Do you still believe in heroes?
A/N: Wow…that…was the biggest response I ever got for a story! I shall continue!
Enjoy.
Chapter 2
While Natasha and Clint were in the middle of their mission in Budapest…something very different was happening back in Manhattan.
"BRUCE I KNOW WHAT WE'RE GOING TO DO TODAY!" Tony shouted as he ran down the stairs and burst into their joint lab.
"Stop acting like Phineas and Ferb!" Bruce shouted back angrily. He was fed up with his lab partner's antics. He was not a green haired little b-…oh dear god the irony just hit him. His eyes narrowed.
"But you're such a cute little Ferb!" Tony exclaimed seeing the green in Bruce's eyes. Yes! New record – 10 seconds to get Bruce a little green.
"SHUT UP!" Bruce said going bright red. Aww. The green was gone.
"Don't tell me you don't like being ninja engineers!" Tony shouted pointing an accusing finger at the scientist.
Bruce paled.
The saddest part was that it was true. Sometimes…when Bruce and Tony weren't working on a real project…they would try to recreate a contraption from that show. Bruce never wants anyone to see those diabolical machines…ever.
"Tony…get to the point," Bruce said warningly.
Tony gasped.
"You deny our ninja engineer's love?" Tony exclaimed in shock. Bruce smacked himself in the face with his palm.
"Where is Pepper when you need her?" Bruce muttered rubbing his forehead. He could feel a headache coming along nicely. He could only handle her boyfriend for so long.
RING! RING!
They both froze as they heard a distinct ringtone play from the back of the room.
"Tony is that our SHIELD phone…?" Bruce asked slowly. Tony frantically shook his head. Those bastards haven't called him since the last time a villain tried to assassinate the statue of liberty. Seriously? How was that his problem? The villain just had a gigantic disintegrating gun to do it with. Big deal.
"Let's pretend it's not there…" Tony whispered inching towards the ringing device with a garbage can in his hand. He had plans for that damn phone. Big plans.
"Tony…" Bruce said warningly. Tony gave him the puppy dog eyes. Bruce snorted. As if he was going to fall for something as pathetic as that!
"Tony Stark you better not…" Bruce said narrowing his eyes. Tony sighed and dropped the can and watched it roll under the table.
"Fine! I will answer to the damn annoying phone! But mark my words I will hang up immediately if it's another stupid villain they can deal with themselves!" Tony said warningly. Bruce sighed. Tony was such a liar. He would go stop a villain even if it was just a masked felon raiding a candy store.
The difference between heroes like Steve Rogers and Tony Stark was very simple. There was no difference in their heroic actions. The only difference was how they portrayed their intentions. Steve would stop the masked felon because his moral compass said that it was wrong to steal – anything. Period. Tony would stop him because he apparently bought candy from that store and that it was justice that you must pay for the delicious chocolate if Tony Stark had too.
The man had such an odd way of serving justice.
"Alright ya lousy SHIELD monkeys! What do you want this time?" Tony demanded. Bruce banged his head against the table in front of him. Next time he was answering the phone.
"That's how you answer your calls from SHIELD?" Clint shouted in disbelief from the other end of the line.
Tony and Bruce both tensed.
They haven't heard a peep from agent Barton or agent Romanoff in a long time.
"It's been a while Barton...for a second we thought you and Red might have been dead…" Tony said slowly turning towards his best friend. They shared a wary look.
"Yeah…well we thought you'd probably be dead too after all those explosions that go off in your lab every single god damn day – but apparently here we all are," Clint shot back as he loaded the gun in his hand with his last round. It was arrows alone after this one.
"Your sarcasm has gotten drier Barton…or you are just losing your touch," Tony said warily. Clint took a deep breath as he listening to several jeeps zooming by behind him. He waited until they were all gone before he dared to respond to Tony's remark.
"Barton…?" Tony asked uneasily. Why wasn't he answering?
"Where are Banner and Rogers Stark?" Clint asked suddenly. Tony paused.
