I am so sorry that it took so long to post this, for the life of me I could not to write it out, I knew exactly what was going to happen, but it refused to be put on paper… or, you know, computer screen; then I got sidetracked with Comic Con and loads of babysitting for friends... so, so much babysitting. Feeling better now that this is written, so maybe I am pushing out of my rut.
No major warnings for this chapter, some PTSD.
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Steve and Coulson stood silently waiting for the elevator in the Tower's team entrance. It had been another day of nothing. Not even a hint of something.
The elevator dinged opened to a confused looking Bruce.
"Everything alright, Bruce?" Steve asked as they stepped in.
"I was trying to go to my lab but it brought me all the way down here."
"System hiccup?" Phil asked.
"I guess," Bruce said, looking uncertain.
Coulson didn't reach for the buttons, "Team floor please, JARVIS."
Of course, Agent Coulson.
Steve studied Bruce, whose expression seemed more tense than usual.
"How are you doing Bruce?" Steve asked. "We haven't really spent any time together, as a team, this past week."
"I'm well as I can be under the circumstances." His frown deepened briefly, "I, sorry, I'm still… I brought Clint his dinner just a bit ago and..."
Coulson tried to hide the guilt that welled up. He still hadn't gone in and seen Clint in person. He had been so busy working between SHIELD and the Avengers that he hadn't been allowing himself much free time. When he had first learned that Clint was alive, he had wanted to see him as soon as possible. See him, touch him, make sure that he was real. But after going over his files and speaking with the other Avengers, he hesitated. They were trying to reach him, remind him of their friendship, bring him back to himself. Coulson's pretend death had caused Clint to close himself off completely to his former handler, so he was having a difficult time convincing himself that his presence would help Clint at all. "How is he?" he asked.
"The same," Bruce sighed. "When he's not ignoring you, he's trying to bait and tear you down. I… I don't know what to do."
"Come eat with us," Steve offered. "Maybe we can come up with something."
Bruce nodded absently as the doors opened and they stepped out.
They could hear Natasha in the kitchen, but that was all. Tony and Thor's absences were clearly felt. A heavy oppressive silence seemed to follow them on every floor. A silence that would have been filled by Thor's commanding presence and Tony's mouth and blaring music.
"I ordered out," Natasha announced, meeting them in the living room, just as Steve had sat down on the couch, "I hope you -"
She cut herself off as all of the lights on the floor began flashing wildly.
Steve looked around, "JARVIS what's going on?"
I don't know what you mean. JARVIS said, his voice tense.
"What's happening with the lights?"
There is no problem with the lights.
"Alright," Steve shared a glance with the others. Something was going on. "Can you call Tony for me?"
Sir, requires privacy and is therefore unavailable.
Bruce's brow furrowed. "Is he doing something in his lab that's messing with the lights?"
I am unable to answer that inquiry. Sir, wishes to keep his whereabouts a secret.
Steve stood, "What?" That was new. It most likely meant Tony had left the lab. "JARVIS, where is Tony?"
I am unable to answer that inquiry.
"Is he doing something dangerous?" Bruce asked.
The lights began to flash faster, but when JARVIS answered, his voice was calm. I am unable to answer that inquiry.
"Is Clint still in the cell?" Natasha asked carefully, her poster tense.
Yes.
She took a breath, but didn't relax, "Is there anyone with him?"
I am unable to answer-
"Damn it, Tony!" She growled.
The team ran toward the elevator.
The elevator will not take you to the detention floor, Jarvis said.
"Why not?" Natasha demanded.
I cannot-
"Tony," Bruce supplied. "He doesn't want us there for whatever he's doing, he could have locked us all out."
"The stairs?" Phil asked.
Also locked. It would take too long for you to get through.
Too long. Something was happening right now and they were going to be too late. Too long. Too late.
Steve felt his anger rise, "You're suppose to protect him JARVIS!" Steve accused, "Can't you do anything to help us?"
There was a pause, then they heard the elevator moving down quickly.
It will stop on the floor beneath the detention level.
"How will-"
The elevator doors opened to the empty shaft, lit by emergency lighting.
Not a breath later Natasha moved forward and jumped, Steve close behind.
The elevator was still moving when they landed on top of it, but it barely jolted; Tony had made sure everything in his Tower was solid and strong.
"Here," Natasha directed as the elevator slowed, revealing the detention level doors.
Steve dug his fingers between, using all his strength to try and pry them apart. He grunted and strained, opening them inch by inch. He could appreciate taking pride in your work, but Steve was going to have to have a talk with Tony about making the levels nearly impenetrable, even to the Avengers.
