~Broken Family~

Old Ladies and Unicorns

"I'll say it again: leave us."

"But---"

"That's an order. This is my reward to reap, not yours."

"Of course, sir..."

The lights on the ceiling burned his eyes as he was dragged along, arms trailing behind his head. His left foot was nonexistent, gripped in a tight vise he couldn't feel, dragging him along. His heavy eyes drooped and he longed to stop moving so he could go back to sleep.

As they rounded a corner, the rough dragging stopped, and he was gently scooped up into someone's arms.

"I'm not going to do it," the person whispered. "You're my friend. At least...I hope you still will be after this."

Harley let his head fall back, embracing the darkness.

***

He was dropped down onto the concrete, force slamming painfully up his wrists as he tried to catch himself.

Coughing, he pushed himself back into a sitting position and looked up into Clay's concerned green eyes.

He could feel dried tears streaking down his cheeks, and one of his eyes was definitely at least bruised. His ribs hurt the worst---every time he inhaled, aching pains shot through the tender area. They were definitely broken.

He was still lucky he wasn't hurt worse.

"You," he gasped, not being able to catch his breath, "you---you killed Sophie."

Clay's face twisted regretfully, and he plopped down on the sidewalk beside him, making Harley flinch away.

They were in some sort of dingy suburban area---who knew how far from the HYDRA facility---with nothing but streetlamps lighting the dark backroads stretching before them. He heard a dog bark, and he flinched. Then he wondered whether or not German dogs could understand English dogs, and if Grover were here if they could play together.

He missed Grover.

"I want to go home," he whimpered, not caring how babyish it made him seem. "I want Gwen to come back."

"I'm sorry," Clay whispered, head drooping down as he stared at the pebbles on the road between his knees. "This...this wasn't the plan."

"Then what was, huh?" Harley shot, suddenly furious. "You pretended to be my friend so you could take Gwen away to be a lab rat!"

Clay started to shake his head. "No, that's not---"

"You took advantage of my lonely post-Snap depression just so you could get close to Gwen and get more information about her and Peter's powers! All you wanted was to kidnap us and use us to get revenge!"

Clay stared back calmly, but he didn't argue. That just made Harley madder. He pushed himself upright, stumbling under his weak, still-healing leg and dizziness.

"You make me sick!" he screamed, punching Clay in the eye as hard as he could. Clay flinched, even though Harley's aim and force had been poor, twisting his head away and touching his face like he'd been burned by hot acid. "You killed Sophie! You killed Gwen! You killed me!"

He started to cry. He collapsed back down onto the pavement, gripping a hand across his ribs and making gurgling wheezes as his sobs quickened.

"You're a monster," he choked weakly, burying his head in his knees. He wanted everything to end. He wanted to open his eyes and be four years old again, living with his loyal father and sober mother, not a care in the world besides when he would finally be tall enough to ride a two-wheeler. He didn't want to deal with Tony staring affectionately at the two kids who called him Dad, and then looking at him like he was the guest, a visiting friend. He didn't want to sit in his room, friendless and alone, while the rest of the world moved on.