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Ronin

Chapter 11: Vormir

Summary: Clint finds out the price to get you back.

Notes: I think it goes without saying that there will be helluva lotta angst and pain in this chapter. At least towards the end.

Scott Lang stood in his new suit near the back of the Avengers’ compound with Nebula on one side and Hulk/Banner on his other. Rhodey came strolling in.

“Time travel suit? Not bad.”

Banner - who had now merged his consciousness with the Hulk’s body - began to place a small tube filled with red liquid into a compartment on Scott’s hip. Scott immediately pushed Banner’s hand away.

“Hey, hey, Hey! Easy! Easy!”

“I’m being very careful,” Bruce responded quietly.

“No, you’re being very Hulky.”

“I’m being careful!”

“These are Pym Particles, all right?” Scott held the tube up in front of his face. “And ever since Hank Pym got snapped out of existence, this is it. This is what we have. We’re not making any more.”

Rhodey spoke softly and gestured with his hands, “Scott, calm down.”

Scott sighed. “Sorry. We’ve got enough for one round-trip each. That’s it. No do-overs” A short pause. “Plus, two test runs.”

He placed the tube in his suit and was immediately shrunk down before returning to normal size, yelping all the while.

The visor of his mask dissolved. “One test run.”

Rhodey sighed.

“All right. I’m not ready for this.”

“I’m game.”

Rhodey turned to see Clint leaning against the doorway in a grey muscle shirt, showing off his finished tattoo tribute to you.

“I’ll do it,” Clint stated again.

In no time they had Clint suited up similar to Scott and Nebula began programming his suit while Banner spoke to him.

“Clint, now you’re gonna feel a little discombobulated from the chronoshift. Don’t worry about that.” He nodded to Banner’s words.

Rhodey spoke up, “wait a second. Let me ask you something. If we can do this, you know….go back in time, why don’t we just find baby Thanos? You know, and….”

He then made the gesture of using a rope to strangle.

“First of all, that’s horrible.”

“It’s Thanos!”

“And secondly, time doesn’t work that way. Changing the past doesn’t change your future.”

Scott chimed in. “Look, we go back, we get the stones before Thanos gets them… Thanos doesn’t have the stones. Problem solved.”

“Bingo,” Clint muttered.

“That’s not how it works,” Nebula growled.

“Well, that’s what I heard.” He continued.

Banner turned to face Clint. “Wait, but who? Who told you that?”

Rhodey lifted up a hand and began counting off. “Star Trek, Terminator, Timecop, Time After Time.”

“Quantum Leap,” Scott added.

Rhodey kept going, “Wrinkle in Time, Somewhere in Time.”

“Hot Tub Time Machine.”

“Hot Tub Time Machine!” Rhodey repeated. “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Aventure. Basically any more that deals with time travel.”

“Die hard!” Scott paused, “no, that’s not one.”

“This is known!”

Banner threw his arms to the side in exasperation. “I don’t know why everyone believes that, but that isn’t true! Think about it. If you travel to the past, that past becomes your future. And your former present becomes the past! Which now can’t be changed by your new future.”

“Exactly,” Nebula looked over these men, wondering what she had gotten herself into joining them.

Scott looked concerned. “So Back to the Future is a bunch of bullshit?”

After a bit more of a debate, Clint found himself on a large platform that Stark and Rocket had assembled in the middle of one of the training areas of the compound. He tried not to feel intimidated by the hundreds of hanging pieces above his head or the curved arms of the platform.

Banner stood behind a control panel with Rocket, Nebula, Steve, Rhodey, and Thor. Stark was walking around, wanting to see the whole thing work up close.

“All right, Clint.” Banner began to fire the platform up. “We’re going in three, two, one.”

The mask formed around Clint’s head and the floor beneath him opened up into a quantum tunnel, sucking him in. He raced past serval atoms, not sure which way was up, before crashing to a halt in the woods outside a cabin. Quickly standing up to look around, Clint instantly recognized where he was.

Ireland.

He slowly walked towards the cabin, using the trees to steady himself as he got closer. As he walked, he found one of your gloves. Clint bent over to pick it up and run his hand over it. Suddenly, he was struck weak as he heard a voice he hadn’t in the last five years.

