Clint was in bad shape a when he finally managed to drag himself into the bunker. Fury had given him the location of all his secret bases shortly after he had joined shield. He liked to run off when he was younger, Fury had thought he at least deserved a safe place to stay. The bases both while he was on missions and on the run had saved his ass more than once both before shield fell and after.
Clint is so out of it that he doesn't pick up on the obvious signs that the base is inhabited he's just focused on reaching the area where he can obtain medical. One of the triplets would find him lurking eventually and force him to check in. As he stumbles from wall to wall his vision swims he's half to his location when his eyes start playing tricks on him, just before he blacks out Clint swears Coulson appears in front of him.
"Guess I'm screwed." he says just as his he collapses to the floor.
Phil Coulson catches Clint's head before it can smash off the cement. It only takes a quick evaluation to realize that Clint is possibly in critical condition. He shouts over his shoulder as loud as he possibly can for help. Skye, Mack, Simmons and Fittz all respond to his call, their jaws going slack when they see the body of the person Coulson is supporting.
"Is that…" Skye asks slightly starstruck.
"It is." Mack, who has worked with Clint before answers, he moves quickly to assist Coulson. Simmons is the next to snap out of her trance, she begins taking off down the hallway at the brisk jog, Fittz follows on her heels. Skye becomes mobile again and assists with supporting Barton's weight, not that she really needs to with Mack helping but with her help their easily able to keep Clint's body up off of the ground.
"How'd he get in?" Skye wants to know, she had personally upgraded the software to keep out all agents who Coulson had not specifically said should be able to gain access, Barton had not been such an agent.
"Fury probably had some fail safe in the system." Coulson grunts through clenched teeth, he's visibly straining himself lifting Barton who looks much lighter than he actually is. "Barton probably knew about this place long before we ever did."
"What makes you say that?" Mack asks, personally knowing Barton he wouldn't be surprised if Coulson's suspicions are true, but he wants to know the reasoning behind it.
"Let's just get him to medical." Coulson's jaw is clenched in worry. The others notice but don't say anything, instead they hurry their pace.
It takes them under five minutes to reach the medical wing, but in that time Clint's condition seems to have increasingly declined. The moment Mack and Skye place Barton onto the table, Fittz begins barking orders at her team. Not knowing the exact cause of Barton's unconscious state they begin running tests.
"Get me Billy." Coulson barks, as he watches Simmons work. When no one moves he snaps at them. "That's an order." Mack quickly exits the room.
"Coulson." Bobbi runs into the room shortly followed by May. When she sees Barton looking mostly dead on the operating table a hand flies to her mouth, Coulson instinctively grabs her hand and squeezes it.
"He's going to be okay, Bobbi." Coulson murmurs trying to be comforting but it's hard when he's not sure himself.
"I know it's just…" Skye gasps in shock when she sees tears well behind Bobbi's eyes, she's never seen the woman cry. Bobbi looks helplessly at Coulson, seeking comfort in his own worried eyes.
"Too familiar." Coulson supplies, before looking to Simmons. "His blood type it A negative, no need to do tests." Simmons nods dropping her work she instead instructs a nurse to fetch the required blood. Coulson turns back to Bobbi. "I know that feeling."
"Wait, does someone want to tell me what is going on here?" Skye's confusion is displayed for all to see across her face.
"I'll tell you." Hunter says from his position leaning in the doorway. "Bobbi and the bloke on that operating table used to be married." Hunter's voice gives no emotion as he himself stares at Clint.
"I thought you're her ex-husband."
"I am. She's got more than one."
"Shut it, Hunter. This isn't a time to be jealous."
"I think it bloody well is, Bobbi." Hunter has lost his temper now and is beginning to shout. "What the hell is he doing here? You've got to have been the one to invite him. You know, just when I think things are starting to go good between us, you pull a shit stunt like this."
"I didn't invite him, Hunter." Bobbi is practically in hysterics.
"The why the hell is he here? Huh? I don't think he just found this place on his own."
"Hunter…" Bobbi begins to beg just as Simmons looks up from her work, furious.
"Everyone out." She bellows. "All of you, you can argue somewhere else but right now, right here I've got to save someone's life and I can't do that with you all arguing around me."
Stunned momentarily by Emma's outburst, everyone slowly shuffles out of the room. They stay silent as they all go to wait for the news about Barton in the commons.
Mack returns with Billy after a fashion. Like usual, Billy doesn't even need to be asked what is going on, he already knows.
"Clint's been coming here for years." Billy address' Coulson only. "Since before I was assigned here actually, he's actually the one who gave me orientation. Fury gave Barton the entire list of secret bases years ago. He pops in and out of one every few months."
