CHAPTER 4 - Perseverance
After that it got a bit harder to avoid Peggy. She seemed to have taken a rather large interest in Bucky and Clint. If not Dugan as well. And like she said, Clint and Dugan got their promotions. The odder part was that because Dugan and Bucky 'couldn't' be separated, they simply got a larger team to work with in an effort to cover both Sergeants. This time around, Clint refused to get friendly with any of the new guys even if he casted so many protection spells on all of them it left him weak for an hour each morning. Something Bucky and Dugan disagreed with but covered it up as Clint not being a 'morning' person. In the end though, Clint did make sure to at least learn their first names... Tyler, Burley, Aiden, Alex, Josh, Dallas, Joey and Ross all worked with Bucky and Clint. Dugan ended up getting a Corporal Bill, Darius, Sam, Charlie, Pat, Jeremy, Chris and Dennis.
The last member that Dugan got surprised the fuck out of Clint. Gabe Jones. He hadn't realized that Gabe had been apart of the 107th. The archer thought that Bucky and Dugan met him after getting caught. For a while, Bucky and Dugan noticed that Clint avoided everyone but tended to still talk with Gabe. When Bucky finally asked, Clint gave a sign that Gabe was part of the group that Clint knew survived. Bucky tried not to talk about it much after that but it was clear to everyone else that Clint was only friendly with Bucky, Dugan and Gabe. Nor would there be any way to change it.
"LET'S GO!" Bucky shouted to the group a few weeks later, trying to rush his unit to move. Clint hung toward the back, making sure to protect the group. He wasn't going to make a mistake of losing someone again. This was going to be like a S.H.I.E.L.D mission. Bucky was his handler, Dugan was the team leader. Yeah, he could work with that. It'd work. He could separate emotion from all this. Something he really should have done in the beginning.
The twenty of them rushed through the woods, trying to escape the excessive gun fire that came from behind them. Clint kept turning around, shooting into the woods. Every one of his shots hit someone, but they had been outnumbered to begin with. This wasn't going well. Then Clint turned back to see Josh stumble and fall to his knees. Clint gritted his teeth, moving right to grab the kid from his armpit and heft him up. They had all learned that while Clint didn't talk to them, he was still a good man to have at their backs.
"Move!" Clint snapped at him. Josh nodded and hurried up. Wouldn't do to lose any of the team now. Bucky turned back briefly to see Clint. The other men spread out between them. Clint nodded his head to keep going. Bucky huffed and turned back. They needed to find a more defensible position. Then a bullet slammed into the archer. "AH!"
"CLINT!" Dugan roared, moving to check on him. Clint shook his head. They needed to keep moving. He could handle it. Nearby, Pat dropped. A gun shot through his head. Tyler vanished off to the left just before everyone heard a loud explosion. Clint cussed, recasting the protection spell again on the troops. Weakness made him nearly trip himself but when Dugan shifted to come over once again, Clint glared at the man.
"I'm fine! Go!" the archer cried. Dugan hesitated in his pace for a moment before hurrying off again. Bucky glanced back at Clint but Clint snarled his teeth and turned to shoot whoever had clipped him. Fuck them all. Josh vanished into the group ahead, making sure to better watch the ground in front of him. Glad that the kid was safe, Clint spun around, shooting at the men coming toward them as he ran backwards. When he nearly tripped, pulling at his new injury, Clint spun back around, just shifting enough to shoot over his shoulder. Six miles later (in a little under 30 minutes or so), Clint's energy began to wain. Gabe hung back, helping to make sure the archer kept up. "Get the fuck outta here!"
"Ain't gonna leave you, ya shit head," Gabe snipped as Ross and Dennis backed down to help. Darius stumbled before dropping. Jeremy turned to check on him and got a blast through his arm. His scream of pain drew Chris and Aiden to his side. It took maybe another minute or two before they finally joined up with a larger group from the 107th and a few other regiments. Clint sighed.
"Thank fuck." With the larger group surrounding them, the enemy backed off. Jeremy had already gotten dragged off to the field medics and Clint started looking around for Darius. He couldn't remember if anyone had gotten the guy up or if Darius himself had gotten up.
"Clint," Bucky called, moving back to check on the archer now that the enemy had stopped advancing and actually seemed to be retreating. Jumping slightly, Clint looked to Bucky before he shook his head. He was fine. Bucky got to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "You okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," the archer argued before blinking rapidly. He glanced down at the wound on his left side. It wasn't all that big but with the running and twisting to shoot, he had done quite a bit of bleeding. Most of his side was covered in blood at this point. Bucky followed his gaze and frowned.
