Blood, Pity and A Short Tempered Hawk
Author: Yay for 3am uploads. Been involved in very interesting RP with my younger sister lately
which involves Ironhawk, OCs, multiple crossovers, amongst other things. This is kinda based of it.
I will not spoil anything. No OC's. Warnings for: language, blood, puke, a very pissed off Hawk, heavily
suggestive themes (especially sexual) & nudity. I own nothing. Except Maria & Clint's little backstory.
It had been about five and a half days since Loki took over his mind.
Three days and two hours since Phil died (roughly) .
Three days since the battle against the Chitauri.
Two days since he built his temporary nest in Stark Tower.
A day and a half since all his memories from the time he spent as Loki's pet finally became clear.
About the same length since he's been out of his nest. Except to go throw up in the bathroom down the hall because of how sick his memories make him feel.
Three hours and fifteen minutes since Phil's funeral downtown. Which he didn't attend. But he did smoke a cigarette in memory of him. He also kept silent during the time between the texts from Tasha telling him the funeral was starting and that it had ended.
Two hours until he's supposed to take another painkiller.
Half an hour since his last dose of said painkillers had worn off.
"Agent Barton!"
He blinks and peers down from his nest. Fury is standing on the floor some ten feet below with Hill, Tasha and the rest of the so called Avengers. He has chosen this location because he could see anyone below but anyone below wouldn't see him. "Are you here to take me into custody... Director?" he asks. This is a business call, not a friendly one. Fury's use of the title "Agent" proves that. Otherwise he'd be just "Barton" since Fury doesn't use first names even with someone he's known for over fifteen years. He sticks his knife in his belt... just in case.
"No." Fury answers. There is honesty in his voice. Which is the only reason Clint leaves his gun on top of his duffle bag.
"We're here because of the council." Hill pipes up.
"Blow me Maria." he snarls. He feels like being an asshole. He hasn't been to fond of Maria Hill since she was ripped from under his wing, disappeared for three months and came back suddenly as Fury's right hand just before he got shipped off to New Mexico to guard that fucking hammer.
"Barton get down your ass down here! Now!" Fury barks. By his tone, he's not in the mood for bullshit. That make two of them.
He tosses down his repel line and slides down it to land among them. "Yes Director?" he says with plenty of venom in his voice. He's not feeling socialable. And between his injuries from the battle and Loki's... attempts to break him, he's in a good deal of pain which isn't helping his mood.
"We didn't see you at the funeral." Steve says, trying to be friendly as is his way. Clint's head swings towards him. The soldier still looks a bit tired.
"I've attended more funerals than I can count." he says. Only Tasha, whose pretty green eyes are red from tears, catches what he doesn't say. He'll go visit Phil's grave when he's ready.
"You're off the active roster." Fury tells him, as his eyes roam over the other Avengers. Stark has a glass of what smells like Scotch in hand. Clint flinches inwardly when he sees the arc reactor. It's glows the same shade of blue as the Tesseract and he wants to rip it from Tony's chest to see the glow go out. Bruce is watching him carefully, cautiously. Thor is watching his hands, no doubt remembering New Mexico.
"How long?" he asks, meeting Tasha's eyes evenly. He wants to embrace her and be strong for her because he knows she needed the reassurance that he will not abandon her. But at the moment he won't because he is barely strong enough for himself. She knows this, can see it in his eyes and she will not ask him to carry more weight on his shoulders than he can bear.
"Indefinitely. The council is not convinced that you aren't either a liability or a traitor." Hill says. He turns his gaze to her and to her credit, she does not flinch.
"Maria either shut up or get on your knees and put your mouth to a good use." he growls, narrowing his eyes. Every inch of his body throbs with every heartbeat and it fuels his foul mood even more.
"Barton!" Fury snaps as Tony takes a sip of his Scotch. Clint takes a few steps towards Maria, his left leg protesting the entire time.
"How many of the the council did you give head to huh? You sure didn't climb the ladder the old fashioned way kid. You disappeared from under my wing and then reappeared three months later as Fury's right hand. That smells like bribery to me." he growls. Yes he's a smart ass and people hate him at times but he is a top agent because he has fought his way up from the bottom. He believes in hard work and every agent he has trained has learned to follow the rule: you work hard, you go places. Bribery is a low blow to people like him and he take particularly strong offense to it.
Maria does something that no one expects in jumping on Clint. She's fast and mean which is why he had given the nickname "Hellcat" when he was training her. She knocks him off balance out of surprise alone and pulls his knife from his belt. His back hits the floor but he recovers quickly, rolling them over. His weight, about double her own, ensures she is not getting off the floor unless he allows it. He flinches when he feels warmth on his thighs. The fight, brief as it was, has reopened wounds. There is a pair of clicks nearby and Maria looks over to see that both Fury and Tasha have drawn their weapons.
"Barton." Fury warns, keeping his aim on the archer as he pulls Maria's gun from it's holster on her thigh. Maria goes still, knowing she is defeated. Clint trained her but she was never a match for him.
"He won't shoot me sir." she says. Clint is bleeding, she can tell by the scent around them and the shimmer on the fabric of his black jeans around his thighs. "Odd place to be bleeding." she hisses so only he can hear her.
"Bite me." he growls, taking his knife from her hand and setting her gun (unloaded so she can't shoot him right away), on the ground nearby. It hurts to get up so he does so with as much of his pride still intact as possible. Fury is glaring daggers at him but every other face in the hall wears anything from curiousity to concern. Slowly Clint pulls himself back up his line to his new nest and Tasha puts her gun away finally as Fury sends Maria back to the jet that is waiting on the roof.
"Is he alright?" Steve asks once Clint is out of sight.
"No." Tasha whispers. The repel line wiggles and smacks against the wall as it begins to disappear up into Clint's nest. It leaves behind a disturbing large and wet looking red streak on the wall. Fury sniffs the mark then turns his good eye up to where Clint disappeared.
"Jarvis send one of the bots up to my current location." Tony says, touching the mark on his wall. It's warm and he immediately reconizes it for what it is. "Have it bring something to clean blood of the wall." he adds, following Fury's gaze. The fact of what it is and who it belongs to disturbs and worries him... maybe more than it should.
"Agent Barton please come to the medical bay. I'd like to have a look at your injuries." Bruce calls gently. He doesn't press the issue. He knows men like Clint and he knows how stubborn they can be.
Clint strips off his jeans and tosses them into a trash bag to wash later. "Don't hold your breath Doc." he growls as his boxers join his jeans. He tosses a towel onto the floor and lays down carefully on his back. He has to wait for the bleeding to stop before he can really get cleaned up. He won't go see Banner. He won't tell anyone the worst of what Loki did to him. If anyone finds out how Loki tried to break him in the two and a half days he was controlled... they would pity him. And he hates pity as much as he hates Loki.