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Chapter Text

When Clint had gotten to know about Laura’s impending visit to him, he had been shell-shocked. Clint had been relieved at first, but later, the nagging worry of divorce rose.

(He was, after all, an international fugitive on house arrest.)

When the thought became way too troublesome for him to keep up with, he went to talk to Wanda.

(He kind of felt like a shitty parental figure for bothering Wanda with his own issues, but what other option did he have though?)

Just as he had begun talking about the threat of a Divorce from Laura, a terrible migraine had made itself known. The Sokovian had suggested him a power nap to give his migraine a respite after his vision had bleared on a worrying red.

When Clint woke up from his nap, the migraine felt a lot better as it had subsided to the dull throbbing of a headache. He had shot Wanda a smile, who had looked at him in concern, sitting by his bedside with her fingers glowing with the wisps of her magic, ready to defend Clint if any threat appeared.

(Sometimes, it still surprised Clint that Wanda cared for him, even after what happened to Pietro because of him.)

They had continued on Clint’s venting after a short snack break, and Wanda had been quick to point out the real culprit of Clint’s problems.

Stark.

Of course, it was goddamn Stark, here to ruin all that Clint had gathered, just like he had done with poor Wanda. He took away her parents, her house, and his beloved murder-bot took away her brother and her City, and now this Accords shit-show had taken Vision away from her too.

If only he had not paraded around with his stupid Sokovia Accords, none of this would’ve happened. But even wishing for that tiny thing was apparently way too much to ask from Stark.                     

Wanda looked pleased as he overcame his self-loathing and placed his misplaced anger on the right person. Anyway, Laura would understand, wouldn’t she? Clint thought absently as he massaged his head. Wanda suggested ibuprofen for his migraine that had descended to headache, but that didn’t help either.

About an hour later, she came to his room to inform him about Laura’s arrival. Clint steeled himself and geared up to clear each and every misconception that Stark had put in Laura’s mind.

When he walked into the guest room, he couldn’t help but admire Laura from afar, and reminiscence sadly about the time when he’d be sitting beside her and adoring her openly with zero hesitation.

(Screw you Stark, ruining anything you touch.)

He’d say that Laura looked beautiful, but that word would not do justice to her beauty. With artificial winds playing with her hair and her eyes lit up at the state-of-art tech in the room, she looked nothing short of Laura Bishop he had met at the rescue mission at Langley.

“Woah, is that an actual bow and quiver?” A squint, “Or, are you a method actor?”

If Clinton would have had any less self-control, there might be the dead body of a civilian and a compromised mission. But, he wasn’t codenamed Hawkeye for no reason.

“Yep, this is an actual bow and quiver.” Clinton gave a vague answer, aware that he was on an active mission. But that didn’t help him from being fond of the way the woman? young lady? Girl’s eyes sparked with curiosity and excitement.

“I’m Laura, and can I please, please, please, please, please, please, with a pink cherry on top, get to know about your bow and arrow. It’s just, I’ve seen very few people with a bow and most of them are snotty with no interest in telling more about it, and I love archery, so please-”

And, the girl- Laura was panic rambling, and wasn’t that endearing?

Two minutes later, 23-year-old Agent Clinton Barton of SHIELD aka known as Hawkeye, was sitting on an abandoned roof, explaining how his exploding arrows worked to an excited and jolly 19-year-old Laura Bishop, a Forensic Science graduate and part-time circus archer.

“Can I try it once?” she asked excitedly and Clinton-

The memory faded abruptly, just as his headache sparked strongly while his vision tinted scarlet for a second, making Clint hiss out in pain, and grabbing Laura’s attention. The excited look on her face got replaced by a pained one.

“Hello, Clint.” Laura spoke in a monotone with a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes.

“Hi, Laura.” Clint replied, massaging his temples gently, “Where are the kids? Didn’t want to meet Dad?” he joked.

“Nate is with Mom and Dad in Queens, Cooper has guitar classes on Saturday and Lila has skating.” She added as an afterthought, “Do you remember?”

He didn’t .

His silence was an answer enough for Laura and she grimaced, tapping her fingers anxiously on the coffee table.

“Are you having a divorce with me?” Clint blurted out, not able to keep it stomached in for long.

Laura looked at him as if he’d grown a second head before answering, “Of course not, Clint, why would you think that I would have a divorce with you?”

“Whatever Stark has told you is not true Laura, you’d be mad at him if you had seen our conditions, Wanda’s condition in the raft. He lied to us all and ratted us to Ross-” “What does Tony have to do anything with us talking, Clint?” Laura interrupted.

Clint stared at her before answering slowly, “Surely, Stark has told you about what happened at the Airport and in the Compound, right? It’s natural for one to think that he has given you a wrongly framed picture of mine-” “Tony didn’t tell or in our case, do anything except for saving the Kids and me when Ross wanted us dead.”

