Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers or any of the characters in the story except Le Roux and his henchmen. 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"

Shout out to Reteka Hyuuga and eclipse for nailing the song that inspires the chapter titles! Nice!

Also, special shout out to TuningMyViola who helped me out with information on South Africa including telling me about the geography and acting as my super awesome translator! She is super helpful and awesome and kept me (hopefully) from making a fool of my self :)

The poll came out pretty close! I have begun work on my next story! But you must wait until the final chapter of this one to find out which story won!

Thanks to all reviewers and readers!

Enjoy!

Last Time:

Him and South Africa. Yeah...black market arms dealer, a possible leak, a bad history with the country, and Stark…

This should be fun.

To trust someone is to take the greatest risk of all- Jonathan Kellerman

"Why are you reading it again? You have it memorized and we've gone over it...twice." Tony questioned from where he lounged in his seat on the jet. He was as slouched as he could get without falling to the ground and was tossing a paper ball, made out of part of his own brief, between his hands.

"I believe in being thorough." Clint replied as he flipped the page. He was also slouched in his chair, but had his feet propped up on the empty co-pilot's seat in front of him.

"You know there's such a thing as being over prepared."

"No there isn't." Clint retorted easily.

"I always pictured you as a fly by the seat of your pants type..." Tony mused. "Like the Maverick to Romanoff's Ice Man."

Clint gave him a blank look.

"Really? You're kidding me right…did they not have movies in the circus or something? How have you not seen Top Gun?"

"I've been busy." Clint shrugged.

"For your entire life?" Tony shot back doubtfully.

"Something like that." Clint smirked. Between the circus, the army, working as a mercenary, SHIELD, and then the Avengers, he hadn't had a lot of time for much else. What time he did have, was spent with Natasha. They didn't tend to spend their time together watching movies.

"That settles it…this criminal ignorance has to end. When we get back, I'm scheduling a movie night, attendance mandatory. Top Gun first…then I'll find a way to stream Hunger Games since its technically not available yet…you'll like that one…there are arrows."

Clint nodded distractedly without looking up from his brief. Tony went on anyway.

"What about Lord of the Rings? Tell me you've at least heard of it."

Clint flipped to the next page. His expression emotionless.

"Is that the one with the monkeys that took over the world?"

Tony blinked, his mouth gaping.

"Monkeys? You've got to be kidding…that was dangerously close to blasphemy."

Clint smirked into his papers. Tony's eyes narrowed.

"You were kidding." He accused as if it were some terrible crime. Then his eyes widened. "Oh my god, you have a sense of humor…color me astounded."

Clint arched an eyebrow, wondering if he should be insulted. He decided he wasn't. His sense of humor was historically absent when dealing with Stark, he tended to go for a more annoyed sarcastic feel around the man. He supposed it made sense that the billionaire wouldn't think he had one. Stark had tended to bring out the worst in him the past few months.

"This is a definitely a discover worthy of attention...go on, tell me a joke."

Clint stared at him and abruptly decided he'd go for Coulson's old way of getting him to shut up. He would just ignore him. In his younger years, it had worked like a charm. As he got older, and realized when Coulson feigned sleep it was really just a way to get Clint to shut up for a few hours; he'd done just that out of respect for the older man.

Something told him it would be harder than that with Stark.

Clint tossed his brief on top of his bag and tilted his head back.

"I'm getting some shut eye."

"We've still got 14 hours…" Tony complained, watching in awe as Clint literally seemed to fall asleep in seconds. He supposed in the archer's profession you got used to sleeping when and where you could.

He watched him sleep for a second before sighing and glancing around. There wasn't much to do on a jet. Except fly it. He sincerely doubted the pilot could be talked into that. Though he'd mark it as a possibility if he got too bored.

"Well this is boring." He muttered to himself. "There's nothing to do on a jet...I knew I should have brought my laptop...but no, you said I wouldn't need it. We'd be in a forest and wouldn't have any time to use it... never mind that technology is a necessity in this world...and it would have been easy to hack a satellite from here and get internet..."

