Together We're an Ocean
PenPatronus
Chapter 2
One for the Blooper Reel

Bruce Banner jumped over piles of bricks and ducked under tubes of mesh grating as he sprinted through the obstacle course of a corridor. The navy med pack on his back and the flashlight in his hand bounced with each step. "Steve?" he called at the darkness beyond a bent archway ahead. "Steve, can you hear me? You found some survivors?"

Captain America appeared from the darkness with a body in a fireman's carry. "Just one," he said somberly. "There are more bodies back there but he's the only one who…" Cap coughed, wiped his face across his blue sleeve, then gently lowered the man onto the floor. "I think he's conscious."

"Cap, you've only been out of the hospital for 24 hours. Let one of us do the carrying, will you? Geeze, is this kid 18?" Bruce wondered when he knelt beside the stranger. "Looks like a tech. Have you met him?"

Steve walked a few steps away. He stood staring at the cracked wall with his hands braced on his hips.

Bruce didn't repeat his question. Instead, he gently tapped the pads of his forefinger and middle finger against the young man's pale, dust-covered cheek. "Can you open your eyes?" he asked. Bruce fished through three pockets before he found a wallet with a SHIELD ID in it. "Can you open your eyes, Cameron? Cameron Klein? "

Glazed brown eyes blinked. "Hear you," the man whispered. Dust and dirt shook out of his unruly brown hair when he coughed. "Thought I was dead. The roof caved in. Thought I was toast. Are we… Is this a hospital?"

"You're still in the Triskelion," Banner said as he fished supplies out of his backpack. "Under it—what's left of it. You're lucky, kid. Local law enforcement gave up on looking for survivors 36 hours ago."

Klein licked at a blood stain on his lower lip. "The Helicarriers," he whispered. "Rumlow wanted me to launch the Helicarriers. I… I didn't. Guns went off. We all ran…" Klein suddenly sat up and grabbed Bruce's sleeve. "HYDRA! We have to tell the Avengers that HYDRA infiltrated SHIELD and…" Klein swayed a bit. Bruce steadied him, and then started pasting bandages over anything red. "Captain America," Klein whispered. "Is—Is he ok? Did we win?"

Bruce heard Steve approach behind him. "Depends on what you mean by 'we,'" Bruce said. "Whose side are you on?"

Klein's eyes looked past Bruce. His jaw slowly fell and he blinked like he was trying to wake himself up from a dream. "Captain?"

"He's on our side, Banner." Steve knelt into a catcher's position and patted Cameron's hand. "Thanks for stalling Rumlow. Probably bought us some precious time. The Helicarriers are in the Potomac."

Cameron blushed. "It wasn't much. Seconds. Seconds, maybe. I—"

"Thank you," Cap firmly repeated. "We're going to get you to a hospital, all right? Just hang—"

A voice crackled in both Banner's and Rogers' earpieces. "I gotta skedaddle, guys," Clint Barton said. "Just heard back from that buddy of mine. He wants to meet up tonight."

"Whoa, wait," Natasha said over the coms, "no way you're going by yourself. I know you have your hopes up, Clint, but everybody we've ever worked with could be HYDRA now, including Bloom."

"I'm going, Nat."

"Slow down, Barton," Cap ordered. "We need a plan."

"And we need to finish up here," added Bruce. "There might be more survivors."

Tony spoke up from the other side of the Triskelion. "There aren't. I just finished the sweep. Sent Thor to the tower with all of the salvaged tech we could dig out."

Bruce and Steve exchanged frowns. "The scepter?" Cap asked.

A long pause. "Not here," Tony said. "Maybe HYDRA got it before us. Maybe it was never here in the first place. Maybe…" Tony sighed. "We gotta find that stick, Cap. HYDRA could do a lot of damage with it."

Nat groaned. "Our to-do list is getting pretty long, boys."

"We can cross one thing off it tonight," Barton reminded them. "Have a little faith, Nat. Not everybody's HYDRA. We just gotta figure out who's who. Bloom and I go way back, and I'm going to meet up with him tonight, Cap, whether we have a plan or not."

Rogers rolled his eyes. "Copy that. Everybody get to the Quinjet. We have to drop one soldier off at the hospital first."

Cameron stared at Bruce as he and Cap got him up to his feet. "You're Dr. Banner. Wow." The awe on his face was as bright as when he recognized Cap. Klein suddenly shook Bruce's hand, hard. "Doctor, I've been following your antielectron experiments since high school. Could I—maybe this is bad timing but—could I have your autograph?"