Ross? Dead? What-

“That bastard Stark, I’m going to kill him-”

“Are you not getting anything I’m saying?!” Laura yelled, “He saved us, Clint, saved us from being burnt alive by Ross and his henchmen, saved us from being destroyed like our farmhouse, helped us rebuild it, he was there to pick up the pieces when you were out with Rogers, fighting a non-existent war-”

“No, Laura, you aren’t getting it, Stark and Ross are in the same league-”

“Then why would he get the man arrested for inhumane experiments on people and mutants?”

“Because this is all a publicity stunt, Stark wants sympathy because the fight of Siberia against Steve and his best friend was not enough for him to get all the sympathy after his Accords failed!”

Clint took a deep breath and looked at Laura, who was looking at him with varied looks of horror and disbelief.

Good, all of Stark’s plans were failing.

“Clint?” Laura started softly, “Is 2012 haunting you again? Are you still having those episodes?”

What.

“What, No.” Clint replied hastily, “No episodes since the last two years. I’m fine. It’s all thanks to Wanda who had removed any traces of Loki’s magic.”

Laura’s face did a funny little spasm, before it schooled down to a neutral look, after which she said, “Do you remember that Tony arranged for a psychiatrist to talk to? Before Maximoff came on the team?”

Stark had arranged for a psychiatrist for him? No, no, that wasn’t possible.

“Stark wouldn’t do that, he is a self-entitled, egotistical brat-”

“Clint, do you remember anything before Ultron? Do you remember the Avengers visiting our farmhouse? Do you remember the kids calling Tony ‘Uncle’? Do you remember Nate’s birth? Do you remember any of it?”

Clint thought hard, looking for something similar to the picture in his mind, but as he dug deeper, he felt like he would collide with a wall as if accessing memories beyond or before Ultron was a near-impossible task. He didn’t know when he had sat down, but Laura was sitting beside him, holding his hand and rubbing circles on them comfortingly.

“Stark wouldn’t-”

“You used to call him, ‘Tony’ Clint, you both used to have pranks- healthy pranks before Wanda joined, you would use Tony’s arrows, give him tips, take part in science binges, you had a chat named Dumbasses -”

“Why can’t I remember it now, Laura?”   

“I don’t know Clint, it’s like you’ve gone so long and far away, much farther as compared to New York, that’s it becoming difficult even for me to find you,” she rubbed his scalp soothingly, “But I’ll help you, love, we’ll go through this together just like we did before, we’ll cross this too Clint, don’t worry.”

She slowly ushered him on her lap and patted his head comfortingly. With comfort close to him, and the last memory of Laura pressing a kiss to his forehead, Clint fell asleep just as his vision tinted red.

Chapter Text

People at SHIELD always said that Hawkeye was the best in scaling vents and attacking from them, but they always forgot that Natasha had learned the art of crawling in vents from the master himself.

“Why can’t I remember it now, Laura?”

“I don’t know Clint, it’s like you’ve gone so long and far away, much farther as compared to New York, that’s it becoming difficult even for me to find you-”

And was that not alarming enough?

They had a highly unstable magic user on their team; contrary to whatever Steve said about Wanda being a kid, she wasn’t one. After all, Tony had been successfully running a multibillion-dollar company and revolutionising the world’s tech at 25 and Clint and Natasha herself were working for a spy organisation. Even then, they couldn’t have both things at the same time. Either Wanda was unstable and the mind manipulations were the results of those mishaps, or she was trained enough and the bombing at Lagos was a planned attack.

Natasha had been in favour of Wanda’s addition to the team, but it was mostly to soothe her own guilt complexes and to be a sort of teacher figure for Wanda. When Steve had insisted quite aggressively to Wanda’s entry, she had brushed it off as Steve’s ‘Hero for the Little Guy’ persona coming into play.

It was after the Civil War that Natasha had come to the realization of the reason behind Wanda’s vehement addition to the team, coinciding with Tony’s step down from Avengers.

Barnes

It made the perfect sob story.

Captured by HYDRA, illegally and inhumanely experimented upon, and the added guilt in Tony’s case because of the death of the Maximoffs through his weapons, Tony would be obliged to render service and funds to them. Since Barnes was a similar case to Wanda, Tony would no doubt help Steve in funding his search too, and Tony, oblivious of his parents’ murder by Steve’s best buddy, would agree ardently. It was the perfect plan and Natasha was surprised, that she, a master spy and assassin, had failed to notice it. She just hadn’t expected, Steve of all people to concoct it.

She wondered that when had she gone so blind that she failed to discern something from her vantage point. Was it her ego? Already inflating since single-handedly exposing HYDRA? Why had she wronged that one genius who was the sole reason for their return on American Soil?

“We’ll cross this too Clint, don’t worry-”

Natasha’s mind went back to Clint’s unnerved face as he had begged to know why he couldn’t remember things before Ultron and the supportive encouragements from Laura, and she decided it at once that she had to do something.

This was how, Natasha found herself in the west wing of the Compound aka, the Residence of the New Avengers. She took the elevator and pressed the button for the first floor. She stood still in the lift, not giving away the sign of any sort of anxiety that she was feeling and aware of the cameras recording every single of her move.

