Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Ethan sat on the uncomfortable hotel chair staring at the image on the television screen in front of him. He distantly felt his jaw drop in surprise and confusion as the news program went to commercial.

Jane looked up from her computer and wasn't sure what to make of the senior agents current state. She balled up a piece of paper and threw it, hitting Benji on the forehead.

His head snapped up, shooting Jane an annoyed look before he looked over to where she was frantically motioning. He was shocked to see the unflappable Ethan Hunt staring open mouthed and unmoving at a commercial for laundry detergent. He looked back to Jane, raising an eyebrow in question. She shrugged, unsure what was going on with their team leader.

Benji was the first to break the silence, "Ethan, you alright over there?" Benji and Jane waited for any form of acknowledgement but Ethan didn't speak or even move.

Jane got up and moved to squat in front of the catatonic agent, "Ethan is everything alright?"

Ethan's eyes flickered to Jane before going back to the television. Ethan cleared his throat and shook his head to clear his thoughts. When he finally spoke, his words caused the other agents eyes to widen almost comically.

"I just saw Brandt jump off a roof and shoot an arrow at an alien."

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"I just saw Brandt jump off a roof and shoot an arrow at an alien."

Jane and Benji stared openmouthed at Ethan for a moment before Jane put a hand on his shoulder, "Are you alright Ethan?"

Ethan turned to her, "Of course I'm alright, I just want to know why one of this team is currently in New York jumping of buildings and shooting things with a bow and arrow."

Benji leans back, "Are you sure it was Brandt? I mean, the guy could barely jump into that ventilation shaft that one time, now you want us to believe he willingly jumped off of a skyscraper."

Ethan shot Benji a look that said don't-question-me-I-can-kill-you-with-a-paperclip and Benji backed off, his hands raised in a placating gesture.

Jane sighed, "Call him then. He is supposed to meet us here in the next few hours anyways, just say you need to know where he is."

Ethan opened his mouth to protest then looked down at his phone, "That actually might work."

Jane fought back the urge to smack the man, of course it would work, why did all men have to be such idiots. Before Jane could say anything though, Ethan had already dialed the familiar number and was listening to the ringing.

Hello.

Ethan stood at the breathless greeting, "Brandt, I need to know when you are getting here, there may have been complications and we need to leave earlier than expected."

There was a pause and Ethan listened to the sounds of a fight before Brandt's voice came over the line, I'm a little busy at the moment. Brandt's last word trailed off and Ethan heard the sound of gunshots,

"Brandt, is everything alright? Where are you?" Ethan listened to the exasperated sigh as Brandt managed to say,

Like I said, I'm busy. I'm in New York right now, don't think I can make it to Luxembourg.

Ethan almost smiled at that, he knew what he had seen was right, "That have anything to do with the aliens?"

Ethan heard Brandt's breath catch, Aliens? What aliens? There aren't any aliens where I am.

Ethan looked skeptically at the television as he spoke, "Really then why did I see you on the news, shooting aliens, with arrows, and jumping off buildings?"

Dammit. Ethan waited for a moment as he listened to Brandt's heavy breathing and what he assumed was the twang of a bowstring, I wasn't on the news, no idea what you are talking about. You must have seen someone that only looked like me, besides when do I jump off anything.

Another voice, more distant replied, All the freakin time, seriously, you got a death wish Barton?

Ethan smiled and turned to look at Benji and Jane, who were both eagerly awaiting the outcome of the conversation, "Who was that Brandt?"

Ethan looked at the phone in shock when Brandt growled, like actually growled, No one. Then he heard Brandt's voice, more distant say, Shut up Stark.

Ethan mouthed the name, wondering who he was talking to and watched as Benji paled and his eyes grew even larger, if at all possible, "Oh my God, Stark! As in Tony Stark, Iron Man, technological god?"

Apparently Brandt heard him and a groan sounded from the phone, Seriously, that's why the man has a bigger ego than the entire country of Russia.

