Chapter 12- Enemy Action

Captain Reggie Grey was the most highly qualified officer in SHIELDS search and rescue team. He had prepared all the equipment and medical supplies they would need to locate two or possibility three missing people. From what Fury had told him it was likely all three would be suffering from the effects of over exposure to the elements. The longer the search went on the greater the effects upon their bodies would become. He and his crew kept their eyes focused on the sea as well as the monitors around them. Peggy Graham was the newbie of the team. She had previously been a SHIELD agent but had suffered a serious injury in the line of duty that had put her out of contention for an active field duty. The fact that she had a medical background had meant that she could transfer to another division of SHIELD . Her job on the helicarrier had been to look up the information on the fishing boat that had detected to see if they could find out who owned her. They were hoping to contact that owner and ask for their help with the search. Peggy found herself studying the image of the boat intently. She had 6 brothers and had endure a lot of fishing trips in her fathers boat in her time. The more she looked at that boat the more it seemed to bother her. On paper it seemed perfectly legitimate, it was registered to a Hawaiian based company and had an owner that lived in Waikiki. So there should not be a problem, yet there was, but she could not pin down what that problem was."Have you found out who owns that boat" Reggie was asking her. "Yes", she replied,"but…,"she broke off, not to sure whether to voice her concerns.

"But what Graham, you know this contact is important. To have another means of searching would cut down valuable time", her boss chastised. Okay so now she had to tell him her thoughts. "Yes sir, I know. It is just that there is something off about that boat. As yet though I can't pin down what it is", she told him. Reggie took a long look at the fishing boat. He did not know Peggy Graham well however that did not mean that he did not respect the fact that because she was a former agent she had an inbuilt danger detector. Thinking over their briefing on this mission, he replied "hmm well it is within our search zone and Fury has warned us that the IMF's team were tracked in an unknown manner". "It however only seems to be fishing", he noted looking at the fish that littered the deck. The word triggered something within Peggy and she grinned at her boss. "Yeah well the decks do have some fish upon them but strangely they do not seem to be the type you can obtain within these waters".' She activated a scan of the boat without permission. "As well as that there is the fact that our scans cannot penetrate the lower deck. That seems a little suspicious for just a normal fishing boat", she concluded.

Reggie patted her shoulder warmly, "well done Graham, I think you just found us an important piece of information. You may continue to monitor that ship and it if puts people into its inflatable craft let me know immediately." He activated another screen and connected himself to Fury. Even though he was a very professional man he just could not help telling the director, 'Miss Graham noticed something fishy about our boat. It has fish onboard that are not found in these waters. In addition our scans are unable to penetrate its lower levels. It could have hostile intention", he concluded.

Fury was thankful he was not in the central room as he listened to this knew this would be seen as the opportunity for action the group wanted to take . They were all twitchy and impatient, wanting to do something other than sit and wait. But he had to be mindfull of the fact that he had other people watching everything the Avengers did right now. He could not send them out without there being a battle of some type taking place. As yet that had not happened. It of course was possible the boat had weapons on board but as yet they were not being used. All he could do was ask the helicarrier to keep monitoring the boat from a safe distance. As a search and rescue craft it was not equipped with weapons so he needed to ensure the personal on board we kept safe from any possible hostile act.

"Sir, the boat is closest to that island, if they have as you say a method of tracking some of our lost party. Then there may be strong indications the island is where our parties are located. Should I call off our search of the other areas and focus on the island", Reggie asked. Peggy had given him advice on this request and he felt that he had to present it to the director. "Not until there are definite indications that is where they are going". "Keep up the search Grey and let me know the minute anything changes", Fury broke off. He leaned back and drummed his fingers upon his chair. It was becoming harder for him to hold back. He could feel that there was a real threat present and he had this strong passion for countering that threat. "Dammit", he shouted loudly wishing that there was some excuse for him to act.

The others were all trying to find that excuse as well. Tony had JARVIS searching for any clues to who would have known about Clint and Will in hope the could find out who was ultimately behind the threat to SHIELD. Ivanoff was just one man and he obviously was not acting alone. When some new information scrolled across the screen Tony hoped what he had discovered may be significant.

