Chapter Text
"I have eyes on the target", Clint said over the comms. He was crouched down on a roof of an apartment building across the street from where the target was sitting at a bistro. "Johnson, Belova, do you have eyes?"
"We got him", Daisy said. "He's alone."
Daisy and Yelena were standing next to each other at a news concession stand. The two women were watching the target while he ate a plate of food he was just served. They both had glasses on that had a tiny camera transmitting back to the Compound. Yelena grabbed a magazine and opened it. She brought it up to her face but did not cover her eyes or the camera.
"We're making our way back to you, Barton", Bucky said over the comms.
Bucky and Kate were walking a two block perimeter Clint had them make. He decided this because he wanted to make sure no one else was watching their target. And he wanted to make sure Kate got more experience in creating a perimeter.
"Copy that", Clint said. "Rhodes, anything on satellite?"
Rhodey, who was back at the Compound monitoring the mission, looked at the satellite view of the area. "Nothing I can see. You can make your move."
Clint kept his eyes on the target. "Barnes, stay where you are in case he runs."
"Understood." Bucky and Kate stopped walking. They were standing at the entrance to the building. whose roof Clint was monitoring from.
"Johnson, Belova, you have the go ahead."
Daisy and Yelena started walking toward the target. His back was not turned to them but he was not facing their direction. Yelena put her hand in the pocket of her overcoat and pulled out a syringe full of clear liquid.
Daisy sat down at the table which made the target look up at her. Doing this made him turn his head away from Yelena. The blonde operative stood right behind him before pushing the syringe into his neck and injecting him with the liquid.
The guy quickly brought his hand up the spot where Yelena injected him and looked up at her. He started to sway back and forth. Before his head could fall forward, Yelena grabbed the back of his head and kept it up. His eyes slowly closed.
"He's out", Yelena said.
"Grab the case", Clint said. "Barnes, get the van."
"Copy that." He turned to Kate. "Keep your eyes on them."
Kate nodded. Bucky turned around and jogged to a van that was parked in an alley.
Yelena watched as Daisy stood up from the chair and while subtly grabbing the briefcase next to the target. As Daisy started to walk away, Yelena let go of his head and started following Daisy. The two women crossed the street to join Kate.
"Are we just going to leave him like that", Kate asked.
"He's not our responsibility", Yelena said.
The three women turned the corner of the building just as Bucky pulled up with the van. They all got in and Bucky started driving again.
Clint stayed on the roof where he was while watching the van leave his location. His gaze returned to the passed out man. Two SUVs arrived at the bistro. Four men in black and white suits, wearing sunglasses, got out and walked toward the man. He was beginning to come to and the men surrounded him.
To confuse the gathering audience, the men acted as his security. They got him to his unsteady feet and they put him in one of the SUVs. Clint watched the SUVs start driving away from the bistro. Clint rose to his feet with a confident smile on his face.
"On way to exfil", Clint said.
"Understood, boss", Bucky said.
"No sirens or radio chatter. You have a clear route", Rhodey said.
"Thanks, Rhodes", Clint said as he started making his way to exfil.
Ten Hours Later...
The team arrived at the Compound. Bucky, Kate, and Yelena went to the common area to settle down from the mission. Daisy, with the briefcase in hand, walked with Clint to his office. She is his second in command so she would help him handle the contents. Rhodey joined Bucky, Kate, and Yelena in the common area to talk with them.
Daisy and Clint arrived at his office. Clint walked over to his desk and sat down while Daisy walked to the long conference table on the other side of the office. Daisy set the briefcase down and sat in front of it. She turned in the chair to face Clint.
"Are we going to open this thing", Daisy asked.
Clint chuckled. "You know we can't do that. We have to wait for the CDC."
Daisy turned back to look at the briefcase again. "Why? You don't want to open a briefcase full of nerve gas", she asked sarcastically.
Clint laughed. "I'm okay." He stood up and walked over to the table. He sat against it and looked at the case. "I want you to meet Alpha Team when they arrive with Marx."
"Want me to interrogate him too?"
"No. Let's have him marinate in the holding room for a while first. Then Yelena will interrogate him."
Daisy nodded. "Understood." She stood up and started walking to the door. Before she left, she turned to face Clint. "When does the CDC get here?"
"They're not. Rhodey and I are going to give it to them at one of their offices in the city."
"Ahh, right. No one comes here because no one knows it exists."
Daisy walked out of Clint's office to leave him alone. She walked out of the main building and walked to the hangar just as a quinjet arrived.
