Lie To Me
Okay guys, I didn't get as much writing done this last weekend, at least not as much as I wanted too. However, we're making it to the end of this story. I'm estimating it being over in about three or four more chapters.
Thanks to all my readers who stuck with me!
Special thanks to my reviewers, you guys are the ones I'm writing for ^^: kimbee (lol, the drinking scene was one of the key scenes I wanted for this story. I think originally I wanted it to be more humorous but the angst seemed to fit a bit better), jaguarspot (lol, Pepper is out of the game, I'm not going to bring her back into this story. There is a very slight chance I'll write another story after this one in the same universe with her in it, but it's kind of doubtful at the moment. Thanks for your input!), sv4me (I might do a Clintasha story, if I had an interesting idea for it. Last one I did I think was Riot…), discordchick (lol, I agree, but mostly because alcohol isn't for me ^^ I'd rather spend my money on fancy coffee that tastes good!), Guest (I like explore this new side to Clint as well, its an interesting experience and I'm glad you're enjoying it as much as I am!), ZhaLenn (Sometimes I miss our old Clint as well…that's probably one of the reasons why I took a detour and wrote an episode/chapter of Antics ^^), thewriterstory (Aw! I'm so glad you like it! Thanks ever so much for reviewing! You are awesome!)
On to the story!
Chapter Eight
Steve cornered Clint after the movie. Clint could tell that Steve wasn't trying to corner him, but the results were the same. Steve followed him out and slipped into the elevator with him. A cage if Clint ever did see one.
"Look," Steve started by facing Clint, unintentionally blocking Clint from the only exit, not that Clint could get through it anyway since the doors were shut. "I get that not all your memories are great ones. And I understand not wanting to remember. There are times, less now than there used to be, when I wish I could forget the first twenty years of my life. All the people I lost and miss terribly, but I can't. That's who I am and that scrawny little kid made me who I am today."
Clint studied the ground, not wanting to hear what Steve had to say, but listening all the same.
"Clint." Steve begged, drawing Clint's eyes up to his. "I know you're afraid of your past. But who you used to be, whatever you did before, that person made you into the man I call 'friend.' You're strong for people who can't be and would give your life to keep them safe. Don't give up on yourself just yet."
The elevator dinged and the doors slid open revealing Steve's floor. Steve hesitated, waiting for a response.
Slowly Clint nodded. "I'll think about it." He offered. It was all he could do.
"That's all I ask." Steve responded, "Goodnight, Clint."
A few weeks later the Avengers were called to assemble.
Steve and Clint were in the gym getting ready to spar when the alarm sounded. Three loud screams of a siren followed by Jarvis's voice saying, "Avengers, assemble." It was the most enthused Clint had ever heard the robotic voice.
Clint glanced with a raised eyebrow at Steve who smiled grimly in reply. "Tony thought we needed a catch phrase." He explained and motioned for Clint to follow.
"Where are we going?" Clint asked curiously. He'd explored a little bit of the tower, but mostly stuck to the areas he'd been shown.
Steve looked at Clint over his shoulder and smiled. "Oh, you haven't seen the Panic room yet? Tony designed it after the whole Loki thing."
"Loki?" Clint parroted as they walked, he quickened his pace to match Steve's so they were side by side. "What's a Loki?"
"Um, I think that's a story for another time." Steve pointed in the direction they were turning down the hall. "Anyway, Tony was really enthusiastic about us all living together and saving the world as a team. And it is exciting. He rebuilt the tower as our headquarters, but this was his prized accomplishment."
They walked through the double doors together, entering into a large room full of flashy technology. Dozen's of flat screens lined the walls showing different news feeds, some in other languages with translations scrolling down at the bottom.
In the center of the room was a round table, well, sort of a table. It's top was a screen, like a computer with more information and images.
The other Avengers were already gathered around the round table and shyly Clint joined them. Tony flashed him a smile before he tapped on the Screen Table and activated some kind of holographic device. A three-dimensional image of what appeared to be some kind of robot formed in front of them, turning slowly so that everyone could see all of it's angles.
"These are the things currently attempting to destroy our lovely city." Tony announced. "Why everyone wants to destroy New York is beyond me. I mean, there are other places that are just as awesome they could destroy." He glanced at Clint. "We've dealt with robots similar to this before. It's actually fairly routine. A lot of idiots that create these things try to improve on the last idiot's design, but it doesn't always work out for them. These things are more annoying than dangerous."
A part of the machine, robot-thing was enlarged and started to glow. "This is the weak spot, boys – and girl." He nodded to Natasha who glared at him. "I'm sorry, woman?" Tony corrected with a grin.
Steve pressed on with the meeting. "So, aim for the spot behind their neck?" He pointed at the glowing part of the image.
"Basically, yeah." Tony nodded and then glanced at Clint. "You know, we could use another sharp shooter on this. Cap's shield lacks finesse and Widow's aim is for crap – ouch!" Tony yelped when Natasha smacked him on the back of the head. "What, it's true. You're kick ass at close hand combat but you're sloppy with your gun."
"I'll show you how sloppy I am." Natasha hissed in a low dangerous voice that made Clint step back even though he was nowhere close to her. There was no pain so Clint knew she wasn't exactly lying, but he also guess that she wasn't going to shoot Tony. Well, hopefully she wasn't going to shoot Tony.
Tony harrumphed and turned back to Clint. "Anyway, I can only be so awesome alone."
Clint froze and looked around the table at the eyes staring at him.
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Clint asked quietly.
Steve glanced at Natasha who glared, but kept quiet.
"It's a low threat, really." Steve offered calmly. "They're doing damage to the city but they aren't attacking people. It'll be more like moving target practice than a life or death battle."
