FIC: The Hawk and the Spider (4/6) (for nessataleweaver) - PG-13
Title: The Hawk and the Spider (4/6)
Author: sgteam14283
A Gift For: nessataleweaver
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: language, violence
Pairings: Clint/Natasha
Summary/Prompt Used: As a bounty hunter, Clint never let it get personal. Then he met Natasha./ steampunk/western (historical) promts filled.
Authors Notes: really had fun writing this since I love steampunk but since it was also a Western I made it so that steampunk wasn't so saturated in the outer territories, but they still used all that awesome stuff. Also I tried to make everything as accurate as possible. Don't own anything, I just have fun playing in the sandbox!
Chapter Four
One day bled into the next for Clint; the snow continued and soon it gathered in small piles on the frozen ground, stinging their faces when the wind kicked up. Clint could feel his cold getting worse but knew he had to slog through it, he'd done it before and could do it again. As a cough wracked through his body, Clint wondered what deity he'd pissed off to deserve all of this.
Natasha had tried to engage Clint after her fireside comment but Clint would have none of it; as far as he was concerned her voice was just the wind whistling through his ears. But she kept trying, every man had their weakness; it was just a matter of time for her to figure his out and exploit it. She would put up a fight until the bloody end.
Glancing into the distance she squinted against the snow haze, seeing shadows appear. “I think we have company.” she shouted, hoping that Clint could hear her over the wind.
Clint looked and could make out a group of riders. “Shit.” he breathed, realizing that they had crossed the paths of a group of bandits. “Hold on.” he said as he spurred the horses into a gallop. As they raced towards the bandits Clint unslung his bow and activated the trigger for his arrowheads. The gears turned sluggishly and Clint muttered a curse under his breath, he really hated this goddamned snow, but eventually it maneuvered to the one he wanted and drew the arrow.
“Untie me, I can help.” Natasha said, but Clint ignored her.
As the group drew closer, Clint nocked the arrow and took aim-breathing in and out evenly like Trick had shown him until he let the string go and the arrow flew towards them. It hit the ground and a small explosion blew up the ground apart in front of the lead horse, sending its rider flying through the air. Clint immediately drew another arrow and just as he was about to let it go, there was a crack and Clint felt a bullet sear itself into his shoulder.
“Untie me!”
Clint continued to ignore Natasha, there was no way he was going to free her, as he pulled the reins to the left to try and put more distance between themselves and the group but they just gained on them. Clint was aiming for a small hill he'd spotted when suddenly his horse slipped on the icy ground and they both went down. Wincing as the weight of the horse slammed on his leg, Clint turned his head in time to see Natasha hit the ground beside him.
“Tasha!” he called out while trying to get his leg free from under the horse.
“I'm fine.” she responded after a second, pushing up from the ground with her arms. Natasha felt lucky that her bonds had slipped from the saddle so when her horse went flying she could jump. Looking up she saw that the group was quickly gaining on them. “Clint...”
“I know, I see them.” Clint said as he freed his leg. Tentatively standing on it, he was relieved to find that it wasn't broken and that his quiver had a few dents in it but didn't look broken. He'd test it soon though to really see.
“Untie me, Clint. You know I can help.” Natasha said, holding out her wrists towards him.
“No, you'd run first chance you got.” Clint snapped as he let another arrow whistle through the air and hit one of the cowboys in the shoulder.
“Where am I going to run? If you hadn't noticed there's nowhere to hide!” Natasha yelled over the sound of approaching hooves.
Clint lowered his bow and scowled, he knew Natasha was right but didn't want to. However, two against six was a lot better than one. So as the group approached he slipped her a knife and watched as she expertly hid it.
Good Lord, what did he just do?
“Well if it isn't Hawkeye.” the man in the middle smirked as he made his way towards them. “Isn't it just kismet that we meet here on the open plain?”
Clint glared at the man, “Wade Wilson, I should've known it was you. There's that special smell of insanity in the air that's only around when you are.”
