"Under attack?" Pietro echoed just before an explosion went off near the right side of the jet. Stephen and Pietro crashed into the other side of the jet as they had been unprepared. Clint grunted as he gripped the flight controls before clicking the autopilot off and buckling in. Wanda buckled in as well, glancing at the archer with a thought of asking if he knew what to do. Pietro slowly got off Stephen as another distant explosion went off. "Oh. That under attack."

"Find a seat and park your ass," Clint warned as a third explosion went off. Stephen smirked at the language before doing as ordered in a seat right next to where he landed. Pietro opened his mouth to rebuke the order but stopped when a fourth explosion nearly tossed him into the ceiling. As the boy got into a seat, Clint glanced over his shoulder. "Anyone got an extraction plan?"

"I can create a portal," Stephen suggested. Clint thought back to the portal the man had used to board the jet. It wasn't all that large and Clint really didn't want to lose the jet just yet.

"Big enough for the jet?" Clint countered. Stephen frowned as he looked over the expanse of the inside. He could only imagine how large it was on the outside.

"I have not tried before," the Sorcerer replied, looking back to the archer. Clint shot him a dirty look as an explosion to the left of the jet made them all shudder. Stephen could easily tell that whoever was attacking them was either in a faster flying unit or had been laying in wait for them. "But... I can try."

"Do it!" Clint cried, turning back around in time to see an explosion go off in front of them. Unable to avoid it, Clint flew through the fire cloud. Wanda screeched slightly, having never done anything like that before. Pietro gripped his seat a bit tighter and watched Stephen as the Sorcerer closed his eyes and began concentrating. He raised a hand in front of him with two fingers up, while the other was near his elbow in a similar style. "I can't do this long!"

"Give me a moment!" Strange shouted back, focusing his magic to a spot in the distance. Clint grumbled now knowing how the other party felt when someone said those lines. He loved to say that statement to Natasha all the time, especially when she didn't know how to do what he did.

"I'll try," he said even as another explosion went off nearly in front of them but Clint was able to avoid it this time. That was when he began to feel the first signs of engine failure. The debris from the bombs must be getting to the jets. Clint hadn't had to deal with this fact in one of S.H.I.E.L.D's jets but he wouldn't have been surprised if Grant Ward had done something to all the jets once he learned about Clint knowing about Hydra. That was when the archer noticed some flashing green and gold sparks off in the distance. Considering it was about the same altitude as the jet itself and looked similar to the portal that Stephen had created earlier, Clint angled the jet in that direction. As he drew closer, Clint noted that the area kept sparking but didn't actually form anything like he had seen Stephen come through. He glanced back at the Sorcerer. "Strange?!"

"I KNOW!" Stephen roared. Another explosion sent the Quinjet rocking worse than before and Clint grunted to keep the jet stable. More alarms stared wailing loudly. Wanda tensely looked to Clint, knowing that their right engine had been damaged while the left was in the mists of failing as well. Pietro panicked a bit and gripped his seat tighter.

"What happened?" the speedster cried even though he really didn't want to know the answer. The words came out before he could stop and think.

"Lost an engine," Clint snapped, struggling to keep the jet level and on track with Stephen's portal. "Strange! Almost there!"

Stephen let out a loud roaring scream before finally a portal large enough for the entire jet to fit through opened. Clint flew through it but the whole jet didn't end up making it through. Stephen passed out about halfway through and the portal closed, leaving nearly a quarter of the jet's back end behind. Pietro's eyes widened at the sight. If he had been two seats further back, he would have been split in half.

"Shit! Brace yourselves!" Clint screamed. Pietro panicked again.

"On WHAT?" the speedster yelled. Clint didn't have a chance to reply before the jet crashed into sand.

"Clint?" a female voice called into the din and pain of Clint's mind. The archer groaned, wishing he could fall back into blissful sleep where there was no pain. At the edge of his consciousness, Clint felt something touching his face. Not wanting to bother it, Clint fell back into blackness a bit more. "Clint?" Wait, no. Not something. Someone was poking his cheek. There was only one person Clint could think of brave enough to do that. "Clint, wake up."

"Tony... Stop it," the archer mumbled, swatting his hand at who he assumed was poking him. Someone chuckled, this time a male. For a moment Clint thought he probably should wake up but he just didn't want to deal with the pain that his body was currently in.

