Fractured

“Barney?”

“Hey, little brother.”

Tony was confused. His finger was pointed at Barney, then at Clint, then at Barney again before landing back on Clint. “Hang on, he’s your brother? I thought he was dead.”

“Yeah, so did I,” Clint muttered as he painfully stepped towards the glass to get a better look. If Tony was seeing this too then it wasn’t a hallucination from whatever it was they had pumped into his system. "How?"

"Am I alive?" Barney concluded for Clint, his arms crossing in front of him as his smile faltered into lack of enthusiasm. “No thanks to you. See when you left me to die…”

“I didn’t leave you to die.”

“Didn’t you, though?” Clint’s mouth shut rather quickly as that painful feeling of guilt rattled in his system yet again. “After you left me to die, I was found by a third party. I think you’re probably more than familiar with them as well, bro. After all, that was the only reason you were there at that warehouse that night.”

Clint’s mind worked to remember the rest of the details that night. Chisholm was there, and so was…

“Hydra.”

“Ding, ding, ding! So you do remember what happened that night. Say what you will about them, but at least they had the decency to check and see if I had a pulse or not. When they realized I was still breathing, they brought me to Zemo and Zemo nursed me back to health.”

Clint’s face furrowed in confusion as he tried to understand how and why Zemo would do this. “I don’t  understand.”

“Oh don’t  worry, little bro, you will. And I get a front row seat to watch you pay for leaving me behind. But first, there’s  something I’ve been wanting to do for a long, long time.”

The door slid open to Clint’s cell and Clint knew exactly what was going to follow. He still stumbled back, silently cursing the side effects of the stupid drug in his system as he knew it was slowing down his reflexes and making it harder to come up with a way to make this hurt a lot less. “Wait, Barney…”

Tony could only watch helplessly as Barney cracked his knuckles while stalking into the room. He couldn’t recall any time he had seen the look of helplessness in Clint’s face as he could only try to keep his older and much bigger brother from kicking his ass. Tony had to hand it to the man – even drugged and looking like shit the guy was able to dodge and deflect. At least for a moment but eventually whatever was effecting him caught up to him and the punch he failed to block sent him to the ground. It didn’t stop the barrage of follow ups either and neither did Tony’s yells for him to stop. Eventually, though, Barney did stop but only when the door to their block opened and Zemo came in with extra guards. “That’s enough, Charles,” Zemo called and while his voice didn’t get any louder Tony could hear the threat in his tone.

Barney did stop but not after delivering a solid kick to Clint’s ribs. He backed away as the guards came in and lifted Clint up off the floor. He was still conscious but Tony could tell that he wasn’t all there. “Take him to medical bay three and be gentle with him. Tell the doctor I want a full work up,” Zemo instructed and Tony watched as they worked to carry Clint out without hurting him more.

As Clint was carried out Barney was leaving Clint’s cell. Zemo stepped up to him with a narrowed gaze. “We will discuss this later, Charles. I believe you are needed in debrief.”

Barney nodded as he began to back up through the door. “You got it, boss.”

Barney disappeared moments later and the door closed. When it did, Zemo turned to Tony and began, “I do apologize…”

“What the hell was that?” Tony interrupted, stepping up rather rapidly to his cell entrance with rage in his eyes, “We had a deal, Zemo. I help you with your project and you leave Barton alone. Instead you pump him full of something and then unleash his brother who, by the way, everyone was tracking was dead, on him?”

“I can assure you, Mr. Stark, I do not intend to move back on my deal. After our deal, Agent Barton was taken to medical and treated for his injuries. We had to inject him with some morphine, nothing more.” Somehow Tony felt that was a lie but he wasn’t going to call that out. “As for his brother, Charles had been out on an assignment and had only just returned. I was going to debrief him of the situation, however he made his way here first before I could explain our arrangement. I can assure you that he acted outside the bounds of my will. I will have a word with him and Agent Barton will be returned after he has been treated.”

“I want to see him.”

