Pepper froze when she saw the blood on her hand; the world stopped and everything melted away except for the stain that seemed to cover everything until there was nothing but red. Regaining her focus she whipped her hand on her jeans and looked up towards Clint's face; his eyes were closed and his lips were slightly parted allowing shallow breaths to pass through. She tapped the side of his face, gently at first then harder.

She could hear the commotion outside the office; the men were gathering together all the people and issuing orders. For now they didn't seem aware of the pair's presence in the office. Clint had managed to close the door and even though the windows had been shattered, the blinds, as damaged as they were, still hung down obscuring the view inside the small room. She knew eventually they would think to look in them; with that in mind she kept her voice low as she called out to Clint.

The first thought that formed in the black fog that seemed to have drowned out all his senses was to tell whoever was tapping him to give him just five more minutes. Five more minutes and he might have the energy to open his eyes, let alone do whatever it was that required his immediate attention. The second thought was smothered by a sharp stabbing pain that started in his side and quickly engulfed his entire body.

His breathing picked up and a grimace spread across his face at the same time the whole situation reaffirmed itself. The man chaining the doors shut, the glint of cold steel being pulled out from his jacket and the sound of several people opening fire in a small building and Pepper. Clint's eyes flew open to try and determine what had happened to his companion. It took a few seconds but she came into focus. A small groan escaped his lips as another wave of agony washed over him and he felt her place a delicate hand over his mouth to help block the sound.

She leaned closer and whispered in his ear, "They're right outside. I don't think they know we're here yet but you have to be quiet."

Clint could tell she was putting up a brave front, but the slight tremor in her voice gave her away. She removed her hand and ran them both across his chest. "I don't know what to do; tell me what to do" Pepper pleaded.

There had been worse situations; Barton could think of many. He'd been gravely injured, on his own and he still somehow managed to find a way to complete his mission and get home. This would be no different; sure there was a room full of hostages, an enemy whose means and motives were unknown, he had none of his preferred weapons and no back up, but he could get Pepper and himself out of this. He just needed to think; he needed that dizzy nauseous feeling to go away and the pain in his side and his leg to die down for just a moment.

One problem at a time Clint told himself. He took mental inventory of all his possible injuries. He knew he had taken a bullet in the side and in his leg. First, they need to take cover. "We have to get out of sight. I need you to help me get behind the desk," he explained.

Ms. Potts nodded and helped drag Clint behind the large desk; it wasn't the best cover, but if the gunmen walked by and glanced into the office they would at least be out of sight. If they did come into the room, every second counted and a small element of surprise might mean the difference between things going their way or not.

It was slow going and Clint almost bit through his lip in an effort not to cry out; once they were both behind the desk, they collapsed - it had taken a lot of energy just to move the few feet. Second, stop the bleeding. Barton quickly glanced around the room and caught sight of a jacket crumpled in the corner.

"I need you to grab that jacket for me. We have to try and stop the bleeding." Clint pointed a shaky blood covered finger to the corner.

With the jacket in her clammy little hand she knelt beside her friend and began opening the desk drawers. Clint arched an eyebrow but smiled, as she triumphantly held up a pair of scissors and began cutting the material into stripes; she wrapped them around his left thigh and around his waist. The bullet in his leg had missed the bone, and the other one had lodge itself in his left side near the bottom of his rib cage.

Barton tried to focus on the voices in the other room in hopes of piecing together what was going on, and to distract himself from the pain as Pepper pulled the bandages tight to stop the blood flow. It sounded like the police had shown up and were trying to start negotiations; the men were trying to retrieve something from the vault and were setting up some equipment to try and cut through the heavy vault doors. They were going to be there for a while.

Third, weapons. He'd left his weapon of choice back at Stark tower; the day's activities didn't require him to have his bow but had he foreseen this turn of events, Clint would have reconsidered. That just left the items he could conceal on his person which was unfortunately only two knives and one gun this time. He reached into one of the pockets in his jacket and pulled out his Swiss army knife; it was better than nothing.

"Here, take this knife and put it in your pocket. You might need it," instructed the archer as he took a deep breath and prepared himself for his next move. Very slowly and painfully he bent his injured leg until he could reach the gun strapped to his ankle. Beads of sweat popped up on his forehead and he panted from the exertion.

Barton looked at Pepper and asked, "Do you know how to use this?"

She wrapped her trembling hands around the gun. "I – I...kind of." Seeing the less than confident look on Clint's face got Pepper to calm down slightly. "Yes, I've used a gun before, but what about you?"

A small smile ghosted his lips. "I'm a highly trained assassin. I don't need a weapon to take these guys out; it just makes it easier. Besides, they're going to search me and you're going to need them if something happens." If a fight did break out it was better for her to be able to use the gun and give her some distance from the enemy while Clint could handle fighting in close quarters.

"If something happens! What's going to happen?" Her protest was cut short by the shouting outside the room. Clint had been listening to the gunmen the whole time and knew what was coming.

"Did anyone search the offices?"

"I'm doing it now!"

The footsteps sounded like thunder as one of the gunmen moved to check each of the offices and Clint knew they were running out of time.

"If they're going to search you, then they're going to search me," whispered Pepper.

Clint locked eyes with her and tried to offer her as much reassurance that she was going to get out of this situation alive as he could muster. "You're not going to be here." He pointed to the large vent access in the wall behind her. "I want you to climb in there and don't make a sound. No matter what happens!"

"What? Wait, what about you? No, you're going to come with me. We can both fit in there," she begged.

He just shook his head. "Look they're going to see the blood and if someone's not here, they'll look further. If they find me, they won't have any reason to tear this office apart looking for you."

The gravity of what was about to happen weighed heavily on Pepper. Armed men were going to be busting through the door at any moment and Barton was demanding she hide and leave the injured man to fend for himself. A choked sob of 'no' escaped her lips. Their footsteps matched the pounding of her heart. Time was running out but what could she do?

Barton's soft yet firm voice grabbed her attention. "You need to hurry; they'll be here any second. You need to trust me Pepper I have a plan; it's going to be ok."

Pepper heard his words and wanted desperately to believe them, but seeing Clint lying on the floor bleeding allowed doubt and despair to pillage her soul. A million scenarios ran through her head. She knew he was just trying to protect her, but he was right about being the master assassin; and what if he did have a plan and her not following his direction put him in danger? With great trepidation she pulled the Swiss army knife out of her pocket and pried the vent open.

No sooner had she crawled in and snapped the vent back into place, than the gunmen kicked in the office door. She waited while they roughly hauled Clint to his feet and dragged him out of the office; Pepper clasped her hand over her mouth to keep her cries from escaping. The door slammed shut behind the men that grabbed Clint and she waited an eternity in silence.

An odd buzzing noise eventually caught her attention. She peered through the slits in the vent to see her cell phone buzzing against the carpet and tiny shards of glass. If she could get to her phone she could get them help; she could get a hold of Tony and he'd make everything alright.

Quiet and cautiously she climbed back out of the vent and grabbed the phone. The caller ID identified it as Stark calling and a sigh of relief slipped out. Pepper crawled under the desk and hit the call button to answer. It was shaky and choked but it was the sweetest word ever to grace her lips.

"Tony!"