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Clint’s heart leapt into this throat and lodged itself there as he watched Bucky plummet over four hundred feet with no sign that someone was going to be able to intercept him. He went blind and deaf to everything else going on around him and sprinted towards where Bucky would land, as if he had a chance in hell in getting there in time, or catching him even if he did.
It could only have been seconds, but time seemed to stretch out, each one lasting an eternity. Clint was mentally screaming for Bucky to wake up as he fell, so he could maybe tuck and roll and have some supersoldier luck and be able to walk off the fall.
Instead his limp body hurtled towards the concrete, a dead weight. If he’d been awake there would have been flailing and twisting, some kind of movement. It was eerie how still his body looked while it fell through the air.
There was a sickening sound as Bucky collided with the ground that broke through the white noise drowning everything else out. He’d landed on his neck and ended in an inelegant sprawl, body twisted, contorted in ways unbroken bones couldn’t. Clint fell to his knees, hands hovering above Bucky’s battered and bleeding body, unsure if there was anywhere he could touch without causing more damage.
He felt weak with relief when he saw that Bucky was breathing. It was shallow and slow, but it was regular and the only indication that he was alive.
He wasn’t alone for long; Sam shouldered him out of the way, wing pack knocking painfully but Clint made no complaint. He just moved out of the way, standing to the side, and stared as he carefully maneuvered the body on the ground into a more natural positon. Clint had no idea what was going on with the fight and he didn’t care, his entire world was crumpled in front of him and he didn’t know what to do.
Natasha appeared at his elbow and he turned wide eyes on her. “What happened?”
“They hit him with some sort of ray gun. Knocked him unconscious.” He didn’t ask how she knew, if she had been up there and seen it first hand. If she said it, he trusted it was true.
“Do you think?” He couldn’t finish the question, but she always understood him.
“He’ll heal up.” He suspected the confidence in her voice was bravado, but he wasn’t going to call her on it. He needed her confidence.
Medics were rushing in and he allowed himself to be shunted further to the side, Nat moving easily with him. He turned questioning eyes on her and she explained, “Tony took out the guy with the gun as soon as he hit him, and Steve decimated the guy in charge. The rest fled when the leader was taken out.”
And that explained why the medics were there; they usually weren’t able to be on the scene until the battle had died down. Scene safety or whatever.
“Sir, don’t try to move,” Clint heard one of the medics state firmly. He wasn’t seeing any movement that wasn’t from the bodies surrounding Bucky, but he must have opened his eyes, right? Why else would they be talking to him.
Time was being weird again, moving in stuttering surges. Another medic appeared with a board, and then with his next blink Bucky’s gurney was being raised. Another blink and the gurney was being loaded into the back of an ambulance and Clint started forward.
Natasha caught his arm and shook her head. “We’ll meet him there,” she promised as Sam strode toward them.
“What’s the verdict, doc?” Clint asked.
“He’s awake, but he said he couldn’t feel his body, which is not a good sign.”
“Oh my god.”
“I’ll have Tony contact Dr. Cho, get her in early, see if she can help. Nerve damage is tricky, I don’t know…” Sam trailed off, then shrugged. “We just can’t know how his serum is going to deal with it.”
“Oh fuck,” whispered out of him as his hand spasmed around Natasha’s wrist. He hadn’t even realized he’d grabbed at her for support.
“Think positively Clint. He woke up, regular folk wouldn't have even done that. It’s a good sign.” Clint couldn’t speak, horror stealing his voice. “It’s a good sign,” Sam repeated firmly.
***
The air in the waiting room was tense and heavy, all of them on edge as they waited for news. Steve had forbidden everyone from crowding into the waiting room, so aside from him it was just Tony, Natasha and Clint slowly wilting as the hours crept past.
Natasha briefly ducked out of the room about three hours into the wait and returned with coffee. Tony made another coffee run two hours after that.
Clint dimly registered when Tony fell asleep, head lolling as he slumped lower and lower against Steve’s side. He stared into the empty coffee cup still clenched between his hands and startled violently when Natasha’s hand slid into view with a fresh one.
He was starting to feel jittery, but he exchanged cups with her and sipped at the new one. It was hot enough to nearly scald the inside of his mouth, but did nothing to lessen the cold knot of fear radiating out of his chest. He took another large swallow, wanting to feel something, anything instead of the numb dread that had settled into his bones.
***
Clint lost track of time. His eyes burned with exhaustion, but he was too keyed up to nod off. When he bothered to check, Steve looked just as alert as he did, and Tony had rallied after his nap and was messing around on his tablet. Natasha appeared to be napping on across two chairs that didn’t have a armrest divider, but she was the first one to pop up when the door opened.
“Dr Cho! What— Is— How?” Steve couldn’t seem to form a coherent question but Clint couldn’t form any words.
Dr. Cho surveyed the four superheroes crowding around her, desperate for answers, and gestured for them to sit down as she dragged a chair closer. She sank into it gingerly, clearly exhausted.
“Firstly, Bucky is very lucky to be alive. It is a medical miracle that he survived with the way he landed, super soldier serum or not. His spinal cord was severed completely in one place, and additional damage occurred further up. There is no way to know, at this time, what recovery, if any, he may have.”
“How bad is it?” It was Tony, always eager to get to the punch. Clint wasn’t sure he was ready to take the hit, but he leaned in for the answer.
“The serum enhances the healing processes by speeding up what the body is already capable of. Unfortunately, adults do not regenerate nerve cells; so unless the serum manages to bypass that fact and initiate regeneration of the nerve tissue, there is no healing process happening for the serum to enhance.”
“What does that mean?” Steve interjected as she paused.
“We have some additional experimental therapies that I would like to try that we were not set up for at this facility,” she began but Clint cut her off.
“What does it mean if that doesn’t work. How bad is it?”
Natasha laid a gentle hand on his knee, and he fought to control himself. Dr. Cho was the messenger, she hadn’t caused whatever she was dancing around saying, and she did not deserve to be yelled at.
“Currently, Bucky is looking at life a a paraplegic.”