Fic: My Heart Used to Be Broken Clockwork [3/5] [The Body Electric 'verse]

[jade_dragoness]

Title: My Heart Used to Be Broken Clockwork [3/5] [The Body Electric 'verse]
Author: J.D. aka jade_dragoness
Summary: Clint has been hearing the rumors of Coulson being a robot for years. He always thought they were hilarious. When he learns the truth… it isn't funny at all.
Pairing: Clint Barton/Phil Coulson
Rating: R
Spoilers: None
Warnings:Violence, swear words
Word Count: 5,960 for this chapter only
Disclaimer: Never ever will be mine. *sadness*
A/N: Part of The Body Electric series.
Feedback is hugely welcomed.
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AO3 Link
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Chapter One// Chapter Two
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“Where in the hell did you say you were?!” Fury yelled through the Iron Man helmet’s speakers.

“Antarctica, generally,” Tony said, gesturing all around them with broad sweeping gestures even though Fury couldn’t see them. The HUD’s internal cameras were as thoroughly shot as the rest of the Iron Man armor. “Specifically? Somewhere with dinosaurs and volcanoes. Which was a… surprise, you know… I always pictured tons of ice, snow, and penguins when it came to the seventh continent. Wikipedia lied to me.”

“Dinosaurs…” Fury repeated in a tone heavy with disbelief. Clint could easily picture Fury’s pinching the bridge of his nose in exasperation. It was a gesture that cropped up a lot among SHIELD’s upper tier officers whenever they had to deal with Tony Stark. There were many reasons Phil was the one tasked as Agent in Charge of the Avenger Initiative, so Fury wouldn’t have to do it was merely one of them.

“Where is Coulson? Put him on!” Fury demanded.

Tony froze in mid-gesture before he abruptly dropped his hands and glanced back towards where Clint sat next to Phil. Guilt swept across Tony’s face for a brief moment before it was quickly hidden under a speculative expression. Tony didn’t meet Clint’s eyes and he quickly turned his attention back to the helmet. Clint had to unclench his hands before his nails drew blood from his palms. He glowered at Tony’s back until Natasha’s soft huff of irritation made him turn towards her. Her ‘You’re Being an Idiot’ expression was practically stamped with a trademark. Clint grimaced in response, took a deep breath and tried to shake off the lingering anger.

It didn’t really work; it simmered low and constant in Clint‘s gut.

“Exactly how secure is this transmission?” Steve broke in. He crouched next to Tony, facing the Iron Man helmet.

“It‘s a SHIELD satellite channel, Captain Rogers,” Hill’s voice answered back. “It‘s secure.”

“You have me on speaker phone? Without telling me? You know, I really hate that,” Tony said irritated, as he ran his fingers through his hair from front to back, leaving a messy nest in his wake. “We‘re not broadcasting over the bridge of the Enterprise, are we? Not exactly the best way to keep secrets, Nick.”

“Wait a minute,” Fury said dryly.

“I didn‘t know SHIELD finally picked a name for the helicarrier,” Steve said with interest.

“We haven‘t,” Natasha said, amused at Steve’s bewildered expression.

“You‘re so precious,” Tony said fondly, patting Steve on the back. “Don‘t worry, old man. Star Trek is joining the your viewing queue.”

“Thanks… I think,” Steve replied. The team waited in silence and soon heard a double click through the helmet speakers.

“It‘s just me and Hill now. Would someone tell me what the hell is going on?” Fury demanded. Maybe it was because Clint had known the Director for several years, but he swore he heard a thrum of worry below his commanding and irritated tone. Then and there, Clint knew he couldn’t let anyone else tell him about Phil, especially considering the history between the two men. Director Fury’s appreciation of Phil Coulson on a professional level had always been well-known in SHIELD‘s inner circles, and since the Chitauri/Loki attack and Phil’s subsequent return --from what everyone had thought was death-- that appreciation had become legendary.