"Director can you come out here", Tony's voice broke into Fury's reverie. Getting up he moved back into the main room. Stark had some horribly gruesome pictures up on the main screen. They brought forth a shudder. "I found some more information about the death of our doctor. It was part of a classified FBI file which is why it took longer to locate. Anyway it seems our doctors death was only one of a series of four deaths that happened over a period of a couple of months. Because of the similar pattern of injuries of the victims the Feds were thinking that a serial killer was responsible. All the victims were in the medical profession and each one had been…', Tony broke off, he was a hard man but reading this bit had made him feel sick. He just put the information up for Nick to read for himself. Nick went pale too as he read that basically the men had been operated upon without anesthetic. "Our doctor was the last to die and his death ended the spate of killings", Tony concluded. "So our perp was searching for the one who had conducted the surgery on Will and Clint", Natasha guessed. "That's why our doctor died last."

"It still doesn't give us the answers as I remember you mentioning the fact earlier that the culprit was never found" ,Steve mentioned. "Perhaps if we talked to the Feds directly they may give us more information. Often an agents own theories never make it to a written report", Fury stated. He was within moments contacting the FBI and asking to speak with someone about the case.

"Director Fury I am Special Agent Lessing, how can I help you", an older man asked as he stared at all of them. Nick briefly outlined why they were looking into the death of Doctor Denning. Agent Lessing nodded grimly. "I was a much younger agent at the time Director and even though I have seen many horrible things since then, that case still gives me nightmares." What I can tell you that did not make that file, is that Doctor Denning survived the initial attack. We altered the report to make it look like he was dead to give us time to locate the perpetrator. Our doctor never saw him clearly though and no other murders occurred, so we lost the trail". "You are right when you assumed the perpetrator was looking for someone. He asked Denning some very specific questions. When he did not get the answers he wanted he cut off several of Dennings fingers with a scalpel", Lessing told them. Steve Rogers frowned, "how can this be connected with what is happening now. Some madman was looking for Clint and Will all those years ago for some unknown reason, why would he still be wanting to fulfill that goal."

Lessing could hear that comment and cleared his throat audibly."When I said the perp was looking for someone I meant one person. The only name mentioned was Will. Our doctor could not answer that question and that's when the perp stopped removing his fingers. He moved on to give him an extra painful parting gift, disembowelment. It took him two days to die of his injuries director and it was not a peaceful passing.". We did try to locate this Will ourselves but had no success". If you know him then it could finally bring a conclusion to this case", Lessing remarked. "We are actually trying to locate him ourselves", Fury told him. "It seems like he is still being hunted and possibly it is by the same man who killed your victims". He broke off the connection after promising to keep the agent up to date with developments and turned to the others awaiting their opinion.

"He only wanted Will", Natasha remarked. "All those years ago Clint was only 8 years old and had not heard of SHIELD. So how can this be related to Ivanoff wanting to capture Will so he could impersonate Clint. " "There is something we are missing ",Nick acknowledged.

"Rogers is right in the fact that Dennings murder was a long time ago. No matter how good Clint was I am still not sold on the idea someone would snatch Will to get Clint to cooperate. Clint was only a child himself and would be easy to manipulate", Tony remarked. "Yet Clint was sure their mother made them undergo surgery to keep them safe from those who hunted them", Lila remarked. "Perhaps though that is only what Clint thinks and not what he knows. There could be another reason for why she wanted their memories gone." Now that comment made them all think. What did they actually know about the reasons Clint's mother had made that horrible decision. Their only clue had come from the troubled mind of Clint Barton.

" If we do link this murder to present events then whoever is behind this is not looking for Will because he can impersonate Clint. Too many years have passed for them to be 100 percent sure that neither of our agencies do know there are two of them ". We could have just kept that knowledge quiet", Nick reflected. "To continue that line of thinking along then it would seem that SHIELD is not the target".

"But the enemy have Ivanoff working for them and he is definitely upon SHIELDS radar", Bruce reminded them.