Tony nodded enthusiastically, "Yeah, you'll be up high and it's not like you ever miss."
"Even if you did miss," Bruce jumped in, "That part of the city has been pretty much evacuated. You'll do fine, if you choose to help."
Clint nodded slowly before locking eyes with Natasha. "What do you think?"
Natasha looked at him and sighed out her anger. "It's your choice. If you think you are ready."
It wasn't really an answer, but Clint agreed. It was his choice. He wanted to help. Clint didn't like the idea of sitting around the tower, watching the news and waiting for his friends to return. Slowly he turned to Steve and nodded.
"Lets do it."
Tony clapped his hands together excitedly. "This is going to be fun. Let's get suited up."
"Clint, come with me." Steve motioned for Clint to follow. They moved over to the other side of the Panic room and Steve opened a compartment for Clint. "Put it on." He smiled encouragingly.
Clint took the material of his 'suit' in his hand and frowned. "This doesn't seem very protective." He commented, eyeing Steve worriedly.
Tony appeared on the other side of Clint, already wearing his Ironman suit. "It's actually more protective than your old suit was. I made some upgrades on the material. It acts like regular material to make it easier to move in but it'll stop a bullet. You'll still get a spectacular bruise, but you won't be dead."
"Not dead is good." Clint's eyes widened a bit in surprise.
"Not that you have to worry about getting shot." Steve said as he smacked Tony on the back of the head.
"Right, I'm just doing the shooting – with arrows." Clint sighed and slipped into the suit.
Steve nodded. "You don't have to do this if you don't want to." He added sincerely.
"I know." Clint grabbed the bow in the locker and slipped the quiver onto his back. "This is what we've been working toward, right? No time like the present to get back into the – um, game?"
"Totally a game." Tony patted Clint's shoulder gently. "Just point, aim and shoot."
"Let's get out there," Natasha barked from behind them. Her eyes were sharp and her arms were crossed over her chest with impatience. "The longer you guys stall the more damage those things are going to do to the city."
Steve sighed, but nodded. "Tony, take Clint and drop him off on a nice perch. We'll be there as soon as possible."
"Good thing the old-Clint taught you how to fly a Quinjet." Tony told Steve brightly as he motioned for Clint to follow him.
Clint frowned but followed after Tony. "What's a Quinjet?"
"Ooo," Tony sung. "I'll have to reintroduce you later. But for now, let's fly!"
They had reached Tony's official landing pad, but Clint wasn't quite prepared for what happened next. One minute they were talking and the next Tony grabbed the back of his quiver and launched them both into the air.
The world blurred by and it took a moment for Clint to realize he was flying. His stomach dropped as they soared into motion. High. So high if he were dropped Clint wouldn't even know he'd died when he hit the ground. Thankfully the whipping wind captured the whimper that crawled its way up the back of Clint's throat as he stared wide-eyed at the world below him.
After what felt like forever, Tony dropped him down on skyscrapers roof. Unable to keep his shaky legs straight underneath him Clint fell to his knees and promptly threw up.
"Holy crap," Tony landed, his faceplate thing slid back. "Sorry, you normally don't get motion sickness."
"I've done that before?" Clint asked incredulously.
Tony nodded. "You actually enjoy it. Sometimes you'd ask me to go flying for the hell of it. You okay?"
"I'm beginning to think the 'old-me' was insane." Clint growled and stood when something nearby exploded.
"We'll talk about it later. Just breathe, Hawkeye, you'll do fine." Tony reminded him confidently. "We've got your back." Tony smiled and his facemask slid back into place. "Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, It's off to work we go." Tony sang as he blasted off.
Once Clint had recovered, or at least didn't feel like the entire world started to spin in the opposite direction, he pulled an arrow from his quiver and moved to the edge of the building.
The city below was in chaos. There were robots everywhere. Most flying with the rest attached to various buildings causing destruction.
A roar caught his attention and Clint looked down just in time to see Banner walk into the fray and turn into – what the hell?
"Tony!" Clint called through the communication device. "Something happened to Bruce!" Clint felt his heart clench with fear, what if the robots were caring some horrible poison? How were they supposed to stop that?
"Uh? Bruce is fine." Tony's voice sounded confused. "Oh, oh, you mean, oh yeah, you've never met Hulk. Um, so that's Bruce's better half."
"Better half?" Steve's voice joined the conversation. "You'd better not say that to Bruce."
Tony made an insulted noise. "Oh please, Bruce isn't that sensitive. Mostly. Anyway, that's his, um, super power."
"His super power is turning into a huge green thing?" Clint frowned and watched as the green beast destroyed pretty much everything in its path. Including cars and lamp poles. Actually Bruce, Hulk, picked up one of the lamp poles and started using it as a bat, smacking the robots out of the air and laughing. "Um, he turns into a green beast. There's such thing as demi-gods. The world is a freaky place."
"Pretty much." Tony agreed, from where Clint stood he saw Ironman flying around, blasting robots with his suit.
"Okay," Clint took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Just point and shoot." He reminded himself lightheartedly as he pulled his arrow back on the taunt string and released.
The first arrow pierced the weak spot on the robots neck and the thing dropped. Okay, so that wasn't so bad. He could do this. Clint felt himself smile ever so slightly as he drew another arrow and took aim.
The heat of the battle had Clint's heart on overdrive. It pounded against the inside of his chest as he nocked back each arrow and released it. The feeling wasn't panic, but it was hard to place at first. The closest way to describe it was pure exhilaration.
It was like coming home. Clint had never felt more comfortable doing something in his life. The feel of the edge of the building, the confidence he had in his bow and aim. The sense of victory and accomplishment Clint felt every time an enemy dropped from the sky told him something about himself.
This was where he was meant to be.
Reviews and reviewers are loved!
