cape_kore | [Action] Arrival post

[Action] Arrival post

[Threads in this post take place at (or at least start at) the center of town around the fountain. If you would like to address the network or have your character wake up somewhere else, feel free to make your own post in the appropriate community.

In this post, please feel free to have characters jump around. If your character moves threads and it's relatively continuous, please link the earlier thread to the later one and try to follow a tag order/try not to cram too many people into one thread. Please refer to the information post in the OOC comm for anything you might need and feel free to ask questions!]

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[ Clint paused for a brief moment, his gaze not moving from Black Widow when she spoke to him. The typically expressive archer was not budging from his spot nor was he going to show his back to his enemy. Loki's hold hadn't compromised his memories of the woman after all. He knew how dangerous she was and could be. Since he wasn't on the helicarrier he couldn't very well attempt to break his boss out of the cage they had undoubtedly locked him in. Here he was...without purpose. At least he could make a small attempt to rectify the situation by knocking down a couple of Loki's enemies while they were facing each other.

He lifted his bow, nocking an arrow in the same fluid motion. ]

( And that's what she'd been afraid of. Natasha might have been a living weapon, fashioned by the Red Room and sharpened until she had a deadly edge, but Clint with a bow in his hand was enough to give even her pause. Clint with a bow and nothing holding him back, no remorse or compassion, that was terrifying. She didn't want to go through this again, didn't want to fight him, but there was no way she was going to leave him in Loki's control without at least trying.

She was moving in the space of a breath, throwing herself out of the way of the arrow and coming back up with a knife in her hand. She wouldn't use her gun, not here. Not when she had no idea what sort of medical supplies were around. She was trying to save Clint. Not kill him. Throwing the knife, she aimed for the hand holding the bow, hoping to get him to release his hold so she could fight him safely. )

[ Clint was accustomed to being used as a weapon for SHIELD. It was something he had signed up for as a part of the agreement. But despite that, he was still in control. He still chose to have remorse for missions that were questionable in his eyes. Still held back when he felt like it wasn't in control or against his better judgement. He still felt compassion and had demonstrated it when it came to being ordered to kill Black Widow. These were not feelings Loki allowed him to have. These were not feelings that necessarily for doing what Loki wanted him to do. When Black Widow threw the knife at him, it did what was it intended to do. His grip loosened on his weapon before moving for one of his own throwing knives, flicking his wrist in his own matter of attack -- tossing his own knife in her direction before pulling another out. Throwing it in succession to the next. ]

( Thank god for SHIELD R&D. The good thing about her suit was that it was really resistant to knives. Not that she was all that keen on letting them close enough to hit her, but if they did her suit would take most of the damage. Using her speed and flexibility to keep away from the knives, she managed to simultaneously get closer to Hawkeye and aimed a hard kick at his neck. It would be better to keep this close quarters. That way she had a shot at actually scoring another hit to his head hard enough to do some cognitive recalibration. If that failed, she could at least incapacitate him until she managed to think of another option. She refused to even consider the possibility that this was permanent. Clint had brought her back when everyone had thought she was beyond saving. There was no way she was going to give up on him now. )

[ We're sure they've heard a lot about that. Clint tightened his shoulders when she attempted a hard kick to his neck, he automatically went to protect himself as he went to grab her ankle. It was supposedly a simple move for him in his mind. Simple enough to get her off her feet so he could go in for the kill. It would only take a couple moments. Whether if it was permanent or not wasn't a thought in Clint's mind. Loki's goal was the only thing he had on his mind; SHIELD and the Avengers were in the way of that. It was easy enough to get a good grip on Natasha's leg before swinging his arm back for a wide punch. ]

( Natasha gave a low growl as he grabbed her leg, knowing what was coming. This was the problem of fighting Clint. He knew her moves as well as she knew his, and it often ended in a standstill. She knew that, if she really tried, she could take him down easily. But that meant risking permanent damage and she refused to consider that. No, she'd just bide her time until she could manage a good blow to his head. When he moved to punch her, she twisted out of the way, using his grip on her leg to pull herself up and wrap both legs around his throat. The rush of the fight was beginning to hit her, as it always did, but her concern for Clint and her need to bring him back to himself still outweighed anything else. )

[ Clint gritted his teeth when she lifted herself up wrap her legs around his neck, it was extremely easy to say that he got top-heavy and toppled to the ground after that. He kept his arm up, attempting to keep her from knocking him out that way as he reached for another knife, gripping it tightly in his other hand as he made the move to just drive it into her thigh. He had calculated for her to do this. Just as he had thought of an excellent countermeasure in his mind. ]

[Phil comes running from the direction of the lighthouse. He flips the gun in his hand as he's running, getting a grip on the muzzle. He'll be damned if he's shooting either of them and as far as he can tell, they're both not all there mentally.

He dives for the both of them, wrapping his free arm around Clint's middle and throwing all of his weight and momentum into pulling Clint off of her as he rolls a little further on the ground until his back hits the fountain with a wince and, yeah, that's going to bruise.]

( Tasha was about to go off on the idiot who had thrown himself into the fight, telling him she had it handled and to get away before finishing things with Clint, when she realized who it was. And just like that it was like the ground fell out from under her.