Clint always suspected that there was more to that story than just a professional relationship. It made him think that he had to be the one to break the news to Fury. Phil was his handler, his friend, his lover… it was his responsibility.

“Phil’s down, sir,” Clint answered, projecting his voice so he would be heard.

“Exactly what do you mean by that, Agent Barton,” Fury asked swiftly and coldly.

“We know, alright!” Tony snapped, his back stiffening. “We were stuck without a way to call you. Coulson offered… he offered I use…I got the parts I needed from him.”

“What are you talking about, Stark?” Hill’s asked, her voice heavy with confusion.

Clint and Natasha exchanged looks of mutual surprise at Maria Hill, Deputy Director to the whole of SHIELD, clear lack of knowledge about Phil. Weirdly, it made Clint feel better. If Fury hadn’t even trusted his second in command with that knowledge then someone like him, who was so many levels in rank lower than her, won’t have come close to being informed.

“God damn it, Coulson, what the hell did you do?” Fury’s voice was low, nearly inaudible. Clint had the distinct feeling they weren’t supposed to have heard him.

“Director Fury,” Steve said, leaning closer to the Iron Man helmet. “Agent Coulson chose to inform us about his status as an android.”

Hill’s shocked noise of surprise went abruptly quiet as if she‘d muffled herself. “Director Fury?” she asked incredulously.

“You‘ll be fully debriefed later, Hill. I don‘t have the time to answer your questions right now,” Fury said, his voice coming through surprisingly tired. “Now, tell me exactly what the hell happened and what he said, Stark.”

Tony frowned but he gave Fury all the details without being an asshole about it.

“Involuntary standby. Fuck.”

Everyone straightened. On instinct, Clint tightened his grip on his bow.

“Sir, what does that mean?” Steve asked even as he shot Clint a concerned look. His blue eyes were so sympathetic that Clint couldn’t stand it and he looked away. He could handle cruelty better than he ever could deal with kindness, after all he’d had plenty of experience with the former and not so much with the latter. He‘d developed defenses since he‘d been a kid. The kindness and care had always gotten around his mental armor, and the ease in which Steve dolled them out made Clint feel weak during a time when he felt he should be his strongest.

The only people whose gestures of concern made him feel stronger were Phil, and Natasha.

“It means that Coulson‘s batteries are at such low levels that his body has shut down all but the most essential systems,” Fury answered.

“Yeah, I figured that,” Tony said cuttingly. “The name kind of gave it away.”

“How long has he been out?”

“Three hours and twenty-seven minutes,” Natasha answered promptly.

“Shit… Stark, you need to find a way to get power to him,” Fury ordered.

Tony frowned. “Why?”

“Howard Stark never turned him off after he first switched Coulson on,” Fury said grimly. “He was always worried about what it would do to Coulson‘s brain. If his power levels reach zero then we may not be able to get him back. And I don‘t mean his memories and databanks, those can survive without power. They‘re solid-state drives and he‘s got back-ups in case of drive failure. What could be lost is what really makes Coulson…Coulson. He‘d lose everything he‘s gained over the years since he‘s been activated.”

Clint flinched and he stared down at Phil‘s face. I can still lose him, Clint thought. Panic clawed at his insides. He shuddered and tightened his right hand around Phil’s wrist.

“You‘re saying he‘ll reset back to factory settings,” Bruce said slowly, going pale. “He‘ll forget himself… that‘s...” Bruce shook his head, clearly spooked by the idea.

Steve looked equally stricken. Tony’s head was bowed low.

Clint huffed a silent miserable laugh; he wasn‘t surprised at this news. Their luck today had been so epically bad it was setting a new standard in fucking awful. Natasha touched his shoulder with a firm grip. He looked up her as she squeezed it. The line of her mouth was hard and flat but her eyes…her eyes looked at him with fierce protectiveness. She didn’t say anything, after all hope was a poison but that she tried to reassure him at all…it spoke a lot of the depth of what she was feeling. Clint squeezed back, in quiet gratitude of her unwavering support.

