1 August 2022 - Where In The World Was Clint Barton? - Option 39: More Than Teen Angst
Title: Where In The World Was Clint Barton - Option 39: More Than Teen Angst
Author: Beriaearwen
Crossover: Buffy the Vampire Slayer / Avengers (MCU)
Characters: Buffy, Xander, Clint, Giles, minor Lila Barton, Faith, Laura Barton, Dawn, Willow
Rating: Suitable for people over 13
Word Count: 2232
Disclaimer: The characters of Buffy The Vampire Slayer belong to Mutant Enemy, etc. The characters of the Avengers belong to Marvel, etc. All are used here without permission. No copyright infringement is intended.
Note: Continuing what has become tradition, starting off with more Where Was Clint?
Summary: Despite the sheer threat that Hawkeye posed just with his presence, it was his wife who they ended up having to convince
Where In The World Was Clint Barton - Option 39:More Than Teen Angst
By Beiaearwen
"Anything else before we wrap this up?" Buffy asked at the end of their weekly video call. They had begun shortly after they finally got a hold of the Council properties and money. As soon as they could, each of the Scoobies headed off toward different parts of the world, their restructuring and tracking down the new Slayers a convenient excuse to put continents between them.
"Weekly list of activations," Giles murmured as he shuffled through his papers.
The others exchanged looks. There was a team that handled that, meaning the more experienced group only had to step in on special cases. The last time they had a special case, they had to inform a Senator that their daughter had just activated as a slayer. It was always a delicate situation and one none of them liked to do.
"Ah, here it is," Giles finally comments. "Lila Barton. She's in Iowa."
"Ah, crap," Xander interjected. "Her father is an Avenger."
"Which?" Buffy asked.
"Hawkeye, the archer," Willow filled in.
"So... head start on training?" Dawn piped in, trying for optimistic.
"Who're you tapping for this one?" Faith asked, blowing out a stream of smoke.
Giles cleared his throat and shifted in his chair, a sure give away to the others that they wouldn't like this. "Given the people involved, I would like both Xander and Buffy to go." Before any coherent protest could form, he pushed on to get the rest out. "They're within thirty miles of Riley's parents' farm..."
"Giles!" Buffy and Xander both said with exactly the same amount of exasperation.
Giles cleared his throat. "Yes. Well. Given that Riley is still working for the government we felt it would be better to have him involved as well, and..."
"Please tell me we're not staying with the Finn seniors?" Buffy begged. She'd gotten away with not meeting Riley's parents when they dated, she really didn't want to meet them now.
Giles was silent for several minutes.
"G-Man. Please tell me you're messing with us," Xander pleaded.
"There's a small Bed and Breakfast in the town between the two farms. You have rooms there," he informed, lips twitching in a smile and Faith, Willow and Dawn laughed.
"He got you good," Willow admitted.
"Thank you both for volunteering to assist with her combat training," Buffy snarked back cheerily.
"Now Buffy..." Giles began.
"Send us the info," Buffy commanded. "Gotta go." That said, she shut down her connection.
Xander was laughing. "I'll make sure she doesn't tap into her evil side too deeply," he promised. "I'm assuming the real reason we were chosen is because we're the only ones with clearance?"
"Indeed," Giles agreed, taking off his glasses and polishing them. "Between the two of you, you should also have the skills to handle the rest of the Avengers should they find out and try to interfere."
"Gotcha," Xander confirmed. "As Buffy said, send the info. We've got this."
~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~
Buffy and Xander had just checked into their rooms at the Bed and Breakfast and were now seated in a booth at the back of the diner, ready to order a late lunch. The diner itself was empty except for one waitress and the two in the back to cook.
"How long do you think before he arrives?" Xander asked casually, nodding to himself and closing his menu.
"Before Riley," Buffy murmured. "Hopefully we'll get to order first, though."
Xander grinned and opened his mouth to reply when he was met with a glare from Buffy and laughed instead. "OK. I won't say anything. You know what you want?"
"Yeah," Buffy agreed, closing her menu and setting it at the end of the table with Xander's, a subtle signal that they were ready to order, which happened just a few minutes later.
Their drinks had just been delivered when they exchanged a look. "I'll grab a chair," Xander said, sliding out of the booth and grabbing a chair from a nearby table, setting it at the end of theirs. He just managed to settle back in his booth when a man flipped it around and settled onto it.
"Mr. Barton," Buffy greeted, her eyes drifting to where the waitress was just bringing their order out. "Feel free to add something to our order," she offered politely.
A few moments later, Xander and Buffy had food in front of them and the trio were waiting for Clint's pie and coffee to arrive.
