Too Little Too Late

Bruce Banner / Clint Barton

Looking at them, people would say they were like day and night. Nothing alike. One being about stealth, confidence, a marksman. Someone who was an agent through and through. The other was an unassuming quiet man who hid a raging beast inside him. A medicine man trying to help. But Hawkeye and Banner had more in common than met the eye. They were Avengers obviously but not only. For starters, they both had an anger management problem. Of course, not everybody transformed into a big green wild creature. Since Loki's invasion, Clint was mad at the world.

The Hulk wasn't at all what people thought of him. The cover didn't make the book but time was needed to learn that. If Bruce had been willing to look closer he would have known that long before Sakaar. Hulk stopped in front of Betty Ross while the army was gunning at him. He loved her just like Bruce did and would never have armed her on purpose. He saw that she had no intention of doing him harm. The Hulk understood feelings a lot. Green Bean also knew when to save his Tin Man. The beast had taken an almost instant liking to the smaller man. Stark wasn't afraid around them, even friendly. Hulk found him funny. That was why he had jumped to catch the falling suit of armour. He wasn't only rage but a complex being.

Barton's anger was all bitterness and envy. A feeling he couldn't allow to go inward so everybody became his target until it settled on Tony Stark. The man who had everything. It started with a friendly yet sarcastic banter. They could have been good friends really. Somewhere along the line, living off the other one's money, the sarcastic jokes became bitter jabs. What he said in the raft had been the worst, he could admit that now. But Tony should never have sent them into the raft in the first place. Stark always had to react out of proportion to everything. Clint had never realised that Stark had all he wanted but nothing of what he really needed. Laura and the children were making Clint a rich man in everything that really counted.

Banner and Barton were also cowards in their own way. Bruce was terrified about hurting innocents or his loved ones. The best way to avoid that had been to push everybody away from him. He wanted to spare Betty so he left her behind and fled as far away as he could. South America, India, he went anywhere and everywhere. Breathing exercises, relaxation or even ways to release his anger other than letting the monster out, Bruce had tried everything. Contrary to what Captain America believed, Tony's introduction on the helicarrier was funny to him. And somewhat a relief. Someone was not afraid of him. Both him and his alter ego liked their science bro quite a lot, so he drove him away, never getting close enough to be called a friend. Merely a co-worker.

Then, Wanda made his worst nightmare come true. She used her magic to release the Hulk on a populated area. He would never forget Johannesburg. Tony had tried to stop him, to protect the people. One could argue that it was not his fault. Without the witch messing with his mind, he or even the Hulk would never have done that. He agreed with that. Although, if Bruce had been talking with his other self sooner, like Tony had suggested to him so many times, things might have been different. Maybe not. The possibility was still killing him a little bit more every day.

What really made him flee that time was Natasha's betrayal. He had believed in her from the start, what she promised him. Believed in a spy when he didn't have a good record with that kind of shadow people. General Ross might have been in the army, he didn't exactly do things out in the open. Believed in a Shield agent, not that they give him any reason to trust them. Natasha was like a promise of control and a dream of love and being loved. She was strong enough, both physically and emotionally to stand by him unscaled. But then she pushed him in that deep hole to trigger the Hulk, when he had told her, he didn't want to fight anymore. After the battle, the beast had been the one who decided to flee this time.

Clint Barton was the kind of man who didn't want to face his responsibilities. The kind of guy who wasn't guilty of anything because he hadn't been responsible for anything. He was just following Shield's orders. Loki had had him under his thumb, controlling his movements. What happened wasn't his fault. Even when some reports stated how Dr Selvig, even under the same mind control, had had some kind of awareness. The god was directing him but the scientist had still inserted a flaw in the force field around the Tesseract during the battle of New York. Barton still claimed that Loki's manipulation was stronger on him. If not, that would have meant that part of him wanted those agents dead. Not something he had any desire to think about. Shield never took the time to have him treated. He never asked either.