“I‘ll rig something,” Tony said, breaking the awful silence. He raised his head and turned to face Clint, actually looking at him in the eye for the first time since he’d walked past Clint to get to Phil’s prone defenseless body. Tony tapped his chest, his fingernail clicking on the arc reactor through his shirt. “I have a built in power generator,” Tony said firmly. His brown eyes burned bright with the intensity of his promise. The rest of his expression was solemn and serious in a way that Clint was only used to seeing on the man when a battle was racking up casualties among the civilians. Tony’s chin went up. “I will find a way to get some into him.”

Clint stared at him for a long moment. His anger towards the other man roiled in his chest like a beast… but regardless of how pissed he was at Tony and how much he still shuddered at the memory of him over Phil‘s body --Tony‘s wrist deep into Phil‘s chest-- he’d be more than willing to swallow his anger if Tony followed through. After cutting Phil apart, it was the least he could fucking do to start making up for it.

“I‘ll hold you to that, Stark,” Clint said intently. He loosened his tight hold on Phil’s wrist to something less crushing as Tony nodded crisply. Over Tony’s shoulder, Steve smiled a tiny delighted grin.

“Good,” Fury cut in. “Because from what you‘ve told me Coulson has, at best, about 3.5 hours left. And even with our fastest jet we won‘t make it all the way to Antarctica in time.”

“We’ll get a faster response if we‘re able to coordinate with McMurdo Station. We have a couple of agents on security assignments there,” Hill said coolly.

“JARVIS, send the last coordinates for the Quinjet‘s nav-systems,” Tony said at once. “It’s good you’ll have someone coming by land since with the EMSF, that‘s what I‘ve been calling the energy field around this area which took us down, you can’t send any planes over our last coordinates without them getting fried and crashing too.”

“If we can‘t land where you’re at, you‘ll have to get out,” Fury pointed out.

Steve flinched, a reaction which gave everyone pause until Steve pointed out. “None us here are dressed to survive the cold extremes. The one who comes closets is Bruce but not as himself.”

“And the other guy is notoriously unreliable,” Bruce sighed in agreement.

“I’m more concerned about Coulson,” Tony continued. “Why? What do you mean?” Clint asked, with narrowed eyes.

“The field is still in place, going through it once nearly drained Coulson‘s batteries dry, and it shut down most of Iron Man,” Tony reminded them.

“And your arc reactor,” Steve said, looking at Tony in concern. He looked back at the Iron Man helmet. “It would be a good idea to bring another core.”

Tony grimaced and waved that fact away with a dismissive flick of his wrist. “What I’m trying to point out, is that we need a way to get Coulson past the EMSF safely.”

“We need a Faraday cage,” Bruce said thoughtfully.

“Exactly,” Tony exclaimed pointing a finger-gun at Bruce. “Have I told you lately that I love you?”

“It‘s been a few days,” Bruce said smiling easily.

“Well, I do. I love your big, big, big--”

“Stark!” Hill snapped.

“Brain… I was going to say brain,” Tony protested. “Such a lack of trust.” He shook his head mock-sadly. “I‘m kinda hurt now.”

Clint barely chocked back an abrupt laugh. Tony winked at him.

“It would be a good idea to have a Faraday cage for all of us to use, or to be more specific, Faraday suits,” Bruce continued thoughtfully. “It‘s a common misconception that electromagnetic radiation of the sort produced by an EMP is harmless to humans. A sustained field like the kind that Tony‘s talking about could hurt us too.”

“And it‘s probably what‘s keeping the rest of the world from learning that we‘ve still got dinosaurs around,” Tony agreed.

This was the point where Bruce’s and Tony’s English turned into science gibberish talk, which Clint tuned out. While Steve, Bruce and Tony coordinated a rescue with SHIELD, Clint and Natasha figured out how to move Phil with the least amount of damage. They used some of the equipment Phil had taken off the jet, long branches from nearby trees and created a makeshift stretcher. They strapped Phil into it long before the team was ready to move out. Clint, hearing Phil’s voice in his head remind of survival protcol, made sure that everyone ate as Natasha walked the perimeter, before he focused on making new shafts for his bow.

