Archer’s Arrow [Codename: Hawkeye]

 King T’Challa sat under the Heart-Shaped Herb tree in the middle of the Wakandan Embassy’s rooftop courtyard, the tree providing shade from the afternoon sun. Water streamed from the mouths of the nearby stone fountains. The fountains had unchanging carved faces, surrounded by small pools of water. It had been several years since he had been at the embassy with his father when he was alive, but returning to the embassy upon his death, and now returning to it as king felt bittersweet. 

However despite the pangs of grief T’Challa felt, it was comforting to have a small piece of home amongst the New York cityscape. One of the benefits of being from a technologically advanced country is that pieces of home can made even on rooftops. And things can be peaceful even if for a short while. 

“King T’Challa!” T’Challa looked up to see G’Mari, one the embassy’s staff approaching. “One of your teammates has arrived.” T’Challa knew that Dr. Pym was set to return from Wakanda at some point this week but he did not want to make assumptions. “Thank you for informing me G'Mari. You may send them up.” 

G'Mari nodded and walked down the stairs. A few minutes later, he returned with the teammate trailing behind. T’Challa smiled warmly as he saw the face of his newest teammate. Former Shield Agent Claire Barton was standing before him, her blonde hair almost glowing in the sunlight and her piercing blue eyes shining with determination. She had just joined the team last week but was already proving to be a worthy member. 

“Hello. I’m glad to see you, Claire." T'Challa said. “Uh, hi.” She replied, appearing momentarily taken aback. Claire shifted uneasily, adjusting the strap of the quiver slung across her back. 

 “Took me a while to figure out where to find this place," Claire continued, her voice filled with a blend of uncertainty and annoyance. “That stupid computer butler Stark has is too British to understand.” T'Challa chuckled softly at her remark, understanding the frustration with Tony Stark's AI assistant. "He does have a way of complicating things." T'Challa replied, a faint smirk tugging at the corners of his lips. Claire glanced at T'Challa, her eyes narrowing a little as she tilted her head. 

“Is there a problem?" T'Challa inquired, noticing the change in her expression. "No!" Claire said, her tone quickly turning defensive. She paused, taking a deep breath to collect herself. "I just-. I've been reading the last few mission reports and just got a couple grievances, that’s all.” 

T’Challa nodded, grabbing a nearby mortar and pestle. He began to crush an assortment of the already plucked herbs, when he glanced up and locked eyes with Claire. The archer quickly looking away. As T’Challa closed his eyes, he suddenly thought of an idea that could hopefully make his new teammate feel less nervous. 

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Hawkeye wasn’t nervous. She wasn’t. ‘I’m just here to vent some grievances.’ She thought, resisting the urge to pull on her hair. She began pace while the Black Panther was crushing some plants in a bowl using a mortar. 

“Okay, so listen,” Hawkeye said, the words spilling out before she really stop them. “You realize the Avengers are a complete disaster, right? Iron Man is completely unqualified to lead a team like this. Thor is crazy. The Hulk is a bomb waiting to go off. Ant-Man couldn’t be less interested in taking down bad guys. And Wasp belongs on the party circuit, not in law enforcement.”

“You forgot Captain America.” The Black Panther said simply, his voice gently cutting through her thoughts. 

Hawkeye stopped pacing, hoping that her bewilderment wasn’t visible on her face. Quickly stuffing the emotion down, she turned around and walked over to the edge of the rooftop. “And you, you’re a king. Sitting here in your- your-.” She trailed off, realizing that she hadn’t asked Stark’s computer butler for the building’s name.

 “What is this place anyway?” She asked, turning around. “The Wakandan embassy.” Panther answered. “An embassy, for crying out loud!” She said, throwing up her arms. Walking back over to where the king was sitting, Hawkeye was starting to feel annoyed that she couldn’t figure out what the Panther’s deal was.

 “What do you care about the Avengers? Are you bored?” She asked, kneeling down and raising an eyebrow. Noticing a small bit of crushed plant paste on the edge of the bowl, Hawkeye dipped her  finger in the paste and ate it.  Regretting that decision barely five seconds later, as she immediately spit it out.

