A/N: I'm SO, SO SORRY that it took me this long to come back to this story! For some readers a couple of infuriating plot-things kept fighting a war in my head. BUT, here I am! Yay…?

FIRST, though… THANK YOU, from the bottom of my heart, for all your reviews and support! They're what resurrected this tale. (HUGS)

Awkay, because I've kept you waiting after leaving you on an EVIL cliffhanger… (winces) LET'S GO! I REALLY hope that you'll enjoy the ride.

Full Potential

/ By the time he was eight Clint had seen his father drunk enough times to recognize the signs. And to know that they never meant good news. So, when his parents appeared to pick him up from a park he knew that he was in a trouble. Not only did he sneak out when he wasn't supposed to, but he also stayed too long. He was definitely in a trouble.

If only he knew just how bad things were going to get…

Later Clint remembered only brief glimpses of what came next. A look of fury on his father's face. A sting of pain on his cheek. His mother crying while she hugged him too tightly. She muttered that she thought they'd lost him, that they took him, and for decades to come he'd wonder why. Clint also remembered Barney scolding him over being an idiot. It wasn't until he was an adult Clint recognized what he saw in the older boy's eyes.

Fear, sheer terror – and he always thought that Barney wasn't afraid of anything.

The clearest of Clint's memories was, however, how it all came to an end. His father's driving was reckless and dangerous to begin with. Then, while the man was still berating his younger son over running away, something hit the vehicle. The impact was devastating. They spun around and around and around, like in some twisted version of a carnival ride.

The world went black for a while. And when it began to rush back in Clint's ears were ringing painfully. He felt sick to his stomach and terrified out of his mind. It was too dark to see properly and it was raining. The water was warm, sticky and tasted funny. (As an adult he'd recognize that as the taste of blood.) Nothing made any sense and he wanted to cry, no matter how many times his father and brother had told him it was ridiculous. He wanted to scream, call out to his parents, so much that it hurt physically. But such was out of the question when he could barely breathe. Moving was equally impossible.

The child lost consciousness to the end of his world. /

It was a thunderstorm of chaos. As soon as they could be certain that there'd be no more flames medical professionals rushed in, determined to help Clint before it'd be too late. In the off chance that it wasn't too late already. Tony didn't realize that he was holding his breath until he began to feel dizzy. The thought of losing one of his few actual, genuine friends like this…

The nightmare seemed to last a lifetime. Definitely long enough for Tony to lose hope. The way it finally ended was almost anticlimactic.

Just as the medical team was planning on pushing a tube down his throat Clint gasped. Like someone who'd been diving for a very long time. A few unhealthily rapid heartbeats later the archer opened his eyes. Slowly but effortlessly. There was a degree of confusion in Clint's gaze but no bleariness or pain.

Dr. Cho recovered from shock first and stepped forward. "Agent Barton?" She shone light into his eyes. "Clint? Can you hear me?"

Clint blinked once. Then again, very slowly. "Yeah", he wheezed.

"Good." She put away the penlight when it became apparent that it hurt him and he was responsive. "Do you know where you are?" Another faint nod was the only response she got. Him being so quiet was unnerving. "Do you remember what happened?"

Clint shook his head. Then frowned. And again. "I… ah… thought…" He looked around the best as he could, obviously trying to find someone. Then shook his head once more. "Guess I had a weird dream."

By then Clint seemed far more aware of all the people gathered around him. His muscles began to tense up. Dr. Cho seemed to notice as well because she gave her team a subtle hand signal to back off.

Clint's brows furrowed as he fought a war to concentrate. "Doc? What's going on?"

Dr. Cho sighed heavily. "We had an intruder. According to surveillance footage she succeeded in injecting you with something. My team already has blood samples they're working on, so we'll find out what it was."

Clint seemed far from reassured. Tony couldn't blame him. First getting captured and having his body altered permanently… And now this. The billionaire himself was painfully tense, waiting for the next blow to come.

Dr. Cho didn't seem to notice her patient's discomfort. All her attention was on the machinery reporting the archer's vitals. There was surprise on her face.

"Doc?" Alarm was loud and clear in Clint's eyes. "Please don't tell me that I'm growing extra body parts of something."

