A/N Wow! You guys blew me away! The last chapter was the most reviewed chapter yet! Reviews just kept coming in and filling up my inbox. My family was giving me some strange looks because I kept jumping up and down with excitement. :P

Okay, so Tony and Clint have escaped! Fortunately for you guys (and unfortunately for Tony and Clint) it's not over yet. I can't let our boys off that easy can I? :)

Chapter 8

Hassan walked up the hall quickly. Mad was not the word to describe what he was feeling. Seething fury was getting a bit closer. Stark and Barton had escaped but they were not going to get away, and when he found them they we're going to pay, dearly, and if Stark hadn't killed the guard watching their cell then Hassan would have taken that pleasure for himself.

He made his way through the compound following the trail of dead guards and the periodic sound of gunfire. He was walking down yet another hallway when he noticed a door ajar that was not supposed to be open. He pressed against the wall and nudged the door open wider. He raised his gun and cautiously entered the room. He relaxed as he saw the room was empty but then cursed as he noticed a certain item missing from the room. Barton's quiver, which Hassan had personally put in the room, was gone.

Hassan ran back out of the room and started up the hall when he froze. He turned and looked into the weapons room. There, laying next to their stockpiles of weapons, were two arrows. It took Hassan only a second to make the connection and he took off sprinting to the exit. He burst out of the door and ran as fast as he could from the bunker. He was only a few yards away when there was a deafening sound and the force of the explosion sent Hassan flying twenty feet through the air. The last thing he was aware of was slamming into the ground.

)()()(

"Sir! We just picked up a massive explosion," one of the SHIELD techs urgently called out.

The helicarrier was still in position over the area where Tony and Clint had been taken and the other Avengers were once again out with the search teams. They had been there for almost six hours which in the grand scheme of things wasn't all that long but when it comes to two people being missing and being tortured, six hours is far far too long.

"Where?" Fury asked.

"About and hour away, sir," the tech replied.

"Take us there, Agent, and recall the Avengers to the helicarrier," Fury ordered.

"They're already on their way."

)()()(

Hassan didn't know how much time had passed since he was knocked unconscious. As he slowly sat up and looked around, he thought it had to have been less than half an hour as parts of the bunker were still on fire and the wind had not completely covered his tracks. He got to his feet and began looking around the bunker for more tracks. He knew Stark and Barton had gotten away. They had escaped, killed his men, and blown up his bunker. He was done with torture. This was beyond revenge for his brother. He had lost his gun during the explosion but he still had a knife on him and he was going to hunt Stark and Barton down and slit each of their throats.

)()()(

An hour after they originally detected it, the helicarrier reached the site of the explosion and the Avengers went down to investigate. What they found was a partially blackened crater. Upon closer inspection, they found what looked like what was left of underground tunnels and rooms which seemed to have been part of some kind of underground bunker. For the next twenty minutes, they searched through the rubble, finding evidence that people had been in the explosion but none that suggested Tony or Clint were among the bodies. But that was more hopeful thinking than anything, considering all of the bodies were unrecognizable.

"This had to be it," Steve said. "Tony and Clint must have been here, and I'm betting that they were responsible for the explosion."

The others nodded their agreement. They had to believe that Tony and Clint had escaped and blown the place in the process, because if they hadn't that meant they had been in the explosion and were now dead. And that was something the others couldn't accept. So until they found evidence that proved otherwise, they were going to act on the assumption that their friends had escaped.

"Captain America to Director Fury."

"I'm here. Go ahead," Fury replied through the earpiece.

"We're going to need search parties."

)()()(

He heard chopper blades. But that wasn't possible. He was alone. No one was going to find them. It was up to him to get himself and Clint to safety. So whatever he was hearing wasn't chopper blades. He decided to ignore the sound. It wasn't all that important anyway. He kept walking, kept moving. He had to keep going. If he stopped he wouldn't start again and that would doom both Clint and himself to death. He didn't much care about himself at this point. He was kind of beyond caring about himself, or about anything really, except Clint. The only goal he had, the only thing keeping him from just laying down and giving up was the fact that someone needed him. Until his body gave out and refused to continue, until his heart stopped beating and he stopped breathing, until he was dead, he wouldn't stop. Either he would get Clint to safety or he would die trying, literally.

He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't hear the voices around him. So he was surprised to suddenly see Coulson in front of him. But it couldn't be Phil, because he was alone. Great! Now he was hallucinating. Oh well, there were worse hallucinations to have. Phil, or rather Not-Phil, was talking to him but he didn't have the strength to listen to a hallucination. He ignored the apparition and continued walking but Not-Phil stopped in front of him. Tony hesitated a moment before remembering that a person couldn't actually walk into a hallucination. He kept moving toward Not-Phil. He didn't have the strength to walk around a figment of his imagination.

