Summary: After suffering a crippling and devastating betrayal from someone he trusted, Clint struggles with his demons as he goes on a quest for vengeance. Grace Melnychenko Drăgoi struggles to cope, after a traumatic ordeal that collides her with a vengeful archer. Co – Written with snowqueen79. Clint/OC, Bucky/OC, Steve/Natasha, and other pairings. Rated M for violence, upsetting scenes and eventual smut.
Downfall Of Us All
Chapter 36
"Natasha," Clint said grimly, knowing exactly what they were after. "Who do they have?"
"Natasha, Helen, Jemma, Lilia, Cassie and all the other children, Sophie, and Grace," Sharon told him.
Clint's blood ran cold. "We need to find Steve and Bucky. Where's Tony?"
"He took the new puppy for a walk, but he's been gone a while," Sharon explained. "Not sure about Bucky and Steve."
Clint grabbed his phone, hitting Bucky's contact. It was answered quickly. "Hey, Clint. What's up?"
"Bucky, is Steve with you?" He asked, using code.
"Yes, he is," Bucky said calmly. "On our way to you."
Clint was grateful the two super soldiers were on their way. He didn't want to take chances with Grace any more than Bucky wanted to take chances with Sophie. And when Steve found out Nat and his child were in danger? There'd be hell to pay.
"With the security system compromised," Shuri said bringing up a screen from her phone, "we'll need a way to see what is happening."
"Jane betrayed them?" Thor asked numbly, looking as if he couldn't quite believe what he'd heard. "How could she compromise the safety of our child."
Clint shook his head. He knew what he wanted to say but being cruel to the god in that moment wasn't helping anything. "I don't know, man. We need to get your son to safety and secure her, so she can't hurt herself or anyone else until we can get to the bottom of it."
Thor gave a curt nod, Loki regarded Clint with curiosity. "It would seem if Pepper were involved, they had no need to hack into the security system. It would be best off if we took her into custody too."
Clint nodded too the trickster – fuck him but he was kind of starting to like the guy – and moved to see Shuri's screen better. Grace and Sophie were huddled in the living room, Sophie in a protective stance around the children and his Gracie looking as if she'd happily kill anyone who touched Nat who looked pale and shaken in one of the chairs.
That's my girl. Hang in there. I'm coming!
"Hey!" Tony greeted them, walking his new dog and carrying a huge bag of donuts. "What did I miss? Did My Chemical Romance get back together?"
He'd barely gotten the words out when he came to a stop behind the group, going up on his toes to see past Thor's shoulder.
"What the fuck? What are they doing with my Lilia and Howard?" The fear in his tone was unmistakable.
Sharon brought Tony up to speed as Steve and Bucky reached them. Steve studied what Shuri had to show him, Bucky took one look at Sophie on the screen and looked like he was about to go back into Winter Soldier mode. Clint placed a hand on his shoulder.
"We'll get them," he assured him.
"Get who?" Adrian called, coming to see what was up since they had Venom secured.
When Sam, Wanda, Vision, and their brother were brought up to speed, Adrian's demeanor matched Bucky's perfectly. They looked ready to rip off heads and worry about consequences later.
"Steve, what's the plan?" Clint asked quietly. There was movement on the screen. Something was getting ready to happen.
"We need to plan a rescue out carefully, Calderon and Morse are heavily armed, and we don't know how many people they've got to help them." Steve said finally, his heart pounding as he thought of Natasha and their unborn baby.
"I'm on it, Johnson can you do a visual sweep over the compound? There might be mercenaries lurking around in the building, and rigging it to explode," Sharon said grimly to her radio, Daisy confirmed and went to work.
Grace rubbed Natasha's back gently, she'd started throwing up and none of them, knew what was wrong. Grace had given her a glass of water but was scared of what Calderon and Morse intended to do with them.
"Just let the children go, please Morse. They haven't done anything to you two, or Ross, they're innocent. Please let them go," Grace said quietly, refusing to back down from Calderon's menacing glare.
"It's because of people like you, your freak sister and brother, not to mention that Spider - Man, people are dead or hurt. You've all been getting away with too much!" Calderon snarled furiously, and violently slapped her.
Grace's head snapped back from the slap, and she glared at Calderon with an expression of hatred, when Bobbi entered the room. She looked calm, almost as if she knew something and they didn't.
