A/N. Hi guys! Wow, longest chapter EVER. It's also my FAVOURITE CHAPTER SO FAR XD Lots of action. Probably my best action scene yet. I'm getting all of your hopes up now, aren't I? Hope you're not disappointed but I love this chapter! Anyway, Enjoy! :D
CHAPTER XIII
Tania sighed and rubbed at her eyes tiredly. Last night had been fun, spending time with Graham, but now she was dead tired and just a tad hung over. She remembered very clearly walking along the street to the restaurant with their arms around each other beneath the starry night sky. There had been a cool breeze and she was laughing at his jokes and she almost totally forgot about being targeted for assassination. Almost.
It was always lingering in the back of her mind and had her acting seriously paranoid. She always double checked her surroundings in every direction and listened hard for something that could be suspicious. She noticed little details about people and places she normally wouldn't give a second glance to.
Graham's friend, Timothy, (or Timmy or Tim) was actually very funny but one of the most responsible people Tania had ever met. They ate breadsticks for a few minutes and talked before he had to leave to go on his date.
She didn't miss the longing look in Graham's face when he mentioned his love life. Maybe Pepper was right. Maybe they should set him up. She filed the thought away for later and the two of them talked and laughed the night away. It had been relaxed and comfortable and they came home over two hours later ready to go to bed.
And now here she was, the next day, working herself to death at eleven o'clock in the morning. She resumed her typing on the laptop in her office on their floor. Before she moved in with her boyfriend, Steve had had four rooms on his floor. He'd only ever used two of them: his bed room and his art studio. Now that Tania lived with him and had to give up her library, office, and entertainment room, Steve had given his consent for her to decorate the rooms and use them however she wanted.
She definitely needed on office. With his help, she painted the walls a dark orange and brought in a big wooden desk with a black leather office chair. Her laptop sat upon the desk and even though the three dimensional holographic projector had not been installed on Steve's floor, Tania didn't need it for work. She had her tablet and her phone and there was an entire wall of shelves on the opposite side to place any picture frames or stuffed animals like the elephant Steve had won her at the amusement park on Thor's birthday. The shelves around those memorabilia held her dozens upon dozens of books.
The other room was used for storage basically. It was rather cluttered in there… She made a mental note to sort through that at a later date before finishing off her email to the head of Arrow's MA department. They'd been in constant contact and the more emails she received for him, the more she wanted to rip his head off. The guy was a total narcissistic ass and she loathed the day when she would have to work with him face to face.
She had been sitting at her desk for hours. Ever since she first woke up to a cold bed, she had locked herself in her office and caught up on her work. Not before having JARVIS get someone to fetch her coffee because she was too lazy to go downstairs.
It ended up being Clint that brought her coffee and when he did, he'd asked why she was holed up in there and that she looked like she just rolled out of bed. She had told him to 'bite me' before promptly shoving him out the door as he laughed.
A knock at her door brought her thoughts back to Earth as she spun around in her chair. The door automatically opened to reveal Clint, again. He smiled lopsidedly at her.
"You work too much," he stated as a greeting before walking inside. He eyed the room with a non-judging gaze. "Nice place."
"Thanks and I do not work too much."
"You're on holiday."
"Yeah, well, I'm bored."
"So you're working?! What kind of philosophy is that?"
She rolled her eyes and turned back to her desk. "A good one. If I don't do this work now I'm going to be swamped when I eventually do get back."
She felt her chair being rolled backwards and she squeaked, reaching for her laptop a little too late. Clint leaned on the back of her chair with one arm. "Come on. You're getting cleaned up and we're going out."
She threw her hands in the air. "What is with people telling me that I'm going out and not actually asking me?"
He laughed. "Maybe it's cause you're almost as much of a workaholic as Pepper."
She gaped at him. "Am not!"
He gave her a look that said, 'Really? Denial?'.
She sighed. "Fine. Where are we going?"
"It's a surprise. But wear this." He tossed her a Kevlar vest right into her lap and she grunted under its weight.
Her eyes widened. "Wear the hell are we going?"
He shrugged before standing upright. "Nowhere special. But you can never be too careful with that guy on the loose."
