Archer’s Arrow [Codename: Hawkeye]

‘Well, this is fun.’ Hawkeye thought sarcastically as she ran across the rooftops of New York City, the full moon shining high above her. ‘A month or so since the breakout and I somehow get the attention of the freaking Avengers!’ She had been trying to keep a low profile since breaking out of the vault in order to search for Black Widow without any complications. But, of course, nothing ever goes as planned. Hawkeye had been tracking Widow for weeks with no luck and she was beginning to lose hope. That’s when she ran into Iron Man and the Avengers. 

As Hawkeye continued to sprint across rooftop after rooftop, she heard the not quite distant sound of a motorcycle somewhere behind her. Seeing a gap in the rooftops coming up ahead, Hawkeye took her chance and leapt down to the ground. 

Running down an alley, she got the feeling something was about to come up behind her. Hawkeye quickly turned a corner and climbed onto a dumpster. She drew one of her non-trick arrows as a warning, and she was met with the startled face of a miniature Janet Van Dyne. The super-powered heiress let out a small yelp upon nearly running into the arrow. 

“Hi there.” Hawkeye greeted, a humorless smile on her face. Iron Man quickly appeared behind the Wasp, pointing a repulsor at Hawkeye. “Give it up, Hawkeye,” Iron Man shouted. The two other avengers, a cat ninja man and Captain freaking America, showed up and cut off her two main escape routes. “You can’t win.”‘Wanna bet?’ Hawkeye thought. 

Suddenly she felt the harsh glow of a spotlight on her skin and heard a familiar whir. Looking up she saw a SHIELD helicraft hovering above them all.“Attention Avengers!” A voice called out over a loudspeaker. With the avengers distracted, Hawkeye took the opportunity to quickly slip away. 
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After evading the avengers, Hawkeye briefly went back to her hideout before continuing her search. By the time she set out again, the sun was already peaking through the clouds. The area she chose to scout out next was where the docks met the city. Sluggishly perching on the top of a water tower, Hawkeye rubbed her eyes before taking her monocular out of her pouch. She adjusted the focus and quickly spotted a flash of red hair. Zooming in, Hawkeye saw the Black Widow heading inside of a warehouse. She zoomed out with the monocular, and put the device back in her pouch. “Gotcha.” Hawkeye said, her eyes narrowing.

After shooting an arrow that released a knockout gas and scrambled electronic locks, Hawkeye cautiously stepped inside the warehouse. “Sorry buddy,” she said, her voice entirely unapologetic as she walked past an unconscious hydra goon. “I didn’t know the secret knock.” Keeping to the shadows, Hawkeye drew another arrow from her quiver. The warehouse seemed to be one of hydra’s bases of operations, given all the dreadnoughts being made. Shooting a dreadnought with an explosive arrow, she jumped onto a catwalk railing. As the hydra goons below aimed their weapons at her, Hawkeye grabbed another arrow. “Let’s do this.” She whispered, the screams of hydra agents quickly following as she loosened the arrow.

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In hindsight, Hawkeye probably shouldn’t have used so many explosive arrows, given that the warehouse was currently on fire. She couldn’t really worry that right now though, cause she was currently trying not to get killed by dreadnoughts and a whole bunch of angry hydra goons. She vaulted over a crate, shooting an electric arrow as a laser whizzed past her head, and landed in front of several unconscious hydra agents. Using her bow, Hawkeye took out several more hydra goons. “Who’s next?!” Hawkeye yelled, pulling another arrow from her quiver. Suddenly something knocked into her from behind, causing her to hit the floor hard.   

As she got onto her knees to catch her breath, Hawkeye heard a small whizz and a dart landed in front of her.  She slowly looked up to see a familiar figure pointing a wrist blaster at her face. “You should have let go, Claire.” Black Widow said, the embers floating in the air making her red hair seem ablaze. “So shoot.” Hawkeye said, gritting her teeth and clenching her fists. “Come on, Natasha, do it! Come on, you Hydra scum!” She shouted, barely holding herself back from fully losing her temper. 