“You flatter me Hawk, really you do.” Wade smiled as he walked towards the pair. “And I see that you've got company.” He touched the brim of his hat, “Ma'am.”
“What is it you want Wade? Normally you're hanging around the aether dens in 'Frisco. Must be something to drag your sorry ass all the way out here.”
The smile faded from Wade's face and he turned to face his crew. As he did Natasha caught a clear look at the side of his face, seeing the horrible scars across it and wondered what had happened to cause them. Then he turned back to face them and said, “We're here for the girl, Barton. My boss wants her dead or alive-although dead is preferred-and is willing to pay a hefty sum for the trouble of dragging me across this god forsaken tundra.”
“Of course.” Clint thought as he glanced briefly towards Natasha who was shooting daggers with her eyes at Wilson. Shrugging he said, “Sorry but can't let you do that. Colonel Fury's waitin' for us and wouldn't be too happy to learn that I just gave her up to the first aether freak that came along.” Clint hoped that by mentioning Fury's name would call Wade and his posse off while sending the message he wasn't going to give up his bounty without a fight.
Wade smirked while shaking his head, “You think I care that Fury's involved? How do you think my employer knew about her being here-he's spread the word so goddamn much that even the Canadians heard about.” Pulling out his gun, Wade pointed it at Clint and pulled back the hammer. “Hand her over.”
Clint reacted when Wade did, aiming an arrow right at his face and the rest of the group pulled out their guns. “Six against one, Barton. Give up.” Wade said, a mean glint in his eye.
“Actually it's five.” Clint said as he shot Wade in the chest. He then dived towards the ground as gunfire erupted at their feet. Out of the corner of his eye he saw that Natasha had avoided the gunfire and had freed her hands and feet. Not pausing, he sprung up while pulling out another arrow and sent it speeding through the air towards the group. It hit its target and the man went down, but the others just moved in closer towards the pair.
Natasha gripped the knife Clint had given her and slowly backed up until she hit Clint's back. Turning her head she asked, “Care to give me a gun?”
“And have you with bullets? Sorry, but I'm not that stupid.” Clint fired back while reloading his arrow and pointing it at the group, but not firing.
“Too bad, taking it anyways.” Natasha said as she embedded the knife into a man's jugular while grabbing one of Clint's Peacemakers. “Duck.”
Clint shot his arrow while bending over so Natasha could roll across his back and shoot two men in rapid succession. Fed up with the sluggish gears, Clint reached for his other Peacemaker so he could finish off the rest. Spotting Natasha trying to take down one of the remaining two, he couldn't help but admire the way she moved in close combat; had they met during the War they would've made quite the deadly pair.
He then spotted the second man coming up behind her and opened his mouth to shout out a warning when shots rang out and bullets slammed into his side. Grunting, Clint stumbled and fell to his knees-wondering what happened. “New gun, you like it?” Wade said, getting up and pulling the arrow from his shoulder. “You can fire more than one shot without having to reload, neat huh?”
Wade moved towards Clint and gave him a swift kick in the stomach. “Although there's something to be said for an old-fashioned beating.”
Curling up to protect himself, Clint let go of his weapons and grasped the hidden knife on his gun-belt. Pulling it out, he grabbed Wade's foot just as it was about to connect again and yanked it from under the man-sending the other man crashing to the ground; driving the knife into Wade's stomach and then across his throat.
Shouts drew Clint's attention away from Wade and saw that while he'd been distracted the men who hadn't been wounded had grabbed Natasha and were in the process of dragging her towards their horses. “Natasha!” he shouted, dropping the knife and stumbling up.
“Clint!” she shouted. Seeing that he was alright, she elbowed one captor and snapped a kick towards the other. Wanting to make sure they didn't get up again, Natasha ran towards the one left standing and aimed Clint's gun, shooting him in the head and then whipping around while using her momentum to throw the knife towards the last one. It hit him in the shoulder and he went down.
