Hey Guys! Sorry for the long update, but I've finally finished the LAST CHAPTER of this story. I hope you enjoy it.
disclaimer: I own nothing but my imagination.
Chapter Fifteen:
Natasha's POV
As I sit by my partner's bedside waiting for him to wake up I can't help but frown at his condition. He doesn't look like Clint, not my Clint. The Clint I know is strong, unstoppable even. He refused to be defeated, no matter what obstacles were thrown at him. Barton is a man of unparalleled willpower and compassion. He never stopped believing that there were still heroes, even if he didn't consider himself as one of them. The man lying in the hospital bed next to me is vulnerable, he has been beaten down into a remnant of what he once was. His impenetrable armor was shattered into a million pieces, leaving nothing but the broken man beneath it. He fought so hard only to end up like this. Red fills my vision as I think about the man who did this to my friend. My hands clench into fists and I walk briskly out of the room towards the high security cells where villains are kept on the base. Thor had returned an hour ago with Loki, Trickshot, and Red Skull in tow, the rest of their comrades had been lost in the explosion. I'm so enraged that I don't even realized that Madame B will never come after me again. All I can think about is Clint lying there dying because of the torture that was inflicted upon him. Within no time I'm standing outside one of the cells, glaring at its occupant. Trickshot has his back to me.
"I figured you'd be down here eventually." He turns to face me. "I wish it was Clint though, would've loved to get another opportunity to kill him." My hands clench into fists and, in a flash, I have my gun drawn and aimed at his head.
"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't blow your brain to bits." I grind out through gritted teeth.
"Because it won't gain you anything, it gives you no tactical advantages." The smile on his face nearly sends me over the edge as I move my finger to the trigger.
"No it won't, but it sure as hell will make me feel better." I cock the gun and continue to aim in unwavering at him. The door opens behind me and I turn my head to see Steve come rushing in. He sees our current situation and shakes his head.
"Natasha put the gun down." I ignore him and keep glaring at the man who nearly killed my partner. Steve calls out again, louder this time. "Natasha put the gun down!" Finally I turn to face him, but the pistol is still aimed at Trickshot.
"No, he has to pay for what he did to Clint." My hands grip the weapon even tighter as I say this. Steve frowns, shaking his head as he does so.
"Natasha he will pay for what he did, I promise, but this isn't the way. This isn't right." I can feel my anger fading and, slowly, I lower the gun. Just as I'm starting to walk away, I hear a voice behind me.
"Tell me sweetie, is he dead?" Without warning, I spin around and pull the trigger before exiting the room, but not before I hear Trickshot scream in agony as the bullet lodges itself in his thigh. I walk calmly down the hallway back towards the hospital room I'd left only moments ago, watching as doctors storm down to the cell where Trickshot resides to care for his injuries. Finally I make it to the door that leads to Clint's room and slowly push it open. My heart stops when I my eyes land on the scene before me. The white, pristine bed now has the sheets strewn haphazardly across the floor and the IV line is lying on the floor. But the thing that immediately catches my attention is the absence of a certain archer. My partner is gone.
Clint's POV
A loud, repetitive beeping is what finally brings me into consciousness and my eyes flutter open. Slowly I take in my surroundings and groan when the familiar layout of a hospital meets my searching gaze. I take a deep breath and move to sit up, but a sharp pain in my stomach causes me to flop back onto the too fluffy pillows. Carefully I check myself over, looking for any other injuries. My abdomen and torso is completely covered in bandages, so much so that I can't even see the skin underneath, and there's several sets of stitches across my arms where the cuts must've been pretty deep. I reach up and touch my forehead and discover that it's thickly wrapped also and there's a bright purple cast encasing my left leg from just below the knee all the way down to my toes. What happened? I glance down at the purple cast again and shake my head. Stark probably picked out the color, I roll my eyes. Suddenly my thoughts turn to the billionaire, noting his absence and everyone else's for that matter. Where could they be? My mind is quickly assaulted by images of my friends. Bruce sitting in a corner with his knees pulled to his chest, Tony's face looming over me, Steve's leg mangled by some sort of wire, Natasha being pulled away from me in a hallway. Everything comes back to me in a blur. The compound, the explosion. If my team mates aren't here, especially Nat, then they must be in pretty bad shape. I have to go find them and make sure they're ok. My mind decides it's time to move long before my body does and soon I'm gripping the side of the bed in frustration as my limbs refuse to cooperate.