Black Widow stayed silent and Hawkeye took advantage of the silence and used her bow to try to sweep the other woman’s legs out from under her. Widow quickly leapt to avoid her attack, before proceeding to punch her in the face twice and knocking her into a crate. The crate somehow breaking on impact. Hawkeye pushed a piece of wood off her, slightly disoriented. She quickly dodged a stream of darts and jumped onto a crate. 

As she jumped from crate to crate, Hawkeye could see the Black Widow doing the same a short distance away. She shot a volley of arrows, while dodging the Widow’s darts. The first two arrows served their purpose as misdirects, while the third one blew up the crate that Widow just landed on. Hawkeye quickly fired a set of arrows that unlatched the wrist-blasters from the Black Widow’s wrists, shot a arrow that released a rope that restrained the red-haired woman, and shot another arrow catching the rope and pinning against a crate. 

Hawkeye leapt onto a nearby crate and scowled at her former partner hanging upside down. “It’s over, Natasha. You lost.” She said, barely managing to keep her voice level. “Let me go, Hawkeye.” Black Widow said calmly. “You can’t take me to SHIELD. You’re a traitor, remember?” The green-eyed woman smirked, as her voice drifted back to her native accent. Hawkeye gave a faux look of amazement, as she kneeled down to stare at the actual traitor. “Yeah,” She replied before dropping the act and scowling. “I remember. That’s why I’m not taking you to SHIELD.” She said, reaching into one of her leg pouches and pulling out her switchblade. ‘But there are other things I could do.’ Hawkeye mused, running her fingers through the Widow’s long red hair as she played with the switchblade in other hand. 

The Black Widow’s eyes widened as Hawkeye brought the switchblade uncomfortably close to  her hair. She suddenly stopped playing with the switchblade and stood up, pulling out the arrow lodged in the crate and causing the Black Widow fall on the floor. “I’m taking you to the Avengers.” Hawkeye said.
     
Hawkeye was able to use the few shield channels that she was still able to access to learn that the avengers were currently at the Cube, apparently for some kind of mission. Unfortunately there also would be a number of shield agents at the Cube, but that was a risk Hawkeye was willing to take. The skycycle ride to the Cube was practically spent in silence. The Black Widow’s wrist-blasters and the stolen Hulk blood were stuffed in Hawkeye’s duffel bag. Also Hawkeye had Black Widow sit on the back of the skycycle with her wrists tied. That way Hawkeye wouldn’t have to look at her former partner for more than what was necessary. 

As they crossed into Nevada, Black Widow finally spoke up. “The Avengers won’t trust you any more than SHIELD did.” Hawkeye let out a small sour chuckle. “Good thing I’ve got the hulk blood you sto-.” She began before seeing something very  large and very green rapidly approaching. “What the heck is that?” She wondered out loud. “Turn around Hawkeye. Turn around right now!” Black Widow said sounding panicked. 

Hawkeye didn’t need to be told twice. She quickly spun the Sky cycle around and sped as fast as she could in the other direction. She could hear Widow behind her urging her to go. As she pushed the skycycle to its limits, the bike started to overheat. As the skycycle careened to the ground, Hawkeye definitely didn’t scream.

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Claire pushed herself up off the ground with a groan, spitting a piece of hair out of her mouth, and pressing her hand against her aching forehead. ‘Anyone get the number of that-?’ She thought. Suddenly everything came flooding back at once and Hawkeye’s eyes widened. “Widow!” Behind her, Hawkeye saw Black Widow also gaining her bearings. From a short distance away, she could spy her bow and quiver. Hawkeye took a quick glance behind her before dashing for her bow and hitting the ground, causing a cloud of dust to form around her. The dust cleared as Hawkeye got up and aimed at Widow who had managed to grab her wrist-blasters from the duffel bag.

