Thank you all sooooo much! Every follower, favourite and most of all the reviews made me really happy! Sorry I left you waiting, but I've been on holiday for the first time after 4years of nothing but working. First of all:
strongalphapup0909: I love them together as well and also like to torture them a bit- but to spoil and comfort them afterwards is just as great ;) Thanks for your support
Laura Messer: Thanks AGAIN for a review! Phil and Clint.. they are the couple I love to play around with most. I think Coulson is an awesome person, I loved him in all movies and I think he is the perfect match for Clint- helping him to get over his past. Sorry for making you wait so long ;)
whirlwind29: Thank you for your comment. Chapter took a bit, but here it is.
Chapter II
The next morning came far too soon.
After the episode in the loft, they hadn't talked much. Later in bed, when cuddling up together, Tony had made sure to tell Steve that in any kind of distress, whether it be nightmares or just bad memories, he could always wake him up. Grateful, Steve had kissed him before drifting off. He had been haunted by dreams all night, but none of them severe enough to wake him or Tony.
The sun was just about to rise when Steve tried to leave the bathroom without making any noise. He was relieved Tony hadn't woken up yet. Right when he had gotten the call, he had hurried inside the bathroom, speaking to the caller in a hushed voice behind the closed door, intending to give Tony more time to sleep. Gathering his clothes up, he was using the little bit of light coming from the bathroom to find his way around. When he had everything, he rounded the bed and leaned down, placing a feather light kiss on Tony's temple.
"Did you intend to sneak out and not tell me goodbye before you leave?"
Steve sighed when he heard Tony's comment, and sat down next to his boyfriend, who had turned around, blinking his eyes open. He was quiet for a minute; he needed a moment to focus.
Steve looked up and asked, "How long have you been up?"
"The call came twelve minutes ago, right? So...twelve minutes. You're leaving, right? To where?"
"That's classified, Tony. I can't tell you, you know that," he said, his voice a mixture of apology and sorrow. He hated secrets between them, and knew how much Tony worried about him every time he left. Not that he would have told him, but Pepper had once explained to him how his lover had been freaking out during a three day mission without a word from him.
"You hardly had 36 hours off. Can't they handle anything alone? They have hundreds of agents, good people...why is it always one of us and most of all you?" Part of his attitude was coming from being woken up, but the other partwas his worry speaking, and Steve reached out to take his hand.
"I will be back as soon as possible, and get in touch with you whenever I can." He meant it, he always tried to call or at least text when he was away, needing some words from the genius to remain sane these days.
"I will hack the server if you don't."
"No you won't. Promise me not to do anything stupid while I am gone. And I mean anything, Tony. Working for days and living off of caffeine qualifies as stupid."
"Will do my best," he mumbled. In his words, that meant 'I can't promise anything.'
With that, he sat up and cupped Steve's cheek, placing a light kiss on his lips. For a moment, he leaned his forehead against Steve's and drowned in the silence and closeness. He hated it when Steve left. He didn't trust anybody with his life, not even a dozen soldiers or agents who usually joined him for back up. In his opinion, a thousand soldiers weren't enough.
"I have to go," Steve said quietly, breaking the silence. He kissed Tony again and got up, knowing he had to get going before this became even harder for him."Take care, Tony. I love you."
"Always do."
As the door closed behind the super soldier, the silence inside their shared bedroom became deafening. Tony fell back into the pillows and closed his eyes again, testing out whether he could go back to sleep. Quickly, he realised that his mind was racing, thoughts of what could happen to Captain America plaguing him. He rolled over and hugged Steve's pillow, inhaling his scent that still lingered in the textiles. Allowing himself a few moments, he then scooted to the edge of the bed and got up. He had to get his mind off the fact that Steve was out on a mission again.
"JARVIS, start the coffee. Strong."
"Sir, may I remind you of-"
"No you may NOT!" he snapped at the AI. "Start the coffee, pull open yesterday's sketches and I don't want any calls or messages delivered through, unless it's Steve. No debating, just do it."
"As you wish, Sir," the AI answered in a flat tone. Tony could not put up with his mother hen attitude right now. He needed to get a grip on himself in order to not freak out with memories of the state Steve had been in after previous missions. No, he wouldn't allow his thoughts to go that way.