"Romanoff will be coming with us, and you will be too, considering what you did to Director Gonzales. So, will the rest of you and you'll all be placed in the Raft." Bobbi announced coldly, and left to speak to someone on the radio.
"We need to get the children out of here, soon. I'm not letting them go to the Raft, just so they can be tortured," Grace said fiercely, the left side of her face was starting to bruise.
Bucky knew something was happening, when they saw a SWAT team arriving, and he tried to keep the Winter Soldier at bay. The soldier was angry, infuriated that someone was harming his spider, his Sophie.
There would be hell to pay, if those bastards had hurt her.
His eyes flicked to the screen, and he froze as Sophie was shoved onto a chair, while others were held at gunpoint. Grace had a large bruise on the left side of her face, while helping Natasha sit down.
That was when two men stormed over, and started beating Sophie, viciously. She tried to fight back but one of them had pulled out a knife and stabbed her in the side.
Sophie cried out in pain, and Bucky felt like storming into the compound, these bastards were hurting his girl. His dame, and he gripped his sniper rifle tightly.
"Bucky, Scott and Hope have found a way for us to get into the compound undetected." Steve said quietly, Bucky nodded and followed him with T'Challa.
He was going to make them suffer, for hurting his Sophie.
Calderon had ordered the women to be separated, and Lilia was doing everything she could to fight off the man, who was trying to unbutton her blouse. She wouldn't let these people, or Pepper hurt Howard. Howard was screaming, his loud cries echoing through the compound, as she felt the man drag her by the hair. She screamed in pain, and desperation, when she saw it.
A screwdriver, she carefully picked it up and stabbed him in the side with it, as Grace and Sophie attacked him. The man yelled in pain, as Tony and the others stormed into the compound.
"You bitch! You ruined my life and took everything from me!" Pepper screamed enraged, and charged at her, as Tony ran over to help her. Howard crying in his Moses basket.
Lilia barely avoided being gutted in the stomach, and Tony tried to restrain her, but Pepper's skin flushed dark orange. Lilia kicked her away from Howard's basket.
"He's MY son," Lilia glared at her. "The rest I didn't ruin! I didn't take it from you! You threw it away like so much rubbish. Tough shit! I'm done with you! I can't bear the sight of you anymore!"
Lilia had reached the end of her temper and Tony panicked. Pepper's skin showed signs of Extremis. She could very easily kill his girl.
"Lilia, no!" Sophie screamed when Pepper backhanded Lilia, sent her flying like a weightless doll. In horror, she watched the smaller woman hit the wall then crumple to the floor.
"Grace," Sophie called, her gaze locking with Pepper's.
"I'm with you."
A quick glance over her shoulder showed her that Tony was getting Lilia and Howard out of there. Concern edged his features. Sophie nodded to him, letting him know she had this.
And she did. Her and Grace.
"Fucking spider bitch!" Pepper spat at her.
Sophie shook her head at Tony's former love. "Better to be a spider bitch than be a traitor bitch."
Pepper charged at Sophie who got out of her way easily, jumping to the ceiling and watching as the other woman charged by. She shot venom at her, catching her in the shoulder and the leg. Pepper screamed whether in pain or anger, she couldn't tell. She came again for Sophie, but webbing flew at her, throwing her in the opposite direction, against the wall.
Grace had aimed well. Sending another shot of webbing to hold her to the wall but again, her skin flared like hot embers and the webbing melted.
"I can take you both," Pepper informed her. "I'll be doing everyone a favour."
Pepper again aimed for Sophie, but Grace shot her with more venom. Pepper yelled, looked indignant. "That shit hurts."
"It's supposed to," Grace told her. "Getting slapped upside, the head and stabbed as my sister was, didn't feel good either."
But she'd made a mistake in reminding Pepper of that. Sophie had lost some blood and now Pepper was eying her side. Always go for the weakest point.
"Shit," Sophie muttered.
"I'm sorry," Grace muttered.
"Later!" Pepper ran at Sophie, again Sophie swung away and did her best to protect her vulnerable side. She came around and swung at Pepper, taking the woman down before she could hit Grace but then winced at the sound of a gunshot before pain bloomed in her thigh.
Bobbi stood aiming at her coldly as if she were going to shoot her again.
Grace shot webbing at her gun, plucked it out of her grasp.
"Bitch!" Bobbi screamed as Grace rushed towards Pepper to protect her sister.
