And it's Clint!
So why exactly was Clint there again?
On the advice of my lovely beta reader MsBrooklyn this 'Clint chapter' has now been split into two, because it turns out Clint was up to more behind the scenes than even I knew.
A few comments may even inspire me to get the second-half of this up this weekend - you never know ;)
He has a farm to run. They don't run themselves. People seem to forget about that.
OK, so Laura actually handles the majority of it so he can focus on being the kick-ass spy/Avenger/teenage-super-hero-wrangler that his team mates both need and love. But despite calling dibs on some serious time-off post SHIELD's fall, he'd suited back up, and joined up with Cap and essentially made himself an outlaw. Which, sadly, was not as cool as it sounds on paper.
And somehow he'd wound up on the opposite side to Nat. All right, so he knows she was trying to stop the two sides from damaging each other too badly and make sure they all made it through the Government and Tony's idiocy mostly intact, as well as probably the usual 1001 reasons Nat has for doing anything that no-one else has even thought of. But come on. He'd had to fight her - for real - for fuck's sake. It had been horrible.
So when he'd once again requested a few months' leave to sort out his legal status, grovel to his repeatedly put-upon and FBI-interrogated wife, and spend some quality time with the kids, he didn't think he'd been asking too much. And yet it had only been six weeks and he'd already popped back to Avengers HQ almost half-a-dozen times.
He'd been called in to debrief - fair enough - and to register under the new less-invasive accords (he was less happy about that one), but the other three, or was it four (?), times he'd been asked to come in by either Steve or Sam (and once by Wanda) to step into the path of hurricane Bucky. Maybe it's a little unfair to compare the guy to a natural disaster, but Clint feels it's pretty apt as, boy, was he making a god awful mess just by being what he was.
After years of admirably holding it together Steve was now an emotional wreck - by his standards anyway. He didn't know what exactly to do or say around his once and future BFF without creating too much pressure, or 'unrealistic expectations', or whatever other psycho-babble PC terminology he'd picked up from those books Sam had him reading.
Clint wants to tell him that Barnes needs a friend more than he needs a therapist - lord knows the kid's about the have enough of those. Extensive analysis, observation, and treatment are a part of the package of conditions Steve had been forced to accept on his friend's behalf, simply to be allowed to take custody of The Winter Soldier until the bigwigs in DC decided how best to 'deal' with him.
With everything that Bucky's already been through, the rumours now circulating in the intelligence community about a trial and Russian extradition are enough to make Clint see red. So when Steve shows up at his door, looking at a total loss and asking him to come talk to Barnes "because it might be good for him to have someone to talk to who he hasn't almost killed" and that Bucky trusts him, Clint can't say no. Even though he knows that there's another reason Steve's coming to him that he's omitting to mention, the brainwashing, and he most definitely does not want to dig all that up again.
So he comes and he takes an mostly unresponsive Bucky to go blow shit up. Well, hey, it worked for him, so he figures Barnes might also find it therapeutic. He even lends him his bow and exploding arrows, and the guy takes to the weapon with such ease Clint feels a little jealous for a minute until he falls back into a bit of the hero worship he had for Sergeant Barnes as a kid and he's OK with it again. He decides to see if the reality lives up to the legend and makes the shots progressively harder. Bucky clearly isn't in the mood to talk quite yet, so Clint does the heavy lifting. He slips in tidbits about his run in with Loki and how coming out to this range had helped him get his head together after. That and a lot of patience and understanding from both Laura and Nat.
He's more accurate with the bow at long distances due to his years of experience it turns out. But Barnes can make the arrows go a hell of a lot further and still hits the target every single time.
Bucky starts to contribute a little to the conversation at this point, and the fact that most of the questions that he forces out against his lingering conditioning - very subtly - revolve around Natasha doesn't escape Clint's notice. He is a spy after all.
Although with that last question inquiring about her favourite foods - to remind him of Russian dishes he might have tried of course - all subtlety seemed to have gone out the window. Clint should probably warn him about the raisin bread.
The kid - and Clint can't help thinking of him that way (he can only be what - 30? - at a stretch) - doesn't exactly open up, but when Clint proposes another play date for the two of them for a few weeks' time, Barnes actually smiles and says he'd like that - if he's not been carted away to a Russian gulag by then. That's the first time Clint experiences Bucky Barnes' awesome and fairly dark brand of humour.
He then heads home and fixes the squeaky barn door he's been promising Laura he'd sort for the past few weeks. He's not allowed to mess with anything in the house for at least the next year, and he has to somehow make up for leaving her alone with a teething Nathaniel, and the rest of the kids, for the better part of the day.
Speaking of Nate, his name-sake once again isn't around when Clint drops Barnes back off, but she's been messaging both him and Laura with updates so he's not too concerned. That is until he's back at Avengers central for round two with his net arrows and a clay pigeon launcher in tow. He wants to see how he and the kid match up with moving targets.
He's better at the timing of deploying the nets, Bucky is better at multiple bogeys. They are so going to kick bad-guy ass when they finally get the two of them in the field together. The sniper bros are going to be so much cooler as a thing than the science bros - even if he will have to share Barnes with Cap (they are actual bros after all, or as near as that it makes no difference).
