Clint fired the grappling arrow through the broken window. The strong cable wrapped it's way around the steel window beam. Clint tugged on it to ensure it had caught properly. He shrugged his bow and quiver over his shoulder and then jumped. Clint was at almost the same height as the window so once he jumped he knew he'd have to smash through one of the lower windows or try to climb the cable. It wouldn't be a problem for him to climb up but if Tony or Pepper cut the cable then it was a long way down.
In the end, the decision was made for him. As he aimed himself at the window Iron Man broke earlier, the cable went slack. Someone had cut it. He hoped it wasn't Natasha that did it. He had enough momentum going that his course didn't alter. Clint tucked himself into a ball and flew through the window. Thankfully avoiding the jagged broken glass. He somersaulted then rolled straight up onto his feet.
The elevator would no doubt be locked down and he was sure Stark probably had the stairs locked down too. He clicked his tongue and looked around for a way up. His blue eyes landed on an air vent. Clint glanced around and found two cameras. He took them both out with an EMP arrow. Clint was hoping it might fry more than just the cameras.
Once he was sure the AI wasn't recording him and reporting his movements to Stark he pulled the grate off and chucked his bow and quiver in before heaving himself up easily with his bulky arms. He didn't bother replacing the vent, Stark already knew he was there.
Clint crawled his way through the vents, aiming upwards but finding himself lost multiply times. Stark Tower was excessively big and a pain in the ass to infiltrate. Clint swore as he found himself at another fucking dead end and had to back himself up to the last junction.
"Ask JARVIS." Natasha whispered to him through the comms.
"What? The butler?" Clint asked in confusion.
"No you idiot. The AI. I programmed it not to record us. Ask it nicely as JARVIS will give you directions." Natasha said hurriedly before a blast finished the conversation. Clint felt at sense of urgency.
"Uh...JARVIS? How do I get from here to Stark's personal floor?" Clint asked, glancing around.
"Take the left Mr Hawkeye." JARVIS responded through the comm. Clint was impressed with Natasha's hacking skills. He had very minimum skills. Such as he could break a computer to destroy some files.
Clint followed the directions of the AI until he finally made it to the right floor. Natasha was holding her own against Stark. Clint couldn't see Pepper from here but it at least looked like she wasn't aiding Stark which gave Nat a better chance. In fact it seemed like Iron Man was struggling to keep up against the Russian.
Natasha ducked a repulsor blast by sliding under it. She was running directly for Stark and slid the last few feet. She jumped up and grabbed Stark's iron clad hand. The repulsor lit up, preparing to blast Natasha in the face. Instead she twisted the hand around and Stark was hit with his own blast. Iron Man was propelled backwards and Nat let go quickly, using her feet to kick Stark further away as well as launch herself backwards. Natasha flipped in the air backwards so she didn't hit the ground and then landed perfectly on her feet.
Natasha didn't wait for Stark to recover. She grabbed all of the remaining knives from the block – a total of four. She threw the first two at Tony as he pulled himself out of a wall. Clint wasn't really sure what she was aiming for as both knives fell harmlessly to the ground after striking the suit.
Tony was of the same opinion as Clint. "Please, continue throwing knives at me Red. It's super effective."
As per usual, Natasha didn't bother gracing the man with a comment. Though Clint did catch her small smirk. Nat was planning something. He wasn't sure whether he should interfere or not. A repulsor beam came towards Natasha from the right and she was forced to drop to the ground to avoid it. Natasha was on all fours, pressed as low as possible to the floor. She quickly leapt back up and jumped over the kitchen counter to avoid the incoming blasts from both suits.
Clint prepared an exploding arrow and kicked out the vent. He'd fire the arrow before Tony or Pepper could register what had happened. The arrow exploded at Pepper's feet and blew her backwards. He couldn't allow himself to feel bad for picking on the weakest link.
"Need a hand Widow?" Clint asked with a rueful grin.
"Not from you I don't." Natasha scowled at him. Clint didn't know what she was trying to purvey to him. Her facial expression and body language went further than a scowl. Clint stared at her intensely trying to figure it out. Within seconds any expression was wiped out and she was an emotionless doll again. Of course, Clint realised then. To her, emotions were weakness, friendship and love was for children and all of it was a distraction. And, in an enemy situation they could be used against each other.
Clint made no signs of acknowledging her quiet order but shut down his expressions the best he could. If that's how she wanted to play it then fine. They'd act their parts – to Stark they'd seem like nothing more than a pair of assassins working together due to no choice of their own. They couldn't care less about each other – all that mattered was getting the job done. It should be easier enough for both of them given they'd both worked alone for most of their lives. Not only worked alone, just being alone in general.
"So Spy Kids, what now?" Stark asked casually. Surprisingly casual considering Clint just blasted Pepper halfway down a hallway. Unless it wasn't Pepper. Clint flicked his eyes down the hallway as the suit – now blue and orange came striding up the hallway.
"Mark XXVII, it's a chameleon suit. That's what caught me off guard during Blackout." Natasha explained.
"Something catching you off guard? You're slipping." Clint said callously. He'd give her what she wanted. But taking a cruel tone towards her was harder than he'd expected.
"If you don't watch it you'll find yourself slipping off the top of this ugly building." Natasha shot back, her tone proud. But Clint thinks the proud tone is because of his acting not her statement.