The kitchen was still dark, except for the lights of the city falling in through the glassfront, providing just enough illumination for Tony to find his way. To his surprise, he found the faint scent of fresh coffee lingering in the air. The pot was still half full when he took one of the bigger cups and filled it until the brown liquid was almost spilling over the edge. Slowly, he lifted the cup to his mouth and took a long audible sip, almost burning his tongue. Whoever had made the coffee had been in the kitchen not long ago.
"Should have known it wouldn't take long until you came in."
The voice behind him startled Tony enough to make him jump. His heart racing, he hurried to put the coffee down and rushed over to the sink, turning on the water to run it over his hand that had been scalded. With a growl, he turned around, narrowing his eyes to make out the figure who was standing almost out of sight, leaning against the window.
"Jesus, Barton!" he exclaimed, and reached for a towel. "What the hell are you doing here at this unholy hour? Did it get cold in the vents?"
It wasn't fair of him and Tony knew it, but he blamed the current situation and the early morning hours for his reaction. He heard Clint take an audible breath when he turned to dry the outside of his coffee mug.
"If I didn't know we were in the same boat right now, I would give you a smart ass comment that you deserve," the archer retorted, and approached the genius' position to sit down on one of the stools by the isle. Tony needed a moment before it clicked and he understood what Clint was hinting at.
"Oh...Coulson got called in," he said, and took a seat himself. The other Avenger nodded and took a long pull from his own coffee. With both hands wrapped around the mug, he rested his forearms on the table, his eyes fixated on Tony even through the darkness.
"Yes. Obviously it's bad enough to need him and Captain America, but not bad enough to need all of us," he mumbled.
There couldn't have been a bigger difference in the way of dealing with a boyfriend on a mission than between Clint and Tony. While the engineer preferred to hide in his workshop to make the time pass, and push away the thoughts of various things that could happen to his lover, Clint showed his worryby needing to talk about it in order to remain sane. His fear for the older agent's safety was radiating off of him in waves.
"Or Fury has one of his 'I need professional, clean and silent work' moments," Tony spat, referring to one of the director's countless complaints about the Avengers causing too much damage and costing S.H.I.E.L.D. not only nerves, but horrendous amounts of money. God how he hated Steve being out there, only being backed up by people he barely knew- if at all. That Coulson was also there, only made it slightly better. He trusted the agent, knew that bringing everybody home safely was his highest priority, besides accomplishing the mission.
"I personally don't care for reasons. It's always the two of them, or even worse, only one of them surrounded by some soldiers who are untrained for special missions. Or, even worse, a handful of those young agents who-"
"Barton...I get it," Tony interrupted him. He knew it, their thoughts on it were the same, but it didn't mean he had to hear it again.
"Sorry…," Clint mumbled, sounding much younger than he actually was.
"Did he tell you anything about the where and what?" Tony asked.
"No, classified. Doesn't leave many options though. Hydra, terrorists, another drug or weapon raid..."
"I could hack into S.H.I.E.L.D. servers and find out at any time."
"Not sure I want to know. Doesn't matter what enemy lines he is behind, when either way, I can't be there."
"Could always fly us out with one of the suits...gives the name Hawkeye a new meaning," "Tony teased, glancing over at Clint as he waited for the chuckle he was searching for. When the other team member finally laughed, Tony smirked.".
"Thanks."
Tony just waved it off and downed another big gulp of coffee. Silence fell between them for a moment until Clint's phone buzzed. The light from the screen reflected onto his face, showing Tony just how tired the archer still looked. A small smile spread across his face.
"They are out together. Heading to somewhere in Europe. Not expected to be longer than three days," he announced.
Tony arched his brow in question. "Did Agent Coulson just give you classified information, Barton? Are you corrupting him?"
The younger man's smile grew wider and finally, he handed his phone to show Tony the received message.
"I don't need to see the love talk you exchange, Barton."
Another second passed, and Tony finally reached for the device, his eyes scanning over the words displayed.
Give me whatever info you are allowed to
Same old discussion again? Looking forward to come back. No place like home ;)
He read it again and then shook his head, and handed the device back. The archer laughed when the engineer had obviously gotten the basics of it.
"You sneaky bastards! Code writing? Seriously?"
"Hey after that mission in France, I am not taking chances anymore. You should be grateful to know that at least they can watch out for each other wherever they get sent to. No hacking needed, simple as that."
"Coulson...I am shocked!" Tony said, half smiling.
Their tension was winding down to a bearable level that they could both live with. Three days…that made 72 hours...4320 minutes...259.200 seconds that they needed to fill with some kind of activity, to get over the waiting and the worry.