The elevator opened with a tell-tale ping, much to her fright and reluctance, right in front of the coffee table kept at a distance with none other than Pepper Potts, Hope Van Dyne and Christine Palmer sitting on the surrounding chairs.

All the three women’s gazes snapped to her and Natasha barely stopped herself from shuffling nervously as they scrutinised her minutely. It was a foreign feeling for her, three civilian women looking at her with such analysis as if she were a cockroach on the dissecting glass in a lab.

Van Dyne cleared her throat and a saccharine smile appeared on Potts’s face.

Even though she had a teal-coloured nail paint in her hand and was dressed in ripped shorts, Potts looked petrifying.

“Yes, Miss Romanova, how may I help you?” Potts said in a cloying sweet tone that shrouded the warning peril behind.

“I need to talk to Doctor Strange.” Natasha managed to answer evenly.

“Oh? You’d be disappointed to know that, unlike our Genius, Stephen is strangely warded to manipulations.” Palmer sneered, “Ignore the pun.”

“Consultation hours are from 11 to 6 on week days. It’s 7 in the evening and a Saturday.” Van Dyne added dismissively.

“It’s important, Pepper-”

“I’m not on a first name basis with backstabbers, Natalie .” Potts interrupted coldly, “But as for your ‘important’ issue, you may take up said issue with the Deputy Team Leader- Miss Van Dyne.”

Natasha took a look at Potts’s uninterested look, Van Dyne’s impassive gesture and Palmer’s openly hostile expression, and decided that this will have to do.

“I,” Natasha started, licking her lips, “I believe that Wanda is mind-controlling Clint,” she shifted her weight on the other foot and pointedly ignored the looks the trio were sending her way, “Since he is unable to remember anything pre-Ultron.”

There was a beat of silence before Van Dyne spoke up, “FRIDAY, tell the team to assemble in the Meeting Hall 2 within the next 15 minutes. If they ask what it is about, just tell them it’s an emergency, but no call for suit up, and please tell them to be stealthy.”

“Okay, Miss Van Dyne.”

“Thank You FRIDAY.” She looked at Natasha and said, “You too, and if this information extends to your team, all the help which you are getting will be withdrawn-”

“They’ll not know about anything, I assure you.”

“Excuse me if I don’t want to believe a professional liar.” With an icy reply from Potts, the three women where off and about in the elevator, leaving Natasha embarrassed, ashamed and grateful all at once.

“What do you mean Wanda is mind-controlling Clint, of all people!” Anthony half shrieked.

In Loki’s opinion, it was quite clever (he refrained from saying that aloud), manipulating the Archer to a level he became a puppet to the Witch was a commendable task. By taking the Archer, the witch had the Spider in her sight too, considering the close camaraderie the two spies shared. Also, that earned her the sympathy of the Archer’s family. The Captain was already infantilising the woman, so all in all, it was a job well done.

“Isn’t Clint like a father to her?” Anthony said, calming himself down.

“I thought that too,” the Spider said, and Loki was surprised to see genuine concern etched on her face, “But this footage proves otherwise.”

She took out a pen drive (Yes, he knows what a pen drive is, he isn’t dumb like Thor, and with having a tech expert named Anthony Stark, things became infinitely easier) and Anthony was quick to move. He placed the drive in a USB port and a holographic screen lit up, playing the video quite clearly.

The timestamp said the footage was of 2 o’clock in the afternoon, and the aerial view in which it was playing, very obviously stated that it was taken from one of the vents in the room in which the Spider was no doubt crawling.

“Clint?” Laura said, “Is 2012 haunting you again? Are you still having those episodes?”

“What, No.” Clint replied quickly, “No episodes since the last two years. I’m fine. It’s all thanks to Wanda who had removed any traces of Loki’s magic.”

Laura’s face twisted into something undecipherable before she answered, “Do you remember that Tony arranged for a psychiatrist to talk to? Before Maximoff came on the team?”

“Stark wouldn’t do that, he is a self-entitled, egotistical brat-”

(-Loki saw Anthony’s eyes close briefly at the vicious hostility in the Archer’s tone-)

“Clint, do you remember anything before Ultron? Do you remember the Avengers visiting our farmhouse? Do you remember the kids calling Tony ‘Uncle’? Do you remember Nate’s birth? Do you remember any of it?”

The Archer’s face looked despondent and terrified as he clutched his head and hissed in pain, trying to access the memories that wouldn’t unlock, no matter how hard he tried. It was like pushing against an immovable and heavyweight that wouldn’t budge.

“Stark wouldn’t-”

“You used to call him, ‘Tony’ Clint, you both used to have pranks- healthy pranks before Wanda joined, you would use Tony’s arrows, give him tips, take part in science binges, you had a chat named Dumbasses-”

“Why can’t I remember it now, Laura?”

The pain and panic were palpable in his tone.

“I don’t know Clint, it’s like you’ve gone so long and far away, much farther as compared to New York, that’s it becoming difficult even for me to find you,” she rubbed his scalp soothingly, “But I’ll help you, love, we’ll go through this together just like we did before, we’ll cross this too Clint, don’t worry.”

