ʙᴀʀᴛᴏɴ (cauterising) wrote in somerealityrpg, @ 2021-02-08 05:52:00 |
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Having to get eyes on the one kid he'd thought was safely at home, with numerous animals, was frustrating. Given that Nathan was looking for check ins almost constantly, which Clint knew meant he was probably not sleeping, and then missed one himself, it set off all the alarms and put his teeth on edge.
Obviously, his first instinct had been to get Natasha on it, but he knew she'd just taken a break from this chaos, they were almost passing in the night, one of them out while the other was at home, appeasing Nate's need to see them resting and in one piece. So he'd sent Ollie in one direction when he went the other to try and work out where the fuck the kid could be. Having Tony do an aerial sweep was the next big idea, more eyes was definitely better when it came to tracking down his idiot disaster child.
Getting word that he was at the park was just... why? Why leave the building, why go out alone? Why not get Morgan at the very least since she had a fucking Iron Man suit and didn't stumble over her own feet on the way to the bathroom at night.
The frustration was probably all the more evident as he contacted Oliver to let him know that Nate was located and where to go, given the monster population probably rivalled them at this point, he wasn't going to risk getting the kid himself.
And then he noticed what Nate was doing in the park. "Are you fucking kidding me, Nathaniel?"
Everyone was sleeping. Which was good -it was great. Little Ethan was awesome, although he didn't do a lot, but he did need to sleep a lot, and it was smart for Morgan to sleep while Ethan did -new parents did that too right? That was how you got the rest? So big sisters probably did it too? He bet Lila didn't need to with him, but still, monsters didn't attack the farm.
Lila was asleep too, and Natasha, thankfully neither were terribly hurt. But so were the cats and Happy. Which left Nathan sitting, thinking. He had ventured to the window, using his binoculars to see if he could spot friends or anyone else while they were out there. The few fires around the place allowed some light in places that might not be to become visible.
Moving over the park, Nathan paused when he was sure he saw something struggling in the grass. Was that a dog? It was. There was a dog in the park, and it looked like it was lost, or scared, or hurt. What if it was hurt and couldn't get away from a monster that was attacking?
Someone needed to help the dog.
But obviously people were busy... And the others were sleeping. He should message Torunn. No, she might be busy helping her dad or aunt or uncle or... anyone really. And the Avengers would be saving people and getting supplies. So... It'd just be a case of getting the dog, and getting it to the building...
He could do that. He'd be fine. It wasn't that far away.
Nathan was very very wrong.
The dog had an injured paw or leg, and was scared, and there were fires, and Nathan was sure the park grew in size since he was last there.
The appearance of Kara, hovering a little, was strange, but maybe she noticed the dog too, and came to help. Kara would totally help injured dogs during a crisis, right?
And then he heard dad. And he did not sound happy. "I can totally explain." Had he missed a check in?
Explain? Like there was a reason why Nathan should be out of the villa, in the park, with a dog. "Oh, this is going to be good. What the fuck, kid? Givin' me a fucking heart attack." Because obviously not being about to reach Nathan sent him into a cold sweat worrying spiral that either the kid had vanished again, or he'd been hurt in the villa.
Instead, his bleeding heart was just out picking up a fucking stray?
"What are you even doing out here? No, don't answer that, I'm sure the answer will just annoy me more." There was a grumble from the other side of the park, Clint nocking two arrows to loose at the creature ambling their way, the explosion from the arrows tearing off the upper half of the monster. "Have you noticed the Resident Evil creatures out here or did you skip that when you saw the dog?"
Okay, so... Nate kind of understood the attitude, and the annoyance, and the general 'why are you this dumb' vibe that was totally coming off dad right then. He didn't appreciate it, sure, but he understood it. He knew he'd likely get killed helping an animal some day, but he was okay with that.
"The dog's hurt." He was just going to ignore the fact that there were monsters, which dad just exploded, and he was going to just try and pull that youngest child charm and hope that dad's affection for him, and animals, would outweigh the worry and anger. "It'd get eaten if we left it!" Which made perfect sense to him.
"I think all the noise and pain are making it not want to move. I had to help!" It just felt like he knew what he was doing; he didn't, which was fine, lesson learned. But at this point it was all in or folding, and he just had to go all in.