"Not Tony, old man," the male voice laughed. Clint's eyes snapped open at the familiar sound. He didn't even get a second to focus on Pietro before a massive headache made him close his eyes again with a curse on his lips. Apparently this whole thing wasn't some sort of horrible dream.

"Are you okay?" the female, Wanda, asked. Clint groaned as if that was a response. Pietro chuckled. "Oh. Cause... Dr. Strange needs help."

That made Clint jerk into awareness almost as fast as hearing Pietro's voice had. His memories of the events before the crash came back with sudden vibrancy. Strange had opened a portal but he couldn't hold it. After the jet already was done one complete engine and on the verge of losing the second, losing the rear end was worse. Clint had no control and though he tried to make a softish landing, the force of the hit jarred Clint and the other passengers into unconsciousness. This time, Clint's shock to awareness held better than before. Right away, his mind calculated every injury he had. Possible broken rib or two, cut on head with possible concussion, sprained right wrist, undetermined pain in left leg and a rolling stomach.

"Ugh," Clint groaned again as if Wanda and Pietro weren't in just as much pain as he was.

"Right back at ya, old man," Pietro snorted. Clint grunted as he shifted to get up. His leg muscle spazzed out making it hard to move. And his ribs also protested. Never mind the dizziness that almost dropped Clint flat on the floor if he hadn't still been buckled into his seat. Suddenly a hand touched him and the pain faded away. Shocked, Clint's eyes widened before focusing on the hand and then up to Wanda's face. He wasn't fast enough to stop his shudder of fear and disgust at the magic used on his body.

"I'm sorry," Wanda whispered but Clint could tell she wasn't a sincere as she had hoped to be. "I wouldn't have done it if Dr. Strange didn't need you."

"Kay," Clint softly lied before gently tossing her hand off of him and getting up. Wanda tried and failed to not show the hurt that she felt when Clint went out of his way to walk past her without letting her close enough to touch him again. Pietro frowned but didn't comment. He understood how much Wanda's powers could bother someone. Heck, the first time she used her powers on him, he had been so creeped out for a week that he jumped anytime someone spoke. In fact, there were still some days that he questioned if he was doing something cause he thought it was right or cause Wanda made him think that. For a moment, Pietro wanted to go talk to Clint but Wanda held him back.

"Don't," she whispered before moving to the opening of the jet and walking out. When she walked past Clint, the archer tensed but didn't shift further. He seemed mostly focused on checking out Stephen for injuries. Out of all of them, the Sorcerer seemed the most protected and least injured. Apparently being limp during an accident was better than holding on. But while Stephen had been limp during the initial accident, he was still unconscious and Clint had no idea how to help.

"Step aside," a strange female voice commanded. Clint jerked to suddenly see an elderly bald woman standing beside him. Wanda rushed around the back end of the broken jet as though to alert Clint of someone coming. Seeing her face, that's when Clint deduced that this woman before him must be the actual Sorcerer Supreme in this reality. Slowly, he shifted to give her room but didn't fully get away. She gave him a soft encouraging smile. Almost as if she was praising him for wanting to help a teammate that he barely knew. Of course, once she waved her hands over Stephen and he was illuminated by a strange glow, Clint rather quickly backed off. She chuckled. "Aversion to magic?"

"First meeting with it, didn't go so well," Clint evaded. She nodded in such a way that Clint wondered how much she really knew about him.

"Not all magic is evil," she reminded. Clint frowned even as she stopped making Stephen glow and put her hands down. She focused more on him. "He will be fine. He just needs rest."

"Over exerted himself?" Pietro wondered. The woman smiled at the speedster before nodding. Clint frowned as the kid looked at him. "So this is your fault."

"What?" Clint cried.

"He did say he had never portal-ed something this large. But you made him," Pietro explained. Clint's frowned deepened.

"Would you rather have died?" he questioned before getting up and storming out of the jet. The woman chuckled at the archer as he left.

"You should not be so harsh on him. He has many things on his mind," the woman warned before standing and walking after Clint. Wanda moved to let her by before focusing on Pietro with a heavy gaze.

"What?"

Clint could tell that the Sorcerer Supreme had followed after him. He also wasn't as surprised as he thought he'd be to see that she hadn't come alone. Five more people surrounded the jet at integral points and watched the horizon beyond for any danger. Amazingly, their presence didn't bother him. But when the Sorcerer Supreme came within touching distance, Clint couldn't help but tense.

"No need to fear. I don't plan on doing any magic," the woman warned. Clint grunted but still wasn't able to relax. "Is that one experience the only reason you dislike magic?"

