Chapter 20- In the face of chaos. (the final chapter)
The man in black watched the proceedings on a screen. His fingers threaded restlessly through each other belying his emotionless delivery of his plans. He was beginning to feel the threads of worry. It was obvious from the appearance of The Avengers that Clemens and Friars had been lying about Stage 1. He knew the history of IMF and thought it probable that Clemens and Friar were agents wearing masks. But how deep did those lies run, did they indeed have the means to turn the tables on him. If they did all it would take was a simple realization of what it was that made William Brandt different. When he had been designing his army he'd used the changes his predecessor had made in William Brandt as a template. He followed the sequences exactly then added the extra DNA changes he'd needed to create stability. Of course there were a few mistakes in the beginning and the Kyle that was sent on the mission had been one of these. Once perfected though he thought his clones would be unstoppable. Then he'd found the one little flaw that could be exploited . He found himself crossing his fingers and hoping that they were too stupid to see the obvious. It might be his only way to win this, not of course that he'd let them know there was a way of winning. Let them think all is lost and it might just become so.
Ethan had never fought a battle like this one. Hundreds of clones were jammed in the tunnel with them with a few dozen each chosing a person to kill. The rest of the clones just milled about watching. Whoever was behind this did not need all of them to attack to win. He could feel his arms tiring as he shoved off another clone. That one simply slid a few inches back and joined the rear of the mass attacking him. His whole body was aching as fatigue caught up with him. He was not going to be able to keep up this fight forever. Firing ten bullets into one clone slowed it momentarily before it simply rejoined the ranks of those coming down the corridor.
Near to him Steve Rogers was flinging off Clones in groups of 5 and 6. He could throw them off a fair distance but they always came back. It was shocking to see that Steve too was wearing down.
"I am figuring that we have approximately 2.5 seconds before the clones recover from an attack", Tony shouted as his lasers blasted a row of clones. They were repairing themselves rapidly as another lot moved into line to attack him. Each attack had given him enough time to at least gather some data they might use. "If we hit them all at once you are going to have that long to make it to the doorway". Ethan did not think that would be long enough but did not argue. As he watched Iron Man under siege he knew the man had also figured out the odds.
Behind them The Hulk screamed as the clones used their teeth to attack his legs. These Ethan noted were not normal teeth being modeled on razor sharp knives. These caused bleeding chunks of flesh to be pulled free from the skin leaving behind a gaping and bleeding wound. So far there were a least a dozen of these wounds covering The Hulks body. His blood ran down onto the corridor below. This was one of the most shocking sights of this battle, a giant being slowly worn away by his enemy. It was going to be a slow painful death for The Hulk.
Bruce Banner could feel the pain of hs wounds and screamed louder than ever before. He had always thought The Hulk was invincible but was now finding out the hard way that he was not. Smacking out again he hit off 20 clones, throwing them hard against the walls. For good measure he smashed his fists hard into the concrete walls and used the resulting chunks of concrete as missiles to hurl after the clones. One Clones head got completely smashed by the missile. This clone lay still while the bleeding wound began to repair. The Hulk threw another missile at the same clone, hoping that a continued assault would be the way to completely destroy it. The rock hit into some sort of shield before it could make contact and vered back the way it had come. He only just had time to move aside as the missile hurled past.
So whoever had designed these things had equipped them with shields that activated if they were seriously damaged. It was clever as well as extremely annoying. So far everything they were thinking of was being countered. They could have been dead ages ago if all of the clones attacked at once. But the man in black seemed to be playing with them. All of them knew though that unless they found a way to completely destroy the clones the end would soon come.
Jane and Natasha watched The Hulk while they worked as a team to drive the clones surrounding them back. Both off them were scared but pushed the feeling down. Fear can drive you but it can also paralyze you ,that would lead to a much quicker death. Natasha found an image of Clint in her head as she fought. Was this her minds way of saying goodbye. She pushed the image away quickly. Clint may already be dead and she could definitely not afford to think about that too much.
