Actions Speak Louder than Words

Open Wounds

 "But do we know for sure that it's him?" Steve asks, sounding unsure.

"What do you mean do we know it's him? He looked just like him. It has to be." Clint argues.

"Calm down. We don't know that yet" Bruce says. "Believe me, I want to believe it's Ethan just as much as you do. But getting our hopes up is not the best idea right now." Everyone goes silent for a moment. The Avengers had gotten back from the mission a little while ago. After they had all somewhat collected themselves and Nat had gotten the proper care she needed, as people walked in they were discussing what happened during the mission.

"Why are you all worried about who the target was exactly?" Sam asks, breaking the silence.

"Yes, who is this Ethan anyway?" Peitro asks, causing tensions to rise further.

"Ethan was a member of the Avengers years ago." Clint explains. "He sacrificed himself to save us from a trap that was set by hydra."

"He's been presumed dead since the incident." Steve adds.

"Until now-"

"We don't know that Clint." Steve snaps. It was clear he was on edge. Bucky placed a hand on Steve's shoulder to calm him down.

"Actually we do." Tony says walking into the common area. Immediately everyone looked over to him. "I ran some facial recognition tests. All of them added up to the target we were after being Ethan." The silence was almost suffocating, and the tension could be cut with a knife.

"This is at least partially good news is it not?" Wanda asks, her accent as thick as her brothers. "We now know your friend is alive, yes?"

"Yeah.. Wanda's right. We know he's alive. And it's possible that we can save him." Bruce says.

"Did you run an analysis on what the explosion was?" Clint asks looking to Tony.

"Yes I did but I haven't gotten any answers on it. The pictures aren't the best but I couldn't find any sign of explosives anywhere." Tony explains.

"So, what? The explosions appeared out of thin air?" Bucky questions.

"That's impossible, you can't make explosions out of nothing." Steve says.

"Unless" Wanda trails off looking at her brother. They make eye contact.

"He's like us" They say in unison.

"What do you mean?" Steve asks.

"The reason we have our powers is because Hydra experimented on us." Wanda explains.

"It was a Hydra copter, no?" Peitro ads.

"So it is possible that this friend of yours"

"Got experimented on like us and now has the power to create these explosions" The others didn't know exactly how to respond to the twins explanation.

"Well. That is definitely a possibility we can't rule out" Tony says.

"I think the twins are right" everyone turns to see Nat. Her arms were both bandaged up and it was clear she was still recovering. No one knew how long she had been there leaning in the doorway, but she obviously had been listening in. "I saw the explosion up close and personal." She explains sitting down on the couch. "It looked as if it came out of his hands." she didn't make eye contact with anyone as she spoke. "And if that really was Ethan. Hydra definitely did something, cause we remembered him. And he didn't remember us."

"He could be like me.." Bucky interjects. Everyone looks at him. "Brainwashed I mean. If they did it to me, who's to say they didn't do it to others."

"Then we are the only people who can save him." Clint says. "The reason you're here is because you remembered Steve and it was enough to snap you out of it right?" Bucky nods. "We were Ethan's family. If one person was enough to snap Barnes out of it. Then we.. Those of us who knew him.. Should be enough to bring him back."

"Clint's right," Steve says. "We need to formulate a plan on how to go about all of this. But first I think we all need to clear our heads."

"I'll see what shield resources I can get." Nat says.

"No you will not. You are going to rest until you're recovered." Bruce says.

"Bruce has a point. I'll see what I can get from shield. You rest" Tony says.

"fine." Nat gives in with a sigh not having the energy to argue.

With that, the meeting was over as members left to rest up and clear their heads. The only ones who didn't leave were Clint and Nat.

"We'll save him, Clint." Nat says putting her hand on Clint's shoulder trying to be reassuring. "Something tells me that he's still hanging in there. And he's still fighting.." Clint looked over at her, tears picking the corners of his eyes. "We just need to show him he's not fighting alone." Nat finishes. Clint nods.

But neither of them knew how right or wrong she really was.