A/N: Some bits of this addition took longer to create than I thought they would. BUT, here we are! Let's see what sort of a mess these two will be in this time…
FIRST, though…! THANK YOU, SO MUCH, for all your reviews, love and support! (hugs) It means a lot to know that you're out there, eager to read more.
Awkay, because stalling is rude… Let's go! I REALLY hope that you'll enjoy the ride.
Geneva
At first Natalia expected someone from S.H.I.E.L.D to complete Barton's original mission and attempt to kill her. Especially during the first two weeks, which she spent basically locked up like a caged animal under observation. After that she expected them to arrest her officially or to be handed over to Russian authorities, like the criminal she was. Yet a week after another passed and the people around her refused to do what she expected them to. Barton in particular confused her. Day after day he came to see her, meeting her silence with careless chatter and her frosty attitude with a sickening amount of warmth. Phil Coulson, who was officially in charge over her and took care of her interrogation, was far more professional and not even half as mouthy, but equally warm. Eventually the man even agreed to let her start training, which actually surprised her. No matter how much she told herself not to she began to relax around the two, slowly yet surely. She told them everything she knew about Red Room, trained hard to improve as soon as she was allowed to and even behaved, most of the time. Well, some of the time. (She did owe them something for saving her life, didn't she?) Along with those two, medical professionals, a poor unfortunate psychiatrist who tried to evaluate her for two weeks before giving up and an ever-changing parade of training instructors she always felt someone watching. And couldn't stop wondering who the person was or what they wanted.
It wasn't a surprise that the other young and older S.H.I.E.L.D agents weren't even nearly as friendly towards her as Barton. To them she was the enemy only a little while ago, after all. A mission. She could feel how they all expected her to betray them, to show her supposed true colors. It made her fight harder to do the polar opposite because she'd been trained all her life to defy expectations, to avoid being too predictable in the face of enemies. As a repayment they attempted to take their frustration and mistrust out on her during training sessions. She only shrugged their attitude off and welcomed the challenge. Eventually she was pitted against no one but Barton and Coulson because they were the only two agents she didn't send out of the ring with broken bones.
From behind a glass masked to look like a mirror Nick Fury observed her training with Clint with the beginning of a grin on his face. He would've never, ever admitted as much out loud. But he was starting to like the girl.
"I think it's time", Phil announced beside him. "She's clearly not going to betray us. So yeah, her cooperation skills leave a lot to be desired. But I think she's ready to try out fieldwork."
"And if she does betray us?" Fury agreed with the younger man. But he didn't have to let Phil know as much immediately.
The man in a suit shifted his attention to Clint. The young man was spinning with Natalia and grinning, like the two were dancing instead of trying to hit each other. "We'll send her out there with someone who can handle her." Without wanting to kill her after the first twenty-four hours, was unvoiced but loudly in the air.
Natalia couldn't believe what she was hearing. They were sending her to field? "Geneva?"
Coulson nodded with that usual pleasant but infuriatingly unreadable expression of his. The man pressed a button and a massive picture of a man appeared. "Antoni Dutch. He's been connected to at least three international criminal organizations. And now he's about to sell some potentially disastrous information. Good news? We have his current location. Bad news? He's also a politician and under the protection of diplomatic immunity, so the local authorities are refusing to hand him over the legal way. He also seems to know the right people. Which means that we…"
"… are screwed", Clint filled in bluntly. There was a spark in the young man's eyes, though. The idiot seemed to enjoy a good challenge as much as Natalia did, she mused with a degree of amusement.
"No." Phil looked like the parent of acting up children who was struggling to keep his cool. "We just have to be… discreet."
"Discreet?" Natalia echoed. "And you're sending us?"
Phil actually had the nerve to grin at that. Like there was something funny about this whole mess they'd be tossed into. "You two made quite the reputation as assassins before getting re-recruited. Prove to me that you earned the reputation and get Dutch without… upsetting the wrong people."
As soon as the two had left Fury walked in through a secret entrance. Appeared seemingly from thin air, as was often his custom. There was a solemn expression on the one-eyed man's face. "They're going to cause a diplomatic disaster", the director predicted grimly.
Phil shrugged. "Maybe. Or not. Those two have made a habit out of surprising us."
Natalia wasn't impressed when he saw Clint taking the pilot's seat of the Quinjet. One of her eyebrows rose. "Seriously?"
Clint smirked at her mistrust. "I've known how to fly this thing for years. Sit down and buckle up."
Natalia did albeit not happily. She'd never been a fan of flying. "If you fly as horribly as you drive I'll kill you."
"You've never been in a car with me driving", he pointed out without sounding offended.
