A glimpse of Hawkeye at Seagate Prison is provided in Thunderbolts #52. Other inmates taunt him and yell comments as he walks through its halls. This is the same prison that Abe Jenkins went to when he agreed to turn himself in and was met with much the same reception as other villains wanted to get back at him.
Hawkeye's arrest wasn't public knowledge so he wonders who would know and come see him. It turns out to be Dum Dum Dugan, an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D on very unofficial business.
This situation does seem a bit similar to Abe's situation when he had a deal with the CSA, but with S.H.I.E.L.D this time. I don't think that whole scenario will repeat itself over again only with Hawkeye this time. G.W. Bridge registered an objection to the deal the CSA was making with Abe in the past so they probably wouldn't be in favour of making one with Hawkeye even though there is the difference that Hawkeye was an Avenger. If they did make a deal it would have to be significantly different, plus Dugan says he's on unofficial business.
Dugan could just be at the prison to ask Hawkeye about a few things. Maybe about when he was leading the Thunderbolts, or other stuff about the Mt. Charteris base. Hawkeye is in a prison that holds common super villains so even Dugan checking in on Hawkeye to see how he's doing and getting him moved to a better prison is a possibility. Dugan definitely has something to say but very like evidence has been presented at this time.
Clint continues to get taunted by inmates and they look for opportunities to pick on him or even kill him. He knows he will never survive his life sentence so when Mentallo makes him an offer he eventually accepts it. Mentallo talks to him mentally since his body can't move and is stuck in a tube in the same prison. Clint is supposed to help Mentallo escape from Seagate prison and in return he will prevent the inmates in the prison from killing him.
Mentallo made Clint's transfer to another prison come up early using his telepathic powers. To give him the greatest chance to escape and complete the deal, Mentallo also set him to transfer with three other inmates. The other three inmates making the transfer are Sam Smithers (Plant Man), Murray Singleton (Headlok), and Quincy McIver (Cottonmouth). Soon Hawkeye will have to put his plan into action whatever that may be. It appears that he will have a boat for transport, so there will only be a limited amount of guards when he plans to escape. How will he rescue Mentallo from Seagate? Use the boat and retrieve something and with the inmates break him out of prison or are the inmates only for Clint's escape. How does Dugan fit into this? Maybe Clint is doing this for S.H.I.E.L.D., but Dugan was on unofficial business, and this doesn't seem to be anything bad that they have to stay unofficial. Does Dugan know about Mentallo's plans and Clint will eventually double cross Mentallo? If Clint goes through with this and isn't in on some other deal then he will be more of an outlaw.
Graviton creating an earthquake while fighting the Redeemers later causes the transport van carrying Hawkeye and the three other criminals to roll off the side of the road. The driver dead and the guard's unconscious, they all have an unexpected opportunity of freedom but they have to stay within a certain distance of each other or their security manacles will render them unconscious. The manacles also render a shock if any special powers or skills are used. It is then that Mentallo is revealed to be inside the body of Headlok. Mentallo wanted Hawkeye's help to escape but he never meant that it was his body. Mentallo's body is still within Seagate prison.
The chain gang leaves the area of the transport van for freedom. They will have to find some normal clothes, and remove their manacles some how so they won't be able to be tracked by them. Mentallo also reveals that they are all going to work together so they can get 'the greatest weapon on earth' that was in Justin Hammer's possession. At think point Hawkeye thinks back to his meeting with Dum Dum Dugan.
Hawkeye's flash back seems to indicate that Dum Dum knew something was going on, like he knew of what Mentallo was up too. So Hawkeye can unofficially track Mentallo and perhaps stop him when they get to the 'greatest weapon on earth'. It's also seems possible that maybe Hawkeye was put in Seagate for a reason so he could follow Mentallo, and follow up on suspicions. Even though Hawkeye agreed to go to prison, he could have been put in a better one, and now he's helped out S.H.I.E.L.D. although unofficially. Since this is unofficial business it looks like Hawkeye will an outlaw for a while at least. Law enforcement authortities probably won't know what he is really doing. So he's an escaped convict on the run, which looks like Hawkeye will be making some more interesting moral choices.
Later, Plant man has been able to use his powers in a non-violent way to get around the blocking power of the shackles. Cottonmouth shows a newspaper about the Thunderbolts battle with Graviton and since the authorities are no longer tied up with that situation they can concentrate on finding them. While on the road a Guardsman from Seagate Penitentiary lands in front of their car. Plant Man suggests a plan and it is left up to Hawkeye to decide what to do. To stop a Guardsman coming from Seagate prison from apprehending them, Plant Man uses the minimal amount of power available to him that his manacles will allow. The mould spores end up killing the Guardsman because he has asthma. Clint Barton isn't impressed but the chain gang has to move on.
The chain gang then use the Guardsman's armor to block out the signals that register from their manacles.This causes Songbird to go track the chain gang down at the request of S.H.I.E.L.D. Hawkeye being sent to a hard place like Seagate prison was a set-up so Hawkeye could uncover a plan some super-villains were going to do and now Shield has become concerned since things haven't gone the way they were supposed too.
Everything comes to a conclusion in Vancouver at Crecy Enterprises where the chain gang arrives and is later attacked by Cyclone. Songbird helps out and Cyclone escapes while Cottonmouth and Mentallo in the body of Headlok are left for S.H.I.E.L.D. Hawkeye and Songbird recover Justin Hammer's last will and testament that was proclaimed the 'greatest weapon on earth' earlier. Metallo picked the villains that were with Hawkeye for a reason but Songbird and Hawkeye don't know why he choose Plant-man so with Justin Hammer's Last will and testament and Plant-man they set out on another adventure.
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