Chapter 25- unmasked
Lila knew that she would be unconscious within seconds. She could not see the person behind her yet could feel the power of their body within the force they placed upon her. There was no room for her to lash out with a kick or any other movement, she was trapped in front of the door. "Tell me now doctor", the rough voice repeated. There were no clues to identity there. "Its…", Lila found herself chocking out the words. The pressure stopped just for an instance, she sucked in pure air through an aching throat. "Keep going", the person holding her insisted, thrusting her forward against the unyielding glass of the door again. Beside her own harsh breathing and the more control breaths of her captor she could hear nothing, no footsteps coming to her rescue. She had already given up on Gideon Killian but she thought she could rely on Fury. 'Which twin is with the Avengers team, I won't ask again doctor", the harsh voiced man shoved her again harder than before. Lila could feel her resolve crumbling, she would tell this man anything just to make him stop. "Okay, I'll tell you", the words fell from her lips. "Good",the pressure of the mans body was still against her trapping her hands against the door. She honestly wished that she could slap him hard. Thinking about her hands gave her an idea, she still held the swipe card. With quick movement she swiped it into the door. Then as the door in front of her opened she ducked down so that the person behind her fell forward over the top of her as her weight shifted. She was free for seconds and quickly climbed to her feet as she looked for anything she could use as a weapon. The man was fast though, rapidly gaining his feet . He was wearing a mask and had a huge powerful looking body. She resolve to fight back stilled as she stared at him. He would have injured her severely had she hit out at him."Bitch, he growled, "for that I…".He never finished his sentence as a pipe came from nowhere to slap his across the head.
"It's alright, you are safe now", came a familiar voice. She saw Gideon Killian standing where her attacker had been with a metal pipe in his hands. He had blood running down his face Lila noted. "Sorry for the delay Lila, I had problems of my own. There was more than one", Gideon stated. In fact there had been three, and two of them had attacked him without warning. He had Lila in sight, using various reflective surface so not to be too obvious. There was nobody watching her he had decided. Turning another corridor, Gideon suddenly found himself shoved off his feet as a large man barreled into him. That man pushed him out of the corridor into a small ultilty room. There was not a lot of room to fight back here. Before he could regain his feet a second man came to start pummeling him. "So old man, you think you are powerful well you are not", he growled. Both of these men were huge, towering over his shorter ,leaner frame.
The address was meant to be stinging but he shrugged it off. He was in fact only 4 years older than Ethan Hunt. To these young fit men he probably was old and harmess. It would work in his advantage. "We are to give you a message. You have resigned as secretary of IMF", a hard punch to his face was delivered for emphasis. So that was it, whoever was working for HYDRA within IMF just wanted him out of the way. He had a feeling his 'resignation' meant his death and that SHIELD would in likehood get the blame. Tension would then arise between the agencies which would ultimately aid the enemy. "I am not resigning", he got out between his aching jaw. "It's not up for discussion", one man told him with another kick. He curled himself inward upon the ground to protect his face and made himself shake and appear beaten. Admittedly part of him was afraid, but he kept his real fears hidden and only showed them his fake ones. "At least tellme who wants me gone", he trembled. Both men now stood over him. He did not look at them directly, that might warn them his surrender was an act. "Someone in your office here", came the answer. "I think they have aspirations on your job". That gave him the answer he was looking for. As the men came toward him again, he flew off the floor with a fury that had both of them stumbling. His act was now over and it was time to show them his real self. Gideons IMF profile did not list his profiency in 4 different types of fighting, that was something he preferred not to make common knowledge. That way people like these men would underestimate him .The two men in front of him were brawling tiypes, who would use their mass and not their brains. He was not in a charitable mood however and did not feel like showing them his fancy moves. The easiest way was simply use his best strike which had both of them lying unconscious on the ground before 5 minutes had passed. He had then barreled down the corridor after Lila.
Fury turned up within the next couple of minutes and looked over both of them soberly. He had not intended for Gideon Killian to end up injured or Lila to be terrified. By the looks of injuries Gideons attackers had received he had more than held his own. Lila too had done well for someone not trained. "Your two are being taking to holding cell", he told Gideon. "As for that one, it's the infirmary for him", Fury decided as he looked at the blood coming from Lila's attackers head
Lila felt relief finally fill her as the man was dragged off. "Well I suppose that is our battle over", Gideon remarked. 'Fury nodded, 'yes, I should apologise to both of you for the delay ". "Unfortunately it was yet another crisis unrelated to our business with HYDRA". He shook Gideons hand,"people should not underestimate you Mr Secretary ", he remarked soberly. It was he thought an apology of sorts for suspecting the IMF secretary. Fury knew Gideon had felt that suspicion, but the man did not accuse or threaten. He was a good leader Fury reflected and they had forged a working relationship that meant they could deal with each other fairly and honestly in the future.