"Why?" Coulson's never been one to question Fury's intentions but when it comes to Barton he needs all the pieces of the puzzle he can get.
"From what Barton's told me over the years, he used to run away a lot. I guess he joined SHIELD as a kid or something, anyway, the secret bases gave him a safe place to go and clear his head. Fury told me to never question why Clint came, if he didn't offer information I wasn't to request it. All I was allowed to do when he showed up was to offer him medical treatment if he needed it. I'm not an expert on mental illness but from what I can tell he's got some kind of depression or something. Possibly anxiety as well, like I said I've never asked, but I do know sometimes he came in here in a really low place."
"Did he…?" Skye voices the words that they're all thinking, at least everyone but Bobbi.
"No, he didn't do that to himself. Clint's a stupid asshole, but he's not that stupid. If he had wanted to end things, well he would have ended them. Someone or something attacked him."
"I agree." Coulson shoots Bobbi a small smile.
"How'd he know that we're based here?" May asks, everyone looks at her shocked they'd forgotten she was in the room.
"I don't think he did. He looked genuinely shocked to see me, May. It was just before he passed out, but he didn't know I'd be here."
"Can we trust him?"
"Fury told me we could." Phil sighs, his hand absentmindedly running through his thinning hair.
"That doesn't mean we should." May points out.
"May…" Coulson's voice breaks and he abruptly stops talking, but she understands. Clint had been just a scared little kid when Coulson had pulled him into SHIELD. Clint was the closest thing Phil had to a family, to a son.
"Where's he been this last year."
"With the Avengers." Skye butts into the conversation. "At least that's what I assume."
"Clint left the Avengers after Sakovia." Bobbi discredits Skye's theory. "He sent me a picture of his son…"
"He's got another kid." Phil's face reflects the pain he feels for not knowing something so important.
"Yeah," Bobbi eyes Hunter who looks angrier every minute they spend talking about Clint. "Nathaniel. He's just under a year now." Hunter seems about to go off on another rant when Fittz appears in the doorway.
"Simmons says you can all come back now, he's stable and… awake."
"What's with the hesitation, Fittz?"
"He's… well you should probably see for yourselves."
Only Bobbi and Coulson follow Fittz back toward medical, the others under May's own orders stay behind to give them the privacy they deserve at this reunion.
The medical staff have all cleared from the room, leaving only monitors to look after Clint. As both Bobbi and Phil step into the room, Fittz leaves as well. They both begin to walk toward Clint, afraid that in the few minutes Fittz was gone Barton might have died but their worries are quickly pushed away when they see the steady rise and fall of his chest.
"He was always hard to kill wasn't he." Bobbi chuckles slightly, her eyes snapping to Clint's when she sees them flicker open. She notes the Coulson retreats silently from the room.
"Bobbi…?" Clint's voice sounds weak, he struggles to sit up so that he can see her. She steps forward and pushes him back down against the bed.
"Don't." Is all she says, meanwhile pulling up a chair so that she can sit beside his head. "You'll hurt yourself."
"Seems I've already done a pretty damn good job at that." He chuckles slightly, it doesn't escape her notice that the action brings him pain.
"Don't laugh." She instructs, reaching for his hand. She gives it a gentle squeeze.
"I forgot what a bitch you can be." While it sounds offensive, she knows the words are some of Clint's highest words of affection at least for her. "Bobbi… what are you doing here?"
"This is SHIELD, we rebuilt after Hydra. You seem to have stumbled into our main headquarters."
"Oh, well I guess that's good. SHIELD always did have good medical. I suppose I'll be up running around in no time then." He tries to sit up again only to quickly let himself fall back down against the bed. "Or, maybe not." He winces as he repositions his arm.
"What happened?" Bobbi knows that Coulson is watching from outside the viewing window, assessing if Clint will be able to handle his return from the dead.
"I'm on my deathbed and you're going to interrogate me." Clint barks a humorless laugh. "Some things never change I guess."
"Clint, that's not funny."
"Yeah, I guess it's not." He grows silent and she watches as he retreats into the memories. She sees incredible pain flash across his face. It alarms her how much is there.
"What's wrong? She asks already starting to motion for Phil to call Simmons back in to administer something to take away the pain. She never wants to see the look of pain on this man's face again, she had told him that years ago.
"Nothing, just thinking." There's the sound of ruffling sheets as he repositions himself so that he's lying flat on his back. "They're all dead, Bobs." Bobbi's heart flutters a bit hearing Clint use his old nickname for her, a name that Hunter had picked up on and still calls her.
