For over a week they all waited on-edge, listening anxiously for the alarm to sound. They all began watching the news religiously, just in case whatever fire this distraction was wasn't quite big enough for SHIELD to notice. And of course Tony had Jarvis scanning half of the eastern seaboard as well.

Each time someone's cell phone rang they all jumped up, instantly paying full attention. By the end of day five they were all exhausted from the continued stress. By day seven they were beginning to get on each other's' nerves even more than normal. Bickering was always a common occurrence in the Tower but now it was bordering on full-out fist-fights. So when the general alarm rang out just after noon on the ninth day, Phil almost breathed a sigh of relief.

Until he actually read what the situation was, that is.

It wasn't just a fire. It was three fire-spewing creatures attacking a Brooklyn apartment complex. The very complex where Steve had been living before joining the Avengers and moving into the Tower. Whoever was behind this was smart. Even knowing it was a distraction, there was no way Steve wouldn't do everything in his power to get all of those people out alive.

Phil stepped into the kitchen as Stark went stumbling past him in the opposite direction, headed for his lab and the latest model of his suit. Steve was already in full gear and pacing back and forth across the room impatiently. The only other people Phil could see were Natasha, also already suited up and ready to go, and Clint, who was perched on top of the fridge. Phil watched for a second as Clint shifted his weight back and forth from one foot to the other, smiling at the familiar nervous habit that Clint always had before any mission that didn't directly involve sniping.

Then it dawned on him exactly what that nervous tick meant. "Oh no, you are not coming with us, Barton." He scolded. Clint stopped shuffling to glare down at Coulson.

"Yes, I am." He emphasized each syllable.

"In case you've forgotten," Phil took a step closer to the fridge, tilting his head back just slightly so that he could maintain eye contact with Clint. "You are benched for as long as you have wings. Which means that you stay here."

"Coulson-" Steve started to protest.

"Not now, Captain Rogers." Phil cut him off. "While I recognize your authority over this team in the field, it is my responsibility to ensure that none of you do anything blatantly stupid that places you in unnecessary danger."

"With all due respect, sir," Clint snapped, "I am still a highly trained agent and I do not think that this is an unnecessary risk."

"Of course you don't."

"Furthermore," Clint raised his voice to be heard over Phil's objection. "We wouldn't even know about this fire or Loki's sceptre if it wasn't for me. I think I've proven that I can be of use."

"This is not a discussion, Barton." Phil was having to use every ounce of his self-control to keep from yelling. "Orders are orders. Stay in the Tower."

"And you, sir, are and idiot if you think that is a god enough reason to stop me from trying to help."

Before Phil could move Barton had flown off of the fridge and swooped out the door, headed straight for the balcony. "Barton!" Phil shouted after him, taking a step forward. But a heavy hand landed on his shoulder, anchoring him in place. He spun around to find himself face to face with Steve. "Let me go, Rogers."

Steve shook his head. "No. We have more important things to deal with right now." Phil sighed, unwilling to admit that Steve was right. If Thor and Bruce would get their damn asses up here they could be halfway there by now. Each second they wasted here was one more that Clint was out there on his own. "He will be fine, Coulson. Even if worse comes to worse, he'll have a fifteen minute warning."

As soon as Steve said it Phil knew it would become an issue. Even though Steve had whispered it, Natasha was in the room, and that meant she would have heard it. He dropped his eyes to the ground to avoid her gaze which he could feel boring into him. He was saved from whatever rage she was about to unleash by Thor and Bruce both bursting into the room in a mad panic.

;;;

"Barton, can you hear me?"

Clint was circling above the apartment complex, weaving through the plumes of thick black smoke, when Tony's voice came through his translator. "This thing's a comm too?"

"It is now. Thor and I are coming in fast. What's the status?"

Clint looked around to see two red-tinged blurs in the distance flying straight for him. He dove down towards the street below. He'd already scoped out most of the building, using his size to his advantage and flying in and out without anyone inside being any the wiser. He'd been tempted to say some form of reassurance to the people trapped inside, but he figured a talking bird wouldn't help their nerves any.

