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The Hawk Incident: Part Two


"You have got to be kidding me!" Banner shouted as he tripped towards the wall. He caught himself against the plaster and stood looking up at the open vent. This could not be happening. It seriously couldn't. They had managed to lose Clint, who was not only injured but currently a bird.

Unfortunately because of Clint's odd obsession with hiding in the ventilation system, most of the vents were left open for him to have easy access. Bruce had never really given it a second thought before this moment. Now, however, the doctor regretted making things easy for Barton to distance himself from others.

The two scientists could hear the distant sounds of franticly fluttering of wings and dull metallic thuds as Hawkeye made his escape from their captivity.

"Well, its official." Tony grumbled as he picked himself up from the ground and brushed off invisible flakes of dust from his shirt. "That is definitely Clint. Only Barton would use the air vents as a viable escape route."

"He clearly doesn't understand we're trying to help." Banner sighed before sticking his throbbing finger back into his mouth. "Go in there after him."

Stark turned his eyes from the vent to Bruce. "What? No way! You crawl in there. You're the one who dropped him!"

"He bit me!" Banner hissed back as he revealed his red and swollen thumb.

"So you keep saying!" Tony shouted back defiantly.

A bit of green flashed in Bruce's eyes as he growled an un-human growl. "I don't think you want me crawling around in small spaces right now. That is, unless you were planning on redecorating your tower. Again."

The billionaire snorted, but deflated as he sighed in acceptance. "Fine, give me a boost."

After several awkward and failed attempts, Bruce finally pushed Stark up into the vents. "Ugh, Clint makes this look so easy." Gracelessly Tony inched his way after the wayward hawk. "Damn it, how did Barton get so far in front of me? He's freaking injured!"

"Well, he is considerably smaller than you are." Bruce's faint voice pointed out from the opening located somewhere behind the billionaire.

Tony stopped in his tracks and glanced over his shoulder. "Did you seriously just call me fat?"

There was a long pause.

"No." Banner denied finally, not sounding sincere.

"I think you just totally just called me fat!" Stark complained loudly.

"Tony, Clint's getting away!" Banner's voice drifted up through the opening.

With a grunt and a frustrated sigh, Tony continued to army crawl through the vent. "This is so not over." He grumbled to himself.

"You won the bet," Bruce called out again, a chuckle laced his words. "Just keep telling yourself you're still getting ten dollars."

"Next time, you're crawling after Clint." Stark shot back as he turned around a corner.

Bruce snorted. "Okay Tony," Banner deadpanned. "The next time Clint is mysteriously turned into an actual hawk and escapes into the vents, I will crawl in after him."

Stark continued to grumble to himself as he soldiered forward. Moving further away from Bruce and his exit. After what felt like forever crawling in the claustrophobic space, Tony made one final turn and came face to face with the hawk's beady glare.

"There you are, you little bastard." Tony's own eyes narrowed in a calculated way.

"Now, we can either do this the easy way – " Before Tony could finish the rather cliché statement the bird lunged forward and bit Stark right on his nose.

A scream echoed throughout the vents back to where Bruce stood.

"Tony?" The doctor asked timidly as he listened to what sounded like an intense and violent battle happening somewhere above him and out of sight. There was no reply, just more grunts, squawks and growls. The loud and somewhat disturbing noises of the fight between man and bird continued for a minute longer before everything became eerily silent.

"Tony?" Bruce repeated, a little more desperate.

"I got him!" Tony's disembodied voice floated back through the mouth of the vent.

"Okay," Bruce closed his eyes and let out the breath he had been holding. "Okay, wanna come back and join me, then?"

"Working on it." Came the strained reply. Twenty minutes later Tony emerged from the vent backwards with the small hawk in hand.

Bruce barely held back his snicker. There were angry red scratches all over the billionaire's face – his nose was twice its normal size and deep shade of red.