"Yeah a man who hates SHIELD and Clint, who would willingly and without question obtain the brother for whoever asked him, thinking that he was going to be used against SHIELD". It is easy to use our hatred against us", Nick told them. "So essentially we have a mystery on our hands, why do they want only Will".

Natasha was not focusing on that question at the moment because an awful thought has come into her mind. If this was not related to SHIELD then Fury did not need to offer any assistance beyond trying to get Clint back. Will did not work for him.

Nick saw her bite her lip and sensed what was on her mind. "SHIELD was involved the moment Clint left to find his brother and will continue to be involved up until the moment we nail that cold blooded bastard who killed those doctors to a very big wall ", he told her passionately. "So back to my question",he hinted. "Well this man had spent years trying to find Will so it must be something important", Bruce told them. It was of course an obvious statement but it had set Nick's mind a whirling. "Trying to find Will, I did wonder who would have the ability to hide him so well from the world. He was off the radar long before he joined the IMF". "Maybe our perp is not looking for Will at all but for whoever had the ability to hide him away", Nick concluded. "It has to be someone powerful and important and that person must still be alive today or else there would be no point in all of this", Steve told them. "Whoever our perp is thinks Will knows the answer and is going to torture the information out of him painfully, Natasha warned them. 'They all grimaced at that thinking of the horrible pictures Stark had upon his screen. "Will won't know the answer though, his memory has also been erased", Thor remarked. "Yes but we do not know how extensive that memory loss is, we really know nothing about Will Brandt", Nick reminded them.

"Yeah and there is a rather large problem, Bruce remarked softly. Even though he was not an agent he could still tell there was something they had forgotten. Perhaps he had thought of it because he too was good at hiding from the world. "Don't forget about the fact the IMF team were being tracked and that Will Brandt is part of that team. Remember I asked you why hiding Will away from the world was no longer working. " How do we know the enemy has not already located him", Bruce concluded.

"Shit 'Fury swore loudly. They all jumped. "Captain Grey contacted me earlier and told me that there was a suspicious fishing boat within the search area. As yet they have not put a boat into the water and attempted to make landfall on the closest habitable point. I have Reggie monitoring them and he will notify me if things change."

He finished speaking and looked over at the others, their eager eyes looked back. They all knew the threat level had just gone up again ."Suit up", he told them surprisingly. "I want you all ready to move if anyone on that boat so much as even sneezes too loudly.

On the boat Mr Fields had delayed putting his armed team into an inflatable. The scanners on the boat had detected what was mostly likely a helicopter within the search zone. The had now waited over 2 hours for the thing to leave but it had not. Moving up upon deck himself Fields trained his high powered binoculars upon the helicopter. He could only just make it out from this distance. But the brief glance was enough to tell him it was not normal helicopter, its design was unique and used by one specific group of people, SHIELD. So what were they doing out here in the search zone. Their presence was not a good sign. Returning to the cabin of the boat Fields threw one of the weapons against the side of the wall with enough force to shatter it completely. He could think of only two reasons why SHIELD was present, one they somehow thought the missing IMF agent was Clint Barton and were searching for him or two they knew it was Will Brandt and were searching for him on Barton's behalf. It could mean that Barton himself was also nearby.

A scream of pure rage passed his lips and his face contorted into a terrifying sight as the noise loudly echoed of the walls. The men around him looked nervous shuffled nervously and many placed their hands over their ears. Then just like a storm his rage passed and calm returned. It was a cold calculating calm that would see him through this latest crisis. He brought out the photo of Brandt, "it is possible that there are two men that look like this in the area. Capturing both of them would give any one of you a bonus of 2 million dollars", he told them. The mention of the money was an effort to sooth the nerves of the ones who thought he may just be a little too dangerous. "With these latest developments we will wait until nightfall to land the craft". He smiled, "we will also load the little surprise in the hold and send that helicarrier a very loud and painful message". "Smith give the team the landing coordinates closest to the locator signal", he requested. Smith went strangely pale he noted and he felt that rage building up within him again. "What is the problem, he asked through gritted teeth. "The signal was clearly coming from the island sir",Smith replied, that was he knew the good news which was what he wanted to tell this man first. "Yes and…", Fields prompted. "We are no longer receiving any signal sir",Smith rushed out. "What", Fields screamed the word out. He saw the men back up slightly expecting another rage fueled tantrum. Going over to the machine that had faithfully given him a location of William Brandt he noted that Smith was correct, the signal had stopped. It did not mean his target was dead though, still it was not a development he had expected. Now he had no way of knowing a specific location. They would just have to land in the last place the signal had come from and hope William Brandt was too injured to have moved.