 “You eat that? What is it?” She asked, taking a second to wipe her mouth. “The juices of the heart-shaped herb enhance the senses of the kings of the Panther Tribe,” The king said informatively. “And in point of fact, it is applied to the skin, and a lethal poison to those who are not of the royal line.” 

Her eyes widened and Hawkeye started to rush over to one of the fountains, before stopping abruptly. Spotting Panther smiling out of the corner of her eye, she immediately turned back to face him. “Did you say that just to mess with me?” She said, narrowing her eyes. “Perhaps.” He said, sounding like he was trying not to laugh. Hawkeye couldn’t help but make a small noise of disbelief. Who knew the king of Wakanda had a sense of humor? ‘Well played, ninja cat man.’ She thought, her mouth twitching upward for half a second. 

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Later that evening, T’Challa stood next to Claire, the moon casting a soft glow over the skyline. He looked at her, the noise of the city below becoming slightly louder. He had attempted to apologize for the prank but she had just waved it off. “To be honest, I’ve been pranked worse.” She said, her voice tinted with amusement. “Really?” T’Challa raised an eyebrow, his lips twitching into a small smile. “No, not really,” she admitted, a playful glint in her eyes. "But it was a good attempt, Your Highness. You’ve definitely surpassed Morse in the pranking department.” 

“Perhaps I should be prepared to receive a prank at some point in the future.” He said in a suggesting tone. Claire appeared to mull over the idea before giving a brief conspiratorial smirk. “Perhaps you should.” T’Challa’s smile grew bigger as he turned his attention to the city, a small feeling of warmth settling in his chest. Suddenly, there was a sound of a throat clearing behind them.  T’Challa tensed, quickly turning to face the voice, his fists clenched ever so slightly. From the corner of his eye, he could see Claire in a similar manner, her fingers half grasping her bow. 

“Hello, sorry for interrupting.” Dr. Pym uttered somewhat sheepishly, avoiding eye contact. “No apologies are necessary, Dr. Pym.” T’Challa replied, instantly relaxing and motioning for the scientist to join their conversation. Claire took a breath, crossing her arms and raised a eyebrow. Dr. Pym looked slightly hesitant before walking over.

“Dr. Henry Pym,” the scientist greeted, turning to the archer. “And you’re-.” Whatever statement Dr. Pym was about to make was cut off by a groan. “I’m not a traitor or a member of Hydra. I was framed! Can we please move on?!” Claire said, her voice raising to a near-shout. 

“I was going to say, ‘The new member of the team that Jan’s been telling me about’.” Dr. Pym said awkwardly.  The former Shield agent’s face seemed to cycle through several different emotions before finally replying with a small stunned “Oh.” All three of their Avengers ID cards went off at the same time, before anyone could say anything more. “Huh, I guess we’re needed at the mansion.” Dr. Pym commented, a look of confusion on his face. Claire just gave him a look that silently asked ‘This is normal?’ T’Challa nodded and left to change into his panther suit.  

Upon returning to the courtyard, the three of them set off toward the mansion. As he jumped from building to building, T’Challa could not ignore the unsettling feeling that something was wrong. A sentiment that was clearly shared when they all stopped to rest atop a building across from the mansion. A building T’Challa had previously used as a lookout during his exile. 

“Something’s off.” Hawkeye said looking at the mansion as if it were about to burst into flames. “I agree. Usually there is an audio message that accompanies the alert.” T’Challa responded. “An ambush?” Hawkeye suggested, pulling out a monocular device from her belt pocket. T’Challa nodded. “Possibly.” 

Next to them, Ant-Man shrunk down and mounted a nearby ant when Thor flew over them. The mansion’s skylight opened up for the thunder god. Nearly two seconds later, their suspicions were unfortunately proven right. 

From a distance, T’Challa could see the Asgardian fight against several supervillains. Some recognizable, others not so much. Thor had put up a good fight, but was ultimately outnumbered. As the thunderer fell to the floor, storm clouds began to form around the surrounding area. It quickly became clear that to deal with this, they were going to need a plan.