Zemo smirked and even chuckled to himself. “I’m afraid I cannot let you do that.”

“You want my help? You let me oversee his treatment. That way I know that this wasn’t just an elaborate set up for your stupid games.”

Tony was sure he had a foot up in this situation, however Zemo’s smirk seemed to only get wider. His hand fished something out of his pocket and pulled it out. It appeared to be just a little black box with a switch, but what the switch did, he didn’t know until he Zemo pressed it and Tony felt like a current was running through his system. “You know, Mr. Stark, when we removed your chips you implanted for your Iron Man suit, we found something quite interesting about your anatomy. Something I think you’ve been attempting to keep hidden.”

Zemo released the button and Tony was able to relax and fall to his knees. He breathed in hard, coughing and panting as his lungs wanted to work yet again and his heart was racing so fast that his chest felt like it was on fire. Instinctively he was clutching his chest as he looked up at Zemo. “Your surgery to remove the shrapnel…while it worked it still had scarred your body. Scarred your heart.”

Tony’s face paled a little as he realized what it was Zemo had found. “They put in a pacemaker, did they not? In case your heart stopped prematurely. But you have been trying to solve that problem yourself. That’s why you knew what the side effects of Extremis felt like. How long have you been working on your own batch of Extremis, Mr. Stark?”

Tony didn’t answer. He just glared in Zemo’s direction. “You don’t have to answer. Your silence is enough to confirm my suspicions. Your heart is weak. I’m curious, have you told the rest of the Avengers about your heart condition? Although I think we both know what that answer is.”

Zemo breathed out as he held up the device in his hands for Tony to better see. “I took the liberty of replacing a few of your chips with conductors. They’re harmless unless I press this button, in which case they will send electric shocks through your body. I hoped to have never needed to use this and I hope I will not have to again. Is that understood?”

Tony nodded in defeat as he tried to push himself to his feet. Zemo just smiled as he tucked the device back into his pocket. “Good. Once Agent Barton has been treated and has a clean bill of health I will return him to his cell. Until then, I suggest you lie down. We don’t want you to overdo that heart condition of yours. We will continue our work later.”

Tony could only glare as he watched Zemo leave him alone in his cell again. He crawled his way to his cot and painfully pulled himself into it before working on his breathing. That’s it. In….two…three….four….and out…two…three…four. Natasha’s voice in his head repeated the mantra until he felt like he could finally take a breath without pain running through his chest. Natasha. His mind wandered to her and what she was doing. Trying to find you and Barton, dummy. He chuckled to himself as he imagined the firey redhead and the wrath she was probably bringing to anyone who stood in her way. She was certainly a force to be reckoned with which was probably what drew him to her. Tony loved living on the dangerous side of things. Why not be totally into a red-headed assassin?

Having lost himself in thoughts of what Widow was doing and which poor soul she was probably intimidating, Tony hadn’t kept track of how much time had passed but it had to have been a while because eventually Clint was brought back, looking at least a little bit better. His movements were slow and sluggish and he couldn’t tell if it was from him being in pain from the beating he got from Barney or something else. Either way they shoved Clint back into his cell with the muzzle of their guns and he stumbled in, giving them one final glare before they left. “You know, I’ve seen a lot of family reunions in my time and none of them were that complicated. And that’s coming from a Stark,” Tony commented as he watched Clint carefully. “You alright?”

Tony knew it was a stupid question. He could see the bruises on Clint’s face, how his right eye was starting to swell shut, his face was littered with angry blue and purple spots and the cut on his lip had been reopened. He could only imagine what other injuries were under the brand new pair of scrubs they had given him. “I’ve had worse beat downs than that,” Clint replied as he rubbed the back of his neck and breathed out, “I just don’t get it….”

“I’m assuming you’re trying to figure out how your brother is alive.”

Clint nodded. “I read the file,” Tony added, although he winced internally as he easily recalled reading it and using it against Clint when he was still somewhat under Loki’s mind control powers, even if it was in an attempt to help him snap out of it, “It was heavily redacted. Like most of yours and Natasha’s were. You want to talk about it?”

