A.N.: Here is the final chapter.
I want to apologize to the people that started to read the story when I started posting. I have no good excuse for the huge delay that this chapter has from the rest of the story. I am not sure if the inspiration to finish to review it.
I want to thank all the people that spend time reviewing and commenting on the story so far and the people that will do it in the future.
I want to thank the free version of Grammarly, to remind me of English grammars rules when editing, and to let me bring this story to you.
This work was on my laptop for a while and it was a lot of mixed feelings writing, abandoning, rewriting, abandoning, and correcting it. I am happy, that now, it is finally out in its entirety.
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 it more or less unscathed at the end of the story.
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«Where is the girl?»
«Please don't hurt my father. Please don't hurt him.»
«Then tell me where is she?»
Cooper shook his head shyly, and the thug lost his patience.
Under Clint's eyes, he took Cooper by the neck of his shirt, pulling enough for the chair he was tied to, to raise from the floor. The other hand was ready to slap him.
«Where is she?» He shouted and Clint was almost sure that some saliva was spread on Coop's face.
«Don't you dare or I kill you.» Clint's voice had again more strength. His tone was now so cold and plain, that it caught everyone off guard like he could actuate the menace in that same moment.
The thug stopped with his hand mid-air and turned toward Clint, without loosening his grip on Cooper's neck.
«Were you saying something?»
«Yes. I said: if you dare to hurt my son again, I will kill you.» despite the content, Clint's words did not have the sound of a threat, they were not loaded with an ominous tone or emotional accents. That was a simple, flat, matter-of-fact statement. Like stating that the next day sun was going to rise again.
The silence that followed it, on the other hand, was intense no doubt. It last for one long moment, during which Deutsch's hold on Cooper's shirt seemed to quiver. Then the man shrugged it off, reinforced his grip, and started laughing. His fellows followed quickly.
«What are you planning to do? Will you use a killing glare?»
As they laughed, they were getting closer and poking at him. That was good enough for him. He had enough of that game and it was about time that he started to even the odds, as long as he could still manage. While the others were still laughing, he engaged eye contact with Coop, then he signaled his kid to close the eyes, just by closing his own.
The moment his son obeyed the order, he kicked his torturer who was approaching him from the left, and before anyone had the time to react he closed his legs around Kelly's neck, who was on the other side.
«Fuck. Stop him!» called Deutsch.
He was able to turn around and use Kelly as a shield when the torturer grasped back the whip and attacked him again. Kelly was a dead weight a few seconds later.
He pushed her dead body against his torturer with all his strength, trying to buy himself some time to face the two unnamed goons that were lurking in the shadows before.
«Stop him!»
The order had the two newcomers loose all prudence and come close to Clint again. It was just a matter of time before both of them became lifeless bodies at his feet. The torturer and Deutsch were smart enough to keep their distances, Clint tried to turn around, looking for his next opponent, looking for a way to get to his son.
The whip came down hitting his side. The first time, Clint was so pumped up with adrenaline that he barely noticed and kept looking for a way to get to Deutsch or make the torturer come closer. When the whip came down a second time it hit home. At the third when he resigned again has no way to counter-attack nor to defend himself he let out a cry. Which made his torturer only too eager to continue.
Pain blurred his vision and he felt Coop's tear-filled eyes on him, not really seeing them, which make him even more ashamed of shouting out loud, but he could not keep it together anymore.
He thought he also heard him half screaming, half crying «Dad.» but he was so far away.
The whipping interrupted abruptly and two distinct sounds came to him at the same time. The all-too-familiar flesh against flesh sound of a slap and a cry of pain. The last one was hard to place, it was not coming from himself this time he was sure of it. It was not the young and high-pitched voice of his son. He forced his eyes to focus once again, the small automatic gesture, now taking all his focus. Deutsch was holding his hand tight, blood dripping from it. Another handprint on his son's face, some blood dripping from the boy's lips down on his chin. A deep bite mark on Deutsch's hand.
His son looked back at the thug daring, that bite had given him so much confidence. Bound to a chair, at the mercy of a violent man, surrounded by a pile of dead bodies, Cooper had just found the strength to fight back. Clint didn't know whether to be proud or scared, scared of the fierce rage that was now possessing Deutsch's. The thug lower his elbow on Cooper's temple, the hit was strong enough to throw the chair and the boy to the ground.