Realising his coffee was already empty when he went to take another sip, the engineer got up and turned to refill his cup. When his mug was full once again, he walked over to the door, stopped there and waited.
"So...are you coming or what?" he asked.
"Uh...huh?" He didn't need to see the archer's face to understand that he didn't know what Tony was talking about.
"We have time to kill, may as well put it to good use. Got some new toys for you that need excessive testing."
"Hell yes!" Barton exclaimed, and the heavy landing of feet on the floor indicated he had jumped off the stool he had been sitting on. They loved to annoy, tease and mock each other most of the time. In moments like this though, it seemed they had a silent agreement that working together was the best way to handle things. Not that Tony would ever admit it, but by now, the archer was something like a little brother to him. The kind that you teased whenever possible, but protected in every required situation-like when he had decided jumping off a building was a good move.
"JARVIS?"
"Good Morning, Sir. How can I be of assistance this morning?"
"Protocol Playstore. Barton and I are coming down now."
"Do you wish for a backup server?"
"Private server for now. Video analysis and recording."
"Of course, Sir."
Again, Clint was speechless at the way Tony and his AI worked together. It seemed like there was a protocol for absolutely everything (knowing Tony there probably was) and the genius remembered all of them.. Grateful for the distraction, he allowed himself an amused smile.
Together, they headed down to the workshop where Tony picked up two rather big boxes, passing one to Clint whose fingers itched to open it. The engineer held him back with a knowing smile, telling him to get moving towards the shooting range.
The shrill sound of an alarm blared through the tower,the second Clint released another arrow. It caught him off guard, which caused him to miss the target he had been aiming at. An irritated grunt left his lips.
"Did you just miss, Barton?" Tony chuckled, the sound carrying over the alarm, and crossed his arms over his chest as he arched an eyebrow- a gesture he knew annoyed the hell out of the archer.
He ignored Clint's death glare and a cocky smile spread across his face. Rather than respond to Clint's animosity, he chose to address the house's AI instead.
"What's up this time, Jarvis?"
"A small number of what seems to be rather intelligent robots, just invaded a local research center for vaccination."
Clint gathered up the new bow and sprinted down the range to pick up the arrows he had shot earlier. When he came running back, Tony had already opened the door to the hallway and waited for the archer to catch up to him.
"Jarvis, status," Tony demanded, after signaling Clint to get his equipment. He headed upstairs to get into his suit; everyone else was probably already about to leave
"Eight floor building, laboratories on the third and seventh floor. Two civilians hurt, the police can't interfere since the robots seem to experience no damage from any kind of firearm."
"Any idea what they are aiming for?"
He took the elevator to the workshop floor and crossed the room in long strides while Jarvis provided him any information he had gathered so far. As he had expected, Thor, Bruce and Natasha were already out there. Their first priority was ensuring the civilians' safety and second, getting a better view of the situation.
As soon as he was in his suit and logged into their intercomm, the other Avengers adressed him for consultation on their next steps. For some reason, Tony was still not exactly comfortable being in the position of the leader when Steve wasn't around.
"Widow, what's your position?" he asked, making his way to the invaded building as fast as the suit allowed.
"Back entrance," came her voice. "It's locked, and the door itself seems sealed from the inside with no chance to open it from either side. Looking for another way in."
"Keep going! Hawkeye?"
"Top of opposite building. Can see movement inside. Most of the employees made it out by now. Looks like they are searching for something in particular. Most activity is on the seventh floor. There's construction on the east side, could easily make it up there."
He could almost hear the archer smile at the mention of a way to climb up the facade of the building. He knew Clint could surely do it, but in his position as their leader, he had to think of any possible danger. The archer climbing the building meant full exposure to any kind of sniper or whatever those robots had brought as backup. He was human for heaven's sake, and unlike other members of their team, wasn't wearing any kind of protective armour.
"I am coming your way and bringing you up to the top," he insisted.
"Are you kidding me, Iron Man? That building is not even the highest I've faced in my life. I can surely-" he started to say, until Tony cut him off.
"You can wait ten seconds, Barton. Hold your position!" he demanded, not giving him another chance to protest.
Following his plan, he and Clint landed on the other roof less than half a minute later, and immediatly started scanning the area for an entrance to the building. Fortunately, the emergency door wasn't locked, providing the archer a way inside.
