Chapter 48.
"I've got Jemma, Fitz and Barnes," Sam said over the com, "on my way to collect you lot – I reckon I can set the jet down in the courtyard if Tony and the medieval reenactors get out of the way…"
"That sounds like the Asgardians came to the party," Natasha said, relief clear in her voice.
"The Koenigs weren't supposed to activate the Theta Protocol yet," Coulson said weakly.
"Don't be a fucking idiot, you think you're the only one who can call Thor?" she said scathingly, slapping another bandage on one of his cuts. "Just shut up, Phil. Melinda's been telling me all about your entertainingly bad decisions over the last couple of weeks. And longer, indeed. You really didn't think that we – that Thor, especially – ought to know about the Kree and the city? That Thor might have been able to give you some pertinent information? Or that Tony couldn't have hacked those satellites for you instead of you gallivanting off to Australia and getting Trip nearly killed? Idiot."
Hunter was letting the cable down one more time for Steve. May stood looking uncertainly at the shimmer in the air. "Trip, are you okay?"
"Apart from the being invisible thing?" Trip's voice sounded stressed. "Not brilliant. There's something in my stomach and I'm fairly sure I'm bleeding pretty heavily." Indeed, there were bright drops of blood spattering on the floor, looking extremely bizarre materialising in mid-air as they fell.
"I – don't know how to treat something I can't see," May exchanged a desperate look with Clint.
"Tony might be able to see it through his visor," Clint realised suddenly. "Infra-red or something? Trip – look, I think you'd better lie down. And I want you to take May's hand and hold it. That way even if you pass out we'll know where you are."
It was really bizarre to see May's hand lift up in mid-air without her controlling it, but she managed not to go bug-eyed. "Okay, Trip, I can feel you at least. Let's get you lying down."
"I don't think anyone should touch whatever this thing is in my stomach without gloves," Trip told her weakly as she managed to guide him to the floor. He didn't mention that she accidentally grabbed his ass on the way down. "It's turned me invisible, after all."
Tony arrived in the chamber a minute later, and he wasn't alone. Two figures came in behind him. Clint recognised them both, though he'd never spoken to them. He saw them once in New Mexico, what felt like a whole lifetime ago. One was a tall woman in silver armour with raven-black hair tumbling over her shoulders, the other an even taller man, a handsome blond with a short goatee beard and a cheerful smile.
"Son of Coul?" Sif looked around, and then she spotted Phil. "You are wounded!" she knelt beside him.
The blond looked around and his eyes lit on Clint, and Boudicca sticking up above his shoulder. "You must be Eyes of Hawk," he strode forward. "I am Fandral."
"No Thor?" Clint said, slightly disappointed, as he shook Fandral's hand.
"He is on Alfheimr right now and cannot be quickly reached. Heimdall sent myself, Hogun and the Lady Sif to your aid. Hogun has gone to the other shaft to close it. I must close this one…" he held out a ball-shaped thing with a yellow glow to it.
"Wait, Steve's still on the way up!"
With the super-strong Asgardians on hand, the logistics of carrying out the wounded and unconscious became markedly easier. Fandral picked up Mack without even blinking, and Sif gathered Coulson up almost tenderly, cradling him to her in a way that made eyebrows around the room raise interestedly. Tony picked Skye up in his armoured arms, obnoxiously announcing that he only carried beautiful women if he could possibly help it, which left Steve to manage Invisible Trip, with May's help. They trailed out with Natasha and Clint taking point, armed and looking for trouble, Hunter guarding the rear.
Sam had indeed landed the Avenjet in the courtyard, and Clint could see Barnes having to hold Jemma inside to stop her sprinting for them. He gestured firmly for her to stay where she was, turning to urge Bobbi to go first. She was still worrying over Mack, who was hanging limply in Fandral's arms. Fandral had rather casually tossed his yellow glowing ball into the shaft just as they left, and then said,
"Oh. We have five minutes to get clear…"
"Everyone in!" Clint shouted, waving Natasha in after Fandral and Bobbi. Sif strode past him next, her beautiful face anxious. Hunter followed, Tony clanking behind him… and there was a clang and a spark on Tony's chest.