Stay strong, Clint. Clint coached himself. Don't respond, just keep pretending to sleep. He has to stop eventually.

Tony glanced at Clint's brief. No, the archer had read it enough for both of them. Glancing around again, his eyes fell on the rifle case secured next to Clint's seat. He started to lean forward.

"Don't even think about it."

He couldn't help it...no way was Stark getting anywhere near his rifle.

Tony jumped back, his eyes snapping up to Clint's face. The man's eyes were still closed, his breathing still even.

"Now that was just creepy."

Clint woke suddenly, inhaling sharply and reaching for his bow. But his bow was secured next to his rifle and his tired mind slowly realized where he was and that there wasn't an immediate threat.

Fucking South Africa.

He sighed, rubbing a hand over his face. It would really be a beautiful country if it hadn't been so hell bent on killing him last time he was here. That tended to sour one's opinion. It pissed him off. He used to love South Africa. He had even taken a vacation to Cape Town once not long before bringing Natasha into SHIELD. He had planned on bringing her back one day but then the whole fiasco with Fourie happened. Now he couldn't step foot in that city without worrying about if he'd see the shooter before the bullet hit his head.

He shook his head to clear his dismal thoughts. A glance at Tony showed the man snoring softly with his head tilted back against his seat. Clint stood and stretched, rubbing the healed wound on his back and willing the ache away. He made his way up to the co-pilot's chair.

"Can't sleep?" the pilot asked, his voice carrying a distinct British accent.

"Can any of us ever?" Clint replied glancing over the GPS equipment to track their progress.

"You're on to something there, I think." The pilot laughed. "Been to South Africa before?"

"One time too many." Clint huffed a disdainful laugh, rubbing his eyes once again as if he could rub away the memories of gunfire, blood, and pain.

"I gotcha." The pilot nodded in understanding, "That one time the reason you can't sleep?"

Clint shrugged noncommittally, unwilling to offer anything else on the matter.

The pilot nodded knowingly anyway, remaining silent for a moment.

"Is it true that you never miss a target?" He asked suddenly, only to turn suddenly bashful as soon as he'd said it.

Clint blinked in surprise at the subject change.

"Haven't yet." He stated it as the fact it was, not a boast.

"That's truly amazing…I've heard of you, you know…seen you on base before…I always hoped I'd get to meet you one day… the famous Hawkeye...you, my friend, are a legend!"

Clint stared at him, mouth slightly agape. He'd never met a fan before. He didn't even know he had fans, especially after Loki.

"Thanks." He offered after a moment, a small genuine smile finding its way to his face.

Tony snorted awake when his jacket landed on his face. He sat up quickly, looking around. Clint was moving around the jet, helping the pilot complete the post-flight check list. They were landed, apparently.

"We've got a briefing with the Base Operator in ten, so get your stuff together." Clint instructed as he handed a clip board off to the pilot and shouldered his gear. "Thanks for the lift." Clint held out his hand to the pilot, who shook it firmly.

"Pleasure, Hawkeye." The pilot nodded, returning to the cockpit.

"Huh." Tony mused, slowly gathering his things.

"What?" Clint questioned as he led the way off the jet.

"I really didn't picture him as French."

"He's English."

Tony glanced over his shoulder with an incredulous arch to his eyebrow.

"Really? I didn't hear that…I hear the two accents are easily confused, though."

Clint closed his eyes, counting rapidly to ten in Russian.

"Le Roux's base is here." The Operator of the South African SHIELD base, Martin Collins, pointed to a place on the map spread out before him.

Clint immediately memorized the location. It was a small compound in the forest outside of Knysna. Knysna had the largest forest in South Africa. A good location if you wanted to be hidden.

Tony put the coordinates into his GPS prompting Clint gave him a sidelong look.

