AN: This chapter is dedicated to @littlethormaid11 for being so supportive! :)
Tiny rocks stumbled down the debris pile, clinking anytime it hit metal. The dust finally settled and everything calmed down. My ears still rang to the point where I couldn't hear my own breathing, but it slowly died down as I regained consciousness. My fingers twitched and I opened my hazel eyes, which felt heavy like lead.
I tried to move my legs and couldn't. They were pinned underneath the rubble. I couldn't feel them at all, and a fear of panic swept through me. Blood started to seep through the rocks and soak into my pants, creating a small puddle.
I tried to sit up and winced from all of my injuries. My head spun from the lack of energy; using all of that power to keep everything intact around us drained me. I felt off balance, so I reached up to my ear to check it. The earpiece was still in my ear. God damnit.... I thought and pulled at the piece of technology. It had melted onto my ear, stripping the top layer of my skin off as I ripped it out. I choked down the cry of pain and looked over to see if Barton was okay.
Clint curled up into the fetal position as much as he could and his head rested against the desk. The ends of his brown hair were singed, and his red skin showed against the glow of the shield. His breathing became shallow, and his eyes moved behind his closed eyelids.
An agonizing bolt of pain surged up my side and I gasped for air. My eyes wandered down to my stomach, finding a thick metal rod sticking out of my skin. I set my hands on the rod and prepped myself before I yanked it out. A scream snuck passed my lips and I threw it aside. Blood rose and started to drench my clothing, getting all over my hands when I tried to cover it up.
Clint stirred in his spot and lifted his head. He groaned as he tore his skin off of the side of the metal desk. The whole left side of his cheek was burned and meshed together in a weird formation. He turned his hearing aid back on and put it back into his ear. He moved his hand from my side, his eyes widening in surprise. "We're alive?" Clint touched the blood on accident and rubbed it between his fingers before he realized what it was. "Are you okay?"
"As good as I'm going to get," I cringed.
He lifted his head a bit to get a better view of the situation. "Your legs are crushed. That doesn't seem good to me."
"It doesn't matter," I quickly dismissed his comment and changed the subject. "We need a plan." I pressed my hands harder against my wound, waiting for my powers to heal my body. I used so much power that it might not even work.
Clint watched me wearily. "There are sewers that lead to the outside of the apartment. We can go through there. It'll take a bit though. Think you can make it?"
I nodded tiredly and huffed. "I'll be fine. I'll use my powers so we can get out of this, but I'm going to be weaker than I am now. I used a lot to keep that desk from behind crushed. My legs won't heal as quickly, so you're going to have to carry me out."
"Alright. Fair enough." He hesitated for a second before asking, "You'll have my back though, right?"
"Of course," I exhaled, biting the inside of my cheek to keep from crying out in agony. The pain only worsened and sprung through to my other side. My head stung and I shook off the dizziness. "I'll...I'll try. I don't know how to use your bow, though."
"Remind me to teach you one day after we make it out of this alive," he replied with a small smile. He patted my arm and ripped a part of his shirt off. He used it as a tourniquet around my wound in an attempt to stop the bleeding.
I moved the desk over and let Barton have some room to stretch. My cell phone rang and my hands fidgeted with my clothes until I could get to it. How did this survive? Seriously? What the hell did the tech group at the school make this phone out of? I thought and answered it. "Hello?"
"Where are you?" Steve questioned without missing a beat. His voice screeched through the phone in a panic. "I didn't see you two get out of there!"
I groaned, "Because we didn't..."
Barton snatched the phone away from me and got straight to the point, "We're stuck under the rubble. We'll find a way out. There are probably police everywhere, so we're going to head through the sewers."
I tried to squirm out from underneath the ruined blocks of cement, making some debris above us start to shift. I halted and sat still. Steve ordered through the phone, "Get out of there. I'll meet you somewhere in between."
Clint hung up and handed me the phone. I put it back in my pocket and listened to him talk. "Well, is it just me, or did our lives used to be simpler?"
"It used to be much simpler. Why? You missing that?"
He snorted in response, "I enjoy not having a target on my back." He glanced behind him to check his equipment and found some of the arrows broken in the quiver. Clint sighed, "Aw, arrows."
I rolled my eyes. We were under rubble of a building that just blew up and he cares about his arrows? "Clint, you can always get new arrows."
"They were hand crafted with precision," he replied.
The lower half of my body began to go numb slowly. There was only one thing left to do. "You have to help me cut off my legs."
He had to do a double take before looking at me in disbelief. "What? Are you insane?"
"It's the only way," I grit my teeth and handed him my knife. "I don't know how long the debris will hold. Hurry."
