Fractured

“How did this happen?”

Natasha had been watching the security footage from the incident since they had cleared the scene. It didn’t make sense. Everything had gone to shit in a matter of moments. It started when Tony insisted Natasha take the president and his family out of the White House and she knew that the play made sense. They had a job and would complete it by any means necessary but Natasha hadn’t wanted to leave Tony alone with Rumlow and Cross. Especially without his suit. The only comfort she had was knowing that Clint and Kate were inside and ready to back him up.

Natasha had gotten the family to the front door and saw the two Hydra agents on the ground where Clint had left them. Down the hall to her left she could hear a pair of footsteps heading towards her – other agents probably coming to either relieve the two unconscious ones or check on them to make sure everything was okay. She opened the front door and ushered the President and his family out right before the agents rounded the corner and saw Natasha standing over the bodies on the floor. In a split second they raised their guns and ducked for cover right before they could open fire. “What’s going on?” Clint called over the comms as Natasha pulled her pistol from her thigh and racked a round. ““I got the President and his family out but it looks like someone found the two guys you left at the front door. What’s your locations?”

Natasha aimed around the corner of her cover and fired at the two agents, hitting them both in the shoulders and legs to stun them before running towards them to disarm and incapacitate. “Someone sent agents to cover the entrances, Clint!” She heard Kate yell over the comms and could hear the faint echo of gunfire in time with the sounds of Kate’s transmission.

“The rest of the guests have been evacuated. We’re headed back in to help out. Clint,Kate, where are you?” Natasha recognized Bucky as she started heading in the direction of the gunfire. She kept listening to the chatter, hearing Clint grunt before mumbling, “Kinda busy here….where’s Tony?”

Natasha snuck up on one of the agents and took him down with ease before answering Clint. “He’s still in the Oval Office. Clint,” Natasha paused, knowing that what she was about to say was going to probably make things worse, “They wanted him.”

There was a moment of silence before Natasha heard Clint say exactly what she knew he would. “I’m on my way. Nat, get Kate outta here. I’m getting Tony.”

“Clint, wait,” she had called out but he didn’t answer. “Clint! Clint, answer me!”

“Clint can take care of himself, Natasha,” Sam sounded, “Bucky and I are taking care of squad in the East Wing.”

Natasha knew Sam was right but she couldn’t help that dark feeling in the pit of her stomach. She didn’t like it. Clint was reckless at the best of times. She rounded the corner and spotted Kate firing arrow after arrow at a swarm of Hydra agents that were flooding out of one of the secret passages. Natasha helped lay down cover fire as she yelled at Kate, “Kate, this way!”

Kate spotted Natasha in an instant and nodded, running towards her as Natasha covered her. They took cover in one of the offices nearby as Natasha activated her comms again. “Wanda, Pietro, what’s your status?”

They didn’t answer and Natasha was about to call to them again when she heard a bunch of yelling. She peered outside and saw the red tendrils of Wanda’s magic flood their brains while Wanda came up behind them and brought them to their knees before they passed out. A blue blur of her brother followed immediately, dropping another agent he had slammed into the wall with not a single care. “You took your time,” Natasha commented as her and Kate came out.

“Was trying not to get shot again,” Pietro shrugged as he looked around. “Where’s the old man?”

“Oval office with Tony,” she noted as she pointed to the entrance the swarm of agents had come out of. “Well, what are we waiting for?” Pietro asked.

Natasha was about to tell him to wait when he rushed into the room in a flash. “Wait, Pietro!” Wanda called out just before she ran after him, followed by Natasha and Kate who had their weapons at the ready.

But when they got into the office, their hearts sank.

Pietro was in the middle of the room – the very empty room. “I thought you said they were here?” he asked, looking over his shoulder at the three women who trailed after him.

That feeling in her stomach grew as she pressed her comms again. “Tony, Clint, status report.”

Silence. “Tony, status….”

Still silence. Natasha looked at the three kids and could see the worry in their faces. “Bucky, Sam, please tell me you have eyes on Stark and Barton.”

“Negative, Romanoff. Are they not in the Oval Office?” Bucky answered.

Pietro was gone in an instant, already running around the entire premises trying to find them. The team split up and scoured every inch, even the secret tunnel under the White House but to no avail.

Tony and Clint were gone.

They headed back to the complex after helping DCPD round up the unconscious Hydra agents and started looking over all of the footage they could get their hands on. The President had been more than helpful in getting all the security footage of inside the White House to them in a timely manner, but the footage held little clues as to what happened or how they escaped. They watched as Tony was hit over the head with a rifle and Clint running in only to get grabbed from behind by Cross and drugged. The moment Clint had lost consciousness Cross had smiled at the camera and then the screen went fuzzy. In fact, every camera did. Natasha didn’t know how many times she had watched that footage, hoping an answer would come to her but each time she only got more questions than answers. She was watching the footage again when Rhodey entered the room, carrying two cups of coffee and handed one to her. “Got anything?” he asked.

