AVENGERS EVOLUTION

in

"The Chessboard Is Set - Avengers Assemble Part One"

Note: All characters and locations mentioned here are property of Marvel Comics Inc, I claim no ownership to them whatsoever.

PART TWELVE

WHERE ARE YOU?"

Clint Barton looked all over since he found himself shrouded within darkness, so dark that light itself couldn't even exist. He had turned on a flashlight, but the light was snuffed out like the flame from a candle.- and all the while he was hearing voices coming from the shadows.

"I know you're here!" he shouted, still trying to look around. "Come on out and show yourself!"

But the voices continued to mock him. "Be a hero!"

"Never!" Clint shouted. "I'm done being a hero!"

Suddenlya voice spoke up from the shadows, different than the random voices that had plagued him since he found himself in this darkness. "I didn't think you were such a quitter, Barton!"

Clint turned to see a figure emerged from the darkness behind him, bathed in a bright light. He wore a purple-colored armor, with matching helmet and had a broadsword sheathed at his hip.Clint recognized theamored strangeron sight, it was the man who taught him all that he knew, the man who made him Hawkeye, it was Jacques Duquesne - aka the Swordsman.

"I trained you to be the best," said the Swordsman. "And now you just go up and quit?"

"I don't have to answer to you," he snapped back at him. "You're nothing but a pathetic thug."

The Swordsman quickly drew his sword, and held it threateningly at Barton. "Watch your tongue, whelp! I'm the best there is - I taught you everything I know! And one of the things I didn't train you to be, and that's a quitting coward!"

Suddenly Clint heard another familiar voice, he turned to see a young woman wearing a black and white costume - it was Mockingbird.

"C'mon, Clint," she called out to him. "It's time to be a hero!" She stood in front of a tall warehouse, ready to go through the side door.

"Bobbi! Wait!" He took a step forward, and then noticed something odd. Clint realized that he was wearing his Hawkeye costume, his longbow held in his right hand.

"Time's a wasting!" Swordsman mocked at Hawkeye. "Beep beep."

Hawkeye was confused. "Beep beep?"

He turned to face the warehouse door where Mockingbird waited for him, but the door slammed shut and Mockingbird was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly there was a huge explosion, as the entire warehouse was engulfed into a giant ball of flame.

"BOBBI! NO!" Hawkeye cried angrily.

Swordsman sighed complacently. "Aww, you had you're time to be a hero - and you missed it."

Hawkeye snatched an arrow from his quiver, loaded it into his bow, whipped around and aimed it at the Swordsman. "You son-of-a ...!"

But the Swordsman laughed, which only angered Hawkeye even more. Suddenly he realized that he was no longer holding his bow, and his costume had been replaced by his civilian clothes.

"Time to be a hero," chuckled Swordsman. "But more importantly - beep beep!"

"What are you ...!" Clint exclaimed, he watched as Swordsman back-stepped into the darkness - leaving him alone again.

"Beep beep!" Swordsman's voice echoed through the darkness. It repeated again, only it didn't sound anything like Swordsman's voice - or a voice at all.

Clint Barton woke up in a cold sweat. He looked over to his alarm clock, which read 11:30. He then heard the loud beeping coming from outside, he climbed out of bed and while slipping in his housecoat - walked over to the window to look outside.

There, waiting on a motorbike outside the front of his apartment was Clint's girlfriend, Bobbi Morse.

"C'mon Clint!" she shouted. "It's twelve thirty!" Bobbi gave another quick blasts from her horn, which began to anger the other neighbors. Clint took a look back at his alarm clock on the end table, it read "12:30" - quickly he grabbed some clothes and began to get dressed.

Clint stepped out the front door and approached Bobbi and her bike. "Sorry to keep you waiting."

"Let me guess," replied Bobbi. "You overslept again."

"IfI had my way, I wouldnt have any sleep at all." Clint paused for a moment. "I had that nightmare again.

"The one where I'm supposed to die?" Bobbi looked in disbelief. "You've got to realize that it's just a stupid dream - nothing more."

But Clint wasnt that easily convinced. "It all seems so real - it's the reason why I won't become a costumed crimefighter again."

He climbed onto the bike behind Bobbi, and they both drove off.

Outside the post office

15 minutes later

Clint came out with a pay-check, recently he did some work being a stunt double on a local tv drama program. Before he got back on Bobbi's motorbike, he began to wonder.

"What are you thinking about?" Bobbi asked him.

Clint sighed before going into his explanation. "I've just been thinking."

Bobbi chuckled. "I thought I smelled smoke."

"I'm serious, Bobbi. This check was just from a one-time thing, and it'll keep me for a few months - but what am I going to do when that money runs out."

"Well, you could go back to entertaining at kids' birthday parties."

Clint frowned. "Are you kidding? You remember what happened at the last party I did?"

"How can I forget it? You've told me the story over a hundred times."

