Chapter Text
If FBI didn't do a check up on him that day, Clint probably not going to realize something awfully wrong had happened.
“Alright!” Some nameless agent shouted, the guy started packing away the scanner he just used to read data on Clint's ankle. “Done for the day mister Barton.” He turned to nod at his companions.
“You guys sure you don't wanna stay for lunch?” Clint offered, knowing too well these guys couldn't really do that.
Well, he had tried. It got lonely after sometimes.
The young man looked convinced, new guy huh, his face brightened up a little but quickly died away when another female agent shook her head at him.
“That would have been nice mister.” the guy managed to sigh and make out his apology when it wasn't necessary “But eh, you know we can't.”
“Yeah, no biggies.” Said Clint, totally understanding “Well, guess I'll see you guy later then.”
So he walked them to their cars like a good host he was, Nat would have been so proud of him.
Clint was standing at his front porch, waving a goodbye after black vans that starting to getting small and smaller from his perception.
Then it happened.
When the screech from the front car reached his ears, he took off running toward the direction without any second thought. Horrified look appeared on his face when the first car abruptly stopped in the middle of the road.
Then the following car rammed right into it. Smoke started coming out of the cars.
But no one got out of it. No sign of life from where he was looking.
“Fuck!” He gritted his teeth as a small device on his body started giving out a beep and turning orange, a warning that he was so close to the edge of where he should be and where he shouldn't.
But it was still too far from the car. Meters from it.
“Oh, fuck it.” Clint ignored the noise and finally closing the gap between him and the crash.
He went for the door handle and pulled it open.
Either he was hallucinating or FBI just pulled an A+ David Copperfield's disappearing trick on him, Clint was confused.
There wasn't a single soul in here. Nothing but some dirt and dust floating in the car before it started settling in.
He didn't waste too much time being confused and ran to the other car. Expecting to find someone who could explain what the hell was going on.
And again he found nothing. Only an alarm coming from where he remembered the scanner was being kept. Corresponding to his ankle monitor, blinking red and still beeping.
What. The. Fuck.
He was in the open space, nowhere these guys could hide. There was no such thing as trapdoors or secret exit in these FBI issued vehicles for what he knew.
He turned his attention back to the beeping red light and he looked around, deep frown on his face.
No one came for him, no black cars, no sirens, no helicopters, no agents armed to take him down in seconds. Like they had promised him it would happened when he crossed the line.
Now the silence was a torture. Now he hoped they would come for him.
Clint decided to head back home, nimble fingers turned on the TV. Sleek black phone in his hand.
‘THE WORLD IN CHAOS, PEOPLE SUDDENLY DISAPPEARED’ Said the headline.
“-and now we continue to receive the news that people around the world start disappearing in some form of dust. Many videos capturing the moment have been uploaded on the internet and it's going viral within minutes.”
Clint was watching the screen in disbelief as it showed men and women, even small kids or their pets cracked and crumbled into a pile of dust. People screaming and grieving for the one they had lost could be heard easily over the speaker.
“No… oh god.” He covered his own mouth, a bile threaten to burst out of his lips. He pierced the puzzles within a second.
In the crash cars, those dirty dust in them were actually people. They were gone, all of them.
“People are starting to riot on whatever or not this is some type of random terrorizing attack while the government still remains silent, refusing to give any detail…” The female reporter gasped loudly “Shit.”
“Josh!” She shouted a name. Probably belonged to some guy behind the camera.
She froze, unblinking, mouth stayed open like a dead fish. Like the screen was pause, only thing that let Clint knew it was a live news was the clock that moved in sync with his own.
It didn't take a smart guy to figure out what was happening.
But hell Clint was afraid to voice it out or even imagine what was going on on the other side of the camera.
For a minute she started to blink, eyes glassy with tears. Her body shook like a ragdoll controlled by shaking hands. The reporter finally looked back at the camera, eyes widened like she was going insane.
“To god or whoever knows what is going on.” She whispered like she was praying “Please save us.”
The broadcast got cut into drastic signal.
Giving off bzzz bzzzz …. and then bzzz some more.
Clint always prided himself for having steady hands no matter the situation.
