CHAPTER 10 - Train
Two days later, Clint found himself on the cliff side of a mountain, looking over a valley to the train tracks on the other side. Gabe and Morita fiddled with a CB radio to make sure the train was coming. Falsworth was just past them, looking down over the tracks in the distance. Dugan and Dernier were checking on the zip line, making sure it was ready to go. Clint stood by Steve and Bucky, looking over the chasm with apprehension.
"Remember when I made you ride the Cyclone on Coney Island?" Bucky asked. Clint snorted, looking over to the duo.
"Yeah, and I threw up?" Steve questioned.
"This isn't payback, is it?" Bucky countered. Clint chuckled now, turning back to look over the expanse. Up here it looked much further than Steve had described it to the other Avengers. Maybe the Captain had forgotten how large it was. Steve twisted to look at the line with a smile on his face.
"Now why would I do that?" Steve joked. Before Clint could add anything to the conversation, Gabe spoke up.
"We were right, Dr. Zola is on the train," Gabe called as the trio turned back to look at him. "Hydra dispatch just gave permission to open up the throttle. Where ever they're going they must need him bad."
Steve nodded putting on his helmet and turning to the zip line. Bucky and Clint followed. The order to drop had been chosen as Steve, Bucky, Clint and then Gabe. Clint was a bit nervous having Gabe as last but he also knew that only Bucky died on this mission. The archer gritted his teeth. He couldn't stop that. He couldn't. But god did he want too.
"Let's get going, cause they're moving like the devil," Falsworth reported, turning away from his post of watching the rails. Steve quickly set up his zip line device, turning to speak to those behind him.
"We only got about a ten second window. You miss that window you're bugs on a windshield," Steve loudly informed everyone. Clint tensed, glancing to Gabe quick before focusing on Bucky's back again. Softly, as he turned back, he muttered the protection spell. No way he couldn't hurt.
"Mind the gap," Falsworth warned.
"Better get moving bugs," Dugan cried. Clint snorted. A moment later, Dernier called out in French, telling them to get a move on. Steve jumped off the ground and began his descent without the train in sight. Bucky, Clint and Gabe quick to follow behind. It had been estimated that three would safely be able to land but Steve wanted four of the team to go. So, that's what they were gonna do.
As Clint made his own descent, the train started to appear underneath Steve. As they slid further, Clint half wondered how they kept up with the train's speed but he wasn't gonna question it at the moment. Just follow with the events as it was supposed to go. Seconds later they dropped onto it. Once ready, the four carefully clambered over the top of the train, Steve and Bucky in the lead. Gabe caught up to Clint and they ran nearly in tandem. At the third train car or so, Steve found a ladder and began heading down it. Bucky paused at the top, watching for anyone popping up as Clint and Gabe appeared. Gabe kneeled down, prepping his gun. He was gonna attack from above and head to the front of the train while Steve, Bucky and Clint searched inside, moving up to the front as well.
Clint followed after Steve and Bucky and slipped into the train as Bucky turned back and closed the door. The archer nodded his thanks even as Steve began to check the place out, his gun drawn and ready. Steve moved to the far side of the area, walking up to the side of the boxes that had been set up in the middle. Bucky and Clint followed on the other side. When they neared the doorway, Steve hesitated, looking back to see why they were having no issues. Clint gritted his teeth harder. He knew this was a trap. God, he wished he could change all this. Or even warn Steve and Bucky. But, it needed to happen as it had in Clint's past. Maybe he shouldn't have come on this mission. It was far too tempting to change things.
Steve headed forward, Bucky and Clint hanging back. There was a click as Steve made it to the other car. Bucky nearly got clipped at the door slid shut in front of him. Steve turned, looking to see Bucky's surprised face staring at him.
"Buck!" Clint cried as a Hydra agent appeared behind them. Bucky quickly spun and began firing. Clint shifted to the other side, making sure no one else was coming. And indeed there were more people coming. With a snarl, Clint began firing as well. Behind them, Clint knew Steve was fighting an agent in some sort of exoskeleton that was blasting at him. The same Hydra agent that would 'kill' Bucky in only a few minutes time.
