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A Cabin in the Woods
Barton
Silence permeated the forest. There was a certain stillness that does not come until the dead of winter when the bare trees make no movement, and the frozen rivers and lakes offer no reprieve from the quiet.
This was his home. He lay belly down in the snow, absolutely still. The white and gray camouflage made him all but invisible. In other places he may be a hawk, but here he was a ghost. Slowly and steadily he took a deep breath, his already good eye enhanced by the viewfinder before him and waited.
Time seemed to pass slower here. The frozen environment made it difficult to perceive whether or not the seconds were truly passing. It was unfortunate that the peace was not destined to last.
In the far distance the silence was, at last, broken. First there was the sound of tires crunching on the snow, then car doors opening and closing, then nothing. The replenished silence continued for a time before a second interruption. Another vehicle approached, coming from the opposite direction down the forest road. The passengers of the truck went through the same motions as the first.
As the silence had been broken twice already, Clint had no qualms about breaking it a third.
"Target in sight."
Agent Hill, lying directly beside him, made no movement as she replied.
"Acquired."
"Range: 700 meters."
There was only the smallest sign of movement from Hill as she made minuscule changes to the scope of her rifle.
"Adjusted."
Barton moved for the first time as he pressed down on his communicator.
"Widow, be ready for clean-up." He shifted back into place and refocused on the viewfinder, "wind: less than 1 kph."
Beside him, Hill took a breath and stilled as she tightened her grip on the rifle.
"Take the shot."
The silence seemed to know it was about to be utterly shattered. It was almost as if it gathered its strength, trying to smother whatever was about to ravage the quiet. It was to no avail.
Clint steadied himself as the rifle beside him roared with the sound of a shattering boulder. It took all the archer's will and training not to flinch as the sheer force of the sound hit him. Instead he watched for confirmation and was rewarded with grim satisfaction.
For a split second after the shot was fired the men on the road took no notice. That all changed when the target, seemingly out of nowhere, was shunted to one side then fell like a stone to the ground. A moment later, the target's men heard the shot and all hell broke loose.
Clint glanced to Hill as gunfire began to breakout below and calmly gave the order to pull back. The two operatives rose to a crouch and began disassembling their equipment with a skillful speed. They quickly finished packing and promptly headed further back into the forest.
Romanoff
"Widow, be ready for clean-up."
Natasha Romanoff and Steve Rogers rose as one behind their respective trees. They were both clad in the same camouflage as Barton and with suppressed assault rifles to boot. Natasha gave the five second warning to Rogers and he nodded in acknowledgement. She went through a mental checklist of equipment and readied herself for the coming storm.
The shot rang out clear and cutting in the winter air. Romanoff swung out from behind her tree and quickly centered the frenzied men in her sights. She focused on one and depressed the trigger, as the gun coughed one of the men performed a morbid dance courtesy of the three rounds slammed that into his chest.
Romanoff and Rogers both began slowly advancing towards the road, trading their controlled bursts with the other group's wild pop shots. One of the men had managed to get the truck running and was preparing an escape.
"Tires!" barked Rogers.
"Got it." Natasha swung the rifle around and fired into right front and back wheel wells of the already moving vehicle. It didn't take much further for the truck to veer and slam into a tree. Her next burst blew out the window and splattered the inside with red. As she pressed the trigger again nothing came out. Without a moment's notice she dropped the rifle to her side, the strap keeping it from the ground, and pulled her sidearm, putting two rounds into the face of one of the men taking a peek around the opposite car.
There were only three men left of the original two parties. Six others, the primary target included, lay dead on the snowy road, their blood providing a sharp contrast to the sea of white. All three were using the bullet ridden car as cover. Rogers and Romanoff began their advance.
They stopped as two hands suddenly appeared over the hood of the car. They were splayed out showing no weapons.
"Don't Shoot!" Croatian. Natasha was rusty but she could manage.
"Come out slowly, and show us your hands!" There was a pause.
Heavily accented English came back, "You want us do what with pigs?"
Ok, perhaps to rusty. She repeated her earlier statement in English and the three men complied slowly. She kept her weapon trained on them as Rogers strode forward briskly and used zip ties to restrain the men in the snow. Natasha reached to her ear.
"All clear here Hawkeye, six down including Priev. We have three still alive and are awaiting pickup."
"Copy, we are en route. ETA five minutes. Hawkeye out."
Natasha nodded to Steve and signed out.
"Stay here and watch them," Rogers said pointing to the prisoners, "I'll check the vehicles."
Rogers
Captain America headed toward the wrecked truck, all the muscles in his body taught. He felt the slight shaking in his hands, though he tried to ignore it. When Rogers reached the opposing side of the truck from Natasha he paused, leaning against the side. He leaned his gun up against one of the tires and let out a slow shaky breath.
That had been brutal. He had been in combat before, but well, this wasn't combat. He had taken part in a slaughter. Rogers made the mistake of looking in the driver's side window. There were bits of glass everywhere, and the kid who sat in the seat had the left half of his face destroyed.
These men hadn't been soldiers, they weren't in a uniform. There was no hydra or SS stamped on their shoulders for him to hate. Sure the guy Priev had been a rotten bastard, something about Eastern European war criminal, but he could tell that the others had no real formal training.
He knew what they were doing was necessary. Priev had been going to trade weapons for US passports and citizenships. Intel said that there was a possibility that the weapons were unstable or radioactive. That was why SHEILD operatives were being sent. They didn't want any incidents in what had formerly been the Soviet Union. Something Rogers knew he should do more reading on.
The Captain shook his head and steadied himself. He took a peak around to see that Agent Romanoff still had her weapon trained steadily on the three prisoners. She was used to this kind of op. She had no problem with bursting out of the underbrush and pumping lead into people she knew nothing about. She took her orders and carried them out with an efficiency that he admired. It was her lack of questions that concerned him.
Rogers shook his head a second time and attempted to focus on the mission. He opened the back hatch of the truck and gave pause. There were several boxes lining the inside, all emblazoned with HAMMER TECH on the side. They all had warnings of radioactive content.
Roger backed away swiftly, his hand flying to his ear, "This is Rogers. We have confirmed radioactive materials here. All HAMMER TECH too."
Barton was quick to answer, "We should be arriving at the road shortly; hold tight and make sure everything is ready for pick up."
"Will do."
A/N: Ok, so that was the first chapter! Now please, do that thing where you click the bottom button and REVIEW!
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