A little longer this time, mostly because you guys are just so gosh-darned nice to me!

He didn't hesitate. A quick click of the quiver, and he pulled out a blunt arrow and shot it, not even pausing to aim. It flew full force into her hip and bounced off, twisting her body ever-so-slightly in the air. Enough for him to reach out and catch her hand as her lower torso and legs smashed into the building. Her grasp went limp, and she bit her lip to keep from yelling, but he kept a firm grasp on her wrist and pulled her up. He lay her out on the ground, cursing, but she pushed him away.

"No, I'm fine. Just winded. Ow! Dangit, that hurts! Ow!" He held her wrist defensively in one hand and walked his fingers down her ribs with the other.

"I don't think anything's broken."

"Of course it's not. What are you, my mom? I can walk."

He was forced to agree with her, so he gave her a hand up.

"Come on, hard part's over. Just stairs now." She nodded; her face was a little white, but she walked without limping. The door to the inside was mercifully unlocked, and they dashed down the stairs as fast as Asalynn could go. Ten floors later, they were out on the streets, and Hawkeye steered her through the streets to the rendezvous. To his immense relief, no one followed them, and the quinjet was there waiting for them.

He had to help her into the quinjet, all the while reminding himself that in just a couple of hours, she would be SHIELD's responsibility.

Hawkeye was more than prepared to leave the questions to the more specialized agents at SHIELD, but Asalynn had no such qualms.

"Where are we going?" She didn't sound frightened, but she did sound fiercely curious. She wandered around the quinjet, inspecting things and occasionally poking them.

"Somewhere safe." He reclined in the seat, watching her lazily. As she moved around, he adjusted, ready to keep her from touching anything she ought not to.

"Uh-huh. That's specific. Okay, how about 'what the hell is going on'?" She tossed herself into one of the captain chairs and pulled her knees up to her chest, tucking her feet into the corner of the chair.

"I'm taking you into SHIELD. They'll be able to answer your questions there."

She shook her head, making her earrings flap against her cheeks.

"Nuh-uh. I don't want to wait. I want you to answer my questions."

"Then stop asking for classified information," he snapped.

She scowled at him, then was on her feet again, pacing.

"You shot a man with a poisoned arrow." She whirled to face him. "A man who all but worshipped you, and you didn't even know his name. So what's that all about?"

He leaned forward and braced his elbows on his knees, staring at his hands.

"He was my backup. Something went wrong. He was supposed to be safe."

She snorted. "Yeah, some leader you are."

His eyes snapped up to her face, and he practically growled. "No, I'm not. But he is not the first man I've ever killed, and he will not be the last."

For a second, he thought that she was going to back down. She dropped her hands from her hips, and all of the confrontation slipped from her stance. But she didn't back down. Instead, she moved so suddenly that he didn't have time to stop her before she'd wrapped her arms around his shoulders and tucked her head against his ear. He froze, clenching his hands together, fighting the instinct her abrupt movement had triggered. Fury would be very upset if the one person who could possibly give them a lead arrived at base unable to speak.

"Sorry. It sucks. It wasn't your fault." Her voice was very quiet. She hugged him tighter, then let go and crossed back to the chair, curling up in it. She made an awfully small bundle.

He cleared his throat, slowly relaxing his hands.

"Get some sleep. We'll be there soon."

She just nodded, and was soon sound asleep.

Clint woke immediately and completely, without moving. He kept perfectly still, using all of his senses to ascertain if he was still in the quinjet. The texture of the leather seat he'd been napping in convinced him that he was; the dead was proof that they'd landed. He heard no sounds of breathing, other than Asalynn's almost-snores in the seat across from him, but if they'd arrived at SHIELD, the pilot would've woken him. He listened for one moment longer, then in one movement, slid off the chair onto his feet.

The quinjet was empty, except for Asalynn. The pilot was nowhere to be seen. He searched silently, furiously for his bow, but it was gone. A quick recon showed that there were no weapons left anywhere. Even his knives were gone. He peered out the cockpit, and swore.

Asalynn yawned, then said blearily, "Do you always swear when you're upset?"

He shifted to peer further out of the cockpit.

"Usually, yes."

She stood and padded up behind him, managing to both stub her toe and bang her hip into the pilot's chair. She let out a disgruntled "meh" each time, but didn't comment on her gracelessness.

"What are you upset about?" She stood on tiptoe behind him to peer over his shoulder.

He glanced at her, then returned his attention to the quinjet. No weapons, no pilot, and no clue as to where they were. He turned back to Asalynn and grabbed her by the shoulders.

"Liretto-"

"Asa," she interrupted. He swallowed his growl.

"Asa. The mission has been compromised. If you know anything, you need to tell me now. Anything unusual, unexpected, suspicious?" She squirmed a little in his grasp, but he held perfectly still and didn't look away from her face. Her eyebrows furrowed, and she chewed her lip thoughtfully.

"Well, the dress was a little weird…"

"Dress?" She blinked at his intensity.

"Yeah. I'm a medical intern. You think I can afford a dress like this? I actually wasn't going to go to that gala at all. But then Garret asked me to come- which is actually a little weird anyway, 'cause I would've thought he would've wanted to bring his boyfriend, but whatever- so I decided I could just wear whatever. But then when I got home last night- was it last night? Whatever- someone had dropped off this dress, and the jewelry. It was a little slinky for me, but I figured it was Garret, so… I don't know. It's stupid. Never mind."

Clint dropped released her abruptly and took a step back, thinking furiously. A dress like that, something totally out of character for Asa, but so typical for the target; an unexpected invitation for Asa to be just where the target was supposed to be… Someone had gone to great lengths to make sure that Asa had been mistaken for Agent Liretto. He nodded curtly. Asa stared at him, hands on her hips, as if he was mad.

"What is going on?"

He crossed to the storage compartments in the back and began rummaging through them for anything useful.

"I don't know. We're not at SHIELD, which is where we should be." He slammed the compartment shut and paced the quinjet, glaring at the floor.

"And that means…?" She stepped aside to let him pace.

"It means that someone brought us here." He stopped and whirled to face her. "Listen very carefully. I don't know what they want, but my guess is information." She was nodding slowly, mentally repeating everything he said. "Someone's going to have a lot of questions for you." He jabbed a finger at her. "Answer them."

Her jaw dropped.

"What?" she spluttered.

"You heard me. Answer them. Don't hold back; don't try to protect anyone or anything. The sooner they find out you don't know anything useful, the better."

She cocked her head and wiggled her jaw back and forth thoughtfully, then nodded.

"Yeah, that makes sense. What about you?"

He stepped back, and crossed his arms over his chest.

"I'm trained for this."

She mirrored his movement, and raised her eyebrows.

"For what?"

He was done with this conversation.

"Interrogation."

She swallowed, hesitated, then dropped her arms.

"Alright, fine."

"Good. Now, keep your head down, stay close, and pay attention. Got it?" She nodded vigorously, and after assessing her for a moment, he opened pressed a few buttons, opened the ramp, and ducked out of it.

There's a good one coming up next! As always, I love reviews almost as much as I love the Avengers.