Hollow Scars

It was no more than five minutes that Scarlett had set off on her way, solitary, through the dark and unfamiliar hallways of the Russian MedCo facility that she regretted leaving Natasha and Clint behind. Having spent so much time under cover amongst the guards, Clint would have a far better idea of where Tony was being held than Scarlett could’ve ever guessed. But given the circumstances, it was best that the trio parted ways. Someone had to take control of the building and it couldn’t be her.

Heart heavy in her chest, Scarlett felt her two worlds finally uniting instead of remaining at odds with each other. There was the cold, calloused assassin, calculated and eternally prepared for the next job but also the woman who very much wanted to absolve her sins and save the man she’d foolishly fallen in love with. Even if it was hard to judge that what she felt was truly love given how little time the two had to celebrate their emotions, she didn’t doubt those feelings were honest. Scarlett knew the little bit of humanity she’d regained was worth fighting for, even if it left her vulnerable. Some things were worth the strife and now that she’d at last come to terms with that she was ready to put an end to this MedCo business once and for all. Though she’d thought that on numerous occasions previously, she had always had the smallest sliver of doubt in her mind. That doubt had been eradicated.

She’d put an end to her involvement with MedCo if not for her then she’d do it for Tony. Her life was more than her own now, he’d made that clear to her by how hard he’d fought to follow her around and how determined he’d been to help her even when she’d pushed him away. One way or another, MedCo had to be out of the picture so they could both rest easy. She was sure that no matter what, their lives would be dangerous, but MedCo was making it impossible for her to live. Now Tony had gotten in over his head and they’d make it just as impossible for him. Something had to be done.

“Scarlett!” She turned on her heels and held her gun aimed toward the sound but saw Natasha and Clint running toward her, though neither looked concerned. Still Scarlett scanned the hallway behind them in search of any horrible looking zombie monsters in their wake just in case that was why they were running after her.

“Wait up!” Clint waved his bow over his head to grab her attention, not that he needed to since she was already focused on them.

“No, I’m waiting for the other two SHIELD operatives holed up in here. What does it look like I’m doing?” Scarlett rolled her eyes and holstered her gun. Seconds later when Natasha and Clint had at last made their way to Scarlett she stared at them expectantly. “Did I drop something? What’s the hold up?”

“We figured that it would be best if we came with you for as long as possible.” Natasha clearly had trouble leaving her to her own devices. Despite having expressed confidence in her abilities only minutes prior, there was worry behind her eyes. It was weird to see Natasha with such emotion, since the Black Widow she’d known years prior had been as cold and as calculated as she was. Though, Scarlett guessed it was just as weird for Natasha to see Scarlett as torn apart as she was.

Life got weirder every day it seemed.

“Would’ve been handy if you said that before I started off…” Scarlett was glad that they’d decided to join her for a portion of the journey, but it was in her nature to continue joking given the seriousness of the situation. Humor eased the tension; at least it did for her.

“Well, we didn’t think of how much easier that’d be until after you left.” Clint nodded, pulling an arrow from his quiver and aiming his bow toward the floor as the trio walked through the hall speaking in hushed voices.

“What he means to say is that I didn’t think of it until after you left, Clint was deciding the best approach to get to the control room on the top floor. They keep all the electronic surveillance equipment up there, even though the backup generators are in an external shed.” Natasha was taking mental inventory of the ammunition she had left. She didn’t want to be caught without in such a hostile environment.

“Almost everything, including the generators can be controlled from that top floor. It’s a crow’s nest of sorts and with the highest security MedCo has available. It’ll be no mean feat getting through those doors and getting access to those controls. But if we do, we can call backup directly to us and take the building down in less than five minutes as long as all goes according to plan once we’re in there.” Clint explained as they walking along, taking the lead since he was the only one familiar with the building.

“You can also shut down the building from there and prevent any other MedCo assholes from escaping. I take it security central is up there too? Video footage… so if I can’t find Tony on my own then you can lead me to him once you’re there.” Scarlett kept her hand on her gun ready to pull it out at a moment’s notice. It was a shame that so many guards had gotten in their way, but she was guessing that MedCo viewed them as disposable.

“Yes, but my guess is that he’s on the floor above where you were being kept so one down from here. If Scott went after him then that’s your bigger problem. If he’s as hard to kill as Erick was… I suppose you could try to get that weird gun off of him.” Clint grimaced then held his hand up to signal their group to stop. The women obeyed and Natasha silently reloaded the cartridge on her arm. Scarlett missed her Tesla device more than ever and looked to Natasha’s wristbands jealously. Once she got the chance she’d rebuild it and do a more efficient job. The advancements she had developed for it even over the last week were momentous and would revolutionize the way she did her job or whatever job she planned on doing after all was said and done. Clint looked back over his shoulder and then nodded his head to signal that he’d heard guards, holding up three fingers.

