~Broken Family~

Not Made of Porcelain

"How in the world are we gonna send a beacon to Tony?" Harley asked. Clay shrugged.

"That's on you, buddy." He gave Harley's shoulder, which he was supporting, a quick pat. "I've gotta make sure we're not spotted."

They were shuffling along behind houses, through dim alleys, always looking over their shoulders before they advanced. Harley was sure they would've sent out a rescue team to get Clay, but there was no sign of any HYDRA agents swarming the streets so far. He kind of felt bad for the guy.

The first thing he spotted as they exited a neighborhood was a payphone. They had a lot of them back at Rose Hill, Tennessee, and he had used them on quite a regular basis to try to call up his dad or some other family members. Once he had actually managed to phone Tony.

So he knew how to work it, but he didn't have any spare change.

"Payphone?" Harley asked, pointing at it. Clay wrinkled his nose, but helped him along faster.

His leg actually didn't hurt much at the moment, but since he had left his crutch somewhere in the girls' locker room at Northwest and he wasn't supposed to be putting that much weight on it after the surgery, he would rather be helped across the street like an old man than risk making it worse.

"You got change?" Harley asked. Clay shook his head.

"Not any German change."

Harley gave a nod as they approached it. It was a little more clunky-looking than the old Rose Hill payphones he was used to, but he was still able to locate the hinges and have Clay pop the plate off with his superhuman strength he had apparently forgotten to tell him about.

For the next two minutes, he worked at the payphone's insides, yanking out cords and connecting them with other ones. Before long, he heard a dial tone and quickly started pressing the old, metal buttons as fast as he could, dialing Tony's cell.

"Hello?" Tony shouted. Harley flinched and held the receiver two feet away from his ear.

"Tony," he said, suddenly feeling rushed. He hadn't heard Tony's voice in so long, it was a reassurance even for him to be shouting. "Listen, I need---"

Tony cursed over the receiver, sounding panicked. "Harley?"

Harley cringed. "Yeah...? Tony, if you---"

"Oh, thank God," Tony gasped, voice thick with relief. "Harley---"

"Listen, Tony," he interrupted, growing anxious. "We need you to come to Germany and rescue us from HYDRA."

"What? Rescue who? You and Gwen? You've been missing for---"

"And Clay." Harley sent him a grimacing grin, praying Tony wouldn't blow up.

"Clay Albrecht?" Tony said. "That imbecile who kidnapped Gwen in the first place?! The HYDRA SPY?!"

"Yes," Harley answered calmly. "Look, he's betrayed HYDRA to help me escape, but that's not important right now. What matters is you get your butt down here as fast as humanly possible before we're found by HYDRA and help us bust Gwen out."

"She's still in there? You know what, nevermind. We'll talk details later. What are your coordinates?"

***

Two and a half hours later, Tony arrived.

Clay and Harley took shelter in an abandoned building on the outskirts of the German town they were in, crouched on the first floor away from the windows in silence. Holding their breath every time something clattered or moved.