“Not really.” Tony’s eyes narrowed and Clint immediately saw it. “It’s just…it’s not a happy memory.”

“Yeah, well, happy memories are not exactly in our repertoire, there, Hawkbutt. If we had happy memories we’d be in a completely different line of work.”

Clint seemed to chuckle at that, although Tony knew that Clint had plenty of happy ones as well. “Come on, fill me in. I’m bored of counting the tiles on the ceiling.”

“It’s a long story.”

“Good thing I don’t have anywhere to be anytime soon.”

Clint glanced up at the cameras that were watching them. He wasn’t sure he really wanted to talk about this when Zemo could easily be listening but, then again, Barney probably told him everything already. “It was a straight-forward mission. Intercept a drop between Hydra and a third party….”

~~~

Old Warehouse District in Detroit, Five years before the Battle of New York….

“Hydra really needs to learn to find better spots of doing their shady dealings,” Clint spoke over the comms as he sat on a rooftop of a warehouse nearby. He was watching the marked building through his sniper scope, waiting for the parties to arrive. “I mean, seriously, how much more cliché can Hydra get?”

“Stay focused, Barton,” Coulson’s voice came over the comms. Coulson was in the black van down the street, watching through the CCTV cameras around them to help keep Clint’s six covered.

“I am focused, Coulson. I’m just saying I would really like it if, for once, Hydra decided to do a drop on a beach or even a mountain resort. Somewhere where I don’t feel like I’m going to get Hepatitis from some stray rebar.”

Even though Clint couldn’t see his handler, he knew the man was rolling his eyes. “We got a truck incoming from your three o’clock. Black. Heavily armored. You got eyes on it?”

Clint turned his scope and smirked as he saw the truck in question. “I see it.”

The truck pulled up to the warehouse and all the doors opened. It was Hydra, alright. The foot soldiers had their rifles at the low ready as they circled around the back, waiting for the second party to show up. “Any eyes on our second party?”

“Not yet.”

“What time is the drop supposed to be?”

“Clint.” Clint sighed as he lifted away from his scope for a minute. He knew that tone in his handler’s voice. “Do I need to call Romanoff in?”

“No, I got this.”

“Are you sure?” Clint, thankfully, was saved from having to answer that when he saw an old, beat down pick up truck pull up. “Chisholm’s here,” he remarked as he looked back down his scope.

Buck Chisholm. His old mentor. So many years had passed and yet the man looked just like how Clint remembered. The cigar was sticking out of the side of his mouth as he approached the Hydra agents. Clint’s eyes narrowed. “I got eyes on Chisholm. There’s someone with him.”

“Can you make out who it is?”

That was a stupid question. “Yeah, just need a good look at…”

But his voice stopped dead in it’s tracks as the second figure turned and Clint saw who it was. No. No way…. “Barton, report! Who is it?”

“It’s….it’s Barney.”

Coulson cursed on the other end but Clint ignored it as he packed up his scope and grabbed his gear. “Barton, stand down. I have Romanoff en route.”

“No can do, Coulson. Drop is about to go down any minute now and if we miss it now, Chisholm is in the wind again.”

“Barton, that’s an order…”

“Sorry…you’re breaking up…” Clint pulled the comm out of his ear to stop hearing Coulson yelling at him and tucked it into his pocket. He knew he was going to get in trouble for that later and probably end up on desk duty for the next month or so but he’d deal with that when it came to it. For now he only had one thing that was occupying his mind right now – his brother. He rappelled down the side of the warehouse he had climbed and used the shadows to make his way closer to the meet. He peered around the corner and saw Chisholm and Hydra shake hands before heading into the warehouse. Yeah, sure, he probably should let Coulson know things were heading inside but he figured that Coulson was probably already on his way to his location with a whole tactical squad.

Just another reason why he needed to get Barney out of there.

The last time they had seen each other, things hadn’t been good between them. They had argued and Clint had shot Barney with his bow. At the time Clint hadn’t known it was Barney that he had shot. He just thought he was stopping two robbers. Clint had been trying to fix their bond but when he went to the train station to stop Barney from leaving, he had realized that he had the wrong time. Barney was gone.

He didn’t know what happened to Barney after that. But now here he was – with Chisholm, of all people. Which seemed odd to Clint because the two never really got along, from what Clint remembered. So what was Barney doing with him now?

Clint waited for them to head inside before scaling up the old fire escape to the third floor and slipping in. He drew his bow and carefully moved along the catwalks up above, getting closer so he could see what was going on and hear what they were saying. “Always a pleasure doing business with Hydra,” Chisholm’s voice rang through the warehouse, “You guys always have the good toys.”

