New York, USA

Spring 2015

"Old school spy stuff..." he could hear her muttering to herself in disbelief.

Almost the instant Clint had mentioned it, Nadine had been on her feet, silently and not so silently scolding herself for being so narrow-minded.

He had considered asking if she needed a minute, suspecting that—like with Nat—the mild teasing might help get her back on track, but had decided against it. Nat, he knew, would've responded with a disparaging look, maybe an indignant glare, but would appreciate his intent to shift her focus from what was distracting her from the task at hand. However, he didn't know Nadine well enough to gauge if she'd take it in the good-natured spirit as intended or if she'd interpret it as pity or as a perception of weakness on her part. And if there was one thing he'd figured out about Nadine Ryker, it was that she did not like appearing weak; a holdover from her training, he suspected. Nat had been much the same way when he'd first met her.

"I'm so far off my game," she was muttering to herself as she and Clint started raiding Stark's workroom below the Main Lab. Clint was sure the billionaire had squirrelled away some old communications equipment somewhere; he was sure he'd seen it down here at one point.

Sure enough, it was all there, scattered around the room, a piece tucked here, another there, according to some Stark-ian organizational system that Clint hadn't quite made sense of yet. As Nadine found and pulled out a high-tech radio receiver—the last of the pieces of tech he'd been specifically searching for—he grinned at the fact that they both had the same sorts of methods in mind.

He couldn't help but chuckle at her self-addressed scolding, though. "Yeah, well, you do have a good excuse." She glared at him. He only laughed more openly. "Hey, it's not just you," he added, a grin still on his face, "believe it or not, this was Stark's idea, not mine." Nadine paused, shooting him an incredulous look.

"Stark? Really?" Clint nodded, not looking up from the transceiver he was adjusting.

"Yup. The Master of High-Tech himself. The one who is so far from being a spy you could call him the Anti-Spy." He grinned widely at the only partially stifled, giggling scoff that escaped the blonde assassin as she began working on amplifying the range of frequencies the receiver was going to have to scan for.

Maybe it was because he knew Natasha so well and because Ryker had ultimately had such similar training to his best friend, but Clint found it surprisingly easy to work with the blonde assassin. Not as easy as working with Natasha, of course, but the two of them still made a good team.

All things considered, the blonde was holding up surprisingly well. Clint couldn't help but covertly study Nadine as they worked. If it had been him? If it had been Cooper or Lila that had been taken? He wouldn't be holding up half so well.

But then, his background didn't have quite the same levels of intense training—meaning it hadn't quite been so do or die...literally—as Ryker and Nat's had been. Nadine's deceptively calm façade was likely just that: a façade. A bit like Nat's game face, really. There were moments, after all, when Clint was sure he'd just caught a glimpse of her inner turmoil on the verge of breaking through. Not that he could be sure.

He couldn't imagine what she was likely feeling just then...okay, he could imagine, but he very much suspected his imaginings fell far short of the reality.

Man, it hurt and infuriated him to even think that someone could try to take his kids.

She was definitely holding up far better than he would.

It wasn't at all long before their old-school equipment—Stark's hobby-tech, if he was being honest—was hot and he was beginning to scan for any hint that Natasha might be trying to contact them while Nadine began reaching out again to contacts, getting more eyes on the lookout and putting out feelers for any potential leads she could get.

But really, anything they did was a long shot. Who knew if the redheaded spy would even manage to gain access to what she'd need to even try and contact them from wherever Ultron had her secreted away.

Who knew if she was even in any condition to try...

But Natasha was impossibly resourceful and devilishly persistent and clever. If anyone could manage to get a communication past Ultron, it was going to be Black Widow.

All they had to do now was wait and hope that the net they were casting was wide enough to catch something.

So, boy, did it feel good when Clint started picking up a signal.

"Hey, Ryker?" Nadine looked up from her own set-up across the way from him, immediately perking up at his vindicated, crooked grin as he glanced up to her. At once she was up and around the worktable, picking up the second headset to listen. A grin of her own tugged at her lips as she met Clint's eye. Immediately Clint was moving to start up the trace he had planned. "That's our girl," He murmured to himself as he turned, reaching past Nadine to link in the channel Nat was on to the tracking equipment he and Ryker had set up. "You think you can keep Ultron busy while I get a trace going on this?"

