Whumptober Day 12

It'll Be Fun, They Said

Prompts: torture/made to watch/begging

We see a return of some bad people from my main story, Finders Keepers. As a reminder, these stories don't necessarily fit into my main story. At least not at this point.

"How's your ankle, RH?" Mikayla asked her husband, handing him his first cup of coffee that morning.

Clint didn't reply until he'd gulped the contents of the mug. "Sore, but I should be good to go." He attempted to stand, then promptly fell back down onto the couch as Mikayla stood watching him, hands on her hips. "OK, maybe not as healed as I thought."

"Mmm, hmm." Mikayla leaned down and kissed his cheek. "I'm off for my morning jog. And don't worry, I'll remember to check in every 30 minutes."

"Thanks, babe."

"I love you," Mikayla said from the front door of their suite in Avengers Tower.

"I know," Clint smirked. He heard Mikayla chuckling as she went toward the elevator. It wouldn't be so bad, him not going with her, but the reason was stupid and all his fault. Clint went to the nursery to visit Morgan, proceeded to step on a Lego, began leaping around holding his foot, then tripped over a toy, causing his foot to turn one direction and his body the opposite direction. Thanks to that, he was on medical leave until the broken ankle healed. "Oh, well. Time to get caught up on Dog Cops and all the baking shows." Clint turned on the TV and, as the first Dog Cops episode was ending, his phone rang. "Hey."

"My first check-in. Check the end table."

Clint looked over and saw a tray with a plate of pancakes and a bowl of fruit. "Aw, breakfast. Thanks, Mikayla."

"Always looked out for my number one. Talk to you in thirty."

"Love you, too." The call ended, and Clint went on to the next episode. When the phone didn't ring after that episode ended, Clint called Mikayla, but the call went to voice mail. He tried several more times, but she never answered, so he texted Nat.

"What's up?" Natasha asked, standing in the doorway.

"Mikayla's not answering her phone. With everything that's gone on, we've agreed to check in every 30 minutes when we're not together or if we're on separate missions. She didn't check-in, and her phone rolls to voice mail."

"Where did she go?"

"Central Park for her morning run."

"I'll go check it out." Natasha left.

Clint pulled up his phone to check the GPS built into Mikayla's glasses. According to the map, the glasses (and hopefully Mikayla) are still at Central Park, so he calls Nat and gives her the coordinates. His phone rang. "Well?"

"Found her phone and glasses, no Mikayla."

"Damn it! Keep looking. I'll see what I can find from here." Clint disconnected the call. "Friday? Please pull up the cameras facing Central Park."

"Of course, Agent Barton." Clint heard whirring noises as Friday accessed the various cameras. "Sending them to your television."

Clint turned his attention to the TV as Friday turned it on and began displaying the various views. The cameras showed Mikayla entering the park and beginning her leisurely jog along the established paths. He sat up when he saw several people wearing balaclavas and dressed in black swarm around Mikayla. Accosting her, they ripped her glasses off and tossed her cell phone into the bushes, shoving away anyone who got in their way as they dragged Mikayla away, disappearing from the camera view. "Shit! Friday!"

"I've already alerted Boss. He's in his workshop."

Clint tore out of his room, jumped onto the waiting elevator, and went to Tony's shop. "Friday told me, Barton. Already working on facial recognition."

"Who the hell could it be? We finally took care of Barney's crew, I can't think of anyone else from my past who might still be around, and I don't think she's got anyone from her past hunting her down. Hey?" Clint looked at Tony. "The Raft is still secure, isn't it? I think half the people in there are because of the Bartons."

"Haven't received any notifications."

"Boss? I hate to be the bearer of unwelcome news."

Tony groaned. "Don't tell me."

"Two prisoners have escaped the Raft."

"Which ones?"

"Brock Rumlow and Jack Rollins."

"Son of a bitch." He called Nat. "It was Rumlow and Rollins."

"Thought Tweedle Dumb and Tweedle Dumber were locked up?"

"They were until they escaped. With help, I'm sure."

