Chapter 10- brothers at war

Will was dragged to the door of the arena by his hair. He made a point of digging his heels into the ground and pulling back hard against the giant's grip. He guessed the larger man would not hit out against him and spoil his chances in the arena. It was still painful to be dragged in that manner, but Will did not give the giant the satisfaction of hearing him make one sound of protest.

Finally they made it to the heavy iron door of the arena. There were only two doors to this arena, each on opposite sides. They were made from materials that would withstand all types of weapons fire, so getting out through causing mayhem inside would not work. "At least make it entertaining", the giant stated with a scowl as he shoved him through the door and closed it behind him.

So there he was standing in the arena, looking around him. He noted that he could not see anyone through the Perspex viewing walls, so they must be just one way viewing only giving those on the outside the view inside. It would lessen the possibility of distraction for those competing in the arena.

On the far side of the arena was his gun, chained to a sloping wall about 3 metres above his head. The chains looked solid crossing the weapon and cradling it securely in their grip .Getting that gun out would be a challenge. As he looked across the arena he met the eyes of his brother, who had also taken a few minutes to survey his surroundings . His bows were also chained to a wall. Of course the idea was that were expected to stop each other getting to their weapons by beating each other to a pulp.

Clint had not moved yet though, just eyeballing him steadily. He stared back unafraid. "Gentlemen you may begin", came the measured voice of Joe Bloggs.

Will did not move and neither did Clint. He was sure the entire audience were all yelling for the fight to begin, he could not hear anything though. If neither of them made a move in the next few minutes the doors would open again and the giant man would threaten to kill them both. That was the way it was in here, either fight or die.

Looking upward Will found the room where Ethan was being held captive. He sent him a silent message of strength. Ethan was not going to like seeing this fight. The glance had only lasted one second but it was long enough for Clint to take advantage of his lack of attention.

He found him coming toward him fast only just having enough time to block the blow to his head. Pain shot through his arms ,sharp like a stab, as they felt the force of the blocked blow. He found himself moving slightly backward as he felt the strength in his brothers body and had to brace himself . Their eyes met for a brief second.

Snaking his legs out quickly while Clint was looking at him, Will tried to kick Clint legs out from under him. He found that Clint simply sidestepped quickly. "A little slow Will, he mocked, "out of practice are you".He slapped Will on the back to emphasize his words. It was not a hard blow, more of a taunt, a warning of more to come.

Will decided to show him exactly how wrong his words were. As Clint came back at him he simply leapt up off the ground. Then he almost flew over the top of his brother's head to land behind him. He managed to get in a forceful kick before Clint swung back to met him.

Clint had wavered on his feet for just a second before steadying himself. He had been surprised at the power in Will's movements. He would have to wear his brother out quickly to gain the advantage. Now inches from Will he reached out with his fists to begin close quarters fighting.

For the combined IMF and rogue Avengers team it was a horrible spectacle. They were seeing two experienced fighters attacking each other with increasing ferocity and each looking for a break.

The sounds of flesh meeting flesh were clearly audible as well as the grunts made by the two men as they put all their strength into the attack . Soon blood was coating the fists of both Clint and Will as their knuckles felt the toll of their actions.

Their bodies too bore evidence of the strain, slight missteps were a blow was deflected a little too late and left a bleeding welt behind. When they counted the amount of times this happened to both men, it became clear that Will was slowly losing ground. His face was a bloodied mess, his left eye patially closed and a cut above his chin leaked blood down onto his chest. He wavered upon his feet and he came around to meet Clint again. Clint also had blood upon his face that dripped down to land on the floor below his feet. He still moved a fractionly faster than Will . When he hit out again, he knocked Will backward , almost making him lose his footing.

"Come on don't let him wear you down", Ethan grumbled out as he heard the calls for Will's death ring out around him. Joe Bloggs had mad sure he could hear every word, it was just another form of slow torture. Giant two, who sat in the other chair just laughed, he wanted Clint to win.

Clint hit out again this time only using half the force of before. He slouched a little acting like he was injured in a manner that was slowing him down. As Will moved in to take advantage Clint moved back an inch. If Will was aware of the fact that his brother's bow and arrows were now directly behind him he gave no sign. He moved in to land a punch that had Clint sprawling. Of course Clint fell even closer to his weapons. He decided that giving Will small victories like this he was ultimately going to win this match.