Bucky ended up with his clip emptying before Clint and as he went to replace it behind a crate of something, Clint tried to cover him. But the damn rows of shit in the middle of the car made it hard for Clint to cover himself never mind help Bucky. Then Clint ran out. He hadn't grabbed an extra clip, trusting his aim to get everyone as need. Grimacing, he looked to Bucky. He couldn't use Izril in these tight of quarters.
Bucky quickly headed over, using his hand gun now to fire at what seemed to be maybe the last agent. Somehow the guy was great at dodging the man and Clint refused to take the gun, jumping out to try and distract the agent. It didn't work and now Bucky was out of ammo again. Seconds after Steve opened the door, tossing Bucky his own gun. Bucky smirked and prepared himself. With a nod, Steve held his shield over his face and charged into the nearest box making it slid toward the agent and when the agent dodged, Bucky was finally able to kill him.
"I had him on the ropes," Bucky informed as a thanks. Clint snorted, getting to his feet himself.
"I know," Steve replied. A moment later there was a whine. Steve spun before grabbing Bucky and pulling the Sergeant behind him. Clint dropped into a roll, moving toward Steve even as the Captain cried out. "Get down."
The blue explosion busted through the wall of the train and tossed Steve into the far wall. Having been rolling toward Steve, Clint ended up on the same side of the train as Bucky, opposite from Steve. As did the shield. Clint shifted behind Bucky as the man grabbed the shield and started firing at the guy even as he turned to take aim. Clint paled. This was when Bucky was going to die. No... This was when Clint was going to die.
Before Clint could move the Hydra agent fired again and the bolt hit the shield so hard Bucky flipped backwards into Clint and they both bashed up against the side of the wall that had broken outward. Bucky spun as he hit, turning so he faced the door. Clint hardly got that chance. As Bucky caught the railing on the wall side, Clint fell with a loud scream of shock. Bucky turned to see Clint falling and his eyes widening when suddenly Clint noted green light rolling around him.
The hit he expected on the ground ended up being him hitting his bed as if it was one of those odd dreams. He jerked up in shock. What the fuck just happened? He looked around. It was night. It hadn't been night when he went to sleep. Blinking rapidly in shock, Clint got to his feet. He ended up being highly unsteady and so he fell back onto the bed in surprise. Before he could really think about what was going on, there was a knock on the door. Clint looked over as Loki entered the room.
"You doing okay?" Loki wondered. Clint looked outside and then back to Loki.
"How long was I asleep?" the archer asked, praying to god that all that had been a damn dream. Loki sighed.
"You've actually been gone for nearly six months," Loki stated. Clint paled. 'Been gone?' That didn't sound good. And wait... SIX MONTHS!?
"What?" he croaked. Loki sighed again, moving deeper into the room to sit on the bed next to Clint. The archer just stared at him. "So... All..."
"All that was real," Loki admitted. Clint gulped, turning to look at the floor, his eyes closing in concentration, trying to remember what had last happened to him. There was no way any of this was real.
"I fell," he whispered, realizing that was how Bucky must have felt when he fell from the train. God... That was horrifying! And to be in Bucky's position... Or hell, Steve's position! Now Clint knew why neither of them wanted to ever speak about that day. What he wouldn't do to have it erased from his mind now.
"Sergeant Barnes warned us," Loki replied. Clint frowned, picking his head up in surprise. Bucky warned them. Warned his family that he had fallen? What the hell?
"He..." Clint started before understanding dawned on him. He quickly glanced down and noted his outfit was still the one he had fallen in. Oh fuck them. His face darkened even as he forgot his own warnings that he had given the two back then. They couldn't change events just as much as he couldn't. Loki gave him a light chuckle as if knowing what the archer was going to do.
"They are all downstairs if you wish. I sensed the magic of you returning earlier and called them all back," Loki informed. Clint nodded, getting to his feet. Loki only helped him for a moment before the archer stormed out of the room and downstairs. The whole group was waiting for him at the bottom of the stairs. His family being the first, then Natasha, Tony, Bruce, Wanda, Sam... And in the way back, by the front door, was Steve and Bucky with meek smiles on their faces. Clint headed straight over to them, ignoring those who noticed his odd outfit change, and then slammed his fist as hard as he could into Steve's face.