“I swear to god, Barton, you better have remembered the milk this time! Not sure how many more trips I can wait through to make this dough.”

“Ronin?” he whispered in shock. Then he collected his thoughts. “Ronin!”

Clint began to race for the cabin. “Ronin! ____!”

But just as Clint grabbed the door handle, he was pulled back to the present. He called your name one more time as he appeared on the platform on all fours.

Nat raced up to him followed by the team. “Hey. Hey, look at me.”

“Huh?” Clint looked around and Nat could see the disappointment mixed with excitement in his eyes.

“You okay?”

“Yeah. Yeah.” He panted and tapped your glove against Nat before tossing it at Stark. “It worked. It worked.”

Tony caught it with the biggest grin Clint had ever seen. Now that the How worked, it was time to figure out the When.

It took the next couple of days to pin down who could go where and when so the fewest possible trips could be made. Clint and Natasha would go with Nebula and Rhodey to 2014, drop off Nebula and Rhodey at Morag, before taking the Benetar to Vormir - the place where Thanos got the Soul Stone.

Clint had a sinking feeling in his stomach ever since Nebula described Vormir as a dominion of death at the very center of celestial existence. Thanos had murdered his other daughter on that planet and the reason was so close that Clint could almost taste it.

On Morag, they lowered a pod for Rhodey and Nebula onto the planet’s surface.

Rhodey was now in his War Machine armor. “All right, bring it down, Blue. Right on that line. That’s it. Down, down.”

Nat and Clint were off a few feet, Nat kicking away some hairless rat-like creature.

Clint sighed, “hey can we hurry it up?”

Nat pretended to be bored. “Guys, chop-chop. Come one. We’re on the clock.”

Rhodey turned towards the two like they were children. “All that is really helpful.”

Nat laughed while Clint shrugged, pretending not to understand why Rhodey would be upset. She hugged Rhodey. “Take care, ok?”

“Get that stone and come back. No messing around.” Rhodey cautioned. “Hey, we got this.”

“Let’s get this done,” Clint shook his hand.

“Yes, sir,” Rhodey responded as he watched his teammates board the Benetar.

The two strapped themselves into the front seats and watched as the stars became a cosmic blur.

“We’re a long way from Budapest.” Clint joked and Natasha smiled, glad to see some part of her old friend back.

The flight was quick thanks to the jump points they used and soon approached Vormir.

Clint and Nat were now standing as the Benetar descended.

“You know, under different circumstances, this would be totally awesome.”

Nat agreed but was now starting to get an uneasy feeling herself. For the last five years, she had done everything in her power to fix what Thanos had broken. What the Avengers failed to stop. To get everything - including her sister - back. Steve himself had said to do whatever it takes to get those stones. And now she had a feeling they were about to be tested on that front.

They landed on the empty planet and began to walk along the many sand dunes to the one lone mountain that seemed to peak at two obvious towers. Every once in awhile they would have to walk around a pool of water, unsure of how deep they were. Then they made their trek up the mountainside, towards the top, panting all the while.

Finally, at the top, Nat vented. “Ugh, I bet the raccoon didn’t have to climb a mountain.”

Clint placed a hand on his side, “technically, he’s not a raccoon, you know?”

“Oh, whatever. He eats garbage.”

A faint and echoing voice interrupted them. “Welcome.”

Clint wasted no time pulling your sword out while Nat had her gun at the ready. A figure floated down, covered in a black hooded robe, with no way to view the face as the creature remained in the shadows.

The voice continued. “Natasha. Daughter of Ivan.”

That cause Nat to gasp.

“Clint. Son of Edith.”

Clint moved the sword to be more directly in front of his body and he and Nat moved a couple of steps closer.

Nat addressed the creature first. “Who are you?”

“Consider me a guide - to you - and to all who seek the Soul Stone.”

“Oh good. You tell us where it is, then we’ll be on our way.”

The creature moved out of the shadows and now they could see the face of Red Skull, the Hydra leader Steve had fought almost a century ago. “If only it were that easy.”

