Interlude
This was almost worse than when he took the job in New Mexico, almost. Selvig was at least on their side this time and Clint wanted nothing more than to get him and Tony in a room together with the Tesseract just to see what would happen. Fury wouldn't call Harry in for this right now for various weak reasons, but Clint knew better than to argue orders. According to Shield, Tony was still hostile toward them and how they ran things. Clint was honestly surprised he was so close to the billionaire.
He straightened a bit when he saw Fury come into the large dome, the director's voice echoing against the walls. Fury always did think he needed to talk louder when the space was too big. Clint also knew exactly when he was about to be called down, but like hell he was going to move until the voice in his head told him to.
Ah, yes, sometimes he liked being able to drop sentences that made him seem like he was mentally unsound. It kept the psychologists on base guessing and they hated him for it.
Sure enough, Fury asked him to report and Clint made his way down to the floor. As soon as his feet touched, Fury was on him about keeping a closer eye on things and Clint could feel the smart-ass remark want to come forward. He had been around Tony too long.
He went with “I see better from a distance” instead and that seemed to calm Fury somewhat.
“Has there been any interference?” Fury looks directly at Selvig as the man rushes to a computer and it doesn't take Clint much t know what he meant.
“He's clean, no outside contacts since he arrived.” He hesitated just slightly, not sure how well this theory would go over with Fury. But, well, if Tony wasn't really Tony and there was a world not even Fury knew about, then perhaps it was possible. “If there's anything tampering it, it isn't on this end.”
Clint knew this face on Fury the best, especially when it came to him. It clearly said 'you have to be shitting me' though Fury would never said that out loud. Instead, he crossed his arms and asked, “At this end?”
Clint so wished Tony were here because he would find this a little amusing. He'd text him later about it, probably. “It's a doorway into space, right? Doors open from both sides, sir.”
Fury seemed to take that into consideration and Clint tried not to grin like an idiot. That was not professional, not at all. However – Clint, one; Shield's smartest scientists, zero. Even Natasha would appreciate that one.
He didn't have long for a victory before the cube sparked. Before Clint could figure out what the hell was going on, it all but exploded, pointing a beam toward the set-up Selvig had hoped to use as a exit platform when they got the cube working. The good news was that the platform idea had worked. The bad news was that instead of letting some of their people leave, it brought someone there. For an alien, he looked ridiculously human.
Something creeped into Clint's mind and he had a feeling that he had been around this person before, though that was highly impossible. The only alien being he had come close to meeting before was Thor and there hadn't been anyone around at the time. Anyone that he saw.
Clint really wished Tony were watching this and in his ear to tell him if this might be the same person. He wanted his bow, but that was locked up and out of reach. All he had was a gun and damn was that uncomfortable.
Clint barely heard what Fury said, too busy staring at the man on the platform. Something was wrong, he looked exhausted and a little bit crazed. Clint saw his plan a second before anything happened and he just managed to shove Fury out of the way in time for a blast from the spear to hit a computer station right behind them.
He only had one gun, but Clint was going to make it count. As soon as he noticed the bullets bouncing off the man's armor, he stayed down and out of the way. He would have his chance, he just had to wait. He was a sniper, snipers usually did nothing but wait. He eyed the man and, when the time came, he jerked up and turned to shoot him in the face.
The man caught his arm, twisting it painfully. Something changed in his face and then the man was smirking at him and Clint felt a familiar slide of something go through him. Hell, this was the same guy, it had to be. He winced as his arm twisted further and then the man was leaning closer.
“I remember you. You have heart.”
Well shit. Clint thought of four different ways to struggle out of the hold, but then the spear was against his chest and something he didn't recognize pushed into him. Everything he knew about Shield, about the Starks and Harry and his friends , rushed to the front of his mind. The man, Loki he now knew, smirked and Clint felt his pleasure at knowing what Clint knew.
Clint put his gun away and awaited orders. In his mind, Loki told him to pay attention to the atmosphere. They need the cube, that was priority two, only behind the need to get out of the facility. Immediately, Clint passed him codes for doors and escape routes. The tunnels would be best, faster since the building was still shaking.
Clint interrupted the banter between Fury and Loki, stepping closer to them. “Sir, Director Fury is stalling.” Selvig's thoughts are added to the conversation, conversions and equations that he couldn't begin to understand flew through his mind. “This place is about to self-destruct. He means to bury us.”
Fury's eyes were sad and Clint didn't completely know why he should be upset by that, but he was. “Like the pharaohs of old,” he said.
More calculations and Selvig looked up. “He's right. We have about two minutes before everything implodes on itself.”
“Well then...” Loki looked at Clint and then Fury is shot.
They walked out, sheer exhaustion coming from Loki and Clint immediately recognized it as heat exhaustion. Unintelligible worries crossed Clint's mind, but he didn't dare take his eyes off his task of escorting the Tesseract safely off the premises. That was okay since another Agent was there to support Loki, a hand on his back to not only hold him up, but for Loki to soak up some of his energy. The Agent was expendable and probably won't last past this stage of operations.
Loki just needed him, Selvig, and the Tesseract.
And really, the fight with Maria in the tunnels was elementary. Dodge the trucks, let Loki fire behind them, Clint covered the front. Selvig was useless, but that was to be expected in this situation. He would shine later.
It wasn't until Loki passed out in the back that something cleared enough in Clint's mind for him to know that this was wrong. He struggled with himself, but his body didn't do as his mind wanted. Panic settled deep in his mind and he kept driving.
---
Natasha was in the middle of an interrogation when the call from Coulson came. She was completely ready to ignore whatever he needed until he said three simple words: “Barton's been compromised.”
Right, that always came first. Natasha took care of the goons quick enough; she already had the information she needed to do the paperwork for this and that could be taken care of on the plane.
“Where's Barton now?” she asked, frowning when Coulson admitted that he didn't know. “He's alive?” At least that answer was an hopeful affirmative.
“There will be a phone waiting for you on your plane,” Coulson explained. “It'll tell you everything you need to know.”
“I see.”
Coulson paused. “We need you to talk to the big guy.”
Stark, of course. Clint's new best friend needed to know what was going on. “That's fine. I'll be at Stark--”
“I got Stark.” Natasha froze. “You're closer to Banner's location.”
Again? “Coulson, you can't begin to understand the relationship Stark has with--”
“That's an order, Agent Romanoff. Sorry, came from above.”
Coulson hung up and Natasha stared at the phone for a long moment before swearing.The last time she had to go get the doctor, it hadn't gone well. He might not even want to return, but she hoped that the file Coulson was going to leave her had information to convince the man. Otherwise, it would be a wasted trip.