[Clint Barton – Hawkeye POV]
During the ambush…
Sometimes I just can't help but think I made a wrong choice, and the present situation was one of those times.
6 months into the job and one thing became apparently clear – my new boss was such a slave driver.
Times like these made me want to retire into a house in the middle of nowhere. If it wasn't for the deal his new boss gave him, there was no way in the nine blazes of hell he would've agreed.
So here I was, 1km away from an old S.H.I.E.L.D warehouse that now acted as an off site storage for some piece of tech.
No matter how paranoid the boss could be, I had to admit he did know his toys.
I laid in wait on an elevated platform for over an hour just because Fury said he was sure this warehouse would be hit next since 3 other warehouses like this has been cleared out by an unknown group over the past few months.
It was at the thirteenth minute mark over an hour that a cargo truck drove towards the warehouse as he watched 12 armed men alighted the truck while 7 stood watch as the others carried heavy cases inside the warehouse to load up whatever weapons was in there.
"Looks like your intel was right boss. We've got bogeys at the site." I reported back to base through the micro-comms in my ears.
"Paint me a visual Barton," came in the gruff kingpin-like voice of my one eyed boss.
"I got 12 marks. 7 making a line, all high-level combat gear. 5 movers with light weaponry." I reported and then paused, "Another team just pulled up. 6 marks, all armed like the first. 500m out from the base." I concluded.
"The teams?" Came an inquiry.
"All in position sir."
"Do you have a clear shot?" God if this man's paranoia isn't something. The most annoying part is that both you and him know a single primal fact about why he does that and why shouldn't care – because Nick Fury doesn't give a fuck. Those were his very words.
"Always."
"Then make the call."
Did he just give me a leadership position? What do you know Laura, looks like old Clint just got a promotion. With this I can practically see the retirement in my sights.
I focused on my targets, the ones at the base, as I waited for the right time for a perfect shot.
I watched as they load up the first crate, followed by the second and after a little while the third was in sights. I got my kill shot with the third crate as I saw them relax a little while I nocked two arrows on my bow.
One for the guy with the head mask, he just gave me a bad feeling, and another for the dude near the base entrance. That one seemed like a sprinter.
I let out the first arrow, a 10 to the heart, with the other already drawn and just before I released it I saw as my first target tried to dodge the already point blank arrow, which he did albeit not completely as the arrow lodged itself inside his left arm.
The moment I knew my shot missed, which was a very irritating fact, I let out the other arrow cutting off the second target's voice as it pierced his throat.
"Operation is a go sir." I clicked my tongue as I gave to go order without taking my sights from my targets.
I watched as they all took defense behind the truck as I targeted the third crate mover and struck an arrow at the side of his head. Two down. Tch.
I could already hear the sounds of gunshots fired away from my hunting field, no doubt the other agents had confronted the thieves.
I saw one of the movers using a crate as shield as he made way for the truck, cute.
I nocked in another arrow, but this one was a little different.
An arrowhead with a built-in compact bomb with the same force as a C4 explosive with a 3-second timer upon impact.
*Swoosh*
I watched as the arrow traveled to its target and-
"Three.. Two.. One. B-"
-oom!
I have to give it to these guys, their reaction time are top notch. They jumped away the moment they saw the arrow. That's three.
I watched as they made their way inside the truck leaving their downed teammates behin-
Oh! Looks like they aren't leaving them apparently. Huh, it's the same dude that TRIED to dodge my arrow.
"You're not getting another freebie this time." I aimed another arrow, this time at his lungs, and waited until he got down to help his teammate who got caught up in the explosion.
"What the hell!" I let out in a low voice as I saw the man drive in a metal piece to the back of his teammate.
"What is it Barton? Any new developments?" Fury called out from my comms and reminded me he was listening… Like always.
"I don't know sir. Just one of them kill an injured member and took him back to their truck." I replied as I watched him come out again and this time instead of going to help another guy, he looked around for something and found it. The arrow I shot him with.
Immediately I re-aimed my sights at his lungs once more but this time didn't take the shot as I watched him walk to still groggy member.
"Sir, he just killed another one. With my arrow." I reported in again, with a little mirth at the latter part.
"…"
"Sir? I have a kill shot on him, should I take it or disable him."
"…"
"I've lost visuals on the target sir." I said as I watched the man make way back to the truck using the smoke as a cover, not that it would've helped.
Well no matter.
I targeted the driver this time and let out my arrow and watched it bounced back from what was clearly a bulletproof glass with only little crack.
"They got away sir."
"…Cover for the other team, they've lost some men." Came the reply a he cut off the comms.
I turned and faced the other scuffle and saw the other team in the midst of retreating.
Since the other truck was bullet proof then no doubt this one was too. Since I couldn't take out the driver, I settled for the shotgun.
"That's four." I said as I watched as my team went into pursuit.
Just another day at S.H.I.E.L.D.
