Jacques peeked around the corner of the small yellow house. It was surrounded by other tiny homes, but despite their size, they were actually quite pleasant. Definitely belonging to a middle class family, with all the lawn decor.

He had already pre-chosen this one though, on an earlier recon scouting trip. Jacques knew they would be out of the house at this time, ignoring the late hour it was and the clouds forming above the town. If you could call it a town; it was more of a group of mismatched colored houses on the outskirts.

Perfect for a bit of easy burglary.

The family inside the home, made up of three kids and two loving parents, had received a letter in the mail early that afternoon. It had said they were invited to one free meal at the local diner that had just celebrated their grand opening. A free meal!

They had already driven their blue mini van down the driveway and towards their destination, hungry for non-existent, supposedly free of charge food. The perfect ruse had proven useful to the Swordsman on several of his past outings.

He yawned and made his way to the house, trekking across the damp grass. The mud painting his trainers brown wouldn't be a problem, seeing as there wasn't a house for him to go back to and smear mud on any carpeted floors. That is, unless you actually counted the circus as a home, which Jacques did not-- at least, not anymore.

Jacques quickly checked a few different windows before finally striking gold. It was already unlocked, causing it to slide open easily. It required rather little effort to steal belongings of any old person. The more people, the more valuable the looting was.

There in the main living space was too big a television, a telephone, and lots of kids toys chucked carelessly around. But Jacques knew better than to be greedy and grab them all up for himself; he needed hard, cash money. Besides, it was far easier to make a getaway with somethin' that can fit in your pocket than a bigger object.

It also took longer for people to realize when cash was missing, seeing as they wouldn't normally check until they run low on the contents of their wallets.

Not soon after, the dark sky finally decided to let loose droplets of rain. Jacques liked the rain-- he fared better knowing that it would cover his tracks and obscure his victims vision. Something about it brought a sense of peacefulness. He smiled in spite of himself.

***

"You do realize that we can't feel the rain, right?" Steve said, feeling annoyed at Tony's complaining. He knew that the billionaire did it just to piss him off too, and Natasha wouldn't care less; she was even giving Tony ideas.

He shrugged one shoulder. "I dunno."

Clint was sitting huddled up in a tent-- which wasn't doing much to keep the precipitating rainfall away. A blanket was pulled up to chest, trying to keep warm. All he really needed, or wanted, was Barney.

But his brother was busy talking to Carson about who knows what. Clint had a bad feeling in his stomach, like something was wrong. Horribly wrong. Maybe joining the circus was a terrible idea after all, and it was all his fault they were here. At least, that's what Herald Barton had always said; everything was one of the kid's fault.

Wasn't the circus like a gang? Clint thought nervously. He had never run into any street gangs before, but he had overheard Mother warn Barney of them before he set out for school.

"There you are, buddy!" Barney exclaimed. He walked into the small tent and sat next to his kid brother.

"Wherever have you been?" Clint questioned, wondering what could have happened in the past hour. "Are we in trouble?"

Natasha snorted at how vulnerable her best friend sounded.

"What? N- no, we aren't in trouble," Barney replied, trying to sound casual about whatever he was keeping from Clint. But even Tony knew better by now after hanging around spies and super soldiers. "Carson just wanted a word, that's all, really..."

Clint didn't respond back, but instead snuggled into his brother's side to seek out warmth and comfort, just like he'd always done in the past. They stayed like that awhile, until a crack of thunder woke them, causing Barney to have to calm the younger Barton down.

Barney had a gut feeling, that everything would be okay in the circus. He murmured aloud to nobody in particular, "Help will always be given. Just have to ask for it..."

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