Bruce gave him a puzzled but polite smile. Above them, some section of the Triskelion shifted in its grave, and several bricks fell at their feet. "Let's wait until after we're out of the collapsing building," Bruce replied.

Later, at midnight, the full moon above the outskirts of Washington D.C. glared down at a lone figure on the roof of a dilapidated office building. Bruce Banner scanned the streets through binoculars until he caught sight of a bulletproof black minivan with tinted windows and no plates. The driver entered the parking deck below and climbed five floors to the top. He pulled forward, did a tight donut, then backed up into a spot against the west wall. A crossbow peeked out of the window and shot bolts into both security cameras and two of the three lamps lighting the deck.

"Barton is in position," Banner reported over the coms at the exact same time that Clint said, "I'm in position."

Movement from the office building on the north side of the lot. Thor opened a window, glanced around, then waved up at Banner. "Friends, these lettered codes confuse me. What is Plan A again?"

Cap stood two floors below Bruce, also leaning out a window directly across from the lot. "Thor, you've got to learn to pay attention in our team meetings," he scolded.

"In his defense, we only had 20 minutes to prep for this," said Bruce. He lifted his binoculars again and looked up and down the adjacent roads.

"Plan A is where Barton asks this buddy of his for SHIELD's last identification codeword."

"Wait, I thought that was Plan B," Tony said, speaking from the rear of the van. "Plan A is the one where Barton just tells him surrender and we figure out which team he's on later!"

"That's C!" said Romanoff.

"C probably won't work if he's SHIELD, and it definitely won't work if he's HYDRA," Clint said. "It's one guy, not an army of Chitauri! Plan D is our best shot."

Tony chuckled. "That won't work! Romanoff's wearing clothes!"

"There are no plans that require me to take my clothes off," Natasha hissed.

"I know, I know! I'm just kidding—sheesh."

"Tony, this is no time to fool around," Cap growled.

Thor spoke up. "Barton said Plan D. That one I recall. But I do think that we should try A first."

"B is smarter than A," said Cap.

"But not as efficient as C," said Tony.

Natasha sighed loudly. "This is what happens when four alpha males try to run the show at the same time." She paused. "No offense, Bruce."

Banner ignored her. "Decide fast, guys. A white SUV just entered the third level."

"Banner, you gotta tell me the moment you spot the target, not when it's almost on my ass!" Clint sputtered.

"Sorry! This is the first time I've ever been the, uh, what do you call it? The eyes?"

"Our second mission together is going SPECTACULARLY!" The sarcasm in Nat's voice was razor sharp.

"No time to vote." Clint jumped out of the bulletproof van weaponless, armed with nothing but his black uniform. "I'm calling it. We're doing D."

Bruce frowned. "I hate D," he said more to himself than the others.

"Here we go."

The SUV parked directly across from Clint. It shut down, but the lights remained on, casting Barton in a bright spotlight. Not one, but ten guys in black fatigues, boots, and ski masks emerged with their handguns up. Clint immediately raised his hands in surrender.

Panic choked up Bruce's throat. "That's, uh, more than one guy!"

"How many?" Nat asked.

"Ten. Ten that I can see." Bruce leveled his binoculars and zoomed in on the newcomers. "Berettas. Knives. Grenades."

Breaths hitched. "Bad sign, Barton! Sounds like an ambush," said Tony.

"Abort," Cap declared. "Barton, get back in the van and we'll extract you!"

"Negative," Clint said. Bruce zoomed in on the archer and witnessed Barton's ventriloquist skills. He kept his mouth perfectly still in front of the new audience. "All this tells us is that he's cautious. Nat, I was in Bloom's wedding. I gotta know."

"Moscow gambit?"

"If you feel up to it." Clint frowned and chewed hard on his bottom lip. "Nat, this could go sideways fast. If it was anyone else—"

"I know. I've got your back," Romanoff replied. "I'll be ready."

"What are Barton and Romanoff speaking of?" Thor asked the group.

"Pretty sure they're doing their own plan now," Tony sighed.

"Stark, I need you to keep an eye on Natasha's tracker," Clint ordered. "Don't lose her."

All of the playfulness exited Tony's voice. "Copy that. I've got her."

A tall, slim figure twirling a knife in each hand separated from the group and removed a ski mask. The man had wavy, startling ginger hair and a scar on his right cheek in the shape of an 'x.' Bruce didn't think he'd ever seen a smile so big. "Barton, old buddy!"

"Bloom." Clint slowly lowered his arms. "Good to see you, man. How's your dad?"

Bloom shrugged. "Arthritis is a bitch. How about we skip the foreplay, old friend? I'll go first." Bloom sheathed his knives and asked, "How did you and I first meet?"