"Let's hope our teams in the field are having as much success with finishing off HYDRA", Gideon remarked. Lila and Fury agreed.
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"Ten minutes until shield failure", JARVIS warned. Tony felt like turning the AIs systems off so he would not get a warning of impending doom. He stunted rapidly zipping behind a tree as two drones fired in unison as him. They followed him effortlessly, up, down, then sharp left until a sweeping tree knocked them both out of the sky. Tony had to quickly turn sharply to avoid hitting into the Hulk as the green giant used the tree like a broom. It was effective, knocking the drones together.
Below him Thor was using a tree on the HYDRA troops. The god was gleefully sweeping the giant trunk across the troops with a force that sent them spiraling high in the air. When the came down again, they usually did not have any fight left in them. Benji, Jane and Natasha was keeping close to Captain America a she used smaller branches to have a similar effect upon HYDRA troops.
Those troops were now suffering massive losses, though they were still keeping up their gunfire in hope of somehow turning the tide. "It does not look like they will surrender", Steve yelled to Benji. The agent shook his head, he thought Steve was correct, these troops would rather die than end up in the hands of the enemy. A bullet sped past Benji again, eating through another tree trunk as it went. It was a sobering reminder that these troops carried a potent weapon. Benji was not sure if Brandt could send another arrow coated with more of the cure so was being extra cautious.
"We need to get these guys contained", Steve shouted as he hit another few with his tree branch. Most of the others were getting wise to this approach and firing from a safe distance. Benji shot a few bullets which did not have any disernable effect. Steve was trying to think of more options when an arrow shot of out the bushes and claimed the life of one of the HYDRA troops. When Steve heard gunfire coming from that direction as well he guessed that they had just found Ethan Hunt and Clint.
Sure enough Clint's black leather could be seen darting in and out of the trees as he shot arrows at the troops. That and the effects of Thor and the others finally made the surviving HYDRA troops pause.
They put up their hands and stood still as they closed in on them. Benji would have grinned as Ethan and Clint ran in to join them if he had not been afraid that they had left Will Brandt without any back up.
"You should be headed for the bunker", Steve stated with a puzzled look at Clint. Ethan too was looking at him. "He has not explained everything yet", he remarked. "It'll be fine", came the reply.
"How does 200 or so troops heading in the bunkers direction seem fine to you", Tony challenged as he landed beside them. He had seen the men disappear before he could do anything about their presence. It seemed likely there was another entrance to the bunker. He knew Brandt was now inside the bunker and getting him out was not going to be easy as all the access points were now closed .It would take a lot of fire power to get inside and by then it would be too late to help Brandt."I know your brother shoots as crazy as you do, but still that's not good odds", Tony continued. "He is right Clint, this seems unlike you", Natasha agreed as she stared at him.
"My brother can look after himself",came the reply. 'Yeah well tell us how he's going to avoid 200 armed hostiles", Tony demanded. He was not backing down. The others also wanted to know the answer to that eyes were all focused upon Clint Barton awaiting the answer.
In the tunnels of bunker Byron Ink was thinking the same thing, there was no way William Brandt was getting out of here . He and the men behind him stopped as the tunnel separated into different directions. His phone still gave him a tracking signal but it only gave a broad location. So he divided the men and each of them took a different tunnel. It was dark and wet in the tunnel with slime dripping almost constantly from the ceiling. Byron shrugged off his discomfort. He could feel the need to end this . Back in the forest the beta team would soon be defeated. But at least the Avengers would not come after him until it was already too late. He intended to question Brandt in the bunker and then quickly get out of the hidden entrance. These troops could delay the avengers if they did attempt to intervene.
Ahead of him the tunnel divided again, forcing him to once again split up his troops. He was getting tired of this place with its labyrinth like layout. When he came to a single door his anticipation shifted up a notch. This door was bolted from the insde, thus in likelihood he had just found William Brandt.