Scarlett crouched down so that Natasha could climb on her back and spread across the ceiling of the corridor and try to take a few of them by surprise. Surely Scott had alerted the remaining troops of their existence and resistance would be met at every angle. When it came down to it, Scarlett’s ex-boyfriend was still a frightful coward and manipulated others to do his dirty work for him. The experiments and enhancements done to his body couldn’t change the man he was deep down underneath that. A cowardly, weak, and frail man was what remained. After having uncovered the truth Scarlett realized that she’d held Scott on an unrealistic pedestal in the past. He was nowhere near half the man she had thought he was. Sweet, supportive Scott was nothing more than a douchebag.

Both Scarlett and Hawkeye crouched in nearby doorways, listening for the footfalls that Clint had heard only moments prior. She meant to ask him how he’d done that but never got the chance to, at least not on that particular occasion. But when the soldiers never came as they suspected they would, Natasha leapt down from the ceiling and shook out a cramp in her leg.

“What happened?” Scarlett whispered, still holding her gun and ready for a fight but no longer huddled in the doorway of an empty room. Clint looked confused and listened, holding a finger up to silence his curious teammates.

“They turned away. I don’t get it. They know we’re sitting ducks down here.” Shaking his head, Clint sounded exasperated. Why weren’t there guards mowing them down? Scarlett turned to look in the room she’d used for temporary cover but found nothing out of the ordinary. It was what she had expected to find; a room filled with desks and tables where experiments had been done. Papers were on the floor but if Sergei’s men were digging around then it was likely that they had shuffled through some of the rooms and left them in disarray.

“They should be surrounding us and trying to thwart our attempts to get to Tony or to get Scarlett out.” Natasha seemed just as befuddled as Clint but just as suspicious as Scarlett.

“Unless they’re sure that we won’t get there. But that’s an awful lot of confidence from MedCo. There has to be a different reason.” Scarlett looked past Hawkeye and into the room behind him when something caught her eye.

“It doesn’t make sense. Security protocol is clear for situations like this. Lock down is the first thing to happen but… surely Scott and Mikhail aren’t stupid enough to not notice that there are people crawling around. Something’s wrong.”

“Move.” Scarlett shoved at Clint’s shoulder playfully and he pouted but didn’t move out of the way. Natasha grabbed his arm and tugged him away so that Scarlett could get past him.

“What is it?” Following after her friend, Natasha peered curiously around Hawkeye.

“This room is trashed.” Scarlett peered around the tossed over filing cabinets and flipped over tables. Paper was scattered about the room. If she hadn’t known better she would’ve guessed that Erick had thrown a tantrum in the office before coming after her.

“So?” Hawkeye peered around the doorway. “You said your friend had people sneaking around, maybe they made a mess in the process.”

“No, no…they’re trying to be discreet. Someone was doing something in here and they did it in a hurry. The other rooms are torn apart, but this looks like… well, it’s a disaster.”

“She’s right.”

“Of course she is. That’s why you guys do all the sneaking. I just shoot stuff and look pretty.” Clint rolled his eyes. Though he didn’t brag about it, he had nearly as many skills as the Black Widow did but his execution had always been a bit off outside of his bow and arrow. Though, he was known to be handy with a sword as well. Clint had more than one super hero alter ego, Hawkeye just happened to be the costume he wore that particular day. A bow was where he felt most comfortable, even though he was more than capable with guns and blades.

“Someone was looking for something in a panic, but what? And why are all these rooms… empty?” Scarlett propped one of the overturned desks back up, leaning against it once it was upright so that she could rest her worn body. The bullet wound that had grazed her when she’d fought Scott was aching and pulling with ever movement she made. Usually Scarlett was good at ignoring pain, but being sick had lowered her threshold for it. Somehow it was much harder to convince her body that the pain shooting up her arm and down the back of her neck were simply signals sent from her nerve endings into her brain and translated as pain.

Though to be perfectly honest, Scarlett had dealt with the crippling ache in her chest caused by her illness for so long that now she didn’t notice it at all. It would probably feel strange when she could breathe properly again, considering how long she’d been dealing with the chest congestion. Days blurred into weeks and she couldn’t even recall what time of year it was anymore or how long she’d been sick. Though she knew it was summer, specifically, she didn’t know what time in the summer it was. Her birthday was in the summer, she wondered if it had passed yet.

Natasha was peering through the files for anything of note, but it seemed that huge chunks of the data had been extracted and removed. The whole situation was suspicious, but at this point no one was surprised by MedCo’s devious attempts to cover their tracks. After Scarlett had blown the last building to smithereens with the help of (even if it was unknowingly) Tony Stark, they had likely taken precautionary measures in the event that such a thing recurred.

“Guys, this place is being evacuated.” Clint shouted from somewhere down the hall.

“Good job being discreet, Barton!” Scarlett shouted back, but didn’t bother moving toward the hallway to get closer to him. Clint reappeared in the doorway moments later with a sly look on his face, though behind that they could see worry in his blue eyes.

“What’s the point of staying quiet? I mean they already know we’re in here and no one seems to be around.”

“You never alert your position. You got us in big trouble like that once, remember?” Natasha rolled her eyes but searched down the hallway. “The whole place is being evacuated?”

