Hello my dudes! I know it's been FOREVER since my last update but in my defense, my life has turned into literal hell recently and so I've had absolutely zero time to write anything. Between a knee surgery, my parents divorcing (because my dad is a cheating BASTARD) and just life in general, I have had no spare time at all. But I finally found a little bit of time so here's the next chapter! I hope y'all enjoy!

"This is ridiculous!" Clint watched as Tony paced the floor of the cell frantically, "I am a genius! I have more PHD's than a hospital staff! I should be able to figure this damn thing out!"

In any other situation, the man's reaction would have amused Clint. But not in this one. Whatever was happening to them was leaving them completely open to the enemy. they had no way of determining when the attacks would happen, and no way of controlling them. Thor could have killed them all with his blast and Steve could have easily suffocated Tony. Whatever was happening was dangerous. Very dangerous.

Clint sighed as he puzzled his way through the problem, trying to pull together everything he knew about their situation to somehow come up with a plausible explanation. Both Steve and Thor had explained to the team what they'd seen and heard, but no one could figure out what was causing it. It truly was a puzzle.

Clint and Natasha sat up against the wall, their sides pressed against each other as they watched the others try to pull themselves together. Natasha had glued herself to his side and so he'd decided that staying with her was wise. She wasn't often clingy, but when she was she had reason. Clint dropped his arm around her when she shuddered again, pulling her against his shoulder.

"Get some sleep, Nat," he whispered, rubbing small circles on her arm, "I'll wake you if something happens."

She shook her head, "not a chance," she hissed, "I won't be sleeping for a while."

He sighed, "Tash," he protested, knowing she had to be exhausted from the combination of injuries, hallucinations, and just emotions in general.

"Clint," she looked up at him, her eyes betraying her exhaustion but also her determination to stay awake, "I'm not sleeping."

"Yeah, Clinty," a familiar voice hissed in his mind, "leave her alone. Don't be so annoying, she might leave you too."

He frowned, not liking the invasive thoughts taking the sound of his brother. The thoughts were normal and they always sounded like his brother or dad. He sighed, tucking his head against Nat's and trying to chase away the bad thoughts by humming quietly.

"Clint," Nat sighed, "I'm not gonna fall asleep."

"Okay," the archer agreed, knowing that if she didn't want to then she wouldn't, "not for you."

She frowned in concern, looking up at him, "you okay?"

He shook his head, "concussion," he raised an eyebrow sardonically, "and broken ribs with no pain meds, Tash. I'm fine."

She rolled her eyes, "you should lay down," she urged quietly, "it might help."

CLint shook his head, "nah, I'll sleep when we get back home. There's too much going on right now for my brain to shut off."

She nodded in understanding, settling against him again and watching the others scramble to figure out who would be next. Clint knew something was going on, he figured they'd all been drugged with something, but he couldn't figure out what.

"Still just a stupid kid, even so many years later," it was his father's voice this time instead of Barney's, "That suit shouldn't have wasted his time with you. You aren't worth it."

Clint shrugged it off, being well attuned to invasive thoughts. He tried to tune out his thoughts, unsuccessfully. His brain started spiralling despite his best efforts. He stiffened as the sounds of footsteps reached his ears. heavy, drunken footsteps. Familiar footsteps. Shit. It was happening. He was next.

"Tony," he called out, knowing the genius could probably use whatever happened with him to figure out what was happening, "I... uh..."

The genius turned around to face him, noting his pale and panicked expression, "Clint...? What's up?"

"I..." Clint whipped his head to the side as a taunting laugh echoed through the room, "did you hear that?"

Natasha sat up, turning to her partner, "Clint? What did you hear?"

"Nothing," he sat back against the wall, crossing his arms and ducking his head, "just... nothing."

He heard more footsteps, these ones were Tony's familiar light ones, "hey, Legolas, I need you to look up at me."

Clint lifted his head, meeting Tony's concerned gaze, "what's happening...?"

"I don't know, man," the genius admitted, scanning his eyes and checking his pulse clinically, "but we'll figure it out."

Clint jerked to his feet as someone appeared at the bars of the cell, "wha..?"

Two cruel faces grinned at him from outside the cell, "hello Clinton," Harold Barton grinned evilly at him, "I knew you were worthless but I didn't think it would actually end like this for you. I guess its a good thing your mother's not alive to see this."

"You bastard," Clint spat angrily, leaping past his team and facing his father and brother, "don't talk about her!"

A hand clasped around his wrist and he almost flipped the person before he recognized Tony's voice in his ear, "pulse is accelerated a whole lot, Bruce get over here."