"I've had some other experiences. But it was fake magic. Then... Then I met Loki," Clint growled, using the godling's name like a curse. The Sorcerer Supreme laughed. Clint looked to her, surprised.

"There is no such thing as fake magic," she replied. Clint scoffed and rolled his eyes. "They used trick magic, but magic none-the-less."

"Judging by that, anyone can learn magic," Clint grunted. When she said nothing, he glanced over at her to see her expectant face. "No. No! Fuck no!"

"Not everyone can learn it when they first want to. But when their minds are ready, they can become open to the mystic ways," she described. Clint shook his head and shifted a couple of steps away from her. She laughed again. "I promised that I wouldn't use my magic on you."

"Yeah well, I know a lot of promises that get broken so," Clint paused before shifted another step away.

"What about the magic that the young woman used on your injuries? That was good magic."

"I didn't ask for it, nor did I want it. She just did it," Clint snarled. Suddenly the woman placed a hand on Clint's shoulder. He didn't even have a second to protest her touch before his mind was racing through his memories back to the days before Loki. Back when he was young and actually intrigued by the magic that the 'sorcerer's' at the circus did. For years Clint had thought they performed real magic. But then one of them had gotten caught by an angered patron. That was the same day that Clint learned they were all con artists. After that, magic lost its thrall but there had been one performer who had still be impressive to the little lost archer. It was the fortune teller. While her fortunes were sometimes wrong, she had other tricks up her sleeve that made everything better. She could make people follow her orders, knew someone's past down to the name of their best friend, and even could make things vanish and reappear elsewhere. No one could prove how she did any of those things.

Then, just as suddenly as the thoughts appeared, his mind was back in the present. The woman dropped her hand, a bit of surprise on her face while Clint dropped to his knees. She waited a moment, allowing him to just breath and center himself. When she believed him to be ready, she spoke.

"I apologize. I did not intend for that to happen," the Sorcerer Supreme said as she kneeled down beside the archer. Clint was still heavily breathing and looked to be on the verge of a panic attack. The Ancient One frowned.

"What… The fuck… Was that?" Clint stuttered, trying to stop himself from mentally panicking any more.

"Your magic reacted with my own," she replied. Clint turned to give her a nasty look. Apparently it wasn't as nasty as he had hoped because instead of backing off, she laughed at him. "As I have said before, all creatures have magic."

"No," Clint groaned. There was no way he had magic in any shape or form. She had to have been wrong.

"I apologize again, but it is true," the woman stated, unknowing of the mental state of the archer. Clint growled at her before pushing off the ground to get back up to his feet. The Ancient One followed. "You had magic before and the spear woke it up far sooner than it should have been."

"Stop talking to me," Clint snapped though it sounded a lot like angry begging. The Ancient One looked amused. "Just… Go away."

"I again apologize but you need to know this," she mentioned. Clint shook his head.

"Just SHUT UP!" Clint shouted. It was thankfully in that moment that Wanda and Pietro helped Stephen stagger over to the duo. Wanda looked pissed, as did Stephen but not as much as the teen. Pietro just seemed focused on putting each foot in front of the other in a slow enough move that Stephen wouldn't stumble from.

"Ancient One, please," Stephen begged. Clint and the Sorcerer Supreme turned to look at the pathetic little trio. From one glance, Wanda and Pietro knew that Clint was close to cracking and they knew that they wouldn't be able to put him back together. Stephen could tell that the archer was tired but didn't see the same thing that the twins saw. "He can learn about this later."

"I pray you are right," she agreed after looking between the archer and her student for a moment. She nodded then and walked off, almost telling Stephen that he needed to talk to Clint sooner rather than later. Everyone waited until they were certain the woman was out of hearing range before relaxing. Stephen sat down on the ground with the twins' help. Pietro then headed over to help Clint slowly drop back down as well.

"Thanks," Clint muttered. Stephen nodded, knowing how grateful the archer was. "How you feeling?"

"Nothing a rest can't handle," Stephen admitted, half wondering if the archer really cared or if he had just really wanted to change the subject. Clint nodded and relaxed a bit further into the ground. With a grunt, Stephen decided to test Clint. "I'm sorry for whatever the Ancient One said."

"I don't want to talk about it," Clint hissed darkly. Stephen sighed. Apparently, the archer had just wanted to change the subject. Slowly, the sorcerer in training glanced at Wanda. Both of them could tell that the news the magic wielders needed to give Clint would only be best given by a friend. Wanda nodded her head in agreement but both knew that neither of them were going to be that close friend. Here or there. Pietro, lost to the conversation of his sister and Strange, looked between everyone.