"During the time I've been here you've been brought to medical four times after some sort of a car or motorcycle accident."
"It's not my fault that the bad guys always try to shoot me down or blow me up when I'm driving." There was a beat of silence as they began the takeoff. "For the record, it's sweet that you care enough to count."
"Shut up before I make you, Barton."
After the tedious flight Natalia found herself relaxing over the three days of necessary observation which followed. Most of the time even Barton's company was tolerable, which she would've never admitted to the man. (His ego was inflated enough.) On day four she was sitting at a café and decided that she liked the city. Her partner didn't seem to agree. "You're suspiciously quiet", she noted, mindful to not let anyone notice that she was talking. He'd been quiet since they arrived.
"We're on a mission." Clint was somewhere up there, keeping watch. It didn't bother her as much as it should've that she couldn't see him. "And… I'm not a fan of this city."
"Bad memories?"
"Bad date." Before there was enough time to urge him to clarify he switched topics. "Target spotted. At your six o'clock, approaching slowly."
Natalia tensed up, her whole focus zeroing solely to the task on hand. The plan was simple, really. Over the past couple of days they'd discovered that Dutch stopped by at this very café at exactly the same time every single morning. Which made sense because one of his apartments was at the same building. Horribly sloppy of someone in profession but it helped them. The only problem was to get him somewhere without prying eyes. As much as Natalia disliked stepping back to his Black Widow ways the role she was to play now came naturally. She flashed the criminal her most seductive smile the second their eyes met.
Which was when things stopped going according to their plan. Because Dutch's gaze was quick to find another, obviously far more desirable target. She felt far more amused than she should've upon looking towards the same direction. "Change of plans", she declared. "This gentleman prefers blond men."
Clint groaned. Loudly. "I hate Geneva."
It wasn't Clint's first situation of… this variety. Which didn't make it any more pleasant. Two days later he was leaning against the café's counter, supposedly waiting for his order, when a shadow appeared. Dutch's voice was ridiculously deep. "One glass of champagne."
As the barista hurried to comply Clint's eyebrow bounced up. "I wasn't aware that they serve alcohol here."
The smile darted his way was that of a Cheshire cat. "They serve anything when the right person asks. And you look like you could use a drink…?"
"Will", he returned without a beat of hesitation, his most commonly used false identity rolling easily.
"Will." A ridiculously well-manicured hand offered the recently arrived glass towards him. A pair of hazel predator's eyes observed to make sure that he'd drink it. "Maybe your day will improve from here."
Clint smiled wryly. He had a limited amount of options, because there was no way he could trick this guy with how closely he was monitored. He could leave the drink untouched and cause a scene. He could blow his cover and wreck the whole mission. Or he could do the stupidest thing and trust Natalia to have his back afterwards. "Well… My day can't get much worse." He downed the drink and his sensitive tongue was quick to spy an odd flavor. "Thank you."
Dutch returned his smile was an ice-cold one. "My pleasure."
Clint was hyper-aware of the fact that people had started taking their distance from them. Like this was a spectacle they'd seen too many times already. He got up, straightened, and pretended that he stumbled. Better play his hand before the drug would take effect.
Dutch was quick and eager to support him. The man's fingers dug painfully into his shoulder. "Let me take you somewhere quiet. Where you can rest." That, in Clint's humble opinion, might just be the creepiest pickup line in the history of mankind.
He let the man take the lead. His own hand moved subtly behind the criminal, one plastic-covered finger brushing the naked skin of a wrist seemingly innocently. Dutch didn't notice a thing. Clint used to be a stellar thief. Now it was a waiting game to see which one's drug would take affect first.
As soon as they made it to the elevator and the door closed he felt something hard pressing against his back. "Oh. Someone's eager", the teased.
"Being taken for an idiot does that to me", Dutch growled. The gun pressed harder. "I have eyes and ears everywhere. Did you think that you and your girlfriend wouldn't be noticed? That you can come snooping around?"
"Girlfriend?" He winced. "She's gonna make you pay for that one."
The fist slamming him at a wall was harsh but he'd been waiting for it. "You… are going tell me everything. Including who you work for. Or my men will kill your girlfriend."
Clint pursed his lips, as though actually considering it. Then shook his head. His fingers were already tingling, going numb, and his head spun. He wasn't worried. "Nah. I don't think so."
Natalia was, of course, listening to the whole thing and gritting her teeth to not snarl at her idiot of a partner. While Clint was dragged towards the elevator she was on the move. Only to get cornered by five burly men as soon as she got up from the table. She smiled sweetly at them.
With how outraged she was at Clint's plan, she was going to enjoy this.
