Disclaimer: Is not mine. Is Marvel's.


CHAPTER 9: Non-Stop

Seoul, South Korea

"You sure you want me to drop you off here?" Clint asked Steve.

Steve nodded, adjusting his helmet and grabbing his shield. He locked it into place on the magnetic panels on the back of his uniform. "Yeah. Don't want to get too close, don't want Ultron seeing the jet," he said. "Element of surprise."

"There's something we haven't had in awhile," Natasha said from the jump seat. Clint smirked.

"Fine, then, Cap, this is your exit," Clint said, popping the side hatch. Steve jumped the ten feet to the rooftop easily, and stared out at the target, U-Gin Labs, a gleaming, glass-covered building. He started jogging across the rooftop, needing to build speed for a jump.

"Two minutes," Steve reported. "Stay close."

Then, he was leaping over the side of the building. Natasha saw him hit another roof and roll before disappearing over the side of that one as well. "Oh yeah," she told Clint, shaking her head. "We got screwed in the superpower department."

Clint grinned as he brought the jet around.

Two minutes later, they both heard, "Dr. Cho!" over the comm, and Clint almost yanked on the yoke of the plane too hard. Helen's voice came in ragged spurts as she talked to Steve. Ultron had something in the regeneration cradle. With some kind of stone. Her voice was so faint it was hard to understand, but Clint got the basic gist-Ultron made something, and that something was bad.

"Did you guys copy that?" Steve asked.

"Yeah, we did," Clint said. "Nat's looking for him now."

"I got a private jet taking off across town," Natasha said, monitoring one of the screens in the back. "No manifest. Could be him."

But then Clint spotted something else. "No, I've got him. Trucks with the lab logo. On the bridge," he added for Steve's benefit. "Three signatures. One in the cab, two in the back with the cradle." He aimed the nose gun at the lead truck. "I could take out the driver," he offered.

"Negative!" Steve's voice rang sharply out. "The power in the gem could level out the city," he said. "We need to draw Ultron out." Clint watched, following behind the two trucks, as Steve leapt off an overpass and onto the top of one of the trucks. It never failed to impress him. He wondered why Cap had never tried American Ninja Warrior.

And then, Steve went flying off the truck as the back doors popped off their hinges, leaving Steve hanging on for dear life. "Well, he's definitely unhappy," Steve groaned. Clint saw him fighting to keep purchase and not fall off into traffic. Inside the truck, Ultron's glowing red eyes appeared, searching for Steve. "I'm gonna try to keep him that way!"

"Cap, you're not a match for him," Clint said. Natasha turned in her seat and narrowed her eyes. "What?" he defended himself. "It's true!"

In his ear, he heard Steve say sarcastically, "Thanks, Barton."

Clint kept the jet on the truck's tail as Ultron appeared from the hold. He and Steve got into it, Steve throwing his shield, kicks and punches. Until Ultron got ahold of it by ripping it from his chest, where Steve had planted it a few moments ago. He slammed it into Steve, knocking him over the top of the trailer and onto the hood, then tossing away Cap's shield like so much garbage.

"Well, hell," Natasha said unbuckling her belt. She got up and went to the back, pulling the safety straps off a slick silver motorcycle. Clint brought the jet in low behind the trucks. "I got you a window," he said, seeing what she was doing. "Ready?"

Natasha straddled the bike. She tossed him a thumbs up.

"Four…three…two…" Clint hit the cargo bay door opener, and Natasha and the bike dropped out of the hold onto the highway. Within moments she was caught up to the truck, snagging Cap's shield on the way through the vehicles. "Give 'em hell, Nat!" he yelled at her through the comms. Then, his eyes were back searching for the trucks so Tasha could catch up. "They're heading under the overpass," Clint reported. "I've got no shot."

"Which way?" Natasha yelled.

"East," Clint replied, tailing them.

"Left or right?" He could practically hear the eye roll.

"Right! Go right!" he ordered her. Clint watched Natasha cut through a side street to catch up. Ahead of her, Steve was blasted off the top of the truck again into a sedan behind them. Cap hit the windshield of the other car, shattering it. Clint wished like hell he could just shoot them and be done with it. Their team leader ricocheted off the car and bounced back up to Ultron. "Come on!" he goaded Ultron.

