A.N.: I am sorry last chapter was a bit short, here it continues with more Clint and Cooper dialogue. I think that the MCU put a lot of potential in its characters, but that most of that potential is not developed because of screen time limitations. It's wonderful now to see the series that are digging deeper into the character.

In my stories, I really like to try to show the character emotions and thought, but sometimes I feel like I get lost in them and I end up slowing down the story way too much.

I would be curious to know how do you feel about it.

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to any of the good guys portrayed in this story. I'll just borrow them from the MCU and release them back to them more or less unscathed at the end of the story.

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Clint felt like stay calm during Cooper's story and give him time was the hardest thing he had ever done. Cooper was still crying, grieving for the man he killed, grieving for his lost innocence. He held him tight, let him feel that he was not alone, that was everything he could do for him at the moment. Once more he swore to himself, someone was going to pay for all the tears and the sorrow.
At the same time, Clint could not deny the waves of relief and pride that were washing over him. For once Lila was safe, he had no doubt. Coop saw the helicarrier, if Nat was in the area she could easily track the phone location to under half a meter and find the little girl. The second good news was that Nat knew what happen there. Depending on how careful his captors were, it was going to be a matter of minutes or a matter of days before she came storming the place and rescuing them, but she was coming. He just needed to keep Cooper as safe as possible as long as possible. And that could be an easy job, because Cooper, that little thing still crying in his arms, was braver than he ever imagined. He couldn't be prouder of him. Eleven years only and he was putting his sister's safety above his own, even when they started beating him. He had lost count years ago on how many adults he saw crumble in the same situation. And despite all, he still had compassion for the life he took. He smiled to himself and hugged him even stronger. He was very proud of his boy.

Cooper slowly stopped crying and when he was sufficiently calm, Clint asked to look at his injuries. He started with the hand. It was on the left side of his face, which is typical as most people are right-handed, and at a closer look, he could see that the edges were fuzzy and that it had two extra finger marks. It wasn't just one well-delivered slap as he originally assumed, but at least two. Then the boy raised his T-shirt showing a purple spot right below his sternum. In the right spot to mess up with the diaphragm. «Can you breathe well? » He asked while probing the lower ribs to be sure that they had not somehow been touched by the hit.
«How do you kn…Yeah, now I can, though it still feels a little weird when I try to take deep breaths.»
Last, Cooper showed a red mark on his shoulder, from when some
Clint took note of all the marks, seeing them on his son's skin hurt more than if they were his own and he swore once more to kill whoever did that.
«Why did they bring us here dad? Why did they insist so much on finding Lila? » Apparently, it became Clint's turn to answer questions, in the commotion of the moment he almost forgot that the boy had probably a lot to ask.
«I am not sure, but likely it's my fault. A lot of people dislike the avengers, they must be some of them. »
«But why am I here and what has Lila to do with this? Are they gonna kill us? »
Clint took a moment to think. He was wondering the same thing since he saw the SUV going after his children. There was only one possible reason: leverage.
He hated to think about the implication of that, but the good news was that at least they didn't have Lila. It was simple math, if you have a hostage and you kill it you are left with nothing, but if you have two hostages you can still kill one to show that you are not to be messed around with.
«I think you are here because they know I love you and Lila and if anything were to happen to one of you it would hurt me more than anything they could do to me. I don't think they are going to kill us, if they wanted to, they would have already done that. They must want something more. » He didn't want to add details, but he could think of several motives: information, revenge, or the money that could be obtained by selling them to the best offeror. All had pros and cons.
«What happens after we give them what they want? Will they let us free? »
Clint couldn't look him in the eyes, while he thought what to answer that question. But Cooper seemed to come up with another question on his own in the meantime.
«And what if it is something we do not want to give them, like with Lila before?» Clint took another long moment for himself, pondering the answer.
«Dad…?»
In the end, he decided to stick with the truth as hard as it was.
«It's complicated. If we give them what they want, they will have no use for us afterward. They might set us free, but they can also kill us and there's no way to predict what will happen. If we don't give them what they want, there are good chances they'll try to obtain it with the force. Like they started hitting you when you didn't want to tell them where Lila was. »
Cooper looked rightfully frightened and instinctively brought a hand to his face again, where the slaps were obviously still burning. Clint put his hand over the smaller one and ensure to have eye contact once again before continuing.
« I want you to know that I'll try my best to not let them hurt you again, I'll do whatever I can, no matter what it takes. But you have to be brave because it is going to be hard. »
«Dad...» he saw Cooper hesitate, probably unsure on how to react, but he went on.
«I think you were really exceptional so far. You run away when there was a chance. You found a way to hide your sister. You protected her. Lila is safe now because of you. I am very very proud of you Cooper. »
Cooper's mood darken at the memory, the kid's eyes went to the ground and they broke eye contact. He was clearly thinking about the other side of the story. Clint moved the hand from his face to his shoulder and looked for the right word to deal with the topic.
«A man died, I know, but remember that that man was about to hurt you. Sometimes to protect yourself or the people you care about, you have to do things that you do not like. You can feel sorry about it, but you shouldn't feel guilty nor be ashamed of that. No one will blame you for that, Mum and I will not blame you for that and, most important, you should not blame yourself. »
He saw the kid trying following him to each word and with each word regaining a bit of confidence, raising a bit his head, but still unable to make eye contact again.
« Do you have more questions? »
Cooper shook his head in denial.
« Ok, because there are a couple more things you should know. First, I might be doing some bad things myself to try and keep us safe, want you to be prepared for the idea. Second, remember at any time that I'll do whatever I can to keep you safe, and I really mean whatever. So if it happens that someone starts asking you something you don't want to answer and they threaten to hurt me if you do not answer or they hurt me to convince you to answer you don't tell them anything, ok? I don't think this will happen, but if it does…not a word Cooper, you have to promise me. »
«I don't want them to hurt you. »
«You don't worry about me okay? I have been trained for this as well. But I need you to be brave and don't tell them anything. It doesn't matter what they do to me as long as you and Lila are safe, understood? They can even cut me to pieces and I would not care as long as I know that you and your sister are safe. You will always come first. »
If Clint did still know how to cry, that would have been the moment his eyes would have gone wet. The moment that his son hung on his neck like his life was depending on it.
Instead, he returned the hug. When Coop eased himself against his father's chest, Clint let him stay and started to caress his hair to soothe him. In his mind, he was swearing to make them pay for every bruise and every tear and every single second that his son was scared because of them.

