Increasingly Painful and Incredibly Close

13.5

They woke up to sirens and the clang of metal blinds slamming down over the floor to ceiling windows.

The tower had been infiltrated.

Clint immediately secured their room, sitting protectively by his husband and activating his comm. "What the fuck is going on?"

Static, then a broken up AI message came through. "Red alert. HYDRA in building."

"Aw, fuck." He sat Pietro up swiftly, wincing at the whine of pain his lover gave.

He took a second before speaking, the early morning stiffness giving his voice an edge of pain. "HYDRA?"

"Yeah, baby. Don't worry, we'll get it taken care of." Clint was swiftly drawing up morning pain meds. "FRIDAY, lock down this room. No one in or out other than me or Kate Bishop."

"Yes sir, Mr. Barton." The robotic voice spoke.

"Lucky, guard." He commanded the lab, who took her position at the foot of the bed, eyes trained on the door. "Good girl."

He pushed the meds through the tube, kissing him. "I'm gonna get Katie to stay with you while I go figure this out. Do you need anything?"

"Just come... back safe." The younger felt helpless, completely unable to do anything about the situation. "Love you."

"I love you too, roadrunner. It'll be okay, trust me." Clint cupped his cheek before leaving, the door locking loudly behind him.

He moved sliently down the hall to Kate's room, opening the door quietly. She flinched from where she was lacing up her arm bracers. "God, Clint. You scared the fuck outta me!" She hissed.

"Go stay with Piet." The elder's voice was tense. "Don't tell him but this could be a ploy to kidnap him. HYDRA intel shows that they want him back."

Kate gasped, eyes wide. "No."

"Go. Go, now!"

●●●

The sound of explosions and gunfire echoed through the tower for hours. Anxiety buzzed within Pietro as he laid in the bed, cursing his sickly form and his inability to fight. Kate sat on the edge of the bed, trying to calm him while still keeping watch. He could see that she was anxious too, her back taught like a bowstring.

Heavy footsteps came down the hallway, stopping to bang on each door until Pietro could hear the hinges give way. They were searching each room, and both of them could hear the person radioing.

"What're they saying?" Kate whispered. "I don't know that language."

"Tema ne... naydena." Pietro rasped, words slurred together. "The subject... is not... found."

The yound archer just knocked an arrow, drawing it back. Her gaze narrowed.

"Lucky... in crate. Don't want... her hurt." His voice was low, fear tinging his tone.

Kate nodded, putting Lucky up as footsteps drew nearer, in time with her pounding heart. She whirled around as the harsh slamming on the door began. "Clint, do you read me?" She whispered, training a trick arrow on the entrance.

"Yeah, what's the deal?" His voice was strained, worry turning it from the smooth stream it was usually to gravel.

Kate winced as the locks began to buckle. "Send backup. We have incoming and it's about to get ugly."

The locks broke and she let the arrow fly.

●●●

"Kate! Kate, report!" All Clint was met with was static. He grit his teeth, growling. "We need all avaliable agents to 5th floor, now!"

"Roger that." Natasha copies, her voice tight.

Clint continued to fight through enemies, trying his hardest to make it to the stairwell. Arrows flew in every direction as a tall man in HYDRA gear opposed him, coming at him with a knife. The archer continued his trek forward, greeting the assassin with an arrow to the eye. Another attempted to jump him from the side, a trick arrow blowing him back and through the window. Time seemed too slow, Clint felt as though he was stuck in quicksand. The enemies were relentless, but he felt nothing as he left a trail of bodies in his wake.

Nothing mattered to him except his mission, his love. He cursed himself for leaving, for going to scope the situation. He doesn't even feel it as a knife clips his side, or a bullet catches his shoulder. Clint is reverted to the assassin he was trained to be, an unstoppable killing force with only one goal in mind. All he cared about was his husband being safe. Brutal killing was in the back of his mind as he shoots a man through the throat that opposes him.

He approached the stairwell, still shouting through the comm at Kate, who had yet to respond. With one final kill, he began to run up the stairs. His heart thudded in his ears as he ran as hard and as fast as he could. He was haltedwhen someone grabbed him from behind, pinning him to the wall.

The person laughed, a mocking tone to their voice. "Clint Barton. Where is your toy?"

"What the fuck are you talking about?' The archer struggled against the hold.

"Your little cripple, hm? He really holds the end of your leash, does he?" Clint felt a cold point press under his chin. "Someone yanks and you come running."

His blood ran cold. "What did you do to him? What the fuck did you do to him?!"

"You really have no clue, do you? He is ours, and we are curious to test exactly how his enhancement interacts with this disease." Again with that fucked up mocking tone. Clint managed to escape the hold, reversing it with a knife to the asshole's neck, finally getting a look at the person.

They had a scar marring the left side of their face, expression unreadable. "Where are you planning to take him?" Clint snarled.

"Hail HYDRA." They foamed from the mouth, going limp. The archer cursed, dropping their body and giving it a firm kick before running up the remaining stairs.

He was breathing hard as he arrived to their floor, seeing how wrecked everything was. His breath shuddered as he saw all the doors kicked in, arriving to their room. It was trashed, Kate tossed in the corner, her head dropped forward, breathing raggedly.

Pietro was no where to be found.