This will be TWO PARTS in ONE since you guys had to wait forever! Sorry about that!
And feel free to check out my new Clint/Natasha story: Before the War. Let me know what you think! Thank you!
"Should I kill you or should I let the doctors kill you?" Barney smirked as he walked toward his little brother who was currently bleeding out from a bad shoulder wound.
Clint tried to force himself up. Every movement was painful, and his arms trembled as he pressed his hands against the now bloody pavement. A blunt force, also known as the rough bottom of Barney's boot, kicked against his back and forced him to smack his chest against the ground again.
"You were always the favorite," Barney snarled, forcing Clint with his foot to roll over onto his back to face him. He aimed the gun at his brother's head.
The archer panicked and looked up once he heard police sirens growing closer to their location. He yelped when a bullet exploded close to his right ear, a warning shot. "Don't move!" Barney snapped, "I'd like there to be an audience when I kill you."
"You're asking for capital punishment?" Clint struggled to breath as blood oozed out of his shoulder wound.
"Unlike you and Romanoff, I always have an extraction plan." He smirked, preparing to fire another shot. "I enjoyed watching you squirm and cry for help back at the facility. You were helpless, and your Avenger friends never knew what the hell was actually happening to you. They were stupid enough to think you were being treated at an actual hospital. After you escaped, the twins and the Winter Soldier went off our radar."
"Clint!" Both brothers looked behind them as Captain America's shield flew over Clint's head and into Barney's chest, sending him crashing against the pavement. The Avenger watched his brother struggle to push his body off the ground and look up at them.
The archer scrambled to his feet as he fearfully watched his older brother get up. Barney pressed a button on the band around his wrist, there was a bright light, then he was gone. But why? In an instance, he felt a hand wrap around his wrist and pull him away. It was all in slow motion as Clint cried out in pain and dropped to his knees; he held his bloody shoulder in pain as he gritted his teeth. Blood soaked through his jacket.
"You're not a threat." Clint shakily looked up at Steve, hearing the words he has wanted to hear since he first woke up in Avengers tower after the facility brainwashed him to attack it. "But you do need a doctor."
The archer immediately jumped back and shook his head in fear. He had never been a fan of any medical staff, but the fear definitely intensified during his time at the facility.
Cap sighed and strapped the shield to his back before reaching into his jacket pocket. "That's how I thought you would react..."
Once Clint noticed light glare off the needle after Steve popped the cap off with his thumb, he waited for him to go for the side of his neck before grabbing the captain's wrist. The needle was inches away from his flesh and Clint was determined to not let it come any closer.
"You need to relax. You're scared, I know, but stress is going to make your wound bleed much faster." Steve let Clint hold his wrist away from his neck, but he knew he could easily overpower his weakened and frightened teammate. Clint did not speak or shift his eye contact to something else; his eyes stayed glued to Steve's eyes.
"Just let me go. I can't go back to the lab. You're gonna take me to them! They'll want to operate again for no damn reason! Do you know what it's like to have surgery while you're awake on the table?!"
"We're not turning you in. Barton, just relax, I won't hurt you. Natasha's wanting to see you back at the tower alive." Steve's hand didn't flinch.
"Lincoln wanted to cut open my head...but...but I wouldn't let him. Fury wants them to kill me!" Clint panicked, fear in his eyes.
Steve shook his head. "No, Clint. Lincoln was just following orders. We'll let him and Simmons look you over when we get back to the tower. They just want to see what the doctors did to you at the facility, just a few tests. You'll be safe in the infirmary."
"I'm not going back to the tower...it's not safe..." Clint panicked. By his current tone, he sounded like a scared five year old.
Steve finally took his hand away, forcing Clint to let go. He held the needle where his friend could see it. "What if they meet us somewhere the facility doctors would never find you?" Shield was known for taking wounded agents to Veterinary hospitals after hours for private treatment. The mess from procedures would be cleaned up before the animal doctors walked in the doors the next morning.
