Day 22

Do These Tacos Taste Funny To You?

Poisoned | Drugged | Withdrawal

"Alright, team, I think it's safe to say this is a dead end," Tony announced as he glanced around the empty room in the compound they had been searching. "What do you say, we call it a day?"

"I think Tony's right," Steve agreed into his comm. They had split off into two teams, with him and Tony searching one wing of the compound while Natasha and Clint searched the other. "This place has been abandoned for years. Looks like we got a bad lead. Meet back here and we can head out."

"Sounds good," Natasha agreed over the line.

"Roger, Rogers," Clint said with a laugh. "Heading your way."

A few minutes later, Natasha strode into the room where Steve and Tony were waiting from a door on their left.

"Where's Clint?" Steve asked, confused.

"We split up to cover more ground," Natasha said. "He should be here in a minute."

"Any day now, Barton," Tony said into the comm. "I'm getting hungry. I'm thinking we hit a drive-thru on the way home. You can fly the Quinjet through one of those, right?"

"Don't tempt me, Stark," Clint said with a laugh.

"Seriously, though, don't tempt him," Natasha said as she glared at Tony. "He'll actually try it."

"Killjoy," Tony said, but everyone could hear the smirk in his voice behind his faceplate.

"Alright, I'm here," Clint announced as he appeared just on the other side of a doorway over to their right, grinning mischievously, as if he were already thinking about how he could get a jet into a drive thru. "Let's get-"

The moment that Clint passed through the doorway, an explosion of yellow tinted gas suddenly shot out of the doorframe, instantly filling the space. It happened so quickly, no one had time to really react, and it wasn't until Clint was screaming that any of them understood what was happening.

"Clint!" Natasha yelled as she lunged forward, only to be caught around the middle by Steve and pushed back toward Tony.

"Get her out of here!" Steve roared at Tony. "I got Clint!"

Because poisonous gas triggered by a booby trap didn't stay in one place. It spread.

As Tony's suit whirred to life, grabbing Natasha and jetting to the nearest exit, Steve ran forward. He was much less affected than most when it came to things like poison, but even he could feel a stinging sensation prickling his skin as he leapt into the yellow tinted air still hanging in the doorway. Clint had dropped to his knees, jerking wildly as he yelled out in agony, completely oblivious to anything else going on around him.

Steve quickly scooped up Clint in his arms and then turned and ran as fast as he could, not stopping until they were back outside.

"Clint!" Natasha gasped as she and Tony ran over to where Steve had stopped and carefully lay Clint down in the grass in order to assess his condition.

"Stop, don't touch him," Steve warned, throwing out an arm to stop Natasha's approach. "It's some kind of nerve agent, he could still have residue on his skin and clothes." He had seen this before back in the war. "Bruce-"

"He's already on his way," Tony said quickly.

Clint didn't appear aware that they were there. He wheezed and coughed horribly as his body twitched and jerked on the ground. Even Steve was coughing on whatever poison they had been doused with, his skin still feeling itchy and uncomfortable. That spoke to how powerful the poison in the gas really was.

"Bruce, how far out are you?" Steve demanded over the comm.

"Two minutes, max," Bruce panted over the line. "I've got my med bag, I've got something to counteract the nerve agent in it."

"Okay, hurry," Steve said anxiously as they were all forced to stare down at Clint, still in clear agony as he curled in on himself, wheezing desperately for breath.

If his airway was compromised…

"I'm here!" Bruce huffed only a minute later as he ran around the corner. He dropped to his knees about a foot away from Clint, swinging his med bag around and immediately digging around in it. "Here, inject this into his thigh," Bruce said, thrusting and autoinjector to Steve, who followed the orders without question or hesitation, jamming it into Clint's outer thigh. Clint barely seemed to notice as he continued to jerk and spasm painfully. "Now this one," Bruce said, holding out another autoinjector.

This time, as Steve jammed it into Clint's thigh, the arched suddenly jerked upward, heaving in the first deep breath since the gas had hit him. He felt back to the ground, his muscles still spasming, though not nearly as violently as before. He was still gasping for breath, but it didn't sound nearly as painful or panicked as it did.

"Clint?" Steve said.

"Holy… shit…" Clint gasped breathlessly.

Steve let out a relieved sigh as he sat back on his heels. "Thank god."

"What did you give him?" Tony asked.

"The first injection was atropine and the second was pralidoxime chloride," Bruce said. "Both are needed to counteract any kind of nerve agent. Steve, I need you to carry him back to the Quinjet, since you've already been exposed. We'll need to put you both through a decontamination protocol." He eyed him as Steve let out a dry cough. "I might give you a dose back at the jet, just to be on the safe side."

Steve nodded. "But Clint will be okay?"

"He may need another dose back at the jet… but yes, he should be okay," Bruce assured them.

"Never a dull moment," Tony said with a weary sigh.