[Fic] Reactivation - Chapter 6: Life, Assemble (avengers_xbb
Title: Reactivation
Chapter Title: Life, Assemble
Rating: PG-13
Chapter Word Count: 2,328
Overall Word Count: 15,660
Spoilers/Warnings: Spoilers for all movies; Violence
Summary: Clint Barton is called in as William Brandt with his IMF team. Seems that they're tracking the last Black Widow of the Red Room's program. While Clint is off being another person, Natasha starts to feel like her old life is crawling back while Tony's problem with his heart becomes bigger.
Author's Note: I do not own Avengers, Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, Bourne Legacy or any of the characters from those various fandoms.
Thank Yous: A big thank you for my beta and cheerleader sirwynai for you are awesome and you know it. A huge HUGE thank you to evian_fork for all of the amazing art. I love it, all of it.
Clint tried to close his ears to the beeping that he was hearing the background. That was part trying to believe that he wasn’t in a hospital and part that the machines were just loud. Since he could only hear the machines and not anyone else in the room, he opened his eyes. He looked out the window and saw that it was still dark. He winced as he sat up, glad there wasn’t a breathing tube down his neck, and looked down at what was in him. There was an IV line, then the pressure cuff, but nothing else in him. He slowly got up and went to the door, looking out both ways and seeing only a few doctors and nurses, before looking back to the rest of his room.
He grinned as he saw his shirt and a holster with a gun but raised an eyebrow when he saw that his bow and quiver was there as well. He wasn’t about to question but get out of the place as fast as possible. He pulled off the IV line first and silenced the machine before it started to beep. He did the same thing with the cuff before moving over to his shirt. He put that on and grabbed the gun, turning and pointing it at who walked in. “Dr. Banner,” he said and dismantled the gun. “Didn’t know you were in Berlin.”
“Likewise,” Bruce said. “I’ve got orders you’re to stay put.”
“Can’t,” Clint said and looked up as Bruce raised an eyebrow. “Look, I need to get out. For the safety of everyone here and you. There’s someone on my tail who would take a lot of pleasure in blowing up the hospital just to see if I’d die. I’d rather not have that on my conscious.”
Bruce sighed. “Coulson’s going to kill me.”
“Yeah, but you’ve got really good armor for that,” Clint said with a smile. “I’ll owe you one.”
“Let me just look you over really quick for my peace of mine,” Bruce said as he moved over to Clint. He checked the different wound sites and took a listen to heart and lungs. “Just a couple scars where they were.”
“Lucky, I guess.” Clint put on his quiver and bow before he grabbed the gun and reloaded it. He put his coat on and looked out through the doorway. “Good seeing you,” he said and heard Bruce’s reply the same thing. He went towards where the stairs were and stopped as he heard Ethan’s voice. He turned to see Ethan’s back to the hallway that he was in and talking to Coulson, who looked right at him. He gave a quick two finger salute before running to the stairway and quickly flying down the stairs, even though he heard his name being called. He got to the bottom, opening and going through the door and right into Stark.
“What the - where the hell do you get off not looking?” Tony asked of Clint. “Hey!” He said as Clint grabbed him and turned him around to walk with Clint. “Now what?”
“Got to ask you a question,” Clint said.
“Nicer ways to do it,” Tony said. “What is it?”
“Have you been seeing Loki in your dreams?” Clint asked.
“What?” Tony asked.
“You heard me,” Clint said and came to a stop at the end of the block. “I’ve been seeing him here and there. Not sure if it’s my mind playing tricks.”
“Well, he had a good grip in your mind,” Tony said. “But yeah, I have. I think it’s due to the glow stick of destiny.”
Clint looked at Tony oddly. “You mean the spear.”
“Yeah, the glow stick,” Tony said. He turned to see who was yelling for them and saw Natasha coming close and quickly. “You’re in trouble.”
“Am not,” Clint said as he moved to cross the street. “Hey!” He said as Tony grabbed him. “What the hell, Stark?”
“Turnabout is so fair play.” Tony grinned and let go of Clint as soon as Natasha got to them. “All yours,” he said and walked over to Steve.
Natasha pulled Clint into a hug before smacking his shoulder. “You’re an idiot.”