Ethan snorted in amusement, "So you are fighting aliens."

The response was immediate, No I'm not.

"Yes you are, I saw you on the news."

No you didn't.

"Yes I did."

No you didn't.

"I did."

Didn't.

"Did."

Didn't.

"Did."

Didn't.

Ethan sighed "I know what I saw."

A few unintelligible grumbles came over the line before Brandt said, Wasn't me. Maybe it was my long lost twin, or a clone, doppelgänger, or ask Benji, Masks.

Ethan laughed, "Brandt you are a terrible liar."

Brandt huffed; You try lying when an alien creature jumps on you and tries to chew your face off.

Ethan was quiet a moment, unsure what to say to that when he heard a distant feminine voice say to Brandt, Call them in for a debrief, explain it to them in person. Maybe you can even still do undercover with IMF if they cooperate.

Ethan waited as the line went silent before Brandt sighed in defeat, Ethan; I'm going to need you to come in. A team will come to pick you up within the hour.

Ethan was about to reply when the line went dead. Ethan lowered the phone and looked into the waiting eyes of his fellow agents, "Well I was right, it was Brandt."

Chapter Text

"Well, I was right, it was Brandt."

The room became unnaturally silent, even the sounds coming from the adjacent apartments seemed to have been put on mute. After the silence had dragged on for a good length of time, Benji finally remembered how to use his vocal chords, "What!?" Ethan shot Benji a disapproving look but the techie was unfazed, "Don't look at me like that. How the hell could that have been Brandt? You said the guy jumped off a building and shot an alien. That couldn't be Brandt; the man is a bloody analyst for crying out loud!"

Jane opened her mouth to comment but quickly closed it again, unsure what to say on the matter and not trusting herself not to burst into laughter at the sheer absurdity of the situation.

Ethan shrugged his shoulders, "If you remember, he did disarm me rather skillfully once."

Benji was quiet a moment, his mouth opening and closing in an imitation of a fish, "But… he's… I mean… it's… how… It's Brandt!"

Before anyone could reply, the door to the apartment flew open and several men filed in, guns trained on the three agents who had immediately drawn their own weapons. Shortly after a man in a suit walked in, followed by another man in a leather trench coat with an eye patch. Benji bit down on the inside of his cheek to stop himself making a very poor timed and ill though out pirate joke.

The man in the suit looked on the scene with a blank expression, "Agents, lower your weapons." Ethan couldn't tell if the man's tone of voice meant he was annoyed or amused, or if there was even a difference to this man.

Ethan shook his head at the man, who seemed more robotic than human, "We aren't lowering our weapons until you tell us who you are and why you are here."

The man with the eye patch's good eye seemed to shine with amusement as the man in the suit evenly replied, "You are not in the position to be making demands. We are willing to take you by force if need be."

Jane huffed in annoyance, "And I'm willing to shoot your men in the head if need be."

Jane's comment seemed to bring a smirk to eye patches' face, "Coulson, see what you can do about getting that one transferred to us, I like her."

The man in the suit, Coulson, produced a smart phone from the folds of his suit jacket and replied in the same even tone he had used earlier, "Director Fury, I do believe you have been spending an exceedingly large amount of time with Mr. Stark. It seems he is rubbing off on you."

Director Fury let out a small bark of laughter, "Perhaps if the Avengers acted more like superheroes than children, I wouldn't see Stark every other day for disciplinary hearings. The man is almost as bad a Barton."

The comment brought a smile to the stoic agents face, "That's where you are wrong sir, Barton know better than to get caught." The three IMF agents watched the exchange in amazement, these two men had three agents from what was most likely a friendly agency, at gun point and they were having a normal conversation like these things happened every day.

Coulson finished with his smart phone and looked back up at the agents, "Well Agents Hunt, Dunn and Carter, if you come with us we will debrief you on the status of Agent Barton, though I believe you know him as Chief Analyst William Brandt."

