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If you haven't read the intro yet, please read that first!
Warning: There will be some swearing!
The next day started way too early for your liking, thanks to a still excited Clint waking you and Natasha up.
“Good morning!” he chirped down the hall happily.
“Come on (y/n), you promised me to tell me what happened after the books!”
You groaned and turned around in the bed of the guest room Natasha gave to you and looked at the clock. It was 7 o’ clock. In the fucking morning! That man was going to die.
He stormed into your room to get you out of bed, just to be greeted by a pillow to the face.
“What the fuck?! It’s 7 in the freaking morning! Couldn’t you have let me sleep at least a bit longer?! Sleep is a damn luxury for someone like me!” You shouted at him, while he only smiled and threw the pillow back at you. You were too tired to dodge so it landed right in your face.
You glared at him.
“Start running…” You growled before leaping out of bed.
Natasha came out of her room to see Clint running down the hall and you following and threatening him.
“It’s way too early for this…” She retreated back into her room to sleep some more.

It took Clint nearly 20 minutes to finally lose you and hide in the vents, after which you decided to take a shower, as sleep wouldn’t come to you again anyway. What a great start of a day.
Damn that promise.
After showering and dressing you went to the common floor and the kitchen, which you found with a little help from J.A.R.V.I.S.
Tony was already sitting at the counter, nursing a drink and after you grumble a short morning to him, he looks up at you.
“Let me guess: Bird brain decided you had enough sleep and that it’s story time?”
“Yep. Got away before I could shoot him though. What are you doing up so early in the morning?”
“Couldn’t sleep.” He says, placing down his glass. “I got you a floor ready, beneath Natasha’s, you can get your stuff from the hotel.”
“Thanks for that and sorry about the sleeping part. I know it’s hard at first to learn about everything out there…”
“Pfff, please! I had worse.”
“Sure. I’ll get my stuff then, see you later Tony. And thanks again!”
“Don’t mention it, babe.”

It took you almost an hour to get back to your hotel room. Damn traffic. At least you didn’t spend much time there, as your stuff was always packed and ready to go. You returned you room key to the receptionist before going outside and stuffing the rest of your bags into the trunk of your car.
It would still take a while for the traffic to let up, so you sat down at a little café down the street and got yourself your favorite coffee and some breakfast.
When you get both, someone pulls out the chair next to you and sits down.
“Are you stalking me now?”
“I wouldn’t call it stalking. I would call it making sure you keep your promise… And getting breakfast.” He orders some breakfast as well, before stretching and trying to make himself comfortable on the hard chair.
“So, I’m all ears.”
“Just a sec…” You shoot off a short prayer to Castiel to inform him that – should he hear anything from you for now that could be considered a prayer – it is not and that you are merely telling a new Hunter your story.
“Okay, where should I start?”

It took you hours and a few more coffees – donated by Clint, since he wanted to keep you talking – to tell him how Dean had gotten out of hell, about Angels, the Apocalypse and everything else that had happened to you up to the death of your father and leaving the brothers. You also added a few things Castiel had told you since you left to finish the Leviathan and Purgatory stories.
“I have been through a lot of things in my life… but that is…”
He couldn’t really find the right words to describe everything he had heard from you. That did not stop you from completing his sentence though.
“Fucked up?”
“Yeah, you could call it that.”
“Sooo…. Anything else you want to ask or do you think we should leave before someone sends out a search party?”
“You kept your promise, I’m happy. Tell me if you get more information though, those two have quite the extraordinary live… to think that the apocalypse was started and no one even noticed…”
“Yeah it’s a bit weird, I know. Come on, let’s drive back. How did you get here?”
“I walked. I wouldn’t take a car through New York during rush hour…”
“Well I did. I’ll give you a ride.”

