The rest of the day passed by faster than Steve ever imagined it would. Clint woke up an hour or two after suddenly falling unconscious but all he did was sit his back against the wall and refused to move. Even when food was being delivered and the loud siren came on. Worried for his friend, Steve tried to help cover Clint's ears along with his own. Once the siren turned off, Steve tried talking Clint into eating some of the food but Clint didn't budge. Steve even tried making plans with Clint but the archer had shut down.
What Steve hadn't realized was that the backlash of the link suddenly closing while Clint's shield was partially down had created a massive amount of damage. Clint was getting trapped in memories even as he tried to rebuild his shields and put everything back where it belonged. The archer didn't notice anything going on around him. Not that Steve was trying to feed him, or talking to him. Or even the loud siren that hurt his ears. Clint was gone. But as the door to the room opened, Steve glanced at Clint and saw the archer rapidly blink just as Pierce entered.
"Is the mighty Hawkeye finally broken?" Pierce mocked. Steve turned and glared at Pierce as Clint slowly and unsteadily turned around to look. Bucky... No, the Winter Soldier followed right behind Pierce and silently set himself in the same corner Clint saw him in when he first woke in the cell. Clint frowned as the Winter Soldier stood in a weird way and then suddenly titled his head just the slightest. It took Clint longer than he wanted to admit to realize the Winter Soldier wasn't under Pierce's control. The Winter Soldier was still Bucky.
"What do you want now?" Steve snarled, getting to his feet as an act of defiance. Pierce just chuckled.
"Oh, not much," Pierce replied. Slowly, he moved to the side and a group of people walked in with two teenagers in between them. One was a girl with brunette hair and dressed mostly in red. She had a collar strapped to her throat, similar to Steve's. The other was a boy with silver hair and dressed mostly in the same color. He had what looked to be fifty pound weights strapped to his wrists and ankles. Clint shifted to stare at the twins in horror as Steve worked to place them. Knowing they were in another reality wasn't as shocking as suddenly seeing someone he thought of as dead. "Just, I have some guests for you."
"Clint! I'm so sorry!" Wanda sobbed as she looked up and spotted the archer facing her. Clint worked himself into a standing position, his head throbbing from the aftereffects. Wanda had warned them that something like this was possible if she was linked to someone when someone else knocked her out. Clint should have realized it sooner even with his mind as scrambled as it had been. "They jumped us!"
"I guess I should be thankful to you, Barton. Without you, we wouldn't have caught these two again. They were just so good at staying away. And with the Triskillion only a day away from launching, well... Who's to say they wouldn't be chosen on the wrong side," Pierce laughed. "Wow, things are wrapping up quite nicely."
"Where's Strange?" Clint hissed, partly to Pierce and also to the twins. Pierce's eyebrows raised in surprise. Almost as if he assumed that Clint didn't care about whoever he teamed up with. Steve glanced at Clint. He knew the twins and Bucky but there had never been mention of a man named Strange as odd as that sounded.
"They killed him," Pietro growled, glaring at Pierce with such intensity that Steve was partly amazed that Pierce didn't burn into flames. Pierce again laughed at Clint's face as the archer nearly blanched. Steve growled, wishing he could bust through the glass wall and strangle Pierce himself.
"The mystic? We didn't need him," Pierce explained. In a fit of extreme rage that had never come over Clint before, the archer swiftly moved and punched the glass of his cell with all his might. Everyone was stunned when the glass actually splintered. Pierce had only a second to spun around to start to seal off the room before Steve lunged forward to finish off what Clint started. Clint nearly jumped to the side to get out of the super soldier's way but found he didn't need to as the glass shattered after one hit. Meanwhile, Wanda ripped her hands out of the bonds they had been in and used her power to shove as many Hydra guards as she could into a nearby wall. Pietro vibrated himself out of the weights on his body and latched onto Pierce, his hands already blurring as they searched every inch of Pierce's body for the stone. Bucky surged forward, a gun appearing in his hands as he started to work on shooting or knocking the rest of the Hydra agents unconscious.
With the glass wall down, Steve and Clint rushed a few of the recovering agents. Steve headed more toward Bucky while Clint headed toward Wanda. Shots rang out as Bucky fired on anyone who tried to take out their own weapon. Wanda used her power to shield her teammates in the compacted space and to stop more agents from pouring into the room. Pietro suddenly let out a whoop of joy as Pierce screamed in rage.
"I GOT IT!" Pietro shouted as if everyone hadn't realized and he jumped off Pierce to rush over to Clint's side. Pierce stumbled to the floor as Steve, Bucky and Wanda moved to flank Clint and Pietro in an oddly protective circle. Pietro handed the stone over to Clint. "Go on, fix it."