"What?" Tony protested, "If you don't trust technology it can't help you."

Clint cocked an eyebrow and turned back to the map.

"Insertion?" He asked.

"Here." Collins pointed to another point on the map. Clint titled his head, gauging the distance on the map.

"Eight miles on foot." He glanced at Stark. "You up for it?"

"Of course." Tony scoffed as if any suggestion of the opposite was ridiculous.

Clint stared at him for a moment and turned back to the map once more.

"Extraction?"

"If all goes well, you can call in the evac and we'll pick you up here," he pointed at a third place on the map labeled RV-1.

"And if all doesn't go well?" Tony questioned. Clint raised his eyebrows to indicate he was interested in that answer too.

"Call in an emergency evac and we'll come in weapons ready…rumor is you can fly, though, so that shouldn't be an issue." Collins looked Tony up and down.

"Valid assessment." Tony agreed arrogantly.

"Who knows we're here?" Clint asked, ignoring his teammate with little effort. It was becoming easy after so much practice.

"There've been some rumors about SHIELD sending in someone known for getting the job done, but as far as I know, nobody but my administration team knows it's you."

"As far as you know?" Clint didn't like how that sounded. He had too many enemies in South Africa to take chances. With rumors of a mole, Collins' blasé attitude wasn't comforting.

"Not outside the base, for sure." Collins assured confidently. Clint's eyes narrowed assessingly as Collins started folding the map.

"Lighten up, Barton…who cares if a few people know we're here."

Clint was about to respond to that in a way that would probably cause Stark bodily harm, but Collins cut him off.

"Fury briefed me on your history here, Barton. I can assure you Fourie doesn't know you're even in the country…he's been busy on the coast with his trading."

"Fury briefed you...really?" Clint's eyebrow arched. The Fourie mission was classified. It wasn't like Fury to just go releasing that type of intelligence.

"With the rumors about a leak here, he wanted to make sure I knew the whole situation. He asked me to keep an eye on Fourie's movements, make sure you weren't compromised." Collins explained easily.

Clint nodded slowly.

"Who's Fourie?" Tony asked curiously, seemingly oblivious to Clint's wariness.

"An old enemy." Was all Clint revealed, taking the map when Collin's offered it to him. "When can we roll out?"

"Whenever you're ready." Collins replied, reaching for his radio.

"Then let's go." Clint followed Collins out of the room and Tony trailed behind, his eyes on his holoscreen phone.

"Is it always this hot here?" Tony complained as he followed behind Clint through the forest.

"At this time of year, yeah." Clint replied, vaulting easily over a mess of fallen trees. He wondered seriously if he could get away with leaving Stark here. He could say they got separated. Stark got lost. Clint nodded, smiling to himself.

"Seriously." Tony eyed it's easily tangle of limbs and trunks warily. "Are you sure you aren't part monkey? I really feel like you should go by MonkeyHawk or HawkMonkey...or maybe ApeHawk."

Clint suddenly appeared standing on the top of the pile, his expression blank.

"Maybe you should go by Iron Ass, you know, incorporate you personality into your moniker."

He offered a hand to Tony, who just eyed him with distrust.

"Are you saying I'm an ass?"

Clint raised his eyebrows in question.

"Valid assessment..." Tony admitted, "You aren't going to drop me as soon as I leave the ground are you."

"No, Stark," Clint rolled his eyes. The fact that he had seriously considered it was irrelevant. "Stop wasting time."

Tony hummed doubtfully and reached to grab Clint's hand. Scaling the pile of debris was easy when an apparently supernaturally strong archer was pulling you up.

"Do you like lift weights in your sleep?" Tony grumbled as they jumped down to the forest floor.

"I have to be able to draw my bow, consistently for undetermined amounts of time." Clint stated as if it explained everything.

"That sounded like a brag."

"Just a fact."

"Sure." Tony agreed doubtfully. They continued their trek through the forest. "How far have we gone? At least halfway right?"

