The Woods
Eyes focused. Still breath. Not a blink to be spared. And fingers coiled around the smooth grip of his weapon... ...an archer hung high in the air, cradled in a harness hugging a very old tree. He was so aptly named after a raptor. The Hawk. He and his old friend, high above ground. Like a beak his arrow will seek to pierce, and oh how it craved to fly free. His arrow needed to feed. It needed the sweet taste of meat as it swept through the air and buried in the Earth. Just. Like. A. Bird of prey. Not that Barton was one to sit still for so long, considering both the time constraints of most if not all given assignments, and the lack of luxury to be so pensive with his choices on the field... Yes, Clint was high up and picking off the enemy one man at a time. In fact he had been up there for a real long while. The last time he’d been assigned quite the perch was where he had met Thor, God of Thunder. That day it had even rained.
Now?The cold breeze kissed his cheek as blunt fingers lifted away from the drawstring, shooting with pin point accuracy down below. A thump and crunch against the amber sea below was the only thing to make a sound. Then the archer relaxed, lifting his watch close to his lips as he added to the kill count and reported the temporary, “Clear.”
The monitor of his watch displayed a lively interface, that of a circle made up of several moving lines, almost like a living creature taking a breath the longer you stared. This was Clint’s watch, CHICK. The one thing Stark ever did for him that he really had no complaints about. “This is by far the worst mission you’ve been on Clint. >:[ “ came the voice of the AI. Albeit, at a whisper, Clint still hushed the little device and scanned the fallen leaves beneath them. For all he knew, there were more targets to be had. Sure, this kind of work sucked, but it paid the bills, it kept folks back home and on the Earth as a whole safe, and at the end of the day, he could convince himself that the bad guys would and forever always be the bad guys. There was no in between-- --and then a splotch of red hair, light as a feather glanced up from down below. Her lips curled at the corner, lifting her cheeks into a rather deceiving coy smile. Natasha. Ok, so she’d been the one exception...right? “ <3 <3 <3 Oooh, somebody’s crush has made it to the scene--” →”Shut up--” “What?” The red head called, overhearing the archer in the tree. →”NOTHING.” And he looked the other way, feigning disinterest by squinting even harder than normal to preserve what small concentration he had left before her presence created a distraction. When she was on the scene, that’s because there were no enemies to be left. Especially when she appeared this calm. And even knowing THAT...Clint still pretended to look for more of the enemy. “Give us a caw, when you ‘re ready to climb down bird boy.” And the Russian jogged ahead, making her way forward toward the next checkpoint. → “...wait was--was that a pun?!”