“No,” she muttered, taking the coffee but not drinking any. “There’s nothing here. No clues or leads…just nothing.”

“Yeah…they did a good job covering their tracks, I’ll give them that,” Rhodey sighed as he stared at the monitors in front of them. “What about CCTV outside of the White House?”

“There was too much movement. Rumlow was a trained SHIELD agent. He probably disguised them to blend them into the crowd,” she replied as she finally took a sip of her coffee. Rhodey cast a glance at her before putting a hand on her shoulder and giving it a reassuring squeeze. “We’ll find them, Natasha. Bruce and Vision are tapping into every network they can. They’ll turn up. And Thor is asking his buddy Hemidall if he can get eyes on him.”

There was a flash of rainbow light on the helipad but Natasha didn’t seem to notice or care. “Speak of the devil,” Rhodey muttered just as Thor came walking into the room, his face already hinting that he didn’t have good news. “Anything?” Rhodey asked anyway.

“Heimdall could not see them,” he reported rather despondently, “Either Stark and Barton were taken to a realm Heimdall cannot see…”

“Somehow I doubt Rumlow has that kind of tech…” Rhodey added.

“Or they hold a power to block Asgardian magic,” Thor finished, agreeing with Rhodey, “And that is of great concern for us all.”

Rhodey and Natasha nodded as she kept staring at the footage on the screen. Thor was glancing between them as he stood next to Natasha. “Perhaps you require rest,” he offered, trying to be of some form of help, “I am sure that the colonel and I can take over your watch while you rest.”

“I appreciate that, big guy,” she smiled as she looked up at the Asgardian beside her, “But I can’t. I told Laura I would fill her in once she got here.”

“You called Laura?” Rhodey asked, in which Natasha nodded. “She’s bringing the kids, too. She wants to help.”

“But I thought Barton wanted them as far away from New York as possible.”

“Desperate times,” she replied with a shrug, “And until we get either of them back I don’t want to take any chances. Whoever hired Rumlow and Cross knew what they were doing and we don’t know what else they’re capable of, and that includes what they know. Barnes and Wilson are flying them in now.”

“Well, we shall make them quite comfortable and safe,” Thor replied, seemingly rather adamant in his words, “Perhaps we should hold a feast in their honor? If his children feast like himself, the little Bartons will be quite eager for food upon their arrival. Perhaps a pizza?”

Natasha couldn’t help but grin as she listened to Thor. “Good idea, buddy. Why don’t you see about ordering some different pizzas.”

Thor nodded, seemingly glad to be able to help in one way or another before leaving to complete his task. When he left, Rhodey asked Natasha, “How far out are they?”

“Maybe a couple of hours. They left Clint’s farmhouse about two hours ago.”

“That’s plenty of time to get a quick nap in,” he replied, putting up his hand when he saw Natasha getting ready to argue, “I’ll wake you up as soon as they get here. I can handle things from here. There is no use in running yourself ragged right now. We’ll find them and when we do, we’re going to need you at your best.”

Natasha chuckled as she smirked to herself. “You’ve had a lot of practice with stubborn people hanging out with Tony, haven’t you?”

“Oh you have no idea. Now go before I have Bruce drug your Gatorade.” Natasha once again laughed as she put a hand on his shoulder. “Wake me up if you see anything.”