She could not know that below her Clint and Will were staring down at the still clone, approximately 20 arrows pierced through vital parts of its body. Yet he knew this was not what had stopped the clone. "Why did that happen", Will remarked as he kicked the clone hard and waited for a reaction. None came. Clint knelt beside the clone with a strange expression on his face. It looked almost like he was smiling. Will thought that was a little inappropriate considering how close he had been to dying a the clones hands." Tony and Bruce are going to be mad at me forever", Clint muttered. "What Clint, no offense but you sound a little crazy to me", Will told him as he rubbed his neck. He was sure he had bright red marks from the clones killer grip. For a second as the clone held on his vision had gone sparkly and he had felt his breathing labour. Beside him Clint had been trying to pull the man off with no effect. He had joined his double hoping his more enhanced abilities would give them the edge. The clone would not budge just tightening his grip. So it was not because of his special abilities that HYDRA wanted him dead, they were making no difference in this battle. Time seemed to slow and he remembered croaking out something stupid. Then something incredible had happened. He was still trying to figure out exactly what had taken place. He could tell though that Clint had already come up with an answer.
Indeed Clint was standing up again and turning to face him. His hand reached out and took hold of his own. Will could feel warmth fill him and found a smile also crossing his face for some reason he did not know. "I have this theory Will", Clint told him seriously. "If I am right we can end this but if I am wrong…",he left that part of the sentence unfinished but Will filled in the blank space. This place had been designed to kill whoever was unfortunate enough to be trapped here .
"I was hoping to test my theory but I don't think we have time to do that. So you will have to trust me", Clint touched his other hand to his cheek and rested it there for a moment. Will found his hand on top of Clint's. There was no question of refusal, he would do whatever Clint wanted him to, no matter the cost.
As Clint spoke though he found the chill of fear creeping up upon him. What Clint was suggesting was crazy. "How sure about this are you", he asked. "Reasonably sure Will", Clint replied. "Remember that I asked you what you were doing a few months ago'. Will nodded he did remember that." It was all about that comment from Mr Bad guy that he could have ended it months ago." I think I know why he said that". Yet I cannot be 100 percent sure."
Will steeled himself, he could find not even a small sliver of doubt within him when regarding his double. It was almost scary because there had ben times he had doubted Ethan Hunt and he'd known him far longer. But he did not express these thoughts because he knew the others were at risk. " I will do it", he simply told the man that looked like him. Clint smiled, "we are alike you and I, even my DNA is changing to mirror yours. But both of us are still vulnerable in this battle. You may only have seconds Will, use them well".
They stood for one more minute looking at each other intently as if memorizing each detail and then they parted, Clint choosing to use one of the doors whereas he decided to go a more unexpected route.
"Its not going to work Tony, we will never get out of that door", Ethan yelled as he stared down the tunnel. The number of clones in front of the door had increased to well over 500. It was as if they knew their plans and were making sure there was no way of escape. Of course with only one way in our out it was not a stroke of brilliance to figure out what they might do.
The man in black was smiling again. It was like having rats trapped in a maze. He wondered what crazy plan they would come up with to try and save themselves. A crazy plan would definitely work to his advantage as it would most likely kill his enemy instead of destroying his clones. Go for it ,he thought.
Steve had thought of one crazy plan, it would not help them but it may just save the IMF team."Go back to the control room and lock yourselves in", Steve told Ethan's team. "We can collapse this tunnel down upon the clones. It won't kill them but it may give you enough time to exit the room and find a way out through the rubble." Steve delivered the plan without even a slight tremor in his voice.
Ethan knew the plan meant death to The Avengers . It could also mean death to them but what choice did they have. He had been an agent for many years and thought up some crazy ways out of the most difficult situations. That he had survived so long was a testimony to how ingenious he was. But in this place, when faced with a thousand immortal clones he could not think up any plan that did not involve dying. Steve had obviously figured out the same. The man known as Captain America looked calm resolved. He was a soldier and accepted the danger of each mission.