She steeled herself and prepared to fire-. “Attention, Humanity.” A voice called, interrupting the confrontation. “That’s-. That’s a restricted SHIELD frequency.” Black Widow said, a trace of shock in her voice. “But that’s no SHIELD agent.” Hawkeye replied, her eyes briefly darting over to the hologram emanating from her skycycle for half a second. The second Black Widow started to look away, Hawkeye shot her with an electric arrow, causing the emerald-eyed traitor to fall to the ground unconscious. ‘Been meaning to return the favor.’ Hawkeye thought bitterly. 

Hawkeye looked at the hologram, forcing herself to focus on the bigger matter at hand. She quickly  recognized the holographic figure from her visit to the Cube. The green skin and humongous head was frankly hard to forget. The Leader, one of the Hulk’s adversaries whose intelligence was only matched by the size of his green cranium. “I come to you with a message, and that message is, do not scared.” The Leader said calmly. Hawkeye let out a small snort. If he wanted people not to be scared the gamma villain would never put himself in front of a camera. 

“The gamma dome that has formed in the American Southwest is no threat. It is a promise.”  He continued. At the mention of the green dome, Hawkeye eyed it with a healthy dose of nervousness. She had read enough files and mission reports relating to Gamma creatures to know that gamma radiation was very bad news. She half-listened to the Leader’s evil monologue while she restrained the Black Widow, and kept an eye on the gamma dome that continued to get closer. The general gist was that the Leader was going to turn the earth’s population into gamma monsters and make a “gamma world” ruled by him. As the leader’s transmission came to a close, Hawkeye’s focus went back to Black Widow. 

The red-haired double agent had woken up near the end of the transmission. Hawkeye figured that Widow probably wasn’t involved with this plot but she couldn’t rule anything out. “You’re part of this, aren’t you?” She said accusingly, crossing her arms.

 “Don’t be stupid,” Widow scoffed, sounding slightly offended. “Hydra has as much to lose as anyone if that maniac takes over the world.” The redhead stared at the dome and her expression changed. “Claire,” Widow said softly. “The Avengers were inside that dome. They’re gone. What now?” Hawkeye turned away, not wanting to admit she didn’t have an answer. Gazing at the still approaching gamma dome, her eyes widened slightly. “Not all of the avengers were inside.” She muttered to herself. 

She had heard on the SHIELD channels that Ant-Man was currently out of the United States. So that left-. ‘We--. I have to find the Hulk.’ Hawkeye realized, mentally cursing at herself for the slip-up. She quickly went to check the skycycle and was relieved to find that it was still functioning, albeit a little bit dinged.  As she finished getting everything ready to go, Hawkeye heard Black Widow speak up behind her. “Where do you think you’re going?” Hawkeye heavily considered ignoring the question, but decided against it. She begrudgingly turned around, choosing to look anywhere her ex-partner wasn’t. “Bruce Banner is the foremost expert on gamma energy,” She said quickly, wanting to keep the conversation as brief as possible. “He and the Hulk have had run-ins with the Leader before. He’ll know how to stop this.”  

“We don’t have much time then,” Widow uttered. “The Hulk was spotted in Northern Canada this morning. There’s a Hulkbuster operation about to commence. We can--.” Before Black Widow could finish her thought, Hawkeye cut her off with a icy glare. “What do you mean ‘we’, traitor?” The blonde seethed, her hands flying to her hips in indignant rage, before promptly turning back around.

 “Come back here!” Widow grunted, attempting to follow and free herself. “You can’t leave me like this!” The redhead yelled. “Look on the bright side, Widow,” Hawkeye said, climbing on her skycycle. “Your new green skin will match your eyes.” She then gave Widow a small joyless smirk, revved the engine and took off. As Hawkeye flew away from the dome, she ignored the slight sting in her eyes (probably an eyelash) as the shouting of her name became difficult to hear.  

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The Hulk let out a pained growl as a projectile from a hulkbuster tank sent him crashing into a large rock and falling into the water below. Pulling himself up, the Hulk roared, dodging a missile and destroying another one with his fist. Then he was suddenly bombarded with bullets from the tank. As he was fired upon now by yet another tank, a sudden explosion knocked him backwards and the Hulk tumbled down into the water a second time. 

