Chapter 2
When Clint Barton landed his jet in the Shield hangar in DC, there were already two Shield agents waiting for him. Weird, he was sure he hadn’t bent any rules too far lately, which likely meant there was something serious going on. When he exited the jet, arrow and quiver hung over his shoulder and back pack in hand, the agents approached him.
“Mission report?” Said one of the guys.
“Um… I do those myself. I don’t have a handler.” Clint replied, annoyed. He didn’t even know who these guys were, he certainly didn’t report to them.
“Please follow us agent Barton.” The other said before they briskly turned around and headed to the hangar exit. Clint was now thoroughly pissed off. The guys hadn’t even introduced themselves, let alone explained what was going on.
“Do you know why I was called back from my mission?” Clint asked. “Cause if it’s not super important I could totally do with a nap.”
Clint continued to ramble despite the way that the agents were pointedly ignoring him.
“You know I’ve been flying for hours and I’m in a completely different time zone now than I was this morning.”
The bitter wind whipped at Clint’s face as they rode a small vehicle Clint had dubbed ‘the golf buggy’ across the tarmac towards the Triskelion. It was a stark difference to the endless sun of LA.
Clint quickly glanced at his phone again for what had to be the 100th time that day, but there was still nothing from Natasha. A sick feeling swirled its way around his gut. He just hoped that Natasha’s silence wasn’t related to him being pulled from his mission.
“You know, if this is just Fury wanting to chew me out for not staying on top of my paperwork, I’m gonna be pissed.” Clint said to the silent agents as they pulled up at the building entrance. Without so much as a look at Clint, they started through the busy foyer, heading straight for the elevator. With a heavy sigh, Clint followed after them.
Surprisingly, they got off the lift at level 38. That wasn’t Fury’s level, or any of the main meeting rooms.
“Where are we going?” Clint insisted.
“Please just follow us.” One of the men said without turning to look at Clint. Something was definitely going on.
They were walking down a wide, but empty hallway, with what appeared to be office doors on either side. Towards the end of the hallway, the men suddenly stopped and opened a door on the right, standing aside to let Clint enter. But before he could move, his phone started ringing, the vibration felt keenly in his pocket. He pulled it out, and had just enough time to see the familiar “Nat” flashing on the screen before there was a sudden movement in front of him, and a fist hit Clint clean in the nose, knocking him down like a bag of potatoes, his phone skidding from his hand. Clint could feel multiple hands grabbing and pulling him up to his knees. The familiar feel of handcuffs and chains pulled tight as he tried desperately to wriggle out of the hands, but he was feeling far too dazed to make much progress. If there’s one thing Clint has learned over the years, it’s that it doesn’t matter how many time you are held captive, it never gets any better. His head pointed at the floor, a boot steps in front of his vision, before a hand reaches down to pick up his still ringing phone. Clint’s eyes follow the hand up to the man who has his finger next to the answer button of his phone.
“Rumlow.” Clint gasps, confused and shocked.
Rumlow flashed a winning smirk through his teeth, “Hey sweetheart.” Then he answered the call.
***
Natasha was currently sitting in a small jet that Maria Hill had managed to find them from a small safe house. The two women, along with Sam Wilson, were flying to New York. Specifically to Avengers Tower.
As far as Nat knew, Tony was the only Avenger currently staying there. Nat had tried calling Tony a few times now with no answer. With all of the resources at the tower, and not to mention Tony himself, Hydra was surely going to make that their next target.
Again getting through to the message bank, Natasha growled in frustration before giving up. They would be there in less than 10 minutes, they would just have to wait, and hope that nothing had happened to Tony already.
“Hey guys.” Sam called from the back seat of the jet, staring at his phone. Nat and Maria turned to face him.
“What is it?” Maria asked.
“The first news stories are starting to pop up now, looks like it’s spreading fast.”
They didn’t bother asking what he meant. The news was now covering the death of Steve Rogers.
“Took them longer than I thought.” Nat said grimly.
“Hydra’s probably been trying to keep it quiet, and they probably could for longer if they wanted. The fact that they didn’t leaves me worried. They’re definitely planning something soon.” Maria said.
“It’s gotta be the hellicarriers. There’s no way we can stop them without Stark. We have to get to him before they do.” Nat said, “I’m gonna call Barton. He’s in LA, so he should be fine for now, but he’ll have to go underground before they come for him too.” Nat picks up the phone again before dialling Clint’s number.
“Hopefully he hasn’t been looking at the media yet. It’s probably for the best that you break the news to him Natasha.” Maria says as the phone rings.
Natasha is about to hang up the phone and try again when the call connects.
“Clint, hey, are you alright? Where are you?” There’s a brief pause before a raspy voice makes Natasha’s stomach drop.
“Clint’s at the Triskelion, in Washington DC, but I can’t say he’s having a good time right about now.”
There’s some muffled sounds in the background before the distinct sound of someone being punched, followed by a low groan.
“Rumlow. Put Clint on the phone.” Sam and Maria both turn to Nat, eyes wide.
“Nice to speak to you too, Romanov. And no, I don’t think I will. I know that you two can talk in thousands of different made up code languages. I don’t need anyone to be making any escape plans.”
“What do you want Rumlow.” Nat asked tersely.
“Nothing from you Romanov, except maybe to rub it in a little. Hydra’s after some of your people already. But you, well I think they’ll just wanna put you down. Barton however, well, I wanted him for myself.”
“Well unlucky for you this won’t last long. Shield will put an end to hydra before you know it. And then you’ll be the one in the ground.” Just then through the phone is another muffled but pained sound as Clint is hit again.
“You know, I can hurt him to get to you, so really, I have the high ground here.” Rumlow taunts.
“You’re a sick son of a bitch Rumlow. Let him go, and I might not rip your spine out through your throat.” Natasha growled.
“You know, I don’t think I will. But don’t worry Romanov, I’m gonna take real good care of Barton. See you soon.” Rumlow says before the line goes dead.
“No, no, no, fuck! Fucking Rumlow has Clint, we have to get him back!”
“Natasha, you need to calm down. This is bad, but at this exact moment, there’s nothing we can do for Clint. We have to get to everyone else before they’re taken as well. Right now we know that Hydra is going to go for Tony next, so we get to him first. And we make sure Bruce is ok. And then we can figure out how to get to Barton. But for now he’s gonna have to hold on. He’s no stranger to interrogations and captivity. This is part of his job. He’s never given up information before.”
What Maria is saying makes sense, but Natasha feels no comfort from it at all.
“I understand Maria, and we’ll get to Tony first. But we can’t forget about Clint, because he will break. Because this is different. This is Rumlow. I knew he was bad, but Hydra? They’re going to hurt Clint to get what they want. And Rumlow already knows exactly how to get under Clint’s skin.”