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Rain started to fall on the three of them as thunder rolled overhead. ‘I hate being right.’ Hawkeye thought, wiping water off of her face. 

“Well, that’s not good.” She muttered, messing with her monocular before putting it into her belt pocket. Dealing with a hostage situation could be difficult but there was protocol for it. Occasionally, superheroes would fly in and deal with the crisis themselves. However there wasn’t any protocol for what to do if superheroes were the ones held hostage.

 ‘Alright, we call in Shield, go in the the Hulkbuster gear, and -.’ She thought trying to formulate a plan. “And destroy this city in the ensuing battle. As well as seal the fates of our captive teammates.” Black Panther said out of nowhere. Hawkeye blinked for a second, stunned. She hadn’t realized she’d been talking out loud. Thinking about it more, that plan would definitely lead to more people being  in the crossfire. “Well, what do you recommend?” She asked, looking at the king with a mix of curiosity and apprehension. 

 “Indeed, it is up to us.” Black Panther determined, exchanging a brief look with Pym as lightning crackled above them. “We’ll have to make our down to the lower levels. If Jarvis is offline, then we can sneak in without them noticing.” Pym said, speaking for the first time since they arrived near the mansion. Looking between the two of them skeptically, Hawkeye let out a sigh, unable to come up with a better idea. “Okay. Let’s do it.” 

                                                          ——————————————————————

After sneaking into the mansion, T’Challa, Hawkeye, and Ant-Man stealthily avoided the assorted supervillains. The miniaturized scientist hidden inside the archer’s quiver. Managing to barely avoid the axe-wielding Asgardian, ‘The Executioner’, the next phase of the plan was set in motion. 

Drawing away the two villains that were left guarding the entrance to the lower levels, T’Challa kept to the shadows. “Kto je tam?”The Crimson Dynamo called out into the empty foyer as T’Challa pulled out his daggers and prepared to strike. 

                                                   
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Stepping out of the elevator, Hawkeye quickly found the modular lab. After leaving Pym in the lab, Hawkeye’s priority was to find where Zemo and the other villains were holding rest of the Avengers. Thankfully, she didn’t have to look very far cause she heard the unmistakable sound of Baron Zemo taunting someone (probably Captain America). Keeping to the shadows, she quietly made her way to the assembly hall. 

From her hiding spot in the rafters, Hawkeye could see the Avengers (excluding Cap and Thor) were knocked out and they all were being held in place by this weird green smoke. The Hulk appeared to be missing. If the villains were holding the green giant somewhere else, she couldn’t tell. 

The woman dressed in green was holding Thor’s head in her hands and whispering to him in a soft tone. It would have been something that she would tease the blond musclehead about, except Thor didn’t seem to be interested at all. “What are you doing Enchantress?” Zemo asked, clearly irritated. The Enchantress looked almost startled as she backed away from the table. 

“It’s a mistake to keep them alive, Zemo.” Abomination growled. “I will not be questioned by you, Abomination.” Zemo replied snobbishly. “Don’t ignore me!” The gamma monster roared, grabbing the former Hydra leader and spinning him around. As the villains continued to fight, Hawkeye could’ve sworn she saw Captain America looking at her for a second. Quickly tuning back in to the conversation, the Abomination started to yell about how their mission was done.

“The Hulk is still alive, but the bigger threat is Ant-Man.” Zemo said in a stuck-up tone. The Abomination let out a loud grating laugh. “Ant-Man? If you’re worried about Ant-Man, then we really are better off without-.” The gamma monster’s mockery was suddenly cut off by Zemo knocking him to the floor. ‘Huh, for a guy as old as Cap, he’s really spry.’ Hawkeye thought, her eyes narrowing a little.

“Ant-Man is the last Avenger. He’s a threat,” Zemo stated, pointing his sword at the gamma monster on the floor. “And you wish to know why I lead? Because I am better than you.”  Abomination looked bewildered for a moment before scowling. “Ant-Man’s not the last Avenger,” The gamma monster growled. “There’s two more.” 