The footage ended and Anthony took a deep breath and blew it out of his nose before answering, “I didn’t think she’d go this dark, this is low, even for her.” But then he added after a second of an afterthought, “Disappointed, but not surprised.”

“Excuse me.” Loki began, “Is the mind manipulation somehow related to the feeling of being constantly scrutinised, around the Hawk’s head?”

“What scrutinising?” Strange asked, eyes narrowed in confusion and suspicion.

“It is a feeling that you are being watched, and not the good kind. You feel you are being guarded like a caged animal in a circus, around the Hawk. I would cross his path and that feeling would be quite distinct and distressing.”

“Why didn’t you ever tell that before, Lokes?”

“Apologies Anthony, but I thought that I was being paranoid because the Hawk is a spy.”

“No worries.” Anthony brushed off, “But what do you think it is, Vinny?”

Strange did not comment on Anthony’s choice of nickname and opened his mouth to say something before Jessica interrupted, “That, what Loki just said, is a symptom of mind manipulation or mind control, it felt like that with Kilgrave…” she shuddered minutely and trailed off.

Bruce wrapped an arm around the petrified woman and Strange began, “Added symptoms are temporary memory loss and headache or temporary migraines-”

“He had one this morning.” The Spider interrupted.

“Yes, and it also leads to outbursts because your emotions are not in control of you, anger issues could be a probable outcome too.”

“So that proves the fact that Barton is being mind-controlled, either purposely or accidentally, though I doubt the former.” James said.

The murmured agreements attested that the team thought of the same thing.

“How should we knock out the manipulation?” Darcy asked.

“Cognitive Recalibration?” Jane suggested.

“No.” Loki said firmly, noticing the incredulous looks on their faces, he added, “If what the Widow is saying is true, and that he really is not able to grasp anything beyond what happened prior to Ultron, I believe the magic will be rooted way too deep for any form of physical trauma to take out. We will need to take a magical approach to this.”

Loki saw the exact moment Strange, Banner, Anthony and Jessica understood what he meant.

“Oh, so the first step will be-” Banner began, just to be interrupted by,

“Boss,” FRIDAY chimed in, ”Agent Barton is going out of the compound from his car, and by the GPS co-ordinates he has put, it is far away from the location of the Compound. Ferry Island.”

“-that.” Banner completed, “Going far away from the person who has placed the triggers in order to sever the link, right?”

“Right.” Loki confirmed.

They waited for some time, drawing up rough ideas and schematics as to how they would cover Barton and remove the manipulation buried deep. Until, FRIDAY informed once again,

“Agent Barton is calling the Compound’s General Purpose Number.”

“Pick up, FRI.”

“Hello Agent Barton, I’m FRIDAY, how may I help you?”

“I need to talk to Dr Strange regarding some problems…” there was a pause and a shuffle, before Barton spoke again, “Mental manipulation, to be exact.”

At Stephen’s gesture, there was another chime and Stephen started, “Hello Agent Barton, what is the issue?” he asked pleasantly, as if inquiring about the weather.

“How can one come out of mind control?” Barton asked, his voice sounding clearly panicked.

“At the easiest of controls, you can try cognitive recalibration,”-the Archer winced-“and at the hardest of control, I’ll suggest you to take the magical route, though I doubt you’d need to go this far what with your team having an ‘expert’ magic user, Miss Maximoff, as told by your team Captain.”

It was a well-placed jab, and Anthony hit Strange on the arm, undoubtedly for being petty even when Barton was in the middle of a crisis. (Loki won’t blame Strange though.)

There was a beat of silence after which, Barton blurted out, “How should I severe the link of mental manipulation that doesn’t feel like mental manipulation?!”

“I beg your pardon?”

“Someone has been mentally controlling me, I cannot remember anything pre-Ultron. I.. Please help me..”

“Who do you suspect for this mishap?” Strange asked calmly to Barton.

There was an exhale, another bout of shuffling before Barton answered, or rather, asked, “Why do you need to know that?”

“Every magic user has different type of magic and different ways of influencing one’s mind, by knowing which path the handler has chosen, it becomes easier to find out the remedy or the counter-active process to break free of the mind control.”

That... was smooth.

“Oh..” “Yes. So, whom do you suspect?”

“Loki.”

Oh. He should have seen this coming from the Hawk.

‘Norns, how did Barton get any more dumb than he already was?’ , Loki thought, but forgave him when he realised that Barton was being mentally manipulated by an even dumber witch.

“…You do realise that firstly, Loki was not there during the time Ultron happened, secondly, he himself was being mind-controlled that time in New York, and thirdly, He does not have the Sceptre so he cannot mind-control you.”

“I don’t care! That bastard is the reason I am not able to remember anything before Ultron, my family thinks me to be a lunatic and the rude attitude I’ve treated Tony with-” he abruptly cut off, corresponding with the moment the Spider gasped, “-‘ Tony’ ?”

