Remember that time Chapter 77: Soldiers, an avengers fanfic

Chapter 77-Soldiers

By: MysticFantasy

"Good times. Strange times." Clint said.

"Strange? Remember when certain soldiers were drafted?" Tony reminded.

l~*~*~*~*~*l~*~*~*~*~*l~*~*~*~*~*l

Clint propped his head up with his hand to keep himself from falling onto the glass table he and the Avengers were sitting at.

Fury had called them for a metting but, so far, the archer was just trying not to fall asleep and had lost interest, and attention, in the topic about two minutes after it started.

His hearing picked up the sound of doors opening but he quickly dismissed it since people were always coming and going.

But that quickly changed and instincts from years ago kicked in.

"At attention soldiers!"

Before he knew it, he was on his feet, back straight, arms at his side and staning at perfect attention. A quick glance to his right and Clint saw that Steve had copied his same actions. Not only that but a few other SHIELD agents around the bridge were standing at attention.

A sudden appearance by a sharply dressed general told Clint why his old Army instincts kicked in.

"Nice to know there are still real soldiers here." the general said. "As you were everyone."

Clint and Steve relaxed and returned to their seats and the general walked over to Fury.

"General Wilson, nice to see you, sir." Fury said as he shook hands with the man.

"Director Fury, nice to see you as well. I'm also very impressed to see so many of your people who served still have their military training drilled into them."

"Many of them keep their original training no matter how much new training they get or how much time has passed." Fury stated. "To what do I owe the honor of your visit?"

"This." the general answered as he handed the director a piece of paper. "It's orders directly from the president himself saying that we need as many armed forces over seas for a serious matter. All those who just stood at attention will be coming with me to base to prep."

"Even though two of those men are my Avengers?" Fury questioned.

"With all due respect director, they were Army soldiers before they were your SHIELD agents." General Wilson answered. "By tomorrow at nine hundred hours, they will be expected to be on base and be ready to undergo training and preperation to go overseas. I look forward to working with Captain Rogers and Sergeant Barton. Good day everyone."

Once the general was gone, Tony turned to Clint.

"Sergeant?" he asked.

"Yeah, I was a sergeant in the Army before I got involved with SHIELD." Clint explained then looked to the director. "Do we really have to go overseas?"

"According to this letter, yes. You do." Fury answered. "So, you and Rogers will be leaving tonight along with anyone else that served in the Army. This does not say when you will be back though."

"They never say how long." Clint replied.

Hours passed and soon the archer found himself packing to go to the army base that night along with Captain America and all other SHIELD agents who had served.

"You nervous about going back?" a voice asked.

Clint looked up to see Steve standing in his doorway. The captain looked ready and excited to be going back into the army.

"Kinda." he answered before opening his nightstand drawer and pulling out his own set of dog tags. "Haven't worn these in a while."

Steve lightly smiled as Clint slipped the chain around his neck. He himself wore his dog tags all the time. The only time he didn't wear his beloved tags were when he was in battle.

If Natasha wasn't needed in that certain battle or mission, he would give her his dog tags to wear and she kept them on at all times until he returned. They both believed that the dog tags were a way to link them at all times.

"So, you look excited to be going back." Clint said as he zipped up his duffle bag.

"Well, in my defence it does feel like just a few weeks ago I was in basic training."

"Except now you're a living Adonis instead of a skinny string bean." Clint pointed out.

"True." Steve agreed. "Maybe this time no one will knock down the barbed wire fence in front of me."

Clint looked at the captain with questioning eyes at that last statment but the story came back to him. He remembered Steve telling him about Hodge Gilmore being the army training bully and had purposely knocked down a wooden post in front of Steve that had barb wire on it.

Sooner then he would have liked, night gave way to morning and Clint was standing alongside Steve and other SHIELD agents at the army base wearing physical training clothes. He and Steve both agreed that, although the shirts were ok, the shorts were a little too up the thighs for them.

Even though they were Avengers, Clint and Steve weren't given any special treatment. They were treated like regular soldiers and were put through the same training.

Although being a super soldier and world class spy allowed them to get through the obsticle course faster than anyone else. They made a bigger impression during the fire arms practice.

Clint was impressed by how well Steve could shoot. He knows the super soldier hates guns but he felt comforted knowing he at least knew how to handle one.

It didn't even take a week for the two Avengers to get orders to go along with troops overseas. Once they had arrived at the new base, they were both greeted with great cheers from their fellow soldiers and then their attention was directed to a news program that had headlines about the two Avengers fighting alongside the troops.

Soon, weeks and months were going by as Steve and Clint fought and planned with their fellow soldiers. The situation wasn't as tough as they thought it would be but they still felt better knowing they could help.

When the mission was done, the two were sent home along with the SHIELD agents and others who'd been waiting to return home.

Upon arrival, they had all recieved a great heroes welcome. It felt great to be back in America with their friends and loved ones.

Clint felt happy to not have to wear the physical training shorts anymore and he didn't have to wear the heavy gear.

l~*~*~*~*~*l~*~*~*~*~*l~*~*~*~*~*l

"Those shorts couldn't have been that bad." Natasha said.

"They were a little breezy." Steve said. "But it did feel great to go back into the Army for a while."

"Yeah, it did." Clint agreed. "Until they found out my birthday and taped me to the hummer."

"Classic army tradition." Steve mused.

"One that will be altered by yours truely." Tony said.