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: 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"...all mistakes are mine, I do not claim to be an expert on...well...anything :D So if anything in the story makes you arch an eyebrow of doubt, forgive me!

Also, I broke 3000 hits last night! I have no frame of reference to know if that's good or bad but I'm choosing to be overjoyed! Thank you readers!

Thanks to all who took the time to review! It makes my happy!

Enjoy the next chapter!

Last Time:

Clint pushed Natasha from his mind once Tony confirmed he was going to get her to help. He knew he'd need his focus on the here and now, so he could end this.

"A coward gets scared and quits. A hero gets scared, but still goes on." –Unknown

Clint knew he was better trained. SHIELD had made sure of that after they recruited him. He had never faced anyone until Natasha that could match him in combat. But Cole had at least 30 pounds on him, and that counted for something too.

They circled each other warily, sizing each other up. Cole surpassed six feet and was built like a boxer. Clint, on the other hand, had held steady at 5' 10' since he was fifteen. He was athletically built, well muscled, but lean. He needed a lithe body to perform the things he executed on missions. Clint waited, knowing he had an advantage. When Cole had known him, Clint had the patience of a saint when he was at roost for a mission and the opposite when they were on base. He always struck first, believing the best defense was a good offense.

SHIELD had changed that. Coulson had trained him to be patient in everything. He already excelled at it when waiting for a sniper shot, but his friend and mentor had taught him that patience in even the little things could lead to victory where it should have been a loss. He'd learned to bide his time in a hand to hand fight, let the other guy, who was often bigger, be the aggressor and focus on his defense, landing a blow when the opportunity presented itself, but not seeking it out. That strategy tired the other guy out, and when Clint turned on the offense, he could usually floor them quickly.

He planned to put all that training to use now as he just continued to calmly circle Cole. He could do this all day. But he knew that Cole hadn't ever learned the lesson he'd been taught at SHIELD. He could tell by the growing frustration in his former comrade's eyes that his patience was thinning. Time to throw some of his mouth into the game and speed things up.

"You look a little thicker since we saw each other last, Cole; I told you that cheeseburgers go straight to the hips." Clint smirked darkly.

"It's all muscle, Hawk." Cole's grin was just as shadowed.

"Sure it is." Clint allowed in a deeply patronizing tone.

"You on the other hand haven't changed a bit, kid. Still the smallest guy out there."

"Was always the fastest though." Clint grinned, unruffled.

"Sometimes…especially when it was on the way to tattle to the brass." Cole growled.

Clint's grey blue eyes darkened.

"I did what I had to do to stop you."

"I was doing America a favor."

"You were creating collateral damage where there didn't have to be any…America was ashamed, in case that wasn't clear with the dishonorable discharge."

"And the years in military prison." Cole's countenance grew stormy, anger clouding his eyes.

"That's right…what was it? 20?"

"With parole in 10…which is what bring me here." Cole spread his arms demonstratively.

"This will really convince them you're readjusting to society…" Clint chuckled sarcastically.

"I just needed to convince them I'd changed…just long enough to get them to let me walk out of there…so I could find you."

"Well here I am." Clint shifted, sensing the fight was coming.

"Indeed you are…in all your superhero glory…I never pictured you as a team player, Hawk."

"Things change." Clint shrugged.

"But not people." Cole countered.

"Depends on the person." Barton disagreed, thinking of Natasha, of who she used to be and who she was now. "And their motivation."

"Ah…you're talking about your little girlfriend the Black Widow…from heartless assassin to superhero poster girl…a story for the ages…how is she by the way, dead yet?" Cole's eyes glinted cruelly as he smirked.

"You must be slipping…nowhere close to a kill shot." Clint growled.

"Wasn't aiming to kill…was aiming to make her suffer."

Clint's expression went stone cold and his whole body tensed and coiled like a lion preparing to pounce.

"The green guy, on the other hand...I'd heard rumors...figured I'd see if they were true." Cole shrugged.

Clint's blood boiled. The guy was playing with his team, hurting them for fun. He was going to enjoy taking him down.

"Bet you've been dreading this day, Barton." Cole goaded, trying to get the younger man to strike.