“Yes, Tony? What about him-” Stephen stopped as he heard murmurings from the other end. FRIDAY wordlessly increased the volume and they heard it clearly,

“No, no, no, no, no, he is not Tony , he is Stark , he is not Tony, why am I calling him ‘Tony’, I am not supposed to be in a first name basis with a rich brat who destroyed poor Wanda’s life, think of her, what would sweet Wanda say? What would Pietro say?”

FRIDAY displayed the image from the phone Barton was calling from, and if that was not horrific, then he did not know what was.

Barton was sitting on the sand, phone clutched tightly in his hand, eyes lifeless and his mouth was working, saying things softly but clearly, all of them were words of sympathy for the Witch and branding Anthony as the traitor.

All of a sudden, Barton’s eyes blazed a sinister shade of ruby, and another person came into the frame.

FRIDAY cut the call but continued playing the ‘Live Feed’.

“Clint! You went away without a word, you could’ve at least told me, I was worried!” Wanda Maximoff exclaimed, looking ‘concerned’. Noticing Clint’s empty look, a nasty smile split her face, making them seem more ruthless with the red seeping in her fingers and now, tainting Barton’s forehead and irises.

The scarlet cleared to give way to his sandy blue eyeballs, and the Witch out on the clothing of a friend once again, “Clint, Clint, Clint-” “What’s wrong Wanda?” the Archer stood up so fast that Loki was disturbed about the intensity of the brutal magic rooted in his brain.

“N-no, I just- you had blanked out, I was scared, and you went away without a word too, I was scared that Stark-”

“Oh, Wanda, c’mere,” Barton said, and it made Loki sick, “That bastard can’t touch me, no way, and with my munchkin here, not a chance, you’ll blast him into kingdom come if he does, right?”

“Without question,” she giggled , “One monster less in the world won’t do any harm to us, will it?”

And Barton laughed, oblivious to the Witch’s hands glowing behind his back.

FRIDAY closed the feed and Loki wrapped an arm around Anthony when he saw him squeeze his eyes shut.

“We will get him out of the mind control Anthony, do not worry, you have my word.” Loki swore.

Anthony opened his eyes and it physically hurt Loki to see the unshed tears in his eyes.

“No, no, it’s just that, Clint had almost remembered about me, and then-” he squared his shoulders, and a determined look appeared on his face, “We’ll have to help Clint, as soon as possible.”

It was a Team Meeting day, Team Meeting of the Captain’s Team to be exact. They were sitting in the living room and having a ‘meeting’, when Stephen, Loki, Jessica, Sharon and Romanoff attacked.

Stephen went to get Barton from his room because even though Loki was excellently adept at dealing with Mental Manipulation (unless it was his own), he refused to corner Barton alone as he might act as a flight or fight response for him, so Stephen was tasked with that job. Sharon and Romanoff decided to hold other baselines of the team while Loki handled the witch, and Jessica decided to curb Captain Delusion.

Speaking of delusion,

“Wanda wouldn’t do that! She’s a good kid!”

“A good kid from HYDRA, yeah, got it, now you can shove that theory up your star-spangled ass!” Jessica shot back, while Loki just watched, entertained, tightening his hold on the witch every now and then when she upped her tantrum by a notch. Stephen was almost jealous, because dealing with a dumb, delusional witch is easier than a mind-controlled SHIELD agent after all.

“Wanda would know if someone was mind-controlling me!-” Barton yelled, arrows poised at Stephen’s head.

“Not if she was the one controlling you.” Stephen answered calmly.

“How dare you blame Wanda, I’ll kill you for shifting the blame on an innocent kid-” he all but growled and the arrow flew from the bow, going straight for Stephen’s head, when-

“Huh, thanks Levi.” Stephen said, as he lightly patted Levi for holding the arrow in mid-air.

That made Barton all the angrier.

“FRIDAY, can you play the footage from yesterday?”

“Indeed Dr Strange-” FRIDAY’s Irish lilt came up from a speaker in the room, and the next moment a holographic screen was playing what Stephen’s team had watched yesterday at the meeting.

Barton watched spellbound, but a dark look crossed his face before he hissed, “Stark is doing this, this is edited, he is a psychotic creep who wants me to go against Wanda even after he is the one who has destroyed everything in her life. I will not let Stark take away this semblance of the family from her, I’ll be with her, I’ll not let Stark’s games-”

“Okay, that’s enough of ‘Stark the Evil Emperor-II’ speech for today.” Stephen sighed, seriously, were these people blind? Guess, they were.

He conjured a glowing rope that held Barton down, he kept screaming and thrashing but Stephen was relentless. He weened out all the traces of the Witch’s magic and obliterated any remnants of it. Barton slumped down like a puppet with it’s strings cut, and Stephen heard the tell-tale cry of the Witch from the other room. Stephen went out, not before conjuring a portal and putting Barton in Bruce’s more than capable hands in the infirmary.

