Caught in the Crossfire
The last thing Clint remembered before the machine exploded was a missile shot from the arm of his very own teammate before a bright explosion of white across his vision and he was thrown backwards.
He flew through the air, still quite a bit shocked about the whole situation, before he slammed into something so hard, it stole the breath from his lungs. However, he didn’t get to dwell on that fact for long. His head was quick to snap back too, then he was engulfed in darkness before the pain could really set in.
“...Birdie…?”
Over the ringing, the muffled voice broke through Clint’s unconsciousness first.
“... hear me…?”
Clint groaned painfully, before squeezing open his eyes. The world was blinding at first, a silhouette of blurry, washed colors hovered over him. One eye seemed to be glued shut. It took a second for Clint’s gaze to adjust and piece together what, or rather who, was over him.
“T’ny?”
“...hey…!” Tony’s voice and eyes were soft and comforting, but also worried at the same time. “You doing alright?”
Clint nodded shakily. “... Wind knocked outta me…” When he tried to sit, however, he felt something shifted that shouldn’t have shifted and Tony forced him back into the pavement again.
“Just… just stay there, okay?” Tony’s voice was low, but shaking, clearly on the verge of panic. “Christ, Man… j-just stay put…”
Clint blinked up at the man and followed his arms just up before they disappeared over his line of vision.
When he tried to raise his head and see what Tony was pressing on, however, he was forced back down again.
“No, don't look,” Tony ordered nervously. “Y-You’re injured. Honestly, I don’t want anything moving that shouldn’t be moving. Just stay there. Help will be here soon.”
Clint frowned. Injured? But, he didn’t feel…? The realization settled in not too long later, enough to drain some color from the archer’s face.
If he was injured, there should’ve been pain. But, there was nothing. In fact, Clint could barely feel Tony’s hands pressing into him. He swallowed thickly, and tediously tried to move his legs to no avail.
“T’ny…” Clint clenched his jaw, forced himself to meet Tony’s eye. “T’ny… I-I can’t feel ‘anythin’…?”
Tony answered first with a sympathetic look. “You’re alright. Just relax. I-I think you’re in shock… Try to be still.”
Still? How could he be still right now? Like, he wasn’t even sure if he had any legs right now! He could be paralyzed for all he knew! And, here Tony was telling him to be still?
“Dude, your legs are still there…”
Had he said that out loud?
“I need you to be still so things don’t get worse, okay? ‘Cause If things get worse, I’m gonna get worse… and I really don’t want that to happen, okay? So help a friend out here?”
Clint clenched and unclenched his jaw, then swallowed. “How bad? H-How bad ‘s ‘t?”
Tony shook his head and looked away.
“How bad, Tony?”
“Jesus, Clint, I don’t know. Your definition of bad varies from mine. But, if we’re going off my definition and the fact that I can’t move you, I’d say it’s pretty bad…
“D… Don’ feel it…” Clint admitted, shook his head. “Don’ feel anything…”
“Well, that’s not exactly good in anything except that you’re not writhing in agony. But, still cool… Cool, good to know.”
Clint didn’t respond except for the slightest purse of his lips. He lay back on the ground and stared up at the sky, trying to find something to calm himself.
The clouds were nice. So fluffy… he might not ever walk again… was that one shaped like a dog…?
The soft blue and golden tones were making him sleepy. At least, he thought it was the tones. It was probably something completely different.
The sky above was beginning to spin slightly. Not much, but enough for Clint to handle at the moment. He took a deep breath and tried to control the sudden bout of nausea.
“You okay?”
“Hmm…?”
“Are you alright?”
“... ‘lil dizzy…”
“Just keep holding on, okay? You can do this. Talk to me.”
“Just tired ‘s all…” Clint swallowed. “Wanna… nap…”
“No! No. No napping. Just talk to me, alright? Just keep talking to me…”
Clint didn’t exactly feel up for it, but he figured he might as well try. “Where… where is everyone…?”
“They’re heading our way, okay? They broke my damn jet, so they were delayed… honestly, I’m not sure how, but, they’re on their way… hopefully…”
“Hopefully?”
