CHAPTER TEN
Five minutes earlier…
"Well, this is gonna piss Tony off," Clint said as he and Jane peered around the corner of the garage entrance into the lab. "Hammer's playing with his toys. Damn it. Will and Pepper…" It wasn't pretty. The suits looked like they were locked on.
"Will…." Jane trailed off, staring at the scene.
Will and Pepper were standing in the middle of the room, surrounded by four of Tony's Iron Man suits. At least, Jane assumed they were suits and not Tony himself. All four of them primed and ready to fire on anything that moved. "Benj," Clint whispered into his comm. He gave him a quick rundown of what he was seeing. "Can we have JARVIS hack the suits?"
"I'm sorry, did you just say you want me to hack into an Iron Man suit?" Benji's confused voice replied.
"Do it," they heard Tony say. "JARVIS, put 'em to sleep."
Tony watched from the inside of his armor as one of Hammer's hired goons patted Natasha down and found two guns and a knife somewhere on her person. "Where the hell were you keeping those?" he asked her over the comm.
She shot him a glare that spoke her response.
"Where's Pepper?" Tony asked, and for the first time, Natasha heard an undercurrent of worry in his voice.
"Hey, Tony. This is quite the place you've got," Hammer said, purposely ignoring the billionaire. "Too much white though, makes it hard to get stuff out of the carpet."
Natasha glanced down, saw blood. Will or Pepper? she wondered.
"I'm only gonna ask you one more time," Tony told Hammer. "Where the fuck is Pepper?"
"Easy there, Tiger," Hammer said. "First things first, take off the suit. We'll talk."
Tony aimed a repulsor at him in response. "What's to stop me from blowing you halfway to Hawaii?" Tony asked.
Then he saw it. A small black remote in Hammer's hand. "JARVIS, what is that?" Tony asked his AI over the comm.
A primitive remote control, sir, JARVIS replied.
"To what?"
You won't like that answer, JARVIS cautioned.
Tony's faceplate flipped up. "I'm only going to ask you once more before I blow that remote and your hand to hell," he told Hammer. "Where is she?"
Hammer shook the black fob. "Blow up the hand, blow up your girlfriend, the house, and half the cliff. For a smart guy, Anthony, that's not the best idea I've heard from you." His eyes narrowed. "Lose the suit."
"You'd blow yourself away?" Tony asked.
Natasha could see it in his eyes. "He would, Tony," she told him out loud. "He's got nothing to lose anymore. No company, no contracts….just him."
Justin pointed with the remote. "Now her I like."
"Stark," Natasha muttered. "Just do it." She felt a pair of cold metal handcuffs lock around her wrists, and gave a classic, patented Black Widow icy stare to the goon holding her hands. He paled, and she smirked.
There was a Mexican standoff between Tony and Hammer for a moment or two. Then, Tony told JARVIS to disassemble the suit. The suit folded up into a small square, leaving Tony in a black longsleeved shirt and jeans. The arc reactor glowed faintly under the shirt.
"Much better, Hammer pronounced. Then he gestured toward the stairs. "Now, if you'd both follow me?"
Tony let Natasha go first and stepped in behind her, purposely shielding her from Hammer's hired thug. He could already see her working the handcuffs, trying to loosen them.
Ethan caught movement across the driveway from where he and Benji were huddled in some shrubs. "Hey Steve," Ethan told him over the comm, "you've got two headed your way."
"Where?" Steve asked back. Ethan saw the captain tense. "Right on your six and five," Ethan replied. "Benji, how're you coming on hacking those suits?"
"It's amazing what you can do with a sentient computer on your side," the tech muttered furiously. "I need ten seconds."
Just then, Ethan caught two more guys come from inside the house somewhere on Steve's position. "Steve, you've got two more-shit." Ethan stood. "Benj, stay here and keep hacking."
"Where're you going?" Benji demanded, looking up from his laptop.
Ethan gave him a pointed look. "Hack," he said, and Benji ducked his head back toward the screen. Ethan took off and came flying across the driveway, grabbing one of Steve's almost attackers by the shirt and throwing him sideways.
"Come on Benji," Jane muttered.
"We aren't gonna get time…and there's Stark," Clint muttered, seeing Tasha and Tony coming down the stairs. Clint threw himself flush against the wall.
"Pepper?" he heard Tony ask. "You okay?"
"Sure," he heard her reply. "Why wouldn't I be, I'm just being held at gunpoint by an Iron Man suit."
"That's my girl," Tony replied. Clint stuck his nose out so he could see what was going on. Across the room, Will caught his eye over the shoulder of one of the suits, and Clint saw his shoulders half sag in relief.
He turned to Jane. "We need a distraction," he said. "How good's your aim?"
She frowned. "Why?"
Clint glanced around the corner again and locked eyes with his brother. Will gave him an imperceptible nod. Then Clint turned to Jane. "When I say, I need a perfectly executed shot at the light above that circle."
"Perfectly executed," Jane said, rolling her eyes even as she raised her gun. "Says the mighty Hawkeye."
"No pressure," Clint replied. He looked at his brother and saw Will reach slowly for Pepper's hand. "Count of three. One….two…"
Jane squinted, aiming for the bulb.
Three.
A shot rang out, Will yanked Pepper to the ground, and the lab went dark.
Clint heard the sound of an arc reactor power up, and a blast of blue. "Holy shit!" Clint couldn't help it as he yelled into the comm unit.
