Falling in the Black

Natasha sat next to Clint’s bed watching over him as he tried to shake off Loki’s mind control. It was hard for her to sit there watching him struggle and not be able to help him. She stood there because she had to keep her mind busy so she wouldn’t go crazy worrying about Raylee, who was still in surgery.

“Clint you’re going to be alright.” Natasha said to him softly.

“You know that? Is that what you know? I got… I gotta go in though.” Clint said looking over at her. “I gotta flush him out.”

“We don’t have that long, it’s gonna take time.” Natasha said as she stood up and walked over to the table and poured a glass of water.

“I don’t understand, have you ever had someone take your brain and play?” he asked looking over at her. “Pull you out and send something else in, do you know what it’s like to be unmade?”

“You know that I do.” Natasha said to him in a soft voice.

“Why am I back, how did you get him out?” Clint asked as he looked down at the restraints on his wrist.

“Cognitive recalibration… I hit you really hard in the head.” She said smirking at him.

“Thanks.” He said as he watched Natasha remove the restraints. “Tasha, how many agents?”

“Don't… don't do that to yourself Clint, this was Loki. This is monsters and magic and nothing we were ever trained for.” Natasha said as she sat back, she wasn’t sure if he remembered what he had done to Raylee and she didn’t want to bring it up in case he didn’t, he was struggling enough already and that would make things much worse.

“Loki, he got away?” Clint asked as he glanced over at Natasha. He wanted to ask where Raylee was but the last time the two of them talked it was a fight and he thought she was still mad at him because she wasn’t sitting there with Natasha.

“Yeah, I don’t suppose you know where?”

“I didn’t need to know, I didn’t ask. He’s going to make his play soon though.” Clint said looking over at her again. “My memory is sketchy right now but I know it’s today.” Clint said reaching for the glass of water Natasha had poured.

“We gotta stop him.” Natasha said getting to her feet and walked towards the door to look out the window.

Clint watched her closely; he knew there was something wrong with her. “Yeah? Who’s we?” Clint asked looking at her and Natasha turned back to face him.

“I don’t know… whoever is left.” Natasha said sounding upset.

“Well if I put an arrow in Loki’s eye socket, I’d sleep better I suppose.” Clint said trying to soften the mood.

“Now you sound like you.” Natasha said smiling at him as she sat down next to him.

“But you don't. You're a spy, not a soldier. Now you want to wade into a war. Why? What did Loki do to you?” Clint asked as he turned his body slightly to look at her.

“He didn’t… I just…” Natasha said looking down at her hands, she couldn’t figure out how to tell her best friend that he had almost killed their partner, their friend.

“Natasha.” Clint said in a low voice to her, he needed her to talk to him.

“I’ve been compromised; I got red in my ledger. I’d like to wipe it out.” Natasha said going against her better judgment and kept the stabbing to herself.

“I don’t understand why my memory feels lost but yet I can remember some of the things that have happened.” Clint said looking over at her. “I need to remember everything.”

“Don’t push yourself it will come back just give it some time.” Natasha said hoping he would listen.

“I’m going to go clean myself up.” Clint said getting up from the bed and walked into the bathroom.

As he looked in the mirror he felt like something was wrong, something was missing and it was pissing him off that he couldn’t figure out what it was. He reached for the faucet and noticed he had dried blood on his hand, Clint stood there a few moments looking at it trying to figure out where it came from because he had no open wounds on his hands or anywhere else that he knew of. If the blood wasn’t his he wanted to know who it belonged to. Natasha sat there looking at the bathroom door that Clint just walked in, it hurt to hide this from him and she knew he would be upset with her once he did find out.

Natasha was brought out of her thoughts by Steve coming into the room. “Time to go.” He said as she took in the fact that once again he was in his full uniform.

“Go where?” Natasha asked as she stood up on her feet.

“I’ll tell you on the way, can you fly one of those jet things?” Steve asked.

“I can.” Clint said as he came out of the bathroom drying his hands on a towel and Steve was surprised to see him.

Steve quickly looked over at Natasha and she nodded her head at him letting him know Clint was alright. “Does he…” Steve never finished the question when he noticed Natasha quickly shake her head no and Steve knew right away that Clint had no idea about Agent Matthews yet. “You got a suit?” He asked looking back at Clint.

“Yeah.” Clint said looking between the two of them trying to figure out what he just missed.

“Then suit up.” Steve said as he walked away.

The now formed Avengers walked over to the quinjet together, Hawkeye and Black Widow walked on the sides as Captain America walked in the center. Once inside the quinjet a young pilot stood in their way trying to stop them. “You are not authorized to be here…” He said but was cut off by Steve.

“Son… Just don’t.” Steve said walking past him.

“Tasha where is Raylee?” Clint asked as he walked past the pilot that was leaving, she normally would co-pilot for him. “I haven’t seen her.”

“Agent Barton, Agent Matthews is still in the infirmary, she just came out…” the young pilot started to say only to be cut off again but this time by Natasha.

