Psychologist Clint
The clip ended and the Avengers looked over to Remy. Steve was the first one to speak.
“You had a choice and you choose him?”
Remy looked down but before he could answer Clit spoke up.
“It wasn’t really a choice Steve. You never blamed me for what I did when I was with Loki right? Or Bruce for what the Hulk did when he was under Wanda’s influence. Or Barnes for what he did as the Winter Soldier.”
Steve frowned.
“You were brainwashed or mind controlled back then.”
Clint ignored him and turned to Remy.
“Did he keep you isolated from everyone and everything?”
“Yes.”
“Did he make you feel guilty for the things you have done before you came to him?”
“Yes.”
“Did he control every single thing you were allowed and not allowed to do?”
“Yes.”
Remy’s answers were monotone. Tony noticed the anger that flashed on Sinister’s face and readied himself to protect Clint in case anything happened. And the archer continued.
“Did he try to make you completely believe his choices and not let you think on your own?”
“Yes.”
“Did he force you to ask for permission when you wanted to do anything?”
“Yes.”
“Did he try to make you believe that everyone that didn’t follow him was evil and wanted to hurt you?”
“Yes.”
“Did he torture you?”
“Yes.”
Clint turned back to Steve.
“Well I don’t know what you think but it sure looks like brainwashing and mind control to me.”
Steve frowned again.
“But he…”
“Brainwashing doesn’t have to mean a chair like in Barnes case or getting inside someone’s head like Wanda can do. Sometimes the brainwasher simply makes the victim believe in what he wants him to believe in. In Remy’s case he wasn’t fully brainwashed. It looks to me as if he still was fighting it. Just like Barnes was fighting Hydra. Remy has a strong will. And from what I understood he has shields in his brain that are supposed to keep brainwashing away from him.”
Remy was now keeping his eyes on Clint. He looked almost hopeful. Clint looked over to him and smiled.
“In Remy’s case, I believe he would never have broken. But what made him change his mind in that moment was Creed. He made Remy believe that it would all be okey. That they were right. That they were hurting him for his own best. I don’t know about you but it smells Stockholm Syndrome to me.”
Once again Steve protested.
“Stockholm syndrome is when the victim relates to the captor. He never related to them.”
“And how would you know that? Have you asked him Steve? The problem with you is that you never stop to LISTEN to other people. I’ve heard many people call Tony narcissistic and I am not going to say they are fully wrong.”
Tony threw him an annoyed glance but Clint just continued.
“But sometimes I’m wondering if you aren’t a bit narcissistic too. Sometimes I wonder if you even take other people into consideration.”
Everyone was staring at Clint. He was usually the clown of the group along with Tony. To see him so serious was a surprise. But what he said made them think. Steve had started a Civil War between the heroes only because of Bucky. But when they thought about it they realized that Bucky had never asked for it. Steve had done it because he wanted to have his friend back. And he never thought about the consequences. Clint went on.
“Remy was never one of them. Never. And he certainly isn’t one of them now.”
Sinister tilted his head.
“And what makes you believe that Archer?”
Clint smirked.
“This.”
At the same second Remy shot out of his seat. And first now did they realize that the sofa was glowing. Before Arclight or Vertigo managed to move, it exploded, sending the two women flying into a wall. Creed jumped up and charged towards the cajun but halfway there he was met with Logan.
“Wouldn’t think so.”
The two ferals started a wild fight. Meanwhile Riptide started to spin around. Remy’s eyes widened a bit.
“Take cover!”
Before they managed to do it, a few shurikens flew from the spinning man. Tony brought his hands up and created a shield. It was strong enough to stop the flying objects but keeping it up made it impossible for Tony to fight at the same time. Remy grabbed his staff and ducked under Sunfires fireblast. He jumped over the shield and continued towards Amora. She was trying to both attack his mind and hit him with her magic but she was no match to him. He spun the staff around and hit her in the head knocking her out. A second later he was sent flying by a strong blast that made almost everyone lose their balance. Arclight had recovered. Amazingly enough Tony managed to keep the shield up. Then T’Challa realized something.
“Her hold of the room is broken.”
Immediately he and Steve rushed out of the room to get the suit and shield. Tony turned to Vision.
“Get down to the garage, take one of the cars and go to Malibu. You know what to do there.”
The android nodded and phased through the floor. Rhodey called his suit. It burst through the door and closed around him. Suddenly they heard Creed’s laugh. When they looked over to the two ferals, they noticed with horror that Creed had Logan pinned to the floor and was digging his sharp nails into each side of Logan’s throat. The canadian was choking on his own blood since the throat couldn’t heal with the claws there. Remy’s eyes flashed with anger. He charged towards them and used his speed to knock Creed off of Logan. Sharon was next to the fallen feral in an instant.