Upstairs, Steve sent one of his and Ethan's attackers through Tony's kitchen window, shattering the entire floor to ceiling pane of glass.
Five seconds later, he heard the unmistakable sound of a car engine revving toward them. He looked over at Ethan, who was bringing a guy down to the ground in a choke hold. "What the-"
"Banner," Steve replied. He saw the limo a split second later. "Move!"
He dove to one side, Ethan dove to the other, as the car came roaring past where they'd just been standing and slammed into the house's wall.
Steve was the first to recover. He got to his feet, brushing glass off his jeans and reached for the limo door. I hope it's Banner at the wheel and not his big green friend. Steve tore the door off is hinges. Bruce was hugging the wheel, an airbag deployed. "Dr. Banner?" Steve demanded. "Are you okay?"
Bruce turned his head sideways. "Did I get one?" he asked, wincing in pain. Steve caught a flash of green in his eyes. "Stay with me Doc," Steve said.
Bruce closed his eyes and breathed deep. A moment later, he looked up at Captain America. "I'm good. I-we're good."
Steve glanced over at Ethan, who wasn't moving. "Good," he replied. "Come on Doc, we need you out here."
"This is what happens when I have to stay in the car," Bruce muttered as he gingerly climbed out of the driver's seat.
The repulsor blast seared the top of Will's head as he yanked Pepper to the ground. As the lights went out, he grabbed her and they both scrambled for the wall. He threw her against the wall and threw his hands over her, moving his body between her and the suits.
"JARVIS!" he heard Tony yell. "Tell me you're in here!"
Online, sir, JARVIS replied.
"Did you really think I wasn't good for it?" Benji allowed himself a moment of pride over the comm line. Tony grinned. "Not bad for a rookie," he replied. "Goddamn it, Hawkeye, what the hell where you aiming for?"
Clint stuck his head out, arrow drawn. "Wasn't me, Stark, it was all her," he replied, jerking his head back at Jane. "You needed the distraction."
"I hit what I was aiming for," Jane replied tightly, her gun in front of her.
"We had it under control, right Romanoff?" Tony asked, turning to her. Clint saw Tasha on the floor, one knee in Hammer's back, hand on the trigger. The goon that had brought up the rear was lying on the stairs with a broken neck, courtesy of Natasha's patented move.
"Just another patented Stark plan," she said. "Can I let go of this thing now?"
"Benji?" Clint asked.
"The suits are off," Benji replied. "All that trigger is now is a fancy garage opener."
Tasha threw it to the side. Then she looked at Stark and Clint.
"What the hell are you two waiting for?" She shoved Hammer's face into the concrete and the ex-con billionaire groaned. She nodded to the far wall. "Men," she muttered, and Jane grinned.
Clint was across the floor in two strides. "Will!"
Will glanced up. "Hi," he said. "Missed a helluva party." Clint saw a black eye and bruises on his brother's arms.
"Yeah," Clint said. "Looks like you had a hell of a time though."
Will nodded. "Good to see you," he said.
"Likewise, little brother," Clint replied. "You should let Pepper up so Tony can have his moment."
Will looked down at Pepper, who was still wrapped tightly in his arms. "Oh. Sorry," he said, and let go.
"Good move," Tony said. "I'm the jealous type." He helped Pepper up and looked at her. "Here I've been worried sick about you and you've been with another man?"
Pepper shrugged, tears in her eyes. "He's just been keeping me company," she replied, with a grateful glance at Will. He nodded to her, and that was all it took. Pepper buried herself in Tony's arms.
"Are you crying, Stark?" Clint asked.
"Shut up, Feather Head," Tony shot back.
Will glanced up and saw Jane hanging back from the reunion. He walked over to her. "Hey," he said. "Nice shot."
She nodded and put the safety of her gun on. "I wasn't going to miss," she replied.
"I'm so sorry," Will told her, catching the meaning behind the statement. He put a hand on her arm. "Thank you, Jane, for having my back."
She bit her lip. "Just returning the favor," she replied.
Impulsively, Will leaned over and kissed her, pulling her hand to rest at the small of his back. He'd been worried that it was going to be weird but strangely...it didn't seem as weird as he thought it would be. And it didn't seem like Jane was minding it at all.
Clint joined Tasha with Hammer and looked over at his brother. "About damn time," he said.
"Says the king of slow moves," Tasha replied, hauling Hammer to his feet. "By the way, Hammer," she said, turning the smaller man to face Clint, "speaking of slow, I'd like you to meet my partner, Hawkeye."
The light dawned in Hammer's eyes at the realization. "That's right, you asshole," Clint told him. "You took the wrong brother. And someone's gonna pay for that black eye of his…" He held up the arrow in his hand and tapped Hammer twice in the chest with it.
Hammer turned white, and Clint grinned. '"You made the biggest mistake of your life, buddy," he said. "See, you piss off one Avenger, you piss us all off and we chase you to hell." Then he stood nose to nose with him. "And nobody hurts my family and gets away with it," he hissed at him.
Author's Note: It is because of you all that I keep writing, world's worst case of writer's block and all. Thank you THANK YOU to everybody that's been favoriting this and putting it on alert. I finally have gotten a free moment to get this up, and we're looking at least one more, much calmer, chapter after this.
PS-I'm lookin' for some more adventures for my two favorite brothers, or parts of their lives I haven't written about yet. If you like my little AU and have any suggestions, I'll sure take them. I've kinda missed Thor on this go around for example...