OH MY GOD! I have been away so long! I am sooooo sorry about that! But guess what! I have a completed story on my hands. YAY! ^_^

This is a Clint background story. I tried to mix in as much from comic universe, TV universe and MCU info as possible. But the ideas are basically my own. Course, I don't own any Marvel Characters. If I did, Clint would be the star of every movie. LOL.

Anyways, for those of you who read my previous stories. Baby Clint is doing great. He will be eleven months on Wednesday. Course he doesn't look it. According to his doctors, Baby Clint is the size of a two year old baby. He is crawling, standing with support and can say a few words like Dadda, Mamma, Babba, Elsa, and something similar to I'm done. And of course, every time I get on the computer to work, he wants my attention. So, I've gotten into handwriting as much as I can before typing it up on a day that my husband will willingly sit down and watch Baby Clint.

For those who don't care, here is the story!

Bruce groaned as consciousness slowly returned. His whole body ached and hurt. It was familiar. Too familiar. Almost like the pain after a Hulk transformation. 'I don't remember changing,' Bruce thought with a heavy heart. Whenever he changed without forethought, he usually always hurt someone or worse. It was why he was so glad that Tony made him try changing for the Manhattan battle. Hulk really proved himself during that fight. But why had he changed without forethought? Hulk had been very good about not coming out on his own. Thinking back, he remembered the Avengers being called for a mission. Something about inhuman creatures attacking downtown. S.H.I.E.L.D had been on scene before the Avengers arrived and so it was deemed that Hulk would not help and Bruce would be sidelined. A fact that the doctor hadn't minded. Especially seeing as Hulk still had a few issues with S.H.I.E.L.D employees that he didn't really know. 'So, why did I change?' Bruce wondered just before he flashbacked to why.

A building had exploded. The building had been overrun by the creatures and so S.H.I.E.L.D ordered its destruction before they tried to 'set up base' or something stupid. 'Hulk normally likes destruction. So, why would that make him come out?' Bruce was shocked when he heard a rumbled mental noise like someone growling 'Cupid.' His mind flashed to the call...

"Agent Harris! Don't take the shot! I'm still in the building and I can't get out yet!" Clint had screamed into the comms. There was a grunt of a reply and a whispering of 'you deserve this' from the other agent before the deafening explosion. Bruce could only miserably watch as the building fell with Clint somewhere in the rubble. A flash of something made Hulk roar forward, surprising Bruce into the back of his mind and quickly the vision cut to green.

"CLINT!" Bruce cried, jerking up into a sitting position. There was a startled cry from beside the doc but it was too dark to see what it was. Bruce snapped to attention and kicked out at whoever or whatever made the cry, fearing that it was an enemy. This time there was a loud and clear shout of pain. Bruce barely focused on it as he scampered to the other said of wherever he was. His hands scrapped against a rough surface that felt strangely like rock and when he hit a hard surface on his back, it felt like some sort of stone. Bruce focused on that, rather than his mind flashing to the few things that Natasha and Clint had taught him in self defense. He also needed to calm down. Hulk was already stirring.

"DAMNIT!" a familiar voice cursed. That made Hulk pause and grumble a familiar word. Bruce focused on repeating the swear over and over in his head to place the voice. But before he could, there was a slight sound of clothes shifting and grunts of pain. Bruce slowly tensed a little, not wanting to risk Hulk coming out against a friend. At least he wasn't alone in this situation, even if this was an enemy or random stranger. This would certainly be a new experience. Normally, he always ended up alone after Hulk surprised him. Trying to think of anything other than Hulk, Bruce focused on the other person. Unsure what else to do, Bruce gently kicked out, making the other person scream again. Bruce didn't think he kicked out all that hard. So, why had whoever screamed? That's when it hit him. He knew who the voice belonged too.

"Clint?" Bruce questioned. There was a moaning confirmation just before there was more shuffling of clothing, grunts and moans of pain, and then a loud snap. Light flooded the small space which made Bruce and the other occupant wince and look away from it. A small tap of something hitting the floor made Bruce look back. Shadows covered most of the other person's body but even that wasn't enough. "Oh my god." Bruce said as he noticed the small snap stick light laying on the floor. It was surrounded by red rocks that glistened in the light. Red that looked awfully like blood. Looking back to the other person, Bruce could only see shadows and darkened clothes. Still no indication as to what was wrong.