"We have to get them out of there", Jane stated after Natasha had apologized for pointing out how deadly Clint was with the arrows. "Yes, but we can hardly just saunter up to whoever is running this place and ask, or can we", Steve mused. "We will have to try, why don't you and I do that", Jane suggested to Steve.

"I am not just going to sit here and watch this horrid spectacle", Natasha told her angrily, she felt the desire to strike the other woman fill her for a moment. "You could help me", Benji stated firmly, as he picked up on the tension. It would be easy for an explosion to happen between them at that moment, each of their colleagues were on opposing sides and they could not help feeling personaly involved. Benji spoke with passion,"'our goal is still stopping the syndicate and there must be information on their members somewhere in thisplace. If we find it we can cripple any further changes of assassinations taking place". We might just find out where they are holding Ethan at the same time". Benji let no sign of anxiety creep into his voice, even though he had piles of it pressing down upon him. He had to channel Ethan right now and be assertive and clear about their goals.

Natasha, let out a controlled breath, she had been feeling the tension of the moment, the horror of seeing Clint trying to kill his own brother. It can't be easy for these people to witness that either and to feel as powerless to stop what was happening as she did.

At least gaining the information on the syndicate would stop these types of fights being ordered by them in the future. She could confidently leave the mission of getting Clint and Will out of the arena to Steve. He was an expert at jail breaks after all.

Nat guessed it had not been intentional that Jane had let slip her colleagues first name. It would not aid her in determining his full name though. That really did not matter now , as it looked like he was going to die at Clint's hands very soon. Clint would have to be jailed for murder for that act and it would deeply affect his family. He must really hate the brother to even consider doing that. She swallowed a lump in her throat as she thought about the recent encounter between two sides of the Avengers. It had been so difficult to side with Tony, to make the choice to to believe in something that Clint could not agree with. Yet she had not even contemplated killing him for even one second. Whatever was between the brothers had a lot of history behind it and that made it even more difficult to come between them and force them apart. Like the fractured sides of the Avengers both would believe they were in the right and nothing would probably change that. At least if they both got out of the arena alive there would be some way of salvaging both of their individual futures.

As Clint landed a blow that had more blood dripping down Will's face she turned away from the arena. She recognized the signs that Clint was going in for the kill. His weapons were only inches behind him now. "We don't have long", she warned the others as they split into two groups to carry out their individual missions.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

Benji felt very nervous about having the black widow for a partner, as she was someone described as being a specialist in her field. At one time she had not cared who she used her skills upon. Her death count was a lot higher than his own. When he saw the worried look on her face he relaxed somewhat, all she was was someone who was there to help a friend, just like him.

"So what is our plan, Mr IMF", Nat asked him. She was glad she was with this member of IMF, he seemed to be easier to be with than Jane. 'Call me Benji", he invited. "We have to find a office or command center", he added.

"From what I have seen you are primarily a technical expert", Natasha carefully avoided the word 'geek', "no offense but it seems to be a lot safer than being on the front lines. So why not just stay behind a desk", she had no judgment in her voice, merely curiosity. Benji seemed to be more of a 'milder' type than she normly encountered in agents for the government.

"I supported my team leader Ethan as a technical expert on a mission and just watching him work gave me this desire to want to be more actively involved. He is a legend in IMF, once he dangled of the top of the Burj Khalifa just to gain access to a computer system, then there was the time he hung off a plane that was taking off", Benji could feel this smile on his face just talking about those events. "Of course he is extraordinary and nobody can really be like him, but we can all try and do our part in stopping the bad people of the world". Natasha could clearly hear hero worship in Benji's tone. It sounded like he was trying to live up to a legend. Yet there was no envy there, just a passion to be himself and let it be enough. She knew she had felt the same when she had fought alongside the more powerful members of the Avengers. Nat decided she liked Benji Dunn, even if he did work for any agency which would now consider her to be a rogue and therefore the enemy.

"Will is much the same, trying to be like Ethan, I even suspect that is one reason he took this mission. It does not seem to be going his way at the moment". Though I can never really tell with Will, he's harder to get to know than Ethan. This whole twin episode just proves we did not know everything about him", Benji said with a heavy sigh.

Nat knew this speech was for her benefit. She had to reassure this agent about one thing. "Look I know it seems like we too are on opposite sides, but I do not hate your Will, I am just trying to understand what it is all about, why two brothers would go to these lengths to kill each other",Natasha told him.

"I wish I knew, but as I said we had no idea Will even had a twin before this mission started". How either of them ever got away with the concealment I don't know. All I can hope now is that I get the opportunity to ask Will to explain", Benji said with a gulp.