Groggily pushing himself up, Hulk saw a flying bike in the distance attacking the helicopter. The Hulk wasn’t privy on having to deal with more people, but he still had to deal with the current situation. Turning his head away from the scene in the sky as a missile whistled past and exploded, barely missing the Hulk by a couple of inches. 

Quickly leaping to avoid a second missile, Hulk landed, grabbing the main gun of the tank that shot at him, ripping off the turret and batting it to the side. As another tank fired at him, Hulk used the turret as a shield. Suddenly out of the corner of his eye, the incredible green behemoth saw  the flying bike soaring towards him and the tank.  

Hulk’s eyes widened slightly as the bike flew past, quickly recognizing who the person riding it was. On the bike was a very familiar masked woman firing an arrow at the tank. The arrow flew into the tank’s main gun, causing the hulkbusters inside to hurriedly scramble out before the tank overheated.

The Hulk let out an angry roar at his defeated attackers, causing them to retreat and smashing the busted tank for good measure. With the hulkbusters gone, the gamma monster turned to face his apparent rescuer who was getting off her bike. The shield agent from the desert had changed since the last time he had seen her. 

To put it bluntly, she looked awful. Her hair was now shorter and matted, and there were obvious dark circles under her eyes. Hulk could hear Banner’s voice in his head telling him to him ask what the agent wants, but Hulk ignored it. He hadn’t listened to Banner the entire fight, so why should he start listening now? 

“Leave Hulk alone.” He growled, as the woman approached. She ignored his warning. “Leave you alone? I just saved your green hide.” The agent stepped closer, a small hint of what appeared to be relief flashing in her eyes for a brief second. “And now you get to return the favor,” The agent said, gathering herself before continuing. “I need some help.” “Call the Avengers.” The Hulk grunted. He turned and would’ve walked away if it weren’t for what he heard next. 

“The Avengers are the ones I’m trying to save. Not mention the whole world.” Hulk narrowed his eyes as the agent kept talking. “There’s a big green energy dome, turning everyone into gamma monsters.” “You want someone to fight monsters? You should’ve asked them.” Hulk retorted, casting a dark glare at the still-fleeing hulkbusters. “I don’t need them smart guy,” the agent snarked back. “And I don’t need you. I need Banner.” The air stilled as Hulk turned back around, a scowl spreading across his face. 

“Banner’s not home.” Hulk growled, ignoring the scientist’s protests in his head. “Now leave me alone!” Hulk figured that the agent should have gotten the point by now. He was quickly proven wrong. “Listen Bigfoot!” The agent yelled suddenly, pointing a finger up at him. “If you don’t give me Bruce Banner in the next three seconds, Bottom line, I will take you down.” The agent stood there, unflinching. 

Maybe it was just the look on the agent’s face. Maybe it was the threat to beat him up. Maybe it was because she sounded like a disgruntled parent telling off a kid. Whatever the reason, Hulk’s mouth curled up into a smile and-. “HA-HA-HA-HA!” Hulk turned around and held his ribs, unable to stop laughing. As the laughter continued, he felt his giant body become smaller.  Soon Hulk wasn’t the one laughing.

“O-Okay, Okay. You’ll have to give me a minute.” Banner said, catching his breath, voice slightly hoarse. “He hasn’t let me out in weeks.” ‘You agreed to the deal.’ Hulk thought miffed. ‘We’re not going to have this argument again.’ Banner responded. Banner adjusted the torn-up purple pants and turned to face their new ally. 

“Now, Agent Barton, tell me everything you know.” 

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As Bruce directed Agent Barton towards his hideout, he still could hear the Hulk chuckling in the back of his mind. Once they reached the small cabin, Bruce let out a small sigh of relief, glad to at least be safe for now. As he opened the door, he noticed the Agent staring at the cabin somewhat bewildered. 