“I can handle this, get off the jet.” Natasha growled at him and he quickly scurried away. “Clint don’t worry about Raylee right now let’s just get this over with first.” She said knowing this was the worse time to tell him what happened to her.

“We need to get moving.” Steve said from further in the jet when he heard what they were talking about. He agreed with the way Natasha felt, this wasn’t the right time to say anything to Barton.

“Why is Ray in the infirmary?” Clint asked looking between Steve and Natasha.

“Agent Matthews was hurt during the attack but we can talk about this when we get back.” Steve said seeing that Natasha was having a hard time with answering him.

Fury stood on the bridge of the helicarrier looking over everyone as they worked hard at trying to get things up and running again on the ship. Just as he was about to turn around and walk away he heard a loud screech and when he looked out the window he saw Iron Man flying off followed quickly by one of the quinjets.

“They found it, get our communications back up. Do whatever you have to do, I want eyes on everything.” Fury barked out. “Agent Hill I also want an update on Agent Matthews.”

“Yes sir.” Hill said moving to tell a few of the agents what to do before leaving the bridge and personally going down to the infirmary to get and update on Raylee herself. “Doctor, Director Fury would like an update on Agent Matthews.” She had asked him once she located the doctor.

“Agent Matthews has lost a lot of blood from the stab wound causing her to black out at the scene. We had to take her into surgery right away so we could repair all the damage the knife did to her organs, it was touch and go but she came out of surgery about an half hour ago.” The doctor said looking at his watch then he wiped his hand across his forehead. “Agent Matthews also has a serious concussion, she must have taken a very hard blow to the head. The cut to her face which looks like it came from one of Agent Barton’s arrows took about seven stitches. With her still not waking up we aren’t sure if it’s due to the loss of blood or the head injury.”

“Thank you Doctor, please keep us updated on her condition.” Hill said as she walked away to give Director Fury the information she just received. After speaking to Fury his mood had gotten a lot worse, he was truly hoping she would be awake and talking before the Avengers returned and now that didn’t look like it would be happening. “Director, I did ask the doctor to keep me inform on her condition.”

“Good, once you have some good news let me know.” Fury said turning away and walked closer to the window. Closing his one good eye Fury stood there willing his fallen agent to wake up. ‘Raylee you need to wake your ass up, this is not good for this team or your partners. I made a promise and you can’t make me break it.’ He thought to himself before opening his eye again.

The fight in New York had finally ended and the Avengers closed down the portal successfully stopping Loki. But the damage to the city had been so much worse than any of them had wanted. The Avengers along with Loki had returned back to the helicarrier for their debriefing. Once everyone was done they were leaving the room to make arrangements to send Thor along with Loki back to Asgard with the tesseract. When the briefing room was almost cleared out Fury called for Clint and Natasha to stay behind.

“Agent Barton and Agent Romanoff can I have a word with the two of you?” Fury said and they both turned to him stopping from going any further. “Agent Matthews has slipped into a coma after her surgery. We are doing all we can for her.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Clint asked looking between his partner and the director with a confused look on his face. “What happened to Raylee?”

“Agent Romanoff you didn’t tell him what happened?” Fury asked Natasha and she shook her head no.

“Tell me what?” Clint snapped looking at Natasha. “Natasha what are you hiding from me?”

“Clint when I came looking for you… I was too late.” Natasha said shaking her head at him.

“Too late for what?” he snapped. “Don’t give me any bullshit run around just say what you have to. What were you too late for?”

“Agent Barton, while you were under Loki’s mind control there was a fight between you and Agent Matthews resulting…” Fury hesitated before finishing what he had no choice but to tell Clint. “Resulting in a fight between you two, in the end you stabbed her.”

Clint looked down at his hands as he stumbled back a little bit, the dried blood he couldn’t figure out where it came from on his hand earlier was hers. Clint closed his eyes and in that brief moment it all came rushing back to him the arrow that skimmed pass her face cutting her as she ran at him. The fighting between the two of them mostly on his end, him making her bang her head off the ground. The words he said to her then the knife he held tightly in his hand as he had plunged it deep into her side. Clint brought both his hands up to the back of his neck and held on tightly to it as he let out a loud scream of anger. At that moment Clint felt like he had just torn his own heart out and was trying his hardest to breathe through it all.

“Clint it’s not your fault, it wasn’t you.” Natasha said as she tried to grab his arm but he yanked it away from her. “Clint it was all Loki… Loki did this.”

“That’s where you’re wrong Natasha, it was me.” Clint snapped at her as Steve and Tony came running in the room. “Why the hell didn’t you tell me about this?”

“Sir is everything alright in here?” Steve asked as he glanced around the room looking for the trouble he thought was in here.

“Everything is alright Captain Rogers.” Fury said to him as he moved closer to Barton. “Barton we need you to calm down.”

