Author's Note: Ok this idea popped into my head a while back cause of a planned cosplay. It is Fem Clint aka Clare Barton. May be some parings here but idk, and before you ask yes there's Clintasha but it may or may not be platonic, Natasha remains the same. I reference a scene here that was supposed to be in Winter Soldier but was cut cause Jeremy Renner couldn't make it to set to film it. I own nothing.

The Hawk

1 Compromised

Clare sat atop Stark Tower watching the city and thinking, absently rubbing her bruised face. There was a crack in her jawbone but really when getting punched in the face by Captain America what did she really expect. She'd known something was up when Pierce called her off a covert op in Calcutta and directly into his office. She'd learned of the untimely demise of Director Fury. She didn't believe it for a second, Fury would have to make it look real if anyone ever tried to kill him but really, no, Fury wouldn't go out like that. Then Pierce had practically dropped a bomb on her. Apparently Captain America was a traitor along with The Black Widow. Widow she could see maybe defecting if the circumstances were bad enough but Cap? That set off all her alarm bells. But she hadn't argued to Pierce's face, if SHIELD had gone bad that would just get her killed. She'd been told they were tracking Cap from a tracker Fury had placed in his uniform. She'd followed him and cornered him in a ravine outside New York. She had to make it look real, they were watching her, not regular SHIELD following either, a Qin Jet was hovering over them, cloaked but she knew it was there. When she got close enough she told Cap as much. Of course he'd been holding her by her shirt front trying to reason with her at the time.

"Don't react, you'll get us both killed. Cap you've got a tracker in your suit, ditch it. There's a Qin Jet above us, make it look real." It was then he'd nodded a fraction of an inch and punched her in the face, knocking her out. She'd woken up in a SHIELD hospital. Pierce had been there to question her, though that's not why he said he was there. She was put on medical leave until her jaw healed, which of course gave her enough time to clear out and go into hiding. She hated asking him for help but she really didn't have a choice. Tony had raised an eyebrow at her when she'd arrived at his tower in street clothes, her hood pulled up.

"Does that offer to live in the tower still stand?" Tony nodded and looked her up and down.

"I can have your stuff shipped in by tomorrow." Clare shook her head holding up an old beat up army duffle.

"No need, got everything right here." Tony's eyebrow climbed further.

"Bit eager to move in aren't you? Everything ok?" Clare shook her head slightly.

"Let's just say if what I think's going to happen happens I'll be glad to be anywhere but my old place when the shit hits the fan." Tony shook his head and led her to the elevator. Apparently she got a whole floor to herself, Tony had gone out of his way to make floors that had sat empty for months after the Battle of New York, personalized for each avenger. Her floor had high ceilings and plenty of ways to get to them, nests all over the room at varying heights, mostly as a joke but Clare had already stashed several weapons and snacks in the nests. Her room was nice with a nicer bed than she'd had in a long time.

Clare had been right to come to the tower. While Tasha and Steve were busy taking down Pierce and his Helicarriers several Hydra agents, dressed in SHIELD gear, had attacked the tower intent on taking down any backup Steve and Natasha could have. Clare had taken them down on her own. Tony hadn't had any suits ready built and no one wanted to deal with the Hulk running around New York again so they had dealt with the evacuation of the building. Once the building was clear of Hydra goons and a few of Clare's contacts from the CIA had come to pick them up Clare had retreated to the roof where she now sat waiting for Natasha to contact her.

She was pretty beaten up but she refused to care until she heard from Natasha. Finally, almost two hours after the hydra agents had been taken care of she got a text on her burner cell phone. It simply read,

'SHIELD taken down. All covers blown. Check the web. Sorry : ( .' Clare raised an eyebrow at her phone before turning back to the tower and racing down the stairs to her floor. She vaulted up one of the walls grabbing hold of the edge of one of the nests and pulling herself up into it with difficulty as her ribs protested. She ignored them, ignored the door opening below, Tony and Bruce calling her name as she flipped open her laptop. She pulled up the Yahoo news page and swore loudly, drawing the attention of the two scientists below. Plastered all over the page was news about the takedown of SHIELD and classified SHIELD info that had been plastered all over the internet. In and among the headlines was one that made Clare want to throw her laptop across the room. The headline read Hawkeye: Circus Freak or Avenger? Tony was looking up at the nest she was in. She swore under her breath again as her ribs gave another painful twinge. She should probably get that looked at but she had other things to worry about. She pulled out her burner and typed a reply to Natasha.

'SHIELD/Hydra secrets all over the internet, nice. Everyone survive?' There was a short wait before the red head replied.

'Steve in hospital. Just out of ICU heals fast. His shield is missing. Bottom of Potomac. Help with that?' Clare nodded to herself as she sent Natasha a quick yes. She leapt down from her perch and rolled to her feet as she landed in front of Tony and Bruce. Both men were looking at her like she was crazy, though that could just be all the dried blood on her face. Only some of it was hers. Ignoring Bruce's concerned face she turned to Tony.

"I need a ride to the Potomac. Can I borrow your plane?" Tony stared at her in disbelief.

"You wanna go to the Potomac, where the wreckage of three Helicarriers is waiting and do what exactly?! Scavenge!" Clare's eyes narrowed. It was clear that Tony had read the article and jumped to his conclusions.

"Sure if that's what you wanna think that's fine. I'll have my stuff out when I get back." Clare pushed past him and walked out the doors. Bruce stared after the archer.

"You didn't read the whole article did you?" Tony glared at him. Bruce shook his head. They both looked up at the sound of an engine on the roof.

"That bitch is stealing my Quin Jet! Jarvis shut it down!" The British voice responded immediately.

"I am unable to comply sir. I have been shut out of the Quin Jet. All external links to the jet have been shut down." Tony swore louder. Bruce looked impressed.

"Barton is smarter than she acts." Tony glared at him.