Chapter 24

In the line of fire

It wasn't long later that everyone went to sleep, but as your mind drifted you couldn't help but have a gut feeling that something was going to go terribly wrong.

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"GO! GO! GO!"

"GET THE CIVILIANS OUT OF HERE!"

"WERE SURROUNDED! WE NEED BACKUP!"

You ran out from your cover and crossed the street. All you could smell was smoke, thick and choking. You coughed and dove into a building as machine gun fire started to fill the street once more. The smoke was too thick to see through and due to the loud roar of the machine gun it was nearly impossible to hear anyone. That is why you choose to run across the road. With your senses you could make out the area better than Clint and Natasha. Bullets were zipping through the air going in all directions, the entire area was surrounded by the enemy. You quickly stood up as the gun fire from the machine gun died down, you sprinted towards a door and kicked it open. You ran up the flight of stairs until you were on the roof of the parking complex. You set up your sniper rifle and took aim in the direction the machine gun fire was coming from. You waited a good five minutes before the smoke cleared up enough for you to make out the form of a man at least six feet tall with a large automatic machine gun in his grip. You fired one shot and the man crumpled to the ground. You had only taken out the largest threat, there were still a good forty other men in the area armed to the bone. Suddenly your arm was jerked back causing you to fall backwards onto the roof, you looked at your shoulder and saw blood pouring down your arm. Stupid bullets.

"If you weren't dead already, you definitely are now," You growled, even though no one could hear you.

"Listen, (c/n), the civilians have been evacuated and the widow is taking care of our right flank. I'll take left and you clear out everything in between, got it?" Came Clint's voice, breaking the silence of the comms.

"Roger that, take no prisoners," You said with a cold edge to your voice.

"Wait, what? No, no, no. We're not here to kill them all, we need at least one of them left alive to interrogate! (c/n)?" Said Clint, but it was to late you already started your assault. You leaped off the roof of the parking garage, spun around and tossed out a long rope with a hook on the end. It reached back up to the roof and hooked onto a ventilation shaft stopping you in mid air, forcing you through a window. You crashed through and did a somersault quickly raising a pistol and surveying the room before swiftly making your way to the nearest exit, a window. You promptly jumped out of it and landed on your feet against the cold, blood splattered street. You moved across the street and ducked behind a car while nine men in a small formation came down the road, guns raised and firing at every little movement. You unhooked a small grenade from your belt and tossed it into the center of their little group. It blew up and the men went flying. You moved to the next area and spotted three men with Ak-47's. You spun around at the sound of a small cough from behind you, ready to rip someone's head off. You saw a small child covered in dirt and blood sitting up against a stone wall. His blue eyes stared at you in fear and you cursed under your breath as you walked towards him. He backed away and got up to run, but you quickly grabbed him.

"Hawkeye, I've got a boy -maybe five years in age- a minute from your location and three armed men closing in, what's the call?" You said into your comm.

"Fall back and bring him to me, then loop back around and help the widow there's more people than we thought on our right flank," Came Clint's response. You picked up the kid a slung him over your shoulder he squirmed and protested but didn't actually make any noise, you figured it must be from shock over the situation. You ran of in Clint's direction and handed the kid off to him and then proceeded to circle back around to Natasha. As you approached her location you could hear the soft sound of something slicing through the air. Jumping back you narrowly missed the sharp edge of a vicious looking knife. Turning to your left you saw a rather ragged looking fellow approaching you armed with more deadly blades and a pistol topped off with a silencer.

"Look what I found, some sucm to wipe off my streets," Hissed the man. You said nothing in return simply giving him a cold glare, If only looks could kill. He charged forward drawing a blade from his side and attempting to swing at you. Sloppy form. You caught his hand as if it was nothing and delivered a hard blow to his face hearing a sharp crack. The man stumbled back and grabbed his nose which was now profoundly bleeding.