People started screaming when kicks and punches flew. Mostly from Natalia. Good. If any non-S.H.I.E.L.D-related officials would ask later they'd describe one of the most famous assassins in the whole world. She'd make sure that no one would remember Clint ever being there.
One of the men attacking her was slammed right at the table. The second flew like a ragdoll and landed heavily at a support pillar. The next two she wrapped up right there and then, eager to get going. The fifth one destroyed a middle-aged couple's lattes by landing on their table. She didn't waste time on empty apologies before rushing onwards. From the corner of her eye she noticed that she still had three tails. She let one of them get close, jumped and twisted. It was almost insulting.
What sort of amateurs did Dutch have working for him?
Outraged, she threw tail number two to the ground so hard that there was a crack. Which was followed by a gunshot. Natalia scowled when a bullet grazed her arm mercilessly, causing a tiny inferno of pain. She growled, loudly, then fired a single shot right between the eyes before the man could even think to shoot at her again.
She wasn't a fan of handguns but she was too furious to care.
Satisfied with the chaos she was leaving behind, she spun on her heels, marched out of the café to find a hallway and pressed the button of an elevator. She blinked twice at what greeted her when the doors opened. Dutch and Clint lay on the floor in a very compromising position, larger man on top of the smaller. Dutch was out cold and Clint didn't seem to be far behind.
Natalia stepped in as quickly as she could and pressed the button to Dutch's floor. "Do you have any idea how stupid you were to walk into his trap?" she growled.
Clint shrugged. As much as someone pinned down by a grown man could. "'s okay. Knew you'd come."
Natalia sighed heavily and shook her head. "You okay down there?" She nodded towards Dutch after receiving an unconvincing thumbs up. "What did you use? How long does he have?" There was no response. Glancing swiftly towards her partner with worry she refused to admit she discovered that he was no longer awake. She snorted. "So I'm going to do all the heavy lifting? Thanks."
Mercifully the floor they reached was empty. Natalia spotted only one security camera. She threw a tiny disc she… borrowed from S.H.I.E.L.D's teach department at it, then waited until the light stopped blinking before starting to drag Dutch towards his room. This was what they came to do, after all.
The criminal snored loudly as he lay on the floor. She stared at him for exactly one second. Then did what was necessary to seal the mission. She wasn't going to wait around to ensure that whatever Clint gave the man would seal the deal.
No more than twenty seconds later it was all over with. Getting up, she frowned at a slash of pain radiating from her arm. She looked down and was forced to face the fact that it wasn't just a scratch. A clean through and through, but would need stitches. Another scar to the collection.
She wrapped up the injury quickly and was immediately on the move. Clint was where she left him by the elevator. Giggling. "… never seducing a rich guy again", he slurred.
Natalia rolled her eyes. Was this day ever going to end? "Technically, you didn't seduce this one. Now let's go." She ushered him into motion so enthusiastically that he nearly stumbled. "There's gonna be a party over here soon and I'm not planning on sticking around for it."
Natalia was no stranger to borrowing cars. Maneuvering Clint inside was another matter, because he barely stayed on his feet. He wouldn't stop staring at his own hand, which he waved in front of his eyes. As soon as they were at a safe distance from the disaster area that was their mission she snatched her phone and dialed.
"Coulson?" Natalia's voice came out sharper than she'd expected. She told herself that she wasn't worried as she noticed that her partner was unconscious and checked his pulse. A little thready but still there. "Target's down but Barton's out cold. You'd better arrange someone to pick us up because I'm not touching that piece of junk you had him fly us here with. And… We may have left a bit of a mess…"
Phil went along with the team headed to pick up Clint and Natalia. Purely because he was the one who sent them there and felt responsible, of course. It had nothing to do with the knot of worry swelling in the pit of his stomach.
Phil had no idea what he was expecting. The worst, most likely. He actually groaned upon following the path of destruction, terrified people and unconscious or dead men. Unsurprisingly the local police was already there. He took over their crime scene with practiced ease, all the while much too aware of the numerous pairs of eyes ogling at him.
So much for 'subtle'…
Well, Dutch had most definitely been… handled. Phil wrinkled his nose. "Clean up this mess", he ordered the team. "I have some scolding to do."
S.H.I.E.L.D had only one safehouse in Geneva so finding Clint and Natalia wasn't a challenge. He marched in with a heavy, weary sigh and wondered if this was how parenthood felt like. "So, I saw Dutch. Was that absolutely necessary?"
"Yes. That was my… usual signature. A message. And since those working for and protecting that bastard have no idea that Black Widow works for S.H.I.E.L.D now they'll think that this was just another contract job. I'm sure that there's a parade of people who could've sent a killer after him." Natalia appeared incredibly irritated. Which probably had something to with the fact that Clint was leaning heavily on her, totally knocked out and drooling on her shirt with a dopey little smile on his face. For some reason she hadn't pushed the man away. "What the hell took you so long?"