"You fucking asshole!" the archer screamed even as Sam and Tony jerked forward to hold Clint back from attacking Steve anymore. Steve recovered quickly and held up his hands to stop the men. Behind them, a brush of air meant that Pietro must have taken the kids outside to avoid any more excessive language. Clint hardly had a chance to even spare a mental thanks to the speedster as he was too focused on his lying Captain.
"I know, I deserve that," Steve admitted even as everyone but Bucky turned and focused on him with confused expressions. Clint snarled and moved to attack him again, this time Steve just caught his hand. "Just, let us explain, please."
"Why should I? Huh! You've fucking known me since 2012 and you didn't say shit!" Clint cried. Steve winced. He had expected this anger from Clint. Knew it would have been coming. Bucky had made mention of Clint wondering what timeline he was on before either of them 'died.' Now, knowing that they had been on the same timeline, Steve and Bucky knew Clint would be furious. And the Captain only had known because of the time Clint had told a 'fake' story of a glowing stick and box that nearly plunged New York into a crater. The archer hadn't mentioned the aliens, but he doubted he would have believed Clint back then, even if Clint had mentioned it as a story.
"Uh... I think we're missing something here," Tony called as if any of the trio cared. Natasha moved and slapped his arm to get him to shut up. This was a conversation for the three of them. They shouldn't interrupt. Even if they had a general knowledge that Clint had been sent to WWII.
"Clint, please," Steve begged. Clint snarled. "It's like you told us! We can't change what happened!"
"Oh, fuck you," Clint snapped, angry that Steve would dare use that against him. They had guessed enough of what happened when Clint got sent back. Why couldn't they have given something small away? Just a tiny tidbit?
"You doing what you did back then was all of our future and that extended to here," Steve defended as he pointed between Bucky, himself and Clint. "We couldn't let you know!"
"Wait, what?" Tony, Bruce and Sam asked in confusion. There had been mention, when this first happened, that Clint was sent back in time and while specific dates had never been mentioned there was mention about Clint going to WWII and keeping Steve and Bucky alive. Everyone had thought that Loki had been lying and that Clint was now on a separate timeline. No one could really believe the fact that Clint could have shaped the future when he ran into Steve and Bucky.
"We had to send Clint back to June 14th, 1943," Bucky finally answered, giving an official date as to when Clint arrived in the past. Clint turned and gave him a dark glare but focused again on Steve who just winced. Bucky at least had an excuse as to why he didn't say anything. The guy's mind had been wiped. Likely he hardly remembered Clint at all.
"Seriously?" Tony wondered. He frowned deeply, wondering how much Clint affected everything. Had he known Howard? Why hadn't he mentioned to Howard that he would die on December 16th, 1991?
"Why didn't anyone say anything?" Wanda questioned, not fully understanding why keeping everything a secret had been so imperative. Steve winced again.
"After... After Bucky and Clint fell from the train, I informed the other Commandos about Clint... I... I told them not to say he was involved in the war at all. No good having someone mention that he was with us. They all agreed, including Peggy and Howard," Steve explained. Clint hissed and backed away. God, he had met Dugan... And Morita before they passed. Neither of them mentioned meeting Clint. And Peggy... God, Peggy had known him!
"You can seriously go fuck yourself," the archer hissed, even more pissed off about how many people knew about him that met him at a young age but said nothing. Steve looked to the archer, his eye beginning to darken into a bruise that no one noticed.
"What did you want me to do? I just lost both of you and I realized that you... You were likely going to be all of our future. I couldn't let any of them tell you or let history have any record of you being there," Steve defended. Clint shook his head. This whole thing was messed up. Most of his life had revolved around what he did back then.
"Carter was the fucking one who admitted me into S.H.I.E.L.D, do you know that?" Clint growled. Bucky winced, remembering Clint mentioning that Peggy was going to be his boss in the future. Steve's eyes widened in surprise. He hadn't really thought about that type of implication. Peggy had hung out with the Commandos a lot before being sent back to the States and the SSR and then returning for the end. She had seen Clint a few times. Steve just never recognized that Peggy and Clint knew each other before Steve unfroze. "She fucking saw me back then! Saw what I'd grow into! I fucking made my future back there without even fucking realizing it!"
"I'm-"
"Don't you fucking say sorry! I should have been warned!" Clint shouted too angry to think anything about what he had done himself back then. He hadn't warned Bucky of Azzano. Hadn't warned him about the train... Bucky stepped forward.