“Coming by what you requested was no easy feat.” Clint ducked down behind some crates, carefully looking around the corner to see as the Hydra agent opened up a crate sitting in the middle of the room. The first thing Clint noticed was the SHIELD emblem on the box. Great, Hydra got a hold of SHIELD tech, he thought to himself. The next thing he noticed was the bazooka-esque equipment pulled from inside it. “Tell me, what does an old circus act need with a sonic disruptor?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” Buck commented as he checked it out. “Hey Barton, be a pal and grab the money out of the truck.”

Clint let out a sigh of relief as he watched his brother leave the warehouse. Maybe with Barney gone he could get the raid done without his brother being caught in the middle. He was about to put back in his comm link when he felt the cold metal of a gun pressed to the back of his temple. Shit.

“Drop the bow and put your hands behind your head.”

Clint sighed as he slowly complied with the instructions given to him. He interlocked his fingers behind his head and went to turn around only to stop when the muzzle buried itself into the back of his neck. “Move.”

“Okay, okay…” Clint muttered as he was forced to walk towards the stairwell. Could he have probably taken the guy out himself? Maybe but with Laura pregnant with their second child he didn’t want to take any unnecessary risks. Although he was pretty sure that when she found out he removed his comm link and went into the warehouse without back-up he was going to get another earful from her as well. He carefully walked down the steps to the ground floor and was ushered into the warehouse room. Chisholm was examining another piece of tech and Barney had just returned with the money. “I found someone spying on us,” the Hydra agent who had Clint at gunpoint called out.

All eyes turned to them and he hated the look that appeared on Buck’s face when he recognized him. “Well, if it ain’t the Amazing Hawkeye. I didn’t know you were in town.”

“Yeah, well, tried to keep it under wraps.” Clint grunted as the agent behind him pushed him to his knees. He went to turn and make some snarky comment when he felt the muzzle move to his temple and decided against it. Instead he risked a glance at Barney who was just staring at him with what Clint could only guess was shock. He wanted to say a lot but now was most definitely not the time. “What should we do with him, boss?” the agent asked, looking to the Hydra dude who was in charge of the whole thing.

“He will come with us. I am sure SHIELD will want to know we have one of their agents in custody.”

“Or,” Chisholm smirked as he stepped towards Clint. Clint didn’t let it show but he was not at all keen on the idea of Buck getting anywhere close to him. “You give him to me. Me and Hawkeye here have some unfinished business. Don’t we, boy?”

“Pretty sure our business ended a long time ago when you shot me and left me to die.”

Chisholm seemed to laugh, only for it to be cut off the moment he took another step towards Clint and guns were now aimed at his direction. “Hawkeye comes with us.”

“Look now, I’m sure we can come to some sort of arrangement. Right, fellas?” Chisholm commented, putting his hands out to the sides. “Y’all seem like understanding folk. Just name your price.”

Oh great, now Clint was part of the deal. His eyes moved back to his brother who hadn’t moved an inch. It was almost like Barney was trying to figure out what to do or say. Whatever sort of deal Chisholm was trying to make with Hydra was just white noise as all of Clint’s attention was on Barney. That’s when Clint noticed something. Barney was making a signal with his hand. Not just any signal – it was a signal they had created for one another when they were kids and were hiding from their dad whenever he got into a drunken state. Barney had given it to Clint multiple times when Clint was hiding in the closet and Barney was trying to shield him from their father. Don’t do anything dumb. “Well, while you boys are figurin’ out what you wanna do with him,” Barney said, stalking over to Clint like a predator on prey, “I want a few moments with him.”

Guns were training on Barney now but he didn’t seem fazed as he approached Clint and grabbed him by the collar and pull him to his feet. “Put him down,” the Hydra agent warned.

“I just need five minutes,” Barney growled. Clint took a moment to glance at the group crowding around them and the smirk on Buck’s face. “I’d say give it to him. They got some brotherly issues to deal with first anyway. We can continue our discussion in the meantime.”

Clint wasn’t sure if it was actually going to work but when the Hydra guys lowered their guns, Clint found himself pleasantly surprised. Only to grunt seconds later as Barney unleashed a powerful punch into his stomach to make him double over before Barney wrapped his arm around his neck and drug him outside in a chokehold. As soon as the cold air met them Barney threw him into the side of the warehouse wall and Clint held up his hands in defense. “Okay, look, I get you’re mad at me, but…”

