They barely had a few minutes before a soft wind picked up and once again the grey mist started to swirl around them. Clint looked down at the barely conscious Natasha in his arms and cursed under his breath;
"Not again, not yet"
It was getting cold, really cold, and as he stood; lifting Natasha with him, he knew just where he was
"Oh no, not here... Anywhere but here"
Tony, Steve and Bruce had no idea what was going on; they looked around as the swirling grey mist faded into snow
"Your nightmare?" Bruce asked
"Worse; a memory. This is Budapest"
Clint stood, readjusting Natasha in his arms as injuries appeared on her body; a knife wound down her right side, a bullet lodged in her ribs and another in her shoulder... In exactly the same places as the scars that now resided there; right where the same injuries had been present twelve years ago when they'd first met...
They were suddenly surrounded, being screamed at by angry Russians aiming guns right at them, and there at the centre of it all, was Ivan Petrovitch; Natasha's former handler during her time at the red room
Just seeing him was enough to make Clint's blood boil
The snow began to fall faster, the sky darkened and more Russian's joined those already pointing guns at them
"What are they waiting for?" Steve asked, confused. There was no way they didn't have a clear shot from where they stood
"They're waiting for me to hand over Natasha" Clint said angrily
Steve took a step into a protective position in front of Clint and Natasha
"What's our move? How do we play this?"
"Clint you need to calm down" Bruce warned as the marksmen all tightened their grips on their weapons
"I am, I'm trying" Clint said, but this memory was just too raw; losing Natasha was too much to bear, and having just watched her drown, it was not something he was ready to face again
"Urgh my head!" Clint complained, stumbling slightly as he clenched his eyes shut
Steve took Natasha from his arms before he fell to his knees clutching his head in his hands
"Clint?" Bruce asked, moving to his side as Ivan took a step forward.
"I can't fight it, it's too much" he stuttered as blood started to pour from his nose
"Clint, come on man; we're gonna be executed if you don't get us out of here" Tony said, glancing round nervously as the men all aimed their weapons
Clint forced his eyes open, for just a moment to look at his team, at Natasha, before closing them again and concentrating; through the pain and through the fear.
Just as the sound of thirty simultaneous gun shots could be heard; everything faded away. Grey mist was once again swirling at their feet as they returned to the Greylands
"Oh thank God!" Tony gasped, sliding to the floor beside Clint with relief
Clint looked over to see the bullet wounds and knife mark had disappeared from Natasha as she began to stir in Steve's arms
"How the hell did you get out of that one for real?" Tony asked Clint; finally knowing why Clint really wasn't overly fond of Budapest, but failing to understand why Natasha liked it so much...
"I didn't... Natasha did" Clint answered
XxX
"You fail to comprehend what I'm telling you!" Thor said to Doctor Hart. "We were not in Lady Natasha's mind, we were all in one another's" he reiterated to the doctor, who didn't seem to be listening
"How did you get out?" he asked abruptly
"I do not know; I awoke following the resolution of Lady Natasha's memory"
He made some notes before Jane approached with a handful of paperwork;
"Doctor Hart, I've been looking at your experimental data and-"
"I would prefer it if you didn't Doctor Foster, Project Decoy represents my life's work, it is private"
"That's not up to you Hart" Fury added, walking into the room
"How are the others?" Thor asked
"Romanoff just took two bullets and got stabbed, while Barton was so scared he practically had a heart attack; I don't know what the hell is going on, but I want answers Hart! And you're certainly not giving me any! What have you found Doctor Foster?"
"I was just wondering how you calculated the doses of the drug you gave each of the Avengers?" Jane directed at Doctor Hart
"Excuse me?"
"I just, I noticed each of them had a different dose of the drug; the levels vary enormously so I just wondered why?"
"It was based on their brain scans; and how susceptible we thought they'd be to the drug" Hart answered eventually when Fury glared at him
"That's why some are closer to consciousness than the others?" Darcy asked, having followed Fury into the back room along with Agent Hill
"Who's got the most of Decoy?" Hill asked, although she had a funny feeling she already knew the answer...
"It was Agent Romanoff, she got the highest dose" Jane answered when Doctor Hart didn't