Issue #1: The Longest Night CHARACTERS: Hawkeye and company. TOPIC: Clinton 'Tiberius' Barton. DATE & TIME: Saturday, December 19th, 2015 - 2:15am. LOCATION: The Avengers/S.H.I.E.L.D helicarrier, above and off the coast of Manhattan.
"Captain's log," Clint half spoke, half announced to the bridge crew of the flying dreadnought he currently commanded. "Stardate... Ten ten two-thousand and fifteen, zero-fifteen hundred..." He spun in the captain's chair he'd had them install, just for moments like this. He threw his right leg over his left just as the starry night before him came into focus. "The helicarrier is currently orbiting a very strange world, one we've only just begun to understand. These New-Yorkers are indeed an unusually species, but even their crude and barbaric customs seem normal compared to their neighbors... Those from Jer-sey." Clint paused, because a few SHIELD agents on the bridge actually chuckled at him. "Don't laugh," his Shatner impression deepened. "I'll... never stop."
"Sir." One of the female agents closest to Clint turned and attempted to gain the archers attention.
"Yes, lieutenant?" She wasn't a lieutenant, Hawkeye wasn't going to stop.
"Sir, something is approaching the helicarrier at a remarkable velocity." She continued, and gestured to her sensor panel.
"Alright." Clint's interest was peaked, "Animal, vegetable, mineral?" He asked, then hopped from his chair to stand beside the agent.
"It's not a missile or Mr. Stark." The tech ruled out, then her brow furrowed. "It's living, it's a person."
"Well, we do know people who fly without planes." Hawkeye reminded her then gestured toward her monitor. "Put it on the screen." After she tapped a few buttons the image appeared and Clint leaned forward to examine it closer. Come on, Thor - he thought only to realize this person did have long hair, but wasn't the thunder god. "Who is that?" He asked out loud just before the woman sped by the camera. A distant 'CLANG' rang out from the ship and that rumble was felt across the metal floor beneath their feet. Alarms powered on and lights flashed, then another sound, followed by a tremor. "Report!"
"She's broken through the bulkhead, sir - in at least two places. E-vac of the areas in process, counter-measures being deployed." One of the other crew informed Clint while he moved toward his chair. "Sir!" The agent exclaimed, this time merely pointing toward the observation window. It was the woman again, this time she just ripped the wing off a Quinjet and sent it spinning toward the water below. Clint rushed to the window just in time to see the pilot eject and their parachute open.
"Good luck with those counter-measures." Hawkeye told them, but stumbled on his way toward his bow and quiver. The entire vessel had lurched to the side and Clint knew it was an engine.
"Engine three is out, sir." Somebody yelled across the bridge.
"Get this boat further out to sea - and start abandoning ship if she takes out another one." Hawkeye commanded then threw his quiver over his shoulder and grabbed his bow.
"Where are you going?" One of the agents asked, seemingly surprised Hawkeye was leaving.
"I recognized her finally and nothing and no gun or laser on this thing is going to stop her - not without killing her." Clint confessed - because he'd known Carol Danvers - seen her power in action. This woman wasn't Carol F. Danvers, and because of that she was far more dangerous.
Hawkeye jogged for the door to the bridge, "keep me posted on her position," he yelled back - and then the turbulence got worse. His fingers flicked against the controls on his bow until the arrow he wanted was ready. He pulled the weapon from his quiver on the run, shoved the shaft of the projectile into the same palm that held his bow, then ditched the rest of his arrows. One shot Clint was on duty tonight. He raced down the hallway in the opposite direction of everyone else in the ship. He heard another explosion, but more importantly felt it in his stomach. The helicarrier started to dip on the right and he knew another engine had been lost on the same side as the first. "Try to keep her level." Clint spoke into his comm while the floor and the wall to his right started to merge into one.
"Power to engine three almost restored." Someone told him in his ear, but unfortunately for Clint power would not be restored before he reached a section without a hall. Only a narrow metal bridge. He didn't have time to wait, Hawkeye ran across the bridge - on what was basically the right side hand rail. "Got it!" The voice in his ear said, and Clint at once felt balance being returned. But the ride was still bumpy as hell. "Sir, she's stopped in the main hangar bay... she's screaming about someone; a Colonel Rossi?"
Clint's eyes went wide at this information. Michael Rossi was Carol's fiance.... what the hell was going on here? Hawkeye entered the hanger bay just in time for a massive, metal storage container to smash against the wall next to him. He'd leapt away in time, but this left him out of position for a clean shot. Luckily, the woman with the gray streak in her hair was more interested in flinging quinjets around then people.
"Tell me where he is! I know you have him!" She cried across the cargo bay, then flew out of the hole she'd made in the ceiling. The ship rocked again and the woman reappeared through a brand new self-made entrance.
"Quit blowing holes in my ship!" Clint yelled, then immediately regretted it when she launched another hunk of metal toward him. Clint ran toward the projectile, then slid under the debris, only to emerge from the otherside - bow drawn back and ready to fire. She's moved, Clint scanned the room only to notice she'd flown straight up and now descended on him. Hawkeye relaxed his arm, then rolled out of the way just in time to see her punch through the floor he'd just occupied. Her arm remained stuck in the floor, and Clint didn't dare miss this opportunely. He fired his grenade-tipped arrow directly told her face, and held his breath when the arrow detonated. Gas exploded around her face and after only a few seconds she fell face first onto the metal flooring. Hawkeye scrambled to his feet and tired to put distance between himself and his self-mixed knockout poison. Unfortunately, he was just too good of an alchemist. "Quick... put her in a cell..." He huffed to the agents that ran to the scene. "The max... cell..." Clint told them, before he dropped to one knee. "Don't tell... Kate." He managed to say before the cargo bay went dark and he fell, fast asleep on the helicarrier floor.