Clint's POV

"-and then you pull this little thing right here and your enemy gets splattered."

I walk into the kitchen to see Taylor and Thor mid-conversation, Taylor gesturing towards the disassembled rifle that lies between them. "Who gets splattered with what?"

Taylor spins to face me, the surprise in her eyes quickly being overtaken by delight. "Oh, hi! Paint, people get splattered with paint. I'm teaching Thor here about the virtues of paintball."

"So that," I gesture towards the metal pieces on the table, "never shot bullets?"

"Nope, only tiny paint balls." Taylor holds up a little red ball between her thumb and forefinger. "Not dangerous, just painful."

"Okay, good." I sigh. "May I ask why you're teaching our resident god how to shoot people with paint?"

"He saw something online." Taylor shrugs. "And everyone else was busy, so…"

"Have you even played paintball before?"

She raises an eyebrow. "Have you?"

"No, but quit deflecting!"

She shakes her head. "No, but I have used real rifles, with real bullets, in real danger. This is a step down."

I nod. "Do they make paintball archery sets?"

"No," she sighs, "and I checked everywhere. Paintball used bullet-like projectiles, nothing like arrows."

"Too bad."

She nods.

"Lady Stark, what is this mechanism called?" Thor pokes the rifle, and Taylor has to stop the god from sticking his fingers into anything that would end in catastrophe.

I settle onto the couch and begin channel surfing, but my eyes keep drifting back to the paintball gun; I can't seem to let it go.

And then I know how to do just that.

"Hey," I turn to Taylor, "what does everyone else think about paintball?"

She shrugs. "Natasha likes it, my dad has other things to think about, Steve doesn't know much about it, and Bruce actively avoids anything with big guns."

I lick my lips thoughtfully as I nod. "I think we can change that."

"We can…" Taylor grins slightly, fully directing her attention onto me. "What do you have in mind?"

A few days later we have formed teams (Taylor, Nat, Betty, and Darcy vs. Tony, Steve, Thor, and I), gathered gear, and trekked out to a paintball course near the lower side of Manhattan.

Bruce – acting as medic and referee as necessary – makes sure we all know exactly what we're getting into and that all of our adding and protection is firmly strapped on before standing back to explain the rules.

"Okay, everyone, listen up. On the table in front of me are eight paintball guns – four loaded with blue bullets, four with red ones. Girls get red, boys get blue. Each person gets one rifle, loaded full with bullets, and an extra pouch of ammo. Each team will get five minutes to get in position, and I will mark the start with this air horn," he holds up a standard air horn. "Five minutes start…now!"

He punches a button on a stopwatch as the girls take off in a tight pack towards a ridge to the east of the field, my team doing the same to the west.

The four of us hole up in a shack once we feel we're far enough away from the start point to stay safe enough to discuss strategy.

"Let me get up high," I ask almost immediately. "Taylor and I are both snipers, we're both ten times better up high than we are on the ground. They're putting her up, I know they are, I need to do the same."

Steve nods his consent, slipping into leader mode. "Right, Clint, get as high as you can. I need eyes. Tony…darn it. You're usually in the air."

"I know," Tony sighs. "As is Fabio over here. I can use a rifle easily enough though, and I make very good bait."

Steve shakes his head. "Thor makes better bait. Thor, how well can you use a weapon like that?"

"The Lady Stark tells me I am what is called 'a lousy shot,' and I have none of an idea what she means."

"She means you should stick to hammers," Tony and I explain, grinning at Taylor's words. "So we have bait."

"Who do you think they'll use?" Tony wonders aloud.

"Darcy, most likely," I decide. "Taylor's a sniper, Natasha's…well, Natasha, and Betty has a little bit of Army training."

Steve nods at my assessment. "So we each have one up high, two ground fighters, and bait. Tony, stay close to me. Clint, waste no time in gaining altitude. Thor, listen to my word exactly; I will tell you where to go and what to do. Got it?"

We all nod and quickly pull on our helmets, bracing at the door as the air horn blares. I'm right behind Tony as he exits, slinging my rifle over my back as I clamber up the shack, standing on the roof before sinking onto my stomach and crawling to peer over the edge. I'm about eight feet off the ground, and I can see about one hundred feet away and about 170 degrees around me without turning my head. I glimpse a flash of blonde hair behind a tree to my right, and I flash the 'OK' signal whether or not Steve can see me. Thanks to serum enhanced sight, however, he can, because he nods before waving in the direction of another tree and moving quickly to the east, Tony on his tail.

I can see Thor moving slowly through the course directly ahead of me, listening to the whispered commands from Steve as he makes a slow, serpent shaped pattern through the obstacles. The first glimpse I get of 'the enemy' is movement heading southwest in a sharper zigzag trail. I focus for a moment before recognizing Jane's intern and confirming my theory of Darcy-bait.

I fire the first two shots of the game at her, watching as she dives behind the nearest Styrofoam block and Steve orders Thor to take cover as she returns fire in their direction. The girls are wearing green forest camo while the boys wear plain black armor.

I line up my rifle and watch as Steve and Tony run for the trees to the east and are immediately met with a barrage of red paint. Tony's leg is hit, and I watch him tuck and roll behind Steve, returning fire by poking his rifle out from behind Steve's hip.

