CHAPTER #24

Romanoff's compound gave Barton none of the answers he was seeking. He took the plane back to the hanger and went back to Stark's place. There he took the modified sport's bike and rode through the city, until he reached an old house. He'd used this place to stay off S.H.E.I.L.D. radar before. He parked the bike in the house, so it was not visible from air or road. The wristband showed that the HYDRA vehicle's tracker was still active and it was in the city. On his way to his safe house, Barton had rode the motorcycle down the street that the HYDRA SUV was parked on. It was in a public parking complex, so the agent using the vehicle could be any where. For now he'd wait until the unit beeped at him, to signal movement. He needed to eat. Out of the storage unit on the bike, he pulled out a bag of fast food he'd bought earlier. It was now cold, but he didn't notice. It was food and it killed the hunger pains in his stomach.

The house had running water, so he could take a shower. The hot water was off, so it was cold and therefore a short shower. Refreshed and changed out of his uniform, he checked what he had in his back pack and his gear. Barton had a car parked at an underground garage, from a building that was under renovation. That car had cash hidden in the door panels, as well as new bow strings and modified tips for his arrows. These were tips that were not sanctioned by the agency. Before going to his safe house, he'd stopped at the car to add to his pack. Cash, S.H.E.I.L.D. couldn't trace. It wasn't often he had to go off radar to do his thing. Usually he did it when Romanoff needed help. Even if she had gone over to the enemy's side, he had to find out for himself. He couldn't sit around and do nothing. Something didn't add up with her sudden betrayal of the agency.

"Damn it Natasha, what did you get yourself into this time?" He asked the silent room.

He opened a map he had been given by Stark, of known HYDRA locations. Jarvis had hacked the S.H.E.I.L.D. data base to compile the information they had. Two locations were in this country and the rest were spread world wide. Barton hoped that she wasn't in another country, otherwise things could get really complicated.

The burner cell phone that Stark had given him, rang. "Barton," Clint answered.

"S.H.E.I.L.D. put a bulletin out, that you are no longer with their agency and are not an Avenger," Tony explained.

"Probably because I told Fury to shove his orders up his ass. I don't care if he say's I'm not an Avenger. If you need me, I'll be there. It's not his life on the line when we fight aliens or bad guys."

Tony chuckled, "yup that would get his panties in a twist. I knew there was a reason I liked you on our side. You're an Avenger as long as you want to be."

"Thanks Tony. I knew if anyone would understand, it would be you."

"Find anything out?"

Clint sighed, "the tracker I put on the HYDRA SUV when Reeser was killed, is still active, but the vehicle hasn't moved. I'm going to watch the location and follow the first HYDRA agent I see."

"Keep me posted. You know how to reach me if you need anything," Tony said.

"Back at you."

The call ended and Barton put the phone back in his pocket. So Fury had black balled him again. He'd done it before and then he would need Barton for something and ask him to come back. Even if Fury didn't ask him to come back, there was always security companies and freelance work. At one time Romanoff had even joked that he could return to performing at the circus.

He had to find her, for his own piece of mind. If she had gone bad of her own free will, he wanted her to tell him why to his face. He'd know if she was lying. If she was forced into it, he'd bring her back. Anyone who knew him, understood that. He would do whatever he had to, for her.

It was time to clear his mind and go to sleep, morning would come quickly. Tomorrow he'd be watching for HYDRA agents and didn't know how long he'd have to be awake. He brought the cot from the bedroom down to the main floor and put his pack under his head as a pillow. The full moon shone through the back window, acting as a natural night light. So three hours later, when the tracker beacon sounded off on movement, he had no problem seeing to put the pack into the bike's storage compartment. The bike had a mount for the bow, so the quiver went on his back, helmet on and out the door he rolled the bike. Not five minutes later, Barton was screaming down the street to catch up to the moving HYDRA SUV. When he was within range, he flicked a switch and the motorcycle went into stealth mode.

