Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Sergeant Dan Harrelson – his friends and colleagues called him Hondo, really, no one called him Dan and only his mom ever called him Daniel – left the police car. Street, the guy who drove him and whom he really, really wanted to have in his team, raised his brow but didn't say a word. He just looked at the cafe and a tiny smirk appeared. Hondo knew, that everyone knew, that this cafe was a popular place for older ladies to drink their coffee, eat their cake, talk about their grandchildren and sometimes play cards. He knew that. That's why Marcus had thought it would be a nice place to meet. Sometimes he really hated him.

“Just stay in the car,” he said, put his shades back on and went to the door. It wasn't difficult to spot Marcus. He was the only man younger than seventy – except from the owner – in here and... well... he wasn't an unremarkable person. Definitely not. Hondo ignored the other guests, the old ladies and their glances in his direction.

He was dressed in black. Black shirt, black leather pants, black boots and he could see something like a black leather coat on the chair beside him. With a sigh he went over to his younger brother – hey, sixteen minutes are sixteen minutes! – and sat down. The waitress had seen him enter and came with a smile on her face to their table.

“Coffee, please,” he ordered and leaned back. He looked at Marcus and shook his head. “You look old,” he stated and his brother raised his brow.

“You don't look better,” he said and took a sip from his mug. “I'm glad that you could make it, Dan.”

“Well, why wouldn't I come when my brother asks me for my help?” The sarcasm was palpable.

“I understand that you are angry, Dan, but...”

“You think I'm angry? Why would I be angry? I mean, we haven't heard of you in what? Fifteen years? And then, out of the blue, you call me and tell me that it's urgent to meet you. What happened to your eye?” He realized that he had folded his arms in front of his chest and placed them back on the table.

“Long story and you don't have the security clearance to know,” Marcus said and looked out of the window when the waitress came back and brought his coffee.

“Thanks, ma'am,” he smiled at her. “The security clearance? I'm your brother, asshole!”

“I would tell you, believe me, but...” Marcus seemed to try to appease him but honestly, Hondo was really pissed at him.

“So. You're still alive,” he stated and filled sugar in his coffee.

“How's mom?” Marcus asked and stirred in his mug.

“What do you think? She's seventy-eight now, lost her husband, lost one of her sons, suffers from memory lapses and diabetes.”

“She has diabetes?” Marcus looked up and furrowed his brows. It looked strange with the eye patch he wore.

“Don't!” He pointed with his finger threateningly at him, “Don't you dare to pretend you care about our mom! You didn't even bother to come to our father's funeral and now...”

“I've been there,” Marcus said firmly and looked at Hondo.

“What do you mean, you've been there? No one has seen you there.” He spat and finally removed his shades.

“I was there. I wasn't in the front row with you, mom, Leila and Chris but I've been there.”

“You could've said something. You could've come over to mom and talk to her.” He knew that his voice sounded hurt but he didn't care. He was there for his mom, his sister and his brother and their families when they needed him and not Marcus.

“I'm sorry.” He said and surprisingly Hondo believed him. No one knew Marcus better than him.

“Okay,” he took his mug, put the spoon aside and then looked at him again. “What do you want?” He asked and emptied the mug in one long sip. When the waitress looked in his direction he gave her a sign that he wanted more coffee and she nodded.

“I need your help, Dan,” Marcus said and sighed.

“You? You need my help? You, the great Marcus... no... what do you call yourself nowadays? Nick Fury? The great Nick Fury needs my help? The help of a humble police officer?”

“Dan, please. No need to exaggerate.” He looked out of the window to the police car waiting in front of the cafe. “Is that him?”

“Yes, that's Jim Street. I'll ask you again. What do you want?”

“I want his former partner, Brian Gamble.” Marcus looked back at him and Hondo felt him scrutinize him.

“Gamble? That loose cannon? What do you want with Brian Gamble?” His brows raised up to the place where his hairline should be. Marcus once again looked out of the window and then he nodded.

“I know that he seems a bit... well... extreme. But...” he took a deep breath. “What do you know about Gamble?”

“Not too much I'm afraid, only what I've read in Streets file. I've searched for Gamble's file but no one knows what happened to it. I know that he was the best sniper we've had, that he shot at a civilian during a bank robbery and that he disappeared. I've heard – but that's only rumor – that he's still here in Los Angeles but... like I've said, just rumor.”

