In Tandem
A small static burst rang in Clint Barton's ear as he watched down into the small park where his target sat. Clint thumbed the button on the radio pack on his belt flipping to the secure channel.
"Hawkeye" came a voice in his ear.
"Receiving" said Clint, his voice soft as he crouched slightly lower as to not be seen.
"Status."
"Delta Victor in sight" responded Clint watching carefully the three bodyguards circling his target.
"Your window is closing. Terminate the target" came the voice again.
"Advise. Probable collateral" said Clint watching the small toddler sitting happily in his targets lap.
"Acknowledged. Proceed with termination" said the voice without a beat.
"Confirm" said Clint breathing out a soft sigh and raising his bow. Standing slightly higher he took an almost careless aim and loosed his arrow. Turning his back, he slid the bow back into his duffle as the arrow sailed through the air. A quick glance over his shoulder showed he had hit is mark. The wailing scream and the distant shouts of the bodyguards clued Clint into the rest; there was collateral.
Clint didn't notice the shaking in his hand as he watched the bodyguards pull apart the now deceased mother and daughter, slain by the same arrow.
"Hawkeye?" came the voice in his ear again.
"Receiving" said Clint, turning his back again and grabbing his duffle.
"Status?"
"Target terminated. Plus one collateral" said Clint slinging his bag over his shoulder and climbing down the drainpipe he climbed up twelve hours earlier.
"Acknowledged. Exfiltrate and rendezvous at safehouse Beethoven."
"Understood" said Hawkeye jogging down the alleyway towards his waiting car.
"Hawkeye. No sightseeing. Five days" came the voice followed by a hiss of static telling Clint the conversation was over.
As Clint drove past the police cars heading to the park and the sounds of screaming sirens filled his ears he breathed out slowly. He flicked the radio on to fill his mind with the sound of some band singing in a foreign language.
Eight days later Clint sat in the spartan safehouse reading his new target printout. The familiar static click in his ear jolted his mind alert as he flicked his radiopack over to secure.
"Hawkeye?"
"Receiving" said Clint, his eyes still scanning the pages and memorising the face.
"New target; designation Bravo Whiskey" came the voice.
"Confirm" said Clint staring into the eyes of his new target.
"Intel pack and termination plan enroute" came the voice as the printer sprung to life running of page after page of maps, diagrams and briefing documents.
"Confirm."
"Bravo Whiskey is time sensitive. You have three hours" said the voice followed by a static hiss.
Clint nodded to nobody in particular as he started studying the maps, routes and planning. The target was a high level operator for the Russian Federation. An asset had given up her location and given Clint a small window to terminate her.
Running around the room, packing up all he'd need; Clint mentally began plotting his route to the airport and then his cover identity for the duration of the flight.
"And do we know Hawkeye will be there?" asked Natalia Romanova as she flipped through her file.
"He has been sufficiently baited" replied her handler.
"Is all this necessary?" interjected the other operative.
"It is, his skillset at range is beyond compare Alexi" said the handler; "and his support team and handlers would never let Natalia get close"
"You think she looks like me?" asked Natalia glancing over the picture of her body double.
"She will do" said the Handler with finality.
Natalia drove the car watching as Alexi prepared his rifle in the back seat.
"Don't miss" muttered Natalia.
"I don't miss" said Alexi rolling his eyes. Natalia had only worked with the sniper once before, but all the effort they were putting in just to kill Hawkeye meant he had to be good. Natalia turned onto the expressway, blending into traffic just as planned.
Alexi slowly rolled down his window barely two inches and propped his rifle up on the crook of his elbow and took sight. The tall buildings passed rapidly as Natalia drove and Alexi would only have a split-second shot on Hawkeye as he appeared quickly on his rooftop perch between two buildings.
It would take a master sniper to acquire, aim, fire and hit a target moving at this speed. As their firing point neared Alexi flipped the safety catch on his rifle.
"Remember Natalia, keep speed constant" muttered Alexi training his rifle where Hawkeye was going to appear between the buildings.