Clint wasn't sure what would send him to the grave sooner, Lila or Nate.
"This is why you have a comm. This is why you call one of us. This is why you stay put and ask for help." Although, sure, he was almost certain they'd tell Nate to calm down about the dog, that they'd get to it eventually, but that might not be soon enough, and really, would Nate take that well? Probably not.
Clint didn't love what was going on here right now, but with Nathan, he did understand why it was going on. An injured dog would almost always come first for Nate.
Sighing, Clint just shook his head. "Okay, Oliver is nearby, let's get this up to the building, we'll see if someone knows how to treat animals later." If they could get inside and Clint wasn't constantly worried that Nathan was seconds away from being eaten, it would be a little easier to deal with.
See, he could totally pull the puppy-dog eyes and win dad over. "Yeah, okay, I can totally carry him." At the least, he was going to try. If he was getting the help to get the dog to the apartment, dad could do the shooting and Nate would do the carrying, it made way more sense for him to do that.
He really wasn't going to be shooting anything at all. Maybe he should think about learning, at least, how to throw something, like a grenade.
Except messing up with that would likely spell instant death. So maybe not.
Calming the dog a little, petting it's head, Nathan tried to make sure the dog knew they were there to help, they were good people. "Hey, it's okay, me and my dad, we're gonna get you out of here, and safe. Okay? Yeah, there you go. That's a good boy." There was no tail wag, not really any positive response, but the dog didn't try to bite him when he moved to hoist him up, supporting the back legs, letting the upperhalf of the dog drape over his shoulder.
"Okay, we're good." It was a little strained, but at the same time, Nate wasn't about to complain.
If there wasn't the carnage and chaos there'd be a certain level of pride in this. Sure, Nathaniel wasn't interested in fighting things, he wasn't the battle hardened kid, wasn't gunho for playing the hero. He was far more cautious. Except when someone, or something, was in trouble and then clearly, his sense of doing what was right knocked all those anxieties to a lower level.
So sure, if he hadn't gone radio silent, made Clint worry himself nearly sick and send a search party out for him, there'd be some fatherly pride in the whole situation.
"Stick close, tell me if you need a break, do not fall behind." He was still a little terse, but there was a reason for it. The monster from the edge of the park had drawn more in, numerous this time, and Clint couldn't see Oliver yet. He wasn't looking forward to battling numerous monsters and keeping Nathan from getting killed trying to save a sick/injured dog.
Trying not to instantly kill these things, Clint took aim at the legs of one, intending to cripple it, or just slow it down. Three arrows in one leg and two in the other, it wasn't down and out, but it was slow. The other was getting a little too close, so Clint went for three right in the face.
Sometimes, Nathan wished he was more inclined towards the fighting. Wished he'd been able to focus on the bow like his siblings. His wandering mind just never let him fully engage in it, and spending time with Morgan was way more interesting to him than doing the repetitive motions.
Seeing dad in action, seeing Lila in action, it was always so impressive. He'd never seen a lot of it before, beyond when they'd practice or play with the arrows he made. But this was intense, and as he pushed down the fear from the impending doom, it was really easy to understand why they all sought out the fight. Poetry in motion and all that.
Nate just tangled a hand in the soft fur of the dog he was carrying, his arm feeling heavy, but he refused to drop the dog. It was shaking in his arms, and Nate just wanted to make sure they got to safety and the dog would realise that everything was going to be fine.
The second monster went down just as they hit a group of trees, and he could see Nate's grip lessening on the animal. Now, there were five converging on the park. "Readjust." The cover of the tree would give them a little bit of time. "Swap arms."
Following the same assumption as before, Clint started with legs on the two furthest away, one with an exploding arrow, the other with five loose at once. The next two were straight out kills, arrows through their gaping mouths, knocking some teeth back into their skulls.
"You good?" The last one was getting just a little too close for comfort, and Clint wanted to get Nathan moving sooner rather than later.
Oh thank God. His arm was literally going numb.
Kneeling down at the tree, Nathan gave the dog a little pep talk as he lowered him, settling him and shaking out his arms while dad took out some more of the beasts. "See? Dad's got this, and I got you. You'll be fine." This time, he got half a wag of a tail. Yes. Progress.
