Do You Still Believe In Heroes?
It was 2 am in Budapest and two SHIELD agents just experienced the worst mission disaster ever.
Their target city just blew up. What the hell?
"Natasha are you okay?" Clint shouted through the dust. He coughed as he leaned against a wall trying to get some idea of where his partner just went.
"The entire city just got leveled! How the hell do you think anyone is okay?" she shouted back furiously from beneath a pile of debris. He paused – well at least she doesn't make it very difficult to find her.
"Fine. I'll be more specific. Are you dead woman?" he asked warily.
"Oh my god...NO!" she groaned. He was such a dork.
"Good. Stay put," he muttered as he tried to figure out how to get to her without having the entire building collapse in on them. It was a miracle it hasn't already.
"This is even worse than the first time we were here..." Natasha muttered as she leaned against the wall still stuck underneath all the rubble. She winced as she looked down at the bumps and scratches that covered her arms – those were going to leave some nasty bruises.
"Natasha...did you break anything...?" he asked suddenly.
"No, I just fell through the ceiling and miraculously survived without a scratc-" Natasha froze in her sarcastic reply as she feel a warm liquid start to trickle down her face and onto her hand.
It was a deep red colour that stained her palm. She slowly reached up to her forehead and tensed.
That was a concussion waiting to happen.
"Why did you just stop talking Tasha...?" Clint asked slowly peering through the gap between all the fallen debris. Natasha continued to stare at the sudden red her hand was bathed in.
"Hey Clint...do you have a Band-Aid by any chance...?" Natasha asked warily. Clint froze.
"How big of a Band-Aid Tasha...?" he asked as the worry started creeping into his heart. Damn it just didn't matter how many times they go through this. She always scared the shit out of him when she started being cryptic.
"3 inches…?" she said hesitantly.
"I'm going to murder you once I get you out," he grumbled as he started digging even faster.
"Ah...you better get in line with death. He likes me a bit too much," Natasha said with a sigh. She was trying to keep the exhaustion out of her voice but he knew her too well and caught on immediately.
"Don't you dare fall asleep Tasha!" Clint said warningly as he quickly looked around to see if he could use anything as leverage to remove the large beam of splintered wood blocking him from getting his partner out of this shitty situation.
"How am I supposed sleep with you continuously hollering at me?" she asked warily. She silently pinched herself just to make sure she wasn't drifting off anyway. He would kill her if she did fall unconscious.
"You know...your sarcasm makes me worry even more Tasha," he said evenly.
"You'd worry either way Clint," she said quietly.
"I would worry less you didn't always lie to me," he said gruffly. She tensed.
"I don't always lie to you! You know more truths about me than anyone else alive!" she said heatedly.
"How much of those things were on accident Tasha?" he asked staring at the physical wreckage between them.
"I don't tell people about my past on accident," she said narrowing her eyes. He paused as he took her heated words into consideration.
"Are you seeing black spots yet Tasha?" he asked calmly.
Natasha tensed. She was most definitely starting to lose chunks of her vision – but she would deny it until the end.
"No not yet," she said firmly.
"Liar," he said narrowing his eyes. She froze.
"How'd you know?" she asked disbelievingly. He was the only person in the world who could really read her. Why did that always scare her so much?
"Easy. Most people sound hesitant when they lie and confident when they're telling the truth. You do the exact opposite Tasha," he said with a shrug. She does a lot of things differently than normal people. Clint never accused her of being normal. None of them who were in this field were.
"This is why I've never had partners before..." she muttered under her breath. They knew too much. They cared too much. They talked too much. But most importantly it hurt too much when they left. He could hear the slight dip in her mood as she trailed off.
"I don't care what other people say Tasha. I'm honoured to be your first and hopefully only partner," he said quietly.
"There is a reason no one at SHIELD wanted to be partners with me Clint," she said staring at her hands. Today they were stained with her own blood. For years they were always stained with someone else's.
"Because they couldn't see the good in you Tasha. Just like they never saw mine," he said leaning his forehead against the beam in front of him. She laughed softly.
"I could see it from a mile away Clint. You may have an unhappy past – but you're dripping with good in you. The rest of the organization is just blind," she said quietly. He smiled gently – sometimes Natasha had an odd sweetness to her only he could appreciate.
"Exactly. The whole world is blind Tasha," he said softly. She was about to response when they both froze as they heard a group of heavy footsteps not too far away from their location.
Someone was here. Someone they likely didn't want to tangle with at the moment
"Clint..." she said warningly.
"No Tasha..." he said firmly.
"Clint you need to go," she said staring at the broken door through the gap in the debris.
"I'm not leaving Tasha!" he whispered furiously. Was she insane?
"At least you need to freaking hide!" she whispered back.