"Stay low and report. I'll get Widow and Hammerman and we'll be right behind you."
When Clint disappeared inside, Tony saw him running down the metal staircase. He shook off the bad feeling that was forming in the pit of his stomach, and hurried to get off the roof.
In the security office, Bruce was scanning several screens at a time in attempt to provide as much information as possible to the other Avengers. One of the security cams zoomed in and he stared at the screen in disbelief. The agent next to him sucked in a breath before looking at Banner.
"Everybody listen, it's HYDRA. They are all over the building. The Bots were just a distraction. Everybody is a potential threat. Most activity on floor seven," said Bruce.
"Hawkeye's on eight, searching his way to the hot spot. Widow and Thor are-" Tony was cut short when several blows to his armour caught him off guard. He turned and found himself under fire from a drone that had appeared out of nowhere.
"Iron Man? What's happening up there?" Bruce asked in concern as he jumped up from his seat in the office to join them.
"Minor war toy on my ass," he answered. Flying loops and sharp curves, he tried to avoid letting the big calibers put more holes in his suit.
"Widow?" he asked, sending several thrusts from the repulsors towards the drone, but whoever was flying that thing knew their job.
"Kinda busy here," Natasha answered. She and Thor had ran right into a group of Bots in a back alley. While they weren't a big deal regarding their fighting skils, they posed a big problem construction wise. Her punches and kicks had almost no effect on the robots, so her main effort was to keep them at bay until the Thunder God helped her out by smashing the Bots, leaving nothing but a pile of metal and wires. It was at that moment, as she stood over one of the now useless artificial soldiers, that she saw the HYDRA emblem on the inside of its arm, close to the wrist.
"Hawkeye? Your position?" she questioned.
"Vents. Floor seven. Where did all these bastards come from? I count at least two dozen," came his low answer.
Tony looked around the streets below him and took a sharp turn around the next corner, swearing under his breath-right below him, was a row of trucks. The back doors of one had just opened, releasing another small army of Bots. This time, they were heavily armed.
"Widow, Thor, I need you two blocks over ASAP. Bruce...now would be the right time to let the big guy jump in."
Banner's answer was swallowed by a series of explosions. The glass of the windows on one corner of the building shattered, the shards spraying everywhere, and Clint could be heard over the intercomm, coughing and swearing.
"They opened...the lab on...floor seven…," he rasped out. "Ceiling came down with the ...explosion."
"Hawkeye, get out of there!"
"Copy that," the archer replied, his voice raspy.
When the sound of a window crashing open reached Tony's ears a few seconds later, he wondered what part of his words had sounded like a 'jump out of the nearest window" to the archer.
He'd been busy scanning their surroundings when he'd caught sight of Clint falling from the window on the seventh floor, smoke spilling out of it behind him, in the last possible second. Using all power in his thrusters, he shot forward, turning in mid-air to catch Clint, not more than four feet above the ground.
Not able to turn down the power of his suit fast enough, he concentrated on damage control and turned before colliding with the next building, the impact hard enough to force the air out of his lungs. Hitting it back-first, he was able to at least shield Clint from the impact. Somehow, he managed to turn over before falling down through the air, hitting the street with his shoulder and side. The lights of the display before his eyes flickered, from all the damage it had sustained in only a few minutes.
Tony groaned and opened his arms, rolling onto his back and releasing Clint from his grasp. He opened the faceplate and sucked in a deep breath. His vision was blurry, and the suit had a few good dents in it, as he felt parts of it digging into his back every time he tried to breath deeply. He turned his head, bruised muscles screaming in protest. In the distance, he heard another explosion. Probably Natasha and Thor taking care of the Bot-infested trucks.
Next to him, Clint was on his hands and knees, coughing roughly with his head hanging low in an effort to take deep breaths. He held his right arm pressed against his torso, causing Tony to wonder whether he had hurt his arm or maybe his ribs. Ignoring his own bruises, he got up and hobbled over to his comrade, kneeling down and touching the other man's shoulder in a quiet question.
Clint looked up and Tony finally saw the gash on the archer's forehead that was bleeding heavily. Clint's face was pale, and his lips were almost colourless. His eyes darted back and forth, before he managed to focus on the older man.
"Catching you is starting to get boring, Barton. Why not find another way to entertain us?" Tony said jokingly, and he was forced to lunge forward, as the archer's eyes rolled back and he collapsed.
*runs and hides after pointing at the review button*