“Do you think that your friend Sergei could be abducting people?” Clint nodded toward the corridor. At least that would explain the strange disappearances of the employees and guards that had once roamed the halls. Natasha couldn’t explain it but the sinking feeling in her stomach was telling her that something much different was going on.

“No, there are files missing, too. I mean, he’s in here looking for information but… these are not the kinds of files he would’ve taken. Personnel reports… financial information. He was looking for lab reports and hopeful of finding an antidote to some of the drugs that have been administered in the waters across the eastern countries here. Why would they take this stuff?” Scarlett looked back to the other two who shrugged.

“That sounds more like something MedCo would want to dispose of,” mused Clint out loud while he searched the room across the hall. Scarlett was just about to abandon the room she was in so she could continue her search for Tony when something caught her eye.

“What is it, Scarlett?” Natasha grabbed Clint by the arm to bring his attention back to where her friend was now pushing over a filing cabinet.

“Careful…” Clint winced. He’d seen the condition she’d arrived in and knew that every movement had to hurt. But Clint was a baby when it came to wounds even if he tried to act like a tough guy about it.

“They were prepared for this.” Scarlett found what she was looking for in the far corner of the room. One of the tiles had been pulled up and tossed aside carelessly to reveal a small electronic object that Scarlett knew all too well. Her heart was suddenly thundering in her ears. This changed everything. How was she going to find Tony and get him out of there in time? That was if Scott hadn’t already dragged him away beyond her reach, of course.

Turning, she swung at the air to avoid hitting the wall. Clint and Natasha looked confused and walked over to where she’d been standing. Each saw the electronic device and recognized it for what it was. Cursing, Clint ran his hand through his short hair and exhaled a shaky breath. Scarlett disappeared into the hallway, and neither one of them paid attention to which direction she’d headed in.

“We can’t let this happen. We have to try and buy her some time.” Natasha whispered under her breath, sure that Scarlett had gone either to think over what she needed to do next or to find something to punch.

“We’re already on borrowed time, Tasha.” Clint warned under his breath.

“I know.” Natasha sighed but was formulating a plan in her mind. Moments later, Scarlett returned with her arms full. She handed Natasha a bulletproof vest and slipped on the other she’d carried in with her. Back in the room that had been destroyed by Erick and the fight that had ensued she’d taken what remained of the armor that hadn’t been destroyed during their battle. Any extra protection would help with what they needed to do. She was sure that any of the guards who had stayed behind would be crowded around the two places they would have to go. The control room that Clint had mentioned was likely guarded by those who were willing to die for MedCo’s cause and Scott had likely brought a team of thugs to protect him since it seemed in his nature to have others do his grunt work.

“Suit up, we’ve got some work to do. This place is wired to blow.” Scarlett nodded toward the device at the far end of the room.

“Why would they do that? A self destruct mechanism? Is it just for these rooms down here filled with sensitive information?” Clint was still confused.

“Hell if I know.” Scarlett shrugged her shoulders and handed them both walkie-talkies after adjusting the frequency so they were set to the same ones. “After what happened in South Africa… I blew the place to high hell and Tony showed up and only made it worse I don’t know what they’re thinking.” Scarlett hooked the walkie-talkie on her belt and then looked back to Clint and Natasha who did the same, Clint discarding the one he’d already had from his undercover work with MedCo. There hadn’t been transmissions on it for hours, he guessed that those who needed to be in the know were communicating in other ways. “My assumption is that after that they’re going to plan to go out on their own terms.”

“Or that it went so well for them because they were untraceable after those explosions went off that they borrowed the idea. SHIELD scoured that place and found nothing… not even a sign of you, Scarlett.” Natasha looked at her thoughtfully.

“Well, someone went back and screwed around there to taunt me, so maybe SHIELD should take a second look when they get the chance.” Scarlett muttered, recalling the haunting message scrawled on the wall when she’d returned to the scene of her original captivity by MedCo. “I don’t know how extensive these things are or even if there are other explosives, but I can guarantee you that thing is a detonator and I can tell you it’s a big middle finger to me.”

“Why is that?” Clint grimaced, taking the extra ammo Scarlett had offered as well as the gloves that she’d stolen from the corpses in the other room. It was morbid, but if they were going to be facing the worst guards MedCo had to offer they needed to be prepared.

“I designed it.” Scarlett adjusted the Kevlar vest around her. The bruises on her sides from being kicked around by Scott were objecting to being constricted and loudly at that. “It’s the same detonator I used on the artificial limbs I filled with explosives before I broke out of that place. All I can tell you is that this is very, very bad. They knew I’d get here eventually which means that they planned to destroy this place from the get go, probably with me inside of it.”

“It’s time to split up.” Natasha started into the hallway. “You go downstairs and try to find Tony.” Natasha pointed toward the far end of the hall. “Clint and I will head upstairs and distract the guards for as long as we can. Eventually we’ll make our way to the control room and see if we can find out more about the detonator in that room. With any luck, maybe it’s the only one.”

