Summary: One shots set in the world of Gemini Protocol and Trouble with Triples following the past, present and future lives of our favorite genetically engineered triplets.

Pairings: Clint/Natasha, oblivious!Will/Jane, some Aaron/Marta and Tony/Pepper. Nothing major is really going to happen in terms of romance. This story is mostly about the boys and their adventures…. So bromance all around!

Warnings: Language, I guess, because I have a potty mouth damn it. Also a strong possibility for crackish behaviors. Spoilers for The Avengers, Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol and The Bourne Legacy. Oh, and whump because… I write fanfiction for The Avengers. Apparently that's reason enough!

Disclaimer: I own nothing!

Author's Note: So, this is weird. I kind of lied in the summary originally. I said one shots but I basically should've just said stories set in the world of my other two stories because this is definitely not a one shot but it's also not a continuation. This is a What If story that wouldn't leave me alone. So I started writing it. It basically asks what would've happened if all three of them were reunited in the HYRDA cell and then it kind of spiraled into a thing. I'm still working on another part for this story but I just wanted to get this what if on paper. Hope that you like it. I'm probably going to keep working on for a bit, so this isn't the end of it. Right then, enjoy!

What If

Tony stretched his arms over his head as he staggered from the lab to the kitchen on the common floor. He really hoped that Clint had the coffee ready because the self-proclaimed genius billionaire literally felt brain dead at the moment. He knew that if Clint was awake there would be coffee. The team's resident archer was a notorious early riser or maybe it was just that he didn't sleep. Tony really wasn't in a position to judge either way. But he was in a position to be grateful to the man for his bizarre sleeping patterns and the coffee that resulted.

Sure enough as he got closer, he could already smell the percolating coffee and were those cinnamon buns? That definitely meant that Clint didn't sleep but Tony couldn't help but be ridiculously happy. He let the combined aromas sink into his nose and help wake his sleep addled mind. As his thoughts started to clear, there was one that was clamoring for his attention. There was something off about Clint making coffee that morning. But Tony had no idea why. It was his thing. When he was awake, he made coffee. And occasionally when the demons of his past came for a visit, Clint would go down to The Stand and bring back the cinnamon buns that Tony was convinced contained crack. But there was a problem with that….

"Clint is missing."

Of course that's when the week's events came crashing back to him with sudden HD quality clarity. Their resident archer was no longer in residence. He disappeared after being loaded in an ambulance following one of their latest saving the world (or at least the immediately local part of the world) missions. Ordinarily one of them would've gone with him but they were all busy in some capacity. Thor and the Hulk were on cleanup duty due to the fact that they once again got into a punching match which caused major property damage to several different structures. Steve was busy arguing with Tony about getting his head checked out. Tony was busy ignoring him in favor of trying to get JARVIS back online. And Natasha was forced to debrief their handler and Nick. They put the far more banged up and bruised Clint (he really needed to stop falling off buildings, like seriously) into an ambulance with the promise to be back at Headquarters in time to aid and abet his escape from medical. At least, that was the plan.

When they showed up a little less than three hours later, they found the two agents that were in charge of escorting Clint back to the helicarrier were confined to beds in the infirmary. They both claimed they had no idea what happened. One minute, they were driving and then the next minute there was a flash of light and they were waking up in the wrecked ambulance with their patient inexplicably missing. Things went predictably downhill after that. Every avenue was explored with little to no leads appearing. But by the end of the second day, it was clear that this was an inside job. Someone within SHIELD had taken Clint. Not surprisingly, but volunteers for information were scarce.

