This chapter is still raw, since my Beta is busy, but I'm posting anyway. Sorry you guys have to read this horrible yet not edited version!
Loki turned out to be a devious little bastard when it came to information; he had eyes and ears everywhere. His sometimes sinister demeanor made it easy to infiltrate "the bad guys", just to put it as simply as possible. Loki could give them a location, something that irked Fury to no end as his agents currently had nothing. Which was the reason as to why Clint was currently crawling through the vents in a huge storehouse together with Natasha, with the Captain and Thor going in from bellow through the sewers or something like that. Loki was with Bruce and hadn't voiced how he planned on getting them in. Clint wasn't worried though, the trickster knew this kind of game better than anyone.
"Ugh vents, so much better when going simply straight forward" Natasha groaned quiet as a whisper bellow him.
"Cheer up Tasha; we're almost there if Loki guessed correctly"
"He never guesses, he knows these things Hawkeye"
"Oh yeah, then how does he know? Shouldn't that make us suspicious of him?"
"You too would have acted suspiciously if you were following orders"
"He only follows his OWN orders Widow" Clint suddenly paused "And I'm not following orders, and don't call me Hawkeye, I'm not an agent!" He added as a rather long, Barton-styled afterthought.
"Quiet you idiot" The black widow hissed underneath him.
"I'm an adult and a free human being, I do what I want Natasha" Clint harrumphed as he ducked into another horizontal vent.
"Then act you age, Barton" Natasha groaned.
"Quiet you-"
"Space monkey" The two agents halted abruptly at the sound of Tony's voice filtering through an air filter up ahead. They crawled quietly over, barley managing to get a glimpse of Tony between the cracks.
"I mean seriously, WHAT are you trying to look like with those outfits?" Tony asked loudly, Clint cracked a small smile, hats off to Tony for never being able to shut up.
"WAIT; don't tell me, I want to guess!" The guards in the room looked pained, well those Clint could see the faces of anyhow.
"Is he always like that?" Natasha whispered.
"Pretty much" Clint replied in the same manner. They heard a door creak open from a corner they couldn't see at the moment.
"Mr. Stark," A voice drawled, a very deep and slightly raspy voice drawled.
"I think you expect me to pamper you" It wasn't a question; it was a statement that sent shivers up Clint's spine. Tony replied none the less.
"Of course, I'm a genius" the other ignored him.
"I've asked my question, Stark, if you do not answer…" There were a rush of movements and suddenly Tony was screaming on the top of his lungs. Clint winced and made a move to get out of the vent and save his friend, but Natasha held him in a vice-like grip.
"I'm sure you've noticed the little battery we've hooked you up to, Stark, what do you think its purpose is"
"Power my charms?"
"Witty, when you were sleeping after we "picked you up", I had my personal scientist throw a little something into your chest" For once Tony didn't answer; he just paled and looked down.
"I'm afraid I don't know the exact number" The voice continued with as pleasant as he could probably muster.
"But my boys installed quite a few nicely sized shrapnel into you, Mr. Stark, you know, just something we had lying around" Clint's and Tony's eyes widened at the same time, though Tony's looked on the verge of panic or hysteria.
"Now the shrapnel has gotten so far in there is nothing you can do, the only thing keeping you alive is that battery"
Clint moved again, once more held back by Natasha. He was ready to snarl at her, but a new entry bellow stopped him.
"Loki, what a pleasant surprise"
"Mr. Schmidt" Natasha and Clint exchanged glances before looking down.
"To what do I owe the pleasure?"
"I believe you have the wrong man"
"Everything can be used" Schmidt drawled.
"But it is David Bruce Banner you want" Clint could see that Loki waved his hand and some Hydra agents came forward guiding…no! Bruce! Clint didn't even think, he kicked the filter open and slid out of the vent before Natasha had time to react. Tony's head snapped up along with the others in the room, watching as Clint landed gracefully with his bow spent. The agents didn't have time to react before they had an arrow each in their chest.
"Tic, tic, boom" The agents looked at him before they had a small moment to panic before they were blasted to pieces.
"Hawkeye, you fool!" Natasha hissed behind him, having let herself down during the brief commotion.