“Brian Gamble is not his real name. He's born in Waverly, Iowa, as Clinton Francis Barton. He joined the circus and became worlds greatest marksman. One day he disappeared from the circus and no one had heard of Barton since then. But not long ago a certain Brian Gamble joined first the army and after a few years he became a cop.”

“Worlds greatest marksman, yeah,” Hondo snorted but Marcus only raised his brow.

“It was him who took the Chamkanni shot.”

“You're kidding.” Hondo declared. Of course he had heard about the Chamkanni kill, he still had enough friends in the army. How could a man, who could take a shot like this, shoot a civilian in a bank?

“Nope. It's approved. But due to the fact that he was Black Ops it's still classified.”

“You spies and your damn classified stuff. Tell me, how could he shoot at the woman in the bank then?”

“Come on, Dan. You've seen the footage. He had just a few millimeters and he killed the man. The woman was just scratched.”

“Okay, and what do you need me for?” Hondo asked and Marcus smiled.

“That's where he comes into play. I want you to talk to him. I need everything about Gamble he knows, especially where to find him. And then I want you to help me capture him.”

“Now I know that you're kidding.” Hondo shook his head.

“Didn't you always say of the both of us I'm the one with no sense of humor?” Marcus grinned now.

“You're really serious?”

“Dead serious.”

“Okay, I'll go for Street, you order more coffee.” Hondo left the cafe and went to the police car.

“Street, with me. There's someone I want you to meet.”

“Your girlfriend, sir?” the younger man asked with a smirk on his lips and Hondo flashed him a shit eating grin.

“Something like that.”

Hondo was on the bridge when he saw Street appear. He looked like he went twelve rounds against Mike Tyson. He raised his brow and the younger man nodded once.

“You look like you need a band-aid,” he said and Street looked back down to the rails.

“Somebody else needs a body bag downstairs.” He wasn't dead, just unconscious and tied up.

One of the waiting paramedics, Marcus had called him Phil Coulson, nodded, took the stretcher and together with another man, a bald guy with glasses, he went down to gather up Brian Gamble aka Clint Barton. To the others in the team it looked like Street had killed his former partner and there would appear a body in the morgue, Marcus had said, but sadly the coroner would make a mistake and Brian Gamble's body would be cremated before they could perform an autopsy. Hondo looked at the ambulance and this Coulson guy just loading the stretcher into the back. He was pretty sure that this wasn't the last time he had heard of Brian Gamble or Clint Barton. He just hoped that it wasn't because he tried to free another crime boss and nearly kill one of his men the next time.

Chapter Text

The team just had had a particular hard shift and sat in his, Jim's, and Chris' backyard, drank beer, grilled burgers, hot-dogs and steaks, some of them were playing with the kids, when Deke suddenly appeared in the door to the living room.

“Street! Get your ass in here,” he waved with his arm impatiently and his voice was strangled. Chris, who had heard him, shared a glance with him and followed him to the house.

“What's wrong?” He asked and Deke pointed at the TV. And Jim had to sit down. Something really bad just happened in New York. It seemed as if... as if... aliens!!... attacked the city while a big hole was in the sky over them. Weird creatures came out of that hole, scattered themselves all over the buildings and in the streets and shot at the cops and the army.

“Holy mother of god,” he blurted and Chris sat down beside him, unable to process what she saw right now.

“Hey, guys,” Jim finally managed to yell and slowly, one after the other, they trailed in, gasped or cursed and sat down. Hondo was the last and he paled when he saw this, grabbed his phone and dialed.

“What the fuck happens there?” Boxer frowned and glared at the screen. Giant, ugly creatures flew through the streets of New York, accompanied by smaller creatures in some sort of flying war chariots, and a bunch of people seemed to fight them. They knew one of them, Iron Man. But then there were more guys, someone in a Captain America costume, a guy with long, blond hair, a cape and a hammer, a green monster, a red haired woman and a guy with a bow. And they all fought against the creatures. The press called them Chitauri.

“That's fake,” Boxer said and shook his head when he saw the green monster grabbing a piece of shrapnel, thrust it in the back of one of the flying creatures and the blonde guy used his hammer to drive it in. The flying thing died and fell down and destroyed buildings and stuff on its way down.

“I'm not sure,” Deke said. “It's on all channels. All over the world,” he looked at Boxer. “That would be the biggest hoax ever,” he added.

“But... aliens? Seriously?” Robbins, the new guy, asked and pointed at the TV disbelievingly. “That's...” he didn't know how to finish his sentence. That moment Hondo came back and Jim turned to look at him but Hondo just shook his head.

