Bucky staggers into the shelter, and as Clint takes in the look of him, it isn’t good. His skin is grey, pain etched deep into a frown as he whispers, “Help me!” collapsing to his knees in front of Clint. Clint barely has enough time to catch enough of him to stop his body hitting the ground with a smack that wouldn’t do his injuries any good whatsoever.
He helps him lie down, slipping a jacket under his head, trying to make him as comfortable as possible in the cramped space, hurrying as he does so, so he can start looking for where Bucky’s hurt.
“Get it off!” Bucky pleads urgently. It’s Clint’s turn to frown, unsure what Bucky means, but he starts by unzipping his jacket and working his way down Bucky’s torso, so he can look and feel for the injury. He’s not finding it quick enough, as he begins to check his legs, but the sweat on Bucky’s brow, the quiet plea for him to ‘get it off’ that seems to be taking all of Bucky’s willpower to express is all the proof he needs that this is real. Bucky is injured and in pain and it breaks his heart, just as it steels his commitment to fixing this, and that is when he sees it, sees as Bucky tenses further as if a wave of pain is flowing through him as he gently reaches up to stroke Bucky’s hair back in comfort he feels the sharp tingle of electricity surging through and then it’s gone again. It’s the arm, “Get it off” is what Bucky had said, he’d meant the arm.
“I’m sorry, Bucky,” he says quietly as he runs his fingers across the shoulder joint, where the arm fixes into the plate on his shoulder. He can feel it now a constant running electrical charge pulsing painfully against his own skin. He remembers the night Bucky had trusted him enough to tell him about the release and how Ayo had suddenly activated it mid fight when he’d been with Sam. He’d promised then never to go near it.
He looks again at Bucky’s face, sees the taut signs of pain, the lip he’s biting, the glazed unfocused eyes and knows he has to do this. If he doesn’t Bucky is going to lose this fight. He leans in close, takes Bucky’s face in his hands and says, “I’m going to take the arm off now, Bucky. I hope that’s what you were asking and I pray this is going to help but please believe me, I’m doing it to help.”
Clint hopes he isn’t breaking Bucky’s trust, as he moves his hands back to the arm and activates the release. The arm just drops away with a solid thunk to the ground below it. He looks back at Bucky’s face again, hoping that he’ll see some relief to the pain there, but Bucky doesn’t look any better, he’s still biting his lip to keep from crying out in pain, releasing the arm hasn’t done anything to help. Bucky barely looks conscious now, his breathing laboured. Carefully, Clint climbs over Bucky’s body, squeezing in on his other side so that he can see directly into the mechanism that’s still fixed to his body and there he can see the mess that’s left – Clint has no idea what any one part of it is, but it’s clear the wires and chips are burnt out, what he assumes is either a power pack or a major processor of some sort is in the centre, still sparking. That’s what he needs to remove and he has absolutely nothing to do it with. The last thing he needs to do is put a knife in there and end up electrocuting himself as well or accidentally joining a currently severed circuit and upping the power coursing through Bucky’s body.
Then he remembers, he crawls back across Bucky, grabs at his quiver and hunts through the arrows that are left. There it is, the one he can use – wooden shaft and ceramic tip. As soon as he starts to move the unit in Bucky’s arm, the sparks get worse, Bucky’s gasping for breath – short and sharp, his pulse frighteningly fast. Tears in his eyes, Clint forces the ceramic tip deeper beneath the unit and twists, flipping it free, Bucky’s body tenses and then relaxes, slipping into unconsciousness, but his breathing is easier and when Clint feels for his pulse again, it’s slowing, steadying already. He turns his attention back to the shoulder, there are no more sparks which is a relief, but some of the wires are still red with heat from the charge, he uses the ceramic tip to sever them, no longer caring about any damage he might cause, he just wants to get anything that might still be causing Bucky pain away.
When he’s finished, he bandages the open unit, covers it to protect any further contamination – he doesn’t know what might happen, whether Bucky can catch an infection but in some way that Clint doesn’t fully understand this is connected into his body, to his brain. Clint isn’t going to risk anything if a bandage or a bit more care might make a difference.
When he’s done all he can, he climbs out of the cramped position he’d been in. He calls in for help, checks Bucky again, his breathing is calm, more like sleep now and his pulse is steady, the sweat from his brow has gone and his features are relaxed. Clint thinks the colour is beginning to return to his skin, but maybe that’s just wishful thinking at this stage.