So that's still all they had two days later. They knew it was an inside job. They knew it was someone who had a grudge against Clint, most likely stemming from the whole Loki thing. the god's assault on the SHIELD left it's scars and since very few were stupid enough to challenge the thousand something year old alien who inspired Norse mythology, most chose to take their wrath out on Clint. And as Clint carried his own scars (and an unhealthy amount of guilt) he swallowed the comments and negativity as if he actually deserved their vitriolic hatred. The team (all of the team even Janet!) were working on getting him to acknowledge that he didn't deserve it, or at least tell them who it was but Clint never told. So they too were forced to swallow it. But someone just took it past that point. There would be no more sitting back. Now they were going to feel the full wrath of the Avengers. They knew that they couldn't trust anyone other than themselves, Phil, strangely Jasper Sitwell (despite the fact that he and Clint were almost always trying to murder each other) and possibly Director Fury. While Tony had reservations about trusting the man that constantly lied to them and then tried to justify his lies, Nick did seem genuinely and, and most importantly, visibly upset about Clint's vanishing act. And he wasn't the only one.

Tony knew that Phil and Clint were close but it wasn't until they received official word that Clint was missing that Tony started getting a hint at how deep the bond was between handler and asset. Phil had yet to stop looking like his world was slowly crumbling around him. Though it was a terribly depressing sight to behold, Tony would happily take that over Natasha's 'one wrong word and I'm going to cut you' mindset. The two assassins were involved in this strange dating/not dating ritual that was strangely adorable until something came along to shake it up (i.e. brainwashing, kidnapping and/or brainwashed super soldier formula infused BFF of Captain America aka Natasha's ex lover) and then it just turned violent and ugly. Things were actually beyond the point of violent and ugly as Natasha was even more on edge than usual without her partner by her side. So that begged the question of who was in the kitchen if it wasn't Clint? None of the residential members of the team got up this early on a regular basis. And Tony is pretty certain that Bruce is the only other one who even knows how the coffeemaker works. And he was currently stumbling down the hall from the opposite direction.

Tony found his feet carrying him faster towards the kitchen. He ran into Bruce and Steve outside the door. Both men were equally confused and concerned with who was in their kitchen. After a quick and silent conversation, they burst through the door to find Natasha sitting at the kitchen island, tearing half of a cinnamon bun in pieces with her fingers with a thoughtful expression on her face. Phil was next to her with the same reports detailing the day Clint disappeared again. Then there was the third person that was leaning against the island opposite Natasha and Phil. The coffeemaker busily working behind him. A pair of familiar blue gray eyes flickered up to meet the incredulous stares of the three newcomers. He nodded in their direction and gave a hint of a smile. Tony blinked because really? Clint wasn't missing anymore and no one felt that was enough to wake them all up?

"Barton, where the hell have you been?" Tony snapped, stepping into the kitchen. Clint's eyes widened minutely before he laughed. In the year and a half that the Avengers had been living together as a team and a somewhat functional family, Tony got familiar with most of their archer's quirks and right now he wasn't showing any of them. He looked the same, well slightly different but there was something else not quite right. The laugh was totally wrong. There was a slight edge to it that Clint's laugh lacked. Or maybe Clint was just better at hiding it than his doppelganger.

"Really, dad? This is the crack team you and Fury put together?" Clint snorted in Phil's direction. "No wonder you had to call for backup. Seriously, Clint's a dead man."

Phil sighed but didn't get an opportunity to reply as the elevators to the common floor opened. Another man that looked exactly like Clint stepped off the elevator. He clearly wasn't Clint either because he was wearing a suit. Clint claimed that he was actually allergic to suits. Given that any time he was forced into a suit, the item of clothing never made to the end of the day was a pretty good indication that Clint Barton and suits were not meant to be. So this guy in his crisp suit and tie was clearly not Clint. The latest Clint look-alike frowned at the original man in the kitchen before looking at Phil with a raised eyebrow.

"Why is Aaron signing Clint's death certificate? Also I could feel your laughter like from downstairs. Did I miss something funny? And on that note… why is Clint's team looking at us like that?"

"There are two of you," Bruce said, sitting down heavily at the kitchen table. Tony and Steve joined him. The two versions of their friend rolled their eyes in unison. That was freaky.

"Actually, I think you'll find that there are three of us."

