Author's Notes
Clint's disappearance creates problems for everyone as the other Avengers try to deal with what's happened and the ongoing implications.
Bruce feels compelled to share what he's discovered about Sara while Clint vanishes further into the night.
With Clint declared rogue and hunted by S.H.I.E.L.D., Beth gets drawn into the mess resulting in a a badly judged conversation with Sara.
Marvel Characters are based on the Marvel Cinematic Universe and are copyright to Marvel and Disney. Their use here is for purely non-commercial entertainment purposes
Slight references to murder.
Reviews and comments welcome
"Pepper, he's in so much pain…" Sara rested her head against the older woman's shoulder, staring at the note in her hands and trying her hardest not to cry again "I just want to hold him… to tell him I still love him…"
"I know you do, sweetheart" Pepper said gently, stroking her hair. "We all want to know he's safe."
"Well, I've got Jarvis scanning road traffic cameras to try and pick up Clint's junkheap of a car At least that's a start." Tony told them as he started brewing a fresh pot of coffee. He shook his head in frustration "I should've anticipated something like this."
He felt like kicking himself, Clint taking to his heels was such an obvious risk in hindsight. He'd asked Jarvis to monitor him as a matter of course, but the archer had shown himself adept in bypassing the User Interface in the past.
"We could talk about what we should've done all night" replied Steve "None of us are exactly thinking straight right now…"
Steve was worried. Clint had left his phone behind, which was a bad sign, taking only his bow-case and quiver; not even a change of clothes as far as they could see. In his current state, there was a risk he could pose a real threat to himself or others.
"So what?" responded Tony sharply, his nerves fraying "We all get a good night's sleep and take a fresh start in the morning, all the while Clint's getting further toward the horizon?"
Steve shook his head, choosing to avoid getting into a verbal sparring match with Tony just now. That was the last thing they needed
"I'll call Natasha, see if she has any idea where he might be heading" He paused, uncomfortable with what he had to say next "…and we need to decide when to call this in to Fury."
"Steve, please…" begged Sara "Can't we give him just a little time? They've hurt him so much already, he just needs some space to get his head together…"
"S.H.I.E.L.D. does have a pretty tight protocol when it comes to 'absent' agents" Tony reminded him "We owe Pigeon a chance to wing his own way back to the roost."
Steve sighed. Tony and Sara were right, but there was still the fact that Clint was a dangerous man with a grudge and the will to act on it. He saw the plea in Sara's eyes, her fear of what S.H.I.E.L.D. would do to Clint now. He sat down beside her and took her hand
"I'll give him 48 hours" he promised "But if he hasn't been in touch by Monday morning I'll have to call it in."
And God help us if he does something stupid in the meantime
"Thank you, Steve" Sara kissed his hand "Clint doesn't want to hurt anyone, he just needs some space."
Steve frowned slightly, certain he hadn't said that last part aloud; maybe he had, the night was tiring them all out. Sara could hardly keep her eyes open, the poor girl had been pushed to the limit. He glanced at Pepper
"I think you should take her to bed, she needs to rest"
Pepper nodded and helped Sara to her feet
"C'mon, sweetheart…" her voice was soft and maternal "Time to get some sleep, it's been a hard night for all of us."
"Poor kid" murmured Tony as the two women left "She doesn't deserve all this…"
"Do any of us?" asked Steve, heading over to the bar. Liquor might not have that much of an effect on him now, but he sure as hell needed a drink. "We all know Clint's not going to be back by Monday, a man doesn't leave a note like that if he's just planning on being away for a weekend."
"We know" said Bruce softly, joining the other two men at the bar. He'd been sitting on the couch, saying little but deep in thought "Sara does as well, but for now she needs to believe there's a chance he'll be back."
Steve poured large measures of Scotch for himself and Tony, together with a ginger ale for Bruce. On a nod from the scientist he put a dash of the Scotch in there as well. Bruce rarely drank, but he made the odd exception for special occasions. This certainly counted.
"I'll call Natasha after this" Steve took a large swallow of the whiskey, enjoying the burning sensation in his throat. "Though God knows what Clint's going to do in this state. Even she might not be able to predict it."
