Chapter Text
Clint and Steve stare. Steve breaks the silence first.
“Bucky. Oh, Bucky… I’m so sorry.”
Bucky – the thing that was Bucky – grins. “Sorry? Why would you be sorry, Steve? I feel good. Stronger. Faster. I’m connected to everything, man. I can hear the worms in the earth. Do you know what they sound like, Steve? What they feel?” His grin widens. “They’re hungry.”
Clint can’t ignore the newly turned vampire in front of them, but he can’t pretend the horde approaching doesn’t exist, either. He plucks an arrow from his quiver and runs to the corridor. “Steve!” he shouts. “The crossbow!”
Steve lifts the crossbow, and Bucky hisses. Clint turns back to see Steve’s first shot go wide. Bucky has dodged, which means Clint has a clean shot.
He shoots, but Bucky’s fast. He moves and the arrow catches him in the shoulder. Bucky snarls at him, and leaps.
Clint ducts instinctively, but the expected impact never comes. Instead, Bucky is hanging from the ceiling, from a vent Clint hadn’t seen. It’s high and slimy, almost hidden among the brickwork.
Bucky hangs from the grate for a second, before pulling it off and flinging it down. He aims at Steve, who jumps clear at the last second. Clint pulls a second arrow, but Bucky is in the vent and gone before he can fire.
“I’m going after him!” Steve shouts.
The vampires are getting closer. Clint ducks around the corner and fires twice in rapid succession. He’s back behind cover before he can see what happened, but the roar of the approaching vampires quiets for a second.
“How?” Clint asks.
Steve looks around the room. He spots a box in the corner and drags it over. Even standing on top of it, his jump doesn’t quite reach the vent.
“Clint! Help me!”
Clint hesitates. He ducks around the corner and fires three more arrows, waiting this time to make sure two are kill shots. The vampires explode and the horde stops, vampires scattering as they rush to hide in side-tunnels.
Clint throws his bow over his head and leaps towards Steve. He grabs the lightweight in his arms, hops onto the box, and jumps.
At the top of his arc, Clint throws Steve. The little guy goes shooting upwards, and for a second Clint’s sure he’s going to fall straight back down, or get caught by Bucky. But Steve manages to scramble a hand into a hold Clint can’t see, and then he’s stable, hanging from his hands, as Clint falls back down to the box.
“Clint!” he shouts.
Clint pulls a glass bottle filled with holy water from his pocket and dashes to the corner. He whips it into the tunnel and hears the glass break. A vampire screams, the high pitched sound of someone in pain, and Clint grins. He runs back to the box and looks – Steve has managed to scramble onto some kind of ledge, and his arms are out, waiting for Clint.
“Jump!” Steve shouts.
Clint launches himself upwards and catches Steve’s outstretched hand. Steve holds him for the quarter-second it takes for Clint to brace himself against the vent walls, legs scissoring out to support himself.
Beneath them, the vampires charge into the room. Steve scrambles backwards and Clint shimmies up, legs braced against the vent as Steve pulls him forward.
The vampires are growling now. Faces appear beneath the vent. Clint remembers the way Bucky leapt, and hurries out of the way. He follows Steve into the side tunnel he’s found, and the two of them move as quickly as they can.
It doesn’t take long to find another grate to the surface, and they’re popping out onto the green of the graveyard before the first vampire reaches them. Clint pushes Steve up and into the open air, and then leaps after him. He throws the grate back down over the tunnel, then waits, bow drawn.
No vampires follow them.
Steve is gasping for air but he’s still on his feet. Clint waits another beat, but nothing happens. The sounds from underground gradually fade away.
It takes him until then to realise the air is warm around them. The sun is up, just peaking over the hills. Clint lowers his bow with a sigh.
“We’re safe for now,” Clint says. He pulls his de-stringer from his pocket and carefully unstrings his bow, packing it away into the case on his back.
Steve is looking around the graveyard, eyes searching the shadows. “I don’t see Bucky anywhere.”
