Are We Ourselves? - Missing In Action, Pt. II

[x-hawkeye.livejournal.com]

Since Kyle has not returned, Clint decides to set out to see if he can find him.


Clint stared at the clock on the wall, then looked over his people and reached for his jacket. "Okay, it's been over twelve hours - closer to eighteen - since we had contact with Kyle. I'm gonna head out, check on a few things all quiet-like. Tasha, usual contingencies, just in case." He raised his eyebrows at his friend.

Natasha's search of video footage had turned up absolutely nothing useful. No sign of Kyle since he'd left earlier. No sign of suspicious activity aside from them. She arched an eyebrow in response. "Looks like things are starting to pick up. You have your pod? Actually, I have pods for you all."

Molly blinked at Natasha like she had just spoken Swahili. "What's a pod?" she said. She was starting to get a little worried about Mr. Gibney--Kyle, too. Remote mountain towns, disappearing people. She'd seen enough movies to know that wasn't good. "The only kind I'm familiar with has an 'I' at the beginning of it."

Natasha grabbed the backpack set against the side of her recliner and riffled through it until she pulled out four pea pod plushies. They were all still green colored. The spare (purple) one she had for Clint she left in her backpack. Because Clint. He was liable to forget his head some days, after all. These green ones were filled with what appeared to be a quarter but was really a tracker, a slim teargas/sleeping gas canister with accompanying air filter, and a half dollar sized electronic jammer. "Innocuous looking mission tactical kit. Packed with small items that might come in handy. Meant to distribute these earlier, but there didn't seem to be a reason."

The little plush pea pods were smiling. That was creepy. "Alright," Topaz said slowly, a little uncertainly. If there was one thing she was more than well aware of, it was that she was not equipped for when things went to hell. She didn't particularly trust her ability to be of any use whatsoever here.

Molly, on the other hand, seemed to blossom as she picked up one of the plushies and let out a squeak of happiness. "They're SO CUTE!" she said, tempted to hug it. She laid off, though, because she didn't want to accidentally take a nap by setting off the sleeping gas. "But um... won't people think we're weird if we carry them around?" she said. Even if she wanted to and totally would. "Shouldn't we look like serious professional college students?"

"If we get to the point where we need to use them," Clint said, "We're probably way past worrying about blowing our covers." He pulled his original pod out of his own bag and started pulling things out of it. He tossed a roll of tools to Molly, all miniaturized to fit but made of extra-durable materials. Topaz got a cloth bag full of random things that might come in handy for a magic-user. "Tasha, do you have the thing with my knives in it? Cause this one's got my sock full of quarters and all your little stingers."

"And I've never met a serious professional anyone that didn't have some cute or weird thing they liked. Case in point," Natasha said as she pointed at Clint. She rolled her eyes and pulled out the spare she had packed so she could toss it at him. "When don't I? You packed your experimental test kit instead of the many other useful ones, I see." She pulled her own pod out, decorated with a red hourglass on the zip pull and a darker green than the rest. "Pass me the stingers, those might come in handy."

Topaz took her own pod - carefully - and the bag Clint passed her, examining the contents before folding it up and carefully putting it in the pod. "Somethin' tells me if we're actually in a situation where we need to use these, the last thing someone else is gonna worry about is why we have plush, smilin' vegetables."

"Exactly," Clint said, passing the stingers over to Tasha. He grinned at the little bow and arrow on his pull tab as he opened the pod that, he'd been assured, was purple. Strapping knives onto himself all over, he shoved the sock full of quarters into one of his pockets. He made a mental note to thank Ortiz for her 'Magic 101' lecture sometime, since Topaz hadn't outright rejected any of the stuff he'd put in that bag. "I'm ready," he said, grabbing his coat and his beanie. "I'll be in touch."



Things don't go as planned for Clint while he's looking for Kyle, so he calls in some backup.


Things had gone south pretty damn quick once Clint reached town. He'd planned to retrace his steps from the previous day and then check where Kyle had been working, but something weird was in the air. The few townspeople who'd been acting normal yesterday had disappeared and all the boats were still in the harbor despite the fact that it was well past the time when they should've headed out.

Also, he was being followed.

Clint made his way to the dock, keeping his pace sedate like he didn't know at least two people were behind him. He could take two people, but he wasn't sure he wanted to - what if he knew them? Whatever was going on here, it was sure as hell a lot worse than he'd initially thought. He should've guessed, though. Anything that gave Phil a bad feeling was probably going to be life threatening.

Turning into the pier, the one with the tiny little building at the end, Clint pulled his sat phone out of his pocket and dialed one of the few numbers he had memorized at the moment. He got to the building and did a quick check to see how close his tails were as he put the phone to his ear.

The phone rang four times before the recipient picked up. "Joe's Crematorium, you kill 'em, we grill 'em," Ev answered, gingerly blowing on his bruised knuckles to alleviate the pain of knocking down the bloodied man who now lay prone underneath Ev's foot.

"I'm in Barrow. Team of five, including myself," Clint said without preamble as he opened the tiny building's door and stepped inside. It was cold as balls everywhere here, but at least the building had a door that locked and kept him out of the wind for a bit. "Gibney's been missing for almost twenty hours. I'm being followed, things aren't looking so great at the moment. Tasha's with Hayes and Topaz at the off-the-grid safe house." Footsteps pounded on the pier outside the door. "They're gonna need backup. We didn't know what we were walking into."

Barton. This was important, enough to justify interrupting this interrogation. The fallen man tried to get out from underneath Ev, but the SHIELD agent slammed his booted foot down to keep him where he belonged. "What did you walk into?" he asked.

"Pod people," Clint deadpanned, scanning the room for anything that might prove useful. He propped the phone between his ear and shoulder, then grunted as he started dragging the few pieces of furniture available toward the door so he could barricade it. Right on cue, someone started banging on the side of the building. The door rattled in its frame under the assault. "Shit. Okay - I'm uploading you a copy of all the intel we've got so far. It'll take a few minutes, so I'm gonna put the phone down, try and hide it, and see how long I can hold these guys off." The window shattered next to him as Clint ducked the anchor that some industrious person out there had thrown through it. "See you on the flip side, Ev. Probably."

Ev swore and slipped his phone back into his pocket. After weeks of nothing, he'd finally found a lead to follow. He had no idea how fruitful it would be, but anything that would elucidate Janus's actions was worth the time and risk. Ev owed it to his team. But now another team was in danger and needed his help. Should he stay so he wouldn't lose the lead or drop it and ensure his own tragedy wouldn't repeat for someone else?

When put that way, it was an easy choice. Ev took out his phone again and called a number on his speed dial, an associate with no affiliation to anyone. Sometimes it paid to travel underground circles. "E2, it's E1. I need a teleport a little sooner than planned. Same pickup location, one hour. Thanks, I owe you."

Call ended, Ev turned his attention back to the squirming figure beneath his foot. "So, looks like we're on a timer. I'm going to have to make this go a little faster than I'd planned..."