Barton took the knife and hesitated as his hands hovered over the edge of the visible part of my legs. He glanced back at me, drawing in sharp breaths nervously. "I can't believe you're making me do this," he muttered under his breath. He sucked air into his lungs and focused. Clint stabbed the knife right into my bone, causing a scream to erupt from my throat. He shook and turned off his hearing aid, silencing the ability to hear my pain. He dug the knife deeper and snapped the bone in half. Blood spilled out everywhere, getting all over his hands as he cut my skin in quick slices. He cringed and tried not to look away, but it was difficult. When he was done with one leg, he moved onto the next without trying to get sick.
I began to panic as a shock climbed up my knees to my stomach. Shrieks escaped me, scratching at my throat like a razor. Tears flooded out of my eyes, covering my cheeks like a flood. I locked my jaw and strained to keep silent. My face turned red in my effort to silently cry and my lungs ached from the suppressed screams.
Clint finished the task and backed away, dropping the knife at my side. His hands convulsed as he averted his eyes, attempting to get a grasp on what he had just done. Barton's expression reflected the terror and a flash of regret sprang across his blue eyes. He whimpered to himself and grunted to compose himself. He turned his hearing aid back on and went to wipe his mouth, until he realized his hands were drenched in blood.
The shield flickered and my cries of agony died down, leaving only heavy breathing. My lungs felt damaged from my staggered breathing and all the stress I put on it earlier. I reached out for Clint to calm him down and he didn't notice at first until my fingers grazed his. His mouth twisted into a frown, his eyes flickering towards me. "Thank...you..." I whispered to him. My cells were busy regenerating and multiplying, so my head spun more and more.
"No..." He gulped and closed his eyes for a second. "No problem, Lilly."
"I'll..." I exhaled loudly for a second to gather my strength. "I'll get us out. Too...too weak to do the rest..."
Clint wiped the blood off on his hands as much as he could and nodded. "I'll take care of the rest. You've earned it." He fished out the broken arrows and tossed them aside, leaving only about eight left. He checked his bow to make sure it was still good while we waited for me to get us out.
Please don't fail him... I contemplated and focused my remaining strength on the metal around us. The metal carved out a path for us to take an eventually became a small tunnel. Cement and other debris dropped down, getting a little too close for comfort. "Go...now..." A giant headache burned inside of my skull, as if my head was the frying pan and my brain rested in the fiery center.
Clint helped me latch my arms around his neck. He carried me with one hand while the other held his bow. He stumbled through the makeshift tunnel and a wave of fresh air hit us upon reaching the end. He stood there for a moment, taking in fresh air as if it were a magical thing that rarely happened. He held onto my bloody clothes and pulled me closer, making sure I wouldn't fall out of his grasp.
Gunshots rang through the air and Barton immediately dove for cover. He peeked out from his spot when he could and found the police shooting at us. He grunted and mumbled something under his breath before he reached backwards to get an arrow. He drew the arrow back against the bowstring and let go of his breath to gain steadiness. Clint let go and the arrow shot through the chaos and landed right in front of the cops. They were confused until it went off like a flash bang, blinding all of them. Barton made a run for it and dove into the sewers when he got the chance. The policemen were so far behind that they would never have guessed where we were.
"It's okay, Lilly. I'll bring you back safe and sound." Clint held onto me with both hands as my grip slipped. My eyes started to close and I rambled incoherently, causing him to worry even more. "Hey, Lil, stay awake. Please. I don't want to lose someone else." The blood loss made me lightheaded, and I could barely make sense of Barton's words. He continued speaking to keep me awake, "Have I ever told you I bought a farm? Thought Nat would like it one day when we..." Clint paused and shook his head as he made another turn. "I want to marry her one day. She always said she loved the country side. It reminded her a bit of her old home town. We haven't been there much, but she adores it." He searched for the right words to say while he made sure I was still conscious. "She seems to like the city more. I've been thinking about getting an apartment somewhere in New York, but maybe it's time for a different setting. You know?"
I nodded wearily before falling unconscious. My arms fell limp and he had to catch my body before it fell out of his grasp. He cursed profanities to himself and kept running, determined to get me some help back at the apartment. His feet splashed against the sewer water when he crossed the sewage and slammed hard against the pavement when he got out of that mess.
Five minutes later, Steve dashed down one of the corridors. He sprinted faster when he saw us covered in blood. Clint fell to his knees and had to stop to take a breather. Everything was so sore and tired. He wanted a nap.
"Oh my god...Lilly..." Steve declared breathlessly. "We have to get her to Banner! He'll know what to do," he yelled to Clint and started to run back to the apartment. Hawkeye followed close behind, straining his exhausted muscles. Steve got a better hold of me and whispered, "I should have never let you all go. Of course it was a set up...what was I thinking?" He blamed himself silently and his mind raced in a panic until we got back to the apartment.