"Whose dead?" She tries to keep her voice calm but it's hard when he's just told her that people are dead. Her heart drops to the pit of her stomach when she sees Clint's face, he turns to look at her, pain and sorrow burning through his eyes.
"My family." A single tear falls from his eye. Bobbi has never seen him cry, and she's known him for years. She's seen the good, the bad, the ugly, and the hurt Clint. But she's never seen him like this, before even on his worst days she'd have never described Clint as broken but now it's the word that swells forward in her mind. She herself wants to cry, she feels her eyes tear up. "They killed them all. I wasn't home." Clint seems to have no fight in him. "Laura, fought. I saw that in the carnage, she tried to save the kids but… the monster murdered them." He looks at Bobbi again, turning his broken eyes to her. "What kind of monster murders kids, Bobs? They didn't, he didn't even spare the baby. What kind of man takes revenge out on another man's family? How can he be that fucking sick, Bobs."
"I...I...I don't know, Clint. I'm so…"
"Don't you dare say sorry, Bobs. Don't you dare. I can't take that, Bobs, I just can't"
"What happened?"
"Someone from my past came 'round, like they always eventually do. After Sakovia I told Laura I'd stay home for awhile. I'd been at the farm for almost nine months when he finally found. It's my guess that he'd been looking for years. I'd left the house to go to the store when he decided to show up. I wasn't gone more than an hour. When I came home the sick bastard was sitting there waiting for me. I've seen a lot of bad things Bobs, but nothing, nothing has ever been as bad as that."
"How'd you get so beat up?"
"I killed the bastard." Clint's eyes go hard, they show no mercy or remorse. It's a new look on him. He'd killed people, Bobbi knew that. She'd seen him do it, and she'd also seen the after effects. When they had been married she'd always known which missions had been assassination and which ones had not. He'd come back from the assassinations a complete and utter wreck. They'd been much younger then, and Clint had been much more of a softy. Sometimes he wouldn't talk for days, he'd try to act normal but Bobbi had understood that sometimes he just couldn't. She'd help as much as she could being there for him, but she was always silently glad that killing hadn't come easy to him. It assured her that the man she loved was still a man. She had never seen Clint take a life without showing remorse for who was lost, even the darkest most horrible men, Clint had mourned. That is until now. The thought, the idea, sends chills down her spine. She visibly shudders. "But not before he landed a few good hits."
"Who did it?"
"Barney." Bobbi knows only one man named Barney, and that's Clint's brother. The idea that the man who had sat beside her then husband on their wedding day was ungraspable. Before Bobbi can come up with some kind of response, her phone buzzes. She sees Clint watch her with guarded eyes. He knows what she's thinking, he always had a knack for that. She tries to recompose herself as she reads the message from Coulson, he's pulling her out of the room.
"You always said I could read your mind Bobs, but that's only because you're so transparent. You didn't' come to see me because you cared, did you Bobs. You came because someone told you too. Let me guess, now that Mr. Bossman has what he needs, he wants you to leave." Clint rolls his eyes, not the least bit surprised. Bobbi however picks up a shaded amount of hurt behind his snark.
"Clint… you know that I care." She wishes she could come up with a more comprehensive answer but she can't. Regretfully, she pulls herself up out of her chair.
"You say that Bobs. But do you really? I get it you're just following orders. I used to be that way too, but someday you've got to admit to yourself where the line is. What are you willing to lose for SHIELD? Take it from a man that's lost everything, SHIELD isn't worth losing the ones you care about."
"Clint…" She has no response, this isn't the Clint she knows. Maybe it's the one Hunter always said was hiding beneath the surface of the Clint she knew's skin. "Maybe Hunter should be the one in here." She thinks, but she knows that Hunter won't come, at least not at her suggestion.
"Just go, Bobbi." Clint rolls onto his side despite his broken ribs. She knows it's so she can't see his face. "I was just offering some advice, but you obviously don't want it. There's no need to piss off whoever your new boss is on my behalf. Besides, I'm sure I'll return the coldhearted interrogation bastard routine someday."
"Cl…" She can't stop her voice from cracking.
"Go." Clint's voice is barely a whisper as the closes his eyes. "Just go, Bobs. You don't owe me a damn thing."
Slightly heartsick, Bobbi pulls her hand out of his.
As she walks to exit the room her jaw hardens. She half-wishes that Clint hadn't already killed his brother, because she sure would like to take a go at the man who had broken her unbreakable Clint Barton. When she leaves the room she doesn't even hesitate to talk to Coulson, instead she continues past him. Whenever she's upset there's only one thing that can comfort her and that's a good workout. A pro to being married to Clint for three years had been, she was always in shape.