"I am" said Natalia without emotion as she turned to look. She saw the split-second gap in the buildings appear and then saw him. Hawkeye. Standing exactly the only place the bait body double would have let him perch. He was barely visible to the trained eye, but in an instant, she could register his ready stance and drawn bow.
Alexi fired his rifle. All at once Natalia spotted the bloom of red mist confirming a clean hit on Hawkeye, as the bullet wound spun him around. Natalia turned back to the road, only for a for an arrow to piece through the rear window.
Natalia turned as she sped up and began driving evasively. She saw Alexi pinned to the leather trim of the rear door by and arrow through his throat.
"No fucking way" cursed Natalia as she glanced back once more at Alexi, blood leaking out of his mouth as he tried to speak.
Natalia glanced sideways as she weaved through traffic and caught sight of Hawkeye running to a halt on a roof top some distance away. Natalia slammed her foot on the accelerator as a moment later an arrow slammed through the side of the car, skewering her head rest.
Turning the car with a loud tire screech, Natalia began putting distance between her and Hawkeye. She kept her eyes trained on the skyline in the rear-view mirror as she expertly weaved through traffic using only her peripherals.
She watched Hawkeye leap across a gap between buildings and come to a halt on the rooftops. Quickly she swerved to her left, saving her life by half a second as an arrow punched through the roof of the car over the passenger seat.
Natalia grabbed the hand break and made to skid around the next corner only for a loud thunk noise to leave her skidding and slamming the car into a bus stop. Natalia felt the airbag slam into her face, knocking her back into her seat. Shaking her head to regain her wits she pushed open her car door and dragged herself onto the street. A few people had come running to help but she didn't have time. She had to get clear of Hawkeye.
With a quick look she saw an arrow pierced through the sidewall of her rear tire; as expected. Natalia waved off the helping hands and offers of the samaritans as she sprinted down an alleyway knowing Hawkeye would eventually pursue.
Natalia flipped open her phone and dialled the only number saved.
"Command. This is Black Widow" said Natalia slightly breathless as she ran.
"Status report" came the voice of the handler.
"Bandolier dead. Target alive and in pursuit, I need tactical and an exfiltration workup" said Natalia quickly as she turned at the end of the alley.
A long drawn out pause on the other end of her phone brought Natalia to a slow halt as she stood waiting for the voice.
"You have been blacklisted Natalia. Goodbye" came the voice of her handler followed by the click of him hanging up. Natalia took a deep breath before releasing slowly. She tossed her phone into a trash can as she continued jogging. She needed somewhere closed in and narrow. Somewhere Hawkeye didn't have the advantage.
Hawkeye had been following Bravo Whiskey on foot for nearly an hour as the sun set. She may not have known, but the very infrequent drops of blood from whatever scratches she acquired in the car crash were perfect breadcrumbs for the blue eyed assassin.
Her wounds would be coagulating soon and would drop less, Hawkeye knew he was running low on time. With the bullet graze in his upper arm slowing him down Hawkeye was unsure he should even continue pursuit.
The tell-tale hiss of static let Clint know to flip over his radiopack.
"Base to Hawkeye. Report"
"Still in pursuit. Status deteriorating. Request orders" said Clint tightening the makeshift tourniquet.
"Maintain pursuit. Out" came the voice in his ear before a burst of static told him the conversation was over. A quick flash of red on a wall left Clint turning right down an alleyway leading to an industrial estate, probably all closed up this close to Christmas.
Running past closed up warehouses and factories Clint's eyes roamed everywhere searching for a clue of his quarry. After half a mile a small fleck of blood on some barbed wire sent Clint scaling the fence and running towards the nearest outbuilding.
The blood still shone in the streetlights so she must be here. Clint's eyes roamed window to window in the six-floor factory. Not a flash of movement or a glint of light gave anything away.
Clint pulled his bow from his duffle and threw his quiver over his shoulder. Pulling free an arrow and nocking it, he crept silently closer to the side door of the factory.