It appeared as though he was almost as paranoid as she was. She shrugged. "Okay…" she agreed hesitantly.
"Great!" He rubbed his hands together. "I'll meet you in the lobby in twenty. Don't be late!" He strolled out of the room with a wink and a wave before the door closed behind him.
Twenty-five minutes later found Tania and Clint walking down the cold, snow-covered streets of New York City, away from the Tower. The brunette shivered and wrapped her scarf tighter around her neck. "Where are we going again?"
Clint laughed. "I told you, it's a surprise."
She rolled her eyes. "If you say so."
They walked along in silence, hiding beneath hats to disguise their faces from the every so annoying press. After several minutes of walking and a little boat ride, they reached the bottom of the Statue Of Liberty.
"Seriously, Clint? Seriously?"
He shrugged. "What?"
"I've been here like a million times."
A smirk played on his lips. "I guarantee you've never been in the exact spot I'm taking you."
She raised an eyebrow before he grabbed her wrist and pulled her toward the entrance. Her eyes widened and she dug her heels into the ground, effectively slowing them down enough to pull him to a stop. He turned, confused.
"What?"
"I…" she stared up at the colossal statue looming above her and gulped. "I'm still afraid of heights," she whispered. Sure, she looked out over the balcony at Avengers Tower all the time and climbed trees without hesitation but this monument was HUGE. She was getting dizzy just looking at it.
His features softened and he tugged on her hand. "It's okay. I won't let you fall. Cross my heart and hope to die." When he actually did the motions along with it, Tania couldn't help but laugh.
"Alright, but if I have a panic attack, I'm unleashing Steve and Natasha on you."
He frowned but agreed. "Fair enough. But if you don't want to climb all those stairs, I have a much faster way up." He wiggled his eyebrows mischievously and she cracked up.
"Oh really? Does it involve your bow that's not here?"
"Oh it's here." He patted his back and winked at her. She stared at him in surprise. The man was dressed in all black with a thick wool jacket that hid his bullet-proof vest and apparently his bow. "And yes, it does."
She blanched. "Um, no I think I'll stick with the stairs."
He laughed. "Suit yourself." He shrugged and led her inside. She followed him with a slight smile on her face. Her family was the best.
After several minutes (probably closer to an hour) of walking up stairs, they made it to the crown and Tania paused for a breather. She was quite out of breath and leaned against the wall with a hand pressed to her chest. Her face was flushed and sweat was gathering in her scalp and at the base of her neck.
Clint's breathing was slightly erratic but other than that you could hardly tell he was tired. He turned to her, blowing out puffs of hot air creating white clouds in front of his mouth like she was. "Okay, here's where we do things my way." He held up his index finger in a motion to wait for a minute as he made his way to the window and leaned forward. No one other tourists were doing the same at this point in time. Perfect.
He reached into his coat pocket and retrieved a flare-grenade. With a few expert glances around him to make sure no one was watching, he bit off the latch and threw the ball into the air. He ducked back inside as it exploded into a giant firework.
All the people crowded around the windows when they heard the explosion, leaving Tania and Clint unobserved. He smirked at her before pressing a finger to his lips to tell her to remain silent. She regarded him quizzically but obeyed.
He took her hand and pulled her to the windows of Lady Liberty's crown on the other side of all the tourists while they were distracted. He stretched up and reached into the back of his coat, digging his arm behind the collar of his jacket before he smiled triumphantly and produced a folded up version of his bow. He shook it once and it popped to its real size.
Tania had never had the chance to see Clint's weapon of choice up close and she took the second to admire it. It was all black and made of some sort of retractable metal with purple accents just barely visible unless you looked extremely hard. There were a variety of buttons where his left hand fingers would be when aiming and the string was taut. It was sleek and that was probably what they both liked about it.
She wondered where his quiver was and how much use his bow would have without arrows but she needn't have worried. The archer pulled an arrow from his boot and hooked it into the string, pulling it back with speed and strength. He leaned out the window almost completely, bending over backward to face the top of Lady Liberty so far that Tania immediately grabbed a hold of his legs to stop him from tipping over.
