Notes: Yeah, well, you know me, can't have an entire volume of basically fluffy floof without throwing a wrench in the works at some point ;) But you KNOW I have the Barton boys' best interests at heart, so I promise they'll be okay! In the end, I mean ;)

Chapter 2: Collateral

Clint was grinning to himself, still giggling on occasion. K had let him help with her new look, and he was still surprised she'd let him shave her head.

"You gonna be okay there, big guy?" K asked with a crooked smirk.

"You're so bald," he giggled.

"Well … can you think of a quicker way to get rid of the red?"

"I hope not, because this was fun," he said, grinning even wider.

"Well, don't get used to it," she laughed. "It won't last to dinner time."

"Really?" Clint let his frown show obviously. "But you look so funny!"

"That's just what every girl wants to hear," K said, shaking her head. "Is that your way of saying I have an ugly head?"

"Noooo," he said, shaking his head with wide eyes. "But you have such pretty hair — and now it's all gone!"

"It'll be back in no time, I promise," she said, then she tipped her head down and ran a hand over the top of her head. "Look. Already growing."

Clint raised his eyebrows before he reached up to run his hand over her head too and shook his head. "That's really cool," he said. "You can do the coolest stuff, Mom."

"I don't know how cool it is," she said before she put a baseball hat on. "Makes it hard to wear my hair short. Ever."

"That's okay. It's real pretty anyway," Clint said with an encouraging smile.

"You're going to be a serious charmer when you get bigger," she said, smirking wider.

"I don't wanna be a snake charmer. I wanna be Robin Hood or maybe Indiana Jones," Clint said, sticking his tongue out at her.

"I didn't say snake charmer," K replied. "I meant you'll be a lady charmer."

"Ewww," Clint said, scrunching up his whole face.

"Can't stop it," she said. "You're a natural."

"No way," Clint said, shaking his head. "I don't wanna be a lady charmer. I'm gonna be too busy for that!"

"We'll see how that works out," K laughed. "I think you'll find the time."

Clint tipped his head to the side as he studied her. "Okay, but I still think you're wrong," he said.

"Okay, lady charmer — pick out what you want for dinner, then we're going to have to take a break. Overnight. Cable TV. It'll be great."

"Can we have pizza?" he asked.

"Have I ever said no?" she challenged.

He shook his head. "No, but I gotta ask in case you get tireda pizza, because I really, really like pizza."

"I'm fine with pizza," she promised before they turned off the main road to find a hotel. "We'll have them deliver it. How's that work for you?"

"Oooh, yes. Pizza and movies. That sounds really good after lotsa camping," he agreed.

It was less than half an hour before they'd gotten into their room and the pizza was ordered, and Clint was happily looking forward to a quiet night in. Not that he didn't enjoy camping with K — it was just that every once in a while, he appreciated not having to sleep outside.

"Should be forty minutes before they show up," K said. "Busy night. So … I'll leave the cash on the dresser just in case they're a little early, okay?" She headed toward the bathroom. "I really need to wash off the little hairs from that quick haircut."

"Okay. I'm gonna find something to watch on the TV," Clint said, vaulting over the side of the couch with a grin.

"Nothing too sappy, lady killer," she called out before she closed the bathroom door behind her. "I know you want to be amazing at everything, but work on the bow first, huh?"

"I'm not a lady killer!" Clint shouted back her way, rolling his eyes before he started to flip through the channels to find something to watch.

Clint managed to find a good run of some old Hogan's Heroes episodes being aired, and he settled back on the couch with a smile, waiting for K to get finished with her shower when the doorbell rang.

He leaped to his feet with a grin. "Oh good. I'm starving," he said, rushing over to the door and grabbing the cash for the pizza in the process — but to his dismay, it was absolutely not the pizza delivery man at the door.

There was a quick, quiet rush as several black-clad soldiers pushed their way inside, and the first one through the door easily wrapped Clint up and covered his mouth with his hand. "Take it easy, kid. Don't scream or try anything stupid unless you want us to shoot her."

Clint's eyes went wide at that, but he didn't want K to get caught, either — so he bit down hard on the guy's hand to make him let go long enough for Clint to start screaming anyway.

The soldier swore — at the scream and at the bite — before another man rushed in to grab Clint clamped his hand back over his mouth, this time with a glove that made it harder for Clint to bite through, though Clint was still doing his best to make them regret their decision to come after him and his mom.

K had already finished showering by the time Clint let out a scream, but she hadn't gotten entirely dressed — the jeans would just have to wait. She paused at the bathroom door and listened as Clint made a fuss — the stomping and struggling easy enough to make out even through the door. But there were a few too many scents out there beyond just one person, and she knew that there would be more outside of the room, too. So she decided to see exactly how bad it was first.

