13. Rescued 13

Clint let Natasha push him back and away from Phil's room when the Great Migration began. Bruce and Tony had figured out which machines absolutely needed to come along for the ride and which didn't, but it still required them, Steve, and three SHIELD medical staff to wheel the bed and equipment out of the room and down towards the service elevator, which was just barely large enough to hold all of them.

The dogs were wary and held back, lined up as a barrier between Clint and Phil. By the time Clint, Natasha and the dogs followed down to the parking garage a few minutes later, Phil's bed had been rolled onto a medical transport truck and Tony was fussing about where the equipment could and could not go. The SHIELD personnel scattered and the transport staff – a driver and a nurse – were looking a little overwhelmed by everything.

Tony waved him over. "He's still blue. You sure you and the puppies want to ride along?" Tony asked, frowning at the truck. It was the first time Tony had ever used the term "puppies" and Clint almost said something, but a stern glance from Natasha held him back.

"Is he restrained?" Clint cringed because it hurt to ask, but he knew enough to know better than to think things would go well if a tesseract-possessed Phil decided to break out. He also had Donut and the Cor-mmandos to think about.

Steve nodded. "Yes. He hasn't made a move and Bruce says nothing in his medical records suggest he'll turn violent, but I felt it was safer. At least until we get him settled at the tower."

"I can ride along," Natasha offered.

"No, I'm going," Bruce said, stepping down out of the back of the truck. Everyone looked at him. "It would take a lot to bring the Other Guy out in this situation, and if something medical goes wrong I'm the closest you've got to a physician. Even if he goes into complete organ failure the nurse and I can probably keep him alive until we get to a hospital ER. And there is only so much room in here," he waved at the truck. "The driver and the nurse upfront, with Phil, me, Clint and three dogs in the back is going to be tight."

Tony snorted. "It's also only a twenty minute drive. This isn't an epic road trip. Let's just get it over with."

"Let's go." Steve spoke with his command voice, and Clint realized that they really had become a team over the last four months because everyone, including Natasha, jumped into action.

She held up a set of keys, looking at Steve. "You and Stark can ride with me."

Tony attempted to escape that fate (Clint couldn't blame him, because Russian drivers were all crazy and Natasha was true to type) but Steve picked up his suit-case and grabbed Tony by the scruff of his collar, literally hauling him away like a puppy. Clint manfully tried not to snicker.

Bruce got in first and settled on a fold down set by the head of Phil's bed. Phil was resting at a slightly inclined position, his blue eyes wide and unblinking as he looked around, taking everything in.

There was a bench seat near the back and across from the bed, so once Clint lifted up all the dogs to the floor of the transport he stepped up and closed the door behind him. He sat down on the bench and waited.

The driver rolled out easily, following Natasha, although Clint was sure the guy knew where Avengers Tower was located because who didn't? Tearing his eyes away from the sliver of front window he could see, Clint looked at Phil.

Who was looking panicked, staring at Clint and pulling at his wrist restraints, the blue veins in his eyes roiling.

"Doc…" Clint warned. Bruce snapped up from the tablet he was reading to look at Phil.

"I don't know," Bruce answered, scanning the machines tucked in around the bed and monitors built into the truck. "His heart rate is up, though; according to reports, that's unusual for when he's in this state."

The dogs were all packed together near Clint's feet but had stood up. Phil was still a foot over their heads but they stared at his bed. Donut was grumbling, pawing at her sling and Clint tried to wrap it over her again. "Just stay there, baby, just stay there, okay?" Clint rubbed her but she growled at him and started thrashing. "Hey! HEY! Stop! Ow, fuck!" Clint yanked back his hand when she clawed it, drawing blood.

"Pull over! Pull OVER!" Bruce yelled at the driver, standing up to put his hand on Phil's chest to hold the increasingly frantic man down. Phil yanked one hand so hard the restraint snapped loose from the bed frame and he slammed his fist into Bruce's face.

"Get out!" Clint yelled, scrambling to hold onto Donut as Bruce's skin rippled with green. The driver and the nurse were already bailing, and Bruce clumsily turned to crawl out the front.

"Hey! What's going—shit, Cap! Help me pull Hulk out!" Tony was in the suit, grabbing at Bruce's quickly growing arms and yanking. Clint only saw a blur of blue uniform as Steve reached past Tony, grabbed Bruce's hair and pulled. Bruce zipped out of the truck as fast as Steve could move.