"Please, don't wait on me," Clint offered politely, his smile holding no warmth.
Buffy and Xander exchanged a look and shrugged before digging in. They'd eaten under worse conditions than the threatening presence of a man who could kill them both without them suspecting. They hadn't made much progress before the pie and coffee were delivered and the waitress, wisely, disappeared.
"Buffy Summers," she offered along with her hand, which she had just wiped clean.
"Xander Harris," he followed, also offering his hand.
Neither Scooby had a single doubt the man already knew who they were and probably more about them than they'd prefer.
"Clint Barton," he offered just as casually. "Which you know, so let's cut to the chase. What did you do to my daughter and how do you undo it?"
Buffy and Xander exchanged a look. "How much do you know?" Buffy asked, before rushing ahead to add, "I'm just asking so I don't cover things you already know."
"We also have a government agent from the area coming to answer questions. He can give you an outside perspective," Xander assured.
Clint nodded. "Riley Finn. We know his parents and I've met him professionally. Now answer my questions."
Xander rolled his shoulders. "We didn't do anything directly to your daughter other than give her a choice. As for undoing it..."
"That's not entirely possible," Buffy finished. When his eyes landed on her, she pushed down the part of her that felt it was a challenge to her authority and explained, "We can have her powers de-activated, for lack of a better term, but that doesn't guarantee she will never be Called as a Slayer."
Both Scoobies fought to maintain their outwardly relaxed poses as Clint tensed. "Called," he repeated.
"How much do you know about Slayers?" Xander asked.
"They have short, brutal lives and die young. No parent who loves their child would want that for them," the Avenger replied.
Both Scoobies nodded. "No one with any decency would want that for anyone," Xander agreed. "But that doesn't mean the threat goes away."
"Thousands of years ago, some men, who we call the Shadow Men, created the Slayer using magic. She was created to give humans a chance to survive the demons which had overrun the Earth. When she died, another was called. And so it went for countless years, one Slayer following another in their fight against vampires, demons, evil and darkness. At some point in time, a group of people formed the Watcher's Council to guide the Slayer. Only that became, kidnap potential Slayers, remove all outside support and treat them as nothing more than tools. This attitude shortened the life of Slayers and continued into modern times. Until I was called and moved to Sunnydale." A small smile appeared on her face. "A few people decided that the company line was stupid and refused to leave me to my Watcher's fate. Because of that, we ended up with two Slayers. When the Slayer called after me died, the next one was called. We faced a great evil determined to destroy the Slayer line and it was succeeding. At the time, given our resources, there was no other option but to activate all the Slayers, but before we did I asked them a question."
Clint's clenched jaw opened just enough for him to grind out, "Are you ready to be strong?"
Buffy nodded.
Xander picked up. "We won, at a steep cost, but we couldn't undo what was done. Instead, we made is to that the Slayers have options - they can fight full time or just have training. We give them support, help educate their families, offer education and improved life for some, counselling where needed."
"But, so long as they are active Slayers, they can't be completely out of the fight," Buffy stated. "The supernatural evil we fight will find them eventually. And being a potential reduces, but does not remove, that threat, as the First Evil showed us so well."
Clint stared at them, processing what they had said. Before he could say anything more, the door to the diner opened and Riley walked over to the table, a smile on his face. "What did I miss?"
~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~
Despite the sheer threat that Hawkeye posed just with his presence, it was his wife who they ended up having to convince. In the end it took Buffy, Xander, Riley, Clint, Lila, Riley’s parents and three Slayers about Lila’s age who were still living at home to get Laura to accept the change. Once she did, the couple informed their younger children.
Of course, when training was discussed and they determined they had just enough time before school started for Lila to complete her initial training if she joined the class starting in Scotland in three days, Laura insisted Clint go with her.
Buffy and Xander were also requested (commanded) to be there during the training and the response from the others when they learned that an Avenger was coming to the latest training was ear-splitting. Still, with Clint on-site, a few master classes were requested.
~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~
Clint was relaxing in his apartment, tired after his latest Master class with the senior Slayers, when a knock sounded on his door. He knew it wasn’t Lila, she was out on a patrol - her first without him shadowing her - and wouldn’t be back for another three hours.
His time here had helped him and (through his reports) Laura come to some sort of peace about this latest change. Lila would be about as safe as she had been before and much better trained. The hardest thing for her was regulating her strength. Fortunately, the council offered basic classes on replacing doorknobs, handles, doors of various kinds and some simple furniture repair. He had a feeling cleaning up after Lila’s mishaps was going to be nearly a full-time job for a while.
