Wellspring Arms & Meditation Center, Friday

[hasconviction.livejournal.com]

Coulson tried to pretend that today was just another day of work. But it wasn't. It was the last day of work before a game-changing event. There was a lot to do ahead of that. He'd spent half the night getting some of his ammunition stock distributed to secret drop locations throughout the town, and now - after a few minutes spent on his sentimental favorite weapon in his stock which, no, was not getting passed on to anyone today - he was sorting through some stray parts to hopefully finish cobbling together a couple more guns tonight.

He wouldn't normally do that upstairs in the open, but the sales restrictions usually kept people away from the main floor and there weren't too many people who would recognize some of the more obscure gun parts he was sorting through right now anyway.

There was nothing ominous about that at all.

[OOC: Slow due to work for the next few hours, but I'm home early today! Huzzah! Expecting one, but Wellspring is of course open before that one.]

Comments

[hehasheart.livejournal.com]

There definitely weren't too many people who would recognize the bits that Coulson had in his possession, but Clint was one of them. In fact Coulson was one of the reasons Clint recognized the parts, and wasn't that just kind of poetic? Clint didn't know exactly what Coulson was getting up to though, and that was why he decided to stop stalking following him around and actually go into the shop.

"Hey there Coulson," he said with a friendly tone. "How's business?"

[hasconviction.livejournal.com]

Crap.

"Same as usual, Barton," Coulson said, not bothering to look even more suspicious by hiding what he was toying with. "The High Inquisitor doesn't give many permission slips to purchase anything, so it's slow enough for me to pick up a hobby."

[hehasheart.livejournal.com]

"A hobby building weapons? I don't know if the High Inquisitor will get much use out of them, but I bet the people patrolling will," Clint said, leaning over to try to see how far Coulson was getting. "I'm assuming, of course, that you're planning on handing these over when you're done? We can't have unchecked weapons out here."

[hasconviction.livejournal.com]

"You know me. I'm a collector. I'd rather hang onto it for a while," Coulson said calmly, holding the pieces up as his foot slid over onto a hidden button under the counter. "As you can see, it's not in any kind of working order. It's just a novelty."

This was going to be it, then. At least he'd done most of his work getting supplies out already.

[hehasheart.livejournal.com]

"And the one you were working on yesterday? Is that one done? Or did you think no one would notice that?" Clint asked, still smiling, although there wasn't really any happiness in it. "I've been keeping an eye on you, you know. I've got to be honest, I thought you'd be smarter than this."

[hasconviction.livejournal.com]

"Sorry to disappoint you, but I'm not," Coulson said, giving a slight shrug. "So, are you going to kill me or take me prisoner?"

[hehasheart.livejournal.com]

"That depends. Are you going to come in quietly?" Clint asked. If it sounded like he wanted the answer to be no, well...

[hasconviction.livejournal.com]

"I didn't for Loki. I won't for Umbridge," Coulson said. "But I'm better prepared this time."

He finally pushed down with his foot, leading to a floorboard between him and the counter to open up as a shield - THE shield - shot through the floor and into Coulson's hands.

"I've kind of been waiting for an excuse to do that," he spazzed.

[hehasheart.livejournal.com]

"You have got to be kidding me," Clint said with a laugh. "I was wondering why that wasn't with the rest of Cap's stuff. I guess we'll have to add stealing on top of everything else."

Because taking over Steve's apartment and getting all of his belongings that way totally didn't count.

Clint smirked as he reached down to his side. "Very impressive, but let's see if you know how to use it," he said, before pulling his gun out of its holster and firing it at Coulson.

[hasconviction.livejournal.com]

"It's a shield! It's pretty self-explanatory!" Coulson called out above the gunfire as he slipped his arm through the straps. He rushed forward, using his free hand to boost himself onto the counter in front of him before immediately diving towards Clint, shield-first.

He couldn't use the shield for signficant offense (even if he had studied Captain Rogers' fighting style since he was a kid, and boy had he ever done that), but he could manage this. Hopefully it would buy him a minute to either collect one of his hidden refurbished guns or - if he was really lucky - maybe a shot at Clint's.