"Like you warned me?" the soldier shouted back, done with Clint riding Steve's ass about it all. Clint reeled back, guilt flooding through him. "It's as you said to me. Things happened that we can't change. You needed to go back and we couldn't warn you."
"I-"
"Clint, what happened back then sucked. It sucked for all of us. But, when I began getting my memories of everything back, you wanna know one of the first things I remembered?" Bucky sharply asked. The room pretty much stilled, anxious to hear what Bucky was going to say. "Your horrified face as you fell and fucking green magic flying around you."
Clint looked to the floor, the fire burning out real quick after that. In fact, the entire house had gone quiet, listening to the fight going on around them. Natasha's mouth set into a fine line. Wanda kept looking back and forth as if watching a three person tennis game. Tony focused on Clint, hanging on every word. Sam and Bruce just stood back, ready to help if needed. Laura glanced to Loki but the trickster seemed to be just as 'confused' about everything. He had never had to deal with the Time Stone as it spent many years on Earth, and while Bucky and Steve had seemed to have memories of what happened with the Stone, Loki had had no idea how much Clint would remember, if anything at all. Messing with time was a fickle thing. But Loki was certain of one thing. Clint was what kept Steve and Bucky alive through the war. Bucky sighed and moved forward, grabbing the archer gently by the shoulder.
"I didn't know what to think. First, Stevie kept calling me Bucky. Then I remembered that. I remembered that as Steve fell into the Potomac. But I couldn't ask him. Cause I didn't know him. But I knew that I knew you. And the next thing I remembered. I remembered you telling me that things had to happen and you couldn't change that," Bucky added, his voice going much calmer. Clint and Steve winced. Steve hadn't even thought of the concept that Bucky would have gotten memories of Clint. And certainly not before Bucky had gotten memories of him. "The more time I spent getting my memory back, the more I remembered fighting along side not just Steve and the other Commandos, but you as well. When I saw you in Germany... Steve had already warned me not to say anything even if I knew it was best not to talk about it."
Clint's eyes flicked to Steve but he otherwise didn't react. Sam frowned deeply. He had been with Steve and Bucky the whole time. When had Steve gotten the chance?
"I'm sorry we never said anything," Steve sighed out.
"Yeah, whatever," Clint growled, unable to stay all that mad at them when he could see their points. He had been stuck in that same situation. There was no way, in their position, that he'd have messed with that. But, he also didn't have to stay here. So, he turned and stormed out of the house the back way. No one willingly followed. Inside, Clint could tell that Steve and Bucky were informing everyone of what went down about their conversation. And likely more of what Clint and they had gone through. Clint was outside, sitting on the stairs, for maybe half an hour before someone dared come out to join him. He looked over, expecting Natasha or Wanda or Laura. But it was Bucky.
"I wish I could have said something," Bucky whispered, moving to sit down beside the archer. Clint huffed turning to look back over the fields that Pietro and Loki must have been working on while he was gone.
"I'll... I'll get over it all soon, just... What the fuck?" Clint muttered, leaning forward to drop his head into his hands. His eyes focused on the dirty fatigues he was still wearing. Looking at them, all he could think about was Bucky's face as he dropped away. Bucky sighed. It was kinda how he felt back then. He always wanted to bug Clint into telling him everything, but he respected Clint's desire to not mess things up. There was no good way to have handled all of this. As Steve and Bucky had already seen.
"I wanna thank you... For keeping all of us safe," Bucky added. Clint frowned, looking back to the soldier. "Loki spoke to us afterward we sent you back. Well, not just us but to Laura as well. He explained that if we hadn't sent you back... Dugan and I'd likely have died without even seeing Schmidt. Hell, Gabe would have died as well. Morita would have been permanently disabled. Falsworth... He didn't have a high likely hood of living. Dernier... He would have died on the train in my place. And Steve wouldn't have been out there to deal with the Valkyrie. You saved all of us."
"I..." Clint started, stunned. He hadn't thought that could happen. Putting the protection spells on everyone had become second nature, even though he knew that they'd all survive. But apparently they all survived because of what he did. That was almost a worse mind fuck then having actually been back there and wondering if he was going to fuck anything up. He had created the future that he lived in by trying not to mess with the future he knew. That was... Mind blowing.