"Only you won't because you need me." Clint retaliated with.
"Hey! Legolas and Gimli can we focus?" Stark asked. Clint snorted.
"Are you insinuating I'm a dwarf?" Natasha asked coldly.
"If the shoe fits." Stark returned with at the same Clint muttered, "it's not insinuation just the cold hard truth." Stark snorted this time.
"Just get the job done Hawkeye. I'll deal with you after this." Natasha snapped icily.
Clint rolled his eyes and passed the fiery red head a gun he'd brought for her. Natasha took it with a quiet gratefulness.
The two trained killers trained their weapons on Stark. The whirring sound of metal hit their ears. Mark XXVII stood in the doorway – arm outstretched and repulsor glowing.
"JARVIS activate Bones." Tony ordered. "Last chance wonder twins."
"No deal." Natasha responded, echoing Tony's earlier spoken words.
"Don't say I didn't warn you." Stark said, shrugging the Iron Man suit.
Clint was sure Pepper was long gone which made his guilt ease somewhat. He still didn't want to kill Stark but if it came down between Nat and Stark then his choice would be easy. Even if he'd have to live the gut rotting guilt for the rest of his life – how ever short or long that may be.
The whirring sound of another suit came from the smashed window. Both Natasha and him looked at the window as a slimmer suit came flying through. It was made of thinner plating and the internal contents were exposed, primarily the plates were black with the internal contents silver, gold plates held the joins together. Overall it's appearance was skeletal.
Clint had a feeling it was designed for manoeuvrability and speed. Making it the perfect weapon against Natasha. She'd been close to taking Stark down because she was far fast than him in the heavy suit.
Clint glanced between the two AI controlled suits and Tony's suit. There was no way they were getting out of this alive. But Clint supposes at least Iron Man thought highly enough of their skills that he'd need three suits to take them out. If he survived this, he'd probably always feel rather proud of that fact. His thoughts were torn to shreds when the suit named 'Bones' separated itself and began speeding towards both of them way faster than Clint had anticipated.
The assassins scattered to avoid the flying chunks of metal. Natasha skidded to a halt on the other side of the kitchen. Her back up against the marble counter. At the last second she jumped backwards and landed on the counter in a crouch. The hand section of 'Bones' slammed into the counter and shattered the cupboard door. Clint raised a brow at her cat like reflexes. But he didn't have time to pay any more attention to it as he ducked a metal foot then jumped up to avoid the second foot. The last hand he couldn't avoid as he was still in the air.
It struck him in the chest and Clint spun mid air then hit the ground. All the air in his lungs was expelled and left him breathless. The sound of splintered wood came from further in the kitchen and Natasha sprinted past him, avoiding a flying metal head.
"Get up Barton." Natasha snapped at him as she rushed past.
Clint coughed and tried to regain his breath but he didn't have time to properly recover. He readied an arrow and shot it at the head that was in pursuit of Natasha. The EMP arrow struck it and released the electrical pulse. The metal head faltered and fell out of the air.
The suit pieces flew towards each other and reattached. Including the head. Clint glowered, he'd hope the EMP arrow would be enough to mess the suit up.
Natasha ignored 'Bones' and headed for Stark. Then he realised there were three suits two minutes ago. Now there was only Bones and Stark's suit. Where was Mark XXVII?
His silent question was answered as Natasha hid a solid invisible barrier and was hurtled through the air. A repulsor beam from the Chameleon suit followed after her. Clint knew he didn't have enough time to pull her to safety and could only watch as Natasha was mere seconds away from being blasted by the repulsor.
Natasha however wasn't going to go down to easy. She manoeuvred her body mid air and avoid the beam. A second was shot by Stark and third followed by Bones. Natasha hit the wall but in a way that she was crouching against it before propelling herself forwards. Both blue beams struck the wall and missed her.
Clint fired another EMP arrow where the Chameleon suit was. It pierced the metal suit and the pulse shocked the suit back into being visible. The only thing it really gained him other than full visibility was all three suits attention.
Mark XXVII started towards him along with Stark. Bones returned it's attention to Natasha. Clint was surprised Stark hadn't been more focused on him given it was Clint who killed Anton – Stark's self proclaimed Russian Scientist.
Clint learnt very quickly that hand to hand combat with a metal suit was painful and his current least favourite thing. Russia had slipped into second place.
He threw up his arm to block a blow to the head. Clint's arm shook with the force and he grunted in pain. The suit's hand then moved and clamped onto Clint's arm. The pressure was outstanding and Clint was sure he felt his wrist crack. If he lost the use of his hands he'd never be able to fire an arrow. Clint's life would be over. His eyes narrowed and Clint grabbed the metal arm with his free hand. The Chameleon's hand didn't budge and Stark rounded on him from Clint's unprotected back.
The pressure was getting worse and Clint knew his arm would be crushed soon. He applied as much weight as possible into his free hand which was grasped around the metal arm and lifted himself up. Clint kicked his legs out and into the chest of the suit. It staggered enough that the hand released the grip on his arm. Clint fell to the ground and he rolled away from both suits before quickly scrambling to his feet. His grace was no where near as eloquent as Nat's.
Clint eyed the two suits. They needed to take down at least one of the AI controlled suits to even the playing field otherwise they had no chance.