"Ok, Agent," Tony shook his head, tearing his eyes away from the duplicates to their amused handler. "What the hell is going on here? Why are there two people that look like Clint but are clearly not Clint in the Tower and why did Not!Clint #1 just call you dad?!"

Both men blinked while the more identical looking one shook his head. "His trust issues are ridiculous. You would think he would've said something by now. It's been over a year."

"He was working on it," Phil finally spoke up, looking at the second Clint look-alike. "You know it's not easy for your brother to trust anyone outside of family."

"Ah, it's been all of five minutes that we're under the same roof and dad is already making excuses for Clint being a total weirdo… again."

Natasha cleared her throat. The second look-alike shrugged unrepentantly. "You know it's true, Nat. I get that Clint has trust issues. Honestly, I know he came about them the good old-fashioned childhood scarring kind of way but as much as he talks up these guys, you would think that he would let a little information about his family slip by now. It's been a year. I would think by now he would've at least mentioned that he has brothers. You know of the non-murdering, betraying variety at least. Because you know he's mentioned that waste of human flesh, completely adopted Barney."

"One, you know Barney is part of his medical record and that's pretty much the only reason why anyone knows about him. And second, I think you know better than anyone that Clint just doesn't know when it's ok to trust. Don't you ever wonder how long it would've taken me to find out about you guys if I hadn't tried to kill him?"

"Try?" the first look-alike repeated with a raised eyebrow and a too familiar smile. Natasha gave a ghost of a smirk, rolling her eyes in the process.

"Fine, I did actually kill him. But that was not the point I was trying to make. Will, cut Clint some slack. Or at least let's find him first and then you can rag on him all you want." The second one, or Will, pursed his lips together before giving one armed shrug that was completely identical to Clint's. It was odd. Even though both men looked alike, it was the second one that was a perfect match to their missing archer. And the mystery deepened. Tony knew he wasn't the only one practically boring holes into Phil's head.

Phil rose to stand between the two men. "Tony, Steve, Bruce, I want you to meet Aaron Kenneth Cross and William Brandt. Will, Aaron, this is…."

"This the so called narcissistic, volatile, secretly really nice guy, genius billionaire, the technology challenged boy scout with the heart of gold and the best friend with a cybernetic arm and the reclusive, genius secret badass scientist with an alter ego that Clint calls Jade Jaws. All we're missing is the warrior alien god who's currently back home in Asgard with his would be Earth conqueror bratty little brother," Aaron interrupted with a smile. "He talks about you guys all the time."

"Wish we could say the same," Tony mumbled.

"The thing is…." Aaron trailed off. "Clint is an incredibly complicated individual. Hell, we share DNA with him and we don't always understand him. But just know that he really does trust you all with his life. He just doesn't necessarily trust you with our lives." Will gave him a look out the corner of his eye. "Bro, we're a secret for a reason. It's beyond obvious at this point that we can't even trust SHIELD and our favorite uncle/godfather runs that place. I don't think that this is a reflection of Clint's albeit very prominent and severe trust issues. It's a valid concern and you know it. That's why he uses Barton instead of Coulson at the office. It's why we all use our original last names instead of Coulson."

Will rolled his eyes again but didn't reply. He chose instead to focus on the coffeemaker. Tony watched as Will poured two cups of coffee, placing equal amounts of sugar and milk in each cup. He then watched as Will poured the cinnamon they kept in stock because of Clint's obsession with the spice into each cup. Once he was done, Will pushed the mug into the empty space beside him. It was only because he was still watching that Tony caught the look of absolute devastation that crossed the man's face when he realized what he did.

"Will," Aaron started, watching him warily. The other look-alike stood frozen before he flung the mug still in his hand against the furthest wall with a growl. Aaron didn't bother with words after that. He instead grabbed his double and dragged him out the kitchen and in the general direction of Clint's room. Phil watched them go with a heavy sigh.

"Agent Coulson… Phil," Bruce said, breaking the heavy silence. "What's going on? Who are they beside Aaron and Will? Why do they look so much like Clint? And why did they say that they share DNA? Are they clones?"