"Yeah... Shocked me a bit too. You always said that we'd survive the tough battles. Azzano..."
"Azzano sucked," Clint snorted, before really thinking about what happened there. Bucky chuckled.
"Yeah..." Clint frowned, glancing over to Bucky. The soldiers didn't seem to have remembered that Clint had been experiment on by Zola as well, until now. Thinking about it now, Clint couldn't help but grow curious. Zola had hinted that he and Bucky were getting the same treatments. Was it possible that Bucky had gotten more before? Or had he not and now Clint was...
"Did... Did Hydra do any more things with you?" Clint wondered curious. Bucky hummed, looking to Clint in surprise. He hadn't thought about all that mess really since he got his memories back. The events after Azzano was just another memory he tried to re-forget. "Did Hydra inject you with more serums?"
Bucky frowned now, trying to think back. Slowly, he looked to Clint surprised. Clint let out a surprised exhale himself and glanced back inside. He could see Steve was there in the kitchen, brow furrowed with Laura fussing over his still blooming black eye. Clint moved to his feet, horrified now. He'd never have been able to bruise Steve before. And no one seemed to have noticed. Even Bucky jerked up, turning to see the damage to his friend. Steve noticed the movement, looking to them. After a moment of staring at them, Steve's own face widened into surprise. Laura was fussing over his black eye but the only one who had hit him was Clint. He quickly pushed past Laura and headed outside, making enough noise to make the rest of the group curious.
"You can't be serious?" he questioned. Behind him the others poured out of the house, wanting to hear what else they could have miss.
"Zola... He experimented on me, just as much as Buck," Clint informed, his eyes wide. Bruce frowned, looking at the three before understanding what Clint was saying. The archer may have the super soldier serum just like Steve and Bucky.
"You think you have the serum as well?" Bruce realized. Clint glanced to Bruce before nodding.
"Seriously?" Sam muttered. Wanda gave him a small tap on his arm. Natasha's eyes narrowed and Laura suddenly seemed highly uncomfortable. Did the serum get passed down to the kids?
"I... I was with Bucky when Hydra caught us in Azzano," Clint started.
"You pissed off Zola enough to get us both dragged away from testing," Bucky added, a small, pleased smile forming on his face as he remembered Clint attempting to break them out of the cages. Clint ignored it, still stuck on what could have happened and if it was real.
"I... I hadn't thought of that. Any of it," Clint murmured. How had he not seriously thought about that back then?
"Hydra never did anymore serum experiments with me. We must have both gotten it then," Bucky explained to the curious crowd.
"Wouldn't you guys have noticed?" Tony asked, tilting his head a bit in confusion. Clint snorted, shaking his head. Even Bucky and Steve shook their heads. None of them noticed that Bucky or Clint had changed at the time. There had been no clues.
"We fought with guns, not fists," the archer stated, his mind slipping back to the training. He had held back then, trying to keep everyone safe. Even Steve.
"That train... Holy shit," Bucky grunted, eyes (if possible) widening even more. Clint frowned, looking to Bucky. What was he talking about? Even Steve (and of course the others) were confused by what Bucky was stating. Bucky faced Clint and then Steve, unsure how to say what he had remembered. Then Steve got it.
"You trained us how to fight!" Steve gasped, staring down at Clint. "You taught me how to use my shield."
"Wait, Clint trained you guys?" Natasha scoffed. Clint turned and narrowed his eyes at her.
"Наташа он тренировал нас в наших собственных боевых стилей с этого момента," Bucky warned. Natasha raised an eyebrow at that. Slowly, she looked back at Clint. She knew Clint was an excellent fighter, and had done a stint of training before, but she never expected Clint to have memorized the fighting styles of the others. Never mind teaching it to the people themselves. Clint frowned. He had trained Steve, after fighting over the floor of the hotel. That was... (Natasha, he trained us into our own fighting styles from now)
"That was after Zola," he muttered.
"What?" Sam called. Clint looked up at them.
"When I trained the... Steve, Bucky and the other Commandos, it was after Zola. But... I was holding back. Didn't want to hurt any of them or screw up their fighting styles," Clint told the group. "So, we really never... Had to test it."
"Looks like you have the genomes for the serum but it is different than Steve and Bucky as well," Bruce determined a few hours later. Apparently Wakandan tech had in jet equipment for occasions like this. They hadn't even needed to leave the property. Clint huffed in surprise.