“I can’t take you with me on this one. You know that,” Clint said.
“I was more speaking about running from Coulson,” Natasha said. “But now I’m never letting you out of my sight.”
“Got to sleep some time, Tasha.” Clint moved a bit of her hair out of her eyes. He could see that something was wrong. “What happened?”
“Not out here,” Natasha said as she took his hand and led him back into the hospital.
“Wait,” Clint said. “I can’t go back in there.”
“Why?” Steve asked.
“Because he said something that made it sound like he was being noble,” Bruce said as he came over to them. He nodded to a black SUV that was pulling up. “This is us.”
“It’s a nice ride,’ Tony said as he opened the doors as the SUV came to a stop. They all got in.
“Everyone,” Coulson said, “this is Ethan Hunt, the head of IMF at the moment. Mr. Hunt, this is Tony Stark, Captain Steve Rogers, and Natasha Romanov. You met Doctor Banner earlier.”
“Good to meet you,” Steve said as Natasha nodded a hello.
“What happened with Benji?” Clint asked.
“He’ll live. He’s got two agents watching him and will fill him when he wakes up. For now, we keep to the mission.” Ethan looked to Coulson, who nodded a yes. Ethan brought up the specs of the mission. “This is everything we have so far - that the Black Widow organization is trying - “ he stopped as Tony’s phone started to ring.
“I would apologize, but its Pepper,” Tony said as he answered it. “Yes, I’m fine. Yes, I’m surrounded by people who might want to kill me because you happened to make this phone call now. Yes, I believe that includes Coulson.”
Coulson raised an eyebrow at that. “But the paperwork would be horrible.”
“You’d get through it,” Clint said with a grin as Natasha shook her head. “He would. We’d help.”
“Not allowed to help him with that anymore,” Natasha said. “I’ll explain later.”
“… Alright,” Clint said as he gently rested his head against hers. He filtered out what exactly Tony was saying, looking out the window. As they came to a stop at a stoplight, he raised an eyebrow at something. He could have sworn he saw Loki. “Tony?” He said as he lifted his head.
Tony looked to where Clint was. “Huh. Well, wonders never cease.” He hung up the cell phone. “Sorry about that. It’s on silent now.”
“Good, because next time I’m going to throw it out the window,” Steve said.
“You wouldn’t dare.” Tony looked at Steve. “Yeah, you would.”
“Children,” Coulson said which brought everyone’s attention to him. “Mr. Hunt, if you would continue.”
“That they are trying to reactive their old members and were only successful with one,” Ethan said as he picked up exactly where he left off. He passed around a photo of Jane. “We know her as Jane Carter. She has all the training that IMF could give her and whatever the organization she came from taught her.”
“That would depend on her specialty,” Natasha said. “And no, I don’t know. They kept us separate for some reason.”
“Probably same reason mine did,” Clint said. “Make sure that nobody talks to anyone else and that secrets stay within the place. Also makes it easier if you have to kill or go against them.”
Ethan raised an eyebrow but said nothing. “She’s working with - am I getting the name right with Trickshot?”
“You are,” Coulson said. “That’s his code name. His real name is Barney Barton.”
“Well, I would want a code name if I had to go with Barney,” Tony said. “What were your parents thinking?”
“Never got to ask them,” Clint replied. “He also uses a bow and is less nice than I am. I’m not sure why he’s working with Jane or HYRDA.”
“HYRDA?” Steve asked.
“There was a symbol on the side of the file cabinet where Jane’s file was,” Clint explained. “So it seems that either they’re behind the program itself or they’ve teamed up with whoever is left in it. I think the bigger problem is that we’re not sure what they’re going to do next.”
“Considering what happened in LA, I think they might be after Tony,” Natasha said.
“I thought you were trying to kill me,” Tony said.
“I was supposed to kill Steve,” Natasha said. “I just missed.”
“That was a big miss,” Tony said and folded his arms.
“What happened exactly?” Ethan asked.
“I activated,” Natasha said. “The phone did a series of beeps for the message.”
Clint thought for a moment. “There were a series of beeps with Jane’s phone as well.”
“Do you remember the sequence?” Steve asked.
“You’re thinking Morse code as well?” Tony asked.