Leaving Clint trapped in the back with Phil.

He turned to reach for the back door but Donut finally spilled out of her sling while he was distracted. Clint went to grab her but she bounced off his knees onto Dum Dum's back and then launched herself at the bed. She barely made it and hung in the air for a second, her weak back legs kicking frantically until Stevie head-butted her up and over the railing.

Phil kicked at her.

"No!" Clint shouted, his voice breaking in desperation, but the dogs were in his way. The back door finally swung open and Natasha leapt up. She went to move forward but Stevie turned on her, growling. Dum Dum and Bucky started barking at them, teeth bared.

"Oh shit," Clint said, pressing himself up against the wall. Never in a million years would Clint have thought that corgis could be threatening, but right then they looked like short, stocky Hell Hounds. Natasha froze, knowing that even her amazing skills at hand-to-hand combat would be pretty futile against a pack of crazed dogs.

"Is Phil controlling them?"

"I don't know! Do I look like I know? Fuck, DONUT!"

On the bed, Phil was pulling at his other restraint with his free hand, randomly kicking at Donut as she dashed back and forth up the bed in her usual zig zag pattern, somehow avoiding being punted off.

"Wait, wait!" Natasha grabbed Clint's arm to hold him in place. The dogs were still frenzied but they calmed a little when they saw that neither Clint nor Natasha was trying to move.

"What? He'll kill her!"

"No." Natasha's voice was firm and certain, her eyes locked on the bed. Clint looked over.

Phil had stopped trying to free his hand and was pressed against the mattress, as if he could push his way out of it backwards, while Donut slowly walked up his chest. He looked furious and terrified, emotions that tangled his face into a horrible contortion that barely even looked like Phil Coulson at all. Donut finally made it to the top of his chest, where she wobbled precariously, then scooted her back legs up so she was hunched over. Reaching out with one front paw, she uncertainly put it on Phil's jaw, and his mouth opened instinctively. Phil's hands were fisted in the sheet covering him, the knuckles white and the tendons of his arms standing out.

Donut poked her head up to his, her eyes squinting closed as she sniffed around his mouth, her shaky paw holding him in place. Phil paused, his mouth open and his blue eyes burning with fury, as she kept sniffing until he could not hold his breath any longer. He breathed out, his breath white hot and blue with magic that spiraled through the air and straight into Donut.

"No," Clint whispered, shaking. Natasha's grip tightened on his arm.

Donut rolled backwards, the magic twirling around her like lightening sparks, and let out a horrific yowl that filled up the entire truck. It went on and on as she thrashed on the bed, screeching with the most unearthly noise Clint had ever heard, blue energy swirling around and through her like a storm. The dogs turned to watch, their ears pricked up, but they didn't move.

Then it was quiet, the kind of lethal quiet that Clint always associated with murder and evil. No one moved. Donut was absolutely motionless on her back and the dogs stood still by the bed.

"Donut." Clint felt tears in his eyes, and he didn't care, but he was frozen where he was, unable to accept what had happened.

Then Donut rolled over and almost fell off the bed. Dum Dum launched up and nosed her back. Blinking, she batted at him and then looked at Clint, her pretty green eyes clear and annoyed, just like always. Clint ripped himself free of Natasha and launched himself at Donut, crying as he picked her up and held her close to his chest. She purred and started kneading his shirt.

"Phil?"

Clint looked up at Natasha's voice. She was looking stunned herself, staring at Phil. Blinking to clear his eyes, Clint slowly looked over at him.

"I thought I was dead," Phil said, confused, but clear-eyed and sober. "Instead I feel like Hell and I'm in a truck with my dogs?" He touched his face. "I hate nasogastric intubation. Agent Romanov, report." He sounded mostly annoyed, and looked annoyed, and Clint started laughing so hard he flopped down to the floor of the truck, where the worried dogs licked his face.

"That is so disgusting. Really. Dog germs. Yuck." Tony was looking at him through the door, still suited up with the face plate retracted. Before Clint could throw a dog at his face, there was a loud thunderous boom behind him and a rush of wind strong enough to make Tony stagger and reach for the truck for support.

"SON OF COUL! MY DEAR FRIEND, I SEE A NATIVE WITCH HAS RELEASED YOUR CURSE! I AM PLEASED!" Thor grinned over Tony's shoulder, looking thrilled and a little travel weary. Clint wrapped an arm around Stevie, Donut still cradled to his chest, and laughed until he cried.