"Shot!" Tony yelled. "SNIPER!" he hunched forward over Skye, activating his boots and zooming forward into the jet.
Clint's mind was already whirring, calculating trajectories, when he saw a flash in a distant window. He raised Boudicca and loosed an arrow, starting to run. "Has to be Ward!"
Steve let out a grunt and Clint glanced back to see him stagger back into May. Shot. Fuck…
"Go! Get him!" Steve shouted, moving towards the jet again as Hunter shoved him and May forward, and the next moment Barnes and Natasha were racing back out, weapons drawn, to join Clint.
"Where?" Barnes shouted.
"Go, fucking go!" Clint yelled over his com at Sam, who acknowledged and lifted off, the ramp closing automatically.
"No, Tony, stay with them, we need you to scan Trip!" Natasha yelled as she heard Tony order JARVIS to open the ramp again. "We got this!"
"Long-range rifle, has to be over four hundred metres, didn't hear it," Clint snapped as he ran, the other two sprinting after him. "I took a shot where he had to be, but I'm not sure…"
They covered the distance to the building where Clint was certain he'd seen the flash of the second shot, the one which had hit Steve, in record time. One punch from Barnes' fist had the door spinning off its hinges, and they pelted up the stairs inside. Shots spat out, and Clint and Natasha let Barnes go first, deflecting them off his arm.
"May?" they heard Barnes' startled voice, and Natasha sprang forward.
"That's not May! Fucking bitch, how dare you steal her face…"
"Let Nat deal with her," Clint grabbed James' arm as the other man stared incredulously at the two women going at it, fists and feet flying. "She's got a score to settle. Come on, we need to find Ward."
"He tried to kill Skye, didn't he?" James said in a low voice as they ascended another flight of stairs.
"Yeah, and then Steve. He must be wounded, it's not like Ward to miss. He's a pretty good sniper."
"Better than you ever were, Barton!" a voice yelled above them.
"Pretty fucking delusional too."
James actually laughed. "What's the plan?"
Clint bared his teeth. "He tried to kill Jemma, not long ago. I have a bone to pick with him over that."
"Looks like he's over Skye now too. About two inches lower and that round would have gone through her head."
"He can't have her!" Ward's voice was a hysterical shriek. "She's mine!"
"She's Steve's," James' voice was quite calm. They could see into the room at the top of the stairs now. See the sniper rifle on the floor. Clint's brow furrowed, and then James turned to him with a grin.
"Fuck me, Hawkeye, you really are that good." He gestured forward.
Clint moved up another step and saw what the slightly taller man had already seen. Ward on the ground, writhing in pain. With an arrow right through the palm of his right hand.
Wow, that really was a lucky shot. Aloud Clint said "I never miss."
"Bastard," Ward glared at him.
"Do we need him alive?" James asked disinterestedly, walking across the room to Ward, kicking away the knife he tried to lift with his left hand and standing on his wrist almost casually.
Clint looked at the younger man, an agent he'd once respected, treated as an equal. A madman who'd just tried to kill two friends of his, who had once nearly killed Fitz and Jemma, who had killed Victoria Hand and Eric Koenig, and caused the deaths of countless other agents he respected. "No. No, James, we don't need him alive."
"Good. Because leaving him alive threatens Steve's happiness, and I'm not prepared to let that stand." James stooped, set both hands on the sides of Ward's head, and looked into his eyes. "Night night, sunshine."
There was a nasty crunch, and Clint winced and looked away, even as a scream sounded from downstairs. "Nat, you all right?" he said into his com.
"All good," she said calmly, coming out onto the lower landing, blood dripping from a knife in her hand. "We done here?"
"We're done."
Okay, so that was a bit nasty. And I'm sorry to any Ward lovers out there. But as far as I'm concerned? He's fucking fruit loop and deserves exactly what Bucky just gave him. I tried to make it quick and non-graphic, and to keep the rest of the chapter pretty light.
And I'm sorry to those of you who wanted to see Steve beat the crap out of Ward. But Steve already made him suffer unimaginably by taking Skye from him. Any more is just gratuitous IMHO, because I never planned for Ward to survive this. As Bucky said, leaving him alive threatens Steve and Skye's happiness, and Bucky would NEVER let that happen.