Clint glanced at the briefcase before getting up and walking to the couch next to his desk. Out of all the furniture from his old office that he loved having, it was a couch. He decided to get one for his office in the Compound.
He sat down on it and practically sank into it. Clint rested his head back and closed his eyes. He craved a few minutes of rest before having to grab Rhodey and the briefcase and go to the CDC.
Two Hours Later...
All the members of the team, except Clint, were in the large training room. Bucky was sparring with Rhodey. Yelena was teaching Kate a few techniques she learned from the Red Room. Everyone knew that Kate was the least experienced in the field of combat so Yelena decided to teach her some things.
Daisy was in the also in the room but she was sitting at a table and Natalie was next to her. The young girl needed help with her homework and Daisy was not doing anything important.
Clint was in his office watching different news outlets on the multiple screens on his wall. He was seeing what they were saying about the nerve gas that was stolen from a secret lab in Eastern Europe. He also had to make sure that no footage or photos of him or his team became public.
After a few minutes, Clint heard a knock on his closed office door. "Enter", he said.
The door opened and Coulson walked inside. "Hey, Barton."
"Coulson. What are you doing here?"
"Were you expecting me to be gone?"
"Well, you are my operations commander for teams outside my own. There are no active operations currently. So, yeah I was."
Coulson smiled. "Fair enough."
Clint returned the smile. "What do you need?"
"For you to tell me why you didn't tell me about that secret assignment you have Fitzsimmons working on."
Clint's smile faded. "How did you find out about that", he asked in almost a whisper.
"You said it yourself, Clint. I oversee the tactical teams and others when you don't need them. I was bound to find out."
Clint sighed. "Did the scientists tell you anything?"
Coulson shook his head. "No. They said to talk to you because I don't have the clearance to know."
"Well, you don't."
"Daisy is the second in command here. There is no way that Fitzsimmons have a higher clearance than her. So, I am going to speculate that not even she knows."
Clint looked down. "She doesn't. Neither does Yelena and I would like to keep it that way."
Coulson was about to reply but decided against it. He knows that Clint is in charge now and it is his discretion on what to do. "Okay. If you need someone to talk to about it though, let me know."
Clint nodded. "Thanks, Coulson."
Coulson gave Clint's shoulder a friendly squeeze before walking out.
Clint sighed and rubbed his hand down his face. He walked back to his desk and sat down. Clint started to fidget with the band on his finger. He leaned back in his chair and stared at something in his office. His mind just started traveling.
The others in the training room were still going at it. Daisy had finished helping Natalie, so she got to spar with Bucky. Rhodey was relieved for the break. Natalie wandered out of the room and went to the kitchen. Yelena and Clint were glad that she knew the building well enough. Kate had moved on from learning Yelena's technique to actually putting them to fruition.
"You don't get to use powers", Bucky nearly yelled when he was able to stand up. Daisy had blasted him into the padded wall.
"I can't help it sometimes. You overpower me, I turn to that."
Bucky rolled his eyes. "Anyone else want to fight her?" Bucky turned to look at the others. "Rhodey?"
Rhodey laughed. "Hell no."
Bucky looked at the other two women in the room. "Yelena?"
"I'm training the rookie."
"Hey, I'm not a rookie."
That made everyone look at her then start laughing. Kate looked at everyone as they laughed at her. "What's so funny?"
"Looks like you have your replacement Bucky", Rhodey said.
"Wait, what", Kate asked with some fear and a slight squeak in her voice.
Bucky smiled. "You're up, Kate", Bucky said as he walked off the mat.
"I wasn't volunteering to fight her", Kate said trying to plead her case.
"If you're not a rookie then you should be fine", Yelena said.
Kate looked at Yelena. "I feel like this isn't how this works."
"It's not", Rhodey said. "You just haven't had enough experience to say you're not a rookie."
"I fought Poseidon's Blood and the Taskmaster."
"No you didn't", Clint said out of nowhere. "The people in this room saved you from him. Not to mention, a training session is different from an actual fight. Daisy will hold back."
Kate reluctantly walked to the mat where Daisy was standing. She faced Daisy and got in her ready stance. As if not stressed enough, it was worse because Clint was watching too. Kate threw a punch at Daisy. The senior operative easily dodged the punch. She threw one of her own and hit Kate square in the face.