"Can I get sent back to the past to get the serum?" Tony joked.
"No," Steve, Bucky and Clint snapped. Tony raised his hands in defense.
"It was just a joke," Tony grumbled.
"One in horrible taste," Natasha needlessly pointed out. Tony pouted but didn't argue.
"So why didn't any of us notice all this before?" Steve wondered. Bruce sighed.
"Honestly, I can't say why it wasn't noticed long before now. But the same thing could have been said about Sergeant Barnes. They were both given the serums at the same time and if Hydra never gave Barnes anything else, it must have been slow to activate," Bruce informed. Clint frowned, still stuck on the idea that he was now a super soldier as well.
"I'm not sure Zola was giving everyone the same things. I'm betting, I needed a longer time for it to kick in," Clint added, glancing over to the Sergeant as if he'd have answers.
"Everyone else never returned, Clint," Bucky pointed out. Clint furrowed his brow. It was true that no one ever went back to the cages but... Was Zola's only successes Bucky and Clint? "What if the reason was because Zola kept changing the serum and it didn't work? So he took both of us and used only slightly different chemicals."
"I don't want to risk this killing you if the effects had gotten this delayed," Steve mentioned. Clint frowned even as Bucky paled. It was true. Both of them had bastardized brands of Steve's own serum. Could there be future issues for them? Or maybe even Steve? Bruce turned back to look at the readings from his scans. He knew that Steve's had melded perfectly to his DNA and there had been no degradation to his body. Bucky hadn't been watched all that much to see if he was set and Clint's blood never had showed anything before. Looking the sample over now, Bruce could see that the serum in Clint's blood had mostly fused with his DNA. There were still excess traces.
Laura let out a soft whimper at that idea. Wanda moved to hold her in a hug. Natasha even glanced over. The mother wasn't taking any of this news well. First the idea of Clint being able to use magic and now this. Clint was changing faster than she thought possible. And it was all because of him working with the Avengers. If Clint had never had to deal with any of that, she'd still have her normal husband. A normal husband you would have retired once S.H.I.E.L.D went down. Now... Now Clint would never retire. He was going to keep fighting and Laura and the kids would be stuck in the same boat as before. Clint not being around and wondering if he was safe.
"But, we don't know when Bucky's serum started working. What if someone accidentally stumbled onto a way that could affect them?" Sam called. "No offense Bucky, but we've already had someone wandering around with a notebook of facts on the Winter Soldier. What if there is another, or even just some hidden notes somewhere that explains what happened? I doubt Hydra would keep secret that two test subjects survived."
"He has a point," Tony muttered.
"But, Hydra was part of S.H.I.E.L.D, how could no one have noticed Clint's blood work before?" Laura whispered, talking for the first time in an attempt to salvage something. Maybe if Hydra had noticed it before, Clint would quit. He'd stay home. Loki finally rolled his eyes.
"Barton wouldn't have had the serum until going back and getting caught in Azzano. As that event hadn't happened till some point in the last six months, his body would not have any signs," Loki pointed out. They all looked to him. Loki huffed. Time travel was a messed up concept but there was some truth to it. "When Clint first joined S.H.I.E.L.D, he hadn't been sent back. So his blood work would be normal. Now that he has gone back, it's changed. Those are the rules of time travel. Clint couldn't be affected by the serum until these events passed as he didn't have it."
"Time travel sucks," Clint bemoaned. Bucky and Steve snorted. As the only ones who had any sort of time traveling moments (ie: seventy years frozen or captured and unfrozen for only weeks at a time), they'd understand best. But, Loki must have at some point have done it as well for him to know about such things. Laura suddenly let out a small whine. Clint looked to her, surprised. She looked pale. "Laur?"
"Don't," she muttered before turning around and heading back to the house. Clint frowned. What happened? Wanda shook her head and headed after the woman. A moment later, Natasha did as well. All the guys just stood there before Loki sighed and looked to Clint.
"She hadn't taken well to you being sent back," the trickster admitted. Steve and Bucky winced. That wasn't even really true. It had been much worse.
"Why? Why does it have to be him?" Laura whined staring at Loki only minutes after Steve sent her husband back. The Lie-smith sighed.
