Author's Note: Thank you for your patience everyone! It was a crazy weekend! But next week we will be able to our usual schedule! Extra thank you to IrethOfMirkwood; JRBarton; Katie MacAlpine; anaticulapraecantrix; and BrokenKestral for taking the time to review the last chapter! I very much appreciate it! You guys are seriously amazing and I so appreciate your support!

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
SENSORY DEPRIVATION

The downside of standing above the action, watching the backs of all five of your teammates at once, was that you presented a clear and lone target to the enemy… and sometimes you forgot to watch your own back.

"Cap, incoming hostiles on your four o'clock," Clint reported as he loosed an arrow to take out a hostile coming up directly behind Natasha as she took down two others.

As he was reaching for his next arrow, something prickled on the back of Clint's neck, and he whipped around, loading and firing an arrow in the next breath. The hostile that had just come through the access door to the roof he was standing on collapsed in the doorway. But not before the grenade left his hand.

"Sonofa-" Clint had enough time to spit before the grenade detonated mere feet from him.

Instinct took over as Clint dropped, trying to make himself as small as possible. There was a thunderous CRACK and a blinding light that burned through his vision before he got the chance to close his eyes, and he braced himself to feel the bite of the inevitable fire… but it didn't come.

"Clint!" he heard Natasha shouting through the still miraculously functioning comms., just a hint of panic in her normally calm voice.

"Hawkeye, report!" Steve called immediately after.

"Flash bomb," Clint grunted even as he was realizing what had happened. He shook his suddenly pounding head, blinking rapidly, but his vision was almost completely whited out. He swallowed the panic he felt. "Vision's been compromised."

"Stay there, I'm on my way," Natasha said.

"Well, I was going to go for a jog, but if you insist," Clint muttered sarcastically.

A string of Russian insults floated over the comms. and Clint couldn't help the small smile.

He felt exposed and tense as he waited for Natasha, trying his best to keep from panicking. He remained in his crouched position as he fiddled with his hearing aids to make sure the volume was as high up as it'd go, hoping he'd be able to hear if any other enemies made it to the roof before Natasha got there.

I'm dangerously close to becoming the deaf, dumb and blind guy, Clint thought dully to himself.

"On your six, Barton," came Natasha's voice just as he heard the door to the roof fly open.

Clint let out a relieved breath, immediately feeling his blood pressure lower with Natasha's presence with him on the roof. Carefully he pushed himself to his feet, reaching out to the small wall that surrounded the roof for stability. He felt Natasha approach him and was expecting the feel of fabric being tied around his head, a blindfold to prevent any further damage to his eyes until they could get medical attention.

This wasn't their first rodeo.

"All I got is my handgun," she said briskly, always one to get right down to business. "We're going to have to use your bow."

"Got it," Clint said as he turned back toward where he knew the ledge of the roof was.

He felt her hand on his back, gently positioning him. Then he loaded an arrow, nocking and drawing it in one smooth motion. Natasha wasn't able to draw his bow – no one at SHIELD could, because of his excessive draw weight which awarded him unheard of power from the weapon – so he would have to fire while she aimed.

Natasha pressed into his back, her chin hovering just above his shoulder in order to get the best aim that she could. Then she put a light hand on the back of his left hand which was braced on his riser in order to help her shift his aim.

"Now," she said, and Clint immediately released the bow string. She leaned away so that he could nock and draw another arrow and then she leaned back in, adjusting is aim slightly. "Now."

It was about the fourth arrow before there was another voice coming over the comms.

"A little close for comfort, Romanoff," Steve said, a little breathless.

"Not all of us see better at a distance, Rogers," Natasha shot back irritably.

"We need to move closer?" Clint asked, an arrow nocked loosely but not yet drawn.

There was a pause and Clint could feel Natasha's hair brush the back of his neck as she was turning her head to look around.

"No, this is going to be our best vantage point," she said. She tapped his shoulder. "Ready." Clint obediently drew the arrow. Natasha adjusted his aim. "Now."

"It's finally happening," Tony commented offhandedly over the comms. "Barton and Romanoff are melding into a single terrifying entity."

As Clint nocked another arrow, Natasha suddenly shifted his aim up, and he couldn't help but smirk, already knowing what she was doing as he listened to the roar from Iron Man's repulsors flying by.

"You might want to watch your mouth, Stark," Natasha warned.

"Now, Nat," Clint said, his tone bordering on a calming quality, despite where he was going with the statement. "Don't shoot Stark… with one of those arrows. You need an explosive arrow to crack his armor. Aim for a joint."

"If you're trying to convince me that you two aren't terrifying, you've epically failed," Tony quipped.