"Come on Barton." I'm finally able to push myself up into a sitting position and I go to swing my legs over the side of the bed. I bite back a shout of pain as my leg is jostled and the pain in my stomach intensifies. Not willing to give up, I slowly haul myself off of the bed and am soon standing, leaning against the wall for support. Grunting with effort I move along the wall until I reach the doorway and peer out into the hall. There's very few people and I can see the entrance to another room just across the hall. Maybe one of them is in there. I think to myself as I make my way over to the door. It's slow going but finally I reach my destination and, with all the strength I have left, I push the door open and enter the room. My heart sinks a little when I find the room to be empty and I'm about to head back out when I hear a loud exclamation from outside. I sprint, well more like hobble, to the door and exit just in time to see a very angry red head go stomping up to the front desk where a very young, very terrified nurse stands.
"Where is he?!" Nat yells at the girl angrily.
"M..ma'am p..please calm down. He was in h..his room when I checked on him ten minutes ago." My partner glares at the poor girl.
"Well obviously ten minutes was enough time for him to disappear now wasn't it." The woman is about to respond when I interrupt. I clear my throats loudly and wave at the Russian.
"Hey Natasha. Did you miss me?" She growls and quickly makes her way over to my current position before coming to a stop right in front of me, glaring all the way.
"What the hell are you doing? You almost gave me a heart attack!" She punches me in the shoulder and I wince when it pulls at the stitches in my stomach. I quickly cover it up but Nat had already seen it and her expression softens, even though she's still glaring it's just not as scary. "You should be resting!" She drags me by my arm back to my bed, completely ignoring my yelp of pain, and forces me to lie back down.
"Im fine, Nat." She rolls her eyes at me.
"Sure, because being tortured and blown up is the very definition of fine." Sarcasm drips from her words and I fight the urge to scoff at her. I'm about to retort but Steve picks that exact moment to enter the room with Tony, Bruce, and Thor in tow. The second they see Natasha's angry expression, they immediately try to backpedal it out into the hallway. Deciding that I'm not going to endure her wrath alone, I call out.
"Hey guys. Glad you came to visit." I smile at the death glares that are sent my way by the four men as they slowly re-enter the room.
"We just came to check up on you. We heard Natasha yelling something about you disappearing, so we figured we'd better make sure you were alright." Steve's voice squeaks at the end when Natasha sends a glare his way and I laugh, which sends another spike of pain through my body and I groan. The others look at me and I wave them off.
"I'm fine." The four of them give me skeptical looks, eyeing the various injuries that I'm sporting and I roll my eyes. "Seriously guys, I've had worse." Tony pipes up.
"We know." Silence settles over the group and I sigh in relief. The lack of sound gives me a moment to get my scattered thoughts in order and I think back to the last few seconds before the explosion. The faces of our enemies are etched into my mind and I sigh.
"Did any of them make it?" For a long time no one answers, they just clench their jaw and stand there with their shoulders tense. Well that answers that question. "Who?" Again none of my comrades want to inform me as to whether any of our foes are still alive. I turn to Bruce. The doctor is shifting uncomfortably and when we make eye contact he quickly adverts his gaze. "Bruce? Who made it?" He looks at me and takes a deep breath. Finally, the man speaks.
"Loki and Red Skull." I can tell that he's hiding something and I sigh.
"Who else?" He takes a deep breath and for a minute I don't think he'll answer me but eventually his shoulders slump and he frowns.
"Trickshot." I close my eyes and sink further into the hospital bed. Of course Trickshot made it out, no matter what I do I can't get him out of my life. He keeps coming back. My hands clench into fists and I take a deep breath. Slowly I reopen my eyes and turn to Nat.
"Where is he?" I don't have to clarify who I'm talking about, I know she knows.