Kate stumbled back but did not fall. This time she tried to kick her in the side. Daisy, however, caught her leg and knocked her other leg out from under her. Kate fell to the mat with a loud thud. Daisy stood over her. Without a second to spare, Daisy clenched her fist and brought it up to hover above Kate's face. Kate was barely able to see the fist in time to move her head to avoid being hit. She used her leg to flip Daisy over her.
Kate quickly got to her feet. Daisy also got to her feet but not in enough time to avoid the punch to the gut. Daisy stammered back but did not drop. A small smile appeared on her face. She knew the kid was learning. This made the Inhuman raise the bar a little higher.
Daisy charged Kate. The female archer was definitely caught by surprise. Daisy would constantly throw punches and kicks without letting Kate catch her composure. The others, minus Clint, were giving Kate advice. She could not hear them though because she was so distracted with not getting hit by Daisy.
Clint watched the fight closely. He was able to follow each punch and kick with ease. It was not just his experience but also his alter ego, as some would put it, that allowed him to do this. His thoughts, however, were solely focused on Kate. He knows she has the least experience out of everyone here, but he had to help her.
Kate was able to keep up with Daisy's punches and kicks but barely. Daisy knew all she had to do was throw Kate off for one second to take Kate down. That is what she did. Daisy threw a punch with her left hand that Kate blocked. Daisy punched Kate in her spleen. Kate let out a groan as she dropped to her knees. She brought her hands to where she was punched and tried to regain her breath.
Daisy walked over and crouched down next to Kate. "You alright?" She knew how much to hold back to not permanently harm Kate.
Kate did not speak. She just slowly nodded as she took slow deep breaths.
"That's enough for today", Clint said. He walked over to Kate and crouched down to be at ear level.
He helped her stand up and they walked over to the table so Kate could sit. Everyone else packed up their work out gear and left the room. Clint assessed the injury. It was nothing more than a bruise. He applied a small amount of ointment. This was new to Kate so she did not know how to handle it. Plus, Jemma was already gone so she could not help Kate.
Clint helped Kate get to her large room in the Compound. Clint kept some bedrooms in the Compound in case someone got hurt or if they wanted did not want a place away from the Compound. So, Bucky also had a permanent room in the Compound.
After Clint helped Kate settle into her room, he walked back to his office. He closed the door behind him when he saw Yelena on the couch with Natalie resting her head on Yelena's leg. Yelena was slowly stroking her daughter's hair.
"How long has she been asleep", Clint asked.
"A few minutes", Yelena replied. "I came in here and saw her with May while eating a snack."
Clint nodded as he sat down at his desk.
"How's Kate?"
"Regretting her decision to join the team", Clint said with a small laugh.
Yelena chuckled. "Like that could ever happen."
"Your probably right."
The couple sat there is silence for a minute while Clint filled out paper work on the mission they just completed. Yelena was staring at Natalie while stroking her hair.
"The two of you can take off if you want. There are some things I have to do."
"Are you sure? We can stay. She has clothes here for a reason."
Clint smiled. "I know, but she should sleep in her bed."
Yelena nodded. She softly shook Natalie awake. Clint kissed Natalie's cheek and Yelena before they left. He sat in his chair for a little while longer. He sat there long enough for Yelena and Natalie to leave. Most of the other people in the Compound also left for the night.
Clint rose from his chair and walked out of his office. He walked through the empty halls of the Compound. It was really quiet and a lot of the lights were off. Clint made his way to the large lab. It was not largest lab but Fitz and Simmons were very excited to have it and be in charge of the other scientists inside it.
Clint walked through the lab and went to a wall. He brought his hand up and started typing in a number code on an invisible keypad that appeared when he started punching in the digits. When the code was put in, a portion of the wall slid to reveal an entryway. Clint walked inside it.
When Clint walked into the room, the lights turned on and illuminated the contents in the room. It was not a large room. It was no bigger than maybe a master bedroom of a regular house. Clint stood in front of the table in the center of the room. He put his hands on the table and stared at the Taskmaster suit that was lying on the table. The suit was completely taken apart. Clint walked over to one of the five computers in the room.
Next to the computer was the Taskmaster helmet. There were wires sticking out of it. Clint turned on the computer and saw that the information from the helmet was being downloaded onto the computer. He walked to the other computer screens that were being used to keep notes on some of the other parts of the suit.
Clint turned around to stare at the disassembled suit. His eyes wandered to the whole in the upper chest portion of the suit where the hole made by his sword was. His eyes stayed on that spot. "What made you different", Clint asked in a whisper.