Prompts: Breaking Point/Protective/Reluctant Caretaker

Clint Barton and the team

Why can't I let this HYDRA thread go? Although, this one is a little more hopeful than the others.


Once Clint and Bucky were stable, Tony talked Fury into moving them into the tower's newly expanded medical wing, where Jarvis would alert the team to any escape attempts. Steve maintained his watch over his childhood friend, while Nat stayed by Clint's side as she remembered more about him from their time in the Red Room.

"He woke up yet?" Nat turned around to see Tony standing in the doorway."

"No, plus Jarvis would've told you if he had." Nat ran her fingers through Clint's hair.

"Mind if I join you?" Tony asked. Nat shook her head and opened her mouth to say something, but Tony held up his hand. "I know it's my tower and all, but I do know how to be polite."

Nat sighed. "I know." Tony sat on the opposite side of the bed. "You knew him?"

"I did. Both of them from the Red Room. They helped train me. Back in the day, HYDRA and the Red Room were sharing assets. I was never sure who I was working for back then." She sat back in the chair. "They were always fair, treated us with respect. Unfortunately, they probably paid for it."

"I reached out to the Wakandans. They've been working on repairing mind wipes and memory loss." Nat looked over at Tony. "Yeah, who knew someone would need to be an expert on fixing wiped brains." Tony shook his head. "Anyway, the king's sister, Shuri, appears to be a female me with less bravado and thinks she's come up with something that can help them. We need to have them wake up and stay awake so we can check their brain levels." Tony crossed his arms, put them on the guardrail, and propped his head on them. "I went through the file dump. Thanks for that, by the way. I've got enough fodder for my nightmares for the next 50 years." Nat knew Tony didn't mean anything by it; that was just his way of covering up his nervousness. "Discovered Steve's best friend killed my parents. I thought I'd be pissed. Hell, I even tried to get mad, but I couldn't. They were as much victims as Mom and Dad." He pulled a manila folder out from under his jacket. "Here's some info I found on your boy here." Tony stood, walked around the bed, then put his hand on Nat's shoulder. "I've already placed a phone call." Tony left the room. Nat opened the folder and scanned the information.

Meanwhile, Steve watched Bucky as he slept, wondering if he'd ever get his childhood friend back. "Stop starin', would ya'?" Steve smiled, recognizing Bucky's familiar Brooklyn accent. Bucky looked over at him. "Steve, right?"

"Right. What do you want to be called?"

Bucky groaned and tried to sit up. Steve handed him the controls. Bucky took them and punched the button to raise the head of the bed. "Been called Winter, Soldier, or Asset for so long, kinda what I'm used to, but none of 'em seem right. How's Ronin? Or does he have another name, too?"

"He's in the next room. His real name is Clint, Clint Barton."

Bucky thought for a few minutes. "Sounds familiar, sort of. It's all scrambled. Nothing seems to come in order." He looked over at Steve. "Stevie?"

Steve smiled again. "That's what you called me when we were little."

"That sounds…familiar." Bucky extended his right hand toward Steve. "Nice to meet ya, Stevie. I'm Bucky."

Steve shook his best friend's hand. "Hi, Bucky. Nice to meet you again." Steve told him Tony had found that there was a chance his memories could be restored. Bucky leaned back and listened, knowing the voice sounded familiar, but everything was still spotty.

"Agent Romanoff? There's an Ava Barton here to see you."

"Thanks, J. I'll be right down."

"I'll let her know."

Nat took an elevator down to the reception area, then walked toward a young woman standing at the receptionist's desk. "Miss Barton?" The woman who turned toward Nat resembled Clint in perfect detail. She even had the same resting face that Nat had remembered from the Red Room. "I'm Agent Natasha Romanoff." Nat reached out her hand, and Ava shook it. "Thank you for coming on short notice."

"Anything for my family."

"Please follow me." Nat led her to a conference room off to the side and motioned for Ava to take a seat. "Again, thank you for coming."

