Power of the Mind
Summary: It was the Avenger's new mission to find Clint Barton and protect him from HYDRA. Rumor had it that Clint possessed one of the most powerful and manipulative minds in the world. A mind with such power could cause worldwide destruction. Sort of like "More Than One Shield!" MindPowers!Clint & Bucky Barnes! Little bit of Winterhawk
Power of the Mind
Why couldn't they just leave him alone? He didn't do anything to deserve this. Clint Barton's mind was unstably stable, in his opinion. Unstable due to how connected his abilities were with his emotions but stable because of how calm he remained in the deadliest of situations. Much like this situation right now where he was running away from HYDRA soldiers in the Amazon Jungle.
How he got there? He couldn't tell you. Last he thought, he was in Europe but he had been running away so long he couldn't even remember if he snuck on a boat to South America or if he hid himself on a plane and flew over. You could say Clint had been to basically every country in the world. He always regretted never being able to sight see or take selfies with the Seven Wonders of the World because he was always on the run.
You'd think that with the power of Clint's mind, he would be able to take out HYDRA but most of the things he could do with his mind worked better if he was touching their heads and it was clear that they weren't going to let him do that anytime soon. Plus, it was basically an army against Clint. Despite his powerful mind, he knew he wasn't going to be able to take them all on at once.
He wasn't completely dependent on his mind, either, if you were thinking he was. He was taught archery at a young age so he could defend himself against others with his trusty bow and arrows. Many people worldwide knew him more for his archery skills than his mind, calling him Hawkeye, the world's greatest marksman who never misses. The people that knew him as Hawkeye were the best, in Clint's opinion.
Clint managed to elude the soldiers in an abandoned hut almost completely covered by jungle plants. It was almost invisible to the eye unless you were Clint Barton. The hut and the plants were practically one, making anyone else without a keen eye to mistake it for jungle plants. Clint looked around, the hut was small but he was grateful to finally have somewhat of a roof over his head.
There was a blanket set on the ground, Clint assumed it was a bed. That was basically the only thing in the hut and Clint was even thankful for that. As he looked around, he noticed what looked like a wooden cylinder container on the ground. He picked it up and opened it, sighing in relief when he found water in it. He knew he should have boiled the water to make sure it as fresh but Clint didn't care. He had a safe haven and water and that was all he needed right now.
At the Avenger's Tower….
"Who the hell is Clint Barton?"
"Clint Barton, Mr. Stark," Fury began firmly, "is the newest mission for the Avengers. Barton's mind exceeds yours and Banner's combined. He's smart but that's not why we want him. His mind is manipulative and a weapon in the wrong hands. HYDRA has been chasing him all over the world for his mind but they haven't been able to catch him. He was last seen in the Amazon Jungle. Go find him and bring him here. We'll keep him safe."
With that, Fury turned and left the tower. Tony turned to everyone and cocked an eyebrow as if to say, you heard the pirate, let's go to the Amazon Jungle. Everyone nodded and went to getting ready for their departure. Once everyone was ready, they boarded the quinjet and took off to the Amazon Jungle. How they would find one guy in a massive jungle, they didn't know.
When they reached the jungle, they all couldn't help but start sweating, especially Tony in his Iron Man suit. They weren't used to this kind of intense heat and dampness. Bruce and Thor stayed aboard the quinjet in case they needed to call them in for backup. They searched for hours but couldn't find him. Each time they didn't find Clint within a certain amount of miles, they would fly to another area and search all over again.
"This is pointless," Tony groaned, "how are we supposed to find this one guy in the Amazon Jungle without any leads? You know, I think Fury sent us out here because he hates us. There probably is no 'Clint Barton' and he just sent us out here to sweat our asses off because he's the kind of dick to do something like that. And-"
"Tony, come over here!"
"Can't you see I'm ranting, Romanoff?"
"Can't you see I have a lead here?"
"…very well. What do you need?"
She pointed to the hut Clint was in and stated, "Check to see if anyone's in there." Tony looked at all the plants and then looked back to her before asking, "What are you talking about? Can't you see that all of that is just some overgrown Amazon plant?" She grit her teeth before grabbing his shoulders and holding him where she wanted him to look, "Enlighten me, Stark."