"Ya call that fine?" the Sergeant asked. Clint smirked and nodded, ignoring the fact that his head swam a bit at that. He had no idea if it was because of blood loss or maybe the repeated casting of the protection spell. Bucky huffed, his eyes narrowing. Clint could tell that the Sergeant was basically seeing him as if he was Steve. "Come on, lets go find a field medic and actually get a better opinion."
Clint huffed but was a bit too weak to fight off the other man. Bucky easily led him to one of the medics in the back of the group. Clint hardly paid attention to the man's name. Just leaned forward to let him get a look at the, what ended up being, graze. It had apparently bleed much more than one would think just because of Clint's extreme movements to get out of the battle alive The man frowned at it.
"Not too bad. Just gonna slap a bandage on it and pray to god you don't have to sprint through the woods again," the man stated. Clint nodded, looking to Bucky with a smug gaze. Bucky rolled his eyes. Once settled with the medic, Clint followed Bucky to the rest of their group sans shirt as someone had stolen it while he got checked over. Why they wanted a blood soaked shirt, Clint didn't know. He just knew his shirt was gone and he'd need to get a new one soon. Josh looked to Clint's injury and paled. Clint shook his head.
"Hey, it's fine. Not your fault," Clint soothed. Dugan huffed but said nothing. Slowly, Clint shifted to the ground. He really didn't want to jostle his wound any more than he had too. Running six miles in the woods was enough. A bunch of other guys came by and patted Clint on his non-injured side. Apparently it was awesome to run six miles through the woods with an injured side and still spend that whole time working at protecting his unit. Clint tried to ignore it all. He wasn't a hero. Wasn't super. Just a guy trying to live through a god damn fucking war with the people he had begun to call friends and brothers.
"Still, if I hadn't fallen-" Josh started.
"Dude, if you hadn't fallen I may have been more to the left and they woulda hit me in a more detrimental spot. We don't know what could have happened," Clint hissed. Josh winced but nodded. It was true. If Josh hadn't fallen it could have been much worse. They likely could have lost both Clint and Josh. Or even more of them as Clint had taken a lot more enemies out during their continued run.
"Doesn't matter now. It's in the past," Bucky told them all, a small wince when he looked to Clint. The archer sighed deeply. Yeah, in the past. Where he shouldn't fucking be. Maybe ten minutes later, Captain Henry sounded out the all clear to move on. Everyone got ready to advance. Clint groaned and got back up to his feet. "If you wanna sit-"
"I swear to god, Bucky. I will hurt you if you finish that," the archer growled. The rest of the unit chuckled. They had gotten rather used to the banter that Clint typically had with Bucky. But, even though Clint was on his feet and moving, Dugan refused to allow the archer to carry his own pack. And Bucky made sure to keep their unit more toward the middle of the pack so that they were more defended by others. Clint huffed at the plan but didn't try and move them forward or argue. A clear sign that he wasn't as fine as he had otherwise appeared to be. Not that any of them really knew that about him.
The whole regiment advanced, some shots from the front being fired but not as many as the unit had heard when running away. But Clint could feel something was up. While there were sounds of battle ahead, the amount of men that had been chasing everyone through the woods was nothing like the sounds of battle ahead of them. He turned to stare at the tree lines. Before anyone could as what he was doing, Clint spotted it. Quickly lifting his gun, he snapped out one shot. Everyone in the area gave a small jump but was pleased to see a body fall out of the tree.
"Nice," someone from another unit called. Clint huffed again but continued walking. The next enemy hidden in a tree was caught by Bucky. Now that people knew the enemy could be hidden above them, people started paying better attention. It was maybe an hour and a half before they passed the area Clint was shot in. And Clint knew it was his cause of the blood splatter. He gritted his teeth at the sight but turned to keep moving. Mentally he wondered once again what happened to Darius. He hadn't seen a body or anything. Thankfully Josh didn't notice the same thing. Bucky did and he traded a look with the archer. Clint mouthed 'Darius?' Sighing, Bucky shook his head no. Darius hadn't made it.
By the time the back of the pack finally hit the city line, the front half had already cleared the area. There was a loud cheer. Now, they could rest here, hidden in buildings for safety. It was nice. Clint leaned himself on a fallen bit of building and just watched as men wandered around, actually checking to make sure every enemy was either down or gone. Some even picked out their 'bedding' areas. Bucky headed over to stand by him.
