It has taken me forever to get this thing up here. o.O

Well... I like this chapter... I love my OC Rachel. She's pretty awesome. In my opinion. ;)

Enjoy!


They got to the farm around noon. The Avengers had to sit through a half hour drive of Clint and Valerie bickering, but they did arrive at the farm, eventually.

To Tony, it looked like any stereotypical southern 'shindig' he'd ever seen on TV. There was a red barn, covered in green, purple, and gold streamers. There was a little country house about thirty feet to the left of it. There were lights strung up everywhere possible.

A couple of kids- well, a lot of kids- were running around, playing.

Parents watched coolly and drank from their bottled beverages.

Music pumped from the barn. Cars were pulled up onto the tall grass surrounding the barn and house, parked in a sloppy circle around it. Masks were everywhere, but not so much the crazy elaborate costumes Tony was expecting. He guessed that was more towards Bourbon Street.

Before they got out of the car, Wasp handed them all masks that suspiciously looked like their costumes. Steve got a red white and blue full-face mask, Tony got a red and gold half-mask, Hank got a red and black eye-mask with antennae, Jan made herself a black and yellow half-mask, and Clint got a feathered purple eye-mask. Valerie rolled her eyes.

Clint eyed his mask before putting it on.

"Okay, no one talks to my brother besides me. Valerie, you don't tell him I'm here," Clint stated, looking at Valerie sternly. She rolled her eyes. "We'll go separately, but I want to leave at least by five. Meet here then, unless something else happens, in which case we'll leave early." The team nodded, exiting the vehicle.

Clint surveyed his surroundings before going forth. A lot of the other vehicles were old rundown trucks, rusted and discolored in places. He made his way toward the barn, where most of the commotion seemed to be going on.

Inside there was a dance floor and a bar, and the place was covered with multi-colored lights and people. A lot of them wore masks, but the ones who didn't did not stick out too much. He looked for people recognized besides the Avengers. It looked like Tony had also made his way to the barn, and was weaving his way through the crowd and to the bar. Jan and Wasp were already have some heated conversation by the door.

Clint rolled his eyes. These guys are impossible.

He made his way to the dance floor. Not to dance, mind you, but to look. He recognized the dances they were doing, but he also recognized that he never wanted to do them ever again. Whether or not the Avengers were around.

He didn't notice Valerie making her way through the crowd. She found a group of women who were standing around drinking, mostly comprised of late twenty to thirty year old. One of them, a blond woman with the waist of a Barbie doll, smiled at her and leaned in to hear Valerie whisper something to her, smiling and swirling her beer bottle around mindlessly. When Valerie was finished whispering, she pointed to Clint, and the other woman glared. She said something to Valerie, and then started to make her way towards Clint.

The music and the commotion all around him drowned out most of his senses. The floor thumped to the beat of the music under his feet. A roar of laughter exploded from the bar. Tony Stark, that charming bastard.

The woman approached him, Clint still unaware. People she passed recognized that something was going on, and turned to watch her.

Her fist came in contact with Clint's cheek bone, knocking him back and giving him a sense of whiplash.

Two times in one day. He looked up at his attacker, and took a step or two back. "Rachel," he bowed his head, glaring at her and wincing at the bruise quickly forming just below his eye.

"Vut zuh hell are you doing here, Clint?" she asked angrily. There was a ring formed around them as people watched. He could see Steve and Hank, both standing there awkwardly, unsure of what to do. He flicked his hand at them, telling them to stay out of this. Steve nodded, if reluctantly.

"Well, let me tell you, I'm not here to see you." She punched him again, harder, and (like her sister) knocked him down to the ground. He braced himself carefully as he hit the ground, holding himself up with one arm as he wiped blood from his lip with the other. He kept his head down. He knew Rachel, and he knew she'd just keep throwing punches till he didn't get up.

Clint could hear someone trying to make his way through crowd. He looked to the side and watched as the man approached. A man he knew. Red brown hair, high cheek bones, pissed off aquamarine eyes. Barney.

"Hey, hey, babe. Cool off! You know the rules, honey. No fighting inside!" he said, jumping into the clearing and berating his wife, the only sound in the new silence that had fallen over the crowd.

Clint was shocked to see him. Instead of the leather jacket or the slicked back, greasy hair he'd had when he'd broken out, Barney looked… young?

He was wearing a white tank top and blue skinny jeans. His hair was tousled like he just got out of bed, and a loose smile on his face.

"Who decided zat it vas a good idea to invite your bruhzer?" Rachel demanded, turning on him. He stepped back when he realized how pissed she was. And then he was confused.

"Brother? Huh?" he looked at Clint, and it clicked. "What the hell?"

Clint spit blood onto the ground and made eye contact with Barney, who was holding his hand out to him to help him up. He took it and let himself be pulled to a standing position. He subconsciously noted the offensive stance that Rachel took as he did so, and how Steve moved closer in response.

Barney looked between Rachel and Clint. And grinned, "Family reunion?" he said jokingly, spreading his arms as if to suggest a group hug. Rachel and Clint looked at each other.

Clint opened his mouth as if to say something, but was cut off by an sudden booming sound from outside. Rachel glared at the ceiling, and then at Barney, and said, "Eet's still your shift."

Barney huffed theatrically and closed his eyes. "Do I have to?"

"Yes."

"Fine," and he turned at strode out of the barn quickly. No one spoke beyond little whispers. Clint thought he heard someone whisper something like, "It's probably their demon kids blowing up another water trough." Well, that's a curious thought.

The door slid back open and two kids- a twelve-year-old boy and a ten-year-old girl - were pushed inside, followed by Barney. The kids' faces were covered in ash and their hair was both blown back and caked in ash. They looked like mad scientists. They probably were, too.

"Let us talk outside," Rachel announced, shooing the three out again. She paused and looked back at Clint, "You too. Come." Clint hesitated, but did as she said.

When he joined them, Rachel was scolding the kids for melting their younger sister's doll in hot oil as they smiled and giggled about it. Impressive, given their age, Clint thought. Barney was trying not to laugh along with the kids.

"Damien Barton Schneider, zis is not funny!"

"I regret nothing," the boy returned boldly between giggles. She smacked him on the head.

"Vhatever. I vill talk vith you later, young man," she shooed the two of them along. "As for you," she turned to Clint, who cringed away from her instinctively…

"Hey, it's your shift to watch 'em," Barney shrugged toward where the kids had run off to, "I'll talk to Clint." He winked at her, and she rolled her eyes.

By this time, the rest of Clint's possy had made their way outside. Rachel returned to the barn.

"So," Barney said, awkwardly looking around. "Wanna beer?" he asked, smirking up at Clint.

"Sure."

"Ya'll come on," he nodded to the house and turned toward it.


... Thanks for reading! Please review!