“Logan? Logan! Concentrate. Stop breathing. You need to let the wounds heal without getting more blood into your lungs.”
Suddenly Vertigo was next to them.
“Maybe he could get some vomit into them?”
She put her hands up but before she could do anything they heard a roar and she was thrown to the side by a very angry Hulk. Sharon smiled.
“Thanks Bruce.”
Hulk nodded and threw himself onto Sunfire who did his best to toast him. But at the same moment Rhodey shot into the air and flew into him. That gave Hulk enough time to jump onto the man. Steve put his shield in place for Natasha and Fury to hide behind while they were raining down bullets upon Sinister who was standing a bit away from everyone and watched the fight. But the bullet’s didn’t seem to do anything. Most of them stopped on their way there and fell to the floor. Wanda was doing her best to cover Pepper who was trying to get out of the room. That proved to be impossible when Hulk and Sunfire moved their fight to the doorway. She flipped the table, pushed Pepper down behind it and put herself between the woman and the fight. Tony was covering Clint and Sam while they tried to get a clean shot at the spinning man. Then suddenly T’Challa burst in through the door in his suit. He slid along the floor between Hulk’s feet and started to run towards Riptide on all fours. He passed Tony’s shield and continued. The shurikens and spikes simply bounced off of him. Riptide tried to back away but before he managed to the Black Panther was on him. That let Tony lower his shield. He started to fire at Arclight who was trying to attack Hulk. He was thrown by Amora’s power. He balanced himself out in the air and flew back towards the women. He dodged Amoras attack but fell to the ground when a sudden nausea hit him. And not only him. Clint, Sam, Fury and Natasha were on the ground too. Meanwhile Steve and Bucky had teamed up with Remy against Creed. But seeing the Avengers fall, Remy broke away from them and charged towards the green haired woman. She turned her attention to him but her power didn’t stop him. He kept his shields tight while he pulled a few cards out. The distraction made her drop her power over the others and Tony was up and fighting Amora a few seconds later. Natasha recovered fairly quickly to. She took the shield up and, while hiding behind it, advanced towards Arclight. Sharon was still trying to help Logan who’s healing factor struggled to clean his lungs from the blood. Suddenly Wanda screamed when one of Sunfires blasts hit her shield. It knocked her into the wall and left Pepper without protection. She quickly collected herself, came out from her hiding and leaned over the unconscious girl.
“Wanda?”
She looked around. The Avengers were losing. Rhodey’s suit was burned and the man had managed to crawl out of it in the last second. He was on his back trying to get up. Sharon was still trying to help Logan who had stopped moving now. Clint, Natasha, Sam and Fury had been knocked back by one of Arclights blasts and had trouble getting up. Steve and Bucky were struggling with Creed who had the inhuman healing factor which made him impossible to take down. Suddenly Remy screamed and fell to his knees holding his head. His eyes were full of pain when he looked over to Sinister. The momentary distraction let Vertigo knock Tony off balance again. Amora hit him with her power but he managed to block it from where he was on the floor. T’Challa was still fighting Riptide while Hulk was finally gaining the upper hand over Sunfire. Sinister smirked and walked slowly over to the kneeling Remy.
“What? Are your shields having trouble holding me out?”
Remy whimpered. The pain was horrible. He almost wished for the chair again. This was too much. Pepper slowly crawled over to where Natasha had dropped the shield. She picked it up and started to sneak around the fights. She managed to get around unseen and slowly creeped up behind Sinister’s back. Remy noticed her and understood. He let his eyes meet Sinister’s and smiled through the pain.
“Trouble? This is nothing.”
Sinister straightened up. He was going to say something but before he managed to do that, Pepper smashed the shield into his back. Somehow it didn’t even harm him. But the surprise was enough. Remy felt the pressure on his shields disappear and hit Sinister with his charged staff. The small explosion sent the man flying. He crashed into the wall and Remy quickly pulled Pepper in behind him. She was still holding the shield and her eyes were wide open as if she couldn’t believe she had done that. Then suddenly the Hulk was thrown through a wall by Arclight. She then blasted Steve and Bucky away from Creed. The feral grinned and charged towards Remy and Pepper.
“Victor please.”
Remy’s soft voice made him hesitate for a second. A second too long. A whole charged deck of cards hit him in the chest. The explosion was strong enough to throw him back and into the arms of a very pissed off Hulk.
“HULK SMASH!!!”
And he did just that. Creed was smashed around like a rag doll. Remy, seeing an opening, pushed Pepper towards Wanda who had now woken up. He spun the staff around and knocked Riptide on the head. Sinister looked furiously around.
“Amora.”
The woman quickly put her hand up into the air. Green smoke appeared around her and the other Marauders as well as Sinister. A second later they were gone.