Hawkeye MAX/Issue One

The first issue of Hawkeye MAX.

Transcript (unfinished)
A bird sits on top of a trash can in an alleyway. It looks around for a bit before flying off as a boy is tossed into the trashcan. The boy gets up but is then grabbed and tossed into a brick wall by a much larger boy.


 * Boy in Coat: Give it back, Barton!
 * Clint: I didn't take it!
 * Boy in Coat: Bullshit!

The boy kicks Clint in the gut. Clint falls to his side and the boy keeps kicking him. A boy, not much older than Clint, grabs the boy in the coat.


 * Red-Haired Boy: He said he didn't take your wallet! Get off him!
 * Boy in Coat: You believe that!?
 * Red-Haired Boy: He's my brother, I know him! If he took it, he would've admitted it by now!
 * Boy in Coat: Well, your brother's lying through his teeth!
 * Clint: I'm... not lying. I don't know where your stupid wallet is!

The boy in the coat grabs Clint.


 * Boy in Coat: Everyone here knows you're a thief, Barton!
 * Clint: ...Yeah... You know what? Yeah! I am a thief! But even I wouldn't take your wallet cause your poor as hell family isn't worth stealing from!

The boy tosses Clint to the ground and starts stepping on him. Clint curls up in a ball to protect himself.


 * Red-Haired Boy: I said...

Clint's brother tackles the boy in the coat.


 * Red-Haired Boy: Get the fuck off him!

Clint's brother pins the boy to the ground and punches him repeatedly. Clint's brother then turns to him.


 * Red-Haired Boy: Clint! Get out of here!
 * Clint: I can't leave you here, Barney! His friends're--
 * Barney: I don't care about his friends, I'll be fine! Now get out!

The boy grabs Barney but Barney continues punching him, some blood now on his fist. Clint, now terrified, runs away. Clint runs all the way to a billboard, which he sits on top of. He sits in silence for a bit before reaching into his pocket and pulling out a wallet, which he looks through.


 * Clint: Nothing. Guess I was right. I really shouldn't have bothered stealing from his poor ass family...

Clint sighs and heads back home, still terrified. He enters the house and sees his dad sitting in the dark while watching TV, surrounded by empty beer cans. Clint slowly walks into the house, trying to not be seen. His dad turns on a lamp and turns to Clint. The two sit in silence for a bit before his dad looks away and opens another beer can.


 * Clint's Dad: ...Did you at least win?
 * Clint: What?
 * Clint's Dad: You walked into my house, beat to shit and covered in blood. How much of that blood is yours...?
 * Clint: All... all of it...?

His dad goes quiet again and drinks from his can.


 * Clint: ...Dad, I--
 * Clint's Dad: Shut up.
 * Clint: But dad, it's not what you think, it--
 * Clint's Dad: I think that you got into a fight and got beat to shit for your troubles. How right am I?
 * Clint: D-dad, you've gotta--

Clint's dad pulls the stolen wallet out of Clint's back pocket. He looks inside and then turns back to Clint.


 * Clint's Dad: ...Whose wallet is this...?
 * Clint: ...M... mine... mom bought me it...
 * Clint's Dad: Oh, really? Is that right?
 * Clint: Yeah...
 * Clint's Dad: Cause she didn't say anything about it and she uses my bank account to buy stuff. That means either your mother stole my money or you're lying. So I suggest you pick carefully what hill you're about to die on...
 * Clint: Fine. I stole it.
 * Clint's Dad: So you're a fucking thief.
 * Clint: It's not like that!
 * Clint's Dad: Then how is it?!
 * Clint: You're the reason I'm stealing, anyway!
 * Clint's Dad: The fuck's that supposed to me, you little shit!?
 * Clint: If you didn't blow all our money on beer we wouldn't be living a shit life!

Clint's dad slaps him so hard Clint falls, though he manages to get back up fast. Clint then wipes his face and looks at his hand, revealing his nose is now bleeding. He looks at his father and the two stare at each other.


