Chapter Text
The forest was dense, the trees covered with snow. Aiming with the bow was difficult. Clint wasn’t that concerned anyway. The team was fighting together again. It felt good. They would prevail, they always had. T’Challa had given them some really good gears. They were fighting the good fight like they had done from the beginning. Wakanda had understood their position. The world needed them. Someone needed to be there to protect the ones who couldn’t do it for themselves. The Avengers and especially Captain America stood for freedom and justice.
Clint would have preferred a good old battle against Hydra. Like in the good old days. A magic user had decided to make themself known in the worst kind of way. Attacking a village in the middle of freaking nowhere was really stupid. He hated magic. Since Loki, they had been lucky not to have to go against that again. Wanda had been misguided but had rapidly changed sides and fought for the people.
The Falcon suit wasn’t really practical here. The length of the wing made it impossible for Sam to activate the flying. The trees were simply too close to one another. As hard as it was to say, Iron Man would have been more useful here. The armour was simply more agile, easy to manoeuver. Clint would never say that to Tony’s face. Actually next time, he was planning on not talking all that much and acting a lot more. A good punch on his face for starters, preferably one that would break the nose. If it wasn’t for Stark, none of that would have happened. They would never have been imprisoned on the raft or in the impossibility to go back home and see their families. The futurist had to be right and didn’t really care who he was hurting on his way.
“Sam? Clint? Do you see the target?” asked Steve through the comms.
Clint couldn’t see shit and, to be fair, he was very distracted by his own musing. The archer should pay more attention to his surroundings, he knew that, but he was so mad at Stark it was taking over his mind all the time. Not that he was about to confess all that to Captain America! Natasha would suspect something. She knew him that much but she wasn’t about to rat him out. That was not her style. They would probably have an unpleasant conversation later. Romanov never liked the genius in the first place. Her psychological report had been pretty clear about her feelings on the man. Clint tried his best to concentrate once more. Afar, he could see the unmistakable red of Wanda’s magic. That was about it.
“No. Nothing. You?” The archer answered.
Rogers was getting frustrated. The Captain didn’t like that hide and seek situation and wasn’t used to long haul missions. He was more the kind of guy that wanted everything and wanted it now. His team was working with him on that. A family would do those kinds of things for their members. When they were worth their time of course. They could have tried it on Stark but he would never have changed anyway. The Avengers would prevail in whatever was thrown their way, magical or not. They always had and they would ever do so, come what may.
“I can’t feel them.” Wanda was saying more to herself than to her team.
She would get it eventually. She was still learning about the whole extent of her own powers. The young girl was the only magic user they knew if it wasn’t for Loki. Thankfully, the so-called god should be rotting in the deepest dungeon somewhere in Asgard. If he knew what was good for him, he’d better stay there. Coming back to Earth would only get him an arrow right between the eyes. Another friendly magic user would have been useful to her. Learning it all by herself wasn’t exactly easy. Unfortunately, it would be next to impossible for any member of her new family to help her with that. Natasha and Steve were training her in close combat and what to do during a mission. They were always trying to help keep her temper in check. Sam was using his counselling experience to help get over her traumatic childhood. Clint? Well, he was just there for her. What else could he do?
They were trying to follow the trails of that magic user but it was getting them nowhere. All the technology of Wakanda wasn’t of any help. It was so usual Tony’s behaviour not to be there when it mattered the most. When it was a question of making something dangerous and stupid, weirdly enough the genius was always there and ready. Clint had really started to doubt the guy was really a genius. The arc reactor was mainly created by Howard back in the days. How easy it was to take something for himself as if Tony was the sole creator? Clint would actually bet Stark had not done a day of work in his whole easy rich dude life.
Clint felt it more than he actually saw it. He had been caught. The magic user had done something to him. He couldn’t say what. He didn’t have time to turn around to see who they were or what had been done to him. It was magic no doubt. Energy was leaving his body rapidly. His legs weren’t supporting him anymore. The archer wanted to say something in the comm, to warn the rest of his team. He simply couldn’t. The ground was approaching too quickly. It would hurt. His last thoughts were on Tony. ‘He should run a mile in my shoes’. Perhaps then he would understand what real life was. Clint then lost consciousness.
