He could feel it. In every fiber of his body. The sudden off-ness of his body. He hated it. Hated every second of what was about to come to him. But the worst was always the warning feelings he got. He'd just wake up one morning and something wouldn't feel right. Not that anything was wrong, just felt weird. Then it would progress until finally it hit him. Clint Barton was getting sick.
It was still to early to tell what sickness would be plaguing him. Or even how long it would last. Hell, Clint couldn't even fully tell when it would start. For all he knew he could be eating dinner with the other Avengers and then barf up the whole meal. But the one thing Clint did know was that when this sickness hit, it would be hard and fast.
It was two days after Clint realized that he was getting sick that it hit. Thankfully he was alone at the time. His alarm had just gone off, letting him know it was time to head to the archery range. But he never even left the room (apartment) that Tony had given to him when he moved in. Hell, he almost didn't even make it to the bathroom before redecorating the tile floor.
It took about a minute or two for him to fully finish heaving everything out of his stomach. And once he did, he stood there for a few moments, staring at the mess he made, wondering if more was coming. His legs shook and it seemed like the rest of his body was frozen. Not a single muscle wanted to move. It didn't frighten him. Hell, this was a normal feeling after he vomits because of a normal sickness. If he vomited because of drugs, then he could recover in seconds. But normal sickness threw his system enough to pause. Another minute passed before...
"Agent Barton, do you need assistance?" JARVIS called through a speaker placed somewhere nearby. Clint jerked up at the noise but the movement was too fast and his head disagreed so badly that the decision to add more to the mess at his feet was finalized. JARVIS stayed silent as the AI listened to the archer vomiting. For times like this the AI was glad he wasn't human. It took less time for Clint to finish this round. JARVIS could only assume it was because the human stomach couldn't contain much more crap then what was already on the bathroom floor. Groaning, Clint backed away from the bathroom and dropped to the ground, just outside the door. He turned and faced into his room, rather then the mess behind him. This new angle allowed him to lean back against the wall.
"No... I'll be fine," Clint finally responded. His head was pounding, his throat was now sore, dry and nasty feeling, and worst of all, his stomach still claimed that something was inside that needed out. There was also a slight pain in his ears that had some ringing but nothing that he really focused on. Course the pain in his head was so much worse that Clint couldn't fully analyze the actual amount of pain from his ears. Leaning back, Clint found himself almost falling back onto the floor. He hadn't backed up far enough to be at the edge of the bed. Moaning, he raised an arm to his forehead and slowly flopped onto the carpeted floor.
"Are you sure? I'm reading a raised temperature of 100.2 and rising. Along with the mess in the bathroom," JARVIS intoned. Clint groaned as his stomach heaved at the mention of his earlier sickness. "Would it not be best to have Dr. Banner come check on you?"
"I can take care of myself," Clint declared as he cracked one blurry eye open to glare at the ceiling. When he had closed them, he couldn't remember. He just knew that he had to open one to glare at the AI that Tony built. Not that it mattered, JARVIS couldn't actually see the glare coming from the fevered body of the archer. But it made Clint feel slightly better.
"Shall I record what is happening for future reference?" JARVIS questioned after a minute of pure silence. Sighing deeply, Clint wondered how he should answer. He wanted to say no and leave his misery private but god forbid that the wasn't a normal easy sickness like the flu. Bruce could use the footage for a baseline or something.
"Sure," Clint mumbled just as the Avenger's Alarm rang through his room. His pounding head didn't take the noise too kindly and ached even harder as Clint tried curling into a ball to protect his head and ears. "Shut it off!"
"Agent Barton, Captain Rodgers is ordering everyone to meet at the hanger. Shall I tell him you can't make it?" JARVIS retorted after he turned off the alarm. Clint made an undistinguishable sound but rolling over onto his back once more. "I'm sorry Agent Barton but I did not hear your answer."
"I'm getting ready!" Clint snapped before slowly and seemingly painfully getting off the floor. As he stood, a wave of dizziness made him pause. Groaning once again, Clint waited for it to pass before moving toward his rather small and mostly empty closet. Grabbing for his uniform, he pulled it off the hanger and dropped it onto his bed. As he started pulling off his nightshirt (the T-shirt he had been wearing the day before), Clint realized it was soaked with sweat.
"Shall I send up a maid to clean your room while you are away?" JARVIS called as Clint stripped down before going in search of new boxers. The archer looked solemnly back to the bathroom as he found a pair in the nightstand by his bed. Frowning, he noted that he didn't want to deal with it now, nor would he want to deal with it when it dried and stunk up his whole room.
"Yeah, sure," he answered as he grabbed for his black pants. As he buttoned them up, he felt his stomach turn again. They felt almost too tight. Clint groaned. His kevlar top was going to be even tighter and he had to strap it down. It was about now that Clint wished he had agreed to the R&D departments' wish to fix his uniform. "This is gonna suck."