The two of you drove back to the tower where everyone else was already up and waiting. After all you had told them that you would decide today who you wanted to take with you as backup.
“What took you so long? Had a date? You wound me babe, I thought we had something special…”
“Quit it Drama Queen, I had a promise to keep. I guess you want to know what the case is about now and who I’ll be taking with me…”
You put down your bag onto the ground.
“Wait, that’s everything you have?”
“Of course it is.” You reply with a raised eyebrow. “I always travel light and since my father’s house was burned down a few years ago I’ve been on the road. I lived in motels most of the time and sometimes you have to grab your stuff and run. Hunter’s life.”
“Tony stop interrupting her, I want to know who goes with her!”
“Oh shut it, Katniss.”
Luckily, Thor interrupts them before the two of them can start arguing again.
“I would be most pleased to accompany you into a fight against those Midgardian creatures, Lady (y/n)! The stories I could tell Lady Sif and the Warriors Three after fighting against such beasts would be quite entertaining!”
“Thank you Thor but I don’t think you’re the right one for this particular case… What I need to hunt is called a ‘Wendigo’. They are cannibalistic monsters who hunt down any human they can get. Sometimes they keep them alive for days to feed on them, sometimes they just devour them. But they don’t stop. Those greedy little fuckers never stop. They hibernate sometimes, but as soon as they awake they need to eat again.”
You look through the round to gauge their reactions. You particularly notice that Tony looks a little green around the nose and that Bruce looks like he could faint any second.
“Tony. Bruce. You don’t have to listen to this. This alone is more information than most humans can handle and I’m not done yet… Maybe you should leave, I hadn’t planned on taking one of you with me anyway. I’ll tell Maria to take care of your Tattoo, Tony. Just remember not to get it anywhere too visible, for those who know it it’s a clear sign to find a hunter.”
Tony downs his drink before nodding and leaving, while Bruce looks quite thankful that he doesn’t have to stay any longer. The two of them hurry out the door and into the lab, where they feel a lot more comfortable.
“Anyone else who would rather leave?”
You look at them but see them shaking their heads.
“Okay, where was I? Ah, yes, the Wendigo. They are actually high class monsters, very powerful and tricky to hunt, because no matter how good a hunter you are, there is one thing about the Wendigo you have to know: It outsmarts you. Those things are what you would call a ‘perfect hunter’, hard to catch during the day, almost impossible to catch during the night. They usually hunt at night and from what I know have perfect night vision…. I think I have a picture in my journal, give me a sec…”
You take out your journal and start to thumb through it until you find the part about Wendigos and an old sketch that you did yourself. You put the journal on the table and turn it around for them to see.
“That’s one. They are about twelve feet tall, almost invulnerable, incredibly strong, fast and agile. I’ve seen one pull a well-built man while climbing a tree and dodging our attacks like he weighed absolutely nothing. And as if all of that isn’t enough, they are also capable of imitating the voices of their victims.”
“That does sound like a very deadly creature, Lady (y/n), but you said that they are almost invulnerable. How can they be killed?”
“With fire. You have to get in and torch them. Last time I used a flare gun, but you don’t go on a Wendigo hunt without a blowtorch as well.”
At that Thor looks at you quite confused.
“What are those tools that you speak of?”
“Ah, I forgot. Asgardian. Right, sorry. Ehm… a flare gun is a gun that fires a projectile that can be used to signal someone, as they produce light and great heat without an explosion and a blowtorch is a can filled with a gas that can be easily ignited. It creates a flame that burns at a very high temperature until it is shut off or the gas runs out. Of course you could always push a Wendigo into a campfire, but that only tends to hurt them a lot and piss them off…”
“Thank you for the explanation Lady (y/n). Not many Midgardians have the patience to explain their tools and ways to us all the time.”
“Don’t worry, I’m used to it. I managed to teach an Angel how to use a cellphone and the importance of it as a hunter. Took a while but now he doesn’t have any problems with it anymore and he was a lot more ignorant of human ways than you are Thor.”
“A…real Angel? Are you trying to tell us that you have talked with an Angel?”
You turn to Steve who looks a little bit shocked now.
“Really? You took the idea of monsters in stride, but that there are also the good guys out there shocks you? To be honest not all of them can be called ‘good guys’. Most of them are mindless soldiers, drones that do whatever they are told, no matter how many lives are lost because of it… I guess you are religious Steve?”
“Well I believe in God if that is what you meant… But Angels… how do they look like?”
“For humans they look just like us. A humans senses are not capable of perceiving their real forms. The last woman who tried to take a look at Castiel’s real form got her eyes burned out for it. While they walk the earth they need a host. Just like demons, the only difference is that everyone without protection can be possessed by a demon, but to be possessed by an Angel you have to let them in. They can’t possess a living being without permission.”
“So if Angels are a real thing… so is God right?”
“Are you actually asking me that? I thought you believed in him… But yes. He is real. Not really interested in this world any more from what I have heard, but he exists.”
At this Natasha had to laugh.
“Well it’s a good think Tony isn’t here anymore, he would have started a very long, very boring discussion about this.”
“Believe me, I had some problems with that myself, but we got totally off track here. I think if I wait any longer to tell you who I’m taking with me Clint is going to explode!”
That gets a laugh out of everyone, except for Clint, who is still waiting like a little kid on Christmas for your decision and glares at you a bit.