She opened the door, standing to one side of it as it swung open on the hinges, and then she stepped out only when the soldiers called for her. "Come along easy and we won't hurt the kid," the guy next to Clint said, though the one holding on to him was swearing under his breath as Clint's struggles got more intense at the threat.

K stepped out, but she didn't raise her hands as her focus landed on Clint and she frowned on seeing them manhandling him. "Let him go," she said. "He doesn't have a thing to do with you."

"Not likely," the soldier said. "Not until you're secure."

"You must be new," K replied. "Let him go if you want to walk."

The man smirked and tipped his head toward one of the other soldiers, who had a pair of metallic cuffs with him. "Don't try anything, and this will be easier for the kid."

"You really are green," K said, though she locked her gaze on him and started to move forward incredibly slowly until the man with the cuffs tried to block her path, and the soldier holding Clint tweaked his arm behind his back enough to get him to let out a muffled sort of whimper. She froze, and her eyes narrowed to slits before the growl started up just like K had warned Clint — rumbling the room before the sound followed a heartbeat later. And when he pulled Clint further in front of him, K outright snarled before she launched herself at him.

By some miracle, Clint was entirely untouched when the metallic snikt rang out in the room and the soldier that had been holding Clint let out a strangled sort of gurgle. Before he had even dropped Clint, K changed directions, rushing the guy with the cuffs, though she slashed at his chest, only destroying the comm that was attached to his front pocket before he raised his hands in an attempt to protect himself.

The clearly submissive move had her backing off — but only slightly. Instead of stabbing him like she had intended, there was a quick flash of silver before the webbing between his thumbs and forefingers was sliced wide open. It wasn't fatal, but it hurt. And it would keep him from picking up anything to use against them.

Again, she turned, and this time darted past Clint — who was picking himself up and nearly hyperventilating. There was a quick scuffle outside before she came back in and immediately crouched down in front of him. "Are you okay?"

Clint shook his head lightly and then simply attached to K in a hug, trying very hard not to cry even if he already was. "I thought — I thought it was pizza and — and I didn't know and — and you—"

"Sweetheart, if you hadn't answered the door, they'd have kicked it in. Did he hurt you?"

Clint bit his lip and shook his head. "Not real bad," he promised. "I bit 'im."

She locked her jaw at that and turned back to the man cowering across the room, clutching Clint a little tighter as he buried himself in her hug. "You gonna find a new line of work, pal?" When he simply and wordlessly started to nod, K tipped her chin up and got to her feet. "If I ever see you with creeps like this again…or so much as catch your scent around them ..."

"You won't," the guy swore, still wide-eyed and looking terrified.

"How did you find us?" K asked.

"The car," he said. "We traced the swap."

"How many more are out there waiting for me?"

"Half a dozen," he said. "We weren't sure if this was a solid lead or not."

"How long before they expect a check in?" She was already moving to the door again, though she was trying to figure out where exactly Clint needed to stay while she dealt with the problem. It was obvious that he was badly shaken, and she didn't want to scare him anymore than he had already been.

"Two minutes."

She nodded and then walked over to punch him hard — knocking him out cold. "I'll be right back. If I don't clear them out, we won't make it ten miles." She whistled shrilly for Sicem, who had been hiding under the bed for most of the altercation. "Guard." She pointed at the dog with one finger and a little growl before she went for the door. "He'll bite anyone that comes in now. Hit the guy if he wakes up screaming."

K let out a quick breath and slipped outside, leaving Clint holding onto Sicem's collar for a few minutes, though K was back in under five. "Alright. I found a car we can borrow," K said when she came back in. "Grab your bag — time to roll."

Clint nodded quickly and wordlessly, simply rushing to grab his bag and slinging it over his shoulder as he followed K out, hardly saying a word until they were at least safely in the car, an old Volkswagen. And it even had pizza in the backseat.

"You alright still, or do you want me to get you back to Barney?" K asked.

Clint glanced up at K for a moment and shook his head. "I don't… I don't wanna go," he said quietly, though he was still pretty tucked in with Sicem.

"I know," she said, sounding almost tired now that they were moving out quickly. "I just … have to ask. Make sure you know the option is there."

Clint nodded slowly before he glanced up at her again. "You… you had knives. Out of your knuckles," he said.

"Claws, actually," she said in that same tone that she used when they were talking about things she'd rather avoid.

"Like… like a bear?" Clint asked.

"These are kind of their own thing," K said.

Clint nodded. "Did the pizza guy get hurt too?" he asked after a long, long stretch of silence.