Harold and Barney stared at him, "look at you, Clinty," his big brother jeered, "a rat in a cage just like you always have been. Just like you always will be."

"Shutup," Clint pressed his hands over his ears, yanking out his hearing aids in a vain attempt to get the voices to stop. The rest of the world did, but not the voices.

"So, weak," his father spat out, "look at you, Clinton. what are you compared to your teammates. They are all extraordinary and you... you're nothing more than a circus brat who is too weak to even conquer your own mind. Look at you, you think they like you? You think they would still like you if they knew what you'd done. If they knew how you killed your own brother. Your own flesh and blood. How safe would they feel is they knew who you truly are, Clinton. The cause of your mother's death, trained by a travelling carny to steal and kill, the reason your only family is dead, a hired killer. At least Natasha didn't have a choice. She didn't know anything other than that. You did. you made your choice. You chose vengeance. You chose to kill. You chose to be a murderer."

Clint stumbled back, keeping his hands over his ears as if it would help, "stop it," he yelled, shaking his head to try and get rid of the voices, "stop it! It isn't true! It isn't!"

"How safe would they feel if they knew how good you are at keeping secrets?" Barney snarled, his face morphing into a terrifyingly familiar snarl, "how safe would Laura feel? And your babies, what about them? Cooper thinks you hung the moon. He thinks you're a hero. Would he still think that if he knew what you were? Would Lilly even be able to look at you?"

Clint knew he was sobbing. A vision of his kids hating him for the rest of his life swam in front of him. Laura would never be able to look at him the same way. Tasha didn't even know, and she knew everything about him. He looked up, panicked as he heard a sudden cry. Across the hall in what had been an empty cell sat Cooper and Lilly. Bruises littered their bodies and his baby girl was laying in her big brother's lap, blood pouring from a gaping wound in her side.

"Daddy, help me," Cooper screamed, trying his best to stop the bleeding, just like Clint had taught them, "Daddy, she won't stop bleeding! Help us!"

"This is your fault, Clint," his father growled viciously, "they're here because of you. You weren't fast enough. You were too busy being an 'Avenger' to even save your own children. She is going to die and it is all your fault."

***Line Break***

Tony and Bruce frantically tried to get Clint's attention. Him removing his hearing aids made it so much worse. He couldn't hear them, but who knew what would happen if they touched him. They were doing their best to figure it out, but they would have to wait until he woke up to get anything else.

Natasha looked like she'd been punched in the gut as she watched her partner struggle and fight against the demons in his head. Her mind was working overtime trying to come up with a reason for the hallucinations. She couldn't think of anything, but that didn't mean there wasn't something she could fix. She gathered everything she knew about the situation and began trying to piece it together. She had seen her trainer and his daughter; Steve had seen Peggy evil and the ice; Thor had seen his entire race die as well as his brother. What was the common factor? That was the issue here there was no common factor. She would have thought it was loved ones, but she had had no love for Dreykov. None. Ever.

So what was the common factor? She had to figure it out. Quickly. This was causing too much pain.

***line Break***

Clint stared in horror as Natasha stood over his children, her face carefully blank. This was all Black Widow. There wasn't one trace of Natasha left in her eyes. She was a Widow again, and she was on the hunt.

"Tasha stop please!" Clint begged, reaching through the bars as if he could somehow get to his family and stop this madness, "Nat, this isn't you! Please, just look at me! You know me! You know them! Please, Tash, don't hurt them! They're just kids! Please! I know this isn't you!"

"You promised she wouldn't have to go back there, Clint," Barney laughed raciously, "you of all people should know better than to make promises you can't keep. She got caught and you couldn't save her. The things Dreykov did to here were inhuman. Any part of her that was your Natasha was taken away. She is no longer your friend, and now..." Barney grinned sadistically, "you're going to watch as she kills everyone you loved."

"No," Clint screamed as he watched the Widow slide up to Cooper, "Nat please! I'm sorry, okay! I'll fix it just stop! You won't ever have to go back there! Tahsa, I know you're in there, please! Come on, Nat, I know you're in there! Please! No! Lilly, baby, Daddy's right here. I'm right here! Cooper you're doing great, buddy. You're doing it just right. Just hold on, I'm right here."

"Auntie Nat?" Cooper looked up at his surrogate Aunt with trusting, terrified eyes, "Auntie Nat, Lilly's hurt. She needs hel-"

His words were cut off as Natasha's knife sliced through his throat. Clint felt bile rise in his throat and it warred there with absolute terror, pain and unimaginable failure as he watched his baby boy fall to his best friend's blade.

"NO!" He screamed, launching himself at the bars, "Cooper! Baby, Daddy's right here. You're gonna be okay, I promise! Daddy's gonna fix this! I swear it! I'm gonna fix it all. You're gonna be okay."

