Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It started out as a normal New York night. Watching TV and waiting for the pizza man to arrive. After the attack on New York most of the avengers have moved to Stark’s newly rebuilt tower. I like have my own place, so I don’t having to deal with the others.
About 8 I heard the doorbell ring, finally pizza I'm starving. It was not the pizza man, but 5 guys with guns all pointed to my head. I would say this is a shock to see but I am an assassin and find myself in situations like this about once a week.
"Hey guy I don't suppose you have my pizza I'm starving" wrong question I guess.
They tried to get in, but instead I slammed the door on them. It did not; however stop them from shooting the door. So I did the best thing I could think of and that was jump out the window.
I grabbed my bow and quiver before jumped out the wrong window. I was falling fast, I pulled out an arrow and it landed round a rail and slowed my fall.
I landed on the ground hard, its better then becoming a pancake.
"There he is. STOP HIM." The guys that where after me where out the window and working their ways down the fire escape.
So I ran to the building across the street and went up the fire escape to the roof.
Good thing I was faster than them, they had gear that slowed them down. I had a good head start but when you are running from guns you need more than a little one.
Whoever these guys where there aims where terrible, this missed ever shot.
So I ran and jumped across the buildings until I ran out of buildings. The next building was too far to jump across.

I would have run to the fire escape but in my moments of hesitation the guys chasing me caught up.

"You have nowhere to run Clint" I could not see much of what these guys looked like but this one I could tell had more muscle mass then the other. I think this guy was the leader for one he was in the front of the group and he spoke first.

I had pulled an arrow; I held it pointed at his head because I wanted to know why I was being hunted.

"You think an arrow is going to do much against a group of people with guns" it was the same guy
I studied them for details to tell me who they were but all I saw was black combat gear and a red cross on their shoulders.
The cross was good because maybe I could link them back to one of my enemies; I mean how many red crossed are there.
Normally I can cross reference thing to each other in my head but these guys where new
I answered the guys question about the arrow by shoot it at their feet. It hit the ground and released gas that would knock any grown man off his feet. I needed to get off the roof and out of trouble and not anywhere with people around. With the way they shot I was afraid they would hit someone.
So I went to the next best thing and went underground. I knew the subway and sewer tunnel layout like it was my house. I need to get somewhere safe and the first thing that popped in my head was stark tower. I was invited to live there and do have some of my things there. I was about 15 streets away from the tower.
It would not take me long to get there. So I set off, I looked back every so often to make sure I was not being followed. I also kept my ears open but with the trains going by it was hard to hear too much.
I was about 3 streets away and could see my way up but it's me and I can't get away without something happening.

When I ran pass a side tunnel I saw someone come out and try to knock me down. With my training I could easily dodge them. But that did not shot another guy behind him with a gun pointed at me.
Unlike the others he fired it, I expected to feel the pain like I have before but I only felt a pitch.
It was not a normal gun; I was filled with a drug of some sort.
I could feel it start to take hold, but it was slow. I'm guessing I had about 10 minutes before I would be out. I was slower than normal. I did get an arrow out in time to blind them with smoke. I ran to my escape, the ladder to the street, I felt like I was moving through pudding. I made it up, I did not need to look back to know they were behind me. One street away and I would be safe. I made it through the door and slammed against the nearest wall and fell to ground.

"Good evening Mr. Barton are you all right" Jarvis never thought I would love to hear a voice so much.

"Yeah but can you have someone come down and get me" I sounded drunk.

"Right away sir"

"Thanks"

"Mr. Barton you thought you could get away from us so easily" dammit they came in, should have guessed they could use a door.

"Looks like the drug is taking full effect, don't worry you won't be here much longer" I hate this guy maybe if I desecrate him long enough tony or someone would get here in time.

"Who are you" god I sounded bad, my vision was getting blurry.

"All in due time Mr. Barton all in due time" I really hate the way he talks to me. It's like he see me as a thing and not a person.
He was about to say something else but was tackled sideways by red blur. Tony, for once I was glad to see him. Steve knelt down in front of me and put his hand on my shoulder.

"Clint is you ok, what's wrong." It's nice to hear a concerned voice for one and not someone wanting to kill me for one.

"Drugged" is all about I managed to say because I was about to pass out.

"Ok, we will get you out of this" I could barely hear what he said before I blacked out all the way.

Chapter Text

I was walking down the hall to my room in the tower. With everything that happen in the past couple of hours I was hungry and tired. I bet the pizza guy ate the pizza I got.

"Jarvis, can you order me a large pizza. I'm staring and tired and just want pizza."

    Pizza is one of the food groups, you could say it's I'm a couple, meat, bread, vegetables, and dairy. so therefore pizza is good for you. I let my mind drift off as I walked, it was to tiring  to think about anything right now.

     That's when a sharp pain went through my head. I saw a flash of a man in white, he had his hood up, it looked like he was yelling something at me.

“...true… everything… permitted” The pain was gone as fast as it was there.Maybe a quick shower before the pizza came, clear my mind a little.

Once I was done my shower I walked in my room to see my pizza and a pot of coffee. I never could figure out how things got here so fast. So I ate the whole pizza and drank the whole pot of coffee out of the pot. Who needs mugs when you have one big one.

After I finished eating I tried to sleep but the dark calmness of sleep never came. I finally gave up and went to my favorite spot at the tower, the roof.

You could see the whole city, miles and miles of lights, but not a sound could be heard this far up. I did not realize how long I was up here when I saw the sun rise. I was so lost in though, the dreams, the flashes, and the guys that came after me. Everything felt connected but I could not put it together.

At some point Nat came up and sat next to me, I knew she wanted to know what was up but she would wait until I was ready. Even if that time was another day. I debated saying anything, but I knew I would at some point.

We sat like for another hour, the peace was interrupted by our coms going off.

It was Tony saying that we need to assemble in the kitchen . Nat and I arrived first, followed by Steve and Bruce. Thor came in with Tony, which means something magic was happening.

"So I have gathered you all here today, for something Thor says is magic related, but you know me everything has a way to be explained through science." Tony never could wrap his head around magic, there had to be a way to make it happen.

“ I believe it is an object of unknown origin from one of the outer realms.” Thor always the one to go into great detail.

“Thanks for that lovely description of the subject at matter. Anyway Jarvis saw a spike in energy around the city of Jerusalem.”  

A flash a white went across my vision when Tony said that, when I could see again looked around to make sure no one saw me stiffen. Thankfully no one was looking, all there attention was on Tony and Thor.

"Alright everyone got that, 10 minutes to lift off." I think I missed something, but I'm not going to ask.

10 minutes later we all were in the jet on our way to Jerusalem.

I have a feeling something bad is going to happen when we get there.