beenunmade | (no subject)

Loyalty.

It was one of the many words that echoed in his mind. Usually it was loyalty to SHIELD. Loyalty to the Avengers. To Natasha. To Phil. He really only had simple loves in his life and things that could be easily pinpointed if someone were to look in the right direction. Even if he wasn't the type to wear his heart on his sleeve. But it was clear in his eyes and the way he carried himself around the others that this wasn't a temporary place for him. He intended to stay and he intended be (somewhat of) a team player. He wasn't chosen for his good looks, after all. Even if he did say so on something of a daily basis. It was all in jest.

He wasn't really in a jesting mood now. Loki hadn't exactly sent him on a mission. There wasn't a failure to utilize the specialist because, to Clint, Loki hardly failed. Acting on his own accord wasn't something Clint did. Acting in the best interest of ensuring Loki, ensuring that they gained some part of an upper hand was. SHIELD was still in shambles in his mind. The helicarrier was a good month or two from being passenger ready and most SHIELD agents had been forced to head for the solid ground of headquarters. Those surviving at least. The unfamiliar faces of new recruits littered the hallway. Out of necessity. There hadn't been a rush on getting more bodies -- the recruits that had been flagged previously but never seen the light of day were just finally getting their time to shine because SHIELD had lost so many. And Clint? When he wasn't usually running around terrorizing the junior agents or pushing the buttons of those that he knew -- he was either with the Avengers, in Medical, or on the range.

Today it wasn't any of those. His clouded blue eyes were shrouded by the sunglasses he hid behind almost daily. Somewhere along the way he had discovered that people found him slightly enigmatic when he was wearing them. After a visit to dictionary dot com; Clint had reasoned it was a good thing in his eyes. Now it was a benefit. He walked with purpose -- the technology he carried wasn't very astounding if somewhere were to compare it to the like that Stark carried. A single drive to save the documents he wanted so he could disappear undetected and offer what he found to Loki. Nothing extravagant. Just something simple. A show of his loyalty and obedience. Clint turned on his heels, around a corner and if someone paid attention it was almost as if he had disappeared. In reality, he had gone up the air ducts that he knew so well. Stealth was, after all, Clint Barton's forte as he moved above everyone before stopping above a room that housed a majority of the personnel files. One singular guard was easily knocked out and dragged off into a corner as Clint bound and gagged him before walking over to the computer interface.

Easy. The man slid his sunglasses to the top of his head as he brought up the files he needed, beginning the tedious upload onto the storage device before taking a step back. With part one in process, part two could begin. One storage device to house the information. Another to plop a virus in the middle of SHIELD's files. It wasn't Clint's typical approach. His approach would be blowing things up. But to do things covertly, without alerting SHIELD to his presence -- it required more espionage than Clint was accustomed too. Once the upload was finished, he just deposited the second part before sliding back on his shades once more before stepping into the hallway, pocketing the device and tossing the other in the hallway trash before starting to walk away.

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Once they got back to Clint's emptied room, he'd have to give him the set he had collected for him. It wouldn't be the same as it had been before. The lack of sentimental value might be associated with it. After all, Fury had ruined the entire first collection to bring the Avengers together. There was a good cause to it all, but it just wasn't executed as well as it could have been in Clint's eyes. Before he had found out that Coulson was still alive. He raised Hell about the trading cards and took them back to his room. He still had those until Phil came back, then he figured that it would be more plausible for Fury or Hill to explain how they got in the condition they did otherwise Clint would have just hovered over them. He had tried to clean them off anyway that he knew how. But it didn't really work as well as he had hoped they would. Hence why he had bought an entirely new set in hopes of replicating it for his friend.

There was a lot Clint wanted to talk to Coulson about. About how Captain America really was everything he described him to be in his stories. That Clint could see why Phil had looked up to him, and sometimes caught himself fanboying over the Star Spangled Man with a Plan. Quietly, but he still did. When the sparred. When the fought side by side. When Clint was listening to Tony trying to get Steve caught up in the media part of the world. But he didn't really think it mattered to Phil, he still wanted his cards. Clint had gotten the Captain America one signed by Steve, hiding the smile on his face because he sort of imagined the happy glint in Coulson's eyes when he saw it. There was nothing really he wouldn't do for him. That was also why they worked so well together. Over the years, Clint liked hearing the feint hint of pride in Phil's voice. The subtle dry humor in his body language. The look in his eyes whenever he was pleased with something. Or displeased. Clint knew Coulson; better then a lot of people thought he actually did.

Clint being one for details wasn't usually something he was famous for. But it was one of Clint's little talents. Noticing the little things about people. He just didn't acknowledge them as much as he acknowledged the things about Phil. He knew his favorite dry-cleaner. How he liked his coffee every morning. How he had to remind him to have something to eat with his coffee every morning otherwise he wouldn't have eaten. He liked being present in fights rather than commanding from HQ. He wore Captain America boxers. Clint had seen the pair when he was being a snoop early on in his career.