He wasn't going to mess with her when she was like this. Nope, he was going to do what she said no matter how stupid it sounded right now. He sighed and scanned the mass and gasped in surprise when he actually detected someone inside it. He looked over at the assassin, she had a smug look on her face and Tony wanted nothing more than to smack it right off of her.
Steve took the lead as he approached the mass. He pressed on where the door was and when it opened, an arrow shot out and probably would have killed him if he didn't put up his shield in time to deflect it. He poked his head over his shield ever so slightly to see where the arrow had come from, seeing the man they were supposed to be protecting: Clint Barton. Steve spoke firmly, "I'm Captain America, leader of the Avengers. We're here to escort you to SHIELD."
"Captain America? The Avengers? What are you guys? Superheroes or something?"
"Exactly. These are my teammates, Iron Man and Black Widow."
"Never heard of you guys."
That got Tony's attention. He stepped in front of Steve and got an arrow shot onto his chest. Tony looked at the arrow, it was just stuck to him. Tony laughed before saying, "Do you live under a rock? Wait, don't answer that because you basically do right now. You have to have heard of us." Clint rolled his eyes as he replied sarcastically, "Yeah, while I'm trying to avoid HYDRA why don't I just pull a TV out of my ass and get updated."
"And, move one step closer and that little arrow you laughed at will blow you to pieces."
Steve piped up again, "If you blow him up you'll be just opening yourself up to get captured by HYDRA." Clint's eyes glowed blue and the next thing they knew, an arrow was in his hand from literally nowhere and aimed at Steve. Clint glared as he countered, "Who's to say you're not HYDRA right now pretending to be some band of misfit superheroes? Why should I trust you?"
Natasha stepped through both of them and hissed, "Because we haven't tried to sedate you yet. You know HYDRA soldiers would sedate you in a heartbeat and take you back. We haven't tried to inflict any sort of damage to you." He aimed the arrow at her before saying, "If you're really not HYDRA then one of you won't mind coming a little closer to me."
Steve gave his shield to Natasha to hold before walking in front of Clint. With a glow of blue eyes, the bow and arrow were gone. Clint looked at Steve suspiciously before putting his hands to Steve's temples and closing his eyes. When Clint opened his eyes, they instantly went wide as he saw all of Steve's memories. He smiled as he went through the more recent ones, the one when Fury was talking to them.
Clint took his hands off of Steve, who stumbled back a few steps after that. Clint looked at them before walking over to Tony and pulling the arrow off. Tony's eyes widened, it was just a toy arrow? Clint walked past them and in the direction of where the quinjet was landed. He yelled over his shoulder, "Are you going to come introduce me to the other guy on your jet or are you just going to stand there?" They all looked at each other.
"What just happened?"
At the Avenger's Tower….
The ride back home was awkward. Clint refused to say anything, smiling on the inside watching Steve try to wrap his head around what happened. When they got to the tower, Clint was guided to the living room, where he sat down in a recliner by himself to avoid contact with the others. He knew he could trust them but he didn't know who they were past their codenames.
The rest of the team sat down near him, trying not to openly stare at him. Clint rolled his eyes before proposing, "Look, I don't know any of you. None of you know me. I don't fully trust you. You all don't fully trust me so ow about this, you tell me about all of you and I'll answer whatever questions you have for me. Sound good?" Everyone nodded in agreement, sounded fair.
Steve spoke up first, "I'm Steve Rogers but I'm more known as Captain America. I wasn't always this strong, tall soldier. I used to be scrawny and I had so many things wrong with me but I wanted to be a soldier in World War II, you know, beat up some Nazis and help my country. I wasn't good like the other guys, so I got this serum put into me to make me into a super soldier. Scientists made me Captain America."
"I lost my best friend during that war. I crashed a plane and got frozen in the ice. I was frozen for decades until they found me and thawed me out. When I woke up, the year was 2012 so I had to adjust to everything. Eventually, Nick Fury found me and here I am. Leader of the Avengers. Alright, enough about me. Stark, you go."
Tony rolled his shoulders as if he was warming up before saying, "Tony Stark, genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist, but widely known for being Iron Man. I used to create weapons. I was in Afghanistan when I was taken and forced to create weapons for some asshole but they didn't count on me making a prototype Iron Man suit and escaping. When I got back, I figured why not make an even better suit? So I did and here I am."