"On my way back, haven't found anything else."

When she got back to the tower, she met Tony and Clint, along with Sam and Bucky, in Tony's lab. "I thought they died when the Triskelion fell," Bucky said.

"They're like cockroaches," Clint said. "My ex-girlfriend recruited them to help take me out. We were sent on a false mission, and they briefly captured me. Later, the three of them tried to ambush us at the farm. It was unsuccessful."

"Translation," Sam added, "Mikayla opened a can of whoop-ass on Clint's ex."

"That's my kick-ass woman. Any idea how they got out?" Clint directed the question to Tony.

"I contacted Hill. They bribed a guard, saying he could join their revamped organization if he broke them out. Fury's on it."

Clint nodded. "What do we do now?"

"I've got Friday scouring cameras. Until we find something, we wait."

"You'll wait. I'll plan." Clint spun around and stormed out of the workshop.

All eyes turned to Natasha. "By planning, he means sitting on the roof and gathering his thoughts. It works for him." The rest of the team made themselves busy while waiting for news.

"Boss?" Friday said several hours later. "There's a call coming in for you from an unknown, blocked number."

"Stark." "Put it through." Tony had his phone simulcast the display on the wall.

"Not Barton, but close enough," a deep, rough, gravelly voice came through the phone.

"Rumlow. How's our girl?"

"Alive, for the moment."

"Mind telling us what your evil plan is?" As he talked, he had Friday alert the rest of the team and traced the call.

"We'll start with taking out our frustrations on this Hawkeye wannabe, and then we're coming after the real Hawkeye."

"Rumlow," Clint growled as he burst into the room, "you were never anything but a useless lowlife."

"That may be, but look who's useless now." Rumlow turned around and pointed his camera toward a brick wall. The workshop went silent as the team stared at the scene being broadcast. The crack of a bone and screaming could be heard. Mikayla's left arm was hanging down, having been snapped. They could even see the bone sticking through her flesh, and her blood was pooling on the cement floor. She was blindfolded, with Rollins standing behind her, holding a knife to her throat.

"Please, stop. God, it hurts so bad." Tears were gushing down her face as she begged her captors. If they didn't find her soon, everyone knew her broken arm would be the least of her worries.

"I'm sure you and your fancy tech have traced the call by now. Send Hawkeye, and only Hawkeye, and you might get one of them back alive." The call abruptly ended. As soon as it did, Clint left to grab his weapons.

"I'll call Bruce and Dr. Cho, have them here for when we get her back," Tony solemnly said. His phone pinged as Friday sent him the coordinates to Mikayla's location.

"Always hated those bastards," Bucky murmured. "How are we getting her back?"

"You're not. I am." Clint reappeared in the workshop. "Send me the coordinates, Tony." Tony sent them to Clint's phone. "You heard him. It's me they want. I'm not risking Mikayla's life." He looked at his phone display, memorizing the data. "Make sure medical's ready for her." Clint made a quick exit.

Bucky looked at Tony. "Don't give me that resting murder face look, Terminator. I've sent you the coordinates, too."

Snorting, Bucky pulled out his phone and studied the display, plotting out the coordinates in his head. "It's an old HYDRA outpost, used mainly for data storage. I don't think they did experiments there."

"Got a new toy for you." Tony handed him something. "It's to disguise your arm, make it look like human flesh. Similar tech to what Romanoff used to disguise herself the day SHIELD fell."

Bucky was staring at it, trying to figure it out. "How does it work?"

"You place it against your arm, then snap." Bucky did that, and the net, for lack of a better term, spread up and down his arm, completely covering it. He flexed his fingers and moved his arm around, getting the feel of it. "Unless you get up close to it, you'll never know it's not human flesh."

Bucky nodded. "Hmmm. Thanks, Stark."

"You won't let me play with the arm itself, so that's the closest I could get."

"Can't mess with perfection," Bucky smirked as he left to track down Clint and Mikayla.