Clint went crazy, half crying half shouting to leave Cooper alone, but Deutsch was so much enraged that he didn't even notice. The thug leverage the new position to kick Cooper in the abdomen once, twice, he was preparing to strike a third time.
An alarm started blaring.
Almost at the same time, the door busted open. A metallic cling echoed from one wall to the other and, just as suddenly, Clint's chains were loose and he fell to his knees.
His training made him automatically follow back the noise with his eyes to assess the new threat, he was just in time to see Cap collect his shield at the far end of the corridor from which he was brought in. Nat was already running in front of him, she dodged three people emerging from a nearby room, leaving them for cap and she aimed straight for Cooper.
Clint sprint for Deutsch, they could have everyone else, but not Him. That was his. He launched himself at the men that hurt his son, finally grateful that he could close the distance. That pathetic wimp barely turned around and he was almost no match for him. Clint started from where his son had left, breaking the hand that had the bright bite mark. In a swift movement went to the man's side, and kicked his knee breaking or tearing something there as well. He moved to Deutsch's back, grabbed his head, threw him on the ground. He was waiting for the man to react, but that didn't happen. Clint kicked him in the ribs. Even if Deutsch was not putting up a fight much to his dismay, hurting him felt so good. Seeing the men on his knees, crying, almost begging for his life, gave him satisfaction. He kicked him again aiming for the face.
«Dad?» Coop was still on the floor, shaking in fear and pain. He was staring at him with wide eyes like he was seeing an alien or a monster.
Clint stopped himself, looked at Nat, making sure that Deutsch was not going to run away. She was holding Cap back, both of them waiting for Clint to be finished. No word was needed between them.
Before he could divert his eyes, she was already towering, their captor.
«Thank the boy, he saved you... for the moment» he told Deutsch. Then he reached Cooper and slowly lowered himself to the ground, trying not to frighten him more. He unbound him from the chair starting slowly and getting faster and faster as he heard his boy starting to break into a cry.
He helped Coop up and hold him in his arms, feeling his warmth similar to the moment they had in the cell, that felt so far away. Clint's vision was going dark as the adrenaline rushed down and the world started to slip away. Someone told him that it was okay now and took the child away. He didn't know who that was, but he knew he could trust that voice.
He woke up in a bed, prompt on his side. And as soon as he opened his eyes Laura's ones met him.
«Coop? Lila?» the panic overwhelming.
«They are fine» she tilted her head toward her back and he realized there was a second bed there, smaller and more colorful, with Avengers sheets and lots of plush.
«He has a few bruises, but nothing too serious. He didn't want to go home until you woke up. Tony needed to convince the staff to add another bed in here for him.»
«He is not fine, what he saw… what he did… what he saw me doing. He could not ever be fine again after this. I could not...» his voice broke.
«He is as strong as his father, I am sure you did everything you could to protect him and he knows it as well. It will still take time, but he is coming to terms with the fact that he also did what he had to do to protect himself and his sister.»
Clint took a deep breath. All the memories were coming back at him in nauseating waves.
«I am not sure you know the full story. Had he told you that…» he didn't even know how to continue the sentence.
«That he killed a man? He had to let the bad man torture you to protect himself and Lyla? That you made him close his eyes while you were killing people?» Laura continued for him with a few of the facts. She knew the full story.
There was a moment of silence.
«You know, talking to him these couple days, feels again like when you first started to open up about the battle of New York. It scares me the thought of what he went through, what the two of you went through. I get sick every time I look at his bruises, and you have to swear to me that those people are going to pay for it. But on top of it all, I saw his strength, standing straight up, don't shy away from questions and I saw him being super protective of Lila whenever she come visiting. »
«They already paid for it.» Clint started, but then after a brief pause he seemed to continue out loud a conversation that he had in his head
«I tried to hold them back, give the kids time to run, but there were too many of them. I got it completely wrong, they were not after me. Half of them slip around me and went for the kids. I am quite sure by now they were after our Lila. They were both dragged through hell and I still do not know why.»
«Bad luck, their bad luck given the outcome. They wanted to use a toy to deliver a USB stick with advanced weapon plans. They hid the USB in a bunny, they did not expect that bunny to be sold that quickly.»
«Lila's Bunny»