It was a simple enough statement, but it seemed to stun the two terrorists into listening. ''There was an investigation before I got discharged, that's when I met these two.''
Tony gestured at the security guard and kept his gun trained on him as he searched the man. Without the others noticing, he slipped his own handgun out of the holster hidden underneath his jacket and reached around the man's back before revealing it to them.
''You ever seen a bouncer carrying a SIG Sauer?'' He quipped, holding it out as evidence.
Thor slowly lowered his weapon, eyes darting between Tony and the bouncer. DiNozzo locked eyes with the woman, who still seemed unsure about what had just unfolded.
''We don't have time for this,'' Tony urged her pleadingly. ''I doubt they came alone, so pleas-''
Before he could finish, another bullet soared through the air. Tony barely had time to register the lifeless look in the woman's eyes as the same bullet that ended her life tore through his jacket. DiNozzo stumbled backwards, his left hand reaching to the burning pain in his right shoulder.
''Fuck!'' Thor swirled around, his gun once again raised as he searched for their assailant.
With Thor distracted, DiNozzo quickly glanced back at the bouncer, who seemed frozen to the spot. He nodded towards the club behind them, silently ordering the man to run away. Though he still did not seem to understand why one of the terrorists seemed to be on his side, the bouncer was wise enough not to question him and quickly scrambled towards the entrance, bolting the door behind him.
Gritting his teeth, Tony turned back to Thor, who was shooting his gun aimlessly and placed his bloody hand on his shoulder, pushing him to crouch down as they ran towards a car parked by the street, taking cover behind it.
Another bullet flew just above their heads before they reached their cover, and Tony quickly glanced in the direction the shot had come from. On the first floor of a building across the street, he could see the window slightly open, the barrel of a rifle peeking out.
''What the Hell is going on?!'' Thor growled, eyes darting around frantically.
''We've been set up,'' Tony panted, the pain in his shoulder flaring up once more. ''My guess is that they wanted to take us alive and gather Intel. Until I killed their agent, that is…''
Noticing his partner's tone, Thor finally took a moment to look at Tony. He noticed the hole in the man's leather jacket and cursed the blood slowly oozing from the wound. He ran a hand over his face, seemingly contemplating their options.
''Can you shoot?'' He asked, nervously licking his lips. Tony grinned at the man and nodded reassuringly. He tucked the SIG Sauer he'd just pretended to take from the bouncer into the front of his jeans before holding his other gun in his left hand.
''He's across the street: first floor, third window from the right.'' Tony decided to share. He did not want to risk the life of another agent, but whoever had just shot at them either didn't know or didn't care that Tony was undercover. Right now, DiNozzo had only two goals: To keep civilians out of this mess, and to survive.
''Doubt it'll be the only one though,'' Thor chided, quickly checking how much ammunition he had left. ''Right now I think our best bet is to regroup with team C.''
''They might have already been arrested.'' DiNozzo countered. They could hear the sirens getting louder, alerting them of the increased difficulty to escape.
''Then how do you suggest we get out of here?'' Thor was quickly losing his patience. They had prepared to die for their 'cause', but that was before discovering that the government was onto them.
The first responders that they had hoped to target would no longer be the paramedics and police officers, but highly trained government agents who would not go down quite as easily as they'd hoped. Not to mention the fact that their team had lost half its members in a matter of minutes.
Tony couldn't help but feel relieved when he glanced around at the abandoned street. He had not noticed it before, but the vast amount of civilians that had been around only moments before seemed to have vanished entirely, and he couldn't help but wonder if that was the work of one familiar gothic and an autopsy gremlin.
What still bothered him, however, was the fact that none of the agents had identified themselves. The vast increase in gunshots indicated that there were more than just the sniper now, so why had none of them tried to get them to surrender?
In the corner of his eye, DiNozzo spotted something that gave him an idea. It was not going to guarantee their escape, but it was the only path where they wouldn't immediately run into the line of fire. All they needed was a distraction that would buy them enough time to make some distance.
''I may have an idea,'' Tony began, eyeing the machine gun they had not yet fired. With the ammunition they had available, it would buy them no more than a minute, but it was something. ''I need you to buy us some time though. And, uh, I need your hair band.''
Thor eyed his partner for a moment, but to Tony's surprise, the blond man sighed and pulled the elastic band out of his hair and handed it over.