Wanting to finish it up close and personal, Natasha quickly made her way towards him, planting her boot on his chest while taking aim with the Peacemaker. She had her finger on the trigger when she heard Clint shout, “No! Leave him alive!”
She scowled and turned to see him limping towards her, “Why? They tried to kill us.”
Clint sighed, wincing slightly as he did. Taking the gun from Natasha he said, “I know, I was there. But we need someone to take a message for us.” Not waiting for a reply, Clint grabbed him by the collar and hauled him up. “Now listen, you take a message to who ever hired you and tell him that she's off limits. Fury's called claim to her and if he sends any more they'll end up like Wilson-dead.” He pointed his gun at the man's head, “Understood?”
The man quickly nodded and since Clint felt like the message had been received loud and clear sent the man galloping away in the direction he'd come. Only when he was out of sight did Clint slump to the ground with a grunt and take stock of his injuries; three bullet wounds, bruised side and if the pain was anything to go by when he breathed-a bruised (or possibly broken) rib. “I've had worse.” he thought to himself, smiling ruefully.
“I've seen worse.” Natasha replied as she knelt down in front of him to see if there was anything she could do to help.
Clint laughed, grimacing a bit at the pain the small action caused, “I bet you have.” He looked at her and saw that she was sporting a small bruise where they hit her. “Let me take a look.” he said, bringing a hand to lightly touch it. “You didn't run.”
Natasha felt her cheeks heat up at the contact and she ducked her head while shrugging at the comment, “We make a pretty good team.” Then Natasha did something she'd never though she'd do, she kissed Clint.
It was a light kiss, right on the lips and over so quick that if Clint hadn't seen Natasha lean in he would've thought that he'd imagined it. Staring into her eyes, he saw a softness that hadn't been there before and he liked it.
Then the moment passed, the hardness returned and Natasha looked away. Clearing her throat she glanced towards Wade and said, “What are we going to do about Wilson? If the stories are true then we might have trouble following us.”
Clint shook his head, “We leave him, if the stories are true he'll go back with his tail between his legs; that's enough for me.” Slowly standing he took his time walking towards their horses, hoping that they had come through the skirmish unscathed.
“Clint, you're hurt-” Natasha started to say but Clint cut her off with a wave.
“I'm fine. Like you said, you've seen worse.” he said getting down to check for lameness.
“At least let me bandage you up.” Natasha was truly concerned for Clint, the halting way moved worried her.
“Once-shit, this one's lame.” Clint replied, knowing that it couldn't go on. He hated to do it, but it had to be done. Once it was over with he saw that one of the other horses was still around and decided to commandeer it; getting the saddlebags transferred was almost to much for him but he waved away Natasha's offer of help.
After treating his wounds the best he could with what little supplies they had, Clint retied Natasha's hands and feet and he could tell from the stormy look that she gave him, she wasn't all that thrilled about it. But Clint didn't care, he still didn't trust her.
Traveling was painful after that, Clint's injuries slowing them down. He didn't want to admit it, but with the way his heart was pounding, head aching and the sweat that made his shirt stick to his skin either his wounds were becoming infected or his cold had taken a turn for the worse.
Vision wavering for a moment, Clint pulled his horse to a stop and waited for it to straighten out. But it only got worse and dimly Clint realized that he was slipping from the saddle, collapsing onto the ground. As his vision blurred and started to go dark Clint faintly heard Natasha yelling his name.
--
It was hard for Clint to breathe. Each inhale and exhale feeling like a stone was sitting on his chest and he didn't know what was happening. His entire body felt like it was on fire and there were times where he could dimly feel beads of sweat slowly trailing down his chest.
Fading into consciousness, Clint heard something rattle over him accompanied by the low murmur of someone speaking. Wanting to know what was going on, he tried to open his eyes but couldn't; letting out a faint groan. Then there was a gentle pressure on his chest and something cool touch his forehead.
The cold water felt wonderful on his face and Clint could feel his body relax. As he started to fall back into the blackness he heard someone say, “You're not going to die Hawkeye, you still have much to do in this life.”
