Welcome, to the chapter I hadn't intended to write but was needed. If I promised you Phil was going to get a clue at the end of this chapter I've kind of misled you. I hope you enjoy!
/ A Lot of Speculation \\\ 07 – Unintended Interlude
Phil rushed out in the street and lifted his gun, catching Alkehma's attention. She held out her hand and a series of voices all protesting his actions created a cacophony in his head that only Stark's tech would have been able to cope with.
"Agent," she said, voice booming out at him. "You are no match for me."
"No," Phil agreed. "But I am not going to allow you to kill anyone else."
"You have no power against me!"
Phil didn't respond, allowing his silence to annoy Alkehma while the Avengers moved into position. Alkehma jerked backwards and sent a beat of energy out towards the building where Bucky was hiding with his sniper rifle. Phil heard Romanian swearing in his ear and Steve's frantic request for Bucky's status. Phil took a step closer to Alkehma to get her attention back.
"You will not beat me," she hissed at him.
"Possibly not," Phil agreed. "But we won't let you simply start killing people because you believe you have some supremacy over us."
"Why? Isn't that what you do; killing all the little animals and the big beasts, polluting the land and killing your own kind. You believe you are more important than every thing on this planet and beyond and yet you call me out on my beliefs of supremacy? Hypocritical!"
"Possibly, but not all of us are what you accuse us of being."
"I have all of your history in my brain, the devastation caused by the Romans – the species they wiped from this planet. The society your people hold as so virtuous, so worth emulating. And your media…give them circuses and give them bread and now give them reality television and give them high-fructose corn syrup."
Phil inclined his head because the problem with people like Alkehma was that there was always that kernel of truth to what they said but they saw only darkness in a world of black. There was only their vision of right and no grey, no light, in the world.
Alkehma began listing all of the horrible acts in human history and Phil relaxed now that she was distracted. There were no outward signs but he knew how important it was for her to be distracted at the moment. He could read what was not being said over the comms and he knew that the rest of the team needed time. He wasn't sure what the signal was going to be but he was ready for it when it came. Or, he thought he was…the signal when it came had obviously been an accident because with one hand Alkehma shot a blast of electromagnetic energy at Phil, knocking him off his feet, and shot at Steve with the other. Phil was about to get back up and join in on the fight when Alkehma threw something up into the sky and he was slammed into the ground by whatever she had released and was unable to move until long after the battle was over and Tony had been able to find a way to cut through the material and free him.
Later, after the debrief, Phil slipped into bed with a sigh. His body ached, and as much as he appreciated the fact that he wasn't dead at the hand of a megalomaniacal android hell bent on destroying the world, he really wished he'd become an accountant.
"JARVIS?"
"Yes, Agent?"
"Any new photos from today?"
"Yes, Agent, displaying them now."
Phil looked at the TV watching as JARVIS showed any photos of him from today as a slideshow. There were lots of them, him holding a gun, standing in front of Alkehma who was either monologuing or threatening his life. They were nothing special, just a series of photos that he knew they would get, he sighed out his exhaustion and then dropped his head but as he did he saw something out of the corner of his eye in the corner of one of the photos.
"Go back," he said, sitting up. "Another one, yes that one."
Phil stood up and walked closer to the screen. He didn't want to think he saw what he was seeing.
"Agent, would you like me to zoom onto any particular aspect of this photo?" JARVIS asked.
Phil nodded and then realised that was a silly thing to have done. "Yes please, JARVIS, I need this area of the photo at the highest zoom to still be clear."
"I will find the original photo," JARVIS said and the screen did nothing for a few moments and then the photo refreshed and JARVIS started to zoom in on the area of the photo he had specified.
"Can you run this face through your facial recognition software?" Phil asked, already sure he knew who it was.
"Yes, Agent, would you like to narrow down the search parameters?"
Phil pressed his fingers to the screen and then took a step back. "Narrow it down to known enemies of the Avengers."
"And Hawkeye specifically?" JARVIS asked, a series of photos coming up showing the man in question tracking Clint with his eyes.
"Yes," Phil said, "and then I need to speak to Director Fury and Captain Rogers."
"They have been invited to your office in one hour."
"Thank you, JARVIS."
"You're welcome, Agent."
Phil sighed and turned around. He walked into his kitchen and found something to eat as JARVIS worked – if his suspicions were right then he might not be able to eat again for a while.
JARVIS alerted Phil to his findings just as he was stacking his dishwasher and debating the merits of putting it on with a half load just in case.