Clint knew Tony kept it short and simple, not wanting to venture too deep into his past and Clint could respect that. Bruce fidgeted awkwardly as he spoke, "Dr. Bruce Banner but most people know me for the other guy, the Hulk. Due to gamma radiation, I have this… green monster inside me that comes out when I get angry or lose control… I've managed to keep him under control but I let him out when the Avengers need him."
Talking about this Hulk was probably a tough topic for him so Clint let it go. Thor smiled as he exclaimed loudly, "I am Thor! God of thunder! I am of Asgard but Earth is mine to protect, especially after the damage caused to Manhattan by my brother, Loki." Clint cocked an eyebrow, a god? Really? Well, it didn't seem impossible and this guy seemed honest enough.
"And what about you?"
The redhead eyed him carefully as she answered emotionlessly, "Agent Natasha Romanoff, codename: Black Widow. SHIELD agent and master assassin. I am genetically modified to live longer." He eyed her just as carefully as she eyed him and stated, "Your face looks emotionless but your eyes are scared. You can't fool me, Natasha." Her eyes widened but she said nothing.
"Now, it's your turn." Tony grinned.
"Ask away."
"What exactly can you do? What's so great about your mind?"
"What? You want me to describe everything I can do?"
Tony cocked an eyebrow and Clint shook his head with a smile. He looked at each of them as he explained, "Alright, I did say you could ask anything so let's just start with what I did to you, Steve. What I did to you is called memory manipulation. Memory manipulation allows me to view other people's memories. I can even modify, suppress, restore, fabricate, and erase them. I can use memory manipulation to replay their memories or erase them to cause amnesia."
Steve's eyes softened, it was nice knowing Clint's first intentions weren't to hurt him or his memories but to look through them to see if he was telling the truth about them coming to protect him. Clint looked in Steve's direction as he stated, "I wasn't sure about you guys when you came for me so I used memory manipulation to check through Steve's memories to see your true intentions. I saw you all talking to, who I assume his Fury, about protecting me."
Taking a deep breath, Clint carried on, "Since I'm on the topic of manipulation, I use dream manipulation to create or enter other people's dreams. I can observe dreams or influence them, modify them or even suppress them if I want to. I can even create nightmares but watching people suffer through a nightmare I created isn't always my favorite thing to watch. Bear with me, there are two more types of manipulation I need to cover."
Everyone looked utterly fascinated when Clint told them about his other manipulations, "Mental manipulation allows me to control the thoughts and mindsets of people. I can control their upper brain functions and cause unconsciousness. I can make people suppress their memories or negate use of their abilities or make minds agree or break down mental barriers… I can even bestow mental disorders but I don't like to do that to people."
"The last one is empathic manipulation. I can control the emotions of others."
"Are you doing that right now to make us like you?"
"Don't have to manipulate you like that to make you like me." He winked back at Tony.
"…I like this guy. Can we keep him?"
Clint chuckled before continuing, "You already saw me use mindscape transportation when you found me. I can trap things in my mind and release them or collect them in a dimension within my brain. I can even trap people in their minds. Alright, my favorite has got to be neurocognitive deficit because it's just so simple and I don't need to touch people for it to work easier. I can shut down someone's brain or just render them unconscious."
"Easy one here," Clint began, "fear inducement is literally what it sounds like. I can cause fear in others, you know, make them see you as a monster. Let's see, let's see… ah! Psionic equilibrium distortion is where I can give someone vertigo, like causing confusion and making them disoriented or give them nausea. Sometimes, if I really try, I can have them lose consciousness."
"What about brainwashing? Can you do that?"
Clint looked over at Bruce as he answered, "Yes, that's mind control at its finest. People think I can just use psychic persuasion and control people with my voice but I can't. That's just a voice. A voice cannot control someone. Only a mind can do that with another person's mind." Clint rubbed the back of his neck as he confessed, "But there's one thing I can do with my mind that I basically never do…"
Everyone leaned in, eager to know the one thing he wouldn't do. His eyes met with the floor as he said softly, "Psionic inundation… with psionic inundation I can project harmful attacks with my mind. I don't like it because of what it can do to people. I can give someone brain damage or have them lose their memory or put them in a vegetative state or even… death. I'm lucky if it just causes unconsciousness… if my emotions get out of hand… well, that's when I use it."