--
“Katie!” Clint yelled as they dragged her to where the zeppelin was waiting. Whipping out his pistols, he aimed them at Barney. “Let her go or I swear to god I'll kill you.”
Barney just laughed, “If you do then she'll be dead.” Then his face grew serious and he held up a hand, “Hold on boys, let's give Clint here a second to think things through.”
Getting off his horse, Barney calmly walked over to where Clint was standing. “Now then, why don't we try to talk this out like business men.”
Clint tracked Barney's movements and didn't lower his weapons as the man drew near. “Business? You're my brother and my partner Barney, I trusted you.”
“Was your partner, Clint. Was. Just wanted to clear that up incase you thought there was any confusion in the future. And really?” Barney shook his head. “It's not like I was subtle about my growing ambitions this past year. All those secret meetings, going out of our way for people you didn't remember contacting, constant runs to Canada...really it was all there.” he paused for a second, glancing towards Katie. “I think you've gone soft and we all know who's to blame for that.”
“Clint, please!” Katie sobbed out from her position on the ground.
Clint pulled back the hammers of his pistols and said, “Let her go Barney, she didn't do anything.”
“But you did!” Barney yelled, pointing at him. “You put those goddamn Marshals on my trail and almost got me killed! You're the one who messed everything up.” Barney said as he moved closer to Clint. When he was close enough he continued, “Besides, you wouldn't kill your brother would you?”
Clint knew Barney was right, they were all they had; he couldn't kill his own brother.
He just couldn't.
With a heavy sigh, he uncocked his pistols and lowered them. “You're right, I couldn't.”
Barney smiled, “I counted on that.” He then pulled out his knife and drove it into Clint's stomach.
Clint grunted and bent over, pain washing over him like fire. He heard Katie scream and moved to save her but Barney gave him a kick that sent him sprawling onto the hard ground. Then Barney pulled out his gun and shot Clint in the back.
As Clint lay there bleeding, he heard Barney shout, “Get her into the zeppelin and power it up. We need to move the cargo before the Marshals figure out where we're headed.”
“Clint!” he heard Katie scream as they dragged her into the ship.
“Katie!”
Clint's eyes flew open and he bolted up, gasping at the pain that the movement caused. It took him a minute to get his bearings and figure out where he was. Eyes adjusting to the dimness Clint saw he was inside a teepee, warm blankets covering him and a fire burning in the center-the smoke lazily winding its way up to the hole in the top. It felt like the one he'd woken up in when Trick had saved his life. Satisfied that he wasn't in any immediate danger, Clint took stock of his injuries-there were bandages on his shoulder and another wrapped around his middle. Just as he was about to try and stand, the flap opened and a figure ducked to move inside.
Natasha ducked into check on Clint and it took a minute for her eyes to adjust to the dim light inside. Once it did, the sight of Clint awake and sitting up surprised her. “You're awake.” she said with a slight smile on her face as she moved closer to him.
“Yeah...where are we?” Clint asked as Natasha set down a bowl of water and a cloth beside him.
“You shouldn't be sitting up, you'll open your wounds.” Natasha stated while giving Clint an exasperated look and gently pushing him back down.
Clint was weak enough that he didn't offer any resistance. “You didn't answer my question, where are we?” he reiterated once he was laying down again.
“About a mile or so from where you collapsed.” Natasha replied looking into Clint's eyes. “I...I though you were dead.” she said softly, gently running her hand through his hair.
“Well I hate to disappoint you.” Clint joked, trying to lighten the mood. He could see the fear in her eyes as well as the concern in her voice. It confused him, she should have taken the opportunity to run and let him die-why stay and find help? There was something that she wanted to say, he could see it but something was holding her back-he wasn't quite sure what it was. He wanted to reassure her that he wasn't planning on dying any time soon but couldn't get the words to form.
Then the moment passed and his eyelids felt heavy all of a sudden. Closing them, he started to drift off and as he was on the edge of sleep Clint felt Natasha kiss him lightly on the lips and whisper, “I love you Clint Barton.”
