It was a normal Monday night. Steve, Bruce, and Tony were sitting in the living room arguing over what movie to watch.
"Wizard of Oz is a classic," Steve points out
"No black and white movies in my house Rodgers," Tony argues, "I think 'Now you See Me' would be a million times better."
They continue to bicker while Bruce sits quietly watching the friendly banter. In the middle of their argument Natasha and Clint get off the elevator, back from their latest mission. Neither look to beaten up, but while Natasha has a soft smile on her face Clint is stone cold and troubled.
"Pirates of the Caribbean is a wonderful film," Natasha says suddenly ending the argument. Clint is still standing right by the elevator his eyes downcast tuning out the argument, darker thoughts on his mind. Everyone else starts getting snacks and soda and are finally ready to watch their movie, when Clint slinks away into the elevator.
The avengers were sitting on the coach watching pirates of the Caribbean. Tony, Natasha, and Bruce were all sitting on the coach while Steve sat in the modern armchair. About an hour into the movie they noticed the absence of one of their teammates.
"Does anyone know where Clint is?" Bruce asks. Everyone looks around at each other. No one knows where he is.
"Jarvis, where is Clint?" Tony inquires.
"I'm afraid I'm not permitted to tell you," Jarvis responds.
Everyone stands up growing concerned.
"Jarvis, override," Tony, says urgently.
"I'm afraid you can not do that sir."
Natasha looks at the ceiling confused as to why her partner was keeping secrets. Steve's debating if they should find him or leave their teammate, some secrets are meant to be kept. Bruce keeps looking between Steve and Natasha trying to figure out what they think the best decision is.
"So…." Bruce starts, but fades out.
"What are we waiting for lets find him!" Tony exclaims.
"Maybe we should let him be." Natasha says, "He probably doesn't want us to find him for a reason. If he's trying to hide something who are we to pry."
Steve stops to think for a minute. He agrees that everyone has their secrets, but there also needs to be a certain trust between the team. He thinks about this while Natasha and Tony yell at each other for another minute until he finally shouts, "Shut up!"
Everyone freezes and looks to Steve expecting an answer.
"Jarvis," Steve starts, "Is Clint safe?"
Everyone holds their breath and there is dead silence for 30 seconds until Jarvis finally responds, "I'm afraid I am not allowed to disclose Mr. Barton's location or state of well being."
"That settles it, Natasha check the shooting range and gym, Tony you check the roof and the vents, Bruce check his floor, and I'll check the kitchen." Maybe he was cooking us a surprise and cut himself, Steve tried to reason, but his gut told him otherwise.
"We'll meet back here in an 1 hour and a half, if no one finds him we'll work our way from there."
Everyone sets out to their assigned destinations. Tony and Bruce take the elevator while Steve and Natasha take the stairs.
"Steve, if you find him don't call the others unless it's an emergency, if he needs to open up he won't do it unless it's one on one."
"Got it. Thanks Nat."
She nods and continues down the stairs to the range while Steve gets off to heads to the kitchen. He notices nothing out of place or unusual, but just as he's about to leave he hears something. He finds the gun Natasha keeps under the counter, grabs it, and heads towards the noise. He wanders over to the bar, weapon in hand, when he notices broken glass littering the ground and alcohol spilled. Glass crunched underneath his sneakers as he took a step forward. He notices a man hunched on the other side of the bar clutching a bottle as if his life depends on it. One step further and he notices that it's Clint.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," Clint whispers.
"It's okay Clint," Steve tries to reassure him.
"Damn it Faith. I'm so sorry. It's my fault. I should have been able to protect you."
"Clint, it's fine it wasn't your fault."
"Don't you get it!" Clint jumps up and slams the bottle on the counter breaking it, "If I wasn't such a shitty brother and left Faith, she would be here with me and it's not fair."
Clint slumps down in the shattered glass his eyes downcast and bloodshot.
"What happened?" Steve asks after a minute or two.
"I had a sister, her name was Faith. She was amazing. She had a shitty life, but she was a wonderful person."
Steve sits listening unsure of what to say or how to react to this information.
"She helped me, well tried. Our dad… he…. wasn't the best. He was a drunk and she'd always stick up for me when he hit me. She tried telling him to stop, but….," Clint stops to take a deep breath in tears streaming from his face, "He couldn't stop. He started hitting her more, then one day he hit his low. He took her to his bed room and," he sobs unable to continue. Steve pulls his teammate into a hug and holds him against his chest while he sobs and mutters apologizes.
They both stay like this for 10 minutes until Clint calms down and is able to breath normally. Steve slowly loosens his grip on his friend, who stares at the ground refusing to look up.
"What brought this on?" Steve finally asks.
"March 16th," Clint whispers, "Her birthday she'd be 19, not much younger than you."
"I'm sorry," Steve pausing uncertain, "What happened to her?"
"She was kidnapped years ago, we don't know by who, so there's still hope she's out there somewhere waiting for me to rescue her. I looked for her for years and years every clue leading me to a dead end. I finally had to give up."
Both are silent neither knowing what to say. Steve gives his friend another hug less emotional than the first and gives him a few words of encouragement, "Please don't give up. Not yet. I will help you look because I believe in miracles and I believe that your sister is out there. I was found 70 years later so I strongly believe that if you look hard and long enough you will find her and I will help you, just don't give up."
"Okay."
And with that Steve helps Clint off the broken glass and into his room, then goes back into the living room to face the other Avengers. He takes the elevator down to the living room where he finds all the Avengers waiting for him. As soon as he gets off the elevator they all turn to him hoping for some good news. Steve sighs and says, "I found Clint, he's find, but he needs his space. Please don't ask him anything. Good night." With that they all slunk away to their rooms for the night.