They were cruder than he’d like, made out of the straightest pieces of wood he‘d been able to find and they lacked arrowheads other than the points he‘d carved, but he focused on quantity not quality. Clint was glad he had extra vanes in his bow case, otherwise they’d be hell to use. He had the feeling that if he needed to go on the offensive then he would need a lot of arrows, even as green as they were. And against any possible threats, he’d rather have arrows he’d could compensate for, than none at all.

Steve crouched at Clint’s side, eyeing the quiver full of 25 shafts. “You‘re going to have to teach me how to do that one day,” he said, impressed.

Clint looked at him and flicked away a wood curl over his shoulder on the flat of knife. “We’re ready?”

“In five minutes,” Steve said nodding. He looked at Phil, where he was tightly roped into the stretcher.

Clint nodded and finished up the last arrow, adding it to his quiver. “Right.”

“I‘ll help you carry him,” Bruce offered, standing up from where he’d been sitting next to Tony. Clint thanked him.

Steve raised his fist into the air and at his signal Natasha came out of the trees on silent feet. They distributed the survival packs among them, grabbing only the essentials. Natasha took point with Clint, Phil and Bruce in the middle. Tony followed behind them, one of Natasha’s small guns in his hand and still carrying the Iron Man armor case, while Steve brought up the rear with the shield on hand.

It took them nearly two precious hours to find the edge of Dino Land. Two hours in which they walked quietly past herds of all sorts of dinosaurs --even ones that Clint thought weren’t suppose to ever know each other since they came from different time periods but he couldn‘t be certain about that-- because the last thing they wanted was to tangle with what where essential big animals. They’d all agreed before heading out, that unless one of the dinosaurs was actively trying to eat them, it would be better to leave them be.

Anyway, Tony had rightly pointed out that they’d no doubt end up on an endangered species list if the public found out about them.

They had less than an hour and a half before Phil’s batteries ran dry when they found the huge stone wall which marked the boundary of this crazy place.

“That‘s going to be a tough climb,” Steve said, as he looked up.

“And me without my flight boots,” Tony agreed.

They all tilted their heads up, staring up a sheer rock wall of nearly fifty feet of granite. The wall was unbroken, as far as they could see it. It wall continued on to the left and to the right as far as Clint could see. From the slight concave curve the wall took, it seemed like Dino Land‘s boundary was one giant round wall which definitely didn’t smack of natural to Clint. He made a mental note of his observation.

“This is the best place to get out, guys,” Tony continued. “It‘s the closest point to McMurdo Station. Our ride‘s going to be pulling up on the other side.”

Natasha turned back to look at Clint. He nodded back.

“I guess I‘m up,” Clint said, slowly lowering the stretcher with Phil down to the ground. He hid a small caress of Phil’s hand with the motion, reassuring himself that Phil was going okay out of his sight for the time it took for Clint to get back to him. “This could take several minutes. You better get started on following through on your promise, Stark.” Before time ran out, Clint didn’t have say aloud.

“Just don‘t get yourself killed. Agent will make all our lives miserable,” Tony said, as he sat by Phil’s side, opening the tool kit. He shrugged out of t-shirt and the arc reactor glowed blue-white with power.

Natasha handed Clint two slim ropes, each graded for half a ton of weight. Clint slipped out of his boots, because as awesome as SHIELD issued equipment was, they weren’t the best for rock climbing since the were soles were too clunky. He didn’t remove his quiver or bow, though. They were designed not to interfere with his maneuverability and even if they had, he wouldn‘t have wanted to remove them anyway.