"I'm sorry," the Sergeant muttered. Clint shook his head.
"That's why I've been in the back of the pack when we retreat. I can handle being shot and still move. Once got hit with a through and through in my right leg and still ran for maybe a good five miles and then walked for another twenty before it finally caught up to me," Clint stated. Bucky winced. That sounded painful and really bad. Clint huffed, mentally reviewing the memory. He had been captured by some random group that dissolved soon after. Not knowing if he was going to be saved, he broke himself out and worked his way through the area in an attempt to get to the nearest S.H.I.E.L.D facility. What he hadn't know was Coulson had activated the archer's tracker. Once the pain and blood loss caught up to Clint, Coulson was already landing the Quinjet with medical waiting. "I can deal with it."
"But I shouldn't have let ya gotten anywhere near the chance," the Sergeant argued. Clint looked up to him.
"I'm not sure if you're aware here, but there is a war goin' on. People get hurt or killed in wars," Clint deadpanned. Bucky took a moment before he snorted. Clint smirked. It wasn't all that good of a joke but it did seem to soothe Bucky's guilt.
A few more days or so went by after that. Clint did his best to protect the unit again but Alex went down to a hidden mine. His remains scattered all over Clint, Dugan and Ross until they could clean up later. Chris lost his arm and hearing when a grenade was thrown out of sight from Bucky and Clint. Charlie got shot through the shoulder and ended up going home. And a new guy, Dallas, ended up dying when he got ahead of the unit and was stabbed with a bayonet from an enemy that was hidden in a trap and it was the same day Clint forgot to double up his protection spell that day.
Bucky also seemed a bit discouraged with the loss of life going around his unit. But people willingly volunteered to work with them. It wasn't like they had the best track record of keeping people safe. But Bucky, Dugan and Clint had ended up being some of the only leaders who had stayed together even with their change in rank. They also seemed to have lasted longer than most officers as they ended up killed or sent home.
"Can I join you guys?" a fresh face wondered, coming over to Bucky, Dugan, Gabe and Clint as they ate their 'dinner' around the open fire that Captain Henry had said was safe to light. Clint looked the guy over. The guy was a kid. Likely had been just on the cusp of being sent off. One of the youngest guy he had seen out here. It gave the archer a small chill before he looked back down to his food. He couldn't think about it anymore.
"To eat? Sure," Dugan allowed. The man blushed. Gabe snorted, digging into his meal a bit more. Bucky allowed his plate to basically drop onto his lap so he could better pay attention.
"No... I... I mean your unit," the man stated. Clint looked to the 'higher' ups. Bucky frowned at the archer before looking to Dugan. Dugan raised an eyebrow before shifting to face the guy better. He looked the man up and down. Then again. Then focused on the guy's face. Gabe grimaced after a bit, looking to Clint as he knew where this was gonna go. Clint rolled his eyes. This wasn't going to go well for the kid.
"Why?" Dugan asked.
"You... You guys keep your unit safe," the man praised. Clint derisively snorted.
"No better than any other unit out there," Clint pointed out. The man frowned. "Look, every unit is gonna have their casualties. You can't just unit jump in an effort to keep safe. We're all in danger once we get out there. Just watch your back and try to watch your unit's back."
"But..." the man began.
"No. Corporal Barton has a point. You can't just join us on the hope that you'll survive better with us than any other. We can't guarantee that and it'd be unfair for you to expect us too. I'm sorry, but I can't accept you to our unit," Bucky retorted. With that said, the man turned to look at Dugan who just kinda gave him a 'are you shitting me' type of look. The man sagged in defeat before nodding his head and wandering off. Clint sighed deeply, watching the guy.
"I get that people wanna survive this shit. But man, to expect one unit to keep ya safe," Dugan complained. Bucky nodded but Clint just went back to eating. He totally wasn't going to mention that when the Howling Commandos come into existence, none of them die under Steve's command. The rest of the infantry, maybe there was a bunch, but Steve's main unit had no deaths. Well... Outside of Bucky and then Steve himself. Course, apparently neither of them died. Or is it die? Fucking past and future tenses.
"And that's why we refuse people like that," Bucky stated. Dugan nodded. Clint sighed. This wasn't the first soldier they had turned down for similar reasons. Peggy had been right, the 107th and other regiments made the three of them (and now four with Gabe) out like gods. Clint couldn't tell if this was a good thing for him or not. He knew he was never mentioned as being part of the 107th but he was getting too popular for him to have not been mentioned at least once. Maybe... Maybe he should leave a message with someone? Let the others know he was at least okay... For now... Maybe get them to yell at Steve and Bucky, if this was the correct timeline...
