Chapter Text
“How’s he doing?” Natasha asked quietly when she entered the infirmary. She found Tony and Steve standing outside of Clint’s room and looking worried inside through a window in the door.
“The doctor just gave him a sedative,” Tony said. “He tried to get out of the bed again.”
“He ripped out the drip and almost tore the stitches,” Steve added. Natasha shook her head and sighed.
“Did the doctor say if…” she stopped and both men shared a glance.
“She… she’s not sure,” Steve admitted after a few moments. All three Avengers looked through the door into the room where Clint lay on a bed, sleeping, his wrists in thick bandages.
”Talk to me, Steve!” Nat snarled in her comm. She was just searching the east wing of the compound but after killing three of the terrorists she was pretty sure Clint wasn’t here.
“Hold on,” she heard Steve’s voice in her ear. She also heard the sound of guns and people screaming.
“He’s here,” Tony chimed in. “Steve, you’re close, FRIDAY says next room.”
“Copy that,” both, Steve and Nat, said.
Natasha looked around but since there were no more terrorists left here she hurried over to the west wing, where she knew Steve was searching right now. Tony covered them from above.
“Oh my god,” she heard Steve’s voice. He sounded horrified.
“Steve, talk to me!” she demanded again.
“He’s here, Nat,” he said. “But it’s… it’s…”
“Whole sentences!” Natasha snarled and sped up. She knew Tony would warn her if there were more terrorists. But they had cleared out the area already and she ran through the empty corridors of their facility.
“They tortured him,” she said. “And… his… his hands!”
“Where are you?” she asked.
“Next corridor,” Tony said. “Second door.”
Natasha hurried around and found Steve just lowering Clint to the ground.
“Bozhe moi,” she gasped and slapped her hand over her mouth. They had not only tied Clint up, they had wrapped barbed wire around his wrists and hoisted him up to hang from the ceiling. Blood ran over his arms and she could see his flesh and his bones.
“Tony, we need you here! ASAP!” Steve commanded and Natasha went over to Clint, checked his pulse and his pupils.
“He’s alive,” she breathed relieved and Steve nodded slowly.
“Alive, yes,” he said. “Well? We’ll see.”
“He’s a fighter,” Nat snapped at him. “He will be!”
“We’ll see,” Steve repeated.
When Tony arrived he had cursed in three different languages, had scooped Clint up and brought him to the waiting quinjet. And they flew to the next SHIELD hospital as fast as possible.
“The doctor said only time will show if he will make a full recovery,” Tony said. “Until then…” he didn’t finish his sentence, just looked at his feet and Nat growled at him.
“He’s a fighter,” she said. “He will!”
“Nat,” Steve said slowly. “The barbed wire had injured his wrists, the tendons and sinews and… I don’t know, I’m not a doctor. But…” he lifted his hands and shrugged.
“He will survive!” Nat snapped at him. “And he will recover and be Hawkeye again. Because he has to! Do you get me, Steve, he has to!”
“Nat,” Steve said but Natasha shook her head.
“He has to! Because I know he wouldn’t be able to survive otherwise.”
They got interrupted when they heard steps from behind.
“You can go to him when he wakes up,” the doctor said and all three Avengers looked at her.
“What about his hands?” Natrasha asked straightforwardly. “Will he…” she stopped. The doctor licked her lips and took a deep breath.
“The damage is far too much,” she said. “He will be able to use them, but…”
Natasha closed her eyes and a tear ran over her face.
“It will… it will destroy him,” she said.
“We did the best we could, but the damage…”
“I understand,” Nat said and straightened her back. Tony and Steve looked at her but she gestured at them to stay back. “But… but let me be the one to tell him.”
The doctor nodded.
“Natasha, do you really think…” Tony started but Nat shook her head. She took a deep breath and went to the door.
“Hello, Clint…”