Pietro had woken up that day with an itch to run. Generally it happened a lot; while before mutating, he wanted nothing more than to laze and sit (as if his father would ever allow that) he now wanted nothing more than to sprint around at hyperspeed. It was somewhat addictive, seeing the world freeze as he continued to move at a regular pace.
In truth, he'd suspected that the peace wouldn't last. Nothing ever remained so stable, especially not in a situation like this.
Pietro had run around all day, sometimes dragging Clint along with him. He'd taken a few daring steps close to Reed's wall, but the thing was so tall now that he had to jump to see over it. This was no problem for Clint, who climbed like a cat. When Pietro tried, his reward had been a dusty backside and a large bruise.
Bored after a few minutes, he and Clint had travelled to Stonebridge, at normal pace, much to Pietro's irritation. He supposed he needed Clint's directions, but it was almost as if the archer was walking slowly on purpose.
Once he had reached the town, he had found it to be in much better shape than the one Reed had seized - the fire engines were being run, amazingly, and stores and market stalls had been set up, selling foods that the farmer's kids had brought in. Admittedly, the food was sparse and there was a lot of bartering, but the loud marketplace was much safer than the cold silence that lay over Reed's town like a heavy blanket.
"This is incredible," Clint had whispered under his breath. "Who organized this?"
Pietro shook his head in response, his eyes transfixed on a small stall selling odd-looking fruits. He hadn't seen food like this in weeks; the rationed non-perishables from down in his basement had grown boring even faster than the eggs had. That was not something he'd ever expected to think; the endless eggs had nearly driven him insane.
"I think that's who," Pietro pointed to a large, muscular boy (seriously, this guy looked even bigger than Steve) who stood next to a girl with odd-coloured hair and the strong air that Natasha gave off. They were marching towards Clint and Pietro.
When they reached them, Clint stuck out a hand, but neither took it. An awkward air leaking into the atmosphere, he lowered it.
"Who are you and why are you here?" The girl asked, her eyes narrowing. "Don't waste our time."
Clint turned to Pietro, who made a shrug motion. The archer rolled his eyes, irritated at being left to do the talking.
"My name is Clint and this is Pietro. We're from Tamworth." Clint explained, gesturing to the slightly tattered uniforms they wore. "We're just here to ask if everything's okay. God knows it's gone to shit in Tamworth."
"What has happened?" The girl's mouth pressed into a thin line. Pietro noticed that she refused to introduce herself or her companion, who just stood with his muscled arms folded.
"A boy named Reed and a being called Ultron have taken over, and are quarantining the town. The citizens are starving, and live in fear. He's set up a tall fence to keep out intruders." Clint explained, trying to keep his voice smooth.
"And why should we care about that?" The boy hissed, his now exposed voice deeper than Clint had thought.
Clint furrowed his brow. "You shouldn't. We're just here to see how everything is, because of how badly it's going in Tamworth."
The girl frowned. "Who is 'Ultron'?"
An idea formed in Pietro's mind. "You've got to see it to believe it. If you want to know, you'll have to head into the town centre. That's where he likely is."
Pietro did a wierd step backwards, then placed a hand on Clint's elbow, ready to drag him with him. The other two simply misread it as the boys being good friends.
"Some wild stuff is happening down there. You should really come and visit." With that, Pietro ran at full speed, hoping to leave them at least somewhat confused.
He stopped a few streets away, safely out of sight.
"Okay, now to do some thieving," Pietro grinned. He pulled the backpack he'd been carrying off of his shoulders.
"You came here before, didn't you?" The silver-haired trickster grinned, nodding.
The pair, having discussed a plan, broke off and split up. Pietro would use his speed to steal, whereas Clint was light handed and could easily saunter from stall to stall without being noticed.
In the distance, he saw brief flashes of blue, and grinned internally.
"There he is," Clint heard a voice say, and instantly shoved all the things he was carrying (small items, thank god) out of sight and swung around. The pair from earlier were bringing an auburn-haired boy, who was about as tall as Steve and Sam, over to him.
"My name is Peter Quill, and these two have introduced you as Clint. I run buisiness down here, in case you were wondering." The boy began. "I heard you had information on a character named Ultron? If you could be so kind, where could I find him?"
"You know who Ultron is?" Clint's brow furrowed.
"I've heard of him. And if I can strike a deal to keep this town safe, I'm going to." Peter retorted.
"How have you heard of him?"
"I have connections inside the wall. Friends, you might say."
"Ultron doesn't know about this town yet. You'll be safe for a while."
Peter shook his head. "Gamora here is one of the closest friends of Susan Storm, Reed's right hand woman. She's been feeding me information on Reed and Ultron, and their plans. Do you know what's going on down there?"
Clint shrugged. "As long as my friends and I are safe and out of harm's way, I don't really care."
"Peter, we should focus on more important things than this honourless traveller. He clearly has no values or morals if he's going to leave a town like that down there. We have confirmation that they're moving ahead quickly, and should attack soon."
"Wait, you guys are going to-"
Pietro barrelled into Clint at hyper speed pulling him away from the town centre and into a nearby field in mere seconds.
"Clint, we have to go," Pietro's voice was ragged and grave. "Now."