Undercover
Chapter one:
As he walked down the long corridor he could hear a loud commotion coming from one of the conference rooms towards the end. As he walked closer he could make out that some of the men were cheering for someone, while others screamed hostility.
He wasn't technically on break but his curiosity was strong enough that he detoured and headed for the room.
"Hey guys, what's going..." He stopped, his mouth falling open. Clint's eyes took in the flashing breaking news banner running across the large tv, "ATTACK ON DC." He read the words as fast as he could and tried to piece together what was happening.
The footage that he could see playing was of Captain America fighting some assailant on top of what he figured was a crashing helicarrier. He felt his stomach tighten. He made a quick note of the exit then scanned the room. Every time the unknown man landed a hit on Captain America the men cheered, causing him to fight down a wince.
Not wanting to draw attention to himself, he quickly pulled out a chair and watched the fight play out. Praying silently that Steve won, and despite the fact that it made him want to gag, he cheered along with the men whenever his friend was hurt. No one seemed to paying him much attention and he was grateful because his mind was racing as he tried to figure out what he was suppose to do now.
He had known this mission was a bad idea. He groaned. Luckily it was timed with the other man swing at Steve and missing.
He had wanted to retire take some time off. He wasn't sure his heart was in it anymore. Sure, he would always help if it was needed. But he felt like he was losing the passion for being right in the thick of it all. Of course when he told that to Fury the man insisted on one more mission. On that no one would be read it on.
He hadn't been sure about it, taking a mission that only one person knew about could go bad in so many ways. No back up if something went wrong and the fact that if he found something he shouldn't and disappeared no one would ever know what happened. But then Fury read him in, and he knew he couldn't refuse because if the man was right. His friends, his teammates, were in danger. And he would never have been able to live with himself if he just walked away.
So he agreed.
That was two months ago, and while he had found some useful information on their enemy he hadn't found the two things he was sent to find. If hydra was inside Shield, like Fury suspected. And a weapon. Fury hadn't know much about it, only that it was small and round like a snow globe, alien, and the person who tipped him off warned of the dangers if someone got a hold of it.
As he watched the helicarrier fall, he thought about how he was going to sneak away and get a call out to Fury. Because he needed to know if he was to stay here and if his friends were okay. He wouldn't be able to do it tonight, no doubt people would be watching him. They all knew who he was and that he used to be an Avenger. So, for a few days he had to play it safe and hope that no one decided to kill him... you know just in case.
2 weeks later...
The bullet that whizzed past him cause him to flinch.
"Shit." he muttered, clenching his hand around the small orb in his hand. It was warm and humming and he would be worried about what it was doing if he wasn't being chased and shot at.
He dashed around the next corner. Then stopped. Back to the wall, taking a brief second to check his gun. 3 bullets left. He closed his eyes and counted the sound of the footsteps on the hard floor. Taking a breath he raised the gun, and as the first person turned the corner he fired a first shot, followed by two more in quick succession.
He didn't even wait to watch them fall as he turned away and ran down that hall. As he did he shoved the gun in his waistline. Hoping that he might find more ammo, but knowing probably not. It was still better safe than sorry Nat had taught him that.
He had bought himself a few moments of lead time. As far as he knew he had handled the ones that had come across him in the small room, where he had found the orb. But the shrieking alarm told him, that one of them had gotten a warning out. So he wouldn't be able to just walk out, like he had hoped.
But he wouldn't be him, if he didn't have three exits plans and at least one all or nothing plan if he knew he couldn't escape.
He changed direction heading for main gym. His first day here, he had found a lose vent that with about a week of late nights exploring, he found lead to outer perimeter. Passed that all he had to do was get to the back fence, then over it. He had a bike stashed about a mile of in the woods.
He slowed his run to a walk as he approached the gym doors. He gave a silent prayer that the room was empty. Hopefully with the alarm blaring the people that should be in there working out had taken off to search for him. He took out his empty gun and raised it. He hoped the gun would cause someone to hesitate, at least long enough for him to get in close enough for hand to hand.