"This," Tony gestured to his face while still holding the struggling hawk firmly in his hands. "Is not funny, Banner." The billionaire shot a deadly glare towards his friend.

"Oh, but it is." Bruce laughed more openly. "Remind me to high five Clint when we turn him back into a human. You know, so he has hands." Still laughing Bruce pulled out his iphone and took a snapshot of Tony and hawk-Clint.

"I don't know," Tony growled with a dramatic roll of his eyes. His tone was a bitter with the promise of revenge. "You could try high fiving his talons, Hawkeye is quite good at using them."

"I noticed." Bruce shied away from the vicious little hawk when Tony lifted the animal closer to the doctor's face. "However, I'd rather my hands not end up looking like your face."

"Ha freaking haha." Tony deadpanned with a shaper glare as Banner press the button for the elevator.

The ding signaled the elevator's arrival and the doors parted. The two scientists and their captive hawk traveled down to the main level.

"We need to find a safe place for our feathered friend." Tony announced with a glare fixed on the still struggling animal. "Does he ever give up?"

"Tony, it's Clint Barton." Banner smirked. "He never learned the definition of 'giving up.'"

"There has never been a truer statement." The billionaire agreed and held up the hawk again. "All right, what are we going to do with him? I for one don't want to keep this ticking time bomb in my hand."

Bruce snickered again. "What, is Ironman afraid of a little hawk?" The good doctor mocked playfully in a baby-talk tone.

The billionaire's eyes narrowed sharply. "This is not just any hawk, this is a master assassin hawk, thank you very much." Tony huffed defensively, pointedly holding the Hawk as far away from his body as possible. "If I agree that I am slightly afraid of his skilled use of talons, can you please come up with a solution?"

The two stared at one another, Clint struggling in Tony's hands as they thought of a safe place to store the archer until he could be cured.

Finally Bruce shook his head. "Well, unless you have a birdcage lying around the tower I don't see – "

"I've got an idea," Tony suddenly interrupted his human companion. "It just might work too!" Stark held Clint out to Bruce. "You take him."

"Yeah, that worked out so well last time." Bruce glared, backing away from Stark and the angry bird. "Look," the doctor settled on compromising. He wasn't about to touch the hawk again. Not unless it was absolutely necessary. "It shouldn't be too hard to find something to stick him in." Bruce backed up a step further. "A box with holes would even work."

"Wait," Tony's straightened up a bit. If this were a cartoon, Bruce would imagine a light bulb would be turning on above the genius's head. "I do have a birdcage. Or rather Pepper does. I got her a canary a year ago. I think the cage is still in the back of her closet. It's kind of small, but it should work for now."

The new information caused Bruce to frown pensively. "Should I be afraid to ask what happened to the canary?"

"Uh, maybe. I honestly don't actually know." Tony dropped a shoulder casually. "Pepper never told me. I totally forgot all about it."

Banner shook his head slowly. "We need to turn Clint back soon, I don't think he's going to survive as a hawk in your care."

"What about your care?" Tony shot back irritably.

The doctor shrugged. "I had a dog once." The tone Bruce used told Tony the dog's fate hadn't been pleasant. "In my defense I told it not to run out into the street."

"We need to turn him back." The billionaire agreed after a short pause. "Go get the cage."

As it turned out Clint's love for small places only applied to the air vents. The bird struggled and cried as Tony shoved it into the cage. Tony's heart actually broke for the creature.

"It's the best place for him." Banner offered Stark condolence as they locked the cage's door shut.

It was a rather girly looking cage, more decorative than anything else. The poor hawk barely had room to move, yet it still banged it's battered body against the small bars in desperation as he continually tried to obtain freedom.

The two scientists stared down at their feathered friend for a moment longer before moving to the lab. Tony set the cage down on the counter next to his workspace and contemplatively stared at the hawk.

Clint's black eyes stared back at the scientist, suddenly eerily still and quiet.

"Bruce, how the hell are we going to fix this?" Tony asked finally. "I mean, he's a freaking hawk. That's not natural."

