The three Avengers and Fury looked to the security footage broadcasting to Stark's computer tablet. They could see the gunmen herding the hostages towards the door, releasing a few at a time. Their eagle-eye view also allowed them to witness the thugs preparing to leave, probably via the SHIELD access tunnel running under the bank. Fury would never admit it, but his team had been unable to gain entrance to the tunnels and had been working on overriding the robbers' recently uploaded lockouts.
Bruce spoke first. "Uh, we have a problem."
The statement didn't do the scene justice. Rogers, Banner, and Stark watched as one of the gunmen kicked Barton and grabbed Pepper. Pride swept in as they watched Clint retaliate, then foreboding as they saw the way the thug eyed the pair and a cell phone that was handed to him.
"If we're going to put this plan into action, we have to move now!" declared Steve as he gripped his shield tighter.
"We're moving now," concurred Iron Man as he pulled his face plate down and fired his thrusters. The trio nodded to one another, each knowing what they had to do, while Fury stood back and let them work.
Rogers ran around to the back of the building, pushing himself as hard as he could. Every second counted now. Tony gave the signal to go ahead. Captain America took a fortifying breath and, with all the strength he could muster, shoulder-checked the door. It snapped open at the abuse. The crack of the door was only slightly overshadowed by the smashing of brick and glass as Iron Man made his own entrance into the bank.
With his shield raised, Steve pushed forward against the bullets slamming against it. The bank was alive with the sounds of gunfire and shouting. The first thug rushed towards Rogers. He was rewarded with an up close and personal encounter with Captain America's right hook.
Tony had flown through the wall, the brick and mortar bowing to the might of the red iron suit and blasters. The hostages that were still in the lobby let out surprised yelps at the sudden intrusion. Once he knew he was through the wall, he used his thrusters to lower himself to the floor. The bullets from the security guard's gun ricocheted off of his shoulder and Tony turned to face him. Leveling his hand at the guard Iron Man sent a burst from his blaster. The marble behind the guard exploded and crumbled on him as he tried to get out of the way. When the dust cleared, the man lay in a heap amongst the rubble.
"If you could all please exit the building," suggested Stark to the hostages still standing with their jaws on the floor. It took a few seconds, but they began to quickly file out into the street to safety.
"Steve, help!" Pepper's cry managed to rise above the other noise in the bank. Tony turned to see Rogers fighting off five of the men just a few feet from Potts, who was being pulled into the vault.
Steve was giving it everything he had and Pepper was so close. He locked eyes with her just after Josh shoved Barton through the hole drilled into the vault floor. He heard her shout and slammed his shield into the side of one man's head before kicking another, but he still had three more to contend with. Both he and Tony were too far away to stop William from pushing Pepper into the tunnel and jumping down after her.
Rogers made one last push to move towards his friends' last location. He could hear Iron Man's thrusters propel him across the room. They both reached the vault at the same time, just as an electronic plate slid across the opening to stop the pair from following. Tony turned his thruster towards the plate and fired. Nothing. He fired again and again, but it didn't even dent the metal. Succumbing to his frustration, he knelt down and started pounding on the door.
Captain America watched Tony battering away with no success. "Tony," Steve pled quietly. Tony kept on slamming at the door.
"Tony!" he tried again. Still nothing.
"TONY!" His shout was finally enough to pull the other man away from his attempts to bring the door down by brute strength alone.
"We have to get down there," said Stark.
"I know," replied Steve.
"You're not breaking through that metal," stated Fury as he strode into the destroyed bank with several SHIELD agents in tow. The men in suits began taking the unconscious thugs into custody. "It's designed to take a beating and hold up."
"What about a Hulk-sized beating?" asked Tony, a bit of defeat creeping into his voice.
"Come again?" asked the director.
"It can withstand me pounding on it, but what if we got the Hulk in here to beat on it for awhile?" Everyone paused for a moment while they considered the idea. "I'll take your silence to mean Yes," Stark said as he walked out to grab Bruce.
It took a moment for Tony to retrieve Bruce, who had been waiting outside for the action to come to an end. From what he had observed on the security feed, it seemed his friends had the situation under control until it came to retrieving their wayward friends. Carefully stepping over the rubble (which he was relieved he hadn't caused this time), he joined everyone gathered at the tunnel door.
"We need you break open this door," said Captain America.
"You want me to lose control so the Other Guy can smash open a door that leads to a tunnel. We didn't want me in the bank because he would level it, but you think a tunnel won't be in issue? I have a feeling Hulk will bring that down just as easy," Banner replied.
"Not in the tunnel. Just smash the door," corrected Tony.
An unconvinced Bruce rolled his eyes. "Right."
"Look, Bruce, I really want to respect your feelings on this . . ."
Banner interrupted Stark's plea, "no, you don't."
"You're right, I don't. I'm the first person to tell you you should let loose more often, but the point is I can't get through this door any time soon. Every minute we waste talking about it is another minute closer to losing Barton and another minute closer to something happening to Pepper. We'll worry about how to calm you down after."
He hated it when Tony was right. He couldn't stand there and do nothing knowing that he could help his friends. With a reluctant nod, Banner agreed and let the Other Guy take over; the Hulk had wanted a piece of the action anyways.
They all watched as Bruce went through his transformation; it took but a few moments for the mild-mannered doctor to be replaced by the green rage monster. The SHIELD operatives that had accompanied Fury had cleared the scene in record time, thus minimizing any potential casualties should the Hulk decide he didn't want to cooperate with the Avengers.
In the last few months since New York, Bruce had had to call on the Hulk five times. Twice were for missions Fury had them go on and three times were in an effort to try and ingrain some sort of loyalty and understanding between the giant green beast and the rest of the Avengers. They had sent Thor in first to try and deal with him. Much to Bruce's (and he suspected the rest of the team's) surprise, it was kind of working. Sure, the Hulk left a trail of destruction in his wake, but he seemed to take small direction and innocent people were no longer getting hurt. There was one small incident with Iron Man and the Hulk putting him through a wall, but Bruce suspected Tony brought that on himself. Bruce still feared the Hulk but on a more basic level he had recently begun to respect him for the good he might be capable of.
Steve was the first to step up and issue the very basic command to their now large friend. "Hulk, smash the door."
A smile spread across his green lips and the Hulk set to work. It took three punches, but, in the end, the high tech metal door that SHIELD had thought would keep their secrets safe bent to the force of the mighty Avenger. The door fell to the ground below and Hulk stuck his head in the tunnel to let out a mighty roar. The ground quivered under the threat the beast had just sent the hastily retreating enemy.
"We'll take care of him. You two go get Barton and Potts," ordered Fury as he stared at Hulk, not entirely sure how he was going to get the green man to sit this one out and not destroy anything.