MC4A Winter Bingo
Prompt: 5C (Generosity)
Representations: Phil Coulson; Clint Barton; Natasha Romanoff; Shady Organisation
Bonus Challenges: Not a Lamp; Ladylike - Agent; Second Verse (Middle Name); Future (Where Angels Fear)
Word count: 987
The ballroom was packed with wealthy donors; all of them happy to be parting with their pocket change of a few thousand dollars to make themselves feel good about being rich. The magazines the next day and for a few weeks would extoll their generosity and kindness as they donated to the medical organisation that was hosting the charity ball.
The Healing Institute of Eternal Freedom was making a name for itself in the world by charging minimal or non-existent fees for life-changing and saving surgeries. If you needed an organ to survive, you went to THIEF due to the low prices and assurance that all organs were from willing donors.
They provided sight, hearing, smell, and sensitivity operations that would drastically improve the sense. A person with degrading vision could walk into a THIEF clinic and walk out with a full range of perfect vision. Even those who were almost and completely blind could have their vision improved. And The Healing Institute of Eternal Freedom generously provided their services free to those who couldn't normally afford such extravagant procedures.
Clint and Natasha were currently circling the room to see if they could scout out anything out of the ordinary. SHIELD didn't trust THIEF and wanted to make sure that there was nothing shady happening in the organisation. Coulson was also in the room – he was shadowing Tony Stark as a bodyguard since his previous one had mysteriously become ill and could not attend the ball.
Clint noticed a figure in a tuxedo duck into a hallway off limits and gestured to Nat that he was going to follow them. Nat nodded and scanned her eyes across the room to locate Coulson. Once she had found him, she picked up her drink and swayed over to pass the message that Clint was checking something out.
The problem was that Coulson wasn't there when she reached his position and she cursed when she realised he had vanished. Hurriedly, she made her way to a nearby window and flashed her small torch outside three times intermittently. Operatives gone, THIEF confirmed shady; Hill would pass on the message to Fury. Meanwhile, Natasha had some men to find.
The room was dark when Phil opened his eyes. He could hear the shuffling of another person and assumed it to be either Clint or Natasha. His head was throbbing with whatever drug they had used to subdue him and the other agent. When he tried to move, he found that he was chained to the nearby wall.
"Well that's promising.'
"Doesn't look good, sir." Clint's voice.
Phil couldn't hear another body. "Natasha here or did she get away?"
"I think she got away, sir. Any idea why THIEF decided to grab us?"
"Several, none of them very pleasant."
Clint laughed hoarsely. "Are they ever?"
"Think about it, Barton. The Healing Institute of Eternal Freedom's acronym is THIEF. We're SHIELD and we act as a shield to the rest of the world. There's a high probability that they are thieves. "
"Well that sounds fun. We're being held by crazy doctors that want to steal something from us so that they can heal others."
"It's the strongest theory I have."
"Can I just say, sir, I'm so happy you dragged me away from my comfortable mercenary job and brought me into the super safe and secret organisation."
"You're very welcome, Barton." Phil said drily. At least he wouldn't be out of entertainment while he waited for their captors to return and inform them of what their future would look like. Or for Natasha to find them.
Hours later, a man came into their cell. "Finally decided to show, have you?" Phil asked mildly.
The man sneered and held out a remote before pushing a button. Phil grimaced at the pain that started shooting along his body. "You are not as valuable to us as your companion. I would advise you to remain silent or we will dispose of you."
"Hey, he's plenty valuable!" Clint protested.
"Not now, Barton."
Barton subsided, though not before muttering, "Just saying, sir."
The man turned his attention to Clint. "We have heard of the perfect eyes of Hawkeye. I'm afraid that they no longer belong to Hawkeye, but to us. We will take your vision and use it for our own purposes."
Phil and Clint both groaned in unison. "Really?" Phil asked, not remaining quiet as the man had suggested. "This is one of the times I would have preferred to be wrong. Your name is a bit on the nose, don't you think? An organisation named THIEF that steals from people. Great imagination there."
"We are a very generous organisation. We only ask that others are also generous in providing us with the things we need to do our work."
Clint held some fingers up in a mockery of asking permission to speak (his hands was being held by cuffs connected to the wall), "I don't want to generously donate my eyesight. I quite like having my eyesight."
"I'm afraid you don't have a choice."
The man stepped towards Clint and then crumbled to the ground as a loud thump echoed around the small room. Natasha stood in his place, glaring down at the now unconscious man. "I assume you want him?" she asked Coulson, jerking her head at the man.
Coulson nodded and Natasha snapped some zip-ties on the man before stepping over him and unlocking the shackles that held Clint and Coulson.
"Don't get caught off guard next time," she tells the both of them as they grab the unconscious man and walk him out of the basement they had been stashed in.
"If we do, you'll be there to get us out." Clint grinned at his friend and ducked when she aimed a punch at him.
Coulson merely adjusted his grip on their hostage and asked, "Maria outside? We'll probably need a fast getaway."