He's decided to stay a little longer this time, despite the fact that he feels more than a bit out of place around the 'newbies'. Barnes now seems far more relaxed, and is regaling him and Sam with an epically-funny story he's just remembered about Cap, a goat, and a French farm girl, that really should be in all the history books, when he looks up and sees Nat in the doorway.
"Nat?"
She freezes, looks at Clint guiltily, shoots Barnes a cold, flat stare and turns to leave. He hears her run into Steve in the hallway and make a Fury-related excuse as to why she's going to be unable to attend the team briefing about the Avengers' status going forward.
She actually asks Steve to send her a memo. Nat's never requested a memo in her life.
Clint sees the humour drain out of Bucky's eyes to be quickly replaced by guilt as he notices Nat's hasty exit. Aw, Bucky, no.
Clint needs to find out what's going on with her. The look she gave Barnes was totally weird. He'd say she was compromised, but doesn't get what Barnes could have done to merit getting under Nat's skin that way. Maybe she was sore about the twin bullet scars - he never got why she hadn't had them removed, the offer had been there. But Nat in general was more pragmatic than that. And she was too fair a person to hold him responsible for the trauma of Fury's fake death.
If anything he thought she'd be eager to debrief the guy, what with her prior fascination with him...
Ooh. Right. Clint thinks he gets it now.
You can't say his girl's not consistent. He knew Banner leaving had hurt her but she needs to work this shit out, and soon. No way is he dealing with her screwing up Barnes' fragile mental state - not when he has plans for some truly legendary trick shots in the works.
There's a tense silence when Steve properly enters the room. That is until Barnes uncannily impersonates a goat and Steve, startled, jumps a ridiculous distance in the air. As he and Sam crack up, Steve narrows his eyes in a glare directed at Bucky. "You didn't."
Barnes' face is the picture of innocence "Didn't what Steve?"
Steve folds his arms and raises an eyebrow but Clint can tell that he's biting back a smile. He's clearly thrilled to see his friend making jokes, even ones at his expense. Using his best Cap voice he announces that the briefing will be in an hour if Clint wants to stick around and tells the other two not to be late. Clint just catches the smile properly breaking out on the Avengers team leader's face when he turns on his heel to leave the room. But it seems as though that's all the levity Barnes is capable of for the day, and picking up on this, Sam, bless his smooth cotton socks, normalises the atmosphere by suggesting baseball teams that Bucky should support now that his once-precious Dodgers have gone all turncoat by moving to another state. But Clint couldn't help but notice Bucky, noticing Sam noticing the look on Steve's face when he left the room. Sam had weirdly appeared concerned rather than relieved. Whatever was going on there Clint WAS NOT going to get involved with it. He already had three kids and an angst-ridden assassin on his plate. And a farm.
And as for Tash she knew where he was if she wanted to talk after all, so he makes his exit. He has crops to crop or bales to bale. Well there was always something that needed doing, it was a farm for Pete's sake.
The next time he's called in it's by Sam the Man himself, almost four weeks to the day after everything's died down. They've lost Barnes and Steve is on the verge of a meltdown. FRIDAY is telling them that he's still on the base, but apparently she can't locate his exact position. He's just that good.
The story goes that Stark turned up unannounced the day before, ostensibly to visit Rhodey, and there was a run-in between him and Bucky. Apparently Stark said some things about Barnes being responsible for his parents' deaths. This is news to Clint, as it apparently was to Bucky too.
Not so much to Steve though from what Sam tells him. And when Barnes - still being able to read Rogers better than any of them - saw this on his pal's face he'd fled and not been seen since.
This was thirteen hours ago. They (as in the others and not just Steve) are now getting worried. Sam tells him that they still need to remind Barnes to eat enough most days as he's still not used to having full autonomy. Clint thinks there's probably a hefty dose of self-punishment mixed in there too but he's sure Sam is well aware of that likelihood.
Wanda's still figuring out how her powers work but she doesn't seem to be able to magic (or whatever) Barnes out of hiding. She's managed to sense him, but just like FRIDAY she can't get them a location. And Sam says she seems pretty upset that she hasn't been able to find him - she's apparently become quite protective of their housebroken hit-man. He wants Clint to know they've tried everything, "Even calling Natasha", but she's off on yet another mystery mission she can't or won't tell them about. So they're now asking for his help. And Sam's the one calling because Steve doesn't want to pressure Clint into it.
Clint almost wants to tell them to save their breath, Barnes has somehow managed to win him over completely and he's already writing a note to Laura, who's taken the kids out for a movie, and looking up flight times before Sam's even finished his spiel.
What is it with him and brainwashed Soviet assassins? As far as soft-spots go his is pretty damn specific. He's already asked Laura if he can bring the kid to stay with them at the farm for a while if the PTBs and Steve will let him. He'd figured the wide open spaces and the family atmosphere would do Bucky some good.
Steve, in the few brief recollections he's shared with the team about Bucky before the war, has made him out to pretty much be the 'bestest big brother ever' so Clint has no concerns about him being around the kids. He was going to invite him this week, but for that to happen he'll have to find the guy first.