The captain's ear piece whined as Thor's voice came through.
"Captain Rogers, do you have Barton?"
"He's been shot. Needs immediate attention but refuses to go back to the tower." Steve kept his eyes on his scared and wounded teammate, believing Clint would take any chance he was out of Steve's sight to bolt. A sharp squeal, then a static sound was now heard on the other line before another voice came through.
"Hello, Captain Rogers," a female voice snarled through the ear piece. Steve recognized it as the voice of the woman with the red nails Clint was terrified of.
Steve looked down at the pavement as he held his free hand over his ear. He glanced up to see Barton now staring at him in confusion. "What do you want?" he demanded, glaring at the ground again.
"I want you to bring our patient back to the facility where he belongs. He's too expensive to lose."
The Avenger rolled his eyes. "That's a pathetic demand."
There was a short pause before she spoke again. "You misunderstood me. Clint Barton was our bounty. His brother was the one to deliver him to us, and...well, we may have a surprise for you when you get here."
Steve looked up and glanced at Barton, who was now sitting on the ground and looking feverish, probably from the untreated gunshot wound. He turned and glared at nothing. "What the hell do you mean? Oh, and I just took out your assassin; he didn't put up much of a fight."
There was a chuckle on the other line. "Look again. Barney was following his true orders. He's enhanced just like his little brother, but his enhancements are much different." Another pause. "We have Tony Stark in our custody. If you want to see him alive again, you'll bring Barton to us. We'll take good care of him, but if you do not bring him to us, well, good luck finding Stark's body in the ocean."
"And where's Natasha? She was with him when I went after Barton." Steve looked back to see if Barney was still unconscious, but he was gone. He had been turned around for five minutes. Five minutes!
"The Black Widow? You have nothing to worry about." she clicked her tongue. "Poor thing couldn't get out of the bullet's way fast enough. She's currently in surgery."
"Surgery!? What the hell did you do?!" Steve demanded into the ear piece, ready to throw the device a mile away. There was a click, then the line went dead. A few seconds passed before Steve's phone buzzed. He checked it and--
Flight coordinates.
When Steve turned around, Clint was barely conscious. His friend was lying on his side, shaking, bleeding, and pale. The captain made the call to give him the sedative injection in his neck now that he could not fight back.
The archer grimaced and a sharp whine escaped his mouth. He whimpered as he looked up at Steve in betrayal...
But Steve had to do it.
"I'm so sorry..." He couldn't look into his friend's eyes.
Part 2
Clint came back into consciousness when he felt the Quinjet land.
Wait...Quinjet?
"Steve?" Clint tried to sit up on the stretcher he had somehow ended up on, mostly because Steve was the one to probably put him there. A bloody towel fell off his shoulder and metal bit into his left wrist as he moved. The archer looked at his wrist in confusion, unsure of why he was handcuffed to the stretcher. He swallowed thickly. "Steve...did I...?" He trailed off, not sure about the right words.
"No, you didn't attack anyone. Look, we had to go get help for you. I pumped you full of pain medicine while you were out." Steve would not make eye contact with his friend, which Clint found odd.
"What's going on?" He winced and shielded his eyes with his free hand as light poured into the Quinjet as the door opened slowly.
A doctor from the facility, along with Red Nails, stood outside. Red Nails smiled at Clint, immediately making him sick to his stomach.
"Steve!" Clint snapped his head back as he pulled against the restraint around his wrist. The gurney was secured to the floor, so he wasn't going anywhere. "We gotta go! They're here!"
"Of course they're here." Steve stood up from the pilot seat with a sigh and slowly walked over to the archer. "I brought us here." He looked down at him in pity and placed his hand on the metal edge of the gurney.
Now Clint really felt sick to his stomach. "W-why?" he choked, feeling betrayed. It made him really start to squirm now.
He placed his hand over Clint's jacket sleeve. "Stop squirming. You're wounded enough as it is. It was the only way we could get Tony and Natasha back. I'm sorry, Barton, I really am..." He looked down, afraid to look the archer in the eye.
