"I can't believe it," Clint muttered for the fifth time in a row. May said nothing as she watched the archer. Once they had arrived in his room nearly an hour prior, Clint had quickly gone into his desk and grabbed a laptop computer that was stored there. For a moment May thought to take it away but then remembered that Fury never banned Clint from anything other than leaving his room and speaking to other agents. Being on the computer wouldn't violate that. But as a just in case, she stayed in the room so she could watch him. "So... Iron Man never came to be... Banner was banned from military work... And Steve was never found..."
"You've been saying that for a while now," May commented, using a knife to clean her nails in a manner that reminded Clint all too well of Natasha. Clint turned to glare at her before going back to look at his computer. He began typing in a file info request. May shook her head. Clint had been going back and forth between all his so called teammates, almost as if he expected the information to change. But, then again, if what Clint had claimed to be true, May wouldn't be surprised if it could happen while they were sitting there.
"I'm certain I wouldn't have killed Nat," Clint bemoaned again. May shook her head. She had actually been part of the mission to kill the Black Widow. Clint had been pretty distant most of that mission. But that wasn't surprising when the mission had more agents than just the archer and his handler. At one point, Coulson suggested maybe sitting down and speaking with the Black Widow but Clint was the main advocate against that course of action. Now that May was thinking it over, the archer almost looked panicked over the idea. "I know I wouldn't have."
"I'm sorry. But you did," May replied, keeping her voice low and soft. Clint shook his head even as he read through the various files and reports from that mission. She sighed and shifted where she sat. This next bit was going to be hard to tell him. "I was there. In fact, by doing so, you may have saved my life."
"Wait, you were there?" Clint asked, turning to look at her. May nodded, stunned that he hadn't seen that in the report before. She knew she filled out the file on time and in detail. It should even state her feelings on how Clint had acted. The archer looked back to the report. He scanned it over twice. "But, I don't see your mission report."
"It should be in there," May retorted, moving closer to look through the file with Clint. But he was right. Her report wasn't in there. In fact, the reports that were in the file were actually wrong. Coulson's report only listed himself and Clint on the mission. And even then, it reported that Coulson ordered extreme prejudice against the Widow. Now she was beginning to sense something was wrong. "Clint, do you see yours?"
"Uh..." Clint mumbled before looking more carefully through the report. One was marked as his but it sounded nothing like what he'd write. It was too official and in high detail. Something he never did without reason. "This isn't mine."
"Someone faked it... But why? The mission went as planned," May muttered. Clint frowned, shaking his head as he scanned over the report with a more careful eye. The code was different in this world but he was slowly uncovering what his other self was saying in it. "Unless..."
"You said I was there... Did I act normal?" Clint questioned. May frowned at him this time with an almost curious look. Clint snorted, glad for the bit of normalcy that May was bringing to this situation. "Normal for me?"
"No," she confirmed after a thought. Clint nodded, having figured as much.
"This report was filled out by me," he mentioned with another look over it. Not many agents actually tended to leave secret messages to themselves in their reports, so May's look of confusion wasn't shocking. He couldn't be serious. If the report wasn't his then how did he fill it out?
"What?" Clint chuckled realizing how he must have sounded. It wasn't his report, but he had filled it out. Slowly, he looked to her.
"The more official I sound, the more I'm leaving clues behind," Clint informed her before carefully reading through every word on the report he had written so long ago but not remembering any of it. Much of the first half of the mission had gone on like the one Clint did remember but slowly as the group saw Widow, it began to morph. The code was a bit harder to translate, almost as if he was even trying to hide the information from himself but he was able to gather one thing. "I was forced to kill her."
"Yeah, she was attacking me. I was losing," May argued, not thinking anything of what Clint was saying. Clint shook his head. In his mind she wasn't on the mission and his report wasn't even mentioning her either. All he had was her word on the situation considering her report wasn't there. If she wasn't there, Clint wouldn't have taken the shot. Or so he thought. Now he was getting the hang of this code.
"No, I fought to save her while on base. Someone threatened my life and Coulson's life to make me kill Natasha." May frowned more confused than before. Who would do that? This whole situation was messed up.
"You didn't want to kill her?" May asked, wondering if him saving her had actually been a fluke as Clint had yet to tell her that she hadn't originally been on the mission. Clint nodded and turned to look at her.