Above Sophie, Grace engaged in hand to hand combat with Pepper, doing a decent job. She was feeling light-headed when someone grabbed her by her hair and began dragging her across the floor. Sophie was weak, but she wasn't dead. She began fighting the other woman with everything she had.
"Let me go!" Sophie hissed at her as she watched the room moving by.
Just as quickly, the movement stopped, and her hair was released.
An all too quiet voice said, "She said to let her go."
Both of them looked up to see it was Bucky who had spoken, and his face was murderous as he glared at Bobbi. She glared back, a defiant expression on her face.
Both of them started fighting, with Bucky gaining the upper hand on Bobbi, who was starting to tire. That was the thing about Bucky, he was a super - soldier, Bobbi wasn't and that played in his favor.
He knocked her out and turned to Sophie, she was slumped on the floor pale, and bleeding heavily. He quickly picked her up, and carried her outside.
"Sophie, Sophie keep your eyes open for me, doll. We need to get you to Helen, and Shuri." Bucky urged firmly, Sophie opened her eyes weakly, as Grace covered them.
"Bucky, I feel cold. Why do I feel so cold?" Sophie asked weakly, Bucky ran faster, he knew Grace could take care of herself, but he felt bad for leaving her behind.
"Hang in there, Sophie. You're gonna be alright, I promise," He repeated desperately clutching her tightly, they reached the others and Sophie was placed on a medical stretcher.
Grace faced off against Pepper who seemed to have embraced the Extrimis in her body, her whole body had turned fiery. She threw her webbing, but it didn't last for long.
She avoided a punch from Pepper, and kicked her in the stomach, when Bobbi punched her across the face. She landed on the floor, and grimaced in pain, as Pepper kicked her in the ribs.
"You should have heard your son, Melynchenko. He didn't scream, until our scientists started experimenting on him!" Bobbi taunted cruelly, Grace felt hatred burn through her.
This bitch had helped kill her son, her precious Zach who had never hurt anyone in his life. But that hadn't mattered to Gonzales, or Ross, they'd murdered her son, and her mother.
Bastards.
Grace darted out of the way, as Bobbi's bo staff hit her in the side, slicing through her t-shirt, she cursed in pain. She rolled out of the way, only to see a flash of black. Before Bobbi could impale her with the bo staff, an arrow sent a shockwave through the room. It sent Pepper and Bobbi backwards, as Clint arrived suited up.
Clint raced to Grace's side, she had a few cuts and bruises on her face, and was clutching her left shoulder in pain. He saw blood from a stab wound and stood beside her.
"Both of you stand down, now! You're damn lucky Loki hasn't come charging in here, pissed off and murderous." Clint warned coldly, his face menacing, these two had tried to kill his girl, had hurt Sophie, Lilia and Jemma, and they'd tried to hurt Natasha and Helen.
No one hurt his family.
Bobbi laughed coldly, her blue eyes flickering onto him, and then they lingered on Grace coldly, she smirked.
"So, you're fucking the freak?"
"You're the one torturing and killing innocent women and children and you're calling her a fucking freak?" Clint huffed out a humourless laugh. "That's funny. Makes me glad we're divorced."
"They aren't innocent women and children," Bobbi spat. "They aren't strictly human. And we're divorced because you're a fucking idiot."
Bobbi and Clint started fighting and the sheer hatred between them stopped Grace and Pepper cold for a beat. Pepper ran at Grace and they began fighting again. Pepper was so strong because of the Extremis and Grace was struggling to keep up, particularly when her webbing was burning off her like butter on a hot pan.
"They shouldn't have created you at all," Pepper told her coldly, stalking towards her. "You and your kind ruined my life. You've ruined everyone's lives and you must be destroyed."
Grace was tired of being called a freak, for having her beloved son insulted and thrown in her face. She was tired of it all. She took a menacing step towards Pepper.
"But I was created and so was my sister and brother," Grace growled at her. "So were many of us. We're here. And we have just as much right to life as you and anyone else. Why can't you leave us the fuck alone?"
"Because you ruined my life!" Pepper ran at her, backhanding Grace so that she flew up against a wall and fortunately, she had the wherewithal to stay there.
"I didn't do anything to your life," Grace told her. "You did. Why can't you leave us alone? Leave us in peace? We're fighting for the so-called normal people. Like you once were. And you hate us? Isn't that bad enough?"