When he opened the door, he ducked as then end of a staff was shoved at his face. The man holding the staff bitched and tried to swing it low to hit Clint. Luckily he was faster, he rolled dropping his gun. Then leaped to his feet, arm braced and ready for the impact when the next swing came his way. He felt the wood bash against his arm and he hissed. Then brought up his other arm to trap the staff between his arm and hand. Before the man could pull back, Clint raised his leg and kicked.
His opposite stumbled back from the impact. He tried to keep his grip on the staff but Clint twisted his body taking the staff with him. He shifted it into his hand and as the man raised from the ground
Clint brought the staff down on the man's head.
He broke the staff in half, dropping one half as he rushed towards the vent. Nat had taught him how to use both a long and short staves but he favored the smaller one. The vent was still lose enough that all he had to do was pull hard and it came off. As he dropped the metal cover on the ground he regretted that he couldn't replace it to hide his escape. Then he worked his way into the small space and headed down the memorized pathway.
The cover on the other end caused a problem. He shoved and shoved but the damn thing wouldn't move. So he twisted and bent until his feet were against it and then kicked with everything he could. As he kicked all he could do was hope that the noise didn't attract anyone before he was out and ready to fight.
With a final kick the cover came off and he pushed his way out.
He could hear people shouting nearby.
"Shit." He knew he had to move fast, because it seemed they had heard him.
Clutching his staff, he made a break for the fence. It was only when he was a few feet away that the first shot sounded somewhere behind him.
"Aww come on." He whined as he dropped down in front of the gate. He looked behind him and tried to make out the shooter. Whoever it was, was staying either close to the building or low enough that he was damn near invisible in the dark.
Clint looked at the fence. He had to get over it. But if he tried climbing it. He would be dead. He would make the easiest target in the world. He cursed and ran his hands along the ground at the bottom of the fence.
"Nope." He whispered. No way he was going to be digging through that.
Again he cursed and tried to think of how to get out of here. Another shot rang out. He heard it impact a tree on the other side. No close enough to scare but close enough that he knew the shooter had an idea where he was.
He wondered if he could make it back towards the shooter and take the man out. After that at least he would have a gun. But other was a bit of distance between them, and the odds of him making it unseen were slim.
'Fuck.' He shouted in his head. He was not going to die here. On a damn Hydra base. He refused. He also refused to die before he knew if his team was okay. He had tried to call Fury twice doing the two weeks since the three helicarriers went down. And got nothing. He only held back on calling Nat, out of fear of she didn't answer. It was stupid. But after not hearing from Fury, he was really worried about his friends.
Another shot, this one closer.
He dropped lower to the ground.
It was looking like his best option was trying to sneak across the open area between him and the shooter, who he really hoped was alone.
He clutched his broken staff and leveled himself with the ground ready to crawl when another shot sounded. He froze. That hadn't sounded right. That shot had come from the other side of the fence. And it had flowed towards Clint's shooter.
"Please." He prayed has he jumped to his feet and started climbing the fence. He wasn't sure if he was praying not to get shot or if it was his team coming to his rescue. Maybe it was both. He reached the top and didn't waste time climbing down. He just let go and dropped to the ground. When he landed, he took off heading for the trees.
Two shots rang out at the same time. One slammed into him. Somewhere in his lower back. He felt the impact and stumbled. The other flew passed him. He heard a thud behind him. It seemed his rescuer had taken out whoever had shot him.
"Shit." He mumbled, someone had shot him. He didn't stop running hoping that the Adrenalin kept him on his feet long enough to get to the trees. His vision blurred as he ducked behind the first large tree he came across. There was a sharp pain in his back, he reached back and tried to locate the bullet. He pressed against his back were he felt the pain. He tried not to blackout, as the pain doubled. His hand was quickly covered in warm sticky blood.
"Not good." He said. What else wasn't good was that he couldn't hear anything. The Hydra agents weren't firing at him anymore and whoever it was on this side had gone silent as well.
He pulled his hand away and wiped the blood along his pant leg. He didn't have anything to wrap the wound with and he wasn't sure if he even had the time. The spooky quiet was making him nervous. He pushed off the tree with a stumble and slowly made his way farther into the trees. All he had to do was get to his bike. He had a gun and first aid kit hidden there. He kept repeating that over and over in his head, as he moved slowly.