However whatever Clint was going to say was instantly cut off as Barney wrapped his arms around him and pulled him in for a tight hug. “How many more times do I have to save your sorry ass?” Barney chuckled into Clint’s ear before he pulled away and held Clint at arm’s length, “What the hell are you doing here, Clint?”

“SHIELD business. We got intel about Chisholm buying tech from Hydra. What are you doing here, Barn?”

“FBI business.” Clint’s brow furrowed in confusion for a moment. “I’ve been working undercover for the FBI for the past year. We think Chisholm has been behind a series of bank robberies with other members of the Circus of Crime. We just didn’t know how he was pulling it off until now.”

Clint smirked. Guess crime fighting was in their blood. “It’s so good to see you, Barney.”

“Same, little bro. Listen, we don’t have a lot of time. Please tell me your SHIELD buddies are nearby.”

Clint looked down at the comm link in his cargo pocket. “Well…”

“You did something stupid, didn’t you?”

“I mean…”

Barney groaned as he rolled his eyes. “You’re an idiot. I’ll try to stall as much as I can until your guys get here, then.” Barney looked at his watch then back at the door. “We need to get back in there. Where do you want it?”

Clint sighed as he pointed to his face. “Make it look believable.”

Clint braced himself and grunted hard as Barney laid a heavy punch to his jawline. So hard he fell to the ground. “Jesus, I said make it look believable, Barney.”

“That is believable,” Barney chuckled, helping Clint to his feet. “You ready?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” Clint mumbled. Barney nodded as he took Clint’s arm and twisted it behind his back. “This is gonna hurt.”

“Like I said, believable,” Clint muttered before hissing in pain as Barney twisted and pushed, straining his shoulder in his socket as he pushed Clint back into the warehouse. Buck and the Hydra agents were still discussing something and clearly the discussion was not going well. “We get a deal or not, Buck?” Barney asked as he shoved Clint back onto his knees.

“Hydra doesn’t  want to play ball, here.”

“ Oh come on, surely you’ve got a price point.” Clint kept his face stoic and annoyed as they bounced off numbers. In his head he was trying to calculate the approximate time in which Coulson might get here. If he left his position shortly after Clint took out his ear piece, then in theory he had another five minutes before they would be in position to storm in. “Look, as much as I love knowing I’m valued so highly between you two,” Clint spoke up, cutting off whatever argument was ensuing, “I just want to point out that even if you did try to ransom me back to SHIELD they wouldn’t play ball. So honestly I’m just a headache.”

“Shut up,” Barney hissed as he twisted Clint’s arm harder. “Okay, okay I get the picture. Yeesh, you don’t have to be so rough.”

“If that is the case, maybe we should just kill him,” the Hydra agent said before pointing his gun in Clint’s direction.

“Oh no, if anyone gets to kill him, it’s me,” Barney said.

“Actually,” Buck cut off, stepping towards Clint and removing his cigar from his mouth. “It’s me. This rat took away ten years of my life.”

“Actually you did by robbing people and almost killing me.”

Buck smiled which made Clint feel like something dropped in his stomach. “I’ve got a better idea.”

Clint struggled against Barney’s hold on him as Buck got closer. “You burned me once, Barton. You’re not gonna be able to burn me again.”

“I’m not going to like this, am I?”

Buck smirked even wider as he took the duffel bag of money. “New deal – you can keep the tech and the money in exchange for this nuisance.”

“Mr. Chisholm… “ But Buck cut him off as he pulled out his bow and aimed an arrow directly at the leader. All the guns were trained on him but he didn’t  seem to care. “You we’re saying?”

He noticed the agent nod and everyone lowered their weapons. “Good answer,” Buck commented before pulling a rope out of the duffel bag and tossing it to Barney. “Tie your brother up to the support beam. We’re gonna send him off in a blaze of glory.”

It didn’t take a genius to figure out what Buck meant by that. Clint growled in frustration towards him as Barney picked him up and forced him to the pillar. Clint kept trying to break out of Barney’s grasp but when he was thrown into the concrete he was stunned enough for Barney to secure his arms around it. Both Barton brothers were quick to notice how Hydra began moving crates out of the warehouse and Buck disappear to grab some sort of accelerant. “How much longer, Clint?”

“Uh….”

“You don’t know, do you?”

“Honestly I kind of figured they would have been here already.” While Clint couldn’t see it he could hear the eye roll coming off of Barney. “Look, I have an idea. Bottom left cargo pocket is my comm unit.”

“Why is it…”

“Yeah, I know, I’m an idiot. Take it and get out of here. My handler is on the other line. His name is Phil Coulson. Coordinate with him and tell him I said to hurry up.”

