They couldn't be allowed to fight. Clint had to think of a way to stop it. He thought about it long and hard the entire time as he packed his gear, as he traveled to the Avengers Compound, as he and Wanda and Scott drove to the airport to meet up with Steve and Sam and Bucky Barnes, once upon a time the Winter Soldier.
He tried not to think about that last one. About the times they had met up during Clint's years of freelance work, before SHIELD had scooped him up and offered him a life off the street, with people watching his back. They'd shared a few targets during those years. And while each of them had been thoroughly unimpressed to lose the kill to someone else, the target was still dead and the people in charge of them were still happy. Clint still got paid whether he pulled the trigger or not.
But two years before SHIELD, he'd finally tracked down the other sniper and made his introductions. Well, he'd tried. He'd opened the door to the rooftop where the man was stationed and almost taken a knife to the throat for his trouble.
They'd fought for a few minutes before the Soldier had pinned him to the ground and held a knife to his throat. Clint had had to talk the guy down, and it had been hard. He doesn't remember what he said, just knows that he'd babbled whatever had come to mind. Probably something about fellow snipers and sharing targets and a bunch of other stuff. But it had worked, sort of, and the Soldier had let him go with a warning.
Clint had fled, but still gotten paid for the kill even though he'd already been three towns away when the man had died.
Two months later, the Soldier made himself known while Clint had been getting ready to pull the trigger. He was still proud of himself for making that shot with the way his heart had been pounding desperately in his throat.
Slowly during those months, they'd gotten to know each other. The Soldier called him Hawk in Russian. He returned the favor by calling him Winter, also in Russian.
Sometimes, the Soldier seemed more distant. Sometimes he didn't even acknowledge Clint when they had the same target, even after the person was already dead. And sometimes he all but clung to Clint. He stuck close but never actually touched him. They never talked much. And after whatever target was down, they would escape to some other rooftop and sit closely in silence. The Soldier had been the only real human contact Clint had had during that time, besides the very rare run ins with Natasha.
The last time Clint saw the Soldier he'd been agitated, jumping at the smallest of noises, more tense than usual, but sticking even closer to Clint, if that was possible. After the kill was taken, he touched Clint for the first time. Just his hand on Clint's bicep.
But then he was using that hand to reel Clint in. He placed his other hand on Clint's face and Clint had waited, holding his breath. He'd been attracted to the man for quite some time, since those first few months, but he'd never imagined being this close to the man in real life.
The Soldier had searched his eyes for a moment before leaning in a placing a gentle kiss on his lips. Clint had sunk into it, disbelief warring with the feeling of chapped lips on his own. Then he left without a word and three months later SHIELD recruited him.
From then until the present, there were very rare rumors of the Winter Soldier and his appearances. And then Loki happened and he couldn't care. And then SHIELD fell and the Winter Soldier disappeared again and Natasha called him after it was all over. She knew, at least, about the feelings he had for the man.
Memory loss. The words had hurt more than he cared to admit. If Hydra had been wiping his memory, that explained why the man sometimes didn't recognize him. But if he interactions with him were representative of how effective the memory wipes were, maybe now Bucky could start getting his memory back.
But if the Winter Soldier was AWOL and possibly becoming Steve Rogers' old friend again, how much of his time as the Winter Soldier would he remember? But it had been so long; would he remember Clint at all? Or would Hydra have finally succeeded in removing him from the Soldier's memory after so many years?
When they reached the airport, Clint let the introductions flow, even if it was a stilted and awkward flow. He tried not to let his eyes wander to Bucky, but it was difficult. The man looked even more haggard and homeless than he ever had before and Clint just wanted to take him to his farm and take care of him there. But they didn't have time for that. He also squashed the hope that tried to bloom in his chest when Bucky kept looking at him while the introductions were happening.
As they were getting into their gear, Clint positioned himself close to Steve.
"So Tony really wouldn't help when you told him about the whole Super Soldiers thing?" He asked, adjusting the wrist guard on his arm and checking the tightness. He was met with silence. "You did tell him, didn’t' you?"
"There's nothing he could have done anyway," Steve said defensively. Clint blinked at him, before fishing for his phone impatiently.
"You would know one way or the other if you had bothered to tell him. Or Natasha. I'm betting you didn't tell her either."