Coulson. Phil. But he was dead. Medical had called it. Fury had told them himself, and while he lied about any number of things she couldn't see him lying about that. Not when Phil was so vital to him. His right arm. For the first time in years, Tasha couldn't keep up the mask and her emotions showed plainly on her face. Confusion. Pain. Shock. She felt lost as she watched the two of them, too stunned to get involved. )

[ Clint didn't know why he was going in one direction, but he figured it would have to do with the sudden rushing weight to his middle as he hit the ground near the other agent. His body didn't take long to react as he reached for the knife that had knocked out of his grasp when Phil had tackled him. Feeling such as remorse and compassion were something completely foreign to him, yes. Anger? Might not been shrouded from his mind as well as the other emotions that would have been able to hold him back as he flipped the knife in his hand. Phil was...really nothing at the moment.

Black Widow was his target. Clint could tell by the emotions playing on her fact that she was distracted. By what? He didn't really know (or care rather). It was more of a benefit that she was this way as he started to push himself to his feet, swaying where he stood for a moment as he allowed his balance to return to him. ]

[Effortlessly, Phil was on his feet, gun muzzle still gripped tightly in his hand. Oh, hell no. Normally, Clint had an edge over Phil, but he seemed pretty intent on not bothering to fight him and Phil isn't exactly a pushover, at least in part because of his high pain tolerance and the fact that he throws himself in wholeheartedly and without real concern for his own well-being when he thinks something is more important.

Not letting Clint stab Natasha? Definitely more important than his own safety. He's behind Clint in seconds, bringing his arm back and pistol whipping the side of Clint's head with the grip of his sidearm hard enough to stun a normal man and potentially knock him out.]

Sorry, Barton.

( Even when Coulson pistol whipped Clint, Natasha could do little more than stare. It was taking longer than usual for her to reign in her emotional response to the situation, but she felt it was warranted in this instance. Phil, along with Clint, had been the only one to have any faith in her. Anyone else would have seen her as beyond saving, too dangerous to be allowed to live. They'd seen something else. Well, Clint had. But Phil had backed his play when he could have easily forced his hand. They had trusted her. And she was devoted to them because of that.

So seeing Phil here, alive, when she knew he was dead tore at something inside her. And it was him. Not some LMD or an imposter. It was him. Because only Phil would be ridiculous enough to apologize after knocking out a brainwashed agent. Getting to her feet, Natasha stepped up to Phil, still unable to believe he was really there. There was a barely noticeable tension to the way she held herself, but she knew he would see it. After a moment she glanced down at Clint. )

He should be fine now. Cognitive recalibration should remove the Tesseract's influence. ( She was quiet for a moment, just staring at him unnervingly. ) Fury said you were dead. That you took on Loki without backup and were killed. ( She slapped him. Hard. ) You don't get to do that, Coul...Phil. You don't get to just throw your life away.

[Okay. Ouch? It wasn't the physical pain. It was that she slapped him. Also, when he'd spoken to her not an hour ago, she'd be completely crazy, but he wasn't going to even question that.]

Nat... what? [He stared at her a little blankly.] I was about to take him on before I woke up here. Someone had to. I had that prototype with me. It was fine.

[He was lying through his teeth, of course. He'd known the risks. He always knew the risks and they were acceptible to him.]

And anyway, he had Barton. [He indicated the knocked out agent.] What else was I supposed to do?

( He honestly didn't seem to know anything that had happened after his confrontation with Loki, which pointed more to death than cover-up. She wouldn't have believed it if it weren't for Clint lying there when she'd already fixed that problem once. )

Sir, we defeated Loki and the Chitauri. Fury used your death to get Stark and Rogers to pull their heads out of their asses. Thor saw it happen, and I imagine that helped him to move past his lingering illusions regarding his brother's character. It really galvanized everyone. You should be very proud. I performed cognitive recalibration on Agent Barton. Banner had a controlled episode. We were a team, Coulson. And we won. All of this was already done. So I'm at a loss as to how Barton was in that state again and how you're standing here when I know for a fact you're dead.

( She fixed him with an intense stare ) Not get yourself killed for one thing. Do you have any idea...do you... ( Her hands were practically shaking ) You know I understand. Barton means just as much to me as he does to you. But how do you think he'd feel, knowing you died in a situation we both know he'll blame himself for? How do you think we all felt, knowing you were killed? There aren't many people... ( She paused and took a breath ) I do not have many people in my life that it would pain me to lose. So...you aren't allowed to do that again. Are we clear, sir?

[He moved in to hug her, arms out. He'd back off if she moved away, but he had a feeling she would let him. There was so much he wanted to say to her. So much he wanted to respond to. He'd known that they could do it. He'd believed in every last one of them, even Stark. Knowing that he'd died and all of them had come through and the world was safe... he was okay with that.]

Nat, I need you to understand... [He paused, trying to find the best way to word this.] It wasn't just anything. It was Barton and I'm not just going to sit back and let someone just... take one of you like that--not when I have a shot at them.

[Clint and Natasha were family. End of discussion.]

( Normally Tasha would have fought him on this. She preferred to keep herself closed off. It was safer than making herself vulnerable and allowing people to see her emotions. But between losing Clint to Loki, however temporarily, and Phil dying, however temporarily, she felt emotionally wrung out. Coming so close to losing what amounted to her touchstone had shaken her. In a move that would have surprised most people, she gave in to the hug with no protest, resting her head on Coulson's shoulder. She needed it, the physical reassurance that he was really alive and okay. )

Getting yourself killed didn't help Clint. It just...removed you from the equation, and that is not acceptable. I just need to you understand that. ( She pulled away, uncomfortable with the display of emotion. ) I need to...go. ( She spared a glance down at Clint. ) Keep an eye on him. I'll be back. I just...can't do this right now. ( Frowning to herself, she walked off. )

((ooc: Continued here))

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[Action] Arrival post

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