"No, they're not clones," Phil answered, with a tone that implied if he were a lesser man, he would totally be rolling his eyes. Tony was impressed.

"We think they're not clones," Natasha countered. Phil glared. "They could be."

Phil paused for a moment. "We're reasonably sure that they're not clones. The three of them are the byproducts of a HYDRA experiment with the super soldier serum," Phil replied, looking in the place where the two men disappeared. "The experiment involved six genetically altered eggs that were implanted in a surrogate mother. Of those six eggs, two survived. Then one of the eggs split into two."

"Clint and Will, right? They're identical twins," Tony mumbled aloud. It was a statement and not a question but Phil nodded anyway. "That would mean that Aaron is the other?"

"Yes, Aaron is their older non identical triplet. Though the jury is still out on that one," Natasha answered with a smile. "The three of them are quite the act when they're all together."

"On that note, why is that we've never even heard of them much less seen any pictures of them together. It seems like they're close."

"They are," Phil replied. "They're extremely close but as I said they were the byproduct of a genetic experiment. For the most part, what Clint has told you about his childhood is true. He didn't grow up with either Will or Aaron. He did live with the Barton family and they did raise him like he was their son. He didn't know any different until he was sixteen. That's when they all met up again. That's also the same year they were taken in by SHIELD."

"Is that also the year they started calling you dad? Because what's up with that?"

"We call him dad because he's our dad," Will retorted as he and Aaron returned. Phil pulled him over, putting an arm around his shoulders and holding tight. Will took a deep breath, leaning against their handler. "I'm fine. Really… I just… this is such bullshit! He got kidnapped because some bratty god with freaking daddy issues decided to mind rape him? And the ignorant mouth breathers that you hired at SHIELD can't tell the difference between willingly joining someone and being forcefully coerced into it? I swear when I find the asshole that did this, I'm going to murder them in ways that even Natasha would strongly object to."

Tony shuddered and was glad to know he wasn't the only one. He never let himself be fooled by Clint's easy going nature and quick smiles. He knew that there was darkness behind that façade. But thankfully, Tony never had to actually experience that side of Clint. But here it was in living breathing pretty much identical color. It was actually really scary. And that's really saying something as he lives with Natasha's threats on a daily basis.

"Will, we're going to get him back. But I need you to get your head in the game. I called you both in because you have a connection with your brother. We're not finding him through our usual methods. So now we need to rely on methods outside of the box."

"The three of you have a connection?"

Aaron nodded. "It's a physical bond between me and Clint and a mental one with Will. Clint and Will pretty much are the same person so there's not real difference in their connection. But when we're all together, the connection is stronger. Then again, we really haven't all been together in a few months now."

"Five months, one week and four days," Will answered. Aaron raised an eyebrow. "Um, eidetic memory? I remember everything, bro, everything."

"Do you remember how to use a mop?" Aaron retorted, pointing to the dripping coffee on the wall opposite from them. Will winced before turning to face Tony.

"Really, sorry about that," Will apologized. "I sometimes don't think before I act. I'm told that's a genetic trait."

"Oh sure, drag me and Clint into your poor impulse control issues."

"That's funny coming from the dude that listened to some shady recruiter guy and joined the freaking army because he felt like he was being left out of stuff."

"That's hilarious seeing as you're the guy that joined IMF because he wanted to be difficult, I mean different," Aaron retorted. "And I seem to recall that the Army worked out really well for me, didn't it? I think you're capable of remembering that you're not the only one with eidetic memory around here."

"Yeah, but Clint and I got ours naturally."

"You both got your brains the same way I did," Aaron rolled his eyes. "In a test tube."

"Boys," Phil called out a warning. "Remember…"

"We know," they growled in unison. "Try and pretend to act our ages and not our shoe sizes." Phil smirked. The two brothers scowled. It was strangely adorable.

