Synopsis / Summary / Plot
This issue reverts to the layout of #1-2 of having the present-day and flashback tales having pages of their own, arranged in bunches. Plus a surprise at the end with having some pages set in the future. But as ever I'll describe the sections in chronological order.
Flashback:-
Last issue Swordsman took his female assistant and young Barney Barton away from the carnival to commit a crime, leaving younger Clint Barton and the carnival's dog behind. The initial section is itself split into 2 parallel descriptions, of the crime and what Clint did while they were away. Barney and the supple female aerialist sneak into a closed jewelery store via a small open window and let Swordsman in, although we don't actually see him inside. What we do see is the female scooping items into a bag while Barney keeps watch. Meanwhile Clint and the dog sneak into Swordsman's trailer. Clint tries on his mask and waves his sword about. But then the dog uncovers a trunk which Clint opens to find a gun, a camera and some candid photos of the assistant.
Just then the others return. Barney and the girl find Clint in the trailer. Clint runs off but Barney catches up with him. Clint says they should leave and go back to their foster-father. Barney thinks they're on to a good thing here, and Clint hits him for calling him a stupid little kid. The girl joins them and Clint tells her he's seen the pictures and asks why she stays with Jacques. She tells him he's too young to understand. Then Barney hits *him* but Jacques DuQuesne splits them up. Clint accuses him of being a thief and worse. Jacques agrees but says that unlike the boys' dad and foster-dad he won't hit him, and he'll show him how to survive in the real world.
The carnival is packed up and ready to move. Barney and the girl have got in a truck with Jacques. Clint is refusing to go, and the dog is staying with him. But at the last minute they join the others in the truck.
Present day:-
At the end of last issue the 3 Project Communion kids unleashed their mental power against the Hydra Agents who came to take them back from the Hawkeye duo (Clint Barton and Kate Bishop) in Clint's apartment. Now we see that they have torn them apart on the roof of the brownstone apartment block. Kate tries to reassure the kids that they didn't do a bad thing. But Clint says he was right before (#3) when he said that they shouldn't take them from SHIELD custody because they were too dangerous. Kate accuses him of trying to duck responsibility as usual. Clint replies that he warned her not to get too attached to them, and now she's acting like a stupid little kid. So she punches him in the jaw. She immediately regrets it but the kids now see Clint as an enemy and advance menacingly. Lucky the Pizza Dog barks at them. But Kate talks them down and persuades them to stop killing, and tells Clint everything's OK now.
But it isn't because more helicopters arrive this time to deliver SHIELD troops, and Clint says they'll never stop. Kate still insists they can't let SHIELD or Hydra have them. She suggests (again) that they should take them to the Avengers, or maybe the Fantastic Four. But Clint says they're not just kids, they're weapons. So Kate reluctantly lets SHIELD take them away in their containment tubes.
Afterwards Clint says they made the hard right decision. Kate angrily responds that he *never* makes the hard decisions he just lets things happen. And then she storms off, dissolving the partnership.
The future:-
Clint's still in the same apartment but much older. He has a new dog who's also gotten old. And Clint can't persuade *this* dog to eat pizza. His voiceover is full of regrets. Then there's a knock at the door and it's grown-up Kate here to tell him they made a big mistake giving the kids to SHIELD, and they have to get them back.