"If Rogers and Barnes remember it was Clint back there, it had to be him," he tried. Laura shook her head, tears forming.
"I'm sorry that this had to happen. But, Clint had been good to us. He always admitted that he couldn't speak of what was going to happen. That meant, we couldn't tell him," Bucky muttered moments before Steve came down. Laura took one look at the soldier before grabbing a glass of water and chucking it at the man. The glass shattered on the wall beside Steve. The trio froze as Natasha and Sam wandered into the room.
"What's going on here?" Natasha wondered. Laura shook her head as she began to sob. Frowning, Natasha moved closer and pulled the woman into a hug. Sam glanced over at the guys.
"Steve?" the air-man asked. Steve winced.
"Uh... I just sent Clint back in time," the Captain mumbled, turning to look at the ground. Natasha's eyes widened in shock.
"You did what?" the spy cried loud enough to catch Wanda's, Tony's, and Bruce's attention. They headed to the kitchen as well, taking the whole scene in.
"What-" Tony began to ask but stopped when he noticed Natasha was glaring hard at Steve, Bucky and Loki while Laura was curled up in her arms.
"Clint... We... Well, I sent him back in time," Steve once again replied even as he lifted the green stone he had used to show the others. The room busted into shocked cries, with the distraction, Loki snatched the stone from Steve. Steve held his hands out defense and silencing them all. "Look! I didn't want to!"
"Then why the fuck did you?" Tony snapped, now angry on Laura's behalf.
"Cause if he didn't, neither of them would be here," Loki snapped. Everyone turned to look at him, including Laura.
"What?" Steve asked. Loki sighed, moving to rub a hand over the bridge of his nose.
"What would have happened to them?" Laura meekly gasped out between the remains of her sobs. Loki looked up to her.
"Barton's presence in the past saved Barnes's life," Loki informed, suddenly knowing this information was true. Bucky went pale as Loki tried to fully remember how he'd know. Had he watched this all happen?
"I... I would have died?" Bucky questioned. Loki nodded, not even looking at the soldier. "He... He always said that I'd make it through the war... Well... Until the train."
"And with him back there, you did. Without him telling you that, decisions made around you would have gotten you killed," Loki added, finally looking to Bucky. He was beginning to remember his mother telling him tales.
"Wait? You sent Clint to World War II?" Sam choked out in shock. Steve nodded.
"What would have happened if he wasn't back there?" Bucky wondered, suddenly grateful that Loki had pressed Steve and him into doing it. He had no way of knowing that Clint kept him safe.
"If Barton had not been sent back, nearly every Howling Commando would have died and Rogers would never had gotten on the Valkyrie. It was imperative that he was sent back. I just never had any idea when it was supposed to happen," Loki responded, remembering the distant tale he had with his mother over an archer with magic that saved history. He had originally thought it had been made up but now. Now he knew it to be true. Clint Barton had gone back in time and kept James Barnes and Steven Rogers alive long enough to turn the tide in Midgard's second world war. Bucky frowned, trying to remember every battle he had been in with Clint. How often had the guy kept him and Dugan safe? And even once Steve arrived. How had he kept them alive?
"Everyone?" Sam squeaked, brushing over the fact that Loki had also known this was supposed to have happened. Loki nodded his head just as Bucky realized how Clint had kept everyone safe. Clint's magic had kept them all safe.
"The protection spells!" Bucky called. Everyone looked to him. "Clint told Dugan and me that he casted protection spells on us. It didn't typically help the others we traveled with, but from the beginning of our deployment, Clint, Dugan and I survived every battle, uninjured."
"Wait... All of this needed to happen? Every stone? Getting his magic? Learning those battle spells?" Wanda inquired.
"Even the bow. He used that a few times," Bucky added, glancing over to Steve. Steve nodded. He remembered seeing Izril and Clint practicing with it. "All the Commandos knew about his magic."
"Dude!" Tony whined. "Wait, did Peggy and Howard know?"
"No, just the Commandos. We made sure no one else knew," Steve soothed. Bucky winced, forgetting that none of them had told Steve that she knew.
"Which one of them?" Sam questioned, having caught the motion. Everyone looked to Bucky as the soldier bit his lower lip.
