Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers or any of the characters in the story except for Cole Williams. If I did, there would totally be a Hawkeye/Black Widow movie in the works.
Author's Note: This is my first story to post on this site and my husband had to talk me into it. That being said, while I embrace constructive criticism remember this old saying if you choose to leave a review "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all"
Also, I realized I jumped the gun posting the first chapter and forgot to spell check...oops...rest assured I've checked over this chapter more thoroughly.
And if you thought Tony was kind of a jerk in the first chapter...well that's Tony...he'll get better...kind of...
Finally, before we get this show on the road...thank you so much for the warm welcome I got to the posting world! 472 hits! WOW! All the alerts for this story were super encouraging too. Special thanks to HangInAround34, SPN4eva556, discordchick, Alex, valerie, Kalo Suva, hawkeyegrl99, eclipse, animexluva13, Fyroni, Dani9513, MixedMedia, Frenzied Warrior, tic tac toe 03, Dr. Nat, Saffa, and ILoveSupernatural for reviewing! Hopefully I can live up to Chapter 1!
Enjoy!
Last time:
"I'd do anything for you, Tasha…anything…We'll stay."
"Are you sure?"
"No…but you are…and that's been enough for me for a long time now…I'll figure my shit out eventually…I just need you to give me time…and not give up on me."
"Never." She promised fiercely. "As long as you promise not to give up on yourself."
She forced him to meet her eyes and watched the battle take place behind is stormy gaze. He was already halfway there, she knew. Which is why he needed to promise.
"I promise, Мой пламенный паук." He smiled, using his nickname for her. My fiery spider.
She grinned. They would get through this, somehow.
"True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others at whatever cost."- Arthur Ashe
Hawkeye shifted his bow onto his back, his grey blue eyes already intensely focused on the job at hand. He was getting dropped off on the roof of a tall apartment complex, the vantage point of his choosing. It had easy access to other roofs if he needed to switch positions and he could see everything.
Jarvis had woken them up early, announcing a pre-dawn swarm of robots that were marching through Brooklyn and headed for the bridge. Clint had already been awake, Tasha snuggled into his side. They'd frowned at each other when the attackers had been identified as robots. It was hard to kill something that wasn't alive.
"You're up Hawk." Captain America announced from his place in the cockpit, pulling Hawkeye out of his reverie. He stood, moving to the thick nylon rope rigged to the floor of the quinjet. Tasha was suddenly next to him; her deft hands helping him lock the rope into the rigging on his belt.
"Стрелять прямо, мой ястреб." She instructed firmly. Shoot straight, my Hawk.
"Всегда."Always. He promised, glancing over her shoulder as the bay door opened, revealing the still dark morning sky."Будьте безопасны, мой огненный паук."
He added as he slipped around her and backed towards the opening. He gave her a smirk, slipped on his night vision goggles, turned, and ran for the dark sky. He spread his arms like the hawk he was named for and dove into the open air.
Be safe, my fiery spider.
"Всегда." She whispered after he was gone. She returned to her seat as the bay door closed.
"He does that without a suit with built in jet propulsers." Bruce pointed out to Stark, who rolled his eyes and slid his face mask down. "What language was that?" He asked Natasha. "Russian?"
He wasn't surprised when she didn't even acknowledge him.
"Boots down. Moving into position." Hawkeye's disembodied voice came clearly through all their earwigs.
Natasha silently released the breath she didn't know she'd been holding and prepared herself for the fight ahead. They all listened for Hawkeye's report as the leader piloted towards a large roof to land on.
"Multiple bogies…headed north on Washington…street lights are mostly out, so make sure you're night vision is working…"
"What's your approximation?" Captain America asked as he landed.
"North side of a hundred…they're definitely robots…." There was a pause, followed by the distinctive "twang" of an arrow being loosed, and then Hawkeye was back, "Armor is weak at the neck."
Natasha smirked.
"Let's go." Captain America announced, powering down the jet. "Hawkeye, we're on our way."
Watching their troops march from a nearby location, two men stared at a large TV screen, small gratified smirks on their faces.
"They are magnificent aren't they?" The taller of the two smiled, his dark eyes taking in the scene of his robots' destruction with glee.
The other man's expression was darker as he watched.
"There!" He announced suddenly, as a black arrow pierced the neck of one of the robots and it fell immediately, its power cord severed. He keyed a transmitter on the console to his left. "South squadron, track the source of the arrows…find me the shooter."
The scientist who had created the robots sent him a curious look.
"Who is it?"
The other man frowned and ignored him.
You're mine now, Hawkeye.
Captain America took a moment to breathe and glance around to check his team. Iron Man was flying around expertly, blasting robots left and right. Black Widow was running around with all the grace of a deadly panther, stabbing robots in the neck to short out their power system. The information Hawkeye had gleaned before they were even on the scene had proved highly accurate and very effective. Hulk wasn't bothering with the necks. He was just smashing them to bits. The Captain had found his shield very effective in decapitating the robots. And then there was the ever present flow of black arrows, every one hitting its mark with deadly precision. Captain glanced to where he knew Hawkeye was perched; suddenly inordinately glad the archer was on their side.
A metallic whine alerted him to the presence behind him. But even as he turned an arrow passed less than an inch from his face and buried itself in the robot behind him. He threw a quick two fingered salute of gratitude towards where he knew the archer was hidden, then dove back into the fray.