"Up we go, right?" Swapping shoulders to hoist the dog over, Nathan used his hip to help support the dog, kind of like how he'd seen Morgan hold Ethan. It was a bit easier to manage and Nathan was sure he'd make it to the doors like this. "Yeah, I'm ready, I'm good." He was ignoring the explosions, he didn't pay attention, it was all fine.
"Move, get ahead, go straight and don't veer off course." They were in a direct path towards the main entrance to the villa, Nathan could just keep going, and they'd get through the doors. Monster number five had picked up a little too much speed in getting towards them, and Clint activated the blast on his explosive arrow before nocking it to fire.
It cut down the length of time pre-detonation, but it mean it landed right in the monster's face just as it exploded.
The proximity to the blast was just a little too under the safety line, and Clint was knocked backwards in the blast, hitting the tree hard with the back of his head. It was a dull thud of a collision, Clint rolling as he landed and taking more than a moment to get his bearings.
Heat and noise was the primary focus, Nathan flinching a little from the noise at first, but staying on track to get to the building like he was told.
Until he noticed that dad wasn't following. "Dad?"
Noticing dad on the ground, rather than at his back, sent chills through Nate's blood and struck every single nerve in his system. Shit. Fuck. Shit. "Dad!" There was no way he was going to keep going and let his dad fall behind or worse, what if that thing had reached him before, "Dad are you okay?" It was a few steps back, kneeling down in the grass and the dog settling by dad's shoulder, somewhat inquisitive about things. "Hey, dad?"
Blackness took a moment to fade out into colour again, his head aching starkly and intense while his stomach rolled from the vertigo. "That sucked." Like jumping off a building and hitting the glass level suck. "Didn't I say don't change path?" He couldn't quite bite back the groan though. Dog nudging at him as Nate hovered.
"It's okay, I'm fine," he was not entirely fine, but he'd be fine, it was probably just a concussion. "C'mon, keep going."
Clint might've had to use Nate a little more than he wanted to, the tree keeping him steady while he got his dizziness under control, "Get the dog, c'mon, we gotta go before they duplicate in number again." He sure as shit wasn't going to his the broadside of a bus right now.
Watching dad get up, keeping an eye on him to make sure nothing was bleeding, Nathan was quick to pick up the dog again and moving in the direction of the apartments, still monitoring if dad was following.
It was scary, seeing him knocked down, was he knocked out a little? Did the explosion do it? Was he hurt and hiding it? Nate could already feel the worry spike and the anxiety build. But dad was keeping close, not drawing another arrow, and Nate was trying to make sure they didn't come across any other monsters.
He could hear them, around the city, but it felt like he could always hear them right now.
The dog whined a little, nuzzling into his neck, and Nate felt a little bit of tension loosen, even more when they reached the main entrance of the Villa.
Any other time, Clint would've stayed out, but his skull was aching right then, and a bit of rest would do him good. Plus there would be a talk down with Nate once they were settled and got the dog settled for the night.
Hand on Nate's shoulder, Clint urged the kid inside, grabbing his phone to shoot messages to people needing to know that Nate was safely back inside. "You better be ready for your sister and Morgan to read you the riot act, by the way."
And if Lila and Morgan got there before Clint, at least he'd just need to rerun the highlights of the why this was a dumb stunt.
Feeling oddly brave, given the fact that he knew Lila was going to flip and Morgan might smack him, Nathan smirked just a little, "You ready for Nat reading you the riot act?" Because they both knew Dad cracking his skull was going to get a talking about.
Even if Nate still felt that odd sick guilt in his gut because dad only cracked his skull 'cause he was out there. And if it wasn't for him, Natasha wouldn't need to fuss about a head injury.
Cuffing the back of Nate's head, checking on Oliver via text, Clint just got them in to the elevator. "You'll just keep shush about that unless you wanna hear how Natasha plays nurse."
An idle threat, because they'd soundproofed the whole apartment to avoid things like that, but still. "And if you want to be able to convince me to keep a second dog with the three animals you already have."
This kid and animals. Clint just pressed his fingers into the bridge of his nose, feeling the headache already starting. Yeah; he definitely needed to just wrap himself around Natasha for a couple of hours after making sure everyone knew Nate was home.