A/N: These events correspond with Chapter 75 of The Changeling but can be read as a one-shot within this series.
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San Francisco. A beautiful city, really. Crime wasn't very high and the air was clean. The school districts were decent. Overall, a nice place to visit. Unless, of course, the reason for your visit was a group of escaped criminals.
Clint, Natasha, and Eliza had been sent by Fury last night and arrived late. This morning they would get to work. They'd been sent in to recapture a pair of master thieves by the names of Zoe Ishihara and a woman identified only as the Black Bat. They were to be brought to SHIELD for questioning because they were believed to be connected to the Unified Guild, a combined thieves and assassins guild originating in New Orleans that had started to spread elsewhere in America.
At the moment, the three SHIELD agents were in the middle of a city park, trying to figure out where to go.
"I told you," Eliza grumbled, "The head of the police said to go that way."
Clint muttered some unintelligible.
"She's right, Clint," Natasha nodded, "Come on."
"I'm telling you, I've been a thief," he shook his head, "They'd have split up by now and gone in two different directions. If you two want to head that way, be my guest, but I'm staying on my own course."
"Suit yourself," Natasha snorted.
Eliza rolled her eyes at her supervising officer. She still had yet to get used to his ever present independent streak. In this case, she decided to go with Natasha. Agent Romanoff was decent enough company anyways.
"Shall we," Eliza asked.
Natasha nodded, "Let's go."
The two women walked back the way they came, determined to locate the two master thieves as quickly as possible.
"Come on, let's head this way," Eliza suggested, "After all, we got the lead that they'd be in the area."
Natasha nodded and together they began searching the alleyways.
"This would go quicker if we split up," Eliza suggested after a couple dozen minutes.
Romanoff sighed, she was right. "Alright, I'll check out here, you check inside."
Eliza nodded and pushed open the old, broken down door. The building was large, dilapidated, and abandoned. The perfect place for a thief to hide. Eliza pulled out her pistol and readied it- just in case. Using the flashlight in her other hand, she searched room after room after room.
Natasha finished up outside and decided to join the young agent in training inside the building. But she couldn't find Eliza. Suddenly Natasha heard a gunshot ring out. Immediately she panicked, sure that the girl had been shot.
Meanwhile, Eliza was pushing a woman against a wall with a large fallen beam, using her telekinesis.
"I can tell," the woman said slickly, "You're one of us. Maybe not a Guild member, no, but you've done your fair share of robberies and assassinations. Haven't you?"
"Shut up."
"Or what," the woman taunted, "You'll shoot my other leg?"
"Maybe," Eliza threatened, "Or maybe I'll shoot your head this time instead. Don't make me regret following orders and letting you live."
"And who's orders are you following," the thief asked slyly.
"I'm- wait a minute," she narrowed her eyes, "You're good. I'll give you that much. Almost had me there. Sorry, I'm not taking the bait though."
The woman smirked. But at that moment two things happened very fast. First, Natasha came bounding around the corner, gun up and ready to shoot. The second was that the thief had managed to reach the dagger in her boot and she threw it at Eliza.
Fortunately for Eliza, she had a good reaction time. She threw her hand up and stopped the knife in midair right before it struck her face.
"You alright, White," Natasha asked the girl.
"Of course, Romanoff. I'm not completely useless," Eliza said in annoyance.
"Never said you were."
Natasha walked up to the red-headed thief and handcuffed her while Eliza dropped the beam and walked over to make sure all firearms and sharp objects were taken off the prisoner.
"You must be the Black Bat," Natasha smirked, "I'm glad to finally meet you in person. I'm Black Widow. And you're now a prisoner of SHIELD."
"Joy," sneered the woman.
Eliza smirked, "Treasure this time before we get you back to the Helicarrier."
Black Bat allowed herself to look unsettled for a brief moment before re-applying her emotionless mask.
Natasha pushed her at gun point forward, and the three women marched out of the building. Fortunately for the Black Bat, Eliza had fired a small, non-penetrating bullet designed by SHIELD to inflict pain without leaving a wound, so she was able to walk without much assistance.
They took the criminal to the police station and handed her over to the police officers and SHIELD agents.
"Is Agent Barton not back yet," Natasha smirked.
"No, he's not."
"Do you think he's alright," Eliza asked, moderately concerned.
"Yeah, he'll be fine," Natasha assured her, "He does this a lot."
"What are we going to do while we wait," Eliza asked, almost to herself.
"We've got an air hockey table in the back," one of the police officers told them.
Natasha and Eliza both smirked and quickly followed the men to an adjacent room. Inside there was indeed an air hockey table and they began taking turns.
By the time Clint returned a few hours later, the rooms were filled with shouting, both cheers and sighs, and he deposited his escapee with the sheriff before joining the others in the back room.
Just as he walked in the doorway, Eliza swung her arm backwards in celebration and accidently slapped him in the face.
"Woops."
Clint was stunned for a moment before grinning devilishly.
"My turn."