"Get this door open", he yelled at the men accompanying him. They used a small amount of C4 to blow the door off its hinges. He raced inside with his men at his heels There in the middle of the room was a table, the swiveling chair facing away from him. He could see the top of William Brandts head clearly. The man was eerily still, as though just patiently awaiting their arrival .Ink could not see the rest of him clearly in the semi darkness of this room. He could see the table though as it was illuminated by the phone that lay upon its top. That phone had a steady beeping sound sound coming from its depths. A quick glance around the room revealed many other doors leading into the centre. Those doors were now all opening as his troops rushed inside . William Brandt was now surrounded. Byron found a smile forming as he stepped forward and grasped the top of the chair. Upon the table the phone suddenly stopped its beeping. As he heard the sounds of doors closing around them Byron knew that Cory had been correct and this place was a trap.
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"What are we going to do", Tony demanded harshly to Clint. It seemed they were just standing there while HYDRA was grabbing Brandt. A drones fire reminded him that they were still not finished with the enemy. He really was getting fed up with those things. Thor grabbed hold of the tree again ready to sweep the flying menaces out of the sky. But before he could move an arrow shot up and into the drone, making it explode in a firey ball."I don't think that was necessary Legolas, we could deal with…", Tony wound down as he realized that he had been looking at Clint the whole time and the man had not moved."What", he stuttered as his mind caught up with what he was seeing. Clint smiled at him then raised his arm and pointed . As they watched Will Brandt came running out of the trees
"Will", Benji gasped,"I thought you were in the bunker"." So did Byron Ink", came the reply. "The bunker was always a trap to ensnare the man. He had just found himself shut in with no way out. I of course was prepared from the beginning and had a quick exit planned", that comment was delivered with a smile. "Yeah well you could have warned us Will", Benji berated. He got a sigh in response, "the whole point of this was that nobody knew what was coming. Everything was planned carefully and all you had to do was trust us'. He looked over at Clint. 'Can we stop this now", he asked. "Sure ", came the reply. "Stop what, Steve Rogers asked.
Clint turned to Ethan who recognized the look. He had seen this look in the eyes of Clint Barton when he held him at gunpoint in the forest not that long ago. 'He remembered feeling unsure as he held the gun steady and straight. His eyes had watched Clint's hands ready for any move toward his arrows. This man was fast so he would have to be prepared to shoot him. He was so focused upon the arrows that what happened next was a shock. Clint had simply grabbed his gun in a movement that was so shockingly familiar that he had stood with his mouth open. It was at that moment he realized Will Brandt had never left their company. Clint was the one in the bunker.
Everything he had thought he knew about the former analyst had come crashing down at that moment. Will had looked at him steadily not lowering the weapon. "I did not intend to get found out this quickly "he remarked. Ethan was not sure whether he should be preparing himself for an attack or to run away. Memories of Will standing on the SHIELD testing ground killing endless enemies with arrow fire were still in his mind. Will may be a friend in his mind but he was still very dangerous. If he thought that Ethan was going to upset his plans he might just shoot him. The Brandt he knew would try to make it non lethal, but was that just a fake persona, Ethan could no longer be sure . "So what now Will", he asked with a false calm voice. He did not shake or even twitch in the slightest just looking Will in the eyes. "Now Ethan Hunt you must decide whether you do trust me", came the reply.
It had taken a lot of faith to keep up that trust. Now they had finally completed the plan and Ethan could suck out the breath he had been holding. It had all worked and the credit rested with Will and Clint.
He pointed at the man beside him, the one they thought was Clint, "this is Will, that is Clint", he explained. Luckily they were all gaping as he said that as nobody but Will noticed the red blush that came upon Natasha Romonoff's face. She was he knew remembering their exchange back at the SHIELD base. Naturally she probably thought that Clint had spilled some intimate secrets so that he could successfully carry out the masquerade . He would have to tell her she was wrong, when it was safe to do so.
Now he was awaiting some comment from the others. Steve Rogers was the first to step up to him. "So you never left us Will, it was a clever plan. Even we were convinced it had to be you in the bunker when those enhanced arrows were shot". He reached out his hand as if to shake Will's. However as soon as Will's hand went out he found cuffs being placed upon his hand and Steve Rogers holding on tightly. 'Steve let him go", Clint growled as he stepped forward to glare at Captain America. "He still has a role to fulfill", Steve told Clint calmly, "we have to make sure of identity for that. You two do seem to have a habit of changing places'. Clint was still glaring, his whole body tense. "Its alright Clint, I knew this would happen. Steve is right, I haven't told you all the location of the hidden laboratory yet."This is not over until that is done . I will still need to be protected until then," Will replied, he winced as he moved and Steve looked closely at him. It had been easy to forget that Wills arm had been injured and could not have healed that rapidly. What he had seen a few times during the mission now made sense, Will must be in pain from using his arm so much to fire the arrows. "We'll check you out enroute back to the base. I suppose we will also have to do something about Byron Ink and his men", Steve remarked.