Bobbi remembered back when Clint did a children's party while in his Hawkeye uniform, and some of the children at the party weren't too impressed with him - including the birthday boy.

"I wanna balloon animal!" the kid screamed. "Make me a balloon animal, clown!"

"I'm not a clown, " Clint protested calmly. "I'm an archer."

But the kid just wouldnt let it go. "I WANNA BALLOON ANIMAL! I WANNA! WANNA! WANNA!"

This began to frustrate Clint to no end. "Hey I got a live-sized long bow, and I just need a volunteer to be the arrow - how about you?" And he eyed the child evilly.

He turned off and ran off crying into the arms of an elderly man, he had heard everything from the boy and gave Clint a hard stare."Are you making fun of my grandson!" he growled as he approached.

"Hey, c'mon - I dont want to hurt you old man."

"And I still can't believe that he threw you to the curb!" exclaimed Bobbi.

"Hey! How was I supposed to know the old guy had the body of the Hulk under that robe!" Clint sighed. "Man, I can still feel the bruises."

"Well, you know that if you want - I can always lend you money. Remember the inheritance I got from my Aunt Gertrude's passing."

"No way!" Clint exclaimed, just as Bobbi pulled in front of theKwiki Mart. "That money is rightfully yours - I can't accept it."

Both he and Bobbi climed off the bike and entered the convenience store. Clint began to ponder about the paycheck he had buried in his shirt pocket, pondering on what to do once the money ran out. Sure he could try and get some more stunt work but that kind of work was pretty sparse in the state of New York, he considered going back to doing kid's birthday parties - but that thought just made him shudder. Another option was to go back to doing what he did long before the stuntwork, or the parties, even long before the existence of Hawkeye - the circus. It wouldnt be much, and it'd probably take a while, but what choice did he have?

Bobbi had returned from the cooler at the back of the store, carrying a bottle of fruit juice. Clint didn't have any need for much, he picked out a pack of gum from the rack and placed it on the counter. Suddenly his attention was caught by something going on nearby, he looked over to the far side of the store to see a couple of kids playing with an outdated pinball machine, they seemed innocent and untainted by the evils that plagued the world - and that got Clint to thinking.

"Y'know Bobbi," he said as he tossed down a twenty onto the counter. "Maybe I should take this time to settle down, put my life into perspective - raise a family or somethin."

Bobbi smiled, and put her arms around her love. "You sure that's what you want?" she asked, also eyeing the kids from the corner of her blue eyes.

"It sounds like a plan. Maybe seeing those kids is some kind of sign, a glimpse of divine intervention or somethin."

This intrigued Bobbi. "Why, Clint - I didn't know you were so religious."

He shrugged. "I'm not - but I'm sure god won't mind me using a religious word here and there."

Suddenly he heard a voice cry out, hearing something that he hoped he'd never hear again. "NOBODY MOVE! THIS IS A HOLD-UP!"

Clint looked up to the ceiling - as if he was peering towards the heavens. "God," he said to no one in particular, "if this is a joke - I ain't laughin."

Apparently it was no joke. From the main door of the store, two young men barged in - both armed with handguns knives strapped to their belts. These two obviously had something on their minds, something that Clint had hoped on avoiding for quite some time.

As the larger leader of the two eyed both Clint and Bobbi, the other began to lock the door behind him and then started to round up the other shoppers.

"Ok," announced the leader, as he adjusted his sunglasses. "Everybody better do what we say, and no one gets hurt. First we'll start with relieving everyone of wallets & purses, followed by jewelry of all kinds includin watches!"

His partner rushed through the aisles, dancing with joy with a handful of wallets and purses. He then noticed Bobbi, and began to approach her.

"What d'ya know, a pretty filly!" he exclaimed. "I could use some good lovin!" The man began to pucker up his lips, only to be met by Clint's oncoming fist as it slammed into his face.

"Get your good lovin somewhere else, creep!" He snapped back.

The leader with the sunglasses rushed to his partner's aid, and aimed his gun directly in Clint's face. "You got some kind of death wish or somethin, dude!"

Clint gritted his teeth as he looked down the barrell of the crook's gun, he instinctively reached for his long bow attatched to his belt - only to come to the conclusion that it wasn't there. Before he could utter a word, the man pulled back his gun - only to knock Clint down with the butt end of it.

"Clint!" Bobbi screamed, and rushed to his aid, but the crook that Clint had knocked down grabed her by the back of her hair and yanked her back towards him.

"Yer boyfriend hurt me pretty bad," he said into her ear. "I think I deserve a kiss to make up for that kind of trouble."

"Kiss this!" And Bobbi whipped around, taking the thug by surprise, and drove her knee right into his gut - winding him and forcing him to drop to his knees.

The leader couldn't help but laugh at his cohort's misfortune, so much so that he didn't notice the man behind the counter reaching underneath for the alarm button.

