For a fraction of a second Clint's head was completely clear, like the silence before the storm and then the hurricane hit.

The second his hand gripped the trapeze bar he heard the tell tale click of over a dozen handguns' safety turning off. He hasn't seen all the agents.

It's a trap! Clint mind started into overdrive. I'm going to die.

I'm going to die here, I am never going to see Natasha or Barney or Kate again.

As a screeching alarm pierced the air, his grip on the bar slackened and he dropped into the net below. I've played dead for so long, maybe I've run out of luck and time.

All around him he could hear people rushing away and some rushing towards him. I'm going to die here and my body is going to be sunk under the ice in a river outside St.Petersburg.

Clint let his head loll to one side and he watched the people run out of the tent, then he saw her.

She wasn't much, a mere sprite of a girl, no taller than Clint's upper thigh. Her slick pigtails were short and pencil straight, like two thick pieces of black liquorice. Each one dangled about an inch above her cotton candy stained chin. Her eyes were huge and dark like coffee beans, but were smeared red thanks to the silent tears that were streaming down her face. In one hand she was clutching a men's glove, like it was life line. There were no adults near her, most likely she was holding onto her father's hand and during the scuffles the man's glove slipped off along with his daughter. All around the girl crowds surged yet no one reached out to guide her out of the tent. She was alone and frightened.

This little girl is going to watch me die,Clint thought. And then hydra is going to remove any witnesses, that little girl is going to be shot along with me.

Silently Clint tried to will the girl to run, to go find her parents or at the very least look away, no one needs to see someone die and judging on the way the agents eyes were glittering Clint could tell his death wasn't going to be a clean one. These agents weren't just here to kill him, they were here to play.

One man with a sneer that could curdle milk stalked over to Clint, flanked by two men brandishing assault rifles.

"Pick him up," The man all but growled.

The men each grabbed Clint under an arm and hauled him up and off the net like a bag of flour. Between the men he dangled with his head hanging down and his toes barely touching the ground. As the man drew closer to Clint he could smell his rancid breath in his face and he felt bike raise in his throat.

"My,my." The man laughed without humour, "Who is this piece of meat I have found?"

Clint felt a gloved hand grip his chin and force his head up, making him come face to face with the man. His eyes were icy and filled with a harsh fire.

"When hydra said they were sending me to assassinate one of SHIELD's best and brightest agents, the Hawkeye, I was expecting a fight, some excitement. Finally I thought that I would meet someone just as skilled as me, a person who could stand up to me; Conrad Balisk. But all I get is you, you pathetic, broken man."

The words stung, but Clint bit back a number of scathing retorts. The longer he let Balisk gloat, the longer civilians hand to get away. The longer that little girl with liquorice pigtails had to run.

All around him the agents laughed darkly and Clint suppressed an eye roll.

If this man is going to kill me can't he at least have some more intelligent grunt workers?

"Yet," Balisk let go of Clint's chin. "I have a proposal for you Hawkeye. You can either die slowly with a dozen bullet wounds slowly leaking blood until you die alone in a pool of red, or you can join hydra. Become one of us, leave your past behind and have everything you've ever wanted, fame, glory, respect, riches."

Clint couldn't hold back an answer.

"Everything I've ever wanted?" He scoffed, "All I want is to have my life back, I don't want fame or glory or money! I want to go back to my home in New York, drink cheap coffee with Kate, Natasha and Coulson and help people." Clint stared the man straight in the eye, " Go ahead and shoot me and maim me! Without them I have nothing to live for, and as long as I can breathe I will never join you!"

For a moment Balisk looked at tad stunned at Clint, but he quickly covered it with a snort and shrug. "Have it your way Hawkeye,"

As if he was relishing every second Balisk reached to hip and from a leather holster removed a 10mm glock, a handgun that was way more than lethal at this range. With this weapon and Balisk only two feet away Clint wasn't looking at a remotely clean or painless death, this thing would without a doubt kill him and take a good chunk out of his head along with it.

Balisk held the barrel centimetres away from Clint's temple and then leaned in close.

"Say your goodbyes now, I'll transfer them onto the recipients. That is if they live, because after you hydra is going after the big leagues. The avengers, and the best thing is we don't have to even attack their precious tower, all we have to do is wait for them to come looking for you."

The avengers. My teammates, Bruce, Tony, Steve, Thor and Natasha. They are going to walk straight into a trap looking for me, I'll be leading them to their deaths. Clint's thoughts were like a swarm of bees inside his head, a very angry and depressed swarm of bees.

He barely heard Balisk click the safety off, all he could hear was his buzzing thoughts. But he did hear something, or more accurately feel something.

Above his ear he felt something small and fast cut through the air and imbed itself in flesh. But it wasn't his flesh the thing hit, it was Balisk's.

Next to him Balisk hit the ground with a thud and a small pool of blood was leaking for a bullet hole in his head.

Right between the eyes. Clint thought as everyone was frozen in shock at the man who suddenly dropped like a fly. There is well trained sniper in the tent and he's on my side.

Sorry this is kinda a filler chapter and it took so long,but it is sorta important and introduces the new character. Speaking of new character anyone know who it is? Please tell me who you think it is in the comments!

Thanks!

-Brokenrook