Shaking off his thoughts, he went over to the door to find out who was disturbing him. He was a little surprised to find Rupert Giles there, holding a bottle of Scotch and two glasses.
“Ah. Clint,” he began, shifting nervously. “I see you don’t have the news on. Might I suggest we do so?”
Clint was a little bemused by the request but stepped aside to let the other man in before closing the door. They made their way to the couch with a coffee table in front of it, opposite the television.
Settling into his seat, Clint lifted the remote and turned on the television, noting Rupert pouring a rather generous portion of Scotch into one glass and just a finger of Scotch in the other. The glass with the greater amount was pushed over to Clint just as he landed on a 24-hour news network.
He set the remote on the table and settled back on the couch as he tried to understand what he was seeing. It didn’t take long for shock to set in as he began to process the words.
He sat, staring dumbly at the television as Rupert pressed the glass into his hand.
“Drink,” the man commanded, years of authority and leadership lacing his tone.
Still stunned, Clint did so and choked slightly on his first sip as Captain America’s face was flashed on the screen with “WANTED” plastered across it just as he tried to swallow. His second sip went down much more smoothly. “SHIELD?”
“As best as we can figure out, which, given how quickly this is happening may not be correct, there was a massive data breach just prior to the destruction of the Washington Headquarters and the three ships you see there on the news.”
“Crap.”
“Yes. Indeed,” came Giles’ acerbic response.
Clint let out a chuckle. “Looks like I’ll have quite a bit to do once we get home,” he said softly. “Just wanted a bit of peace.”
“Don’t we all?” Rupert agreed. “Still, if there is anything we can assist with for either you or your family, please know that our resources are available to you.”
Eyes transfixed on the scenes playing out before him, Clint nodded to let Giles know he’d heard.
“I need to go oversee the data project to ensure nothing on us or our Slayers has been released, but Xander has volunteered to sit with you until Lila returns.” Standing, he rested a hand on Clint’s shoulder, drawing the other man’s eyes away from the destruction. “I’ll be in the Operations Center. Xander will bring you an untraceable phone for your use and the latest information. Anything you need, let us know. Lila is one of us and that makes you family by extension. We look after our own.”
Clint felt something ease within him. He might be heading back to a storm with the fall of SHIELD, but he wasn’t fighting alone. “Got it,” he replied with a nod before turning back to the television. This changed everything.
End
Author: Beriaearwen
Crossover: Buffy the Vampire Slayer / Avengers (MCU)
Characters: Buffy, Xander, Clint, Giles, minor Lila Barton, Faith, Laura Barton, Dawn, Willow
Rating: Suitable for people over 13
Word Count: 2232
Disclaimer: The characters of Buffy The Vampire Slayer belong to Mutant Enemy, etc. The characters of the Avengers belong to Marvel, etc. All are used here without permission. No copyright infringement is intended.
Note: Continuing what has become tradition, starting off with more Where Was Clint?
Summary: Despite the sheer threat that Hawkeye posed just with his presence, it was his wife who they ended up having to convince
Where In The World Was Clint Barton - Option 39:More Than Teen Angst
By Beiaearwen
"Anything else before we wrap this up?" Buffy asked at the end of their weekly video call. They had begun shortly after they finally got a hold of the Council properties and money. As soon as they could, each of the Scoobies headed off toward different parts of the world, their restructuring and tracking down the new Slayers a convenient excuse to put continents between them.
"Weekly list of activations," Giles murmured as he shuffled through his papers.
The others exchanged looks. There was a team that handled that, meaning the more experienced group only had to step in on special cases. The last time they had a special case, they had to inform a Senator that their daughter had just activated as a slayer. It was always a delicate situation and one none of them liked to do.
"Ah, here it is," Giles finally comments. "Lila Barton. She's in Iowa."
"Ah, crap," Xander interjected. "Her father is an Avenger."
"Which?" Buffy asked.
"Hawkeye, the archer," Willow filled in.
"So... head start on training?" Dawn piped in, trying for optimistic.
"Who're you tapping for this one?" Faith asked, blowing out a stream of smoke.
Giles cleared his throat and shifted in his chair, a sure give away to the others that they wouldn't like this. "Given the people involved, I would like both Xander and Buffy to go." Before any coherent protest could form, he pushed on to get the rest out. "They're within thirty miles of Riley's parents' farm..."
"Giles!" Buffy and Xander both said with exactly the same amount of exasperation.
Giles cleared his throat. "Yes. Well. Given that Riley is still working for the government we felt it would be better to have him involved as well, and..."