As Clint reached for the stone, Pierce suddenly cackled. The archer paused as Pierce began to sound more and more hysterical. Pietro shifted his weight, impatient over what was happening and annoyed that Pierce still sounded like he won. Wanda readied herself for some sort of attack. Bucky glanced back at Clint, his gun unwavering in it's aim at Pierce. Steve also tensed, watching the room as a whole.
"You fool! You have no idea!" Pierce cried while still laughing. Clint glanced over his team like he wondered if somehow Pierce had made one of them change sides. All the fears from before came back to Clint. Was there a certain amount of times this could be used? Could only Pierce use it? Did they pass a time limit? "You have no idea how to work that!"
"Well, you used it," Clint deadpanned before grabbing the stone from Pietro. Pietro placed a hand on Clint's shoulder in a symbol of solidarity even as Clint focused on the idea of destroying Pierce's reality and returning it to his own. 'I want things to go back to how they were before Hydra ever got a hold of this stone.'
Even as Clint finished his thought, the archer's vision whited out and the sensation of moving overcame him. A few seconds later, the moving stopped but the vision was a bit slower to return. As it did, Clint noticed more and more details about where he was now. It was a room, a bit smaller than the cell he had been in before with light bamboo floors, eggshell white walls and three simple chairs all facing each other. But nothing else. No door, no window, nothing. Clint tensed.
"What just happened?" The voice startled Clint as he had thought he was alone but he turned to see Pietro was standing beside him. He stepped away, surprised to see that the teen had somehow been brought with him to wherever this was.
"I... Uh... Don't know," Clint replied, stunned as to what just happened.
"You activated the stone," a voice called out to the duo. Pietro jumped and quickly speed around the room, trying to find who said that as if they were hidden in the plain room. Clint automatically dropped into his normal attack stance with a bow and arrow suddenly included. Pietro was the first to notice as Clint kept the arrow trained on Pietro in case whoever it was jumped out at the fast teen. He skidded to a halt and pointed.
"Whoa. Where was that hidden?" the speedster asked. Clint frowned before noting what he was now suddenly holding. He hadn't held a bow since before this whole event. Slowly, he relaxed the string and stood, staring at the weapon in surprise before looking down at himself and realizing he was suddenly dressed in his normal Avengers uniform. Clint could only blink in surprise. He hadn't been wearing that a second ago either.
"What the?" Clint muttered, cutting off before actually swearing. Pietro frowned but didn't comment as the voice spoke again.
"You wanted it, so it came," the voice informed. Clint and Pietro quickly looked around again. This time a person actually stood off to the side of the room. Both men tensed at the sight but there was something familiar and not so about the person. Like they knew them but didn't. In fact, even as they stared, neither Clint nor Pietro could describe the person. The person was just... There. "Hello."
"Who are you?" Pietro whispered in a lost and stunned tone.
"Who do you want me to be?" the person wondered even as their form shifted to almost a strange mix of Wanda and Natasha. Clint frowned at the image. Somehow, Wanda's face with Natasha's hair and body didn't match well. The person chuckled. "It's easier if you chose one person."
But no matter how much Pietro and Clint thought about it, neither could settle on the same person long. Then again, Clint couldn't seem to settle on even one. His mind raced through images of his friends, family, co-workers and even people who had died at his hands and by others while he watched. The person before the duo chuckled at them. It had never worked with two people before but after this, it seemed like a fun thing to do.
"Who are you?" Pietro asked again as if the person would give a straight answer. The person, their image settling more on Wanda than anyone else, focused on the speedster.
"I'm whoever you want me to be," the person retorted again as if that was a clear response. Clint frowned as Pietro shook his head. That wasn't what either wanted to hear. Clint turned to look around again. As he focused more on the room, he began to notice subtle changed there too. The light bamboo floors had changed to a darken ash and the eggshell white walls now had an almost purplish hue. A window had suddenly appeared but only showed a blackened outside. And a door that Clint suspected led to nowhere was also present. That was when Clint finally got it.
"The stone," he said so softly that it was hard to hear. Pietro and the person, who now shifted to look like Laura, focused on Clint.
"What?" Pietro wondered, still not getting what was going on. He may be fast but he wasn't always fast on the uptake. Sometimes his mind seemed to be so far ahead that he missed the here and now. Clint looked at the teen before focusing on the person. He winced at seeing Laura before the person rapidly shifted to look like Tony. Somehow that almost seemed just as bad.
"Are you the stone?" Clint questioned the Tony look alike. The person smiled.
"Not quite," it replied. "You are the first person to make the connection that fast. Most take more hints."
