Clint glanced over when he heard the elevator doors open, and blinked when he saw Alexis.

"You look like something happened," he said, pausing his video game and getting up from his perch on the back of the couch.

"AIM," Alexis said, pausing long enough to shed her jacket. "Here, you'll need to keep hold of this for tonight, I don't trust myself with it." She unclipped her gun and handed it over to Clint, her expression carefully blank.

Clint's eyebrows shot up, but he checked the safety on the weapon and then set it and her jacket in a safe spot.

"What happened?" he asked, catching up to her again. "Wait, don't answer that yet, you look like you need something else, first." Gesturing for her to follow, he led her to Stark's newly-stocked liquor cabinet.

Alexis looked at the contents for a moment before she picked out a bottle of vodka. "Coulson told me I may have to confiscate some of this," she said, taking the bottle back over to the couch and curling up there.

"Which means some shit went down and he'll ignore it if you spend tonight completely smashed," Clint translated. He checked to make sure there was at least one more bottle of vodka (because Natasha got a bit titchy if someone drank it all) and then went to sit on the arm of the couch. "So what happened?"

"Like I said. AIM." Alexis poured them both a glass and downed hers. Clearly she was in a Mood.

"Yeah, Cap's all up in arms because SHIELD didn't call him about it," Clint said. "He likes to deal with AIM personally." He watched as she downed the glass of vodka, quickly analyzing her expression and mannerisms. "It got bad, I take it."

"They'd taken over a warehouse in our milk run area," Alexis said, looking at him evenly for a few moments. "I lost a junior agent." She had to look away as she admitted that.

Yeah, that would explain everything, just about. Clint nodded a bit.

"Yeah, I get it," he said. "It's rough, losing agents. Not something you ever want to deal with."

Alexis downed a shot, frowning a bit.

"I haven't lost an agent before this. And now I lose one to AIM on a freaking milk run." She looked briefly tempted to throw her glass across the room.

"It wasn't your fault," Clint said. "Trust me when I say you wouldn't be here if it was." He knew losing the first agent was always the hardest; even Coulson still got a bit torn up (in private) after a bad op like that.

"I know, but it doesn't make me feel any better," Alexis said with a frown. "I should have double-checked, I should have gotten there sooner. I should have told them to get the hell out of there as soon as they said something was off."

"The milk run is usually a SHIELD-sanctioned space," Clint pointed out. "God knows I've had to recon there a few times to double-check. Something went wrong if AIM was there and you can't control crazies like AIM. There was nothing else you could have done."

"I'm sure there was something else I could have done." Alexis sighed and shook her head. "And the poor kid is dead now."

"You're a field agent," Clint said. "Sometimes an op goes bad. It's always hard losing agents, sometimes it can't be stopped."

Alexis sighed and shook her head a bit. "It's different. I've had other agents die in the field, it does happen. It's different when they're your junior agents." She took another drink, because she needed it tonight.

Clint nodded.

"I've seen it happen, too," he said. Reaching over, he snagged the bottle and took a drink and handed it back. "You know they set me on some of the particularly promising baby agents, right? 'Learn how to handle difficult assets' and all."

"Difficult assets." Alexis snorted and poured him another drink. "You are a difficult asset. You and Stark together are a nightmare."

"They won't set us both on some poor kid, though," Clint mused. "Something about too many baby agents running off screaming. But yeah, they turn me loose on them, sometimes. There was once where it should have been routine, but something happened, the op when completely bad. I did what I could, Phil did what he could, but the kid panicked and got himself right into the line of fire."

Alexis winced at that. "That sucks," she said quietly. "But you did what you could. Sometimes even agents panic." She shrugged and settled in a little closer to him. "Although I bet Coulson has his name on a list somewhere."

"He does," Clint said. "He has all of the names." The meaning there was clear: Coulson had lost more than one agent before. "You did what you could today, too."

Alexis sighed but relaxed marginally. "I suppose if I don't believe you, you're just going to keep pestering me about it." But her lips quirked up in a half-smile.

"Probably," Clint said, grinning. "Is it working?"

"So far," Alexis admitted grudgingly. "You're such a pest, I hope you know this."

"So I'm told often and with a lot of feeling," Clint said, grinning more.