"Daddy..." Cooper whispered, reaching a bloody hand out towards Clint, "I'm scared, Daddy..."

"I know, buddy," Clint sobbed, reaching through the bars to try and reach his son, "I know you're scared. But it's okay. It's okay to be scared. You've done great, baby. Just give daddy a minute and he'll be over there. I'm gonna give you the biggest hug and then we're gonna go home and see Mommy and Baby Nate, okay? How does that sound? That sounds good to you?" He watched as his little boy nodded weakly and he huffed out a weak, broken chuckle for the boy's sake, "yeah, I bet it does. Just hold on, buddy, oka..." he watched in horror as his baby's eyes fluttered shut, "no, Cooper, baby you have to open your eyes. Cooper, please! Please open your eyes. Cooper, baby, you have to open your eyes, come on, lemme see your big ole cow eyes. Cooper please... Lilly, honey, you have to wake up your brother. Lilly..."

He knew the moment he looked at his daughter that she was gone. Dead. Her big blue eyes were rolled into the back of her head and she died in a pool of her own blood. Clint collapsed, his body giving out under him as he begged for his children to wake up. He watched as Cooper's chest stopped moving. He could practically feel his little boy's heart give out. His stomach flipped and he found himself throwing up bile on the floor. Vomit mixed with tears as he sobbed and threw up, his body reacting viciously to the two little corpses in front of him. Staring at him. Reaching for him.

"It's all your fault, Clinton," his father jeered, the hand fisting his hair as he threw up, "and Laura put up too much of a fight. You shouldn't count on her being there when you get home. She's gone. Baby Nate has probably starved to death by now. A terrible way to go," the vile man paused as Clint continued to hurl, his stomach coming up empty but unable to stop, "I wonder when their corpses will start to smell. How will that be, I wonder? Being able to smell your own failure."

Clint's body gave out from under him and he curled in on himself, a ball of pure misery and pain, as he embraced the blame. He knew it was his fault. He knew. He should have protected them better. He should have done something. His babies were dead and it was his fault. He felt like he couldn't breathe without them His entire world crumbled out from under him and hopeless pain took completely over. He could feel himself go numb to everything else as the fault settled on him. He could only feel pain; loud, heavy, overbearing, overwhelming pain. His fault, his fault, his fault...

"What about your other family, though?" Barney's sadistic glee cut through Clint's sorrow, "they're all dead too, look."

Clint looked up weakly. Corpses littered the room. Tony and Bruce, Thor and Steve, and Nat... she looked like she'd been thrown to a pack of dogs and then they'd brought back what was left. Clint sat up weakly, wanting to stumble over to his best friend but finding himself unable. They were all dead and it was all his fault. Cooper, Lilly, Laura, Nate, Steve, Tony, Nat, Thor, Bruce... They were all dead because of him. He didn't deserve to be alive. For the first time in his life, Clint found himself agreeing with his father. He should just die. He didn't have any weapons on him though. Oh well, no matter.

He rested against the wall, lifting his head to look at the carnage that surrounded him. All of it was his fault.

He threw his head against the wall, knowing his brain was already injured and so it would work if he just hit it a lot. He felt something warm trickle down the back of his neck as he smashed his head against the brick wall again and again. Something strong wrapped around him and something tightened around him, cushioning his head from the self-inflicted blows. No! He needed to die! There was no reason to live anymore. He needed to die. The arms around him tightened and he felt something slip into his ear. His hearing aid. He struggled against the arms, wanting desperately to just get it over with.

"Clint," that was his name. But that was Natasha's voice, "Clint, please listen to me."

Great. Now he was having auditory hallucinations. Fantastic. He didn't even have his hearing aids in and he was hearing things. He really was weak.

"Clint Barton you listen to me," Steve was using his Captain voice, that used to drive Tony insane, "listen! You're okay. You have to breathe. You have got to breathe."

"Brother Barton," Thor's voice was gentle, loud but gentle, "I also saw the deaths of those I love. Your pain will pass, but you must... to us..."

Thor's voice began to slip away as Clint succumbed to his mind. He wanted the hallucinations to stop. He wanted it all to stop.

A hand gently touched the side of his face. Weakly, he leaned into it, his struggles slowing. He realized vaguely that he couldn't hear Barney or his father anymore. He opened his eyes to see a pair of brown eyes he hadn't seen since he was little.

"Mama," he breathed, whimpering in grief at the sight of her, suddenly feeling all of five years old again, "mama, I-"

"Hush baby," her touch was gentle but her voice was stern, "hush, I promise you will die. You will die like you deserve but not before I've said my piece."