"What?" Pietro repeated, confused as he looked between the person and Clint. With it's attention on Clint, the person's appearance didn't change whenever Pietro looked.
"If you aren't quite the stone, then who are you?" Clint growled, fed up with all this jumping around. The person chuckled.
"I'm whoever you want," it countered. Clint rolled his eyes, clearing showing that he was annoyed. But apparently his annoyance was what the person needed to continue explaining. "I am, and this room is, a mental construct of the Reality Stone. Your thoughts and wishes have molded us into what you see."
For a moment, Clint and Pietro just stared at the person. It was almost hard for them to conceive that they were basically imagining all this. Even with the link through Wanda, they hadn't done anything like this. The duo traded a look as they mentally wondered if this whole thing was real. Amazingly, Clint got over the idea first.
"So, if you are basically the Reality Stone, how do I erase what Hydra did?" Clint inquired to the still Tony body double. Meanwhile, Pietro looked about the room and thought of various things he wanted there. A little plant in one corner, a 70' Plasma TV, a bookshelf filled with every book he could remember the title of, and other useless baubles like photos, souvenirs and figurines. Clint smirked at the sight before ignoring it and focusing on the 'Stone'.
"I do not know of Hydra," the Stone answered. Clint frowned. He had assumed this thing was all knowing but apparently it relied on more outside information than he thought.
"Alexander Pierce, the man who was using you before," Clint explained. The Stone smiled and mouthed an 'oh'.
"Ah. You simply think it and it will be," the Stone replied. Slowly, it looked over to Pietro. Clint followed the gaze as he noticed Pietro had grabbed one photo off the bookcase. With his superior vision, Clint could see it looked to be a family photo of a loving mother and father and two young kids that looked similar to a young Pietro and Wanda. The archer couldn't help but feel guilty. "But, do you truly wish for things to return like that? I see potential for great horrors in that path," it warned. Clint paused for a moment. "And not all of you are there."
"I…" Clint started to say even as Pietro placed the photo down and suddenly created a dog that resembled a young Lucky. The archer winced as the teen laughed joyfully and suddenly the room dissolved into a large park and Pietro began to play with the dog.
"You could erase his death. Erase Ultron from ever being created. Maybe even go further. Stop Loki. Save all those people? Stop Barney's betrayal? Save your mother?" the Stone suggested, over and over. Clint nearly whimpered. It was so tempting. There was so much he could do with this stone. Natasha could have a childhood. Bruce wouldn't make or even need Hulk. Tony would never get kidnapped in Afghanistan. He could even go back and help Steve. Get rid of World War II.
"No," Clint nearly sobbed as his mind raced through the possibilities. Almost as if sensing the archer's issue, Pietro looked over to them.
"Clint?" the teen asked. Clint focused on him, wanting to stop thinking about what he could do. Pietro stood and the dog vanished as he walked over to the archer. "You okay?"
Clint slowly shook his head. Pietro gave a quick glare over at the Tony look alike before pulling Clint into a quick hug. When he backed away from it, Clint slowly lowered his head onto the teen's shoulder. He really shouldn't be asking this of the kid but it felt nice. "Can I really do this?"
"Hey, I told you from the start. Do what you need to do," Pietro muttered. Clint sighed and pulled the teen into a hug again. Gradually, he released Pietro and looked up into the teen's eyes, his hands never leaving the kid's arms. Pietro was right. He needed to do what needed to be done. There was no way he could change what happened to any of his friends. If he did, he was no worse than Pierce. Sadly though, this meant he couldn't change what happened to Pietro. Things needed to go back to before Pierce found the stone and Clint needed to have it. With that decided, Clint felt the urge to hug Pietro again and when he did so, Pietro hugged back fiercely. The Stone smiled brightly. Clint was the first man who ever decided not to change at least one thing in their or the universe's history. He wanted things exactly how it was supposed to be. Slowly, the world began to disappear around the hugging duo and neither truly noticed.
Wow... Quick bit of feels there. Hope everyone enjoyed! One chapter left and then I get to post my sequel. Which totally scares me cause the sequel isn't done yet and I still have to edit it. _ Hope I can get it done on time.
Darius and Clint are well. Being annoying children like always. Well, no... They are being children but I'm annoyed with them cause I'm in a mood. Ugh. Wish I could control myself better. No new news with them. School is almost out for Clint and then I get two weeks with him home before he goes to a summer school for a few weeks. And I guess that's it.
RESPONSES:
Favorites - KillaZillaX10A, FairyRave
Follows - KillaZillaX10A, FairyRave
Reviews:
Katie MacAlpine - Hope you feel better this week. Flu stinks.