"Please tell me we're not staying with the Finn seniors?" Buffy begged. She'd gotten away with not meeting Riley's parents when they dated, she really didn't want to meet them now.
Giles was silent for several minutes.
"G-Man. Please tell me you're messing with us," Xander pleaded.
"There's a small Bed and Breakfast in the town between the two farms. You have rooms there," he informed, lips twitching in a smile and Faith, Willow and Dawn laughed.
"He got you good," Willow admitted.
"Thank you both for volunteering to assist with her combat training," Buffy snarked back cheerily.
"Now Buffy..." Giles began.
"Send us the info," Buffy commanded. "Gotta go." That said, she shut down her connection.
Xander was laughing. "I'll make sure she doesn't tap into her evil side too deeply," he promised. "I'm assuming the real reason we were chosen is because we're the only ones with clearance?"
"Indeed," Giles agreed, taking off his glasses and polishing them. "Between the two of you, you should also have the skills to handle the rest of the Avengers should they find out and try to interfere."
"Gotcha," Xander confirmed. "As Buffy said, send the info. We've got this."
~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~
Buffy and Xander had just checked into their rooms at the Bed and Breakfast and were now seated in a booth at the back of the diner, ready to order a late lunch. The diner itself was empty except for one waitress and the two in the back to cook.
"How long do you think before he arrives?" Xander asked casually, nodding to himself and closing his menu.
"Before Riley," Buffy murmured. "Hopefully we'll get to order first, though."
Xander grinned and opened his mouth to reply when he was met with a glare from Buffy and laughed instead. "OK. I won't say anything. You know what you want?"
"Yeah," Buffy agreed, closing her menu and setting it at the end of the table with Xander's, a subtle signal that they were ready to order, which happened just a few minutes later.
Their drinks had just been delivered when they exchanged a look. "I'll grab a chair," Xander said, sliding out of the booth and grabbing a chair from a nearby table, setting it at the end of theirs. He just managed to settle back in his booth when a man flipped it around and settled onto it.
"Mr. Barton," Buffy greeted, her eyes drifting to where the waitress was just bringing their order out. "Feel free to add something to our order," she offered politely.
A few moments later, Xander and Buffy had food in front of them and the trio were waiting for Clint's pie and coffee to arrive.
"Please, don't wait on me," Clint offered politely, his smile holding no warmth.
Buffy and Xander exchanged a look and shrugged before digging in. They'd eaten under worse conditions than the threatening presence of a man who could kill them both without them suspecting. They hadn't made much progress before the pie and coffee were delivered and the waitress, wisely, disappeared.
"Buffy Summers," she offered along with her hand, which she had just wiped clean.
"Xander Harris," he followed, also offering his hand.
Neither Scooby had a single doubt the man already knew who they were and probably more about them than they'd prefer.
"Clint Barton," he offered just as casually. "Which you know, so let's cut to the chase. What did you do to my daughter and how do you undo it?"
Buffy and Xander exchanged a look. "How much do you know?" Buffy asked, before rushing ahead to add, "I'm just asking so I don't cover things you already know."
"We also have a government agent from the area coming to answer questions. He can give you an outside perspective," Xander assured.
Clint nodded. "Riley Finn. We know his parents and I've met him professionally. Now answer my questions."
Xander rolled his shoulders. "We didn't do anything directly to your daughter other than give her a choice. As for undoing it..."
"That's not entirely possible," Buffy finished. When his eyes landed on her, she pushed down the part of her that felt it was a challenge to her authority and explained, "We can have her powers de-activated, for lack of a better term, but that doesn't guarantee she will never be Called as a Slayer."
Both Scoobies fought to maintain their outwardly relaxed poses as Clint tensed. "Called," he repeated.
"How much do you know about Slayers?" Xander asked.
"They have short, brutal lives and die young. No parent who loves their child would want that for them," the Avenger replied.
Both Scoobies nodded. "No one with any decency would want that for anyone," Xander agreed. "But that doesn't mean the threat goes away."
"Thousands of years ago, some men, who we call the Shadow Men, created the Slayer using magic. She was created to give humans a chance to survive the demons which had overrun the Earth. When she died, another was called. And so it went for countless years, one Slayer following another in their fight against vampires, demons, evil and darkness. At some point in time, a group of people formed the Watcher's Council to guide the Slayer. Only that became, kidnap potential Slayers, remove all outside support and treat them as nothing more than tools. This attitude shortened the life of Slayers and continued into modern times. Until I was called and moved to Sunnydale." A small smile appeared on her face. "A few people decided that the company line was stupid and refused to leave me to my Watcher's fate. Because of that, we ended up with two Slayers. When the Slayer called after me died, the next one was called. We faced a great evil determined to destroy the Slayer line and it was succeeding. At the time, given our resources, there was no other option but to activate all the Slayers, but before we did I asked them a question."
