CHAPTER THREE
0850 hours
Outside a SHIELD Secure Laboratory
Norway
Tony was in position, with his new uber-armor (or so he explained it), while Clint made his way to the target zone. He spun the dial built into the handgrip of his bow and pulled out a rope arrow, then loosed it on the building ahead, climbed the rope, and found his position on the roof. There, he slipped his bow back over his shoulder and drew his sniper rifle. Despite the fact that he was the best shot known to humankind, Clint Barton detested guns. They were just so... inelegant. His father had taught him that the bow and arrow was the best weapon a man could use because it was just so much more personal. Your aim had to be far better than simply look down the barrel and line up the sights, your arm had to be strong enough to pull back the line, and you had to be patient. There was never a target you couldn't hit if you weren't patient.
Clint peered down the scope and saw the target. Emil Blonsky looked to be having a pleasant meal at a nice resturaunt, nothing sinister seemed to be in his agenda, except for the fact that he just happened to find the one SHIELD laboratory that was still studying Extremis. Clint didn't know a whole lot about Extremis, just that it was supposedly a genetic helper, enhancing the way the body heals itself and creating new ways for the body to work. He could only piss his pants at Blonsky injecting himself with Extremis and becoming even stronger than he already was. His liberators could have even set him up with that enhance Super Soldier Serum that their female assassin was hopped up on.
"Target is sitting down to a meal, Tony. What do you want me to do?" Clint asked.
"Kinda thought that was obvious: shoot him in his face."
"Kill him? Before he leads us to his new friends?"
"A bullet's not gonna kill him. Likely won't even penetrate his outer skin layers. Here's a fun fact: Bruce's Hulk serum doubles the number of skin layers a human possesses. I'll never, for the life of me, figure out why Bruce told me that."
Clint smiled. "Cut him some slack. It may be the bane of his existence, but the guy's gotta be proud about something."
"Good point. It may have been killing me, but I'm still quite proud of that Arc Reactor I built in the cave. But, I'm a little bit more proud of the sweet baby I'm locked inside now."
Clint adjusted the sight a little. "Yeah, you never showed it to me. What's so special about this new suit, anyway?"
"You get Blonsky to show you his tall, yellow and ugly-as-hell side, I'll show you just what the HU1K is all about."
He couldn't pass it up. Granted, he didn't want the possible death and likely property destruction that was about to happen, but seeing Tony try out one of his new toys would be interesting. "Taking the shot now, Tony."
Clint squeezed the trigger, sending a 7.62mm bullet through the chamber and out into the world, where it hit Blonsky's coffee mug. That wasn't right. Blonsky had moved the mug right up into the path of the bullet just as it would have impacted with his face, almost as if he knew Clint was there. This probably won't be good, he thought.
"Tony, he was ready for the shot, what now?"
"Not what I expected, but not surprising, either. You did good, buddy, just find a safe place to give me backup from, and I'll handle the rest."
Clint dropped the rifle, but suddenly, a shadow enveloped him. He looked up and saw the ugly face of the Abomination grinning down at him. "Nice to meet you, Mr. Oswald." Clint drew his bow and fired a flash arrow at the Abomination's face, blinding him. He slid out from under the big monster and broke into a run. "Nice trick, but that won't do you very good!"
"What about this?" Tony asked.
0858 hours
Tony missed Igor. It was the largest armor he had at the time, used as a heavy-lifter in more ways that one. He blew it up after dealing with Aldrich Killian, and although he had built another one, just like the rest of the Iron Legion, it just didn't have the same feeling to him as the original Igor did.
The suit he was wearing, however, was not Igor.
The suit he was wearing was just as tall as the Abomination, and just as big, too. HU1K. Officially designated the Mark XLVII, Human One-Thousand, but HU1K really just meant Hulk. Bruce drew up the specs for him while Tony was using him for a therapist, he'd wanted somebody to have something to deal with the Hulk in case Bruce got to a point where he couldn't focus the monster anymore. Tony didn't like the idea, but he understood his friend's desire to have a backup plan.
