The sound of arrows falling on the floor echoed through the dark hallways of Avengers' mansion. Clint cringed at the noise and quickly collected dropped quiver, stuffing spilled weapons in.

Breath in. Breath out. Calm down. Everything's fine.

Cap may be the pinnacle of human physique or whatever, but even he can't hear some shuffling from the other side of a house. And, unless he's a damn good actor, he should be asleep for about an hour now.

Sneaking in and out of the mansion became laughingly easy recently. Other time he would be wary of running into Tony on his fifth coffee and 'surge of visionary inspiration'. He would be on edge, trying to tell if what he saw was a weird shadow or T'challa blending in with the darkness.

But now? The worst thing he needed to look out for was the old man tucked in his bed.

"So you're going anyway? Can't say I'm surprised."

And, apparently, the female voice ringing out behind his back.

Shit. Of-fucking-course he had to run into her.

Clint gritted his teeth.

"And why aren't you in your room? Don't you have some beauty sleep to catch up with?"

"Of the two of us you would have more use of it. Those eye bags could hold baggage for two-person trip." Came a quick, snarky response.

"Whatever." He continued walking forward, not looking at her. "What her highness is doing that late into the night out of her royal chambers?" The sentence might have contained a little more venom than Janet deserved, but he couldn't find it inside himself to care.

"Pardon?" she answered, a little dumbfounded. "Do you have some bone to pick or are you just stupid?"

"Oh nothing, just thinking about today. It's really refreshing to see what you really think about all of this."

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Her voice lost some of the casual air. Good.
"That it's all just fun and games to you; that being a hero is some cool club you made with friends when you were bored, but God forbid actually doing something to help."

"Like you're going to be such help getting killed out there" she bit back. "I bet you don't even have anything that resembles a plan."

"I don't see how what I'm going to do is in any way your business."

"Let me guess, you're planning to just walk to the front entrance of the most secure prison in America, knock on door and expect to be let in? I would love to see it" she snarled.

"And what if I do? Still would do more than staying here." More than you do.

He heard some deep breaths from behind. After a moment Janet started again.

"Listen, we can't just run into danger willy-nilly. If that whole thing with Skrulls is true, people need us more than ever before. We just lost Banner and Hulk, I can't bear to lose anyone else."

"Oh really? Wouldn't guess from how eagerly you had agreed we should leave them on those assholes' mercy." He felt bile rising up in his throat.

"That's not what I said at all," she uttered. "And you know that! Steve just had a point when he said that helping people might get difficult should Avengers' reputation will continue to strain. It's bad enough if we're dealing with shape-shifting aliens, but with army breathing on our necks it will be almost impossible."

"Of course, because it's always about reputation and whatnot. I'm sure Hulk would be on cloud nine that we're leaving him and Banner in Ross' hands to keep up appearances," he growled, trying not to raise his voice.

"All I'm saying is maybe you should pipe down and think for once-"

"And maybe you should shut up!" he screamed, unable to calm down in time, swinging around to look at Janet-

He looked at Wasp, standing there in full gear, hands tightly clutched on a handy bag strapped to her side. The energy was buzzling and crackling just under her skin, ready to be released.

Her face hold the same determined expression he saw in the mirror this evening.

She looked furious.

"He's not only your friend, you know?" she hissed. "I'm not leaving them there, no matter what Cap or you think about me. But we need a plan."

Hawkeye averted his eyes, maybe even ashamed. A little.

"Well, from what I thought Steve was his friend too, so forgive that I doubted it was enough," he finally murmured, deciding to focus on this part of her statement.

Wasp's face darkened.

"I don't know why he's acting like this. I thought… I thought this team means more to him. That we mean more to him." She shook her head. "Not that it matters now. There's job to be done." She strode past him. "I have some gizmos from Tony's lab, there should be something for you too." She turned to him wearing mischievous smile that, despite significant efforts, didn't quite reach her eyes. "Ready to beat some government-funded asses together?"

He adjusted the quiver on his shoulder.

"Always."


The man known as Steve Rogers was listening to the exchange with growing interest. When all was said and done, the two rushed to hangar. He calmly walked in the opposite direction.

The plan was going far better than he had anticipated. He had expected to get rid of one of Earth's mightiest heroes, but the rest was a pleasant surprise. He could imagine next-day headlines: "Heroes or villains?"; "Two members of famous Avengers arrested while sneaking into federal prison to set dangerous convict free!"; "Hawkeye and Wasp: not flying free anymore!" "Is it the end of heroism?!"

And, among all the madness and betrayal, who will the public turn to, if not the symbol of loyalty and dedication?

The mirror he walked by showed a green creature with a cruel smile on his lips, so different from a face he wore just a second ago. After all, there was no one there to hide from anymore.

The queen will be pleased to hear about this development.