Tony had every intention of walking right through Not-Phil. But said person/delusion/hallucination put his hands out and gripped Tony's shoulders forcing him to stop. This was one real hallucination. He could actually feel hands on his shoulders (well, sort of, he had gone mostly numb a while ago). He tried to push forward but the hands didn't give. It felt like he was pushing against a brick wall. He had no other choice but to listen to the words that Not-Phil was saying. He stared at Not-Phil's face and forced his ears to start working again.

"Tony. Tony, it's all right. You're safe now. You're safe. It's all over. You can stop now. Just stop."

Tony wanted to believe the words so badly. He wanted to believe that Not-Phil really was Phil. He wanted to believe that they had been found and that it was all over. The man in front of him seemed so real. He looked real. He felt real. He sounded real. Tony was so tired. He just wanted to stop. Phil said he could stop. Phil had never lied to him before, not when it counted. He trusted Phil. Even if Phil was a hallucination.

His knees buckled as he gave in to the need to just stop. He fell forward but instead of hitting sand like he was expecting, he felt strong arms wrap around him, easing him down to the ground. He could smell Phil's familiar cologne. It was so real. He wanted to believe that the arms holding him were real, that the voice speaking to him wasn't imagined, that Phil really was there and that he and Clint really were safe. He wanted to believe it so bad. It was just too much and he was just too tired. He didn't care if it was real, he was going to believe it for as long as he could. The last bit of moisture in his body gathered in the form of a few tears that came unbidden to his eyes and rolled down his face.

Just as he felt darkness begin to creep up on him, he heard a few final whispered words.

"You did good, Tony."

Darkness overtook him and he knew no more.

)()()(

Phil was in the passenger seat of a helicopter with a team of medics in the back. They had been searching for almost an hour now which meant that Tony and Clint had been out in the unforgiving desert for close to two hours. Unsure of which direction Tony and Clint had gone, they had just had to pick one and hope for the best. Phil scanned the sand below, desperately searching for some sign of his two friends. They searched for about ten more minutes before he saw something moving below them.

"There!" he yelled, pointing out the window.

The pilot veered in the direction of what appeared to be a person. As they drew closer they could see that it was in fact two men. Tony and Clint. Tony was walking (more like staggering) and Clint appeared to be on Tony's back. His arms were over Tony's shoulders, his head resting on Tony's back, and his feet dragging the ground. He had his quiver strapped to his back and he appeared to be unconscious. Tony was holding Clint's wrists and half-carrying half-dragging the archer behind him.

Phil pressed a finger to his ear, activating his earpiece.

"Sir, we've found them," he said.

"We're on our way. I'll alert the others," Fury replied.

The director was on a jet along with Bruce while Steve, Natasha, and Thor were on a separate jet. They had each been searching different areas, covering as much area as quickly as they could. Fury's and Bruce's jet was closest to Phil's search grid and would arrive within a few minutes. The rest of the Avengers were at least ten minutes away.

The pilot set the chopper down a safe distance from Tony and Clint. The second the helicopter touched the ground, Phil leapt out of it and took off toward his two friends. As he drew closer, Phil grew concerned by the fact that not only had Tony not stopped walking, but he hadn't even looked up. It was as if he was completely unaware of the chopper that had just landed a short distance from him.

"Tony! Tony!" he yelled.

Tony didn't show any sign of having heard him.

Phil reached Tony and had to stop a moment to collect himself. Tony looked terrible. He was battered, bruised, and bloody. He had horrible sun burns on his arms and he looked utterly spent, completely dead on his feet. How he was still standing let alone walking and carrying another man, Phil had no idea. But it was Tony's eyes that really hit Phil hard. Tony's eyes looked completely dead, as if he was no longer there. He didn't seem to be aware of anything, not the chopper, not Phil, nothing.

Phil started to reach out and touch Tony but he stopped himself. There wasn't a spot on Tony that didn't appear to be injured. Instead, Phil tried to talk to him again.

"Tony? Can you hear me?"

Tony still didn't react, he just continued walking. A second later, the medical team reached the two men. Phil held out his hand to stop them from grabbing the two men.

"See if you can get a hold of Clint. I'm going to try to get Tony to let go of him," Phil ordered.

The medics gently grabbed hold of Clint while Phil moved in front of Tony. He walked backward, matching Tony's speed as the billionaire continued to stumble forward. For a brief moment, recognition seemed to flicker in Tony's eyes as he looked at Phil but just as fast as it came, the look disappeared and Tony's eyes returned to the dead and detached gaze from before.