[hehasheart.livejournal.com]

Clint knew that the shield was made of some pretty amazing stuff, but he hadn't expected that getting hit with it would hurt quite so much. He managed to roll away towards Coulson's side, trying to get a better angle from which to shoot. "I should have brought you in a long time ago. Of course you'd be on the wrong side, just like poor dead Steve."

[hasconviction.livejournal.com]

Coulson used the shield and his own momentum to roll to his feet quickly. "You're just saying that," he said as he crouched and scrambled toward the meditation room, using the shield to help take away Clint's best shots, "because you let your mind get taken over. Again!"

[hehasheart.livejournal.com]

"You and Nat keep saying that. But my thoughts are clearer than they've ever been!" Clint followed after Coulson, determined to not let him get into the other room, and shot at his leg to try to slow him down.

[hasconviction.livejournal.com]

Coulson dove forward as soon as he heard the gunshot. Unfortunately, that meant he had a bullet in hes leg as he went skidding across the floor. Significantly more fortunately, he landed on the shield, which allowed him to slide into the next room.

Once there, Coulson reached out for the nearest pink cat pillow and ripped it apart, pulling a loaded pistol out of it. Surrounded by pink pillow stuffing, he turned and trained the gun on the doorway.

[hehasheart.livejournal.com]

Clint ran after Coulson and skidded to the side of the doorway for cover. "Meditating with weapons? I'm going to have to tear this place apart to find everything, huh?" he said, twisting around quickly to shoot into the room.

[hasconviction.livejournal.com]

"They always made me feel more relaxed in a town filled with brainwashed killers," he called back as he hid behind the shield for cover.

Once the shooting stopped, Coulson returned fire and started to crawl backwards. At this point, he had two objectives: get the shield to saftey, and if possible, wound Clint for the sake of anyone else he might confront. Nothing else was of much importance. All he had to do was reach a certain cat pillow....

[hehasheart.livejournal.com]

Clint hissed as a bullet grazed his shoulder, and he ducked back behind the doorway to reload. "You should be proud that I'm putting SHIELD's training to such efficient use!" Umbridge was certainly happy about it, at least. "You can still come with me. It's a lot easier to be here once you see the light."

[hasconviction.livejournal.com]

"And this doesn't sound familiar at all to the Loki thing?" Coulson asked as he grabbed two cat pillows. He was out of ammo in his gun. Just two moves to make now. He hit one of the cat pillows, pressing a button that opened a trap door that he hid from view with the shield.

[hehasheart.livejournal.com]

The way Coulson was talking was making Clint feel bad the way talking to Natasha did, and all he could feel was the urge to make it stop. "Shut up! It's not like that at all!" he said, turning to fire at Coulson again, aiming for any spot that might be vulnerable past the shield.

[hasconviction.livejournal.com]

That's what Coulson had been waiting for. He threw the other pillow as hard as he could. As it was shredded and sent pink stuffing flying through the air, Coulson took advantage of the visual cover to drop the shield and the trigger through the trap door before it closed. It would take a while to figure out exactly where the door was. Loger to open it. Even longer to figure out how to get the shield from its new location.

For all intents and purposes, it was safe.

And Coulson had some brand new holes in his body.

[hehasheart.livejournal.com]

Clint ducked back after he fired, waiting for the stuffing to clear, and then peered back inside at Coulson, smirking when he saw that the shield was gone. "Did you really hide your toy? I'll find it, you have to know that," he said, coming around into the room. "That wasn't very smart."

[hasconviction.livejournal.com]

"You're a master assassin. I'm a guy in a suit," Coulson said, not losing his calm . "You were always going to beat me in the fight. But my life's the only thing you're going to get from me."

"Well, and that scar on your shoulder."

[hehasheart.livejournal.com]

That comment stung more than it probably should have, and for a moment, Clint looked almost guilty. "You should just have come with me," he said, before emptying the rest of his clip into Coulson's body.

[hasconviction.livejournal.com]

Coulson shrugged.

And died.

[hehasheart.livejournal.com]

Clint watched Coulson for a few long moments after he stopped moving, and sighed with a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. He'd call in backup to get rid of the body and clear the place out... soon. But not yet. He just needed a minute alone, for absolutely no reason at all. Really.