With the advantage gone, Hawkeye immediately shot an electric arrow into the gamma monster’s head (holding back from shouting that she wasn’t an Avenger). She then shot several more at Zemo and the Enchantress. The former Hydra leader slicing through the arrows with his sword, while the Asgardian woman disappeared in a cloud of green smoke. 

Hawkeye fired a tethered arrow at the floor and leapt from the rafters. She quickly jumped onto the  edge of the table, in order to not land on Thor. A second later, the Enchantress reappeared near Zemo. “Okay, that was a good move.” Hawkeye complemented, impressed. The Enchantress didn’t appear to take the compliment very well as her hands began to glow green. 

“You are worm food, mortal!” The Enchantress sneered, before firing green smoke at her. Hawkeye narrowly avoided the blast and pulled out another electric arrow as a radio went off. She quickly fired the arrow at Zemo’s foot but it was sliced to pieces by the Ex Hydra leader’s sword. Quickly dodging the blade a few times and she went to land a punch on the decrepit war criminal. But she had to duck out of the way of Zemo’s kick first. 

Unfortunately, that left a gap open and before she could close it, the baron hit her from behind. The hit sent her soaring into a pair of arms. Unfortunately, they were arms of the big scaly green variety. As the gamma monster began to crush her ribs, Hawkeye wished that Pym would just hurry up already. 

“I owe you some payback, Robin Hood.” Abomination growled, his foul breath hitting like a semi truck. “Please, I’m begging you. Brush your teeth.” Hawkeye wheezed, trying not to gag. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Panther being brought in to the room and dropped on the floor. “Hawkeye, are you insane? Why didn’t you bring in SHIELD?” Stark shouted, finally waking up as she was dropped harshly onto the floor next to Panther. 

“See? I knew it!” She yelled a little too loudly, hoping she was selling the bit and ignoring the aching in her side.

“Ah, the SHIELD agent and the Wakandan king,” Baron Zemo said, sounding like he won a prize at an arcade. “You should have walked away from the Avengers before it came to this. Now you must be punished.” 

“I am an Avenger, and I will meet my end with pride.” Black Panther said defiantly, standing up to face Zemo. Hawkeye couldn’t help the small smile that came to her face, which promptly disappeared when Zemo turned the sword on her. “I’m gonna meet mine with kicking and screaming.” She answered honestly, shrugging a little before standing up. She could hear Cap and Stark struggle against their restraints somewhere behind her.

“You choose, Captain. Which of your teammates will be the first to taste my blade?” Zemo mused, clearly enjoying himself. “You know what, Zemo? I wanna go first, I’m tired of listening to you.” Hawkeye muttered, gazing at the assorted supervillains with a bored expression. “Amusing.”  Zemo said, completely unamused. “Did you really believe the two of you could defeat all of us?”

Hawkeye let out a small chuckle, turning to look at Panther. “Weird. Purple-puss here seems to think we were trying to defeat him.” She snickered, smirking a bit. “I heard. He is misguided.” Panther responded, barely holding back laughter. A few of the villains looked between them in confusion. Hawkeye put her arm on Panther’s shoulder and leaned against him, a small smile on her face as the king crossed his arms. 

“We were not trying to defeat your team, Baron. We were simply allowing Ant-Man uninterrupted access to his lab.” Black Panther stated. “Yeah, we picked him up from the Wakandan embassy while you tools were starting your little siege here. He just needed to get a few things.” Hawkeye laughed, winking at the person in the doorway.  

“Surrender, Zemo! End this before anyone gets hurt!” Ant-Man demanded, holding something straight out of a sci-fi movie in his hand. Half a second later, Wasp woke up, yelling at the scientist to run. “Tear him apart!” Zemo shouted. As the villains focused on Ant-Man, Hawkeye and Panther worked on freeing the other Avengers. 

‘Stupid Smoke Shackles!’ Hawkeye thought, trying to pull the restraints off of Thor while Black Panther provided cover with his Vibrainium weapons. “How do you get rid of these things?” Hawkeye yelled over the noise. “The Enchantress’s magic!” Thor exclaimed. “Disrupt her focus and the bonds will break!”