“YOU TOOK CLINT AWAY FROM ME! HE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE WITH ME, BY MY SIDE! YOU ALL ARE MONSTERS! HE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE LIKE A FATHER TO ME-!”

“Only by his own wish.”

There was a beat of silence, after which Barnes asked, “What do ya mean by tha’?”

“Little Miss Witchy here had made the Hawk her personal puppet to play family-family with.” Loki mocked.

(What was worse was, she didn’t even deny the accusation.)

“She brainwashed him?” Barnes asked, eyes widening a fraction.

“No Buck- It wasn’t like that, Wanda would never-”

“I think you are an ineligible contestant for telling what her moral compass would be, don’t you think? Considering you brought an ex- HYDRA mind-raping Witch to have consolation and sympathy for your best bud over here.” Stephen said, voice deadpan and daring Rogers to argue or refute the claim.

“You brought me for Barnes to get an easy pass?!” Maximoff shrieked, just when Barnes questioned, “She is HYDRA?!”

“Yes to both.” It was Romanoff who answered this time, “Wanda attracted sympathy from the people, a sob story perfected with added guilt from Tony, that gave Steve the idea that Bucky could also be made an Avenger like that, so he forcefully got Wanda added on the team, but things went wrong when Tony found out that Barnes had assassinated Howard and Maria Stark. Later, Wanda went egotistical because of exclusive addition by Captain America himself and decided to make herself more comfortable by playing Clint as a puppet.”

No one said anything and it was proved that Wanda Maximoff was unstable .

Chapter Text

Clint woke up to a throbbing headache (he might as well call it a migraine). The lights were dimmed (Thank everything holy for that), the temperature of the room was lowered, Laura was sitting by his bed, gently grasping his hands with her own and Doctor Strange was standing a little further from his bed.

What-

Oh .

At first Clint did not feel anything, then he felt everything all at once.

“Did she really mind-control me?” He whispered, and he did not know what look was on his face, but guessing by the way Laura’s face twisted in sympathy and support, it must have been something pathetic.

“Yes.” Doctor Strange answered in his professionally tart tone, and no bullshit attitude, “It was rooted deep so it took us some time to remove it considering it has been seven days since the control was removed.”

“The process wasn’t any less painful though.” He added, and that made sense given how Clint’s throat hurt even as he whispered.

“Is- is it still there? Even a tiny bit?” he asked yet again, already familiar with the way how mind control works.

“No, everything has been cleared, but for you to process all this,”-he gestured vaguely at Clint and around, “uh, ‘fiasco’ I’d suggest you to take a break and recuperate with your family, who,”-he gestured at the door-“would be coming any minute now.” He pointed at his battered wrist watch, and as if on cue, the door of the ward opened and-

“Daddy!” Nate exclaimed from his spot on Natasha’s arms where he was sitting snugly. He started making grabby hands towards Clint, and God, if that did not calm some of Clint’s nerves.

Natasha chuckled and deposited him gently to Laura, who passed the anxious kid to Clint.

Clint pressed a kiss to Nate’s forehead and Nate hugged him tightly. Lila and Cooper came in the room a few seconds later and announced their presence by a loud yell of, “DAD!”

Clint was soon enveloped in a group hug that included his kids and him.

“Uncle Tony picked us up in his jet when our Saturday classes got over, he said that you were sick and Mom was gonna stay with you.” Lila said as soon as she released her iron grip or him during the hug.

“Yeah, we were so worried, but Uncle Tony said that everything will be all right, that you were healing fast just like the strong Hawkeye you are.” Cooper added, a grin breaking free on his face.

Clint couldn’t help but grin even as his mind rebelled- Tony said what ?

Now that he wasn’t in control of some mind-warping psychopathic Witch, Clint could think straight. But the price of freedom also came along with the added cost of all the mean and nasty things he had said and done to Tony (Yes, Tony , it seemed rude to call that one person Stark with whom he had grown to be friends with).

(-“You might want to watch your back with this guy, there are chances that he might break it.”-)

And what Tony had done for Clint.

(-“Hey Katniss,” Tony said, and a smile lit up Clint’s face on seeing the genius, he had loved the exploding arrows Tony had made, if only that bloody blue shade hadn’t come up, he might’ve have stopped himself from the embarrassing panic attack in the middle of the field, that had in turn prompted Iron Man to abandon his post to come to his rescue.

“Hi Shellhead, coffee?”

“mmhm, absolutely,” taking a sip, Tony moaned an utterly sinful sound (he was married, but still, it was Tony Stark, Laura might even agree for an open relationship with him), “Legolas, if you continue making this kind of coffee, I’ll be forced to cheat on Pepper.”

“As if your ‘sound of delight’ doesn’t want me to make mine and Laura’s marriage open.” Clint chuckled and then relished the way a laugh bubbled out of Tony, it was such a rare sound and a delight to hear it at times.]