"I could see that she didn't like working for the Red Room. She wanted out but needed help to get away. S.H.I.E.L.D could have given her that. And she proved herself to Fury over the years," Clint explained. May snorted, the way Clint spoke was odd but not wholly surprising. As much as she wanted to not believe Clint, he had some very impressive things he was mentioning. Things that would explain a lot of what was going on around here and why she felt it was all wrong.
"You sound like you actually did recruit her," May said. Clint sighed.
"I did."
"Agent Barton," Coulson suddenly called. May and Clint snapped to attention as if they were two teenagers caught doing something naughty. Coulson chuckled lightly at the two even as they turned to see him standing in the doorway to Clint's room just staring at them. "You and Agent May are to come with me. Pack bags."
"But sir," Clint tried to argue, fearing that this was going to be his death march. Coulson must have understood the archer's worry cause his face shifted to show a calming face. May's shoulders sagged in relief. For the first time she realized that she didn't want anything bad to happen to the archer. In fact, she hadn't even thought about the fact that it was possible.
"You are being labeled MIA for the time being and you will be removed from base until this whole situation is sorted out," Coulson commanded. Clint frowned. That was not what he expected. Hell, he never would have thought that Fury or anyone would have believed half the stuff he had said so far. But, thinking about it more, Clint realized that a lot of what he had stated wouldn't have become public knowledge. Zola only became known thanks to Natasha and Steve, the Avengers only came about cause of Loki and Thor (both of whom never came to Earth). Those two facts alone seemingly saved his life.
"And I am?" May wondered, looking the older agent over in confusion. Coulson's face hardened a bit when he turned to her. It was his agent face, one she knew very well and respected. One that also had her standing up a bit straighter. Almost as if she wanted to please the man.
"We are protective detail. Meet us on the flight deck with a bag," Coulson ordered. May nodded and left the room knowing that Coulson would watch over the archer. Clint slowly stood and began grabbing whatever he could find from various areas. Most of what was in this room was S.H.I.E.L.D issued clothes and weapons. Clint collected it all. No use not grabbing them. Not like he really had anything private or important here. "Grab your laptop and any files. Your room will be searched while we are gone."
"So, Fury believed Sitwell?" Clint growled, stilling for a moment at Coulson's words. Anger raced through Clint's form as he wished he had fought harder against May to get to Sitwell. He had been right before, he wouldn't get another shot at the Hydra scum. Slowly, he followed Coulson's order and began emptying his desk of whatever files it stored. Coulson snorted, half amused that the archer still figured that he was being betrayed. Clint didn't even look away from his clearing out. It was almost a near flashback to when Coulson first became the archer's handler.
"No. Fury believes you," Coulson explained, his voice softened to a calming tone. Clint paused in his packing but still didn't turn to look. He needed to hear more. More than just Fury believing him. Was it possible that Coulson couldn't? "Sitwell spoke with the Council before speaking to him. They don't know about you being alive yet, so Fury is going to keep it a secret for as long as possible."
"In the mean time, you and May are watching me to make sure I don't run if the order is to actually kill me?" Clint guessed, keeping his voice level. Coulson shook his head. Of course Clint would assume that. Coulson forgot how much the archer despised himself and lacked self worth. It had been a long time since he last saw this phase of Clint. Both Coulson and Clint had grown so much since then that Coulson was nearly surprised to see this in Clint again.
"No. Fury ordered us to protect you from any S.H.I.E.L.D agents you run across and any supposed Hydra agents that want to kill you," Coulson clarified. Clint snorted, shaking his head before resuming packing. While he appreciated that Coulson would be traveling with him, Clint could handle himself. This seemed more like he was right and that Fury recruited a team to make sure he didn't run away.
It wasn't much longer before Clint finished packing. Most of what ended up getting packed was weaponry. Some of the weapons Clint remembered getting but others he didn't. And there were a few that he stared at, fighting himself inside as he wondered if the weapon came from how he remembered. Seeing his agents was done, Coulson nodded and led his agent out into the hall. As soon as they were out there, Clint noticed Agent Brock Rumlow, leader of STRIKE Team and another known Hydra agent. Clint tensed as Coulson entered the hall and locked Clint's door behind him. He turned to see Clint's intense gaze on Rumlow. Brock was staring back as if surprised to see him. News couldn't have traveled that fast about his supposed death. Coulson frowned at the sight but focused more on his agent than the agent watching them.. "Agent Barton?"
