Chapter Text
“Where’s Pietro?” Natasha asks the bunch of people running around the living room. Steve stops in his tracks and looks around the room. Everyone’s been quite busy with Victoria so no one noticed the missing speedster. He shoots a glance Wanda, who’s been sitting on the grand sofa.
“Miss Maximoff, where is your brother?” he asks with his Captain voice. Natasha shoots him a warning glare. “Wanda, where did he go?” His raised voice draws everyone’s attention. It’s not every day that you get to see Captain America like this.
“I’m sorry, Steve.” She mumbles. Suddenly, Natasha is kneeling beside her.
“Wanda. Read me. We want to find her. What do you know about Victoria? We just want to get her back to her parents, please, help us.” His blue eyes are piercing right through her soul. She reaches quickly to her brother. They’re both gone. She can tell them now.
“He went to Barton’s. To tell her.” Steve suddenly grew pale. “She has the right to now, Captain. I know that you agree with me.”
“But it’s not up to us to decide. It wasn’t your call Wanda. It’s not your family.” his words hurt her more than she would ever admit. Steve realizes what he said and starts to apologize, but she cuts him off.
“You’re right, Captain. I’m sorry. But I think that you should go tell Hawkeye, Sir.”
Steve stands up and nods with one last sad half smile. He pulls out a flip phone (yes, Captain America has a flip phone, smarts phone were a bit too complicated for him) and dials Clint’s number. He answers in the middle of the first ring.
“Have you found her?” he bursts out. Steve feels sorry for him. “Where is she, Steve? Is she alright?”
“I’m sorry, Barton.” A sharp exhale is heard over the phone. “And there’s something you should know. The boy went to tell Laura.”
“Crap. I’ll take the Quinjet and go talk to her. Can you keep searching? I will be back within two hours.” He doesn’t wait for the Captain’s answer and he hangs up.
He’s in the field but he quickly finds a Quinjet and tells the pilot to get out. He was in hella lot of trouble without a SHIELD pilot standing by. He enters se address into the jet’s autopilot and sits down for a bit, his head in his hands.
“How am I supposed to deal with all this shit, Pietro. You’re really not helping me….”
It takes the Quinjet less than fifty minutes to get to the farm and when it lands, Clint gets off quickly. It’s almost dawn, so everyone is sleeping. There’s one light in the living room that they always keep on in case one of the kids gets thirsty or something. It also lets anyone who’d think of robbing them know, that they’re at home.
As he approaches the house, he hears a weak cry. He runs into the house and up the stairs quickly, to get Nathaniel before he wakes Laura. He will have to wake her in five minutes anyways, put it doesn’t have to be her crying baby.
When he reaches the upper hall with all the doors into the rooms, he freezes. There’s no way Laura would be sleeping if she knew about Victoria. He pulls out his bow and unfolds it with one swift movement. Within a second there’re three arrows aimed ahead of him. He goes for little Nat’s room but checks on Lila and Coop on the way. They’re both sound asleep and breathing. One thing less to worry about.
He makes his way to the freshly painted blue door with white clouds and black spiders all over it. He opens the door, his weapon at point. The sight in the room knocks the wind out of his chest. Of course he’s seen worse, much worse, over all those years, but he’s never though he’d find this bloody mess in his infant’s room. He steps over the woman’s open chest and picks his little boy up. Covering his eyes, he walks out of the room and closes and locks the door behind him, hiding the key in his pocket.
He walks quickly into his bedroom, only to find it empty, the bed moved. He gets closer and sees the empty space beneath the trap door. He’s never noticed it before. Really carefully, so he wouldn’t upset little Nat even more, he bends down and looks closely at the empty sac. Three old guns. He walks over to check his office, only to find a few guns missing.
“What have they done to you, Laura?” If they hurt her, he’s going to hurt them back. And it’s going to be much worse. And Tasha would gladly help.
You can’t lose it now, Barton. Your family needs you.
He wakes up Cooper with the best smile he can manage and sends him to get his sister, while he packs some things for the kids. There’s no way they’re staying in the farm now. It’s not secured anymore. He should have allowed Stark to set the SI security system.
“Dad…” Cooper walks in holding Lila’s hand. They both have backpack over their shoulder. “We’re ready. Where’s ma’?”
“She’ll meet us later. Torrie as well. Now we have to get you all to the Tower. Auntie Tasha can’t wait to see you and Maria complains all the time, that she hasn’t seen Nathaniel yet…” Clint fling emergency bag he keeps under the sink over his shoulder and grabs Lila’s tiny hand in his big scarred one. One day she’s going to ask her dad, where did all those ugly scars come from. Where Victoria reached that phase when she was six. Cooper just skipped it. They both grew up way to fast. He promised he’ll get out after Ultron, but he decided to stay a little longer for the twins and Tasha. She didn’t take very well the Banner thing. They’ve had…a problem ever since he got back.
“Can we play with Stevie’s shield?” Lila hangs on his on his hand, so he carries her out like a monkey. He doesn’t bother with locking the door. His sending in a SHIELD team anyway. He puts the kids and the bags in the jet and runs back to the car to get the car seats.
It’s remarkable how he manages to carry the infant around with the bags over his shoulder and Lila on his hand and then the three car seats while keeping his hand near his gun. He hates to put the bow away, but there’s no way he’s walking around his kids with a bow and arrow.
He closes the door, locks it and secures it, before he turns to his kids and starts taking care of their car seats. Cooper’s a big boy but his mother would kill the marksman if he flew him in a jet without the car seat. It takes Clint over five minutes to get the kids, Nat first, all in the car seats. Lila falls asleep immediately and Nat sucks on his thumb. Cooper sits with his How-Is-It-Made books.
After the kids are all secured in the seats, turns the autopilot on.
“Da-ad?” Cooper calls from his seat. He’s put his book down and looks at his father seriously as he kneels down to him. “Where is momma?”
“She’s fine, birdie. She just has to take care of something.” A little white lie to protect his eight year old son. “She will meet you guys in the Tower in a bit.”
“You’re leavin’ us?” Cooper folds his hands in his lap.
“Yes, I need to go and help your momma, but Maria will keep an eye on you and if you behave, she might take you to the gym or to the labs. I’m pretty sure that if you ask Darcy nicely, she’ll show you the new toys that the science bros got.”
Clint gives his dad a broad smile and goes back to his book.
The boy grew up way too fast….