Sensing the need to change the topic, Natasha surprisingly asked with a smirk, "Hawkeye, huh?" He couldn't help but smirk back as he stated, "A kid gave me that name when he saw me shooting arrows. I kept hitting the bullseye from really far away so he told me I had the eyes of a hawk." His eyes grew more serious as he said, "I never miss my target."
Before anyone could say anything, Fury barged through the doors, causing everyone to stand up. Fury walked in front of Clint and he looked like he was going to touch him and that's when Clint quickly put his hands to Fury's temples, using memory manipulation to relay everything he and the Avengers had been talking about so he could be on the same page as all of them.
"Was the temple touching really necessary to do that?"
"Works much better when I'm touching their head, director."
"Noted. Now, tomorrow you will be escorted by the Avengers to SHIELD headquarters."
"What will I be doing there?"
Fury crossed his arms as he answered, "Laying low. We need to keep you out of sight from HYDRA." Clint's eyes narrowed and crossed his arms as well as he asked, "And how long will I be at SHIELD headquarters? And will these guys be staying there with me or what? Will they be leaving?"
Fury cocked an eyebrow, this guy sure had balls for talking to him like that. The director's voice was firm as he explained the situation, "I don't know exactly how long you'll be there but this is for the best. The Avengers will be coming with you to SHIELD and that's it. They'll be back here when they know you'll be safe. When we get to SHIELD headquarters you'll-"
"Be a fucking prisoner! I'm not going!"
Clint backed away from all of them, anger in his voice as he snapped, "I'm not going there so you can lock me away! I was just fine without your help! I knew you were just like HYDRA! All you want to do is use me for what I can do! I don't need you!" Before they could do anything, Clint was sprinting out of the room and down the halls to escape.
The Avengers raced off after him but made sure they glared at Fury as they ran out. Clint rounded a corner and that's when he bumped into the strong chest of Steve. Clint was about to back away when Steve grabbed his wrists and pulled the struggling archer in close enough for him to whisper in his ear, "Stop struggling, Clint, I'm not going to let him lock you away there, okay?"
Clint stopped struggling and stared back at him in disbelief, "B-But it's your mission to bring me here. Fury's not going to let you just keep me here, you know, and I can't let you guys take the fall if he doesn't like how you won't take me to SHIELD." Clint's eyes widened as he whispered, "Bring me back to him. I'm going to erase the memory that he has of taking me to SHIELD. Please… I want to stay here."
Steve let go of his wrists and pulled him in for a hug, Clint looked like he needed one right now and he was right. Clint rested his head on Steve's shoulder, smiling as he heard Steve say, "We all want you to stay, too. Tony really wants you to stay here with us, he really took a liking to you. Natasha likes you, even though we know she'll deny it. Bruce and Thor would love to have you here. You'd make a fine Avenger."
Clint pulled away and looked into those baby blue eyes, repeating with shock apparent in his voice, "Avenger? Me?" Steve smiled and nodded, explaining, "With your archery skills and your eyes in the skies, we could be so much better. We could put you on a building and have you call out strays and even take them out. You don't even know how helpful that will be, you know, not having to constantly watch our backs because you've got us covered."
"Steve," Clint started, "you just met me and now you want me to be an Avenger…" Clint ran a hand through his hair and gave a sad laugh before continuing, "Do you know how crazy that is? All of this? You? You don't know anything about me but you trust me enough to watch your backs?" Clint leaned back on the wall, a hand still running through his hair as if to calm him down.
Steve stepped in front of Clint, he looked so calm and said everything as if it was so simple, "You trusted us to bring you here safely. You got on a plane with a team of strangers. You can say you don't trust us all you want but you do. You're scared of how much you trust us and how fast it took you to trust us. And you know what? It's scaring us how much we trust you and how much we've come to need you in such a sort amount of time."
"Y-You need me?"
"More than anything."
"Why?"
"You keep us together, whether you realize it or not."
Clint was going to ask how but Steve had stepped closer to him and grabbed his hands, putting them on his temples. Clint looked into Steve's eyes, asking for permission to go through his memories with the Avengers. Steve smiled and nodded, both of them entering Steve's mind and going through all the memories with the Avengers. God, they really didn't get along. There were just so many memories of them fighting, it was hard to find a happy one.