"Agent?" JARVIS said, interrupting his debate.
"Yes?"
"I believe I have confirmed your suspicions that the man in this photo and the others I have located was Buck Chisholm."
Phil wanted to swear but it wasn't the right time to do so. "Ask Clint if he can come to my apartment please."
"Done, Agent."
A few minutes later, Clint knocked on his door and Phil smoothed the hem of his shirt before he opened it.
"Hey, Phil," Clint said with a smile that fell off his face as soon as he saw the collection of photos that were being projected around the room. "What is this?"
"Something I missed before," Phil admitted. "I saw someone in a photo from today's mission."
"Buck?"
"Yes, so I've had JARVIS scanning photos from our previous missions and he's spotted Buck Chisholm at our last three incursions here in New York. I had no intention of asking but what did you and Bobbi deal with?"
"Not Buck."
"All right, then he's here for a reason and whatever that reason is, he's trying to hide from you and from us."
"I need to go out and find him."
"That is exactly what you do not need to do, Clint."
"Then what, sit here?"
"Then Steve and Nick are on their way and when they get here we will have a conversation about what to do next. You're not alone in this, Clint."
Clint looked at him for a long minute and then threw himself back onto Phil's couch. "This was before I was part of S.H.I.E.L.D."
"I don't care if it was from before you were born," Phil said firmly. "If someone is coming after you we will stop it."
Clint looked at him for a moment and then smiled. "I don't want you to think this is sarcastic, Phil, because I truly mean it…you're my hero."
Phil couldn't hold back the smile that tugged at his lips. He was saved from having to respond by a firm knock on his door. "That will be Steve."
Steve and Fury were both standing on the other side of the door. They came in, looked at the evidence and unanimously argued for tracking down Buck Chisholm but Phil watched Clint who grew more tense with each new suggestion of ways to capture Buck so that they could question him and Phil suspected that what they were suggesting would either never work or that there was something that Clint wasn't telling them but he couldn't call the other man out until they were alone.
When Steve left to plan out the strategy with Strike Team Delta and Nick nodded at them both instead of saying goodbye, Phil stopped Clint from leaving with a hand on his wrist.
"Coulson?" Clint asked.
Phil noted the use of his last name and looked at the door to make sure it was closed. "What aren't you telling us?"
"Nothing you don't already know."
"Then spell it out for me."
Clint yanked his hand away and then folded his arms across his chest. "Buck was in the circus."
"Yes."
"So, he's not part of any network that Steve or Nick have access to. All of their plans are based on their ability to infiltrate or gain access to whatever criminal network that Buck is part of but the truth is they cannot get into one of those networks."
"Because they will be a circus network."
"Exactly."
Phil pressed his fingers into the bridge of his nose and allowed himself time to think. "So, to find him we'd need a way to get into a circus as a seasoned performer who wouldn't even be able to ask questions for a long time because the second they asked any questions the rest of the circus network would shut down and they would get nothing."
"No one talked to Barney and I for the first month we were in the circus except to tell us to do shit or to tell us we'd done it wrong."
"Then what are our options."
"Use me as bait and dangle me somewhere that Buck feels comfortable either grabbing me or talking to me."
Phil stood up. "Tequila and then we'll come up with a workable plan. We go to Steve and Nick with a plan and we have a better chance than if we just tell them that their plans are wrong."
Clint tracked Phil with his eyes but Phil forced himself to walk normally into the kitchen, find his bottle of tequila, and then dig out a lime and some salt. By the time he made it back into the lounge room, Clint was sprawled into one corner of his couch.
"There is only one plan that makes sense, Phil."
"Is it you as bait?"
Clint nodded.
"Do you remember Marrakesh?"
Clint rolled his eyes. "It's not the same."
"It is you putting your life on the line, and what did you tell me in Marrakesh?"
Clint glared at him. "It's not the same."
"You told me that my life wasn't a price you were willing to pay to catch that woman…or her group."
"It's not the same."
"Why not? Your life isn't a price I am willing to pay to catch Buck or get answers, and it shouldn't be a price you're willing to pay either."
"You don't know that he's going to kill me."
"He tried to kill you when you were in the circus."
"And he didn't succeed," Clint pointed out forcefully and waved a hand down his chest in snarky evidence.
"And time and distance doesn't mean that he's no longer looking to kill you."
"I beat him then and I'm a better fighter now than I was as a nineteen year old kid in the circus."
