A taste of the Blackdragon - Blackdragon issue #3

[little_firestar]

THE DEATH OF CAPTAIN AMERICA (PART 1 OF 2): RISE OF THE DEAD-- "You are doing a huge mistake"Clint Barton, former Avenger member, previously known as Hawkeye, is back from the death, and, dressed like Captain America, just make the new Hawkeye and Patriot, Yong Avengers members, escape from Director Stark. Chris, hidden on the fire-escape of one of the not so near buildings, gives a quick look at the scene, helped by some technological devices, and, with a mean smile, listens to what they are talking about, a very interesting conversation. "Fry? – she touches a button on the black leather cuff she is wearing on her right wrist, and an holographic image of a light blue being, similar to a cartoon teenager, appears in front of her from the same cuff – are you sure your sensors are avoiding him to survey me?" "Suure bossy boss! He can't see you neither with the armour or his senses, at least if you continue to use the 27 necessary orders that provide you to remain invisible, sort of. What do you think, that I'm a stupid?" "What about your scans? Did they see if the E.M.P. arrow did same damages at his heart or to his nervous system? We already don't know what the Extremis really did to him, neither what its effects will be in the next future. And with his full body working now as a computer, only God knows what damage an E.M.P. generator could do." "Preliminary scans indicate that he is still working at his 90, at least." "What about the other one? Is he really who he tells he is?" "According to SHIELD files, he really is Clint Barton, previously known as Hawkeye and Goliath. Director Stark found him at Avengers Mansion three days ago, and he took him to SHIELD helicarrier, where Doctor Coleite examined him. It seemed that Director tried to convince him to try for the position of the next Captain America" "I can see It by myself, thanks, I'm not blind, yet" she closes contact with the entity she called "Fry", and comes back to focus her attention on what's going on between her brother and the former Hawkeye. At least now I know why three days ago he abandoned me on the 5th avenue… Being something concerning the Avengers, I'm not that mad at him, not anymore. But this not means that I'm not mad for the way he treated me. "Won't be the first time tonight" "Clint….Her brother touches the soil, and, going nearer to Clint, he takes his helmet off. "You nearly had me, Tony. You are a charming s.o.b., I'll give you that. You can take emotion and make it almost sound like logic. Just like you got everyone to support this idiotic registration." "You are mistaken" "C'mon, you think that because I was dead I haven't read a newspaper?" If there's someone on Earth that could make fun of death, it's Clint Barton. "This country needs a Captain America. Especially now. Can't you see how it would be for people, knowing that Captain America will live on?" "People, or you, Tony? - The blue-eyed man takes the mask off, showing his familiar face, as his blonde hair becomes socked by the strong rain.- you don't know how to handle it, do you? The grief. The pain. The loss… so you reached for the thing you know best, you tried to make a deal, tried to strike a bargain that would make it all go away, and you can't. and neither should anybody else, including… especially me. – he says as he gives the real shield back to Tony, who stops to look at him, pointing his eyes on the soil, speechless – when I'm get to wherever it is I'm going, I'll mail you back the flag." He takes the shield, and puts his helmet back on, still looking at soil, without looking at the man who is now going for his own road. With his metallic voice, he just adds his now usual "statement", something in the last few months he told a lot, to a lot of people. "If you'll return to them… to Luke and Peter and the rest, I'll come after you. Clint, please!"But the young, blonde man is already gone, disappeared in the rain. Few minutes later, Tony finally stops to look at the shield of his dead friend and enemy, and flies in direction of the helicarrier, situated in an unknown position. "You looks good for a dead, Mr. Barton." A few blocks from where he left Tony, Clint hears a feminine voice, and turns his head to see who's talking at his shoulders. "Who the hell…- he starts to ask, when he sees a figure sitting on the fire-escape of the building, a figure that, notwithstanding the rain, it's still dry. – I think I'll take this as a compliment. By the way, I saw you screwing your life on TV the other day, telling the world you are a mutant and work for SHIELD." "Ehy, didn't you see the tabloid say I'm not a Stark, but just a poor little girl taken from the streets by Howard and Maria Stark's generosity?" "Strange, it seems to me to remember