"Clint, don't." Steve reached for him as he dialed but he took several steps away from him, "If you call, they'll just be able to track your phone."
Clint scoffed. "If you don't think they already know exactly where we are, you're deluding yourself." He put the phone to his ear and waiting for Steve to continue to try and get his phone from him. He had no doubt Wanda would be on his side. She had already finished changing in the van and was giving Steve a thoroughly unimpressed look.
"Clint," Natasha answered.
"If you're calling to tell me where Cap and the others are, we already know. We're on route to intercept."
"Actually, this is about something else entirely." He quickly told Natasha what Steve had told him.
"Are you serious?" She sounded utterly disgusted.
"I'll tell Tony and let you know if he calls off the manhunt."
"Awesome. Also, you should see if he can't swing amnesty for the information. Maybe something like Tony and Steve had a plan to search for information since they wanted to be sure about the perpetrator of the bombings."
"On it. Try to keep everyone out of trouble until I contact you."
"I just love babysitting duty." She snorted and hung up.
He looked up and saw everyone with eyes on him. "Nat's going to talk to Tony, see if we can get them on our side."
"And if she can't?" Steve asked. He was clearing displeased with Clint.
"Natasha is on our side at least. She'll help us."
"So what are we supposed to do until then, just sit around?" Sam asked from where he was leaning against the Beetle.
"Well, Nat said they were on route to our location. Obviously the approach to the helicopter isn't going to work. We'll have to see if there isn't something else we can use."
"They will probably be coming in a quinjet," Wanda added, "perhaps we could watch for them and take it once they are clear?" Steve nodded at her.
"Some of us might have to set up a diversion to get them away from it. Probably most of us. We should only plan on Steve and Bucky making it to the jet, maybe Wanda too since she'll be better off with you than wherever they'll stick us when they catch us." Clint said.
"They aren't going to catch any of us," Steve said in a hard voice.
"That's a nice dream, Steve, but hawk guy is right. There's like five of them, and three or four of us will be creating the diversion. Plus at least two of them can fly." Scott said.
"Yastreb?" All eyes snapped to Bucky, who had otherwise said nothing the entire time. His wide eyes were fixed on Clint. As soon as they made eye contact, he was stalking forward.
"Bucky?" Steve said, trying to intercept him, but Bucky brushed past him.
Clint stood stock still, not sure if he dared to hope, or if it was just a flicker of memory that would soon leave him. But then Bucky wrapped his arms around him and pulled him into a gentle kiss and Clint was melting into all of it with desperation. Before they could fully sink into it, Steve was clearing his throat. They pulled apart a little, but remained wrapped in each other's arms.
"Bucky?" Steve asked again. Bucky looked between Steve and Clint a few times before settling on Steve.
"He's important. He was... a good thing from before. From when... when they had me. And then he disappeared at some point."
"Where did you go? Why didn't you say anything when you got here?"
"SHIELD. They recruited me. My missions never overlapped with yours anymore and I had no way to contact you. And," he took at deep breath, and traced Bucky's cheek with his fingers, "I thought maybe you'd forgotten about me. Nat told me about the memory wipes. And it's been at least a decade. I had no reason to think they hadn't succeeded in removing me from your head too."
Before Bucky could respond, Clint's phone vibrated in his pocket. He kept one arm around him as he dug for his phone with the other.
"Please have good news," He answered.
"Tony's willing to check it out. Although he's even more pissed at Steve now for not telling him."
"Well it is a bit hypocritical when you take into account his policy on transparency, but it's good to hear he's willing to believe us," he said, meeting Steve's eyes with his own. The man look rightly contrite.
"Are you guys going there now, or are you coming to pick us up?"
"Probably best if we take different rides. There isn't much room and T'Challa might not be overly willing to believe us if Bucky's within his sights."
"Point. Anything on amnesty?"
"Lots, if we can prove Steve and Bucky are telling the truth."
"Awesome. We'll meet you there."
Clint rolled his eyes, "You too, Killer Queen." The line went dead.
"Looks like we have a helicopter ride in our near future." He slipped from Bucky's arms, but snagged one of the man's hands. They held on tight as they made their way to the helicopter. And even though Clint needed both hands to fly, Bucky sat copilot the whole way.
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