Hawkeye smirked a little at the Captains salute and returned the gesture, despite knowing the man couldn't see him. His eyes tracked each team member with nearly inhuman speed. Covering their backs in the same way he'd covered the Captain. The robots were thinning, slowly, but they were thinning. He notched another arrow and let it fly.
"They've got a lock." The Scientist announced, moving aside so his comrade could see the view screen showing a live video feed from one of the drones. A young man, dressed in black, wielding a bow like a modern day Robin Hood, was dead center. He was perched high above the battle, able to see nearly everything from his vantage point.
"Send up a flash grenade first…get rid of his night vision!" The man ordered.
Iron Man saw it out of the corner of his eye. A single cylindrical object flying towards Hawkeye's position.
"Hawkeye!" He shouted the warning just as the flash grenade exploded in a single burst of bright white light. Jarvis automatically shielded his eyes with the suit, but the curse over their comms told him the Hawk hadn't been so lucky.
"God dammit!" Hawkeye shouted ripping his night vision goggle from his face and squeezing his eyes closed.
"Hawkeye, status?" the Widow demanded over comms.
"Flash grenade, I can't fucking see!" He snapped, forcing his eyes open and blinking at the black sky, everything was just a compilation of dark blurs.
"Fire!" The mysterious man ordered from his command center. With the Hawk's most valuable asset temporarily out of commission, this was his only chance to catch him unaware.
Natasha saw it happening. Once second the crowd of drones in the back was pushing their way forward and the next their guns were trained upwards, right at her Hawk.
"Clint!" She shouted in warning, just as the robots opened fire.
"Jarvis, track Hawkeye." Tony snapped over the comms.
"Falling, sir."
Clint was just starting to be able to discern the fight below him when Natasha's panicked voice cut through the comms and the concrete he was perched on started exploding around him. Sharp, fiery pain ripped through his calf and he'd been shot enough times to know it was a bullet causing the problem.
"Shit!" He yelled, trying to scramble out of the line of fire. Bullets continued to bombard he roof and concrete shards were launched like tiny projectiles, forcing him to cover his face as he moved. The bullet that caught the ledge next to his foot was enough to send him back a step, into thin air.
To his credit, he didn't panic as he started to 'd been in this situation far too many times to even scream. Instead he reached back and shifted his automated quiver. He yanked out his grappling arrow and strung it as calmly as he could as the stories started flying past him. He loosed it. When it caught his fall came to a jarring, painful stop and he couldn't help but cry out in pain as his arm pulled where it was grasping the rope tightly. A second later he was slamming into the solid brick of the building.
"That's gonna leave a mark." He muttered to himself, groaning.
He was trying to get his bow secured on his back when the drones locked on him again. In his scramble to avoid getting turned to Swiss cheese, his bow slipped. He could only watch in horror as it fell sixteen stories and shattered. He couldn't waste time mourning his weapon as more bullets pinged off the brick around him. He had to get out of the open.
He pushed his body away from the building, using his legs. He repeated the process, getting farther away from the building each time, all the while eyeing the distance to a window beneath him. When he was ready, he planted his boots on the brick of the building, contracted his legs and then pushed off with enough power to send him sailing away from the building. He did the calculations quickly in his head, a perk of being a sniper, complex geometric math came easily. As he began his journey back towards the brick he waited until just the right moment and let go of the rope, tucking his head into his arms and bringing his knees to his chest. He hit the window dead center, shattering it and tumbling into the room.
He came up in a defensive crouch, sidearm drawn, ready to face any threat the room presented. He could only blink dumbly at the young mother and infant huddled in the corner of the room.
"Sorry, had to borrow your window." He apologized, holstering the weapon and putting his palms out to show he wouldn't hurt her.
"Is it safe yet?" The mother asked in a whisper, hugging her sleeping baby to her.
"Not yet." Clint looked her right in the eye, "But it will be soon. Just stay here and you'll be safe."
"You're one of the Avengers." She realized, recognition lighting her eyes. "Hawkeye."
"Yes ma'am."
"Where's your bow?"
"About sixteen stories below us shattered into a several pieces." He admitted with a frown.
Her eyes darted to the shattered window, then back to him.
"Are you okay?"
"I'll be fine…you stay here, okay." He instructed, heading towards the door. She nodded silently and watched him leave. Slowly, she stood and walked to the shattered glass, careful to keep her feet clear of it. Shifting her son to one arm she crouched and picked up a particularly large piece of the glass, staring with wide eyes at the red liquid staining it.
End of Chapter 2
Hopefully people enjoyed this chapter. I know it was shorter than Chapter 1 but this is closer to the length of the actual chapters. Its just the way I chose to break it up. There will be 10 chapters in all, and I plan on uploading twice a day from now on to make up for the shortness :) So look for Chapter 3 later today.
Review if you please, I got more of a thrill from reading Chapter 1's review than I thought I would so now I'm addicted. Hugs if you can figure out what song the chapter titles come from :)
Here's your preview of the next chapter:
Clint stood, wincing minutely at the pain in his calf.
"Three people in the world could make that shot in the dark, from far enough away that Jarvis couldn't find them…I'm one…the second's rumored dead, killed by Daredevil in Hell's Kitchen."
"And the third?" Tony asked already afraid of the answer.
"His name is Cole Williams, call sign One-Shot…ex military, we served together in Afghanistan before I was recruited by SHIELD."