"Hydra," Clint hissed, staring at Rumlow. Rumlow didn't seem to care that he was actively staring back at Clint with hatred. There were many agents on both factions that hated Clint for various reasons so Rumlow didn't think he had to worry. And it was true, until Clint voiced his statement, Coulson honestly hadn't cared that Rumlow looked like he wanted to strangle Clint then and there. But now, Coulson focused on the other agent. He knew he should be surprised that Rumlow was Hydra but the STRIKE Team tended to follow the orders of the World Security Council more than Fury's. And if what Clint's statements had been saying were true, the WSC might be Hydra as well.
"Really?" he questioned, just to make sure this wasn't some private grudge. Well, it still could be but considering the evidence, Coulson forced himself to believe the archer even as Clint nodded. Coulson sighed before making a mental note to keep track of who Clint stated was Hydra for sure. Fury would soon want a list once the main situation with Clint's 'defection' was dealt with. "Come on. There is an order to make sure that no one talks to you."
"Awesome," Clint sarcastically replied, having had this order placed on him more than once before. Coulson placed a hand on Clint's shoulder and slowly led the archer toward the flight deck. Rumlow watched them avidly but like Coulson said, didn't speak to either man. Once they were past, Brock rushed off down the hall. Clint could only assume that he would be speaking to other Hydra agents about this sudden change in his misstated death. But Sitwell should have already handled that. Shouldn't he have? Forgetting it, Clint focused on the path before them and it wasn't much longer before they made it to the flight deck. May was already waiting for them with two duffles at her feet. Clint knew, like him, one duffle was entirely weapons and ammo and the other was either half clothes and more weapons or clothes. Judging by the easy she had in grabbing it and hefting it over her shoulder, Clint assumed all clothes.
"Agent Coulson?" she inquired. Coulson looked over the various Quinjets and other planes. Thankfully the Bus (a project that Fury promised all to Coulson when it was first in designs) was finally finished. Coulson pointed over to it as if that answered whatever question May wanted to really ask. Fury had been planning on giving it to him soon anyways. Why not take it now? May nodded and headed over, understanding his order even though he didn't speak. Clint rolled his eyes at the extravagant thing. It looked like a military transport plane with a giant S.H.I.E.L.D logo on the side. For a secret agency their logo was everywhere. A few agents were already wandering around it as if knowing that Coulson was going to be taking it out.
"Agent Coulson!?" a female voice called from the distance. Coulson and Clint turned to the voice. A couple of science nerds were running toward them. Clint barely recognized them as the known pair of FitzSimmons. Now, he couldn't for the life of him say who was who, but he at least knew who they were. They were pretty famous in the science department as they were the top of their respective classes and worked extremely well together. A few people secretly believed them to be dating or at least in love. Clint could care less. He never had to work with them before and didn't tend to care much about R&D geeks outside of if they mess up any of his equipment.
"Director Fury asked us to tag along. He seems to believe our skills may be needed," the male said once the duo drew closer. Coulson nodded. It was actually he who requested them to Fury but only Fury who could order them to come. He had explained that they may be able to run some tests on Clint in the background while they were away. Maybe there was something about Clint that gave a sign to this other reality. But he wouldn't ask them to do anything without Clint's permission. Fury agreed and sent them the assignment with explicit orders to listen to Agent Coulson on if it was ok to go ahead with the tests but that the tests were high priority.
"Okay. Get aboard," he replied, tilting his head toward the Bus. The male's face brightened. Apparently a few people couldn't wait for this project to be finished and were excited to potentially fly in it. Coulson couldn't help the slight smile from appearing on his face. Clint rolled his eyes. He always thought the point of the Bus was stupid. Why have the Bus when they had the Helicarriers and Triskillion?
"She's ready?" the male scientist questioned. Coulson laughed. He should have expected others to be just as excited as he was. Clint again rolled his eyes. He was gonna hate hanging around all these people. No matter how big the Bus was, it was still going to be tight quarters. Even tighter than the Helicarrier. And even tighter once he collected the people he wanted to help him. He already was creating a team together. Unknowingly, most of them he'd never even see.
"She's ready."
As soon as the full group was on board, Coulson brought Clint to his room and basically locked the agent inside with orders to find out what he didn't know so there were no more confusing conversations. Clint surprisingly didn't argue as he didn't want to met the team Coulson assembled to babysit him and he still had so many unanswered questions. In the meantime, Coulson met with the group he had asked to come along with him. May already had the Bus on autopilot to fly toward Iowa, the last place that many S.H.I.E.L.D and Hydra agents should be looking for the archer. She was sitting next to the head chair at the meeting room table.
