Trap
Matt arrives at the address in just under ten minutes. He knows he’s got the right place, because he can hear the tell-tale heartbeats of the Avengers on top of the building. He grabs onto the fire escape and hauls himself up, dropping gracefully next to Captain America.
Steve nods his head towards him in acknowledgment and continues with what he was saying, “There are at least 30 goons in there keeping Clint captive. He’s not got his aids so we’re going to rely on ASL once we have him.”
Matt internally groans. He struggles immensely with ASL. He leans back against the railing behind him, contemplating how he’s going to get away with this today. So far, on the few occasions he’s been with the Avengers, he’s managed to get by without anyone noticing his lack of sight. However, there is only a certain amount of time he’ll be able to keep getting away with it.
“DD, you’ll be with Nat and Peter,” Steve says, gesturing towards two members of the group. He’s grateful for the introductions, considering Matt has never worked with Peter before. He wonders which superhero he is – he’ll have to ask later. “You three are the stealthiest we have – we want you to sneak down to where they’re keeping Clint and try to get him out without any issues. Tony and Bruce, we’ll be causing a distraction from the outside and taking out as many goons as possible.”
Everyone nods in agreement. Natasha is pulling something out of her bag, and again Matt needs to stifle his groaning when he realises she’s showing him the blueprint to the building. Peter crouches next to her, flattening out the paper, and Matt pretends to look interested in it.
“So Pete, you go through this entrance,” Nat says as she points at something. “DD, you can take here. I’ll go through here. As far as we are aware, Clint will be being kept on one of the lower levels, but we don’t know that. So, we’re going to have to sweep floor by floor. Okay?”
Matt nods his agreement, mentally preparing himself to get in trouble for ignoring all of Black Widow’s instructions.
“DD, Peter, go to your positions,” Nat instructs, waving her hand in the general direction of where they need to go.
Matt pretends to glance at the building as he tries to survey the possible entrances he could be taking. There are a number of windows on each floor, with about five floors, and he could be entering through any number of them. However, Nat said they would have to sweep floor by floor. Does that mean they’ll be starting at the bottom or the top?
Peter is watching him as he’s thinking. “Dude, have you already forgotten where you’re going?”
Matt is shocked at how young the voice is. Peter can’t be more than 17 years old, and he’s out here risking his life. His silence must be all the confirmation Peter needs of Matt’s incompetence, and he points up to a window on the fifth floor. “Up there. Sweep each floor and work down.”
“Thank you,” Matt says to the boy, grateful to be shown.
“No problem, Mr Daredevil,” responds Peter, and Matt hears the sound of something sticky shooting from the boy. Shocked, Matt just listens as Peter uses this sticky substance to swing to the top of the building, landing almost completely silently.
“Peter is Spiderman,” Matt says to himself as he scales the side of the building. He perches outside of his window, ready to burst in, waiting for instructions from the Avengers below.
“Three,” says Nat from somewhere on the other side of the building. She’s speaking quietly, however Matt knows the Avengers know about his enhanced hearing. “Two…One…Go.”
Matt smashes through the window.
…
He takes out five goons by the time he finds Clint on the third floor. He hasn’t come across Peter or Natasha yet, which he’s glad for otherwise it would be awkward if they saw him stopping to read the braille on the signs in the hallways to orient himself to his surroundings.
Clint is alone behind a door labelled crudely with a laminated sheet of paper. Matt has no chance of knowing what it says, and so he bursts into the room. Clint is strapped to a gurney, and Matt can smell blood in the air.
Suddenly an alarm starts blaring. He staggers, holding onto a metal table with surgical instruments on for support. The alarm is so loud he doesn’t know where anything is, and he’s reaching out blindly for the straps securing Clint down. He finds one, his fingers fumbling and clumsily undoing the binds.
“DD, get out of here!” Clint whispers into his ear, which Matt has to focus on to be able to hear due to the insistent clanging of the alarm. “It’s a trap!”
The door slams shut. Matt whirls as gas begins to pump into the room. It starts to choke him, and he begins clawing at his own throat in an attempt to abate the onslaught of the gas. Eventually he begins to slip into unconsciousness, the sounds of the room fading away as he fights to stay awake.