On accident, Clint saw Steve's memories from when he was first Captain America in WWII. Clint was going to exit Steve's mind when something felt like it was making him stay and watch. That must have been Steve letting him know he wanted Clint to look. The archer stayed and watched as Steve's past played out right. When he had seen everything, he exited Steve's mind.
Steve shook his head, the feeling of having someone in your mind was still new to Steve. True, Clint didn't do anything to hurt him but it still felt weird. Steve was brought out of it when he heard Clint's voice ask softly, "Who was that man who fell off the train? He seemed to mean an awful lot to you and I… you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."
The older male sighed, it was difficult talking about it but Clint looked so innocent there with those stormy blue eyes. He looked like he honestly cared so Steve gave a sad smile and said, "That was the friend I told you I lost in the war. That was Bucky. He's… he's not dead… you saw him in my memories as the Winter Soldier. He lost his left arm when he fell off the train so that's why he has that metal arm… HYDRA has him brainwashed there…"
"What are we waiting for then? Let's go get him."
Steve looked at him in shock, they couldn't just infiltrate HYDRA and go get Bucky. Clint was about to walk out of the building to rescue Bucky when Steve stepped in front of him, stopping Clint in his tracks. The archer was about to walk around Steve when the soldier spoke almost pleadingly, "No, I won't let you risk yourself. If you go, HYDRA will take you and I'll have lost another person I care about."
Clint put his hands on Steve's temples and replayed all the good memories with Bucky to Steve as he hissed, "Look at these memories, Steve! You were happy your best friend and I want you to be happy like that again. Let me go and I'll bring him back. I can restore his memories and I can help him recover better than any doctor. I can get your Bucky back. Let me do this for you, Steve."
Clint removed his hands but Steve grabbed them and just held them back on his temples as if he didn't want the memories to stop. Clint nodded and played the memories again until he saw tears in Steve's eyes. He stopped the memories and Steve removed the hands from his temples but held them as he whispered, "I can't lose you, too, Clint… I just can't…"
The archer wrapped his arms around Steve's neck and hugged him, feeling Steve wrap his arms around his slender waist. Steve tightened his grip on the archer when he heard the shorter male murmur in his ear, "Okay, Steve, I won't go… not now, not when you all need me… I just wanted to make you as happy as you've made me… I know you don't think you'd done anything but you've given me a home… you gave me a family again… thank you…"
The two were in their own little world, not noticing Fury and the others walking towards them. Fury looked pissed off and Tony was trying to talk him out of bringing Clint to SHIELD headquarters. Before anyone knew it, Clint was yanked from Steve and held in the air by his neck. Clint reached for Fury's head but the director made sure he kept him far enough away so that he couldn't.
"Not this time, Barton, you aren't doing anything with my mind."
"D-Don't n-need to t-touch you… bitch…"
Before Fury could say anything, Clint's eyes glowed blue and Fury placed him on the ground and released him. Clint glared at him, using memory manipulation to erase the memory of him wanting to take Clint to SHIELD headquarters and replace it with a memory of him wanting to put Clint on the Avengers. When Clint's eyes stopped glowing, Fury shook his head and looked at everyone around him.
He tried to remember why he came to the tower and that's when it dawned upon him, Clint Barton was an Avenger now. Fury looked at all of them and nodded before walking out of the tower. Tony's jaw dropped before he asked, "Okay, what did you do to him to just leave like that? Because that was awesome."
"Well," Clint began nervously, "I kinda erased some of his memories and put some new ones in where he called upon you guys to make me an Avenger with you guys… that is…" Clint avoided everyone's eyes as he continued, "That is if you all would accept me on your team and in your family… I know we just met and all but-"
He was interrupted by two strong arms wrapping around him and hugging him. Clint laughed as Thor bellowed excitedly, "Welcome to the family, man of arrows!" When Thor released him, they all decided to go back to the living room to get to know each other even better. By the end of the night, they all acted as if they had always been a team, like they had always been a family.
Tony was showing Clint around the tower and eventually led him to his own room. It wasn't custom made like all the other Avenger's rooms but Clint didn't care. He had a home and a family and he was grateful for both. Tony smiled as he saw Clint look around the room in awe and then jump on the bed like he was a little kid. Tony watched him and chuckled, "I take it you like the room so far?"