Fitz and Simmons had already created their space in the labs down below and were quietly talking in the corner of the meeting room about what tests they could perform on Clint without having him physically there. Bobbi Morse was sitting beside May with Freelance Agent Lance Hunter across the table from them. Morse was an old girlfriend's of Clint and so Coulson assumed that she'd note any big changes in the archer as well as he could. When she joined, Hunter (her new on again, off again boyfriend) volunteered to whatever mission she was on without full explanation. Almost as if he didn't trust Bobbi to be in the same place as her ex. Coulson noted that he should make sure Clint and Lance weren't left alone together.
Alphonso MacKenzie, aka: Mac, a mechanic for the Bus, stood near the doorway as if knowing that he wouldn't really be needed. He was only there to fix any issues that might arise during the Bus's first active mission. Antoine Triplett was a face that Coulson didn't fully recognize, but was okay with as Clint didn't respond to his sudden appearance. Not that he knew that Clint had never meet the man either. Triplett was well known at becoming a good agent and close to top of his class. But Coulson was most proud that Agent Grant Ward had decided to come with them. He had heard good things about the man and was extremely happy that Clint didn't even glance in the man's direction. Again, Clint hadn't really met the man outside of passing so they never knew the danger he could pose.
"Agent Coulson, I was told that this is a long term mission," Ward mentioned as soon as Coulson entered the room. He stood at near military attention, almost as if he wanted to impress Coulson to get a promotion. Fury hadn't given many people on the trip the full reason as to what they were doing so Coulson wasn't surprised they were curious. Most were just ordered to pack some bags and appear at the Bus. Everyone who had been talking when Coulson first arrived, went silent and turned in their direction. Coulson nodded, knowing he had their full attention now. He cleared his throat and moved deeper into the room.
"We are unsure of the time line in how long this will take. But we are to work with Agent Barton and help him with whatever he needs," Coulson explained first. Grant frowned deeply at the mention of the archer but nodded. He needed to keep his identity secret here. First glance had shown that he was the only Hydra loyalist among the crew.
"Wait, is Agent Barton actually lead on this?" Bobbi questioned. She had worked with Clint on missions before. And whenever Clint was given a high profile job in the missions, something tended to always go wrong. Coulson sighed, knowing that she was mentally reviewing the various missions where Clint led the group astray. No matter how much he trusted the archer, not many others inside S.H.I.E.L.D did and typically, that it where the issues arose. When they didn't trust him, they didn't listen and that always caused problems.
"We are in a very difficult and unique situation with this," Coulson began to describe. He had wanted this to be a quick and easy meeting but if everyone kept interrupting him, then it was going to take a while. Especially seeing as he didn't have all the answers on this one and the one who did was currently researching.
"What are you talking about?" Grant snapped, aggravated enough that he was stuck on a mission with Clint. When Fury had given him the mission, Ward almost rejected it but then he got an order from John Garrett to go and Ward was stuck. Coulson shook his head. Now he was starting to regret some of these choices. Maybe he should have limited the team down to Clint, May, Bobbi and himself on a Quinjet. Having this many faces meant issues. Issues that could spell danger for Clint. "How is this mission any different?"
"Agent Barton was framed not too long ago," Coulson explained as if everyone knew about it already. Again, Fury basically told everyone they had a mission and to meet Agent Coulson down on the flight deck. The response Coulson got from his new crew ranged but nonetheless, it was loud.
"What? Who framed him?" Bobbi cried, nearly jumping to her feet. Lance stared at the woman with anger in his eyes. Apparently they were at the 'on again' phase and he was getting jealous. Wouldn't be long until they went to the 'off again' part of their relationship. Coulson groaned, he really didn't want to have to deal with this as well.
"FRAMED! For doing what?" Leo Fitz called.
"He finally kill someone he shouldn't?" Ward snorted, folding his arms across his chest.
"Is this dangerous?" Mack wondered, feeling a bit out of place with all these actual agents.
"Just let the man finish!" May shouted to the room, wanting to get back to the cockpit as soon as possible. While the Bus was on autopilot, May had no idea if it actually was following the coordinates she had set. This being its technically first flight ever. Once the room went quite again, Coulson nodded his thanks to May before readdressing the room.
