Sam, Bruce, Natasha, Bucky and Steve looked over the small collection of Clint's belongings that Tony, Thor, Vision and Rhodey had brought back from the Hydra base. Tony, Thor, Rhodey and Vision had all gone to bed for a few hours, as none of them had slept during their journey to the HYDRA base and back, and Wanda and Pietro were with Clint, leaving the rest of the Avengers team looking over what had been found that had appeared to belong to Clint.
Sam's eyes narrowed as he looked at the collection, as if he was putting a puzzle together in his mind, while Natasha hesitantly picked up the toy bird, looking at it curiously.
"Do you think this will help?" Bucky asked, handing over the letter and the photograph to Sam
Sam looked at it, his expression grim, "There's only one way to find out," he admitted.
The group all turned when Wanda chose that moment to enter the room they had assembled in.
"Is Clint alright?' Natasha asked, knowing that the young Sokovian was supposed to be watching Clint with her brother. Wanda nodded.
"He's fine, Pietro just escorted him to the bathroom. I was just letting you all know that he's awake."
"How did he respond to you guys?" Steve asked curiously.
"He did recognize us, but he didn't seem too alarmed. He did ask if we were HYDRA, but once we told him we weren't he believed us. I think he remembered the fact that we were kept caged, otherwise he wouldn't have believed it."
"It's a good sign that he trusted you about that," Sam nodded approving.
"He still nervous about going to the bathroom?" Bruce asked. He'd been the one to take Clint the previous night and Bruce had ensured his back was turned the whole time Clint was in there, able to feel Clint's distrustful gaze on him for the entirety of the visit. It had been enough to make the Hulk stir, deep down, but Bruce had managed to calm the Hulk by thinking of the destruction the Hulk had enacted on the base Clint had been found at.
Wanda simply nodded, not saying anything, and the Avengers all avoided making contact with one another. They were all aware enough of the world to know that it was highly possible that Clint had been sexually abused during his time with Hydra, and that was why he was so particular about not being watched in the bathroom. Without asking Clint, however, there was no way to know for sure.
"Kid's probably hungry, I'll go make up those pancakes for him," Bucky offered, slipping out of the room. Sam had told them all about his discussion with Clint about his favourite foods, and Bucky had been up early that morning mixing up pancake batter. They'd just been waiting for Clint to wake up before he cooked them.
None of the other Avengers begrudged Bucky the chance to cook Clint breakfast. Bucky was actually one of the better cooks on the team, so it wasn't the worst idea, and if it made Bucky feel better about the situation then everybody won.
"Right…I might just go check on how Clint's doing." Sam exhaled, picking up the items that had been liberated from the Hydra base and walking out of the room, Natasha, Bruce, Steve and Wanda following close behind.
AVENGERS
"I wish I could run as fast as you," Clint told Pietro, a shy smile on his face as he looked up at the teenager. After using his powers to get Clint back up onto the bed and secured back in the restraints, the Avenger had then shown off how fast he could move about the room. Pietro beamed, pleased that he'd been able to make the small boy smile. It felt good to help, and knowing how the child had been raised in captivity, just as much an experiment as Pietro and Wanda had been, Pietro was glad that Clint now had a chance at a happy life. It wasn't too late for the little boy, not like it almost had been for Pietro and his sister.
Pietro was drawn from his thoughts by the opening of the door, and the entrance of Sam, with Wanda, Natasha, Bruce and Steve following behind. Beside him, Pietro could almost feel Clint stiffen up at the arrival of the other Avengers, having relaxed minutely earlier.
It was obvious that the other Avengers noticed Clint's reaction to them too, and Steve quickly made up an excuse to check on how Bucky was going in the kitchen, and left, Bruce and Wanda tagging along behind, leaving only Sam, Pietro and Natasha in the room with Clint.
"Hi Clint, Wanda told me you're feeling a bit better today," Sam gently offered. Clint hesitantly nodded, although he eyed the duffle bag wearily. Sam gently put in on Clint's bed.
"Tony, Rhodey, Thor and Vision went back out to the Hydra base," Sam explained, "They went looking to see if there was anything that might belong to you, that you might want."
"Oh," Clint nodded, looking a touch more interested now, a hint of curiosity in his eyes. Sam opened up the duffle bag and pulled out the stuffed toy dog first.
'Lucky!" Clint exclaimed, reaching for the toy. Sam handed it over and Clint hugged it, burying his face in the toy's fur.
"Is he one of your favourites?"
