I finally did one of the prompts backlogged in my inbox! It came out a little tropey and cliche I think but I had fun?
I was asked for the following: "all other avengers are trapped but they didn't take Natasha in (she got away, they weren't aware that she was important enough to go out after) and clint can't stop laughing when he realises this and the others are like 'hi hello clint yes this is a life or death situation' and then boom bamf Natasha comes in yadda yadda they are saved"
"Where's Nat?" Clint slurs immediately upon opening his eyes. It's Stark instead of Natasha leaning over him. Stark's lap his head is pillowed on, denim rough against the nape of his neck instead of smooth leather. Stark, cheeks pale and eyes shadowed with worry, instead of Natasha's customary smirk and smartass comments.
He pushes himself up, or tries to, but Sam leans into his field of vision and puts a hand on his shoulder, guiding him slowly up to sit.
"Easy, man," he says. At least, that's what Clint thinks he says, because he can't hear and his brain doesn't grind into action quickly enough to lip read. Tony presses one of his hearing aides into his hand.
"Still working on the other one," Tony says apologetically, once Clint's got it turned on and fitted into place. The other half of the pair is in three pieces on the floor, surrounded by a set of the tiniest screwdrivers he's ever seen.
"Where's Natasha?" he asks again. Sam sighs and looks to Tony, who grimaces and looks a little sick. Panic kindles in his chest, beings to build to a crescendo. They always take Natasha first, interrogate her first, give her the first round of experimental drugs, because every villain seems to know the Black Widow's history and thinks she'll be easy to break.
"She jumped," Steve says hoarsely. He's sitting in the corner of the room beside Thor, both fitted with massive sets of shackles buzzing with blue electricity, all slumped shoulders and an air of utter defeat.
Bits and flashes of the fight come back to him, mechanical monsters and genetically enhanced giant insects, distractions to overwhelm them while these guys, whoever these guys are, picked them off one by one. The manacles sap Steve and Thor of their strength, he recalls seeing them go down.
Last he saw of Natasha, she was throwing herself at the body-armor-clad bad guys attached to Steve. Then he'd been bashed over the head.
"Jumped?" he repeats blankly.
"There were two cars," Steve continues, speaking in monotone now, eyes on the floor. "You guys were in the first one, Thor and I were in the second with Natasha. She slipped her handcuffs and kicked the door open and just…jumped."
"Brooklyn Bridge," Tony adds. "There was traffic…eighteen-wheelers…. They didn't even bother going back for her."
"She isn't here," Clint says, more to himself than the rest of the team. Relief sweeps through him, leaving him lightheaded, more lightheaded than he already felt anyway, and he can't stop the wild little chuckle that slips out because these guys, whoever they are, are completely fucked.
"Yeah," Sam agrees, and gives him a pained smile, squeezes his shoulder in a bracing sort of way. "She isn't here. She won't be here for this."
"Of course she'll be here," Clint scoffs, before he reasons the deeper meaning behind Sam's words.
They think she's dead, which offends him a bit, but also makes him giggle again. He's seen Natasha pull way dumber stunts than jumping out of a car into traffic.
"She'll be here," he repeats firmly, and slides back to lean against the wall of their cell. The others give him varying degrees of pitying expressions, but leave him to rest.
Tony tinkers disconsolately with the second hearing aid for a while. It doesn't quite work when he gives it back - it won't amplify sound to the same level as the other one - but Clint mumbles his thank-you anyway and settles in to wait.
Thor repeatedly tests the shackles around his wrists. Sam paces the perimeter of the room, pushing against the cinderblocks in search of weaknesses that aren't there. Tony and Steve burn an hour trying to pick the lock on the steel door with the tiny screwdrivers Tony somehow smuggled in.
"Barton?" Steve says at last, and holds out one of the little tools.
"You're wasting your time, Cap," he replies easily. He tips his head back against the wall and closes his eyes. Steve doesn't push.
He's good at locks, he could probably break them out if he applied himself, but it's all principal now. They doubted Natasha and he wants them proved wrong.
It's an hour, maybe two, later and they've all settled into inactivity. Steve perks up beside him, head canted to one side and brows drawn together. Clint can't hear it yet, but he can guess. He arches a brow at Steve in silent question.
"Machine guns," Steve tells him, sounding puzzled and uneasy. That gets Tony on his feet, and Sam's not far behind.
Thor, who has been oddly silent, jolts to attention, then catches Clint's eye and gives him a slow smile.
The gunfire draws closer, echoing through the compound until even Clint's busted hearing aids pick it up. There's something familiar in the cadence and pattern of the shots, something Natasha.
"Sucks to be them," Clint mutters. Thor nods his agreement and smiles again, a bright, eager expression.
Then the fight is right outside in the hallway, reverberating gunfire and strangled shouts. The others, save he and Thor, pace the cell in fighting stances. Steve starts straining against his manacles again.
The corridor beyond their cell goes quiet for one beat, two….
The door crumples inward and swings back on one broken hinge, and there's Natasha, standing silhouetted in the doorway. Yeah, she's bleeding, a little beat up, but she's got Sam's wings securely on her back, and his bow and quiver over one shoulder, Steve's shield strapped to her forearm, one of Tony's repulsor gloves on the other hand, and even….
He shouldn't be surprised, he feels terrible for being surprised, but he doesn't let it show because he'll never hear the end of it. The shock wears off almost immediately, replaced by a glowing sense of pride and savage satisfaction at the looks on the others' faces.
"Took ya long enough," Clint drawls, and pushes himself up to go meet her. Steve, Tony, and Sam are still gaping.
"Indeed!" Thor gives her the widest grin and stands as well. "It is unkind to 'leave us to stew'."
"Let's go, boys," she says with a smirk, and swings Mjolnir at Thor's shackles.