The Bird and the Spider play Cat and Mouse
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Natasha hooked a grappling hook to the side of the building before she slid silently over the edge. When she was two stories from the ground she let go of the rope and dropped gracefully to the ground below. She was up and moving after her target before the dust of her landing had even settled.
Her mind tried to turn to the events of the past hour but she ruthlessly pushed the thoughts and questions away for another time, however, her mind kept drifting toward wandering why this sudden attack. The problem was that the attack didn't make sense. The man had had the Avengers, Coulson, and even Fury in his sights and yet he had deliberately picked off the strike team. What had happened in Italy? This didn't have the feel of an attack on SHIELD instead it felt more personal.
A flicker of gold through the trees had her raising her gun but before she could fire an arrow slid between the delicate bones of her right hand, pinned her hand to a tree, and sent her gun flying. Her left hand reached out automatically to catch the falling gun but an arrow came out of nowhere and knocked the weapon well out of her reach.
Looking up she met a pair of blue/gray eyes and the absolute fury inside them convinced her that she was facing her death. She tried to unobtrusively palm a throwing knife but an arrow aimed at her heart made her to stop as the man growled "Don't."
Natasha inclided her head in argeement as she raised her unpinned hand up in a sign of surrender.
"Stay there," Hawkeye told her before melting back into the tree cover. Despite her best efforts she lost track of the marksman as he moved away from her and further into the tress. Gathering herself once she was sure he was out of earshot she pulled her hand free of the arrow pinning it to a tree. The pain had her gritting her teeth but stubbornly she pushed away from the tree and tried to find the man's trail.
"Guys," Stark's voice sounded over the comms "I have a visual and I am going in."
Natasha cursed as she saw the bright red of Stark's suit diving from the sky. Quickly she sprinted through the trees as quietly as she could but she knew she was too late as Stark's angry voice came over the comms cursing up a storm.
"Ironman, are you alright," Steve called over the comms. "What is your position?"
"The bastard just hit me with some sort of arrow that delivered a localized EMP blast. I am still in the air but the blast knocked out the circuitry in my right arm. I am having real trouble manuvering," Stark told them tension clear in his voice. The sound of machine gun fire sounded through the air followed by Stark's astonished voice over the comms "What is this guy, part monkey? JARVIS are you targeting at all?"
Natasha moved quickly toward the fight. She brought up her knife as she broke the tree line and spotted Hawkeye as he broke cover while dodging a volley of bullets from Ironman. Natasha was struck for a moment at the suicidal move before she saw Hawkeye jump into the air while spinning to the side to avoid the bullets slicing through the air all while he strung an arrow and fired a direct hit to Ironman's midriff.
An electrical charge danced across the suit and Stark's voice cursed over the comms as the suit abruptly lost power.
"The bastard hit one of the main circuit relays. How did he even know where it was," Stark cursed as the suit jerked helplessly on the ground.
Without another moments hesitation Natasha threw her knife with deadly accuracy at Hawkeye's unprotected neck but without even turning his body Hawkeye shot the knife out of the air with a well placed arrow. Another arrow was notched and aimed at her before she could even take two steps forward and once more she faced this man over the tip of an arrow.
"You don't know when to quit," Hawkeye growled.
"Bad habit of mine," she murmured with a pleasant smile and a softening of her eyes to make herself appear more delicate. She didn't think she could actually seduce this man but most men let their guard down slightly around smaller women.
Hawkeye snorted at her attempts "You're barking up the wrong tree Widow but I will give you points for effort. Unfortunately, I can't let you follow me so what should I do with you."
The answer was obvious to her and she braced to dodge the arrow about to come her way but instead the archer motioned his head toward the motionless Ironman armor.
"If you want to keep your team mate alive I suggest you go loosen his face plate before he suffocates," the man suggested.
Natasha glanced to where Stark sprawled in the suit then up at the man with a weapon trained on her.
"If I wanted to shoot you I don't need to wait till your back is turned," Barton told her with a cold smirk.