He dropped his gaze, hanging his head, "I'm sorry..."

"Why'd you let him hurt me?" Her voice never changed, always staying sternly gentle as she spoke, "I was always so scared of him and you did nothing."

"I couldn't," Clint protested, weak, "I was too little and-"

A sharp sting was all that registered in his mind as she backhanded him, "you let him kill me. You let me die. You let him hurt me, and your brother. You think I wanted to protect you? You think I loved you?"

Clint whimpered in pain as his mother's words pierced him, "I... mama, I..."

"Hush Clint," the soothing tone to her voice remained steady as she placed a finger over his mouth to shush him. Her hand was ice cold and Clint shuddered away. His mama wasn't supposed to be cold. She wasn't supposed to be cold ever.

"But I was cold when I died, Clint," she informed him gently, cruelly, "I was freezing cold. I was so cold that my skin turned to ice and I suffocated."

Clint stared in horror as her skin turned a light shade of blue and half her face seemed to break into pieces. He knew what broken face bones looked like and this was it. He shrank back in terror as blood began pouring from her nose and mouth. Her arm snapped the opposite direction and her ankle twisted backwards, causing her to fall. Clint screamed at the sight of his mangled mother, struggling against whatever was holding him in place as she reached out and touched his face again. Her hand left a wet, cold smear of blood on his cheek and his stomach twisted into cruel knots as he listened to her words.

"I was so cold," she continued, water dripping from her hair and flowing down her arms, "and I was scared. I didn't die right away, Clint. I was in pain. So much pain. And all because you couldn't save me. Why couldn't you save me, Clint. Why couldn't you save me?" his children's voices joined his mother as the question echoed through the small room. Clint clutched his head as he curled into whatever was holding him in place, vicious sobs wracking his frame.

***Line Break***

Thor looked helpless as Clint sobbed up against him. The Asgardian held the smaller man close, trying to comfort the man who couldn't see or hear him. It was heartbreaking. Clint's eyes were glazed over as he continuously begged for his mother to stop, for Cooper and Lilly to come back, for Natasha and the team to open their eyes. It was terrible. Nat hadn't ever seen her partner in such a state. Clint had nearly always been the pinnacle of control and strength, always there when Nat needed him. It hurt her unimaginably to see him in so much pain and know there was nothing she could do about... her trail of thought wandered as a thought struck her.

They'd broken Cap out by hugging him, they'd broken her out by addressing the threat, they'd broken talking to him. All the things that their illusions couldn't give him. Thor's couldn't give him comfort, Cap's couldn't give him warmth, and hers couldn't give her reassurance and validity. The things she was terrified of losing. The thing she feared. Attacks against the team, her deepest regret coming back to haunt her, and complete invalidity and rejection. She stared at Clint as pieces began to fall together in her mind.

"I've got it," she exclaimed startling Bruce next to her, "Steve," she whirled on the super-soldier, "what's the one thing in this world that you fear the most?"

"The cold," the man answered immediately, not questioning her in the slightest.

"Thor," she glanced at the Asgardian trying to keep her partner from hurting himself again, "what about you?"

"Failing my team and my people, as well as losing my brother," Thor didn't even have to think about the answer.

"Nat, you're a genius!" Tony exclaimed, quickly catching on to her thinking, "oh my god it was right in front of me the whole time! Whatever this is preys on your-" the man blanched suddenly and swallowed hard, "it preys on your fears," his voice came out a whisper, "well shit..."

Bruce nodded, kneeling in front of Clint, "and we were all broken out by being given the things that our fears would take away! For Thor it was comfort, for Steve it was warmth, for Nat it was... well I don't know what it was but it all makes sense!"

Nat nodded, "for me it was validity," she supplied, "we just have to supply for Clint the one thing he's had taken away."

Tony stared at the archer, "what in the hell could that be?"

"The one thing that's most important to him," Nat replied quickly, joining Bruce next to her partner, "stability and family. At his core, Clint is a family man, a father, if someone were to take that away..." she shuddered, "it would be world-ending for him."

Tony cursed, "so how are we supposed to help him? We can't exactly wake him up if he can't hear us, can we? He's completely glazed out, look at him."

Nat took in the thousand mile stare in her partner's eyes as tears continued to poor down his face. His face betrayed no emotion, he looked completely numb.

"So we break him out of it," she reached over and gave a quick twist to a dial on his hearing aid, punching Thor in the mouth causing the man to cry out. A sharp trill pierced the air and Clint cried out, flinching away from his left side as he tried to get away from the sound. Nat swiftly flicked the dial the opposite way, causing the sound to die out. Clint relaxed minutely although he was shaking his head weakly, clearly there was some sound leftover. Nat grabbed his face, forcing him to look at her.