"Banner is here with me – Rogers is off saving the world one kitten at a time somewhere in the city…why?" Tony asked slowly.
"How fast is your fastest jet?" Clint asked cautiously.
"Where exactly are you calling from Barton…?" Tony asked slowly. He didn't like how cryptic the archer was sounding.
"Turn on your TV Stark," Clint said crouching down behind an overturned bus. He needed to find a place good enough to hide in and figure out what the hell is happening. But first he needed to make sure of something. He had a really bad feeling he wanted to confirm.
"There are no channels…the cable is out," Tony said slowly. Okay now he was getting suspicious. He heard Clint curse on the other end.
"How about the internet?" he asked quickly. Tony froze as he checked his computer. All the severs were down. And he meant all of them.
"Holy shit…what the hell is going on Barton?" Tony asked in disbelief. Clint froze as he stared down at a blinking red light he was standing on top of. Oh my god…
"Oh shit!" he shouted before he sprinted down the street and dived behind another fallen wall.
BOOM!
An entire 20 feet of the street behind him exploded and caved into the ground. Clint fell to his knees and covered his head as the debris flew over him. His phone had skidded to the side and lay 2 feet away from him.
"Barton? Barton? CLINT DAMN IT! What happened?" Tony asked angrily. Clint coughed as he rolled over and picked up his phone.
"I'm fine! I'm fine! Try your normal phone – does it work?" Clint asked hastily. Damn it. Shit was getting serious.
"I have this strange feeling it won't…" Tony said cautiously trying to dial Pepper's number on his personal cell. "…and what do you know - it doesn't go through. Okay Barton. You have officially freaked us out – now talk," Tony said staring at the failed call screen with Pepper's picture behind it. Well shit.
"I have no idea what is going on Stark. No idea. No one is picking up their god damn communicators at SHIELD and you were the only other number I had on this phone," Clint said steadily. Tony gaped at the phone in his hand. What? Where the hell was everyone?
"Is Natasha with him?" Bruce asked quietly beside him. Tony tensed. That was a very good question.
"Where is Romanoff Barton?" Tony asked suddenly. Clint clenched the hand that held his gun.
"I don't know…" he said through gritted teeth. Okay it was time to move Tony thought.
"Where are you Barton…?" Tony said getting up and motioning for Bruce to start exiting the lab. They had Avengers to find. Bruce grabbed the car keys and sprinted after Tony.
"Budapest," Clint said darkly. He hated Budapest. He was never stepping foot in this city ever again. Never. Not even if Fury threatened to fire him. He would die before he came back.
"Can you stay alive for 3 hours?" Tony asked slowly. That's how long his jet would take. Nothing could make that go faster.
"I'll have to. I'll find Natasha in the meantime," Clint said firmly.
"Don't die before we get there Barton," Tony said as he quickly jotted down a cryptic message for Pepper and stuck it on the fridge with a magnet that had a picture of all the Avengers on it. She would understand.
"I have a feeling you will have a harder time getting in here alive…then me staying alive," Clint said forebodingly before he hung up.
"Tony…how are we going to find Steve?" Bruce asked worriedly. Tony stuff the SHIELD phone in his pocket and looked up at anxious eyes of his best friend.
"Easy Bruce. We blow something up – he'll come right over to kick my ass," Tony said rummaging through his draws for some explosives.
Bruce banged his head against the wall.
Tony Stark was a genius. BUT HE WAS BAT SHIT INSANE TOO!
"Oh! I know just what to use! It's in my garage!" Tony exclaimed as he dropped what was doing and dashed over to his front door.
Tony opened his front door and instantly smacked face first into the solid frame of a familiar soldier.
"My nose!" Tony shouted in pain. It was like hitting a titanium wall!
"Why did all communication technology in the city stop working 20 minutes ago?" Steve asked staring down at the genius rubbing his bruised nose.
"Hello to you too Captain obvious," Tony muttered. Well…now he didn't need those explosives anymore. Pity. He always did like blowing things up.