“My guess is the whole place is rigged to blow,” grimaced Clint, obviously not willing to look on the bright side of things. “Not that it means we’re going to try any less to stick to the plan.” He spoke defensively before either woman could argue with him. He had the distinct feeling that Scarlett was going to continue with her plan no matter what they chose to do and he wanted to genuinely help her but within the realm of reason.

He knew that Natasha wasn’t going to let Scarlett walk into the lion’s den cover in blood either. Both had been through hell on their own terms, they at least wanted to provide Scarlett with as much assistance as they could while they still had the means and opportunity.

“I agree with Clint on this one. This whole place is probably going to blow to high heaven but they won’t do that with Mikhail and Scott still inside. Both of them are far too valuable. They need time to remove what’s precious to them so that buys us some time thought not much.” Scarlett pulled off her bulletproof vest, ditched her leather jacket and then put the vest back on. With just her tank top, the pressure on her side was lessened and the discomfort much more manageable.

“We’ll do our best to make that as long as we possibly can. When things get too dangerous I’ll send you a message.” Natasha nodded resolutely. Scarlett smiled just slightly then checked her gun for about the fortieth time to make sure that it was loaded.

“We’ve already wasted too much time. Good luck. If you have to leave, I understand but I’m not leaving without Tony. He’d do the same for me.” Scarlett gestured toward the hallway.

“We’ll make sure that you both get out of here alive.” Clint looked more determined than before. Scarlett gave them one more nod before disappearing down the hallway. Natasha adjusted her bulletproof vest that fit awkwardly due to her shorter stature then looked back to Clint.

“Lead the way, Hawkeye,” spoke Natasha, hungry for action but also nervous that they’d all be blown to high heaven before the night was over. Visits to Russia never seemed to end well, at least not for Natasha. She had a love-hate relationship with the place. Something always seemed to explode and nearly kill her at the end of her visits, even if they were on vacation. Clint started back through the room where Erick still lay, a smoldering corpse that he had set on fire as he had promised Scarlett he would. Looking up toward the door on the wall that had once been accessible, Clint winced. “Let me guess, we have to get up there?” Natasha’s sardonic tone said it all.

“Yeah, of course we do.” Clint shrugged his shoulders and then offered his hand so that she could get a boost and pry the door open. “Ladies first.”

“You’re such a bullshit gentleman.” Natasha used the hand he offered to jump up, grab the door handle, tug on it enough to get it to turn, then pulled open the door. She then climbed over the door with the help of the same handle and clambered inside. When she didn’t offer a hand to help Clint up, he withdrew the same grappling arrow he’d used in the fight with Erick and pulled himself up to join her. The next level of the building, which was the main floor was more hectic than the lower one.

People were running left and right escorted by men in black out of the way, some of them in handcuffs and others free to move on their own accord. Natasha and Clint avoided the masses running through the building and headed toward the stairwell at the end of the hall that would lead them to the top floor where they could then locate the spiral staircase they would have to climb up several flights to get to the very top of the control tower. There was nothing else up that high other than the control tower and Clint guessed that the stairwell was going to be a death trap.

“This way.” Natasha crept low in the hallway, despite her already short stature. For now the MedCo guards were paying them no mind but were instead trying desperately to execute the evacuation order and avoid the intruders who were quickly overwhelming their efforts. There was a woman at the far end of the hallway shouting orders and Natasha thought she recognized her but didn’t have time to confirm that she was Marcia Edmonton, the third leader of MedCo and as far as she was personally concerned the most worrisome.

It seemed that the woman was never actually associated with anything MedCo did which meant she was careful, very careful. Mikhail was different; he didn’t care if he got caught because he had some kind of a God complex from what she could tell after reading his file. But Marcia knew that she wasn’t beyond reproach. She knew that every empire eventually fell and when MedCo’s did she didn’t want to fall with it. People who had something to lose were often more calculated than those who didn’t care.

“Tasha, duck!” Clint shouted when they at last started up the stairwell. Someone was yelling at them from behind. A handful of guards had finally caught on that they hadn’t belonged amongst the rushing crowds. Natasha did as she was asked and ducked low on the stairs so that Clint would be able to shoot the guard racing toward her, which he did artfully. Before anyone could follow after, Natasha kicked what remained of the guard out the door and pulled some wire from her belt then tied the handle of the door to the lock box on the wall. It wouldn’t last forever if pressed but it would buy them some time to get up the stairs undeterred.

The bowstring of Hawkeye’s impressive bow made a very distinct sound as he shot upwards on the staircase toward a new group of guards coming down. The guard lost his balance and fell over the railing, crashing near Natasha on the stairs. She jumped over the railing and ran in front of Clint.

“One more floor, right?” She shouted back, twisting the mechanisms on her wrists until they triggered and built up current she could use to knock out the guards that weren’t horrible undead monsters. She knew as well as the rest of them did that some of the men were working stiffs like Clint who just needed the money that MedCo offered while some were in it for the glory and wicked things they got to do. There was no mark on their faces that would tell Natasha the difference, so she acted with caution.

