The Prince of the Tower

Chapter 11: The Tower Doesn't Quite Feel Safe Anymore

With a little time, Clint was just starting to calm down properly. It was obvious that seeing Hank hit Jan had triggered some real anxiety, but he was finally breathing easier... when the alarms started going off.

"The hell is that?" Logan said.

Tony got to his feet quickly, looking deadly serious. "Alright. K, Clint, I need you to get to Logan's room. That's my early warning system." He looked annoyed. "Our unwanted guest is trying to get out."

"Wait ... what?" K said, "Creed's breaking out and you want me to go hide in a room ... with no defenses?"

"Hey, give me credit," Tony said. "I've updated the hallway leading to the room with what I saw from your little runthrough of my systems. Not to mention, he hasn't actually broken out yet — that's just the early warning that he beat one of my systems." He gestured to Jan. "Wasp, get them out of here. No one wants to deal with another idiot blonde this morning."

Logan was on his feet at that. "I'll go see if he's just rattlin' his cage," he said.

"I'll stick with Clint and K," Jan promised, already unconsciously reaching for Clint's hand as they got to their feet.

K had a hold of Clint's other hand as they headed down to Logan's room. They were barely in there long enough for Jan to start to take stock of everything when a second alarm went off, too. "Okay. I'm not waiting for the third time around," K said, climbing up on the headboard to move the grate covering the duct. "Come on, Clint ..."

Clint grinned and nodded, pulling on Jan's hand. "Come on — this is our secret escape plan."

"You... you're hiding in the walls?" Jan looked like she couldn't decide if it was a brilliant plan or a crazy one.

"You don't think that I was going to just ... totally leave it to everyone else, did you?" K said. "Come on ... you're our official Avenger. Let's go. Clint will explain the marks as we go."

Jan shook her head, though the disbelieving smile just kept growing the more she saw of their system — and she laughed outright when she saw some of the names written out on the walls. "Oh, you two had way too much fun in here."

"And now you can, too," K said. "It's a great place to hide. And the bigger types can't get in."

"Which means someone can't get his big ugly butt in," Clint said with a proud little sneer.

"Makes perfect sense," Jan agreed.

They were deeply into the system when they started to hear sounds of the fight. "It carries through the ductwork," K said quietly.

Jan nodded, a bit more subdued this time now that they could hear both Logan and Creed snarling at each other — as well as the telltale clang of a few strikes of Steve's shield and the whine of repulsors. "Bad time for Thor to be on a breakfast date."

"It won't last long," K whispered back. "Logan could take him down on his own.... With those two kicking in ... done deal."

Clint nodded. "Logan can handle that guy," he said quietly. "But I don't like getting in the middle, so we stay here."

Jan nodded. "Yeah... you really shouldn't get in the middle of anything, Clint."

Clint shook his head. "Not sorry."

"Just means he cares about you," K said.

"Yeah, I got that much," Jan said. In the small space, she could only put a hand on Clint's arm but not hug him. "You're lucky you saw him first, K, or I'd totally claim him."