"If they're looking for something Tasha – they aren't going to miss you. They glance down through these cracks and you're dead Natasha! Don't you get it?" he said furiously. She took a deep breath – they didn't have time to argue.
"Who is going to get me out if you get caught and dragged to god knows where?" she said ruthlessly using his emotions against him. Clint froze. He clenched his hands tightly into fists – she was right.
"Damn you Natasha," he said before he gave her one last look that said no matter what happened he was going to get her out of here. Then he pulled away and dashed down a hall just as the door to the warehouse burst off its hinges and a massive group of armed men walked into the room.
"Fury I am going to kill you for sending us into this mess…" she whispered loosely holding her gun between her knees. She wasn't going to go down without taking half of them with her.
That was her promise.
"Someone knew we were coming and disabled half the explosions in the eastern district. This place should be in flames – where are they?" a dark haired men demanded as he turned to look at his men.
"We don't know Dmitri. We never caught sight of the infiltrators," a blond haired man spoke up from the silent group in front of him.
Natasha silently snorted – that was my job you idiots.
"Oh yeah? You don't know?" Dmitri said dangerously advancing on the blond man across the room. They stared each other down, each looking like they were going to murder the other any second now.
"Then tell me why the hell we found a SHIELD helicopter 3 miles outside of the city Felix!" he shouted in blond man's face. Felix narrowed his eyes.
"That wasn't my job. That was their job. Why haven't your men found them yet?" he said angrily. Dmitri had dark flames burning in his eyes – but he knew the pain in his ass was right.
"Search every corner of this place and every other building on this street. We are going to find these agents," Dmitri hissed before he spun around and stalked out of the building. Felix sighed and motioned for the men to start looking. Clint froze as the men spread out. Natasha took a deep breath and held her gun firmly – it was now or never.
They were seconds away from finding his partner.
Clint quickly shoved a round of bullets into his gun and steadied his hand.
He took a deep breath and shot the garbage bin across the street. The bullet ricocheted off the metal box and the bang resonated around the relatively silent street.
All the men inside the warehouse froze as they heard the telltale gunshot.
And then he ran for it.
Felix stared out the window at the brown haired man sprinting across the street.
"What are you idiots waiting for? Go after him!" Felix shouted at the men standing in front of him. They didn't need to be told twice.
"Shit! Shit! Shit!" Clint swore as he dashed around the corner with 20 pairs of footsteps chasing after him. He flipped out his cell phone and quickly dialed the one number he ever memorized in his entire life.
Ring. Ring.
BEEP. No answer.
He frantically tried again.
Ring. Ring.
Click.
She picked up.
"Tasha are you okay?" he shouted in to his phone as he quickly glanced over his shoulder. He paled - they were gaining on him. Shit.
"How many times have I told you I hate the word okay?" she said as she dragged herself out from beneath the wooden beam. Clint had already loosened the weight and done most of the work. She needed to get out and help him.
"How many times have I told you to answer the damn question?" he shot back angrily. She gaped at her phone as she frantically searched for something to momentarily stop the bleeding gash across her forehead.
"You're the one being chased by the fucking gorilla mafia!" she said as she looked down at her shirt – the only clean piece of cloth in sight. She swore. She liked this outfit.
RIP!
"Be grateful – at least I'm not compromised yet," he said as he dashed around another corner and ran across the street. It was cluttered with broken overturn cars and buses. He didn't see a single civilian in sight. They were smart enough to have already left the city bounds ages ago.
It was a freaking war zone.
"Bah! Not compromised my ass!" she said in disbelief as she held the ripped piece of her shirt to her forehead. The man nearly strangled her until she admitted that one.
And it is very difficult to get Natasha Romanoff to admit anything.
She wouldn't even admit to stealing his damn cookies every day! The woman was batshit insane – but apparently he liked them crazy.
"I don't mind being that type of compromised Tasha," he said honestly. Her face heated up so fast she felt like Steve Rogers being propositioned by a male prostitute for the first time. He wasn't laughing then either.
"Are you blushing yet?" he asked as he started weaving through building after building – he still hadn't lost his tail. Damn he was getting tired of running – but he couldn't turn around until he was sure Natasha had gotten out of the warehouse.
"NO!" she denied immediately.
"Liar," he said with a smile. Sometimes Natasha Romanoff was just like any other girl. You just had to speak her language to get the right reactions out of her.
"Tell me you got out Tasha," he said as he noticed a dead end ahead him. Guess it was going up from here he thought as he glanced at a fire escape to his left.
"I'm out and heading east from the warehouse – where are you taking them Barton?" she said and she quickly made her way down a dark alley. She had no idea where he went.
"Give me one second Tasha…" he said as he slowly stuffed the phone in his pocket and jumped up to drag down the ladder leading up to the metal staircase.
