Hawkeye: Agony

Hawkeye's Big Escape (Part 1)

I must have been twelve when this happened. It wasn't long after Barney left for the army - and a few days after Buck, my archery mentor, left the circus from his "old age". By that time I was pretty much deaf. It was punishment for attempting to escape with Barney. The Ringmaster had sent his magic through my head until something split, so from then on, all that I could hear was a constant ringing. I'd be thankful for the improved eyesight and aim if it wasn't a constant reminder that I'd helped the circus.

I was hiding. This time, I wasn't going on stage. I was curled up in my trailer and watching the door, unable to hear anyone enter behind me, and I was griping the Ringmaster's phone.

Now I know what you're thinking. Why the phone? My mom used to warn me about Harold, my dad. She used to tell me that if something got too out of hand, we just had to press these magic keys and ask for the police and they'd come. Obviously, working the phone wasn't that simple. We never did it, in fear of what he'd do to us. He was an abusive man; the reason I never went to school and Barney did; the reason I couldn't write and read until I'd left the tent.

My voice wasn't as quiet as most people's with hearing difficulties, as it was something new to me - but that also meant I didn't know how loud I was being. I was talking at a normal volume at the operator who was still asking whether I wanted the police, fire department or an ambulance.

"My name is Cl-Clint and I'm in Waverly, Iowa inside a tent. P-Please help me..." I was sobbing quietly in to my sleeve which started to muffle my already fast talking.
"Select '1' for the police department, '2' for the fire department, or '3' for medical help."
"I know where the murderers are. It was all of us, I-I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, I didn't know how bad it was... I_." I couldn't stop stuttering as I glanced between the door and the phone, waiting for some sort of acknowledgement to appear where the number was as if the robotic recorded message could understand my current situation.
"Select '1' for the police department, '2' for the fire department, or '3' for medical help."
"The tent is invisible because of m-magic, b-but it's on a field outside of the town. Please come quickly, I-I'm scared, I-I'm sorry."

Just as I'd finished, Bruto slammed open the door which made me jump. My trailer was extremely small and hardly fit to live in, so even as a small skinny child sat in the far corner, my foot got hit with the door.

As he picked me up, I cried down the phone repeatedly, "Help! Help me please..." as I sobbed and tried to grip the phone.
"Select '1' for the police department, '2' for the fire department, or '3' for medical help."
I instantly lost the phone to Bruto and was taken to the Ringmaster, crying and kicking like my life depended on it - which now, it did. Or so I thought.

**

"Director Fury, we found something on the mass murders," Phil Coulson said as he walked in to Nick Fury's office. He glanced at Goose as she pounced up in to Fury's lap.

Fury sat upright and said with a sudden quizzical look, glancing him over for a filed report, "Well?"
"It's not ... dealt with yet, Sir," Phil continued, trying to finish what he was saying before Fury interjected, which was a risk of it's own, "We interrupted a call from a boy who says he's with the group. He said they were using magic."
"So call the number back."
"The signal was cut off... He was talking to the automatic response. It's like he didn't hear..."
Phil paused and looked at Fury with worry in his eyes, "He was screaming for help. He's in trouble."
He stood still as Fury rose from his seat and put on a brown coat, "First aliens and now magic. Look for Howard's old heat detector. We're going to need it to look past this invisible sorcery," Fury said in a mocking tone, not quite believing magic existed until he saw it with his own eyes. Both men left followed by an older Peggy Carter who had came in for the day to teach access nine, and then proceeded to insist on accompanying them until 'they let her come too'.

**

"You are going to regret crossing me, Barton!" The Ringmaster yelled in to my face with a hand crushing my jaw to keep my gaze on him.
"Now you're going to go out there, and you're going to put on one final performance, Hawkeye."
I shook my head quietly. I would have agreed in my usual fearful away, but I knew that either way I would die - and I would rather go out as a changed person.

The Ringmaster's face fell in to complete anger, as he pulled out a collar I'd never seen before and forced it around my neck. I winced as the needles pushed through and then my face fell with my red, watery eyes resting at a lost gaze.

I walked through the flaps in to the main tent and towards a staircase leading up to the top of an aquarium. The crowd cheered but to me it felt like an echoing call for my death. All I could see was their joyful faces, which made me feel better about the stunt I was about to pull. I was happy to ruin them and make them as miserable as everyone in the circus. And though I wasn't making them suffer like we had all done many shows before - I was somehow willing to suffer myself this one time.
The magic from the collar pulsed through my veins as I was willingly strapped in to the straightjacket, tied to a weight and gagged with a metal ball.

I think Bruto was the one who threw me in but from then on I wouldn't remember much besides the cloud of water in my vision, with the increasing ringing in my ears as I ran out of breath. Just before I passed out, the noise burst and the water gushed around me. To this day, I'm not quite sure what happened, but Phil told me it was a gun shot fired by Mrs. Carter.