She steps into the break room and that's where she spots Barton. He's at the table, hunched over a spread of papers for his latest mission with his face down and fingers ripping at his hair. Natasha sees this as a normal thing. The first scenario that plays in her mind is that he's taking the next available flight, but he's promised Bobbi a romantic dinner, and this is the third time in a row and work excuses aren't going to cut it.
Clint glances over at her and quickly shuffles the papers into one sloppy stack.
"Uh oh," she arches a brow and draws closer to the table. "Am I going to be jealous of your new mission? I didn't get an invite."
"You won't like it." He knows it's too late. There's no hiding from her and it's impossible to sneak a lie past her. "Some drug thing overseas." All he can do is sugarcoat it and hope she keeps her nose out of it just long enough so that he can be out of here and on his plane.
"Oh, yeah?" She struts past him and notices that his face is oddly pale. Natasha opens the fridge and pretends she's deciding on what soda to take. In reality, she's got Clint in her peripheral vision. He's thumbing through his papers and makes sure that two are shuffled into the center. Those are the ones he's really hiding.
His chair screeches against the floor and Natasha's head whips around. "Gotta go," he mutters, but she's already onto him. He's trapped in her web, and he's not getting out.
"What's in the paperwork, Barton?" Natasha asks in a colder tone.
He casually heads for the door, avoiding her glare. "Some drug dealer. I bet Fury's got you in on it, too," he lies. The reality is that Fury doesn't want Natasha anywhere near this, and after reading the briefing, he knows why. "I'll call you," he promises.
"Okay." Natasha walks towards the table and pulls out a chair. Right as Clint's pushing open the door, Natasha runs up to him and forces his arm behind his back.
"Natasha!" he shouts. Beads of sweat form along his forehead, and he clings to his mission briefing for dear life. "It's FuturePharm Corp!" he hisses.
She willingly lets go now that she's got him talking. There's one rule to their partnership, and that's no secrets.
"They're with Hydra."
"Then why are you so flustered?"
"They've got human test subjects." His mouth forms a thin line. "Human experimentation… That's not something the Director and I want you to deal with."
"The Super Soldier serum?"
Clint falls eerily silent and averts his gaze. All he can think about is how Natasha had to suffer over being unmade by a group of sick, power-hungry bastards.
"That's what this is," Natasha assumes, and she assumes right. "Is the Red Room behind this?"
"We don't know." His response is honest. "Fury's been onto this Killian guy for a while. Apparently, he's a former dealer on the black market. Now he's started this FuturePharm company and S.H.I.E.L.D.'s been all over it."
"A corporation run by Hydra," Natasha scoffs. "And we're sure they've remade the serum?"
"Not really…" Clint hands her a page that references their target's product. "It's not a perfect replication. All it does is increase the brain's potential."
Natasha snatches the paper from him and in big, bold letters across the top, it reads CPH4. She skims the page for information and eyes the attached picture of enlarged bits of cerulean crystals at the bottom. Essentially, the drug is a hormone, targeting brain cells and guaranteeing a wider expanse of knowledge. And to top it off, it's advertised as a recreational drug. "They plan on getting away with selling this?" Natasha nearly crumbles the paper in her hand. This is no Super Soldier injection, but it looks just as dangerous.
"Only on the black market."
"Why haven't we taken this Killian guy down already?"
"Everything we've got regarding this is all word of mouth," Clint replies. "But today we've picked up that four hostages were taken in. Fury wants me and some others to investigate. We already have every phone and computer of that company tapped."
She's satisfied with the answer, and after she shoves Clint aside, it's on to Nick Fury's office to give him a speech about being comfortable with anything. Her past can't be a liability. Natasha deserves to be on this mission just as much as Clint.
She's gone from the room and it's then that Clint grabs his phone to call their boss. "I had to tell her," he begins, "but I left out the hostages."
"What's this about Agent Barton getting a drug assignment?" Natasha storms into her boss's office and looks him straight in the eye.
Nick had a feeling that this confrontation was coming, so he's prepared for how to deal with the situation. He had to give Clint credit for trying to keep this a secret. "This is personal," he warns with a cold stare. "As your friend, Natasha, trust me when I say that this mission isn't for you."
She slams her palms against his desk, a childish action, but she doesn't appreciate being underestimated. "I know this is personal!" she growls. "Hydra's attempting to replicate the serum-the serum they used on me!"
"I won't have this turning into a revenge mission."
"They're planning to sell this, Nick!" she seethes. A bunch of dumb kids will throw their money to some stranger promising them the high of their lives. They'll have a time to remember, alright. Having one's freedom taken and given to enemy hands wasn't what Natasha wanted. The Red Room ruined her life, and she doesn't wish for that to happen to anyone else.
Nick notices the fire in her eyes begin to fade. She's reflecting on her own past and it's not healthy. "This isn't just about the drug," he calmly explains. Barton may have leaked the mission, but he didn't mention the hostages' identities. He reaches across his desk and flips over a page with a black and white photo. "I can't keep anything from you, can I?" He slides the paper across the desk and watches as the colour drains from Natasha's face.
There's a photocopy of a picture of a young woman staring back at the agent. It's a fairly recent photo, too, one used in a passport. Natasha would know. She was there when the picture was taken. The woman in the photo stares back at Natasha. Their features are eerily identical, but that's to be expected for blood relations. "They got Lucy?" Her voice is hollow. Of all people, they picked her. They had their pick of thousands of people, and they chose her.
"Agent Barton is going to safely escort her back here," Nick vows, lacing his fingers together atop the desk. "I've just gotten word that she's been in a holding cell for almost an hour."
"And the drugs?"
Nick hesitates, but he might as well say it. "Bagged inside her stomach." He turns to his computer screen to check if any of Killian's men have had any recent cell phone activity. So far, there's been nothing new since word of a young blonde was being shackled until further notice.
"You're not telling me no to this, Nick!" Natasha threatens. "I need to be there. Not Clint!"
He knowingly nods his head. "I'd like to stop you, but that's not happening, is it?" She flashes him an intimidating glare. "Promise me you bring Killian back alive." That's his only precaution.
Natasha wordlessly turns and heads for the door. "When it's time to kill him, you let me pull the trigger." She lowers her hand on the brass handle. "And Nick." She turns her head for one final look at her boss. "Don't tell her father."
Lucy had always been her father's daughter. He didn't need to hear that his only daughter was dragged into a pharmaceutical scheme run by terrorists. Despite domestic life being an utter failure for two covert heroes, Natasha didn't wish that man any pain. After a clean break from the Murdock name and full custody of their naïve three-year-old, Lucy was all his. As heartless as this makes the Black Widow seem, she still cares. She cares far too much, and that's why she had to let her little Lucy go. Natasha still keeps an eye on her, though. The child could fly off to Taipei to party her little heart out and skip as many classes as she wanted, but Natasha had a way of keeping tabs on her.
She hurries back to her apartment to pack a bag and text Barton that she's been added to the mission and that she needs his briefing packet emailed ASAP. Her partner's already boarded a S.H.I.E.L.D. jet, and Natasha prepares to follow after him. Like hell some Red Room bullshit will use another Romanoff as their guinea pig. It was just as Fury said- this is personal.