This chapter was written by Awkward Hawk, and betaed by me!

Chapter 12

Any discussion of him going to his room alone was off the table the minute that Garrett decided that haunting his dreams was not enough. He sighed as he lay next to a sleeping Tony, he'd had a few hours of actual sleep before a Loki nightmare woke him up. It was better than having the Garrett provoked dreams, but it still wasn't good. He turned to look at Tony, he smiled as he saw the peaceful look on Tony's face, and it felt good to be the reason for his happiness. The need to pee had him shifting away from Tony's embrace and heading to the bathroom.

I guess now you know who sent me. I have to admit, SHIELD is working faster nowadays. Let's face it though, Barney was able to keep you and torture you while they had your back, what's to say he can't do it again. Maybe not to you, because you're very well guarded, but what about your teammates? They're all focused on you, right now, protecting poor little Clint. We could take the pretty little redhead, maybe the soldier, or perhaps we should take Tony. You care for Tony don't you? Yes, we should take Tony.

Clint felt panic as he stared into his reflection in the mirror, the voice echoing within his head, he shook his head trying to make it stop. No, don't, leave him out of it. He thought, hoping that if he could insert images and talk to him through some sort of telepathic connection, then he could read his thoughts as well.

Don't what us take your boyfriend? Barney might be tempted to leave him alone, if you agree to meet us in the abandoned warehouse by the river. Come alone, I will know if you try to get clever, no one else has to get hurt, right Clint?

He coughed as the intrusion finally lifted, another look in the mirror revealed a thin sheet of sweat on his face. What was he going to do? If he stayed they would take Tony, his mind flashed back to what his brother had done to him while he was his prisoner, he didn't want Tony going through that. He turned on the faucet and splashed cold water on his face hoping to clear his thoughts a bit, it didn't help. A look back to the room showed a sleeping Tony, so peaceful. Clint swallowed past the lump in his throat. He had to protect Tony; because he loved him, and he would be, damned if someone he loved got hurt because of him again. "Sorry Tony," he whispered as he made his way out of the bathroom and the room.

Jarvis would soon tell Tony that Clint had left so he had to do it fast. He ran over to his room in record time and threw on some jeans, a shirt, and his leather jacket. "Jarvis, I know you have to tell him once I leave the building. Can you tell him something for me though?"

"Anything Agent Barton, although I do believe the Avengers should be alerted about your actions."

"I'm protecting him Jarvis. I'm doing this because if I don't then they'll come after him. I can't let him get hurt because of me, I just can't." He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "Just tell him that I love him, and that I'm sorry it had to be this way."

"I will, Agent Barton."

With that he grabbed the keys to his Ducati and headed towards the garage, he would have to be quick or they would find him and everything would be over. He brought his Ducati to life and with one last look at the tower sped off into the night. He was doing this for the people he loved.

Clint was too distracted by leaving as fast as he could he didn't notice the black car following him from a distance. The man in the shadows had been keeping an eye on the archer through binoculars from the building across from the tower. The minute he saw him head to the garage he'd gotten inside his vehicle ready to follow Barton. "He's heading east, towards the docks."

Barney looked at the time and then towards the alleyway that led to the warehouse he'd told Clint to go to. He rolled his eyes as Garrett muttered something about finally getting his revenge. The pathetic man didn't realize that he had only been a tool for Barney, a tool he would dispose of once Clint was back in his grasp. He and he alone would be the one to finish the job he'd started years ago. Clint had always been better than him, but he wouldn't be anymore, no, he would be dead. "Shut up, Garrett, I think the little bird is finally coming."

"About time." Garrett stood and smirked as Clint's bike came into view. He had been waiting for so long; finally, he could have his revenge. He would then kill Barney and finally be done with the disease that was the Barton family.

"I see you made it, little brother." Barney grinned as Clint removed his helmet and he could see first-hand the toll that Garrett's nightmares had had on his brother. "Looking a little tired there, Clint."

Clint glared at his brother as he spoke, he would never know what he had done to deserve such hate from someone who was supposed to be family. "I'm here Barney, like you wanted, now what?"

Garrett's smirk turned into an evil grin as he entered Clint's mind once again. "We call the shots here, not you!"

