Jacob Grant was hurring out the next morning. He heard about four men being killed last night and another found four blocks over with a arrow in his neck. That man was someone else Jacob gave information to about taking out Hawkeye while he was weak.
He hurried through the empty streets at this hour. The sun was just rising and the chilly air was warming ever so slightly.
Suddenly he was grabbed and pulled into a alley. He was slammed into brick wall and punched once before someone was pressing him into the wall to keep him from moving.
Jacob's eyes widened when he saw Clint standing before him. He was pretty scrapped up. His hands were bleeding and he had dirt smudged on the side of his face. He was paler than he remembered and had bags under his eyes. He had constricted pupils that searched over him and he squinted slightly.
Clint just cocked his head to the side and didn't speak.
"What?" Jacob exclaimed and tried to get away but was slammed back.
It's been four days since he was fully injected with the drug. Michael said he would only live up to five, at the most. He cursed again for killing him too soon.
"I-I don't have anymore." Jacob stammered and gave the archer a hard look. Clint leaned a little forward as if he could barely hear.
Clint then backed away and looked him up and down. "No more?" He asked a little louder than the normal tone but his voice was cracked and sounded a little off. Jacob noticed for the first time that Clint was shaking slightly.
Jacob stepped away from the wall and shook his head. He just had enough time to regesture the thought that Clint pointed a gun at his head before the trigger was pulled.
Natasha was exhausted. She refused to sleep yet and was still walking the city. Fury sent out a few trusted field agents and they were all looking for Clint.
That's when she heard a gunshot. She ran for it.
She saw a man walking in the other direction on the sidewalk. She slowed but brough her hand up to her ear piece.
"I think I found him." She said and read off a address.
She was surprised when Clint stopped and turned around. He starred at her and she looked him over. He looked horrible.
She saw him raise his bow suddenly and she had seconds to move to the side and charge him after he let the arrow loose. She twisted his wrist and knocked his bow to the side. He pulled out the knife she gave him. It had dried blood all over the blade and Natasha held back a shudder. He swung out and she felt the blade bite into her cheek before she knocked his arm away and kicked him in hard enough to make him stumble and fall down. He instantly rolled right over but it wasn't to get up. He started coughing and when he turned his gaze to Natasha she saw fresh blood dribbling down his chin from his mouth.
"Clint?" She whispered and he looked up at his name. She moved closer but he squeezed his eyes closed and fell back to his back as he let out a groan and gripped his head. That's when agents caught up to them.
They surrounded him with guns pointed. Clint didn't move though and Natasha ran to his side. She crouched down when his gaze snapped open. He snapped in an upright position and threw a unexpected punch right to her eye. She fell back and the agents moved to restrain him. They didn't want to drug him since they didn't know what was in his system and sometime during their night they got informed that it can be fatal so they didn't want to risk knocking him out.
Clint didn't struggle though. They actually had to hold him up as the dragged his limp body into one og their cars. Natasha was still sitting there where she feel to the ground. Her mouth was slightly open and her eyes were wide with shock.
It wasn't him. She tried to remind herself but when offered to ride with him back to the base, she shook her head.
Agent Daniel Payne looked over the back seat to see Clint lying across the seats. He was shaking pretty bad but he didn't try to move. Someone from medical was crouching on the floor next to him. He had Fury on the phone who was going over any news they found out on the drug.
Daniel looked back at Clint's face. His eyes were closed but he saw his ragged breathing so he knew he wasn't dead.
He had to look away.
"Hurry." He said to the driver.
The next morning Fury himself actually flew out here. He walked it the room where they were working on Clint.
"Report." He demanded and stood next to Clint's bed.
"We ran some tests, whatever drug was in his system was unknown but it is actually clearing itself out." One of the doctors said.
"Clearing itself out?" Fury asked, looking over.
"Well, yes. The longer he goes without the drug the better he gets. My guess is that since the maker relied on it being so additive that if he possibly survived any length of time without it, he would always want more and if he were given more, he would of died. Good thing we found him whe we did. He seems to be recovering well arlready."
Fury nodded. "And everything will be back to normal?"
"Well, we aren't sure. Since this is a new drug to us we can the sure of the lasting effects." The doctor looked at a clipboard in his hand.
"He could have anything from, lack of hearing or sight too severe memory loss." Fury glanced down at the archer.
"That would be very bad." He said quietly.
Natasha starred at herself in the mirror. She was in a borrowed room in the SHIELD base in Russia. She had bruising around her right eye that she was actually trying to cover with make-up. Her right cheek had a horizontal cut toward the middle that needed stitches. She let out a breath and walked out of the room. She went into Clint's room and saw Fury standing alone.
"Director." She greeted. He turned to face her.
"Romanoff. I would have thought you would be in here already." He looked at Clint and she took a few steps closer.
"Yeah, I had some things to take care of." She looked down at Clint. "Will he be okay?" She whispered.
Fury looked over. "We're not sure. He seems stable for now but there could be some side effects after he wakes." Natasha nodded. She hid her emotions well and only after Fury left did she sit next to his bed and let her eyes water.
She went to place her hand over his but something stopped her. She thought about it and pulled her hand back.