Some time later, new guards came looking for them. After a "you both come with us" and an "I don't think so" kind of cliché exchange, Clint hushed Cooper under the only bed and put himself in the middle of the small cell facing the door. He repeated to himself, not for the first time, that Nat was on her way and every minute was important here. There were five people in total outside of the cell. Once they started entering, it was a matter of seconds before three of them were lying on the cell floor, one dead two just unconscious. The two remaining people outside wisely closed the door of the cell just behind their friends. He saw them discussing something on the Radio, he recognized the voice of one of them. The one with the thick Louisiana accent belonging to the man that brought Cooper in.
« Cooper stay there, it's not over » Clint ordered as he checked the body of the people in the cell and frisked them. There were no weapons. He moved the three bodied to a corner, stripped them naked, and used their clothes to hogtie the unconscious one. He kept wondering if he should just have finished them off, but Cooper was still under the bed and watching with wide eyes his every move.
« They are just unconscious, we have to avoid them waking up and attacking us again.» He tried to explain in his defense.
When the third one was not tied up it was implicit for both what it meant.
The other two guards, the Louisiana-boy and an unidentified blondie were still outside keeping an eye on them. They eyed nervously their watches and kept clicking nervously on the radio. Clint wanted to properly check on Cooper, but he didn't dare to take his eyes off them. The boy was scared as hell, he could hear him taking air in big gasps, struggling not to make a sound. He was sure that Cooper was diverting his eyes every time he glanced briefly in his direction. If Cooper's fear was about people attacking them, about sharing the space with dead and unconscious people, or about his father killing someone almost in cold blood in front of him, he really couldn't say.

Three new guards approached the cell a few minutes later and joined blondie and Lousiana-boy outside the cell. They spend time debriefing and exchanging items that Clint couldn't make out. What was important now was that counting the dead bodies in the woods and the one unconscious in the cell, it looked like these people had almost a small army at their disposal.
There was no chance that such a massive force just got in his path by accident without being after him. Clint steeled himself, he had to protect Cooper as long as he could.
The guards approached the cell and once again pry it open to let two of them in, almost like before, almost like in a deja-vu. Clint was on high alert, they had done everything right up to now, they were not so dumb as to use the same technics twice. That was a trap, maybe a decoy, but what for? He stayed on the defensive, positioning himself between the guards and the bed, his priority was clear. Both guards attacked him at the same time, their attack fast and well trained but still not a match for his.
It was just a movement in the corner of his eyes while he ducked under a kick, and then there were the needles and the electricity.
That son of a bitch outside the cell shot him with a taser gun.
He dropped himself in the direction of one of their assailants to bring him down with him.
Under the white noise of electricity, he heard the cell door open again.
He tried to rise to his knees again, but his muscles were not responding anymore.

«Dad!» it was a desperate cry, the one he heard. He couldn't protect him anymore.