Barney laughed as the archer was knocked to the ground by the sheer force of Garratt's mental attack. "Oh little brother, always thinking you're higher than everyone else. Well, we're going to finish that lesson I was trying to teach you years ago." He walked over to where Clint lay on the ground and slammed his fist into Clint's face. Clint was still trying to recover from the unexpected attack and didn't see Barney's fist until it slammed into his nose, breaking it. "Get up and fight me!"

He felt the break as nausea welled up inside his stomach. His head was pounding, from Garratt trying to scramble his mind and Barney's fist to the face. Barney stared down at his brother, sneering at him as he backed away. Clint glared at his brother; this wasn't even a fair fight. How was he supposed to fight Barney if Garrett was there to make sure he was distracted enough to not get a single hit in? He struggled to stand up but finally managed it he just had to concentrate. Barney was bigger than he was, but he was faster. Concentrate; think of where the next hit is going to come from. Dodge and block, dodge and block, wait for an opening. He recalled his training and pushed the pain to the back of his mind. "Is this your idea of a clean fight, Barney? Or are you afraid I'm going to kick your ass?"

Barney frowned and looked at Garrett. "Let me kick his ass, he's too cocky, needs to be taken down a notch." He turned back to Clint and smirked. "Let's do this little brother, I'm going to kick your ass like I used to when we were kids."

He spit out some blood that had seeped into his mouth before waving Barney over. Barney ran at his brother, a murderous glint in his eyes. Clint stumbled away from the first strike that was aimed at his head, still trying to gain his bearing. He dodged another strike aimed at his ribs, and threw a straight jab to Barney's sternum, knocking the bigger man back a little bit. Barney growled and charged his brother again. With each strike he dodged and blocked, Clint could feel his adrenaline spike, numbing the throbbing pain of his head. He dodged, swayed and countered each of Barney's attacks, and landed blows in between. With each counter, Barney seemed to get more frustrated; Clint wasn't supposed to be able to keep up with him. Clint ducked under another jab and landed a solid punch to Barney's kidney, before dodging the counter kick. The two brothers continued like that, throwing punches, Clint was smaller and more agile, while Barney was bigger but stronger. Their strengths canceled each other out. Clint rolled under an over cut and popped up behind his brother. "Come on Big brother, I thought you were going to kick my ass."

"Stop being a little wimp and fight me! All you've been doing is dodging. Are you scared?" Barney growled in response as he threw himself towards Clint catching his ankle as Clint shifted out of his grasp. He watched as Clint flipped backwards and put more distance between them, the bastard had always been better at the aerobics crap than he had.

The shadow watched Clint fight with Barney, smiling as the archer dodged and block every hit Barney tried to land. They pulled out their phone and pressed it close to their ear. "Targets are with Clint in the old abandoned warehouse by the river. Alert the Avengers."

Finally, he had his opening and he took it, his standard issue steel soled SHIELD boot collided with Barney's ribcage making him double over and allowing Clint to slam his face on his knee. Another kick to the chest had Barney falling to the ground with a loud groan. Clint was on him as soon as he fell to the ground slamming his fist on Barney's face. Once he was done with Barney he would kill Garrett, hopefully that's as far as bad guys went, he doubted it though after all they had threatened to storm Avengers Tower.

Garrett watched from the sidelines as Barney went after Clint only to begin tiring out as Clint kept avoiding any hits he threw his way. Soon Clint was on Barney beating him, he questioned whether he should help or let Clint finish him. It would get rid of Barney, which was a plus, but then he would have to deal with the archer alone and that didn't seem like a wise idea. He let Clint get a few more hits in before he entered his mind, bringing to mind the memory of Loki possessing him, Loki driving the scepter through his mentor's chest. "It was your entire fault, Clint. You did it, you killed him."

Clint screamed as he felt Garrett in his mind, he could see Loki, could remember the icy feeling of losing himself. He remembered the feeling of drowning, not being able to control, what he did, fighting his own body's reactions. More pressure and he could see Phil dying, being stabbed in the chest by Loki. He had done that, he had helped Loki get on the helicarrier and then attacked it; he was responsible for everyone who had died in the attack. He hit the ground gasping for breath hearing Loki's voice inside his head: You have heart.

Barney used Clint's momentary pain to push him off him, his little brother had gotten stronger and smarter, another reason to hate him. He stood up and looked at Clint on the floor; he smirked before he kicked him in the head knocking him out. "Took you long enough Garrett." He growled as he turned to look at him.

