𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒.𝐓.𝐑.𝐈.𝐊.𝐄. 𝐓𝐄𝐀𝐌 stood on standby, waiting for one of the avengers to actually make the call. After another solid minute, Tony finally nodded his head and signaled approval to enter the run-down hovel. Once the girl had settled down, Fury had sent her exact coordinates which allowed Stark, Barton, and their team of reinforcements to collect Fury's latest pet project.

"Doesn't this seem a bit over the top?" Tony's commlink broke the silence as Barton questioned the assignment. "She's just a kid after all."

"The precautions are all Fury's," Tony replied without hesitation. "Had the decision been up to me, I would've tracked down the kid solo and put her in a timeout."

"Oh, is that why the S.T.R.I.K.E. team entered first and you're still waiting outside?" the quick-witted archer asked with heavy sarcasm.

"Focus." Tony snapped with an unseen eye roll. "The sooner this is over, the sooner I can take a hot shower in the comfort of my home while you get back to whatever shady apartment you spies tend to live in."

"I don't live in an apartment," Clint replied curtly.

"You don't?" Tony asked in surprise. "You found an actual house in New York? How do you afford the mortgage on your salary?"

"Who said I live in New York?" Clint questioned nonchalantly.

"No one, but I'm just fishing for anything at this point," Tony replied with a shrug as he entered the building. "It's not like you or Romanoff share much from your personal lives."

"Sort of defeats the point of it being a secret," Clint replied. "Anyway, you may have to put a pin in those plans. I'm pretty Cap still had some stuff to say back at the conference before HYDRA so rudely interrupted."

"Is it bad I'm just a little pleased to see his face on a wanted poster?" Tony asked rhetorically before answering his own question. "Yeah, it's probably bad. Capsicle can finish his speech some other time though. Preferably a time when I'm busy with something else."

Before the archer could reply, the comm system crackled as the appointed S.T.R.I.K.E. leader joined the conversation. The tone that Agent Christopher Pierce used failed to hide the strain of his voice and the frustration at the back of his throat. "The building's clear. No sign of either target."

Tony entered the room on the second floor that the girl had used as a temporary shelter, probably to avoid the storm that had just recently let up. Pierce barely glanced in his direction as he continued to direct orders to his troops around the room. If there had been any trace of someone living in the building, they were long gone.

Clint slid down from the vent and landed beside Tony. Even though protected by the metal shell of his armor, he couldn't help but jump. He concealed his breath of relief and regained his cocky composure to mask the brief moment of fright. Clint either didn't care or didn't notice as he walked straight toward the shelf on the other side of the room. He picked up a few hidden objects before rejoining Tony.

"Looks like she found Fury's bugs."

"Plural?" Tony raised an eyebrow.

Clint extended his hand to reveal a handful of tracking devices. He handed them off to the closest S.H.I.E.L.D. agent just as quickly. "Fury's never been one to overlook precaution."

"I hadn't noticed." Tony rolled his eyes within the suit. A smug look quickly replaced his sarcastic tone. "Guess I can hold this one over his head."

"Or," Clint made an alternate suggestion, "we could see if she left anything behind that would reveal where she was going or what she was up to."

"She didn't leave S.H.I.E.L.D. with much," Tony noted, "just a ratty bag with a few toys."

"She's been gone a few hours, Stark," Clint reminded him. "Who knows where she's been and what she may have picked up? If you took a look in the trash, you'd realize she made a pit stop at the grocery around the corner."

"Has anyone ever told you that you're a borderline stalker, Hawkeye?"

"Just look around and tell me if you see anything that could be helpful," Clint replied with an annoyed huff.

Tony mimicked the instruction from inside the suit, but listened to the suggestion. Looking around the room, not much had been left behind. Aside from the few pieces of trash, Fury's trackers, an overturned cardboard shoe box, and a musty old coat, the room looked like it hadn't been touched in decades. The furniture in the room was covered  by beige tarps and the wallpaper had been devoured by termites. He shuddered thinking about the damage done to the structure of the walls themselves and how the stability was undoubtedly beneath conduct code.

Clint rejoined Tony with a frown tugging at the corners of his mouth. He stated matter-of-factly, "There's nothing here."

Tony scoffed. "Well I could have told you that."

Clint ignored the snide comment. "We should report back to Fury and regroup."

"Or we could use one of Stark Industries' handy dandy gadgets," Tony suggested otherwise as he instructed J.A.R.V.I.S. to fire up the personal tracking device that he had slipped onto the girl.

"You bugged her?" Clint asked, confused. "When'd you have time to bug her?"

"It's just the one," Tony brushed the question aside with a nonchalant demeanor; however, his pride quickly stepped in with a flair of showmanship. "It was Fury who went overboard. If you've got a problem with it, keep quiet and talk behind my back like the others. I'm all for the publicity."

"No." Barton shook his head. "I'm almost impressed... If it worked anyway. If she found all of Fury's, she had to have found yours—"

"Got it!" Tony exclaimed with a shout of glee.

An incredulous look crossed Clint's face. "She didn't find your tracker?"

"Nanotechnology." Stark shrugged, but didn't forget to stroke his own ego. "Just a prototype, but very effective once I've worked out the kinks. I figured, why not make technology smaller and more efficient? So I—"

"Stark," Barton interrupted, "her coordinates?"

"Ah right," Stark refocused, directing his attention to the coordinates that J.A.R.V.I.S. had retrieved. "Remind me to gloat later."

"Where is she?" Clint asked again with less patience than before,

Stark frowned within his suit as he looked at the coordinates J.A.R.V.I.S. had given. He tried again to refresh his system and update the location, but nothing changed. He muttered under his breath, "Well that can't be right."

"My logic is infallible sir," the A.I. unit retorted, then added a snide accusation, "Unless of course you programmed a flaw."

"Never..." Tony trailed off as he tried a few other options to recalculate the coordinates. Just because there might have been a mistake, didn't mean he was willing to admit the flaw.

"Is there an issue?" Barton asked, slowly crossing his arms. Agent Pierce also joined the conversation with a curious look plastered to his face.

"No, the signal must be bad here which caused the program to buffer," Tony replied both to the archer and to his A.I.

"Sir, you devised an algorithm to avoid such a problem," the A.I. refuted his argument.

"Where is she, Stark?" Pierce asked with even less patience than Barton. The scowl on his face was almost trying to compete with a look that made Fury so feared within S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters.

"Somebody better tell Fury to have his agents on high alert." Stark finally addressed the question. "Apparently, the kid hitched a ride back up to the helicarrier."