I'm about to make you strong again… again… again….

Clint watched as Natasha's eyes followed Darya's blade as it raised up high above his daughter. He had never seen a more terrible expression on a person's face before, the anguish there was unmistakable. Her eyes rolled back in her head and she spasmed, then went still. A roaring filled his ears. Darya moved as if in slow motion, the knife only just beginning to descend. Clint forced his sluggish mind to focus, and drew out his bow from his bedside. With painful concentration, he aimed his weapon at Darya and released. He heard the dull thud hit her with grim satisfaction. Clint looked at her and frowned, he had only managed to hit her in the shoulder, but her suit had protected her from most of it. She reeled backwards into the hall, catching herself against the wall. She screamed at him in rage, but he was already drawing another arrow with the intent to shoot her where she had no armor, straight through her head.

"Dad?!" Cooper was awake, and looked at him with wide eyes. Clint hesitated, unwilling to kill so brutally in front of his son. Darya started forward again, and Clint's heart tore as he loosed, for the arrow hit the button on the wall, and the door to the panic room slid tightly shut, leaving Natasha on the outside. Clint put his face in his hand in grief. He stayed there, stunned, for what felt like hours.

Slowly, one by one, his family woke, and Clint struggled to behave normally, heartbroken at the thought of telling his children, but of course they knew. Where was Auntie Nat? The question echoed in his ears again and again, each time the question became more tearful, more panicked. He shook his head, in a daze, pressing his ear to the door, straining for any sound that would tell him what Darya was doing. A shout sent him scrambling for his bow. "Laura, get the kids and get behind me!" He notched an arrow and aimed it at the door, not sure what to expect. Suddenly the door shot open, making Clints heart rise to his throat.

"Don't shoot!" Steve stood before them, his face white as a sheet, disbelief on his face. Behind him on the floor was a bloodstain smear that trailed down the hallway, Natasha's body nowhere to be seen. Steve looked at Clint with desperation, "Please tell me she's in here. Please Clint. You're alive and so is she. Just tell me where." The rest of the team caught up to Steve, filing into the room behind him. Tony barked orders, "Get everyone to the jet, Wanda, shield please, just in case." Wanda quickly put up a protective force field around them, and they all began exiting the room. Steve's eyes never left Clint's. Clint's expression was torturous, "The Russian drugged us Steve," he said, his voice low to avoid being overheard by the children, "Nat somehow got us all into gas masks and saved us. She saved my family, my children."

Steve shook his head slowly, "But where is she Clint. Where's Natasha?"

Clint hesitated, "Sokolov… she used a recording of your voice to get her to open the door. She wasn't prepared… Sokolov stabbed her with a poisoned blade."

As the last person left the room Steve closed the distance between them and seized Clint by the shirt, "Answer. My. Question." Clint looked at Steve sorrowfully, "She died Steve."

Steve shook him, "NO! You're alive when she thought you were dead. She thought Darya killed you and so did I. But you're here and she is too. She has to be!"

Clint struggled with his words, choking on his own grief, "I saw her die. Sokolov must have taken her. She was lying right there when… when the door closed."

Steve dropped him unceremoniously, backing away in disbelief. "This is where.." He swallowed hard looking at the blood, "You… You shut her out there? You shut her out there with her worst nightmare?"

"No! Steve she was gone! If I didn't close that door my family would be dead!"

"And now my family is! Clint she's all I have!"

Clint approached Steve angrily, "I didn't kill her! Listen to me, we cannot fight about this, Natasha would have wanted me to do it." Steve landed a punch straight to his face that sent Clint flying. He groaned and struggled in vain to stand. Steve bent over him his eyes wild, " You don't know that. You should have protected her. She trusted you."

He stalked towards the door. Clint rolled over with a grunt, "Where are you going?"

Steve didn't look back, "I won't let them have her." He ran then, almost blinded by rage and tears into the treeline and to the road.

When Clint arrived at the quinjet his eye was swollen, his nose broken. Various exclamations went up from the team. Clint put up his hand, "I'm fine." Laura ran to him and took his face in her hands, fussing over his bruises. "Where is Steve? What happened?"

Clint looked at her, his expression pained, "He's just lost the woman he loves. Again. Cap has gone rogue. I couldn't stop him."

Bucky sprang to his feet, "Which way?"

Clint pointed, and Bucky started to leave. "Wait," Tony handed him a communication device, "In case you need us." Bucky nodded and tucked it away, then left at a run to find his friend. Unseen by anyone, a lone Black Widow watched him go, and followed stealthily behind him.