Dear Agony

Chapter 3: Not Enough

The S.H.I.E.L.D. reinforcements arrived over an hour later, but the team soon realized as they landed their aircraft that almost all the enemy hostiles were gone. The surviving enemies had long fled or perished in the flames. The team had half a dozen aircrafts because they were expecting a large enemy force to be awaiting them, but little did they know the fight had ended the moment the building blew. But they still had a job to do, because two high level agents, who also both happened to be Avengers, were last heard from in this mess.

The commander of the reinforcement team was Maria Hill, a high leveled S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and a close comrade and partner to the two agents they were now searching for. Before they moved the search party out, Hill had tried contacting both Clint and Natasha on the communication's com, with no luck. Walking down the aircraft's ramp, her firm grey eyes scanned over her search team as she said quickly,

"Listen up. We have two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents possibly injured out in there. This is a hostile zone, but I don't give a damn, I want them found, and quickly. I don't care if you have to face an entire Hydra squad to get to them, you're trained to fight, so put yourself to good use. Find them. Contact me if you have any leads."

Setting out with her team as they began to spread out, her agile and swift pace helping her make good time. Fuming smoke billowed into the air, and she had to squint to see through it. The building in the distance was still half in flames, for the ruins still held an amber glow from the explosion. The scene looked like hell on earth, and two of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s finest agents were missing in it.

With every trudge of her black combat boots as she climbed up and over the charred rubble, her self esteem and hope slowly faded. Her breathing rapid, and her eyes locked on the surrounding area, which was a haze of grey smoke, she muttered under her breath in frustration,

"God damn you Barton, call me here to rescue your sorry ass, and then disappear on me why don't you."

But it was after she pushed aside large chunks of smoking rubble and cleared a few piled up bricks away did she see something under the rubble, a black metallic object. Clearing the rocks and debris to get to it she soon pulled it out only to see it was but a bow. The weapon was made by S.H.I.E.L.D., out of one of the strongest metals, and yet the black metal was dented and the string split.  Retractable and with the most sleek and complex design she knew exactly whose weapon this was. As Maria held the broken weapon, a sense of dread filled her as she realized if a nearly indestructible object was in this kind of condition, what was Clint's condition? It couldn't be any better than the bow, and as she stood up and looked around urgently, she knew the situation was more dire than any of them imagined. Frantic yet controlled she picked up her pace as she swiftly leapt over rubble as she called over to her team through her earpiece.

"The far left side of the building, I think I have something, hurry and bring medics."

Yet just as she said that the smoke seemed to clear, and she could see she was standing right in puddle of blood that had pooled up all around the area. She couldn't help but stifle a chocking gasp as her gaze followed the flow of red liquid to where it originated from. Her heart sank as she gazed over the sight as she dropped the bow with a clang on the ruined ground.

Springing into a speeding dash, her eyes widening in fear as she splashed through the pool of blood, where only feet from her laid two still black suited and bleeding forms. Resembling even from afar the agents she was looking for she felt a sense of dread wash over her as she prepared herself for the worst. The blood was fresh and plentiful, pooling and flowing like a steady river.

As she approached it was Natasha that came into view first. She laid almost on her back, eyes closed and face pale, her breathing too shallow to detect if she was alive. This made the brunette haired S.H.I.E.L.D. agent freeze in her tracks, her eyes looking at her form as she saw the blood gushing from her side. Natasha looked frail and skinny, her face gaunt and lifeless and her mouth closed.