"Clint, can you draw off the guards?" Natasha was asking him.

Finally, someone is going to let me shoot something. "Let's find out!" Clint swung the jet down low and unleashed the gun, firing at Ultron as Steve ducked. He could see Ultron's glowing eyes. He looked pissed. Good! Clint thought to himself, and then the two robots from the truck in front were on him, and he pulled the jet straight up into the air. One of them caught up and Clint jerked in surprise as it started trying to shoot through the bulletproof canopy. "The hell you don't!" Clint protested, pulling the jet straight up, then cranking it into a serious barrel roll. The maneuver worked, it shook off both 'bots who went flailing into the blue sky. Pretty soon, they righted themselves and Clint saw them head back toward the fight. He hit the dash. "Damn it. They're headed back towards you! Whatever you're gonna do, do it!"

"I got it. Going in. Cap, keep him occupied!" That was Natasha.

"What do you think I've been doing?!" Steve yelled back.

Coming out from under an overpass, Clint saw the two drone bots lift the semi off the ground and up into the air. He didn't see Cap or Natasha. "Cap?" he demanded.

"In the train!" he heard Steve's voice yell.

"Tasha?"

He didn't get an answer. He followed the trailer and got it in the crosshairs. "Hey, I've got a shot at the truck," he yelled.

"Negative!" That was Tasha.

"Tasha, where are you?" Clint barked over the radio.

"I'm in the truck!" she yelled back.

Clint's jaw dropped. "What-"

"Shut up. Get ready, I'm sending the package to you!"

Clint popped the read cargo bay ramp. "How do you want me to take it?" he asked her, trying to keep his voice level.

"Um…you don't really want the answer to that question," Natasha countered.

Then, Clint heard Steve. "I lost Ultron! But the Maximoffs are here…and I think they're on our side!" He didn't have time to think about that. He spotted Ultron making a straight line for the truck. "Nat, come on!" he yelled.

"Okay. Coming." Her voice sounded way too calm. Clint glanced back over his shoulder through the open door. Something was falling from the trailer. Something with a person! "Holy shit!" Clint yelled as the cradle slammed into the jet with Tasha holding on for dear life. The cradle slid to a stop, slamming Clint into the dash of the plane. He looked back.

And got a face full of Ultron. The robot was right behind Natasha. He grabbed her ankle and yanked her from the quinjet. "Nat!" Clint gasped. "Cap! Ultron, I think he got Nat!" He moved to swing the plane around.

"If you've got the package, get it to Stark!" Steve's voice came mixed with screeching metal.

"Do you have eyes on Nat?" Clint asked, desperate. He didn't see them. Didn't see anything. Just blue sky.

"Go!" Steve commanded. "That's an order, Barton!"

"God damn it!" Clint yelled furiously, pulling the jet up and away, closing the cargo hatch before their target slid out again. As the sky filled his horizon, he pounded on the windshield with his fist. Will's gone, Ultron's got Natasha...The universe was pissed at him. His two best friends were gone. "I'm sorry, okay?" he yelled to no one. "I swear to God I'll make it right," he told the sky. "Just...give me them back." The last sentence sounded completely defeated. He flew on for a while, following Steve's order.

Oh, to hell with this.

He got halfway to Japan before turning back around. Clint piloted over the city, finding Steve amid the wreckage of a commuter train. Clint pulled the jet into a hover and looked down. What the hell? The two Maximoff kids were with Steve. Talking to him like they were old friends. His annoying white-haired buddy looked out of breath. "New friends, Cap?" Clint bit.

"The hell are you doing here?" Steve demanded, turning to look up at the jet. The Maximoffs' eyes followed it, and he thought he saw Pietro Maximoff cringe. "I thought I told you-"

"I'm not one of your soldiers, Cap," Clint informed him. "Ultron's taken too much of my family away from me and I'm sick of it. Besides, if I didn't come back, how are you and the Bobbsey Twins getting home?"

He could tell Steve didn't get the book reference, but he did get the first part. "Well, you know, it might be too late to fly commercial," Steve drawled. "This a non-stop flight to New York?"

Clint nodded, lowering the ramp. "Hell, yes." And then a non-stop straight to hell for Ultron.