Beside Ethan Grant Foleys face was grim, he too knew how things stood. He saluted Steve Rogers, "thank you for giving us this chance", he told the man. Steve nodded back. He was a man out of time who had adapted to a life that had been very different to the one he had imagined. Now that life was most likely going to be over. He supposed he could live with that.
Returning the salute Steve joined Tony, Natasha and Bruce in a line across the tunnel. Ethan, Jane, Benji and Grant Foley backed up into the control room. They took one look back at the four Avengers and regretted they had not the time to know them better. All of them knew there was no doubt they were good people. Ethan took hold of the door and went to pull it shut.
Seconds after he had done that there was a loud crash behind them and glass began flying over their heads as the giant screen shattered. Ethan quickly dropped to the ground to avoid the shards that flew like missiles. Beside him the others had done the same . All of them watched the grim sight of more clones climbing up through what was left of the screen. Now they were trapped. Ethan loaded his gun with the remaining bullets and began to fire. It was of course a useless gesture but it might bring momentary satisfaction.
He quickly shifted his aim when out through the wreckage came a familiar black clad man. Ethan did not have to ask which of them this was, because he knew that Will would be the one that would join them at this final moment. He was shooting off black arrows that were barely making the clones pause. That Will was even alive was amazing and brought Ethan a little rush of hope. But that he pushed back down, the black arrows could not stop these clones either. Idly Ethan wondered what is was that had made HYDRA want to kill William Brandt. But he knew thinking would not save his life either. "Its no good Will", he yelled.
Will smiled as he stood amidst the battle, he felt a peace overtake him , now was the moment to try out Clints theory. His thoughts turned to his brother out in the corridor.
Clint stood in the middle of 1000 clones and stared down the tunnel at his friends. Nastaha was giving him this look that said, are you totally crazy. Right now he wondered if he was. "Clint there is nothing you can do", Steve shouted. How could one of the most vulnerable of The Avengers have any hope of stopping them. Steve admired Clint's courage but knew it was not enough "These clones cannot die", he shouted over to Clint." We were going to bring the tunnel down around them and hope that may stop them."
So they had thought up a plan that involved them dying. This was the type of sacrifice the self less Captain Rogers would think of. Clint had to tell him it was a useless gesture."There are at least 1000 more down below us in a cavern Steve", Clint told him. He saw the shocking sight of Captain America go pale. "It would not stop them as well. There could even be more elsewhere in this complex. Don't die for nothing."
Steve looked through the mass of clones. "It looks like we will die anyway Clint", he told him soberly. Clint skilled his voice into sounding serious and firm, "I thought we were The Avengers, people who had specialized talents that are used in difficult situations". "We are who they call when the world needs saving. Right now it most definitely does". Clint shot a few arrows off into the clones that surrounded him keeping them back slightly while he spoke. He was conscious of clones getting closer and his words to Will rung in his own ears. You might only have seconds"." It is about time we demonstrated to that bastard in black that we are not to be messed with . I will show you one of my crazy ideas". He grinned in what he knew was definitely a slightly mad manner. "Bruce, tony, I figured it out", he announced.
Tony figured a laser at the 20 clones trying to grab him and snorted loudly, he wondered if Clint had found some alcohol somewhere. His speech sounded like one a drunk man would deliver when he knew all hope was lost. Looking in his eyes though made Tony wonder. He knew Clint was not stupid, not as smart as him of course but definitely not stupid. Sometimes extremely confident people spoke like Clint had. When a clone grabbed hold of Clint Tony knew that it was time for his friend to stop talking. "I suggest Clint that you do something", he yelled.
Tony had a point. A clone was now sliding forth to touch his foot. Doubt entered his mind but he held it back. Okay now to see if this worked . He got ready to try out his theory knowing that Will was about to do the same.
