Chapter 14:

Will and Sam Wilson fought their way across the hangar bay. A stray shot winged over Will's head, catching a Quinjet next to him. He ducked. "How many of these guys are there?" he breathed.

"Always too damn many," Sam replied. Red warning lights illuminated the hangar bay and warning sirens went off around them, making it almost impossible to hear in the cavernous space. "What the hell is that, now?"

"Generally in my experience...not good," Will said. "I don't suppose you've seen a guy with a big red, white and blue shield running around have you?"

"Steve?" Sam asked, and Will nodded, surprised that Sam knew who he was talking about. "He's up there-" Sam pointed through the open roof. "We were trying to install chips to bring down the weapons systems," he explained.

"How'd you-" A shot pinged off their location and Will and Sam both dove for cover behind the landing gear. "-end up down here?" Will asked.

"I vote we talk later," Sam suggested. "If Cap can't get the targeting relays down, we'll have to. I think those two guys in there are the button pushers. If we can get to them…"

"Nobody to push the button," Will finished. "Works for me. You want me to lay down some cover fire?"

"What, and send me out to get shot?" Sam raised an eyebrow under his red-tinted goggles.

Will shrugged. "Hey, it was your idea."

Before either of them could make a move, the warning sirens stopped. The two men stared at each other in stunned silence. "The hell?" Sam asked.

The ground shook, and the two men scrambled out from under the jet to look up. Through the rectangle of sky, all they could see was smoke, fire, and raining debris…

"We should move," Will gaped.

"Yup!" Sam yelled, pushing him forward as they ran for cover.

Clint's fingers twitched as he tracked Pierce across the room. The head of SHIELD-no, HYDRA, Clint reminded himself-seemed impassive as he watched Project INSIGHT explode before his eyes.

"What a waste," Pierce said flatly. One hand on Natasha's pistol, the other on his phone, the app controlling the detonation of Natash'a pin blinking on the screen, Pierce grabbed Natasha by the arm. "Let's go, Councilwoman," he told her. "You're going to fly me out of here."

"Like hell," Clint growled. He took a step forward, but Pierce shook his phone at him and he froze.

"Not even you're that quick, Hawkeye," Pierce countered.

"Wanna test that theory?" Clint hissed. Has his partner not given a slight shake of her head, he might have actually taken the shot. It wouldn't have been the first time.

"You know, there was a time I would've taken a bullet for you," Fury said to Pierce.

Pierce shrugged. "You already did," he reminded him, pulling Natasha with him toward the door.

Suddenly, Natasha stiffened. Her whole body went rigid, and Clint saw a spark near her collarbone. "Tash-" he started, dropping his bow as his partner dropped to the floor, unconscious. He looked quickly at Pierce, who was hurriedly tapping on his phone.

Fury fired two shots in quick succession, hitting Pierce center mass and driving him through the plate glass windows of the office. Then, he was crouched next to Clint. Clint was shaking his partner, feeling for a pulse.

"Natasha?" Clint barked. "What the hell was that?" he demanded of Fury.

"Shorted out the pin," Fury said. "Smaller version of the Widow's Bites she usually wears."

"That better be all." Clint bent down over his partner. "Tasha! I flew halfway around the world this morning and this would be a lousy damn way to end my day!" Clint pleaded with her. "Wake up!"

"Don't do this, Romanoff," Fury ordered her.

Slowly, Natasha opened her eyes. She glanced at Fury, then to Clint., grimacing.

"Ow," she groaned.

Clint laughed. "Walk it off, Romanoff," he teased her. His partner whispered something his direction in Russian.

"What'd she say?" Fury asked as the two of them helped lift her to her feet.

Clint coughed. "You don't want to know," he promised. He looked up at Fury. "Any word from Cap?"

Fury shook his head and Clint frowned, eyes flickering to the chaos outside. Everything's going to hell…we can't lose Captain America. "We should go find him."

"Go," Fury told him. "I'll hold down the fort." He glanced at Pierce's body, the broken window, and the smoke and flames smoldering in the Potomac. "What's left of it."

Capitol Hill
Two days later…

"You guys hear the Captain America exhibit at the Smithsonian got robbed?" Clint asked his brother and Tasha a few days later. "Cap's suit is missing off the mannequin."

"It's probably on the not-so-missing Captain America," Will grinned. "Is he gonna put in an appearance today?"

"Nope. Fury talked him into recovering. I think he's with Sam."

"He's not recovering. I bet you twenty he's on the trail of the Winter Soldier. We all know Cap doesn't do idle," Clint told them both. From his position on top of the US Capitol Visitor's Center, he saw his partner adjust her black blouse and nod. "Ready for this?" Clint turned his attention to his partner.

"Sure, why not. It'll be fun," she murmured. She sighed. "Remind me I said that later, okay?"

"I'm sorry it's all come to this. Wish I could be in there with you," Clint told her seriously. "But unfortunately, there's already one of me in that building right now."

"No, there's one of me," Will argued on the frequency. "Unless that somehow got dumped onto the Internet too?"

"I kept that part under wraps. World's not ready for two of either of you." Natasha said. "Your secret's safe." She gave a two-fingered wave out the window before heading into the committee chambers.

"So I'll catch you after? Dad's offering to take us out to eat, since we're both in town again," Will told his brother. He was leaning against the railing on the Capitol steps, sunglasses turned in Clint's general direction.

"Do we get to pick?"

"We can flip for it." Will was quiet for a moment. "Hey…about what Natasha said. We're….we're good, right? Our secret, I mean…nobody knows about our family?"

"Just the people that matter," Clint replied quietly. "Go rip that committee a new one," he told his little brother. "I'll catch you later." He thumbed the end call button and stared toward the Capitol.

His phone rang, and he glanced down at the caller ID. He smiled. "Hey, beautiful. Yeah, I'm fine. I promise." He returned his gaze to the Capitol, watching his brother head inside with Alan Hunley. "He's fine too."

For now.

Fin.

Author's Note: Of course, we all know secrets can't stay buried forever... The next installment of this is "No Strings Attached," and takes place during "Age of Ultron." THANK YOU to everybody who's been reading, reviewing, and favorite-ing. You guys are #whyIwrite.