“Yeah, comm’s gone a bit iffy over here— service is bad or something, I’ll have to work on that—but, they should be coming. They called for a medevac, too. S-so we’ll have to see who gets here first… I mean, kinda don’t know who I’m rootin’ for more, y’know? Hopefully Bruce is coming, he’d better be. He’s smart and all, obviously, but he’s not 100% qualified for this kind of stuff. I mean, I know he’s been working on it a lot recently, but…”
Tony kept rambling on and Clint allowed it, nodding every so often to mask his disinterest. The billionaire was rambling probably because he was freaking out or something. Maybe he was blowing off some steam. Right now, rambling was probably the best way to do so.
Still, all the same, it wasn’t really helping anyone. Clint was still losing energy and strength. He could barely suppress the shivers that shook through his whole body.
Tony kept talking, and Clint tried to keep interest. It wasn’t working very well, though. The words were going too fast for his poor ears and distracted brain to keep up with.
He shivered again, despite feeling the warmth of the sun on his skin. The hairs on his arms stood and his flesh erupted in goosebumps. He was getting cold, which was never a good sign going on how hot it was outside.
Suddenly, he wasn’t so sure of how much time he had left. It was almost like the line to the rest of his left had been cut. There was nowhere to go but in the end, even if it meant leaving everything behind on such short notice.
“Tony…”
Tony paused in his rambling and looked over at the archer, clearly startled. “Am I hurting you?”
“No…” Clint shook his head. “I-I can’t feel it… seriously… jus’... just in case, I don’ make it out…”
“C’mon, man, don’t talk like that, you’re gonna be alright…!”
“Just… Just in case… c-can you make sure… no one thinks ‘ts their fault? Not even you…?”
“Hey… you’re gonna be alright. They’re gonna be here any minute now, you’ll be alright…”
“Just… just make sure… make sure they know… not their fault… not yours either…” he swallowed. “‘n… ‘n I’m sorry…”
“What—!”
“Please…?”
Tony’s face fell and he bowed his head slightly, nodding. “I’ll make sure…” he said reluctantly. “I-I promise…”
“Good…” Clint finally allowed himself to relax on the ground. He stared up at the sky, trying to completely ignore everything that was going on around him.
The darkness was closing in, things were starting to get fuzzy, but he didn’t care. He was so cold and aware of just how bad he was hurt… sleep didn’t seem like such a bad idea…
Tony had started calling his name and eventually started shaking his shoulder, but Clint was too far gone. Sleep sounded so nice right now… so warm… so peaceful.
He finally allowed himself to relax fully and things from there seemed to spiral.
After Tony stupidly promised such bullshit, Clint had altogether stopped responding to his questions.
He was sure the archer had only been half-listening the whole time he was rambling, but at least he held some focus then. Now, he had gone limp and, though his eyes were still open, his brain seemed to have shut down.
At first, Tony expected the worst, but when he pressed his fingers into Clint’s wrist, he could still feel a pulse, despite how rapid and weak it was.
“You Okay?” Tony moved his hand from Clint’s hand, up to his shoulder. “Feathers, you doin’ alright, Buddy? Can you hear me?”
Clint didn’t even show the slightest response. Not even a twitch.
“No…!” Tony gave the archer’s shoulder a gentle, but firm, shake. “Hey, c’mon— you can't pass out yet. Hold on. They’re almost here, okay? They’re almost here.”
Clint didn’t seem to hear. In fact, if anything, he only seemed to grow worse. His breaths were now being raspily inhaled through blue tinted lips. The only slight shake of his body soon grew into a full-on shiver.
Just before the comm’s had cut out, Tony had been told very firmly not to move Clint since there was no telling just how badly he was injured. However, the temptation became stronger and stronger with each passing minute.
“Where are you guys…?” Tony asked, half to himself. “C’mon, hurry up…!” When nothing met his eye, however, he had to force down his panic. Instead, he tried focusing on Clint laying beneath him.
His hands were starting to go numb with how long he’d been pressing into the man’s abdomen, but he couldn’t bring himself to stop. He wouldn’t give up just because Clint seemingly had.
“Birdie?” He tried again. “Birdie, can you hear me?”
There was no such response. Clint only kept staring up at the sky through blank eyes. He was nearly completely still, barely even the rise and fall of his chest were detectable.
“Okay, okay,” Tony tried to take a breath and force back the tears that were threatening his eyes. “Clint? Clint, I-I dunno if you can hear me... I dunno ‘f you can speak or whatever, but I want you to listen to me, alright?”
No response.