"Stark you are a brilliant man," Clint said into his helmet as he slowed the bike down.

Barton followed the target all the way out of town. But they weren't heading to one of the known HYDRA locations. Instead they got on to I-495 E and picked up speed. Now that there was more traffic on the road, it was easier to tail them. Once he realized they were heading for the East Hampton airport, he used the helmet to contact Jarvis.

"Jarvis, any chance the air and water mods got done to this bike too?"

"Of course Hawkeye, they were excellent suggestions."

Clint didn't know why Jarvis insisted on calling him by his Avenger alias, but he went with it. "So how do I convert it so that it flies or goes into the water?"

"Simply push the white switch for flight and the blue for water jet, beside the throttle, left of your thumb. Or say air jet or water jet and the voice recognition system in the helmet will produced the desired result," Jarvis instructed.

"Jarvis you and Tony are brilliant!" Clint said happily.

"Thank you sir, good-bye."

Personally he hoped the HYDRA agents were going to take to the air, as he didn't feel like getting wet. But no such luck, it wasn't the airport they were going to after all. There was a go-fast boat waiting at a dock in Montauk Point State Park. Once the boat sped away, into the dark across the ocean, he had to follow. The motorcycle converted to water jet, just as Jarvis had said it would. What he found out, was that it encased him in a capsule, becoming more aero dynamic. The capsule also ensured that he wouldn't get wet. Jarvis and Stark had added to his original specifications. The power meter on the machine, hadn't moved. The fuel cell contained clean energy, due to an adaptation of Stark's arc reactor. He was glad to know that if he had to cross the ocean to Europe or elsewhere, that he wouldn't have to refuel. But they didn't head east completely, but towards the Canadian island Newfoundland. HYDRA docked in St. John's and drove to the airport.

"I guess I'm going to have to fly now," Clint sighed as he changed the motorcycle into the air jet.

Leaving the Canadian airspace, he flew under radar, but once over international water, Barton gained elevation. He piggy backed their jet, so that they couldn't see him and on radar it would look like one plane. The computer in his helmet advised him with the trajectory they were on, in approximately four hours they would be in Ireland. If he wasn't having to tail HYDRA, flying in this machine could've been fun. Not knowing exactly where they were going, he couldn't put it on auto pilot. He hoped the HYDRA boys would be jet lagged and remain stationary for at least a few hours.

"Jarvis?" Clint asked as he connected to Stark's system.

"Yes Hawkeye?"

"Has Tony found out any more information about that black diamond?"

"There was an interesting development. When he tried to break it, the organism secreted some biochemical agent, that burnt a hole into the diamond cutter."

"Why was Tony trying to break it?"

"I'm not exactly sure sir," Jarvis replied.

"Just let him know I'm tracking a HYDRA jet overseas. Looks like we might be heading to Ireland."

"I will notify Tony of your status Hawkeye."

"Thank you Jarvis. By the way, does the computer in my helmet have it's own name?"

"No, but you can name it whatever you like. You just have to say, and I quote, 'computer your name is' and say what it will be called."

"I appreciate the simplicity. Good-bye Jarvis," Clint said.

"Good-bye Hawkeye," Jarvis disconnected.

"Computer your name is BIRD," Clint said. Then to test it, he asked, "Bird how many more hours until we reach Ireland?"

The female voice of the computer replied, " Two hours, 43 minutes and twenty three seconds."

"Thank you Bird," Clint smiled.

"You're welcome sir."

He was beginning to understand why Stark liked Jarvis and his gadgets so much. This was a perfect union of the simplicity he preferred and the technology that was needed. He couldn't wait to be back on solid ground, since the novelty of flight was gone.