"Everything… looks better. No miracles or anything, but… You're stabilizing." She frowned, clearly and understandably not quite understanding. "Your body seems to be adapting. I'm… not sure if it has something to do with the substance given to you."

Clint's tension didn't ease. Despite having been basically dead only moments earlier the man's hands fisted so hard that his knuckles turned white. "'was that stuff?" the archer rasped. Clearly exhausted to the bone but too stubborn and wired up to give up just yet.

Dr. Cho's smile was that of sympathy. "We'll know more when the blood test results are ready. For now… Let's just keep an eye on you. You need to report anything that feels unusual."

Clint emitted a bizarre noise. Tony recognized it as a chuckle less than a second before he would've panicked. "Nothing usual 'bout this."

By then Tony had finally caught his own breath and composure. After inhaling deeply he entered the space where his friend and the doctor were. "We should've known that you'd get yourself into a trouble if we leave you alone for a minute."

While Dr. Cho left, holding back a smirk, Clint pouted. "'gonna yell."

"Hell yeah, I'll do some yelling. You'll make me go gray one day and it's not my color. But maybe this one wasn't entirely your fault." It was pretty hard to stay mad at someone who looked so miserable and unwell. Tony, of course, wasn't about to express as much out loud. "Now nighty night, Tweetie. We'll have a fun little conversation when you feel better."

Clint rolled his eyes. Or then just fought against sleep. "… 'ry reassuring."

"Less sarcasm and more sleep, Grumpy Pants."

Tony fully expected Clint to continue protesting. Instead, however, the archer yawned and curled up as much as he could, then fell asleep. Apparently even tough super-agents had their limits.

Tony himself couldn't relax. Which wasn't a surprise with the mental image of his friend dying playing itself over and over again in his head. His friend almost died because the Tower's security system failed. He had no idea how he'd ever overcome that bitter fact. For now… For starters… He'd sit there and keep watch. Whatever it'd take to make sure that Hydra wouldn't get anywhere near his friends again.

First Bruce and Clint were both captured. Then someone was able to nearly kill Clint right under his nose. He'd have to up his game.

"How's the trouble magnet doing?"

Natasha's voice succeeded in making Tony jump. He swallowed in a futile attempt to get rid of the bitter taste in his mouth. "His vitals are stable. And it looks like his temperature is going down. He's sleeping now. The poor guy seriously needs it." He took a breath, trying to convince himself that everything would work out. "You waiting for a chance to yell at him for finding trouble?"

Natasha's eyes darkened and narrowed. "I'm done with yelling." She hid it almost perfectly but he could see just a tiny hint of the emotional turmoil Red Room hadn't braced her for. "Trying to keep that guy alive is incredibly exhausting."

In that moment Tony felt deep sympathy towards her as he realized that she'd been Clint's friend and partner for who knows how much longer than he had. He preferred not even imagining how many times she'd had the archer almost dying on her. "Any word on the woman who sneaked in?"

"No." The look on Natasha's face would've brought chills down anyone's spine. "She was caught on security footage but there's nothing about her in any database." She wasn't done seeking, of course. Wouldn't be until she'd find that woman. "Bruce and Cho are still working on trying to figure out what was given to him."

'Still'? Tony checked the time. Where did four hours go? "And what are we gonna do?" Because he was really, really bad at sitting around doing nothing. Especially when he was… worked up. "Sit here and look pretty?"

"… take a shower …" Clint's eyes opened slightly while the archer's nose wrinkled. "… stink …"

Tony snorted. "Don't try to be a critic when you're barely conscious, Legolas", he advised. "Besides, it's not like you'd smell of roses, either."

"Stinky."

"Sparky."

"Shut it, both of you!" Natasha growled eventually. She cast a glare that would've urged anyone to obey at them. "Clint, sleep. Now. Tony, get yourself something to do before you drive us both insane."

"Hey, what are you yelling at me for? He started it!" Tony was entirely too aware of how childish that sounded. He even pointed an accusing finger at Clint, who did a spectacularly bad job at pretending that he was asleep.