''You've been right so far,'' He shrugged with a smirk. ''You ready?''
With a nod, Thor leaned over the hood and started firing at the other side of the street. The man counted three more agents before he ducked down, avoiding their return fire. If the loud sirens were anything to go by, they would soon be completely surrounded, so Thor hoped that whatever his partner had planned, he would do it fast.
As Thor drew the fire, Tony pulled out one of the knives and inched closer to the trunk of the car. With the knife, he managed to pry the boot open. After confirming that Thor wasn't looking, he removed the holster he'd previously kept his SIG Sauer in. He did not want the other man to see it, in case Thor would question him about the empty holster later.
He wrapped the straps around the machine gun and swiftly worked to fasten the straps to the trunk, to ensure that the machine gun would remain in place after he let go of it.
Turning around, he then crouched down by the manhole he'd spotted earlier. It took Tony more effort than he cared to admit, and the wound in his shoulder protested with every move, but he managed to lift the cover.
''I'm out of bullets!'' Thor flinched as another shot rang through the air and one of the car windows shattered. He inched closer to Tony and looked at the manhole, catching on immediately. ''Really?''
''Unless Donatello is after us, I suggest you head on down, I'll be right behind you.'' DiNozzo moved to the back of the car once more and swirled the rubber band around the trigger. Thor was already halfway down the ladder into the sewers when Tony pulled tightly to tie a knot around the trigger.
The machine gun was firing off rounds rapidly and he wasted no time diving into the hole, smoothly sliding down the ladder until he was down in the sewers.
''Lets go!'' He handed Thor his handgun and pulled the SIG out of his jeans before running into the darkness.
Tony couldn't help the odd sense of déjà vu that came over him. It had been years since he'd been kidnapped and ended up in the gutter with Atlas. At the time, Gibbs and Kate had found him, but this time he prayed that it was just he and Thor down there.
''Where are we going?'' Thor prodded curiously as his partner seemed to swiftly take turns in the underground maze. Tony stopped for a moment, seemingly lost in thought, but soon took another turn right and started jogging down the path.
''I know these streets pretty well,'' DiNozzo began explaining, visualising a map of DC in his head. In his time as both a cop and an agent, he had learned the importance of knowing one's surroundings, so over the past years, he'd taken to studying maps in his free time. It had helped him more than once when chasing down a suspect, he just hoped that it would also help him navigate the sewers. ''If I'm right it's not much further; five minutes max.''
''Five minutes to what?'' Thor asked, anxiously listening out for any noise behind them.
''Our way out!'' DiNozzo deadpanned, concentrating on their surroundings.
Five minutes passed without another word between them. Tony's heart was racing, his shoulder pulsating with every beat. When all this was over, he would need time to reflect on everything that had just happened: seeing Abby and Palmer, having been left without backup, and the agents shooting at them to kill rather than capture.
''Here we are.'' Tony silently prayed that he'd navigated them in the right direction: it was one thing to run through the streets of DC, but to blindly run through the sewer systems that ran below was a whole new challenge.
He climbed up the ladder in front of them and carefully tried the manhole cover. It was quiet above them: in the distance, Tony could still hear the sirens mixed in with fireworks. Chaos blended with ignorant celebrations, but after a quick glance, DiNozzo deemed the street they'd surfaced in positively empty.
What's more, they were almost exactly where he'd hoped to surface. Looking around, he realised they were just around the corner from the café where he'd previously met The Fox.
Holding out his left hand, Tony helped Thor climb out of the manhole. The man ran a hand through his wavy blond hair, which brushed just above his shoulders.
''Do you know how to ride a motorcycle?'' Tony suddenly asked. Thor raised a brow, still unsure of where they were.
''Uh, yeah.'' He answered. DiNozzo smirked and pulled his keys out of his jeans pocket, throwing them at Thor.
''Good, cause I don't think I'll be able to steer well with my arm like this. This way.'' He gestured at the gunshot wound that was still bleeding idly before leading the way once more.
Two blocks away from the café, they reached the Ducati stood parked by the side of the road. Thor climbed on first and waited for Tony to climb on the back before turning on the engine. A quick glance around the street showed them no one had spotted them as they drove off into the night, as far away from the sirens as possible.