Holly and the Archer

SIX

Holly had fallen out of a tree.

As she lay on the ground, winded and a pair of nun-chucks digging into her back, she watched as Clint laughs at her from the branch he sat on above her.

"Shut up, Barton!" He cups his hand to his ear, once again laughing as she sighs and shakes her head before pointing her middle finger up at him. "Read that." She rolls onto her knees with a cough, hearing his laughter fade and footsteps approaching her. Looking up, her eyes widen as a figure in burgundy overalls approaches her. The tip of the arrow docked in his bow pointed towards her as they approach. Behind the matching mask, she can make out eyes that are nearly identical to Clint's and raises her hands.

Propelling herself sideways, she plucks her nun-chucks from the strap on her back and knocks the bow from her attacker's hands. Standing to her feet, circling them, she waits for an attack. After a full circuit, she grows impatient and swings out. He grabs the nun-chuck aimed at his arm and snatches it from her grip.

Yelling out as he makes contact with her shins, she falls to the ground. Nearby, the ground muffles Clint's landing. The sound caught the attacker's attention enough for Holly to launch herself forward and wrap herself around his legs. As unprofessional as she feels, she succeeded in knocking him over, but now she had a full-grown man on top of her and his fist aimed for her face. Gritting her teeth, she kicks her knee up into his groin and punches out at his throat. She pushes herself out from under him and scrambles to pick up her nun-chucks.

Upon turning around, she sees an arrow flying towards her and spins her nun-chucks in time to knock it to the ground. The head of the arrow beeps and flashes red before exploding. Holly hardly has time to yell or scream as she is suddenly knocked from her feet and thrown back into the tree-line and away from the fight.

"Barney!" Clint fires an arrow at his brother. It nicks his arm as intended. "You wanted me, now you've got me. Leave her out of this."

"As long as she stays out of this." Clint dodges the arrow fired at him and charges. He snaps his bow into a pole and swings it up to connect with Barney's chin. As he continued to attack his brother, Clint grew weaker as Barney simply took the blows. With his breath ragged, Clint hesitated and Barney took advantage of his weakness.

With a wide swing, he punched Clint across the clearing and took his time approaching him as he struggled to get to his feet. Holly stumbles to the edge of the clearing, weighing the odds of Clint winning, she wasn't fond of the conclusion she came to.

"Hey!" She throws her nun-chucks. They spin through the air, connecting with Barney's cheek when he turns around. Stunned, he has limited time to notice her running towards him until she reels backwards and delivers him an uppercut. "Go back to the land of make believe!" He stumbles under the momentum and, in his moment of unsteadiness, Clint kicks out at his knees. Using Barney's shoulder, Clint drags him to the ground and holds the head of an arrow to Barney's throat.

"You asked for a fair fight..." His breathing remained heavy from the energy he had used earlier, yet his voice remained dark and full of warning. "You don't deserve a fair fight. Stay away from me, because next time you come looking for a fight, I will kill you." Barney grunted and shifted his eyes to Holly.

"Maybe I'll just go after her next time." Clint pressed the tip of the arrow into Barney's throat.

"Would you rather I kill you now?" Holly's eyes widen, she places a hand on Clint's shoulder, feeling his body jolt as Barney groans.

"Clint, don't." His shoulders slumped and, once her hand had left his shoulder, Clint took the arrow and drove it into Barney's abdomen.

"Don't follow us." Clint stood and approached Holly. He wrapped his arm around his shoulder as they hurried away. Clint's breathing was still heavy, and he grimaced down at her as they approached their car. "I need to go to the gym more."