A snap of a branch behind him caused him to swing around staff still in hand.
The man that came out, was decked out in protective body gear over covering his body. He wore all black from the long sleeves cover his arms to his shoes. A sniper rifle slung over his shoulder and a handgun, in his hand. He saw the man's eyes go over him. Then the man moved cautiously towards him, the gun aimed at the ground.
Clint was really hoping this was his rescuer.
He tried not to let his grip tighten to much on the staff as the man got closer. When the man was close enough he went to the side of Clint that wasn't holding the staff, ducked under Clint's arm and took most of Clint's body weight. As the weight shifted, the man handed Clint his hand gun. Then pulled another out from his back waistline.
He felt himself let out a relieved breath and forced his body to walk as the man started to move.
If he wasn't bleeding and in a world of pain, he would have been asking questions. Who the hell was this guy? Where was his team? Were they okay?
As they moved he knew he was still bleeding. a lot He could feeling it running down his back and legs, at least the blood that didn't get caught on his clothing. He knew he needed to get it checked fast, before he lost to much and passed out.
He was about to say something, when the man stopped walking. Body stiff and his grip on Clint loosened. Clint's body swayed as he had to try and hold his own weight once again.
He didn't have to wait to see what had caused the other man to stop, because two men came out from behind a few trees. Two guns raised both pointing at the man next to him. He almost felt offended that neither seemed to think he was much of a threat. But then he remembered he was shot and bleeding out and was just fine with them not pointing their guns at him.
Clint's hand tightened on the gun he still held in his hand, even if they didn't see him a threat, he would still fight until he couldn't.
His hand was shaking from the mess of adrenaline and blood loss, so he knew he would get one shot. He kept the gun down, raising it before he needed would just tire his arm out.
"Well, well, look what we have here." The man said, and Clint had to force his eyes to focus because he fucking knew that voice.
The man next to Rumlow laughed. "We didn't even have to go looking for him."
"Barton." Rumlow said, keeping his eyes on his rescuer. "You should have stayed were you were. You had chosen the right side." The man actually tisked at the end of the sentence.
"And Soldier, it's time to come in." Brock was glaring at the man next to him. The man didn't say anything. But he must have returned the glare because Rumlow took a step back.
'Okay,' Clint's brain screamed, his rescuer was Hydra? But what had changed sides? What the fuck.
He really hoped the man stayed on his side, because he wasn't in any shape to fight three people at once.
"Why did you have to go and stick your nose where it didn't belong." Brock asked looking at him again. Clint could see the man hadn't truly taken his eyes off the soldier next to him. Which Clint was taken as a sign that the man was a badass. Because if someone as narcissistic as Brock was worried then the man was good enough to make him worry.
"I'll take the orb back now." Clint heard a strange sound from the man next to him, and the two hydra men both tensed.
"Yeah, I don't think so." Clint said, amazed his voice was sturdy. "And Brock if you really think I switched sides, you're dumber...Never mind. you were always a little slow." He said that last bit with a smirk when saw the anger on the other man's face. Clint's vision blurred. It was just for a second, but enough for him to know he was running out of time.
The man next to Brock laughed, "Idiot. You have nothing to go back to. Your friends have scattered and your leader..." Clint wanted to shoot the man, when he took a long pause. fuck dramatics, he cursed in his head.
"Fury is dead." Brock finished for his partner. This time when the world spun around him, he wasn't entirely sure it was from blood loss. He wanted to deny it. Tell Brock he was a lair, but the missed calls and no response from Fury swirled in his head.
"Your friends think you turned traitor." Brock added.
The man next to Clint shifted. It wasn't enough for the two gloating hydra agents to notice but Clint's body was practically pressed against the other man. So, he felt it. He also felt when the man took a controlled breath.
And some instinct probably learned from years of working with Nat told him him to shot.
So, without saying anything else he raised his gun and shot. The soldier next to him, had fired at the same time. Both bullets hit their targets before either of the other men even realized they were about to be shot. Clint kept the gun up as they fell, and he looked over at the soldier.
Who was already looking at him.
"Are we good?" He asked.
The man nodded and tucked his gun away.
"Good." He mumbled, as the world went black.