sunset. [wanda maximoff]

3.5

"You know when I didn't believe you about how he might be too far gone? Yeah this is more terrifying that I thought," Scottie muttered as her and Natasha stepped over body after body as they headed to where Clint was about to finish off the Japanese man who was begging for his life minutes earlier.

"Shut up," Natasha muttered, the seriousness in her voice making Scottie remember the situation they were in. Her hand rested lightly on the gun tucked against the back of her bulletproof vest as the duo moved through the rain to stand metres away from Clint's back.

Scottie listened to the heavy rain as she shut her eyes for a moment, reminding herself that if she did have to use the gun to protect herself from Clint if he was just that far gone, she would never be able to kill the man. She was probably a liability on Natasha if this didn't turn out the way they had planned it to - which Scottie was worried was likely after seeing the street turn red from the rain water washing the blood towards the street drains.

"You shouldn't be here," Clint suddenly spoke in English, having wiped the blood of the now dead Japanese man off his sword by using his sleeve. He had pulled the mask from his head before he spoke, making it obvious to Scottie that he for some reason had cut his hair into a mohawk. Scottie squinted slightly at it, not liking the look before Natasha's voice brought her back to the matter at hand.

"Neither should you."

As Clint slowly turned around to look at the duo with despair in his eyes, Scottie noticed his eyes flicker slightly at seeing her standing there. It was in that exact moment she realised why Natasha was so insistent on bringing her along - Clint had never had the chance to be told that she was alive. She had reappeared at the start of the battle with Thanos, and he had left before anyone had been able to contact him after the snap. Natasha was hoping that seeing Scottie alive and older would convince Clint that there was some hope left.

"I've got a job to do," Clint said, keeping his voice monotone as he tried not to let the reappearance of his old friend get to him. He didn't want Natasha and Scottie to get in the way of his new life.

"Is that what you're calling this? Killing all these people isn't gonna bring your family back," Natasha told him matter-of-factly. Scottie knew she was right, and the slight tears in his eyes as he looked angrily at them told Scottie that he did too. It had been so long since she had seen the man but she knew instantly from the look in his eyes that the same old Clint was still in there under this hardened exterior.

They both moved towards the man in sync, Natasha hogging most of the umbrella as the rain started to hit Scottie. She ignored it, knowing that a little bit of rain was the least important thing about this entire exchange. Clint tried not to look either of them in the eyes as he watched them move closer, knowing there was a reason that they had come for him after all this time.

"We found something," Natasha started, looking to Scottie for backup.

"A chance, maybe..." Scottie continued, pausing as she noticed the fresh tears now rolling down Clint's face. She had almost mistook it for rain but as they'd gotten within a foot of the man she saw them pouring freely from his eyes the way hers were from hers. She hadn't expected this exchange to hurt so much.

"Don't..."

Clint turned his head away, the word falling from his lips like a plea. He almost sounded just like the man he had murdered minutes ago when he had begged for the man to not kill him - but Scottie didn't care for the other man the way she cared about Clint. Her heart was scrunching up and dying from the break in his voice when he asked them to stop.

"Don't what?"

"...don't give me hope."

There was a pause as Natasha's face twitched, trying to find the right words to say. Scottie could see the distress on her face that she was also trying to hide and the girl had to remind herself that these two had spent all their lives being taught how to mask their emotion from everyone - everyone but seemingly each other.