"Captain Rodgers is asking for you," JARVIS mentioned as Clint slipped his top on. Moaning at the tight feel, he looked down at the straps and figured they could wait till he was on the jet. Turning back to his closet, he grabbed for his weapons bag.
"Tell him I'm on the way," Clint said as he proceeded to leave his room and head toward the hanger. He got there in record time, not remembering most of the trek, and climbed aboard to see that he was the last one on. Sadly the pain in his ears were worse now and so when Tony spoke, Clint almost couldn't hear him.
"What took so long? Fixing your lovely hair, Merida?" Tony remarked, nearly completely in the Iron Man suit. In his left hand was the helmet. Clint gave a half-hearted shrug before sitting down in the one open seat next to Natasha. She gave him a confused glance, basically asking if he was fine. All he did was nod his head toward Tony and roll his eyes. Natasha took that as a sign that he was good to go. With a soft smile on his face, Clint leaned back and just about missed her nod an okay to Steve before the loading doors closed and the jet got ready to launch. It was times like this that he was glad Natasha understood him without words. His throat was hurting so much that he felt like he might not be able to speak normally.
"Ok. We have a group of AIM scientists trying to steal some weapons from the US military. Now, normally we wouldn't be called in but-" Steve began explaining till Tony cut him off. Clint groaned softly when the jet's take-off and climb made his ears throb and only a second later realized he shouldn't have because his throat protested the noise.
"My friend Rhodey mentioned that some of the tech is old Stark Industries items. So, I offered our help," Tony declared like all the rest of them really cared. Clint frowned, trying to figure out what the group was talking about, as Natasha sat up straighter in her seat. She knew about Rhodes. Even Clint knew about the only other man to have a working Iron Man like suit. It took a moment for the archer to realize that Tony mentioned Rhodes. So Clint now turned to wondering why the rest of the Avengers were even bothering to help if War Machine was there. He'd rather stay back at the tower, even if his room smelt right now.
"Doesn't he have the War Machine suit?" she inquired. Tony's proud smile faltered for a brief second before he nodded. He had forgotten that Natasha had seen Rhodes fly off in the suit especially built for him. Clint was stunned to realize that his ears could barely identify what Natasha was saying beside him. It certainly explained why he was having such a hard time knowing what was going on. So he began lip reading, praying that his head wouldn't hurt too badly. Thankfully, being a sniper had forced him to learn such a unique talent. "And that's not good enough to stop the AIM group?"
"Most of Rhodey's systems are still part of Hammer's tech. The War Machine isn't as powerful as the Iron Man suit."
"Okay, but that still doesn't explain why he, and apparently now you, need the rest of our help," Natasha countered making Tony feel a bit foolish. Clint smirked as he waited to hear the billionaire's excuse here. She had a point. If War Machine was already there, then really only Iron Man was needed. No one else needed to go. Especially not Bruce, who was sitting next to Steve with a curious expression as well.
"We are a team. Director Fury and our new handler, Agent Sitwell, thought it best if we all accompanied Stark in fighting AIM. I agreed," Steve responded for Tony. Natasha nodded her consent to that reason. She could see where Fury got off saying that the Avengers needed to look more like a cohesive group then the individuals they all used to be. "We have to look like we won't deal with problems alone. As a group, we can be a powerful force. Alone, we could seem... Spoiled."
"Um, that only fits for Tony," Clint commented, sounding normal, as he leaned forward. The flight wasn't doing good on his current state. He could almost feel the need to throw up again. Concentrating on everyone was making the need more pronounced. Especially his headache and now that he had spoken, his throat was really killing. Bruce leaned forward now as well, his attention riveted on Clint's palling appearance. The doctor could only hope that the archer was smart enough not to go on a mission sick. "None of the rest of us fight for our own goals."
"Hey!" Tony cried out in mock insult. Steve, Natasha and Bruce smirked. It was true, so none of them could argue against it.
"Avengers, we'll be at the battle in two minutes," the pilot called back in their moment of silence. Clint sighed as he began working as clipping his straps down on his suit. As he did so, Natasha grabbed his quiver out of his bag and prepped it for him. When he was ready to put it on, he gave her a small smile of thanks. She said nothing but when he added the extra weight to his back, she noted that he grimaced and almost grabbed his stomach.
"Are you okay?" she questioned. Clint gave her a cryptic smile before nodding and finished getting ready. Natasha frowned deeply but decided to trust that Clint knew his limits. Sadly she'd be mistaken.