"We done here?" You asked in complete monotone. The man growled at you and with great force leaped forward going for a straight on charge. In one fluid motion you stepped out of the way and spun, sweeping his feet out from under him causing him to go crashing into the wall in front of him. However he only took a second before hopping up again and looking at you with pure malice. He pulled his gun and started firing at you. You rolled to the side and behind a trash can, when he stopped firing and you heard the gun clip fall to the ground you jumped out, pistol in hand and fired two shots. You figured that was the end of the fight but were surprised to see the man stand again with two bullet holes in him and a rather ticked off expression. Blood was pouring out of the wounds but he didn't seem very affected by it.

"It appears I may have underestimated you scum. It will not happen again, next time we meet I will be better trained, better armed. I will kill you, make you suffer. You will beg for mercy from me. You win this time simply because I was unprepared and rash. But next time I will devour you! When I'm done with you, you'll only be a stain on the floor! I will be your bane the next we meet áruló!"[1] The man spat, with that he took off. You would have followed but you still had to help Natasha.

'He seems rather fast, for a guy with a bullet hole in his head. Why did he call me traitor though, I don't recall ever being on his side to begin with...' You though. Before taking off again to reach Natasha, you gave one last glance back in the direction the man went off in. 'He was an insufficient fighter whose method was nothing more than primal. His threat was made of anger with no reasoning, I doubt his words truly meant anything,' As you came to this conclusion a voice in the depths of your mind gave you the unsettling feeling that you were wrong and the man would be back.

You rounded another corner and saw Natasha crouched down behind a car with five men in varying positions along the street firing at her. With swift action you wiped forward firing multiple shots in the group's direction, two of the men went down and a third was injured before you had ducked down next to Natasha.

"There's another fifteen or so in that building over there," Said Natasha pointing at a one story shop across the street. "I went in earlier and got an earful of gunfire that's when I asked for the back up, your late,".

"Apologies, but I had matters of my own I had to take care of. Take the left flank, I'll go right," You said springing up and firing at the two other men. One of them dropped but the other quickly took off to get behind cover. You expertly maneuvered your way over to the right flank, getting rid of the other man in the process.

You crouched down under a window and watched as Natasha got into position on the other side of the building, she gave you a nod and you jumped up and smashed through the window well firing out multiple shots towards a large group of enemies. You heard a few thuds before they started firing back and then a few more thuds after Natasha came in through her side of the building. You then ran out from behind your cover and fired another round from your gun, with that the enemies in the room had been cleared. Natasha came up to you saying something about more in the back and so you continued on towards the back of the shop. About halfway there you suddenly stopped causing Natasha to freeze behind you.

"What is it?" She asked.

"A tripwire," You answered grimly looking down at the broken string under your foot. "I don't know what it set off but it can't be good".

"(c/n), Widow, a bomb went off on the North side Agent Dexter and Agent Adair are both dead," Said Clint over the comms. I internally cursed hoping that it had nothing to do with this one little trip wire I stepped on. "Also it seems Fury decided to send in the cavalry after all, that previously non existent back up is 15 clicks out from here; they are bringing some heavy artillery to fight back with".

"Widow, we should fall back meet up with Hawkeye and Agent Allen at the warehouse, we can have the backup clear out the rest of the surrounding area," I told Natasha, she nodded in response and we left the building.

---Special P.O.V. from Agent Allen---

"NO!" I yelled as Adair pushed me back out of the way of the blast. I sat their in a panic watching Dexter and Adair go up in flames as they perished. 'No...Please...no'

~Flashback~

"Daddy!" Giggled out a small child running into the arms of my fellow agent and friend Adair. I watched as his face light up with joy as he smiled at his kid. We were at the hospital visiting Adair's wife who just went through childbirth bringing another life into the world. As we sat in the room Lucy, Adair's Wife, looked up at me with a bright smiling face.

"Has he asked you yet?" Questioned Lucy.

"Asked me what?" I said looking over at Adair.

"Asked you to be the Godfather of my children," Responded Adair. I sat in my seat silently for a moment: speechless. The godfather? Me?

"I don't know what to say, I'm honored you'd choose me Adair" I said probably sounding as shocked as I was.

"That's all you had to say Allen".

~Flashback End~

'What am I supposed to tell his kids? His wife?' I though, tears came to my eyes as I fell to my knees...

"This can't be happening" I choked out.

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