A/N: So this will be a collection of one-shots, Avengers centric. Updates won't be regular because of school and my other fic I haven ongoing but I hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: I own nothing Marvel.
P.S. You know how Jeremy Renner looked in the Bourne movie? That's how I imagine Clint looking in this first one. Hot.
Chapter 1: No Words
They shared a smile.
No words were spoken- it was too early for that. Coffee brewed in a small one-cup pot so they each had to wait.
Neither had said one word, or spared more than a seconds glance.
It was one of those rare mornings after a mission that went relatively well. Meaning Clint only had one sprained joint and Natasha sported a few bruises on her lower back from an impact with a steel girder in the wreck yard.
They were somewhere in Germany, undercover, in a backcountry safe house, nestled out of the way. Fury mentioned it had belonged to someone important but neither agent had paid much attention to the ownership at the time they were debriefed.
They didn't pay much attention to anything that morning, devices sitting in the upstairs bedroom where they'd left them the night before. They would check into a SHIELD base later in the day, there was no hurry.
The bad guys had been dealt with, all evidence meticulously removed, and Natasha smiled at the prospect of relaxing for a few hours.
Clint had been rummaging around in a hall closet after breakfast, picking out various pieces of equipment. The winter chill invaded the hall and he pulled his sweater closed more when he stumbled on three pairs of snow shoes. They looked dark and shiny, new. There was also a pair of skis and a snowboard.
Clint removed the snow shoes, stepping into the front room where Nat was lounging on the couch, looking out the window into the blinding snow crystalized by the winter wind, eyes reflecting the refracted sunlight and catching Clint off guard for a few seconds.
Nat blinked at him, seeing what he held.
No words were exchanged.
The rest of the Avengers would never understand how Natasha and Clint needed to forge no words to communicate exactly what they thought as it entered their minds. That kind of communication was fostered from years of being partners, trapped in dangerous situations and working together to get out of them.
It wasn't just being partners- any duo could accomplish that. The agents had formed a bond, through constant bodily presence and practice. A connection like theirs didn't come naturally as the others believed, nor because they were sleeping together. That happened on occasion, of course, because three months in a tropical forest just did things to people.
Trekking out onto the flat plane of hard, crunchy snow effectively put Clint's mind at ease. They didn't walk next to each other; Nat was slightly ahead and to his right, scanning the trees either for wildlife or something more sinister, Clint wasn't sure. Her black wool hat barely covered the flip of red hair at its brim, swept up in the wind.
They wore all black, not fearing being spotted. The only sounds and movements came from a few miles off in the surrounding forest, hoots of snowy owls late to sleep through the day.
Natasha kept the pace, and Clint followed until his inattention stopped him short of crashing into her back. She held a hand up, looking from side to side.
Clint turned his back on her, the safe house a pinprick in his eyes, for now they were closer to the forests edge, which lay only a hundred meters from their position.
Nat's hand connected to his wrist, squeezing twice in quick succession.
Two men.
She didn't remove her touch, fingers gloved and itchy against the bare skin between his jacket hem and leather gloves. They stood still for a few more moments before Clint heard what his partner had. Boots. Two sets crunching deep in the snow, which was hard to walk through without proper equipment, and with a feral smile Clint realized the men had no equipment.
Clint reached his opposite hand, the one she didn't hold, back to grasp her wrist. He squeezed once, not letting the pressure up.
Her head leant back and he felt her nod, seeing the ends of fiery hair in the corners of his eyes. He closed his. Took a breath.
They ran.
Clint heard the shell casing hit the iced over patch of snow near the foot of the tree. Silencers.
He hadn't lost track of Nat even if he couldn't spot her. They weren't stupid in thinking a small walk through the snow could be entirely harmless, they wore earpieces and carried guns like people who valued their lives.
Feeling a little insecure without his bow and arrows, Clint held his gun precisely and with confidence. One thing he knew- this would be entertaining.
Nat's heavy breathing came through his earpiece. They'd taken off so fast it had the two enemies shooting at shadows, for it was much darker in the woods even without leaves on the crooked branches. Pine trees were his greatest cover as Clint maneuvered behind one of the faceless men. They wore masks and carried hunting rifles outfitted with homemade silencers.
Private contractors? It was probably what Nat was thinking when Clint saw her pause in her approach, hugging trees as she went, show shoes still on. he could see her irritation at remaining silent, for in that forest one small sound echoed like a cannon.
If Clint had eyes on both their assailants, he would take pleasure in seeing Black Widow hunting her prey wearing fucking snow shoes. Since that wasn't the case, Clint kept his eyes roving the dense scenery around him, blue skies above blocked almost completely by large trees with braches that interwove.
The sound snow made when it impacted after something large and blunt hit its surface was something Clint smiled at hearing.
He felt Natasha rather than saw her take down the man by crushing his head between her thighs and catapulting him into a tree trunk before he hit a mound of snow.
Clint didn't reveal himself to his partner, knowing Natasha purposefully stood out in the open for a reason, to attract the second one so Clint could dispatch him before anything happened.
It was a risky tactic, but necessary because the men wore white, blending in with the endless snow.
For a few minutes nothing transpired.
Natasha was getting visibly angry, probably using imaginative swear words and internally complaining it was cold even for northern Germany. How she could be inside with more coffee, a habit shed wanted to kick but never would.
Clint knew her too well, so when her eyes narrowed slightly beyond what they had been in her frustration, Clint shot up.
They had silencers, and it was no surprise that once Clint got off his knees there was already blood seeping through Natasha jacket. Her hand pressed against it. He was an amateur, Clint knew, for the grunt after the recoil bashed his shoulder echoed through the bars of trees.
Natasha nodded to Clint as he drew up to her, she would be fine, and together they swept past the trees like wraiths in the shadows, taking their chance that the man was equally inept at deconstructing his long range sniper.
Clint wasted no time ripping the white ski mask from the man's face once Nat had him subdued in a chokehold, back pressing against her and putting up less and less of a struggle once Clint had used the man's sniper on its owner.
A morning well spent with child's play.
Clint left the gun and bodies where they'd fallen, walking with Nat back to the house before she lost too much blood. Either the man had purposefully aimed for a non-lethal section of her shoulder, or he missed. Either they had been paid to take them alive or kill them. It mattered not because they were dead.
SHIELD would want to know… but looking at Nat back at her spot on the couch with a cup of coffee, half her shirt pulled down to reveal the bandage across her shoulder, Clint put down his phone.
They had a few hours before they were supposed to report in to Agent Hill. There was no hurry, and Clint rather preferred the silence where no words were needed or expected.
A/N: This popped into my head in the middle of the night after updating my other story, and if there doesn't seem to be a lot of emotional 'oh no she got shot' in here it's because I'm pretty sure Hawk and Black Widow are used to this stuff.
I'll try and update another one-shot soon! Hope you enjoyed.