She felt more than heard his chuckle vibrate throughout his body as he released the arrow with a quiet thwick. She didn't even hear it hit anything before he was back inside. He wrapped an arm around her waist tightly before pressing a button on his bow.
They were yanked from inside the crown and out the window and Tania had the urge to scream but something held her back. Maybe it was the motion for silence Clint had signaled earlier or maybe it was just stuck in her throat on the way up but for whatever reason she remained silent. Wind whipped at her hair and tore the hat from her head, letting it flutter to the ground. She clutched her friend tightly and breathed in and out shakily.
Her stomach felt like it had fallen right out of her and was tumbling after her hat. The paralyzing fear that came with falling was present, even if she was being pulled up faster than she would have thought an arrow could pull.
It was over within a few seconds but for Tania it felt like a year and she collapsed in his arms when they stood on top of the crown rather than in it. He chuckled and caught her easily, keeping her on her feet despite the buckling and quaking of her knees.
"I… hate… you." She hissed, looking around at the landscape. They were so high… and there was nothing to stop them from falling. There wasn't a railing or a wall or a window, just Clint and his grappling arrows.
He chuckled as another breeze swept over them, pulling his hood down and brushing their hairs astray. "You'll get over it."
Once he was confident enough she could stand on her own, he let go. She grabbed his arm with more force than he expected, but he just laughed it off. "Shut up," she mumbled. "I get that you're the Amazing Hawkeye and stuff and birds like heights but I. Don't. Get me down."
"No."
"Barton!" she barked.
"Banks," he said, leveling her glare.
After several seconds of their little staring contest, she sighed and blinked. "I still hate you."
"Wouldn't have it any other way."
She punched him in the chest, knowing he had his Kevlar vest on. He just laughed again and walked them toward the middle of the sun on top of the statue's head. He pried her fingers off of him one by one and placed his bow back in his coat. He yanked the arrow out from the stone and returned it to his boot. He then began to walk on top of one of the spike's protruding from the crown.
"Clint! Don't!" Tania cried, stepping forward and hesitating out of fear. He kept walking towards the pointy end with his hands stuffed in his pockets as if he didn't have a care in the world. "Clint!"
When he reached the very end he spun around to face her with a wide grin on his face. "How can you be scared of this? I live for this." He spread his arms wide. "The thrill of falling and flying and being high just… it's exhilarating."
"Because there's the ever present death looming at your feet," she spat in reply, darting her gaze between Clint and the ground below.
He laughed as another breeze hit him straight in the chest. His eyes widened and he began pin-wheeling his arms in backward circles.
"Woah!"
"CLINT!" Tania stepped forward onto the spike with only a second's hesitation. Another two steps later and she was within arm's reach. She extended her arm and he stopped circling his arms. He smirked at her.
It had all been fake.
"YOU ASSHOLE!" she screamed at him.
He laughed as if this was the funniest thing he'd ever seen while she fumed. Her face was an obnoxious state of red and her heart was beating out of her chest, thumping against her ribcage.
"You… should have… seen your face," he managed between chortles.
She huffed and turned to walk back, carefully making her way onto the roof once again. "You are the most inconsiderate jerk I have ever met in my entire life!" she threw at him.
"Aw, come on, you don't mean that." He cartwheeled forward onto the spike in a perfect line before back flipping off and onto the roof, landing perfectly. "And he sticks the landing!"
She rolled her eyes. "I wonder if you'll stick the landing when I shove you over the edge," she threatened, arms crossed.
"I can stick any landing. I was in the circus."
"I know. Let me guess. You walked the tightrope while shooting a bow and arrow blindfolded on a unicycle?"
"Can't say I ever did that but I bet you fifty bucks I can."
She rolled her eyes again and turned away from him. "You'd win."
"You're faith in me is astounding."
"Yeah well you just shattered it like glass."
"No I didn't. I promise you wouldn't fall. You haven't. I haven't let you down."
"Yet."
"Stop being so grumpy and let loose! I got you away from work and this is the thanks I get?"
"You dragged me away, for one thing and for another, we both could have DIED!" she yelled.
He shrugged. "But we didn't. Because I'm awesome like that."