"Everyone ready?" Steve asked as he hefted his shield up in preparation to drop into a heated battle. Bruce grimaced but nodded, he was already calling up a stronger anger to draw out the other guy in mid drop. Tony placed his remaining part of his suit on over his head and the others watched as the mechanics whirred to life and closed it around the man's head. As Steve glanced over to Natasha and Clint, the archer felt a slight wave of dizziness wash over him. Amazingly he was able to clear it and nod his head to the Captain before anyone noticed he wasn't feeling 100%. Steve nodded back and headed toward the rear of the Quinjet. Tony was right behind him, ready to fly the second the doors opened. Bruce and Natasha stood side by side, watching the others, also waiting to go. But Clint, still hadn't stood up to get ready. He was way too dizzy and sadly, his stomach was beginning to rebel again. Thankfully the doors opened and the others jumped out just as Clint let loose.
"Shit," he cursed when it was over. Not only had it made his throat worse, but his head was throbbing and his ears felt like they were about to explode. A second later, someone else cursed. The archer looked up, surprised. Staring at him was the pilot. Groaning, Clint stood and moved to follow the rest of the team.
"You sure you want to go fight?" the pilot asked, loudly enough that Clint could basically understand what he said. Clint scoffed and looked back at the now concerned man.
"Why not?" he responded before jumping off the plane, the pilot's protest getting lost in the wind. In mid drop, the archer surveyed the scene. Tony and Rhodes, in the War Machine suit, were on opposite ends of the battle. Steve was alone in the middle, tossing his shield only seconds after getting it back. Natasha was dashing around, helping groups of American soldiers in need. It surprisingly took a while to find the big green Hulk, but when Clint did, he was pleased to see the Hulk attacking only those in yellow outfits.
Finally focusing on where he was going to land, Clint prepared for the sudden stop. Sadly, no matter how much he prepared, he couldn't have expected his knees giving out on him and so he pretty much face-planted onto the ground. And to make matters worse, some AIM guys noticed and Tony noticed. While the AIM guys laughed at Clint as he got to his feet, Tony's voice came through his comm.
"What's wrong Katniss? Did someone push you?" Tony mocked and for half a beat, Clint was glad his ears seemed to clear enough to hear it fine. Clint growled as he lifted his bow and knocked enough arrows to hit all the guys around him. Thankfully the enemy was still too busy laughing at him to notice. But, they did stop at the blossoming pain in their chests before they dropped. Grinning, Clint spotted the hanger bay near-by. Perfect view of the battlefield.
"Can I get a lift?" Clint questioned to Tony but was surprised when War Machine flew over and hovered just in front of him. Clint got closer as Rhodes lifted his helmet to talk.
"Where to?" Rhodes asked as he held his hand out to Clint. As the archer grasped it, Rhodes pulled him close.
"The hanger," Clint muttered just as War Machine lifted into the air. Praying that the motion wouldn't bother his stomach, Clint was shocked to notice that Rhodes seemed more in tune with his passenger then Tony. Where Tony would just rocket off so fast that you might lose your breath, Rhodes took it nice and easy.
The landing was just as smooth as the take-off and Rhodes didn't simply drop the archer like Tony might have done. Nope, instead Rhodes completely landed before releasing Clint's body from his hold and stepped back, checking to make sure his passenger was steady. Clint didn't even stumble, and so with a nod, Rhodes took back off into the fray and Clint took a moment to steady his still upset stomach.
"Ah, Rhodey, Barton can handle more then that?" Tony joked on his way flying past. Clint rolled his eyes before setting himself up with a perfect view of the battle and started to load an arrow.
"Apparently, you've never been passenger to your rides. The outside pressure of take off can be rather harsh," Rhodes automatically reported. Clint and Tony snorted as the archer released an arrow that struck an AIM officer going towards a different hanger near-by. It was at this time that Clint began to realize that focusing on the battle helped him forget that he was ill.
"Colonel Rhodes, which building are they mainly going for?" Steve called over the comms as Clint began to get into a steady rhythm of shooting his arrows at people. It didn't take long after settling into his perch for Clint to realize that everyone was working on getting in or protecting every other hanger.
"Actually..." Rhodes began but paused for a moment. Clint quickly glanced toward the grayish silver suit to see the man attacking a small enforcement of AIM guys heading into a small hanger diagonal to Clint's current position. Once Rhodes was done, he spoke again. "The hanger they want is the one where Hawkeye is positioned but, we want to leave it alone because they seem more interested in the others."
"Agreed. Barton, you will be the main protection on that hanger," Steve announced. Clint hummed into his comm as he shot two guys trying to sneak up on Steve's back. As the captain turned around, he spotted the falling bodies and nodded toward Clint. The archer smiled just before his stomach revolted and Clint had to spin away from the edge to try and throw up whatever new item had appeared.
It took another two minutes to finish dry heaving and calming his system enough to turn back to the fight. As he began shooting again, Clint suddenly noticed that his head was starting to spin and the ringing in his ears was worse. Shaking it in an effort to clear the dizziness, Clint tried to focus on his targets. He got off three more shots before his vision started to gray out. Backing away from the edge, Clint fell onto his butt and then back before promptly passing out.
So, what does everyone think? I hope you all enjoy it! I know I've had fun writing it. ^_^