That's when all hell broke loose. Barney punched Clint, Clint went full throttle on Barney. The two fought and fought, punching and kicking and even a bite here and there. The others in the gang tried to go after Clint as well, but Natasha and Thor kept them away. Loki ran off and came back a moment later with more people, people with bats and knives and probably a concealed gun or two.
Clint payed no attention to them though. He focused soley on pounding his brother. As Barney hit Clint under the ribs, Clint hit back with a kick to the leg that crumpled the older Barton.
Well he was catching his breath and Barney was fighting to stand, Clint noticed all the others coming over. Steve, Tony and Bruce just jumped right in. Tony was holding what looked like a tazer of some sort that he'd probably modified to be even stronger. Steve was one of the strongest guys Clint knew and was punching people out left and right. Bruce, now that was a surprise. The mild mannered nerd looked like a beast. Clint now understood that whole 'Hulk' nickname now. The kid was pounding more people than Steve and Thor, both of which were twice the shaggy boys size.
The girls were mainly off to the side, though Clint noticed Pepper had a couple of rocks and Darcy had a normal tazer and both looked ready to defend themselves and each other no matter what should someone go near them. Clint fought back his smile.
Then Barney kicked up at him and knocked Clint onto his back. Clint wheezed a moment while Barney stood. The younger stood shakily and just barely dodged his brothers punch, managing to grab the arm as he did so. Clint then successfully flipped his brother over.
The karate and street fighting he'd studied were finally coming in handy.
Barney stood up and landed a well placed kick to Clints ribs. Clint didn't stop and threw his fist straight at Barney's head. Blood splattered out of his nose and Clints knuckles. That was when it dawned on Clint.
This was his brother he was fighting. What the hell was wrong with him? Barney might be a jerk now, but they shouldn't be doing this! They were so close when they were younger. Then their mom died and everything changed. Clint had felt so alone in the following years, but how had Barney felt? Clint had never stopped to think how the problems they'd faced together had affected his strong older brother.
Barney had changed so much, but, now that Clint thought back on it, his brother had also looked so pained by the experience. He'd known their father longer, known their mother longer. Barney had been alive 2 years more than Clint, had he managed to become closer than Clint thought to their mother in that time? Had he known their mom before she'd shut down? Had he seen a nicer side to their father?
Clint froze in his actions and stared down at his older brother. He'd never felt so small as he did at that moment. He felt like he was about to disappear into nothing. He and his brother were beating eachother, they were behaving no better than the man they hated. How had it come to this?
Barney stood and started to beat up Clint again, but Clint wasn't fighting back anymore. He stood if knocked down, but he refused to hit back. He decided it was time Barney let out his pain. Even if it meant getting used as a punching bag.
"What the fuck are you doing?!" Barney roared as Clint stood up again. "FIGHT THE FUCK BACK!"
"No." Clint said quietly. He realized his face was wet. When had he started to cry? "You need this. You need to get out your anger."
"The fuck are you talking about?" Barney yelled. He kicked Clint in the stomache for good measure.
Clint struggled to catch his breath. He noticed a taste of iron in his mouth and couldn't open one eye because of the blood in it. He held his ribs as he stood up straight again. "I never noticed it before." Punch to the face. "How much you were hurting." Kick to the knee. "You..you were more damaged than me by what happened." Elbow to the head. "I..I...got beat more often than...you, but you..." Punch to gut. "You...w-were more a-affected buh-by it." Roundhouse to the hip. "I-I'm sorry...Barney...for not notic...noticing." Things were starting to go black. Clint couldn't feel his legs and was suddenly aware that he couldn't hear. He remembered, rather randomly, that he'd never told his friends he wore hearing aids. He spoke again as his legs crumpled and he fell to his knees. "Noticing how it hurt you." His voice was stronger than he would think it to be, or at least he felt it was. He couldn't hear himself, but the vibrations in his throat from the words were steady.
"I'm sorry I abandonded you, Barney." Clint said, staring his brother in the eye. He faintly recognized the shininess in his brothers eyes as tears fighting to escape. "I'm sorry I left you to get through everything on your own. I'm sorry I wasn't a good brother..."
Clint fainted to the sight of his brother crying.
