Title: rescue me
Fandom: Hawkeye Comics
Characters/Ships: Clint Barton & Kate Bishop
Rating: Teen
Length: 1,135 words
Written For: trope bingo round nine - prompt: character in distress
Summary: Clint is held captive, Kate searches for him.
CW: character in distress
Originally Posted: September 19, 2017
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Clint woke up in the dark. He could barely make out his hand when he held it in front of his face. His head hurt and he was thirsty. After several minutes his eyes began to adjust to the surrounding darkness.
Clint was in some kind of cage, suspended about ten feet above the floor, maybe more. It was hard to tell in the dark. The air smelled damp and musty. His head felt wrong. Focusing his thoughts was difficult. Clint was pretty sure he’d been drugged. He was also pretty sure that he was currently naked. Other than him the cage was empty. His gear, his clothes, even his hearing aids were gone. Which explained why the room was so quiet.
Things looked pretty bad from where he was sitting.
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Kate was worried. It was getting dark and Clint still wasn’t back yet. He had gone ahead to scout out the area. Kate knew they shouldn’t have split up. Too late now. It was going to be hard to track him because he was Clint. With the sun going down, it was going to have to wait. Kate knew she needed to get off the trail and get what rest she could. She had a long day ahead of her.
Kate slept in fits and starts. The air was warm, so there was no need for a fire. Which was a good thing. She didn’t need to attract any unnecessary attention. Kate had her things packed up before dawn and was back on the trail by first light. She thought she was on the right track but when she saw the blood, she was sure of it. She was also sure that something had gone horribly wrong.
By the afternoon Kate was hungry, cranky, and in danger of heat stroke. She needed to find shade soon. She had tracked the blood to a set of tire tracks in the dirt, but after walking all morning had yet to see any buildings or another living soul. Not even a bunny. The terrain was hilly. It was possible that Clint was just over the next hill, but it was equally possible that he was still miles away, or worse. Kate didn’t want to think about worse.
Kate told herself that Clint would be fine. She’d find him in time and he’d be okay. He had to be, he was Hawkeye; original flavor. She figured if she told herself it enough, she might even believe.
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Clint felt like total crap. No one had come to bring him food or water. No one had even come to torture or taunt him. Clint couldn’t figure out why the hell someone had gone to the trouble of taking him, only to leave him alone there. If they had wanted him dead, they could have killed him when he was unconscious. Why go to the bother of stripping him naked and sticking him in a cage, only to leave him there to die of thirst?
This job wasn’t even supposed to be dangerous. They were only scouting out the area. They were supposed to contact S.H.I.E.L.D. if they found anything and they’d swoop in and take it all down. Assuming there was anything to actually take down.
The thing really worrying Clint was that if they had him, did they also have Kate? He hated that he had no way of knowing. She could be in some other dark room in another cage. He didn’t know if anyone was coming to help him, or if he was going to have to find a way to help Kate. Clint didn’t want to think of Kate locked up alone in a cage. She had to be okay. If she was out there looking for him, he still stood a chance.
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Kate resumed her search when the worst of the afternoon heat had passed. She continued to follow the tire tracks after sundown. The dark wasn’t much of a problem when the tracks were this obvious, so she didn’t bother stopping for the night. Kate ate some jerky, drank some water, and kept on moving. She checked her phone periodically to see if she could get a signal, but no luck there. It was close to dawn when she saw the building. Clint had been missing for over two days by then.
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Clint wasn’t sure how long he’d been locked up. He couldn’t remember ever being this thirsty. He didn’t know how much longer he’d last without water. He was starting to think that maybe his captors wanted him dead after all. Either that or they had forgotten about him. Neither option filled him with optimism. Clint really hoped they didn’t have Kate too.
Now that the drugs were out of his system, he was thinking more clearly. It was time for him to make a move. There had to be a way out. Clint knew how to use what was in front of him, and at the moment. At the moment that was the cage.
After several tries, he managed to get the cage unhooked from the ceiling. Unfortunately, he was still in it when it crashed to the floor. Everything hurt, a lot. Clint didn’t think he had broken any bones. Probably. He liberated the chain from the cage to use as a makeshift weapon and went to find a way out.
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Kate took care of the guards outside the building, easy peasy. She took their guns and left the men tied up, before heading inside. She found Clint’s equipment and clothing behind one of the many locked doors. The place was sprawling and had a multitude of rooms. She tried many doors, finding mostly dark and empty rooms.
Kate picked yet another lock and was greeted by a very naked Clint. He was holding a chain and there was a look of surprise on his face. She had to bite her lip to keep the laughter from bubbling out.
“Kate!” Clint said. He dropped the chain and gave her a lingering hug.
Kate gave Clint his hearing aids first and his clothes second.
“I’m here to rescue you.” she said once he could hear again.
“I can see that, thank you.” Clint dressed quickly.
Kate had him drink some water and handed over his gear. The two of them made it out of the building only having to fight three more guards.
“Have you called S.H.I.E.L.D.?” Clint asked.
Kate shook her head. “No signal”
The two of them put as much distance between them and the building as they could before they stopped to rest and eat. Not long after, they managed a call out to S.H.I.E.L.D. and secured an extraction.
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