"Clint... Clint?"
The familiar voice of Natasha Romanoff came through the intricate PA system at Avengers Tower. The pitch of her voice was strained, and the words seemed to catch in her throat; telling all those listening that something was very wrong.
It was a fairly new update Tony had added to all the Avengers comm units; a way to contact the tower in case of an emergency, he'd linked it straight into JARVIS. It had proved useful on more than one occasion; mainly when Clint and Natasha were on missions for shield and needed help shield couldn't provide. The upgrade also proved useful for when Pepper went shopping and couldn't remember which flavor pop tarts Thor wanted...
"Tasha?" Clint's voice came through the system, he was clearly trying to hide the panic rising up in him. He was on his floor, filling in some paperwork, as all the other Avengers were listening... Not wanting to pry, but Tony hadn't yet put a privacy setting on the new system.
"Clint, talk to me?" it was a question she'd asked him hundreds of times; it was her asking for a distraction. Whether she was bored on a mission, recovering from a nightmare or trying to take her mind off some injury; it was always the same four words.
"Where are you Tasha?"
She'd been sent on a mission pretty much as soon as she and Clint had landed back on the hellicarrier following a successful mission in Peru; she'd barely had time to grab a shower before being shipped off again, and Clint wasn't told where she'd gone, only that she'd be back 'soon'; Shield, as vague as ever.
"Q-Quebec" she stammered. That was definitely bad; if she'd been okay she would have answered with her usual response of 'that's classified Barton'
Not to mention, the last time Natasha had been in Canadsa didn't exactly end well; it resulted in a rather severe head injury and a month off active duty because of it.
Tony felt guilty at listening to the conversation, it should be private; but the red head knew that, so did the archer; and yet they still continued... So he did something useful; he had Jarvis tracing Natasha's location.
Bruce tried to busy himself, to ignore the conversation, but the concern he felt was building to intolerable levels and he felt like he needed to know, he needed to listen.
Steve went on hitting the punching bag in the gym, head down so as not to look over at the belongings Natasha had left in the gym a few weeks previously.
Thor sat silently, listening; feeling helpless.
"Anything good?" Clint asked, his voice was still laced with panic, but he carried forward the conversation for Natasha's sake
"Bad guys. Big guns"
"Never a good mix"
Natasha laughed, or she tried to.
She was injured; it was obvious from the sudden, unexpected contact (in the middle of a mission no less), and her painfully strained voice
"Clint, I think I'm done"
There was a long, drawn out pause where five men in various areas of the tower froze as the weight of her words hit them forcefully
"No, Tasha. You're alright. You'll be okay! You have to be!"
"Clint-"
"Don't you give up Nat! Coulson will be on his way for you"
"He's down. They're all- Clint there isn't anyone else..."
Another long pause followed, as silent tears ran down Clint's face
"Tasha"
"I'm s-sorry Clint. I couldn't k-keep my p-promise"
"Tasha!"
But there was just static...
Before Clint could process what had just happened, Tony was stood there; "suit up" was all he said, before storming back up to his level to don his Iron Man suit.
When they reached the location, a formed factory outside of Quebec which had been the last know location of Natasha, the evac team, and the back-up evac team there were three people (out of 15) still alive (barely)
Coulson was just regaining consciousness as Thor dragged him from the rubble of the collapsed building.
"What the hell happened?" Bruce asked him as he checked him over; he'd got off lightly
"It was a trap, we didn't see it coming. Gas, and then a massacre. Apparently the building collapsed too?"
Next they found Agent Rees. She was a newbie agent on her first assignment, Clint liked her; she was nice, too nice for this job. She had two broken legs and was going to be in a lot of pain, but she was alive.
"Coulson, where was Natasha?" he pleaded with him after pulling the seventh dead agent from the ruins
"She was in the basement" Coulson answered somberly
Of course it would be the basement
It was almost an hour before they found her, battered and bruised; but alive. She'd taken a few bullets and a nasty knock to the head before being drugged, and then a building fell on top of her, but she was Natasha, so she would be okay... She had to be.
Nine days later Natasha woke in the Shield medical bay, Clint was sat by her bedside staring intently at her
"You forget how to blink Barton?" she asked tiredly
"You scared me"
"I'm sorry, blame the angry Canadian with all the bullets"
"Let's not go back to Canada again"
"Deal" she smiled, "Thanks for keeping your promise" she told him quietly, drifting back to sleep
Clint held her hand as she slept, remembering the two promises they'd made each other; the only two promises they'd ever wanted to keep.
They'd promised to always come back home to each other, and they'd promised if the other couldn't make it home; they'd come and get them.