Only a small scratch on the lock gave away that someone had been here first. Clint pulled the door quietly open and smirked at the exposed wires hanging from the bypassed alarm system.
Clint crept along the corridors, peering through windows and watching reflections in the near darkness with only the emergency lighting to see by.
After nearly ten minutes of walking the corridors he heard metallic click. He dove swiftly as six loud gunshots rang out, blasting holes through the wall from the adjacent office. Clint rolled onto his side and loosed his arrow through the thin wall with full force to where the bullet holes led him to believe his target had lain in wait.
He heard a scrambling running as he himself scrambled backwards, readying another arrow. A door sprung open and a pistol quickly peeked out and fired five blind shots around the corner. Clint dropped his bow as he rolled against the wall to safety from the bullets. He looked down at a small gash of a bullet that had grazed his thigh as he rolled.
Clint reached out and grabbed his bow, loosing the arrow without looking as he climbed to his feet. He heard footsteps in the adjacent office as he nocked another arrow. He glanced at the arrow embedded into the doorframe where moments before had been the hand holding the pistol.
A door on the other side of Clint burst open and he watched his redheaded target sprinting down the hall firing her pistol. Three shots rang out as Clint slammed himself sideways and loosed another arrow.
Both he and his target let out a gasp of pain. A bullet striking his shoulder, hitting the meaty flesh above his collarbone. He glanced into the darkness and saw his target to grappling with a wound. His bow fell from his weakened arm and clattered to the floor as he watched her try to snap the shaft of the arrow lodged in the side of her thigh.
She collapsed sideways against a wall, bracing herself with her palm as Clint walked slowly closer. The pistol fell from Natalia's hand, empty as she drew a knife from her belt. Her eyes shot up as Clint pulled a small pistol concealed in his waistband and aimed level with her head.
"A gun? Really?" she scoffed, her voice hinting at a Russian accent. Clint smirked slightly as he flipped the switch on his radiopack.
"Base. Come in" said Clint watching Natalia slide down the wall, leaving a bloody streak.
"Receiving. Do you have Bravo Whiskey?" came the voice, more urgently than usual.
"Confirmed" said Clint trying to blind his mind to the pain in his shoulder.
"Wait one" said the voice as Clint looked down into Natalia's face.
"Waiting for orders?" smirked Natalia. Clint said nothing as he remained motionless, his pistol trained on the redhead.
"Barton" came the voice in his ear, clearer and less monotone.
"Receiving" said Clint acting as if the change to from his codename to his surname merited no acknowledgement.
"Is Bravo Whiskey terminated?" asked the voice. Clint hesitated as he looked down at the smirking redhead. Everything about today seemed out of place. A straight forward kill shot, a sniper nearly blowing his head off from a moving car, a foot chase across the city and a gunfight in a dark warehouse. All of this topped off with the sudden use of his surname and the different in audio quality of his handler's voice made his mind race.
"Confirmed" said Clint slowly. "Target is terminated."
Natalia's eyes narrowed as she stared up into the blue eyes of her killer. The man she felt an odd kinship with as she ran her way through the city, the bow wielding assassin hot on her heels.
Her green eyes focused on his blue as she held her breath.
"I say again. Target is terminated" said Clint.
"Acknowledged. Barton..." came the voice followed by a pregnant pause. "NSA issued a burn notice. F16's inbound, 90 seconds. Good luck Clint." With that, the line went dead with a burst of static leaving Clint feeling as if the world was spinning. He took a deep breath, feeling himself anchored to the redhead's eyes as he lowered his pistol.
"So? What's the plan?" asked Natalia reaching out for his hand. Clint tucked his pistol back into the holster in his waistband and pulled her to her feet with his good arm.
"Bombs inbound, less than 90 seconds" said Clint reaching out to help take her weight. Clint knew full well with her this close she could open up his arteries with her knife, but for once in his life he didn't care.
As the pair hobbled down the hall and down the stairs Clint felt oddly at peace. Natalia's knife clattered to the floor as the pair walked.