"So far? You mean there's more?"
"Well, duh, Legolas. I didn't know you'd become an Avenger so I had this made for you."
"Sorry about kinda dropping the 'I'm an Avenger' bomb on you there, tin man."
"Tin man, eh? Well, what's your favorite color? I can get the walls done tomorrow."
Clint stopped jumping and sat down on the bed, thinking about it before he answered, "Purple. My favorite color is definitely purple." Tony laughed for a second, causing Clint to cross his arms and ask with a slight pout, "Oh yeah? Well, what's your favorite colors, huh?" The genius rolled his eyes at Clint's childish behavior before answering, "Red and yellow are my favorite colors."
The archer burst into laughter, making sure he pointed and laughed for good measure. When he was done, Tony was giving him a look as if to say, really? Are you done now? You good? Clint tried not to laugh as he said, "Sorry, wait, no I'm not. Red and yellow, seriously? And you laughed at purple being my favorite color! What a weird combination… what a weird guy you are, Mr. Stark."
"Fucking asshole."
Tony couldn't help but smirk when he said that. He really liked having Clint around the tower now. Everyone seemed to be getting along so much better. He couldn't tell if it was Clint using empathic manipulation on them or what, but there was just something about him that kept them together better than anything else. Tony smiled to his friend before heading to the lab, "Goodnight, Legolas."
Clint could barely sleep that night. He was just so happy that he found somewhere to belong. He was safe here with his new family. It was late when he snuck into the air vents and crawled around to each Avenger. He stared at Natasha's sleeping form, she was distressed like she was having a nightmare. Clint's eyes glowed blue and that's when he replaced her nightmare of the Red Room with her saving the world all by herself. He watched her smile in her sleep before moving on.
He peeked through the grid to catch Steve tossing and turning in his sleep, another nightmare. Clint's eyes glowed again and he got rid of Steve not being able to save Bucky with a dream where he and Bucky were at an old time party together having fun like they used to. Steve smiled in his sleep, not even noticing that Clint was above him in the vents.
Clint crawled over to see how Thor was doing, and he was perfectly fine until Loki appeared in the dream and started causing mayhem. That wouldn't do for Clint. He made sure he changed Thor's dream so that he and Loki were happy and on an adventure together in Asgard before continuing on his journey in the vents.
Bruce and Tony weren't in their rooms but he knew since they were both intelligent, they were most likely in the lab. He crawled around in the vents for a while until he managed to get to the lab. Both of the men were passed out in chairs in front of an equation neither of them seemed to be able to solve. Clint hopped down from the vent and looked at the equation before scoffing.
Clint grabbed a marker and made quick work of the equation, even leaving a little note telling them that he had solved the equation. He was about to leave when he heard Bruce whimper, or it at least sounded like a whimper. Clint's eyes glowed blue and he switched Bruce dreaming of the Hulk terrorizing the city with Hulk being celebrated and looked at by the city with adoring eyes.
Tony started moving around in his chair, why was everyone having nightmares tonight? No matter, Clint walked over to his friend and removed the nightmare of Afghanistan with him being at one of his famous Tony Stark parties with the Avengers. He made sure everyone was having a good dream as he ventured back to his room through the vents. He pulled the blanket over him and smiled. It felt nice to belong.
The next morning, Clint was the first one up. He yawned as he started making coffee in the kitchen. When he was pouring the coffee into his cup, he heard someone behind him and that's when he grabbed a knife and held it to the person's throat when he turned around. He heard the familiar voice of Steve and when he came back to it, he realized he had Steve on the counter with a knife to his throat.
He removed the knife and apologized, "I'm really sorry, Steve… I'm not really used to people able to have a cup of coffee in peace, you know? I'm always used to never being in a safe place but I'll try to stop so I don't cut one of you guys…" Steve poured himself some orange juice and sat down at the counter, ignoring the apology and saying bluntly, "Thank you for what you did last night. It means a lot knowing you really do care about all of us."
"You've given me a new life, Steve. It's the least I can do to thank you all."
"We appreciate it. I can't remember the last time I had a good night's sleep. It feels great."
"Good thing I'm here to stay then."
