Chapter 8

S.H.I.E.L.D.

Pepper Potts stood in the medical bay watching the two sleeping agents. When Tony had called her with an update she begged him to allow her to watch over them. She hadn't even batted an eye when Tony had told her that he would need to blindfold her as to not disclose SHIELD's secret location: an opportunity that he had fully taken advantage of by teasing Pepper unmercifully.

"You're terrible, I thought I was going to vomit all over with you with all of those swan dives." Pepper hissed as Tony snaked his hands around her petite waist.

"You can vomit on Iron Man anytime," he teased nuzzling her neck. "With that said, I am very glad that you are here. I think Clint and Natasha could use a cheerleader right about now."

'Do you think she'll find him?" Pepper asked leaning into his chest.

"If anyone can it's Natasha."

"Do you think they're in love?" Pepper lifted her chin stealing a kiss.

Tony took a moment relishing the feel of her lips against his. "I don't know but they do have something." Like the others, Tony suspected that the two assassins' shared some sort of bond. Whether it was actually love or not was hard to tell given the fact that they were both trained not to allow personal emotions cloud their judgment of the job.

"I think that Natasha's plight to save him is just about the most romantic thing I have seen," Pepper purred.

'I don't know if I'd exactly call it romantic. I'd go myself but she just happened to volunteer first…"

Pepper glared at him. "You're saying you're so deeply connected to Clint that you would actually be able to enter his dream?"

Tony shrugged modestly. "Well you know I find the whole Robin Hood act of his is..."

"You're unbelievable," Pepper quipped giving him an eye roll before turning her attention back to Natasha and Clint.

Dream World

The Jinn stood in the center of midway sniffing the air. Someone uninvited had entered his realm. Powerful and Female. Must move quickly he grunted. Barton would have to die by nightfall.

When Clint awoke he found his arms chained above his head and his body dangling from the ceiling of large animal cage. Someone had also removed the black t-shirt he had been wearing leaving his chest exposed. The bullet wound in his side had been sloppily stitched just enough to keep him alive. Not that this surprised him, given the fact that he was back at the circus, but it did make him wonder the purpose.

Head pounding, Clint tried to recall how he got there. Then he remembered. A HYDRA agent had shot him and killed Natasha. Shifting his gaze, Clint saw her lifeless body on the concrete just outside the cage.

"Nat?"

"Nat, please wake up!" he begged.

"NATASHA!" he yelled struggling against the only he could get free. Then he could he could find a way to bring her back.

"ARGH!" Clint continued to fight until the burn marks around his wrists became bloody. The thought of tearing his arm off crossed his mind. There was no way he was getting out of there otherwise. Without his quiver and vest he was helpless.

"Tasha!" his voiced cracked.

"Tasha, please..."

Clint hung his head If Tasha was gone he had no reason to go on living, other than the fact he needed to avenge her. Tasha would do the same for him he reasoned blinking away moisture from his eyes.

The door to the cage opened and The Swordsman appeared with a shorter man dressed in a ringmaster's suit and carrying a bullwhip.

"It's nice to see you awake, Clinton." The Swordsman quipped as he circled around the captive agent. "I trust you are aware of your partner's fate?" A pregnant pause lapsed between them as the villain waited for Clint's reaction.

Although it sounded cliché, Clint forced himself to say the iconic phrase. "I'm going to kill you!"

"I seriously doubt that considering you tried once before and failed," The Swordsman reminded, "In fact as I recall I was the one who nearly killed you and now because of your incompetence, your sweet, beautiful, partner is dead."

Rage coursing through him, Clint began to buck wildly lashing out at the Swordsman the only way he could. Kicking, he managed to strike his ex-mentor square in the jaw, sending him to the ground. He was about to strike again when he felt the lash of the bullwhip slap across his lower back.

"ARGH!"

Wiping blood away from his mouth, the Swordsman signaled the ringmaster to continue. Just as swiftly as the first another lash landed across Clint's back, drawing blood.

"You need to learn some manners! You ungrateful son of a bitch! I thought you everything you know and you turned on me!"

As the Swordsman circled back around, Clint twisted his body so that he was facing his arch nemesis. "You were stealing from Carson!"

"And you were supposed to go along with me!" The Swordsman snatched the whip from the Ringmaster and began to deliver his own blows, this time striking the archer dead center across the left side of his cheek.

Unconsciously Clint winced as the lashes continued, leaving his body nothing but a broken and bloody mess. Clint wasn't sure exactly how many he had received but it somewhere close to thirty or so by the time he passed out.

S.H.E.I.L.D.

"Tony! Tony!"

Pepper's screams sent the Iron Man and the other Avengers racing into the medical bay.

"What's wrong?"

"It's Clint," Pepper sobbed, pointing.

Helpless, Tony and the others could only watch as the lash mark after lash mark began to appear in various places all over Clint's torso, leaving his skin in shreds.

"How's Romanoff?" Tony asked pulling Pepper into his chest so that she was shielded from the gruesome sight.

"She's fine, not a mark on her," Steve replied.

"Then my guess is that she hasn't found him yet."

Quickly, Tony ushered Pepper from the room and forced her to sit in a chair that was out of sight from the window. He then walked over to the vending machine and retrieved a bottle of water.

"Drink this," he said kneeling before her. He waited for a moment gauging her emotions.

"What happened in there?"

"It's the Jinn. He's attacking Clint from the other side." Tony explained taking her hand into his.

Pepper took another sip of the water, "That's awful."

Tony agreed silently not certain of how much more Clint could take before his body completely gave out. For his sake, Natasha needed to find him fast.

Natasha entered the bunkhouse with her weapon trained. Clint's quiver and bow were slung over her shoulder in marksmen like fashion. Finding the sea of dead HYDRA Agents she said a quite prayer, thankful that Clint wasn't among them. Turning on one heel she headed back out into the firestorm unaware that the Jinn was waiting for her.

Crossing through the midway, Natasha saw the form of a small whimpering child; a little girl with auburn pigtails holding a doll.

Mindful that she was in dream Natasha approached the child with caution. It was a known fact that children made Clint uneasy so it only made sense to her that the child was a rouse. The Jinn must have planted her there to try and appeal to Natasha's human instincts.

Keeping her weapon raised, Natasha circled the child until she felt the need to pull her out of the firestorm. Rouse or not, Natasha couldn't fathom the thought of leaving the small being to die. She had done that once before when she had let the orphanage burn; the images of the orphan's faces were forever engraved in her mind. Uncertainly and anxiety began to plaque her as the memory was brought front and center to her mind.

"You aren't real." She told the child reminding herself that she, Clint and the Jinn were the only real players in this dream.

"Help me!" the child pleaded.

Gazing straight down at the child, Natasha spoke with conviction. "YOU ARE NOT REAL!"

Poof! The child disappeared into a puff of smoke leaving half a dozen HYDRA agents in her place.