"Bullshit." He had a choice. Maybe not a good one, but there's always a choice. If there's anything he knows about Loki, it's that he locks himself into plans -- he gets too narrowminded. Clint was the flexible one, and he was brainwashed.

-- oh, yes, he remembers. It's an event that he plays through his mind more often than he'd like. He'd thought Loki was going to kill him. He'd tensed in anticipation of that blade slipping straight into his heart. But, instead, there'd been a flood of cool inside him, gentle and sure, shuffling the cards of his mind and settling them into a different order. Kept his heart as strong as ever, because he remembers feeling like he'd never felt before. Looked like a robot on the surface, but he worked beneath his skin.

His jaw tightens. "In case you missed it," he says, "the glow-stick doesn't work anymore." And he just can't resist: "And I wouldn't call it peace."