Prismatic ⇒ Avengers [ 2 ]

Falling and Flying

Unsurprisingly, sitting in a fixed position with metal wrapped around you is really, really uncomfortable. I have to keep cracking my neck to stop crank developing in it, and my shoulder is aching horribly. Someone's wrapped it in a bandage, but I keep having flashbacks of my green muscle pushing the bullet out, and it makes me want to throw up.

I'm also aware that time is running out- I flinch at the slightest sound, convinced it's Arachne, ready to take me away. But as minute after minute ticks by, she doesn't appear. Must be a long flight. At least it tells me that her base hasn't been in the USA- or maybe she's just doing something before she gets here.

Basically, I'm still in the dark.

I'm trying to crack my back, which is really beginning to hurt, when I hear the slow scraping sound of feet on concrete, outside the door. Immediately, my heart rate shoots up to a million and I sit up as much as I can, my eyes fixed on the door as I struggle to move my legs. This is it. She's here. I'm about to see Arachne Alkaev again. I'm about to see Jake again.

I clench my fists so tightly it feels like my knuckles will split, and take a calming breath.
"If you go after any of the others, I swear to god-"
"Well, I'll drop my vendetta against Pierce, then." An amused purple voice says. My eyes fly open.
"Clint?" I'm greeted by a grinning face as the archer closes the door, pulling what looks like a small black box from his pocket. "Oh my god, how-"
"I'll tell you later, the others are waiting." He presses the box against the beeping panel of lights that presumable controls the bands around my body, and after a second, the metal slides away from my body. I heave out a breath, almost falling to the floor, but Clint manages to catch me just in time. "Did he hurt you?"
"No," I gasp a breath in. I had presumed the fire in my chest was from where I'd been strapped down, but then I remember the shot that hit me- the shot fired by the Soldat. "No, I'm good."
"Okay, we need to get out of here fast." Clint says. "No punching holes in the sides of the building, this time." I smile weakly.
"When you say the others-"
"Killian and Lee." He opens the door a crack and looks out, as I stare at him.

"What?" I hiss, stumbling after him as I try to find my balance. "You can't- they can't be out." My panic levels begin to rise, and it's not helped when Clint flashes a smile at me.
"Don't worry, they know what they're doing."
"But Arachne's on her way!" I squeak. At this, he actually looks surprised, but recovers.
"Then we have to move fast." He grabs hold of my hand, pulling me out into the hallway, and before I know it, we're running. Let's hope this works out better than last time.
"The cameras-"
"Taken care of." He assures me, and as we rush past one, I see something blinking, underneath the lens- a blue light on a tiny black box. "It'll just show a looping feed of an empty hallway, we're all good."

"How did you know something was wrong?" I pant, my fingers tightly wrapped in his.
"I was given orders by S.H.I.E.L.D to bring Lee and Killian to Washington to discuss terms of an operation- to remove the wings." He says, somehow utterly calm. "When I got on the jet, I got a message from Nat."
Nat. I'd completely forgotten about her. "Saying what?"
"That it was possible S.H.I.E.L.D had been compromised." He glances at me. "So I broke in here and had a bit of a snoop instead."
"And found me." I finish. "Clint, I don't know exactly what's happened, but they call themselves HYDRA, Alexander Pierce is their leader-"
"HYDRA?" We come to a complete halt as he whirls to look at me. "You're sure?"
"That's what he said." I stare back. "What, you know it?"

"HYDRA was formed by the Red Skull during the Second World War." Clint says, as we start to run, even faster than before. I can hardly keep up especially with the cramp in my legs, but I do my best.
"The Red Skull? Didn't Captain America beat him?"
"Yeah. He was obsessed with the Tesseract- the blue cube Loki was after. But when the war ended, HYDRA was destroyed."
"Well, apparently not." I huff as he pushes open a door- just as an alarm begins to go off, an acidic yellow so bright I can almost taste it.
"It can't still be going." He says it more to himself than me, lost in thought.
"Tell that to Pierce. Oh- diabhal, I forgot- he was here, the Soldat."