"Actually, Williams…I haven't given you a second thought since the day I broke out of prison."

The sniper's eyes darkened in offense at the slight.

"How is that you can walk around free, with your face all over the news and the military just lets you be…you're the one that made a mockery of them."

"Perk of the job." Clint grinned, tapping the SHIELD logo on his chest. "I proved I was too valuable for the government to hunt…they recruited me instead."

"While I rotted in prison." Cole spat. "I was the patriot, not you."

"Yeah because they save the Court Martials for the true patriots." Clint shot back. "You were a disgrace to the uniform and the flag it had on its shoulder."

Cole's eyes flared and he moved, finally pushed enough to snap. Clint was ready.

Cole's right fist was blocked, as well as his closely following left. He got an elbow to the cheek for his trouble and Clint danced a few steps away. There were no traces of the smirk, or dark humor in his eyes. His eyes were grey as flint and cold as ice, his face set like stone.

His next series of attacks were met with nearly the same result, until he was able to ram his fist into the archer's wounded arm. The pain distracted the other man for barely a moment, but it was all Cole needed to land his first real blow to Clint's head. It was close fisted, straight to the temple and hard enough to make Clint see stars.

Defense.

He could hear Coulson coaching him in his head as he rammed his palm into Cole's sternum and retreated once again.

Let him come to you.

Clint waited, and in barely seconds Cole charged him again. He blocked and deflected every attempt, and seized an opening for a left jab straight into Cole's nose. Blood spurted out of both his nostrils and Clint danced away once again.

The next volley got past Clint's defenses a few times. Three hard hits to the ribs, one cracked under the onslaught, and another blow to the head, more glancing this time, but splitting the skin on his cheekbone. Cole got away from that skirmish unblemished.

Patience, Clint.

Coulson's voice grounded him when he wanted to charge forward, frustrated with Cole getting so many blows in.

Patience.

Cole's next attack was the longest yet, but Clint was ready. Showing off his speed, Clint managed to dodge nearly every swing of fist or foot. What he didn't dodge he blocked. He waited for an opening. It came when Cole swung his left fist high and Clint ducked, slamming his hands against Cole's back and forcing him to double just as he brought his knee up into a bone crushing blow.

Cole gasped, shoving away and holding his sternum. Clint advanced. A right jab into a left uppercut sent Cole stumbling backwards; an aerial spin kick to the sternum once again sent him falling to his back. Clint stalked forward.

"Natasha open your eyes!"

It was Tony's voice and it cut through Clint's focus like one of his own arrows. He'd tuned out his team during the fight, needing his mind in the situation, but in that moment, Clint couldn't help but feel a cold slice of fear grip his heart. Natasha.It only lasted a moment, but it was enough. The bullets from a third gun impacted his Kevlar in quick succession. Of course the asshole had another gun. He was ex-military. Clint thought as he stumbled backwards, nearly going over the wall at the edge of the roof. Cole struggled to his feet as Clint fought to hang on to consciousness. Six bullets to the chest did damage, even with Kevlar.

"Until next time, Barton." Cole hissed, driving his boot into Clint's chest and sending him backwards over the wall.

Steve slid to a stop in front of the appropriate building, cursing the length of the Brooklyn Bridge and the number of obstacles it housed. He looked up to the roof just in time to hear six shots pop off. He instinctively ducked only to have his breath catch when he saw Clint's shoulders suddenly appear over the edge of the roof.

"Until next time, Barton."

He heard the words over the comms just as he saw Clint suddenly flip backwards over the roof's wall, tumbling into open air.

"Barton!" He yelled in horror, cursing his inability to fly. The terror turned to shocked relief when the archer's left hand suddenly reached out and caught purchase on a window sill. He heard Clint's gasp of pain as his descent came to a sudden, jarring halt.

"Rogers! Don't let him get away!" Clint barked over the comms, swinging his right arm up to grab the small ledge with both hands.

"I'm coming to help you." Steve decided instead, his friend's position looked entirely too precarious for his taste.