Nadine was already smirking before he had even finished his question, though there was a definite shadow behind the expression.

"Easily," she muttered bitterly. He couldn't help but shoot her a sympathetic look as she passed to settle in front of the console near the entrance to the workroom. He had a pretty good idea what she was sitting down to, considering what he'd walked up to earlier: Ultron was blasting her with her secrets, toying with her even as he sought to distract her.

Within moments she had picked up where she'd left off when Barton had found her earlier.

"Alright, Hawkeye," she called as the barrage of Ultron's counter-attack began splashing across her screen. "Find her. Fast." Without hesitation, he obliged.

It went quickly, his algorithm working like a charm. Within moments it had narrowed Nat's location down from a continent to a country, to a city...

"How's it coming Barton?" Nadine prompted from across the room, sounding faintly strained.

"Almost there," he said with a preoccupied gesture, distracted as he focused on listening to the message Nat was in the middle of sending. Letting out a relieved breath as the message wrapped up before starting over, Clint glanced up to the blonde assassin. There was no question that she was going to be relieved by the message he'd just listened to.

Only to see the Captain and two young people who looked suspiciously like the Maximoff Twins marching purposefully past the workroom he and Ryker had holed up in as they headed for the Main Lab. He looked over to Nadine, who very obviously wasn't paying any attention to him anymore, her attention suddenly and wholly focused on the Maximoff Twins...

The Twins who had stolen her daughter out from under her nose...

The Twins who had then promptly and effectively handed her daughter over to Ultron...

The Twins who had threatened her sister and virtually torn apart the Team...

The Twins who were even now entering the Lab over her head...

Clint could practically see her emotions switching off as the Ghost woke up.

It took a great deal of effort to suppress the shudder that tried to go through him at the dangerously blank expression on the blonde woman's face.

Oh...this was going to be bad...

"Ryker, wait!" She didn't even react to his warning as she slipped from the workroom, her Glock sliding free of its holster to fit comfortably in her hand as she noiselessly followed the Captain and the Twins up to Stark's Lab. Not only was Bruce still upstairs with a chip on his shoulder from what the Maximoff sister had done to him and Hulk, but the Twins now also had a very angry and very desperate Mama Ghost tailing them.

There was no mistaking the intent look on her face.

She wanted her daughter back. And one way or another, The Ghost was going to get her answers.

Bad was quite possibly going to be a huge understatement.

Swearing quietly to himself, Clint too was jumping to his feet.

But not before catching a glimpse of the results from his back-trace of Nat's signal...of all the places...

Biting back an aggravated groan, he was hastily circling his workstation with the intention of following the blonde assassin.

Only for the sound of Rogers and Tony's raised voices to have him glancing up through the clear floor panels separating the workroom below from the Main Lab above.

Tempers were fast coming to a head up there, with Stark and Banner facing off across from Cap and the Maximoff Twins; an odd development, that was for sure. While not at all sure what it was specifically that had tempers running so high, he didn't need to be in on it to know that things were about to escalate very quickly.

Especially when he caught sight of Ryker easing up behind the Twins, her gun held ready in her hands and unmistakably trained on the pair of them.

And completely unnoticed by everyone but him, it seemed. Keeping a wary eye on what was going on upstairs, Barton activated the intercom between the Lab and the workroom. All at once he could hear exactly what his teammates were saying.

"You don't know what you're doing," Steve was declaring overhead as Barton eased around the dim workroom below until he was standing directly underneath the action, looking up again to the source of the muffled voices.

Banner merely shot the Captain a patronizing look. "And you do? She's not in your head?" Clint winced at the caustic tone coming from the normally mild-mannered doctor. The girl hesitated even as she stepped out from behind Steve, a conflicted look on her face as she tried to placate the furious doctor.

"I know you're angry—" Bruce nearly scoffed.

