Whumptober Day 20

Lost & Found

Prompts: trunk/trapped underwater/solitary confinement

And we return to a bit of fun with this one, though it doesn't start that way.

"I'll be back," Mikayla said.

"If you're going to do a Terminator imitation before your investigation," Tony said, "at least take our version with you." He motioned over to Bucky, who threw a book at him. Tony ducked as the book flew by and hit the wall behind him.

"I've got to do something. Otherwise, I'm going to jump out of my skin."

"What'd you have in mind, Mikayla?" Bucky, sitting in one of the chairs, moved to sit on the couch across from her.

"I want to go to his last transmission and put myself in his shoes, and then hopefully, we can find him that way."

"Where did it come from?"

"Key West, so let's hope that metal arm can handle sand, Barnes."

The two grabbed their go bags and weapons, then headed to the Quinjet. "Keep up posted," Tony shouted.

"Yep," Mikayla replied as she walked up the ramp. She let Bucky fly the jet as she went over Clint's mission details. SHIELD had been made aware of a drug cartel trading drugs for nuclear and unclassified but hazardous weapons. Clint had been undercover with the drug dealers, and his final text said he was heading toward a meeting with the arms dealers. Mikayla pulled out her tablet and looked at the most likely places in the Key West area. Tony had advised the area where Clint's last text had been sent from, so she focused on that region. After studying the map, she identified a few locations. "OK, I've got it narrowed down to some possibilities," she advised Bucky after the plane landed. Mikayla explained her reasonings for the locations, so the two put them in order of likelihood. They exited the jet, heading to the closest location, finding remnants of a meeting but no people; however, they did find some clues leading them to another place. Most of the day was spent chasing locations and finding snippets of information but no sign of Clint. "I've got an idea," Mikayla said. "They're probably making their exchanges somewhere along the coast, so why don't we check there?" Bucky agreed, and they remained in the shadows, making their way to the beach.

"Let's split up. You head that way, and I'll look over in that direction. Notify me if you find something," Bucky directed, "and I'll do the same." He turned and went down the alleys to his right.

Mikayla stayed in place until Bucky disappeared, then turned to her left and began searching. Not having any luck searching in the city, Mikayla used the cover of night to explore the beach. She'd left her bow and quiver on the jet but still had her complement of knives and guns. The nighttime made it easier to search along the coastline since the tourists had departed after the sun went down, deciding to hang out at the various clubs around town. Mikayla spotted something in the distance. She saw a passenger trunk with scalloped metal designs on the corners and dulled metal handles as she approached it. As Mikayla knelt, she heard movement coming from inside the locked chest. She whistled, alerting Bucky, who came jogging down the beach. "Need your muscle, Barnes."

Bucky wordlessly grabbed the locks and easily crushed them. The two looked around, made sure no one was around, then lifted the lid. "Mikayla."

She peered into the trunk and saw Clint, twisted up like a pretzel but very much alive. "Clint? Can you hear me?"

"Yeah. Get me the hell out of here, would you?" Bucky and Mikayla found his hands and were able to start untangling him. Once he was unfolded, they helped him out of the trunk, and he began shaking his extremities, unloosing them. "I've never been so glad to have been a former circus performer in my life." After confirming he wasn't injured, the trio made their way back to the jet. Once they got in the air, Clint leaned back, arm around Mikayla and happy to let Bucky fly the plane.

"How in the hell did you end up in a trunk?" Mikayla asked him while massaging the kinks out of his arms and shoulders.

"I'd finally been in deep enough to gain Gamble's trust, but he kept getting antsy whenever he'd have a meeting with the weapon holders, feeling like there was a mole somewhere."

"Did he suspect you?"

"Nope, but some other guys did, but only because I hadn't been in the group as long as they had. I didn't grow up with them, so to them, I was always an outsider. A few days ago, they'd had enough, so they killed Gamble, then waterboarded me, thinking that would get me to confess." Mikayla shivered at the mention of waterboarding. Clint reached over and hugged her, reassuring her. "They were lousy at it, and once they found out it didn't work, they tossed me into a basement in what amounted to solitary confinement, which was fine. It gave me plenty of opportunities to come up with five different plans on how to escape." Clint looked at Mikayla and smirked. "I am a SHIELD agent. I know things." Mikayla would never figure out how he talked casually about torture but knew it had something to do with his various life experiences. "They were moving the operations to El Salvador, so they had to get rid of me quickly. They figured I'd never make it in a trunk, so they stuffed me in it and tossed me on the beach, assuming I'd run out of oxygen."

"How long had you been there?"

"Only a few hours. I'd found a letter opener in the bottom of the trunk." Mikayla looked at him. "I know, I know, who uses letter openers these days? Anyway, I removed some of the screws from the decorative adornments before they realized I had done that. Once they discovered I had a weapon, they took it from me, locked the trunk, and dumped the trunk on the beach. Like I said, they weren't the smartest people." Clint patted his pocket. "I was able to get the information on the rest of the gang, along with the members of the weapons dealers."

Mikayla leaned in and kissed him. "I'm glad for once you're not hurt, and we found you in time."

"Never doubted you."

Mikayla bit her lower lip then looked at Clint. "So, exactly how flexible are you?" They smirked, and Bucky shook his head, turning the comms off and leaving the couple to their own devices.