Chapter 44.
"I'm going to have to tell Coulson that Ward's taken Skye." May didn't look at Trip. There was complete silence in the cockpit for a few minutes.
"Don't you think you should call Steve, too?" Trip said quietly. May said nothing. "May – he should know."
"I'm under orders not to discuss anything about this mission with anyone outside the team." She slid dark eyes sideways at him for a moment. Said nothing more.
Trip cursed himself inwardly for not getting Clint's number when he had the chance. The Koenigs probably wouldn't have it, and while Hunter might, he and Bobbi both still acted weird whenever Barton's name came up. He'd have to wait until after they landed, grab Jemma out of Coulson's hearing somewhere.
But after they landed, it was Coulson who grabbed him and started making impossible demands; it was several hours later when Trip was finally alone in a car with Jemma and Fitz, rushing back to the old watchtower, all of them praying that Mack might somehow have survived his fall and whatever weird mojo the city had put on him.
"Jemma," Trip said, not looking away from the road, "I need you to call Clint."
"Oh thank God, someone's talking sense," Fitz said from the back seat.
"Fitz, I promised to call him if we were out of our depth…" Jemma twisted around in her seat.
"Mack might be dead and we are going into an alien city with 1940's technology, if this isn't out of our depth I don't know what is! No offence to your grandpa's gear, Trip."
"None taken. Jemma, this isn't about you and Clint. It's about Skye. Coulson ordered May not to talk about the city to outside parties so she wouldn't make the call, but I believe Steve deserves to know."
"Fitz and I are under the same orders," Jemma muttered, "because of Clint and Darcy."
"I'm not. So dial the number and give me the fucking phone."
"If you don't, I fucking will, but it might take me longer to get through," Fitz snapped, and Jemma gave in. She pulled out her phone, hit a speed-dial number and handed it over.
"Jemma?" Clint answered immediately.
"No but she's sitting next to me and she's perfectly fine, Agent J." Trip used the nickname so Clint would know there was no problem.
"That you, Trip? What are you doing with Jemma's phone?"
"She's under orders not to talk about what we're doing but I'm not." Trip parked the car and slung the bag he needed to carry over his shoulder. "I've got about four minutes before I have to go down a hole with no phone reception, so listen fucking good, Barton, and if you're not already recording this, start now."
Trip was fast and succinct, and before he'd been speaking for sixty seconds, Clint had hit the Avengers Assemble alarm and was racing to his quarters to get his suit and his bow. It was a really fucking bad day for it. Tony was in China and Thor was on Asgard, so they were down to the non-flying members of the team. And Sam, but he was short-range. They'd have to take the AvenJet, which while faster even than a quinjet would still take a couple of hours to get on site. And from what Trip said, they didn't have that long. He asked JARVIS to relay a message to Bruce to stay behind. One of them needed to mind the store, and Bruce was the only Avenger on site who wasn't emotionally involved in the situation.
"You fly," Clint said to Sam, who gave him an astonished look but went straight to the cockpit to start the launch sequence. "Strap in," he told the others, and as Sam got them in the air and headed to the destination Clint had already ordered JARVIS to enter into the computers, Clint looked Steve straight in the eye. "I got a call from Trip."
He'd told Trip to give the phone to Jemma before hanging up when Trip said he had to go. "I love you," he'd told her simply. "Stay safe. I'll be with you as soon as I can."
A choked "I love you too," had come back before the signal cut out.
Steve's hands clenched on the rim of his shield as Clint spoke, and his jaw slowly hardened. It was extremely difficult to tell that granite-hard expression that Ward had taken Skye.
Barnes put a hand on Steve's arm as Clint finished speaking. "We'll get her back." His blue eyes met Clint's in silent acknowledgement that they would end the threat Ward posed to Steve's happiness once and for all once they had.
Natasha's hands were clenched on the grips of her guns. "I'm gonna fucking kill Melinda," she muttered under her breath.
"She's under orders, Tash, they all are," Clint looked at his partner. "I don't doubt she didn't like any of it. Trip said Coulson ordered the Koenigs to activate the Theta Protocol if he didn't make it out."
"Huh," Natasha snorted. "Bit fucking late."
"What's the Theta Protocol?" Steve asked, bemused.
"It literally means, call Thor." Clint grinned at Steve's bemused face. "I don't know exactly what the call would say, but my guess is, something along the lines of 'this is too fucking big for us Earthlings, we need Asgardian help'."
"Fucking Coulson, why can't he just admit that WE might be able to help?" Natasha groused.
Clint shrugged. "I don't know, but reading between the lines, Coulson thinks he's expendable but the Avengers aren't. He didn't want to risk us."
"So he risked Skye instead. And Jemma. And Melinda." Steve's voice was cold and hard. "I am done with this shit. We're supposed to be a joint venture with the new S.H.I.E.L.D., not treated like mushrooms!"
"Mushrooms…?" Barnes murmured.
"Kept in the dark and fed on shit," Clint translated, making Barnes grin and nod.
"You called Tony?" Natasha checked with Clint.
"JARVIS is on it, and with getting a message to Thor via Jane as soon as he gets back. If we get really lucky, Heimdall's got eyes on and will have help there ahead of us. Thor and Sif and their badass buddies."
"Excuse me, sir," JARVIS interrupted the conversation. "I have relayed your messages to Dr Foster. Mr Stark is also aware but his ETA in San Juan is some sixteen minutes behind yours. Miss Lewis has, um, taken the news badly and expressed some displeasure at being left behind."
"Oh shit, Fitz," Clint muttered. Natasha made a face. "What'd she do, JARVIS?"
"Actually, sir, Miss Lewis is being quite proactive. She's currently standing on the roof of the Tower shouting at Heimdall."
"I've heard worse ideas," Clint said contemplatively after a moment. "Let us know if she receives any useful response, please, JARVIS?"
"Yes, sir."
"I'm gonna go relieve Sam and see if I can't cut another minute or two off our ETA. JARVIS, once Sam gets back here, replay the call from Trip, please."
Natasha came to sit beside Clint a few minutes later. He glanced across at her as she settled into the gunner's seat. "Doubt we'll be dogfighting."
"You forgot to tell JARVIS to cut the end off the call," she said quietly.
Oh.
He concentrated on his instruments. "You knew how I felt about her already."
"It's not that, Clint. Steve broke down. He's frightened he won't get the chance to say the same thing to Skye, in the same way he never got his dance with Peggy, only this time it's Skye who's on a possible death ride."
JARVIS beeped just as Clint was thinking he had no fucking idea what to say to that. "Sir, there is an incoming call for you from Doctor Simmons' phone again…"
"Connect it. Jemma? Are you all right?"
Next chapter, some little bits filling in from the team's POV during Episode 10. And we'll hear what was said in that incoming phone call. I'm going to put that one up in a couple of hours, so check back shortly!
