5

Chapter 5Summary:

Bringing Clint into the fold.

Or

Welcome back Hawk-ass.

And Mrs Hawk-ass.

Chapter Text

"Only going to get worse." Tony warned. "We'll bring in Clint and Sam and go fetch Capsicle a little earlier than last time. Early enough that we can help him integrate into the modern world."

"But not too early." Barnes warned. "We need him at his peak, health and fitness wise." No matter how much he wanted his friend back, he had to think about more than just himself, too many lives depended on them.

"I know." Tony agreed. "Last time he was found in 2011, less than six months before the sceptre arrived."

"That would have made him … Um… Twenty-seven, or there abouts."

"Hmm… in that case we could probably spring him in 2000."

"Wouldn't want to go much earlier." Barnes agreed.

~~~

March 15th 1992

"Bodyguard." Tony said in reply to Clint Barton's raised brow and nod in Barnes' direction.

"Right…" Clint nodded. "Like you need one of those." He'd seen Tony in action, when he'd given displays of the various items that he provided to the DoD.

"Nah, he's got other duties but as far as the public is concerned, he's my bodyguard." Tony shrugged. "I'm getting tired of having to rescue myself, every time some idiot thinks I'm an easy target."

"That… sounds more like it." Clint nodded, chuckling. "Does he know how many attempts have been made on you this year?"

"Yep." Tony grinned. "He started muttering something about reckless idiots."

Clint laughed. "So… What can I do you for, Stark?" He twisted the usual inquiry into something a little more amusing.

"I'm starting up a security department." Tony said. "Security and maybe some investigation. His idea." He nodded to Barnes.

"Security for who?"

"Mostly my stuff but occasionally we'll work contract." Tony said. "Dad's just finished an audit and investigation in SI and found that one of his most trusted people has been double-dealing and selling on the black-market."

"Shit…"

"It get's worse." Tony warned. "He's my unofficial godfather and he's also responsible for at least half of the kidnapping attempts on me, in the last twelve months." Obie had been handed over to the FBI earlier that day, along with a copy of every item he'd sold and every dollar he'd stolen, for the last five years. 

"Ah…" Clint grimaced.

"Yeah." Tony nodded. "And some of that was to SHIELD. While Aunt Peggy had retired from SHIELD before he started, I've read some of her early reports and I don't like the way they just brought in HYDRA personnel and put them to work. How many of them really left HYDRA behind and how many of them just started recruiting within SHIELD?"

Clint went a little pale. "I've got a friend that's just joined them."

"Talk about a bad move." Tony shook his head.

"How bad?"

"Alright…" Tony pursed his lips and thought. "1944, Captain America's first mission, the rescue of POWs from Azzano. He brought back the missing 107th from a HYDRA base. Six months later, Cap brings in Arnim Zola, the scientist that experimented on the POWs. He went into SSR custody and they kept him well hidden, for a while. 1948 and SHIELD is formed by Peggy Carter, dad and Chester Phillips, with dad as chief scientist. 1950, dad's been relegated to a back-bench and Zola is lead scientist, he stayed that way until his death in 1972. You see what I'm getting at?"

Clint's eyes were wide and he trembled slightly. "Can we take a break, so I can give my friend a call? I think he should know this, before he gets in too deep."

"Yeah, sure, call Coulson, tell him to join us." Tony shrugged.

Clint blinked and pulled out a cell phone, Tony was amused to see it was one of his. Clint wasted no time in dialling and asking Coulson to meet them. It took less than ten minutes for Coulson to arrive and another five minutes for Tony to bring him up to date on the conversation.

"Ah." Was all Coulson had to say in reaction to Tony's bombshell.

"Yeah." Tony nodded, a grimace on his face. "Better you know about it, now, than find out you've been inadvertently recruited by them."

"Yes." Coulson nodded. "I've been assigned as assistant to Senior Agent Fury and he was personally recruited by Director Carter, so I think the chances of his being HYDRA are quite slim."

"Nick's okay," Tony grunted, "a bit too spy-ish for me but what can you expect of a super-secret organisation? Just… Don't assume that he's telling you everything. He won't lie to you, but it won't be the entire truth." He still remembered being told Coulson was dead, only to find out after the first snap, that while Coulson may have coded during the fight with Loki, the medics were able to jump-start his heart. Agent Agent had very definitely survived to see SHIELD fall, two years later.

"Yes, I have received that impression." Coulson agreed.

"His methods can be a bit underhanded… But yeah, Fury's one of the good guys." Tony nodded.

"An angel with dirty wings?" Clint asked.

Tony snorted. "That sounds about right."

"I can work with that." Coulson said.

"Well, I don't think I can." Clint said. "I've done the devil's work, before, and I don't want to go there, again." He shook his head. "I think I'd prefer to sign on with you, Stark."

