Masks

Tony hated waiting. He kept glaring at the phone and his tablet, as if willing them to light up.
More than that, he was torn, half wanting to go out and search for Catrin, the other half wanting to bundle his mate and their unborn baby away somewhere safe. Neither impulse would be at all useful, he recognized, and attempting to act on either one would result in a very annoyed husband. Bruce wouldn't hesitate to sit on Tony by whatever means if he started being reckless, and Tony suspected that Diana, if not Pepper or Banner, would back the Omega up.

Bruce came up behind him, running a hand over Tony's hair in a comforting gesture.

"Do we think they're holding her somewhere in New York City itself?" Clark asked, his voice calming in its steadiness. "I could overfly, scan the area for her or Rumlow. " He had caught the couple's restless need to be doing something rather than just sit for instructions.

"Scan...?" Tony repeated, puzzled.

"My senses are a bit different than most," Clark explained. "I have x-ray vision, among other things."

Now Banner and Pepper looked intrigued. "Flight, too? And Dick said something about invulnerability..."

"Yup, for the most part. Bullets bounce off me." The Kryptonian Alpha's lips twitched in a wry smile.
"Sounds like you won the superpower lottery," Tony joked weakly.

Clark lifted one broad shoulder in a shrug. "We all have our gifts. So, do you--"

He was interrupted by a loud screeching sound from outside the conference room, that had everyone clapping their hands futilely to their ears. Tony flinched at the sudden, deafening barrage.
"What the fuck---"

Oh hells.

Barton.
The sound of an explosion followed directly on its wake. Tony staggered, dizzy. Bruce steadied him as Clark shot out the door, hurrying down the hall to the Hulk containment area.

* * *
Clint Barton, despite not being an alleged genius or 'master tactician' like a couple of his teammates, was not entirely clueless.
When Natasha and Rogers hadn't come back from their fact-finding visit to the R&D floors, he hadn't worried at first. He and Wilson had been busy trying to kick each other's asses at Mario Kart. Hey, there was gaming cred at stake! And unlike Steve, he didn't feel any burning interest in Stark's personal life.
When he looked up at the clock and realized half the day was gone, he'd asked JARVIS where they were. The AI had simply replied that "Mr. Rogers, Agent Romanoff and Sir are presently unavailable. "

He'd drawn a wrong conclusion from that, which was on him; he should have thought to ask the AI if it meant they were "unavailable" together. Instead, happy over a good Rainbow Road score, and his stomach growling, he'd gone out for some greasy burgers to celebrate.
He'd checked his cell phone when he returned, late that evening, and that had alerted him that something was wrong. Nat and he always checked in if one of them was going out in the field, just a short daily 'all's well' text.
Nothing.
He hadn't seen her, Steve, or Stark anywhere.
He'd taken to the vents, not wanting to advertise his own whereabouts. JARVIS had been evasive on further inquiries. Since there weren't cameras or security measures in the ductwork, or not yet, Clint felt safer there.
He had had his bow and a few arrows with him, but hadn't felt easy going to the armory or his suite.

It took him some floor-by-floor searching and eavesdropping to suss out where the Black Widow and Cap were being held captive. Seeing Bruce Banner acting the guard dog, he'd decided against a face-to-face confrontation. None of the gear he had in reach would do much against the Hulk.
He'd hoped, when Thor appeared, that he'd have some backup, but the Asgardian's little rant at Steve ended that bit of wishful thinking.
Well.
The cells were open--it was three to three now, not three to one. Two of them were vanilla human. This was going to be tough, but shouldn't be impossible.

He pulled a sonic disruptor arrow from the quiver, nocked and fired smoothly. Followed it a second later with a low-level explosive. It wouldn't kill Thor or even injure him badly, but it'd hopefully knock him down a few pegs.
That was the last thought he had before he caught sight of a red-and-blue blur rushing at him...and something hit him like an oncoming train.

* * *

Bruce started to follow Clark out the door. Tony caught his arm.

"Armor up first, if you won't stay clear," his husband pleaded. He saw real fear in Tony's eyes.

"We don't even know if--" he hesitated, not sure he wanted to refer to the possible pregnancy yet.

"No," a deep voice rumbled.

The Hulk straightened up from his crouch a few yards away. "Stay. Be safe," looking at Tony.

Everyone's eyes widened. Tony was, for once in almost thirty years, completely speechless.

The Hulk looked at Bruce, then to Diana. "Stay," he repeated. "I help." He took off after the other heroes.