“He probably saw the sunlight and went another way down the tunnel.” Clint hesitates. “Steve – I’m sorry, man.”
Steve doesn’t turn around. His voice is heavy. “So am I.”
*
It takes time to trudge back to the car. Clint drives slowly to the high school, parking in Tony’s usual place. Around them teachers are pulling up, notes in hand. Clint sees a few of them give him and Steve a strange look, but he ignores them. They head to the library.
Fury and Tony are waiting.
“Did you find Bucky?” Tony asks, jumping out of his seat.
Steve kicks an empty trashcan and sends it flying.
“Oh,” Tony says. He sits back down.
“I’m sorry, Tony,” Clint says. He sits beside his friend. “We were too late – they’d already turned him.”
He sees Tony swallow. “He’s a vampire now?”
Clint nods. They both look at Steve, who’s breathing heavily by the upturned garbage can.
“I don’t like vampires,” Steve says. “I’m going to take a stand and say they’re not good.”
They sit in heavy silence for a moment, and then Clint turns to Fury. “You got anything that can make this day better?”
Fury sighs and rubs a hand over his one eye. He looks tired. “Maybe. Stark and I – and JARVIS – combed through the records last night. It seems there was a string of suspicious events here about seventy years ago – murders, a rash of killings, and then an earthquake. We found a few articles that suggest a very old, very powerful vampire came to Sunnydale during that time. He wanted to open the Hellmouth and make a portal from this reality to the next.”
Tony jumps into Fury’s pause. “Only he failed. And not a little, tiny fail – like a big, giant, epic fail. He blew the summonings and trashed the whole town, and the earthquake? That was him, burying himself, his minions, and half of Sunnydale under a shit ton of rock.”
Instead of looking upset at the interruption, Fury nods. “Opening a portal is a tricky business. Chances are he got himself stuck.”
“Like a cork in a bottle,” Tony adds.
“And this Harvest is to get him out?” Steve asks.
Fury taps one of his vampire books. “This is a mystical night, for a vampire mage. The master vampire can draw power from one of his minions while it feeds. If the minion can take enough human blood, the master vampire might have the strength to break himself free.”
“'Unless you can prevent it, the Master walks’,” Clint quotes under his breath.
Fury taps his book. “The minion is called The Vessel. He bears this symbol.”
Clint looks over to where Fury is pointing. The text is open to a page that shows one vampire kneeling before another, a three pointed star on its forehead.
“So, I dust anyone wearing this symbol. Got it. Any clue where this shindig is going down?”
Fury leans back and crosses his arms. “There are a number of possibilities…”
“They’ll go The Bronx.”
Everyone turns to look at Steve. The little guy smiles, a tight lipped expression. “Come on? Tasty young morsels all over the place – who could resist? Besides, that’s where Bucky’ll be.”
Clint stares at him. After a moment, he nods. “If you’re sure.”
“I am.”
“Then we’ll be ready.”
*
They break for a couple of hours to get food and rest. Tony drives himself and Clint home, and Fury promises to make their excuses to Principal Sitwell. It doesn’t look good that Clint is skipping school on his second day of class, but he doesn’t feel like sitting around and letting the world come to an end.
If Sitwell knew, he’d understand.
Tony offers to drive Steve home, but he won’t go. He wants to go to the hospital first, to get some supplies from his mom and say his good-byes. All of them know this is going to be the biggest fight of their lives. Clint is, at least, ready for this – he has the power and the responsibility. Tony and Steve are in this because it’s the right thing to do, and because they want revenge.
Steve’s face has been cold and hard all morning, but Clint knows the reality of Bucky’s new life hasn’t yet sunk in. It probably won’t for a while.
At Tony’s, they sleep. Clint doesn’t think he’d be able to, but as soon as his head hits the pillow he’s out like a light. Tony’s likewise. They both wake around three o’clock, shower, and change. Tony lets Clint borrow some more clothes, and he chooses things he can move in.
