Duyên || Clint Barton

043 || mirror image

•••

"Grace! Natasha!"
Clint's shouting seemed to jolt me from the darkness, awareness slowly filtering back in. I was in water, weightless.
"Oh thank fuck - GRACE!"
Sputtering, I shout upwards, arms flailing wildly. Clint was stood above me, eyes wide and disturbed.
"We're okay, just wait there til I find Natasha"
Watching him wade away, I blinked heavily, trying to piece together what just happened. A heavy weight in my hand seemed to pull my attention, my grip opening to reveal a shining orange stone.
"Bastard had a soul after all"
Clint shouting Nat's name caught my attention, watching as he helped her up from the water.
"What happened?" She demanded, eyes looking around wildly, searching for a threat.
"It worked" I said quietly.
"What"
I jumped up, holding the stone above my head triumphantly, "It fucking worked!"
I could visibly see the relief sweep through both of them, laughing in amazement as they rushed towards me, all three of us crushing each other in a group hug.
"Let's get home" Natasha said, grinning ear to ear as she pressed an enthusiastic kiss to each of our foreheads.

•••

The metallic clang of the machine let me know we had made it.
"We did it!" Tony cheered, the rest joining in in celebration.
Rocket scampered over, holding his hand out expectantly.
"As promised" I smiled, taking the Benetar out from Clint's pocket and dropping it into his paw(?). He grinned at me, saluting, before running over to the snacks table.
Steve was beaming from ear to ear, coming over and gathering Nat and I in a big hug.
"I knew we could do it" he cheered, voice the happiest I had heard in years, "I knew it"
"Never doubted it for a second"

Tony was quick to start on reassembling the gauntlet, this time using one of the iron man gloves with the nanobite technology.
I watched from the corner of the room, sat on Clint's lap next to Thor.
"It is almost time" Thor stated, his tone excited, "It won't be long until those who were snapped have been returned"
I just nodded, a smile on my face as I played absentmindedly with Clint's fingers, for once feeling completely content in the moment.
"Then we can work on fixing everything" Clint murmured, pressing a kiss to the back of my shoulder. The double meaning didn't escape me, my smile only widening because of it.
"Yes. yes we can"
"We will rejoice amongst the returned" he added, before walking back to the kitchen, probably in search for some more pringles.
Natasha eventually joined us, her eyes never straying from Bruce.
"You should talk to him if you haven't already"
"I- what?"
Clint snickered, resting his head on my shoulder so he could see her, a teasing tone to his voice, "You could have a celebratory dinner together, who knows what could be for desert-"
He broke off in laughter as Natasha whacked him around the back of the head, an embarrassed smile threatening to make itself known on her face.
"Shut up" she hissed, eyes flaring dangerously.
"You know we're just teasing" I mused, pulling her into a hug, "we just want you to be happy"
"I know, I know"
"I'm just going to check on Nebula, and bring her back for the snap" I said, breaking the hug.
Natasha nodded, pressing a kiss to my cheek before pointing down the hallway, "I think she went back there"
"Great"
Hopping off Clint's lap, I have him a quick kiss before making my way out of the room.

•••

"Hey Nebs, is everything okay? Since you came back you've been ..." I trailed off, looking wide eyed at the girl fiddling with the machine dials, "what are you doing"
She sighed, whipping around to face me. Her eyes were cold, not an ounce of recognition in them at all.
"You're not Nebula"
"Impressive" the imposter hummed, looking at me as if I were merely an inconvenience, "but you bore me. I have a job to do so if you would move out of the way"
Sneering, I dropped into a defensive position, about to shout for help when a tasering disc hit the side of my neck, locking my joints up until I was ramrod straight.
The imposter just sighed again, grabbing my leg and pulling me over to the maintenance room, shoving me in and locking the door.
"I would've killed you" she stated coldly, "but I don't have time to clean up the blood"