THIRTY SIX

They were finding old HYDRA bases fast. So fast that the team was divided into two to tackle them- Steve, Natasha, Tony (and sometimes Thor, if he was around) for the biggest bases, and Gemma, Clint (and Natasha, if she was around) for the smaller, more localised bases. Sometimes, Sam would join in if needed, and even Rhodey came along once. They were making good progress, but new bases popped up as fast as they went, especially in New York. Gemma was back to having her hands full and loving it, even if she was exhausted by the end of the day.

There was one small problem, though, that mainly arose whenever Gemma and Clint went to take down bases, and that problem was Steve. Back in Washington, Natasha had freaked out when Gemma got shot, knowing Steve would freak out at his girlfriend being hurt too. That seemed to carry over, especially when there was no back-up. Steve was highly reluctant to let Gemma go for missions, even though she could very well handle herself, and Clint could very well handle the pair of them. At first, the worry had been sweet, but now it was getting on Gemma's last nerve. It was beginning to highlight her insecurities again, and she was not happy about it. Did Steve really think Gemma was incapable? Gemma knew she had to work harder in training than the others, but she'd come a hell of a long way since the Battle of New York. Could he not see it? So she pushed harder, harder than she probably should've. Gemma didn't care; she just had to show Steve that she had the ability to do missions.

The worst got was a month or so after their birthday. Gemma and Clint had been preparing for a larger bust, out of state in a small town located somewhere in Pennsylvania. It seemed that HYDRA was just throwing darts at a map and building there, which worked out greatly in Gemma and Clint's favour because that was how they were locating said bases. Whilst Gemma went out for her day job, Clint would research as much as he could to locate a base. If it worked, they went, kicked arse, and started the cycle all over again. And so they were preparing to go; Clint was readying the jet and Gemma was double-checking the plan of attack, as well as supplies. Natasha was having some time off, and so it was just them. The problem was Steve was going to be their handler, instead of Maria, as it usually was.

With Steve becoming their handler, it was going to be a hell of a lot harder for Gemma to do her job. His protectiveness would colour his judgement, and they could not afford that.

By now, Gemma and Clint were only half an hour away from the site. Before they turned on their comms system, Gemma turned to Clint in her co-pilot seat. Natasha had somehow managed to convince her to learn how to fly a plane, and she was doing pretty damn well.

"Hey, promise me that if I ignore Steve's orders, you won't tell on me?" she asked. "You know how he gets."

"As long as you don't do something mind-numbingly stupid," Clint agreed. "After all, isn't rule one to never screw over your partner?"

"Thank you!"

"Although, you know Cap just gets like that because he cares about you?" Clint said, chancing a glance at the younger woman. Gemma shrugged.

"There are other ways to show he cares. Alright, turn on comms." When Steve's voice appeared in their earpieces, they ran over the plan once more before they landed, a safe distance away from the base. Woodland covered their plane as they got out.

"The external security is a little stronger, but not much," Clint informed Gemma, nodding at the fence in front of them. "I don't think they had much time to throw this together."

"All the better for us," Gemma muttered. "They won't be as prepared. We may have the upper hand." Clint nodded as Gemma pulled a device out of her pocket, then stopped her, tilting his head towards a guard centre.

"Huh," she said, placing the device back in her pocket. "That makes our jobs so much easier."

"Anything easier is a trap," Steve warned through comms. Gemma rolled her eyes, but the warning stayed at the front of her mind anyway; he wasn't wrong. They each stood either side of the door to the guard box, and on the count of three, burst in there. Thankfully, the guards in there hadn't been prepared for them, and so taking over the box had been easy. From there, it had been easy enough to disable the fence, but once unalarmed, Gemma and Clint were put on a time restraint, knowing the base would be alerted by the sudden change in security.

"Regroup back at the box," Clint ordered Gemma, and she nodded before heading around to the north entrance of the building. On the outside, it was very similar to the base they'd taken down in the Amazon, albeit much smaller and less secure. Gemma wondered if HYDRA was getting lazier. It was almost as if they wanted to get caught. The thought certainly hadn't escaped Gemma's mind, especially now, when it was as easy as speeding.

The door she approached was partially open, which somehow, Steve did not miss. Maybe he sensed Gemma's alarm through comms.