"Hey, Clint," she spoke gently, but obvious enough that it caught his attention, "you have to look at me. See me," she pinched his arm, "feel me? I'm real, come on, whatever you saw wasn't real. I'm okay, the kids are okay, Laura is okay."

The archer stared at her numbly for a moment, clearly not comprehending her words.

***Line Break***

Clint stared at the vision of Nat. His ears were ringing so badly that he barely felt the pinch. It couldn't have been real. She couldn't be real. This was all a lie. His mind started to spiral again-

Then his chest started tightening. A crushing weight grounded him as things began rushing back.

"This is reality, my friend," Thor's voice rumbled against Clint's back, "you are okay. Your family is in no danger."

Clint felt the pressure relieve somewhat and he scrambled to get it back, he was not fully anchored yet. The arms obliged and Clint was able to connect them to Thor's voice. Thor was holding him. What the hell? He slumped against the larger man as things began to take shape, began to make sense. Oh hell he'd... what had he said...? He was really glad the team knew about Laura and the kids or this would be really awkward. Well, Clint decided as it fully settled that he had just been bawling in Thor's arms, this would be awkward already. His head throbbed and he recognized Bruce's gentle touch against the injury. He leaned into it slightly, his mind still struggling to play catch up. He could feel the warmth from Tasha's hand covering the side of his face, where his mother's coldness had been. A hand latched onto his arm and he was cognisant enough to establish the size difference between Tony and Steve. A sturdy, clinical hand joined Bruce in patching up his self-inflicted injuries. He glanced around slowly, his mind beginning to run at half-capacity again instead of just instincts. What had happened to him fully sank in and he fought against the tears that crowded his eyes as the images of his dead families burned into his brain.

"You're alright now, Clint," Steve's voice was gentler than Clint could ever remember it being, "we'll get out of here and get you back to everyone."

Clint nodded weakly, not feeling up to talking. Thor hadn't loosened his grip and Clint found himself grateful as his mind slowly caught up to what had just happened. His brain felt groggy as he looked around sluggishly. Everyone was watching him with extreme concern. Even Tony, who was usually reserved in his actual feelings, was openly staring at him, the genius' eyebrows knit closely in undisguised worry.

"Laura," Clint breathed, making eye contact with Nat, "they're not here? The kids. They're at home?"

"They're safe, Clint," Natasha assured him, "no one knows where they are."

"As soon as we get out of here, we'll fly you home," Tony promised, his face pale, "I promise, I'll fly you there myself."

"And none of you are..." Clint trailed off, looking around at his found family, "you guys are all..."

"We're all okay," Steve's voice was reassuring and strong, "well, relatively speaking."

"We're all safe, Clint," Bruce rolled his eyes at the captain's failure to comfort the archer, "we haven't even seen any of our captors yet. We're all okay."

Clint sighed in relief and relaxed against Thor. Under normal circumstance, he would be mortified at the need of physical comfort from the god, but at the moment, he couldn't bring himself to care in the slightest. He heard the whispers of his invasive thoughts whisper that he was being weak, but oddly enough the sound of his old trainer only brought him relief. If the voice was back to normal that meant that he was safe. It was over.

***line break***

In the room down the hall, the soldiers victoriously hit their beers together. The mighty Avengers, at the mercy of their own minds. The Hydra men found it sadistically beautiful to see their mortal enemies so weak. And the Archer's panic had been sweet. They knew the man's weak link. They knew something now about the man that no one had known. The Archer was a family man.

The doctor shuddered at the sound of the beers colliding. He no longer cared that this was for the so called 'cause'. This was inhumane. It was cruel. And to expose the Archer's family like that. That little tidbit of information had come as a shock to the whole room. Children. The doctor felt sympathy go out to the Archer as he thought of his own children, safe at home and away from this world. Wretchedly, he pulled out the file and stared at the picture of the Archer. The man's fiery gaze seemed to pierce the doctor's heart. That man had a family. A home. And it would all come crumbling down. Fighting back the bile that rose in his throat as he pictured the faceless children dead on the ground, the doctor stamped down on the paper with more force than was strictly necessary.

Barton: Complete

Oooh, I hope y'all liked this chapter! The doctor is slowly losing interest in what he's doing and the Avenger's are slowly becoming more and more panicked in general about this whole situation. Thanks you guys for all the love and support you give me! Reviews, Constructive Criticism, and Suggestions are always welcome in the review section or you can PM me what you wanna say! I love hearing from you guys so give me a holler! Love y'all!

-storyspinner16