A MONTH BEFORE
Natasha kicked Clint in the chin, but he grabbed her foot and flipped her. "Someone's angry." He said. Natasha landed hard on the stone floor. She squirmed and tried everything in her power to get him off of her, but he had a good grip on her. He took both of her wrists into his hands and put them above her head. He let out a muffled laugh.
"What?" He asked. "You don't trust me do you? You sure did in Budapest."
"Clint, no! Whatever Loki told you this needs to stop!" She said loudly. Clint kissed her roughly and she willingly took the kiss knowing it would probably be her last.
"In Budapest we killed all those people. It's too bad that now I have to kill you." Clint said. Natasha kicked his stomach and flipped him over and straddled him.
"I know you can't fight this and it's not your fault, but you need to know that too!"
He flipped her over, "Ssh, I'm going to make this very slow."
"Clint…" Her voice trailed off. Clint leaned down and kissed Natasha's neck. He let go and Natasha slapped him hard.
Clint took out a knife as Natasha struggled, "Sorry, sweetheart, it had to come to this." Natasha screeched as Clint brought the knife back.
Clint awoke with a start. He sat up slowly as the sunlight flickered into his hotel room. Clint put a hand to his forehead wiping off sweat from frustration. He jumped out of bed and towards the window. He looked down at the parking lot where families were trying to gather everyone together for their vacations. Natasha's screams fled through his mind. He kept thinking on how the event could change. He could've stopped it. Natasha would tell him different. Clint got on his black training gear along with his bow and arrows with his quiver. He took the stairs instead of the elevator hoping the extra exercise would take his mind off his nightmare. He ended up getting more thoughts about the Avengers team. As he walked towards the undercover training building, which was disguised as an old department store, Clint thought about the members. Tony Stark who was a genius with a rich boy attitude, Steve Rodgers the Super Soldier with kind words and a strong mind, Thor Odinson the god with an open mind to the human race, Bruce Banner the smart guy who can maintain a calm side until his other guy comes out, and then there's Natasha. Her and Clint have been partners for a long time, and over time his feelings toward her have hanged. In the beginning he didn't kill Natasha because he felt SHIELD could use her. Now, he knows that there must've been a better reason to letting Natasha, or as he calls her "Tash", live. He opened up the training center going straight for the canvas targets. No one else was there and the place was huge. Clint took advantage of this and got his bow, arrows, and quiver out. He loaded his bow and pulled the string back to his chin. Clint's eyes looked straight at the center. Clint… Natasha's voice begged him. He shot the arrow and it landed in the ring surrounding the center. Clint shook his head hoping it would make him concentrate. He repeated the routine, but once again the arrow had gone way off because of an image of him killing Natasha. Clint closed his eyes and thought of Loki. With his eyes shut, he went through the routine again and the arrow shot. Clint opened up his eyes slowly. Finally, the arrow was in the center.
Clint's cellphone went off and immediately he answered it,
"Hello?"
"Agent Barton?" the familiar voice of Tony Stark said.
"Mr. Stark?"
Tony laughed, "You might want to sit down for this. It's good news and bad news. What do you want first?"
Clint walked over to the target while he said, "Surprise me."
"Well the ASAP program is now started up. They have elected different teens with extreme abilities and are now training them. The good news is they have a dedication team of what I like to call a death sentence to whoever they're up against." Tony said.
Clint pulled an arrow out of the canvas chuckling, "Why?"
"These teenagers were trained like we were, Barton. I like to call mine mini me." Tony said. "For example the teenager that was based under my influence would have to be great in technology and a total genius, yours would have to be archery, and so on." Clint paused for a moment. A dedication team? Why would someone do it under the influence of the Avengers?"The bad news is," Tony said, "they were trained by someone who might be a threat to the Avengers. If it is then that means people that have our abilities, and are ten times better at it than we are I must add, are going to come and chop our heads off."
Clint sighed as he gathered up his things, "Are they training to fight us?"
"Most likely." Tony said.
"I'm going to get the earliest flight out of Italy that I can. I should be there sometime this week." Clint said he hung up the phone fast. He was more than willing to head back to New York to work with Avengers again.