Chapter 1
Chapter 1
"Life's struggles are necessary for growth."
~ Auliq Ice
Clint walked into Director Fury's office with an annoyed look on his face. When he got in, he saw the trench coat-wearing wanker was looking all refreshed and find. "This better be important Fury. I was on family time," he then whined out, "I was beating Laura at Frustration," Fury shook his head and handed Clint a file.
"I shall give my deepest apologies to future Mrs Barton, I assure you. However, we need your expertise Barton; and we need it now," Fury said. Clint skimmed over the file with a frown on his face.
There was no cover photo. There was no name; only Black Widow and there was also no birthdate.
"So... my mission is to kill a ghost?" he drawled.
"...yes," Fury said simply. Clint groaned and rubbed his head. He threw the file on the desk and stormed out.
"I'll get him," Maria said with an annoyed look. Fury raised his hand and shook his head.
"Leave him alone for a while. I understand he's stressed. He's spent a month and a half in Spain on a deep undercover mission. He finally gets home to his girlfriend and son, and I pull him on a mission," Hill gave him a look. "I really do need him Hill. I could send the entire STRIKE team and they'd end up dead," he said with a grim look.
"I know! I'm sorry babe but they need me," Clint said desperately on his side of the phone call. "...ba- babe, no! You know I want to be there with you and Cooper. Hon- Laura, you know Fury and you know how demanding this job is," he said, turning his voice down lower.
"I know Clint," Laura said on the other side. "I just miss you. At least when I was at S.H.I.E.L.D. I had 24 hour access to the 'how's my boyfriend' question. Now I just wait for you to show up out of the blue, or the call from Phil that you're in the med wing," Clint heard her voice change and he could tell she was close to tears.
"I know honey, but this is what we agreed when you got pregnant with Cooper. We agreed you would take an indefinite leave until Cooper was old enough and then we would talk," Clint reminded her. Of course he wanted her happy but when they found out she was pregnant with Cooper two years ago, they needed to agree on work. They couldn't both work at S.H.I.E.L.D.
Then they agreed. Clint was probably the best agent S.H.I.E.L.D. had, he was also weary of becoming a father because of his own childhood. Laura said she would go on maternity leave later than normal and wouldn't go out on any mission, just stay behind and work with Coulson, then when Cooper was born, she took an indefinite leave. This was so when Cooper was around 16-17, they would start to think about maybe Laura coming back to work and in the field.
This was, of course, barring they had anymore kids.
"I know, it was my choice and I don't regret it. I love staying here with Coop. I just wished they informed me more of your status," Laura admitted with a sad sigh.
"Hey Barton! Open up!" Coulson said, banging on the door of his quarters.
"Just a minute! ...Sorry babe, I gotta go. Love you. Tell Coop I said I'll see him soon," Clint then hung up and chucked his phone on the bed. He walked over to the door and i kicked it before then moving over and sitting back on the top bunk.
"Fury told me you stormed out his office," Coulson said with a raised eyebrow and a smirk.
"The man gave me a mission three days after a month and a half long mission. I'm pissed!" Clint snapped, laying down and closing his eyes. "I just want some time with my kid and girlfriend," he mumbled.
Coulson made a noise of acknowledgment. Clint heard pages skim and he perked up and over the bars of the rail. Coulson could feel his stare.
"This? Oh, I'm just brushing up on my Polish," he answered. Clint did a cool flip off the top bunk and sat on the sofa next to Phil.
"Polish? Why?" he asked with a frown.
"Because multiple sources have informed us that the Widow is going to be stationed there for a while," Coulson replied, although he wasn't even looking at Clint.
"Oh," Clint walked over to his kitchen area and grabbed a bagel. "I don't need to," he said with a shrug.
"Well you obviously go to Poland more than I do," Phil muttered, he hated Clint's ego sometimes.
Clint scoffed, "Please. You come with me on every mission Coulson. You're sort of my handler. I just have to interact with more people,"
"Fair point," Coulson grumbled. "Get your backside to the training room anyway. You still have to help Hill train the new recruits after you shot her with a paint arrow during the evaluation of the senior recruits," Clint groaned loudly and rested his head on the wall.
"What about the mission?" he asked.
"Oh now you wanna do it?" teased Coulson.