Tony always thought that Phil treated Clint differently than the rest of the team. There was a more paternal interaction between the archer and their assigned nanny/handler. Tony never really minded the relationship and instead was intrigued by it. Now that he knew what he knew, it made perfect sense. As Phil directed the older pair out of the triplets, Tony could see the same traces of paternal exasperation and pride in his actions and words.

Tony knew in that moment that they really needed to get Clint back. Aside from Bruce, the archer was the closest thing to a best friend he had on the team. So yeah, he wanted Clint back. But now he knew that they had to get Clint back so he could raise some hell (and their father's blood pressure) with his brothers.

1994

Will winced as more yells and gunfire sounded from the console room at the front of the compound he called home these days. He was growing more and more concerned with every passing minute. Actually, concerned probably wasn't the most accurate of terms. More like panicking and losing his damn mind. The boy in the cell next to his was taken hours ago. They were never gone this long. They usually never lasted more than an hour, less with Clint because he had a tendency to irritate the scientists in charge. So the fact that they dragged Clint out so long ago and hadn't returned meant that something was wrong. Then the gunfire started. He knew something wasn't quite right.

He felt a pang in his heart. Even though he didn't know Clint, didn't even know what he looked like, Will still felt hurt and worried about his prolonged absence. He felt like he needed to protect the strange boy with the mouth that never stopped. He felt similarly towards their other cellmate, who was being held in the room on Will's right. Will lost track of how long they were there. According to Clint, they'd been there for at least a month. Will was just going to take his word for it because he was starting to forget what life was like outside of the walls of the underground lab. He hadn't seen anyone other than the lab scientists. And even though he found comfort in the two boys that were sharing his laboratory nightmare, Will didn't have the faintest idea of what they actually even looked like or even what they did to wind up in this place. He didn't care either. Either way, they were still the only thing keeping him sane.

"Will?" a voice to his right called out hesitantly. Kenneth, also sixteen, was different than both Clint and Will. He was shyer and more gentle natured. Though they hadn't ever been allowed to interact with one another outside of whispered conversations from their individual cells, it didn't stop the three teenagers from forming a connection. And that meant that Will could hear the fear in Kenneth's voice and he didn't like it.

"It's ok, Kenny," Will finally replied. "Everything is going to be fine, I promise."

"Where's Clint?"

"He's…." Will trailed off because he really didn't know. He didn't want to lie but he also didn't want to acknowledge the horrible truth that Clint was probably dead. Will didn't know why anyone was shooting but he doubted the other teen was okay. He was supposed to be back from his tests hours ago. And now there was gunfire and yelling and badness. Clint didn't have any weapons. He probably didn't even know how to use any weapons even if he did have them. He was unarmed and sixteen! No, Clint was probably dead and he and Kenneth were next.

Suddenly the gunfire stopped an eerie silence settled over the compound. In the quiet, Will could clearly hear Kenneth's panicked breaths beside him. He wanted to say something that would help calm the other teen but the words died in his throat. He felt his heart beat faster when they both heard footsteps echoing in the hallway just outside their cells. They didn't sound like the steps of the guards. These were different. They were lighter than the normal heavy tread of the standard issue military boots the guards wore. Maybe these were the guys that the guards were shooting at. Will swallowed as the door to his cell swung open and he found himself face to face with… himself?

"Well, that's different," Clint's voice came out of his mouth. The boy standing in front of him was a perfect copy of himself. Will blinked a few times, hoping that the action would help clear his vision. It did not.

"Clint?"

"Will?"

"Guys?" Kenneth's voice snapped them out of their staring contest. The two teens exchanged quick glances before quickly moving over to the third and final cell. Both jaws dropped as a matching set of eyes widened at the sight of them. "There are three of us."

"Yes, so there is. Definitely not what I was expecting," Clint muttered. He leaned against the wall taking in the two other teens warily.

"Why are there three of us?" Kenneth asked. He tilted his head to the side. "Why are you covered in blood?"