"Obviously." Banner deadpanned, then deflated with a sigh. They studied their teammate in his cage. At least the hawk had stopped throwing itself against the bars. Probably tired and in pain judging by the way he shook and trembled.

"Could be pent up rage though," Tony muttered to himself after his observations.

"Huh?" Bruce raised an eyebrow at the billionaire.

"Nothing." Stark rubbed a hand over his face. "My brain's dead."

The two fell silent again, unsure of how to move forward. Finally Bruce sighed. "Let's draw some blood, maybe we'll find something."

"Like what? Green cells of gamma radiation?" Tony mocked. "Blue cells of magic?"

"I was thinking something more on the lines of strange compounds that could be broken down and reversed. Really, anything we can find to change him back would be helpful. Don't you think?"

Tony sighed. "Yes."

"Good." Banner grunted moving over to grab an empty syringe. "Here." The doctor said, trying to hand the syringe to Tony.

"Oh hell no, I had to go into the vent. You draw it's blood!" Tony said, stepping back with his hands up in defense.

Banner's eyes narrowed, but he signed. "Fine." It was fair enough, at least now the Hawk was stuffed in a cage. Still, Bruce cringed as he neared the creature, he didn't want to hurt the little thing any more than it was.

"What are you guys doing?" Clint's voice asked suddenly. Both Bruce and Tony's heads snapped from the caged bird to each other. Simultaneously the duo looked from each other back to the hawk.

"You heard that too?" Tony asked, voice astonished. Bruce nodded mutely.

"Uh, guys?" Clint's voice sounded again, the hawk's head tipped as the question was presented.

"How long have you been able to talk?" Tony asked through the bars of the cage, eyes focused directly on the hawk.

"Since I was a kid, should I be concerned that you two are talking to a bird?" Clint asked mockingly.

Tony turned and blinked, his eyes seeing but his mind hardly excepting that Clint was leaning against the door of the lab. Whole and completely human. "What? But you – " Tony sputtered, hand pointing towards the caged bird. "You, and then we were going to fix you?"

"When was the last time you two slept?" Barton questioned worriedly, moving closer to get a better look at the captive animal.

Bruce was just staring, jaw hanging open at Clint.

"Bruce? You alright?" Barton asked, his concern spiking up a notch.

Blinking Banner nodded. "Sleep, actually sounds really good right about now."

Tony was still in denial, "But Jarvis said you weren't in the tower!"

"I left. I had to go into SHIELD for a while, I didn't think it would take very long so I didn't tell you guys." Clint raised an eyebrow as he watched the billionaire deflate.

"Well, I feel stupid." Tony sighed, collapsing into a nearby stool.

"Um, so what do we do with him?" Bruce asked suddenly, pointing at the bird, who was currently staring at Clint.

"First, you should probably let the poor thing out of the cage." Clint said, moving forward to open the cage door.

"Clint, no!" Bruce and Tony yelled at the same time, but it was too late. The cage door was open and the demon hawk was now free. It didn't, however, attack. Instead it just hopped on Clint's offered wrist and glared at the two scientists.

"Oh," Tony's expression changed to one of pure exasperation. "Of course it likes birdbrain."

The little hawk hissed at the billionaire, causing Clint to chuckle lightly. "You two should get some sleep." He shook his head, "and Tony, Bruce should really take look at your face. It looks like you got in a fight with something sharp and lost."

"Laugh it up, Feathers, but that bird is pure evil. He'll get you when you least expect it." Tony warned. "Come on Bruce, I think we deserve the rest of the day off."

Banner nodded, giving the hawk a weary look before he suddenly brightened. "Hey Tony, you know what this means, right?"

"That the hawk is Clint's problem now? Yeah."

"No," Bruce grinned evilly. "I win the bet, you owe me ten dollars."

A loud groan left the billionaire's lips and without another word he left the labs.


Hope you enjoyed ^^