Author: sgteam14283
A Gift For: nessataleweaver
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: language, violence
Pairings: Clint/Natasha
Summary/Prompt Used: As a bounty hunter, Clint never let it get personal. Then he met Natasha./ steampunk/western (historical) promts filled.
Authors Notes: really had fun writing this since I love steampunk but since it was also a Western I made it so that steampunk wasn't so saturated in the outer territories, but they still used all that awesome stuff. Also I tried to make everything as accurate as possible. Don't own anything, I just have fun playing in the sandbox!
Chapter Four
One day bled into the next for Clint; the snow continued and soon it gathered in small piles on the frozen ground, stinging their faces when the wind kicked up. Clint could feel his cold getting worse but knew he had to slog through it, he'd done it before and could do it again. As a cough wracked through his body, Clint wondered what deity he'd pissed off to deserve all of this.
Natasha had tried to engage Clint after her fireside comment but Clint would have none of it; as far as he was concerned her voice was just the wind whistling through his ears. But she kept trying, every man had their weakness; it was just a matter of time for her to figure his out and exploit it. She would put up a fight until the bloody end.
Glancing into the distance she squinted against the snow haze, seeing shadows appear. “I think we have company.” she shouted, hoping that Clint could hear her over the wind.
Clint looked and could make out a group of riders. “Shit.” he breathed, realizing that they had crossed the paths of a group of bandits. “Hold on.” he said as he spurred the horses into a gallop. As they raced towards the bandits Clint unslung his bow and activated the trigger for his arrowheads. The gears turned sluggishly and Clint muttered a curse under his breath, he really hated this goddamned snow, but eventually it maneuvered to the one he wanted and drew the arrow.
“Untie me, I can help.” Natasha said, but Clint ignored her.
As the group drew closer, Clint nocked the arrow and took aim-breathing in and out evenly like Trick had shown him until he let the string go and the arrow flew towards them. It hit the ground and a small explosion blew up the ground apart in front of the lead horse, sending its rider flying through the air. Clint immediately drew another arrow and just as he was about to let it go, there was a crack and Clint felt a bullet sear itself into his shoulder.
“Untie me!”
Clint continued to ignore Natasha, there was no way he was going to free her, as he pulled the reins to the left to try and put more distance between themselves and the group but they just gained on them. Clint was aiming for a small hill he'd spotted when suddenly his horse slipped on the icy ground and they both went down. Wincing as the weight of the horse slammed on his leg, Clint turned his head in time to see Natasha hit the ground beside him.
“Tasha!” he called out while trying to get his leg free from under the horse.
“I'm fine.” she responded after a second, pushing up from the ground with her arms. Natasha felt lucky that her bonds had slipped from the saddle so when her horse went flying she could jump. Looking up she saw that the group was quickly gaining on them. “Clint...”
“I know, I see them.” Clint said as he freed his leg. Tentatively standing on it, he was relieved to find that it wasn't broken and that his quiver had a few dents in it but didn't look broken. He'd test it soon though to really see.
“Untie me, Clint. You know I can help.” Natasha said, holding out her wrists towards him.
“No, you'd run first chance you got.” Clint snapped as he let another arrow whistle through the air and hit one of the cowboys in the shoulder.
“Where am I going to run? If you hadn't noticed there's nowhere to hide!” Natasha yelled over the sound of approaching hooves.
Clint lowered his bow and scowled, he knew Natasha was right but didn't want to. However, two against six was a lot better than one. So as the group approached he slipped her a knife and watched as she expertly hid it.
Good Lord, what did he just do?
“Well if it isn't Hawkeye.” the man in the middle smirked as he made his way towards them. “Isn't it just kismet that we meet here on the open plain?”
Clint glared at the man, “Wade Wilson, I should've known it was you. There's that special smell of insanity in the air that's only around when you are.”
“You flatter me Hawk, really you do.” Wade smiled as he walked towards the pair. “And I see that you've got company.” He touched the brim of his hat, “Ma'am.”