"I'm fine," came the painful response from the crunched up body. Bruce shifted closer. He had heard the hitch in the person's voice. Only one person that Bruce knew hitched their voice when they were lying. It was Clint's tell. Something Natasha had admitted to the team after a while. It was a few months after the duo had moved in, Tony accused the archer of trying to distance himself from them. She told them that Clint only gave away his tells to people he trusted. He can normally hide them but he uses them when he trusts someone but doesn't know how they'd react. After that, everyone in the group paid more attention to each other and slowly began to learn each other's tells.

"Clint," Bruce warned, shifting close enough to grab the light and hold it up. Clint shifted away from the light when the doctor got closer to him. A good indication that something was really wrong. A weight fell onto Bruce's chest as he wondered if whatever happened, happened because of Hulk. There was no way he could know without seeing the damage. And Bruce could only pray that his limited knowledge could help him fix Clint.

"Bruce..." Clint answered, showing that he was going to ignore the warning. Bruce inched forward again and again, Clint moved away with a dark hiss. There was a seconds pause as the doc wondered the best way to get to Clint. It took that long for Clint to become relaxed. In a surprisingly fast move, Bruce lunged across the expanse and roughly pulled the archer away from the wall before Clint could even defend himself. Clint's scream of pain echoed though the space for an extra minute or two. Bruce looked over his body and was stunned into silence.

Clint's left eye was swollen shut. His entire left side was bright, blistering red and mixed with burnt, blackened areas that looked crusted over and dangerous. The worst part was the archer's left leg. It was blistered, red, leaking pus and something looked wrong with the knee. Bruce's eyes glanced down and saw that it looked like Clint's left ankle was broken and his right foot was turned away. Shifting the light, Bruce caught sight of something white sticking out around a ton of blood and red. Bruce turned away, as if looking for something to help treat Clint, but the archer could tell the real reason.

"Bruce, I swear to you, Hulk didn't do this!"

"What... What happened?"

"The building I was on exploded. I couldn't get off. Hell, I was surrounded by those creatures, so I was partly grateful. But then some of the rubble began hitting me. Breaking things... Twisting even more. I was falling into the larger pieces when... I think Hulk caught me and pulled me out of the free fall," Clint muttered. Bruce frowned, flashing back to the explosion and then the green vision. Not once did he remember even seeing Clint fall. Shaking his fears away, Bruce glanced around and used the small light to cast an eerie glow on their surroundings. It was now that both he and Clint finally realized they were in some sort of cave but there was no sign of which way the entrance was. Which meant that either Hulk made an entrance that closed in on itself or they were just too far back from it.

"Where are we?" Bruce questioned as if Clint would know. Clint basically admitted to passing out a short time after falling. The archer shrugged before hissing in pain and wincing. It was this that made Bruce figure that Clint may actually be worse off that he looks. The pit in his stomach felt worse with each passing second. Already he knew that this was going to be a long recovery for Clint, but now he was beginning to wonder if the archer had enough time to last until the others found them.

"I kind of blacked out," Clint admitted as if Bruce hadn't already assumed such information. Bruce shifted to his knees and moved closer to Clint. The archer winced and went to move away but stilled when Bruce placed a hand on Clint's right knee. Clint looked up into Bruce's worried gaze as the doc moved closer still. Bruce knew that Clint didn't like doctors. Heck, Clint even admitted to him that he didn't like when he checked him over for injuries. But the archer did understand that it needed to be done. Bruce just wished there was someone more qualified around for right now. It wasn't until Bruce was right beside Clint that he spoke.

"Tell me what else hurts," Bruce demanded, sounding more like a doctor then a friend. Clint gave him a look that showed he was going to refuse to answer honestly. Bruce countered with a look that told the assassin he better answer fully and truthfully or it could get very dangerous. Sighing deeply, Clint gave Bruce one last look before turning away. This was a normal occurrence for the duo, and it felt good to Bruce to have something normal happen here. But knowing that Clint leaving out any little detail of pain could be a matter of life or death, Bruce just wanted this whole thing to be over.