Tony’s still in his room when Clint’s ready. He knocks on Tony’s door and finds the other man standing by his dresser, staring at something in his hands
“Tony?” Clint asks.
Tony looks over and gives him a brief smile. “Hey,” he says. It’s enough of an invitation for Clint to walk over.
Tony lifts his palm and shows Clint what he’s been staring at. It’s a thin silver cross, small, like something a woman would wear. It’s suspended on a silver chain.
“It’s beautiful,” Clint says truthfully.
Tony nods, still staring at the cross. “It was my mother’s.”
Clint doesn’t say anything. After a moment Tony undoes the chain and slips the necklace over his head. The cross sits just below his shirt, barely visible.
“What do you think?”
Clint smiles. “I think it looks good. Very badass.”
Tony grins. “Fucking right it is.”
They both sober and take a deep breath.
“So, this is it, huh?” Tony says.
Clint wants to lie, but he can’t. He nods instead. “Yup.”
Unexpectedly, Tony sticks out his hand. “If anything happens to either of us tonight, I just want you to know – I’m glad I met you, Clint.”
Clint stares at Tony. “I’m about to maybe get you killed.”
Tony shrugs. “Sounds like I’d maybe be getting killed tonight no matter what – if you weren’t here, I’d go so far as to say I’d definitely be killed. This isn’t about that. This is about you being pretty cool. I just thought you should know.”
Clint waits a second, but Tony’s obviously not kidding. Clint gives him a shy smile and shakes his hand. “Thank, man. You too.”
“I’m still waiting for that passing mark in geography, by the way,” Tony points out with a grin. “Don’t think a little Armageddon is going to get you out of our arrangement.”
Clint laughs and shoves at Tony’s shoulder. “You are such an asshole.”
Tony shoves him back, and they wrestle for a moment until Clint exerts a little too much force.
“Ow, ow! Uncle!”
Tony gives Clint the keys to the car and tells him to get it running while he does something in the kitchen. When he comes back to the garage, he shrugs at Clint’s questioning look.
“Just a little something for the servants, in case I don’t make. My dad’ll fire them if something happens to me, even if it isn’t their fault. If we survive, I’ll remove the evidence – no big.”
Clint drives them back to the school where they meet up with Fury and Steve. He hopes Steve’s gotten at least a few hours of sleep, but he’s not sure. The little guy is fired with purpose, but there’s a haunted look in his eye. Clint promises himself he’ll keep an eye on him during the fight.
Fury loads them up with weapons and Clint’s already got his bow. They pile into Tony’s car and drive to The Bronx. By the time they arrive, the sun is going down. Clint thinks they’ve beaten the vampires to the bar, but a scream from inside proves him wrong.
Clint runs to the front door, but it’s locked. He gives it a running kick, but it’s a fire door, heavy steel, and something big is blocking it.
“I can’t break it – Tony, you and JARVIS find a back entrance. Steve and Fury, go with him.”
Tony and Steve take off, but Fury pauses to give Clint a look. “Be careful.”
Clint salutes, which makes Fury roll his eyes. Well, eye. He turns and heads after the boys.
Clint surveys The Bronx and spots the window on the second floor. Grinning to himself, he throws his bow over his head and climbs the building to the second floor. The window opens easily, and Clint slips noiselessly in.
It’s crowded inside. Clint can hear frightened murmurs, but it’s overtaken by the roaring of a vampire horde. He creeps to the edge of the steel-wire railing, peering over the edge.
Jason is standing in the centre of the stage, one body already at his feet. Clint recognizes the bouncer from the other night and winces. Poor guy, he probably never had a chance.
“Another!” Jason shouts. He’s got the three pointed star on his forehead. At his side, the brunette in the cat suit is grinning.
Clint looks, but he can’t see Tony or Steve. He reaches behind his shoulder for a quiver, silently fitting an arrow to his string. On the stage, one of the lackey vampires strides forward, a human boy in his grip.
“Here’s a pretty one!”
Clint can see from this angle that it’s Bruce. The kid’s eyes are wide and terrified, but his shoulders are set. Clint draws back on his bow.