"Saw a work truck outside" said Clint heading towards the side exit he had entered through. Natalia reached down as they approached the truck and slammed a small rock through the window. The truck being old didn't make so much as a beep at the broken glass.
Without words Clint bundled Natalia into the passenger seat as he ran around to the driver's side. Natalia reached over and popped the lock.
"40 seconds" muttered Natalia as she glanced up out the window despite knowing the jets would be dozens of miles away.
"You're going to have to work the shifter" said Clint nodding to his shoulder as he yanked the steering column free with one hand. With a quick bit of work the car's engine turned over and a soft rumbling filled the cab as Natalia put the car into gear as Clint worked the pedals.
The pair crashed through the wire fence and had made it half a block before the whistling of a guided missile hit the factory, a fireball twelve stories high engulfing the building in an inferno.
Despite the arrow shaft sticking out of her thigh Natalia leaned over and started dressing Clint's shoulder wound as best she could.
"I'm Natalia" she said softly as they passed a pair of fire engines.
"Clint" he murmured.
"Got a plan Clint?" asked Natalia. "Because I don't think I can come in from the cold."
"Me either" he said as wound the window down.
Natalia leaned forward and rested her forehead on Clint's bloody shoulder. The tension in her body melted slowly as she relaxed.
"I've got you. That's better than nothing" she said nearly losing consciousness to the blood loss.
"I got ya' Nat" said Clint, his voice drawling slightly as he placed his arm around her shoulder holding her steady. Natalia grinned at nickname. It was her first.
"Better get us a pharmacy to raid" slurred Natalia as she resisted smiling. For the first time in as long as they each could remember, they felt freer than ever.
"You betcha" said Clint with a nudge.
Natalia watched wordlessly as Clint shuffled through their pilfered stash of medical supplies. Clint finished off the basic stitching her thigh needed and followed up with three short jabs of needles. Within seconds the pain ebbed and Natalia stretched out her leg testing it. It didn't give her full flexibility, but she could fight on it.
Clint slapped a quick band aid across the cut on her temple as she slid off the countertop and gestured for him to change places so she could return the favour. The pair moved in tandem, without words or friction as they went about applying field dressings and cleaning their wounds.
"How'd you get that?" asked Clint nodding to the band aid on her temple.
"Arrow you sent through the wall" replied Natalia with a shrug, "how about that?" she asked looking pointedly at the bullet graze on his upper arm.
"Sniper shot" he muttered.
"That was a hell of a shot" said Natalia carefully applying a sterile bandage to the wound.
"Can't seem to miss" replied Clint humourlessly as he leaned back and flipped aside the blinds to check the street. "No cars have passed for nearly 90 seconds" he said, realisation dawning.
"Threat?" asked Natalia quickly taking inventory of their weapons. One loaded pistol, a single magazine and a bow and thirty arrows.
"Black SUV end of street" said Clint sliding off the counter, without words Natalia grabbed the pistol from his back waistband and pulled back the receiver and checked the magazine.
"Four tactical teams, carbines and body armour" said Clint as he watched the reflections of the moving men in the windows opposite. "Twenty seconds" he said.
"We're surrounded" said Natalia silently running to the opposite window and glancing out back of the empty office they had taken refuge in.
"Breach in three" said Clint pressing the button on his bow to ready an explosive tipped arrow. Natalia nodded moving into position as Clint fired the arrow into the door, blasting it outwards.
Natalia charged through the smoky haze and fired her pistol twice, finishing off the two surviving members of the entry team. Bending down and scooping up two new pistols Natalia sprinted for cover as weapons fire lit up the street in all directions. The two men who had her position pinned were quickly felled to Clint's arrows as he stepped out the door.
She moved, running up the line of cars firing shots in return. The pair moved seamlessly in tandem despite never having fought together before. Everywhere Natalia was vulnerable, Clint had her covered. A sharpshooter team up high on her left fell quickly to the eagle-eyed bowman as she ran circles around a second advancing team. Getting in amongst them Natalia took them down with ease.
