A Fool's Dance

Chapter Nine

Clint ordered Jarvis not to open the elevator doors until he reached the lobby. He'd been expecting to leave for a while now, but the longer he had stayed at Tony's with Steve, the less he had wanted to leave. And then they had to go and bring Barnes here. As if it was a good idea. Like Barnes didn't try to kill them.

Clint stepped off the elevator once the doors opened and quickly crossed the lobby in case Jarvis had told the others that he was leaving. He shoved the door open with more force than was necessary and stepped out onto the streets of New York.

Clint didn't even look behind him as he started walking. He mentally started counting down the time it would take for Natasha or someone to notice that he was gone. Clint went through the list of safe houses that he had in New York before settling on one that he knew Natasha didn't know about.

Clint stepped towards the road and flagged down a taxi. He climbed in the back, ignoring the filth and gave the taxi driver the address of a building a block away from his safe house.

He dug his cellphone out of the bottom of his bag, pulled the battery out, and tossed it out the window. There wasn't much he could do about the tracker in his leg while he was in the cab, so he was hoping that Stark didn't bother to track him.

Why would they track you? It's not like they need you anymore, Barton. They've got Barnes. He's a sniper that actually uses a gun. And he's got that metal arm of his.

Clint shook his head and waited for the long cab ride to be over. He tossed the driver the money he owed once the cab stopped and got out. Immediately, he stepped into an alley and grabbed the knife out of his boot. Gritting his teeth, he dug the tracker out of his leg and crushed it under his foot. Despite it being crushed, he knew it would still send out a signal, so he picked it up and planted it on an unsuspecting tourist.

The walk to his safe house was short since he took shortcuts through other buildings. Clint walked up the steps of the run down apartment. Casting a quick glance over his shoulder, he made sure no one was looking as he grabbed the key from under the railing of the stairs.

Clint unlocked the door, picketed his key, and headed straight up the stairs to his apartment. He'd paid off the rent for a lifetime with one of his bank accounts that no one knew about except Fury. And Fury was off grid, so he didn't have to worry about anyone finding him either.

There was a thin layer of dust over everything in the apartment. Clint grabbed one of the rolls of paper towels and started dusting everything off. Next, he pulled the sheets off the bed and threw them on to wash.

He'd have to go buy food at some point, but that could wait.

He unpacked all of his clothes and weapons, before making sure there were no bugs in his apartment. He only found one which he assumed Nick had put there.

Clint flopped down on the couch and used the arm rest as a pillow. A few minutes later, he was out.

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"Why didn't you tell us he was leaving!" Steve yelled at James.

The man remained silent, ignoring the glare from Natalia and Wilson. Stark was busy tapping away on his phone, probably trying to track Barton.

"He wanted to. I wasn't going to stop him," James shrugged.

Natalia muttered something lowly in Russian that James didn't bother trying to figure out. His eyes followed Steve pacing back and forth across the room.

"Any idea where he went?" Natalia asked.

"Well I found the tracker, but when I had Jarvis use the satellites to zoom it, it was someone else. And his phone has no signal."

"So he's gone? For good?" Steve asked softly.

"I'm sorry, Cap. I'll keep looking."

James watched as Steve's shoulders dropped slightly and a small frown appeared on his face. He pushed down a flicker of guilt and stood up.

"Can you track him?" Wilson asked, "You tracked us down in D.C."

"I could," James agreed, "but I won't."

"Why not!" Steve snapped.

James leveled him with a look and shook his head.

"He wanted gone. I promised to kill him if I saw him again. So he's staying gone if you want him alive, Steve."

That said, James left the common floor and went up to the training room.