The Prince of the Tower

Chapter 14: Bury the Past

When they got back to the cottage, Logan was sure to put K on her bed and double check that the fire was crackling pleasantly before he pulled in the groceries that had been long forgotten and then crouched down by Clint, who was curled in on himself in his brother's shadow on the couch. "I won't be long," he promised before he handed Clint a comm. "If you have any trouble, hit the red button. Kurt will be here in a blink."

Clint nodded wordlessly and clutched the comm a little tighter before Barney nodded over his shoulder. "I got this," he said. "I know how to patch him up."

Logan narrowed his eyes as he looked at Barney. "What about you?"

Barney glanced down at his shirt and finally seemed to realize that there was a lot of blood there. "I can patch me up too. Probably. I think."

Logan shook his head at that and then crossed the kitchen to the sink to wash up — at least up to his elbows — before he came back. "Nothin' doin. Come on. I'll patch you both up first. Nothin' out there is gonna run off on me anyhow."

Barney glanced at Clint, but when Clint didn't seem to have any objections to Logan helping, he shrugged lightly. "Okay," he said, following Logan back to where the two of them could sit down and Logan could get a better look at what he was dealing with.

"Doesn't look like you'll need stitches," Logan said after he got Barney cleaned up. "Little dermabond oughta do it ..." He didn't explain before he closed up the wounds "We can get Hank out to make sure it doesn't have a chance of gettin' infected."

"Who's Hank?" Barney asked with his nose scrunched up.

Logan took a deep breath and let half of it out in a woosh. "Right. You haven't met him yet. Goes by Beast. He's a doctor. He's on the X-Men and the Avengers too"

Barney nodded slowly. "Alright," he said, then bit his lip and glanced toward Clint and whispered, "D'you think he can look and see... Clint's real... quiet."

Logan looked over at Clint and nodded very slowly once. "He's in shock," Logan said quietly.

"That's why he's ... "

"Yeah," Logan agreed, then looked around the cottage before he headed over to Clint to start to get him cleaned up too. "Where are you hurt?"

Clint glanced up at Logan for a moment before he swallowed and tapped his side. "He kicked me," he said in a whisper.

"Can I see, or do I need to jump in the lake first?"

Clint shook his head lightly, a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. "No, then you'd have cold hands."

"Natch," he said with a little smirk of his own. "Might wake K up that way, though."

Clint shook his head again and carefully slipped his shirt over his head so Logan could see the tender-looking discoloration there.

"Can you take a big, deep breath?" Logan asked, barely touching the bruises.

Clint glanced at Barney, who nodded, wordlessly watching the whole exchange, before he tried his best to fill his lungs up, his eyes wide when his chest hurt too.

When Logan saw him flinch, he nodded and took a moment to take his comm back from Clint and make a call, not moving from where he was. "Kurt, I need you to bring Big Blue to the cottage. Clint broke a couple ribs."

"I'll be there as soon as I can," Kurt promised, sounding honestly concerned.

It only took a few moments before Kurt arrived with Hank, and Barney let out a little yelp of surprise that was covered by the sound of the teleport. And of course, Kurt immediately zeroed in on the fact that Logan was bloody."Was is los? Du rufst mich hier an, wenn du wie ein Horrorfilm aussiehst?"