“What is it you want Wade? Normally you're hanging around the aether dens in 'Frisco. Must be something to drag your sorry ass all the way out here.”
The smile faded from Wade's face and he turned to face his crew. As he did Natasha caught a clear look at the side of his face, seeing the horrible scars across it and wondered what had happened to cause them. Then he turned back to face them and said, “We're here for the girl, Barton. My boss wants her dead or alive-although dead is preferred-and is willing to pay a hefty sum for the trouble of dragging me across this god forsaken tundra.”
“Of course.” Clint thought as he glanced briefly towards Natasha who was shooting daggers with her eyes at Wilson. Shrugging he said, “Sorry but can't let you do that. Colonel Fury's waitin' for us and wouldn't be too happy to learn that I just gave her up to the first aether freak that came along.” Clint hoped that by mentioning Fury's name would call Wade and his posse off while sending the message he wasn't going to give up his bounty without a fight.
Wade smirked while shaking his head, “You think I care that Fury's involved? How do you think my employer knew about her being here-he's spread the word so goddamn much that even the Canadians heard about.” Pulling out his gun, Wade pointed it at Clint and pulled back the hammer. “Hand her over.”
Clint reacted when Wade did, aiming an arrow right at his face and the rest of the group pulled out their guns. “Six against one, Barton. Give up.” Wade said, a mean glint in his eye.
“Actually it's five.” Clint said as he shot Wade in the chest. He then dived towards the ground as gunfire erupted at their feet. Out of the corner of his eye he saw that Natasha had avoided the gunfire and had freed her hands and feet. Not pausing, he sprung up while pulling out another arrow and sent it speeding through the air towards the group. It hit its target and the man went down, but the others just moved in closer towards the pair.
Natasha gripped the knife Clint had given her and slowly backed up until she hit Clint's back. Turning her head she asked, “Care to give me a gun?”
“And have you with bullets? Sorry, but I'm not that stupid.” Clint fired back while reloading his arrow and pointing it at the group, but not firing.
“Too bad, taking it anyways.” Natasha said as she embedded the knife into a man's jugular while grabbing one of Clint's Peacemakers. “Duck.”
Clint shot his arrow while bending over so Natasha could roll across his back and shoot two men in rapid succession. Fed up with the sluggish gears, Clint reached for his other Peacemaker so he could finish off the rest. Spotting Natasha trying to take down one of the remaining two, he couldn't help but admire the way she moved in close combat; had they met during the War they would've made quite the deadly pair.
He then spotted the second man coming up behind her and opened his mouth to shout out a warning when shots rang out and bullets slammed into his side. Grunting, Clint stumbled and fell to his knees-wondering what happened. “New gun, you like it?” Wade said, getting up and pulling the arrow from his shoulder. “You can fire more than one shot without having to reload, neat huh?”
Wade moved towards Clint and gave him a swift kick in the stomach. “Although there's something to be said for an old-fashioned beating.”
Curling up to protect himself, Clint let go of his weapons and grasped the hidden knife on his gun-belt. Pulling it out, he grabbed Wade's foot just as it was about to connect again and yanked it from under the man-sending the other man crashing to the ground; driving the knife into Wade's stomach and then across his throat.
Shouts drew Clint's attention away from Wade and saw that while he'd been distracted the men who hadn't been wounded had grabbed Natasha and were in the process of dragging her towards their horses. “Natasha!” he shouted, dropping the knife and stumbling up.
“Clint!” she shouted. Seeing that he was alright, she elbowed one captor and snapped a kick towards the other. Wanting to make sure they didn't get up again, Natasha ran towards the one left standing and aimed Clint's gun, shooting him in the head and then whipping around while using her momentum to throw the knife towards the last one. It hit him in the shoulder and he went down.
Wanting to finish it up close and personal, Natasha quickly made her way towards him, planting her boot on his chest while taking aim with the Peacemaker. She had her finger on the trigger when she heard Clint shout, “No! Leave him alive!”
