I bet Clint was on a mission.

I bet halfway through he called for his extraction and his handler didn’t answer.

I bet he was stranded for days behind enemy lines with no backup and no way of reaching Nat.

I bet he finally crawled his way to somewhere with some kind of electricity and stole enough money to call someone only to find out that number after number was no longer in service.

I bet he finally went through every number and caved and called Tony.

I bet Tony, in his own way, was relieved to hear he wasn’t dead in the remains of HQ and was cracking ‘showing up 15min late’ jokes.

I bet he personally rushes there in his private jet and finds Clint covered in bruises and cuts and with fractured bones and almost hysterical because no one is reachable and there’s always /someone/

Tony having to gently break it to Clint that things went fucking tits up and that Steve and tasha were ok but SHIELD was fucked and that was probably a good thing

Clint having to redefine himself for the second time in two years because things keep tearing everything he knows apart.