Chapter Text
Clint cursed, stumbling over another damned tree root. He was certain that this forest must have some personal vendetta against him; no on else was having this problem. After their lift back to base had been totalled at the end of the mission, along with all communication systems, they’d agreed that they’d have to walk the whole way back instead.
After two hours of tripping over roots and getting hit in the face by low tree branches, Clint had settled into a grumpy silence, concentrating on the path in front of him. About half and hour back Steve and Bucky had taken off, deciding to jog ahead because they’re a pair of masochist freaks. For some reason they had even thought the rest of us would keep up, until they’d looked back to see Clint walk straight into a particularly well camouflaged tree… After that even Sam had to fall back; he was now at the back of the group with Vision and Wanda, who were surprisingly talkative when they were together. Tony had jumped at the chance to grab Thor, asking a seemingly endless stream of questions about Asgardian technology. Thor was more than happy to answer, unlike many other people he enjoyed his conversations with Tony. Clint had been tempted to take out his hearing aid a few times but decided against it, not willing to give Natalia an opportunity to jump out at him.
It took another twenty minutes for Clint to finally decide it was time to slide things up a bit;he was bored. The sun had finally started to drop behind the cloud, painting the sky in vibrant oranges and reds before fading into gloomy greys that allowed him to drift back, unseen, behind Bruce who had been at the tail end of the group before moving up to talk with Natasha. They were just coming up to a particularly dense cluster of trees that bordered the path on both sides. Clint was able to position himself behind a wide oak tree and Natasha walked past completely unaware of his presence. He let Vision pass; it was unlikely that he’d get a good reaction from him. Clint watched as Sam and Wanda neared his tree, deep in conversation, waiting for them to get close enough before launching him self on to the path.
“AHH” Clint shouted, trying to sound at least a bit intimidating. But while he got a fantastic scream from Sam, which he would hold over him for the rest of his life, he wasn’t all that prepared for Wanda’s predictable reaction. He felt himself fly back, red sparks lighting up the small pathway.
“What the hell man?!” Sam screamed again, while Wanda doubled over, giggling uncontrollably.
Every half-hour or so Clint would get bored and jump out at another Avenger. First Thor, who had only jumped slightly and then, with a hearty chuckle, went to lean on Tony’s shoulder and sent him flying off the path where he sat for a few started moments covered in leaves and swarmed by mosquitoes. Then it was Bruce. After Natasha had walked ahead again Clint took the opportunity, picking out his next target. Even though he did’t exactly turn green his slow, delayed “oh, hey man” had gotten Sam giggling with Wanda again.
But Clint never got the chance to target Natasha herself.
After jumping out at Bruce Natasha had disappeared up ahead; Clint walked faster to listen in on Tony and Thor. Twenty minutes later, Natasha was still too far ahead to see but Clint had drifted a few metres behind the pair and was completely oblivious to the stick that ‘fell’ from the trees, hitting Tony from behind. He heard a scream, loud and ghastly but couldn’t see anyone behind the trees. Tony and Thor were whipping their heads from side to side, unable to find where the scream was coming from. It was only when Clint looked up that he screamed; there was a dark shadow perched in a tree next to the path. He could see no details or colours, just an unidentifiable black shape. His fright caused him to jump backwards, but unfortunately the path was very narrow there. He ended up tumbling backwards, landing in a clump of bushes and something he didn’t want to think about from the forest floor. Only then, with Tony shining a light up, into the tree, was the screaming replaced by a sinister giggle. Perched, fifteen feet up a tree, Natasha was clinging on to a branch, laughing too much to begin to make her way down.
“How could you?!” Clint asked with an offended tone to his voice. His heart still beat in his ears, he was more scared of monsters in trees that a team of Hydra agents. Natasha didn’t bother answering and only high-fived Tony when she reached the ground again.
“Point to Natasha” he heard Sam say. But Clint was already planning his next move; he was so going to win.