"What's going on Stark?" Steve asked seriously.
"Why would you think I knew what was going on Rogers? Why did you come here first?" Tony asked suspiciously. Steve sighed – you seriously insult a genius once and he'll never let it go.
"My SHIELD assigned partner just tried to kill me," Steve said frankly as he stepped to the side and revealed a gagged, bounded and unconscious SHIELD agent behind him. Tony stared at Steve's handy work and his shoulders dropped. Can't fault the man for having common sense.
"Alright welcome to team Avengers - we have a new mission today," Tony said opening the door and allowing Steve to drag and deposit his two timing partner into a corner.
"Where are we going and why?" Steve asked steadily.
"Captain…have you ever been to …Budapest?" Tony asked mysteriously. Steve stared at the overdramatic man with a blank look on his face.
"I really hate it when you talk like that," Steve grumbled.
"Don't we all," Bruce muttered as he stared at his jumbled phone. This was just too suspicious.
Something was up in Budapest.
"It's a rescue mission – Barton and Romanoff are in trouble. The least we can do is bail them out," Tony said clapping the Captain on the back. He forgot the Captain wasn't really a soft guy to smack around.
"My hand!" Tony cried in pain as he jumped around trying to shake off the burn.
Steve and Bruce shared a painful look. They just didn't know how to deal with him anymore.
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Clint finally found a relatively stable building and leaned against the wall as he sat beneath a broken window trying to catch his breath after 10 minutes of continuous running. He stared at him phone – Tony actually picked up. He was amazed. The pain in his ass was actually coming. Who would've guessed?
He'd give him a big fat brother hug if he actually made it here in one piece. Unlikely but he could still hope.
In the meantime…he flipped open his phone and dialed the number of the one person he knew would pick up.
Ring. Ring.
Click.
"I'm still alive Clint," was the first thing she said. He sighed in relief. Her dry tone was music to his ears.
"I didn't ask yet Tasha," he said with a weak smile as he leaned his head back against the wall. If he continued to just listen to her voice he could ignore the fact that they were miles apart and right smack in the middle of the most dangerous spot in the world at the moment.
Right now it was just Clint and Natasha.
"After 10 years I think I know you well enough to know what you'll say before you say it," Natasha said dryly as she walked through the extremely quiet ghost streets of the Budapest suburbs. No one was crazy enough to come outside at the moment. If they were smart enough – they would be fleeing the city boundaries while they still had the chance.
If they were SHIELD agents they would be walking into the line of fire.
"How is your head Tasha?" Clint asked suddenly. Natasha paused as she gently felt around her newly acquired facial feature.
"It's healing. Though I don't know about infection yet," she said cautiously. It didn't matter very much at the moment. Clint sighed in relief.
"Thank you for not lying Tasha," he said gratefully.
"I don't always lie," she grumbled. He smiled – she was cute in her own badass way.
"Did you try calling Hill or Fury yet?" he asked changing the subject for her. She snorted.
"Those two? They are probably drowning in calls at the moment. A line doesn't even go through to them," she said shaking her head. He sighed.
"Me neither. I got Stark though," he said slowly. She stopped walking.
"What do you mean you got Stark…?" she asked slowly.
"He's coming – with Banner and Rogers," he explained. She tensed.
"We haven't seen them in 2 years Clint. Why would they come?" she asked suspiciously. Clint rolled his eyes. Natasha Romanoff was always suspicious of everyone. Sometimes he wondered how she could trust him with her life when she's always so distant with everyone else. Sometimes he wondered how he was lucky enough to be her partner.
"Because we never really left the team Tasha," he said with a weak smile. She wasn't as convinced.
"How do you know they'll make it in in time?" she asked cautiously. He paused – he's been asking that question himself.
"I don't know Tasha. If he can't make it in we're on our own. But it's nice to know at least someone is looking for us isn't it?" he asked quietly. She sighed – she'd have to give him that one. She felt like she could be lost in this mess for weeks.