"What do you mean like I once was?" Pepper stopped, looking herself over as if Grace had insulted her fashion sense.
"Look at you," Grace pointed out. "You're glowing orange like an ember. That's not freaky? Did you agree to that just to wipe us out? Is your hatred so strong you became a freak to kill us?"
"I'm not a freak like you," Pepper enunciated each of her words slowly.
"What's a freak to you then?" Grace wanted to know. "Because we're different from you? That means we're not good enough?"
Pepper laughed. "Your words, not mine."
Running at Grace, Pepper punched through the wall trying to take her out as Clint and Bobbi fought on below.
"Gracie, hang on," Clint told her without looking. "I'm coming."
"No, you're dying," Bobbi told him, pulling a blade from her sleeve and burying it between Clint's ribs, twisting it viciously as he yelled out.
"Clint!" Grace called trying to get Pepper out of the way, so she could see what happened to her lover.
"You've got bigger problems, you inferior freak bitch," Pepper told her, surprising her by grasping her web when Grace shot it at her and tugging it hard to make Grace sail across the air and into her clutches. With her throat in Pepper's strong hand, Grace's own fingers tried to pry her off, but it was impossible. All she had to do was tighten her fist and her neck was broken.
When a huge wave of blue light burst through the room, Grace flew out of Pepper's clutches, Bobbi was flung away from Clint who was able to pull out the knife once he'd come to a stop.
In the center of the light that had just torn its way into the room, stood Loki, regal in his green armour and with his golden horns gleaming.
"Sorry, I'm late Barton," Loki said with an amused smirk.
"Nah, you're good," Clint said weakly.
Glancing from Pepper to Bobbi, Loki's smiled became a sneer. "Now, which of you wants to see a real an inferior freak bitch?"
Pepper snarled and lunged at him, Loki easily side stepped her as Grace and Clint took on Bobbi, who had pulled out two battle staves, that glowed.
Clint side stepped her attacks and kicked one of her staves away, when Bobbi tasered Grace with the tip of it. She yelled in pain, clutching her side as an electrical surge went through her.
Bobbi laughed cruelly at her, and Grace saw red, she threw a spider web at her, and it lined her to the wall. She ran over to where Clint was, and saw he was bleeding badly.
She heard Pepper yell in anger, and saw Loki had subdued her as two SHEILD agents arrested her, and Bobbi. She had no idea where Jane was, but she was more worried about Clint and Sophie.
"C'mon, let's get you to Helen, Clint." Grace said softly, Clint nodded as she and Loki helped him out of the compound. It was going to need to be redecorated, after the fight.
Tony hadn't left Lilia's side since she'd been knocked out by Pepper, Sophie was in the bed next to her, bandages covering the stab wound on her left side. Clint was propped on pillows, his chest wrapped in bandages, where Bobbi had stabbed him, while Grace's gunshot wound on her left upper thigh healed.
"Pepper, Bobbi and Calderon are being taken to the Raft, and Jane is being questioned by Steve and Natasha. I just hope we don't have any more surprises." Adrian said quietly, as he entered the room with Wanda, Loki was with Jemma.
Everyone nodded grimly, Bucky sat next to Sophie and held her hand tightly in his, as the monitors beeped quietly. Sophie had been badly hurt, and the doctors were worried about internal damage to her liver.
His Sophie was a fighter, she was going to fight this.
Pietro whistled softly in his cell in the maximum-security cell, of the Raft, as he smirked slightly to himself. The Avengers had thought they were safe, that HYDRA was destroyed but it wasn't.
It was only just beginning, and he would personally see to it that his sister suffered dearly, for her betrayal. The Avengers and Tony Stark had ruined their lives, and Sokovia.
Tony Stark would lose everyone he loved, piece by piece.
Clint woke up blearily to see he was in a hospital room, and Grace was sitting in a chair, by his bed. She was dressed in a pair of jeans, a Rolling Stones t - shirt and her blonde hair was pulled into a messy bun.
"Grace, are you and the others ok? What happened?" He asked worriedly, Grace smiled reassuringly at him, and squeezed his hand, tears brimming in her eyes.
She looked like she'd been crying, and his heart broke.
"Clint, try not to move. You've lost a lot of blood, and your left upper rib was punctured." Grace said softly, placing her hand on his face.
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