Then he heard the sobbing. It wasn't loud, but with his advanced hearing he could just make it out.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Clint rambing, his voice breaking.
Natasha slipped through the opening as soon as she could, sprinting down the hall.
A few seconds later Steve forced himself through and his stomach dropped as the rambling continued, drawing him forward. "Don't leave me, Tony! Please, please don't leave me. I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"
Natasha stopped in front of the cell, straightening in what could only be surprise and motioned for him to slow.
Steve complied and felt his breath catch when he caught sight of what was happening in the cell.
Tony was sitting against the wall, close to the cell door, his shirt was off, which Steve would have focused on more if Tony wasn't also holding Clint, curled in on himself and sobbing, against his chest.
Tony was rubbing circles on Clint's back and whispering in his ear, but it didn't seem to be helping bring Clint out of whatever he was experiencing.
"Don't leave me here! Don't leave me here. Please get me out, please please … Don't leave me. Please don't leave me here. I'm sorry. I can be better, I can, I promise I can. Just, please don't leave me here."
Tony moved his fingers through Clint's hair, which only made Clint sob more desperately, his hold on Tony tightening.
Tony's eyes swept over Natasha and Steve helplessly, looking close to tears himself.
"Clint, open your eyes. Come on, open them." Tony pled, softly, cupping Clint's chin with his hand and trying to gently lift it. "Look at the reactor, it's fine, it's glowing, it's fine. I'm fine and I'm here. Do you understand me me? I'm here."
Clint pressed his face against Tony's chest, his eyes level with the reactor.
Natasha slowly sat, trying not to draw Clint's attention, and Steve silently followed her lead, but also pulled out his phone, sending a text to Coulson, telling him not to worry.
Little by little, Clint's sobs began to die down, but he never pulled away from Tony, if anything he was holding him more tightly. Which seemed to fine with Tony. His arms were now wrapped firmly around the archer while he continued to murmur reassurances to him, every now and then kissing the top of Clint's head.
They stayed until both Clint and Tony had fallen asleep.
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"What were you thinking, Tony, going in there in alone?"
Tony rolled his eyes. He had waited until Clint was awake before leaving him with Natasha so that he could come have a "chat" with the others. "Chat" apparently was code for Steve riding him again, woah, no, that sounded weird, 'getting on his back' wasn't any better. Lecture was fine. Steve wanted to lecture him… not ride him. Tony almost laughed. "We're not talking about that."
"I think we are." Steve pressed.
"Then you'd be wrong, Cap. Whatever I did, I did, and it doesn't need to be debated or discussed as a team. Let's move on."
"To what?" Bruce asked. "We don't know what happened so we can only guess how Clint is reacting right now. It looked like he was pushed into a PTSD episode or in the very least a full blown panic attack."
Tony swallowed, his eyes moving to the bar that Coulson was blocking, "That wasn't intentional."
"We didn't think it was," Steve assured. "But if you could just-"
Tony shook his head. "No. But how about we focus on the fact that Clint was talking to me, that right now he's talking to Natasha without calling her names, or trying to attack her. Progress, right? Right."
Seven straight hours of sleep and Tony was wired. He may have been sleeping against a wall but with Clint in his arms, it was best sleep he had had in over a year.
He had woken to Clint's body tensing next to him. Trying to hold him on place wouldn't help so he had slid his hand up the Clint's head. Clint's breath had caught and held as Tony moved his fingers into his hair, but was released when Tony began caressing the scar on the back of his head.
The anger had seemed to have drained out of Clint in his sleep, leaving him subdued. He wouldn't meet their eyes, answering any questions with a small head movement or a murmured 'yes' or 'no'.
And while Tony wanted to be happy with the change in Clint's behavior, this version of Clint was just as foreign them as the vengeful one.
Sir.
"Yes?"
Ms. Romanoff wishes me to inform you that Clint is willing to share information that may help in the search for Thor.
"Really?" Bruce asked.
Yes. A possible location. She suggests that meeting in the conference room would be best for going over it.
"That's," Steve began, trying not to let himself become too hopeful, "wonderful, JARVIS."
Ms. Romanoff also desires for someone to bring a pair of the SHIELD cuffs, for transporting, Clint.
"Yeah, no," Tony scoffed. "Clint wants to help. He doesn't need-"
"Tell Natasha that I'm bringing some," Steve interrupted.
"Like hell you are," Tony snapped.
"That's not your call alone, Tony," Coulson said.
And Clint has already agreed to the precaution, JARVIS informed them.
Tony looked around, angrily, at the others,"If we want him to feel like a member of this team, we need to treat him like one."
Steve shook his head, "That may be true but he tried to kill us Tony. It's going to take some time to get our trust back."