“Besides,” Clint began, suddenly nervous, “I uhm, wanted to say something,”

Tony cocked his eyebrow and said, “If this is about the arrow, then no need to thank me, I know I’m the best-”

“No, no dumbo, not for the arrow, I just..” okay, here goes nothing, “Thankyouforhelpingmeduringmypanicattackonthefieldandforsavingmydumbassduringthefight-” “Hey, hey Barty, slow down a bit, and try to add a little punctuation in your sentence so that my sleep-deprived ass understands what you are saying, Okay?”

Clint nodded, pink creeping up on his ears and answered, “Thank You for helping me during my panic attack on the field and for saving my dumbass during the fight.”

Tony stared for a moment before his eyes softened, “Clint,” Woah, Tony calling him by his first name means things are gonna be serious, “Do you know that I’ve had countless panic attacks since I’ve been to that wormhole?”

Wha-

“Oh. I am sorry, I did not know that, I’m so sorry, this must be a heavy topic for you-”

“Clint, just sit-” Tony said, pulling Clint down and making him sit on the floor.

And that was how they started talking about what they hated about their own versions of the Battle of New York, Clint vented about Loki whereas Tony whispered about the other side of the wormhole.

Two days later, Clint found an invitation for a joint therapy session from Tony, and even though he won’t say it to anyone, he had cried happy tears when he had found the letter.-)

Clint looked back to his kids happily talking about how Uncle Tony had been right and the gentle look of understanding in Laura’s eyes, and decided that there were some serious bridges he had to mend.

That evening, Clint took a simple blank page, a ball point pen and wrote,

Dear Tony,

(Hey there, look at me, making mistake on the very first line while talking to a friend, I don’t know whether you still count me as one, but I hope that I haven’t done damage to an extent that cannot be mended. Maybe that is wishful thinking, probably mindless dreaming- I seriously need to stop listening to Taylor Swift so much. )

I hope you are well, fine, happy? doing good.

You must have heard about what had happened with Wanda, Witch , you-know-who and me. So, I just wanted to say two main things and ask one thing:

•         Apologise
•         Thank
•         A question

Firstly, I wanted to apologise for my behaviour, at the Compound after she joined, during ‘Team Bonding Sessions’, during the Airport skirmish, battle , fight and lastly, but profusely and also extended towards Rhodey, James, Rhodes, Colonel Rhodes, about my comment in the raft (along with the millions of other mean things I’ve no doubt said to you).

I’ve said and done things which were totally uncalled for and it would be zero surprise for me if you wouldn’t want to talk to me after this. Mind control is not an excuse for things I’ve done, irrespective of what Rogers says.

It’s all in your hands, Tony, would you, if you, may you, (Damn, English is hard.) should you wish to forgive me. If I had not been so rude and thoughtless in my comment, there would be at least some part of you that wouldn’t be guilty right now for the faults that very clearly are not yours as they are mine. (Is that the right way of saying that my actions have made you guilty over mistakes that I have committed, not you?)

Secondly,

I wanted to thank you for saving my family from Ross and safely bringing my kids to NYC and assuring them that I’d be fine fast enough than normal.

(And dude, they did not lie about your visionary sobriquet, I did heal earlier than normal, because as compared to 2012, I was three weeks ahead of schedule, God, how did you know?)

When Laura told me about how you saved the kids, I just, Tony, I’m gonna be brutally honest here, you’re burying me under piles of mercy and gratitude that I’ll never ever be able to pay off

(Why do you even allow us to stay near you Tony? You’re like an angel in {a hot} demon’s clothing, ha! Take that Lucifer reference you heathen, you’re not the only local TV genius around.)

Lastly, I wanted to ask you a question, don’t answer if you don’t feel like it, or in general, just throw the entire letter in the bin, cause I know that what I’ve done was wrong and I need to pay for it, and you ignoring me is naturally gonna be a part of it, it’ll be a right of yours Tony, to distance yourself away from self-entitled, toxic people and I won’t object one bit on it.

Yours truly,

Not even kidding there,

Barty (do you remember that Tony? I won’t blame you if you don’t, there has been enough blame put on you by me already-)

P.S. think of all those strikeouts as my inner monologue.

Then Clint folded the paper in neat folds, put them in an envelope and told Lila to deliver it to Tony (He might have felt only semi guilty by guilt-tripping Tony by a cute child.), so, by the time Lila returned back with a box of chocolates from Uncle Tony (Laura was seconds away from blowing a gasket and Clint could barely suppress his snickers as he slipped one of Lila’s candy In his mouth, “Damn you Tony! Lila’s teeth will be rotten by the time she finishes it all, damn you, damn you for being a spoiling Uncle and damn you for spoiling your niece and nephews!”), Clint’s phone was already blowing up.

Tony Stark created a Group DM called ‘Good Smol Dumbasses’

Tony Stark added Clint Barton

Tony Stark renamed Clint Barton as Birb-Brain

What the-

Clint Barton renamed Tony Stark as Metal-Head

It felt weird to be doing this so fast after the mishap, but he was not gonna let that go.

Suddenly a message popped up.

Metal-Head : You heathen, you made me suffer with paper .