‘Perfect.’ Hawkeye thought as she dodged a blast of green smoke. Grabbing her bow, she immediately fired a explosive arrow at her attacker, causing the Enchantress to fly backwards.  Immediately the smoke around the captive Avengers disappeared, they quickly moved to join the fight (or in Stark’s case, grab his gear). Before she could grab another arrow, a crackle of lightning followed by a roar that nearly shook the entire room grabbed her attention for a second. ‘Oh. There he is.’ Hawkeye thought as the Hulk charged at the Enchantress. 

As she pulled out another arrow, she saw Zemo charging at her. ‘Great. Round two.’ She thought, placing the arrow back in her quiver. Managing to block a few attacks, she leapt back to avoid getting sliced as Captain America tackled his decades old enemy. “I’d like my shield back now. It needs to be cleaned.” The super soldier said, pulling the shield away. 

With Zemo laser-focused on Cap, Hawkeye turned her attention to the others. Panther was avoiding blasts from Crimson Dynamo. She quickly fired a non trick arrow at the Iron Man rip-off, creating a small crack in the glass dome that protected his head and causing him to stagger back. 

The villains had all gathered on one side of the room, with the Avengers naturally on the other side. “Alright, team. I want this scum out of my house right now!” Iron Man ordered, landing in his armor.” Grabbing an arrow and pulling back the bowstring, Hawkeye pushed down the faint feeling of comfort as the Avengers rushed toward their adversaries.

“Destroy Them ALL!” Zemo yelled as the heroes and villains charged at each other. 

                                                ————————————————————————————————

The fight against the group of villains ended up being spread throughout the lower levels. Sounds from the other battles could be heard in the background as T’Challa and the Wasp fought the Crimson Dynamo in Iron Man’s armory. Firing at the villain with his Vibrainium daggers, he leapt up onto a armor case to avoid being shot. 

As the villain aimed upwards at him, T’Challa quickly jumped down to dodge the blasts again. The Wasp flew through a crack in the armor’s dome and shot him in the face using her stingers, quickly flying out as the villain hit the floor. Moving from behind the case, T’Challa was about to disable the Dynamo’s armor when a green portal appeared and swept the villain away. 

“Let me guess, your bad guy disappeared in a swirl of green smoke too?” Claire asked annoyed, wincing as she rubbed the back of her neck. “Yep.” Janet hissed, touching her eye which was starting to turn purple. Dr. Pym immediately began to usher Janet upstairs in a worried frenzy, leaving the two of them alone. 

After a few moments of silence, T’Challa was about to offer to grab some medical supplies, when Claire blurted out a rushed, breathy sentence.

“I need to go grab some of my arrows.” 

                                                        —————————————————————————————

After scouring every corner, Hawkeye made her way back up to the upper levels of the mansion with Panther. All of the Avengers were gathered in the lounge, either winding down or tending to injuries sustained during the fight. Zeroing in on the couch, Hawkeye ignored the random mini-conversations, going on autopilot till she reached her destination.

“Ah. Ya know, I’m not so sure I wanna be part of a team I have to rescue every week.” Hawkeye groaned, plopping down on the couch and ignoring all the post fight aches. “Perhaps they will elect you team leader now.” Black Panther stated in a lighthearted tone. “Really? You think?” Hawkeye asked, unsure if it was another prank. The king appeared to be sincere, but she didn’t really get a chance to fully gauge if that was true before Stark interrupted. The billionaire loudly asking what the last few hours was all about. 

As Thor and Cap brought up their own opinions, Hawkeye couldn’t help but draw back into her thoughts. This whole team thing was definitely turning out to be a lot more trouble than it was worth. She’d probably end up having to put her search for Widow on hold a lot more, if she stuck around. Whether because she’d have to save these people or help them take down a villain. 

But it’s not like she had a lot of options. At least none that wouldn’t incur the wrath of the Hulk. ‘I’ll give it five months,’ she thought, grimacing slightly. ‘If Shield can get rid of me after nearly a decade, it shouldn’t take long for them to.’