The gas started filling the room almost immediately after the split began to form in space. It was emitting from an arrow and Natasha knew instantly that it was Barton. That Trent bastard must have found a way to open a teleportation portal, Tina's promise of security against that threat aside. Natasha's guns were out and firing so fast it surprised even her - Her reflexes were adapting to her new size abnormally fast. She put four bullets into the chest of one of the six soldiers who had emerged and he kept going. She needed to aim for the face masks - It seemed unlikely that Trent would be able to Harden a transparent shield like that against her guns.

Though anything was possible.

She tried not breathe in the seconds it took them to close, but it was going to be hard to deal with these thugs. Most of them were tough and fast - Adapting to their new bodies quickly. Banner was already on the ground, screaming in pain. She just had to keep them busy enough to get them plummeting through the floor when the Hulk showed up. She'd probably die, but those were the risks. But Barton was grabbing the staff. Natasha fired off one last shot, aiming for the helmet he was wearing and hitting him in the back of the chest but it wasn't good enough.

The moment she took to aim was too long and one of the thugs got hold of her hand, they were met in a few moments of grapple and then the gang was on top of her, slashing at her with swords.

Who still uses swords? were her last thoughts before she saw the big green hand slap two of them against the wall and the world went dark,

—

"The Hulk has left the ship, no communication from Widow. Cameras identified seven attackers, poison gas and gas masks, launched with a bow. Likely Barton is in the boarding party. Unclear how many left, scepter no longer in the research facility." Fury said over the intercom.

"I thought you said that the ship should've been proof against teleportation?" Andromeda said from on top of Tina's shoulder. The effects of the serum were truly intense and coupled with her small size, she should be more than able to help in case the plan went wrong.

"Anti-ingress spell is still functional," Tina said, waving her staff. "He shouldn't have been able to do that."

Typical, of course Mike had found a way to bypass magic that he didn't even know existed. He had discovered time travel - The limits of his capacity to do things was almost zero. "We have to keep the staff on the ship," Andromeda said over comms. "If he can teleport in, he'll teleport in bombs the moment the scepter and Loki are clear."

"You should go on Newly Weds, really make use of this intimate knowledge of hubby's psychoses." Stark said over comms. "Victor and I've got the staff moving towards the bridge."

"Heading up," Rhodes said.

"Four of the attackers are heading towards the drop cell chamber."

"We're waiting for them," Andromeda confirmed.

And they were. An extraction of Loki had been inevitable - Loki had planned on being captured, the absolute moron. Victor had suggested just killing him, but Thor wouldn't hear of it. So they were doing this instead.

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And soon enough, four men opened the door and Tina shouted, "Freeze!"

The freeze spell was pretty short, especially on super-soldiers as they had discovered through testing, but the principles of its effect were pretty simple. It lasted about fifteen seconds, locking them into place for a very short period of time. But by the the time it had worn off, Wilder had grabbed one and twisted his head loose, grabbed his sword and thrust it into his neighbor and Captain America had bludgeoned his two men totally unconscious.

"Shield back up!" Andromeda shouted as the gas they were using to clear rooms started seeping back into the room.

Tina began waving her staff, evaporating the gas, and the group sighed in relief. All that they needed to do was wait for Barton to get clobbered on the main deck and all would be well.

That didn't feel right at all.

Andromeda walked up to one of the bodies and started examining his gas mask. A few moments later, the awful conclusions was unavoidable.

"Goddamn it. Guys, they have cameras."

Everybody in the room knew what that meant - Mike knew that Loki wasn't here and that the PRIDE was.

"Get the staff!."

—

"Get the staff she says," Rhodey complained over the comms, "What does that even mean in this context?"

"It means we're about to depressurize a massive air-ship that is really impractically designed if we're being honest," Tony said. "Thor buddy, how's it going with your little brother?"

"He is still very tiny and irritated!" Thor said, laughing over the comm.

Hawkeye was moving onto the bridge, leading his men into the thick of it, and launching his poison gas arrows into the crowd on deck. They were being forced to clear out quickly and he was moving in. Nothing to be done on that front, Tony decided. He was going to get the information he came for, whatever that was. But he was also clearing the room of friendlies.

"Now!" Tony shouted, and Rhodey busted through the viewing window. He hit one of the grunts with two blasts, but he got back up. These people were ridiculous. The shoulder gun popped up, aimed, and fired. The bullets tore through one of their masks and then another one. Barton was near by, blasting at Rhodey through the glass with the staff.

Rhodey started to close and Barton literally jumped from the command deck and onto Rhodey's suit. He clung to it for a moment, but then let go.

Rhodey didn't hesitate, he grabbed him instantly, stopping him from falling into an expanding teleportation hole. "Oh no you don't," Rhodey said triumphantly. Barton glared back, twisted the staff in his hand to blast Rhodey and it fired straight into Rhodey's chest. The blast ripped up the suit's internal power, "Uh, Thor, Rhodey's gonna need some help," but Rhodey held onto Barton even as the suit started to collapse in power supply.

"I'm on it!" Thor announced, racing over.

It was only then that Tony noticed that Barton was no longer holding the staff and the portal was gone.

He dialed up Pepper and told her he loved her. It was several minutes before they realized the bombs weren't coming.