“You got it, boss.”

~~~

Tony woke up rather peacefully sometime after Clint had been brought back. Whatever drug Zemo had injected him with had knocked him out for a good chunk of time but he could still feel the prickling sensation of something stabbing him in the chest. He groaned, forcing him to swing his legs over the edge of the bed. “I don’t feel like doing that again,” he groaned as he rubbed his chest.

His comment was met with silence and he furrowed his brow as he looked over at Clint’s cell. At first he thought maybe Zemo had taken Clint away for some “fun” but he could make out Clint’s huddled form in his own cot across the way. “You know, I never pegged you for the sleep while your captured kind of guy. Considering how you refuse to sleep anyway back home…” Tony prattled on as he slowly pushed himself to his feet to walk to the divider between them.

Once again Clint didn’t respond and this time, Tony knew something was wrong. “You with me, buddy?” he asked, putting his hand to the glass divider…

Only to pull it away in shock as he felt the temperature difference. Why the hell was it so cold? “Barton, wake up, buddy. I could really use some good, old fashioned Barton-Stark banter…Bark banter? I think that may actually be one of my better acronyms so you better be awake to appreciate it,” he called out a bit louder as he pounded on the glass to emphasize his point.

Clint raised an arm and gave a shaky thumbs up before dropping it immediately back to him to curl around his naked chest. “Yeah, uh huh, I know you’re deaf but I’m not blind.”

He could hear Clint sigh as he slowly sat up with a groan. When he turned around so Tony could see his front his stomach dropped a little bit. When he first thought he saw some green to Clint’s back he thought it was just his eyes wanting to see another color other than white in this place. But when Clint was now facing him he could see it wasn’t a trick of his light or his eyes. His torso was littered with them. Angry purple and green bruises with cuts everywhere. His lip was split and his eye was swollen shut. “Jesus, Clint what did they do to you?”

“Just testing a theory,” he grumbled as he huddled himself in a ball and shivered.

“Okay…you mind telling me why I it feels like it’s the artic on the other side of that glass?”

“I already told you…testing a theory,” Clint explained as he tried to rub his sides for some warmth. “Pressure points, Tony. I’m sure they told you the same. Cooperate or they take it out on the other guy.”

So that’s why there were two of them. “Look, Tony,” Clint spoke up again and Tony felt his blood get cold. Clint’s voice was already shaky from what he could only assume was the cold settling in his body and putting him on the verge of hypothermia but there was something else there too. “Whatever he asks of you – don’t. Don’t give the bastard anything.”

“But Barton…”

“No,” Clint reaffirmed, another shiver running through his body, “This is how he operates. I’ve dealt with assholes like him before. Natasha and I both have and we made a deal and I need you to make me that same deal, okay? Don’t give him anything. I can take it.”

“Not gonna happen, Clint.”

“Tony…”

“Look, I get you and Nat are highly trained SHIELD operatives with extensive and, to be honest, terrifying training but I can’t just sit here and watch you suffer because you have a martyr complex. And I really don’t feel like explaining to Widow why I brought back her BFF in less than one piece.”

Tony turned to the camera in his cell, seemingly knowing that Zemo was watching them and probably listening to their conversation. “Hey Zemo!” he yelled, waving at the camera, “I want to chat!”

“Tony, don’t…”

“It will be fine, Hawkie, I got this handled,” Tony cut off. He kept waving at the camera until the guards came back in and the door slid away from Tony’s cell. “Yeah, yeah, I know the drill,” Tony replied as they came in with the restraints at the ready.

Once they had slid them on Tony gave Clint a quick nod before leaving with them down the hallway once again. Now did Tony actually have a plan? No, not really but he had to do something. This time they discarded him in a lab with Zemo standing by a microscope. “I’m not going to try anything so can we lose the cuffs?” Tony asked as he held up his hands.

Zemo smirked and nodded. The cuffs were removed and Tony clapped his hands together in front of him in a slow applause. “Good work, there, Zemo. You’re brilliant, I’ll give you that.”

“How do you mean, Mr. Stark?”

“You obviously wanted me to see him like that. I mean, that’s why you had Bozo 1 and Dingus 2 over here rough him up and drop his cell to basically freezing temperatures, right? Because you knew that when you came for me again to continue our rather dull chat that I would be more pliable, right?”

“You and he are both part of this experiment, Mr. Stark,” Zemo clarified, pointing to the computer screen that was observing their cells. Tony could see Clint trying to huddle in tighter to himself to try and stay warm and how his eyes were starting to droop shut. “I wanted to test his resolve and see how long he would last to keep you unharmed.”

“Pressure points,” Tony muttered as he heard Clint’s voice in his head. “Alright, you made your point. Look I’ll play ball with you, okay? Now I know you’re European but I’ll explain the concept of catch – two people throw the ball at one another. So if I’m going to throw to you, I have to get it back. Turn up the temperature in his cell and get him treated.”

“Or what?”

“Or,” Tony replied as he pointed to the lab equipment around him, “You won’t be able to finish what it is you’re working on.”

“And what am I working on?”

“Extremis 2.0,” Tony said matter-of-factly, “Yeah, I recognized the side effects after you hit me with the first dose. Let me guess – you’re trying to rebuild it without the explosive side effects so you can create your own army of super soldiers?”

Zemo laughed as he stood up straighter. “You are a genius, Mr. Stark, although your reasoning behind my want of the serum. The world doesn’t need anymore super soldiers.”

“Then why make it?”

Zemo didn’t reply, only grabbing a fat stack of papers and handing it to him. “I heard what Agent Barton said to you. How happy do you think he will be when he finds out what sort of deal you are making for him?”

“I’m not worried if he’s going to like it or not,” Tony replied, although it was a lie. He needed to figure out how to tell him what his plan was without Zemo catching on, “I just don’t want to see my friend suffer.”

Zemo seemed to take the bait and nodded. He ordered something at the guards in German and they left while Zemo used the computer to turn on the heat to Barton’s cell. “Let us get to work, then, Mr. Stark.”

TBC…