"Stark, we've gone barely a mile." Clint informed with a frustrated huff. Leaving Stark behind was sounding better and better. He'd think of a way to help Pepper move on. He just needed to get the Iron Man case and his phone away from him...

"You have got to be kidding me…I'm never going to make it all the way to the base…its physically impossible." He stated sharply, "Why can't I just put on the suit and fly us there."

"Le Roux is an arms dealer…do you really want to get shot out of the sky by surface to air missiles?" Clint reasoned, but he paused his hike to give Tony a break.

"What if I just fly us closer…we can cut some time off the trip and get you home to that crazy Russian vixen of yours that much faster."

"I don't know, Stark." Clint hedged, running the possibilities through his mind. If they got spotted, their mission was over before it even started. But not walking seven more miles sounded very appealing.

"I'll put us down a mile out, that's a safe distance right?"

"Two miles." Clint bargained, making sure his bow was secured on his back and the strap to his rifle case was resting comfortably across his chest. "I'm going to regret this."

"Don't be ridiculous." Tony waved his hand dismissively as he opened the Iron Man case and the suit started assembling across his body. "This is a great idea."

Once the suit was in place, Tony held his hand out.

Clint scowled deeply, stepping closer. "If you drop me, Natasha will kill you…and she'll do it a lot more creatively than I would."

"Yeah, yeah, you two are eternally bonded; I get it…clench-"

"Don't say it." Clint warned as Tony took hold of him.

Tony chuckled and took off.

As promised, he landed them two miles out from the base.

"Jarvis, is there any new activity at the base?" Tony asked, still encased in the suit.

"No sir, my sensors find no changes activity since before you took flight."

"Satisfied?" Tony looked at Clint.

"I'll be satisfied when we're on the jet headed home."

"You really don't like South Africa, do you?"

"It's not that I don't like South Africa...it's that it doesn't like me back." Clint growled, leading the way towards the base, Iron Man following behind.

"I don't know how it could develop that opinion." Stark muttered quietly to himself.

"Get down." Clint hissed, going to his belly and pulling out his binoculars.

Tony, still in the suit, laid out next to him, using Jarvis to zoom in on the base.

"What the hell?" Clint wondered, eyeing the apparently abandon base with a practiced eye.

"I'm no black market expert," Tony started, "But doesn't the practice require I don't know...people? And possibly merchandise?" Tony replied dryly.

Clint hummed his positive response.

"What the hell is going on here?" Tony asked no one in particular.

"We should check it out." Clint decided, though he was frowning deeply.

"Why are you frowning like somebody called your bow archaic?" Tony questioned. Then he blinked. "Ah god, what is it?"

"Something doesn't feel right..."

"Do you get these feelings often, or just when faced with ghost towns?" Tony questioned.

"I usually get them before the shit hits the fan." Clint shrugged, moving to stand.

"So don't you think that maybe we shouldn't go down there?" Tony demanded, grabbing his arm.

"I have a mission to complete Stark...if they moved their base; I need to see if they left any kind of trail for me to follow."

"What if it's a trap?"

"Then I hope you can fly fast enough to get us out of here...stay put."

Before Tony could protest, Clint was creeping down the hill like a shadow. The billionaire cursed silently. He supposed if it was a trap, him flying in would only set it off earlier. At least Clint had stealth going for him.

"They cleared out in a hurry." Clint announced over their comms.

"Anything we can use to follow them?"

"Truck tracks are headed east...huh..." Clint trailed off.

"What?"

"The tire imprints are at least two days old, but some of these footprints have only been here a few hours, if that."

"Maybe you should get out of there."

"I just need to check the warehouse."

Tony scowled impatiently as he watched his black clad teammate skulk around the edge of the large warehouse and disappear inside.

"This place is totally cleaned out...they knew we were coming, Stark." Clint announced ominously.

"Mr. Stark, there are several life forms moving through the forest towards your position...several others are closing in on the edges of the base."