"So… Uh. What are we gonna do now?" the speedster wondered in the new silence of the group. Stephen turned to Clint while the archer turned to his attention between everyone. Wanda also focused on Clint and Pietro followed everyone else. Clint finally settled onto staring at Stephen. The man sighed.

"The Ancient One has a plan. We must speak to her," the Sorcerer replied. Clint shook his head with a depressive looking gaze.

"Of course we do."

Much to the consternation of the group, the Sorcerer Supreme refused to speak about her ideas in the open space that the Quinjet crashed. Clint was half convinced that she wouldn't even tell him even then. But a few minutes after they argued about that, the Ancient One decided everyone was fit enough to go through a portal. She set it up in the blink of an eye which made Clint give Stephen a skeptical look. Stephen huffed at the archer and mouthed, 'in training.' Clint chuckled even as he began to feel his anxiety rising over going through another portal. Pietro must have either been informed by Wanda or understood what was happening as he placed a hand on the archer's shoulder. Clint glanced at the speedster even as Pietro gently pushed Clint through the portal.

"You okay?" the speedster worryingly whispered to the archer as they passed through the portal. Clint was so focused on the teen that he didn't even notice they went through.

"Honestly, no," the archer admitted. Pietro nodded, having assumed as much from before. "I just want to wake up from this horrible nightmare."

"Sorry," Pietro mumbled as if he was the only part of the nightmare bothering Clint. The archer sighed, understanding how the speedster had taken his comments.

"Not you. Just… Everything else. So much has happened that... I honestly think I'm done. I can't do this anymore," Clint sighed. Pietro frowned. That was totally not what he had been expecting to hear. The two paused a few feet from the portal. Most of the team that had been sent through the portal after them had gone through first and they had already moved about their business. Stephen and Wanda stumbled through as Pietro faced Clint.

"You wanna quit being an Avenger? After all this to try and fix the world?" the speedster asked. Clint shrugged, totally unsure about what he was saying at this point. Stephen and Wanda traded a worried look. If Clint gave up being an Avenger, who knows what could happen. As weird as it sounded, the Avengers needed Clint. He humanized the team. While it was true that there were other humans on the team, no one was a vulnerable as Clint was in battles. He kept the team together.

"Maybe. I don't know," Clint groaned, rubbing at his face. It was at that point that the Sorcerer Supreme passed through her portal and shut it down. She took one look at the group she had added into her care and frowned. The archer looked ready to drop and his mind was finally catching up with what had happened to him. Stephen needed at least ten hours of rest due to the strain of magic he pulled but she was impressed that he had indeed pulled it off with the amount of practice he had gotten. The twins were pretty much set. Pietro was just kind of going with the flow of things and the Ancient One couldn't see anything truly disastrous happening to the boy. Wanda on the other hand… The older woman could tell that the girl wasn't fully in control of her powers. Something that was truly dangerous if left as it was.

"I feel we all need a break. Wong will show you to your rooms," the Ancient One announced to the room at large. Clint spun on her, his body filling with a surge of energy from his panic and adrenaline.

"Hell no!" he cried. She smiled at him with a gaze that told him she had known that he'd fight her and was ready for it. Seeing that made Clint tense more. Pietro also tensed, ready to defend the archer if needed. Wanda and Stephen, sensing similar to the Ancient One, did nothing to stop any of them.

"You have been on the move since the transition. For your mind and body, you need to rest," the Sorcerer Supreme softly demanded. Clint shook his head but before he could speak again, she stepped forward. No one really had a chance to react but Stephen tried.

"Don't!" Strange called, moving to try and stop her but mostly nearly falling flat on his face. Thankfully Wanda was there to support him but in her effort to help him, she then couldn't defend Clint. Stephen was ignored and even Pietro wasn't fast enough on the uptake to stop the Ancient One from pressing a finger against Clint's forehead. Less than half a second later, the archer crumbled to the floor.

"CLINT!" the twins screamed. Pietro dropped down to his knees so that he could check on Clint while Wanda, shifted Stephen around so that she could protect the whole group. A light red shield formed between the Ancient One, Pietro and Clint. The Ancient One was unaffected by the small display of power. She dropped her hand and glanced over to the young female.