"I'll be fine! This is our chance to end this!" Steve almost obeyed, almost. But he could hear the exhaustion in the Hawk's voice, the pain that would usually be hidden. He didn't need Clint's excellent vision to see his teammate wouldn't be able to hold on in his condition.

"Just hold on, Hawk." Steve commanded as he sprinted into the building and towards the stairwell.

"Dammit Rogers!"

The Captain ignored him and took the stairs three at a time.

He arrived to Clint's floor it what had to have been a record time. It helped that not a soul had been there to get in his way. He kicked in the door to the office Clint was dangling from and made it to the window in five strides. It was open a second later and he leaned out.

"How's it going?"

"Oh you know… just hanging around." Clint ground out. Steve smiled slightly and grabbed his wrists, levering him with surprising ease up into the window. Clint gasped and doubled when he was finally on solid ground, his hand going to his chest briefly and then to the clasps of his vest, needing to get it off to relieve some pressure from his chest.

"You alright?" Steve frowned, reaching to grip Clint's shoulder. The assassin shook his hand off.

"Where is he?" he demanded sharply.

"I don't know. He wasn't in the stairwell…that's the way I came up…"

"I told you to go after him!" Clint snapped angrily, heading towards the door.

"I had to make a choice…I chose you." Steve shot back, not regretting his decision.

"Power is off in this building." Clint noticed, flipping a switch up then down with no result. "He couldn't have taken an elevator."

"He could still be here." Steve realized moving swiftly towards the stairwell. Clint followed, breathing heavily. The heard his footsteps immediately, only a few floors below. Before Steve could stop him, Clint vaulted over the rail, throwing his body across the square expanse to cling like a monkey to the rail a level lower. He rested there only a moment before he was pushing himself off again, pivoting in mid air to land on the opposite side another level down.

Steve stared, mouth agape, awed by the archer's agility. He'd seen Natasha do feats like that before, but never Clint. He caught himself just standing and shook himself, sprinting down the stairs. He risked a look over the edge only to jump back when he heard shots. He didn't hear any shouts of pain and moved to the rail again. He saw Clint pulling himself up from a sprawled position on the stairs two levels below. He must have thrown himself back over the rail when Cole fired at him. The archer was moving slowly, his hand braced against his chest.

They heard the exit door slam open.

"Stand back!" Steve ordered. He blew out a breath and jumped over the rail. Instead of leaping from level to level, he just let himself fall straight down.

Clint's eyes widened when Steve flew by him. He leaned over the rail in time to see the Captain land in an athletic crouch on the ground floor. The archer eyed the distance, gauging it with ease, his eyes trained to measure distance instantaneously. Three floors left. He climbed onto the rail and balanced there for a second, watching Steve take off towards the door. He jumped. He bypassed one floor and shouted out in pain as he slammed into the rail of the next. He sucked in a pained breath and pushed off one last time. His legs collapsed underneath him and he forced his battered body into a roll to soften the landing.

He staggered to his feet and towards the door. The sunlight sent razor sharp shots of pain through his head and added more stagger to his step. Bruce suddenly came running up to him, breathing heavily. Clint blinked at him, the other man's mouth was moving and green patches kept appearing and disappearing on his skin, but Clint couldn't understand him. His eyes searched wildly, looking for Williams. Steve appeared next to him and suddenly Clint's world tilted. Bits of Steve's words filtered into his brain.

"…away, Barton…He's gone."

Then the gray that had been encroaching on Clint's vision turned black and he welcomed the darkness.

End of Chapter 6

Thanks for reading! I know you're probably furious at me! Williams got away! But don't worry! There's still more to the story! Next chapter is headed to you later today! So keep an eye out! That was a lot of exclamation points! Yikes

By the way, I am four chapters into my next story, the hope is that it will be done around the same time I finish posting this one. So it will follow pretty soon after. There will be a summary of the next story at the end of the final chapter of this one :)

Here's Your Preview:

Two weeks passed like that with no word from Cole Williams and only a few skirmishes with local thugs that Tony and Steve handled themselves. Then something happened that shocked them all. Thor returned. He had surprised them all by landing on the roof during a thunderstorm and waltzing into Stark towers like he hadn't been gone.