Will's head snapped towards Clint. Now that the initial surprise of their pretty much identical faces had worn off, he was able to see that Clint was in fact covered in blood. Without even thinking about it, he reached out and held Clint's chin determined to see where the blood was coming from. Clint rolled his eyes.

"It's not all mine. Most of it isn't mine, actually," Clint replied, yanking his head away. "I, uh, I might have …. No, I definitely killed a lot of people. Actually make that everyone. I just killed pretty much everyone. Yeah, no, that was definitely, everyone… whatever."

Will's hand stilled in its journey back to Clint. He killed people? So then earlier… all the gunfire and yelling… it was because Clint was trying (and succeeding) to kill everyone in the compound. this scrawny and underfed sixteen year old successfully managed to murder the hell out of a lot of big, grown men…. unarmed. Or, not exactly because now Will could see that there was a makeshift quiver of scrapped together bows and arrows. He now knew what Clint was working on in his cell night after night.

"Say something," Clint pleaded, a hint of desperation in his voice. Will realized belatedly that they were both staring at him now. "I didn't have a choice."

"Its fine," Kenneth shrugged. "They kidnapped us, held us hostage and experimented on us for a month. Death was probably too good for them."

"Awesome," Will muttered under his breath. "So I'm the only one that has a problem with Clint going all vigilante style and murdering everyone." Clint met his eyes and Will felt a tiny part of his heart break at the sight of the hurt reflected in the identical eyes. Will smiled softly. "My only problem is that you didn't save any for us." Clint took a shaky breath before giving him a matching smile. "So where do we go from here?"

"You guys ever thought about joining the circus?"

There was so much wrong in that sentence and Will really did want to address it but in that moment the door flung open once again. Will shoved Kenneth and Clint behind him. He wasn't even mildly surprised when Clint moved to stand beside him. He was a little surprised when Clint handed him a gun he clearly lifted off one of the dead guards. He checked that it was still fully loaded and aimed for the people who were now pouring into the room with guns at the ready.

"Really, agents? You're going to shoot a bunch of kids?"

Will tensed as the men stood down at the sound of that voice. Soon two men were walking through the separated crowd and approaching the three teens. Kenneth had a hand on each of the other two and they were both all too aware of his vulnerability.

"Sir, we have reason to believe that the one covered in blood is the one that destroyed this campus," one of the agents chimed in.

"Seeing as that was our objective, shouldn't we be thanking them instead of pointing guns at them?" the taller of the two men asked, raising an eyebrow. He turned a one eyed glare on the remaining agents, who took that as their cue to leave. Will swallowed. So this guy was the boss. The one in charge… that probably wasn't a good thing.

"Hi," the other man said, waving a little. He had a warm smile and everything in Will just wanted to trust this man to be the adult in this situation because he was feeling a little overwhelmed at the moment.

One month ago he was just a normal kid (well not exactly because normal kids don't remember everything or move the way he did) and then his mom signed up over to these people who poked and prodded him every chance they got. He was stuck in cell between two people who share his face. And the one he was the most protective of just straight up murdered everyone with weapons he made out of god only knows what. Now there were more men asking questions and Will was done…. but he wasn't because he still had Clint and Kenneth to think about.

"Sorry about my team," the man continued. "They're a little trigger happy. They don't always consider facts around them."

"Who are you?" Kenneth asked softly.

"My name is Phil Coulson. This is my boss, Nick Fury. We work for Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division." Will knew his face was blank and imagined that the other two reacted similarly because Phil was laughing quietly. "I know its mouthful. We pretty much use SHIELD."

"SHIELD," Will whispered as if trying the name out. He eyed the two men. "Why are you here? You said you were trying to shut down the compound?"

"Yes," Nick said, entering the conversation again. "This compound was one of the last command bases for a splinter group of HYRDA scientist known as CADMUS. I was part of a team that raided the CADMUS facility eleven years ago. They were working on an experiment there and it seemed that the scientists here were trying to replicate the findings."

"What was the name of the project?"