"Head. Nose. Ribs. My back. But the worse is my ankles," Clint admitted having not been willing to look at himself to actually know what was more obvious. Bruce nodded before checking out all the complaints and mentally cataloging it all. He made the archer remove his outer Kevlar so he could easily get at the archer's undershirt and chest. 'Concussion. Sprain, surprisingly little blood. I think a break or two... Shit...' Bruce thought before shifting Clint's shirt. 'Wow. That is a big bruise,' Bruce mentally stated as he lightly touched it. Clint winced before letting out a high pitched whine. The doc backed away, looking more worried than before. "Well?"

"We... You need to get to a hospital," Bruce responded after a brief pause. Clint chuckled, hissing as his broken ribs jostled. Bruce frowned wishing that the archer hadn't chuckled. Who know what could be going on internally at this point.

"Yeah, don't think that's gonna happen. Didn't Hulk grab a med kit?" Clint joked. Bruce frowned, knowing that Clint wasn't getting the severity of this situation. But as he glanced back over the archer's damaged body, he figured that might just be for the best. It was actually about now that Bruce wished he didn't understand the severity of the whole thing. Maybe then he could calm down.

"You're lucky if Hulk didn't make things worse," Bruce said, mentally cursing his other half. He was shocked to hear a pitiful whine come back. Clint scoffed, seeming to blow all his injuries off like they were nothing. Bruce rolled his eyes, knowing what was going to happen.

"I'm fine. Don't even feel much other then the occasional pin prick," Clint pressed. Bruce's frown deepened as his worry increased. Leaning forward, Bruce examined Clint again. This time he cursed at what he saw. Clint's unfocused gaze looked back at him and when Bruce bought the light closer they didn't dilate to the same size. Bruce's guilt sky rocked as he realized quickly what was going on.

"You're going into shock," Bruce snapped, wishing there could be more he could do. Hell, wishing he could do anything at this point. Clint nodded, having already known the symptoms.

"Sounds real good right now. No pain," Clint mumbled, becoming slightly disoriented. Bruce cursed again. He had to keep Clint conscious and aware. But he had no idea what to talk about. Clint was an enigma. He kept himself set off from the others to the point that Bruce couldn't find a topic that could catch the archer's attention. Clint seemed to understand this and looked over at Bruce. "Did you know I was in the circus?"

Bruce jerked up in surprise. Clint was giving him a solid gaze. One that was much clearer than earlier. It took Bruce another minute for him to realize that Clint must have had been in this type of position before. Whether it was himself or someone he knew, he had to deal with shock and dying. Bruce almost cried out at that in misery but held back and shook his head no. Clint smirked before looking away.

"Yeah. The Amazing Hawkeye! World's Youngest and Greatest Archer!" Clint declared, waving his hands in the air like a ringmaster. Bruce smiled, wishing that Clint could have opened up more earlier than right now when it may be his last chance. Clint looked back at Bruce. "My brother... Did you know I had an older brother? Well... I do... Did... Barney. His name was Barney."

"Barney? Is that short for anything?" Bruce pressed when Clint got a glazed look on his face and turned away from him. Clint snapped to attention. Bruce shifted closer so he could pay attention to when Clint was shifting out due to shock or due to memories. Clint frowned for a moment before smiling at the doc.

"Bernard. Charles Bernard Barton," Clint answered. Bruce smiled. "Mom... Mom was the one who called him Barney all the time. It just stuck after..."

"After?"

"Dad killed her..." Bruce winced, almost wishing he never asked. But considering Clint looked more alert then before, the doc couldn't really complain. "Hee... I was also in the military. Lied 'bout my age and got in. Got kicked out and turned assassin for hire. That's how S.H.I.E.L.D became interested in me."

"During the military?"

"Assassin," Clint mentioned. Bruce frowned. S.H.I.E.L.D seems to really like hiring criminals. Clint looked back to Bruce. "Being in the military, I never actually got to kill anyone. Rose up the ranks, which was weird... But as an assassin... I killed more than I can remember."

Hope you liked it! I'll try and update on Friday but I can't promise anything. Till then, Review and Follow! BYE!