"He's being held in a high security cell on the base." My whole body tenses from the realization of our close proximity. After everything that's happened I don't think I can handle being anywhere near him, let alone in the same building. What if he escapes? What if he comes to finish what he started? Natasha notices my discomfort and she places a hand on my arm.
"It's over Clint. Trickshot's gonna spend the rest of his life in prison, he's not coming back." Her voice is strong and somehow it manages to convince me that maybe she's right, maybe it really is over. I nod my head slowly and she sighs. "Get some rest Clint, you're gonna need it." I don't need to be told twice and almost immediately the room is fading away. The last thing I remember before I doze off is Natasha reaching for my hand and I know she'll stay there until I wake up.
ONE MONTH LATER
The pen glides smoothly across the paper as I sign my name across the documents sitting in front of me. When I'm finished the nurse gathers the papers and gives me a smile as she goes over the last few procedures for my release from the hospital. I breathe a sigh of relief as she hands me the release form so I can finally leave the sterile room behind. I stare at the document that's grasped in my palm, with this I can finally leave everything that's happened behind. Natasha puts a hand on my shoulder and a small smile adorns my face.
"You ready to go?" My grin wavers slightly and I turn to face her.
"Yeah. There's just one thing I need to do first." She gives me a look but eventually nods, seeing the determination in my eyes.
"You know talking to him could just open up old wounds right?" I sigh.
"I know, but I have to do this Nat. I'm not gonna be able to move on until I do."
"Ok, then lets go." She takes my hand and we slowly make our way towards the high security cells on the other side of the base. With every step I can feel my unease increasing and by the time we finally reach the door I feel like I might throw up. My eyes flutter closed for a second and my partner's grip on my hand tightens. I inch closer to the steel barrier separating me from one of my worst enemies. My hand hovers over the key pad that will open the door and for a moment I don't think that I can do it, but I just shake my head. There's no turning back now. I think to myself as I punch in the code and step into the large room. The concrete walls remind me of the time that I spent held captive all that time ago and it seems right that Trickshot would have to endure the same cold prison. A voice penetrates the silence.
"Hello Clint, looks like you're feeling better, that's unfortunate. I thought for sure that a building falling on you would've done a lot more damage." I keep my face a blank expression, the emotionless mask hiding the rage inside of me.
"I could say the same thing about you." He smiles and stands from the cot that he had currently been occupying before slowly walking towards the steel bars that separate us.
"You know I'm surprised you came, I figured you'd want to just walk away. I thought you'd just turn your back on me again and leave me to face the consequences, just like old times. I guess even backstabbers change." I send a glare his way and take a step towards him.
"I don't regret what I did, I never have. You were a criminal and I didn't want any part of that so I left." Trickshot clenches his fists and snarls.
"Oh and you think that you abandoning me makes us for everything that you've done? You're just as guilty as me Clint. You expect people to think of you as one of the good guys, but the truth is you're no better than the people you fight against. Who do you think would trust you if they knew your past? If they knew what you've done they would turn their backs on you, just like you did to me. You're nothing compared to them." I cross my arms over my chest and shrug.
"You're right, I'm no angel. I'm not like them. But you know what? I don't need to be, all I need to do is stop people like you from hurting people like them." The man across from me snarls in anger.
"You think of yourself as some kind of hero? A force for good that goes around protecting the innocent? You're nothing but an ex-carney that thinks he can make up for the blood on his hands by going after people who used to be just like him." I sigh and shake my head.
"I know I'm not a hero. But I am an Avenger and right now, that's all I need to be." I turn on my heel and walk out the door, ignoring Trickshot's angry shouts from his cell as I go. When I exit out into the hall, Natasha is waiting for me.
"Are you ready?" I nod and we walk out, arm in arm, towards the motorcycle that's sitting in the parking lot. I quickly climb on and Nat sits down behind me. The engine revs to life and I take one look back before speeding off towards the newly repaired Avengers tower, leaving the hospital, and Trickshot, in the dust.
THE END
Well that's it for chapter fifteen of Cold As Ice, I hope you enjoyed it. As I said earlier this is the FINAL CHAPTER. I'm sad to see this story end, but I thank everyone who's taken the time to read it. Reviews are appreciated. Until next time.