Chapter Sixteen

Clint looked at the tennis match, without really seeing it. Every now and then he worked out which player in white shorts they were supporting then the swapped ends and he lost the plot of it. Juliette had fallen asleep, as far as he could tell from his new position. Natasha had come in silently, moving him from the chair by the bed to the one at the foot of it, all without asking him to move.

They all turned, Juliette apparently had been asleep and Phil wasn't quite enough in coming in to keep her that way. Another reminder that healing took time.

"The council's reached a decision," he announced, sitting in the chair Natasha had automatically vacated in favour of perching on the bed. "They've called Captain Rogers to the Helicarrier. They're giving him Champion Status." They looked at each other in silence for a long moment.

"That's good, right?" Clint asked. "Bruce is safe, and Steve's happy that he gets to keep the team." It would also possibly put to rest any threat of someone cutting his brain out after Loki, which had always been a possibility. "What's the catch?" It was the council, there was always a catch.

"Captain Rogers will be responsible for anything any member of his team does. Any deaths, damage, anything. He'll pay for anything Stark, or Banner, possibly even you two do." Clint felt some of the blood drain from his face and the girls looked equally shocked. Steve could now be held accountable for Bruce losing control, for Tony's stupid stunts and, Clint paled further, him losing his mind again. The council could shut the Avengers down in a heartbeat by simply choosing one of the various crimes they had committed and locking Steve up. That was the price of their independence.

"So that's Ross' argument settled once and for all?" asked Natasha. "Good. Do they know?"

"The Captain doesn't know yet, Fury's explaining it to him there. We'll let him break it to the team. Banner should be pleased."

"And Fury?" Natasha, Clint noticed was somehow managing to simultaneously look at Phil next to her whilst not turning her back on Juliette the other side.

"I think he's fine with it, there's little chance Hornet will be invited and he trusts the Captain. In a way, his only problem was Hornet and now she's hopefully been excluded from any team he might think to build." Phil gave Juliette a little nudge, getting a nod in return to check that she was alright.

"Stark isn't convinced," Natasha said quietly.

"Doesn't matter, Banner is safe to stay and we have to focus on keeping the rest of you out of trouble. Stark, Banner, even Thor if he turns up. And I don't know how far the blame stretches to you two. Missions, maybe, if they go wrong." Clint paled slightly at Phil's words. "But that is slightly ridiculous; at least I'd hope so."

They sat in silence for a while, half watching the tennis although Juliette, who was the only one paying attention kept drifting off to sleep. Clint got up, he knew he had some training to do and Phil would still be talking if there was anything worth telling them. Only Phil turned around as he left, without a word.

Clint passed the living room on his way to his room to grab his bow, his sense automatically picked up the presence of people in there.

"You're sure about it?" Bruce was asking. "He didn't stop at legalities before."

"It puts you permanently out of his reach, which gives us more room to move." Clint paused at Hill's voice and wondered if Tony would be the only person Steve had to break the news to. Hill's presence didn't make sense though, she was stationed in New York for the time being, until they caught Hornet he assumed, but she didn't have an excuse for being at the tower, he thought. "Rogers will explain it again, I'm sure. I should return to base, lunch hour's over." Clint carried on round the corner as he heard them move.

"I'll walk you down," he heard Bruce offer and headed towards his room before they came out into the corridor. Hill didn't even sit with other agents in the canteen, he'd never seen her there, except for the odd time when she formed part of the little ex-army group that occasionally got together. It was the same with Fury, and some of the other top directors. They couldn't come onto the same level as those beneath them. Now she was apparently spending lunch at the tower, which was an undisclosed distance from the New York base. Clint got his bow and once he reached the tiny range built to test Stark's suit, he hit the tiny dots perfectly one after the other.

"Barton," Phil's voice came through, less than an hour later. "Hornet's surfaced. We're all going to Miami." Miami, Clint frowned. Florida, that was so close to where Greyhound had been.

"Yes, sir." By all, he assumed Phil meant the four of them but as he neared the lift he saw Bruce and Tony there as well, Steve appeared only to do a U-turn after grabbing his shield. Clint looked from Phil's schooled blank expression to the various half hidden frowns from Tony and Steve. Bruce looked more nervous than anything.

"Our aim isn't to kill her," Steve told them all firmly. "Just to stop her." He must have caught the slightly blank gazes he was getting from Clint and Bruce. "Hornet is controlling people and somehow creating a general fight at Miami airport. The police are trying to contain it, but she's getting to them as well. So far, no causalities."

"Publicity stunt?" Natasha asked Tony.

"She kicked England's ass, you hate her, we get it," he snapped back.

"Enough." Phil and Steve had managed to say the same thing to shut them up, and Clint almost laughed at their identical expressions. Steve looked at the shorter agent in surprise and Phil's ears had gone one shade redder. Clint heard two distinct chuckles from either side of him as the lift went down.

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And I return. Thanks to everyone who reviewed so far