Iron Beta 3: What to do When your World Explodes

Chapter 10

Chapter 10

The final plans for our big break were laid just as night added even more shadows to our cell.

"I still think we need comms." Steve grumbles as he crawls back into his waiting spot.

"You could have had some," I hiss, "if our ever so pleasant captors had given a few wires and some tinfoil!"

"I mean, seriously." My dad agrees from next to Bruce. "I built the first Iron Man-"

"Shhh!" Natasha shushes us from her spot in the front of the cell. "Places, the guard is coming!"

I scurry into position next to her as the cell falls silent enough for me to hear the guard's raspy breaths.

Good. I smile to myself. Easier to take him down, then.

The positions are simple, really. Natasha and I the most unassuming and we're both light on our feet; Natasha will be grabbing the guard, knocking him out, and stealing his keys. The keys are then thrown to me, where I will quickly use my nimble mechanic's fingers to reach and unlock the cell door. Clint is crouched directly behind me in a runner's crouch, ready to both guard me and boost me into the vents, then jump in himself. My dad will come next with a still drugged Bruce thrown over his shoulder, Thor guarding him. Steve will come out last, at his insistence — 'haven't you heard that the captain's always the last one out?'. I told him that was for shipwrecks, not jailbreaks, but team loyalty, I guess.

Anyways, I tensed in my crouch as the guard neared. I fought to even my breathing as Natasha, nothing but a black blur streaked with red, grabbed the guards legs and pulled them towards her and to the side, the surprise and fear just barely registering on the old guard's face before his head hit the ground with a crack that resounded through the hall. The keys barely jingle as I catch them and spring up to reach around the bars to twist the key in the lock. I silently nudge the door open about six inches and freeze, waiting and listening for any approaching footsteps.

I don't hear any yet, so I quickly dart out into the hall, getting into the right position directly below the vent cover, not even flinching as movement explodes behind me as several dark shapes join me in the corridor. One of the dark shapes comes up behind me, reaching up to tug down the vent cover and linking his hands to give me a leg up and into the vents. I crawl on my stomach for a foot or so to give Clint some room, still not making a sound while I focus on the whispers below us.

Footsteps pad to the left, so I wave over my shoulder to Clint and begin shimmying through the vents, the only sound being our breathing echoing against the smooth metal walls.

That is, until the alarms began screeching and shattered our bubble of serenity.

A~A~A

All silence was forgotten as we all ran like our tails were on fire, Clint and I following Steve's orders almost blindly. Screams and shout ring out from below, and I scoot to the nearest vent cover and peek out to see Natasha and Steve battling with a battalion of black clothed soldiers as Thor hustled my dad and Bruce down the hall and away from the commotion. Behind me, I could feel Clint's arm twitching for a weapon — not even his bow, just any weapon — and I knew how much he wanted to jump down and help our teammates. I send a sympathetic glance over my shoulder, letting him know that this pained me just as much, but we both knew nothing could be done to help without causing more harm.

Natasha and Steve struck down the last of their foes and we're off again, running down the hallways and taking corners at breakneck speeds.

After Natasha takes out her thirtieth guard of the night, even the untrained eye can tell she's feeling the strain of fighting without a weapon after so many years of being armed. I frown and consider signaling one of the others to cover her just as she gasps quietly, seeing something ahead that I don't. My boyfriend also sucks in a breath behind me and I mutter curses at my average, non-bird like eyesight.