"Why", Will countered," he is in a prison of sorts and there is no escape. It is a fitting place for a man like him."He would also rather die than give up any information". Steve supposed that might be accurate, though he guessed SHIELD would still want to talk to Byron Ink.
Thinking about SHIELD Steve took a steadying breath and initiated contact. Around him the rest of the team were dealing with the remaining drones.
Fury was smiling as he heard Steve state, "mission accomplished sir, HYRDAs remaining forces are contained, Byron Ink is trapped within the bunker and we have Will Brandt in our custody once again."
He went on to give a brief run down of events. Fury turned to Lila, "So you were right , Will Brandt was with the Avengers the entire time." Gideon nodded, "I did surmise some things, your theory rested upon the fact that Clint introducing his friends and way of life was actually a preparation for Will taking Clints place. It would be remember when stories and names of people that would catch Will out initially. Then of course you thought you were wrong when Will shot those arrows on the training ground", he took a breath, as he realized he had not thought too deeply about that. He would have to have a long talk with Will. "We have two very clever agents on our hands", he concluded. 'Yes, we do. But the enemy is also clever and I think we need to be cautious and conclude our plan now. As I told you I was delayed from helping out you and Lila by another crisis. However the timing of that crisis was rather coincidental. I cannot guarantee that we have captured all of the infiltrators here. There is no reason why Brandt needs to return to the base, he has a team with him, he can take them to the laboratories location", Fury remarked.
"As I am not sure whether they are more dangerous together or apart, I will chose to let Barton remain with the team. Then at least we know where both of them are", Fury said to Gideon. "I agree", Gideon told him while rubbing a hand over his bruised face. He had some cleaning up of his own to do at IMF base and could not let Brandt return there until that was done.
Fury relayed his instructions to Steve Rogers. Steve ordered them to begin loading the prisoners into a separate transport. Once they were all safely out of ear shot he turned to Will Brandt. "Fury has given the go ahead for us to proceed immediately to hidden laboratory. So we will need a starting point. Can you tell us the name of the town or city where it is located."
Will was now sitting on a piece of tree while Ethan pulled the fake skin from his right arm. Steve grimaced at the red bloody mess that was revealed. "Will, you idiot", Ethan chastised , though it did not have any heat to it. He knew Will was tired of running and hiding .Will winced as Ethan began to clean his arm. Now that things were quieter Steve had to finalize the next step. He decided to leave Thor behind to supervise the transport of prisoners .
All they needed was a next destination out of Brandt. Steve sat beside him while Ethan Hunt bandaged up his arm. "So Will do you have a starting point for the next part of our mission",he asked.
Will nodded, "as I said I m not sure I can find the exact location. It was a long time ago. But I do know what City I was in when dad took me to the laboratory", he took a breath, "it was New York."
That answer surprised Steve. He knew Brandt had a history with that city , it was where he had been attacked as a teen and where his father had come to his rescue. Surely that would have made HYDRA suspicious that the city was the location of the laboratory. When he mentioned that to Will he nodded, "yeah they were close that time. But dad lead them astray by visiting other cities as well. That was his role , to make sure that HYDRA never suspected . Although I lived within the city the placement of that stealth device meant I could not be tracked."
Steve reviewed what Brandt had said in his mind. He thought that staying in New York after the attack was possibly a risky move. But he also understood that Brandt was only young at the time and that uprooting him constantly would have been detrimental to his development.
Looking over at Ethan Hunt Steve commanded, "finish cleaning him up, we have a helijet on standby to fly us to New York. Since we are not going to use any other SHIELD personal Clint can fly us there", he concluded. He tapped Will on the shoulder gently, it's time to finsh this", he told him.
Will nodded, he already felt exhausted and needed to save some strength for the visit to New York. Although he had captured Byron Ink, he knew that he did not work alone. HYDRA may still have some moves left in this game and he could not longer say what they might be.