"Stark," Natasha called and Stark's gasping voice came over the comms.
"He is telling the truth. He took out the suits oxygen recycler. I am running out of air but I still don't know how he knows that," Stark grumbled in a breathless voice.
Natasha grimaced as she walked slowly over to the suit and knelt down to depress the hidden button that would manually disengage the Ironman faceplate. She expected an arrow in her back at any moment but to her surprise the arrow never came.
"Hey, beautiful," Stark greeted her with a gasp as he sucked in long drafts of air.
"You should really build in a back up oxygen retention system into your suits," a voice called and Natasha spun as she felt more than saw something sailing through the air at them. Automatically she caught the object and stared blankly at the cuffs she held in her left hand.
"What in the fuck," Stark said for both of them. Hawkeye merely stared the billionaire down before turning his attention to her.
"Use each set to cuff yourself to the hands of the Ironman suit," the man told them as he allowed his eyes to roam over the tree line. Natasha had no doubt that despite his inattention he could have them dead in a moment if she made a move to escape or attack.
Slowly she started to handcuff her right wrist to Stark's left wrist but Hawkeye made a tutting noise.
"Right to right, Widow. I don't want you to have any manuvering room."
Natasha gritted her teeth and straddled the armor as the man asked. She tried to leave the handcuff with a bit of give but closed the cuffs more securely when Hawkeye merely raised an expectant eyebrow at her.
On the second cuff she pretended to struggle to tighten it and a moment later an arrow bloomed beside her left knee leaving a line of fire along her skin.
"Don't play with me Widow. Use your knee to tighten the cuff or the next arrow will go through you and into Stark's brain," the man growled his eyes cold as he watched them.
Wordlessly she did as asked and felt distinctly helpless as the man regarded her. There were a few moves still open to her but none of them would work unless the archer got much closer to her.
"If I say that I have had fantasies that ended up with us in this same position will you kill me," Stark asked with a false show of bravado. Natasha turned to look over her shoulder at him as she told him menacingly "Yes."
Stark smiled back at her reassured by her lack of fear as she had hoped he would be.
"All right I won't say it but I am hoping that the suit video is still recording. This is a great view," Stark rambled.
An amused snort from in front of them surprised them both but when Natasha turned back the archer was composed and glaring at them as though angry that they had made him lose his composure.
"See ya Widow, Ironman," Barton said as he turned to move to the opposite tree line but as he was completing the turn he notched an arrow and fired faster than Natasha's eyes could follow.
The arrow sped into the tree line behind them as he took off at a full sprint away from them and moments later an explosion sounded from behind them. Natasha automatically stretched her legs back to cover Stark's face and for a moment met his startled eyes as debree rained around them.
"Don't even get any ideas," she told him in a deadpan voice.
"Too late," he snarked back and she allowed her mouth to curl in a small smile.
"Have any idea what that was about," he asked but that question was quickly answered as Steve and Bucky came pelting out of the trees to their side. Both were covered in ash, dirt and small pieces of wood indicating that they had been far closer to the blast than was safe.
Looking back to the woods she noted that Hawkeye had disappeared but moments later she watched as a helicopter lifted off from a nearby clearing. Natasha noted that Hawkeye was watching them out of the open side door of the 'copter his bow at the ready to counter any attack they might make.
Steve reached up to click his comm on saying clearly "This is Captain Rogers requesting air support. Hawkeye is heading north by northeast from our position in a Black Hawk helicopter. I repeat this is Captain Rogers requesting air support."
The comms crackled for a second before Commander Fury's growl came over the comms "Understood Captain and request denied. Return to base."
"Director, we can still catch him," Steve protested but Fury cut him off angrily.
"Return to base, Captain Rogers, that is an order."
"Understood, sir," Steve said as he glanced in bewilderment at his team mates.
Bucky gently reached down with his metal hand and snapped the cuffs holding Natasha and Tony in place then he picked up Tony, armor and all and they started back to base.
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