Clint rubbed his hands into the gritty dirt at their feet, shook off the excess dirt and looked for the perfect place to start. Slowly, Clint made it up the wall face as he followed a nearly invisible fissure. He got half-way up when he began to feel a vibration under his hands and an uncomfortable prickling feeling all along his skin, even under his clothes. He gritted his teeth and bore it as he climbed and a couple of feet later he ran out of fissure. He took a breath, made himself focus on a rock wall and picked out a series of nearly flat hand holds which got him to less than 5 feet from the top. That’s the point where he pulled out the last smart-arrow he had yet to use, which he‘d been saving in case he slipped. The smart-arrow was built with a rappelling line in the shaft and a collapsible gripping hook in the arrowhead.

He took a long moment to decide the best place to shoot. As soon as he found it, he release the wall and as he fell back, pulled down by gravity, he shot. The arrowhead expanded into a hook and hit the target perfectly, a wedge between to large boulders. Clint came to an abrupt stop. As soon as he stopped turning, Clint climbed line and pulled himself over the lip of the wall. He nearly fell over backward at the mixed sensation of devastating cold hitting his skin and heat prickling at his nerve endings, as well as being hit with blinding white as sunlight bounced off ice and snow.

“Son of a bitch, that‘s cold,” Clint hissed, abruptly wishing his uniform came with sleeves. The cold made him seriously consider asking for attachable sleeves in the next uniform design from R&D. Clint fished out his sunglasses and took careful note of one odd feature. Between the rock wall edge and the ice there was ten feet of clear space, with no snow or ice blocking the granite. It was completely bare and really fucking weird. He suspected that Tony’s EMSF was to blame.

Clint noted his observations before he collected his smart arrow, folding down the arrowhead. He then found a solid rock which shot up to the sharp blue sky like a lost stalagmite. He wrapped the rope around the base, double checked the knots and then he put on his gloves and rappelled down the rock wall in less than five seconds.

As soon as his feet hit the ground Clint frowned. Tony was unconscious, sprawled on his back with his hair standing on end while Bruce examined him with quick fingers and a worried expression. A bitter smell of heated metal and ---weirdly enough-- coconuts lingered in the air. Steve looked anxious. Natasha was tense as she crouched over Phil, buttoning his shirt before Clint could see what lay beneath.

As Clint jerked his gaze away before his keen eyesight saw details he didn’t really want seared into his memory, he demanded “What the hell happened?”

Tony groaned and opened his eyes. “Imma okay,” he slurred.

JARVIS answered worriedly, “Sir underestimated the kickback of electrical energy due to siphoning power from the arc reactor and into Agent Coulson‘s batteries.”

Clint looked over at Phil. “Is Phil okay?” he demanded as he rushed to his side. “Tell me that didn‘t hurt him!”

“The only damage I saw was superficial,” Natasha answered.

Clint choked on a strangled noise at the confirmation that there was some damage. Frantic, he looked over Phil and although he didn’t see anything he was too aware of how much of Phil‘s body the suit covered. The memory of the last time Thor had accidentally fried SHIELD’s tech-systems in a portable op-control with a misplaced lightning bolt came sharply to mind. Clint swallowed down a sudden bout of nausea of the memory of burnt plastic melding with the real scent of heated metal.

“Don‘t mind me,” Tony groaned, somewhat more coherent. “I only just completely fried the thing which keeps me alive. No big.”

“What happened, Tony?” Steve asked, as he leaned closer to Tony. His brow were furrowed in concern. “You didn‘t say anything like this could happen.”

“I miscalculated dear ol‘ dad‘s built in defenses,” Tony explained as he tried sitting up. “Woah. Okay, big mistake,” Tony said woozily. He flattened himself back down, his limbs sprawled out like a starfish. “Bruce, I‘m passing the miracle worker baton onto you. I‘m on a smoke break.” Tony huffed a low laugh. “’cause I‘m smokin‘.”

“Is he alright?” Steve asked Bruce.

“From what I can tell… yeah, his heartbeat is steady and strong,” Bruce said as he shared relieved glance with Steve. “I think he‘s just a little stunned from the electrical backlash.”