“I couldn't get him on the phone,” he said and the whole team turned their heads to him and Hondo now but when no one explained what just had happened, they looked back at the TV.

That was, when Shannon, Deke's wife, slapped her hands over her mouth after she yelped. Someone saw Iron Man flying up to the giant hole in the sky, something, that looked like a bomb on his back and disappeared. And only a few seconds later all the aliens fell down, apparently dead.

“What happened?” Chris asked and grabbed Jim's arm and right now no one cared, if she showed something, she would consider a weakness. Iron Man was gone and they saw the guys in the street stare at the hole as if they waited but when nothing happened, the red haired woman did something with a strange device on Stark Tower and the hole started to close.

“Where's Iron Man?” Boxer asked and Jim just shook his head. Outside, in the backyard, the kettle grill started to smolder and give of clouds of black smoke. No one looked after the burgers and sausages anymore.

“Come on,” he murmured and he saw Deke biting his finger while Shannon held his arm. “Come on, man,” Deke said as well and then, just a second before the hole closed, he fell out of it, the bomb gone. They all expected, that he would start the engines or whatever made his suit fly, every moment, but he just fell. And fell. And fell.

“Oh my god, he's dead!” Robbins blurted and Hondo grabbed the backrest of the couch a little tighter, stared at the screen as the rest of them. No one realized, that the kettle grill in the backyard began to burn. And honestly, no one cared right now. Even the children were all in the living room, held onto their parents and were unusual quiet.

But then the giant, green monster jumped and caught Iron Man out of the air and brought him to the ground. They had no idea if he was alive, the cameras were too far away but then Jim saw a man he'd seen once before, a bald man with glasses, and he talked into his phone. And then the guy in the Captain America costume appeared, together with the red haired woman and the guy with the bow. He held his head down, nodded when she talked to him and when the bald guy with the glasses said something to him his head snapped up and the woman put her arm around his shoulder.

“Holy shit!” Deke blurted and stared at the screen now. “Street, is that... is that...” he pointed at the archer and now Jim saw, what he meant. The guy with the bow looked like Brian Gamble.
“Fuck, I've thought he's dead!” Boxer burst out. “You said you killed that bastard,” his head snapped around and he glared at Jim.

“Maybe he just looks like him,” Chris tried to calm the men but they all stared at Jim now.

“I... I have no idea,” he said when he changed a glance with Hondo, who shook his head. And now the others turned to Hondo but he just shrugged and gestured with his chin at the TV. The huge guy with the blonde hair and his hammer escorted, together with Iron Man, another guy out and to a van. The man was tied and had some sort of strange gag over his mouth and he was nearly as tall as the blonde and wore a black and green coat and leather armor. Other men in black uniforms and guns accompanied him into the van and in an instant they were gone.

The six people, who had fought against the aliens, stayed back and when Iron Man pointed in a direction, they disappeared, left the reporters, the army, the cops and the black uniformed guys where they were. And then all the wild speculations started and the team moved away from the TV.

“Okay, what was that?” Boxer finally said and shook his head.

“I guess, this answers the question, if there are aliens outside,” Chris joked and looked out of the door to the backyard, saw the burning grill and started to run. And the SWAT-team followed her on the heels, when they saw the flames.

“Fuck!” Jim hurried to get the extinguisher while Deke grabbed a bucket and filled it with water. Together they managed to put out the fire and then they stood there and looked at each other.

“So,” Deke said and a smile appeared on his face. “Guess your former partner is an Avenger now,” he said and Jim looked at Chris, who just shooed the rest of the team back into the house and said, that she would order pizza since they burnt their food.

“I have no idea what you're talking about,” Jim tried but Deke raised his brow and cocked his head.

“Really?” He put the bucket down and walked around the remains of the kettle grill and sat down on one of the deckchairs. He looked up at him and gestured at another deckchair with his chin. “We work together for almost ten years now and you really think I can't read you? I've seen the glances between you and Hondo. I know that you know more than you want to talk about,” he said and Jim sighed.

“Do you know what's the worst?” he asked and Deke shrugged with one shoulder and shook his head. “Gamble... Barton works for Hondo's twin-brother now,” he said, looked at Deke for a very long moment and then they both burst into hearty laughter, grabbed two bottles of beer from the cooler close to the deckchairs, opened them and clinked their necks together.