A week. Steve had been gone a full week. The team was starting to get desperate. The last video hadn't been very encouraging.

Tony watched for the hundredth time as the Examiner taunted and accused. The Captain appeared to be unresponsive, never even lifting his head. 

"We've got to do something!" The billionaire slammed his hand down on the counter in front of him.

Bruce rubbed his face tiredly, "We've done everything we can! I don't know what else to try."

"Well, there has to be something!" There was aggravated silence. None of the other Avengers spoke, all feeling the same helplessness. Clint was the only Avenger not present. He still refused to be in the same room as Stark.

"You know what? That's it!" Tony called out in anger, "I'm doing it and no one can stop me!"

"Tony-" Natasha started.

"Too late, it's done."

The video disappeared, being replaced by something similar to a Skype call.

There was complete silence as it rang. Then someone answered.

"Well, Mr Stark, I was beginning to wonder when you would call." On the screen was the Examiner wearing a white lab coat. Well, it used to be white. At present, it was covered in dark red blood. Steve wasn't anywhere to be seen.

"Drop the act, no one here believes your lies. Now, where's Steve?"

"No one?" The Examiner mocked, "Even Mr Barton? It seems he's been quite untrusting."

"Where's Steve!?" He practically yelled.

An angry sneer from the man, "He's being dealt with. Now," his voice took on a business tone, "I do hope you have called me for a purpose. I most certainly do not like being interrupted for petty things."

"Is he alive?" Tony said ignoring most of what the Sygma leader had just said. 

An annoyed growl was the answer, "For the moment. Now I advise you say whatever it is you called me for. I have... Business to attend to."

"We have the money." There was a sharp intake of breath from behind him. This was a last resort. They were getting desperate.

"Hm," the Examiner sighed, "I see. And what of the other part?"

"We're working on it." Actually, the government had flat out said no. But maybe...

"Half a ransom? Would you be content if I returned to you half a Captain, hm?"

The very thought sent chills down Tony's spine.

A distant, but still loud, scream was heard through the screen.

"Oh, those incompetent...!" The Examiner seemed to regain his composure, "This will be our last contact until you have BOTH the money and the releases. Contact me before then and the deal is off."

The connection was lost before anyone had time to respond.

Tony leaned back in his chair, covering his eyes with his hands. "That went well."

"He made a mistake." Natasha's monotone voice caught him off guard.

"And that would be...?"

"How did he know Clint didn't trust you?"

There was a moment of realization.

"There's a spy," Bruce stated quietly.

"A spy in S.H.I.E.L.D." The Russian nodded.

"Someone call Fury." 

Tony was already dialling the number.

~A~

"We got him." Fury said over the phone, a little over an hour later.

Tony immediately felt relief flood over him. "Who is he?"

"James Decker, from what we can tell he's a junior operative. We grabbed him when he tried to leave. He had a transmitter but he destroyed it when he realized what was happening."

That was only a minor setback, "What's next? What can we do now?"

"You and Banner need to start working on tracing his transmitter. I want Romanoff and Barton here to question the operative."

That would be fun. Tony didn't even feel bad for him. "Anything for Thor?" The god of thunder had seemed even more helpless than the rest of them.

"You can send him with Romanoff. I just don't want to kill Decker before we get what we need."

Tony noticed the underlying growl. "Right, three interrogators coming right up."

~A~

"Barton,"

"Stark."

"Fury needs you at S.H.I.E.L.D."  He leaned against the doorframe to Clint's bedroom. The archer was somewhere above him as his voice was coming through the air vent.

"Tell Fury I'm busy."

"With what?" Tony scoffed, "Sulking? Hating my guts? You can do that just as well at S.H.I.E.L.D."

"What does he want and why are you the one telling me? Is this another trap?" The words were hatefully spat out.

"I didn't...! You know what, it doesn't matter, just get over to S.H.I.E.L.D."

The archer came down from the air vents. "Are you going to tell me what Fury wants? Or are you just going to stand there fueling my suspicions?"

"They found a Sygma spy in S.H.I.E.L.D. Fury wants you to find out where they're keeping Cap."

Clint shoved past Tony and sprinted out of the room.

~A~

The small white room held only two chairs and a small table, neither occupants seemed to notice.

"I know that you know where he is. You better tell me where that is or I'm not responsible for what's done to you." Clint hissed directly into his prisoner's face.

The man laughed, a snarky British accent made thick with anger. "I've been through worse. You should hear the things Sygma does to people."

The boy's neck whipped to the side as the archer's hand collided with Jthe operative.

"What I want to hear is where they're keeping him."

"Who?" The mock innocence resulted in a hard punch to the mouth. The prisoner spit out blood mingled with saliva, then smiled.

"How did you get into S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

"Simple, I walked through the front doors."

"Listen here," Clint leaned in until he was nearly nose to nose with the man, "I'm not in a good mood. I'd be very careful about what you say next. If you don't answer my questions soon, I know some techniques that would make the leaders of Sygma gasp in horror."

"Then you would what? Turn down your hearing aids so you can't hear me scream? Is that how you work around your conscious? Hm?"

The next punch knocked him unconscious.

"Clint," Natasha said from the doorway.

The archer turned, breathing heavy.

She inclined her head into the hall. He reluctantly followed.

"What?" He growled crossing his arms.

"You knocked him out."

"He had it coming."

"It's been ten minutes."

"You should be proud I held out that long."

Natasha pressed her lips together. "I know you're upset about-"

"Upset?" He scoffed. "No upset doesn't even cover it, Nat. If I could, I'd personally kill everyone in Sygma in the same slow ways they've been killing Cap." His voice took on a tired note, rubbing his face with his hands, "It's bad Nat. He's bad. And with every video they've sent... He should have been able to hold out longer. Whatever it is..."

"I know," she said quietly. "But we can't kill our only lead. He's trying to make you angry. You know that. And he knows he can't say anything when he's unconscious."

"You're right." Clint sighed. "I just can't stop thinking, stop seeing..."

"I know, Clint. Trust me, I know."

In a rare act of affection, the two assassins leaned into each other. Drawing strength from the others touch.

~TH~

This is NOT Clintasha. This is them being good friends :)

Now that that's out of the way, I wanted to let you know that I'm making Clint deaf like he was in the comics. I really wish they would have in the movies. I feel like it would have added a lot to his character. (Not that I don't love him, but Marvel seems to forget how amazing he really is! They just brush him off to the side because he doesn't have "superpowers".)

Anyway... What do you think?

Will Clint and Tony ever work out their differences?
Who is this James Decker and what does he know?
What was happening to Steve during the video call?
Will they find him soon?

One more question:
Who's your guys' favourite character in this story?

I've already written the next chapter and hope to post it tomorrow!

God bless,