"Careful," he hissed through her earpiece. Again, Gemma rolled her eyes but entered apprehensively, fingers tightening around her whips, ready to release them at any time. She trod lightly, peering into every door as she went past, but for the most part, it was all deserted, which was strange.

"I'm not finding much," she muttered into comms. "Clint, you?"

"Likewise," Clint said. "This isn't good."

"You think it's a decoy?" Gemma asked. She still wasn't done looking, but the corridor she was in seemed to be a dead end. The building's architecture was strange. How did one of only two entrances lead to a dead-end corridor?

"Maybe. Can you get to me?"

"No, this is a blocked corri-" Gemma's sentence came to a stop as she peered into another room. At first glance, it had been empty, but on second look, something had caught Gemma's eye.

A woman, all by herself. There was a bed in there too, but she seemed to be chained to it. She was asleep, oblivious to the agent outside.

"I found someone," Gemma announced softly. She looked at the lock on the door. It was thick; whoever this woman was, she was valuable.

"You wanna be more specific?" Clint urged.

"I- hang on." Pulling two pins from her hair, Gemma remembered what Natasha had told her about breaking locks. When that didn't work, she pulled out her gun and shot at it. That seemed to work, but even that loud bang didn't arouse the woman.

"I'm coming your way," Clint informed Gemma. "Don't do anything stupid."

"I won't," Gemma sang quietly, entering the room.

"Whatever you're thinking of, wait for Clint," Steve ordered. Gemma pretended not to hear, walking towards the woman. Her chest was rising up and down slowly, a sign that she was at least breathing. Gemma thought that she must have been unconscious, but the moment Gemma placed two fingers on her wrist to find a pulse, her eyes snapped open, lunging for Gemma as hard as she could, screaming.

"No, no, no, no, it's okay," Gemma assured, gently shushing the woman. "I'm here to save you, it's okay." The woman's eyes widened in disbelief slightly before returning to normal.

"Can you tell me your name?" Gemma asked gently. The woman shook her head.

"I'm dead anyway," she remarked sadly, turning her head away from Gemma. Gemma took the chance to start working on the chains.

"If you thought that, you wouldn't have started thrashing just now," Gemma said.

"How cute." A new voice appeared in the doorway, one vaguely familiar enough for Gemma to snap around, readying her whips. Gemma's brows knitted together with confusion when she saw him, a man with a metal mask covering his entire head. A stomach ache made its way into Gemma.

"Gemma, what's going on?" Steve asked, but Gemma didn't respond. Something stupid, she thought. Oops.

"You don't recognise me, do you?" The tin man asked. He sounded awfully smug. "Disappointing, but not surprising. No matter."

"Do you want to tell me who you are?" Gemma inquired.

"You're a smart girl. Figure it out," he barked. "In the meantime, I want her." He nudged his head towards the girl on the bed. Gemma had only managed to undo one of the leg chains. "I'll be taking you as well, though. God, today has been good. You and Birdman opened the front door for me and now I get you, too. It's a buy-one-get-one-free for me." Gemma shook off the shivers that ran up her back as he spoke and prayed that Clint was nearby.

"What do you want her for?" Gemma inquired, deciding to try and stall him as much as possible. "She's just a girl."

"But she is not just a girl, and this is why you Avenger types ruin everything." Somehow, the man had the audacity to roll his eyes. Gemma scoffed.

"I'm not the one kidnapping her for my own benefit," Gemma retorted.

"But you are kidnapping her."

"For safety. I'll take her home, get her checked, and then rehabbed into society."

"Aww. How cute." This time Gemma rolled her eyes. "But you're in my way, and now you're here, I want to take you with me."

"Can't let that happen, unfortunately." Steve hadn't reappeared in her ear throughout the conversation, and Gemma was glad for it because it made what she did next a hell of a lot easier. Gemma stepped forward, swirling her whip around the man's arm. It hooked on, but as Gemma yanked again, the man shot at her. Gemma ducked and rolled, moving out of the way and narrowly missing the bullet. She re-aimed her whip at the gun and knocked it out of his hand, but of course, he had more guns. Instead, she swung the whip for his neck, tightening the material. At this moment, Gemma decided Tony was allowed to start tinkering with the whips, thinking about how useful it would be to electrocute him or something. And then he pulled off his mask.