Phil had a feeling that those two were going to make him turn grey young. But he couldn't help smiling. He decided that the scolding could wait.
Clint didn't wake up again until they were at S.H.I.E.L.D's medical wing, he recovering from the drug and Natalia nursing a bullet wound that wasn't just a scratch. Of course her bandage was the first thing the young man noticed, bleary as his eyes were, and poked. "… hurt …"
"I'll live." She fought the urge to yawn. It'd been a long day. "And so will you. Though you'll have a pretty bad headache and a nasty case of nausea."
Clint's brows furrowed. The man thought hard for a moment. "… 'sn't sound nice."
One corner of Natalia's lips twitched. "No, it won't be. So get some sleep while you can."
"'feel good now", Clint assessed, sounding as sure of himself as someone incredibly drunk. The man's head lolled, gaze focusing on her fingers. Or somewhere around there. "… pretty hands."
That… had to be the most bizarre compliment she'd ever received. And that was saying a lot. "Idiot", she scoffed with more affection than she'd intended.
Clint pouted. He tried to point an accusing finger towards her but it didn't quite work out. "You're mean." He thought about his judgement for a long time. Then nodded so hard that his whole body jerked. "'s okay. 'still like you."
Natalia had to use all her willpower to keep herself from laughing out loud. "You're not all bad, either."
Clint was quiet and eerily still for so long that she imagined that he'd fallen asleep again. Until he mumbled barely audibly. "… 's weird… to be the damsel in distress, for once."
Natalia allowed herself to smile at last, knowing that with his eyes closed there was no one to see it. "You know… If what you did today is how you operate I think you'll be the damsel in distress a lot on our future missions."
Clint's eyes opened. Suddenly he didn't seem even half as sleepy as he did before. "'re staying?"
Natalia tensed up. Then nodded, very slowly. "Yeah. I'm staying." Because she had a debt to repay. And, if she was honest with herself… It was good to imagine a future with more than just death in it.
The smile Clint gave her was absolutely disarming. "Good." He yawned, his eyes about to flutter closed. "'t be Natalia, anymore. 'not her anymore."
It sounded like silly, drug-induced rambling. But the more Natalia thought about it, the more she had to admit that he was right. It'd happened without her noticing but she wasn't the same person he first met anymore. Because for the first time in her life she was herself. Not the product of merciless training, sickening scientific experiments and brainwashing. She was… Who was she? "Which name do you suggest?"
Clint pursed his lips, his eyes more than halfway closed. "Dunno", he admitted. "Nat… Tash… Natasha? 'an… 'thing Russian…" His eyes sparked with childish excitement, which lasted about two seconds until he started nodding off again. "Romanoff! Romanov…? 'ke that tsar." He was losing energy quickly. The way he kept squinting his eyes suggested that he was also getting that headache she warned him about earlier.
She resisted the desire to ruffle his front-hair, which had ended up wildly tussled in the day's excitement. "Sleep. Now. So I can make fun of you when you wake up."
Clint yawned again in a manner that reminded her of a relaxing cat. Then, remarkably, did as he was told for once. Or maybe it was the drug that knocked out the unhealthily stubborn man.
Natalia faced the medical wing's white ceiling and found herself relaxing as well. Natasha Romanoff. She could get used to that name. It had a nice ring to it. (Not that she'd ever tell Clint that he invented it, if he happened to forget.)
Either she was deeper in thought than she'd imagined or the arrival had an incredible amount of stealth for a large man. But she didn't hear him until he spoke. "So he is capable of listening."
Natalia turned her gaze sharply towards the arrival, her eyes narrowing. A few steps away stood a dark skinned, one-eyed man in a long black coat. "Who are you?" she demanded sharply.
The man didn't seem even slightly taken aback by her hostility. "Nick Fury, the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. I came to congratulate you in person." Her frown urged him to clarify. "As far as I'm concerned, you passed your field exam today. Welcome to S.H.I.E.L.D, agent Romanoff."
So, yeah, she liked the sound of that. Even if she'd never admit it out loud. The following day she changed her name officially.
End of mission
A/N: Aaaaw! That was how Natalia became Natasha. (smiles) LOL, poor Clint – and Natasha, too…! But mostly, POOR PHIL. He's gonna have his hands full with these two…
SOOO… Was that ANY good, at all? PLEASE, leave a note to let me know! Hearing from you always makes my day.
Until next time! I REALLY hope that I'll see you all there.
Take care!