"And what about his trust in us?" Tony demanded "How exactly do you expect to get it back while we're keeping him locked up?"
No one was sure how to answer that, leaving a sad silence between them.
Finally Bruce spoke up, sounding regretful, "One step at a time, I guess. Clint's willing to help us find Thor, so let's find Thor. And then move forward from there."
Steve nodded. "Alright, I'll go get Clint and Natasha and meet you all in the conference room?"
"No," Tony said.
"Tony," Coulson warned.
Tony continued, "You go ahead Coulson, everyone else meet in my lab, there's something we need to take care of first."
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"I don't really trust you around me with objects that poke and shock, Tony." Bruce said, keeping his distance.
"What? You saw me inject myself," Tony said, waving the small, tipped, metal gun around.
"I've seen you do countless things that I wouldn't, Tony."
The lab doors opened with a woosh, drawing Bruce's attention long enough for Tony to sneak close and stick Bruce in the hip.
Bruce moved away swiftly, almost growling at Tony as his hand moved to his hip. "Tony!"
"Don't be such a baby Bruce, you barely felt it," Tony said, turning back to his work bench, but stopped when he saw Clint, between Natasha and Steve, arms behind his back, walking toward him. Their eyes met and Tony tried to smile at him, but Clint quickly ducked his head down. Tony could tell that it wasn't meant to be hurtful, but he still felt his heart clench. They had a long road to go.
"What just happened, Tony?" Natasha asked, sounding tired.
"Don't worry, I just injected him with a subdermal tracker, made special for each of you," Tony said, ejecting the tip into a hazmat container and snapping on another with another clip already inside, and smiling at her, "Your turn."
"Subdermal tracker? And how is this better than the ones SHIELD offers?" Natasha asked skeptically.
"Everything I make is better than anything SHIELD has, Natasha. But these are pretty much undetectable. They remain dormant unless activated and even then they give off a signal of my own making, only JARVIS can detect it… in theory. Dont hurt me," Tony commanded, as he came forward with the gun.
Natasha reluctantly exposed a piece of her hip, not even flinching when the gun snapped, "In theory? That's the best you can do?"
Tony switched out another tip and clip. "I haven't had time to field test them yet."
"This is what you've been you've been working on down here?" Steve asked, allowing Tony to inject him.
"One of many things." Tony reloaded the gun and moved to Clint, tilting his head to meet Clint's eyes again, "I figured, if we had these, any abductions would be pointless because we could just turn these babies on and find them." He moved his hand to Clint's hip, brought the gun forward and injected the tracker. "I won't lose you again." Tony said, softly, ignoring the other in the room. Clint hadn't looked away, but his eyes were pained.
Steve shifted, breaking the moment and Clint's gaze moved away.
Tony sighed and turned to set the gun down. "I just wish I had thought of doing doing this sooner," he said, tapping his finger next to the last tracker, which everyone realized was Thor's.
"When we get him back we'll give it to him," Bruce assured.
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Coulson stood as the team entered the conference room, his eyes going straight to Clint, who had stopped in the doorway, looking back at him, surprised; but he quickly shook it off and allowed himself to be led to a chair. Coulson gave him a reassuring smile and sat down across from him.
Everyone settled in and turned to Clint.
"So there's a possible location?" Coulson prompted.
Clint took a breath, then nodded, "Directions. I don't where I was being held but about two months ago they let me out for a hit in Memphis."
Steve opened his mouth to say something but stopped when Natasha shook her head.
"They kept a bag over my head for most of the travel."
Natasha smirked, "That wouldn't stop you from keeping track."
"No, it wouldn't," Clint almost smiled back.
"Alright, I've Sitwell on a secure channel," Coulson said, his hand moving to a speaker in the center of the table. "He'll be able to check this through SHIELD's database, and see if we have anything on it."
"I can do that Agent," Tony offered.
"Let's try and refrain from hacking SHIELD, Tony."
"I wouldn't need to hack it, I already…" Tony voice died off at Coulson's look.
"Sitwell can handle the SHIELD search, but feel free to search through your own resources." Coulson pressed a button on the speaker. "Sitwell?"
"I'm here. You have a location?"
"Clint's going to be giving us directions, map the path and check for anything along the route, from start to finish, that SHIELD might know about. Hopefully this will get us to Thor."
"Good to hear." Sitwell said, "Do you think you'll need any help because I've actually got Specialist Brackett outside my office wanting to help."
"Who?" Tony wondered.
Sitwell gave a short sigh, "'Spade', Stark."
"His last name's Brackett?"
Steve gave him a look, "He's been working with the team for three months, Tony."