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry Clint. There is just one more thing that I know of that can keep Wendigos at bay… Guess you all know who I’ll be taking when I tell you it is silver tipped….”
You make a little pause after that, just to screw with him for a bit.

“…Arrows!”

At this Clint jumps up. “YES!”
While his face light’s up like Christmas and Easter are on the same day, everyone else is laughing.
“Yes, I see now why it makes sense to take Brother Barton with you. I do hope that I will get another chance to go out and hunt with you Lady (y/n)!”
“Don’t worry Thor you will. Fury asked me to teach all of you, so I will be going out with everyone at a time. It mostly depends on the kind of monster. Maybe we’ll find something for you next time, big guy.”
“So when will we be leaving? And where do we find it?”
“I hope you’re ready for a little road trip Clint, because absolutely nothing will get me into any type of plane. You can check up on some lore yourself on the way, just to get a feeling for it. And according to the information Nick gave me we’re heading to Allegheny National Forest so suit up for some camping!”
“Does that mean that the rest of us can leave now? I really want to go out for a little flying…”
“Of course, you don’t have to stay any longer, you could have asked earlier Sam.”
“Well I didn’t… I guess the two of you will be gone for a few days?”
“Depends on how long it takes us to track the beast down. The reports on where the people went missing are not clear enough to know where the bastard is right away, so it might take a bit, yeah.”
“Guess we’ll see you when you get back then! Don’t get killed out there!”
With that he hurried to leave and the others said their goodbye’s as well before leaving the two of you alone. You text Maria to tell her that they all still need the tattoos, to get in a good tattoo artist who can keep his mouth shut and to put the symbols somewhere that is not easily visible.
“So…. How long do you need to get ready?”
“A road trip? Really? That’s a 6 hour drive! We could take a Quinjet and be there within an hour!”
You glare at him.
“First of: I’m not going near anything that flies, accept that. Second point: This is not a S.H.I.E.L.D. operation, meaning no S.H.I.E.L.D. resources unless Nick decides to give us anything. I actually already told him that we’ll be needing silver-tipped arrows for you and he will take care of those. That is a lot more than I usually have. Don’t cry about it you won’t have to drive anyway.”
“Okay… so, what do I need to bring?”

It did not take long for Clint to pack a bag for your little trip. You always had the basic camping supplies like a tent stuffed into your car and as long as he didn’t mind sharing – which he didn’t – the two of you would be good with what you already had packed. When you called Nick to ask if the arrows where ready he told you that he already send Maria to deliver them to you. After getting them from Maria you packed everything into your car and left as soon as you both were buckled in. You were lucky that he did not mind listening to your music, while he took out his phone to read up on Wendigos. He told you what he managed to find from time to time until you stopped at a fast-food joint to get some lunch. Afterwards you kept on driving while Clint managed to fall asleep on the passenger seat. You just drove on until you reached your destination where you steered your beloved car onto a parking-lot and poked Clint in the side to wake him up.
“Gaaaah!! Goddamn, can’t you wake me up gently?!”
You laughed at him. “That’s the revenge for making me get up at 7 in the morning!”
He looked around a bit. “This doesn’t look like a National Forest…”
“Of course not genius, I need to change on the backseat. Then we’ll go and get information.”
“Are you not even a bit embarrassed about changing here?”
You climb into the backseat while he asks you that and start to change your clothes.
“Do you think that I had any privacy while traveling with Sam and Dean? I got used to them seeing me half-naked, I can get used to it with you. But if you tell Tony about this I’ll throw you to the wolves next time.”
You didn't even notice that his eyes were glued to the rear-view mirror through which he watched you the entire time while you talked to him and got changed. You got back into the driver’s seat afterwards and opened the glove compartment from which you took a handgun and started to sort through the badges. Next to your official S.H.I.E.L.D. badge you had quite the collection of aliases that you used from time to time and this time you selected your FBI badge with the alias of ‘Caitlyn Matthews’. It was really the one you used the most, as people tended to trust the FBI.
“Okay while we’re in there call me Caitlyn.”
He nodded, not even bothering to ask why you used an alias when you had an official S.H.I.E.L.D. badge. He was a spy himself after all.
“This is really the thing I hate the most about hunting. Getting people to tell you what they know. Some believe that they have gone crazy and refuse to talk about anything they saw. Others convince themselves that they saw nothing those are the hardest nuts to crack. But sometimes you have some luck and someone saw everything and already told the police they just couldn’t believe it. They are so happy when someone finally decides to listen and doesn’t call them crazy that you get anything you need out of them. Let’s hope we’re lucky.”
You were not lucky, of course. It took some time to track down the two eyewitnesses who managed to get away. They would never know just how much luck they had had to accomplish that.