“What about Phil?” Clint demanded.

“Agent Barton, from my analysis, Agent Coulson’s batteries should be at 34% percent capacity. Which would translate to 49 hours of power for his critical systems,” JARVIS answered.

“And Tony‘s reactor?” Clint asked. He did give a damn about Tony after all; he was just having a terrible day.

“Sir is at 17% percent power,” JARVIS replied.

Steve frowned, “Can he make it through the EMSF like that?”

“Considering the previous power drop it would be a safer option to wait for the arrival of the Faraday suits and the replacement core before traversing the EMSF,” JARVIS said crisply.

“Yeah,” Clint said. “I can see your point. I could feel the field, even before I made it to the top. I could barely stand it and I wasn’t even close to crossing it.” Bruce took in this information with a thoughtful expression, raising his head to stare up at the rim of the wall.

Steve got to his feet and gave them a sweeping look which caught their attention, even Tony cracked open one eye to stare up at him. “Let‘s set up a defense perimeter and secure camp until SHIELD gets here.”

The team nodded and got to work.
*-*-*-*

The two SHIELD agents from McMurdo showed up three hours later. Making it a damned good thing that Tony had managed to partially charge Phil’s batteries, because otherwise… Clint didn’t want to think about what would’ve happened. But he knew this, they would have arrived too late.
The two agents --Johnson and Schultz-- had made it through to them in a SnoCat which looked like an orange delivery truck on with wide triangle treads. They had wisely parked it just beyond the odd snow-bare area so the engine wasn‘t killed by the EMSF. Clint would’ve normally have climbed up to sneak in drive since adding an artic vehicle to the list of transports he‘d driven would‘ve been golden but he preferred to stick with Phil.

Natasha was the one who climbed the rope to greet them, double wrapped in two silver-foil thermal blankets to minimize any side effects from the EMSF rather than have the agents risk crossing without any protection. The agents had brought them cold wear gear to allow them make it to the SnoCat without anything falling off from the wind chill. It worked well enough that when Natasha returned they’d agreed that Bruce should go up next because someone with science know-how of the EMSF field should be at the McMurdo landing site to greet and explain the situation to Fury. Bruce was the only one to leave with the SHIELD agents since Steve was determined to remain with his downed teammates and no one bothered to try to talk him out of it since Steve could redefine the meaning of stubborn, as the new immovable object, when he felt like digging in his heels.

No one even dared to ask Natasha if she’d leave Clint behind.

Clint stayed so close to Phil’s side so some part of him was always touching him and burned away time by crafting more and better arrows. As they waited Tony remained disturbingly quiet as he worked on the Iron Man suit. He occasionally looked up to stare at Phil in a way which tripped all of Clint’s protective instincts since Clint could practically see his mental wheels spinning away at super-sonic speeds. But since Tony didn’t do anything other than stare, blink and go glassy-eyed whenever he drifted off in thought, Clint grudgingly refrained from shooting him with his new arrows.

No one got sleep that night. When the sky darkened for a couple of hours, they’d only managed to snatch a few minutes of sleep at a time. Their diligence proved a benefit when they scared a large herd of dinos which looked like dog sized raptors who’d come around to check them out. Clint used up nearly all his arrows, taking down the sharp-toothed bastards as they tried to take bites out of him. Tony managed to get one repulsor from the Iron Man suit working and blasted several of the raptors which scared the sharp-toothed buggers off.

When Fury showed up a little over 24 hours since they‘d crashed landed, Clint could’ve kissed him.

“Only you people could fly over Antarctica and end up in a tropical jungle,” Fury said dryly, as he stepped off the new rope ladder the SHIELD agents had installed. He was wearing a suit riveted with metal and a what looked like a steam-punk birdcage helmet on his head.