Steve was going to say something when Tony and the others busted into the room, smiles on all of their faces. Bruce was humming to himself as he handed the milk to a smiling Natasha while Thor and Tony handed each other what they needed to make their own breakfast. Steve smiled at the sight before he looked up into Clint's stormy blue eyes.
"Yeah, it is."
Four Months Later….
Four months have come and gone and the Avengers couldn't have been doing better. They had only been called out to battle a few times and they were able to save the day in better fashion than they have before, thanks to Clint. They were all relaxing in the living room area when they were called in to protect the city. Apparently, an army of some sort was rummaging through the city.
When they got there, Clint instantly took a fearful step back, "Wh-what are HYDRA soldiers doing here?" When the soldiers saw Clint, they ran at the six of them. Natasha didn't look at him as she pulled out her guns and stepped in front of him, "I'm pretty sure they're here for you, Clint. We need to get you out of here."
"Tony, you have to get Clint out of here, now!"
Tony nodded and grabbed Clint to leave but the soldiers had swarmed in and overwhelmed the Avengers. Tony was trying to take off but so many of the soldiers were on him that he could barely get off the ground. Clint sighed before getting an explosive arrow and firing it at the soldiers that were holding onto Tony, causing a lot of them to let go so Tony could fly.
Some of them were still on Tony as he flew higher and one of them shot Tony in the back with what looked like a magnet. But it quickly sent a current through the suit that shut it down, sending them falling to the ground. Clint knew Tony was panicking under the Iron Man mask so he pulled out a grappling arrow and shot it at a building, swinging them to the ground along with the soldiers.
When they were on the ground, soldiers pulled Clint away from Tony. The archer thrashed around, calling for Natasha or Steve but when he looked over at them, they were getting overwhelmed by the soldiers. Thor and Hulk weren't doing much better and soldiers were now grabbing Tony and dragging him away. Clint looked at all of his friends, they were going to die because of him.
He couldn't stand it anymore. He couldn't stand hearing their screams of pain when he closed his eyes. They needed him and he couldn't do anything. He heard a sickening metallic sound and that's when he saw soldiers trying to open Tony's suit to get to the man inside. No, he wouldn't let them hurt Tony. He thrashed around, screaming for the soldiers to stop but they didn't.
Clint's eyes glowed a dark blue and that's when a wave just hit everybody, causing everyone to fall to the ground. Clint brushed the soldiers off of them and looked at everyone's still forms. He had used psionic inundation on everyone. He sprinted off to Steve, feeling for a pulse and sighing with relief. He put his hands on Steve's temples and entered his mind to make sure he didn't cause any damage.
Clint nearly fell backwards, laughing in relief to himself when he found out that Steve was just unconscious. He checked the other Avengers, they were all unconscious. He was about to grab Natasha to drag her back to the tower first when he felt a prick to the back of his neck. He reached behind him and pulled out a dart. Clint stumbled to the ground but managed to see a metal hand reach for him before he blacked out.
When he woke up, he was strapped to a metal table. He looked around and saw a man sitting down across from him, strapped down as well. He observed the other male, his hair was dark and long but what got Clint's attention was that the man's left arm was metal. He went back through his memories of Steve's memories and realized who that man was.
"Bucky?"
"Who the hell is Bucky?"
"You! You're Bucky! What are you doing here?"
A different voice stopped Bucky from answering, "He's with HYDRA and so are you, Clint Barton. You belong to HYDRA now." A man in a long black coat walked out in front of Clint, a smirk plastered on his face. Clint glared at him as he spat, "You're more stupid than you look if you think I'm going to willingly help HYDRA! I'm an Avenger. My team is going to find me and when they do, they're going to shove your head so far up your ass it'll be like your ass is a hat."
They both looked at Bucky when they heard him chuckle at what Clint said, but that little chuckle earned him a slap to the face. Clint snapped at the man, "What the fuck did you do that for?! You punish him for showing just a little bit of emotion after you brainwashed the shit out of him?! He doesn't even know who the fuck he is anymore because of you! Fucking asshole!"
"Is my name Bucky?"
The man slapped him again, harder than the last time. The man growled at the two of them, "I'm giving you both five minutes before I really do brainwash the shit out of both of you!" The man stormed out of the room laughing to himself, there was no way Clint could convince Bucky to help him. Words were going to mean nothing, especially if he only had five minutes to do it.
