Author's Note: Okay, so this is my first attempt at an Avengers fic and it's definitely my first time trying to write about Clint and Natasha so please forgive an errors I have or if their personalities don't match up perfectly with their movie/comic counterparts. This is mostly based off of the movieverse so some things could be totally wrong, but feel free to review and correct my mistakes ^_^ I welcome constructive criticism!
DISCLAIMER: I do not own the Avengers, S.H.I.E.L.D, or Black Widow and Hawkeye. They belong to Marvel unfortunately.
Natasha reread the manila folder that contained all of the information she would have to know about her new alias for about the fifth time. She had it memorized by now but it was calming to ascertain her facts, to make sure she knew every single detail. She was heading to Beijing because Clint had landed himself in a bit of a mess and needed an extraction. If the mission could be salvaged then that was what they would have to do but if it was completely wrecked she was to retrieve him and fly their asses back to the states as quickly as possible. She had a feeling that would be the outcome of this little venture going off of what Fury said. Clint really did have a knack for getting himself into tight positions. And she was always there to get him out of them.
This time was no different of course. She changed on the plane, deciding her ripped and bloody clothing didn't quite fit with her new alias as a French heiress. That was an identity that required a little more finesse and maybe a little more skin showing. She smirked a bit, knowing that wearing these short dresses and high heels made men go a little crazy sometimes. It was really how she could infiltrate so many high-class places and went completely undetected until it was too late. She stripped out of her dirty clothing, took a quick shower to wash the blood and dirt from her skin, and shimmied into the skin-tight cocktail dress that barely brushed over her thighs and stepped into the heels waiting for her in the bathroom. She fluffed her hair a bit, applied smoky eye make-up and crimson lipstick before moving back into the main area of the plane.
That had only taken about an hour and she still had another twenty or thirty minutes to go. Sometimes these plane rides could really be a pain in the rear. She liked being in action, moving and doing something. This sitting around and waiting for something to happen was annoying and it gave her time to think about things she'd rather forget about. Like the fact that she was so sore because the KGB decided she was better off dead than alive. Or the fact that her partner could be in a very deadly situation right now. None of it made her feel any better about her current situation. She'd been heading home, finally, when Fury called her and told her she had to go to Beijing. If it had been anyone other than Clint in trouble, she would have turned Fury down and continued on home. But it was Clint and she would never abandon her partner just as he would never abandon her. It was a mutual trust thing they had going. He saved her ass and she saved his. It worked. Mostly.
The whole Loki incident had shaken both of them for a while to put it lightly. It had taken almost three months for Clint to look at her when he spoke and to spar with her again. He said it was nothing that he just needed to readjust after having Loki messing around inside his head. She knew it was more though. Clint had needed time to come to terms with the fact that he'd been perfectly fine with killing all of them when Loki had him. That he almost killed her. She told him she was fine, she never would have let him kill her but he refused to accept her comforting words. He'd trapped her with the Hulk and he had seen how much that still terrified her. She could barely stand next to Banner without trembling still. Every time he was in the room her mind flashed back to that horrible green beast chasing her down in the Hellicarrier. She'd been helpless for the first time in her life and that had terrified her. The only thing that brought her out of that pit of fear was hearing that Clint was nearby. She'd been determined to stop him. And she had, even if he saw it differently.
She sighed again and looked out her window. There were lights below her, far away from the jet, and she hoped that meant they were growing closer to their destination. Beijing was a big place but Fury had sent her the address and coordinates of Clint's hotel which meant she shouldn't have problems finding him. As long as he wasn't running around trying to fix his problem on his own. Which was yet another thing he was prone to doing, especially since the Loki incident. Loki had really messed him up in the head and even if he was mostly back to the Clint she knew well, she also knew that the scars form Loki's time in his head would always be there. The fact that not many of the other S.H.I.E.L.D agents trusted him after that fight didn't really help him out much. Those fears and the distrust were gone but Clint still felt the need to prove himself and show he was S.H.I.E.L.D and not Loki's minion.
"We'll be landing in five minutes, Agent Romanoff."
Thank God. She was ready to be off this plane already. Ready to get down on the ground and get Clint out of trouble. Again. It was her hobby these days, saving him. It was usually rather enjoyable though, which always surprised her. More than likely it was because they rarely went on missions together anymore. Fury thought having them separated for a while would do them good. He said they were too attached, too dependent. Natasha didn't see it but Clint didn't argue so neither did she. Recently Fury had been letting them go on missions here and there together. The big ones. They were partners and when they were together no one could beat them. After all, they were the best agents S.H.I.E.L.D had to offer.
She felt the wheels touch down on ground and smiled a little. Finally, things were getting started.