Synopsis / Summary / Plot
This series tells 2 tales in parallel. 1 is set in the past with Clint Barton and his older brother Barney as young boys. The other follows present-day Hawkeye (Clint) and Hawkeye (Kate Bishop) on a mission for SHIELD. I'm going to separate the 2 stories out in each issue.
In the past in a foster home in Iowa Barney Barton and Clint head out on their bicycles to catch a frog where they previously saw some in a drain. Clint is losing some hearing (due to a beating by his father as explained in #19 of the previous series). They catch 1 and put it in a plastic box with air holes. They need to hurry back in order to cut the grass before their foster-dad gets home. Clint wonders if they shouldn't go back.
It's too late when they get home. Barney tells his younger brother to stay outside while he goes in to take all the blame himself. Clint puts the frog with some others under the house while he hears Barney taking a beating. But his brother fights back and then rushes out with a blood-stained baseball bat. The pair escape on their bikes as dad appears with a bloody head. He chases them in his car but they come across the Carson Travelling Carnival.
In the present the bickering Hawkeyes have infiltrated a Hydra base but now they're trying to get away from the hordes of foes. Kate denies being Clint's protégé and still doesn't like him calling her Katie, so he starts calling her Katherine which annoys her even more. He also comments that his hearing is OK now Tony Stark gave him some superior hearing aids (Clint was rendered deaf again in the previous series). Maria Hill sent them to find a secret weapons cache but the troops just seem to have the usual hi-tech rifles, so Kate suggests they leave. Clint agrees and dives through an exterior door that's just closing. We learn that the base is in Antarctica. And Kate didn't get out.
Clint gets in contact with Kate to check she's OK. Then he uses a 'splodie-arrow' to break back inside and fight his way to rescue her. Meanwhile she's found her way to a sub-basement and a door marked Project Communion. She defeats the Hydra Agents who've followed her, telling Clint she doesn't *need* rescuing. Then she uses a Hydra handprint to gain entry to the room and finds the secret weapon - 3 young kids with electrodes in their heads.