This wasn’t his bed. Not on the farm, not in Wakanda. The sheets were good quality though, top notch, the thing with the high number of threads. Quite honestly, he wouldn’t mind staying in that bed forever. Not that he was lazy but the superhero work was time consuming and very tiring. Until Clint remembered. He had been on a mission looking for a magic user and had gone down. He opened his eyes and abruptly sat down in the bed looking for his surroundings, trying to assess the threats. His body was stiff, ready to strike.
“Good morning. It’s ten in the morning. The weather in New York is fifty degrees with precipitation expected in the afternoon. Your first appointment is at eleven with Miss Potts. I suggest you start preparing now Boss.”
Boss? Why was Friday calling him boss? Tony was probably pranking him or something. When everything had been fine between them, a long time ago now, Clint and Tony had been that kind of friends. They had the same kind of sarcastic sense of humour and had started a prank war when others would start a book club. Nothing harmful between them of course. That wasn’t who they were. Clint had even thought they were close and then Ultron happened. The trust started to shatter. When they had ended in the raft, all friendship had stopped right there and then. It really showed that you never really knew anybody. Still, what was he doing in this bed? Where was the team? And why was Friday there?
Looking around him, he recognised Tony’s bedroom. He went for a shower in the adjacent bathroom to clear his mind. The genius lived in opulence. The hot water helped wash away the last of the sleep. Part of him thought he should panic or something like that. He was calm though, just perplexed about the situation. The last events came back to mind. Everything had happened because of that magic user. Stepping out the shower, Clint wisped the steam from the mirror. Tony was looking back at him. The archer stayed there, looking at the reflection of someone who wasn’t him for a long time. This was just crazy.
Wanda had explained her magic created illusions so real that it was next to impossible for the people to know this wasn’t real. Clint needed to gather information before it would be way too late. The young girl could only use what people had been dreading or hoping so much. In a way, it was a tell that they were in an illusion. Easier said than done. Did Clint want to be Tony that much? He didn’t think so.
He would need to know how real everything exactly was. For all he knew, he might have been in a coma for a while. That would explain why he didn’t remember anything in between. Who knew what had really happened. He needed to know how real everything exactly was or if he was being played. He wouldn’t pass anything when it came to Tony.
Friday gave him the exact date when he asked, trying to sound like Tony as much as possible. This was just another undercover mission, if of the weird kind. The AI seemed to act normally around him, not defensively. That bit was good. Clint couldn’t believe the date she gave him though. This was an illusion surely. A month after Ultron only. Not the best moment in Tony’s life. If it was an illusion, they could have chosen a better moment in his life. That freak wizard could have sent him back during the playboy years. Clint would have been enjoying himself a lot more no doubt. He dressed up in one of Tony’s suits. The archer never liked those kinds of garments particularly but he had to play the part as best as he could and see where it would get him. Clint had no idea on how to get out of the illusion. Natasha wasn’t there to beat him up. Hopefully things would not go that far.
Pepper was waiting for Tony, well him, in the kitchen with the coffee ready. Stark was addicted to caffeine and always had the best beans around. The CEO was not happy, it was written all over her face. Life must have been hard for her. People around the world were not exactly fans of Stark Industries after Ultron and really they had the right to be. The Avengers had won the day, not thanks to Tony Stark.
“Good morning Pepper.” Clint said in Tony’s voice.
“At least you’re on time today. That will look better during the hearing.”
Pepper wasn’t friendly to him at all. Clint thought they had been together during that time but he wasn’t so sure anymore. He didn’t know if he should go to her or stay as far away as he could. The glare she sent him answered that just fine. Laura had been mad at Clint more often than he liked to admit but she had never looked at him like that. It looked like hatred in her eyes. She probably did at that moment. God knew that at that same moment, all the Avengers weren’t loving him all that much. Being the girlfriend of Tony Stark must have been hard at times no doubt about it. Still, it was more than disturbing.
The hearing was with the UN behind closed doors. Other scientists were present to check what Tony was saying. Not everybody had that kind of specific knowledge after all, they needed to make sure everything was as it should be. Apparently, Stark and Banner had been nowhere near an interface, meaning that they hadn’t launched the birth of Ultron themselves.That was their conclusion. Something inside the sceptre had come alive during the test phase and vandalised their experiment. The UN had not asked him today only for that though. Their team had found interesting video footage they thought would explain part of Tony’s behaviour.
On the screen, Tony was out of his armour about to take the sceptre when Wanda appeared. She used her magic on him. It was clear that what she made him see was terrifying. Wanda’s smile at the end of that video was disturbing. All that was quite new to Clint.