"I thought you said you wanted to teach him a lesson." Garrett responded as he moved over to where Clint lay. He grabbed his arms and pulled him over to a metal chair, rolling his eyes as he realized he would have to do it alone as Barney was tending to his bloody face. "What do we do now?"

Barney smiled as he saw Garrett tying Clint to the metal chair. "I like the idea of torturing him before finally ending his life, unless you have a different idea, Garrett."

Garrett didn't respond but simply focused on Barton and bringing up his nightmares once more. This was going to be a lot of fun; he would cause him so much pain he would be begging them to end it. That's what he wanted, he wanted to see Clint beg and plead for them to kill him, and even then they wouldn't do it. He would have his revenge for what Clint did, he had killed the man he loved and while he couldn't do the same to Clint, he would settle for making him less than what he is.

"I'm going to go check on the men; we might still attack the Avengers, no use in wasting the manpower." Barney looked over at where Clint was tied up and smiled as he saw the pain in his brother's face.

The shadow watched as Barney left the room of the warehouse and headed to where the other men where. The choices were follow Barney and find out how many men or take the opportunity and bring down Garrett while he was distracted. Fishing out their phone once more, they dialed SHIELD. "Unknown numbers of hostiles, proceed with caution. What is the Avengers' ETA?"

They will be there in five minutes.

Tony woke up to the sound of Jarvis informing him that Clint had left the tower. He jumped out of bed and threw on the first clothes he could find. "Jarvis, do you have a location, did he take his bow?"

No sir, I am unable to locate him as he left his bow and cell phone in the tower.

"What did he do before leaving, did he say anything?" He was panicking, he knew that he was indeed panicking but Clint was not in the tower and there was no way of tracking where he'd gone.

Agent Barton asked me to give you a message, sir. Would you like me to play the video for you?

"Yes, Jarvis! Also, alert the others of Clint's disappearance, tell them to suit up." Tony growled as he turned to look at the screen where Jarvis had brought up the security footage. He clenched his jaw as he heard Clint's words, saw the pain and sadness in his eyes. He had done it for him, somehow Barney and Garrett had managed to threaten him with his life. He slammed his fist into the wall hoping it was Barney instead; he would kill the man the minute he was able. No, he needed to keep his cool, needed to find Clint.

Tony walked into the big conference room in the tower and found the team ready. He cleared his throat, "Clint left the tower." He held up a hand as they all began questioning him. "It seems his brother threatened to do us harm if he didn't go. He didn't take his bow or his cell phone, which means Jarvis has no way of locating him. We need to go over any information on Barney's file to try to find where he might have gone.

Bruce nodded as he saw everyone else grab a copy of the file to look over. He walked over to Tony and motioned to the door. Once they were out of the room, he let the concern he'd been holding back out. "Tony, Clint isn't strong enough. Garrett's weakened him to the point where exhaustion would cloud most of his training."

"You think I don't know that?" Tony practically yelled at Bruce. He took a deep breath and shook his head. He was taking his anger out on people who had been doing nothing besides help. "Sorry Bruce. I'm just not, I can't lose him. The last time Barney had him it took SHIELD a while to find him. What if we can't find him?"

"We're the Avengers, we will find him. You think Natasha is going to let her best friend go just like that. What about Thor, he loves watching those shitty sci-fi movies with Clint. Steve would never forgive himself if he wasn't able to find him. I won't give up until we find him, so you can't give up. We need Iron Man; we need Tony Stark, genius, billionaire, playboy, and philanthropist."

Tony laughed bitterly at Bruce's words. He was right though; he couldn't allow that type of thinking to take over. They were going to find Clint, and when they did, he would yell at him for being so self-sacrificing. "Alright, let's do this."

Sir, I have Director Fury on the line.

"Patch it through Jarvis." He said as he walked back into the room where the Avengers sat looking through the files he'd given them.

Stark, get your team and head over to the abandoned warehouse by the river.

"Is this about Clint?"

Yes, our tail managed to track him down to that location; I am sending Jarvis a copy of the warehouse layout. Barney and Garrett as well as other hostiles are in the warehouse.

Tony arched an eyebrow as he pulled up the layout Fury had sent and signaled for Steve to go over it. "Fury, who's the tail and are any SHIELD agents joining us?"

I will save their identity for the time being. Right now, your priority is to retrieve Agent Barton.

The line went dead and Tony nodded towards Steve. "Alright Rogers, this is your forte, what's the plan?"