“What about you?” Clint chuckled as he noticed Buck come back and start pouring what was clearly gasoline around the place. “I’m gonna distract him.”

“I don’t like this…”

“Relax. I’ve been in tougher spots before.” When he noticed out of the corner of his eye the look Barney was giving him he shook his head. “Don’t ask.”

Barney shook his head as he reached into the pocket in question and pulled out the comm link. He fitted it into his own ear before calling out to Chisholm, “I’m going to the truck to get more rope. You know, just in case.”

Barney gave Clint one final look before leaving the warehouse. Alright, Clint, now is your moment to shine, he thought to himself as he started wriggling his wrists around in the rope. Barney had kept the knots pretty loose - not that he needed them to be. He only stopped when Chisholm got closer to him and started pouring the gasoline at his feet. “Ya know, I trained you better, kid.”

When Clint just glared at him Buck smirked before disappearing behind him and tightening the ropes around his wrists again. “You forget that I taught you how to escape these?”

Clint groaned as his handywork had disappeared and he knew he had to start all over again. “Kinda hoping you would have forgotten in your old age.”

Buck just laughed before striking Clint hard across the jawline. “You still never learn to shut up, do ya?”

“Well,” he paused, spitting out a gob of blood on Buck’s shoes, “it’s saved me multiple times in the past.”

Clint watched as Buck pulled his lighter out of his pocket. “Well, looks like ya finally hit the end of the road, Clinton. Can’t say I won’t enjoy hearing your screams when the flames finally get ya.”

He did a good job hiding it but Clint had to admit, he wasn’t all that happy that he was going to have to be running against the clock to get out of his ropes and out of this warehouse. Come on, Barney, where are you? “Any last words, Barton?”

Clint looked up when he noticed a shadow moving along the upper catwalks. About fucking time. “See you in hell, Buck.”

Everything happened in quick succession after that.

Buck had ignited the lighter but quite nearly dropped it as the doors swung open and SHIELD agents came rushing in. Snipers were already up on the catwalks, aiming down at Buck. In the rear Clint noticed Coulson and Barney, both with their own rifles aimed at Buck’s head. “Buck Chisholm, this is Agent Coulson with SHIELD. Step away from our agent and put your hands behind your head.”

Clint was watching as Buck turned to them and raised his hands. But he noticed something that every other agent hadn’t. Their tunnel vision was focused on the man – not the lighter in his hand. The flame was still lit and…. “Coulson, move!”

Buck dropped the lighter into the pool of gasoline by Clint’s feet and the flame quickly traveled along it’s course towards Barney and the rest of SHIELD. Chisholm was able to use this distraction to run for cover, all while bullets were narrowly missing him as he moved. Clint didn’t really watch, only focusing on the flames licking at his feet and trying to get the ropes off of his wrists. “Come on, come on, come on….”

Clint let out a frustrated growl as he kept trying to work on the ropes. There was a wisp of cool air as Barney came rushing in and started undoing the ropes. “Come on, I didn’t tie them that tight.”

“Yeah, well, Buck noticed,” Clint muttered, allowing Barney to pull off the ropes around his wrists. Now freed they jumped through the flames, only for Clint to fall and hiss in pain as an arrow had passed through his thigh. His eyes were looking in the direction of Buck who was using the chaos of the fire to run and hide while the SHIELD agents were starting to evacuate. Barney was already helping Clint up, wrapping an arm around his shoulder to help carry him out. “Barney, go,” Clint heaved as he tried to push Barney off of him, “I’m only slowing you down.”

“Not without you, Clint. Come on, we’re almost there.”

An arrow whizzed passed them, only missing because Clint had stumbled and Barney had tried to catch him. “He’s not going to stop,” Clint yelled as Barney raised his gun in his free hand and fired blindly in Buck’s general direction, “Just get out of here, Barney!”

Barney shook his head as he kept trying to drag Clint through the flames. Coulson was already en route to them with SHIELD agents firing towards Buck’s location again. “I almost lost you once, I will not lose you again, little bro.”

“Chisholm is insane. He’ll kill you.”

Barney just smiled as he held up his gun. “I’d like to see him…”

The arrow flew and within seconds, Barney stumbled and Clint yelled. Buck had fired the arrow now sticking out of Barney’s chest. The two men fell and Clint was crawling to his brother, begging for him to stay with him. Everything moved in slow motion as Barney, very clearly dying, started pushing Clint away and into Coulson’s hands. Coulson had to fight Clint to come with him while Clint yelled for someone to help him. The last thing Clint saw was the flames getting closer to Barney who’s eyes had fluttered closed and chest having stopped moving.