“You have a cabin in the woods?” She asked, her eyebrows raised. “And I’ve been stuck sleeping in a warehouse for over a month.” The last statement likely wasn’t meant for Bruce to hear but he couldn’t help but stop in his tracks. 

‘What?’ Hulk muttered, his voice a low growl rumbling through Bruce’s skull. Bruce felt bright green creep at the edge of his vision at the thought of someone else being hunted like he and the Hulk have been. Thinking on it more, the signs were rather obvious. Pushing back the thought for now, Bruce did his best to keep his composure. He made what he hoped could be interpreted as a inviting gesture as the former shield agent hesitantly followed him up the cabin steps, slinging a slightly worn duffel bag across her shoulder. 

After changing into one of his many spare shirts and hoodies, Bruce went in his workspace and immediately set to work uploading the data from the skycycle to his personal database. “The fridge is fully stocked, if you want anything.” He said, looking over his shoulder as he sat down at his computer. “I’m fine.” Not-an-Agent Barton said, crossing her arms, giving him a hard stare. At that moment a faint gurgle was heard, causing the agent to tense up, her face briefly scrunching into a ‘Don’t tell anyone about this ever’ look. 

Bruce sighed, wanting to vocalize his concerns about his new colleague’s well-being despite the two of them being on a time crunch. He then decided against offering any coffee (He only had decaf anyway). “Right.” Bruce replied pointedly, looking back at his computer. He downloaded all of the data relating to the gamma dome by accessing the network that the skycycle was connected to. After a few moments, he synched the information with his own personal database and began working on locating the leader’s gamma device. 

As he frenziedly tapped the keyboard, Bruce tuned out the sounds of a bag being thrown onto a table and scuffling boots behind him as Hulk gave some input of his own. “Wow. So you did all this while you were on the run?” Former Agent Barton asked with a hint of amazement. “Yes,” Bruce answered shortly, a small bit of pride in his voice. “And don’t touch anything.” As Bruce pulled up a schematic of the Gamma Dome, he couldn’t help be impressed. “Your skycycle picked up quite a bit of data about the gamma energy the dome was putting off.” Bruce commented.

 “Shield likes to be thorough.” Former Agent Barton said, a trace of a smirk on her face as she placed a hand on the desk. Immediately Bruce snatched an injector off the desk, sticking it into the former agent’s arm. “Ow, hey!” She hissed, instantly jerking her arm back and rubbing her arm. “What’d you do that for?” “I just inoculated you,” Bruce calmly explained, “That will temporarily protect you from the Leader’s gamma energy.” He then focused on putting the needed equipment in the duffel bag. “We’re going to have to do some en route. There’s not much time.” 

Zipping and passing the bag back to its owner, Bruce concentrated on pulling up coordinates on his second computer. “The longer people are exposed to the energy, the more likely the changes will become permanent.” As the coordinates appeared on the screen, Hulk scoffed inside Bruce’s mind. ‘Really? Vegas again?’ 

Choosing to ignore that piece of snark, Bruce continued speaking. “I’ve located the epicenter of the dome. That’s where the Leader will be with the gamma energy generator. That’s what we have to destroy.” Turning around, Bruce could see Former Agent Barton hefting the duffel bag over her shoulder. “Wow. You’ve just got all the answers, don’t ya?” She said, sounding both exasperated and impressed. “So, how are we gonna get to the Leader?” “The direct route.” Bruce replied, a hint of mischief creeping into his voice as his irises began to glow bright green. ‘This’ll be fun.’

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Traveling 1,302 miles on the back of the Hulk was probably one of the most terrifying experiences of Hawkeye’s life. She spent most of the way either screaming or doing her best to follow Hulk’s instructions on how fasten on Banner’s custom arrowheads.  She had no idea how much actual damage those arrows could do against the Leader, but the Hulk seemed to place an awful lot of faith in the weapons. 