…
[Draul St. Cross POV]
During the whole journey back, I was a bundle of nerves. I could very well drop an explosive inside the truck and jump out and be done with them but that would be counterproductive as HYDRA would just pursue and catch me later on.
I needed something that would slow them down or make then cautious of how they moved and what better than have HYDRA's other head attack its own body – S.H.I.E.L.D. The perfect shield, both literally and figuratively.
The ride back had me on my toes, rightfully so, because what I was aiming to do was insane. But then again looking at my previous streak, this wasn't that outlandish since the repercussion range would be rageful brainwashing to death.
It was maybe the scent of freedom that had me acting rashly but there was nothing I wanted to more. Apart from the fact that having my most fervent wish dangle in front of me as I salivated in hunger for had me thinking rabidly but also, I felt like this was a God-given moment. I had the feeling that if I missed this chance then the next one would be quite a while from now and with me feeling desperate, there was no chance of me waiting that long.
We arrived at the base on the night of the second day and we were all tired. It didn't help that we were all on guard, expecting S.H.I.E.L.D agents to bracket us during our getaway and engage us in another artillery warfare which thankfully it didn't happen.
Looking at it now, the base had only one big gate with an almost ten feet barbed fence all around it. There were three checkpoints before the main gate if you were going out and there were cameras mounted at every angle of the place to kill any blind spots possible. Then the soldiers.
Oof! This shit just leveled up into a boss fight.
We entered the base after our check-ins and made way to the changing room. Midway to the changing room, I took another path and walked straight ahead while the others were befuddled.
"Where you going Hercules?" Floch asked me since we always left for the changing room after every mission before doing our own thing.
"Dr. Ernst." Was the only reply I gave him as I continued my walk.
"Gotcha."
I walked towards Dr. Ernst's laboratory, keeping in a measured pace, as I studied how many guards were stationed along the way. I counted 28, and that was only along the way from the changing room to the office.
The reason I wanted to move now was because if I was right, Floch would be making his way to report what happened during our mission to whatever brass was present here which means, hopefully, the heads won't be at their station and Dr. Ernst would be joining them soon and if it all goes as planned, Ernst would be taking me to them.
I walked in Ernst's office, which also functioned as a laboratory, and saw him clicking away at the keyboards while also murmuring some science jargon. Since he hadn't yet acknowledged my presence, I looked around his wide office letting out a breath to my self as I didn't see any cameras.
Having gotten that out of the way, I looked towards the door I came in from and hoping it really was as soundproofed as it looked, I locked it.
Dr. Ernst stopped what he was doing, likely hearing the doors clicking, and turned towards me.
"You are already here. I was… going through… your… ARRRRGHHHHH."
Aaaaand that was me stomping on his kneecaps as he tried getting up from his chair.
"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING I-039?!!"
*CRACK*
"AAAARGHHH!" And that was his second kneecap. Ignoring his girlish wails, I picked him up by the scruff of his neck and looked him in the eyes and saw that while there was pain, there was no fear. That wouldn't do, but I had to focus for now.
I flung him to the side and watched as he crashed to the ground with a thud and a bleeding head. Leaving him for now, I went towards his computer and tried searching for any files the bastard had on me and unsurprisingly found them under a titled 'I-039' folder. I copied it to a drive and hurriedly searched for any other file that had a correlation to 'I-039' and found a folder with the codename they gave me 'Project Draugr' and some others with a revised tag like 'Project Destroyer of Worlds'. Oof, that didn't look nice at all.
These racist terrorists started a project with my organs and shit. This was bad, very bad, like 20th century superman movie level bad. I tried copying the folder but it was protected. I went to the groaning doctor and yanked him up the floor and sat him on the chair in front of the desktop.
"Copy them all. Now!" I ordered him in a cold tone.
"Haha. You think what you are doing is wise. I don't know how you undid the brainwashing but you don't have anywhere to run to. This is but a dogs effort of futility to run away from its owne…. KUUGHH." I cut off his grating ramblings as I choked him with my hands and watched him run out of breath. It would be so easy to kill him now but I had to focus on my goal. Granted, everything here was designed to make me lose myself that if I stayed here any longer I will find my rationality slipping away irrespective of if I could control my emotions.
Emotions aren't meant to be forced. Me suppressing them would also compile them atop each other, waiting for the single moment I lost sight of myself to run free and rampant.
I stopped choking Ernst before he died of asphyxiation and I think I saw a sliver of fear in those eyes as he scrambled to sit down.
"Copy. Now." I repeated to him and watch as he inputted five different codes before the files started copying.
Ignoring the copying files, I asked Ernst to pull up the blueprint to this base. This place was massive and deep.
Turns out I'm somewhere in South Carolina which was a ways from New York and this building has ten floors. The power plant, steam generators and whatnot were all in the basement underground and that was where I was going. This was going to be one hell of a run.