He'd seen the look in Natasha's eyes as she spoke about Clint's family; the love and the deep burning pain of loss. He couldn't feel angry with her for keeping this secret. It must have been tearing her up inside, having to behave normally around them, knowing the truth and unable to show her grief. He'd save the anger for the man who put his friends through this horror. He took another drink, something was bugging him. It seemed stupid but he had to say it
"Guys, this sounds a bit crazy…" he hesitated as Tony and Bruce emerged from their own thoughts and looked at him
"Crazier than what's already happened?" asked Tony "Fire away, tonight can't get any stranger."
"It's just…" he hesitated again "You ever get the feeling that sometimes Sara knows what you're thinking?"
"All the time…" laughed Tony "Terrible trait in a woman. Glad I don't have that problem with Pepper. Bruce...?"
Bruce was staring down into his glass, swirling it so the ice rattled; chewing his bottom lip the way he always did when nervous or worried about something. It looked like he was debating something deep inside
"Bruce… penny for them?" Tony repeated
This wasn't the time or place he would have chosen, Bruce thought, but it seemed to be a night for secrets to be laid bare. Tony was wrong though, the night was about to get stranger. He drained his glass and took a deep breath
"There's something I need to tell you about Sara."
###
Clint abandoned the car a few blocks away from Port Authority and made his way to the bus station via the back routes he knew would keep him away from the security cameras. Tony would be able to track the red Dodge Charger easily using Jarvis, best to lose it quick as possible. It felt like a wrench, but maybe he hadn't had it for years. It might just be part of the package they created for the 'new improved Barton' when they ripped his memory away from him. He couldn't avoid all the cameras in the bus station but there was no shortage of medium height guys in nondescript hoodies and baseball caps around. The trick was to take a random bus then change two or three times. Took longer that way, but worth the effort.
He curled up on the back seat of the bus heading west from Newark, staring through the rain-streaked window at the passing lights of cars and trucks. His whole body shivered and sweated, from the shock as much as from the energy drinks and caffeine tablets he'd swallowed to stay awake. He couldn't sleep, not now and not for a while. He had names to put to the faces now, he knew they were his wife and children but thanks to S.H.I.E.L.D. he'd got nothing but their deaths. Cooper, his son, drowning in his own blood in the hallway, Laura screaming and beating at him with her fists as he cut and sliced; and Lila, his baby girl…
He was crying again, biting down onto the brim of his cap to try and quell the sound of his sobs. The seats around him were all empty, despite the bus being busy. No-one wanted to sit to near the weeping junkie at the back.
###
"Well, are we venturing any further into the Twilight Zone or is that it for the night?" Tony poured himself another drink. Given everything that had happened so far, the news that Sara was possibly a telepath and might also have enhanced empathic abilities didn't feel that strange.
"Does she know?" asked Steve, still trying to process this new information. It sounded fantastic, but Bruce was the least fanciful person he knew and everyone's view of what was possible had become a little flexible over the past year. Bruce shook his head
"I've not told her yet, and now might not be a good time…" he paused "S.H.I.E.L.D. doesn't know either. Natasha and I 'massaged' the results from the tests Fury asked for."
"That won't fool him for long" Tony said "Fury's got a nose for these things and he'll find out one way or another."
"Then it's up to us to protect her" Steve put down his glass and stood up "We keep her safe and off that damned Index. It's the one thing we can do for Clint right now. I'm going to call Natasha…"
###
"I can't believe you're still standing by him!" Beth really didn't want to get angry with her little sister but she could only cope with so much, and being questioned about Sara's missing boyfriend by one of the most notorious and dangerous intelligence organisations around was the thin end of the wedge. "Didn't they tell you what he's done…?"
Clint hadn't called or come home by Monday morning. Steve waited as long as he could, but by the evening he had no choice and had to make the call to Fury. The Director was 'unavailable' so it was his deputy, a dark-haired woman called Maria Hill, who dealt with them. At least she'd had the grace to appear embarrassed and ashamed by what S.H.I.E.L.D. had done, sympathetic in her questioning of Sara. To do Agent Hill credit, she was eager to give Clint every chance and delayed the process as long as she could, but by the end of the week an Agent Call and Respond message was sent out across S.H.I.E.L.D. communication frequencies.