"I…I've had him since I was little," Clint replied hesitantly, "I used to cuddle with him when I was sleeping, until…until they told me I was too big to sleep with him. They were going to get rid of it, but Barney saved Lucky, and I got better at hiding him. I used to hide him in the air vents, because I was the only one who went up there, but…but the last night at the base I…I was sad so I had him in bed with me."
"Sound like Lucky is a good name for him," Natasha smiled from where she stood. Clint turned toward her and a shy smile broke over his face as he clutched the toy dog tightly. Pietro could already tell that no-one would ever try and separate Clint from his toy, and if they did they would have to deal with an angry Natasha.
"We found this too," Sam offered, pulling out a heavy looking book about birds. Clint lowered Lucky the dog, and settled him on the bed beside him, before he reached out and took the book reverently from Sam, resting the large book in his lap. Pietro noticed the unshed tears in the boy's eyes as he ran his fingers over the cover.
"Do you like birds, Clint?" Natasha prompted gently.
Clint nodded, "I used to like watching them flying, up in the air…able to go wherever it was that they wanted," Clint explained, "they didn't just go where they were told, or live in cages."
"You're right," Sam nodded, "Birds are pretty cool."
"But you're biased," Pietro teased with a smile, 'You are the Falcon, you are supposed to think birds are cool."
"Oh, come on. Don't tell me you considered naming yourself Road Runner."
Pietro snorted, "I wouldn't have gone for Road Runner, even if I had chosen a bird name. The Ostrich is the fastest bird on land, not the Road Runner."
Sam blinked, and turned to Natasha, "Obviously they didn't have Loony Tunes cartoons in Sokovia."
"What's Loony Tunes?" Clint asked.
Sam sighed, "you know, that there…that is evidence of a crime. Hydra needs to answer for that. He doesn't even know what Looney Tunes is. The next thing he'll say is that he doesn't know who Micky Mouse is."
"Who?" asked Clint with a curious look in his eyes, "is he an Avenger too?"
Pietro turned his head to hide his smirk, the playful banter between the three Avengers having relaxed Clint and made him unwind a little.
"I'll trust you to educate him on this matter," Natasha dryly told Sam, resisting the urge to roll her eyes. Sam beamed happily, and Pietro wondered if Sam wouldn't mind if he and Wanda joined in on his lessons.
As the others spoke, Clint had opened up his book and was flicking through the pages, obviously searching for something. He stopped when he reached the photograph and the letter, and he took them both from where they had been placed, a sad look crossing his face.
"We found those there," Sam told Clint, observing the boy's reactions carefully. Pietro immediately went silent, and Natasha slowly and cautiously reached out to put her hand on Clint's shoulder. He tensed slightly beneath her hand, but didn't move to pull away.
"Who was he?" she asked gently. Clint bit his lip, obviously thinking about what to say in response to the question, before he begun to hesitantly speak.
"Barney…he was the one who looked after me when I was little. He was American…he grew up in a place called Waverly, in Iowa. His last name was Barton…they used his last name as mine, because I didn't have one. He…he was nice to me; he wasn't mean like everyone else was."
"He sounds like a great guy," Sam smiled, "what happened to him, do you know?"
Clint dropped his eyes towards his lap, avoiding meeting the gaze of the others, "Hydra…they killed him, because they thought I didn't need to be babied anymore."
"Oh God," Sam sighed, rubbing his hand over his face. Natasha gently rubbed her thumb on Clint's shoulder.
"When did this happen?"
"Earlier this year," Clint replied with a small sniffle, "he said that they were going to transfer him to another base, he wrote me this so I would remember him," Clint tapped a finger against the letter, "they took both of us out to where the cars were all parked, and I thought he was going to get into a car and go to his new base…but…but they… they shot him. I was scared they were going to shoot me too, but they said it was a lesson, so that I knew that they would take away anyone I cared about."
Clint's voice cracked and broke as he spoke, and Pietro clenched his fist in anger at what the Hydra agents had put the small boy through. Natasha, however, inched a little close to Clint, until she was gently perched on the edge of the bed beside him. Despite tensing up at her touch earlier, he leant against her now, tears falling freely down his face.
"I miss him so much," Clint sobbed, "he was the only one who was nice. He gave me my name."
"Your last name?" asked Sam. Clint shook his head, and lowered his gaze to the book.
"My code name." Clint corrected, "he said it was from one of his favourite books when he was growing up, and one of his favourite TV shows too. He said it suited me because I could see so good."
"What is it?" Natasha asked in a soft voice. Clint blinked and looked up at her.
"Hawkeye. I am Hawkeye."