you told me your father was one of Howard's employees. Let me guess, one of your brother's dirty little games? Speaking of which… I'm not going to listen to you." "You can not believe me, but I wasn't here for you. I was… monitoring Tony, when you appeared in my way." "You must stop to worry about him, he didn't deserve that, after all he did…" "After what, Clint? After all he did to me… or after all he did to the Avengers, to Captain America, after all he did in the name of the registration?" She leaves the place where she is, and goes near the blonde man, with a mix of anger and sadness in her voice, and with him she starts to walk along the small, dark alleys. "Mind if I ask you to use one of your tricks? I think that I'm attracting too much attention with the flag." "If you want, I can create an illusion using my telekinesis, but it will last just until I'm near you." "It's better than nothing. – As he says that, she puts one of her hands on one of his shoulders, and, few instants later, it's like the costume is vanished, to leave place to normal clothes: a white, blue striped shirt, a green jacket with a hood, jeans and tennis shoes. – thanks. But again, what are doing here? And don't tell me you are monitoring Tony, because he is already gone." "I was just thinking about the old times." Flasback:Some years before, New York. "Until you are here, I want you to be safe, that's all" "And you want me to stay away from you, too, I understand that." Tony Stark is sitting in his office, in one of his buildings, trying to come at terms with his "sister", the more or less teenager Christine. He, an already businessman, can't believe that the girl he grew up with, can be so damn stubborn. Christine is already 18, but sometimes she can really be a pain the ass: she never wants to listen to him, and she never accepts his counsels. Hell, she decided to get engaged with her long time boyfriend and move in with him – in an other country! – without listen to what he tries to tell her! And truth is, she continues to tell him he never wants to enter in her life, and now that he asks her to come to visit him in New York before to take a drastic decision, what does she do? Logically, she pushes him away, and get angry with him just because he can't speak with her right now and ask her to walk around with a bodyguard, and not alone as she wanted. "I don't want you to stay away from me, Chris, damn, I was the one who invited you! It's just that, right now, I don't have the time." "I don't want a bodyguard" she firmly tells him, crossing her arms, giving him the back. "Sigh… Chris, please, I promise you, you'll neither notice him. – he starts to massage his forehead, since she is giving his headache an headache, and then pushes a button on the silver-coloured telephone on his glass desk – Pepper, can you please let Mr. Barton in? " As he does that, a blonde man, probably a bit younger than him, dressed in a casual way, enters in the office from the dark ebony doors, and goes near them, as she starts to look down on him, not because she thinks of his as an inferior, but just because she is trying to figure out what a person like him has to do with Tony: he can be everything but one of his "associates", as Tony tried previously to convince her. "Clint, this is my sister, Christine." "I'm your Adopted sister, if you want to be more precise." she points out. "Yes, adoptive sister. Christine, this is Clint Barton, he will pass the day with you, until you are out." "At least, this time you chose someone who doesn't look like just exited from a spy b-movie or from the CIA" she then gives an other quick look at him, and goes out from the room, without giving a second look at him or Tony. "Clint, you are doing me a great favour. Thank you very much, and – he pauses, as the other Avenger is going to follow the "younger Stark" outside – good luck. Chris can be very stubborn, and she always wants to do everything on her own, she doesn't like when she needs other people's help, or, worse, when other people want to interfere in her life, as I'm trying to do." "What do you want her to do? From what you told me when you asked me to watch over her, I believed that she always did what you and your family believed was the best for her." "Well, it's a couple of years that she decided to stop to listen to me, and now she decided that she wants to get married, and I just want to avoid her to do the probably greatest mistake of her life. She is just… she is too young, and he isn't the right guy for her." "You want to convince her to leave him?" "No, I just want ask her to take things slow, this is the reason I asked her to visit me." "Tony, I'm not going to talk with her about this, understood? It's not my affair, and I don't like to interfere with other people's life." Telling him these