Duyên || Clint Barton

044 || snap

•••

"She should be back by now" Clint frowned, stepping around Natasha, "I'll go get her"
"She's with Nebula, she'll be fine" she reasoned, "we need to snap as soon as possible. She'll understand that, it's been too long to wait"
Clint frowned, but nodded and moved to stand beside Tony. He watched as Natasha quickly spoke to Bruce, their low tones not allowing him to listen in. A quick kiss on the cheek and a reassuring squeeze to his arm later, she joined Clint behind Tony's shield.
"Good to go yeah?"
Bruce took in a deep breath, looking down at the gauntlet determinedly, "Lets do it"
"You remember– everyone Thanos snapped away five years ago and just bringing them back to now, today. Don't change anything from the last five years." Tony said, his concern for Morgan palpable in his tone. Natasha put her hand on his shoulder reassuringly.
"Got it"
Clint watched silently as Tony activated Barn Door Protocol, all the shutters slamming down over the windows.
"Everyone comes home" Bruce murmured, slipping the gauntlet on.
The power tendrils crept up his arm, Bruce grunting in pain.
"Bruce!" Nat shouted, moving to help him, only being stopped by Clint's arm holding her back.
"Take it off! Take it off!" Thor yelled, reaching towards his friend.
"No, wait. Bruce are you okay?" Steve interrupted, holding a hand out placatingly towards Thor to keep control of the situation.
"Talk to me Banner"
"I'm okay. I'm okay!"
Clint relaxed his hold on Nat, the redhead slumping slightly with relief as Thor gave Bruce a double thumbs up.
The quiet lasted a few seconds before Bruce let out a strangled scream, falling to one knee with the immense pain. A few more agonising seconds and he had snapped his fingers.
"Oh my god" Nat whispered, watching as he fainted, rushing over to his side. Clint kicked the gauntlet away, instantly back on guard. The other swarmed around Bruce.

A familiar ring tone snapped him out of his stance, his eyes being pulled over to his phone that lay on the side of the counter. With shaking hands, he accepted the call, pressing the phone to his ear.
"Cooper?"
"Dad! Where are you? The house looks like it's -"
A deafening crash cut the call short, the compound falling to rubble around them.

•••

Clint landed heavily on the floor of the sewer system, the gauntlet lying a few meters to his left. He grabbed it, shifting to his feet.
"Ow, shit!"
He turned at the exclamation of pain, heaving a sigh of relief at the sight of Natasha. The two of them gravitated close together, back to back, as they tried to take in their surroundings.
Clint tensed as the hair jumped up on the back of his neck, eyes narrowing at the dark expanse of the tunnel.
"Hold this" he whispered, handing Natasha the gauntlet before unsheathing his bow.
As the lightened arrow shot down the tunnel, it illuminated the faces of dozens of aliens.
"Oh, not this shit again" Natasha groaned, fishing out her baton and beginning to run in the opposite direction, Clint following close behind.
"Up there!" Clint called, pointing to a pipe leading up to the surface, "grab on to me"
Nat slipped a hand around his waist, chancing a look behind them, the horde of monsters only seconds away.
"Oh fuck - Clint!"
"I've got it" he grunted, grappling up the pipe before shooting a bomb arrow down the hole.

The two of them landed heavily on a metal grate, letting out a small wheeze.
"Is it weird to say I missed that?"
Clint huffed a laugh, rolling his head to the side to look at Nat, "no, not weird at all"
They just lay there catching their breath for a little while, Clint sitting up suddenly as a sharp stab of fear shot through him.
"Grace"
"Oh fuck"
Scrambling for their ear pieces, they inserted them in their ear, desperately searching for a connection.
"Can anyone hear me? It's Clint. Grace - are you there?"
They were met with static, an aggravated growl escaping Clint's lips.
"She'll be ok, she's tough. We just need to work at getting out of here, okay?"
Clint nodded, helping Natasha up from the floor, the two of them setting off down the corridor.

•••

(In this, the nebula scene still happens, but gamora + nebula 2023 found 2014 nebula before she got to Clint. Just know that even though it's not written here, nebula2014 is still dead)