Clint Barton

## Personality

Clint Barton is a mess. If we're being honest, he was a mess before he was fostered by criminals and kidnapped into an experimental lab, but that kind of added to the mess overall. He's reckless and irresponsible, never looking before he leaps. He hasn't had any formal schooling in about six years and would soon as shoot an apple as eat one. He also has a tendency to go through girls, a lot.

However, Clint is one of the most loyal, big-hearted people you'll ever meet. He loves animals, will stick up for the underdog every single time, and cannot tolerate bullying, especially when it comes to the disabled. He'd throw himself in front of a bullet for his friends, which isn't exactly a healthy attitude, but then again, Clint's not exactly a healthy kind of guy, especially when it comes to habits. You get the bad with the good when it comes to him, and there's plenty of bad to go along with the good.

## Powers

**Low-Level Healing Factor** – Clint heals at a slightly faster rate than a baseline human., resulting in fewer scars and life-threatening injuries despite the numerous scrapes he seems to get himself into.

Unfortunately, Clint used to have a much higher level of healing, as well as enhanced reflexes, and vastly enhanced vision, allowing him the ability to see at greater distances and with better precision than a normal human. He even had the ability to see in the dark.

However, during his stay with the Right, his genome was altered and his vision dropped to 20/20. His healing factor was also burned out during this process, resulting in a slight increase in healing potential. He still retains impressive reflexes, but it's uncertain whether that is due to his training or his mutation.

## Talents

Clint is extremely proficient at archery and marksmanship, as well as acrobatics. He's also been trained in knives, swords, and several types of firearms. He's had preliminary training in infiltration as well.

On the other hand, Clint is currently legally deaf. Before he was deafened, he also played the guitar and had a decent singing voice. He uses hearing aids during the day, and takes them out when no one is around, but he's proficient in American Sign Language and has become very good at reading lips.

## Interests

Clint's one true love is still archery, despite everything that's happened. It helps him focus, when all his hands want to do is fidget. It's no wonder he carries around a purple fidget spinner, and on clear days will find his way outside to the archery range whenever possible (often missing class in the process.)

He's also fond of animals – pretty much all animals – and loves music, playing the guitar (or did, before the Right), drinking coffee, and eating pizza. He's missed out on a lot of his education, in between working the fairgrounds, moving around, and his eventual captivity with the Right, but he's a quick study, when he actually puts his mind to it.

Clint also loves heights – and climbing them, when possible, so it's no surprise that he would love to be a pilot some day, and will no doubt sneak his way onto the X-Jet more than a few times.

## History

Clinton Francis Barton (and Jesus, that’s a mouthful) was born in Waverly, Iowa to a loving, but timid mother and an alcoholic and abusive father. He grew up working in his father's butcher shop alongside his older brother, Barney.

For years, both boys endured the abuse of his father's fists, escaping whenever they could into the cornfields surrounding the town and fishing at the local watering hole. Barney did what he could to teach Clint to be strong – to know how to fight, even if fighting their father wasn’t an option. In fact, the abuse just got worse.

But, in the end, it wasn't the boys that took their father, but a car accident. Unfortunately, it took their mother along with the bastard, leaving the brothers orphans, with no extended family to take them in. They ended up in the foster care system, moving from home to home and school to school.

Eventually, the rough and tumble Barton boys found themselves taken in by the only ones who would bother – an odd couple who ran a sword and archery exhibition at fairgrounds throughout the Midwest. Jacques and Lorelei Duquesne were constantly on the move, and lived in trailers, and certainly couldn't provide for a stable home life, but it was the best the system could provide.

In the end, the boys were mostly expected to carry equipment and clean up after each show before having the run of the place once the chores were done. They were supposedly home schooled, but Lorelei, nicknamed 'Mantis' made extra money on the side dancing in strip clubs, and didn’t have much time for the boys.

Jacques, on the other hand, was keen-eyed enough to notice that as they grew older, Barney and Clint were filling out, and eager to help with his exhibitions. He began to train them in swordsmanship, and brought in a friend, Buck Chisholm, to teach them archery.

That's when Jacques began to notice something different about Clint. While both boys excelled in the training, it was Clint that truly shined. His reflexes were far and above his brother's, and his eyesight something else to witness. And, the times when Buck would beat his apprentices for their stupidity, it was Clint that seemed to bounce back, better than ever.

Soon enough, Buck and Barney began to notice as well, and though no one said anything out loud, they all began to think the same thing: Clint was something new.

And well, Barney hated it.

A rift began to grow between the brothers, with Clint not quite understanding why, but Jacques didn't care. He was sitting on a gold mine, and what with the boy's good looks and flashy act, he could bring more people to the show than ever before. And he did. That is, until Clint over heard him talking to Buck about the profits, and the way they were laundering money through the fairgrounds for some, well, pretty bad people.

That's when Clint tried to call the cops. And, of course, that's when Jacques had to stop him. The whole affair ended in Clint being left at the emergency room with two broken legs, in a coma. The hospital authorities were told that it was a fall from a horse while trying to do a trick stunt.

Of course, three days later, when Clint woke from injuries that rightly should have killed him, no one was there to greet him. Not even Barney. The whole show had packed up and left town.

No, not even the foster care system cared (at least, so it seemed). It was, in fact, a wide-smiling doctor who came to visit him in the hospital. Who checked him out. Who took him to a facility where he could 'heal.'

Only instead, Clint found himself in a worse situation still. Initially, they monitored the way he healed. Then they began to test him. His reflexes, his eyesight, his ability with a gun. He was taught things, like how to infiltrate a building, or bypass a security alarm. He was taught how to take apart, put together, and clean a gun. He was tested on his strength and his speed and his endurance, and most days fell into bed, scraped and bruised and exhausted.

There were a few escape attempts, of course. Clint had to try. But security there was tighter than it had ever been due to some 'incidents' the staff wouldn't name. He never made it further than the last checkpoint. Sometimes he was even praised for his ingenuity, noting that the training was going well.

But, near the end, that's when it was the worst. That's when they started the injections and the shock treatments. There were even a few surgeries. He lost weight, his eyesight briefly failed him, but when he finally lost his hearing, that's when he knew he wasn't any good to them anymore.

Fortunately, Clint had made friends in the facility where he was being held. His closest friend, Caleb, was a bit shy and awkward, but knew things. Like how to teach Clint to sign with his hands when his hearing failed. Together with a demonic-looking boy named Molly, the three began to talk of yet another escape attempt. Apparently Molly had managed it once before, not that he could remember. Before they could manage it, however, they happened to be rescued by X-Force, and taken to a school in upstate New York.