The speed with which the pair despatched the two tactical teams was flawless. Where Clint was vulnerable up-close, Natalia thrived. Where she needed support at range, Clint was there. As more teams approached from all directions, the pair cut a path out from the office buildings. Clint watched almost mesmerized as Natalia flipped and grappled a man twice her size to the ground between her thighs. A quick jerk of her hips and a snap of his neck left the man limp as the pair proceeded to move further away from their attackers.
"Car" shouted Natalia over her shoulder to Clint who was fending off the teams chasing with arrows.
"I'll drive" shouted Clint back over, ducked behind a car as another hail of rifle fire filled the street. He waited for a short burst of weapons fire from Natalia before moving quickly to the driver's door of the now empty Black SUV. Finding the keys in the ignition, Clint smirked and started the engine.
"You comin'?" asked Clint rolling down the window. He watched as Natalia continued firing her pistols ambidextrously, dropping four more approaching hostiles. He grinned at her eye roll as she climbed into the passenger seat and continued firing her pistols out the window. Clint wasting no time slammed down the accelerator and tore off down the street. The back window blasted inwards as a few shots landed on the SUV making the pair of assassin's duck down. "One sec" muttered Clint annoyed as he screeched around a corner and out of sight of their attackers.
Clint glanced in the rear view as he drove seeing if there were any cars following.
"Who the hell were they?" asked Clint as Natalia started rifling through the glove compartment.
"Mercenaries" said Natalia dismissively reading some papers before throwing them over her shoulder. "Probably working for whoever set us both up."
"You think we were setup?" asked Clint.
"Either that or we both have the incredible bad luck of being blacklisted on the same day with each other being our target" explained Natalia finding a customs permit. "Ferihegy Airport, auxiliary hanger four" she read out.
"Want ta' steal a plane?" asked Clint.
"Can you fly?" she asked.
"For the most part."
Natalia watched a Clint effortlessly dispatched the two sentries as they approached the hanger. Once inside they were not disappointed, a fully laden cargo plane, fitted with ramp to bring in vehicles and troops.
The pair circles around and upon finding no further sentries, they quickly removed the wheel blocks and boarded the plane at the rear. Finding it empty, Clint hit the red button and a long droning noise started as the ramp began closing.
"I'll run pre-flight" said Clint running to the cockpit.
"Be quick, they found us once" said Natalia opening up crates looking for supplies or any useable items.
"They'll have a GPS unit somewhere, find it and pull it" shouted Clint from the cockpit as he strapped himself into his seat and began flipping through the quickest pre-flight he could. The engines whirred to life as Natalia pulled open an electrical panel and examined the wiring. With a smirk she yanked the small grey box from the panel, cutting the planes in built GPS lowjack from its needed power.
"GPS is down" said Natalia stepping into the cockpit holding up the GPS unit. Clint nodded, focused on the instruments as she pulled herself into the co-pilot seat.
"How the hell'd they find us back there anyway?" asked Clint as he glanced out the windows checking the flaps.
"Satellite support, probably watched us avoid the bombs and sent a team" guessed Natalia shrugging.
"Great" muttered Clint as the plane started rolling forwards as he began take off procedure.
They'd been flying for nearly an hour and a half when the empty sky began to bore Natalia and she turned to Clint.
"Why did you tell them you terminated me?" she asked.
"Wanted to know what they'd say" replied Clint unbuckling himself and leaning back into his seat.
"If we're both blacklisted then we're both fair game, world over. I'm sure there are hundreds of people between us who'd like to settle the score" she said putting her feet up onto the control panel.
"Want to part ways when we land?" offered Clint.
"We operate well together. We could blend easier as a pair" hedged Natalia. "Plus, you're easy on the eyes."
"You flirtin' with me Nat?" asked Clint glancing over and seeing a teasing twinkle in her eyes.
"Well you aren't just going to seduce yourself" she replied slowly lowering the zipper of her leather bodysuit before stopping abruptly upon the self-realisation. "Sorry" she muttered zipping herself back up.
"Don't know what you're sorry for" said Clint pretending to focus his attention on the planes instruments.