Clint's clenched jaw opened just enough for him to grind out, "Are you ready to be strong?"
Buffy nodded.
Xander picked up. "We won, at a steep cost, but we couldn't undo what was done. Instead, we made is to that the Slayers have options - they can fight full time or just have training. We give them support, help educate their families, offer education and improved life for some, counselling where needed."
"But, so long as they are active Slayers, they can't be completely out of the fight," Buffy stated. "The supernatural evil we fight will find them eventually. And being a potential reduces, but does not remove, that threat, as the First Evil showed us so well."
Clint stared at them, processing what they had said. Before he could say anything more, the door to the diner opened and Riley walked over to the table, a smile on his face. "What did I miss?"
~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~
Despite the sheer threat that Hawkeye posed just with his presence, it was his wife who they ended up having to convince. In the end it took Buffy, Xander, Riley, Clint, Lila, Riley’s parents and three Slayers about Lila’s age who were still living at home to get Laura to accept the change. Once she did, the couple informed their younger children.
Of course, when training was discussed and they determined they had just enough time before school started for Lila to complete her initial training if she joined the class starting in Scotland in three days, Laura insisted Clint go with her.
Buffy and Xander were also requested (commanded) to be there during the training and the response from the others when they learned that an Avenger was coming to the latest training was ear-splitting. Still, with Clint on-site, a few master classes were requested.
~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~
Clint was relaxing in his apartment, tired after his latest Master class with the senior Slayers, when a knock sounded on his door. He knew it wasn’t Lila, she was out on a patrol - her first without him shadowing her - and wouldn’t be back for another three hours.
His time here had helped him and (through his reports) Laura come to some sort of peace about this latest change. Lila would be about as safe as she had been before and much better trained. The hardest thing for her was regulating her strength. Fortunately, the council offered basic classes on replacing doorknobs, handles, doors of various kinds and some simple furniture repair. He had a feeling cleaning up after Lila’s mishaps was going to be nearly a full-time job for a while.
Shaking off his thoughts, he went over to the door to find out who was disturbing him. He was a little surprised to find Rupert Giles there, holding a bottle of Scotch and two glasses.
“Ah. Clint,” he began, shifting nervously. “I see you don’t have the news on. Might I suggest we do so?”
Clint was a little bemused by the request but stepped aside to let the other man in before closing the door. They made their way to the couch with a coffee table in front of it, opposite the television.
Settling into his seat, Clint lifted the remote and turned on the television, noting Rupert pouring a rather generous portion of Scotch into one glass and just a finger of Scotch in the other. The glass with the greater amount was pushed over to Clint just as he landed on a 24-hour news network.
He set the remote on the table and settled back on the couch as he tried to understand what he was seeing. It didn’t take long for shock to set in as he began to process the words.
He sat, staring dumbly at the television as Rupert pressed the glass into his hand.
“Drink,” the man commanded, years of authority and leadership lacing his tone.
Still stunned, Clint did so and choked slightly on his first sip as Captain America’s face was flashed on the screen with “WANTED” plastered across it just as he tried to swallow. His second sip went down much more smoothly. “SHIELD?”
“As best as we can figure out, which, given how quickly this is happening may not be correct, there was a massive data breach just prior to the destruction of the Washington Headquarters and the three ships you see there on the news.”
“Crap.”
“Yes. Indeed,” came Giles’ acerbic response.
Clint let out a chuckle. “Looks like I’ll have quite a bit to do once we get home,” he said softly. “Just wanted a bit of peace.”
“Don’t we all?” Rupert agreed. “Still, if there is anything we can assist with for either you or your family, please know that our resources are available to you.”
Eyes transfixed on the scenes playing out before him, Clint nodded to let Giles know he’d heard.
“I need to go oversee the data project to ensure nothing on us or our Slayers has been released, but Xander has volunteered to sit with you until Lila returns.” Standing, he rested a hand on Clint’s shoulder, drawing the other man’s eyes away from the destruction. “I’ll be in the Operations Center. Xander will bring you an untraceable phone for your use and the latest information. Anything you need, let us know. Lila is one of us and that makes you family by extension. We look after our own.”
Clint felt something ease within him. He might be heading back to a storm with the fall of SHIELD, but he wasn’t fighting alone. “Got it,” he replied with a nod before turning back to the television. This changed everything.
End