"There's roughly 50 people trapped in the building. The three creatures are on the ground floor and blasted out all of the stairs, so there's no way down. Damn things even got the fire escape. They've been fairly quiet the last few minutes. I'm guessing they're content to let the fire spread on its own until you all show up."

"Thanks." Tony streaked past him in a red and gold blur as he headed for the flaming building. "Now you should fall back before giving Coulson even more reason to skin you alive."

Clint's laugh turned to a squawk of surprise when Couslon's voice came over the comm. "I doubt very much if anything Agent Barton does could make his actions acceptable." Clint had to repress a shiver at the barely contained rage that he could hear behind Coulson's flat tone. "Though I may be tempted to forego any severe punishments should he return to the Tower immediately."

Clint opened his mouth to tell him that yeah, that wasn't gonna happen, when Cap cut him off. "Sorry, sir, but I need Hawkeye here."

"Glad to be of service, Cap." Clint was still circling above the building and saw as the SHIELD vehicles started appearing on the streets below. He swooped down as the rest of the Avengers piled out of one and stared up at the inferno before them. Steve held out a hand for Clint to settle onto, holding him up so that he was at eye level. "What do you need me to do?"

"You've already been inside the building?" Clint nodded. "I need you to go back in to double check that we have every citizen accounted for. Check every nook and cranny."

"I really think Iron Man could handle that task." Coulson said, side-stepping so that he was equally in both Cap's and Clint's fields of vision. "Or Widow."

"Iron Man and Thor will be busy ferrying all known civilians out of the building and to safe zones. Hulk, Widow, and I will by busy dealing with those fire-spewing creatures, whatever they are. Not to mention that Hawkeye will be able to get into smaller areas and will be able to see things any of us would miss."

Clint didn't wait around to hear Coulson list all of the reasons that this was a bad idea. He gave one final nod to Cap and took off.

;;;

Phil tried to compartmentalize. He tried to remember that everyone here was trained to know what to do in situations like this. But he would never get used to seeing the team he was responsible for diving headfirst into a burning building. Even as Stark and Thor continued to pull civilians from the flames and deposit them at the waiting ambulance, Phil was more focused on the fighting occurring on the main floor. It was a blur of fireballs and metal and the Avengers weaving through it all, striking the creatures whenever they got a chance. The things were vicious but they had little in the way of actual physical defenses and any blows landed on them seemed to do a fair amount of damage.

The comm lines were a constant buzz of voices. He didn't bother switching over to the main SHIELD channel. Sitwell was at his side and was more than able of handling that part of the operation. Phil simply kept his attention on his team. His heart clenched tighter with each gasp of pain one of them made. His nerves were stretching thin as Iron Man and Thor argued over how best to reach a boy Barton had discovered hiding under a bed on the top floor. Beams had collapsed around him and they risked collapsing the ceiling onto them if they moved any of them.

Barton stayed by the boy's side the entire time. Phil listened as he reassured the child, promising him that they would get him out safely. He could hear Barton's voice growing raspier at the prolonged exposure to the smoke and the stuttered coughing of the boy. Yet here he was, trapped outside and unable to do anything to help. And Phil hated that feeling. Even more so because it was just over a month ago that he'd stood outside another smoke-filled building with Barton inside.

"Would you guys hurry up?!" Barton's voice choked out over the comms.

"We have devised a means of entry." Phil barely even needed the comm to hear Thor's response.

"Well get on with it. It's a tad toasty in here and I don't enjoy feeling like Thanksgiving dinner."

"It's not gonna be pretty." Stark warned. "We have to come in from above. It's the only way we can risk not collapsing the entire building."

Phil was very much not sold on that plan. "Isn't the whole point to try and make sure that the roof doesn't collapse onto them?"

"Relax Coulson, I can do a controlled break-through. As long as they stay under the bed they won't even get dusty."

That did nothing to settle Phil's nerves. "You and control aren't exactly synonymous."

