Barton

"Is he asleep yet?" I whispered to Nat.

Her head popped up and she glared at me. I took that as a no, and lay carefully back down. Once my head hit the pillow, my vision of her was blocked. The blockade? Agent Jackson, blissfully unaware of his surroundings.

This was all Stark's fault. Once we were all well, and Agent Jackson was down to one boot, he thought it appropriate to party. So we all went to a bar, and Stark somehow managed to get Agent Jackson drunk without him noticing.

Some of it might've been Loki's fault too. Agent Jackson might've thought he was hazy because he was drunk on Loki. I laughed internally at that, although not as internally as I thought. A swift kick to my shin from Nat shut me up for the time being.

A small whimper escaped Agent Jackson's lips. I frowned, not as blissful as I thought. Actually, blissful is not what I expect. Not after the incident from tonight, never mind the rest of crap he's gone through.

Especially this party. Not just with anyone, but most of SHIELD's agents. So we were surrounded by friends and enemies alike, of course in the work aspect. Yeah, lots of enemies for Agent Jackson.

Although I wasn't surprised. There's bound to be hate for an agent of his age, especially one as good as him. Yeah Nat and I witnessed some agents who weren't fans of the young Agent, and took advantage of his drunk state.

Unfortunately for him, and us, these agents were barely the same level as us, so the two of us against fifteen or so of them with about the same skill level... it wasn't a good idea. We tried, but we were a little tipsy turvy ourselves.

We managed to drag Agent Jackson back to the tower, clean him up, and get him into the bed. There weren't nice people out there, and sometimes the world has to prove it. Agent Jackson asked us not to leave him while he slept, but I had to go to the bathroom.

I was waiting until he was asleep, but Natasha still didn't let me leave. Not very kind of her, but I think she'd rather see me suffer than the boy next to us. I started drifting asleep, the memories of the night taking ahold.

Natasha and I were held against the wall. Immobile in our woozy state. Agent Jackson lay on the ground, his eyes unfocused. There were four Agents each holding Nat and I back.

About ten were standing around Agent Jackson. There was no leader, but they all had the same idea in their minds. One held his hand out to Agent Jackson who stared at it. Slowly the agent reached towards the hand.

The limbs locked, and Agent Jackson was pulled to his feet unsteadily. Then suddenly, the one who pulled him to his feet stepped forward and punched Agent Jackson hard in the face.

The young man stumbled back and tripped over his boot. Since he was surrounded in a circle, Agent Jackson fell into another Agent. That person pulled him to his feet and pushed him harshly away from him.

Agent Jackson was continually pushed around like a soccer ball surrounded by walls. He kept bouncing around the group, twisting and turning. Agent Jackson cried out in pain when the leg that filled the boot was twisted at an odd angle as he fell.

He almost hit the ground, but was once again pulled to his feet, foot and twisted ankle in a boot. The Agent turned when someone behind him advanced, but was too slow. He was caught in the chest and knocked onto his back.

The circle of Agents closed in on the young Agent kicking and punching whatever they could. I slammed my foot down on the distracted Agents around me, causing one to let go.

It didn't last for long because I didn't move fast enough. Instantly I was pinned against the wall again. I glanced over, and I saw Nat in an even more compromising position as another agent joined in keeping her contained.

A pained groan drew my attention once more. Agent Jackson lay still on the ground. A foot stepping on his cheek, so his face was turned toward us. Blood dribbled out of his mouth and his eyes opened and closed slowly.

I would describe more, but I'd rather not. Long story short, he looked like he got ran over by a stampede of elephants. There were even footprints all over him. His boot was messed up too. Not cool SHIELD, not cool.

I grinned on the inside when I realized what Fury would do once he knew his best agent was taken advantage of in his drunken state. Especially once he knew it was Agent Jackson, we all knew Fury has favorites.

"Not so smart now, are you, Percy?" One of the men laughed.

A gurgling sound came from Agent Jackson. Next thing I knew, Agent Jackson was throwing up on the Agent's shoes. I laughed out loud at that. All the Agents turned to glare at me.

"You think you're to funny, huh?" The agent growled, his hands frantically unzipping his pants,"I'll show you funny."

"Hey!" I shouted, whatever was coming wasn't going to be good.

The Agents ignored me, and followed the other Agent's lead. They were all men, and started undoing their zippers. I saw Nat thrash, but she wasn't let go.

"Don't touch him!" She growled, head butting the one to her left.

We were still ignored. Then the smell of urine hit me. I gasped in disbelief. The sound of Agent Jackson sputtering brought me back to reality and I saw him weakly struggling, but drunk and beat up was not a good combination.

Once they were all finished, they laughed and glanced at Nat and I. The guy who had upchuck on his shoes strutted up to us. A smug grin was covering his face making me tense.

"Beating on the weak doesn't make you strong." I informed the Agent.

"So you agree with me then?" He answered,"He is weak."

"In this state. Against ten of you." Nat stated.

Then she head butted him hard. Her right foot locked on the calves of the person next to her and they went down. She brought her legs up and kicked two across from her. Nat twisted so the people holding her were tangled up.

From there it was chaos. For the Agents, not Nat and I. Soon enough, the element of surprise and their main focus off of Agent Jackson, Nat and I were able to knock out the group of Agents. Definitely not on our level.

"Wake up, Barton." A voice interrupted my sleep.

I tiredly waved them off. A pillow slammed harshly into me. I yelped, and hid under my own pillow. An exasperated sigh sounded.

"If you don't get up right now, I'm going to push you off of my bed." The voice threatened.

I ignored them. Without a second to lose, a force pushed me out of my comfortable spot. I landed hard on the floor. I groaned loudly. When I looked up, it was Agent Jackson grinning tiredly down at me, leaning heavily on his crutch.

"Why'd you wake me up?" I complained,"I haven't had a good dream yet."

"Your dream is real life." He said rolling his eyes,"You get to see your family in a few hours."

My eyebrows furrowed,"How'd you know about Laura and my kids?"

I got up and followed him out of the room. He hobbled his way to the elevator. I followed him in, noticing Natasha wasn't with us. The Agent pressed the level we all normally eat on and got out once we reached the floor.

"How would I not?" He reasoned calmly.

I shrugged and found the rest of the team in the kitchen. Loki was instantly next to the Agent, kissing him on the cheek. Said cheeks flushed when the PDA was shown. Everyone was looking curiously at Agent Jackson, and I just noticed he was in his pajamas still.

He never came out of his room in anything, but his SHIELD attire. Not to mention, his pajamas consisted of long pajama pants, and no shirt. Very vulnerable for an agent, and I think everyone recognized that. Last night, I guess Natasha and I broke down a barrier for him.

"You're smart, Agent Jackson. I'll give you that." Natasha complimented, adding food to her plate.

Without looking at us, Agent Jackson spoke nonchalantly,"Call me Perseus."

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