I fire upon a figure on the east side of the field, watching as the figure gets splattered with blue and faint Russian curses float on the wind. "Gotcha Nat," I murmur, before ducking my head in to avoid the red raining down around me. "Forgot she has a sniper too."

I line my rifle up as movement catches my eye to my two o'clock and I unleash a hailstorm on my target. Red explodes against them, but there's a moment of hesitation as to whether or not she's out.

"Paint check!" Darcy shouts, prying her helmet off.

"Someone else check her!" a familiar voice shouts. "This perch is comfy."

I set my rifle down and open my helmet to let my face breathe as a familiar red head jogs over to Darcy to check my hit. The converse for a moment before Natasha nods and Darcy raises her rifle over her head. "Hit!"

Natasha walks her off to the north, where the Dead Zone is. About five minutes later, a bullhorn squeals and Bruce's voice announces "Game is hot!"

I instantly smack my helmet back down and rest my rifle against my shoulder. The first shot of the game is aimed at Thor, red paint covering his visor. "I have been hit!" And another one hits the Dead Zone.

I curl slightly to avoid bullets coming from below, returning fire as soon as I'm able. There's a bit of rustling and then my immediate area falls quiet again and I take the chance to check up on Steve and Tony. I can see a bigger shape lying behind a block to my twelve o'clock and a shape just behind him braced against a tree.

Suddenly there's a pop and red covers Tony's hips and abdomen. He goes down, curling into a ball and giving pathetic mews.

"Time out!" Bruce calls via bullhorn. "Someone check Tony."

Steve sighs as he stands and walks over to his teammate, rolling him over and taking off his helmet. Tony has his eyes squeezed shut but he nods, and squeaks something to Steve, who nods and shouts "Yeah, he's hit alright. Taylor, I hope you didn't want siblings!"

I chuckle slightly as Steve helps Tony limp off the field, returning a few minutes later before Bruce calls time in and he scatters.

About half an hour later, by my internal clock, Steve, Betty, Natasha, Taylor and I are the only ones standing and the girls are slowly taking the field. Steve has been forced behind a bluff and I haven't moved.

There's a flash of movement and I fire instinctively, watching as Betty – I think – becomes a spot of blue against a tree. "Hit…hit multiple times, screw you," she grumbles as she trudges off.

I allow myself a mental victory cheer and a smirk as I readjust my grip on my gun. Suddenly, to my left, there's a howl, some rustling, and a thud. I look over to see Steve rolling down a hill. Tangled with another body. As they reach the bottom of the hill, the other person is revealed to be Natasha, who immediately kicks him away and splatters his back before he can get up.

"Hit," Steve sighs, raising his rifle and taking the walk of shame to the Dead Zone.

And then I'm cursing myself and my divergence from alertness because something wet is covering the right side of my head, fired from a gun level with mine. "Darn it, I'm out."

Everything falls silent for a moment before Bruce's bullhorn squeals again. "And that's a wrap! Lower your guns, I repeat, lower your guns! The winners are the girls!"

I jump off the roof of the shack, throwing my rifle over my shoulder as I make my way north, wiping the paint off my helmet as I do so. I emerge into the Dead Zone clearing and stop as I watch Tony wincing, curled into a ball as Darcy pats his head, Thor looking amused by the pair and Steve staring like he thinks they've lost their minds.

I laugh and shake my head as Natasha emerges from the trees, a smug grin on her face. "Hey hawk!"

"Yeah spider?"

"You owe me ammo for my victory."

I squint at her. "How does that make any sense?"

She shrugs.

Bruce scans the clearing, mumbling a head count under his breath. "Where's Taylor?"

I glance around at the team, meeting Tony's eyes as I don't see his daughter. "Taylor!" I cup my hands around my mouth. "You can come out now!"

There's a slight rustling sound coming from the trees behind me. "Get the Soviet Spider to put down the gun!"

I sigh and back up a few steps to lean back against a tree as Natasha sighs and sets her rifle on the ground, raising her hands, palm up.

There's more rustling, then "Hey Clint, catch!"

I barely have time to drop my rifle and brace myself before my arms are full of one hundred twenty pounds of Taylor. "Thank you," she grins as she pecks me on the cheek and hops down.

"No problem."

She grab he rifle from the tree's base and delivers it to the table, turning to face Natasha sheepishly. "Sorry about the mistrust there."

"It's okay," Natasha grins, "I wouldn't trust me either. Nice job, Sparrow."

"Thank you. Nice shot there with my dad."

"That was you?!" Tony interrupts. "Ow!"

Natasha just smirks and shrugs, not looking too sorry.

Steve groans as he stands. "Paintball hurts."

"It's also slightly awesome," Darcy counters, bouncing on her feet.

"Yeah," Steve concedes, "I'll give you that."

I grin as I take in the entire team: Steve with red drying on his back, Tony still walking awkwardly, Darcy grinning like a madwoman, Betty looking like Smurfette, Taylor with a peaceful small smile, Thor with red covering his chest and a goofy smile, and Natasha standing in the middle of it all, untouched.

I burst out laughing as the paint dries on my face, and nobody questions it; just eventually joining me in side-splitting laughter.