Archers of the Multiverse- Book One

Prologue - Hawkeye

"Clint? Clint can you hear me?" Steve Rogers screams in Clint's ear as H.Y.D.R.A agents arrive all around him.

"Yeah, I'm here Cap." he muttered, turning up his hearing aid. Any other Avenger would've asked Clint that as a joke, but Captain America was a guy who really put his teammates first. It was best not to play around with him.

Clint nocked an arrow in his recurve bow, and aimed into the sky. Six H.Y.D.R.A agents were parachuting towards Cap and Hawkeye. Clint quickly took aim, and released the arrow. While flying through the air, the arrow split in to twos, and the twos split in to fours, making eight arrows. Six of them took down the parachutes, while the other two hit the engines of an approaching H.Y.D.R.A warship.

"Nice shooting, birdie." Tony's voice came over the comms unit. Clint watched as Iron Man zoomed above him and blasted the baddies out of the sky with his repulsor.

Clint Barton always felt the pressure when working with the Avengers. He wasn't a super soldier, or a billionaire playboy. He wasn't an angry green giant or a Norse god. Hell, he wasn't even that great of an assassin like Natasha. She had been trained for this. Clint just picked up a bow and started shooting. Clint would not let himself miss. If he missed, he would show himself and the others he was just a normal human on a team of superheros. If he couldn't have powers, he could at least act like he did.

Ultimately, after a few more well placed arrow shots, the current H.Y.D.R.A danger was defeated. The Avengers had saved the day once again.

"You did good today, Clint." Natasha stood at the doorway to Clint's room on the Helicarrier.

"Yeah, good by human standards maybe. Still not sure why I'm on this team." Clint replied dejectedly.

"Hey, don't talk like that. Being out there, fighting the good fight, that's a team effort. I can guarantee Steve, and Tony, and Bruce, and even Thor, none of them can do it without you." Natasha told him.

"Yeah, sure. Whatever." Clint solemnly walked out of the room and headed towards the Helicarrier's deck, the base of operations. Steve and Tony were gathered around a monitor watching a news report about the earlier battle. Suddenly, the report cut to a shot of Clint, adjusting his hearing aid.

"Shit." Clint muttered under his breath.

"And it seems that according to these pictures, the hero known as 'Hawkeye' may be deaf." The news reporter comments over the image. The report then cut to an interview with a mother and her son, who couldn't have been older than ten.

"And who is your favorite Avenger little boy?" The interviewer asked.

"Hawkeye is my favorite! I love it when he makes things go boom with his arrows!" Steve and Tony turn towards Clint as he continues to watch in disbelief.

"Well, did you know that our news crew learned today that Hawkeye is also deaf?" The reporter asks.

"No, no, no. Don't tell him that." Clint said, frustrated. "I finally had a fan."

"Wow! There's another reason for you to like him Timmy!" his Mom said excitedly. The camera zoomed in on the boy's ear to reveal that he, also, had a hearing aid. The news anchor's voice comments over the video.

"Timmy has been deaf since birth. He has always wanted to be a superhero, but didn't think anybody would look up to a disabled person. Hawkeye has given him hope to continue to follow his dream of being a hero. More coverage of the Avengers battle tonight at 11." 

By this point the rest of the team had entered the room,  and they were all watching Clint. He continued to stare at the TV, a single tear sliding down his cheek.