If she could knock men out instead of going after them at full force she’d feel a bit better after all was said and done. She had enough blood on her hands already for one day.

“Yeah, you can’t go any higher than that on this staircase. Highest floor, the security access will be hard to bypass…”

“Don’t worry, I can get past that no problem. Worry about that when we get there, Hawkeye!” Natasha shocked one guard and threw him over the side of the railing where he fell on top of the man who already lay dead from the arrow that Clint had fired into him. She watched to make sure he didn’t get up but then grabbed onto the railing as another guard reached for her in an attempt to disarm her.

She swung underneath the railing, grabbed onto the lowest part of the stair rail and then pulled herself back up behind him. Clint swung his bow and captured the guard’s head between the string and the bow itself before twisting it around, making the guard loose his footing on the steps. After he fell, Natasha jumped the few steps downward to close the gap and shocked the man with the tasers on her wrists. He twitched momentarily then fell unconscious. Natasha lifted her hands, let the cartridges in her gauntlets fall away then reloaded them for the next shock.

The two agents then ran up the stairs, not bothering to muffle their footfalls as they went. Stealth was usually their utmost priority but neither one of them thought they had the time to be that careful. There were no remaining guards on the stairwell but they were both sure that the next level would be loaded with them and were likely all centralized around the one place that they needed to be.

“Too bad we can’t knock out the lights again. How did Scarlett do that anyway?” Clint whispered when they reached the door at the top. He shoved at the lock and the door handle but it didn’t budge.

“She’s better at this electronic stuff than we are. Move it.” Natasha pushed him out of the way then pulled from her belt another round disc which she pressed a button on and then stuck it to the wall next to the lock mechanism. Grabbing Clint’s arm she stepped down a few feet and covered her ears. Clint looked at her cautiously, then back to the blinking disc on the wall before covering his ears. It was none too soon that he’d done so because the disc blew up and left a hole in the wall next to the lock.

“I see you’ve gotten some new toys.” Clint uncovered his ears and dusted himself free of the brick dust that had come from the explosion. “Good job warning me.”

“You figured it out. Give yourself more credit.” Natasha shrugged and then headed up the stairs and stuck her hand in the hole in the wall before pulling the bunch of wires that triggered the lock. It beeped, turned green leaving her free to pull the handle. She smiled triumphantly.

“Show off.” Clint narrowed his eyes and then ducked as a shot rang through the open door toward them. In the hall, positioned behind various over turned desks and tables were several of the guards that they had fought earlier and had accompanied Erick. Only now it seemed that they had orders to shoot on sight. Thankfully their aim wasn’t very good, considering their state of being experiments and probably undead. Some could barely hold their weapons properly. But still the shots rang out and even one poor shot could hit them in the wrong place and end things.

“We have to be cautious.” Natasha hid on the staircase while the shots rang out. She counted them off in her head and tried to judge when she had time to run forward. “Can you pick off a few from here? If I can get behind them and to the stairwell then we might have the advantage.”

Hawkeye cocked his gun, deciding it was far easier to use than his bow would be in the crouched position. He was a master of his craft but even he couldn’t hold a bow at such an odd angle on a staircase.

“I’ll buy you some time, but Tasha… be careful. I can’t dream of killing them from this far back and they don’t fall easy, not with that much armor on.” Clint frowned. It was weird getting used to such resilient soldiers, particularly the kind that were only half alive. He wondered how long they had planned to take these soldiers, if they had removed them from their posts, faking a promotion before putting them under the knife and setting them up for a fall. Were they volunteers for some super secret soldier program, having no idea what they were in for? MedCo promised medical advancements that they couldn’t deliver on.

Every recreation of the Super Soldier serum had been nothing but a horrific failure thus far and many had given their lives to experience a taste of it. Had these men and women been included in their ranks? Clint had thought about that on many occasions and had done his best to lay low and fly straight in order to keep his life and to not end up being offered the “next level” of soldier. He was perfectly okay with being a flawed human being, thank you very much.

Had MedCo really been onto him for as long as Scott had claimed? Was that why he had managed to avoid running into any snags? They had let him infiltrate their ranks and figured they’d let him die when the chance came, but didn’t want to cause any further frustrations for themselves.

That in mind, Clint aimed his gun and fired at the reanimated soldiers waiting for them. The first bullet ricocheted off of the helmet of the closest soldier. He fired sloppy retaliation shots but they went over their heads and into the back wall of the stairwell. Clint fired a second round, the gun steady in his hand and one eye focused on the target in front of him. His bullet hit the same target and shattered the helmet, hitting the assailant dead in the face with such force that he flew backwards.

“Nice shot,” whispered Natasha over her shoulder as she pulled out her own gun. Glancing upward she saw the lights teetering in the hallway blown by some unnatural wind. “We could still have the shadows on our side.”

“Smart thinking.” Clint gritted his teeth and chose his next shot carefully. He grazed the shoulder of the next guard who fell back, his head lolling unnaturally but offering up a much larger target than once available. Firing the second kill shot quickly, Clint knocked off the second guard and then got up from where he’d been crouching. Natasha shot the light above him before following after him into the narrow hallway. Without the first light it was nearly completely pitch black in the passage. There were only small windows like the portholes of a ship nearby and they were covered with a dark film.