"Get them! And don't let them run off with Stark or Banner" The Schmidt guy yelled fanatically as more Hydra agents poured into the room. He slid through the door as the agents passed him, but Clint wasn't up for chasing him, instead he turned his interest towards Loki.
"LOKI! You lying son of a bitch!" He had an arrow trained on him, but the bastard disappeared in a wisp of smoke.
"Hawkeye, we have bigger problems!" Natasha's sharp voice snapped him out of his rage for the moment and he searched for Bruce instead. Both scientists had been moved to a corner, heavily guarded. Tony looked shocked and positively terrified, at the same time it seemed he had calmed somewhat for he smiled briefly as he met Clint's eyes. Bruce on the other hand, Bruce didn't look too good. He was shaking and clutching at his chest, just like before.
"Focus agent!" Natasha pushed him out of the way for an incoming attack, damn it! He had been out of the game for too long, he had to focus, c'mon focus!
Clint didn't have time to even try to focus before a twisted groan could be heard. From the corner, Oh no, what-
Clint looked over again, along with everyone else this time it seemed. Bruce was…expanding. Tony was desperately trying to wiggle away with the battery in his lap, still being tied to the chair. The guards didn't notice him; they were far too busy yelling at Bruce. Then one tased him, apparently, bad move. Bruce yelled in a way that wasn't Bruce anymore and in front of everyone the usually gentle and shy scientist expanded, his skin turned green and he grew. Holy shit he turned huge! The clothes ripped saved his pants, though it was more correct to call the shorts at this point. The creature went completely still for a moment, and everyone held their breaths. Then he lifted his, oh my god huge, green, head and stared at them all. The room, the entire world, held its breath as those radioactive green eyes scanned the room. One of the guards lost their cool and fired his gun at the creature. No blood, not even a dent, just a huge green creature that turned towards the newly fired gun. Then a roar that could have awoke the dead happened and everything was chaos again. The hydra agents fired at will and was crushed one by one by the huge, green rage monster that once had been Bruce Banner. Though at the moment he wasn't even close to being that adorable scientist Clint gave pet names to on a regular basis. Even Clint had to push away personal affection now and save his Tony who was a little too close to the rage monster than any of them would like. Clint only had to glance at Natasha before both of them were on their way towards Tony.
"Holy Jesus, fuck Barton! What took you so long?" Tony shrieked as Clint made it over to him.
"I thought we were friends!" Only a Stark would actually pout in a situation like this.
"You walked out on me, I was devastated!" The bickering came back almost all too easily for them both, past "disagreement" all but evaporated for now.
"Nice application" Clint nodded towards the car battery as he worked on Tony's handcuffs.
"That old thing, first thing I'm going to do is improve it when I get home"
"If you get home, Stark" Natasha had made her way over to them, her eyes following the rage monster that was still pretty occupied by the idiotic hydra agents that kept on firing at him.
"Natalie, I always knew you were a dangerous assassin, spy thing, always caught the death vibes from you"
"Aren't you a smart cookie, Stark?" She mock-cooed at him, but there was a slight smirk on those lips that one normally didn't see too often.
"It's Natasha by the way" She corrected him.
"Give me a break!" Tony groaned. "I've been kidnapped, I'll do the catching up later"
"Where the hell is Thor and Cap. Anyway, we could use them" Clint muttered as he finally managed to get Tony free from the cuffs. As if on cue Thor and the man only known as the Captain burst through the door.
"Thor, keep our green friend occupied!" Natasha yelled at the god who found it best to simply follow orders. The captain made his way over to the trio.
"How is he?"
"Oh I'm fine, I'm fine, except those maniacs SCREWED with my HEART" Tony answered before anyone else could, showing that even when wielding sarcasm like a cleaver, the shock and panic wasn't that far from the surface.
"We need to get out of her, fast, cap carry Tony, I'll be your back up, 'Tasha take point" the agent in him awoke and acted professional for once. The Captain scooped Tony up without any protest and followed Natasha. Clint threw one last look at Thor who was battling the monster. The monster that was Dr. Bruce Banner's greatest fear and deepest secret.
I feel like I'm terrible at these slight action scenes, ugh… well…. I would very much like to hear what you think of this fic : ) It keeps me going and will speed up production of the next chapter!
So I'm guessing you've all guessed who The Captain is, or have you? Mwhahaha!