Upon arriving at their destination, they were met with a sky tinted with a sickly green. Reaching the skyscraper with the emitter they had to maneuver around countless mutated people. Luckily they didn’t have to fight anyone cause the sound of a window breaking on one of the upper floors drew a lot of attention away allowing the two of them to sneak in. 

“Ok, we know what floor the Leader’s on,” Hawkeye said, trying to formulate some semblance of a plan. “How are you gonna-?” The rest of her question was cut off by the Hulk suddenly ripping out a huge chunk of the linoleum tiling, looking entirely unapologetic. ‘Figures.’ Hawkeye thought, shaking her head. The Hulk let out a growl as he flung the hunk of floor through the ceiling, sending it crashing through several stories.  

The crash echoed throughout the building until it reached the leader’s floor where it shattered into tiny pieces of rubble. Hawkeye was about to pull out a grapple arrow, when she felt a giant hand grab her from behind. She let out a gasp as she was lifted off the ground, looking at the Hulk dubiously for a moment, quickly realizing what he was about to do. “Fine. Throw me.” She huffed, looking up at the hole. The Hulk gave her a mischievous grin before straight up launching her through the ceiling.

Landing near the edge of the hole, Hawkeye took half a second to shake off the vertigo. She swiftly drew an arrow, aiming at the gamma villain who was standing in front of a console on top of a pedestal. “You, with the head! Freeze.” She shouted. The Hulk’s booming roar immediately followed, the impact of his landing nearly shaking the room. 

The Leader slowly turned around, an expectant look on his face. “I knew you would come eventually, my old enemy.” The Leader declared, looking almost cordially at the Hulk and disregarding Hawkeye. “But you of all people must realize that this is for the best,” The villain mused, his voice slow and calculating. “In Gamma World, no one will hunt you. No one will try and cure you. You’ll be a king. Everyone who hated you, who attacked you, they will be you.” As he continued to speak, the villain’s tone started to sound more manipulative under the sophistication. “Are you really going to try and stop me?” The Leader asked, phrasing the question as if it were unlikely. 

Hawkeye hesitantly glanced over at the Hulk, who remained surprisingly silent. The gamma monster glared up at the Leader with a gaze that could incinerate. “No. Not stop you, Smash you!” Hulk growled, enraged. Hawkeye gave a small sigh of relief as she turned her focus back on the Leader. 

The Leader let out what almost sounded like a disappointed sigh. “Disappointing, but not unexpected.” The Leader’s face morphed into a cruel smile, turning his large green head to the side. “Abomination.” As soon as the name was spoken, the Abomination leapt out and tackled the Hulk, the floor shaking under the weight. Luckily, the big green behemoth managed to punt the Abomination through the ceiling while he was beginning to monologue before leaping through the ceiling (probably with the intent to beat him up some more).

Given that the gamma monster would probably be fine, Hawkeye turned her focus to the villain in front of her. ‘Time to give these arrows a shot.’ She thought, internally wincing a bit at the pun as she aimed at The Leader. She released her arrow and watched as it flew through the air, only to be caught by a large cat-like creature in torn black clothing. Her eyes widened in shock, as she realized that she was looking at the ninja cat man from yesterday. The rest of the other avengers were gammafied as well, all  with horrifyingly distorted features and glowing green eyes. 

“You’re either very brave or very stupid archer,” The Leader said, as the Gamma Avengers approached. “You’re vastly outnumbered.” “That’s okay. I’ve got an arrow for each of you.” Hawkeye responded, sounding way more confident than she felt. She grabbed one of the modified arrows and fired as the gamma monster Wasp (who creepily looked like a giant wasp) flew down towards her. Immediately after the arrow hit, she dove out of the way of Wasp and quickly jumped to avoid being crushed by gamma monster Captain America. Firing another arrow at the Super soldier while still in the air. 

“What do you possibly think you are accomplishing?”The Leader questioned, stopping the gamma monster avengers’ attacks briefly for the sake of his ego. “Your toys cannot hurt my creations!” 

