Disclaimer: I don't own The Avengers. Can't stop a girl from dreaming a little bit, though.

A/N: New story time. I'm taking a break from "Behind Enemy Lines" for a bit, mostly because I wanted to put something fresh out there, and because it seems no one was reading that. Thus "Countdown" was born.

Enjoy the first chapter.


Chapter 1

The constant ticking brought him from his sleep, growing louder and louder as if in a confined space. He opened his eyes. Slowly at first, blinking a few times to let his sight adjust to the dimness.

He lay on a cold dirt floor, his hands and feet in chains. A single door stood opposite of his position, one single window in the middle of it.

He didn't remember where he was and tired to think of anything, but he was brought from his thoughts when the door creaked open and a very large man in a white suit entered the room.

"Ah, I see my guest is finally awake." he spoke in a low voice. "I hope you are finding your accommodations, satisfying enough?"

He looked at the man, holding a chained hand in front of his eyes to shield the light that came in from the outside. Then he tried to ask, "Wha-?" because that was all he could muster.

"My dear friend, that is not of importance. What is, though, is that you do what I tell you." the large man paused. "Before your time runs out completely." The man pointed a long finger at the man's chest, who was still laying of the ground. And for the first time, he looked down.

His bare chest was covered with a thin, form fitting vest, on it red numbers were counting down.

167:45:23...167:44:56...167:43:21...167:42:59...

"Just a reminder, from me to you. And so you don't try any thing funny," there was a pause before a sharp pain went through his arm. He looked down and saw the large man he'd been talking to, or was talking to him, as a needle was pulled from his upper right arm.

His eyesight became blurry, feeling heavy and limbs like wet noodles. The world around him began to spin and turn black at the same time. But before his world caved in, he heard the man speak five words: "Until next time, Agent Barton."

And then he knew no more.

-AV-

His eyes shot open and he gasped for air. He was laying on a carpeted floor, in what seemed to be an office. He sat up and felt a warm, sticky substance on his arms and looked down to see that he was covered in glass. Then his turned around and saw that a fairly huge window, without glass panes.

He began to check himself for injuries. Other than the cuts and bruises he sustained, he appeared to be fine. He stood unsteadily to his feet, just a voice sounded in his ear.

"Barton, report?"

He couldn't find the words to say, his mouth felt cottony, and dry. His throat rough and scratchy.

"Hawkeye, do you copy?" a voice asked, but sounded different from the first. Still he didn't say anything.

"Clint, if you don't answer me right now, I'll-" He smiled at this before somehow finding the words to answer. "I copy," It took a lot of strength to say those two words, he was already winded.

Someone sighed. "What happened? We lost contact with you," that sounded like the Cap.

"Wish I knew, Cap." Clint quietly said, not loud enough for anyone else to hear.

"Are you alright?" he heard Natasha question, worry traced her always steady voice. That's when he heard it.

Tick.

Tick.

"Shut up," he whispered.

Tick.

Tick.

Tick.

"Stop it," He said through clinched teeth. He thought he heard someone call out to him, but he wasn't sure.

Tick.

Tick.

Tick.

Tick.

He couldn't take it anymore. He ripped off his quiver that was attached to his back, a few arrows still inside. He began to discard his gear he needed for a battle and his shirt, until its was scattered around him on the floor.

There, on his chest, a vest attached to his body with red numbers winding down. 166:23:46...166:22:39...166:21:58...

He swallowed a lump that was in his throat before saying into his comm, "Guys, we have a problem."

-AV-

Clint Barton sat on the edge of a bed in the medical ward of the Avengers Tower for what felt like hours. Doctor Bruce Banner and Tony Stark were currently examining the vest and its human target, poking and prodding the agent with needles and wires up to the point of him feeling like a pin cushion.

"Fascinating," Banner marveled. "This piece is unlike anything I've ever had the pleasure of setting my eyes on."

163:45:23...163:44:58...163:43:37...

"I've never seen anything like this, either." Tony said as he looked down at a clear tablet and jotted a few things down. "Nothing like this excises yet."

"I don't care what it is, I just want it off." Clint groaned.

"I'm afraid we can't just take something like the off, Barton." Banner said to the agent. "We need to do a lot of research. One wrong move and-"

"BOOM!" this made everyone look at Tony who hadn't glanced from his own work. Feeling the rooms eyes on himself, he questioned as he looked at everyone, "What?"

"Nothing. Regardless, we don't know what this is yet."

"Isn't there something we can do right now?" Natasha asked from her seat near the back of the room where she wasn't in anyone's way.