"Guys?" came Steve's tense voice. "Can we maybe… FOCUS?"

"Just multi-tasking, Cap," Natasha said conversationally as she shifted Clint's aim back down to the battle below. "No need to get your All-American boxers bunched." She paused, adjusting Clint's aim slightly. "Now."

Clint smiled as he released another arrow.

The battle seemed to last an excessively long time, but Clint attributed that to the frustration of not being able to see anything. At long last, a gentle hand on his forearm indicated that he should lower his bow.

"We win?" Clint asked tiredly.

"Looks like it," Natasha confirmed. "C'mon, let's meet up with the rest of the team."

As Clint turned, he stumbled uncharacteristically, flinching at the hand suddenly on his arm. He groaned lowly in frustration, feeling horribly disoriented and exposed without his eyesight.

"Easy, Clint," Natasha said lowly. "It's most likely only temporary. Let's see if Dr. Banner is back yet and he can take a look."

Trust Natasha to be able to see through to what he was really thinking.

Clint walked a step behind Natasha, his hand just ghosting along her back to keep track of her as they headed back down the stairs and out of the building, heading for the rendezvous point. Clint consciously held his head up as they walked, trying to retain at least some of his dignity for when they met up with the rest of the team.

"Look everyone, it's William Tell!" Of course, he heard Tony's voice before anyone else's as they assumedly approached the rendezvous point. There was a beat of silence. "C'mon, anyone? William Tell? Shot an apple off his kid's head while blindfolded." Another pause. "I think. Wait, was he blindfolded?"

"You okay, Barton?" came Steve's voice, as it seemed as a group they had decided to ignore Tony's rambling.

"I've had worse days, Cap," Clint admitted, but even he could hear the tension in his own tone.

"Hulk, any chance we could talk with Banner?" Natasha spoke up.

Great. Apparently, Bruce was still Hulked.

"Puny Banner," Hulk growled, the sound rumbling lowly through Clint's bones. Clint took an uneasy half step away from the source of the noise.

"Yes, but puny Banner has seven more Ph.D's than you do," Tony pointed out.

There was a roar and Clint felt the ground under his feet shift as the Hulk moved suddenly. There were several shouts that Clint couldn't quite place as well as Tony's panicked cursing. Clint's adrenaline spiked, taking another panicked step back as he gripped his bow tighter. He could sense rather than really feel Natasha throw her arm out in front of him, placing herself between him and the commotion.

"You're alright, Hulk is chasing Tony in the other direction," she told him quietly.

Despite the comfort, Clint suddenly felt like he was suddenly standing on the edge of the cliff.

He almost jumped out of his skin a moment later when Steve's voice suddenly came from right next to him. "Unfortunately, it looks like we're not going to get to talk to Dr. Banner for a while. Let's get back to the jet."

Feeling more worn and weary than he had even just a few minutes ago, Clint reached out and took hold of Natasha's forearm and let her lead him back to where they had left the Quinjet. He felt Steve fall in on his other side and he couldn't deny that it made him feel less exposed. As they made their way up the ramp of the jet, the metal floor was a comfort under his feet as he felt the tension in his muscles marginally relax.

"Here, there's a seat right behind you," Natasha told him gently, guiding him into the seat. "Can I check your eyes?"

Clint tiredly gave an inviting wave, giving his silent permission.

She carefully untied the cloth from his head and as she removed it, he kept his eyes closed for a moment. He took a couple steadying breaths before he gingerly blinked his eyes open. He was immensely grateful that someone had cut most of the lights in the jet, but even the minimal light caused him intense pain. He grimaced but kept blinking until he was able to blearily make out the dark blur of a person in front of him.

"Can you see anything?" Natasha questioned, a soft note of concern in her tone, her voice emanating from the blur in front of him.

"Dark blurs," Clint mumbled as he continued to blink. "Which is actually an improvement."

He heard Natasha sigh in relief. Despite her assurances, she had been worried too.

They lapsed into silence as they settled in to wait for Tony and Bruce to return. Clint shifted uncomfortably, resisting the urge to rub at his eyes, knowing that would only make things worse. He knew from experience that all he could really do was wait for his eyes to recover, but that didn't make him any less impatient.

"You know, we appreciate what you do, Barton," Steve suddenly spoke up.

Clint blinked, his eyes ghosting in the general direction of Steve's voice. "What?"

"I'm just… not sure any of us have said it out loud," Steve went on as if he were realizing how true the statement was as he spoke. "You're one guy who has everybody's back in a fight. It's damn impressive. Just don't forget to watch your own back from time to time. Okay, Hawkeye?"

And Clint couldn't help but smile a little. "You got it, Cap."

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