Clint rolled his eyes. "This one shouldn't count. There were too many witnesses in the cafeteria that day you 'accidentally' mixed tapioca into my mashed potatoes. What was the last class we had together at the academy?"

"Tactical driving. Pierce almost kicked us out for racing. My turn. Which leg did I break in the HYRDA Games?"

"It was your wrist. Your right one. Come on, dude, think of something better." Clint took another cautious step forward. "What's my sister's name?"

"You have a brother."

Over the coms, Thor asked, "What are they doing?"

"Barton has a brother?" Tony pondered.

Bloom continued. "Why are you giving me a hard time when your questions are just as shitty?"

"I give you shit. That's what I do." Both men walked closer. "Are we done yet?" Clint asked.

"One more," Bloom insisted. His hand returned to his weapons. "Our last year at SHIELD academy, I struck out with that blonde new girl… Sharon something. What color shirt was she wearing when she slapped me in the middle of archery practice?"

Bruce watched Barton roll his eyes again. "She wasn't wearing a shirt. You 'accidentally' wandered into the girls' locker room like a horny teenager and took a picture of her with a button cam on your basketball jersey. Basketball jerseys don't even have buttons!" A chuckle erupted from deep in Bloom's stomach. He and Barton shook hands, and then shared a brief hug followed by double slaps on the shoulders. "Are we done NOW?"

"Yeah," said Bloom, "we're done. You're who you say you are, I'm who I say I am. Agreed?"

"Agreed." Clint paused, and then said, "Hail HYDRA."

"Oh, shit, what a plan," Tony gulped.

"If they're SHIELD, they'll arrest him," Romanoff explained. "If they're HYDRA, they'll welcome him, and he can infiltrate their inner circle."

The team held its breath. Barton didn't even blink.

Bloom's grin widened. "Well, well, wellHawkeye himself is on the team? Hail HYDRA."

"Hail HYDRA," said the other agents. All nine lowered and sheathed their weapons.

Bloom shook his head back and forth as he laughed. "Damn, it's good to hear that from you, Barton. Bizarre times, man. I watched the shit hit the fan at the Triskelion but, hell, I wasn't even in the states."

"I was off the grid, too," Barton explained. "Now I'm just trying to figure out who's with SHIELD and who's with us. Confusing as hell with all of the compartmentalization. Don't know who's loyal. Didn't know you were loyal to the cause, and you're one of my best friends!"

"That I am," said Bloom. "Honestly, Barton, with you being one of Fury's little favorites, I always thought we'd end up shooting at each other if SHIELD officially split."

"Occurred to me, too," Clint admitted. "Wasn't sure I could pull the trigger, but, you have to prioritize the cause even over your friends, right?"

"Yeah. Yes, you do. We both do."

"Sounds foreboding," said Thor.

"Bad feeling about this," said Bruce.

Bloom squinted. "And you're prioritizing HYDRA over your superhero Avenger buddies? Over Natasha Romanoff? Everyone knows Black-Hawk is an inseparable pair. Romanoff is on Captain America's side and yet, here YOU are. Not too much to ask you to prove your loyalty, is it?"

Clint held up his forefinger. "Thought that might be an issue. Luckily, I came prepared." The archer returned to the bulletproof van and wretched the sliding door open. A figure tumbled right out and rolled across the pavement.

Blood-colored paint showed through the dozens of rips in Natasha Romanoff's uniform. Disheveled red hair covered half of her face, and the other half sported several faux fist-sized bruises. Thick silver duct tape kept her screams silent and the cuffs around her ankles and wrists kept her immobile. She strained against her bonds and tried to roll up onto her knees, but Bloom sent her crashing back down with one punch. Real blood leaked from Natasha's nose. Bloom licked his lips when she looked up at him. Her slim, trembling form fit entirely inside of his shadow.

"Oh, God," Bruce whispered. "Barton's just going to turn her over to them?"

"If they take her, we'll be able to follow them to their HQ," Steve reasoned. "Might be our best shot to find the biggest HYDRA nest in the city."

"And if they just kill her right here and now?"

No one replied.

"What do you say?" Clint asked Bloom with his arms fanned out in supplication. "What better proof that I'm HYDRA?"

Bloom clapped his gloved hands together three times. "Bravo, Barton," he said. "My superiors will be impressed."

"Impressed?" Clint snorted. "I expect a raise!"

"A HYDRA agent's pockets are always full." A Cheshire cat's smile stretched across Bloom's face. "And mine will overflow when I tell take credit for Romanoff's death, AND FOR YOURS." Bloom unsheathed one knife. Nine guns once again aimed at Clint.