"No, I still don't, but I have to be prepared. If this person is as deadly as everyone says i'm going to need a solid plan," Clint then walked out his room grumpier then when he walked in.
"Look who decided to show up," mused Hill with a smirk. She definitely knew he hated this, but that's what he got for being a douche.
"Yeah yeah. Let's make this quick. I have a mission to prep for," he put an emphasis on 'mission' with a pointed look at the recruits; just putting it out there that he went on missions while the worst they had to do was pull ups. "What's first on the agenda?"
"I've put them into groups of four. The first challenge is a paintball simulation. You are going to be a neutral sniper. You're shooting at all of them. They are trying to shoot each other and bonus 100 points if they hit you," Maria explained, she turned around and walked to get the equipment so he wouldn't see her smirk.
"What!" he whined.
"Think of it as practice. You are going against her," she reminded him. Clint rolled his eyes and went to get his bow. "Uh, Clint? You can't shoot paintballs out of a bow.." she looked at him like he had three heads.
Clint let out a cough and scratched his neck, "Who said I wanted to use paint," he mumbled under his breath. "I managed to get you with a paint arrow!"
"This is punishment Barton," Hill reminded, again. "And I am in charge- oh wait, I always am. Get a sniper," she ordered.
"But-"
"No buts Barton!"
"Another one bites the dust," Clint sang as another unsuspecting recruit got attacked by purple paint. "Come on guys! That's the 24th person out of 60!" he whined into the coms. Their were 15 in each team, every team were a different group of recruits. Group one was Hills normal batch. Group 2 were Coulson's, someone took over for him when he needed to be with Clint, they usually combined with Hill. Group 3 and 4 was with May.
"I really hate to say this, but Barton isn't even trying guys. I can guarantee that he can see at least 5 right now," Hill said in disappointment.
Clint made his way down the corridor with Hill by his side. "Well that was fun," he said dryly. Hill shook her head and decided to go another way; Barton had shot about 50 out of 60. At least 10 of them weren't that incompetent. Clint watched her walk away with a 'What?' look. He rolled his eyes and went in his merry way; headed to his quarters to pack.
The next morning, Clint found himself in the briefing room with Coulson, Fury and the S.R.I.K.E. team - they were going to be helping him apparently.
Like he needed help!
"... and that's when you come in," Coulson said, pointing to Clint. "Rumlow and his team will be downstairs at the reception, making sure no one gets by them. That's when I will head into the lift and find out what room she'll be in-"
"You're going to be in this mission?" Clint asked with an excited grin.
"Yes, Barton. However, after that, it's all up to you. When I radio in, I'll tell you where they are and you'll be-"
"The Grim Reaper?"
"What- n- technically yes, but I was going to say the-"
"David?"
"What?" now Coulson looked really confused.
"The skinny dude who killed the BFG," Clint shrugged.
"You mean Goliath? From the Bible?" questioned a member of S.T.R.I.K.E., Clint nodded and pointed to the man with a nodding face.
Coulson let out a breath and stopped himself from facepalming. "Stop it Barton. I've been trying to say, that you'll be-"
"Ooh, I know now! I'll be-" he was cut off by Phil who quickly said: "You'll be waiting ready with your damn bow in your hands!" it went silent.
"Geez. You could've just said that without making me guess all the time," he scoffed. Phil took a deep breath and turned away from Clint.
"Haha. Hey, Barton, I think a part of him wants you to fail against the Black Widow," teased Rumlow with a smirk.
"Oh shut it Brock. You couldn't last 3 minutes," Clint said with a snicker.
"Says the guy tryin'a kill him from a distance. Wuss," he snapped.
"What makes you think he's a guy?" Clint asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Enough!" yelled Fury. "It's like talking to children!"
"You sort of are sit. Barton didn't even finish primary school," Rollins goaded. The S.T.R.I.K.E. team let out a 'oooh' and Rumlow high-fived Rollins.
"Coulson, does Rimm- I mean Rollins, know I can kill him in under a minute?" he asked his handler. "And, for the record, I dropped out in the middle of middle school," he muttered.
"Clint, just get out. Now," Coulson said with a sigh.
"But i'm not doing-"
"Out! I'll meet you in your quarters and we can go over the plan!" Clint glared at him before storming his way out of the room and slamming the door shut.
Clint sulked in his room, why was he removed?