So he schleps over to Avengers HQ yet again and finds Barnes in the second place he looks. He never claimed he wasn't the right guy for the job. He's in the roof space above one of the lesser-used corridors. It's one of Clint's preferred spots in the base to hide out - primarily for the reason he sees that Barnes has also discovered. Remove a plate over an external vent in the duct (after disabling a few security measures) and you get a truly stunning sunset view over the surrounding area. And great site lines of course, but that's just an added bonus.
Clint sticks his head up through the space left by the entry panel he's just removed. He hates dangling, but just barging in would be plain rude. He lifts a hand from where he's gripping the edge and gives Bucky a quick wave. "Mind if I join you?"
Barnes shakes his head no. Clint navigates to the spot beside Barnes with the ease of a man used to tight spaces. He sits quietly sharing the sight of the sun dropping below the horizon in its daily light show and holds out the honey and pistachio energy bar he's brought with him. He's noticed Bucky seemed to like those. It's taken off him with a soft "Thanks" and after a few more quiet minutes Barnes opens the wrapper, snaps a piece off and eats it almost silently.
Clint didn't get how he managed that - the silent thing - it has to be natural. No way it could be taught or he and Nat would have learned it along the way too. Oh they were fucking quiet, they could make themselves damned-near undetectable when they wanted to, but Barnes moved like the ghost that legend had made him out to be.
"So Stark's a bit of a douche."
That gets him a slight chuckle. "He's a lot like his old man. I liked Howard - most of the time."
Clint watches the last of the daylight fade for a second or two longer before turning to face the guy he now definitely considers a friend. "There's no evidence you were involved."
Bucky huffs a tight laugh at that. "There's no evidence at all from what I've seen. That just makes it more likely it was me."
Clint rolls his eyes. This is one hell of a guilt complex he's working against here. He needs to come up with a way to make Stark pay for doing this to the kid. He's got no excuse, he's seen the Winter Soldier file and knows the hell Barnes has been through. With what happened to him and Pepper you'd think he'd have more empathy, but no, his Daddy-issues apparently out-weigh all that.
"Even if that's true - and Stark Senior was the head of SHIELD, it wouldn't just be Hydra gunning for him - that doesn't give Stark the right to say all that to you."
"Why not. I probably killed his parents. And even if I didn't kill his, I definitely killed other people's. Good people."
"That's not totally true."
Barnes turns his head and gives him a disbelieving look.
"I've seen your hit list, some of the guys Hydra had you take out were top-tier bastards, the types that no-one's going to lose any sleep over having them gone from the world. So don't go thinking you took out two dozen Lincolns or Martin Luther Kings because, I'm here to tell you, that's not the case."
There was a quietly muttered "I lose sleep over it" in reply.
Clint sighs. "You and me both kid."
"I'm 98. I think."
"Phff. Tasha's older than you are."
Bucky looks at him through the curtain of his chin-length hair. Though he'd not voiced it, Clint can see the question he wants to ask.
"I know the people I killed under Loki's control were good people, most were colleagues. Okay, so it turns out one was Hydra, but I didn't know that at the time. And as for Tony he probably won't ever know how many people he helped thugs like the Ten Rings take out through his weapons. Hell it was a Stark bomb that killed Wanda's parents."
That seemed to surprise Barnes.
"Stark is lucky she wasn't there to hear him, or he might be floating upside-down from the ceiling right now, and that's if Wanda was in a forgiving mood. Turns out our little red menace is kind of fond of you."
The kid looks genuinely surprised to hear it, but there's a touch of happy in there too. Maybe they are finally getting somewhere.
But Barnes still shakes his head. "I need to know."
"You remembering much more?"
He shakes his head more emphatically this time. "Just bits and pieces, nothing whole from the last 70 years and only a few things from before that. I still feel like an imposter pretending to be Captain America's old friend half the time. I keep letting Steve down."
He looks so lost, it's like Clint's first months with Nat all over again. Except somehow Barnes looks even sadder than a sad puppy while still being one of the most dangerous beings on the planet. It was the combination of the pouty lip and slightly emo hair Clint suspects.
"That's a lot of baggage to carry even for someone with a vibranium arm Bucky-boy. I think you need a break. Ever spend time on a farm?"
So that's how he ends up calling Laura explaining he's returning with a house guest sooner than planned, and leaves with a lecture in the care and nurturing of sad super-soldiers from the slightly terrifying double team of Captain America and counsellor Bird Boy. They simply 'forget' to ask for anyone's permission and get Stark to cover for them to try and make some amends to Steve (and Wanda who may have threatened Tony's classic car collection if he didn't apologise to Bucky - and soon).
Cooper and Lila love the guy and if he was a less secure man he might be a little concerned at how much Laura takes to him. But that night, when she mentions that she thinks he and Natasha would be perfect for each other - once Bucky's a little more stable - Clint can't help smiling and sharing his suspicions that it might already be too late for that kind of proviso.
Laura just smiles and sleepily mutters something about 'helping them work it out'. God he loves this woman.
