Just finished taking grad exams a few days ago so here's a quick doodle (+ headcanons) that are like half a year old which I didn't post for some reason
My personal take on a Noir AU!Clint! I hate him with all my heart, he's a vile man. But he looks good in black, I'll give him that
Mood lighting version:
Normal version for the simps (me):
The text is addressed to my self insert OC, Kate, which is also why Clint's notebook has the letter K scribbled in hearts. In normal verse, Clint and Kate are a happy couple. However, in this universe, I believe Clint wouldn't harbour any real feelings of love for Kate, but rather an obsessive need of possession towards her that he mistakes as love. Kate herself doesn't feel romantically attracted to Clint in this universe either, as she works for an organisation that goes directly against Noir. They're mortal enemies pretty much, and I'm not known for being into enemies to lovers! Kate rejects any and all advances that Clint makes towards her in this universe. She does lament the fact that his good looks go to waste on such a deplorable personality, though.
Anyways, Noir!Clint headcanons (TW for non-graphic mentions of eye injury):
He would spawn in shadowy corners of hallways, alleyways, the balcony, or, in the event that a blackout has taken place, even just on the player's couch, as pictured in the drawing above. If you are in computer mode when he spawns, he will announce his appearance with a sound cue of light jotting down on a notepad.
If you ignore this sound cue, it will be replaced by the louder sound of repetitive pen clicking as he grows impatient with you. Ignore him long enough and he will kill you upon exiting computer mode.
To defend against him, you must approach him, which is when he will ask you a random question regarding the dark web sites you've visited thus far (much like the Gatekeeper site does in WTTG1). Depending on how far along you are into the game/how many dark web keys you've collected, you will be given multiple answers to choose from (2-4 choices, only one being correct).
If you answer correctly, he leaves and you survive. If you answer wrong, he will kill you as punishment for skipping through the contents of the sites in your blind search for keys. His mechanic gives you a reason to actually read and pay attention to the websites, which, in my opinion, is one of the most well done aspects in the WTTG series.
The questions are of medium difficulty in normal mode, while in 1337 mode they are muuuuch more specific and painful, designed moreso for the lore geeks. Clint's reactions to the player getting his question right also differ between modes.
In normal mode, he offers sly sounding praise
"Good, very good. Until next time..."
"Attentive. A good trait to have. Well done. Goodbye for now..."
"Looks like someone's done their homework. Keep it up. I don't want you slacking off the next time we see each other. Or else... -dark chuckle-"
In 1337 mode, he expresses severe disappointment with the player's correct answers, since he specifically designed his questions to be as hard as possible because he is dead set on killing them
"Awh... correct. How unfortunate."
"My, my, look at you. How intelligent... How utterly irritating."
"Ugh... right again. Fine, you get to live another tick of the clock. But stay well read now. Next time, I won't make it so easy for you..."
As far as killing the player goes, it is the same in both modes. Upon answering incorrectly, Clint's playful smile will fall, and he will utter a simple, stern, deadpan "Wrong."
He will then get up from the couch/stop leaning against the wall or the balcony railing and walk towards the player, grabbing the camera as if grabbing them by the shoulder and stabbing his pen into their eye.
"Journalistic disappointment." Is the only thing he says – with sheer disgust might I add – as he lets the player fall to the ground while their vision blurs, the edges of it turning red. Clint's form above the player is only partially distinguishable as he tilts their head up and bashes a hammer into it. For a few seconds afterwards, besides their own struggling, the player can hear Clint's footsteps moving further and further away before the screen fades to a game over.
If the player dies by ignoring him, he will kill them in the same way, with the only difference being that after stabbing them in the eye, he will pull them away from the desk so that he can bash their skull in. Also, the voice lines are different since he's asked no questions. Upon the player exiting computer mode, Clint will say "Who are you to keep a reporter waiting?" (insinuating that even in this universe, his day job is still that of a reporter), following it up with stabbing their eye. "Journalistic disappointment." is also replaced with "Waste of time."
I like to think that Clint maintains his asocial nature in this AU, and therefore does not get along with Patrick, Myra and the other Noir members, simply because he isn't interested to build connections with them. He also dislikes (obviously, character!) Adam despite him being his boss. Clint is thrown off by Adam's whole "survival is the most important thing and distractions are unimportant pleasures" because it is hypocritical and Noir themselves find pleasure in their victims' pain. Also Adam doing everything for "profit" makes Clint roll his eyes, because he personally does it for the love of the game, the money is just an extra bonus. He thinks Adam should show more appreciation for the "art" that goes into their killings. Once Ronald becomes the new game master, Clint almost quits Noir simply because of how sour their relationship is. Still, he stays for the enjoyment of his kills and tries to interact with Ronald as little as possible, just as he did with Adam.
Lucas hates Clint's guts. As a man who only treats his kills as businesses, he genuinely thinks Clint is sick to do everything simply for the love of it. He insults him in Polish each time they accidentally run into each other on the job. Clint is learning conversational Polish just so he can respond with witty comebacks. Despite this and despite his insane ego, Clint surprisingly does not hate Lucas. On the contrary, he finds their back-and-forths entertaining.
Clint does hate the Breather, however. That guy needs to lay off the drugs. Clint just finds him annoying. He will avoid the alleyway like the plague if the Breather is around, which is why they will never attack back-to-back. Clint's spawn cooldown is longer than that of the other threats after a Breather spawn.
Clint is not camera shy. On the contrary, since he is very self-centered and prideful, he loves the attention and will often nonchalantly pose and wink for the camera during "games". However, he does prefer to stick to hiding in the shadows simply because he likes to keep a mysterious vibe. He wants his clear, in-frame appearances to feel special, so he keeps them to a minimum. In his mind, people should feel lucky to see him.
I belieeeeve that is all I've got for now. He is a horrible, horrible man but I do find him intriguing af
I kindly request that my headcanons are not "adopted"/used by others, as I may recycle them for non-fandom OCs at some point! Also, seeing as these are Noir!Clint headcanons, I'd like to point out that I am especially uncomfortable with my ideas being used for Clint x Adam or Clint x Ronald scenarios. Saying that I am not a fan of these ships is an understatement. But please just don't use my ideas in general, thank you.
Also, please don't repost, use, edit or alter my art in any way without my permission. If you'd like to use it as a pfp, that's fine, but credit me, please.
Oh, and don't use my work, art or writing, to train any AI model. I will come for your ass.
If you've come this far, thank you for your attention and I hope you enjoyed! Remember, comments and reblogs keep artists motivated! <3 Also go drink water rn this is a threat