One Clone had Ethan in its grip and was pulling him toward the others. Once Ethan reached them he would most likely get ripped apart. It would not be a pleasant way to die. Will took a breath and hoped his faith in Clint was justified . "Stop", he commanded. "Like that is really going to work", Benji scorned as he too was dragged across the room. It was like a scene from a horror movie as Ethan and Benji inched closer to the seething mass of clones that just stood waiting to absorb them. Both agents closed their eyes not wanting to look death in the face.
Out in the corridor Stony actually felt like laughing at the ridiculous word Clint had just uttered. There was no way in a million years it would work he'd stake almost his entire fortune….
"Shit they stopped", Ethan shook off the hand around his ankle and climbed to his feet. Around him the clones were still staring into nothing. He had thought he was dead for sure and now had to shake off the effects of his terror. Looking back at his colleague he saw a smile on his face. Now he knew why HYDRA had wanted him dead. Yet Will should not be smiling because he may have sacrificed his own brother to save them. But looking at him washed that fear away. There was something Ethan knew he was missing.
"Wow now that is amazing", Tony waved his hand in front of the clone in front of him. "You are a mindless, moron, dickhead, bastard, total freak of nature…", it sounded like he was going for every insult he could come up with. "I could order him to smack you in the face for that", Clint teased lightly. It felt so good to be right and to be alive… The urge to do a little victory dance came upon him but he forced it down, reluctantly.
When the door to the control opened and Will stepped out to join them Clint found himself rushing to him and grabbing him. "So it was never about just Will being different", Tony remarked as he watched them .
"No it was always about both of us", Clint pointed at Will then back to himself. "When Mr Black said that this could of ended months ago I began to think about what he meant. Months ago Will was still not on active duty, he was within IMF talking about changing his status to that of an active agent. There were HYDRA agents within IMF who were of course trying to make sure it did not happen. But I think they did not want to push too hard in fear of revealing their identities. Since killing Will would of created suspicion they decided to try and eliminate what they thought the easier of the two targets". He pointed to himself." I was on a mission at that time and it was a set up that nearly caused my death. Somehow my backup team had been diverted and I was left alone facing multiple enemies. Lucky for me my arrows are not the only defenses I have."
"When I survived I began to investigate the cause of the misinformation. That of course started me upon the mission that eventually led me to a reunion with Will. I believe now believe that HYDRA had two purposes when using misinformation, placing HYDRA agents within our ranks to ensure erosion from within and ensuring that either of us died. It didn't work and Will and I eventually got to meet. It never mattered who died as long as one of us did. You see Will's special abilities, his resistance to the sleeper device, all of it only works when we are together. We were created to be alike ,a duo of superheroes. We had an effect upon each other but could not be used against each other by anyone. It was why HYDRA could not successfully alter Wills DNA to turn him into some sort of mindless killer . They had to wonder why their plan did not work. Perhaps they too had only concentrated on studying Will and finally turned their attention to both of us. Then of course they realized the truth, using us as a template for their clones meant that together we could gain control. Hydra worried that someone would find a way to stabilize Wills DNA enough for him and I to work together, this of course could lead us to finding out the truth. So they had to plant that information about Will's transformation in hope that his own agency, or someone else would just eliminate him and solve their problem. That strategy almost worked".
Clint's eyes drifted over to Grant Foley who winced as he said that. The man had been played and Clint knew he was now only just discovering that fact. He knew it was rather shallow but after all the threats he made against Will Clint hoped the man found realization painful.
Tony's mind had been absorbing all the information from what Clint had said as well as what he'd learnt himself through the study of the doubles. Now he felt able to contribute to the discussion . He had only felt inferior for about 1 second consoling himself that Clint had know Will for longer than he had and that had given him the edge when uncovering the truth. He hurried to get out the rest of his realization before either archer could take the moment away. Oops shallow thought Tony decided . He cleared his throat ,"I think you may find that HYDRA did indeed know that there was a way to stabilize Will's condition, they just hoped that he would get taken away from Clint" That too would have partially solved their problem". Tony remarked. "Now that Clint's DNA is changing as well all I will have to do is use him as a model for helping Will. The two of you always did hold the answers and I was close to coming to that determination". He was sure Clint would take many opportunities to remind him that he had not in fact been the first one to find the answer.