Natasha's frosty glare sent the billionaire running. As soon as the man had left she groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose. This was going to be such a long day…

In a nearby laboratory Bruce and Dr. Cho almost had their heads pressed together while they examined Clint's test results. If it wasn't for the deep frowns on their faces their interaction might've been mistaken for being romantic. "What is half of that stuff?" Bruce finally exclaimed, shaking his head.

Whatever it was that coursed through Clint's bloodstream… Neither of them had ever encountered such a substance before. Which meant that they also had no way of predicting the damage it might cause.

Dr. Cho sighed heavily. "Hydra's been around for decades, most of that time without pretty much anyone interfering. They've had plenty of time to come up with the kind of substances we can't even imagine." She shook her head with confusion. "Whatever it was… It helped him adjust. Maybe it even saved his life."

Bruce's brows furrowed. Why would someone from Hydra take the risk of sneaking into the Avengers Tower to save Clint's life? He filed that thought away quickly, at least for a while. For now the archer was alive and somewhat stable. For now they'd focus on keeping him that way.

And… Then there was a tiny piece of information he'd almost forgotten in the middle of all the chaos. Bruce bit his lower lip, wondering how to set his words. "So… You said that his genetic code was different even before… all this?"

Dr. Cho nodded. "I've met a few people with similar alterations. They call themselves mutants."

"Mutants", Bruce murmured. Tasting the word. He remembered hearing about them but always imagined that it was just nonsense, rumors and conspiracy theories from decades ago. He frowned. "Why didn't he tell us before?"

"My guess is that he didn't know. It doesn't seem like his abilities activated before just now and there's no telling how they were affected by whatever Hydra did to him. That's why it's all taking such a toll on his body." Dr. Cho worried her lower lip. "Bruce… Not all mutants have adapted well to a life alongside humans. They're feared, and even the government has done horrible things to them. This has to stay with the team."

Finally having fallen into a proper sleep, Clint slumbered for twelve hours. He woke up with a headache and feeling painfully restless. Staying in bed, wondering what was coursing through his veins, wasn't an option.

Natasha, his babysitter at the time, didn't seem pleased when he climbed out of the bed with the flexibility of a ninety-year-old and stretched with a loud groan. "Really? And where do you think you're going, Speedy?"

Clint aimed his best pleading look towards her. "One more hour in that bed and I'll go crazy." Her intensifying glare made him go on. "Tasha, I'm thinking about watching 'Bold and Beautiful' with Steve! It's bad!"

Natasha rolled her eyes with no sympathy. "Barton, do not Tasha me. It isn't working after you were clinically dead yesterday. And you only just woke up!"

With how stubborn they both were the argument could've continued for ages. But just then Clint smelled something, his newly sharpened senses making his head swim. Smoke. With a flare of alarm he wondered if the smell came from the Tower, until he realized that it was from somewhere further away and the building's fire alarm systems hadn't activated.

"Clint?" Someone who knew Natasha as well as he did spotted the almost perfectly hidden worry on her face. "You okay?"

He was about to answer when the screaming began. Panic. Hysteria.

'Alex, the baby…!'

Clint knew that he was an idiot. That he was probably making a mistake. But he'd never been the type that based his decisions on common sense. Especially when someone needed him.

The room they currently occupied had firmly sealed, fireproof windows. So Clint sprinted into the room next to it, moving much faster than he should've been able to. Did he… recover faster, now? He'd have to report that to Bruce and Cho.

Natasha walked in just when he'd managed to push the incredibly heavy window open. (Not his favorite method of leaving a place, but he wasn't sure he'd be able to take off past all the Avengers and the Tower's security systems.) She seemed about as impressed as he'd expected. "What the hell are you doing?" she snarled.

Clint aimed a sheepish smirk towards her, knowing all too well how little it'd help. "Sorry. I'll be back soon." With that he performed a stunningly accurate, effortless jump to a fire escape, then began to slide downwards gracefully.

"BARTON…!" He took comfort in not having to hear the rest. Even if a very annoying voice in the back of his head reminded him that he would have to, eventually.