Across town, Clint found the building where Mikayla was being held. He climbed the building across from it so he could get an unobstructed view of it. Clint noticed the only movement that could be seen was on the third floor. "Good choice," he said to himself. "One way in, one way out. Well, for most people, anyway." He continued watching until he recognized Rumlow and Rollins. Once he confirmed it was them, he pulled a grappling arrow from his quiver, aimed it just above the window, and released it. When it attached itself to the building, he hooked himself to the string and flew across the street, crashing through the window. Clint tucked himself into a ball, then uncurling himself once he landed. When he stood, he was holding a gun in each hand.

"Nice move, Barton." Clint turned to see Rollins, still standing behind Mikayla with the knife in his hand; the only difference from the video was the slight trickle of blood running down Mikayla's neck.

"Clint?" Mikayla said weakly.

"It's me, babe."

"'M sorry."

"For what?"

"Begging."

Rollins slapped her. "Shut up, bitch." The slap shoved the knife a little further into her neck, and Mikayla did her best not to cry.

Clint felt the pressure of a gun against his neck. "You heard him. Shut up, Hawkeye," Rumlow sneered. "Now, drop your bow and the guns. I'm still deciding who gets to live or if either one of you gets to." Clint did as he said, letting the guns fall to the ground, then removed his bow from around him and dropped it as well. "Good boy, now kneel. You remember how to do that, don't you? Just like you did for Loki. Not the only thing I'll have you do that Loki did."

Clint blinked, forcing the blue that was beginning to appear back into his head. 'I'm not giving in. He's not here,' he repeated to himself. The sound of Mikayla sobbing was keeping him in the present. Knowing he had one shot if both he and Mikayla were to get out of here alive, he slowly began kneeling. As he did, he slipped his right hand behind him, reaching for a knife he kept tucked in the back of his pants. As soon as he gripped the hilt, he took it out and stabbed Rumlow in the stomach in one fluid move. In the same move, with his left hand, he took out a knife from his left boot and hurled it towards Rollins. The knife struck him in the throat. Rollins dropped the knife and sunk to the ground. Clint immediately ran over to Mikayla, removing the blindfold and untying her. "Mikayla? Babe? Talk to me."

"Clint" was the only word she could get out in between sobs.

He sat down on the floor, pulled her from the chair and into his lap, being careful not to injure her arm any further. "Shhh, I've got you." Clint tapped his hearing aid. "Stark? Need evac."

The door burst open, and Bucky walked in. "Evac's here."

"Barnes, what the hell? I told everyone not to come, not to risk her life."

"First off, I'm not everyone. Secondly, I was far enough away they wouldn't have seen me. The car's downstairs." Bucky went over and picked up Clint's weapons, then handed splinting material to Clint, who wrapped Mikayla's arm as best as he could and used some of the material to put around her neck to stop the bleeding from the knife wound. Between the two of them, they gingerly carried Mikayla downstairs and went back to the tower.

When they got back to the tower, the two men headed directly to the medical wing, where Dr. Cho and Bruce waited. After the medical personnel took over, Clint collapsed in a chair. "Please tell me Fury took care of the idiot who helped them escape."

Natasha sat down next to him. "He did, and they've relocated Laura, making sure she's in solitary."

"Good. One less person from my past to worry about."

Natasha patted his arm. "You know it'll never go away."

"I know, but any way I can minimize it, so she doesn't have to suffer because of it."

"She knew what she was getting into when she married you, and she'd do it again in a heartbeat."

"Me, too, Tasha. Me, too. Ow." Clint finally remembered he had a broken ankle. "I know, Nat. Dumb move."

"I wouldn't expect any less from you," she smiled.

Little footsteps could be heard coming into the waiting room. Clint's countenance changed in a second. "There's my babies." He held out his arms as a dark-haired girl, and a blond boy with bright purple hearing aids jumped into his lap. The little boy immediately signed, 'How's Mama?'

Clint signed back that she would be fine, and they could visit her once she woke up. "Are you OK, Daddy?" The little girl asked, touching Clint's face with her little hand.

"I am now, Katie-Kate, I am now."