"Shut up and get me down from here."
"Nah, let's just stay here for a while." He lay down on the cold stone of the statue with his hands behind his head and looked up at the cloudy sky. "What do you say we cloud watch, hm? I used to do it all the time as a kid with my brother."
"You had a brother?" she asked, opting to remain standing for the time being.
His joking smile diminished a little. "Yeah. I did."
"What happened to him?"
He was silent for a long time. It was a little disturbing, considering his demeanor for the past hour or so had been similar to that of an overexcited puppy. His eyes roamed the skies above while she waited. She eventually became impatient and figured sitting down would give the wind less of a chance to knock her over the edge and she plopped down cross-legged beside his head.
"He joined the dark side," he admitted solemnly.
Tania contemplated this while looking around her, still feeling as though her stomach had gone SPLAT on the ground minutes ago. It was a beautiful view though. "How so?"
"It's kind of a long story."
"Where am I gonna go?"
He chuckled. "I guess you're right." He began recounting the tale of his childhood to her. Growing up with his brother Barney and his abusive father and uncaring mother before they both died. He didn't tell her how. He did say that they were given to an orphanage and that that's where Barney first began to show signs of turning rotten. He refused to give her the details, said he wasn't ready, but rather gave her an outline of his life. He told her that the two of them ran away to join the circus and that he learned how to shoot there. He said that Barney got jealous of his talent and they began to grow apart. One day, Clint caught him conning money with another circus worker and tried to stop them. He paused there, as if unable to recount the next part.
"I haven't seen him since that day," he finished lamely.
Tania wasn't stupid. She knew there was something, probably a lot of somethings that he wasn't telling her. But she didn't push it. If he wasn't ready to tell her then she wouldn't ask.
In return for his long tale, the brunette told him stories of her past as well. She told him about living with her brother and her deaf Aunt Gemma and all the mischief she and Graham used to get into. Halfway through one of her stories, Clint turned his head to look at her.
"You sign?" he asked incredulously.
"Well duh. You don't live with a deaf person for almost a decade and not learn sign language."
His next words were said through his hands as he began signing. Well I'll be a monkey's uncle.
She laughed and began signing back. That wouldn't surprise me.
He snorted. We should totally use this as our secret language. It would bug the hell out of Tony and the others.
She nodded in agreement. Does N-A-T know? She asked, spelling out the red heads name.
The sign for N-A-T-A-S-H-A is Natasha. He showed her the made up sign of two guns crossed in front of each other with a serious face. She chuckled. Of course. He continued "speaking" though. But no, she does not know ASL.
Does anyone else?
Not sure.
Well I like the idea of using this to bug T-O-N-Y. It's like when you and Natasha speak Russian to each other so we don't understand.
Exactly! Hey, you know what we should do?
What?
We should make signs for everyone.
Good idea. How about this for T-O-N-Y? Tania drew a circle on her chest as if tracing an arc reactor. I know he doesn't have one anymore but I think it could still work.
I like it. My sign is Clint. He pretended to pull the string of his bow.
Tania nodded. Cool. What about me?
Clint pretended to have super long girl hair and flipped it over his shoulder exaggeratedly. Tania laughed and shoved his shoulder. What? He asked with an innocent look on his face.
I don't think so.
Fine. What about this? He mimed singing opera that had her chortling in laughter and holding her stomach. She shook her head.
No.
What about… this? He snapped his fingers.
She smiled. I like that.
They spent the next several minutes coming up with signs for the rest of the Avengers. It was a rather amusing afternoon, to say the least.
Eventually, Tania fell onto her back so that her head was by Clint's and that they were facing opposite directions like on those cheesy book covers. Of course, being in this position meant that they couldn't see each other's hands very well so they reverted back to talking.
"This is my favourite place," he told her a few minutes later. "I came here a lot after the attack with Loki."
"Did you? That's… cool, I guess."
He snorted. "If you count wallowing as cool, then yes, it was very cool."
"Clint… can you tell me about Loki?"
He was silent for a very long time. "Have you ever had someone take your brain and play? Pull you out and send something else in? Do you know what it's like to be unmade?" he asked, repeating his words to Natasha that day on the helicarrier. Not that Tania knew that.