~~~

Tony was still as he watched Clint. By the end of the story, Clint was shaking his head and his face had fallen towards the end. “Coulson had sedated me once we were outside so they could send me back to medical. It wasn’t abnormal – I hate medical.”

“I hadn’t noticed.”

Clint chuckled as he shook his head again. “They had sent guys in once the flames had calmed down but they didn’t find anything. Chisholm was gone and so was Barney. For all intents and purposes, he was dead. SHIELD had managed to round up the Hydra agents but obviously they missed one or two if they brought Barney here.”

With a sigh Clint got to his feet and turned to look at the camera in their cells. He wondered if his brother was watching them. Probably not but in case he was, he made a quick signal before sitting back on his bed and laying down. “That’s not ASL,” Tony said very matter-of-factly.

“That’s because it isn’t,” Clint replied, “It was just something we made up as kids.” He turned his head to look at Tony again. “It means I’m good.”

Tony wanted to ask why they would make up a signal for that but he noticed how Clint was starting to drift. “Yeah, good idea. We should rest up before they come torture us again. I’m sure I’ll be able to sleep.”

Tony easily saw the smirk on Clint’s face before he visibly relaxed. “You and Nat are so weird,” he muttered as he laid down in his own cot. He knew he wasn’t going to be able to sleep like birdbrain over there but he could at least keep working on his plan to get them both of out there.

And if they did, Tony was going to make it his life’s mission to reunite the Barton brothers one more time.

TBC…