After talking to the witnesses you made your way back to the car.
“I’ll change and afterwards we’ll go eat dinner and get a motel room or something. We don’t have much daytime left and we still have to go get some food and water for a few days. I refuse to camp 20 minutes into the forest. We’ll leave at sunrise, I hope you don’t mind a bit of walking. Oh and you still need to get your tattoo… I think I saw a tattoo parlor somewhere at the edge of the city when we came here. We can ask for one when we get dinner.”
You get back into the backseat to change into more comfortable clothes while he takes his place in the passenger seat. You climb into the driver’s seat with a relieved sigh and drive down the road in search for the next diner. It takes only a few minutes to locate one and get inside.
“And? Did you think about where you want your tattoo?”
You ask him in-between bites of your Burger.
“You said it should be as hidden as possible… so I thought about getting it on the top side of my thigh… Should be hidden enough, right?”
“Should be. I know that Sam and Dean have theirs on their chests, but every demon and monster knows about them anyway so it doesn’t make much of a difference to them, but we can’t have someone as well-known as the Avengers running around with easily visible anti-possession tattoos.”
“Yeah I know what you mean… That makes undercover work a bit harder…”

The two of them took their time to eat before paying and getting directions to the tattoo parlor in the city. On the way there you managed to find a Motel with a vacancy. You had already passed one that was fully booked and the one you stopped at luckily had a double room for you which you paid for. You got your bags out of the car and put them into your room before moving on to get Clint his tattoo. At least he was not nervous about it. It was not very far so the two of you decided to walk the way. You sat down with him and showed the artist an image of the symbol that you took out of your journal.

“Okay… you got your tattoo, we have all the information we can get and it’s dark outside. I suggest we get our supplies and go to bed, I could fall asleep standing up right now…” You manage to get everything you need in a shop not far away from your Motel before you both drop into your beds to sleep.

The sound of your alarm wakes you early the next morning and you stretch yourself.
“I’ll take a shower, can you get us some breakfast downstairs?”
After you hear something that sounds like a grunted yes from him you take some clothes with you into the bathroom. While you are under the shower, Clint manages to get up and get some donuts and coffee for the two of you. As soon as you step out of the bathroom the smell of fresh coffee invades your nose. Clint has already finished his breakfast and takes his turn showering while you devour the rest of the donuts and the coffee. By the time you were done eating and had collected everything else, Clint came out of the shower, ready to leave. You put on some comfortable boots and took the bags and supplies to the car, while he returned the room key.

That had actually been 3 days ago.
Now you were still searching for the Wendigo, both of you armed with flare guns, a blowtorch and Clint with his bow and arrows, while you carried a big bag containing a tent and your supplies. You had been able to sleep peacefully thanks to the protection of Anasazi symbols, drawn on the ground in a circle around the camp, which both of you could draw by heart by now.
And finally you found something. Claw marks on the trees. Too high and too big to be from any local animals. You took out the map with which you had been traveling with during the last days and found your current location fast. There seemed to be nothing near that could be used by a Wendigo as a hiding place, but one of the park rangers had told you about some old caves a few miles away from your current location. It seemed as good a place to start as any so the both of you decided to head there. You managed to get to the caves by midday and used flashlights to navigate them.
You went first with a flashlight in one hand and a flare gun in another, while Clint followed you absolutely silent, with his bow in hand, to which he had added a special clip-on flashlight.