On the top of the rock wall, Clint could see Bruce, Hill, Agent Sitwell and a female agent whom Clint didn’t recognize. They were wearing similar suits, peering down at them before Hill started her descent. Fury looked them over with one eye until he settled his gaze on Phil. He sighed heavily and drew close until he was stand by Clint’s side. After he studied Phil, Fury looked Clint for a long moment before he nodded, as if satisfied with some answer he found on Clint’s face.

“Okay, people,” Fury ordered loudly. “Let‘s get the hell out of here, pronto!”

Hill landed with a soft thud. She walked over to Tony and handed him a small black case which had been clipped to her belt, right next to her gun holster. “One arc reactor core,” Hill said in explanation as she gave it to Tony. Tony gave her a silent nod of thanks. Hill turned on a dime and walked straight to Clint and Phil. She stayed back several feet, eyeing Phil’s face with a cool mask of professionalism.

Clint saw the way she kept back though, and the tightness of her jaw that only even showed up when she was angry enough to chew nails. Clint noted her reaction before focusing his attention on getting Phil strapped into the metal gurney they’d brought.

“Aw, that‘s the stuff,” Tony said as he popped in the new arc reactor core into place in his chest and the light in his chest glowed bright and stronger. “So, big guy, what did the readings show?” he called out to Bruce as the man stepped off the rope ladder.

“We may have a problem,” Bruce said. They all turned to look at him, but he just looked back at Tony. “We underestimated the strength of the EMSF at ground level.”

“Meaning what?” Fury asked.

“Meaning that the Faraday cage we brought for Phil won‘t provide as much protection as we hoped,” Bruce explained. “I studied those sensors and there‘s a lot of different energies involved in the field, it isn‘t only a magnetic field.”

“We‘re not leaving Phil here,” Clint snapped.

“Of course not,” Bruce said instantly with wide eyes.

“So we do it fast,” Tony broke in, his brown eyes narrowing in thought. “That field brought down the Quinjet, shutting down lot of systems. And it‘s knocked out Iron Man.” Tony looked down at Phil. “I‘ll need to be up there first. If the field drains his batteries again, he‘s going to need another jolt.”

“Is that a good idea?” Steve asked in concern. “The defenses nearly knocked you out last time.”

Tony nodded. “I‘m sure. I‘ll know what I‘ll be facing. Don‘t worry, old man.”

“Then let‘s do it,” Fury ordered.

Fury had also brought a gurney, so Clint helped move Phil from the makeshift stretcher and watched as Sitwell, Bruce and the female agent set up the Faraday cage in less than five minutes. Tony had put on a Faraday suit and climbed up the rope ladder. He’d left behind the Iron Man suitcase for Steve to carry and had attached JARVIS to Phil so that the AI could monitor him, even though he warned them that the helmet would likely to crap out before long. As the gurney went up, Clint kept pace on the rope ladder, the Faraday suit he wore made the climb nearly as hazardous as his initial scaling of the rock wall but he gritted his teeth and didn’t let Phil pull out ahead.

As soon as the gurney slipped over the lip of the wall, JARVIS shouted a garbled warning about dropping levels before fizzing out. Smoke curled up from the helmet as Tony swore and grabbed the gurney, shouting at the rest of the agents to help and they raced towards the fleet of artic vehicles which Fury had brought.

Clint pelted after them, not caring a whit for how the cold cut into him like razor blades of ice. He was right behind them as they climbed into the biggest of the artic vehicles, one that looked like city bus on treads.

“Damn it, damn it,” Tony swore, as he tore off the Faraday suit.“What happened?” Clint asked, anxiously as soon as he got through the door.

“The power‘s dropped to less than one percent.”

“You gotta do something,” Clint demanded.

“I am!” Tony snapped back. He jerked his shirt over his head, and the arc reactor glowed. He grabbed the Iron Man helmet off of Phil, reached in and snapped way the cords. He looked around had snatched up a tool kit, his eye lighting up. He knelt by Phil’s side and even as his hands worked, pulling out what he needed he looked up to shot Clint a hard look. “Don‘t try to kill me for what you see, okay?”