"Yeah…Clint what did Fury say exactly we were supposed to do after we defused all the bombs on the east side of the city?" she asked suddenly.
"He said report back to him – whether it was a success or not," Clint replied steadily. Natasha leaned against a cold wall and slowly processed that information.
"Something is wrong on SHIELD's end," she said with conviction. Clint stared at his phone warily.
"We can't be sure of anything right now Natasha," he said quietly. She stared at the ground with a contemplative look on her face.
"How many groups of fighting sides are we dealing with here Clint?" she asked suddenly. He thought back to all the gun men he saw. They were usually all from the same side unless he was running through the center of town. That was where are the real shit was going down.
This meant eventually he would have to go find out exactly what was going on there.
But he wasn't going to tell her that.
"At least two Tasha," he said steadily.
"Do we know what their fighting over?" she asked. That he did not know.
"Not yet…" he answered as he looked out the window. The streets were still crawling with unknown soldiers.
"Barton…tell me you're not going to risk your life to try and figure out what's happening…" she said narrowing her eyes. He winced. Damn she was good.
"I promise not to die?" he tried feebly. Her eyes darkened.
"You're shit at keeping promises," she said point blank. He gaped. He was so insulted!
"Hey! I promised to take you dancing for your birthday! That happened!" he said defensively. She banged her head against the wall beside her.
"That happened in the rain after your car blew up!" she said angrily. He flushed – that wasn't his fault. That was Steve's fault! And his stupid potato launcher he had stashed in his car! Why did he need to learn how to use a potato launcher?
Stupid Stark and his egging the damn Captain with the fact that he didn't understand 21st century technology.
"You still haven't given me a straight answer. Don't go in there alone Barton," she said going back to being serious.
"Tasha-" he started to say.
Suddenly they both froze as they heard a large bang in the distance that echoed across the city followed by a gigantic wave of hot air.
"Oh…my…god…." Clint whispered as he stared out at the insanity that was happening right before his very eyes.
"Clint…are you seeing what I'm seeing?" Natasha asked slowly as she backed away from the water.
"Are you seeing a gigantic circle of fire starting to surround the downtown region?" he asked in utter shock.
"You need to get out Clint," she said hurriedly glancing around to see if anyone was still following her. She doubted it. Everything was happening on the other side of the fire.
"But we can't leave Natasha. Whatever they're trying to do – it's happening in here. I need to stay and figure it out," he said shaking his head. He couldn't leave if he was the only one on the inside. She stared at the fire with a hundred thoughts running through her mind.
"Then I'm coming in," she said making up her mind. Clint froze. Oh no she wasn't.
"Don't cross the fire Natasha. It's not worth getting caught," Clint said warningly as he stared at the large flames that were spreading in opposite directions merge into two right in front of him. Now he was official stuck. They were either trying to contain something…or keep the rest of the world out for a certain amount of time. He was betting his best bow on the latter. All communications was cut off around the world. The chaos erupting in Budapest was relatively unknown at the moment.
The world didn't know what was happening here.
"I don't have to go through the fire to get to the other side," Natasha said firmly. Clint paused.
"Natasha…" he said warningly.
"You'd do the same thing Barton," she said slowly walking by the river that ran along one side of the city. She could even feel the heat of the flames from 50 meters away. No – there was no way through the flames. But that wasn't the only way into the inner city.
"Natasha listen to me- BEEP," Clint started to say but then froze.
She had already hung up on him.
"Shit!" Clint swore as he shut his phone and shoved it into his pocket. There was no point in reasoning with Natasha Romanoff.
She did what she wanted and if that meant screwing her partner's heart over then so be it.
"That idiot," Clint muttered. She was so damn stubborn – but he couldn't live without her.
A/N: And now the Avengers are about to reassemble. Sorry there is no way to contact Thor at the moment since he is still in Asgard. Don't worry we'll see him eventually.
What on Earth is going on?
Review and let me know if you want to know!