Steve explained this meant Clint had 48 hours to report in to the nearest Field Office or be marked as a rogue agent.
That news had almost broken what little self-control Sara had left. These people had torn the man she loved apart and now they were going to hunt him like some wild animal? God knows what they would do to Clint if they caught him, or even if he would let himself be taken alive after what they'd already put him through.
Beth had been taken in for questioning just the day after, and it sounded like the agents who spoke to her hadn't been as sympathetic or understanding as Agent Hill.
"He's a killer, Sara, a paid assassin. Six warrants from the FBI and eight international arrest warrants, just for the ones they know about…" Beth was almost pleading, desperate to make her sister understand the seriousness of her situation "These people were only protecting him because he agreed to do the killings they wanted, now he's out there and he's dangerous!"
"That's not…" Sara sat hunched in the corner of the couch in Beth's living room, arms wrapped around her knees; trying to make herself as small as possible. "It's not what he's like…"
"Oh really?" A harsh, frightened edge crept into Beth's voice "What about that family in West Virginia, before he met you, his family? He cut them to pieces. The man's a monster, they say he's criminally insane. How you can even bear to hear his name…"
The worst thing was Clint had done all these things, and more, when he'd been the hitman known as Ronin. She'd almost passed out, reading that name in the file Maria showed her, remembering the cold-eyed dream lover who made her skin shiver. Was she going insane as well? Trying to defend him to Beth just made her sound like one of these sad women who sent love-letters to serial killers.
Beth sat down on the couch and put her hand on her sister's arm. Sara looked miserable and defeated; nothing like the laughing, vivacious young woman she'd been a few days ago. It was clear how much she loved that monster, and how carefully he'd entrapped her sweet, trusting little Sara.
"I'm not stupid" she said to her, gently "I've figured out who Steve Rogers is, and it's not too big a leap to work out who Clint has to be; maybe he was a good man once, but something a long time ago drove him over the edge. I think a very seductive, ruthless, insane, man has dragged you into what you think is a glamourous secret world and you don't want to let it go. It's dangerous, Sara. People like us don't belong there…"
"They did things to him, Beth" Sara replied quietly "He's scared and he needs me…"
"He doesn't! None of them do!" It was difficult to keep the anger and frustration from creeping back, it was easy to forget how stubborn Sara could be when she had her mind set on something "Come home, Little Sara, forget about all of this."
Sara shook her head
"I can't Beth, I'm really sorry but I can't; not after everything that's happened" She stood and picked up her coat "I have to get back…"
"To Tony and Pepper?" There was no disguising the sharpness now "They're not your parents, Sara."
"No…" said Sara sadly, pausing at the door; thinking of Tony's deep generosity and Pepper's open, compassionate, warmth "No, they're not."
Damn!
That comment about parents had been a big mistake, Beth thought as she poured herself a glass of wine. The whole conversation had been a colossal fuckup, she hadn't wanted the evening to go this way at all. Pushing Sara in this state was a stupid thing to do; making her cling harder to this fantasy of the wronged tough-guy with a heart of gold. She wasn't ready to see the monster yet, unwilling to acknowledge how completely she'd been taken in by a lop-sided grin and a few soft words.
Dr Corben had explained it all to her, how men like Barton preyed on naïve, vulnerable, young women; sucking them in with tales of hard luck and bad choices until they were totally hooked. A kind-hearted girl like Sara, wanting to see only the best in everyone, was an easy target, and the humiliating truth too painful to accept just now.
Beth sat down on the couch and tucked her feet up under her. Tiger strolled across the back of the couch and draped himself across her shoulders, purring softly. Beth laughed despite herself, live fur was the only ethical choice. She should let Sara have her space for a few weeks, stop pushing. She'd soon run out of tears for the grey-eyed assassin and be ready to listen to reason.
Since when did someone in love ever listen to reason?
Beth took another sip of wine to dull that treacherous little voice inside and rubbed her cheek against Tiger's broad flat ginger head.
"Never fall in love, Tiger" she advised him "It's a fool's game."