"As I was saying, Agent Barton was framed. He was declared MIA by Director Fury and a rouge asset by Assistant Director Jasper Sitwell," Coulson restarted. Before anyone could attempt to speak, Coulson raised his hand to stop them. They silently waited. "Earlier today, a team and I went to Agent Barton's home to find his entire family murdered by Assistant Director Sitwell and a team of agents under his command. Agent Barton has made a claim that these men, including the assistant director, are not true S.H.I.E.L.D agents. Instead they work under the long thought dead Hydra group."
"You can't be serious!" Triplett called. Everyone nodded their agreement but tried not to be vocal with their protests. Coulson completely missed Grant's slightly paled expression even as he nodded in agreement with everyone else. Ward had been warned that Clint might know of Hydra and to be careful but Ward hadn't thought anything of it. The one thing he was glad for was that in each reality he had never met Clint that much and so the archer wouldn't know about him. And only Coulson's team knew about Garrett and first glance told him none of them remembered what happened in the other reality.
"I understand how this sounds but the Director trusts Agent Barton," Coulson explained as if that was the end of the argument about it. No one really seemed convinced other than May and Bobbi who had long standing history with Clint. The rest in the room didn't know Clint as well or already had a distrust of him for whatever reason. Thankfully none of them seemed like they wanted to murder him so Coulson wasn't too concerned, yet. But if they kept acting up, Coulson might be sending some of them back to Fury.
"I would think he'd trust his assistant director more," Leo mumbled. Coulson nodded. He could tell that nearly everyone agreed with this statement. And honestly, so would he. But Clint wouldn't lie about something like this. And the archer had given information to Fury and Coulson that he should and could not have been aware of. Sitwell, his statement was flaky. Something felt off about it from the beginning and after talking it over, both Fury and Coulson found they sided more with Clint's story. No matter how insane it sounded.
"One would assume but Agent Barton has... Has made other claims of events that he does not have clearance to know about," Coulson described as delicately as possible, knowing he was skirting a fine line here. God forbid one of these agents were Hydra and Clint didn't know. Or worse yet, what if they weren't loyal to anyone but themselves and sell the information that Clint had talked about? Some of the group seemed satisfied with that but Grant didn't look convinced.
"Like what?" Grant questioned. Coulson sighed. Of course Grant would be the one who questions it all.
"Confidential," he replied. Grant snorted with a roll of his eyes.
"Of course it is," he hissed. Coulson shook his head. Maybe Grant was a bad choice. "And none of our clearance is high enough to hear about it either, even though Barton knows?"
"Listen, we are here for Agent Barton," Coulson ordered, mentally noting that he'd need to keep an eye on Grant. "We follow whatever he wants to do."
"And what if he is actually a rogue agent who wants to take down S.H.I.E.L.D by claiming half of us as Hydra agents?" Grant inquired. Coulson frowned. He forgot that many people didn't tend to trust Clint. For whatever reason, the archer just seemed to rub people the wrong way. Now Coulson was half tempted to turn the Bus around and drop Grant back off at the Helicarrier. But a quick glance around the room made Coulson aware that Mac, Triplett, Lance, Leo, and Jemma all seemed to be worried about this as well. Well, there went nearly all his team.
"Clint is a good person. There is no way that he'd be taking down S.H.I.E.L.D," Bobbi defended.
"That's just cause you dated the bastard," Lance accused. Bobbi glared at the man and he suddenly jumped. Coulson could only assume that the woman had kicked her other soon to be ex under the table. He nearly smiled at that but held it back at the last second.
"He seemed nice," Jenna Simmons softly vocalized as if her opinion mattered to the rest of the group.
So, not as long a wait this time. I gotta seriously pay attention to days. Being stay-at-home I lose track of if it's Friday or Wednesday so quick.
Little Clint and Little Darius have both been sick since the last chapter posted. Poor Clint somehow got a cut in his ear and has been getting drops. Darius has caught a cold and is rapidly spreading it to the rest of the family. In fact, my head is throbbing as I type. Hubby is working round the clock and yet we still have no money to our name. I half wish I could get paid for writing Fanfiction... Oh well.
Review Responses:
Favorites: Red Wolfs
Followers: TheNaggingCube
Reviews:
Sammygirl1963 - I love your reviews so much on this story. Feel bad for making you cry but I was so looking forward to when you read the last chapter. No need to apologize for the wait, I don't mind. Hurricane clean up is more important than reviewing my story, lol. Glad it didn't take too long and hope it didn't hit you too harshly. Most of my family made it through all right as well, just some lost power and branches. I wonder how much you'll enjoy this story as it goes on, lol.