Clint shook his head with a smile, that man was an idiot. That man finally had Clint and he left him alone? I guess that guy didn't even know what Clint could really do. Five minutes was more than enough time to restore Bucky's memories. He looked over at the soldier before asking softly, "Hey, I know who you really are. Do you want me to give you your memories back, Bucky?"
He hesitated at first but nodded slowly. Clint's eyes glowed blue and he concentrated really hard to send Steve's memories over to Bucky. After a minute, Clint's eyes were back to normal and he was panting as he watched Bucky go through all the memories. Clint even threw in some of his more recent ones about the Avengers saving the day these past four months. Bucky looked at Clint before looking down at his restraints and breaking them.
He made his way over to Clint and broke him free. They still had a few minutes left. Clint looked at the air vent and broke into it, reaching a hand down for Bucky to grab onto so he could get pulled in. When they were both in the air vent, Clint placed the grid back on and the two wandered off to escape. Bucky looked over at Clint as they crawled side by side, "Thanks for helping me remember who I am."
Clint looked back at him and smiled before asking, "I don't suppose you know how to get out of here through the vents, do you?" Bucky looked forward before crawling a little bit ahead of Clint. The archer's gaze was still on Bucky when he smirked, "You know, HYDRA should have really invested in a barber's shop for you. Your hair is long as fuck, Bucky, or should I say Buckpunzel?"
"Fuck off, Barton." The soldier laughed quietly.
"Charming as ever I see."
"Am I charming if I told you you'd look prettier with my cock in your mouth?"
"I think I just fell in love with you."
The two quietly laughed as they continued to crawl and take jabs at each other. Suddenly, the two of them stopped when they heard soldiers running around below them. I guess they realized Clint and Bucky weren't in that room anymore. Clint whispered to the soldier, "Is there any way we can blow this building up from the inside? Is there like an explosives vault or some shit like that?"
Bucky nodded and led the way to the weapons room, explosives were literally everywhere just waiting to blow when the timer was set. The two hopped down, Clint was setting the timer while Bucky was on the lookout. No one was coming, which seemed odd but the HYDRA soldiers probably thought that they were running around in the building instead of crawling in the air vents.
Clint set the bomb for five minutes, more than enough time for them to get out of there. They hopped back into the air vent and crawled around until they dropped into a room with a window for them to break out of. They looked like they were still in the city and there was a building a little bit lower than them. Bucky wrapped an arm around Clint's waist and asked, "Do you trust me?"
"Yes. What are you-"
Before Clint could finish his sentence, Bucky had ran and jumped out the window with Clint. Clint closed his eyes but when he opened them, he was on his feet and well aware that Bucky's arm was still wrapped around his waist. They looked at the building and smirked when the explosives went off and the building blew up. Clint's eyes glowed and a phone appeared in Clint's hands.
Bucky stared down at him in confusion and said with a smirk, "Babe, we can't have secrets in this relationship. How'd you do that?" Clint laughed as he dialed Steve's number into the phone. He rolled his eyes at Bucky before countering with a smirk of his own, "How about you take me on a date before you call me 'babe' and say we're in a relationship, Buckaroo?"
"What?" Bucky started, faking his feelings were hurt, "Escaping from HYDRA and blowing up a base together wasn't a good enough first date?" Clint moved in closer to the soldier and wrapped an arm around his neck before saying with a seductive smile, "It's not a date until you kiss me now is it, soldier?"
Bucky smirked and leaned in, locking lips with the archer. When they pulled away, they could hear Steve's voice asking where he was and if he was okay. Clint looked at Bucky and said with a smirk, "I'm fine, Steve. Just tell Tony to track this phone and come get me cause I have Bucky. By the way, you never told me what a charmer this guy is! Old as shit but charming nonetheless."
"Fuck off, Barton."
DONE! I really wanted to do another fic with Clint having superpowers but I also didn't want him knowing about the Avengers and just having him join later. I also wanted to develop a close friendship between Clint and Steve during this because Steve just makes me feel like he'd be wicked protective of Clint. Of course, I had to add Bucky and some Winterhawk because it's been a while and I really missed Bucky! Sorry for any mistakes!
Happy August 1st everyone! Hope you've all been having a good summer!
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