"I think that would be better for you, too." Coulson said. "Maybe I can put in a word with Fury, see if I can get you both signed on as consultants."

"Not us, individually." Tony objected. "IT in general. I'm looking to employ people that think outside the box, people that don't work well under restrictions." He looked at Coulson. "You're going to tell Fury about Zola and HYDRA, aren't you?"

"I should." Coulson answered. "It could be vitally important in the future."

"Oh, it probably will be." Tony said. "Sooner or later." He nodded as he spoke. "Yeah, tell him but tell him to work on it quietly. If he gets too loud, he'll probably have an 'accident'. Get IT signed on as a consultant firm, not naming individuals. We'll listen if he puts ideas our way. No promises to get involved, but we'll listen and maybe put our penny's worth in." He handed over a business card.

Coulson pocketed the card and stood up. "I'll do what I can. Thanks for the heads-up." He nodded to both men and left the diner.

"Do you think he saw your bodyguard?" Clint asked.

"Oh, he saw him, he just relegated him to unimportant, right now." Tony commented. Big mistake, Coulson, you're not as clued in as you like people to think. Are you? How did you walk passed Bucky Barnes and not see him? He mentally smirked.

"So, what do I need to do, to sign on with you?" Clint asked.

"How long before you muster out?"

"Five days."

"You got family?" Tony asked. Was Clint married at this point?

"Nah, just me." Clint shook his head.

Obviously not. What did Clint call her? Laura? But Laura who? Must remember to ask J later.

Tony dragged his mind back on the subject at hand, the rest could wait a few days. "Got transport that'll get you to New York?"

"Yeah, got a bike."

Tony nodded. "Great." He pulled out another card and scribbled an address on it. "Head here, security will be expecting you whenever you get there. They'll send you to me." He held out the card but didn't let go when Clint's fingers closed on it. "This is a one-shot deal, Legolas. Screw me on this and no second chances. You've got a fortnight to show up, after that, if I haven't heard from you, I'll assume that you're not interested. If SHIELD gives you a hard time, or won't let you go, have Coulson call me and we'll bust you out of wherever they stash you."

"You think they'd do that?" Clint's eyes widened.

"I'm not sure…" Tony said. "Fury wouldn't but who knows how a HYDRA agent is likely to react, to you rejecting them. I'm not certain. It's better to have a plan in place, just in case."

"Right." Clint nodded. "What if I touch base each day? Tell you, or your bodyguard, where I am. If they nab me, at least you'd have a starting point for a search." It was clear that the Army sniper was spooked.

"I… might be able to do more than that…" Tony hummed. "Give me five minutes." He stood and crossed to the door, going past Barnes. "Keep an eye out, would you? He's a little worried about SHIELD and HYDRA snatching him. I'll be back inside five minutes." He knew that Barnes' super-soldier hearing would enable him to make out what Tony was whispering.

"And where will you be?" Barnes asked, with a raised brow, as Tony went passed him.

"Just in the carpark, I'm gonna have J and the suit make a tracker for Clint to take with him." Tony answered but kept walking.

Once he was at the car he spoke to JARVIS. "J, I need a tracker for Clint. He's worried about HYDRA not accepting a refusal."

"I heard, Sir." JARVIS said in Tony's ear. "Please hold out your left hand, palm up."

Tony mentally shrugged and lifted his hand, he watched as the nanobots formed a gauntlet. Once the gauntlet fully enclosed his hand, a tiny stream of nanobots welled up in the gauntlet's palm, slowly forming themselves into a simple vintage styled men's watch with metallic band. The watch appeared to be older, with faint scratches and even a chip to the glass face.

"Nice, J, it looks like something he'd have had for years." Tony said quietly.

"That was the idea, Sir." JARVIS assured him. "You'd best go back inside, Staff Sergeant Barton is getting restless."

Tony snorted fondly. "Yeah, Legolas doesn't like to sit around doing nothing." With that he turned around and headed back into the diner, dropping back into his seat opposite Clint. "Here." He placed the watch on the table and skidded it across to stop beside Clint's hand.

"What's this? Buying me jewellry, already?"

"It's a tracker." Tony answered. "I'll be able to locate you, within about ten feet, if you're wearing it. Press the crown and hold it in for a count of three, release for a count of two and hold for three. That will activate the alarm beacon. Hit it each night, say 6pm. If it's set off at any other time, I'll assume you need a rescue. But fair warning. My bodyguard is an impatient man and I'm not much better. You set that off and we'll be coming in hot, all guns blazing. We will assume hostiles have you and will act accordingly. If you're being held by non-hostiles, just miss a call-in and we'll be a little more discrete."

"If I'm being held by anyone, I won't give a shit." Clint argued. "Guns blazing is fine by me."

Tony chuckled. "We'll see if you still think like that, later."

"I'm going to regret saying that, aren't I?" Clint muttered.

