yay! tons of reviewers this time! Whoop whoop!

Epilogue

The top of the spring-action pen offered a resounding click-click-click-click-click in the expanse of the abandoned lab. One carefully manicured thumb nail depressed the pin in rapid succession, like a trigger finger emptying a fully loaded magazine. The owner of the thumb scowled at the black computer screen and the back of the head sitting in front of it. With one sharp-heeled foot, she jabbed the arm of the man.

"What's taking so long?" Agent Towns demanded, kicking a second time for good measure.

The man sighed, apparently having dealt with her tone for a considerable time already. "Fitzsimmons couldn't know the details of where the sample came from, so I had them run it and take off before the results came in. I'm trying to link in those results now. It takes time."

"The Benefactor and the Clairvoyant don't have time. I need to know what the Hell kind of person gets the drop on a top secret meeting, and takes out my best bodyguards with a sniper rifle. Do we have anything on that kid with a camera yet?"

Ward shrugged. "You had me kill the hotel video footage, so no. I didn't run him through facial recognition. No one got a look at what was on his camera either, so who knows what he did, or why our mystery sniper wanted him."

The heel dug in for a third, perfectly placed jab into the same rib abused in the night's attack. "At least I got a sample from him while some men did nothing more than receive a bullet in their arms."

"I didn't get shot."

"No, you as my chief security, allowed a masked man to breach our secret meeting place with a rope and a gun, steal our hostage, and get out with even putting a dent in him. Remind me again of your usefulness to our cause? You're lucky I was there."

The alarm from the digital blood scan interrupted what would have been Grant Ward's dramatic response. Distracted for a time, he entered Agent Town's encryption code, and revealed what became a shock to both of them.

Towns dropped her heels to the floor as her mind literally went blank. Ward's eyes widened as the scope of what they discovered sank in like a fist of lead weights. Slowly, Yolanda exited her chair. Her hand reached for her cell phone as she began to mutter vague instructions.

"I have to call him. This goes above our heads. Seal that file. Don't let Fury find it, whatever you do."

"I knew it." Ward whispered, staring into the moving image that could not return his concern. "I should have taken him out when I had the chance. This was my assignment! I should have killed him."

Agent Towns moved away, putting in her desperate call to the Benefactor. Of all people who should know that HYDRA would soon be outed to the public, it was Charles Bernard Barton. He knew how best to deal with his hard-to-kill brother, Clint.

Barney made it clear to all of HYDRA that Clint retained a special status in the ranks of SHIELD and ex-SHIELD agents. Killing Barton was off limits to HYDRA personnel - all except for the blood brother himself.

But this information came with a load of questions yet unanswered. How long had Clint known about them? Did he plan to go public? Had he already brought Fury in? Did he understand the importance of the new Heli-carrier fleet launch? Had he been in contact with the other Avengers? Barton was taken off their radar two months after leaving the Avengers compound. They maintained a low level surveillance but after months of getting no where, they dropped him as a primary target.

Now they realized the depth of their mistake. Barton slipped beneath their radar and identified Towns as a HYDRA agent. Her cover was blown along with every other agent in the building. This became a screw up unlike any other.

"I'll call Sitwell." Ward muttered, plucking a phone from the cradle beside the computer monitor.

Towns continued to pound numbers, log-in keys, rerouting phone lines, transferred calls, all of it just to get in touch with the Benefactor. He was, as always, meticulous.

"Sitwell? What for? What's he got to do with Hawkeye?" Towns demanded.

"It's not Barton, it's the Captain and Widow. Those two are still on SHIELD payroll. Sitwell can get Fury to take them out of communication range. If Barton's onto us, we can't let him get in contact with the others." Ward explained.

"Sitwell's in the middle of foreign waters, how the Hell are we going to get Rogers and Widow out there at a time like this?"

Ward considered it for a moment, but made up his mind just as quickly. "I guess I'll just have to call in a couple pirates instead."

"He's going to want to launch project Insight." Towns replied, waiting for the connection. "Barton must be taken out before then. He can destroy the entire operation."

Ward cocked an eyebrow at her. "Well, Hail Hydra."

so I am SURE that was not the ending you were expecting!

Will Clint ever go home? Will his Brother Murder him before then? Will the Avengers ever get to see the Archer again?

These answers and more to come here:

Untitled: Clint Barton has finished his investigation into HYDRA and after seven hard months of undercover work, its time to let someone else in. But Director Fury has other plans. Clint's brother has come out of hiding and as the only one with equal skills to track Barney down, Clint agrees to go on one more SHIELD assignment. But the mission crumbles apart. As a world away project Insight is in full swing and the Winter Soldier is dispatched against the high ranking SHIELD officials, Hawkeye and Arrow must battle their way to Barney's base in the Bavarian Alps.

Full of danger, loss, other worldly beings, and a trip to Alfheimr. This will answer everyone's questions of where Clint was when SHIELD imploded and who stood behind the scenes, puppeteering the HYDRA overthrow. Who will win? Who will lose? And how will Clint's life change, forever?

It's the dramatic conclusion of all that hard work Since Avengers 1! Stay tuned!