Red Nails and the doctor took the opportunity to walk up the Quinjet's ramp and over to the two Avengers. Clint tried to sit up and press his back against the wall, wanting to send the signal that he did not want to see them. Once his wounded shoulder hit the wall, he yelped and pulled away, but he did not take his eyes off the facility staff.
The doctor tried to get a good look at Clint's bullet wound once he was close enough, but it only ended up in a fresh bite mark on his arm from Hawkeye. The assassin even growled, threatening to bite again or kick if he tried to touch him again.
"Damn it!" Biting the doctor earned Clint a rough slap across his face that definitely left a mark from the medical man. Steve held Clint back, keeping distance between him and the facility staff.
Clint smirked at the pain he had caused the doctor.
Steve seemed emotionally distressed. "Where are Tony and Natasha? I brought you Clint, now hand them over."
Red Nails rolled her eyes. "So demanding," she mocked. "Natasha is out of surgery and resting comfortably in her room. The good news is that the bullet I sent through her had a clean exit. Meanwhile, Tony is in a separate interrogation room."
"You shot Nat!?" Clint really started to fight back, but this time, it was Steve to force him down on his back on the gurney. As he held his chest down with one hand, he brought a transport strap over his chest and legs.
"Please...don't fight me. I can't lose anyone else." He kept his hand firmly against his chest as he reached over him and dug around in a small storage area on the wall behind them. "We'll get you home again. I'm not going to let them hurt you." Once Clint saw the glare of the needle Steve picked up, he immediately started squirming and trying to bite his teammate, but it was no use. Clint felt the muscle in his neck retract as Steve injected a sedative into him.
Steve felt like crying as his friend's body went limp and his eyes closed. He shakily and slowly undid the straps before picking him up and turning to the doctor and Red Nails. "W-where do I t-take him?" He stuttered.
"Follow us and we'll get him prepped for surgery." Red Nails turned around and walked toward the building with the doctor next to her. They quietly discussed the procedure while Steve hung back at a distance. Why was he doing this to Clint?
By the time they reached their small operating room, the doctor directed Steve to lay Clint's unconscious body on the metal table. He didn't want to leave his side as the doctor checked Clint's breathing.
"I can't do this. He'll never forgive me." Steve stepped forward to pick his teammate up again, but the doctor stepped in the way.
"He's in no shape to transport," he immediately responded, taking Clint's jacket and bloody shirt off his limp body. The archer's body was extremely pale and thin, no wonder he had no strength to fight anyone. "And Captain Rogers," the doctor continued, "we'll discuss giving you your other teammates after I finish the surgery.
As the doctor continued his examination, Clint started to wake up because the weak sedative was wearing off. "Tasha..." the archer mumbled as he opened his eyes. Instead of seeing who he wanted to see, he saw Red Nails standing by his head.
"Hello, Agent Barton," she smiled down at him, pretending nothing was wrong. She then frowned a few seconds later. "You shouldn't have run off like that. Barney was going to bring you back here but you had to run away," she scolded him like a little kid.
"Barney was going to kill me," Clint growled as he tried to sit up. He was shoved back down against the table by the doctor.
She paused for a second as she thought about it. "Yes, but we had a change of plans at the last second. We took you in the beginning. We saw your girlfriend up next to where you fell through, but we couldn't catch her then. So after tracking you to Avengers tower, we were going to only take you back, but your girlfriend and Tony Stark got in the way. If we have one Avenger, why not take more?"
"Go to Hell!" Clint snapped, but his sudden freak out earned him another injection, this time in the arm.
"We'll let you see your girlfriend when you wake up. It'll be one of the last things we'll allow you to do before we officially end the program." Red Nails smirked before walking out of the OR.
I may be changing this chapter to something completely different. I'm gonna be honest and say I'm not thrilled with this chapter. I'm not sure yet, but just a heads up! Sorry for the delay, I've been going through writer's block!
No flames please!