~~~

January 7th 1994

On the morning of his 23rd birthday, Clint Barton woke up screaming. He heaved himself to feet and after a wild-eyed look around the room, darted into the en-suite bathroom and was violently ill.

Seconds later he left the bathroom and was sitting on the bed, shaking in the after-shock of his nightmare.

A banging of a nearby door was quickly followed by a voice of a man he knew was dead.

"Hey, Legolas? You okay? I heard…" Tony fucking Stark barged into his room and came to a sharp halt, staring at a clearly panicking Clint Barton. "Legolas?"

"Stark?!" Clint squawked. "What the hell?! I watched you die, man!"

Tony freaking Stark just looked at him, with wide eyes. "Uh…" The man blinked a few times before he sighed and grimaced. "Let me guess… Thanos."

"What about him?"

"You know who he is." It wasn't a question. "Describe him, in five words or less."

"Big… purple… murdering… dickhead…" Clint swore.

"Yep, that sounds about right." Tony nodded.

"What the hell…?" Clint blinked at Tony. "What happened to you? You look about…? I dunno…"

"24." Tony replied. "I'm one year older than you."

"What?!" Clint screeched.

Tony pulled out his phone and held it out. "J, time and date stamp, please."

"It's 7.34am on Sunday, the 7th of January 1994, Sir." JARVIS replied.

"JARVIS…?" Clint whispered.

"Yes, Mr Barton?" JARVIS responded.

"It's not possible…" Clint shook his head. "Ultron killed him." It wasn't until after Tony's death, that Pepper had explained to those that remained, that JARVIS had been as sentient as Vision. That Tony had been forced to stand by and do nothing, as three of those he considered to be his sons, died. First JARVIS, then Vision and finally, Peter turning to dust in his arms.

"Yeah, but something happened." Tony tapped his chest and the nanotech Iron Man suit formed around him before vanishing back where it came from. "I woke up in January 1991."

"Holy shit…"

"JARVIS was there and so was the suit." Tony went on. "Which was an impossibility. JARVIS died in 2015. I only started working with nanotech in 2018 and didn't make the Bleeding Edge suit, as War Machine called it, until 2022."

"Uh…" Clint grunted. "So, what the deal, then?"

"As near as JARVIS and I can work it out?" Tony sighed. "We've time travelled but not into our original timeline. We think we're in a new one."

"Huh?"

"Think about, Clint." Tony closed his eyes in a sign of remembered pain. "I died, Clint. I woke up at 20. I had JARVIS who didn't exist until 1996. And a suit that wasn't built until 2022."

"Uh…?"

"Think Harry Potter." Tony sighed. "We can't change the past and things we know to have happened, we can only work around them."

"Right…?" Clint lowered his head and shook it in confusion.

"In my original timeline, I didn't have JARVIS or the suit." Tony sighed. "If this was my original timeline they wouldn't have been here, waiting for me to wake. Cause I sure as hell hadn't made them, not in 1991."

