Told you more was coming! :P Warnings, you know the drill.

Tony woke up with a start and flailed for a moment before he managed to tip his chair over sideways, landing with a clatter and waking Clint.

"Hey," Phil said, going over to Tony. He was the one who needed him right now, Clint was awake and a little confused, but mostly okay. Tony on the other hand was hyperventilating. "You're okay. I've got you." He crouched down beside the other man, keeping a careful distance. He'd learned years ago not to touch someone in a nightmare or in a flashback. You could get a black eye or worse that way.

"Hey," he said instead, hands up. "You're okay." Tony blinked a couple of times and then looked around him. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath and let it out through his nose.

"Sorry."

"It's okay," Phil said, and was immediately echoed by Clint.

"No, it's not. I'm... this isn't about me. What happened to you... I shouldn't be freaking out." He shook his head. "Or rather I should be freaking out about you. I thought..." he sighed. In his dream he'd been in The Cave (it always had capital letters in his head) and instead of Yensin, there was Clint. Clint being abused and locked in a dog cage. Clint dying so that Tony could live.

"Stop it," Clint said. "You feel what you feel. You aren't telling me to stop freaking out so stop telling yourself that."

"We should eat," Phil said, when the silence had drawn out too long. "There's some things I need to talk to you both about."

They had bacon sandwiches. Phil cooked them up on the hob of Clint's mobile kitchen. Phil and Clint had BLTs but Tony had tomato and avocado on his. For a long time there was no sound other than the slightly strange noises of three men chomping away. Clint ate everything on his plate, and so did the others. Phil was glad he was the one cooking because it meant he could give himself the right numbers of everything.

Then, when the sandwiches were finished, and everything had settled a bit, Phil began to speak.

"They've found his headquarters," he said and gave them the information Steve and Natasha had got from the interrogation.

"That's right on our doorstep," Tony said when he was done, his voice low and somehow empty. "I... that's right on our doorstep, how did we not know?"

"We had no reason to investigate," Phil told him. "There was no way we could have known. We just don't have the resources to investigate every factory that's not owned by Stark Industries."

"Is Nat okay?" Clint asked suddenly, and the other two frowned at the apparent non sequitur.

"She's fine." Phil frowned and moved closer to the bed, putting his hand over Clint's.

"She didn't do anything stupid?"

"Steve stopped her before she could go too far."

"Right." Clint shifted, twitching his fingers and pulling his hand away from Phil's. "When are they going to take the factory?"

"As soon as it gets dark. Tony, you should probably go see the others. Find out what the plan is."

"Yeah." He glanced between them. "We'll get them for you, Clint," he promised, then left the room without looking back.

After Tony left, silence fell, heavy and thick as Clint's old blanket. Phil chewed on his lower lip and his fingers began to tap.

"I'm not going with them," he said abruptly.

"What?"

"I'm not leaving you here alone."

"I'm hurt, not helpless. I want you to go." He meant it, but at the same time, he wanted Phil to stay with him. "I want you to shoot the bastard behind all this right in his stupid face."

"I don't think I can. I know we've both worked on missions when the other one was hurt before, but..." his fingers started tapping out Clint's name, but Phil didn't notice. Clint did and frowned.

"What is it Phil?"

"Before, it wasn't like this. It's only happened a few times since we've been together. And all those times it wasn't like this. It wasn't personal. And I was..." he ducked his head. "I was Better." Clint could hear the capital.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Right now, I'm no good to anyone." He got up and started pacing back and forth. Ten steps one way, ten steps the other. "I can't focus. The team can't rely on me. Don't ask me to go out there when I can't trust myself. When they can't trust me."

"Okay," Clint said, reaching for Phil. "Okay. I still think you should go, but I'm not going to push it. Come here?"

Phil walked over to the bed and held Clint tightly, pressing his face into the side of Clint's throat. He took a deep shuddering breath, taking in Clint's musky and slightly chemical scent, and then let it out slowly, the tension falling slowly away from his shoulders. He was sure it should feel wrong, taking this comfort from Clint when Clint should be the one who needed comfort, but he just fell into the embrace. He could take care of Clint later, but right now he just needed this.

The attack, when they finally got to give it, seemed rather anti-climatic to begin with. Especially after everything that had happened. They spent an hour as they sun set surveilling the place. It was quiet, but well guarded, and with Tony hacking the CCTV, they had eyes and ears everywhere. Well, everywhere the cameras were, which was more limited than they would have liked. Most of the inside had no cameras at all.

"Look at his cocky face," Tony said, his voice distorted by the armour. "He thinks he's won. He thinks we haven't figured it out, even with his men in custody. He thinks he can just carry on." They watched as he turned a corner and out of camera range.

"Well, he can't," Steve said, except he was Captain America right now, full of righteous fury and justice. "Banner, we could use the Other Guy here pretty soon. Widow, take out as many of the guards silently as possible. I'll be your back up, Thor, you're with us too. Iron Man, hold back. When the alarm goes up, or when all the outside guards have been taken out, whichever happens first, you and Banner move in."

"Got it," Tony said seriously as Bruce nodded. Steve frowned, unused to having his orders so easily taken, but he shrugged it off and made his quiet way forward with Natasha towards the building. Thor followed behind them, not quite so quietly.

The first two guards went down easy.

They headed slowly along the side of the factory, and found two more, on patrol. These put up more of a fight, but they didn't give them chance to call for back up.

Steve let out a breathless laugh.

"What?" Natasha asked.

"I was just thinking I wish Clint was here. He's better at this sneaking stuff than I am," he gestured to his brightly coloured uniform. "But if Clint could be here, then we wouldn't be here if you know what I mean."

"Aye," Thor replied seriously. "The Hawk is a mighty warrior and I miss his presence greatly."

"Yeah," she smiled.

That's when it all went to hell.

"Hurry up," Iron Man said. He gave the impression of pent up energy, a coiled spring waiting to launch into action. Bruce frowned.

"Easy," he said. "We'll be needed soon enough."

"I know, I just..." he shrugged. He was finding it hard to stay still. It felt wrong. Clint wasn't with them. Phil wasn't with them (although Clint had tried hard enough to convince him to come along). It just didn't feel right that the two who'd been most affected weren't there to get justice.

Somewhere, an alarm started blaring.

They never found out exactly what went wrong.

Warnings: Angst and battle scenes