"Right now, no. There isn't."

"So I'm stuck in this thing?" Clint pointed to the vest that was still counting down.

Tony and Bruce gave the archer a sad smile. Clint sighed and looked at his hands. "Can I go now?" he asked in a low voice.

"Yeah, we'll let you know anything as soon as it comes up." Tony said.

Clint got off the table and grabbed the black t-shirt that was hanging on the end of the chair near him. He slipped it over his head and walked out the door, saying as he left, "You know where to find me."

Tony and Bruce didn't pay attention, as they had gone back to their work figuring that he wasn't talking to them.

Natasha knew where he was going. Where he always went when he needed to clear his head after a tough mission. She figured he'd need some time alone, but that's the last thing she wanted to give him. Seeing that the doctor and billionaire were busy searching for answers, she left the room without a word, lost in her own thoughts.

-AV-

In the command room, Director Nick Fury talked with Captain Steve Rogers. They had been going back and forth for over an hour now, neither one backing down from the other.

"So, let me get this straight, Captain." Fury said to the other man in the other wise empty room. "while you and the rest of the team were on the ground fighting who-knows-what, Agent Barton was on top of the office building watching your backs?" Agents Barton and Romanoff, Stark, Rogers and Banner were responding to a drone attack in East New York. Thor was back in Asgard meeting with his father.

"Yes Sir."

"And while he was watching your backs, you lost communication with him."

"That is correct, Sir."

"And, stop me if I'm wrong, you didn't hear from him for 28 minutes." the Director stopped and looked at the Captain out of time. "Do you know what could've happened in those 28 minutes? One of our top Agents was compromised and no one thought to find out where he was? Namely you, Rogers."

"Sir, with all due respect, I had a job to do on the field." Steve said boldly. "Clint is more than capable of handling himself if any-"

"If anything went wrong?" Fury yelled cutting Steve off. "The Avengers are a TEAM. Your suppose to have his back, just like he had yours out there."

"I have this teams back, sir." Steve said getting closer to the director.

"I'm not so sure about that, Captain." Fury said in a low voice. "How do you expect them to follow you into battle, if they can't trust you with their very lives?"

Steve Rogers was taken aback at this. He had led many people into war, them knowing that they may not make it out alive. Not one of them complained. His best friend, Bucky followed him without question and ended up paying the price for it. Even if it did happen almost 70 years ago, it still hurt. Maybe this team shouldn't be following him. Maybe he was the wrong man for the job.

"Sir, you and the Captain are needed in Doctor Banner's lab right away." an agent said appearing in the door way. Director Fury left without saying a thing, the quite captain reluctantly following behind.

They made it to the lab in a quick amount of time, wondering what was so urgent. Tony and Bruce were huddled around a computer, eying something closely on the screen. Sensing they had company, the two men turned around. "Good, your both here." Stark said.

"What is going on, Tony?" Fury asked the man who was now rushing through a pile of papers. "We aren't sure," he said, not stopping from what he was doing.

"What do you mean your 'not sure'?" Fury said, his one good eye not leaving the man. Tony stopped his searching and answered, "Just watch,". At that, Banner pulled up a video onto a larger screen and the four men watched silently.

"Greetings, Avengers." the man on the screen said as the video started. His face and upper body was silhouetted in the dark, but they could hear his voice loud and clear. "I assume by now, you've received word of Agent Clint Barton's 'predicament' for lack of a better term. And I'll inform you all now; don't waste your efforts researching the device. I invented it myself, and you'll only waste what little time your friend and teammate has left.

"By the time you receive this video, 'Hawkeye' will have less than 7 days before the bomb detonates. If he is able to complete the tasks I will soon give him, the device will be removed. If not, well, use your imagination. If you attempt to remove the vest, it will go off taking one team member close to him with him. If he attempts to remove it, it will go off only taking his life. The blast is designed to be small, but forceful. There is only one way to discard the weapon I have built, but I'll save that story for a later date. If you make it that far.

"I will be in contact with you in due time. This video will self destruct in 10 seconds.

"One more thing: you might want to go check on your absent agents, because I assume they did not watch this with the rest of you. Pity. Could've saved one of them a lot of pain." And then the screen with blank.

Suddenly two things happened at once. The computer that the video was shown on blew up in a small, yet powerful blast that knocked Fury, Steve, Bruce and Tony to the floor and into walls. And in the background they heard a single gunshot, coming from the top of the tower.

Continue? No? I'd love to heard what you all think about this so far.