But this time he realized it had shook him to his core when he had trouble dialing Kate's number with quivering fingers.
“Come on Katie-Kate.” He mumbled impatiently “Pick the fuck up.”
His heart dropped when it went into her voicemail.
“Hey, Kate. I hope you're ok.” His breathing became ragged “I- You- um, please call me back ok?”
“Please.” He pleaded one last time before he hung up.
Barney...
Oh god, no matter how much they said they would be better off seeing the other dead. Barney was his only blood family he got.
He had no way from contracting him but he trust his brother's judgement to call the number Clint gave him before they had part ways.
The coolness of his communicator felt like a dead weight and it burnt his skins like he was holding blue flame.
Who else should I call? Will they still be there?
He actually didn't want to risk giving away their position just in case someone still kept an eye on him but up to this point Clint couldn't care less.
He decided to call Nat.
For quite sometimes that felt like an hour of listening to the ringing noise, she picked up.
“Clint!” She said, breathless like she was running to get her phone “Are you OK? Are you at your farm? I'll pick you up in an hour.”
“Clint, I'm so sorry. I'm sorry. We lost.”
Their role had be reversed, Nat was the one who keep talking, asking for his whereabouts and whenever or not he was ok. Clint was the one who keep listening in silence, processing information that was dropped on him.
Natasha kept rambling on about the mad Titan Thanos from who the fuck knew where he was. His glorious quest with the infinity stones ‘gotta catch em all’. Tony was last seen from the outer space. Thor and Bruce came back from an alien planet. And finally about Steve's reunion with Bucky.
And there they were, losing together, both the battles and their people.
Actually, no. Not together and Clint couldn't imagine anything she said actually happening at all.
“Clint…Clint?” Nat finally stopped her talk and asked him once again. “Are you still there?”
The sound of uncertainty really bled though the line.
He hung up.
Yeah, stupid and so simple. He didn't even question himself when he pulled out his go bag from under the sofa.
Part of him yelled at him from doing that, told him he should wait for Nat to come. Together with her to the HQ to meet his friends.
Nat was there, she was safe. Just strayed with her.
Smart voice and smart choice, and they always lost.
He suddenly had the feeling of having to move out, either like he was chased by enemies or like he was moving from one foster home to a new one.
He felt like he needed quite sometimes to process the event, times away from everything.
Surely this was million times worse than a pandemic. Someone just decided they could play god and started removing lives from the earth surface.
The last time that happened ended with Clint having a panic attack and paranoid when he saw anything glowy and blue.
His phone rang, he actually paused to look on the screen.
It was Barney's.
“Barney?” He answered half-heartedly, mentally prepared himself for what was coming.
“No, Clint.” Came a shaking female voice “This is Simone.”
“Simone…” She was with Barney when he last saw them.
There was only one reason why Simone called him and not Barney himself.
“Oh god.” She was sobbing right now “Clint, they are all gone.”
“Barney and the kids… my kids Clint … what happened?”
“Simone, I'm so sorry.” He really was “There was a threat from an alien.” Clint made sure he was using small and simple words so he didn't confuse the poor lady “Must have been some kind of magic. The Avengers tried to stop him… they've tried.”
“Oh, oh god.” She kept whispering like a broken record “Why?”
Why her? Why Barney and her kids couldn't make it? Why Thanos did that? Why did the Avengers lose?
To be honest Clint didn't know either.
“Listen to me Simone.” He tried “Are you at somewhere safe? Do you have any place to stay? Do you have enough supplies to stay by yourself... for a month maybe?”
“I-” He heard shuffling sound like she was getting up and walking around, after quite sometimes she answered “Yeah, I think I do.”
“Good.” He said “That's good, you have to stay right there. Keep checking the news if you can, it might be safer for you if you don't go out.”
“OK…”
Clint was too sure with himself on what to do next “If there's emergency you can call this number, also text me your location after the call. Stay safe OK?”
“OK, good bye.” She was still sobbing but she was the one who had the courage to hang up first.
So after that he left, the tracking monitor laying on the floor. Welcoming spies and shadows businesses hopefully for the last time.