Of The Wolves And The Orphans

Going Underground

 I am in limbo. There is no time or space. Only dark blackness that surrounds me in oblivion. Some say that oblivion is bliss. I beg to differ. It is hell. I cannot wake up from it even if I want to. I cannot hold an actual thought process. But what scares me most is I cannot know if I am in danger or not. Someone could be preparing to kill me at this moment and I would never know.

Time has no meaning, but finally I feel my senses slowly returning. I can feel myself lying on a surface, though I cannot determine what the surface is made of. I feel the dark edge of the oblivion start to slip away and my sense of direction comes slowly. I am lying on my back. My hearing returns next. I register an odd beep, beep in the background. My fingertips brush against what I think is rough fabric. Slowly, my swimming vision comes as I blink my eyes open.

I'm lying on my back in a hospital room with a heart monitor and tubes and wires all hooked up around me. I feel fine, except for the throbbing pain in my leg. I rip off the tubes and wires, causing an alarm to go off, but I ignore it. Looking down at my leg, I see it has been bandaged and cleaned and I can feel the shot of pain killers in my system. Despite the fact that the burn is extremely bad, it didn't seem to go too deep that it was life threatening, but I'm sure I'm going to walk with a limp for the rest of my days. I wince at the thought and quickly cover up the wound with the bandage again.

I know I only have a couple seconds before the nurse comes in. I rummage around in the draws and find my old clothes neatly folded and tucked away. They have been cleaned luckily, though they still have holes in them. I tug them on without regard to my injury and tuck some painkillers into my pocket. I limp to the window and look out. Luckily I am only a two stories off the ground. I shove the window open and balance in a crouch on the ledge. I hear the door open behind me and an angry voice yelling at me. I ignore it and jump into the air, but not in the direction of the ground. I jump and grab a drain pipe, using it to shimmy down to the ground. Luckily this doesn't use my leg too much, but it still hurts like hell. Once I land, I take off sprinting as fast as I can, but my limp is horribly obvious. I run away from the hospital and into a nearby alleyway. I slow to a walk and weave in an impossible maze through the back alleys and slums of New York that I know so well. No one will be able to follow me, especially that Hawkeye. I just hope that he isn't so persistent that he will follow me to the ends of the earth, but from the look of it, it seems as though he works for some big organization with lots of connections.

I finally make it to my first hide out. It is simply a hole in a wall, but I crawl into it and block up the entrance behind me. Searching for a moment to my right, my fingers come in contact with a flashlight that I click on. Before me is a tunnel and I crawl along it for about a minute before immerging in my haven. Though outside is dirty and filthy, it is warm, clean, and organized in here. I pull a string and lights flicker on with the humming of electricity. A nice couch is tucked in the corner with a warm, fuzzy blanket draped over it, a full length mirror occupies another corner and an animal skin rug covers the hard cement floor. I won't stay here long, just until I can move. I lie down on the couch and stare at the cement ceiling, thinking of the past events. I wonder if Jackson made it ok.

Hawkeye's P.O.V.

It was over, finally. The aliens were all defeated thanks to Stark and his nuke. Speaking of Stark, he will not shut up about his quick rescue. Sure, at first I felt obligated to him since he saved our asses and all of New York's, but that feeling melted away as soon as the complaining, snarky, smart ass Stark came back.

Shawarma, you've got to be kidding me. But here we are eating in the cheap, beat up restaurant. It is peacefully quiet though, as all our quiet exhaustion fills the air. It has a sense of finality to it, but something keeps nagging me in the back of my mind. That girl. She looks like she is probably a kid off the street. Her clothes were nice, but years of my job tell me they were stolen, or borrowed as she would probably say. I'm betting she is a runaway.

Why am I taking so much interest in her? Well, it is because of a lot of reasons. I saw her cornered. I saw her when she thought she was going to die, and I thought so too, and I saw her courage. Her talent, though in the raw and undefined, was undoubtedly there. The will and determination she had to live, combined with her unnatural flexibility and quick reflexes were the ideal combination to make a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, or assassin. Natasha and I were the only two with our kind of training and who knows how soon S.H.I.E.L.D. might need another? She was too golden of an opportunity to pass up, and I don't intend to.

After about five minutes more, I push away from the table and head out the door without a word. I feel all five eyes on me, but stubbornly ignore them. I push open the swinging door and walk into the bright sunlight. Pausing for a moment, I blink to let my vision adjust. The carnage and rubble around me is unimaginable, but it is not my duty to work search and rescue. My duty is done, except for one final deed.

I take off through the streets, traveling completely silently and staying in the shadows. Many an unsuspecting civilian doesn't even realize how close an assassin was to brushing their arm. I laugh silently to myself thinking of how many people would be dead right now if I wished them to be. True, these thoughts might disturb the normal person, but then again, I'm not normal. It's just my job.

I turn the corner, heading straight for the dumpster behind which I hid the girl and kid. Something isn't right. I frown and break into a sprint. My suspicions are confirmed as I near the dumpster. Newspapers flutter inconsolably as they yield their empty hands where a small girl and a young kid rested not too long ago. Of course, what had I been thinking? The girl was too smart, and stubborn, to stay in one place for long. She was off the street, a spawn of the slums. She probably knew more about the backhanded ways than the freakin mafia. Her evasiveness only adds to my determination. No person has ever eluded my net for long.

I search for a blood trail from her burn and sure enough, I see one headed down the opposite way I came. I head stealthily down the alley and follow it into the street. The blood trail turns left. I pause for a moment, wondering where she was going, and then it hits me. Of course, she would head to the hospital and get treatment. No doubt she had already moved on, someone like her who was running from me would no doubt be smart enough to stay no longer than a day in one place, but I head to the hospital anyway.

I burst through the lobby, walking up to the nearest nurse. The hospital is in an uproar, as might be expected. The nurse turns to look at me and I visibly see her shrink. No doubt my weapons strapped all over my body must give a rather alarming first impression, but I don't have time for that. Instead, I get right to the point.

"Has a teenage girl with dark hair, hazel eyes, about five foot tall and a severe leg burn been here?"

The woman looks at me skeptically, trying to decide whether or not to answer me. Unfortunately for her, I don't have time for this. With a growl, I step closer. The words literally babble out of her mouth.

"A girl matching your description came. She was put in the I.C.U., but the minute she woke up she escaped out the window. Climbed like a monkey out of a tree she did!" the woman added indignantly. I couldn't help but smirk. That is definitely the girl I'm looking for. Without another word, I turn heel and leave the woman standing dumbfounded.

Static bursts on my com line before a voice comes in.

"Agent Barton, we need you on the bridge. An evacuation carrier is being sent for you and the Avengers. Meet at rendezvous spot Alpha 110. Over and out."

I continue on my path, deep in thought. I'll have a better chance of finding the girl with the help of the technology of S.H.I.E.L.D. than on my own. She has gone to earth and disappeared in the slums of the city. It would take me a long time to find her if I tried. Too long.