She scowled and turned to see him limping towards her, “Why? They tried to kill us.”
Clint sighed, wincing slightly as he did. Taking the gun from Natasha he said, “I know, I was there. But we need someone to take a message for us.” Not waiting for a reply, Clint grabbed him by the collar and hauled him up. “Now listen, you take a message to who ever hired you and tell him that she's off limits. Fury's called claim to her and if he sends any more they'll end up like Wilson-dead.” He pointed his gun at the man's head, “Understood?”
The man quickly nodded and since Clint felt like the message had been received loud and clear sent the man galloping away in the direction he'd come. Only when he was out of sight did Clint slump to the ground with a grunt and take stock of his injuries; three bullet wounds, bruised side and if the pain was anything to go by when he breathed-a bruised (or possibly broken) rib. “I've had worse.” he thought to himself, smiling ruefully.
“I've seen worse.” Natasha replied as she knelt down in front of him to see if there was anything she could do to help.
Clint laughed, grimacing a bit at the pain the small action caused, “I bet you have.” He looked at her and saw that she was sporting a small bruise where they hit her. “Let me take a look.” he said, bringing a hand to lightly touch it. “You didn't run.”
Natasha felt her cheeks heat up at the contact and she ducked her head while shrugging at the comment, “We make a pretty good team.” Then Natasha did something she'd never though she'd do, she kissed Clint.
It was a light kiss, right on the lips and over so quick that if Clint hadn't seen Natasha lean in he would've thought that he'd imagined it. Staring into her eyes, he saw a softness that hadn't been there before and he liked it.
Then the moment passed, the hardness returned and Natasha looked away. Clearing her throat she glanced towards Wade and said, “What are we going to do about Wilson? If the stories are true then we might have trouble following us.”
Clint shook his head, “We leave him, if the stories are true he'll go back with his tail between his legs; that's enough for me.” Slowly standing he took his time walking towards their horses, hoping that they had come through the skirmish unscathed.
“Clint, you're hurt-” Natasha started to say but Clint cut her off with a wave.
“I'm fine. Like you said, you've seen worse.” he said getting down to check for lameness.
“At least let me bandage you up.” Natasha was truly concerned for Clint, the halting way moved worried her.
“Once-shit, this one's lame.” Clint replied, knowing that it couldn't go on. He hated to do it, but it had to be done. Once it was over with he saw that one of the other horses was still around and decided to commandeer it; getting the saddlebags transferred was almost to much for him but he waved away Natasha's offer of help.
After treating his wounds the best he could with what little supplies they had, Clint retied Natasha's hands and feet and he could tell from the stormy look that she gave him, she wasn't all that thrilled about it. But Clint didn't care, he still didn't trust her.
Traveling was painful after that, Clint's injuries slowing them down. He didn't want to admit it, but with the way his heart was pounding, head aching and the sweat that made his shirt stick to his skin either his wounds were becoming infected or his cold had taken a turn for the worse.
Vision wavering for a moment, Clint pulled his horse to a stop and waited for it to straighten out. But it only got worse and dimly Clint realized that he was slipping from the saddle, collapsing onto the ground. As his vision blurred and started to go dark Clint faintly heard Natasha yelling his name.
--
It was hard for Clint to breathe. Each inhale and exhale feeling like a stone was sitting on his chest and he didn't know what was happening. His entire body felt like it was on fire and there were times where he could dimly feel beads of sweat slowly trailing down his chest.
Fading into consciousness, Clint heard something rattle over him accompanied by the low murmur of someone speaking. Wanting to know what was going on, he tried to open his eyes but couldn't; letting out a faint groan. Then there was a gentle pressure on his chest and something cool touch his forehead.
The cold water felt wonderful on his face and Clint could feel his body relax. As he started to fall back into the blackness he heard someone say, “You're not going to die Hawkeye, you still have much to do in this life.”
