*Not really sure where this story is heading. We'll find out, I suppose ~S
Weakness: Chapter 2
Missing
Something wasn't right. Tony had caught onto it almost right away. Steve had taken a while longer to catch on, but eventually he began to notice the tension in the room too. Sam had complained it was bringing him down before leaving. Even Pepper noticed, and she had only come in to grab some food before promptly leaving. Something was wrong. They could read it in the way Clint slouched in the couch opposite the door, staring, unseeing and wearing the same clothes as the day before, wrinkled as if he'd tried to sleep in them and failed. They could see it in the way Natasha sat on the floor in front of him, back rested against his knees, eyes never leaving the phone in her hands, typing furiously every time a message alert went off. Every so often the phone rang as someone called, and every time an angry conversation in Russian would ensue. Most times, the phone ended up ripped from Natasha's grip as Clint intruded on the conversation.
They'd tried to help. Steve had already approached them twice and asked what was wrong. Both times all he'd gotten in response was a blank stare from Clint and a muttered 'Classified' from Natasha. Tony had tried to approach it in a different way, and had went to swipe the phone from Natasha's hand. He ended up on his back on the coffee table before he could so much as lay a hand on it, Clint's knee digging into his chest with an instruction to 'Mind your own business, Stark.' The closest they got to understanding was when Bucky had returned from his evening run, only to overhear one of the many heated Russian conversations between Natasha and whomever was on the other end.
"Who's missing?" He'd asked Steve, who only looked at him blankly in return. Tony suddenly perked up and made his way over to the two super soldiers, hoping someone could finally shed some light on the matter. Before Bucky had returned, he'd been tempted to start learning Russian just so he could maybe understand what the hell was going on.
"Missing?" Bucky nodded, making his way over to the kitchen to make himself coffee, feeling like he was intruding on the conversation that the two assassins obviously didn't want people listening into. The two men followed him quietly, trying to ignore it as Natasha got louder and Clint suddenly joined in too.
"Natasha was asking if they had found anything that may help find her." The two voices were just getting louder, and Bucky couldn't help but overhear. Maybe he could help? They seemed pretty desperate, and in the few months that he'd lived with the assassins, they'd become close friends. They were the closest it came to understanding what he had been through. He wanted to help. "Clint wants to go look for her."
"Her?" It was Tony who had asked, but Steve wanted to know too. Bucky just shrugged, unsure, grabbing his newly made coffee and making his way back to the lounge, where the voices had quietened to hisses and Clint had commandeered the phone. After a few final muttered words, which Bucky thought sounded suspiciously like 'Get her home, or else I've got an arrow with your name on it right here', he hung up and threw the phone back down to Natasha who just nodded and closed her eyes, obviously exhausted. Tony opened his mouth to say something but suddenly JARVIS spoke up,
"Agent Barton?" The man in question looked up to the ceiling, obviously irritated at the system, not wanting to talk. His eyes were glassy and not quite in the present, so Natasha spoke up for him.
"What is it, JARVIS?"
"There's a woman in Agent Barton's room, Agent Romanoff." The two assassins were on their feet in seconds, as everyone looked around the room in shock.
"What? Barton did you bring a god damn booty call back here with you? I didn't know you had it in you!" Tony laughed, going silent when the man in question shot him a glare.
"How did she get in?"
"She entered through a window on the top floor, Agent Barton, but her biometrics are in my database." Clint and Natasha shot each other looks, knowing only one person who would enter through a top floor window and sneak into one of their rooms rather than use a perfectly functioning elevator. And only one reason why that person might do it. Suddenly they both shot off, making for his room, leaving Tony, Steve and Bucky to trail after them, more confused than ever.
When the trio reached Clint's room the door was swung wide open, leaving them able to peak into the assassin's room – not daring to enter. Sure enough there, lying face down on the bed, was a woman none of the three could identify. One hand was wrapped in the pillow above her head, the other was wrapped in Natasha's, who sat on the bed next to her. Clint kneeled by the bed, next to her head, one hand on top of the mysterious woman's head, stroking down the blonde hair. His eyes were everywhere, running down the entirety of her body, searching. For what, the trio didn't know. Steve and Bucky shifted uncomfortably, gathering the sense that they were intruding on what seemed to be a very private moment. Tony, however, stared.
"Who is this and what's she doing here, Barton?" Everyone in the room ignored him, and Clint's appraisal continued until his eyes landed on the back of her head and stilled. The two super soldiers took it upon themselves to leave now, confident that the assassins would explain later when they were ready. When whatever this was had been taken care of. Tony remained.
"Ali, what are you doing here?" It was the first word spoken, and the woman on the bed shifted, grunting.
"Finished m' mission." Eyebrows raised, Tony took a second to appraise the girl. Ignoring the fact that she was currently face down on Barton's bed, she definitely fit the SHIELD agent vibe. All black clothes, giant military-grade boots on her feet, and from what he could see, distinctively muscular. He could see a holster on the ground next to the bed – nope, make that two. Definitely SHIELD. Well, ex-SHIELD. SHIELD itself had been disbanded after the whole HYDRA fiasco, but technically it still ran. People loyal to Fury and Hill still ran missions, still took operations and launched attacks for them. Technically they worked under the Avengers, but he knew he had never met this woman.
"You've been missing five days." It suddenly hit Tony that this was the woman that was missing – the woman that had caused the depressing mood the two spies had been in all day. The state she was in, the grime that covered every inch of her that he could see, definitely suggested she'd been MIA and hadn't had access to a bathroom in a while.
"…Hit a bump." Clint snorted, rolling his eyes, a small grin appearing on his face before it disappeared in an instant, obviously remembering something. His eyes ran a trail down her body again, stopping around her stomach.
"Are you bleeding on my bed?" The woman, Ali, groaned, as if only just remembering and twitched slightly, nodding into the pillow.
"Yep." Natasha was off the bed and in front of Tony in an instant, an unapologetic grin on her face before she slammed the door shut and turned the lock, effectively shutting Tony out, who groaned and banged on the door, his last sight being Clint wrapping one arm around the blonde and starting to help her off of the bed, and a deep red stain on the sheets below her.
"C'mon Romanoff, this is technically my building! I should know what's going on at least!"
"Not now, Stark!" Was the only answer he got, and he finally sauntered off, looking up at the ceiling before calling out.
"JARVIS, who is that?" The AI responded with only four words.
"No information available, sir."