CHAPTER #25

The HYDRA jet landed in the Dublin International airport. Then it's passengers drove to a hotel. Barton put a tracker on the Landrover Range Rover they were driving and got a room right next to them. He ordered room service and got in a hot shower before the food arrived. The waiter was chatty and a few extra bills made him reveal that the room next door had two men inside. They were staying just one night. Barton ate quickly and after his usual building inspection, went to sleep immediately. Six hours later when he woke up, he could hear the men still snoring next door. Their vehicle also had not moved. He went to the local store and put a water bottle in his pack, along with some non-perishable food items. The meal replacement bars in Ireland were as gross tasting as the ones in America. Back to the hotel he returned and paid his bill. Then from the neighbouring building's roof top, he watched the HYDRA vehicle. Two hours later, the men got in the Landrover and drove off. Barton followed on the machine that was once again a motorcycle. The people he was tailing, travelled towards the northern coast. He'd never been to Ireland before and enjoyed the winding roads and scenery. The sheep, rock walls and old architecture really gave Ireland it's character. It was a long ride, but it ended in Larne, a costal town. At a run down industrial building the HYDRA vehicle pulled into the open garage. After checking the map, Barton realized this might be one of the secret hideouts. He parked down an alley and got up high to scope out the building.

It was night time, before he could get over to the building the men were in. He had seen a few people enter the building, but no one left. As luck would have it one of the windows was open a crack, allowing Barton to snag the latch to open it wide enough to allow his body through. Then he closed it again. There were a lot of pigeon droppings on the sill, so he knew this window was always left open. As he walked on the rafters, he startled a pigeon that flew out the window. He waited to see if anyone had noticed. Another benefit of these old buildings was that often only the floors that were used the most, had any alarm systems or video monitoring equipment. Considering that the pigeon had set off no alarm, he knew he wouldn't either. Slowly and cautiously he went from the top of the building down to the operational levels. With his natural agility, Barton avoided the laser alarms and the shadows kept him off camera. He found a good view point and watched the HYDRA agents like they were lab rats. One woman drew his eyes and he watched closely. She had blond hair, but it was the way she walked that had caught his attention. The hair was the right length, but he knew her ass and gait anywhere. He'd found Natasha Romanoff.

Natasha got a strange feeling and her neck hairs stood on end. She looked around, but no one was watching her. One of the HYDRA men came to her for instructions and she spoke Russian to him. Another man was directed in German and they left to carry out her orders. The feeling of being watched, remained as she went about her duties. It was probably just Baron Von Strucker on the video camera. He had a fascination with her ass. It's how they originally met. He smacked it in passing and she put him on his back, using that offending hand. He had called the move; poetry in motion. He knew her as Natuska one of her aliases.

She asked one of the Irish HYDRA agents, "is Baron looking for me?"

"Ta se in a oifig", he replied in gaelic irish.

That told her he was in the office, so her theory of being watched on camera, was very probable. She went to his office. "Did you need me?"

"Yes Natuska, a shipment of weapons are coming into the harbour. I want you to go receive them. The men are waiting for you in the garage," Baron Von Strucker advised.

"Right away sir," she said spinning on her heal and leaving his office.

She went to the garage and ordered the men to get in their vehicles and follow her. As they left the garage a movement in her peripheral vision made her look up. She wasn't really sure, but it looked like someone had been on the roof and had gone into the alley. When they met the ship in port and the containers were being unloaded, she saw the movement above again. She went to go look.

"Natasha," Clint called from a container above where she was walking.

She looked up and swore in russian, then started shooting at him. The shots were wild and he easily evaded them. A few of the HYDRA men came running to assist. They ran between the shipping containers, firing at him. Two agents got up on the containers with him. One tried to fire a gun shot at close range, but Barton easily took apart his gun and discharged the clip, before punching him in the face and dumping him over the side. The other man he shot an arrow into his leg and sent him falling face first onto the concrete dock.

The gun fire, brought more HYDRA men running. "There's someone watching us. Go find him, I want him brought to the Baron alive!" She ordered, pointing her gun in the direction Barton had leaped.