things, he leaves, too, and follows the girl, who is already in the hall waiting for her "bodyguard"; when he reaches her, she exits from the building, without telling a single word. As he walks near her along the street, he notices that he didn't need her to tell him she wasn't genetically Tony's sister, it was quite clear, her physical features and his one were totally different: while he has blue eyes and black hair and a certain type of physique, she has an other one, and her eyes and hair are both brown; but psychologically, that's an other story. He just gave a look at her, and he believes that her mind and Tony's one are more similar than she wants to admit. And don't speak about hew way to dress: Tony spends his day in shirt, jacket and tie, and she is dressing very formal, her too: a pearl-grey shirt, with a black, ivory stripped adherent waistcoat with matching pants, black shoes, some simple jewels and professionally curly hairs. "So, what do you want to do?" "I'm going to do what Tony wants: I'm going to leave him alone." "Strange, I believed he was the one who asked you to come here." "Have you ever heard about second purposes?" "You don't look like someone who knows him very well" "Or, maybe, it's you who doesn't know him very well. By the way, the fact that I have to stay with you doesn't mean that I've to speak with you." "Well, one thing is sure, Tony knows you. He told me you can be damn stubborn, and he was right. You know what? If don0t want to speak with me, fine, but don't believe I'll let you stay. Tony asked me to spend the day with you and that's what I'm going to do." Chris makes a little smile, not letting Clint see it: maybe, this time Tony didn't choose someone so pathetic, after all. For the rest of the day, Chris and Clint spend the day walking along the streets, or taking some coffees, they even have lunch together, but she still tries her best to avoid conversation, especially when it's something concerning her "brother" or her family. It's almost six o'clock when they are walking along the 21st, looking at some shop-windows, enlightened by the gentle light of some lampposts, as something happens, as fast as the light itself. In few seconds, they see a couple of criminals exit from a bank, guns in hands, and ready to use them. As they try to escape, a couple of policemen try to stop them, but unsuccessfully: one of the robbers takes a kid of almost two from his mother's arm, and points the gun at his head. "Leave us free or the kid is dead!" he shouts at the presents, as almost everyone run in all the possible directions, screaming, terrorized. "Ok girl, let's find a safe place for you, or, if something bad ever happened to you, your big bro' will kill me with his own hands!" Clint puts his hands on her shoulder, trying to force her to move, to leave, to get somewhere safer, but she only stays, with a cold expression in her dark eyes, an expression cold, sure, but he can sees something else, something more… she is resolute, like she is ready to do something important… for a second or two, he even thinks that she is a sort of trance, even doesn't listening to what he is telling her, but her eyes… what the hell does she has in her damn mind? He wants to know, sure, but, over all, he wants hell out of what will be in a while a war zone. Tony puts her in his hands; he doesn't want to fail him, and himself. He doesn't want to see a "little" girl like her get hurt for one of his mistakes. "Girl? Girl, are you listenin' to me? You have to leave, now let's move." "He is scared. It doesn't care what will happen… someone will get hurt." "You are probably right, but I can't allow you to put your life in danger. There is the police, and maybe some hero will…" "And maybe they will be late." "You are not going to do anything; I don't allow you to.. "Sorry? You don't allow me? Where or when do you come from? I'm legal, I can take my own decisions, and it's not like I can't take care of myself." Few moments later, one of the criminals starts to fire on the crowd around, in direction of the policemen, but, suddenly, something happens: the bullets stay still, in the air, in front of the cars of the department, and, suddenly as they have been motionless, they fall on the ground without apparent reason and force. It's unclear who more astonished, if the policemen are or the criminals themselves, who, taken by a sudden terror, hold the kid with more strength, making him cry, a cry of fear and desperation that only makes them more frustrated. But, suddenly as before, they leave the kid and decide to give up, crying and repented. As the Force takes them in custody, Clint look astonished at the scene, happy to see how everything was ending well, and without any hero's intervention. "Hey, girl do you see that? They didn't… - he starts