Before Clint could agree, Tony tore away Phil’s button shirt, popping buttons all over the floor and then he plunged his hands right into Phil’s chest before he spread the skin apart.

Clint’s vision went funny as it darkening around the edges while a roaring sound drowned out everything. He clamped his eyes closed, counted to ten and ruthlessly shoved his reaction into a mental box. This was the last thing Phil needed. He wouldn’t be a useless mess! Not now!

Clint opened his eyes and dropped to his knees opposite of Tony. “What do you need me to do?” he asked hoarsely.

Tony paused for a split second before he nodded, “Just make sure I‘m still breathing. Afterwards.” Then in swift, economical movements Tony clipped two cords to his arc reactor and pressed their copper exposed ends to something inside of Phil. Instantly, the arc reactor lit up like a super-nova. The bright flare of light made Sitwell and the female agent shout out in surprise. Tony yelled and jerked away falling onto his back, the scent of metal and coconuts filling the air.

As Clint bent over Tony’s body to double-check that he was actually still breathing, the door opened up and Steve and Fury climbed in followed by Hill. They took in the blinking SHIELD agents, Clint crouched over Tony and Tony’s own unconscious state.

“Damn it, Tony,” Steve said softly.

With someone else willing to check Tony over, Clint left him to Steve and returned to Phil’s side just as Fury shot them all a grim look and said, “Let’s get your asses back to New York City before you kill yourselves by accident.”

*-*-*-*

Clint hadn’t intended to fall asleep on the flight back to New York. He’d managed to stay away the hours they spent getting from the edge of Dino Land to McMurdo, getting checked out by the doctors at the research station and even through Fury’s grilling of what had happened but once they were in the familiar confines of a SHIELD jet he’d dropped right off and didn’t open them again until the jet landed with a harsh jolt.

Clint jerked against the straps of the seat as disorienting dream memories of the Quinjet buffeting him around as Tony yelled in panicky anger kicked his every fight reflexes into overdrive. He had was nocking his bow when Steve stepped right in front of him.

“Stand down, soldier,” Steve said softly. “Calm down, Hawkeye.”

Clint gulped in a lungful of air, and nodded at Steve as he lowered his bow. Jesus, he’d never had a problem with planes, jets or helicopters before. But then he’d never survived a plane crash either. He rubbed at his eyes, seeking out Phil’s prone body from he was still strapped to the gurney. “You know, I‘m calling dibs on piloting every single plane I get on in the future.”

Steve’s eyes were understanding. “I think we can make that happen.”

“I want this move to happen quickly, people,” Fury broke in. “Coulson is still more classified than damned near anything else in SHIELD, and it‘s going to stay that way.”

Hill nodded and was out the door of the jet, snapping out orders and clearing the deck of the helicarrier of nonessential personnel.

Clint frowned in confusion as Sitwell and the female SHIELD agent hooked up various medical equipment to Phil and covered him with a blanket until only his head peaked through.

“You were asleep when we decided to take him to the Avengers Tower,” Steve explained.

Fury snorted. “Decided? Stark damn near blackmailed me.”

Clint took that for an exaggeration. If there was anyone in the planet less likely to be blackmailed it was Nick Fury.

“If you can convince me that the Enterprise has a state-of-the-art cybernetics lab, I‘ll be willing to stay,” Tony said caustically. He‘d gotten a pair of red framed sunglasses from somewhere. “But last time I checked SHIELD schematics--”

“Top secret schematics,” Fury grumbled.

“--I didn‘t see anything close to what I‘ll need,” Tony continued. “And I hate break this to you, Nick. But if you want to keep Agent a secret? Than the last thing you‘ll want is to have him opened up in the helicarrier. It‘ll take more than a couple of hours to get him up and running again.”

Fury inclined his head, his dark eyes narrowed and intent. “Then… you better get started Stark.”

TBC

a/n: *sheepish* So this was done over a week and then I forgot to post it.