"The final piece only fell into place in the control room downstairs" ,Clint told them." I had tried to get into the room and found the door did not budge. Yet one time the light moved to green then back to red, as though for one brief second something had changed. I asked Will to move forward thinking that perhaps he was the one who could open the door. But nothing happened. Then I remembered that hidden door in the corridor, it too had not opened straight away. So why had it opened at all. I remembered touching Will just before that door opened. So I did the same and it worked. Unfortunately one of the clones had time to enter with us . He was trying to strangle Will and neither of us could not get him to stop physically. Will croaked out "oh stop it" and the clone did. It was then that all of what I had seen finally made sense". Even then the only way I could be sure was taking the risk of having both of us confront the clones"."I am glad I was right".
"Yes, we are all glad of that. But the problem of what to do with the clones remains. They cannot die and once we leave this area and your influence is gone they will most likely reactivate", Ethan remarked.
Clint had thought of that as well, "We found them inert in these coffin type capsules, if we could put them back in there and send them to sleep again then we could solve our problem" . If we then used Steves suggestion and collapsed the tunnel, they would be permanently trapped".
"It sounds good to me, but what about that man in black", Benji asked. He like Ethan was totally exhausted and knew that further shock would hit him later.
"I thought he'd be here somewhere. He seemed to have the type of personality that would want to witness his victory", Ethan mused.
"We did not see any signs of life in the laboratory below", Clint told them. "It is possible he was not a sure as he seemed and was watching from a different location".
"Then we are going to have to deal with him another time", Grant Foley stated. "His plan for world domination has failed miserably." I would say he is the type to regroup and think of another approach." We will get him, that I promise". He said it with the deep passion of a main committed to making that goal his life mission.
"Right Clones fall in", Clint broke the moment by ordering the movement. It was a strange sight to behold as a thousand clones marched single file down the corridor then through one of the hidden doors into the laboratory below.
Will ordered them into the coffins then sealed them. To finish of the process Tony hacked into the computer and programmed it to open the coffins in 1000 years time.
This done , he downloaded all he data on the computer. Then The Avengers and the IMF team marched together out of the corridor. Tony used his laser to totally collapse the entry point of the tunnel trapping the clones underground .
As they walked away Ethan could not help looking back at the bunker. He really had thought that the man in Black was the type to have wanted to be there at the final moment. But of course he must have been wrong. Shivering slightly for some reason he could not pinpoint Ethan hurried to join the others.
The man in black lowered his binoculars. He was gripping their case so hard it cracked the plastic. Damn them they had beaten him this time. Lowering the glasses he took a moment to study his reflection . He touched his hands to his face, a face his enemy would have recognized. Of course being a clone himself he was aware of the fact that Barton and Brandt could have possibly influenced him as well. He'd have to work on that if he ever tried this plan again. Perhaps though he'd go for something a little different. They had won this time but it was not over, HYDRA did not give up easily. Moving away the man in black climbed into the sleek sports car that awaited him and drove off.
The two teams waited by the side of the road for extraction. Will would go back with Clint to SHIELD and let Banner and Stark stabilize his DNA. Then Ethan hoped he'd return to his team. Or at least that one of them would. He knew it was possible for Clint to take Wills place without telling him. But hey did he really care, they were after all the same person. If one could become a good friend as well as being a top notch agent then so could the other.
Will smiled at Clint and reveled in knowing that this time they would not be separated . Once his DNA was stabilized it would be how it was always meant to be, both of them together forever. He had finally gotten his happy ending.
THE END