to tell her turning in her direction, only to see her became paler and paler, and loose consciousness right before his eyes, taking her in his arms just a second before she touches the ground – What… Christine, how are you? Are you all right?" She tries to wake up, helped by the blonde man, and she starts to massage her temples, still a little confused, hurt, and not able at all to elaborate all the informations her brain-cells are sending her in the right way. "Yes, I'm… - she almost falls again, but again he helps her – I think this show was more than what I could handle, you were right. Maybe I just need to drink something." Half an hour alter, they are sitting in a café, in a small table away from the view of the other costumers, in a place where Clint often goes, a place where he knows the people and the people knows him, a small, simply café, with handy people that reminds him of his youth, when everything was a way simpler. She is drinking a mug of boiled green tea, while is looking at her, sitting in front of the brow-head girl, with crossed arms, both in silence from the moment they put feet in that place. But, at a certain moment, Clint, looking directly in her eyes, breaks the silence. "How long do you know?" she looks at him in silence, stopping to drink, putting the mug on the table, trying to think about an answer, but for some reasons, she doesn't. She decides not to lie. "From when I was a teen." She answers without look in his eyes, avoiding eye-contact, a little sad, and, over all, worried. That's her secret, and she doesn't want to see it spilled on the front-pages. "And does Tony know that you…. "No" "And why don't you tell him? he cares about you, you are is sister in all but blood, he'll understand." "It's my only my choice, decide to tell him or not. And I decided to take it for me." "You could do a lot of good, with your… abilities." "Again, it's only up to me to decide." "You know, I think I understand what's going on in that little evil brain of yours, you know? You want to punish him for something, something you found out when you were a teen… what happened to you, Christine? Tony told me a lot of good thing about you, and from what I saw, you really are a good person…" "I just found out that no one is who and what it claims to be, neither the ones around me." "So, you know the truth about Tony and his armoured bodyguard… does he knows that you know?" "No, and it's not necessary. – she pauses, taking a sip of the cold beverage – you are one of them, aren't you?" "Since I know your secrets, I think I could tell you mine. Yes, I am. I am Clint Francis Barton, better known by the world by the name Hawkeye." "Well, if you put it that way… I'm Chris Stark, a mutant with psyonic powers." (end flashback) "I'm a little mad with you, you know? I mean, you are again alive from how long? And you didn't tell me you were all right! I mean I thought we were supposed to be friends…" "After I come back to life, with all the Avengers Disassembled and the House of M crap, I believed it was better stay outside the lights for a while." "What are you talking about?- she asks him as she stops to walk.- the fracture among the Avengers ranks was cause by a conspiracy from the Kree and a series of coincidences. And what's this House of M you are talking about?" "Is this what your beloved brother told you? He told you about An alien conspiracy and coincidences? And you even don't know about the House of M… poor little girl, and you believed Tony is honest with you." "Clint, what happened?" He caresses her cheek, sad for how life is going on. "I think I'll give Tony the opportunity to tell you the truth, all the truth. Considering who he is, maybe it's better if you ask his help, first." "I'm not stupid, I know what you mean. You want me to ask him the truth, and when he'll not tell me – because he will not tell me – you hope that I'll change side." "Not change side, at least not now. I want just you to open your eyes. He is not going to change, it will never happen. Things will just get worse." "So, if you don't want a mole inside the registration front, what do you want from me?" "I just need to know where Strange is. I owe him some answers." "Well, during the war Stephen was outside the States, it seems he was in his mystic lounge in Antarctica, but I don't know if it's true." "And what about now?" "Words are, he is still in his old palace. He is mystically hiding his and the others presence with his magic, and the whole place seems abandoned, but, from what the SHIELD believed, he is still there, but they can't prove it, neither with magic." "Strange is too powerful for even the SHIELD?" "Are you going to be a "secret avenger" you too?" "I'm getting to wherever it is I'm going" he simply answers, and, smiling at her, he disappears in the dark.