"No. I don't."
"Then you wouldn't understand."
"I can try."
He turned his head to look at her and she turned hers too. They simply stared for a really long time before returned his gaze to the clouds as they moved. He sighed. "I'm sorry. Maybe another time."
She nodded. "I understand."
"So your birthday's coming up." It was obviously a change in topic but she went with it.
"Yup."
"What do you want?"
"I want to be surprised."
"Really?"
"Yeah, it means that you're friends care about you enough to listen when you talk and utilize that information to get you something meaningful."
"That's deep."
She laughed, her belly shaking as she did so, back pressed against the cold stone of the statue. "Not really. I just think it really says something about a person's relationship with someone when they give you a present they know you'll like."
"So there's nothing specific you want?"
"Not… well okay, there is this one thing that comes to mind. But telling you would defeat the purpose if what I just said."
"Is it a pair of suede boots?"
Tania pushed herself onto her elbows and gaped at him. "How did you know?"
"I saw you ogling them in one of the store windows on the way here. I've got eyes like a hawk."
She rolled her eyes. "Well there goes the surprise."
"You don't know what colour they'll be."
"True." As she started a mini ramble on how she hated shoe shopping and therefore never actually went in to buy it herself, Clint looked over at her and spotted something that made fear pool in his stomach. A little red dot was hovering around her body, trying to find the perfect mark.
"NO!" he lunged forward and tackled her, rolling them towards the edge as a gunshot went off. Tania screamed and Clint managed to stop them just inches from falling over. There was only one way of this statue. He grabbed Tania's shoulders. "I'm going to throw you off the edge okay? Trust me to catch you and I'm sorry!" With that, he shoved her over the edge while she shrieked and he felt immense guilt wash over him – but it had to be done.
He stood up and grabbed his bow and arrow from his boot as fast as he could. A bullet lodged itself in the back of his vest and he stumbled forward with a grunt. He shot the arrow between his legs at the statue before leaping off the statue after Tania. He pressed a button on his bow while freefalling, expanding its size so that he could slip in between the handle and the string, hooking it around his waist before clapping his arms to his sides, making him fall faster.
Wind whistled in his ears as gravity pulled him rapidly toward the ground. A bit further down, he spotted Tania's flipping form. She looked unconscious. Shit. He stuck his legs together and dived forward, slamming his body into hers and wrapping his arms around her waist yet again. Yup. Definitely unconscious. She must have fainted. Fuckfuckfuckfuck.
He gripped her tightly and pressed the button on his bow again. He angled their bodies as the rope attached to his bow and the arrow above slowly pulled to a stop and he swung them in a wide arc around the statue. His bow dug into his stomach and he was doubly grateful for the vest he wore underneath even though he still couldn't breathe.
They swung in a complete circle until they were finally low enough to hit the ground without injury. He hit the button on his bow and the weight against his abdomen abruptly stopped pushing but they fell forward. He cradled Tania's form to his and tucked them into a messed up snow ball, rolling forward twice when his back impacted the ground.
He groaned but pushed himself to his feet after the second roll, adjusting his hold on Tania so that he was carrying her bridal style before looking around for the sniper. Bullets suddenly peppered the ground around him and he cursed before bolting away into the nearby trees.
The sounds and screams of nearby people must've awoken Tania because she began to stir as he ran. Good. Maybe he wouldn't have to carry her the whole way. He didn't want to sound bitchy but it was just easier to fire back when he both his arms weren't full.
"Tania!" he shouted. "Wake up! We gotta run!"
She stirred and groaned again. Her eyes blinked open. "Wha-?"
"Can you run?" he barked at her.
Her eyes opened fully and she took in the situation, seeming more awake. She squirmed in his arms. "Run? What are we-?"
More gunshots went off and he stopped to hide behind a tree. He set her down on her feet and she seemed steady enough. "Stay here." He pulled his bow from around his waist over his head and began climbing the tree they were hiding behind.
"What's going on?" she hissed. She obviously wasn't thinking about what just happened or she would have totally bitten his head off for shoving her off the Statue of Liberty. He thanked whatever what out there that her mind was focused on the present as he continued climbing.