"Carter. She knew about it," Bucky admitted before shaking his head. There had been more who knew. Some of them might even still be alive! "The few others who learned about the magic... They... They died or went missing, I think only one of the ones who knew got sent home."
"You couldn't have even told any of us?" Natasha growled, releasing Laura to stalk closer to Steve and Bucky. Both of them backed away a bit, knowing that Natasha was likely going to kick their asses over this.
"Look, we couldn't say anything. It would change things," Steve mentioned. "Clint... The few things Clint told us effected everything. In fact, Erskine admitted to me that he had asked Clint about my chances with the serum."
"How did he know Clint knew?" Bruce wondered.
"I don't know," Steve huffed. "I just know that Erskine spoke to Clint and it was him that helped confirm that I should be part of the program."
"Erskine also got Clint deployed with me while skipping training," Bucky snarled, turning to glare at Steve at the reminder. The Captain winced. It had seriously been his fault that Clint got forced into the 107th. "Clint could never figure out why. He told me about it only once before we went to sleep."
"Erskine was far too intelligent for his own good," Loki replied, remembering asking why the doctor had been so insistent on Clint going with Barnes. Frigga had said that Erskine had been given a vision of two blonde soldiers fighting side by side with a group of six more men, one of which seemed to fit Bucky's description. How Erskine was given this vision, Loki didn't know. But he assumed Frigga had some part in it. Everyone looked to the trickster in curiosity. "While Rogers was getting the serum and Barnes was being shipped out the next day, Erskine knew he had to keep the three of them together. And having Barton join the Project Rebirth would not necessarily get him into the proper area. But being sent with Barnes would make it that the archer was with someone."
"Clint was gonna join anyways," Steve muttered. Bucky frowned.
"He was gonna wait till I left. Once the 107th was gone, he wouldn't have been with us. He would have been in another regiment," Bucky continued.
"So, basically bird-brain was gonna go to war anyways?" Tony snorted, crossing his arms and starting an air about him that made it seem like he found all this humorous. Laura shook her head. This wasn't possible. Unfair for everything to get placed on Clint. And unfair that she had to be one of the ones suffering from what happened to the archer.
"Get out." Everyone paused, looking to her. "I want all of you out of my house."
"Laura?" Natasha whispered, confused. Laura shook her head, intent on not letting the spy get in her head. This was all too much. In fact, this was going to be the last straw. If Clint returned safely, she'd give him an ultimatum. Either retire and stay with the family or leave and not come back.
"Get out!" she cried a bit louder. Slowly, they started filtering out of the house. Laura followed them to make sure they left. Outside, Pietro and the kids stopped playing looking to at the group. As they got onto the grass, Loki and Natasha turned back to look at Laura. The woman's eyes flicked over to Loki. While he had started this whole mishap with taking over Clint's mind, he wasn't truly to blame for what happened after. But she couldn't decide how much the trickster should have been blamed. "Loki. Go work the fields. I'll decide if I can deal with you later."
"I apologize for not fully informing you," the trickster apologized before nodding his head and heading off. Natasha glanced at Loki before focusing once again on Laura.
"I need you to leave," Laura pressed. Natasha's face closed off. Laura could tell that the spy was about to argue with her and she didn't want to deal with it. "I don't want to hear it."
"Laura," Natasha tried again but Laura shook her head as her eyes narrowed.
"If Clint hadn't been convinced to work with the Avengers by you, he wouldn't be in World War II. He'd be home. Watching his kids," Laura snapped. Natasha winced as Bruce headed over to her in support. "Clint never should have been on the team. He wasn't super. But once he joined you all, you... You all couldn't do without him. He could never retire."
"Laura," Natasha whispered but Laura shook her head.
"Get off my property. You'll have a long time before you come back into my good graces."
So, I'm a day late. With good reason! I couldn't see yesterday. My eyes decided to revolt against my contacts and my glasses are my old prescription and so I couldn't focus.
Yeah. Week has been a bit messed up with my eye issues. Been going on and off all week. So, there were a lot of days that I wasn't around Darius at all. But, he seemed to be okay. Out side of ticking hubby off with some snippy attitude. Then again, I get annoyed with the same attitude so... But yeah. Baby Jason just celebrated his first birthday yesterday! He's getting so big! Like Darius, I hardly spent time around him this week so I don't really have any new news. But, hopefully everything will be back to normal.