Running Out » Quicksilver

chapter twelve

12 x game on

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[ Third Person POV ]

Pietro came to an abrupt halt smack in front of Stark's reactor, releasing his hold on Clint simultaneously. The archer had been (somewhat) expecting that, though, and he managed to steady himself pretty quickly.

"Thanks for the warning, by the way," Clint muttered sarcastically.

"You are in one piece, so you are fine, yes?" Pietro returned, staring up at the arc reactor with tempered interest. It was big, and it was technological - not really his forte. He'd never really been impressed by all of Stark's technology. He had better things to do with his time (and life, for that matter). "What exactly should we be looking for?"

Clint scoffed. "I don't know. I'm no technical genius. A control panel would be a good starting place, I'd say."

Pietro sighed inaudibly, cracking his neck before doing a fast check around the machine, before 'reappearing' beside Clint. "Found it."

"And?" Clint raised a brow.

Pietro shrugged. "There is no glowing lights or buttons. Was very dark."

Clint sighed, giving Pietro a look. "And would you mind directing me there, so I can contact Stark and try and see if he can walk me through this?"

Pietro sighed exasperatedly, whisking Barton there without further ado, before stepping to the side and crossing his arms over his chest, shifting back and forth on his feet impatiently.

Clint pulled out his phone, side-eying Pietro as he did He'd seen Pietro all kinds of impatient, frustrated, and giddy, but never like this. He watched the white-haired kid in his periphery as he listened to the other line ringing, waiting for Stark to pick up.

"Barton?"

"Rogers sent me down to your reactor. It's definitely not on. Any way you can walk me through fixing it?" Clint asked, turning when he heard Pietro huff irritably. He gave him a questioning look.

Pietro frowned. "It is useless for me to be here. I would be more helpful in the field."

Clint moved the phone away from his mouth for a moment. "I need you here, kid."

Pietro scowled, but didn't argue further. His mind was racing every which way, as it always did, but this time with concern. Megan was up there without him, was the reoccurring thought, which was frequently battled by her being perfectly capable of handling herself. (Because she was, and he definitely knew that.)

"Check if all the wires are intact," Stark said.

"Yeah, okay," Clint agreed, before he began to do all the checks Tony asked of him. It took a while- longer than Pietro thought he could stand- but at the end of it, there was a loud whirring.

They'd gotten the reactor back on.

"Wait, you did it?" Pietro asked, more than a little stunned.

Clint smirked at him. "Of course I did. Oh ye of little faith-" he hung up the phone, figuring Stark could take it from there.

"Yes, yes, I underestimated you, my bad- can we go now?" Pietro asked anxiously.

Clint rolled his eyes. Impatient blue bastard. "Yeah, yeah. Let's go, lover boy."

Pietro was so relieved at finally being able to get in on the action that he completely ignored the nickname in favor of rushing Clint and himself back up to the rest of the Tower.