"Just don't move!" he shouted down at her. Before popping his head out of the tops of the trees, he grabbed another arrow from his boot and immediately pulled it back with his bow. He stood up to his full height and looked around, aiming his weapon wherever his eyes roamed.
There was a hot air balloon in the air that looked no bigger than a penny from this far away. There was no way the sniper could be in there. Not even his arrows could reach that far unless propelled by something extra. From the sound of the shots, Clint knew exactly what kind of gun the attacker was using and it didn't have that long a range.
He moved his gaze over to the roofs of the skyscrapers all around New York. He didn't see any shadows. He moved his arrow towards the statue and that's when he saw it. In the torch, higher than the crown, was the sniper, now alone. Clint released the string at the same time as the shooter fired and multiple times. The last one clipped him in the chest and he wobbled backwards unsteadily before falling through the many branches and the trees to the harsh ground.
He groaned, thanking the Kevlar vest he was wearing, again. It still hurt like a bitch though. Tania stared at him with worried eyes and he pushed himself to his feet. He reached into the back of his pants before handing her a gun. Her eyes widened and he grabbed her wrist, yanking her through the forest. He knew he killed the sniper – he never missed - but gunshots were still going off. There were more than one.
The two of them ran for their lives through the small forest of trees on Ellis island. They broke through eventually and hopped into an unattended boat which Clint pushed off the shore. How serendipitous.
Tania reached for ear out of instinct and activated the practically invisible comm Tony had installed. "This is Sonata, does anybody copy?" They used code names in case the line was ever hacked – even though Tony tried to tell them all that it was impossible. Clint yanked a string to get the motorboat started and they sped off in the water. Bullets splashed the water around them and Tania screamed again before slapping a hand over her own mouth to shut herself up. Clint resulted in evasive maneuvers while his companion gripped the edges of the boat with white knuckles.
She whipped her head to look behind them and paled even more. There was a boat following them. Oh God…
She eyed the gun in her hands warily. Clint suddenly spun them around in a complete circle to avoid being hit by more bullets and Tania's resolve hardened. She kept her grip on the boat firm and twisted her torso, raising her right arm with the gun. She had never fired one before. This should be interesting. She pulled the trigger but nothing happened.
"Take the safety off!" Clint yelled over the engine.
She panicked. "How do I do that?" she shouted back.
"Take the wheel!" he ordered before grabbing the gun without consent and standing up to turn and fire at them himself with deadly accuracy.
Tania lunged for the steering mechanism and did her best to avoid any objects that may be in the way like other boats and stuff. She tried to steer toward land as well but she had no idea how to drive this thing. The sensitivity of the steering wheel was very different from any of the cars she'd driven before and she was panicking inside.
A few seconds later, Clint sat back down. "You're doing great! Just keep going!" He held his gun aimed behind them.
"How many of them are there?" she yelled as the land got closer and closer.
"Three boats. Several people each," he answered, shooting twice more. She heard a loud crash behind them but didn't dare turn to look, afraid she might throw up or worse: crash the boat.
"Two down, one to go," Clint whispered, mainly to himself.
"How do I stop this thing?!"
"What?" He turned and gasped. They were closer to land than he thought. He quickly took over and managed to slow them down enough not to crash although the landing was rather rough. "KEEP GOING!" he yelled, probably a little too loudly but who cared? They were running for their lives with murderers on their tail. His ears still rang from the volume of the motor and so did hers.
The two of them dashed towards the city streets as they heard the boat behind them hit land. Clint tossed her the gun again before taking his bow, turning around, and firing. One of the two men following them took the arrow to the heart and fell dead, on the spot.
Tania grabbed his arm before he could shoot the last one and forced him to turn around. They had reached the busy intersection and he had been about to get run over by a car. He would thank her later.
"TAXI!" he called.
A yellow cab pulled up and he opened the driver side door before tossing the man aside. "Get in!" he commanded Tania before slamming the door shut behind him.