He settles beside Bucky to wait, he’s done all he can and now he just needs to wait for them to be picked up. He’s repacked their gear, stored the arm ready to be lifted out as well and now he’s just watching over Bucky and waiting.
Marvel MCU (post Falcon and the Winter Soldier), Bucky & Clint
He helps him lie down, slipping a jacket under his head, trying to make him as comfortable as possible in the cramped space, hurrying as he does so, so he can start looking for where Bucky’s hurt.
“Get it off!” Bucky pleads urgently. It’s Clint’s turn to frown, unsure what Bucky means, but he starts by unzipping his jacket and working his way down Bucky’s torso, so he can look and feel for the injury. He’s not finding it quick enough, as he begins to check his legs, but the sweat on Bucky’s brow, the quiet plea for him to ‘get it off’ that seems to be taking all of Bucky’s willpower to express is all the proof he needs that this is real. Bucky is injured and in pain and it breaks his heart, just as it steels his commitment to fixing this, and that is when he sees it, sees as Bucky tenses further as if a wave of pain is flowing through him as he gently reaches up to stroke Bucky’s hair back in comfort he feels the sharp tingle of electricity surging through and then it’s gone again. It’s the arm, “Get it off” is what Bucky had said, he’d meant the arm.
“I’m sorry, Bucky,” he says quietly as he runs his fingers across the shoulder joint, where the arm fixes into the plate on his shoulder. He can feel it now a constant running electrical charge pulsing painfully against his own skin. He remembers the night Bucky had trusted him enough to tell him about the release and how Ayo had suddenly activated it mid fight when he’d been with Sam. He’d promised then never to go near it.
He looks again at Bucky’s face, sees the taut signs of pain, the lip he’s biting, the glazed unfocused eyes and knows he has to do this. If he doesn’t Bucky is going to lose this fight. He leans in close, takes Bucky’s face in his hands and says, “I’m going to take the arm off now, Bucky. I hope that’s what you were asking and I pray this is going to help but please believe me, I’m doing it to help.”
Clint hopes he isn’t breaking Bucky’s trust, as he moves his hands back to the arm and activates the release. The arm just drops away with a solid thunk to the ground below it. He looks back at Bucky’s face again, hoping that he’ll see some relief to the pain there, but Bucky doesn’t look any better, he’s still biting his lip to keep from crying out in pain, releasing the arm hasn’t done anything to help. Bucky barely looks conscious now, his breathing laboured. Carefully, Clint climbs over Bucky’s body, squeezing in on his other side so that he can see directly into the mechanism that’s still fixed to his body and there he can see the mess that’s left – Clint has no idea what any one part of it is, but it’s clear the wires and chips are burnt out, what he assumes is either a power pack or a major processor of some sort is in the centre, still sparking. That’s what he needs to remove and he has absolutely nothing to do it with. The last thing he needs to do is put a knife in there and end up electrocuting himself as well or accidentally joining a currently severed circuit and upping the power coursing through Bucky’s body.
Then he remembers, he crawls back across Bucky, grabs at his quiver and hunts through the arrows that are left. There it is, the one he can use – wooden shaft and ceramic tip. As soon as he starts to move the unit in Bucky’s arm, the sparks get worse, Bucky’s gasping for breath – short and sharp, his pulse frighteningly fast. Tears in his eyes, Clint forces the ceramic tip deeper beneath the unit and twists, flipping it free, Bucky’s body tenses and then relaxes, slipping into unconsciousness, but his breathing is easier and when Clint feels for his pulse again, it’s slowing, steadying already. He turns his attention back to the shoulder, there are no more sparks which is a relief, but some of the wires are still red with heat from the charge, he uses the ceramic tip to sever them, no longer caring about any damage he might cause, he just wants to get anything that might still be causing Bucky pain away.
When he’s finished, he bandages the open unit, covers it to protect any further contamination – he doesn’t know what might happen, whether Bucky can catch an infection but in some way that Clint doesn’t fully understand this is connected into his body, to his brain. Clint isn’t going to risk anything if a bandage or a bit more care might make a difference.
When he’s done all he can, he climbs out of the cramped position he’d been in. He calls in for help, checks Bucky again, his breathing is calm, more like sleep now and his pulse is steady, the sweat from his brow has gone and his features are relaxed. Clint thinks the colour is beginning to return to his skin, but maybe that’s just wishful thinking at this stage.
He settles beside Bucky to wait, he’s done all he can and now he just needs to wait for them to be picked up. He’s repacked their gear, stored the arm ready to be lifted out as well and now he’s just watching over Bucky and waiting.