The Irony of it All

49

Clint paused as he came into what he assumed was the Commons room of the plane. Mack, and Daisy were sitting in the booth with Tony who must have come out from the operating room since he'd been with Nat.

It felt a bit strange, seeing Tony again. Tony had obviously seen him since he helped cure Clint, but for Clint, he hadn't looked Tony in the eye since the man had personally locked him in the Raft.

"We've actually met before," Daisy said to Tony. "Briefly."

"We have? Was it a charity function?"

"Uh, no."

"Awards ceremony," he guessed.

Daisy chuckled uncomfortably. "No actually, it was at Stark Tower."

"One night stand?"

"Uh, no...I wish. I was dressed up as Iron Man with about a hundred other girls, and you shook my hand as you left." He stared blankly at her. "Yeah," She nodded, "Not one of my proudest moments."

"Well it's nice to meet you again, Tulip."

"Daisy."

"Same difference."

Tony looked up at Clint as he stepped out of the shadows. His eyes scanned over him. "Well... You're pale, thinner, and you need a haircut...but you don't look like you just got out of a two month coma." They smiled at each other.

"Thanks to you. I owe you one."

Tony shrugged it off and they stayed quiet for a bit.

"How is he?" Clint asked, breaking the silence.

Tony sighed, leaning back. "Who the hell do we think we are?" Clint cocked his head, wondering where this was going. "There's a thirteen hour old, human, corpse in the room below us. That's what he is. As dead as dead's gonna get, and what are we doing?"

"Is that rhetorical?" Mack whispered, looking to Daisy.

"Playing Dr. Frankenstein?!" Tony continued. He took a quiet, deep breath, coming down from the outburst. "What the hell even happened?" He asked softly. "Broken ribs, broken right tibia in three places, broken left radius, shattered clavicle, shattered vertebrae T5 through T7. And those Dr. Simmons had to re break because they'd already healed...And that bullet to the heart, who the hell even got that close to him to do that much damage?"

Daisy and Mack glanced at the two Avengers and then to each other. "We'll leave you two alone for a bit," Mack said, softly, as they moved out of the booth. "Maybe go make some late dinner for everybody or something."

As they left, Clint took their place, sitting across from his friend with the table between them. "Can Bruce fix him?"

Tony was quiet for a moment before answering. "He doesn't know, but he's going to try." He swallowed. "I made an artificial pump, but the body is defrosting right now. His blood is kinda like gelatin."

"That's-" Clint grimaced. "I don't need details."

"Coulson's alive..." Tony stated.

"Yep," Clint said, popping the 'p'.

"Who's gonna confront Fury?"

"I'd call dibs, but I'd rather watch Nat make him squirm."

Tony chuckled. "She's probably the only one who could scare him." He looked up at Clint. "Banner and I used Romanoff's blood to heal you."

Clint raised his eyes to meet Tony's. "What?"

"I had this theory, Banner thought I was crazy, but it ended up panning out. She had the super soldier serum inside her, and we used it to make an antivenom that could counteract the effects of whatever attacked you."