"Less yappin, more action." Barton shouted.

Phil sighed, biting back further doubts and opinions. Simply asking Stark, "You're sure it will work?"

"Jarvis predicts a 96% chance of success."

"That's still 4% -"

"The next best option was only at 45%, so take your pick."

"Fine." Phil nodded once, despite the fact that they couldn't see him. "Do it."

Phil saw a flash of red as Thor and Iron Man flew out of the building. He watched as they hovered over a spot on the roof. One of Iron Man's arms lifted up and a pulse of blue light shot out. Phil heard the explosion twice, normally and then over the comm. The cloud of debris was instantly swallowed by the plumes of black smoke still pouring from the building. A half second later there was a crashing sound over the comm as the roof fell to the floor below. Under the noise, muffled to the point that he nearly missed it, was a grunt of pain from Barton.

"Barton, what's wrong?" Phil's nails were digging into his palm as he fought to keep his voice steady. "Barton? You need to respond, Barton." There was no snarky reply. Just static and silence. "Stark, I need a status report. Now."

"Two seconds, Agent. Little busy doing heroics."

Phil was going to kill Stark. He really was. Just "accidentally" switch out his normal taser for the heavy duty one they were developing to use on Blonsky. Fury wouldn't even hold it against him. Hell, he'd probably help.

"Do not worry yourself, Son of Coul. The Hawk and the child remain uninjured."

Phil breathed a sigh of relief as he saw the two red figures fly from the building. He could just make out the extra limbs of the child nestled in Thor's arms and the small dot of blue flying along beside them. "Thank you, Thor. Why was Barton not responding?"

"His communication device became damaged as the child clung to him in a bought of terror."

Phil hesitated, analyzing Thor's words, (it always took an extra second to puzzle out what he was trying to say) as he watched both him and Iron Man drop down below the distant line of ambulances and SHIELD medics.

Stark jutted in on his thoughts, providing a quicker answer. "Ceiling fell, kid freaked and grabbed the closest thing, which happened to be Agent Feathers. Must have been one hell of a death grip too to damage the input array."

"Alright." Phil absorbed the new information, filing it away inside his head before turning to the next task at hand. "Could you please inform Agent Barton –"

"Not a messenger boy." Stark interrupted. "He can still hear you, he just can't respond."

"Fine." Phil's patience was already stretched too thin to waste any more on Stark's attitude. "Barton, stay with the medics until further notice. Stark and Thor, get back in there and help the others."

"Um," Thor seemed unusually hesitant. "The Hawk seems displeased with this arrangement. He wishes to join the fight as well."

"Absolutely not."

"Coulson's right." Cap suddenly added. Phil had almost forgotten that he and Natasha were also on this channel. "You've done your part, Barton. Now let us handle this."

;;;

Clint could just make out the lingering plume of smoke breaking up the expanse of skyline. The rest of the team had finished off the fire creatures easily enough. He hadn't been happy about staying out of it, but he had followed his orders. The whole time he had been on edge, waiting for whatever main event that the fire was supposed to be a distraction from.

They had all waited at HQ for 5 hours after the fire, but the city had been silent. Not ever so much as an armed robbery. Fury had finally decided that the fire was nothing more and had sent them back to the Tower before Cap's pacing wore a hole in the floor.

As soon as they'd gotten back, Clint had gone for him normal spot on the balcony. He couldn't stand the tension of the rest of the group. Especially between Coulson and Natasha, who had been having one of their silent arguments the entire afternoon. As much as Clint wanted to know what they were arguing about, he really just needed some time alone right now.

The wind outside was just enough to rustle to his feathers and the feeling relaxed him. It felt like soft fingers gently caressing him. It was blowing from the south east and held just a hint of the salty tang from the ocean. It was something he wouldn't have noticed as a human.