"And we have no idea what he's been doing in that time."
"Probably not being trained by the air force and then S.H.I.E.L.D. to be an assassin and very effective soldier."
"But fester a hatred that a nineteen year old circus punk with a chip on your shoulder and less skill than him with a bow and arrow beat him in front of his entire circus."
"I have more skill with a bow and arrow than him." Clint huffed.
"Did you then?" Phil snapped back.
Clint huffed and yanked the tequila off the table. He poured them both a shot and handed one to Phil. "No."
"Then we need a better plan than dangle Clint in front of someone who wants to kill him."
Clint laughed. "You are always the voice of reason in my head, Phil."
"And you are the one that encourages me to do reckless things."
"But they work."
"Only when you do them," Phil said. "If I threw myself off a building and hoped for the best I'd die."
"I'd never let you fall to your death," Clint said, an odd note in his tone.
Phil allowed that thought to warm him as they started planning something that might actually work. Three days later, without Steve's approval but with no direct refusal from Fury, they set out for New Jersey and a ringmaster that was still friendly with Clint. From there it was a trip around New York State and Pennsylvania to a group of fairgrounds where they were in the middle of peak season for travelling circuses. They finally found out where Buck was hiding out when they ran down a sword-swallowing couple who were very fond of Clint and the couple not only told them where Buck was but also insisted that Clint and Phil rest in their lounge room for the night. Phil was worried but Clint insisted that these two were more than trustworthy. Phil still wanted to sleep in shifts but they had been doing that for longer than even Phil could justify.
The next day, Phil and Clint were tracking Buck as he walked through Rittenhouse Square when the man walked into a bar and Phil looked at Clint. Clint followed Buck into the bar and Phil slid himself into a vantage point with a clear line of sight between his weapon and Buck's centre mass. The only problem was that he couldn't completely make out what they were saying. Then suddenly Clint stood up, said something furiously to Buck, and stalked over to Phil.
"What?" Phil asked.
"He wants a duel."
Phil frowned and his eyes flicked to Buck who was still sitting at his table. "Why?"
"He wouldn't tell me."
"In one minute, unless I call in, S.H.I.E.L.D. will be here to pick him up."
Clint looked back at the table. "He taught me how to shoot."
"And he wants to duel to…I assume to the death?" Clint nodded. "Then we need answers."
"Let S.H.I.E.L.D. come." Clint said, resignation thick in his voice.
Phil nodded and had to force his eyes away from Clint. He felt the overwhelming urge to drag the other man out of here and drive until they hit Bed Stuy and the little Chinese restaurant they found ten years ago and buy as much Szechuan beef and fried rice as the other man could handle then take him back to Phil's apartment, not the one at the tower but the crappy but secure little safe apartment he kept in Bed Stuy under someone else's name, so they could watch Bond movies and mock them until Clint lost that particular look in his eyes.
"As soon as they have him we'll go there," Clint said.
Phil's eyes caught Clint's and the archer smirked at him.
S.H.I.E.L.D. arrived seconds later and quickly and cleanly took Buck away. Phil called Fury and told him he would come in the next day – Fury told him not to bother until the day after, and then Phil got them in a car and headed for Bed-Stuy. They arrived just in time for Phil to drop Clint three streets from the apartment for a shower while he got the food and then hid the car so that it couldn't be tracked to his building before night fell. Once they were clean and settled they didn't speak, just watched Sean Connery and ate their weight in Chinese food.
"Thank you," Clint said, the first words that had been spoken in hours.
"You don't need to thank me for any of this," Phil said, waving a hand around the apartment.
"But the last few weeks…"
"Nat would sat I owe a debt but even if I didn't you know I'd have been here anyway so you still don't have to thank me."
"But I'm going to anyway."
"You're welcome."
Hours later, well into the next morning but before the dawn light was able to make it through the blinds, they crawled into the two beds that he kept for just this reason and Phil found himself watching Clint and thinking about that kiss.
"There is something on your mind," Clint said, moving on the bed.
"There is a conversation I was meant to have with you months ago," Phil admitted, unsure if it was the exhaustion or something else prompting him to bring this up now.
Clint laughed. "Then either it's too late to have the conversation with me or you should just say whatever it is you think you should say."
"I don't remember the event but on a mission I kissed you and we need to discuss it."
Clint smiled sadly and then looked at Phil. "You didn't kiss me."
"I saw the footage."
"But you didn't see the start, I kissed you."
/