Unsure how Tony might react, Phil moved slowly. He reached forward and gently grabbed Tony's hands and pried them from Clint's wrists. The medics gently lowered Clint to the ground and began checking him over. Tony continued walking, completely unaware that he was no longer carrying his teammate. Phil reached out and gently gripped Tony's shoulders forcing the man to stop. He felt Tony push against him and he was alarmed at how weak the billionaire was.

"Tony. Tony, it's all right. You're safe now. You're safe. It's all over. You can stop now. Just stop," Phil said.

He was relieved to see Tony look at him, really look at him. Then he got a conflicted look on his face, as if he was trying to reason out some problem. After a moment, Tony's face seemed to take on a defeated look, like he had given up on figuring out whatever problem he had been thinking about.

Suddenly, Tony's knees gave out and he collapsed. Phil reached out and caught him before he could hit the ground, grunting under Tony's dead weight. He dropped to his knees, easing Tony down with him. He held onto the billionaire, not wanting to lay his already injured body down on the brutally hot sand. Tony laid half sprawled on the sand with his head and upper body resting on Phil's chest.

Phil let his gaze land on Clint. The archer had a head wound but otherwise seemed to be all right and it was obvious to Phil why. Clint was wearing a very familiar long sleeved Black Sabbath shirt over his normal vest. Where his boots usually were, there were now tennis shoes that obviously weren't his. And around his head, covering his wound, was a makeshift bandage made from material that closely matched Tony's torn cargo pants.

Where Clint was covered and protected, Tony was the opposite. He wore nothing but a sleeveless undershirt, the back of which was streaked with lines of blood. His arms were bare and blistered from the merciless sun. His cargo pants were ripped in places and his feet were bloody and burned from walking in the hot sand without shoes for two hours. Tony had given up the very clothes on his back to protect Clint.

Tears began to roll down Tony's face and Phil leaned forward and whispered in Tony's ear.

"You did good, Tony."

The last ounce of tension drained out of Tony and he slipped into unconsciousness.

"You did good."

That's how Fury found them. Tony had just lost consciousness when the jet landed. Fury and Bruce were the first ones off and they made their way over to Phil. They took in the sight of Tony, unconscious in Phil's arms. Fury cursed and Bruce went pale. The scientist knelt down and began to look over Tony. He gently pressed his fingers to Tony's neck.

"His pulse is weak and thready. He's obviously severely dehydrated and those burns need tending to," Bruce said, more to himself than anyone else.

A few medics finally appeared with a stretcher and with their help, Bruce eased Tony off of Phil and onto the stretcher. Under Bruce's watchful gaze, the medics began the task of stabilizing Tony. Clint was unconscious but stable. The medics already had the archer on a stretcher and ready to be loaded into the helicopter as soon as Tony was ready.

The medics were almost ready to move when a second jet landed beside the first and Steve, Thor, and Natasha came barreling out of it. They ran over to the group of people surrounding the stretchers.

"Clint?" Natasha said.

She started to move toward the man but Steve grabbed her arm and held her back. She sent a glare at him.

"Let them work," he said softly.

Natasha's expression softened a bit and she gave Steve a nod. The three of them made their way over to Phil and Fury, who were standing off to the side. Along the way, they were able to catch a glimpse of the second stretcher and they didn't like what they saw. If it wasn't for the fact that they could see Tony breathing they would have thought he was dead.

"How are they?" Steve asked, coming to stand beside Phil.

"They're alive," Fury replied.

At the moment, that was all they knew for sure and for the time-being it was enough.

)()()(

Those stupid fools, Hassan thought.

He had been tracking Barton and Stark for almost two hours when he finally caught sight of the two men. He sped up to a jog and was closing in on them when he heard the sound of a chopper approaching. He quickly diverted his path, sure that the chopper was Stark's and Barton's people looking for them. He took cover behind a sand dune to Stark's right, just as the chopper appeared from behind the billionaire.

Hassan watched as the chopper landed and men got out. He cursed. If only he had been sooner. It was obvious that Stark was not all there and Barton was still unconscious. It would have been so easy to kill them, but now he would have to wait. One way or another, though, he was going to kill them. It mattered too much to him now.

Two minutes later, a jet landed next to the chopper and more people disembarked. The arrival of the jet gave Hassan an idea and he waited for the right moment to execute it. As he watched, yet another jet arrived and landed next to the first before the occupants exited. Hassan seized the opportunity. He crested the dune and ran, staying hunched over, to the closest jet. The chopper and the two jets blocked him from the view of the others and they were all too preoccupied with Stark and Barton to notice him anyway.

Now, as he sat hidden in a compartment in one of the jets, he silently laughed at his enemies' stupidity. Their lack of observation was going to cost them their friends' lives.


Yes, I ended the chapter there. Let me know how mad you are that I unrepentantly left you hanging until next week! :)