Red Skull lead them over to a cliff on the mountainside, crossing over what looked like a ritual symbol, and gestured over the edge.

“What you seek lies in front of you. As what you fear.”

“The stone’s down there.” It wasn’t a question, Nat knew it in her gut.

“For one of you. For the other….” he trailed off as he watched Clint walk over to Nat. “In order to take the stone, you must lose that which you love. An everlasting exchange. A soul for a soul.”

Nat backed away from the edge and found a log to sit on. This was it. Exactly what her whole life had lead up to. Could she do it? Could she make the necessary exchange? Bring back all those lost people? Bring you back?

And you? Could you forgive her for what she was going to do? Her little Natalia? She suddenly hated herself for not being a better sister to you. For not visiting you more. Convincing you more. Being there for you more.

Nat couldn’t take back all those years, but she could do one thing right for you.

“Jesus,” she heard Clint mutter. “Maybe he’s making this shit up.”

Her eyes were unfocused as she answered. “No. I don’t think so.”

“Why? ‘Cause he knows your daddy’s name?” Clint was pacing around the mountain top, your sword back in its sheath.

“I didn’t.” She barely caught Clint looking over his shoulder at her. “Thanos left here with the stone, and without his daughter. That’s not a coincidence.”

Her words sunk into Clint and he realized what needed to happen in order to bring you back.

“Whatever it takes,” she whispered.

Clint looked over at the edge where Red Skull still floated by. “Whatever it takes.”

Those words snapped Nat out of her trance and she shot to her feet. “If we don��t get that stone, billions of people stay dead.”

Clint swallowed and nodded his head. This was it: the last time he would see his best friend. But he would do anything to bring you back. Even if it meant losing you in another way. “Yeah. Then I guess we both know who it’s gotta be.”

“I guess we do.”

Clint reached over and the two friends locked hands. He looked up and suddenly noticed the resolve in her eyes. “I’m starting to think we mean different people here, Natasha.”

“For the last five years, I’ve been trying to do one thing. Get to right here. That’s all it’s been about. Bringing everybody back.”

He shook his head. “No, don’t you get all decent on me now.”

“You think I want to do this? I’m trying to save your life, you idiot, so you can build a better one with ____.”

“Yeah, well I don’t want you to. How’s that?” Clint paused. “Natasha, you know what I’ve done. You know what I’ve become.”

“Oh, I don’t judge people on their worst mistakes.” Nat was now trying to keep the tears out of her eyes.

Clint struggled just as hard, his voice cracking. “Maybe you should.”

“You didn’t.” She swallowed back tears. “With me or with Ronin.”

His lower lip trembled. “You’re a pain in my ass, you know that?”

She just nodded and Clint tipped his head down to touch his forehead to hers, for one last time.

He broke away quickly, knowing what he did next had to be unexpected. “Ok, you win.”

Then with lightning speed, he placed a hand on her shoulder and swept her legs, knocking Nat to the ground.

“Tell ____ I love her.”

Nat grabbed his wrist and then his collar to flip him onto his back. She was up in moments and pointing her wrist cuff at him, sending a mild electrical current through his body. “You tell her yourself.”

She turned and raced for the edge, only to be blown to the side by one of Clint’s exploding arrows. Nat lifted her head to watch him toss aside his bow and book it for the cliff, your sword still strapped to his back. Barely getting up in time, she raced after him and latched on as he fell over the side. In a blinding motion of moves, Nat attached something to Clint’s belt before firing up at the cliffside.

They both jerked to a stop, Nat almost slipping off but Clint grabbed her hand at the last minute. He looked down at his waist to see he was pinned to the cliff. “Damn you.”

Clint tried to pull her up, but it was too much for only one hand and he couldn’t reach her with the other. He felt her not trying to help.

“Wait.”

Nat looked up at him and whispered. “Let me go.”

Clint began to cry. “No. No. Please, no.”

She smiled softly up at her friend. Her brother in every way but blood. “It’s ok.”

“Please,” he begged.

Nat smiled one last time before placing both boots against the cliff.

“NO!”

Chapter 12

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