A/N: This isn't the first story I've written; but it's the first on my new account. :) Please leave me a review or message me if you think it's good; I really want to know your opinions. This story will be quite long and I'll try to update it every week or so. It does involve Black Widow and Hawkeye slash eventually; it's all Black Widow's view… or at least how I interpret them. Post avengers. Stay with me on this folks.
Chapter 1: Assignment
Agent Romanoff collapsed on the bed. Lulling her head to one side, she checked the clock on the wall. Three a.m. She sighed, trying to force herself to sleep; knowing that Director Fury would be again summoning her for another mission come sunrise, she willed herself to get a few hours before she had to report back to the base.
Turning to face the blank wall she tried to think dull thoughts until her mind shut down.
It was difficult. Simple as. She was a trained solider, the ultimate spy; she had thoughts rushing in and out of her head all the time. She tried to focus on sleeping, but the fact that her subconscious self was counting the different footsteps outside her room didn't help.
Sighing, she rolled over and studied the room. It was plain. But what else could she expect? SHEILD's dorms all looked the same; she'd slept in about fifty of them over time but all had the same furniture in the same positions. And all of them were grey.
Sometimes she envied the other Avengers.
It wasn't the praise. She wasn't too fussed about everyone celebrating the 'five heroes'. Agent Barton and she had asked for the discrete removal of their names from the footage. It had taken nearly no time to remove the evidence that Hawkeye and Black Widow even existed, as far as the public were concerned. It would have jeopardised both of their jobs; and they needed their jobs.
It was more the freewill. Sure, when duty called all the Avengers came running to the big battles. But in-between that, what did they do? Trained, improved, and got ready for the next huge threat that opposed the Earth. But not Agent Romanoff. She went back to finding and fighting the rogue criminals of this world, killing them, deposing of them; nothing new. She didn't have a choice. Fury would set her a mission every day, no matter what, and she had to complete it. Then when she did, she had another one. It was a continuous loop.
She wondered what it was like having an option. Just fighting in the large battles, every few months, where the public would swoon over her.
She couldn't think like that, she decided, after all if it wasn't for SHEILD, she'd be dead, or worse… she shuddered at the thought. It was defiantly time to go to sleep.
Her natural body clock awoke with a start. At least she thought it was her natural body clock. She woke every day at the same time… but something was different. It felt cold, as if the sun had not yet risen. She glanced up at the clock, her head drooping, and her eyes half shut, to make it seem like she was still asleep. Just in case… she thought, Just in case someone's watching. Through her blurred vision she made out the time; four twenty seven a.m., way too early for her liking. She felt a shift in the air at the end of her bed. Someone was there. Someone was definitely there.
She was right to be precautious.
Relaxing her body, to make the intruder believe she was asleep, she turned onto her back. A position she knew she could attack from, easily. Slowly, as the intruder shifted, she lifted an eyelid. The blurred outline figure was that of a man, obviously, he stood up; moved towards her bed. If she wasn't a trained assassin, she would have tensed, expecting the worse. But she was a trained assassin, so she relaxed, expecting the worse.
As the intruder moved to her bedside she got ready to pounce,
'I've seen you fight far too many times to know when you're preparing for an attack.' A slightly amused voice retorted. Her eyes snapped open. Bolting into a sitting position, staring at her colleague, she questioned him with a puzzling look. When he didn't respond, she scanned him. He was fully dressed and by his appearance he didn't seem tired or stressed, so he hadn't just come back from a mission. Why was he up so early?
This process took less than a second for Agent Romanoff to complete, and when she returned her gaze to that of the man in front of her, she was greeted with a raised eyebrow.
'You done, Natasha?'
Hearing her name made her tense up.
'Don't call me that…' She snapped. One of the downsides of being a spy; not being comfortable with someone other than yourself knowing your Christian name.
A smirk played on the man's lips. 'Okay, sorry, Agent Romanoff.' He sarcastically rolled the sentence off his tongue while running his hands through his sandy hair. His relaxed arms fell to his side in a playful manor, one that made Agent Romanoff relax.
'You're forgiven, Agent Barton.' She grinned, earning her a beaming smile from her colleague. Agent Barton took this remark as an invitation to sit down. So he did.
Perching on the end of the SHEILD bed, he carried on grinning at her. She kept her face stern and solid. He still hadn't explained what he was doing here.
The coldness in her eyes told him that he better give a good reason and quick.
'I came to tell you Fury wants you.' He said, simply. 'He wants you to do the tuition mission.' His face splitting into a smile at the rhyme. He laughed half-heartedly, like something was holding him back from his usual bellowed laughter.
She squinted at him. 'I don't understand… that was your mission.' She questioned him. Only to be answered with a bewildered look.
'How did… only I… you're not meant to know about it!' He squealed, jumping up staring at her with wild eyes. As she waited for his shock to pass, she stared at him with cool look. He sighed, 'How did you know? Only Fury, Hill and I know about that…' He rolled his eyes when she cocked her head to one side.
'After all this time? When the three top SHEILD agents have a meeting without me, you don't expect me to eavesdrop?' She chuckled, but his face remained hard. They both knew what she thought they were going to discuss; they both knew what had happened when SHEILD's previous top assassin has 'resigned' (as Fury had put it).
'Fury wouldn't have you killed… unless you know too much.' Barton assured her. 'Which if you keep listening in… you will.' He glared at her.
'I'd like to see him try.' She smirked. The thought popped into her head, maybe the reason Fury wasn't having her killed off like the other agents that had served their purpose, was because he knew no one would be able to defeat her. 'I'm not 'resigning' any time soon.' She teased.
This time Barton didn't laugh. 'Whatever. Look Fury wants to see you now.' He said, his voice like ice. It looked like Romanoff's comment had really stung him. She frowned; why?
'What happened to Agent Barton completing the mission?' She toyed with him. She wanted to make it seem casual but really she was hungry to know why he could no longer complete it.
He grinned and shrugged. 'I think he's otherwise engaged.' He laughed, raising both his eyebrows. She glared; she knew that was all she was getting out of him. 'And...' He began to ask before looking away, shaking his head and slowly walking towards the door. She leaped up.
'What?!' She asked, anxious at the unfinished question. He just turned and smirked.
'So paranoid…' He laughed. When her stare didn't falter he just laughed some more. 'I wanted to know how long you've been sleeping.' He said in a 'matter of fact' way.
'One hour and twenty seven minutes.' She whispered, still eager to know the reason why he was so questioning. 'Why?' She peered at him.
He again chuckled, opening the door. 'I wish I could sleep for less than two hours and still look perfect. I mean… you don't look tired or stressed at all.' He sighed opening the door. 'Then my life would be complete.' He joked, muttering to himself as he left.
She grinned. Clint knew how to both tease her and complement her at once. She frowned and shook her head. No, not Clint. She sternly told herself. Agent Barton.
Waiting a few minutes, giving herself chance to prepare for the change from 'human' to 'work' mode, she set off towards the control room. As soon as she stepped out of the door, she was in assassin mode. Her mission had begun.
A/N: By the 'resignation' part, I basically meant that after they've served their purpose, Fury has his best assassins killed; for security reasons and stuff. Why does Fury need the Black Widow instead of Hawkeye? Why can't Barton complete the mission? And why did he look so hurt at Natasha's comment? All to be revealed in the next chapter. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it, I'll try and update soon! Please leave a review and tell me what you think should happen.
Felicity xoxo