Very little light illuminated the hall naturally and that was by design. It was built like the deck of a ship. Maybe the creatures were sensitive to the natural light, like vampires or something. It was only a theory but there was no time to put it to the test. The glass in the porthole windows was likely bulletproof and not worth the energy or ammunition it would take to break through it.

Shots rang left and right once the lights had gone out. The reanimated soldiers were groaning and talking to each other in hushed voices and simple words but even then, Natasha and Clint couldn’t make out what they were saying. They instead tried to pick off more of the guards and get closer to the spiral staircase in the middle of the hallway. Several guards were backing up through the hall. Natasha broke the light nearby and then another light ahead of them. In the confusion, she was able to rush forward in the darkness and remove several helmets from several guards, leaving them exposed for Hawkeye to aim and shoot at with the device that aided him to see in the dark. Arrow after arrow whistled in the shadows.

Once out of the stairwell he was able to go back to using his bow, since he had better aim with it and it was much quieter so it wouldn’t reveal his position. But as they got closer to the stairwell, he was running low on arrows and would have to eventually go back to his gun. That was about the only thing that made his gun more beneficial, was that the amount of ammunition he was able to carry around was far more substantial than what he could carry for his bow in his quiver.

Using this method the duo were able to make their way through the darkness and to the spiral staircase that had been half damaged by one of the guards during the fray. Clint boosted Natasha so she could begin climbing but they heard something peculiar that made them stop short before he climbed after her.

“…Clint.” Natasha began cautiously looking into the darkness and seeing what she feared she’d heard. The sound of a string of large ammunition being fed into a very large gun signaled they had no time left to lose.

“I wasn’t sure they could fire those things the way that they are. It requires a lot of control.”

“We’ll be swiss cheese if they get it going,” Natasha hissed.

“Just go, I’ll take care of this.” Clint nodded after hesitating, considering what he had to do. It wouldn’t be easy, but if he climbed after Natasha they’d be shredded. This way he could provide a distraction and hopefully kill the remainder of the guards in the hall and disable the turret before it did too much damage. “And be quiet about it okay?”

“Like I’m ever not quiet.” Natasha retaliated but was already halfway up the staircase.

“Just do what I asked, okay?” Clint laughed and then reloaded one of the last few arrows he had. It was another explosive arrow and hopefully if he created enough chaos or did enough damage to the turret he would delay it being loaded. But before his quiver finished loading the arrowhead one of the guards yelled in an unnatural groan. Clint knew what that meant, even if it hadn’t made sense when he’d heard it.

Dropping to the ground behind the nearby overturned desk that had been used by the guards to take cover when they’d first approached, Clint covered his head and ducked as low as he could to avoid being shot. Bullets tore through the desk above him, through the walls left and right of him but thankfully the darkness provided him more cover than he had thought. The screaming whir of the turret hurt his ears but he made no noise to reveal his position. He’d have to wait for the gun to either jam or need to cool down before he could take his shot and that moment would be crucial.

The gunfire was drawn away and upward, so Clint cursed and hoped that Natasha wasn’t the new target. Maybe the guards thought that he’d climbed up with her since they hadn’t seen him make another move. Grabbing his gun he swung it around from the side of the desk and fired in the general direction of the guards without any actual attempt aim. The fire had the desired effect and he swore he heard the groan of one of the creatures as though he had been hit by the bullet. That would be dumb luck.

Clint could only hope that was the case. Soon the bullets were tearing through the desk that he’d crawled behind and they were doing it so intensely that soon enough the desk fell apart. Instinct kicked in. Clint rolled onto his stomach and crawled across the hall behind an overturned table but he knew it would only be seconds before that was torn to shreds too.

Natasha, meanwhile, on the creaky spiral staircase climbed up as quickly as she could. Gunfire had almost reached her but she realized that Clint must have kept his word and provided distraction as it got drawn away. At the top of the narrow passageway with nothing but the staircase inside of it was a thick metallic door and it was, surprise-surprise, locked. After a second spent fiddling with it, Natasha knew she wouldn’t be breaking that lock and would have to blow through it as she had done with the one on the stairs. But doing so in the confined space would be dangerous and there was no way she could go back to the floor below and risk being shot. So Natasha did the only thing she could do. She set the charge and jumped between the railings of the staircase to the halfway mark and hoped that it would be enough distance between her and the explosion that she wouldn’t take any substantial damage.

The blast went off and shook the entire hallway beneath. Being in such an odd space, the blast force was magnified and funneled toward the ground. Shrapnel and Natasha flew down into the hall below. Thankfully this provided Clint with the distraction he needed and he was able to finally launch the arrow he’d readied from his quiver. Sliding across the metal in the darkness, leaving himself out in the open, he aimed at the turret and let the arrow fly.