He punched the Abomination in the face, knocking him back more than a few feet. The roof looked like it was starting to buckle under the weight of both the armor and the monster. Tony didn't want to take any chances at extreme collateral damage, so he burned the thrusters harder and pushed the Abomination off the roof, right into the abandoned building behind the SHIELD laboratory. He landed a series of punches on the Abomination's face, for the first time since they'd met each other, drawing blood.
But, the Abomination wasn't going to stand for that. He grabbed the suit by the arms and threw Tony directly at the laboratory, cracking the outer wall and causing a mass of screams from inside the building. Tony fired off a round of unibeam energy, launching the Abomination ten feet into the air. He landed on his back, with his head inside the destroyed toilet of what had to have been an apartment bathroom.
"So, how's it feel to be the one to get his ass kicked?" Tony asked, walking up to the Abomination.
However, the Abomination was one step ahead of him. He stood up and grabbed the suit by the neck and squeezed. "I wouldn't know. You're the one getting your ass kicked."
Tony thought, This is not good.
0901 hours
Inside a SHIELD Secure Laboratory
Norway
Clint had spotted her outside during all the ruckus with Tony and Blonsky. Long brown hair, worn in a ponytail. She wasn't wearing the ninja outfit, but she was keeping her distance from the super showdown happening outside the laboratory, at least until she took her chance to slip into the sewer system. Clint calculated the travel time between that sewer opening to the lower levels of the laboratory and waited for her to come through the drainage opening in the basement. He didn't have an arrow readied, but instead was sharpening a twig he'd picked up outside.
It took about three minutes longer than he'd figured, so he assumed she must have been doing something nefarious, like planting explosives or something. He'd already called it in. She opened up the grate and then stood there, a shocked look on her beautiful face. Clint looked her over in that moment, taking in every part of her. She was dressed in a pair of tan slacks, a white halter top, and a similarly tan jacket, with black ballet shoes. She dressed that way to disguise herself as just any other beautiful woman in any other city, but it was her careful steps that had alerted him to her outside.
He studied her, how she managed herself. Her training was similar to Natasha's, but a little less deliberate, less focused. It wouldn't surprise him, Natasha had spawned quite a few imitators before he'd brought her in to SHIELD. Clint stood up straight from his leaning position and spun the sharpened twig around in his hand. He could tell that she was waiting for him to drop the twig, reach into his quiver, and draw an arrow. She was certain that he was going to do that. Luckily for him, she hadn't noticed the knife in his other hand.
He dropped the knife to the floor, catching her attention, and then threw the twig at her leg. Despite the power behind the throw, the twig barely punctured her thigh, but it did enough damage to distract her further. Using the distraction to his advantage, he went at her with a spin kick, knocking her on her back, into the drainage opening.
"You're good," he said, training his bow at her abdomen, "but you're easy to read."
She spoken with an Australian accent. "Good to know, I'll just have to be unpredictable."
Clint loosed the arrow, which hit her in the stomach. She pulled it out, and then the electroshock tip kicked in, knocking her unconscious.
"Naw, I think you just need a nap." He tapped his earpiece. "This is Barton, I need a med crew down in the drainage junction. Any word on the sewer paths? Over."
"Nothing, Agent Barton, we don't know what she's done down here, over."
"Keep checking. I'm gonna stay down here with Sleeping Beauty until the med crew gets here, out." He felt the ground shake around him. "Keep doin' what you're doin', Tony."
0914 hours
Outside a SHIELD Secure Laboratory
Norway
The Abomination had to hand it to Stark, his new armor was good. He still wasn't a total match for a gamma human, but he was holding his own now. The Abomination wiped more blood from his brow and chuckled at the billionaire idiot. "Is that all you've got?"
Stark landed another punch on the Abomination's face, blurring his vision. Now, it was getting serious. The Abomination jump-kicked Stark's armor in the face, a strong enough force to knock a man's head off, but it did so little damage to Stark's armor that it was embarrassing. Stark grabbed him by the legs and start twirling around, getting him up to speed so that he could launch him clear across the country. The Abomination wouldn't stand for that. He kicked Stark in the face, again, and landed hard on his back.