“You need to fight, okay? Fight with everything you have, everything you are. You can do this, I-I know you can! Do it for us, your team, your… your family… okay? Please? You’re stronger than this, this is just another day in the life, r-right…?” Tony couldn’t help but feel it was partially his fault. Could it possibly be the last day in his life? “Please, Clint, Please… fight it… fight…”
It was at that moment Tony finally began hearing voices calling out his and Clint’s names. He turned his attention in the direction it was coming from, but, the only thing he saw was two seconds of Steve coming up the hill before his world was engulfed in darkness.
First, Tony was aware of ringing, closely followed by the sounds of voices. He wasn’t completely sure what had happened, he wasn’t really sure where he was… the only thing on Tony’s mind was that he was supposed to be doing something. Something important.
Clint! The realization hit Tony like a train and he soon found himself sitting up with a gasp. Where was Clint? Shit!
The chattering of voices stopped almost immediately and the sounds of footsteps approached, but that didn’t stop anything in the least little bit.
Tony pushed himself shakily off of the table he had been sitting on, only for his legs to give out. He was caught not too long later by strange and unfamiliar arms, but when he tried to push the person away, he found himself unable.
“Hey, Tony, calm down,” a familiar voice said. “It’s just us here…”
After Tony succeeded in pushing himself off the person, he whipped around once steadied on the wall, only to see the worried faces of his friends staring at him. “Shit. Shit! Where’s Clint?” He demanded. “Did I kill him?”
“What?” Bruce frowned. “No—!”
“I-I was supposed to stop the bleeding, but I haven’t been doing that!”
“Tony, Clint’s doing fine,” Natasha chimed in. “He’s stable. You already stopped the bleeding.”
“I-What?”
“We got there in time, Tony,” Steve said. “We were able to get him back on the jet and to Bruce.”
“Wha.. What?”
“Tony, look,” Bruce and Natasha stepped to the side. When Tony looked past them, he saw the man lying there that he hadn’t noticed before.
Clint seemed paler than usual, even from afar. But, aside from the IV in his arm and the bandages wrapped around his midsection, he seemed to be doing alright.
“See? He’s alright,” Steve repeated. “So are you. You held out until we got there. You don’t have to do anything else.”
The relief of Clint’s well being hit Tony so hard, he damn near passed out with relief. This time, when a hand grabbed his forearm firmly, he didn’t fight it. He allowed himself to be led back over to the bed and eased into a sitting position.
“Do you need anything?” Steve was quick to ask.
Tony glanced up at his friends all eagerly staring down at him, clearly worried as well. His eyes scanned back and forth between the four of them before he finally shook his head. “I’m… I’m alright.” He said. “You don’t need to hover.”
The four exchanged looks, then each showed their acknowledgement. Natasha and Bruce headed back over to Clint, and Thor went to sit down in the corner. After that, only Steve remained.
The super soldier sighed, drawing Tony’s attention back slightly. “Mind if I sit?”
“Do I have a choice?”
“You always do.”
Tony rolled his eyes. “Yeah, Fine. Take your seat and begin your lecture.”
“Lecture?” The frown was audible in the man’s voice and he sat. “What makes you say that?”
“Uh, because you’re… you?” Tony scoffed like it was the most obvious thing in the world, which it pretty much was. “Would you prefer speech? Or perhaps a disquisition? A rousing discussion—?”
“Tony.” Steve laid a hand gently on the said man’s shoulder and Tony could help but shift away slightly at the touch.
“What?”
“I just wanted to make sure you’re going to be okay.”
“I...I…” Tony sighed and cast a glance back over to where Clint was peacefully lying. “I thought I killed him,” he admitted.
“It wouldn’t have been your fault if he lost too much blood before you could get to him…”
“N-No— I-I mean—! When I shot that blast,
I didn’t realize just how close he was until it was too late…” Tony felt sick just thinking back to it. “Something exploded and… and something crashed… when the smoke cleared, the only thing I could see was his lack of movement. I couldn’t even tell if he was breathing.”
“But he was,” Steve cut in. “You didn’t kill him— you saved him. If you hadn’t been there to stop the bleeding, he would’ve died. He would’ve bled out in half the time it took us to get there.”
“Took you long enough…” Tony scoffed. “Why… why’d you have to break my jet? They’re expensive...”
Steve chuckled and shook his head, but, even in Tony’s seriousness, he didn’t directly respond. “Are you going to be okay? Have I helped any?”
“Well… not really…” Tony admitted. “You didn’t, but…” he shrugged. “I think I’ll be alright.” Tony shot another glance to where Clint was laying and smiled. “We both will be.”