Suddenly the entire store was filled with an ear-splitting shrill, all the other shoppers covered their ears to block out the deafening scream. Clint slowly got up to witness the leader slowly whip his gun and aim it at the shopkeeper.

"That wasn't a smart move," the leader growled, his grip tightening on the trigger.

Clint quickly got up, driving his knee into the man's stomach, knocking all the air out of him. He gave him a couple of closed fists right between the eye before sending him flying into the nearby pinball machine that the kids were playing earlier, with sparks and flashes it was a miracle that the man wasn't electrocuted.

His partner, starting to recover, witnessing what happened to his leader, and made a jump for the fallen gun, but Bobbi knocked the gun aside with her foot, kicked him in the face a couple times making him get up into a standing position, and then giving him a back-kick that sent him crashing right through the locked glass door, the shopkeeper was ultimately livid.

No sooner did that happen when two uniformed officers arrived on the scene, a muscular african male and a shorter asian male.The asian, Lt.Woo,went to help the semi-conscious crook off of the pinball machine, or what was left of it. He had to be careful with him sincethe boy's back was covered with small shards of broken glass, his partner was busy interviewing the shop keeper, writing down little notations in a small black notebook.

This was beginning to worry Clint just a little bit, it was either the mess that was caused after he and Bobbi inflicted a little justice on those two - or the loud chinese curses that the shopkeeper was uttering at the top of his lungs.

"Let's slip out of here," he whispered to Bobbi, "I really don't want to get involved."

He grabbed her hand, not after taking a few steps towards the broken door did the officer broke away from interviewing the shopkeeper to call out to Clint and Bobbi.

"Sir, I'm afraid you're going to have to remain here so we can get a statement." He turned Clint around. "Were you the one responsible for all this?"

"I don't really want to get involved in all this." He was about to head towards the door, but the officer held firm on Clint's wrist.

:"Too late, you're already involved. How do we know that you weren't the ringleader in this little fiasco?"

That made Clint's blood boil. "What are you getting at .." He looked at the name badge on the officer's chest, squinting to read the name. " .. Lonas Griebe? We kept those two punks from robbing this store!"

"The shopkeeper tells a different story." repliedGriebe. "Now if he decides to press charges, all I can arrest you two fordestruction of private property - not to mention assault and battery."

"That scumbag had a gun!" Clint pointed to the cuffed man the other officer removed from the pinball machine. "Did you even think of checking him out!"

"We didn't find any weapon on him. You may have to come with us to give a statement."

Clint was about ready to come to blows against the man until he heard Bobbi cry out. Both Griebe and Clint turned to watch the man, the one Bobbi knocked out of the store through the locked glass door, start up Bobbi's bike and ride away.

"He's getting away!" Clint shouted, and ran off after him, with Bobbi right behind.

Griebe turned to his partner and shouted something to him in an audible chinese dialect, something in which the shopkeeper didn't understand. Both of them left, leaving the robber still cuffed, and sitting on the floor.

The shopkeeper watched in puzzlement as both men climbed into their squadcar, and drove off. A minute later, another police car pulled up in front of the store and the two officers within it jumped out and rushed into the store with guns drawn.

"About time someone got here," the shopkeeper complained. "Those two incompetent police officers left here and forgot to take him behind." He motioned to the cuffed man on the floor.

One of the cops looked over to his partner. "That's impossible. I was certain we were the first ones to respond."

The other grabbed hold of his radio strapped to his shoulder, and pressed the side button with his gloved thumb. "Dispatch, this is six-nineteen, on the scene of the armed robbery reported at the Kwiki Mart on Homer St."

"Dispatch," his radio crackled. "Go ahead, six-nineteen."

"Dispatch, did another unit happen to respond to the incident before we did?"

There was a slight pause, finally he got an answer. "Negative, six-nineteen. You were the first one to respond."

His partner looked at him with a quizzical look. "If we're the first to respond ... who are those other guys?"

Both Clint and Bobbi followed the thief at least three blocks, and neither was able to catch up to him. Once they stopped and began to attempt to regain their breaths, the squad car that had arrived at the Kwiki Mart earlier stopped next to them with the sound of screeching tires.

With the window rolled down, Griebe shouted to them to getin to the car. His partner Woo, climbed quickly out of the car and opened the back door. Bobbi climbed in to the back, but before Woo could return to the passenger seat, Clint leapt into the car and slammed the door shut. Woo shrugged and climbed into the back with Bobbi and closed the door shut.

The rear tires squealed into action, and the squadcar bolted down the street after the fleeing criminal.

Will they catch the thief or not? And is officer Lonas Griebe who he really claims to be? Find out all this in the next chapter - guest-starring another Marvel villain who goes by the name CROSS-BONES!

Any comments, good or bad - please submit them to tbeningershaw.ca with the words "Avenger Comments" in the title field. Thanks!