--
“Katie!” Clint yelled as they dragged her to where the zeppelin was waiting. Whipping out his pistols, he aimed them at Barney. “Let her go or I swear to god I'll kill you.”
Barney just laughed, “If you do then she'll be dead.” Then his face grew serious and he held up a hand, “Hold on boys, let's give Clint here a second to think things through.”
Getting off his horse, Barney calmly walked over to where Clint was standing. “Now then, why don't we try to talk this out like business men.”
Clint tracked Barney's movements and didn't lower his weapons as the man drew near. “Business? You're my brother and my partner Barney, I trusted you.”
“Was your partner, Clint. Was. Just wanted to clear that up incase you thought there was any confusion in the future. And really?” Barney shook his head. “It's not like I was subtle about my growing ambitions this past year. All those secret meetings, going out of our way for people you didn't remember contacting, constant runs to Canada...really it was all there.” he paused for a second, glancing towards Katie. “I think you've gone soft and we all know who's to blame for that.”
“Clint, please!” Katie sobbed out from her position on the ground.
Clint pulled back the hammers of his pistols and said, “Let her go Barney, she didn't do anything.”
“But you did!” Barney yelled, pointing at him. “You put those goddamn Marshals on my trail and almost got me killed! You're the one who messed everything up.” Barney said as he moved closer to Clint. When he was close enough he continued, “Besides, you wouldn't kill your brother would you?”
Clint knew Barney was right, they were all they had; he couldn't kill his own brother.
He just couldn't.
With a heavy sigh, he uncocked his pistols and lowered them. “You're right, I couldn't.”
Barney smiled, “I counted on that.” He then pulled out his knife and drove it into Clint's stomach.
Clint grunted and bent over, pain washing over him like fire. He heard Katie scream and moved to save her but Barney gave him a kick that sent him sprawling onto the hard ground. Then Barney pulled out his gun and shot Clint in the back.
As Clint lay there bleeding, he heard Barney shout, “Get her into the zeppelin and power it up. We need to move the cargo before the Marshals figure out where we're headed.”
“Clint!” he heard Katie scream as they dragged her into the ship.
“Katie!”
Clint's eyes flew open and he bolted up, gasping at the pain that the movement caused. It took him a minute to get his bearings and figure out where he was. Eyes adjusting to the dimness Clint saw he was inside a teepee, warm blankets covering him and a fire burning in the center-the smoke lazily winding its way up to the hole in the top. It felt like the one he'd woken up in when Trick had saved his life. Satisfied that he wasn't in any immediate danger, Clint took stock of his injuries-there were bandages on his shoulder and another wrapped around his middle. Just as he was about to try and stand, the flap opened and a figure ducked to move inside.
Natasha ducked into check on Clint and it took a minute for her eyes to adjust to the dim light inside. Once it did, the sight of Clint awake and sitting up surprised her. “You're awake.” she said with a slight smile on her face as she moved closer to him.
“Yeah...where are we?” Clint asked as Natasha set down a bowl of water and a cloth beside him.
“You shouldn't be sitting up, you'll open your wounds.” Natasha stated while giving Clint an exasperated look and gently pushing him back down.
Clint was weak enough that he didn't offer any resistance. “You didn't answer my question, where are we?” he reiterated once he was laying down again.
“About a mile or so from where you collapsed.” Natasha replied looking into Clint's eyes. “I...I though you were dead.” she said softly, gently running her hand through his hair.
“Well I hate to disappoint you.” Clint joked, trying to lighten the mood. He could see the fear in her eyes as well as the concern in her voice. It confused him, she should have taken the opportunity to run and let him die-why stay and find help? There was something that she wanted to say, he could see it but something was holding her back-he wasn't quite sure what it was. He wanted to reassure her that he wasn't planning on dying any time soon but couldn't get the words to form.
Then the moment passed and his eyelids felt heavy all of a sudden. Closing them, he started to drift off and as he was on the edge of sleep Clint felt Natasha kiss him lightly on the lips and whisper, “I love you Clint Barton.”