Agent Clint Barton walked to Director Fury's office. It had been relatively quiet in terms of missions lately, since the whole Loki fiasco had wrapped up. He shivered. Even thinking of that man filled him with a hatred so strong it made him want to punch a hole through the concrete wall. Getting a hold of his emotions, he arrived at the Director's office and knocked on the door.
"Enter" came a voice from inside.
"You wanted to see me Director Fury?" asked Barton.
"Yes. I have a new mission for you." Fury said. A spark of curiosity and excitement filled Barton's eyes. He had been rather bored lately. Fury continued, "There are certain documents I need you to recover. They are very important to a current case I am investigating. The rest is classified."
Barton nodded. "Very well. Where will I be recovering these documents from?" he asked.
"They are currently in the possession of a man very high up in the English hierarchy." Fury explained.
"So London?" Barton clarified.
Fury nodded. "His name is Louis Clement and he will be holding a masquerade ball two nights from now. You will attend and recover the information then."
Barton nodded and turned to leave. "I have one other thing I would like to discuss with you Agent Barton, if you don't mind sitting down." Fury said.
Barton stopped and turned. "Of course." Fury gestured to the chair across the desk from where he was sitting. Barton sat.
Fury seemed to hesitate before asking his question. He knew he needed to tread carefully on this subject. "Agent Barton, do you have feelings for Agent Romanoff?" he stated bluntly.
This caught Barton off guard and he started. However, the answer was obvious, to him at least. "No sir. Not romantically at least, which is what I assume you mean. I think of her more as a sister, someone I want to protect, not that she needs it. Why do you ask?"
"I think you know why." Was all Fury said.
And Barton did know why. Because of what Loki had done to him. Under Loki's control he had tried and almost succeeded in killing Natasha. He felt incredibly guilty for that, even though he knew it was not his fault. It would haunt him for the rest of his life.
After a moment, Fury continued. "Is there anyone you may have feelings for that would compromise future missions?"
"No, sir." Barton stood and turned to leave once more.
"Sasha Black?"
Barton whirled around at the sound of that name. He hadn't heard that name in almost five years, ever since he joined SHIELD. He had thought he had buried that deep enough that it would never resurface.
"What?" he managed to splutter out.
"I did a bit of digging. I always do when we get new agents. Her name came up. You were partners correct?" Fury asked.
Barton nodded, still standing. "We were partners, in more ways than one. I loved her." He looked down sadly, remembering. "But why ask about her now." He looked up curiously.
"Like I said, I need to know if I can count on you, or if there are others out there that may compromise you." Fury reiterated.
"And I said there are not." Barton said testily. This conversation had dredged up enough ghosts and he did not wish to continue it.
"So Sasha Black will not be a problem, should you ever run into her again. After all, you may have gone your separate ways, but she may still be working as a spy for another agency."
"Trust me, you won't ever have to worry about Sasha Black compromising me." He said in a deadly tone.
"And why is that?" Fury asked.
"Because Sasha Black is dead." Barton stated simply and sank back into the chair.
This startled Fury. It was not the answer he was expecting. When he had done his digging the files had merely said they had gone their separate ways. Then again, Barton was a highly intelligent spy, it wouldn't surprise him if Barton had buried all of t to save both their names.
"Are you sure?" Fury asked. He had to know before he could let Barton walk out of the room.
Barton refused to cry. He had cried the night she died, and now he was reliving that night. But he refused to let his boss see any more weakness.
"We were the perfect pair." He started. "Perfectly in sync with each other. It's why our boss never split us up, even when we started seeing each other." He laughed a little at that. "We would finish our missions flawlessly and efficiently. Better than any other pair in the agency."
He stopped to get control of his emotions, "But one night, things went horribly wrong. A cliché everyone thinks is funny until it happens to them." He stopped again. "She died in my arms."
He looked at his hands. That was all he could tell.
Fury nodded in slight sympathy. "You may go." He had gotten what he needed.
Barton gave a small nod of thanks and left to prepare for his mission.