As they had talked they had moved along another corridor, past more open prison cells and to another locked door. Benji put his gun firmly in his hand as he and Natasha kicked that door open.

Benji clearly held himself gasp as they entered a room that was identical to Hunleys office in the IMF.

On the wall the IMF symbol hung , it was also a perfect replica. One thing that was different was the huge screen. Upon it Benji could see the fight in the arena continuing to progress. Clint Barton was now only inches from his weapons and Will was obviously aware of that as he was fighting in desperation.

Benji had never seen Will fight like that before. He had a lot more skill than he had believed and he doubted that he could beat him in a match like this.

Yet Clint was even more experienced than Will and that was now making more of a difference as they both began to tire.

Benji wrenched his eyes away from the screen and onto the computer that lay on the desk, this would be the place he could get the information he desired.

He pushed the power button on the machine and waited. When nothing happened he took a closer look at the computer. "It is just a replica", he stated grimly, "with no actual functioning parts". That gave him the idea that this room was just another part of the trap.

"Oh hell", the gasping breath of Natasha Romonoff had his eyes returning to the screen. He could now see Clint Barton, climbing the sloping wall of the arena and grabbing hold of the chains that secured his weapons. 'On the ground nearby lay Will, bleeding from several wounds on his arms, face, torso and legs.

"Clint overpowered him", Natasha said in a quiet voice.

As Benji watched Will dragged himself up off the ground, he was lurching about as he moved over and reached up to grab Clint's legs. He managed to get hold of one foot and Benji could clearly see the strain on Clint Barton's face as he fought to maintain his grip on the side of the arena.

He kicked out with his other foot, landing another blow to Will's side. Will slipped back again and Clint pulled his feet up higher out of grabbing range.

Then he hit something on the side of the arena and the bow and arrows fell into his hands.

Benji saw the look on Will's face change from desperation to horror. He stopped trying to jump up and grab his brother. Instead he simply turned and started to run.

It was of course harder to hit a moving target, but Benji knew Barton would be practiced at that as well.

In a couple of seconds he was going to witness his colleagues death. Benji found tears coming to hs eyes, this was yet another victory for the Syndcate.

"It is not pleasant to watch your colleagues die", came a voice. As a team Benji and Natasha both turned toward the speaker. "Drop your weapons", came the next piece of advice as a man stepped through the large screen on the wall.

Benji found his gun slipping through nerveless fingers despite the fact he had been determined to hold on. His face, he knew had gone pale as he stared at the man in front of him.

Nat was looking at the man's weapon, which was much bigger than her own. Then she noted that Benji simply dropped his own gun. He looked like he had seen a ghost as he stared at the man in front of him.

"Do you know him", she asked as she dropped her own gun. "Lane", the name was dragged out from between tortured lips, by Benjis shocked voice. 'One of them, Joe Bloggs acknowleaged. "You have met my identical twin Soloman, that is where this new idea came from Mr Dunn."

Natasha wrenched her eyes away from the man called Lane and back onto the screen where Clint's black arrow was now plowing its path of death straight at his brothers back.

"It will be your turn soon enough", Lane number two told them. "My revenge upon Hunt and his IMF team will soon be complete." He grinned at Natasha, "I have Barton to thank for helping me". "The drugs helped of course, scrambling both of their brains like spaghetti. If you do manage to get Barton out, and I doubt that you will, he will never be the same again. It is my final piece of justice for all those who have worked for enemy agencies in the past."

Natasha decided she hated this man as much as Benji did.

She did not move though because the very big gun he held was pointing right at her head.

Xxxxxx

Steve and Jane had kept moving along the corridor outside, also past more open cells. They came to a heavy door, that looked like the one through which the brothers had been shoved into the arena.

Steve grabbed hold of that door and pulled with all his might. It did not budge one inch. So it was not going to be that easy to get the brothers out. "I really think Will must not be thinking clearly ,how could he even contemplate getting out of a trap this secure", Jane said sadly.

That statement hit even deeper when she saw Clint grab his bow and noted he had been given three arrows, obviously they intended him to wound first.`"I hope he at least has the decency to go for the kill shot", she told Steve.

Steve said nothing just watching with a pensive, strangely unworried look upon his face as an arrow plowed itself towards Wills torso.