An arrow zipped past and took out her gun. Another killed a HYDRA man standing in front of her, easily. She knew he'd be a pest and got her other gun, using a crane chain to climb higher above the containers. She shot at him repeatedly. One shot grazed his arm, but it didn't slow him down. He made a run for his motorcycle, got the helmet on and the bike shot forward and away. One vehicle of four HYDRA agents gave chase.

"The rest of you pick up the bodies and finish loading the containers. Quickly!" She ordered, angry with the delay and interference from her former partner.

On the motorcycle Clint couldn't believe she had shot at him. "Bird, contact Tony Stark immediately."

Jarvis answered first, "Tony is unavailable, how can I help you Hawkeye?"

"Tell Tony that I found another HYDRA weapons depot. Natasha Romanoff is working with Baron Von Strucker. She opened fire and I had to retreat," Clint said into the helmet mic.

Tony got on the line, "so she has gone over to the dark side?" He chuckled at his Star Wars reference.

"It appears so. I was under fire when I left."

"Do you need me to come give you backup?" Tony asked calmly, already knowing the answer.

"Not yet. I plan on going back and getting captured first. I need to get closer to her and find out what is going on. I gave Jarvis the location of the building. They were getting a big shipment of weapons," Clint said as he launched the air jet to loose the HYDRA men.

"In the storage compartment of the motorcycle, is a little side compartment. Inside is an ear bud that connects you to Iron Man. The receiver is a cap that is placed on your back teeth. Even if they find the ear bud, I'll still hear you."

"If I call someone a fat ass, it means get here and save mine," Clint said.

Tony's laughter was all he heard as disconnected the line. He landed in a neighbouring town and changed back to the motorcycle mode. He pulled over and parked. After checking that the shot to his arm was just a graze, he took his pack out of the bike's storage. He found the ear bud and clicked the receiver over his back molars. Next from the pack he took out a few of the special tips and added them to the quiver case on the bottom module. He'd park further away, so they couldn't take his motorcycle. It had a cloaking feature, so it wouldn't be noticed unless someone bumped into it. The helmet's voice recognition system is what started it, so no way for the bike to be stollen. The helmet locked onto the handlebars of the motorcycle, when not in use. Only agent Barton could unlock it, with the fingerprint recognition.

"Bird make sure you keep an open link with Jarvis, for extraction purposes," Clint said.

"Yes sir, link activated."

Already wearing his suit, he put his quiver back on, locked his pack away and got back on the machine. He had Bird give him a location of an abandoned building via the GPS and went there, to cloak the motorcycle. He waited until the darkness of the night descended. Fog rolled in from the ocean, giving him some extra cover. He made his way back up on to the roof of the HYDRA building and back through the pigeon's window. Once inside he waited a few heartbeats before continuing deeper into the building. Tonight it was a lot quieter inside. He had a feeling that they had relocated, while he was gone. He heard a sound below him and went in for a closer look.

Natasha was waiting for him, having set up an ambush. "Hawkeye is that you trespassing?"

He found it odd, she used his alias to call him out. So he didn't reply back with words, just an arrow that took out the camera and light. The emergency exit's red glow outlined her in the hallway. The HYDRA men spread out and surrounded her, offering protection.

"Natuska, the Baron said we should bring him in. You can go," one of the American HYDRA agents said.

Barton heard the name and recognized it as one of Romanoff's aliases. He listened to her reply, "don't under estimate Hawkeye or you'll end up dead."

It seemed like she wanted him to kill the man, so he shot off two arrows, taking out the American and a Russian with an arrow through the eye. A round of gun fire rang through the building, as they fired in every direction. He heard her shout and tell them to stop shooting. Still he took out another two of her men. Only three remained, one shot his partner accidentally and the last two he dispatched with arrows. They were alone, so he came down to the ground.

"What are you doing?" Clint asked from a crouched position.

"I could ask you the same thing," she snarled. Her gun clips were empty, so she had to fight him hand to hand. That made her smile.

She gave him a round house kick to the head, that he avoided and replied with a punch. She deflected that and twisted his arm. Then she launch him over her hip and pinned him on the ground.