Metal-Head : And oh, don’t apologise for calling me ‘ Dear’ , I know I am the fairest of them all. *flips hair dramatically*

Despite his initial hesitation, Clint couldn’t help but add:

Birb-Brain : *wig falls dramatically*

Metal-Head : …..

Metal-Head : I-

Metal-Head : Anyway, moving on from your disastrous humour, Chillax Legolas, you are reflecting on your actions, that’s enough for you to make amends, and oh, listen, mind-control is a viable excuse.

Metal-Head : That was weird, but hey, you were mind-controlled Clint, and the biggest thing is that you want to make amends.

Birb-Brain : Thank You Tony. Thank You So Much.

Metal-Head : *pats head*

Birb-Brain : quack

Metal-Head : I-

Metal-Head : Look, I’m fine, well, happy and also doing good , so all options are valid

Metal-Head : Unlike Voldemort, at least she has a nose

Birb-Brain : I-

Metal-Head : ‘Million other mean things’? y’know what, screw it, you need therapy!

Metal-Head: agreed, English is hard. And… I’m telling you B’lint C’arton, you need therapy

Birb-Brain: You are hardly the one to complain about English S’ony T’tark, you have a wannabe British God by your side

Metal-Head : Is it weird that I can hear Loki’s sigh?

Birb-Brain : I-

Metal-Head : Hey! I like the kids, and ofc I take care of my niece and nephews you heathen

Metal-Head : Ofc I’m the Visionary

Metal-Head : I’m burying you under piles of gratitude? How very Shookespeared of you, but hey, can’t you just fly away

Birb-Brain : tis a metaphor

Metal-Head : LUCIFER REFERENCES BELONG TO ME, DON’T YOU DARE TOUCH HIM WITH A TEN FOOT POLE YOU HEATHEN , TOM ELLIS IS MINE -

Birb-Brain : I-

Birb-Brain : Does Loki and Pepper know of your celebrity crush?

Birb-Brain : bc 1) Pepper is gonna crush him with her Jimmy Choos if that means winning to woo you, and 2) Loki’s gonna be jealous that you chose that British over him.

Metal-Head : …don’t tell them okay? Pepper and Loki together for world-domination? I might as well surrender to their combined strength.

Birb-Brain : I can neither confirm nor deny that request

Metal-Head : ihy

Metal-Head : OFC I REMEMBER THAT NICKNAME YOU DOLT

Metal-Head : I’m telling you:

Metal-Head : YOU NEED THERAPY

Metal-Head : YOU NEED GODDAMN THERAPY

Metal-Head : In the remembrance of me readeth thou proclamation of companionship, I proclaimeth few lines for thou, shall I? (idk if that means something or not, but you get the context, right, Birdy?)

Birb-Brain : Yeth, I do understand, now readeth you wonderful composition, O! friend

Metal-Head : Do you wanna get therapy?

Metal-Head : Or get a pep talk?

Metal-Head : Do you know how lonely does it get here?

Metal-Head : Sitting alone in the therapy hall.

Metal-Head : idk if it matches with Frozen or not, but that’s all my brain can build up.

Metal-Head : say something

Metal-Head : Clint did I break you?

Metal-Head : Birbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb

Birb-Brain : I-

Birb-Brain : I can’t stop wheezing

Birb-Brain : hdnfjajsbjdsfjkdkjfhieahiehdfmvjfnjkdnfkdnfkjndfjnfgj

Metal-Head : Oh, thas good

Birb-Brain : I can’t wait to see Thor discover your poetry skills and make you an ally for epic competitions, lmao

Metal-Head : I-

Metal-Head : He’d totally call you Hawk of Eye in the championship

Metal-Head : Or idk, maybe Ton of Bar, cause y’know, Bar-Ton, lol, I’m so funny

Birb-Brain : I-

Birb-Brain : You’d be Star of K, or Sta of rk, St of ark-

Birb-Brain : fudge you, you don’t have a vowel in your second half of your title

Metal-Head : Lmao

Birb-Brain : HONEY OF ANT CAUSE ANT-HONY

Birb-Brain : YASSSSSSSSSSS

Metal-Head : Ha, jokes on you, Thor can’t call me with any variations of Anthony, that’s reserved solely for Loki. He almost eviscerated Thor with his butter knife when he called me Anthony in Loki’s presence.

Birb-Brain : I-

Birb-Brain : Damn, Friend Zoned crush goals for Loki and oblivious dumbo goals for you

Metal-Head : I-

Metal-Head : I AM ENGAGED TO PEPPER YOU HOLE OF ASS , LOKI IS LIKE MY BROTHER, YOU EW CREATURE

Birb-Brain : I-  Sorry- I can’t stop laughing- lmao-

Unable to resist the temptation, Clint added,

Birb-Brain : But hey Tony, ‘smol’? I think you’re confusing me with someone else *cough cough*you*cough cough*

Metal-Head : Go eat shit you heathen

Two days later, Clint received another invitation. For a therapy session with Doctor Tony Stark.

(Because of course that Shellhead got a doctorate in therapeutic psychiatry because he was bored.)