He had lost contact with Ivanoff as well and could not rely on the man to bring him Brandt. It had taken him awhile to organize obtaining this fishing boat which was why he had wasted so much time since the signal had moved from being land based to the sea. He had seen the devastation IMF had inflicted upon Ivanoff and his colleagues temporary base. The fact that Brandt had survived spoke of the fact that he was not chasing some soft pushover. But it had been days now so it was likely Brandt was running out of energy. All he really needed him to do though was talk and that did not necessarily have to be on the boat. If he found Brandt on the Island he would simply ask him the questions right there. With that thought in mind Fields opened a locker and extracted a very large knife.

"Be prepared to depart for the Island at 4 am", he told the men around him. That timing meant they could leave the boat in the cover of darkness yet only have a few hours until morning. It was pointless to search in total blackness. "Get some rest", he told his men.

Xxxxx

Ethan and Clint had finally made it to the land. Wading ashore at a tiny little inlet they looked around at the dense bush. "If Will is here then he should have stayed near the coastline", Clint reflected. "This particular inlet though would be tidal and this tiny bit of beach would disappear, it is not the best spot to wait for rescue. Maybe if we move around the island we could find a better one". He knew he was just hoping for a miracle. Ethan turned to move in a clockwise direction only to find Clint pulling him back, "that way, the bush is too dense in the other direction", the SHIELD agent told him. He agreed with that assessment so followed Clint around the rocks.

It took them about 2 hours in rapidly failing light to reach a sizeable beach. Looking around they could see no signs of life. Clint squatted down feeling exhaustion suddenly wash over him, this search had taken a heavy toll upon him but he had up until now been pushing the effects away. With the physical exhaustion came the despair, he had been kidding himself if he thought Will was still alive.

Stumbling he let himself fall onto the sand near a dense little area of bush. He covered his head in his hands and wept. Ethan let Cliint have that moment to himself. He too sunk down upon the sand also feeling exhausted.

Clint lifted his head slightly out of the sand looking into the bush in front of him. Seconds later he rocketed to his feet bent over and pulled some clothing from the bush. He waved it at Ethan. Ethan smiled as he told Clint "it's Wills"

It was like finally getting a feast, both of them suddenly felt suddenly rejuvenated . Clint walked along the beach checking other pieces of shrubbery while Ethan looked for signs of a fire.

"Why would Will leave the beach", Clint asked after 35 minutes of fruitless searching. Ethan had already found the reason, "there is more than one set of footprints over here. It looks like one of our hostiles definitely did survive the explosion and is tracking Will".

That did not sound good. Clint only felt worse when he looked over at the sea and saw something just on the horizon. "There's a boat out there", he told Ethan. Ethan could not see the boat but did not question Clint's word. "That's good isn't it, we can find Will then signal them", Ethan remarked.

"Is it good Hunt", Clint pondered. "You did tell me your team was tracked in some unidentifiable manner. If that enemy team was not working alone then it is possible that boat could contain hostiles ". I recommend we get off the beach. Mostly likely any hostile force will use the cover of darkness to conceal their movements.'

Ethan swallowed, the stakes had just got a whole lot higher and more dangerous. Neither Clint or he were armed and possibly they would face hostiles with significant fire power. "Remember I said we can use what we have", Clint shouted over at him. He turned to look at the other man, "on this island I think we can find a lot we could use'", Clint told him.

For some reason Ethan found himself smiling, he was not stuck on an island with anyone, this was Hawkeye , an Avenger and he was not going to give up without a fight. Ethan was going to be at his side during that fight.