Red, White and Black

Monster

**AUTHORS NOTE! There is an alternate ending option. If you wanna read that the title is Shoot for the Stars. Enjoy! -Sadistic & Abstract**

"Hey, you guys want mayo? Or mustard? Or both?" Laura called from where she was setting up at the picnic table.
Lila lowered her arms, looking at him in bafflement as she asked, "Who puts mayo on a hot dog?"
"Probably your brothers," turning towards Laura he called out, "Uh, two mustard, please. Thanks, Mama."
"Got it."
Lila's arms raised again, and she settled back into her stance, pulling the string back to her cheek.
"Mind your elbow," he reminded her. Pride filled him when she released and the arrow sunk in centimeters from the direct middle of the target. Laughing, he held his hand up for her to slap as he said, "Good job, hawk-eye. Go get your arrow."
He looked down at the arrows in his hand for a moment before he heard Laura call out, "Hey guys, enough practice. Soups on!"
"Alright. We're coming. We're hungry," he called back to her before turning towards the tree, "Lila, let's go."
She wasn't there. There was nothing but some dust blowing away in the light breeze. That was wrong. Where was she, "Lila?"
He walked forward, looking around in confusion, "Honey?"
Picking up the arrow from the ground, confusion growing, he started towards the picnic table, calling out to Laura as he did. She wasn't there either. Neither were the boys. Where seconds ago they had been, they were gone.
Thunder rumbled as his heart raced; instincts going haywire as his fear grew. He called out for his family again, panic overwhelming him.

Clint's eyes snapped open, the taste in his mouth sour as he pushed up and swung his feet to the floor. His head was pounding and he stifled a groan as he shuffled to the bathroom to splash water on his face.
He had dreamt about them again. Even nearly a year later, he still dreamt about them nearly every night. No matter how hard he struggled to drown out the pain, it festered in him. He'd lost his whole family. Laura and the kids were gone.
And the people left to pick up the pieces were struggling. There was a buzzing on the dresser and his eyes flicked to the phone. He knew who it was. Tasha, trying to check up on him again. He ignored it, like he always did. He didn't want to talk to her; he didn't want to talk to anyone.
Clint picked up a bottle, his nose wrinkling when he saw it was empty. That meant he would need to go into town, pick up more supplies.
Dressed, he climbed into his truck and pulled out to head to the nearest store for what he wanted. An hour later, he was back at the fleabag long term motel he was staying in, hauling the bags back into the room.
As he was twisting the cap of a fresh bottle, the buzzing came again. And once more, Clint ignored it. He wished she would just leave him alone.
He was halfway through the bottle, stretched out on his bed and staring at the tv without really paying attention when something caught his eye and he sat up. Grabbing the remote, he turned it up.
They were unveiling the New York "Wall of the Vanished". Natasha was there. So was, Rhodey, Tony and Pepper. Peppers hands rubbed over the bundle on her chest. Apparently, they had a baby. Good for them.
He was lifting the remote to shut off the tv, pain welling in him again when he paused. His alcohol fuzzed brain was struggling with something. When it finally connected, he sat up so fast his head spun and the bottle fell out of his hand to spill on the floor.
Angel was missing from the group. Why wasn't she with the others? For the first time since his family disappeared, he felt something other than grief, pain and anger. A plan began forming in his fuzzy brain. He had to get to New York...

***
***

"Just let me know what you find out," Nat said as Rhodey nodded before signing off and his image winked out.
When he was gone, she pressed her fingers against her eyelids and sighed heavily. Since the snap, since Tony decided he was completely done with The Avengers, she had taken over. She felt like she was barely hanging on and barely holding it together. But someone had to do it.
Thor had retreated to the Norway to rule the remaining Asgardians who had taken refuge on Earth. Bruce had disappeared, again . Loki and Pietro had disappeared when Angel did. From the occasional communication she had gotten from Pietro, they had gone with Angel. But about two months ago she disappeared and even they didn't know where she was.
As for Clint? She hadn't spoken or seen him this entire time. Every time she tried to call him he ignored it and his farm had been deserted. He had quite literally disappeared into thin air, and his absence hurt her more than all the people who had vanished in the snap.
"Where is everyone?"
Her training kept her from startling, but her heart rate spiked at the voice. Carefully, wondering if perhaps she was hallucinating, she looked up. He looked real enough.
"Clint," she said, a little tremulously, "You look like shit."
His smile was hollow as he nodded, "Yeah, well, I'd have to say the same back to you."
Nat shifted to stand, moving over to him and reaching out a hand to touch his arm to reassure herself that he was in fact her. She stared into his bloodshot eyes and said, "You smell even worse than you look."
Suddenly all the hurt crashed over her and she snapped out, "I've been trying to reach out to you for a fucking year."
He scoffed, moving away to lean against the wall as he said, "I didn't want to talk to anyone. Or see anyone. I thought you'd get the hint when I left the farm."
She bit down on the retort that sprang to mind and instead asked, "So why are you here now?"
Clint crossed his arms over his chest and said, "I caught the report about the memorial unveiling."
That was not what she was expecting him to say and for a moment she didn't know how to respond. Eventually she shook her head, "That doesn't really answer why you've chosen now to come back."
"There weren't a lot of you there."
Nat ran her tongue around her teeth as she tried to fight off the tears that always seemed so close to falling these days, "Yeah, well. There aren't a lot of us left."
"There's more than you, Rhodey, and Tony. So, where is everybody else? Thor and Loki? Bruce? Pietro?"
She moved back over to the table and sat heavily, propping one of her feet on the top as she filled him in about the others. About what they had been doing. He didn't say anything, his face betraying nothing as he listened. When it was done, she fell silent and waited to see what he would say.
"What about Angel?" Clint asked.
Nat sighed, "I don't know. She has kind of gone off the rails."
Now he moved over to the table and sat down himself, "What do you mean?"
"She disappeared after Tony was returned. I think she just...snapped. She lost the guys and she lost the baby..."
"Baby?" Clint interrupted.
Nat nodded, "Yeah, she was uh...nearly three months pregnant when the snap happened. I guess the stress of it all and perhaps the use of the power that had wiped out the remaining alien army caused her to miscarry."
Clint didn't say anything and after a moment Nat continued, "She took off the day Tony came back, Loki and Pietro went with her."
"So how come you don't know where she is?"
Nat's fingernail traced along the grain of the wood on the table top as she said quietly, "Because about two months ago she disappeared completely. Pietro thinks she might have figured out he was in contact with me and giving me updates about her. They are still looking for her but aren't having much luck. No one is."
Silence fell between them and Nat watched as Clint stared off into space. There was so much she wanted to say to him, but she couldn't summon the energy for any of it. Nearly twenty minutes later Clint suddenly spoke, "I could find her."
Her eyebrow winged up as she snorted softly, "Really? You think you'll be able to find her were even someone with magic like Loki couldn't?"
Clint's shoulders jerked, "Maybe, maybe not. But I need to do something. So, I'm going to do this."
He stood up and Nat sat forward, "What? Right now?"
Stopping halfway to the door he looked back at her, something flickering over his face that she couldn't quite get a read on as he said, "Trail grows colder every day doesn't it? I'll be in touch."
And just like that he walked back out of the compound and disappeared again.