"Well he's obviously not very memorable, is he?" Tony defended himself.
"You never actually tried to remember him." Natasha put in, "You call him 'hey you', sometimes 'hey, loser.'"
Tony saw a hint of a smile on Clint's lips, "Good times. At least I don't call him 'son' or 'kid' like you and Steve; the guy's probably forty five, which is understandable with Cap, he's in his nineties. How old are you Natasha?"
Natasha reached for a pen but before she could do anything with it, another voice came over the speakers. "Have you heard from them yet, Agent Sitwell?"
"Hey everybody, it's 'hey you'," Tony announced.
"Stark?" they heard Brackett ask, "oh, are they on the phone right now?"
It was hard not to notice the way Clint began to tense when Spade's voice continued through the speaker.
"Nothing has changed Spade." Steve said, "We appreciate your support but we won't be needing your assistance right now."
"Hey," Spade said, lightly, "I may be only a sniper but I can help scope out any locations you come up with. I don't have satellite feeds but that's got nothing on the high definition of my scope," he boasted.
The longer Brackett spoke the more intense Clint's focus became on the nothing he was staring at. They needed to end this call.
"I mean," the sniper continued, "what if you wanted to know what color the doors were?"
"Why would we-" Bruce began.
"Green."
Everyone turned to Clint.
"What?" Brackett asked, sounding thrown.
"The doors are green." Clint turned and looked at the team, his eyes angry, "In case you wanted to know."
"See, no help needed, we're all set, goodbye," Tony said, ending the call and pulled a Starkpad out of a drawer
"Clint…"
"You ready for the directions, or what?"
The team glanced around at each other. That definitely hadn't gone well.
"JARVIS, pull up a map for us."
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"Ohio? Even Canada would have been more nefarious than than Ohio." Tony complained, sitting in the back of the quinjet between Bruce and Steve, his portable suit at his feet.
"It's where Clint's directions led us," Steve reminded.
"I'm just saying… Ohio. Who sets up an evil base in Ohio?"
"It may not even be in Ohio, Tony," Coulson said, sitting by the cockpit. "Clint said he was a little out of it in the beginning. That's way this is mainly a reconnaissance mission."
"Clint should be here with us."
"Even he understands that we can't let him out on missions with us yet, Tony," Coulson reasoned.
Tony couldn't seem to sit still. They had only left Clint twenty minutes ago and he knew Natasha was with him but… he should have stayed with him instead. Sure, his suit had scanners they could use for this, but, this was too soon. What is Clint thought he didn't care enough to stay, was he already breaking his trust again?
Tony took out his phone and checked the feed for Clint's cell. The screen was black. He tried some of th surrounding feeds but they were all blank.
"JARVIS, is there a problem with the cameras?"
There was only silence to answer him.
He felt Bruce lean closer.
"J, no sleeping on the job," Tony prompted. Still no answer. Warning began going off in his head. "JARVIS?" Shit. "Turn around."
"What?" Coulson asked. "Why?"
"I can't get a hold of JARVIS."
"There could be caused by-"
"Nothing good. The only reasons JARVIS wouldn't be able to connect with me, or that I couldn't contact him would be if he was shut down or locked in and right now both could only be done at the Tower, so turn around, now."
Steve clicked his comm, "Natasha?"
"If she didn't have the com in we'd be communicating through JARVIS, and if he's down…"
Coulson pulled out his phone and dialed as the quinjet turned.
This wasn't happening. This couldn't be happening.
"She's not answering." He heard Coulson say, then, "This is Coulson. I need eyes on the Tower now. We have a possible break in or escape in progress."
Tony came back to himself. "Escape?"
Coulson ignored him and continued giving orders into his phone.
"Escape?" he asked the others. "Clint was helping us. He was helping us find the base, he gave us directions."
Steve looked grim. "Unless he was lying to get us away."
They were able to shave five minutes off the fly time but the next fifteen minutes almost felt like the entire past week. He tried but it seemed like the whole Tower was blacked out.
"No one has come out of the building," Coulson informed them, "I've got agents doing floor by floor sweeps."
Tony was suited up and jumping out of the quinjet on final approach. He smashed through the team floor windows and blasted into the stairwell, circling down to the detention level and tearing the door away. His sensors picked up the sound of Steve entering the stairwell above him as he entered the floor.
He didn't know what to expect, but Natasha sitting on the floor of the cell, a large bruise darkening across the left side of her face, hadn't really come up as a possibility.
Even in his suit, her unimpressed expectant glare, almost made him flinch. Was that meant specifically for him?
"What?" he asked, as Steve ran up behind him, "Where's Clint?"