“Yeah, I’m not a genius like you, so I found one. And he made me some new arrows.” Hawkeye said, pausing as the modifications started to work. The arrowhead draining the gamma radiation until a human Janet Van Dyne fell on the floor. “His name is Bruce Banner. Maybe you’ve heard of him?” She asked mockingly.

“Indeed I have.” The Leader hissed, his eye twitching ever so slightly as he pressed a button on his console. Without warning a glass dome slid over the console, the pedestal dropped into the floor, and revealed a large outlandish robot that looked like his enormous head. The robot lifted its arms, aiming its weapons at Hawkeye. ‘Great.’ 

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Hawkeye quickly shot arrow after arrow at the Leader’s robot, hastily trying to avoid getting shot  while attempting not to get the unconscious avengers caught in the crossfire. She fired her last explosive arrow trying to break the robot’s glass dome, only for it to be completely unaffected. In hindsight, Hawkeye was almost starting to regret heckling the Leader because she was tired of listening to the supervillain’s rants. 

“My genius cannot be defeated! I’ve planned for every contingency.” The Leader shouted. “Too bad you’re such a lousy shot then, cucumber head.” Hawkeye retorted, dodging several blasts and leaping onto the robot’s arm. She pulled a tethered arrow from her quiver and ran up the arm, jumping over the robot’s dome. Shooting the tethered arrow up through the hole in the ceiling, Hawkeye allowed the arrow to pull her to a safe distance. 

Landing on the rooftop, she looked up to see the Hulk pinned under the foot of a suddenly larger Abomination. “I’ll always beat you, Hulk. Do you hear me? I’m better than you in ever way.” Abomination roared. “But I’ve got something you don’t-, backup.” Hulk said with a smirk. Immediately, Hawkeye shot the last of her gamma draining arrows into Abomination’s head. Abomination staggered backwards, shrinking down to roughly the size he was before. He ripped the arrow off his head, only for the Hulk to punch him so hard that the Abomination was sent flying out of Las Vegas and into the desert. 

‘I’m so glad I’m on his good side, right now.’ Hawkeye thought. Out of nowhere, the rooftop began to tremble and a distant rumble was coming from the hole. ‘Oh right,’ she remembered. ‘The robot.’ “We got incoming!” She shouted, snatching a arrow and running over to stand near the Hulk as the Leader flew through the hole. Landing the robot on the roof, the gamma villain looked like he was about to burst a blood vessel. “The two of you think you can defeat me?” He yelled, sounding like an indignant toddler. “I have already calculated a 1,000 ways to destroy you both.” 

Hawkeye unable to pay attention to another of the Leader’s tirades, noticed something fast approaching in her peripheral vision. She elbowed Hulk, causing him to look up and smirk slightly. The Leader paused his tirade and the Absorbing Man slammed into the robot before he could question what they’re looking at. The impact caused the glass dome to shatter as the robot keeled over. ‘Didn’t plan for that.’ Hawkeye thought. 

A roll of thunder echoed in the sky as a caped figure with a silver hammer hovered over the roof. “Destroy? You do not know the meaning of the word, Leader.” Thor said, glaring at the gamma villain. “You really want to hurt the Leader?” The Hulk asked, raising a eyebrow. “This is how.” He then stomped over to the emitter antenna and began to rip it out of the roof. The concrete started to crack as the Leader screamed, his head swelling up to an even more grotesque size. Hawkeye couldn’t help but cringe in disgust as the villain’s head continued to swell. Thor landed on the roof, throwing a confused glance at her while the Hulk completely ripped out the antenna. The green dome dissipated and the Hulk threw the antenna into the sky with a humongous roar. ‘Yep, super glad I’m on his good side.’ She thought, her eyes wide. 

With the emitter antenna gone, the sky was much clearer. The sun started to shine as people on the street began to turn back to normal. Hawkeye stood there, breathing a measured sigh of relief. The Hulk approached, eyeing Thor warily for a moment before giving him a small nod. The supposed god of thunder gave the gamma monster a grateful smile in return. 