Chapter Text

"Well Agents Hunt, Dunn and Carter, if you come with us we will debrief you on the status of Agent Barton, though I believe you know him as Chief Analyst William Brandt."

Coulson and Fury directed the three awed agents through the Helicarrier to the Avenger's briefing room. They entered to see a group of strangely dressed men and one very deadly looking woman. Benji caught sight of Tony Star and made a sound Ethan can only describe as a squeal of girlish delight. Benji desperately tried to contain himself but couldn't stop the enormous smile from forming on his face. Not trusting himself to speak, Benji followed Jane and Ethan to the table and never took his eyes off of his idol.

Jane on the other hand, had zeroed in her calculating gaze on the redhead at the far end of the table sitting next to Brandt, or was it Barton. The woman was carefully sharpening a set of throwing knives, seemingly oblivious to everything around her. Jane could tell the woman was highly skilled and could probably take down an entire terrorist organization singlehandedly while looking like she was simply waiting for her nails to dry.

Ethan ignored the chair offered him and moved around the table to Brandt, Barton, whoever he is. Ethan looked down at the man he thought he knew, who hadn't even acknowledged his presence. Ethan cleared his throat, "So, since when do you jump of sky scrapers?"

Clint's eye flicked towards him, "It's a Tuesday thing."

Ethan's eyebrow rose and he heard snickering from other parts of the table, "Tuesday huh? So what do you do on Wednesdays, diffuse IED's?"

The redhead beside the archer looked up, completely serious, "No he does that on Fridays, and it's his favorite part of the week, especially since R&D lets him blow them up after they figure them out."

Ethan looks dumfounded at Clint, "Is there any part of your job where you aren't constantly about to die?"

Clint contemplates the question for a second, "Well there was that one time when I did that mission with you guys."

Jane looked at him confused, "You mean the one where we barely stopped World War III?"

Clint shrugged, "Eh."

Jane's eyes narrowed, "What do you mean eh? That could have been catastrophic!"

Clint looked to the redhead, "Nat was there, no way would it have actually happened."

Jane looked at the woman, Nat, which she assumed was short for Natalie or Natasha, and wonders who could inspire such faith in someone, "Who are you anyways."

The woman smiles, and though it should be beautiful, it is deadly, "Agent Romanoff, Designation: Black Widow. You can call me Natasha." Her eyes get dark, "Only Clint calls me anything else." Jane shrinks back in her seat feeling a mixture of fear and awe at the fact she just met the infamous Black Widow.

Ethan stands open mouthed and looks at Clint, "You work with the Black Widow?"

Clint huffed in amusement, "Work with? Hell, I'm the one who turned her. Best partner I've ever had."

Ethan is struck silent by the statement, if he turned and partnered with the Black Widow, that must mean Bra… Barton is an assassin as well. Ethan quickly went over the facts in his head and his eyes widened at the conclusion he came to, the man he thought was an analyst was actually the underworld's most mysterious assassin, Hawkeye. Not even those who hired him knew what he looked like, in fact the only thing anyone knew about him was his calling card, a single arrow through the mark.

Ethan held back a nervous gulp as he moved back around the table to sit by Benji, who was currently involved in a staring contest with Tony Stark. Ethan watched as the two men stared at each other, he was just beginning to think they were having some sort of tech-smart people mind conversation when Stark broke, "What the hell, why are you staring at me?"

Benji laughed nervously, "You are Tony Stark."

Tony rolled his eyes, "Thanks, I know that." Tony smirked as it dawned on him, "Oh, you're a fan."

Benji scoffed, "Fan? I'm the guy that hacked you five years ago in Malibu."

Tony leaned forward, "Seriously? That guy was good, didn't take anything, just in and out. It was a bet wasn't it?" Benji smiled and Ethan quickly drowned out the tech talk.

Just as Ethan was getting comfortable, Coulson was back, "Agents Hunt, Carter and Dunn, I would like to introduce you to the Avengers."