Clint hesitated. To tell them this was to open up to them and he didn't know if he could do that. Cap and Banner occupied one couch while Tony, Pepper and the newly arrived Thor sat on the other. Nat strutted over, placing mugs of coffee down on the glass table. She glanced down at him and narrowed her eyes, daring him to take a sip before talking again. It was her idea to tell everyone in one group instead of individually – which Clint would have preferred – and with Thor's unannounced arrival she had the upper hand. He tried to relax. Trust, he repeated over and over in his mind, trust, trust, trust. Taking a deep breath he pushed down the years of suppressed emotional trauma and began.

"Officially, I let a sonic arrow loose in too close a proximity and busted up my ears. It's all you'll find on the S.H.I.E.L.D. database and is what those with clearance level six and up get to know. Which includes all of you." Clint took a swig of coffee and glanced at Natasha. She gave him a death glare. "However, seeing as y'all are much too invested in this whole 'trust' game, it has been made clear that reality is the easiest move here. Well, I was stupid - and cocky. My hearing's never been all that great either, from the circus and when I was a kid, but only a year in, you think you're invincible. So I was up on this roof, waiting for the target to come into sights, and I was there for 2 hours, just waiting. Most boring part of the job, having to just sit there doing nothing. I got bored, no one was out on the streets below and I'm thinking I'm not going to get the call that night. I start shootin' stuff. Nothing big, or far away, just crap that's laying out where I'm stationed. Then after maybe an hour of this I get the call and take the shot. No biggie. I must have alerted someone though, cause next thing I know there's maybe six guys up there with me, big guys too, and smart. And they sure as hell ain't happy that I just killed their boss-man. So, you know, fighting, yellin', get two of them down but there was no way I was gonna get them all. I tried to run but a couple of them grabbed me, tied me down. You know, they do the basic stuff, cigarette burns, broken fingers, but they want to 'get creative' so they take it inside." Clint looked up from his swirling coffee to see that he had the rapt attention of the whole room. He gives a dry laugh, "Nothing all that exciting, just the usual; pliers, barbed wire, but they did enjoy playing with a couple live wires. A lot. Probably too much, cause they put up these live wires behind my ears and, well, no more sound. Shorted out my inner ear."

The room was silent for a few seconds.

"That's… where was Coulson?" Pepper finally asked. The tension in the room diluted, obvious sighs of relief coming from almost everyone.

"Coulson wasn't my handler back then; I had some idiot with just about as much experience as I did. He didn't realise I hadn't checked in until a couple of hours after the allocated time. I think he's somewhere in Thailand now, on a clean-up team."

"Poor bastard." Natasha snorted. Everyone on the helicarrier knew it where the rejects were sent until their contracts ran out.

"Got that right, Coulson became my handler after the first five year contract was up." Clint smiled momentarily, "Didn't know what he was getting himself in for."

He stood, running his calloused hands through the short sandy-brown hair on his head. He'd had enough family time for one day, no matter what his fellow assassin threatened he was not going to be sitting about telling them his life story, and pointedly strode out of the living area. He was sure it looked like a dick-move but the aids had been irritating him all day and he needed some down time to collect what little sanity he had left. Divulging his personal life to others was not an activity he enjoyed frequently, it brought him out in a cold sweat and he was almost certain some nightmare or other would haunt him for the next few nights. Not that they didn't every other night, these ones would just be more potent than the rest.

Shaking his head slightly he hopped gracefully down the stairs to the gym level of the tower. Nothing better to keep the monsters of his mind at bay than lashing out at a defenceless punching bag for a few hours. And maybe put some miles in on the treadmill. And of course lots of shooting practice.

He realised he wasn't going to be sleeping that night.

"Well that was certainly something." Stark piped up after Clint had left the room, "Legolas always so blunt?"

"No." Natasha answered, "You'll be lucky to find him say anything about his past, consider yourselves lucky you didn't get an arrow through your eye after he'd finished." She curled up on the couch and flicked the TV on. Thor looked to have many questions to ask and gave Tony a small lift of the eyebrows. The two quickly left but Natasha could still hear his booming voice above the sound of the television. Pepper, Cap and Banner all sat in shocked silence.

"How can you just brush it off like that?" Cap asked eventually, "That's horrific. It just," he shook his head.

"It comes with the job I suppose. Like paperwork, it's one of the worst parts of the job but it has to happen at some point or another." Natasha said quietly, distracted by the program she was watching. Over the years they had both been the victim and the cause of all kinds of cruelty and torture, it was something that they had acclimatised to and learnt how to deal with. It didn't make it any less agonising but at least they could leave the guilt and shame on the helicarrier instead of bringing it home. She frowned. She couldn't remember when she had started referring to the tower as home.

"Yes but, he didn't even seem fazed to mention what those men did. Neither did you. Breaking bones, electrocution? It was all so casual." Pepper said, "The past must be a very dark place for you."

Natasha muttered a half-hearted agreement.

"It just seems as though neither of you really experienced any real childhood or,"

Natasha sat bolt upright, "Let me make this very clear to you. I like you. That doesn't mean you can go digging around our past, and make sure Stark doesn't either. You won't like what you find." She growled out the last sentence and turned back to the TV her face a mask. Any mention of her childhood brought the worst out in her. Pepper was dazed for only a few seconds,

"I never even contemplated reading your files but if you're that insecure about what you've done then, JARVIS?" she called.

"Yes Ma'am?" a polite English accent answered back. Natasha tensed, she wasn't overly fond of the AI and knew Clint wasn't either.

"Put a block on all S.H.I.E.L.D. files relating to Agent Romanoff and Agent Barton please. Do not let Tony bypass these measures." She flounced out the room, leaving Cap and Banner to stare awkwardly after her. The two men knew better than to get involved in the various cat fights the two women had, especially after the first time Cap had tried to break it up and ended up almost getting thrown out one of the tall glass windows by a fuming Romanoff. He sat there wondering what to do.

He cleared his throat, "I'm going to go down to the gym, want to join me?" he asked Banner. Before the doctor could answer Natasha piped up again.

"I wouldn't." She glanced over her shoulder at the two men.

"Why not?" Steve asked, genuinely curious.

"Barton's going to be down there and he won't be pleased to see you."

"I'm sure,"

"No."

"Not even,"

"No."

"Just,"

"No."

"Then when will he be finished?" Banner interrupted the exchange. He didn't particularly want to go to gym, it was almost eleven o'clock at night, but he felt that he needed an excuse to leave. She glanced up at him again.

"Most probably by tomorrow morning, or whenever he falls asleep." She spat, annoyed. All she wanted to do was watch some mindless crappy program and veg out. Questions not welcome. She knew his habits better than her own, of course. The past was a dangerous place for him and always resulted in panic-filled nightmares, which he would run away from by trying to outlast his internal body clock. It was a battle that he continuously lost.

"Ok, Natasha." Steve sighed, "I'm sorry. We'll see you in the morning." He left looking downtrodden, it wasn't the answer he had been hoping for but decided not to push it. Banner gave a half smile and followed him down the corridor to the bedrooms. Saying goodnight to Steve he thought he saw a glint in the blue eyed man, but was too tired to give it much thought. He was just glad he didn't have to pretend to work out.