Disclaimer: I don't own any of this. Okay, well the OC is mine, but that's it. The Avengers do not belong to me.

Chapter 1

The first thing that he remembered was the feeling of being cold. Darkness surrounded him and he couldn't see a thing. It was quiet; the only audible sound was the frantic beating of his heart. He tried to move, to escape, but he found out that his body wouldn't budge. The beating of his heart came quicker and harder as panic set in. And then he couldn't remember what happened. There was a gap in his memory that he could not explain and on some level, that frightened him.

But the next thing he remembered was being unnaturally calm and the darkness was gone. He saw faces in front of him. He saw the men's mouths moving, but all he could hear was the soft lull of his heart and the quiet noise of his breathing. He tried to move his hand and found that he could this time, but the movement was sluggish and he felt like his hand was meeting some unseen resistance. Carefully, he reached his hand out toward the man that was standing in front of him. But before his hand could make contact with the man's face, the hand touched a smooth, cool surface. He laid his hand on the glass surface and wondered what was going on. All movement outside his glass container ceased at his action. The man in front of him extended his arm and rested his hand against the glass opposite of where the other was. The man's hand was quite larger than his own. The unnatural calm started to leave him and his breathing came quicker. The man in front of him took his hand off the glass and turned his attention toward another man. The words that the man said went unheard to him as his world returned to darkness.

When he awoke next, it was due to pain. The pain wasn't centered in one location of his body, but seemed to course through his veins. It burned and made his entire body feel like it was on fire. His eyes stung as tears welded up in the corner of his eyes, but they refused to fall due to the clear gel that surrounded his body. Outside of his glass tube, all the men were at machines and talking to each other. He tried to call out to them, to ask for help, but his cries went unheard as the men continued to work.

All of a sudden the scene before him changed. The calm atmosphere the surrounded the men in front of him disappeared and panic arose. Red lights flashed and the men were yelling at each other. All the men before him were running around and collecting papers. There was an explosion and the door to the room was blown off its hinges. Men with guns stormed the room. A red-headed man came over to where he was and went to the machine that was next to him. The man pushed a few buttons and the pain he was feeling increased. His veins felt like they were on fire and he let out a scream that went unheard to everyone else. His vision started to blur and the darkness was returning. But before the darkness could take him, a man with black sunglasses and a quiver of arrows strapped to his back appeared in front of him. The last thing that he remembered was the man taking one look at him before turning and calling to someone. And then his world turned black.

xXx

For Clint Barton, the day started out like any other. He woke up, took a shower, ate breakfast, and went down to the shooting range to work on his archery. The only thing that was slightly amiss was his missing companion, Natasha. The red-head was currently away on an assignment and wouldn't be back for a while, which left Clint's days without her more mundane than usual. It also meant that he spent most of his time at the range with his bow and a few practice targets. Which Phil wasn't happy about due to the amount of strain Clint put on his body while training, but Clint could care less. Archery was the only thing that could put his mind completely at ease.

But thankfully for Clint, his tedious day was put on hold when Phil walked in through the door to the shooting range and informed Clint that he had been assigned to a mission.

"Mission?" Clint questioned. "The one Nat's on?" It wasn't unusual for either him or Natasha to be assigned to a mission that the other was all ready on. They were a great team, and S.H.I.E.L.D knew it.

"Not that one," Phil replied. "You've been assigned to one a little bit closer to home. Agent Romanoff will be joining you."

"What could be so important that Nat has to be pulled off her assignment and put on this one?" The archer asked.

"S.H.I.E.L.D recently stumbled across a scientist by the name of Dr. Thomas Fitzgerald-"

"And you guys want him to come and work for S.H.I.E.L.D," Clint interrupted. Agents were sent out to recruit people all the time. But that didn't explain why they were sending both him and Natasha though.

"That's not what we're sending you in for," Phil continued after seeing the other's confused look. "We've received news that Fitzgerald has been doing research on magic."

"Magic? Like waving a magic wand and pulling a rabbit out of a hat?"

"Not quite like that," Phil laughed a bit, but became serious again. "The reason why we're sending you and Agent Romanoff in is because he's doing human testing."

xXx

Alarms blaring, red lights flashing, guns being fired, it was those things that made Clint feel alive. With adrenaline pumping through his system, Clint drew an arrow from the quiver strapped to his back and fired it at one of the men who was shooting at him. All the men that were wearing white lab coats had disappeared behind a steel door when S.H.I.E.L.D arrived. And in their place, men wielding guns appeared. He hit a button on his bow and all the arrows in his quiver rotated. Grabbing the arrow that he wanted, Clint launched it at the steel door. He only had a moment to smirk before the door was blasted open. Glancing over to Natasha, he noticed that all the gunmen had been taken out by her and the other agents.

Motioning Natasha and the other agents forward, they stormed the back room that was previously hidden behind the steel door. Clint drew an arrow and followed Natasha, ready to fire incase anything went wrong. Once inside the room, he quickly glanced around the room to gage the situation. Natasha and the other agents were taking some men wearing lab coats into custody, but none of the men were the doctor they were assigned to get. Fitzgerald was nowhere to be seen and that made Clint a little concerned.

His eyes were suddenly drawn to his right when he caught a flash of red. The red-headed doctor they were looking for was standing at a machine. Clint was shocked by what he saw next to man. There was a clear, cylindrical tube beside the man. But it wasn't the tube that shocked the man; it was what was inside the tube. From what Clint understood, the test subject was supposed to be an adult, but this was defiantly not an adult. He knew what he was seeing but he couldn't believe it. Who would do human testing on a child? It was just sick.

"Step away from the machine, Fitzgerald!" Clint called, taking aim with his arrow. When the doctor failed to comply, Clint released his arrow. The arrow struck the doctor in the right shoulder and the man fell to the ground.

Clint drew another arrow, and approached the fallen man. Once he knew for sure that the doctor wasn't a threat, he put the arrow back into his quiver. He looked over to the child and could clearly see that he was in pain. He walked over to the tank, so that he was directly in front of the kid. He wanted to get a better look at the child.

"Nat, we have a problem," Clint called over his shoulder. Clint started to panic as the child closed his eyes. They really did have a problem.

Thanks for reading, reviews are always welcomed.

~Shiro