"Gentlemen," a female voice called. Clint groaned, dropping his head down onto his chest. Dugan and Gabe snorted. Peggy had been coming to visit them a lot lately. Clint couldn't escape her. And while that normally wasn't an issue, Dugan was 'helpful' enough to tell the rest of their units all about Clint wanting to avoid her. When Clint failed to avoid her, the others highly enjoyed it. Slowly, he turned to look at her.
"Agent Carter," he greeted. She smiled at him even as Bucky, Dugan and Gabe softly greeted her as well. In the past few visits, Peggy had been spending more time watching the archer than the others. It was starting to get a bit creepy after the third time she checked on them.
"Heard rumor that you boys keep refusing new unit members," she said. Clint rolled his eyes. Lots a rumors going round. A few of the rumors had it that Bucky, Dugan and himself somehow made a pact with the Devil to last through the war if they killed a certain number of enemies in battle. Another had it that they were blessed by some higher power to watch over as many people as they could. The worst rumor, and the one Bucky enjoyed the most, was that somehow they had the ability to predict the future. Needless to say, Clint attempted to kick his ass anytime Bucky brought that rumor up around him.
"You listen too much to rumors, ma'am," the archer retorted. Bucky turned and gave Clint a slightly harsh gaze. Clint ignored him. He was too fucking tired to deal with Peggy's shit at the moment. Thankfully, Peggy just chuckled at him. Should have known that wouldn't work to scare her off.
"Rumors are interesting and many based on fact," Peggy pointed out. Clint snorted.
"You think the whole demon pact is real?" Gabe countered. Dugan guffawed as Bucky turned his scowl at the man. Clint even couldn't stop his snort of humor as he went back to eating. Peggy just smiled.
"I more enjoy the future predictions," Peggy replied. Clint suddenly choked on his food and this time Bucky let out a laugh before patting Clint's back in an attempt to help. Even Dugan was cracking a smile. Gabe rolled his eyes, having no idea what was going on with the three of them.
"Better than that rumor that we're blessed," Bucky huffed when he was certain Clint was fine. The archer nodded his thanks before placing his plate down beside him. He'd have to wait until Peggy walked away before he could go back to his food.
"There is the new one going around that one of you have magical powers," Peggy mentioned. Clint let out a distressed sound as Bucky and Dugan covered it with a choked sound that could have been construed as a laugh. Gabe and Peggy shifted their gazes over the trio.
"Magic powers?" Dugan finally was able to ask. Peggy nodded and Dugan forced himself to laugh at the 'absurdity' of that statement. Gabe raised an eyebrow. "You seriously believe that?"
"Can't put it out of the realm of possibilities," Peggy stated. As secretly as possible, Bucky placed a hand on Clint in an effort to calm the archer. Gabe frowned, having noticed the movement but decided not to comment on it just yet.
"There is no way magic is real," Gabe grumbled, turning his eyes back to Peggy. The woman smiled, unable to believe otherwise. It wasn't as insane as one might think. There were many stories of magic in the past. Why wouldn't it continue into this day and age? Shaking her head, Peggy decided to walk away.
"Well, it was nice seeing you boys again," she finished before turning back around and walking away. Dugan huffed.
"Beginning to think she's got a crush on you or somethin' Clint," Dugan stated, trying to throw off the statements she had mentioned. Clint blanched, unsure if that was better or worse than the rumors of magic. Either way, having Peggy potentially having a 'crush' on the archer, Clint prayed it wasn't true. No way in hell. It was bad enough she knew him, never mind actively searching him out. Bucky must have noticed Clint's look cause he shifted his seat over to be closer to him. Clint looked up, his eyes pained. Only Bucky knew how close some of those rumors where to the truth. And he was going to be one of the only ones who could help distract anyone else.
"Hey, it's fine," Bucky softly said, making sure Clint was focused on him. Dugan frowned. He could tell this wasn't just about the rumor of magic. Gabe looked between the trio with a confused expression.
"Feel like I'm missin' something here," Gabe muttered, unsure what else to say. Clint sighed, looking to Bucky quickly before deciding that he couldn't do it. He couldn't let Gabe know about him just yet. So... He had to go with his backup plan and pray that Bucky and Dugan would follow through.