"Oh, we're way past that," he bit back, cutting her off sharply, "I could choke the life out of you and never change a shade. Not that I'm the one you should probably be worried about just now," he finished darkly with a jerking little nod over their shoulders. It was then that Clint realized the doctor had noticed Nadine's approach as well. Rogers and the Twins all spun to see what Banner was referring to, the Maximoff girl freezing as she caught sight of the gun trained unerringly on her. Next to her, her brother tensed, looking like he was about to intervene. But a sharp glance from his sister had him backing off, even if only minutely, leaving him visibly seething.

Rogers actually looked furious, his expression hard. It was something Clint wasn't quite sure he'd ever actually seen before. He groaned, reluctantly grabbing up a handgun of his own from the table nearby. With a practiced flick, he had the safety off and the firearm settled comfortably in his grip. This was definitely not going well.

"Ryker, stand down," Steve warned sharply. But Nadine didn't seem to pay him any attention, her steely gaze reserved solely for the Maximoff Twins. The girl slowly raised her hands in supplication.

"We didn't know—" she started to say, but Nadine sharply cut her off.

"You stole away my daughter and gave her to Ultron, little girl. I could pull this trigger without batting an eye. You're lucky I haven't yet. Don't test me." The girl blanched at the blonde's silky, deadly tone but still stood firm. It was a brave move even if it was rather ill-advised just then, Clint couldn't help but consider with respect and even a trace of amusement. Stark couldn't pay him enough to face down Ryker when the assassin wore the expression she was currently sporting. "Where is she?"

"Please, we only—"

"Where is Nina!" Nadine snapped, a trace of her desperate fury finally breaking through her cool, intent focus.

"We thought we were protecting her!" the younger woman snapped back just as sharply, her obvious fear clashing with a spark of anger that had her eyes flashing scarlet. Clint couldn't help his surprise at the unexpectedly conflicted expression suddenly crossing the brother's features as his sister spoke. They genuinely cared about Nina, the archer realized with a start. It was something Nadine didn't seem to notice, though, pointedly flicking off the safety on her Glock, her eyes flashing dangerously. The girl's mouth snapped shut at the look.

"Oh, I wouldn't go there," Banner was suddenly warning, his anger still very evident in his voice even as he eyed Nadine warily, "You're just giving her an excuse, now."

"Banner, after everything that's happened—" Steve broke in, obviously trying to regain some semblance of control over the situation, only for Tony to heatedly cut him off.

"That's nothing compared to what's coming," the billionaire insisted. The Maximoff girl turned, a blatantly disbelieving and almost despairing expression on her face.

"You don't know what's in there!" she cried, no longer paying any attention to the gun still pointed in her direction. For the first time since she'd caught sight of the Twins, Barton saw Nadine's Ghost façade falter, her brow furrowing faintly as she glanced to Stark. The barrel of her gun began to dip. Across the room, Tony looked incensed while Banner's jaw tightened. Steve was glaring at the pair of geniuses again, his face hard and intent.

"This isn't a game—" he snapped at the billionaire even as Wanda renewed her own protests, their raised voices blending before both were abruptly cut off.

"The creature—"

The brother had finally had enough, and in a blur and cascade of sparks and arcing flashes, the Lab was abruptly in shambles, the equipment and tech that had been hooked up to the Cradle having been ripped free from their interfaces. The Sokovian boy dropped the last cable in his hand with a pointed flourish, looking challengingly around the room.

"No, no. Go on. You were saying?"

He had stopped directly overhead of Clint.

And Clint reacted instinctively.

In retrospect, it probably wasn't the best idea, but the opportunity arose to take the brother out of the equation, and he took it.

With a single squeeze of the trigger, the glass overhead shattered right as the brother dropped the cable.

With an almost deafening crash, the Sokovian boy fell in a heap of limbs and glass at Clint's feet. The archer didn't waste a second, firmly planting his foot on the boy's thigh before he could overcome his surprise. He wasn't going anywhere.

"What? You didn't see that coming?" Fighting back a wince as Barton's foot dug into his leg, Pietro Maximoff glared up at the archer with a mix of surprise and fury.

And upstairs, everything went to Hell.

A/N: Thanks for Reading!

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