Something behind him crashes. Clint resists the urge to look behind him, firing the arrow at the centre of Jason’s chest. It’s too late – the vampire looks up at the crash. In a blur of movement too fast to follow, he grabs a lackey vampire and throws him in the path of the arrow.
The wooden head pierces the vampire’s chest, and he bursts into ash.
Clint turns around, hand already reaching for another arrow. There’s a vampire on the balcony with him, and it takes him a second to recognize Bucky’s distorted face.
“Clint,” he says, with a smile. “I’m so glad we got the chance to meet again.”
Clint doesn’t give him the satisfaction of responding, just fires the arrow at Bucky’s heart. The vampire dodges it with superhuman speed, and then he’s roaring and running at Clint.
Clint jumps backwards to perch on the steel railing, then back-flips off the second story to land on a pool table below.
“I’m sorry – am I interrupting?”
“Get him!” Jason roars.
Clint reaches for his quiver and starts to fire. He kills four vampires in rapid succession before the horde gets too close. Clint abandons his bow to go for his knife.
People are screaming; the terrified residents of Sunnydale scatter. The Bronx is a mass of moving bodies, but Clint spares a second to search for his friends. In the medley, he can see Stark and Fury, each wielding stakes. Steve is no where to be found.
Clint curses himself for losing Steve, but he doesn’t have long to worry before Jason is on him with a roar. The giant vampire comes at him swinging, and Clint leaps over him, landing on the stage.
“Alright, big boy – you want blood? Come get some.”
“Yours,” Jason grins. “Only yours.”
He lunges, and Clint dodges the hit. He knows by now how Jason moves – the big vampire is strong and liquid quick, but he’s jacked up on power and overconfident. Clint concentrates on dodging, luring Jason away from the crowd. It’s thinning now, as people escape the building, but it’s still too crowded for Clint to move freely.
In the shadows, Clint can see Fury struggling with the vampire in the cat suit. She hisses at him and he lunges at her, but she’s too fast. She goes for his neck, but then leaps back, roaring. A large burn appears on her face, and Clint can see Tony there, holding a bottle filled with holy water.
Jason hits him in the stomach, and Clint abruptly realizes he’s gotten distracted from his own fight. He staggers but manages to keep his feet. In a superhuman flash, Jason is there – right in front of him. Clint tries to go for his heart with the wooden knife, but Jason catches him in a bear hug and starts crushing the life out of him.
Clint struggles, but it’s in vain. He can’t break free. On the second floor, he finally catches a glimpse of Steve – the little guy’s got Bucky cornered upstairs. It looks like Steve is trying to talk to him, but Bucky’s laughing in his face. Steve’s jaw clenches, and then he pulls out his stake.
Clint wants to watch more, but Jason forces his head to the side. He bends down, and takes a long inhale of Clint’s scent.
“Master,” Jason says, “taste of this and be free!”
Clint whips his head forwards into Jason’s face. The old vampire cries out in pain. His grip looses, and Clint struggles free. He stabs Jason in the stomach with the wooden knife, and the vampire buckles.
It’s not a kill shot, but it obviously hurts like hell.
“How’d it taste?” Clint mocks.
Jason growls and jumps for him. Clint dodges his attack, and the power of Jason’s stride pushes him past Clint. He stumbles to a halt a few steps away. If far enough that Clint has time to grab his bow from around his neck and fit an arrow to the string.
“Shows over,” Clint says. He fires.
Jason screams, but he doesn’t have time to dodge. Clint doesn’t miss. The arrow pierces the vampire’s heart. Jason takes one, shaking step, and then he falls forward onto his face. Before he can hit the ground, he explodes.
Clint wants to drop his guard and collapse, but he can’t. He fits another arrow and looks to the second floor. Bucky is gone, but Steve is at the window, looking out. It’s obvious by the tension in his shoulders that Bucky is still alive, and has gotten away.
