Hawkeye X Reader- Chapter 43 A Moment of Silence

Your jaw still throbbed dully but you had put it to the back of your mind. Thinking you were not much of a threat at the moment your father had ordered two former S.H.I.E.L.D agents to escort you to the oval office. Before you were lead away, the barrel of a gun digging into your back your father had called after you, swearing that you still weren’t a hostage. He evidently still believed that there was a chance that you would switch sides. Yet more proof that he knew nothing of the person you had grown into.

*

Pain, excruciating pain was the first thing Clint became aware of as he opened his eyes. The next thing was the sticky wetness covering his torso and the rusty scent of blood. His mind worked slowly as he began to piece everything together. He had been running across rooftops, trying to get to Natasha and Steve who had requested backup, when all of a sudden there had been a sharp pain in his ribs; some sort of tranquilizer dart, and he had lost his footing on a particularly slippery roof. He briefly remembered the woosh of air around him as he plummeted two stories and the added pain as he landed on an iron gate. After that all was blank. He sat up slowly, immediately feeling the need to empty the contents of his stomach, but he fought it back. The room spun around him, all of it burning white light. He glanced down his front to see a bloodied bandage wrapped around his stomach.
“Clint.” A familiar voice called to him, but it seemed to echo strangely.
He blinked up at Natasha, brow furrowing.
She smiled, cupping his cheek with a gloved hand. “It’s ok, you’re safe now.”
The nauseous feeling increased and he pulled away from her, covering his mouth with his hand.
She grabbed a small silver bowl from the corner of the cell and handed it to him. “They warned me that the drugs they gave you could make you feel sick.”
He took it gratefully, hovering over it face pale.
“I had to fight hard to get you medical attention, they were just going to leave you to bleed out.” Her voice was full of outrage.
Clint glanced up offering a small smile, still unable to manage words.

Natasha sighed, setting herself down beside him. “Thankfully whoever is running this show wants us alive. All of us.”
Clint almost forgot his nausea in that instant. “All of us?”
“Tony is a couple of cells down I heard him complaining a few minutes ago, Steve told him to shut up and the guards are keeping Bruce sedated.”
Clint frowned. “And _______?”
Natasha shrugged, looking down at her nails. “I haven’t heard any word of her since I woke up.”
“What?” Clint blinked, eyes boring into Natasha’s profile.
“She’ll be fine Clint, she always is. You’ve said it yourself, she can handle herself.” Tash’s voice held almost imperceptible traces of doubt.
Clint shook his head, tossing the bowl against the rear wall with a loud crash. “I can’t just sit here while she could be,” His voice trailed off. “I’m not even going to say it.”
Tash nodded. “I know, but you’re in no fit state to try and make an escape.”
“No,” He agreed solemnly. “But you are.”  
“Me?” She glared at him. “I can’t leave you here.”
“Nat, you know you can.” Clint placed a hand on her shoulder.
She pulled away. “I can but I won’t. I’ve accepted that you don’t feel the same way about me as I do about you, but that doesn’t make my feelings any less.”
He nodded. “I know but-“
“No Clint, no. Can you imagine if I do just leave and you die. What _______ would think of me, what I would think of myself?” Natasha was doing the seemingly impossible and spilling out her heart.
“Imagine if I die anyway and ______ with me,” His gaze was steady. “Now is not the time to regain your conscience, now is the time to make a choice.”
She nodded, huffing out a breath. “Fine, but I’m coming back for you.”
Clint smiled, pushing a strand of her red hair behind her ear. “Thankyou.”

*

“Coffee _______?”
“No.” Your voice was dull.
The woman who stood before you frowned. “Then tea maybe? Or something to eat, I think there may be a biscuit or two around here somewhere.”
“I’m ok.”
The woman you had been left with acted as your father’s personal assistant, though you could tell by the way she spoke about him that she had also taken on the duties expected of a wife. She seemed deeply concerned about your reaction to the news you had been told and was trying everything she could to get you to see her as a friend instead of an enemy.
“Cheer up,” She took one of the spare seats in front of what had been the President’s desk. “This will all be over in a few days and you will have your dad back.”
You were seated behind the desk, eyes briefly skimming the confidential documents the president still had to sign. “I don’t want him back.”
“Of course you do.” She smiled brightly, showing slightly crooked teeth.
You looked at her in disbelief. She was pretty, but definitely not beautiful. Her hair was chin length and as straight as a ruler, her brows were thin and angled and her eyes were such a light grey that they almost looked white. She appeared to be academically smart but very naïve. She was the perfect choice of personal assistant when you were planning something absolutely diabolical.  
“Ah, no I don’t. Do you realize what he’s done?”
He mouth pinched in for a moment before she answered. “To an outsider it could seem extreme.”
“To an outsider?” You kept your voice level with a lot of effort. “To anyone this could seem extreme.”
“He means well.” Her voice was defensive.
“He might think he does but what he’s doing has no good in it at all,” You watched as her face clouded over with doubt. “I used to love him with my entire being, deep down I still do. But right now I have to distance myself from the way I feel and think about the rest of the world.”

She tapped her acrylic nails on the desk, lost in thought. “But S.H.I.E.L.D has to stop doing what they’re doing.”
You gave a brief nod. “Maybe, but what they do they do because they fear for the fate of the human population. Who’s benefiting from worldwide chaos?”
She met your (e/c) eyes with her own grey ones. “This has to stop doesn’t it?”
“Get me my gear back, and point me in the direction of my teammates and we can finish this.” You spoke with certainty.
She stood, smoothing out her champagne coloured pencil skirt. “I may be able to get your things, but the whereabouts of your friends is another matter.”
You nodded. “Just do whatever you can without being found out.”
She smiled a scared smile before exiting the room, heels clicking loudly on the floor.
You inhaled a deep breath, swinging your chair around to look out the large window. The grounds of the Whitehouse were a startlingly vivid green. A little taste of tranquility before you would be forced to once again embrace carnage and destruction.