“Everything is not alright.” Clint growled between gritted teeth. “I tried to kill Raylee when I stabbed her… that is not alright.”

“Oh… I take it you told Hawkeye about Agent Matthews.” Tony said as he glanced between everyone there. “I’ll take that as my time to leave, I’ll be back when you are ready to send Thor and his adopted brother back to wherever they came from.” Tony said backing out of the room with his hands up.

“I want Loki’s blood.” Clint snapped as he tried to exit the room but Steve and Fury stepped in his way before he could get out. “I deserve to do this, he deserves to die.”

“My brother will pay for his crimes when we return to Asgard, this I swear to you.” Thor said stepping up behind Fury and Steve. “I didn’t get the pleasure of formally meeting Agent Matthews but from the stories I have heard since our return tells me she is a wonderful lady.”

“Your brother is the reason I hurt her and he has to pay for that.” Clint snapped at Thor.

“And he will… on Asgard.” Thor said to him but it wasn’t enough to calm Clint down.

“Agent Barton you must stay away from the prisoner.” Fury commanded him in a stern voice.

“Fine!” Clint growled at him as he turned and walked the other way.

Clint slowly walked down to the infirmary to check on Raylee himself but once he got to the door he couldn’t bring himself to go inside. He listened as the machines beeped slowly and watched as her chest rose then fell again. The bandage that covered her face must have been where his arrow cut it open. He wasn’t quite sure how long he had been standing there watching her through the window as countless doctors and nurses had come and gone to check her vitals, always informing him there was no change when they would come back out of the room.

He heard someone walking up behind him and assumed it was another doctor coming to check on Raylee again. “Clint I have watched you on the security camera just standing here for the last three hours.” Natasha said as she walked up next to him and peered into the room herself. “Go inside and talk to her… I have read somewhere that it sometimes that helps them try to pull through, maybe it will help if she heard your voice.”

“And what should I say to her… hey I’m sorry for trying to kill… by the way I didn’t mean it.” He said sarcastically. “I don’t think that would work as well as you think.”

“It’s a start.” Natasha snapped at him and he shook his head as he walked away from her. “Clint after I knocked you out I went to her side and do you want to know what her first words to me were.” Natasha snapped at him. “Clint, is Clint ok. Raylee was bleeding out but yet she was more worried about you.” Natasha watched as he stopped for a moment dropping his head low then shook it before walking away again. She stood there for a few moments watching his retreating back before going into the room herself. Natasha walked over to Raylee’s bed and sat down next to her on it. “Damn it Ray you need to wake up, we need you.”

“I truly am sorry for what has happened to your friend.” Natasha heard Thor say from behind her and she quickly wiped the tear from her face as she turned around. “I have come here to put an end to Loki’s schemes and the price your people had to paid for his mistakes could never be repaid.”

“Raylee will wake up I know it, it will just be when she’s ready to. She is as stubborn as Agent Barton and I.” Natasha said as she backed away from the bed. “If I were you I would keep an eye on Loki. They don’t call Clint Hawkeye for no reason and he may try to go after him from a distance so no one could see him.”

“I will keep that in mind.” Thor said stepping to the side when Natasha went to exit the door. “You don’t mind if I sit with Agent Matthews for a few moments. I would like to give her my apologies for what my brother has done.”

“I don’t mind at all, stay as long as you would like.” Natasha said to him with a smile. “And you can call her Raylee she likes that better than Agent Matthews.” Thor nodded at her as she walked away and he walked over to sit in the chair next to her bed.

Thor was amazed at how much this one agent meant to so many and how just by lying here in this bed she was slowly working her way into the hearts of Captain Rogers, Dr. Banner and even Tony Stark. He was able to see the pain in Agent Barton’s face and could hear it in Agent Romanoff’s voice. Thor stood there for a little bit longer than he had planned and just as he stood on his feet again he held her hand in his.

“I am sorry for what my brother has done, Agent Romanoff was correct when she said this was all Loki’s fault and I truly hope you could forgive Agent Barton… for he had no control over what he had done to you.”

It has been a little over a week since the attack on New York and Raylee still had not woken up. The Avengers were now standing in the middle of a blocked area they had set up for Thor to take Loki back to Asgard. Loki stood there handcuffed and muzzled as the rest of the Avengers said bye to Thor, once it was all done and over everyone slowly went their separate ways. Clint quickly signed on for another mission in Germany while Natasha went to Morocco to track a mark with Hill making a promise to contact her if there were any changes with Raylee.

Fury had just got done talking with the council when Hill approached him. “Sir, how does it work now? They've gone their separate ways, some extremely far. We get into a situation like this again, what happens then?” she asked him with a curious tone to her voice.

“They’ll come back.” Fury said sure of himself.

“Are you sure about that?” she asked.

“I am.” He said in a matter of fact voice.

“Why?” Maria asked.

“Because we will need them to and once Agent Matthews wakes up the trio will reunite.” Fury said walking away from her.