 * Clint: ...Is mom home?
 * Clint's Dad: She's at the shop.
 * Clint: Okay...
 * Clint's Dad: ...Where's Barney?
 * Clint: Th... the guy whose wallet I stole beat the crap out of me so Barney beat him up and told me to run.
 * Clint's Dad: Good job on telling the truth for once in your life... at least you can do one thing right.

Clint stands still for a bit and then walks out into the backyard. Out there is a home-made bow and a couple of home-made arrows. Clint picks up the bow and readies an arrow, firing it at a tree with a target carved into it. He completely misses the target. He fires and misses again. He readies the final arrow.


 * Clint's Dad: Still doing that?

Clint turns and sees his dad standing at the doorframe.


 * Clint: It helps me blow off steam.
 * Clint's Dad: What's the point of shooting arrows if you never hit the target?

Clint ignores his dad and fires the last arrow. He misses again and pulls all the arrows out of the tree. His dad drinks from his beer can while watching him. Clint readies an arrow.


 * Clint's Dad: Goddamn it, Clint, if you're gonna try out archery you might as well do it right.

Clint's dad kneels down behind him and grabs Clint's arms, making him aim his bow properly.


 * Clint's Dad: Focus on keeping both of your hands as steady as possible.

Clint squints his eyes and lets the arrow go. It fires off and finally hits the target. Clint throws his fists in the air in celebration.


 * Clint: Yes!

Clint's dad smacks him in the back of the head.


 * Clint: Agh! What the hell!?
 * Clint's Dad: You didn't bullseye.
 * Clint: What?
 * Clint's Dad: The whole point of archery isn't to hit the target, it's to bullseye. Focus on trying to hit a bullseye. If you want to do something, you have to do it perfectly. So again!

Clint fires and misses.


 * Clint's Dad: Again!

He misses


 * Clint's Dad: Again!

He fires. It suddenly cuts ahead several years in the future. Clint, now a man, is still practicing archery but is now hitting a bullseye on every single one of his shots. Next to him is another, older archer in sunglasses.


 * Archer in Sunglasses: Damn, even after all this time it's still crazy how you keep hittin' those targets, boy!
 * Clint: Thanks. You're pretty good too, Buck.
 * Buck: How the hell'd ya get so good?
 * Clint: My dad. Every time I'd miss the bullseye, he'd smack me in the back of the head.
 * Buck: Haha! Someone who'd smack you one? Sounds like a man after my own heart!
 * Clint: Ha, ha, ha, really funny... you know, Buck? He never really felt like a father to me.
 * Buck: How's that?
 * Clint: I dunno. He wasn't a bad guy... No, never mind, he was definitely was, but he... I don't know, man...
 * Buck: We're friends here, y'all can tell me whatever you want ta.
 * Clint: Well, he was a prick, first of all.
 * Buck: True that.
 * Clint: Secondly... he treated me like a step son.
 * Buck: How's that, now...?
 * Clint: Okay, this is the weirdest shit out of context but, even though he was my biological dad, obviously, it felt like I was only my mom 's son. He and I didn't have a lot in common outside of archery and it felt like he was, you know, the new step-dad trying to bond with his step-son with the one thing they both liked. Does that make any sense at all?
 * Buck: To me? Nah. I didn't got no family growin' up. Bounced 'round from place to place. City raised me more than anythin', you feel?
 * Clint: Well, it doesn't really matter, I guess. You and the guys at the circus are more of a family than he ever was, anyway.
 * Buck: Awww, y'all're melting my heart. Well, me and you're clearly the li'l bros of the family, so who's the papa?
 * ???: Is that a real question?

A man in a purple suit wraps his arms around Clint and Buck.


 * Man in Purple: Clearly, it's I! I'm the one who keeps you two in-check, no?
 * Buck: You kiddin' me, Jacques? Whenever we all're in danger, it's your fault and we're tryin' ta cover your punk ass!
 * Clint: Yeah, if anything you're the little brother everyone else has to take care of.
 * Jacques: Oh, Monsieur Barton, you wound me so! If you and I were not friends, I think I'd be holding a grudge for that comment! But we are friends, so you are safe. For now.