No-One But You (The Mystic Consultant) - Part 1

Chapter 59: Parallel Universe (Part 9)

...

"You seem, distracted."

...

Very distracted. Ezekiel had a soft voice, but it seemed loud when Clint Barton tuned into what he said. Distracted? Yeah, whatever.

Tony Stark gave the "White Jackal" a sparring rule. He wasn't allowed to use any technology. If he did, then Tony said that he would finish the match.

Ezekiel was silent, but stubborn. He didn't want to appear eager to break the one and only rule. He was trained on how to defend himself, but it wasn't something that he worked on everyday.

The baby archer was the opposite. "Agent" Barton trained his body to move routinely, but his mind did seem pretty distant.

Natasha even took notice. She looked a bit puzzled when Ezekiel was able to toss a few hits back in Clint's direction.

He was even able to evade him. The Widow glanced over at Bucky. He was there beside her, but he kept quiet.

She briefly wondered about the rooftop conversation. Bucky didn't mention it at all when they left. Natasha stayed over, and they finally caught up on some rest.

Her attention went back to the match, because the baby archer decided to take a cheap shot. He knew where Ezekiel was injured, so...

He hit Victor's precious boyfriend below the belt because he wanted to.

The archer didn't like what he said. Clint originally planned to punch him in the gut and make him puke. The thought amused the young archer when it crossed his mind, but his plan backfired.

Ezekiel brought his arm up to block the attack, and he used his tech to form a shield.

His shield looked similar to Steve's, and he shoved that archer way back against the ropes. It startled the group, and Tony immediately started yelling something in Ezekiel's direction.

Clint's back hit the corner of the sparring ring, and it felt like he had been hit by a cannon or something. Ezekiel used a ton of force to shove him back, and the baby archer needed to catch his breath.

Distracted?

He heard that word again. Clint noticed Natasha and Bucky. They were in his corner. They started checking on him and asking if he was ok. Natasha said that he was distracted. Barton heard her say it out loud.

So what? Maybe he was? The archer started feeling a little confused. He looked over toward the other corner of the ring. He saw that SMUG face near Nick Fury and Tony.

Ezekiel seemed happy. Their match wasn't over, and the archer wanted to beat all the smug off his face. He looked away when Natasha told him to "take a breather".

She wanted him to walk it off. Bucky agreed with her, of course, and he also encouraged some cooling off. The baby archer took in their advice. A crazy thought suddenly crossed his mind, but he ignored it.

Clint stood up when he felt ready, and he returned his focus toward Ezekiel. The white armor that covered his arm had suddenly slipped back into his body.

It was freaky shit. The baby bird hated it, and he decided in that moment that he also hated him.

Tony wasn't paying attention to any of that. He only glanced up toward the ceiling while Clint Barton pulled himself together. He wasn't joking around when he told Ezekiel that he would finish the match.

Tony gave a small gesture up toward the person that was watching the sparring session. That tiny gesture meant that it was time to speed things up.

Chapter: END

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