to hide himself from a noise that no one else could hear. The usually collected archer was curled in on himself clawing at his ears for an unknown reason.
"Hawkeye!" Steve called to his friend who didn't answer. He set Tony down kindly on the floor before going to the archer who laid on the floor. "Clint what's wrong?"
Without answering Clint pulled two tan colored devices out of his ears and through them across the room. Panting he laid on the floor with his eyes closed and a faint trickle of blood coming out of his ears. "Hearing aids." He attempted to explain.
"You're deaf?" Steve asked in shock and was answered when Clint didn't even acknowledge that he had said anything.
"Oh yes he is," Violet opened the door of the container, "and a sonic burst at a frequency that only his hearing aids can pick up cause a considerably amount of discomfort." She looked over to the body of the agent who had recently passed out. "I did my homework on all of you. Like you captain, you're the kind of person who jumps on a grenade to save others." She pulled out two guns and aimed each of them at a different one of his team mates. "Sorry but I thought a grenade on a boat was a bad idea. So you have three options. You can do take out me and bet that my reflexes aren't as good as you know they are, you can save one with your shield and let the other get shot, or you can put your shield in front of one and you in front of the other. Your call captain."