"Huh…" Clint grunted.

"Plus…" Tony grimaced. "Once I figured it was a different timeline, I decided to change things…"

"What things?" Clint narrowed his eyes at Tony.

"My parents are still alive."

"But…? Didn't Barnes…?" Clint winced.

"Not here." Tony smirked. "In fact… I didn't even get the chance to try and stop him. He recognised me." Clint's eyes bulged. "The first thing out of his mouth was 'Iron Man?'." Clint's jaw fell. "The second thing, was a demand of 'get your ass over here. I got a tracker and a kill switch and I want 'em gone.' He didn't even look at mom or dad until I was digging into his arm."

"Oh, fuck me."

"Yeah, I've said that, too." Tony nodded.

"Who else?"

"Just the three of us." Tony replied. "Although, you're a surprise. We weren't expecting you to wake and remember Thanos."

"He took my family from me." Clint snarled. "Twice."

"Laura and the kids. Then Natasha." Tony said.

"Yeah." Clint hung his head. "Why am I here?"

"I have no idea, Clint. I don't even know why I'm here."

"No. Here. In this room, right now." Clint corrected, his mind racing.

"Oh. It's your room, whenever we work late, this is where you stay." Tony said. "You work for IT, Iron Tech. We sell body armour and protection for the troops and the civilian equivalent, all defensive gear. No weapons at all, that's dad's shit, not mine. I'm not going to be responsible for Maximoff's parents' deaths, not this time around."

"Wanda?"

"Yeah." Tony nodded.

"Is she even alive, yet?"

"Yes, she and Pietro were born in '89."

"When did…?"

"Summer '99, she said." Tony guessed what Clint meant.

"What are you doing to stop it?"

"Obie's in FBI custody, he was the one to sell SI bombs to Strucker, but they didn't meet until '97."

"So, the chances are that if the bomb happens, again, it won't be a Stark bomb." Clint stated.

"Yep." Tony agreed.

"Laura!" Clint's head rose sharply. "Oh, shit! Laura…" He dropped back onto the bed. "I met Laura through SHIELD. If I work for you, I won't meet Laura…"

"Easy, Clint." Tony stepped closer. "Laura's still at Columbia, got another year before she graduates, she's going to be interning with IT's legal department."

"What?" Clint looked at Tony, not really understanding what was being said.

"Laura will intern with IT, she's not started yet. Next week." Tony shrugged. "I had no idea what else to get you for your birthday, man."

Clint started to laugh, almost hysterically. "You got me a wife for my birthday?!"

"Sir?" JARVIS' voice was almost silent in Tony's earpiece.

"J?"

"I have an incoming call… and I'm not sure how to deal with it."

"Who is it and what do they want?" Tony asked.

"Ms Laura Connelly, Sir, and she's quite upset."

"Connect me." Tony ordered. "Ms Connelly?" Clint went silent, he knew who Tony was speaking with.

"Mr Stark?" The young woman gasped.

"Yes, Ms Connelly." Tony said. "My… JARVIS said you were upset, how can I help you?"

"I… I'm… I'm going to have to resign, sir. I can't… I need to work for…" She didn't finish any sentences before starting the next, but somehow Tony managed to connect what she wasn't saying with what she meant. Having Clint in front of him, certainly helped.

"Ah. Perhaps I can forestall you, by saying that the head of IT's Security Department is one Clint Barton."

"What?" Laura's voice went flat.

"Did you know it was our favourite Hawk-ass' birthday, today? And he seems to think I got him a wife as a birthday present."

"What…?"

"He woke up screaming."

"Fucking Loki…" Laura muttered.

"Nope. Not Loki. Thanos." Tony corrected.

Clint was listening in and his eyes were wide and scared.

"How about you chat to your husband and I'll go make some coffee?" Tony suggested. "J? Transfer Laura to Clint's phone, please."

"Transferring Mrs Barton, now." JARVIS said and Clint's phone began to ring.

Clint's hand trembled as he reached for the phone on the bedside. As he picked it up, the call connected and he heard the beautiful sound of his wife swearing.

"Laur's? Babe?" He whispered.

"Clinton Francis Barton, what did you do, this time?" His wife demanded.