"Rebirth."

Will tensed and he could tell Kenneth did as well. That was a name that was being thrown around a lot during their enforced captivity. But neither of them knew what it meant. What did they have to do with this project? Why were they being experimented on? Also why was Clint not reacting as well? Will turned slightly to face his bloody duplicate.

"What's wrong with you?"

"I can't hear them," Clint replied, quietly.

"What do you mean you can't hear them? You hear us."

Clint huffed and pointed to his ears. "I'm deaf. They took my hearing aids away this afternoon. I think I killed the guy that hid them. Not my best decision."

"Focus," Will said. "If you're deaf, why can you hear me but you can't hear them?"

"I don't know," Clint shrugged. "But I hear Kenny too."

"It's because we're all connected," Kenneth replied, pushing his way to stand by the two of them. "That's why they wanted us for this. Because we're Project Rebirth."

"If that's true than I don't think they're going to be very happy that you killed all their men," Phil said, gently. "I know that you don't have any reason to trust the two of us but we will keep you safe."

"What did he say?" Clint asked, tugging on Will's sleeve.

"He said that we should go with him because the people that are in charge of the guys you killed probably won't like that you killed all their men."

"Wait, you did this on your own?" Nick asked, standing directly in front of Clint so that he could read his lips. Clint nodded hesitantly and then gestured to the arrows strapped to his back. Will watched as a grin spread across Nick's face. Phil only rolled his eyes.

"They're kids, sir."

"We're sixteen," the trio protested in stereo. Nick raised an eyebrow. Phil gave a long suffering sigh. He pressed the communication device in his ear.

"Sitwell, Hill, I need you two to strip everything on these computers. I want every bit of information on these three that you can find and have it on my desk as soon as you can. Also make sure that someone gets them a change of clothes each. I'll work on the hearing aids in the morning." He looked to Clint. "Sorry, but you'll just have to stay close to your… friends?"

"My brothers," Clint corrected with a grin. "We're totally brothers."

"Yeah, we are," Kenneth nodded, like that solved everything. Will frowned.

"We could be clones."

"Clones are not a real thing," Clint argued. He paused looking to Phil. it was odd to Will to see an almost childlike expression of wonder and amusement cross over Clint's identical face. "Wait, are they? Are clones real? That's a real thing? Like I could get an actual clone? Oh my god, can I for real have a clone?"

Phil cracked a small smile, placing a hand on the shoulders of both Will and Clint and pushing them out their prison for the past month. Kenneth followed behind them with Nick. For some reason, despite the fact that he just met the men mere minutes ago, Will was comfortable letting his guard down around these two. They wanted to look out for his… brothers. Will trusted his instincts. He could usually tell when someone had less than… honorable intentions, so he felt content with letting his guards down. So he relaxed and sank back into being a sixteen year old boy who for the first time in his life actually had friends.

Well, brothers or potential clones, but at least they were his friends. He was never going to let them go. He was going to keep them close. He wasn't going to let anything happen to either one of them again. That was his silent promise to them both. He would protect his new-found brothers, especially Clint. Even though the obvious choice to an outsider for protection out of their little group would be Kenneth, Will found that he was oddly more protective of Clint. There was a spark of innocence left in the teen. And Will found that he wanted to preserve that spark. Even if he did just murder an entire base of people (who let's face it, no one would miss and Will was still mad that he didn't get to shoot anyone), Clint was every bit as vulnerable as Kenneth and Will wasn't going to let anyone or anything hurt him.

"A clone would be so awesome! Can I please, Phil? Please?!"

Yeah, he was special. But he was also his brother. They both were.

"Can I have one too?" Kenneth asked. His voice, as usual was quiet compared to Clint's.

Will snorted as Phil and Nick exchanged glances. They had no idea what they were getting into. None at all.

"If they get a clone, I want one too."

"No one is getting a clone!"

*The end for now. Like I said, I'll probably expand on this little alternate world. I kind of like the idea of them being together earlier.