Natasha stood slowly, not taking her eyes off Tony. Yep, definitely meant for him. She crossed her arms. "Cupid's Aim - 12."
"What?" Steve asked.
"Son of a bitch," Tony groaned, his head falling into his hands. "Clint's override. He missed, JARVIS. 'Cupid missed'.
It would be comforting if that were true, Sir. The cell door opened and Natasha walked out.
There was no doubt in Tony's mind that if he hadn't been in his armor, Natasha would inflicting some kind of pain on him now. So it looked like Tony would be in his suit for the foreseeable future.
"Clint's override?" Steve asked
"I set it up in case something went wrong, if someone hacked JARVIS. I, I never deleted the protocol, after he was gone. I didn't even think about it."
"It looks like Clint was counting on that," Natasha said, turning the bruised side of her face away from them.
"What happened?" Steve asked.
"I had just put him back in his cell when I heard him say the override. JARVIS made a strange noise and Clint ordered him to open the cell and lock himself in the building? I didn't know you could do that."
"Another precaution, no outside communication."
"He came out," Natasha continued, her hand moving over the bruise, "we fought, he got the upperhand and paid me back for the cognitive recalibration I gave him on the helicarrier. He locked me in the cell and left, not giving JARVIS any orders until he was out of earshot."
"JARVIS?"
He had me turn off all cameras and sensors on every floor and confine myself to this particular floor. However, the elevator is not a floor and I was able to keep the sensors on.
"Where did he go?"
Your lab, Sir, and did not take the elevator anywhere else. So after that, I do not know what he did.
Steve turned to Tony. "Is there a way to get out of the building from your lab?"
"It's one of the top floors I don't see how…" Tony sighed, shaking his head, feeling like an idiot. "The lab ventilation system, he knows his way around there, he even had a nest in there before."
"He could get anywhere in the building from there," Steve mussed.
"He's out of the building by now," Natasha stated, "probably before you even realized there was something wrong."
"Well that's just…" Tony stopped and smiled, "wonderful. No it's not but we can track him. J, get Clint's tracker fired up and tell Coulson and Bruce to meet us in the conference room!"
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It's not moving, Sir.
"Pull it up," Tony ordered.
A holo map formed in the air above the table, zooming in until they were looking at a map of Central Park, a red dot showing near the edge of the middle east side.
"He still in New York."
"The tracker is still in New York," Natasha corrected.
Tony moved his fingers through the light, pulling up multiple video feeds of the location, showing and empty park bench beneath a tree. A woman pushed a passed but no one else was near the spot.
"He must have cut it out," Bruce said, sagging back into his chair.
Steve's shoulders dropped. How had this happened? Why? Was it really all an act?
Tony was still manipulating the light, his face determined. The videos began rewinding, the time stamps in the corner whirling, when suddenly, all the feeds went black. "The hell?" Tony exclaimed, his eyes moved over the information quickly. "All the cameras in a twenty block radius turned off during this time."
Steve wasn't sure what Tony was doing, but the feeds came back on, and even more sprang to life around the room, showing the areas surrounding the spot, all of the time stamps showing the time when Clint had escaped and started fast forwarding.
"There," Natasha pointed to one of the feeds. A man walked by the camera in jeans and a hooded sweatshirt, but they could tell it was Clint.
"Where did he get those clothes?"
"Clint had many supply stashes in the vents at headquarters," Coulson said. "I wouldn't be surprised if he had some here you didn't know about."
Clint made it to the bench and looked around.
"He's waiting for someone," Steve realized aloud.
Clint looked ready to sit, when a man in brown cargo pants and a grey tshirt, dropped out of the tree a few feet from him. Clint entire body sagged in, what looked like, relief, his head dropping slightly.
"Zoom in, Tony" Coulson ordered, but Tony was already on it.
Unfortunately for him the picture cleared just as their mystery man wrapped his arms around Clint and pulled him into a deep kiss.
Tony made a choking sound and pulled his hands away from the lights as if he had been burned, staggering back a few steps.
Clint was leaning into the kiss, bringing his arms up around the man's neck. It looked like a kiss straight out of a movie.
"Breathe, Tony" he heard Bruce say, at his side, "Take some deep breaths."
Tony breathed in but let it out with a hiss when the man pulled away from Clint and the team finally had a good look him. "What the hell is going on, Coulson?" he demanded, his voice dangerously sharp.
Coulson didn't answer, but stared at the image, his mouth slightly agape.
In fact, everyone seem dumbfounded as their gaze was locked to image of the man.
Bruce looked on in shock. "That's Spade."
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JuliaHummingbird you were right, I do have an ace up my sleeve… and it's a Spade. Mwahahahaha.