"Thanks for contacting me. I was in town visiting my grandpa when you called."

"Charles Bernard Barton, right?" Nat remembered the name from Clint's file.

Ava chuckled. "He'd punch you if you called him that to his face. He's always been Grandpa Barney to me. That's the first thing I remember my dad Cooper telling me about Grandpa."

"Did your grandfather ever talk about Clint?" Nat leaned back in the chair to help make Ava feel at ease.

"All the time. He felt bad his brother had vanished. He was told he had died in the war. Grandpa felt bad that Clint had enlisted because Clint was the younger brother, but Grandpa had a hearing loss, so the service wouldn't take him."

"You said you were here visiting him?"

Ava nodded. "He's in a rehab facility. 95 years old, fell and broke his hip. Grandma died several years ago, and my aunt and uncle live on the other side of the country, so it's up to my dad and me to look out for him. Once he's better, he'll go live with my dad upstate."

Nat leaned forward. "Mr. Stark told you what happened and why we need your help, correct?"

"Yeah." Ava took a tissue out of her purse and dabbed her eyes before the tears started to flow. "When can I tell my family he's back? Grandpa always gets a faraway look in his eye when he talks about my granduncle. We've memorized every story he told us about growing up with him. Not that he's told us a lot because their father wasn't a nice person, unfortunately. He's the reason Grandpa has a hearing loss."

When hearing stories like that, Nat was almost glad she had no blood relatives. She preferred the small family she chose for herself. "Mr. Stark is working on something he believes can help Clint's memory. Do you have any stories you could share? Maybe they'll help jog something."

"There's a story my grandpa always told. It's not a pleasant one, but Grandpa always liked telling it because he said it was the first time he and Clint became close." Ava leaned forward and leaned her arms on the conference table. "Like I said, their dad was not a nice man. He only married their mom because she was pregnant, and that's what you did back then. It sounded like she'd always resented her for that like she had trapped him into marrying her. Harold Barton thought the world owed him everything, and he took it if the world didn't give him what he thought he deserved. After Clint was born, he found a farmhouse he wanted. He planned to use free labor to do all the work while he sat back and reaped all the rewards. It didn't matter it wasn't his. He forced their mom to take them out and steal from people. He taught them how to pick pockets when they were young. He drove his wife and two sons to a traveling carnival and told them they had to return with a certain amount of money. When he picked them back up later, they didn't have the specified amount, so he took them to a local store and made them rob it, expecting them to do whatever it took to get the money for him. Their mom sent Clint to create a diversion while she got the money from the register. She wasn't quick enough, though, and the clerk fought back, punching her and knocking her to the ground. Grandpa and Clint dragged her to the car, and their dad was pissed. When they returned to the apartment they were living in, he beat them so badly that he damaged Grandpa's eardrums, and apparently, Clint had some damage to his eyes. Guess it wasn't bad enough to keep him out of the service, though. From then on, Grandpa and Clint became protective of each other and reluctantly took care of their mom, who wasn't the same after the attack. It got so bad their dad had their mom committed, and they never saw her again." While she was talking, Nat walked over and returned with a glass of water. Ava nodded gratefully and took a sip to calm her down. "I know Grandpa loved his brother more than anyone except for Grandma. It would do him so much good to know he's still alive."

"Until we're sure he's stable, it's probably not a good idea to tell your grandfather."

"I understand, Agent Romanoff." Ave stood. "Is it okay if I tell my dad, though?"

"I think that would be fine."

Ava reached out her hand, and Nat shook it. "Thank you, Agent Romanoff. Also, thank you for helping to save New York from the aliens. We were in town for a Broadway show, and you and Captain America rounded us up into a restaurant where we were safe during the attack. If anyone can help my granduncle, it'll be the Avengers. I'll show myself out." Nat watched as Clint's grandniece left the tower.

"Agent Romanoff? Mister Barton is stirring."

"Thanks, J. I'll be right there." As she took the elevator up to the medical wing, she hoped Tony's new friend would be able to help Clint and Bucky.