Tearing her eyes away from the awkward reunion, Hawkeye noticed the Leader attempting to propel himself across the floor using his head. If it wasn’t so pathetic, it would be rather laughable. Hulk and Thor also noticed the gamma villain crawling across the floor. Thor raised an eyebrow and Hulk looked like he saw a piece of poop suddenly grow legs. The Leader tried to crawl a little further, before he stopped at the Hulk’s feet. “It would have been glorious.” The villain uttered, completely defeated. “I was creating the perfect world, all in my image.” “That’s the problem,” Hulk growled. “You’re ugly.”  

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The streets surrounding the building had quickly become a makeshift shield facility. The whirling of helicopters and hellicrafts was near-constant.

Shield agents swiftly loaded the Leader and Absorbing Man onto one of the helicrafts and the de-gammafied avengers (plus a random guy with green hair) were given medical attention. 

Hawkeye was given the unfortunate luxury of being interrogated by Agent Quartermain. Ignoring the slight aching of her ribs, she propped herself up against a nearby crate. Her fingers aching for something to tug on, she instead opted to cross her arms, answering Quartermain’s questions as thoroughly as possible. 

Hawkeye pretended not to notice the Hulk lumber over to stand a few feet nearer as she gave her testimony. 

“Footage from your skycycle confirms your story, The Widow is working for Hydra.” Quartermain confirmed as he turned back around to face Hawkeye. Quartermain at least had the decency to look somewhat remorseful. “I sent agents to her location, but she was long gone.” 

Hawkeye let out a small scoff, her brows furrowing a bit more. “She’s good, I’ll give her that.” She hated the way her voice softened slightly as she said those last few words. Hawkeye gritted her teeth, and squeezed her arms tighter. 

“You’re cleared Hawkeye,” Quartermain declared abruptly. “Your shield special agent status will be reinstated.” 

Hawkeye looked at Quartermain in disbelief. A small part of her really wanted to be happy about this, but after everything she went through over the past month she just felt angry. 

“You mean the same SHIELD that locked me up?” She asked, narrowing her eyes. “Yeah no thanks,” She answered, biting back several choice words. “I’m going after the Widow on my own.” 

Hawkeye pushed herself away from the crate, when she heard the last person she expected to hear. “Here’s another option,” Stark interjected, looking less confident than he sounded. “Join us. Join the Avengers.” 

Hawkeye raised an eyebrow, looking at the group of mostly battered superheroes skeptically. SHIELD’s betrayal still stung a lot. But Stark likely wouldn’t be offering her a chance to join unless some of the other members thought she was worth it. ‘ I don’t trust them,’ Hawkeye thought to herself. ‘But maybe-.’ “I don’t think so,” She said finally, shaking her head. “Look how easily the Leader took you guys out.” “I’m better off on my own.” She added after a brief pause,  walking away. Heading towards one of the helicraft, Hawkeye thought out her next move. ‘I’ll have to get my stuff from the helicarrier. Maybe I can attempt to guilt-trip Fury into granting me an apartment, and then I can-.’

“Uh, I’ll stay if Cupid stays.”  Those six words made Hawkeye stop in her tracks. Her brain short-circuiting a moment, before zeroing in on the word ‘Cupid’. ‘What did he just call me?’ she thought, her brow furrowing.  

Maybe it was the stupid nickname. Maybe it was because she was running on zero sleep. Whatever the reason, Hawkeye spun around and  released her anger at the green giant. “You wanna go, Jade Jaws?” “Right here and now? Let’s do this!” She flung her arms out in a challenging manner, ignoring Stark’s muttering that “This is going to be fun.” Her anger briefly dissipating, Hawkeye paused to catch her breath. “Fine,” She said, rubbing her eyes. “I’ll join.” Hopefully she would still be able to capture Widow despite this wrench in her plan. ‘Oh crap!’ Hawkeye thought, realizing something important. ‘My skycycle’s still in Canada!’