"Carter... I can't get near her. I..." Clint tried explaining but just couldn't figure out the words. What was the best thing to say in this type of situation. Dugan already knew he didn't 'pop a stiffy.'
"You said you'd pop a stiffy, but you've seemed fine..." Dugan mumbled, looking between them. Bucky gave Dugan a face that said to just drop it while Clint just turned away from them. Well, Clint could only guess that Dugan was covering him. Maybe Dugan thought it was something about the magic. Well, knowing it didn't truly matter, Dugan huffed but rolled his eyes. "Alright, alright. We'll just tell her to back off. Again."
"God, don't ya know nothin' 'bought women! You tell em no, they think yes!" Bucky hissed. At that Clint and Gabe just laughed, the group beginning to relax.
"We need to get those SSR dummies to stop leading us. What's the deal with them being in charge of our infantry? Surely there is another group they could lead," Clint grumbled. Bucky and Dugan laughed this time.
"Supposedly some of our men are part of their 'elite' group. Maybe that's why Carter hangs around you. She might be looking to recruit ya," Dugan suggested. Clint paled. Jesus, could that have been why Director Carter made a big deal about him coming into S.H.I.E.L.D when he was a teen? Cause she knew him? God, his life was so fucked up. "What? You don't wanna join those lazy louts?"
"Lazy louts? What you talkin' bout?" Bill wondered, coming to join the four.
"Those SSR stalkers," Bucky replied. Bill chuckled.
"Yeah, yeah they are lazy louts," the man repeated. Clint said nothing but got up and headed off. He needed time to think. This whole thing was getting too messed up. God, maybe he should just let himself get shot and end this whole charade. Lost in thought, he missed Bucky getting up with him and following.
"You okay?" Bucky's voice whispered once he thought they had gotten far enough away from the others. Clint huffed and shook his head as they stopped on the outskirts of the town. They kept their back to the town and new camp. "Thinking bout the future?"
"Kinda, yeah. If... If this is my timeline and my future... My whole damn life revolves around the choices I make here," Clint muttered. Bucky frowned before leaning against the building they had stopped by. Clint turned to look at him better.
"Guess ya know Carter in the future?"
"I know her before I know you and Steve," Clint admitted, figuring he might as well dish as much as he could get out. Wasn't like talking about this issue would fuck with Bucky's future. Bucky... Well, sadly he was likely to forget everything anyways. Fucking Hydra. "She... She is the future leader and founder of my job."
"Damn. That sucks," Bucky whistled. Clint huffed a laugh. Understatement of the year.
"Yeah, you have no idea," the archer mumbled. He looked to the sky with a deep sigh. "I just... I feel like I have to show her what I can grow up into being just so I know she recruits me. But I don't wanna lay it on too thick."
"Hey, ya already got recruited," Bucky tried soothing. Clint snorted.
"But, what if I only got that because of what she sees here?" Bucky winced. He hadn't thought of it that way. Clint groaned before rubbing his hands over his face. "This whole thing is just fucked up. I wanna go home."
"Don't we all," Bucky muttered under his breath. Clint grunted understanding what Bucky meant even if there was a quick mental competition as to who had it worse.
"Sorry." Bucky shook his head.
"Don't be. Trust me, I get it. You're further out of your element than most of us are. It's not fair to compare," Bucky informed. Clint groaned.
"Doesn't matter if it can't compare, Bucky. It still shouldn't... Forget it," Clint stumbled. Bucky sighed and pushed off from the wall to get closer to the archer.
"Hey. You'll figure this all out. Don't worry bout it," the Sergeant promised before nodding his head to the camp. "I'm gonna head back. Come back when you're ready."
"Thanks," Clint replied, watching Bucky go. Honestly, he had no idea how to figure all this out. He had no idea what this could be changing. If it was changing anything. God, why would anyone willingly send him back? Hell, why the fuck did it have to be him all the time? What god or whoever out there had it in for him? Groaning, Clint fell down to a crouch and held his head between his knees. He let out as silent a scream as he could. "Fuck!"
A day late. Sorry. Yesterday I could hardly see straight. I'm wicked proud of this story so I wanted to make sure it was as perfect as I could make it before posting. So, I edit it numerous times. In fact, I think this story has been edited nearly twenty times. Either way, it's up now.
Darius is doing good. Having some minor issues yesterday and today but that is likely my problem over him. Anyways, other than that he's been fine. Can't think of much else to say. We're just good.