"Uh oh," he said as 2 men rounded the corner and stared at the archer hanging from the metal ladder. There was an awkward moment as Clint slowly let go of one arm and slide a gun out of his sleeve. At least now he was armed too.
"Why hello there mindless goons. I'd love to stay and kick your ass but sadly I have a date with a beautiful assassin who is apparently infatuated with me at the moment," Clint said with a dramatic sigh.
"INFATUATED WITH WHAT?" Natasha shrieked from his phone. He grinned.
"Oh yeah? Where is your bitch anyway SHIELD scum?" the tallest man said with a disgusting snort. Clint narrowed his eyes as he had his gun pointed at the man's heart. Well that took the fun out of his day. This slime ball wasn't worth his bullets.
He promptly dropped the gun, swung his arm back and bashed his fist into the man's face.
CRACK!
"Did you just break the bastard's jaw for no reason?" Natasha asked in disbelief staring at her phone. He smiled – he was a bit too satisfied with that hit.
"No it was definitely not for no reason," he said calmly as he snapped his fingers in front of the hitman standing in shock beside him. Clint shrugged when the man didn't respond and grabbed the gun from his hand and used it to pistol whip him unconscious. It was time to go. Natasha narrowed her eyes.
"Was that you trying to defend my honor?" she asked dangerously. Clint winced as he climbed up to the roof and jogged across the ridges – damage control time.
"You're my partner – it's also defending my honor," he said trying to defuse the oncoming rage. She gaped and nearly crashed into the wall as she listened to this utter bullshit.
"Are you serious?" she shouted as she ran down another street. The entire district was crawling with these men. Where did they come from anyway?
"Nope, but I had to give it a shot," he said with a shrug as he finally found a low enough roof to jump down from. He noticed the river down the street and ran towards it – it would be easy for Natasha to locate.
"Hey Natasha I'm heading towards the river – can you see it?" he said as he ducked behind a fallen wall as a group of masked men marched down the street. They needed to contact Maria Hill soon and find out exactly what the hell is going.
"Yeah I am just about- Oh my god…get down Barton! get down now!" she shouted just as she rounded a corner and saw him running down the street beside the exact same river.
"What? Why?" he asked as he spun around and froze. Oh…that's why.
"Oh shit!" he exclaimed as a freaking torpedo came right at him. He dropped to the floor milliseconds before the missile flew over his head and smashed into the parliament buildings a mile ahead of them. Both master assassins froze as they watched the building go up in flames. These people were serious. Serious idiots. If Fury knew this was coming Clint was going to stick an arrow in that man's good eye before Natasha even gets a shot at him.
"Are you kidding me? Where the hell do these idiots get their hands on these things? They kill people!" Clint shouted giving the group of snipers in the distance the finger. These people were having their own fucking war.
"That is the point of weapons that go boom Clint…" Natasha said as she ran down the riverbank and towards the bridge ahead of her.
"Where are you Tasha…?" he said as he reached the bridge before her. It separated the downtown area under attack from the neighborhoods filled with children. They were screwed.
Clint spun around and stared at the mass number of jeeps heading his way. Oh my god the backup had arrived.
At least he was considered a big enough threat to necessitate that much man power. It tickled his pride a bit too much.
They both held their breath as they stared at each other from opposite ends of the bridge. But they couldn't reunite just yet.
"The orphanage is on this side of the river Clint..." she said worriedly glancing behind her and at all the little faces peering out of the old rundown buildings. There was no way she could protect them all if the deadly mob made their way across the river. They couldn't let that happen. He wouldn't let that happen.
"I know I've got that covered," he said staring at the bow in his hand and up at the several broken cars sitting in the center of the bridge. He had to make a choice.
"Tasha...do you love me?" he asked slowly. She froze.
"I-I-" she couldn't find the right words. She can't believe he just asked her like that.
"No time for regrets Tasha," he said as he watched the gunmen start getting out of their jeeps behind him through the broken car mirror lying on floor.
"Yes, yes I do," she whispered finally. He sighed in relief.
"Good. Now run," he said locking eyes with her from across the bridge. He aimed his arrow at the smoking car in the center of the bridge and let it fly smoothly through the ash filled air.
They both sprinted off in opposite directions just as an explosion took out the bridge and momentarily separated the best partnership SHIELD has ever seen. A little fire wasn't going to destroy Hawkeye and the Black Widow though. Especially not Natasha Romanoff – she was born from fire.
No one ever signs up to be a hero. But sometimes it's your actions opposed to your reputation that end up making you one.
A/N: To be continued…ah…if you like it. Review and let me know: Do you still believe in heroes?
(Inspired by Coulson's line in my other Clintasha story Lost in the Seas of Forgotten Memories - update coming soon)