"Worry not. He is merely sleeping," she soothed as if it mattered to any of them. Stephen seemed to get his feet underneath him and stepped out from behind Wanda. Her shield didn't extend far enough to bother him.

"You didn't have to do that," the man snapped, glancing down at Clint and Pietro quick before looking harshly at his mentor. While Stephen knew that the Ancient One seemed to have a reason for everything, he also knew from experience that sudden use of magic on someone tended to bother them. Never mind Clint's past experiences with magic.

"He was close to crashing and I fear he wouldn't have rested naturally," she argued, again as if it really mattered. Stephen shook his head, knowing that she didn't understand what he had meant. Figuring she wasn't going to do anything else, Stephen turned to Clint and Pietro.

"Let's bring him to his room," the sorcerer told the speedster. Pietro nodded and got up before picking Clint up as well. He struggled with the weight as he hadn't expected the archer to weigh that much but Clint was pure muscle and tended to look smaller than he actually was. As the men made their way out of the room, Pietro sent an angry glare to the Ancient One. He was so distracted by his anger with the old woman and Clint that he didn't notice Wanda staying behind.

"I'm guessing you wish to argue with my choice as well?" the Sorcerer Supreme stated more than questioned. Wanda shook her head as she dropped the barrier that had moved along with Pietro and Clint through the room.

"You know how wrong that was. No matter that it may have been needed," Wanda muttered. The Ancient One tilted her head in acknowledgment. "What I wish to discuss is the untamed magic in him."

"Ah. I'm surprised that you sense it as well," the older woman said, clearly impressed. Wanda nodded, her face showing confusion as she had almost believed anyone could sense it. The Ancient One nodded again. "It calls a lot of trouble to him."

"Is there any way to help him?" Wanda asked, wondering if there was a way she could take the magic away from the archer. That would be best for everyone but when the Ancient One sighed and looked away, Wanda knew. There was nothing. "I feared that."

"Until he accepts it, the magic will remain untamed. Your counterpart may be able to help, but you are full of just as much untamed magic," the Ancient One warned. Wanda frowned and looked down at herself as if she could see how much magic flowed through her body. But something about what the Ancient One didn't say made Wanda realize that her untamed magic did not call upon the same kind of trouble that Clint's did. "Seek out help. I doubt that the Avengers are that help and I know I can't be."

"And Dr. Strange?" Wanda wondered. The Ancient One smiled and shook her head. While the Stephen from this world was still under her tutelage, it meant he was progressing at a far faster rate than most magic users. But in the other reality, Stephen didn't have as long. He would still be trying to understand his limits as well.

"He was forced into a high position far before he should have been. Given time, yes, he could help you. But, I feel there are others who could help you right away," she mentioned. Wanda frowned, trying to think of who the older woman may be hinting at. Knowing that Clint hadn't met these people and that Wanda would never have run across them, the Ancient One smiled gently. "Rest on it. Your counterpart may already know of whom I speak."

"Thank you."

Argh! Late again! Jeez… I need an alarm system just for posting.

Little Clint is getting mad at me lately. I'm trying to put him on a bit of a diet as he is getting a rather hefty beer belly and considering my husband and I both struggle with our weight, I figure it's best to get him used to it now. Not that the In-Laws are abiding my wish… But that's only two days. Two days shouldn't kill him overall. Hopefully. Little Darius is getting mad at me as well… (I'm an A**hole parent apparently, lol). I'm working on his trying to speak. I've been noticing for the past few weeks that all I've heard from him was 'hi', 'bye', and maybe 'mama' and 'dada'. A couple of 'brother' as well but nothing like he used to do. He had so many words before hand now all he does is scream at me until I guess what he wants. Well, the screaming has increased cause now I 'ignore' him in an attempt to get him to speak the word I know he can use. Hasn't seemed to help just yet but we'll see.

Favorite: gothbadgirl, MrNoobishDude, adharsy12 (5 Times the Avengers Caught Clint with a Secret)

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Review:

Sammygirl1963 - I'm gonna really hate when one day I disappoint you now… Hopefully that never happens. Yes, lot going on. From finally escaping Coulson and his team to being joined with Dr. Strange and then the attack on the Quinjet. Never mind all the psycho analysis in between. Poor Clint, will I ever let up on the archer and just give him a break? No, not likely. As for a friend working for Hydra, hmm. Interesting… We'll see how it turns out. Don't worry about the late reviews, apparently I'm never gonna post on time, lol. I'm sorry things have been tough with your family and I hope things get better. See you next time!