"Engaging in seemingly passionate intercourse will increase the targets invested interest in your survival" said Natalia, reciting her training in a monotone. "God I'm so fucked up."
"I guarantee sex with a target to survive is the least fucked up thing either of us has done Nat" said Clint liking the way her cheek dimpled briefly when he called her by her nickname.
"You're not my target anymore" said Natalia with certainty in her voice.
"So, does this mean I'm not getting laid" joked Clint defusing the tension. Natalia stared at Clint for a moment, her eyes wider before she let out soft laugh.
"Play your cards right Hawkeye and we'll see" she said pretending not to notice the way his throat tightened when she spoke.
"What's going on?" asked Natalia as an alarm started blaring, dragging her from her sleep.
"Drone. En-route to intercept" said Clint flicking a pair of switches, silencing the alarm and turning off auto-pilot. With a turn of the control wheel and a press of the pedals the plane started banking away from the incoming Drone. "Nat, can you go find us a pair of parachutes".
"You're serious?" she asked looking at him. Clint threw a sideways glance at Natalia. "Parachutes. Check" she said as she jumped out of her seat and started digging through the lockers in the cockpit.
Clint dove deeper into the cloud banks knowing having lack of visuals would make targeting slightly harder on the drone pilot.
"Clint, there's only one chute" said Natalia throwing the parachute onto her vacated co-pilot seat as she continued tearing through lockers.
"Check in back" said Clint over his shoulder as he watched the drone creep slowly closer on the radar readout. Natalia darted out the cockpit and began fruitlessly digging through lockers and cases looking for another parachute.
Clint watched the clouds light up bright, causing him to immediately yank the control wheel to the side. "Brace!" shouted Clint over his shoulder as the plane pitched and rolled. A stream of tracer tipped bullets flying past the wing of the plane as it banked.
"Can't find any" said Natalia as she re-entered the cockpit. An alarm started blaring causing Clint to yank the control wheel in the opposite direction as he reached forward flipping a switch. The sky lit up brilliantly yellow as the plane fired off three dozen flares, sparing them momentarily being blown from the sky by a Sidewinder missile.
Natalia dragged herself into the co-pilot seat, placing the parachute on her lap. "How much do you weight?" she asked.
"About one eighty" said Clint pulling the plane into yet another hard roll.
"Tandem?" asked Natalia.
"Not much choice" he replied as he flipped the switch once more firing off the last of the planes flares, avoiding yet another Sidewinder. Clint pulled back the yoke and flipped over to autopilot letting the plane climb as Natalia loosened the straps on the parachute as much as they could go.
The pair unbuckled and awkwardly walked out of the cockpit at the steep angle, trying not to slip and roll down the plane. Natalia threw the parachute to Clint as they reached the rear ramp. He quickly fitted the parachute and gestured for her to join him.
Natalia climbed up onto Clint's torso facing him, tangling her arms with his and sliding her arms through the shoulder straps. Clint buckled the chest strap around her back. He pulled all the straps tight, gasping at the pain as the stitches in his shoulder tore as the strap cut into his flesh.
Clint slammed his palm into the red button, watching the ramp slowly open. He braced himself, supporting his own weight and Natalia's. From the cockpit he heard the now familiar blaring alarm.
Natalia wound her arms tighter around Clint as he took three quick steps and threw them both into the cloudy night sky. The feeling of sudden falling made Natalia's world spin as she looked up at the cargo plane. Almost as if out of nowhere a streak of light slammed into the wing mounted engine of the plane. She watched as the engine exploded into a fiery ball, sheering the wing clean off. The plane rolled and pitched downwards, falling from the air.
Natalia closed her eyes, holding Clint tighter as she could hear nothing but the rushing wind past her ears. She could do nothing. Her life was in the hands of a man who not even a day ago was planning to kill her, and she likewise planning to kill him. She could only hold tighter and wait for Clint to pull the ripcord. Even as she fell from the sky, she felt a calm wash over her as his arms wrapped around her holding her as they plummeted.