Xxxxxxx

Ethan had a white knuckled grip on the chair in front of him as he watched Will run. He could clearly hear the sucking desparate breaths he made. It had been difficult to watch the fight, as he had almost felt each blow the brothers had traded. He will be dead in a moment", the giant man beside him told him. Around him the jeers of the other watchers told him that they thought Will was a coward for chosing to run.

Will was running straight for the side of the arena he had told Ethan to watch. He obviously had a plan but had it already gone wrong, Ethan did not know what to think as that arrow rapidly gained ground on the exhausted Will . He sneaked a glance at his captor and noted he was intent on the drama unfolding within the arena.

Will's momentum had carried him to the edge of the arena and he turned quickly to stare death in the eye. The arrow was plowing straight for his stomach. It would be a painful but not immediately lethal wound.

One second before impact Will moved, jumping straight up into the air, over the top of the arrow, It was a movement that took precsion timing.

Below him the arrow hit the wall hard.

Ethan clearly heard giant one gasp for a second. In the next he was spluttering as water came pouring out of the sprinkler directly over his head. For one moment the giant was distracted and it was long enough for Ethan to launch himself out of his seat and flip over the top of the large man to land with his chained arms around the giants throat… "He missed",the giant choked out as he struggled to get out of Ethan's grip. His clothes were already soaked through and he felt their weight pushing him down. The chain of Hunts manacles was biting deeper and the arena seemed to be going blurry.

Xxxxx

In replicia of Hunley's office Desmond Lane had thought he had the upper hand, Benji was too surprised to make an attack and the Black widow was clearly out of her league when faced by a huge gun.

In seconds Benji would be witnessing the death of his colleague and Desmond would be feeling a little less angry over the defeat of his own brother by the IMF team.

When Barton's arrow hit the side of the arena and the sprinkler system over his head acticvated shooting water down upon him, Lane was shocked enough to lose his grip on his own weapon.

"How did he miss", Lane spluttered as he stared Benji Dunn and Black widow in the eye. "Yeah I wonder how you miss a man then accidently hit the one sensitive point in the whole arena", Benji remarked as he and Natsaha leapt over at Lane.

The sprinkler had soaked Lane through and he found it harder to meet the combined blows of both Natasha and Dunn. He stumbled to the ground. But before the two could get to him he leapt sideways out of the door behind the screen. That door sealed itself instantly leaving Natahsa and Benji no way to follow.

On the screen Benji noted that Barton had now fired a second arrow. Will Brandt was running from that one too then up the wall and grabbing his gun as Bartons arrow's released the chains holding his weapon down. "That's two shots that are either highly stupid or extremely well executed", Natasha stated . She could not believe Clint would make mistakes like that. Will had either skillfully maneuvered him into making them while risking his own life at the same time, not wise when you factored in that Clint had never missed , or...

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Steve Rogers and Jane had just turned away from the heavy door when water came pouring out of the sprinklers over their heads and the door in front of them opened. Looking in through the Perspex Jane could see water also pouring out of the sprinklers all around the arena and the fact that that door to the arena was now open.

In one brief second Clint's second arrow had given his twin his weapon. Then as she watched in stunned amazement Will came to stand by Clint's side.

Xxxxxx

Clint looked into his brothers eyes, "can we end this sorry charade now", he asked passionately. '"I think you did blow the act out of the water Clint, an experienced archer does not make the mistakes you have without intending to do it.", Will stated. He reached over and took his brothers hand in his own.

Clint looked at the bloodied mess that was his brother. He had been responsible for those injuries. They had to be convincing to cement the fact in the mind of the Syndicate that Will and he hated each other passionately. His passionate hate of his brother had made the syndicate feel safe that two highly trained agents were more focused upon each other than they were on them. It had been the hardest act of his life and he felt genuinely sick to the stomach about hurting Will so much.

Then he felt his borthers hand squeeze his own and decided it was time to turn their attention to the real enemy. He only had one arrow left in his quiver."How many bullets do you have",he asked Will.

Will checked the gun,"only two",he replied. Clint looked through the door where he could see a whole mass of prisoners awaiting them. Some of them would be very disappointed they had just ruined their entertainment.

He looked down at his bloodied fists and then over at Will. The fight had taken its toll on them both and it was not over yet.

There was however one thing that was different ",we will do this together", Clint said firmly to Will.

Xxxx

"They are working together", Jane remarked as she saw the two brothers link hands. 'Yes", Steve acknowledged with a smile. He had no surprise within his voice which gave Jane the idea that somehow he had known all along.