"Hawkeye! Widow! Get in there and shut down that self-destruct sequence. Cap and I will get those hostages out," Iron Man shouted as he spiraled through the air, dodging bullets from Hydra agents left and right.

Hawkeye fired one more explosive arrow at the enemy and then booked it to the control room where the bomb was. Widow was already typing away at the button board, trying to stop the countdown.

"Bout time you got here," she shouted over the sound of the blaring alarm.

"What're you talking about? Tony just barely told us—"

"Nevermind, just take out those Hydra agents behind you before we both get blasted," she said without looking up.

Realizing what she just said, Hawkeye whirled around with an arrow nocked in his bow and shot it at the agents as he and Widow dove for cover, the bullets barely missing them. Eight agents were still left, and they continued to fire at the two Avengers.

"We only have 60 seconds before the whole building comes down," Widow said.
"No problem, that'll be plenty of time to deal with these rookies," Hawkeye said with a smirk. Then he took a closer look at Widow's uniform.

"What's that strapped to your back?" he asked curiously.

"It's a high-class acceleration flight mechanism."

Hawkeye stared at her in confusion, "Could you say that again. . . in English?"

Widow rolled her eyes, "It's a jet-pack."

"What! Why does everyone get a jet-pack except me?" Hawkeye whined.

"Clint, focus, we need to stop the countdown. Cap and Tony still need to get those hostages out."

"Right, right, okay, I'll draw their fire, you shut that thing down."

Widow nodded and then they both split up. Hawkeye pulled three different arrows from his quiver; he took a deep breath, angled his bow above the platform he was crouched behind, and let all three arrows loose. As always, his aim was perfect. Two Hydra agents became entangled in the net produced from the first arrow, three were frozen on the spot by the ice arrow, and the final three were electrocuted to unconsciousness by the last arrow.

Hawkeye grinned triumphantly and turned back to see how Widow was doing. 10 seconds was all that remained, and Hawkeye could see the sweat on Widow's brow as she frantically typed away. Then he heard Iron Man's voice echo through his com.

"We got the hostages out; you two need to get out of there."

The two friends sighed in relief and began to run just as the self-destruct sequence began. They were almost out when they remembered the Hydra agents that were still in there.

"We'll never get them out in time," said Hawkeye.

Widow opened her mouth to reply but before she could say anything, a large section of the ceiling detached itself from the roof and began to plummet to the ground, right above them.

Acting on instinct, Hawkeye lunged forward and pushed Widow out of the way just as the chunk of ceiling came crashing down.

Widow landed hard on her side and then covered her head as large pieces of rock spewed out like shrapnel. As the dust cleared, she looked over at the spot where she and Hawkeye had been standing and gasped in horror; Hawkeye was pinned under a large piece of rock, and his face was all bloodied up. Widow pulled herself to her feet and ran over to Hawkeye.

"Clint!" she cried as she knelt down beside him. Hawkeye coughed and looked toward her.

"Nat, you gotta get outa here," he said weakly.

"No," she said sternly, "Just hold on, Clint. We'll get you out of here."

She slipped her arms under the rock and lifted with all her might, but it didn't budge. She looked around wildly for anything that she could use to pry the stone off of him, but there was nothing in sight.

"There's no time, Nat," Hawkeye mumbled, "You have to leave. Now."

"No!" Widow cried, "We're partners. I'm not leaving you behind."

The walls and ceilings were crumbling and fires had erupted all around them. Hawkeye laid his hand on Widow's and gave her a sad look.

"I'm sorry, Natasha," he said. And without warning, he slammed his fist onto the button on her jet-pack and Widow went soaring into the air, right through the gaping hole in the ceiling.

"CLINT!" Nat screamed. She angled back toward the building but it was too late, the entire thing had collapsed in a massive explosion.

"Nat!" Tony called, "Where are you? Where's Clint? He's not answering. Are you guys okay?"

Natasha weakly lifted her arm up to her com, "Clint didn't make it out," she said in a shaky voice.

Tony and the others began to frantically ask questions but Nat couldn't hear them. All she could do was stare through her tears at the remains of the building where her friend had died to save her. Her best friend was gone.

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