Natasha bent low and whispered, "you'll just get yourself killed. Leave I don't need you to save me."

"Why?"

She got angry, "I don't have to tell you anything."

She shoved a knee into his chest, before he was able to roll over and end up on top of her. He put her in a choke hold. "Are you HYDRA now? We're enemies?"

"If that's what you make us, then yes. Just go home."

He couldn't believe what he was hearing, he didn't want to believe. "Come with me, I can help you."

Her eyes flashed and the anger built. "It's none of your business."

"I'm not with S.H.E.I.L.D. any more. You don't have to go back with them, just with me."

"NO! I'm going to kill you. I have to kill you." She shot a taser at him and brought out her knife.

"You think your fat ass can catch me?" Clint asked, then leaped into the rafters.

She was hot on his tail, equally capable. Twice she got close enough to slash at him. The first caught him on the cheek. The second on his right arm. But it allowed him to get close to her and kiss her. That made her rage boil over, she shrieked in frustration.

Ten minutes later, she was still kicking his ass, when a crash from above signalled that Iron Man had got the message. Two blasts and she was sent tumbling away. Iron Man picked up Barton by the quiver harness and went airborne. A rocket launcher shot a missile at them, which Iron Man destroyed. Barton was dropped off by the cloaked motorcycle unit. Iron Man waited until the air jet was in flight.

"Jarvis reported that you put a tracker on Natasha or I guess she's now Natuska," Tony said.

"Ya, when she knifed me. You heard her, but I still think something is off. I can't go back at the moment, might need to bring with me more back up. Thanks for the rescue," Clint said over the com in the helmet.

"I thought she was going to explode, when you called her a fat ass. Love'd the shriek of rage," Tony chuckled.

"She called me Hawkeye. Do you think that she's on an operation to infiltrate HYDRA?" Clint asked.

"It's possible. But if that's the case, Fury is an idiot for not just telling you. He know's your a hot head when it comes to Natasha."

"Gee thanks. But you're right. I need to talk to Fury."

"Come to my place first, so I can show you what that black diamond can do," Tony invited.

"Alright. Hey does this jet go super sonic?" Clint asked him.

"I believe you call her BIRD? Ask her to show you," Tony laughed and shot away. "Race you back!"

Clint quickly said, "Bird make us super sonic."

The little air jet shot off after Iron Man, closing the distance quickly. They flew low over the ocean, to stay out of radar range. Only coming up when they were close to Manhattan. That's when Barton changed from jet back into motorcycle. He raced through the streets, but knew that Stark would be back before him, winning the race. He pulled into Stark's garage and parked. He removed the helmet, then ear buds and molar cap and put them back into the storage compartment.

"Tony has a scotch ready and waiting for you in the lab on the second floor," Jarvis instructed.

"Thank you Jarvis. Will you take care of Bird? She had to work hard today on the maiden run for those air jet and water jet mods." Clint asked while riding the elevator.

"Yes Hawkeye. Were there any changes that need to be made?"

"No, everything ran smoothly."

Barton walked through the sliding glass doors of Stark's lab and his mouth dropped open. "Wow, you've been busy."

Tony grinned and handed the glass of scotch over to Barton, "yes we have. Jarvis and I really like this little living diamond." Then he showed him the destroyed diamond cutter, "if it gets mad this oozing stuff comes out and does this."

Clint turned it around in his hand, amazed at the damage, "okay let me sit down and then you can explain what's happened."

Stark was like a little kid, only pausing with his show and tell, when Barton asked a question. Jarvis also contributed to the information and answered questions if Stark got too technical. He was glad he had given the black diamond to the right man. Stark wasn't using it for building weapons or portals and that was important to Barton. After show and tell was over, he was brought up to the lounge area and they discussed what to do, if anything about Black Widow. Barton still wasn't sure if she was under cover. She could have gone over to the other side. Too many questions still not answered.