Luck seemed to be with you as the caves where mostly straight, without many junctions or you could have gotten lost down there. The first two caves had been very long but sadly empty and you were checking the third one by now. It would also be the last one for the day if you could not find the beast in there, as you were running out of daylight and it took some time to Monster-proof the campsite. You both stopped at the same moment, listening intently. It sounded like a woman, whimpering and asking for help. It was highly unlikely that after 5 days of being missing because of a Wendigo someone was still alive. Meaning it was most likely the monster himself, trying to bait you.
And bait you he would. You sign Clint to stay back and wait for his chance, to which he nods. Arrow ready he creeps to the side of the cave and waits while you slowly creep forward following the sound of the whimpers. Clint had to follow you after a bit to keep you within his sight since the cave was no longer completely straight. There were a lot of curves and bends until you came to a junction. Of course there had to be a junction with two possibilities.
Left or right? Which one should you follow?
You tried to listen to the whimper again but it had already stopped. Fucking intelligent bastard.
You thought about it for a second before signing Clint to take the right one while you would take the left.
“Remember that the arrows only slow him down, use the flares if you get the chance…” you remind him in a low whisper. Normally you wouldn’t leave a new hunter alone to go after a Wendigo but you were sure that Clint could take care of himself. He had lived through an alien invasion for Christ’s sake. He nodded and crept on into the right tunnel while you sneaked into the left.

It was way too silent for your taste. You were lucky enough that there had been no more forks on your way, but there was a bend to the left a bit down the cave. A sharp one. You crept up to it and pressed against the wall, exhaling slowly before moving around fast and coming face to face with…

A freaking dead end. Shit. You heard a shout from where you came that was clearly from a man.

Clint! Shit, shit, shit!

You started running back the way you came until you managed to get back to the junction. Apparently Clint had the same idea and was currently running away from one very pissed looking Wendigo with quite a lot of arrows sticking out of it. He was cursing up quite a storm while running away from the creature and as soon as he ran out of English curses continued swearing in Italian and repeating Russian curses that he had most likely learned from Natasha.
You managed to stop yourself before you ran into the junction and aimed your flare gun at Clint’s back.
“Hey ugly!” you shouted as soon as the Wendigo ran into your sight, chasing after the archer and the moment it turned around you fired your flare gun into right into its mouth, which had been wide open as he screamed at you.
You lowered your gun as you watched the bastard burn to ashes. Clint turned around when he noticed that the beast wasn’t following him anymore and jogged up to you to join you watching him burn to crisps.
“You okay?”
“Yeah. It cut my arm with those huge-ass claws, but I’ll live.”
“Good… have you found anything down there? I mean apart from a Wendigo turned porcupine?”
“I haven’t had the time to check the whole tunnel before it attacked me. Damn, I knew what was coming and still I froze for a moment.”
You pat him on the back and smiled at him.
“Happens to everyone the first time, don’t worry about it. Let’s go check the rest of the tunnel, maybe a miracle happened and one of them survived this shit. You actually did better than I thought. What happened to using the flare gun though?”
You hear him grumble something under his breath while you start walking down the right tunnel.
“Sorry, didn’t catch that. What did you say?” you ask grinning. You actually heard what he said but it would be more fun if he had to repeat it louder.
“I said I missed! I know you told me it was fast and agile but he just evaded! Couldn’t evade the arrows though…”
You laugh silently.
“Don’t worry your secret is safe with me, Hawkeye!”
He smiles gratefully at you. He wouldn’t hear the end of it if Tony knew that he actually missed a target.

It took you another half an hour to get to the end of the tunnel where you found mostly bones and a few human remains that you did not bother looking at. It was disgusting but you had seen a lot worse in your life. So had Clint apparently. You noticed he was calm and quiet. Maybe a bit too quiet.
“Hey, you okay Birdy? Was the hunt not what you imagined?”
He slowly shook his head.
“It’s so… different. It was awesome to read it when I thought it was all made up… To find out that there are really people out there who lived through that shit… And now to see for myself what kind of nightmares you faced. You earned my respect and trust with this. Should you ever find yourself in need of backup, call me.”
You shake your head and throw an arm over his shoulders.
“You know, I really like you birdy but that’s enough of a chick flick moment for me for the week. How about we get out of here, camp and get the hell back to New York tomorrow? We could raid some of Tony’s alcohol, he’s a billionaire I’m sure he won’t mind!”
Clint has to laugh at that, remembering something he always read in the books. He lays his arm around your waist while you make your way back, with a grin on both of your faces.
“Sounds like a plan to me… Bitch.”

“Jerk.”