The Abomination stood up and picked up a piece of ruined building around them. Just as he was about to drop the concrete onto Stark, his earpiece buzzed. "What?" he asked/growled.
"She's in, your job's done. Leave Stark alive."
"Fine." He dropped the concrete to the side. "You're pretty lucky my boss wants you alive, Stark. I was gonna drop that on you."
Stark didn't reply with words. A rocket launcher on the left arm opened up and the ordinance hit the Abomination right in the chest.
0942 hours
Tony awoke to Barton tapping on his helmet. "Okay, okay," he said, opening up the armor, "I'm up." He looked around. "Where's Blonsky?"
Clint helped him out of the armor. "He bolted right after you hit him with that rocket. We got his little Aussie girlfriend, though. She went down pretty easily for a Super Soldier."
Tony pulled his phone out and tapped a few buttons, setting the HU1K on auto-pilot. It stood up and made its way down onto the ground, and then inside the building through the freight entrance. "Wait, you got the ninja chick?"
"Yeah, that's what I said," Clint dead-panned, "she went down easier than I thought she would."
"She under guard?"
"Eighteen of the best agents who ever worked with Cap."
"We've gotta hurry."
0950 hours
Inside a SHIELD Secure Laboratory
Norway
Clint was mentally punching himself for not thinking about it. It was the oldest trick in the book: use a distraction to get what you're really after. He'd used the trick himself when he fought her, dropping the knife to distract her and then kicking her in the face. She'd used Blonsky to take care of Tony while she infiltrated, used Clint himself to get her in the infirmary, and now she was unconscious in the one room that had the Extremis she was after.
Tony was already in a different suit, this one normal sized. The Mark V, he'd called it. He'd carried it as a briefcase beforehand, and its components had unfolded themselves into the standard Iron Man look. Clint led the way, past several bewildered agents that didn't understand why Iron Man was walking through the halls. When they arrived at the infirmary, they found that the woman was still strapped down, unconscious.
Clint turned to the lead agent, "We need more agents on this woman, now. And, move the Extremis, ASAP." The agent nodded, and Clint turned back to Tony. "So, what do we do?"
Tony waved at the lead agent. "Bring that Extremis here, please." The agent held up the vial, and Tony shot at it with the repulsor in his hand. "Taken care of."
"We were still examining that," Clint said.
"And if they told you this is the only lab with a sample of it, they lied their asses off, Clint. Now," he turned to the woman, "let's see if we can't wake her up."
The woman's eyes opened. "Already am," she said with a smile. She ripped her restraints apart and jumped up onto her feet. She kicked Clint in the face, then threw a hard punch into Tony's stomach, cracking the armor. "Not so iron anymore, are you, Stark?"
He backhanded her across the face. "That wasn't very clever, sweetheart." He punched at her face, but hit the wall when she ducked. "Then again, that was kind of clever." The woman kicked Tony in the stomach, cracking the armor even further.
Clint got back to his feet and drew his knife. He took a swing at her, but she ducked out of the way and grabbed the knife, breaking his hand in the process. She then dug the knife into his shoulder, but he managed to push her away and pull the knife out, then threw it at her, getting it lodged in her back. She pulled the knife out, slammed it into the wall, and kicked him in the face again.
Tony had gotten his fist out of the dislodged from the wall and took another swing at her face, but grabbed him by the arm and started pulling, taking the arm clean off of Tony, exposing his real arm. He took his shot and fired off a repulsor at her face, severly burning her. She returned the favor by grabbing one of her boomerangs off the bedside table and throwing it at the wall behind Tony. It didn't take long for him to realize that it was about to explode. He dropped to the floor as the wall disintegrated. When Clint looked up, he saw that she was gone. The suit's arm was on the floor in front of them. He must have fallen unconscious for a moment or two, because all the agents around them were dead.
"Son of a bitch," he said, rubbing at his hand.
"No kidding," Tony said. "Don't suppose that knife you stuffed in her had a tracker, did it?" Clint shook his head. "Oh well." He held up his smartphone. A beeping dot on a GPS map appeared on the screen. "Good thing I tagged Blonsky."