Clint was running the second his feet hit the pavement. Like the cardiac arrest he only just suffered happened in some parallel universe. He ran four blocks without getting even the slightest bit out of breath and saw thick smoke coming out of an apartment building. The new scents in the air revealed what happened, far more efficiently than listening to the chaotic hoard of screaming and shouting people gathered outside.

A meth lab exploded. And two… no, three floors lower a baby was crying, screaming hysterically. No one seemed to know whose child it was. To Clint it didn't matter. He ran, dove into the smoke and hungry flames. And wondered if he was completely out of his mind.

Thaddeus Ross was just on his way to an important meeting and he was already late. The last thing he needed was his secretary's high pitched, nasal voice. "Sir?" The young man with greasy hair and pimple-filled face stared at him with wide blue eyes. "You've gotta see this!"

The 'important matter' that threated to delay Ross even further was a YouTube video. He was about to let the boy hear exactly how he felt about using internet for personal purposes during business hours. Until he focused on the footage and found his eyebrow bouncing up with keen interest.

Several other camera phones were also pointed at a building that'd been engulfed by flames. It was creaking, which was a sure sign that it wouldn't stand for long. The smoke was incredibly thick, toxic. It seemed so dangerous and unstable that Ross wasn't sure if even firefighters would've risked going in. The building was beyond rescuing and there was no way anyone could come out of it alive. So what were those people…?

Loud, shocked chatter began when a shadow could be seen at the building's main entrance. Then a nearly naked man stumbled out. Alive, at least for now, but practically doubled over. Due to extreme injuries, Ross concluded at first. Until he realized that the man was shielding something. Or someone. Slowly, finally far away enough from the poisonous smoke and deadly flames, the man straightened to reveal a baby. Perfectly safe thanks to his or her human shield, and the moist clothe that'd been pressed gently against the baby's face to avoid smoke inhalation.

Instantly several people, including paramedics, rushed to check up on the baby. Ross' whole focus was on the rescuer. Because despite dust and smoke-stains he was able to recognize the completely unharmed man who definitely should've been dead after a trip to the inferno.

Clint Barton.

Ross' skin and whole body tingled as he began to walk away. "If you'll excuse me…" Suddenly the meeting didn't feel so important anymore.

As soon as Thaddeus had found a secure enough place he took his phone and dialed. He wasted no time on pleasantries when the one he called picked up. "What did you do to Barton?"

A woman, the same he asked to visit the Tower, chuckled. "I improved him, Thaddeus. To his full potential. Just like I once promised I would. Remember?"

/ It took a while before emergency personnel got to where the Bartons crashed. The first thing they found was a glassy eyed boy who'd clearly been in an accident. "They're dead", was all the child succeeded in uttering. "Mom… Dad… Clint… They're all dead."

With chills running down their spines the paramedics continued onwards. A small distance away they found the charred remains of a badly damaged car. The unmistakable, stomach turning stench in the air revealed that they'd come too late for some of the passengers. But somehow, remarkably, not for all of them.

There, in the middle of fire-kissed metal, was a little boy. Bruised, battered and unconscious. But while the flames had stolen his clothes, they hadn't been able to harm the child.

Walter Meade had been driving an ambulance for over a decade. But what was in front of his wide eyes that very day… It was the most baffling thing he'd ever seen.

In the middle of the chaos no one noticed the two people observing the tragedy from afar. They stood perfectly still, like two shadows or those monsters children claim are hiding under their beds. By the time the police and men in expensive black suits appeared they were long gone. /

TBC

A/N: SOOOO… Some 'full potential', huh? But now he's a viral YouTube hit. I wonder how much trouble that'll cause… And WHAT are Ross and that woman planning? And who is she?

Was that worth the wait? At all? PLEASE, let me know! Hearing from you ALWAYS makes my day.

Until next time, folks! May that be A LOT faster than this one. (smirks sheepishly) I really hope that you'll all join in for that one!

Take care!

SomeRandomHuman: LOL! The 'not 100 percent human' is a my very own plot-twist for this tale. Clint Barton is special enough to not even need super-powers to fight BIIIIIG baddies! (smiles fondly)

I REALLY hope that you'll enjoy what's to come as much!

Colossal thank yous for the review! Until next time.