Chapter 2 :)


After hours of walking, the undergrowth beneath his feet covering his footsteps Clint finally heard something other than animals. Water. The thrilling rush of clear water crashing down to somewhere beneath him. Following the sound and allowing it to grow louder and louder – the perfect cover – Clint tracked it down to the waterfall Fury had mentioned to him in the briefing.

It was breathtaking. Crystal clear water from high up above, tumbling over the edge and cascading over rocks and crevices to whatever lay below. He watched, mesmerised as litres and litres continued to flow, an everlasting natural beauty. Sometimes, when his missions took him to unknown foreign lands, the crappy bits; the heat and the bugs and the sweat was soon forgotten when he cast his eyes on something so beautiful.

But onwards. Walking away from the waterfall, but not too far Clint soon began to realise that standing on the ground and pushing through bushes was all well and good. But for an archer, a marksman who had a target to track he was in the wrong place entirely. He needed to be above; a birds-eye view. Clint looked around, spotting an ideal tree and after checking around him, he began climbing.

Settling in amongst the branches and leaves he did something he was known best for. Waited.

It was when Clint was so acclimated to his surroundings, after perching on the branch well into the heat of the day and still not moving, when there was no movement and he honestly thought he was wasting his time that something finally happened. A woman, young, maybe early twenties, darted out from amongst the tree's looking cautiously around her. She was pretty, Clint observed, bright red hair tumbling in curls down her back and probably sweltering in black trousers and a strappy top.

He watched as she pressed herself against a rock, hidden and out of sight to anyone not in the tree's and listened to what she could hear. Voices. Clear as day and in English, despite the thick Spanish accents.

"We have only today, I want the cargo out of my sight." The first man told the other. He was portly with thinning hair and sweating gallons. From the look of disgust he caught on the red heads face, he didn't smell too pretty either. The other man was tall and thin, but with around the same amount of hair.

"He knows. There is word that he found out. He will kill us."

"The man never leaves Russia, he will kill no one."

"He has people who will."

"His precious niñas? They will do nothing." Came the first man's confident reply. The woman hiding behind the rocks however clearly disagreed. These weren't the people she was sent to kill, but blood was going to be spilt. Clint was observing, he wasn't going to save them. While it may seem unfair in the long run this was the Black Widow, a woman who nobody knew anything about and Clint was supposed to just kill her? He would at least observe her first, get some idea of what he was up against.

She stepped out from behind the rock, stealthily – like a predator. In two resounding cracks the men were dead, heads twisted to impossible angles. Clint couldn't help but grin.

He raised his bow silently, sliding an arrow into place watching as she hid the bodies amongst the tree's. Capturing the widow in his scope he pulled the arrow back until it was brushing alongside his ear and waited for the opportune moment. Sensing it, he readied to release. But he halted. Watching the young woman break two necks so fluidly and then not utter a word afterwards took some training and the fact she didn't falter, didn't even stop to consider what her actions had just been. There was no consideration, not in the slightest, like every inch of empathy had been trained out of her. Clint suddenly didn't want to kill her, not yet anyway. He wanted to know more about what made the Black Widow tick. That was when she stopped. Stopped everything she was doing and stood bolt upright, alert to an invisible sound. She didn't look wildly around, nor did she appear scared, only startled if anything. Clint supposed not many people had the ability to sneak up on the Russian assassin.

Instead of looking upwards and at the archer concealed in the tree's she looked to the base of the tree, Clint following her gaze. Nothing. But when he looked up she had darted off, into the foliage and towards the raging waters. Clint wasted no time, leaping from the tree with the agility much like the monkeys swinging from the jungle vines and landing quietly on the ground he took off, replacing his bow and arrow as he did so.

She led him on some sort of wild cross country chase, jumping fallen trees, ducking beneath vines and sidestepping overgrown plants. Reaching the rocky landscape that surrounded the waterfall she didn't falter, instead running straight out onto the thin cliff edge. She stopped running, walking the edge like an acrobat would a tightrope and spinning to face Clint with cat like agility.

"Кто вы?" She cocked her head to the side a little and considered him for a moment. Clint's Russian was rusty, he could barely greet a person let alone get involved in conversation. So Clint didn't respond, instead just walked forward, only a small step but equally she stepped back.

"Why didn't you shoot?" She asks this time in fluent English.

"I'm taking a chance." He responds calmly, and his eyes graze her face for any sign of expression. However she remained stony and serious.

"дурак." She smirks and although Clint was unable to understand what she just said, he made a mental note to check with a translator as soon as possible.

"You know I don't talk that much Russian? Dribs and drabs, I can order a mean steak and chips if needs must." He replied with slight humour in his voice which was wiped suddenly as she pulled a gun and shot. Ducking, he punched forwards, attempting to disarm without major injury. She was quick to avoid also and they set into some sort of sparring match, attacking and blocking while keeping their balance. They stopped as they reached the waterfall, the spray of rushing water sprinkling their hot sweaty faces and cooling them a little.

The widow ducked through the waterfall and disappeared behind it, where a small cave had been formed in the rock.


So Clint's met the widow :) What lies in store...Chapter 3 will be up once its been fed some reviews :D hint hint...