"No," she said, trying not to make it sound too light. "He kind of almost got a free show, seeing as I hadn't put my jeans on." She shook her head. "Fool wouldn't stop smiling — and couldn't look me in the face."

Clint gave her a little smile. "Okay, good. I didn't want the pizza guy to get hurt."

"I gave him a heavy tip anyhow," she said, giving him a little look.

Clint nodded and then looked back down at the floor of the car. "I'm real sorry, Mom. I didn't mean to get caught."

"You did the right things, kiddo. You didn't get us caught. I did. Sloppy about changing out that last car when I knew they were following up the lead at the circus."

"But this car?" Clint asked.

"We … won't use it for very long," K said. "I stole it, so … one night only."

Clint nodded. "Okay," he said. He put his face in Sicem's fur as he tried to calm back down, though K knew he was still anxious. "What're we gonna do now?"

"I guess we'll just have to do some more serious camping for a little bit. I'll see if I can get in touch with my friends in the rodeo ... we'll figure it out," K promised. "That or I'll set up a deal with someone and just work a job for a while. That happens too, sometimes."

Clint nodded and finally uncurled a bit to open up the pizza box. "We'll figure it out together," he said with a nod before he handed her a slice.

"We sure will," she agreed. She tipped her head to catch his gaze as she pulled up to a stop sign. "I'm sorry they got to you. But believe it or not? You tipped me off, so I was ready when I came out."

"Oh good," Clint said, looking honestly relieved. "That's what I was trying to do."

K gave him a bright smile and squeezed his arm before she kept driving, letting him nibble at the pizza for a while until the sharp scent of adrenaline had died a little more. When that happened, she smirked his way and decided to go for the laugh: "What do you think, Clint? When I go in for the job ... they say you need a shirt and shoes … pants optional? Think it'll help me?"

Clint thought about it for a moment before he giggled and shook his head. "No, 'cause if they're jerks, they'd just want you to stay with no pants — and if they're not, they'd be distracted," he decided, though he was smirking to himself.

"You're too smart for your own good," she said.

"Nuh-uh," he said, scrunching up his face at her.

"Yes, yes, you are," she said. "Would your brother have the same answer?"

Clint thought about it and then shook his head. "Probably not."

"Smart," she said, nodding her head once.

Clint smirked to himself, not quite able to hide the fact that he was clearly proud as he finished off the crust of his slice. "Are they gonna keep following us, d'you think?"

"They'll try," K said. "I did enough damage in there for them to confirm it was me."

Clint nodded. "I wish I was bigger," he said. "So I could help more."

"I can show you how to make it hurt," K said. "Which can be enough a lot of the time. The biggest guys are super tough until they realize it hurts too."

Clint smiled up at her. "Can you please teach me that?" he asked.

"I sure can," she agreed. "And you're still small, so that means you can use an equalizer."

'"Like my knife?"

"Knife, baseball bat, tire iron … Sicem …"

Clint giggled at that last one. "Sicem's not an equalizer. He's a pizza hog."

"He could be an equalizer," K said. "He's bitten people before when I give him the command. But yes. He is a purebred chow hound above all else."

"That's okay; we love him anyway," Clint laughed.

"He's a good boy," K agreed. "And he knew to keep out of the way while I was going after the strike team."

"That's because he's smart too, huh?" Clint said with a grin.

"Well … he was smart to hide once trouble started," she laughed. "But you were smart to fight with all you had. They … were incredibly stupid though."

"Uh-huh," Clint said. "They were big and dumb and ugly."

'I'm just mad that you had to see it," K said, and though she was careful to keep the growl out of her voice, it was plain to see that she was still furious about the fact that the soldiers had tried to manhandle the little boy to get to her.

"I'm okay, Mom," Clint promised, his expression as open and sincere as he could get it to try and reassure her. "I got you and Sicem, so I'm okay."

"Now you are, sure," she said. "But you had to put up with garbage. And you shouldn't have to."

"I'm pretty good at it," Clint said with a shrug, which really only served to prompt K to let out a breath and give him a tight smile, reaching over to squeeze his knee.

"Only mother figure on the planet that actually cuts the crap out of people that cross their kid …"

"Yeah, we make a pretty good team, huh?" Clint said. "You got a bitey kid too."

"Love you too, kiddo," she laughed. "Maybe that should be our whole defense. Just … everyone bite. Sicem. You. Me … just … chomp."

Clint giggled. "Okay," he said. "We can totally do that." With that, he half snuggled into Sicem, eventually drifting off to sleep on the drive to who-knows-where to outrun the guys after K.