He closed his eyes and breathed in deeper, imagining that he was back out soaring over the waves again. His lungs burned slightly from the earlier smoke and the pain of it shattered the illusion. He wanted to be back out there; to fly over the city again. But he knew that was impossible, especially after his stunt earlier. He gotten one chance to truly fly freely and enjoy himself and that would have to be enough. If he was lucky, maybe he'd dream about it every so often when he was human again, rather than his normal nightmares.

A sudden grating screeching sound emanated from the useless translator still around Clint's neck. He shifted uncomfortably, trying to feel less like he'd just drug his fingernails across a chalkboard.

"God damn it."

Clint froze at the sound of Tony's voice. It had come from the translator as well. Everyone had taken off their comms when they'd arrived back at the Tower, so it had been silent for him, but he figured that Jarvis must have still been patched in somehow. Clint hoped Tony would shut down the link or figure out how to silence it before Clint was forced to go down to his labs and yell at him to shut up. He needed time to think and he couldn't do that with Tony mumbling in his ear.

"What the hell was that sound?" Steve's voice came over the comm, sounding somewhat more distant than Tony's.

"Working on translator 3.0 and there was some feedback. And who let you in here?"

"You gave me the code ages ago, Tony." There were faint footsteps and the screech of a metal chair being dragged along the floor. Clint could just make out the rustle of fabric that he assumed was Steve sitting down next to Tony at one of his lab benches. "What upgrades are you giving it this time?"

"Not much. Trying to get too fancy is what allowed for the last one to get damaged so easily. And I still haven't figured out how Barton got out of the first one."

"Which reminds me, did you remember the tracking device?"

"It was the first thing I added. Last thing I need is another anxious Agent on my hands if Feathers goes MIA again."

"Do you think he will? Fly off again, that is?" Steve's voice was quiet with worry.

"Nah. Barton's a rebel but he listens to orders when he has to. Though if Coulson keeps pressuring him like this, then who knows. I just wish this damn curse thing would wear off already." Steve gave a hesitant little hum that made Clint's ears perk up. "You don't want him back?" Tony asked.

"It's not that. It's just…" Steve sighed, the sound distorted over the broken comm. "The only reason we found that kid today was because Barton could fly through there without upsetting any of the beams. If he was still human, we would have missed that."

"Yeah, Feathers did great today, but that doesn't mean I don't want our archer back."

Steve sighed again. "But, no offense to Barton, an archer wouldn't have been that helpful today. This was close combat and he's better from a distance."

There was a sharp clink of metal on metal and the voices grew quieter. Clint figured that Tony must have set the translator down. "Are you saying you think he was more useful as a bird?"

"No – yes – maybe, I don't know. I mean. I know what it's like, to be a bird, and it's not as bad as you would think. Every moment I spent with him, he seemed nothing short of thrilled at having wings. So, would it really be that bad if he stayed that way? He's the one who saved that kid today. He's the one who found out about the fire ahead of time and why we were so quick to respond. I just think that, if he'd been human, today wouldn't have gone nearly as well as it did."

"You know what I think?" Clint winced at the screech of metal at what he guessed to be Tony scooting back his chair. "I think we deserve a drink."

"You know I can't get drunk, right?"

Their voices were fading as they walked away. The last thing he heard was Tony say "Doesn't mean you still can't drink" before the comm fell silent.

Clint wasn't really sure what to make of the conversation he'd just overheard except that he wasn't supposed to have heard it. And that Steve was right. Clint had only been useful today because of his abilities as a bird. Placed at his normal perch with his bow in his hands, he would have been unable to do anything. It was a truth Clint was used to; it came with the territory of being a sniper. Sometimes you were the most vital part of an op and others you were nothing more than a spectator.

But there was one thing that Steve had said that kept circling inside Clint's head. That little boy would have died if it weren't for him. If Clint hadn't been able to fly through that building and search through the spots that no one else could reach, then that child would have burned alive. The more Clint thought of it the more an idea formed in his mind. It wasn't ideal, not in the least, but the longer he thought about it the more he became certain that it was what he needed to do. It wasn't just about him anymore, it was about what was best for the team. First though, he had to see if it was even possible and for that he needed to talk to Thor.