A/N: Thank you again for the wonderful reveiws. Please keep them coming as they are motivation for me to continue. Even something something as simple as good job or update soon means alot!

Tasha felt her heart skip a beat as she moved closer to Clint. From what she could tell he was still breathing. Sinking down to the edge of the slab she checked for a pulse. It was there but it was thready. The thing that shook her the most however was his skin; it was deathly white from blood lose. Without forethought, Tasha reached up and pulled the IV port from his neck.

What did you do to him?" she demanded, willing herself to keep her composure.

"He's sleeping!" Berman retorted, earning himself the discomfort of the Hulk's hand wrapped around his windpipe. Hulk roared once again drowning out the doctor's gasps and pleas for air.

Calmly, Natasha rose to her feet and crossed over to the doctor. "I am going to ask again and if you do not give me the right answer I am going to let him kill you. What. Did. You. Do. To Agent Barton?

Berman knew the fate he would suffer at the hands of HYDRA as a traitor would be worse than any death the Hulk could deliver. So, he decided to have some fun with the red headed agent. "Ever read the book The Lovely Bones?"

Natasha's eyes narrowed as she refused to answer.

"He's stuck in the in-between!" Berman then began to laugh uproariously forcing Hulk's hand. "Go on do it!"

Having heard enough, Hulk jerked Berman away from the wall and hurled him into the monitors that were keeping Clint's vital signs.

Natasha sank back to Clint's side. "What do think he meant by the in-between?"

Hulk gave her a confused, forlorn look before feeling the need to morph. Silently, he retreated to the outer chamber and allowed Bruce Banner to reappear. A few moments later, Bruce returned wearing the uniform of one of the dead HYDRA agents.

"What did I miss?"

Natasha got up, "He said that Clint is stuck in the in-between."

"Limbo?" Bruce returned as he circled around the slab and began to perform triage on the fallen Avenger.

"Stuck between life and death?" Natasha felt her stomach lurch at the thought as she squeezed Clint's hand.

"He's not going to be stuck for very long if we don't do something fast." Death was already knocking at Clint's door and without proper medical equipment Bruce was powerless to stop it.

Dream World

Numb, Clint sat on the edge of the mattress next to Natasha's still form. For the moment, she was still with him but given their situation he had to wonder how long it would be before death claimed her. He needed to get her out of there he reasoned, wishing that his com link were operable. He couldn't understand why in the hell it was just buzzing static. Damn technology, he grunted as Natasha's fingers brushed against his hand.

"Tasha?" he questioned as she let out a weak mew in response.

"Hang on, Babe just hang on."

A sudden knock at the door followed by the door being kicked in tore Clint's attention away from Natasha as HYDRA Agents bearing weapons burst in with the Swordsman right behind them.

"Hello, Clint."

Berman's Lair

"Well, I see you found Bird Boy," Tony quipped raising the faceplate of his helmet. "Only he doesn't look so good."

"He's in a coma," Bruce replied. "We need to get him to a hospital quickly."

"Can you free him?" Natasha asked referring to the bonds that were holding Clint to the table.

Tony looked at the red glowing restraints that were encircled around Clint's wrists and wondered how there were going to move the archer. He was pretty certain that Iron Man could blast him free with the laser but he couldn't guarantee that Clint's wouldn't lose both hands in the process. But at the moment it was the only option they had.

"Stand back,"Tony lowered his faceplate as Natasha and Bruce moved away from the slab.

"Hopefully this will work the same way it did when Rhoady and I took out Ivan. If not, we might want to look into a pair of Bionic Arms." Extending his arm, Tony fired one white beam into the red glow before he felt himself fly backwards into the caves out chamber and into a wall.

It took Tony a couple of minutes to figure out he was laying in a pile of rubble. Shaking off the haze he pulled to his feet and walked back to his friends. "Does he still have his hands?"

Natasha was on her knees pressing Clint's hand between hers. Both restraints had successfully been broken, leaving behind two circular shaped burns around his wrists.

Hang on, Hawkeye. Just hang on.

SHIELD

One hour later

Steve and Bruce were seated in the waiting area while Natasha paced nervously outside the medical bay at SHIELD Headquarters. Each were absorbed with their own private thoughts about the archer. They all knew that Clint's brash attitude could make him a pain the ass at times but that never seemed to matter much. He was their marksman, the Golden Archer, of their team.

HYDRA was going to pay dearly for messing with them.

"Has there been any word from Tony and Thor?" Bruce asked Steve.

After making sure Clint was in good hands, Tony and Thor had returned to the HYDRA safe house with orders from Fury to destroy it. Fury wanted to send a clear message to HYDRA that they were now and forever on his shit list.

"They're headed back now." Steve supplied.

"What is taking so long?" Natasha hissed softly as she stopped pacing just long enough to gaze through the glass window that lead to the area where Clint was being treated.

"It's only been an hour," Bruce reminded explaining that patching up the shoulder wound would take at least that long. On top of that Clint also needed blood and lots of it.

"This shouldn't have happened to him." Natasha said with a hitch in her voice.

"This should happen to no one," Fury returned appearing from the inside of the medical bay. "I've just finished speaking with our doctors. Bruce, you were right. Agent Barton is indeed in coma and to make matters worse, Clint was shot by one of his own arrows so that HYDRA could begin cloning his DNA!"

"Why would HYDRA want to clone Clint? They already have Bullseye." It was known fact that Bullseye's marksmanship was almost as accurate as Clint's. The only difference being Bullseye was considerably less intelligent and hot headed.

"My guess is that Barton was the tip of the iceberg. Being that Natasha and Clint are both one hundred percent human their DNA would be easier to duplicate than either of yours. Start easy and then work your way up to the top."

"Meaning they intended to come after all of us?" Steve asked.

Fury's one good eye grew wide. "Can you imagine two Thors or worse two Hulks? We can't even control the one we have!"

"May I see Agent Barton, Sir?" Natasha asked changing the subject.

Fury nodded in response. "Go right ahead, Agent Romanoff, just don't make it too personal."

"Understood, Sir."

Alone in the medical bay with Clint, Natasha sat in the bedside chair holding his hand. After a while her fingers start to drift to his cheek where she outlined the stubble on his face. It was a good two days worth at least. Far be it however for Clint to worry about shaving. Finally, she worked her way down to his lips; they were soft but slightly chapped, making her remember what they felt like next to her skin. At the moment she couldn't give a rip about making it personal. That's what Fury didn't understand. She owed him a debt of course it was going to be personal.

"You have to wake up." She whispered as the machine monitoring Clint's heart rate began to beep wildly.

Dream World

"Jacques," Clint returned calling the Swordsman by his first name. "I wish I could say it's nice to see you again but we both know that wouldn't be true."

"Tisk, Tisk, always a pessimist," Jacques quipped as the HYDRA team parted forming an even path for the Swordsman to enter the room. "Tell me, something Clint. Are you still just second best?"