"Shit! Barton, move your ass, we need to get out of here now!"

"Hold on, I found something..."

"What? Now is not the time to brush up on your detective skills, Sherlock!" Tony hissed, standing up and firing up his boosters. He soared down towards the warehouse just as two dozen men emerged from the trees wielding automatic weapons. Tony burst into the warehouse, moving quickly to Clint, who was eyeing a large hole in the warehouse wall. The edges were scorched as if burned.

"Stark this is..."

"Not now, Legolas, we've got a whole lot of mean looking guys surrounding us with very big guns."

Clint's eyes narrowed thoughtfully.

"Wait..."

"No time to wait, Barton, if we're going to get away, we need to go now." Tony reached for him, but Clint stepped out of his reach.

"Stark! This is HYDRA technology! It's not supposed to exist anymore! Steve brought down all of their bases himself over 70 years ago!" Clint snapped. "I have to find where they moved their base to."

"And how do you suggest we do that, Big Bird? Ask nicely?"

"No! We let them take us...They aren't here to kill us..."

"How the hell do you figure that?"

"Because if they were, they'd be firing on us right now! There's no cover in an empty warehouse, we're easy targets..."

"Maybe you are." Tony groused, but Clint went on his tone hardening.

"They knew we were coming, Stark...we have to assume they knew it was you and me...that means there's only one reason they aren't killing us now..."

"Which is?" Tony demanded at the same time his mind put it together. He paled behind his mask. "They need me."

"Yes." Clint agreed, staring at him seriously. "If they've managed to replicate HYDRA technology, we need to figure out how...this," he pointed at the burn hole, "tells me they don't have it figured out yet."

"Which is where I come in."

"Exactly."

"And why wouldn't they just kill you?"

"Leverage...you aren't exactly the same man that got taken in Afghanistan...they've got to believe you're stronger now...even then you never gave them what they wanted...they won't think you'll do that now without persuasion."

Tony felt sick.

"You're the persuasion."

"Yes," Clint glanced out the hole in the wall. "We don't have much more time...whatever differences we have, we need to shelf them now...from this point on, we don't trust anyone but each other...somebody in SHIELD sold us out, so we can't even count on anyone coming to look for us."

"We're on our own." Tony realized darkly.

Clint nodded.

"Whatever happens, Stark...know that I'm trained in anti-interrogation...I can take anything they do to me...you cannot give them what they want, no matter what...understand?" Clint demanded sharply.

Tony swallowed hard. All the sudden he found himself with Barton's life in his hands and he felt sick.

"Stark!" Clint snapped as the men with guns kicked open the warehouse door.

"I got it." Tony nodded, putting up his hands in defense as the men closed in. He wondered if he was even supposed to resist. He didn't know the protocol for letting yourself get captured so you could find out the location of a bad guy's super secret base. He glanced at Clint, who seemed to read his confusion.

"Make it look good." He instructed under his breath just before he whipped out his bow and started firing.

Tony swallowed and started firing as well, wondering how to make it look good when he should easily be able to blast his way out. That question was answered when Clint suddenly faltered, his hand going to his neck. He pulled out a dart, looking at it angrily, as if he hadn't expected it. Something told Tony he had. Then his eyes rolled back and he collapsed, his bow clattering out of his hand.

All it took was one of the men putting a gun to Clint's head for Tony to put his hands up in surrender, suddenly understanding with scary clarity why Clint hated South Africa.

End of Chapter 4

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"Get that away from my face, or I'll put it through your heart." Clint growled suddenly, drawing both of their attention abruptly.

The man with his quiver had moved over to him and was lightly tracing the point of one of Clint's arrows across the archer's cheek. The man laughed, saying something in Afrikaans to his friend with Clint's bow. He turned back to Clint and sliced the arrow tip across his cheek, drawing blood.

What happened next, Tony would be in awe of for the rest of his life.