"Sorry about this!" the brunette apologized before sliding over the front of the cab and opening the passenger door. She hopped in and slammed it closed just as Clint pulled back into traffic and sped away. Tania brushed her messed up hair out of her eyes and turned to look behind them.
"The last one is following us!" she cried.
"Hang to your hat!" He floored it and swerved to avoid the other cars and hundreds of milling pedestrians. People around them screamed and dove out of their way while dozens of cars honked at them as they sped past. They were going around 60 miles per hour and Tania was hyperventilating.
Never one to completely threw logic to the wind, even in situations such as these, the business woman rolled up her window and buckled her seatbelt. As Clint no doubt headed for the Tower, Tania took a second to mourn the fact that no one had answered her call on the comm.
Clint gave her a worried sideways glance. "I need you to lean out the window and shoot at him."
"WHAT?!"
"He's shooting at us Tania! We have to do something!" He rounded the sharpest corner she thought she'd ever felt as she whacked her head against the window.
"Okay! Okay!" She unbuckled her seatbelt and rolled down the window. She sucked in a deep breath before leaning out the window and sitting on the door. Because she was on the passenger side, she had to use her left hand to shoot.
She aimed her gun while gripping the handle on the inside ceiling of the car with her right hand, searching for the car with the murderer. She found him when a bullet whizzed by her head and she ducked back into the car.
"I can't do it! I can't do it!"
"Yes you can! I have faith in you like you had faith in me! You can do it!"
"I've never-"
"DO IT!"
"FINE!"
She leaned out the window again and fired without thinking. Her hand jerked upward and it took her some time to aim again with the wind whipping her hair into her face so that she couldn't see very well and Clint's fast and evasive driving. The car with the man she now hated didn't waver off its course and he fired back just as Clint turned a corner, nearly causing Tania to fall right out of the car.
She kept her grip on the handle firm and realigned her shot, aiming for the attacker's tires. She pulled the trigger multiple times, always seeming to come close but never hitting her intended target. She heard a gunshot and felt pain explode in her sternum. She cried out and the firearm slipped through her fingers.
She'd just been shot. Her grip on the handle loosened and she tilted dangerously toward the road. Fear seized her and her hold tightened. She used her remaining strength to pull herself back in and forced herself to breathe through the excruciating pain that constricted her lungs.
"You okay?" Clint asked, eyes darting between the side mirror and the road ahead.
"Just… peachy. I've… got a bullet… in my ribcage," she huffed out.
His eyes widened.
"Dropped… gun. Just… keep driving."
He nodded and pressed harder on the gas pedal (if that was even possible). "The Tower is just around the next block."
She barely nodded but with his peripheral vision as good as it was he saw it. He didn't acknowledge it though. He just kept driving. He spun the steering wheel to the right and the back of the car careened to the left. The glass of the backseat window shattered and shards were flung up to the front. One particularly sharp piece slashed the right side of his cheek while another sliced the back of Tania's left hand.
He ground his teeth and straightened the car before speeding forward. His hold on the steering wheel was so tight he thought he might break it. He would not let those bastards get to Tania. He would die first.
He spun the wheel to the left and the same result happened. The left backseat window shattered and he got a nasty cut on both hands while she her coat was torn in several places.
He ignored the blood dribbling down his face and hands and the bullets lodged into his vest on both sides. He'd been through worse – MUCH worse. He swerved the car less violently this time and saw Avengers Tower up ahead.
Relief washed through both of them before the rear window of the cab exploded and bullets shot through to the front. Both of them ducked behind their seats.
"OPEN THE GARAGE!" he yelled to her.
She rummaged through her pocket and removed her phone. It was cracked. Oh well. She typed in a message to JARVIS to open the door. "And send!" she cried out to let Clint know that the deed was done.
No more bullets were being fired. The guy must have finally run out of ammo. Finally. In front of them, the back of the Tower loomed. The huge garage door had just finished opening when the taxi zoomed inside. Tania leaned out the window as Clint spun the vehicle around and around to try and avoid destroying all the other cars.
"CLOSE THE DOOR!"
The door began mechanically lowering and it was few inches from the ground when the attacker's car crashed into it, denting it so much it looked like a mangled piece of scrap. It went up in flames.