"They're gonna kill them both!" Bruce yelped.

"I have a clear view," Steve reported.

"I am in position," Thor said. "I can defend them."

"I'm closer, Thor."

"You're supposed to stay out of this one, Cap," Tony said. "Don't do what I think you're about to. You'll rip your stitches."

"Hey—" Clint stepped forward but froze when every gun cocked. "Come on, Bloom. Day one, remember? Are you really gonna screw me like this?"

"Don't take it personally. This is business, Barton. And, you know what? I actually don't care whose side you're on." Bloom didn't blink as he spoke. "Dumping two dead Avengers at my boss' feet is better than one."

Bruce saw Barton's fingers twitch for a bow that wasn't there. His eyes flickered back and forth between Bloom's smile and the knife in his hands. "You could at least have the decency to shoot me and get it over with fast."

"I prefer fun over decency." Bloom pinched the double-edged blade between his fingers and aimed at Clint's neck. "Goodbye, old friend."

Clint gulped. "Pancakes," he whispered, speaking the codeword barely a second before Bloom threw the blade.

So very many things happened in so very few seconds:

Mjolnir sailed into the scene from the north side of the deck.

Captain America's shield flew in from the south.

Both the hammer and the shield were perfectly timed to block the knife, and maybe they would have if they hadn't collided. Instead, they bounced off each other in mid-air and the blade sneaked between them.

Clint leapt up and to his right. Instead of puncturing his throat, the knife embedded in the top left quarter of his chest. He crashed into the van, crumpled to the ground, half-rolled onto his back, and went still.

Natasha slipped out of her ankle restraints and kicked Bloom's legs out from under him. She rolled under the van and started picking the lock of her handcuffs.

Bloom recovered. "Dammit, fire!" Every HYDRA agent turned and shot their Berettas in the directions the hammer and shield had come from. Bullets blasted through red bricks and windows and low hanging telephone wires. Bruce saw Tony kick at the minivan's double doors from the inside, but they only opened halfway. Clint had parked too close to the cement blocks protecting the edge of the parking deck. Tony blasted the doors open with his repulsors. The force of it caused the van to roll forward several inches—not far enough to run over Natasha Romanoff's arm, but just far enough to catch her sleeve and pin her down. The red and silver Iron Man suit cartwheeled out of the van and rammed into three of Bloom's men so hard that they all tumbled over the side of the deck.

Mjolnir circled back around to Thor, who leapt out of the shadows of the office building using Cap's shield to block the bullets. Simultaneously, Steve Rogers jumped from his window and landed beside an unmoving Barton. With a grunt, he yanked the knife out of Clint's chest and slashed Natasha's sleeve, freeing her from the tire. Nat scrambled over to her partner, grabbed him by the collar, and dragged him to the other side of the vehicle. Bruce expected to see blood gushing from Barton's chest, but there was none.

Bloom ducked behind his men and tossed a smoke grenade into the fray. A dark cloud of black fog erupted, and anyone with their mouths open started coughing. Thor hammered one agent aside, tossed Cap his shield, then swung Mjolnir like a baseball bat and sent his next target rolling down the ramp. Bloom's last remaining minions took aim. Thor ducked behind the bulletproof van to avoid one onslaught, and Cap behind his shield to block the other. The bullets that ricocheted off the Vibranium caught the ascending Tony in the face and sent him reeling.

A bullet whizzed past and Natasha draped her body protectively over Barton's. "Talk to us, Banner!" she shouted over the gunfire.

"I—they—uh—" Bruce stuttered. "Lots of guns!" he exclaimed. "I guess, um, stay behind the van…?"

Nat unsheathed a GLOCK. "Tell me which way to aim! My 12:00? 9?"

"I don't, uh—"

"Banner, we can't see!" Steve shouted.

"I can't either! Wait, wait, the smoke's clearing—" Bruce looked through the binoculars for the remaining men. "They're retreating… They're all in the SUV… They're getting away!"

Cap and Thor pressed forward. A lightning bolt cut through the black fog. Thor missed the vehicle, but sliced a billboard in half. Steve suddenly stopped running and wrapped one arm around his stomach. The last of the smoke dissipated.

And then, Bloom rolled his window down and Bruce watched, horrified, as the HYDRA agent chucked out what looked like a grenade the size of a watermelon. "BOMB!" Banner shouted. "Big—Really big—RUN!"

The SUV squealed as it drove away.

Tony fell from the sky. He belly-flopped onto the grenade and folded his limbs over it like it was fumble in a football game.

Bruce heard the explosion, but didn't see it. He was already racing down the stairs.

To Be Continued

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