It met its target and just as the guards were preparing to fire the gun again the arrowhead exploded and sent them flying away from it. Getting to his feet, he ran over to the turret, which he saw was disabled thanks to the explosion, ripped the ammunition belt out of it just in case, and then took out the remaining guards. Natasha was soon behind him, looking rattled and scraped up but still as determined as ever. He didn’t insult her by asking if she was alright, he simply let her do her job which was taking out the rest of the lights in the hall. The two walked down the remainder of the hallway, checked the stairwell at the other end, and then locked it the best they could. It wouldn’t be a permanent solution but it would slow down any forces that came after them. Since they had the time they barred the door to the stairwell that they had used to get into the top floor just in case. Any extra precautions would aid them later.

Back in the center of the long hallway, they looked at the wreckage of the door that Natasha had blown to pieces and grimaced. If they climbed up the now rickety staircase and there were men in the control room waiting for them to climb up it would be like shooting fish in a barrel.

“What can we do? Got any other cool new toys that might help?” Clint looked over to Natasha who was obviously already considering their situation. Her head was pounding and her hands were bloody and scraped up but she wasn’t going to let it bother her for the time being. Much like Scarlett, Natasha was very much into the here and now and the rest of her problems could wait until she had the time to deal with them. Clint was glad that he worked with her because he knew if he had been in her place he’d probably be whining on the floor until he dealt with the bleeding.

Depending on the severity of the wound and the day of the week of course, sometimes Clint could take a beating that Natasha couldn’t even dream of. But after the last month of being undercover with MedCo, Clint’s nerves were already on edge and he was ready to get the hell out of there. He had never anticipated this being how he would blow his cover after so much time spent trying to blend in.

“No, but you do.” Natasha finally spoke after what seemed like forever but was actually only a few seconds. “Smoke bomb. It’s our best bet. Shoot it up there and wait it out. Thankfully the air will clear pretty quickly, but it would at least buy us the cover that we need.” She pointed to one of the arrows in his quiver and he looked impressed.

“Well, that’s handy. I wish you would’ve told me about that earlier. And about the pulse that went out after that last bomb. I mean… I’m pretty sure that wasn’t in there before.”

“Yeah, well I forgot okay? I’ve had quite a bit more on my mind than I usually would.” Natasha rolled her eyes. “Now, will you get on with it?” She held her hand in mock of how he held his bow and wiggled her fingers. He nodded his head and chose the arrow she’d pointed too. As skillfully as every other shot he’d fired, he aimed and landed the arrow right on its target. The smoke bomb went off and went traveling upward through the tunnel with the staircase and spread throughout the control room above.

There were sounds of struggling up top and one body fell down the steps, rolled off and landed flat on its back at Natasha’s and Clint’s feet, having moved out of the way just in time when the smoke had spread downward. After they’d waited as long as they thought they could afford, they climbed the ladder into the control room.

Thankfully the gas had dissipated quickly into the ventilation system and been rendered harmless. But it had done its job well enough. In the control room they found three other guards, all unconscious on the floor from the gas. Natasha quickly disposed of them, throwing them from the hole in the floor once she’d bound their hands together. She then looking around for something to cover the doorway with.

“I sort of regret blowing that up.” Natasha sighed, as she realized that the shrapnel pieces that remained of the door weren’t enough to provide them cover.

“Yeah, the only thing I can think for you to do is to take apart that chair and use it to block the doorway but that won’t hold for long. Keep it open, provides us with a vantage point so that we can pick off anyone who comes after us. It’s not the best idea, being stuck up here…” Clint cleared his throat and turned his attention back to the complicated machinery in front of him.

“That’s as good a plan as any. I think we have a little while before we’re in trouble. I already sent a distress signal to SHIELD. They should be here within the hour with aid.”

“I’m pretty sure the guards will break in before then.” Clint grimaced, searching for anything in the computers or on the controls that had to do with detonation or self destruct but found nothing. Natasha found the breaker on the wall and pulled it open. If there were any weapons built in that needed a serious draw of power from the building they would be listed on the breaker.

“Found it!” Clint yelled from across the room, but not from where either one of them had hoped they’d find it. On the floor, beneath a metallic panel was a series of lights and each one had a switch next to it. Each switch had been flipped and they had lit up a brilliant yellow.

“It looks like this whole damn place is rigged to blow.” Natasha winced after looking at the lights. Picking up her radio she called to Scarlett. “It’s what you feared. I’ll let you know how much time.” Scarlett didn’t respond but Natasha didn’t need her to. The message had been delivered, there wasn’t much else that she could do, no purpose that a response would serve and she knew Scarlett wouldn’t provide one.

“It gets worse.” Clint tapped the top of the board to a black piece that was blinking.

“What is that?” whispered Natasha, leaning closer to it and brushing her fingers against it.

“Wireless connection. This thing’s got a remote detonator. This is just what sent the signal out to the explosives rigged throughout the building. Whoever built this planned to be long gone by the time it went off.” Clint shook his head. Natasha reached to flip some of the switches on the board.

“Can’t we just turn it off?”

