Chapter: 8

"They deserve it." Jamison said and the tone in his voice really made Clint wish that he could at least see his partner again. "How dare those rich pricks think that they can make all the decisions for everyone else. They need to hear our protest, they need to see that we are not ok with their choices."

"And you're going to be the one to show them?" Natasha asked.

"We all will," Jamison "This group, we have become a family. We all have the same ideals and beliefs. More importantly, we are not afraid to show them how we feel."

"That is a pretty important message to send," Natasha played along. "How exactly are you planning to make sure they get the message." Clint heard the man scoff then a moment later he could see them standing at a front window. He watched as Jamison pointed to a building way down the street from the hotel.

"This morning they signed one of their atrocious laws. They pretended not to hear the outrage of the people. Instead, they throw a party." The more he spoke, the more outraged Jamison sounded, and the more insanity could be seen in his eyes. "They have won the battle and have decided to throw it in our faces."

"So, the party is happening now?" Natasha asked and Clint felt his heart pumping faster. He knew what might happen if she pushed too hard and Jamison got suspicious again.

"It is right there down the street" He said, and Clint wondered what kind of spell his partner had put on this man to make him so comfortable speaking with her. "They may have won the battle, but I am fighting to win the war." Jamison grabbed onto Natasha's shoulders and smiled like the devil himself "and when we release our weapon they will feel our wrath."

"But how are you going to get your weapon from here to there?" Natasha asked in a confused voice. Her eyes were lit up as if she believed every word that Jamison said was pure gold. It almost made Clint queasy.

"We have that all figured out," the man said letting his hands drop "don't worry your pretty little head about it. It's all being set up right this moment."

Clint looked around. He walked a bit further down the rooftop until he could see down the street. There was a clear shot to the building in question. In the distance, the building was lit up and had people going in and out of it. A lot of people would be in danger if they didn't find that weapon soon.

"They've got to be setting up out here somewhere." He spoke to Natasha, "if they are preparing to do it soon." He looked back towards the building that his partner and the crazies were in. "I wish we had known that we were dealing with some sort of political cult here."

"I agree with you," Natasha said to both him and Jamison with the shifted voice she'd been using to speak covertly with her partner. "All of your ideals they are very passionate." She said with her normal voice to Jamison alone.

Clint scanned the outside of the hotel and finally spotted something. Three men were coming out of a side entrance to the building. He instantly recognized the missing scientist, Richard Helms. The other two men held a gun to the scientist head and forced him to climb into a waiting truck that had a closed tailgate.

"Romanoff, I think I've found our weapon. It's in the back of a covered truck." Clint said, "Get out of there safety if you can but I can't wait for you!" He watched as the truck started up. The other two men still aimed at the back of the truck as it was moving.

Clint acted fast. He notched an arrow and let it fly at the ground towards the direction the truck would have to take. He quickly positioned his bow and was sliding down the thick wire attached to the arrow. The truck passed and Clint landed directly on the hood. He saw the scientist's surprise through the windshield. Clint groaned as his muscles protested at the impact, but he swiftly got from the hood and into the passenger seat. The scientist had rolled down the window for him which was nice.

"Barton be careful," he heard his partner hiss in his ear.

"No worries," he said to her. He looked to the scientist now panicking in the seat beside him. "I'm here to save you."

"The gas will explode if I go below fifteen," the scientist said. Clint looked at the speedometer which was between fifteen and twenty. "They want me to crash into the building. They would have killed me either way."

"Well," Clint said, "This is going to be painful." He said and noted that they were running out of time.

"Don't do anything stupid Barton!" Natasha said and Clint ignored her.

"Get up as soon as you can and run to the first café that you see. A pretty redhead will come and get you from there. She'll say the code 'stupid hawk' don't go with anyone else. Do you understand?" The scientist looked confused but nodded. "Great, brace yourself." With no further warning Clint quickly opened the driver door and pushed the scientist out. He jumped into the driver seat himself and made a hard turn away from where the man had fallen. He looked back and shook his head. He had been inches away from hitting the curb right in front of the building.

"Barton!" Natasha snapped into his ear.

"Is Jamison incapacitated?"

"Yes, he is." She almost sounded offended at the question. "I'm picking up your new friend now. He's trying like hell to hobble to a café. You do know that there isn't one on this street, right?" He heard tires squeal and then heard his partner talking.

"My bad," Clint said. He heard her giving directions to the scientist "I've sent our friend along to the extraction location." She said to Clint.

"Good I…" the sound of beeping cut him off and he cursed loudly.

"What's wrong?" Natasha demanded.

"I think this thing is on a timer on it as well."

"Drive back towards my location." He heard her say. In the background he could hear the sound of another engine revving up. "you'll be coming in hot." She said, "I've got some men on my tail."

"wouldn't be us without a little danger," Clint replied as he made a quick U-turn and headed back the way that he came. The traffic was not fun to deal. He cringed when he heard the two cars he had cut-off run into each other.

The sound of gunfire caught his attention as well and he saw Natasha on a motorbike a second later. He grabbed the pistol out of his side holster and took care of the driver of the car ahead of him. Natasha took out the other man shooting at her then used the brief pause in the attack to cut across the road. She made a tight U-turn and pulled up beside the truck. A second later she jumped to get onto the passenger side of the truck. Grabbing on to the still open window, she managed to balance herself on the step-up bar below the door for a moment. The shooting started back, and Clint felt his heart skip when he had to swerve out of the way of another car. Natasha glared at him. She released one hand to reach for one of her hidden guns and returned fire. The sound of crashing told Clint that she had hit her targets. Another brief pause and Natasha used the opportunity to climb inside.

"Nice of you to join me," Clint said with a nervous smile her way.

"SHEILD is on their way to pick up Jamison and round up the rest of his group." She filled him in briefly as she climbed into the back towards the beeping gas canisters. "There are three groups of five canisters back here." She said from behind him.

"That doesn't sound good."

"The ten groups are all on different timers, the first being in one minute." She continued sounding rather too calm for the situation.

"So, definitely not good," Clint replied, "what are you saying?"

"I'm going to try and disable as many as possible but," she paused for a moment "get as far away from the city as you can."

"Already being done." They were lucky that the edge of the city wasn't that far away. Clint recalled the map of the location in his head and knew that there was a small stretch of open land in the direction he was going. It was under construction and would be abandoned at that time of night. That was his goal.

"Two down," Natasha called. "It looks like they are all wired differently."

"They're thorough, I'll give them that."

"Three down," Natasha said "Clint. I'm not going to get these all disabled."

"Do your best and we'll jump for it." Clint raced towards the empty lot as his partner worked as fast as she could to at least buy them some time.

"Barton, they are running down too fast. There's still five more"

"Jump!" Clint yelled back at her.

"No!"

"Natasha go, I'll be fine!"

"Be quiet!" She yelled back at him.

"Damn it Romanoff!" The lot that Clint was thinking of came into view right about the same time that Natasha was jumping back into the passenger seat. A second later the sound of hissing filled the air.