There are other vampires, though, and Clint takes out three before they cotton on to the fact that Jason is dead. They start running, and Clint chases them to the door of the bar. He sees the brunette in the cat suit dart behind a car and get away, still clutching at her face, but he takes out the other stragglers he can see.
“That’s right!” Clint shouts at the retreating horde, no longer able to tell who’s a vampire and who’s a victim still fleeing the scene. “You run! Tell the Master, there’s a new Slayer in town!”
Finally, The Bronx is quiet. Clint relaxes his bow and staggers. Tony's there to catch him.
“Wow,” the genius says. He lowers Clint to the floor, and follows him down. He sounds exhausted. “That was monumentally un-cool. But, hey,” he lifts a hand and waggles it in front of Clint’s face. “We survived! High-five!”
Clint grins, but gives lifts his hand and connects. He sprawls on Tony’s lap as Fury and Steve both limp into view. Steve looks sad, angry, and pissed all at once. His tiny shoulders are shaking.
“Bucky got away,” he says. Tony makes a sad noise and lifts his arm, the one not currently holding Clint in place. Steve resists for a quarter-second, then visibly gives in. His shoulders slump and he falls forward, catching himself on Tony’s hand and collapsing into his side. Clint throws an arm around him, and the three of them sit on the sticky floor of the Bronx, catching their breath.
“That’s disgusting,” Fury says with a smile in his voice. “Teenagers have spilled drinks on this floor.”
Clint flips him the bird, and Tony grins. Steve starts to laugh, but it turns into a sob. The other two comfort him, even when he starts to cry. Fury sits on the nearest chair and watches the door with his one eye, giving them space.
They stay that way for a long time.
Epilogue
School the next day is surreal. Students are going about their business, griping about classes, and the fight at The Bronx isn’t even the biggest news of the day. The story has circulated that it was rival gangs, and no one who knows better is talking.
Tony watches it all with jaw-dropping disbelief.
Clint grins at him. “Well, what were you expecting?”
“I don’t know!” Tony throws up his hands. “The dead rose! I was thinking we’d at least have an assembly.”
“People rationalize what they can’t understand,” Fury rumbles. He’s standing behind them on the school steps, watching the crowds ebb and flow. “They forget what they can’t.”
“Well I’m not going to forget,” Steve says. His little face is tight.
“Me neither,” Tony says. He throws an arm around Clint and another around Steve. “Next time, we’ll be more prepared.”
Fury cocks an eyebrow. “Next time?”
Tony throws him a grin. “Sure! We stopped the Master from freeing himself and opening a portal to hell, but my money’s on him trying again. I’d say this is just beginning.”
Clint groans and rolls his shoulders. He thinks for a moment of Canada, of Montreal. “More vampires?”
Fury can obviously see him thinking, because he grins. “Vampires, witches, mummies, demons – the world is bigger and scarier than you’ve ever believed. Sunnydale stands at the centre of a mystical convergence. We may be the last defence between earth and total destruction.”
Clint thinks about it. He looks at Tony and Steve, and then back at Fury. He gives the watcher a sideways grin. “Guess I’m sticking around.”
“Sticking around?” Tony exclaims. “Of course you are! I’ve finally got a housemate – I’m not giving that up!”
Steve gives them both a small smile. “I’ve got people I care about here. I’m not leaving.”
Clint grins at them both, before he groans. “Aw, shit. If I’m staying, I’ll have to finish high school.”
“It’s not that bad,” Steve says. “I’ll help you study for history.”
“History you can have,” Tony bargains, “but I’m keeping him for geography.”
“I’ll take geography if I can give up English. English is the devil.”
“It’s kind of an important subject, Clint.”
“I can speak it, isn’t that good enough for anyone around here?”
“It’s not good enough for your SATs.”
Clint shudders. “SATs. Ugh. Give me vampires any day.”
They turn and head up the steps to the school. Fury watches them go, and Clint doesn’t have to look back to know that he’s smiling.
“The earth is doomed,” he hears Fury say.
Clint grins.