“No, once they’re activated they’re activated.” Clint shook his head. “I’ve seen these before… in Mumbai. It didn’t end well, let me tell you.” Clint grimaced. “I was in the burn unit for a long time after that… man, I’m not looking forward to that again.”

“We’re going to stop it before it come to that. Look, the bombs haven’t gone off yet so whoever it is must not be to safety. Can you get outside from here?” Natasha got up and turned back to the massive control panel spread about the room. Monitors glimmered along every wall, some higher tech than others.

“I’m about to find out.” Clint stood up and pointed to the panel on the floor. “Start ripping up the floor around that thing. See if you can figure out how devastating these bombs are, the grade of explosives… and then maybe if there’s a timer on it. If you can, pull at the wireless receiver! If we can find a way to disconnect it then maybe we can keep the transmission from ever reaching the damn thing if it hasn’t triggered it already.”

“When did you become such a bomb expert?” Natasha looked back at him, though she wasn’t sure what she was going to do even if she could get inside the receiver to stop transmission. Electronics were not her forte. She knew more than most but the stuff MedCo had available was way over her head. If only she hadn’t sent Scarlett down on her own to find Tony Stark, then they’d be in the clear. She bet that Scarlett or even Tony could’ve rewired the whole thing already while they’d been musing over how the hell to do it.

“After that one blew me up, obviously.” Clint shrugged his shoulders and then pulled the computer chair from one of the technical desks into the middle of the room. “There’s a hatch here.” Clint pushed open the heavy door and then lifted himself out of it so he could get a better look at the outside world. “Holy hell…”

“What is it?” Natasha was prying up pieces of the floor around the panel so that she could hopefully get more information on the bomb that they were dealing with. There were hundreds of wires going from the box to somewhere down below in the floor. Whoever had rigged the explosives had taken special care to wire it throughout the building. “This is so bad.” She muttered beneath her breath. If she had to, she would call Scarlett up on the radio and ask for help though she wasn’t sure that Scarlet would have the time to offer them help.

“You have to see this to believe it.” Clint mumbled, staring slack jawed at the sight in front of him. Natasha took the hand he offered her and climbed onto the roof of the building. Surrounding the facility on all sides were armed forces from MedCo, preparing for the worst. There were men in black aiming their guns at them but not making a move forward. And neither Natasha nor Clint could blame them for it either. The sheer amount of guards that stood armed and ready for battle was absolutely terrifying.

“Even if Scarlett gets Tony she’s never going to be able to get out of here until SHIELD gets here and something tells me we don’t have that kind of time.” Natasha turned to look at Clint who was nodding his head. “The transmitter can’t be that strong right? Not through this thick metal?”

“Not unless it’s hooked up to that satellite up there.” Clint nodded, knowing what he had to do.

“I’ll try and figure out how much time we have left, you work on tracking that signal.” Natasha patted Clint on his shoulder and then jumped back down into the control room below. Clint grumbled something about heights and how he hated having to deal with them just because he preferred a higher vantage point. “You volunteered to go up there, don’t whine!”

“I didn’t volunteer for this. I volunteered to get a better look.” Clint yelled back down but climbed up the thin and frail looking ladder until he reached the satellite high above that blinked red as it transmitted signals to and from the building. Digging a wire from his pocket, Clint pulled open the back panel and worked on finding a way to connect the satellite to his phone so he could intercept the signal and try to find how far away the radio transmitter was that would set off the remaining bombs.

Natasha continued to pull away panels and then stopped when she found a timer attached to the top.

“Clint?”

“What is it? I’m sorta busy in a dangerous place.” He yelled back from up above, still working with the wires and holding his phone in his mouth.

“I’m not sure it’s got a remote transmitter.” Natasha pushed her curly red hair away from the bloodied wound on her forehead.

“Why is that?”

“There’s a timer here blinking down from thirty three minutes.” She shouted, walking over to the hatch in the ceiling so she could look up at Clint.

“That’s probably a failsafe… a guarantee that the bombs will go off if the receiver goes out of range.” Clint felt disheartened. He hoped they’d at least have an hour.

“So that’s it then? We have a half an hour at most.” Natasha paced the floor.

“Unless we figure out a way to shut it off? Yeah, we have less than a half an hour.” Clint continued to fiddle with the receiver. “If I can intercept the signal, there’s still a chance I can trick the detonator into thinking I’ve disabled it.”

“Good plan, I’m going to keep looking down here to see what I can do.” Natasha felt skeptical that either option was going to work so she picked up her phone and put in a call to SHIELD while she pried. The answering machine that picked up immediately without any message was something she was used to. It was standard communication for SHIELD agents so they couldn’t easily be traced. “Send backup immediately. We have a half an hour before this place is a crater.” Ending the call she hoped that the message would be taken with urgency.

She hoped that if nothing else, Scarlett would get to Tony in time and get him to safety. When the timer got down to ten minutes she would try to contact her friend in hopes she could help disarm the bomb and save all their lives.

But Natasha was hoping that, by some miracle, it wouldn’t come to that.