Under or Over: Hawkeye & Black Widow

CHAPTER #28

In Romania Barton checked out the industrial areas and local thug hangouts. No sign of HYDRA or any other faction.  He was getting bored again and needed some action, so he bought a ticket to a rugby game.  It was the same as going to one in the US, except he couldn't understand the announcer, due to the heavy accent.  Later he joined the crowd at the local bar.  He chose a table close to the hallway to the washrooms and where his back was to the wall.  Often sports events caused sore losers to start bar fights.  His location ensured no one could come at him from behind and if he had to fight, the hallway would funnel the attackers.  Maximum he'd have to fight at once would be three and they'd be in each other's way at that.  He check out the bartender and saw the man was built like someone who could crush a skull with one hand. Barton also noticed that he had a baseball bat and a shot gun, behind the bar with him.  That explained why the bar had no bouncers, this bartender could handle it all.  Watching the crowd, Barton easily saw the two groups that would start the fight.  Their body language alone, even without the volume of alcohol, told him that the fight would be coming soon.  He grinned and cracked his knuckles.  He was drinking out of a beer stein, again done on purpose. Hit someone over the head with one of those and they'd be unconscious. A beer bottle was smaller, but not always as effective. Pitchers usually were built out of sturdy glass too. 

As he had predicted, it wasn't long for the fat guy with the big mouth, to offend a fan of the loosing team.  The bartender didn't have a chance to stop the fight. All he could do, was defend the bar from loosing bottles.  Barton stayed out of it until the fighting came to him.  His timing, accuracy and speed allowed him to excel over pure power.  He caught the first guy in the right spot, a punch to the throat. His buddy got the stein on top of his head, making the knees buckle, but he didn't quite fall.  Stein-head-guy tried to stay standing, swaying around like falling timber, before gravity won and he collapsed to the ground.  Another man got punched in the liver, up on an angle, just below the ribs. It dropped him instantly.  Barton was having fun. He took a right on the chin, which most men would've been dizzy with.  He grinned and gave the guy a one-two combination in the abdomen. A low kick and his attacker was incapacitated.  A big fat guy was swinging for Barton's head, so he moved towards the punch, tightening his neck muscles and clenching his jaw.  The fat man didn't expect him to do that and missed his mark, wide to the right side.  It landed on Barton's forehead, which was one of the most solid bones on a human body.  It broke the man's hand and he whimpered like a little girl.

The bartender was having problems and Barton went to help him. They stood back to back.  "Thanks for the help," the man said with poor English.

"Thank me once it's over," Clint chuckled as he took a punch to his stomach.  His muscles were tightened, so it landed on his obliques and not directly in his stomach. He grunted and let his elbow open a gash on the attacker's eye. Blood squirted all over them.

The bar was a mess, but with the help of a few of his regulars, the bartender and Barton, managed to get the fight outside.  Once the rowdy crowd was gone, the bartender who's name was Nic, locked the doors.  "Once those bastards are gone, I'll open back up," he said in Romanian.

Barton picked up his stein, table and chair.  Him and another man, dragged the bodies that were unconscious or too hurt to move, out the side door and left them in the alley.  Their friends could help them home or the local police would. They picked up tables and chairs, cleaning up the mess.  The bartender bought everyone a round, when they were done.  Nic made an effort to use English for the American's sake.

"You have some good fighting skills, what do you do?" Nic asked the American.

"A little bit of this and that. Grew up hustling on the streets," Clint said vaguely.

Nic nodded, "you in town long?"

Clint shrugged, "not sure."

The bartender didn't push for more information, sensing the man at his bar wanted privacy.  "Well if you're in town tomorrow, come for a few free beers."

Barton thanked him and said good night.  He went to Bird, "that was fun."

"I don't think Stark sent you to find HYDRA agents in bars," Bird said.

"He didn't say where I had to look,"  Clint joked, getting on to the motorcycle.  "Bartenders get told all kinds of things, he's my ear to the underground."

"Yes sir."

The next day Barton went back to the bar, just before the evening crowd of regulars would arrive.  Nic gave him a few beers for free and Barton paid for another.  They talked about the fight from last night and then the locals.  Barton found out that there had been a few robberies to the local technical industries.  Because of the limit of Nic's English, he couldn't explain what exactly was taken.   But the robberies were now being reported in Slovakia.  Something about the type of equipment being taken, peaked Barton's interest.  He said farewell to the bartender and left.

"Bird we're going to Slovakia.  I want you to find out what you can about the robberies that were done here and correlate them with the ones being done in Slovakia.  I want to know what was stollen and when."

He returned to his hotel room, packed up and paid his bill.  Then began the ride to Slovakia.  Barton had Bird report to Jarvis his suspicions. Then he had Bird give him details about the caves. HYDRA loved putting their compounds inside mountains. He had a feeling he was getting closer to finding what they were all looking for.

** ~ ~ ~ ~ ~**~ ~ ~ ~ ~ **

Meanwhile, Romanoff was directing containers to be unloaded and set up inside the new compound.  She hated the new location, but understood why Von Strucker chose it. What bothered her, was that neither S.H.E.I.L.D. nor the Avengers were preventing the move or coming after her.  The tracker should have brought agent interference, but it had not.  Barton normally didn't give up so easily. She was dying to know what they were up to.