“Yep,” Steve said.
“Good minds do think alike,” Tony said as they pulled up to the Plaza. “And we’ll get a good night’s rest while we try to figure this out.” They got out of the SUV and up to a very nice suite, setting up their equipment and spreading out a bit. He was keeping an eye on everyone, but mostly Coulson and Ethan over by the big computer hashing something out. He looked over as Clint sat down next to him. “Nobody else saw him.”
“Don’t think so,” Clint said. “Any good reason why we are?”
“My vote still is the glow stick,” Tony said.
“Spear,” Clint countered.
“You realize it doesn’t matter in the end?” Tony asked as he looked up and saw Steve and Natasha talking. “I don’t think that we should be thinking about Loki though.”
Clint looked up and watched the pair for a moment. He could see that Natasha was relaxed, a lot more than usual, and that there was something there. “Easier to think about that than other things.”
Tony raised an eyebrow. “And here I thought I was the only one who didn’t like to face reality.”
Clint smiled. “You’re in good company.”
Tony chuckled. “Alright, so take your mind off of some things, you’re a master assassin. How’d you get that way?”
Clint thought for a moment. “Ever hear of Jason Bourne?”
“Yeah,” Tony said. “That was over the news for weeks. Maybe months. I was involved with a lot of stuff then, but yeah, I remember him.”
“Think that but on a higher level,” Clint said. “With chems involved.”
“Wow,” Tony said. “So it was real.”
“Of course it was,” Clint said. “They just know how to bury their shit.”
Tony nodded a yes. “What about your brother?”
“He’s insane,” Clint said. “And wants me dead.”
“Talk about strange family dynamics,” Tony said. “Any good reason why?”
“For him, yes,” Clint said. “For me - I don’t get it. I needed more help as a kid, I stole the spotlight, am better than him with a bow - stupid reasons but they add up to him. There might be something else in there, but…” he trailed off and got up, going over to Ethan. “Did you keep the arrows that were in me?”
“I got them,” Bruce said as he got them out of the bag he brought up. He handed them over to Clint.
Clint looked them over and smiled. “Well, this might help. They’re tranquilizer arrows.”
“How does that help?” Bruce asked.
“Means he wanted to kidnap Clint, not kill him,” Coulson said.
“Also, I think we might be working the wrong angle,” Tony said as he came up with his iPad. “Clint and I saw an old friend while we were traveling over here.” He synced the iPad with the table electronic they were using and brought up a very clear photo of Loki in his nice suit and jacket outfit. “Considering this, I don’t think we’re up against HYRDA. I think we need to call in the Hammer.”
“We can’t at the moment,” Coulson said. “They’re still working on rebuilding the bridge with what we sent up.”
Tony raised an eyebrow. “You sure? Because how is he here otherwise?”
“He got his hands on the cube again and came here,” Clint said. “There are a lot of different ways.”
“What’s wrong?” Steve asked as he came over and saw Loki. “Again?”
“I think he’s going to be around for a long while,” Clint said as Natasha came up and took his hand. “So, what’s next boss?”
“We get everyone out in the open and go from there,” Coulson said.
“Excellent. As there’s a premiere party that I can get us tickets into,” Tony said. “If nobody minds.”
Ethan thought about it for a moment and looked to Clint. “Like India?”
“With less being in the vent,” Clint said with a grin. “Sadly, no rich guy to seduce.”
“You two going to fill us in anytime soon?” Tony asked.
“Nope,” Clint said.
“Then I’m going to call Pepper and see if she can work her magic,” Tony said and excused himself.
Natasha led Clint away and out onto the balcony. “Why didn’t you tell me you saw him?”
“Why didn’t you tell me that you’re attracted to the Captain?” Clint countered as he sat down on the ledge.
“I’m not,” Natasha said. “I’m grateful that he was able to help me, but that’s it. Honestly.”
Clint sighed. “Alright.”
Natasha sat down next to him and hugged him tightly. “I don’t want there to be secrets between us. It doesn’t feel right. So, believe me when I say that I’m not attracted to him. You’re seeing something that isn’t there.”
Clint sighed and just kept her close. People were talking about plans inside but he tuned it out. He rested his head on her shoulder and enjoyed a moment of peace.