Rumor has it
Chapter 7
"Knock her out – we need to get out of here quick," a masked dark haired man said to his accomplices as they held a struggling young blond girl in their grasp. Her eyes were beyond frightened. They quickly bounded her hands together.
"How much do you think she's worth?" one of the buffer men asked.
"Blondes? They usually take them for 1000 a piece," the man that seemed to be in charge of this kidnapping said gruffly. They all froze as they heard the distinct click of a gun behind them.
"You know – gagging a pretty little girl in the back of an elegant restaurant is downright pathetic," someone said from behind them.
The thugs all spun around and stared at the angry eyes of a redheaded Russian with a loaded gun firmly gripped in her right hand. They raised an eyebrow.
"Oh and who is going to stop us? A little redhead like you?" they laughed shaking their heads. Natasha narrowed her eyes. She promptly shot a warning shot over their head and quickly ducked as one of the closer ones tried to grab her. She whipped around and kicked him into the wall. She fell to her knees as they all rushed at her and smashed her elbow into one of their faces and tripped the other 3 men in front of her.
Natasha quickly shot forward as the men groaned falling to their knees behind her. She pulled the gag out of the girl's mouth and took a knife out of her boot and quickly cut through her binds.
"Quick – run!" she shouted dragging the girl out the back door. A few slaps in the face weren't going to keep those men down for long – but Natasha wasn't allowed to shoot civilians outside of missions either – SHIELD would be on her ass if she did that.
Meanwhile two Avengers promptly smacked into each other as they rounded the corner between the washroom and the restaurant. Steve groaned as he held his head in pain and stared down at the equally in pain genius.
"Tony why are you here…and where is Natasha?" Steve asked slowly glancing at the empty table behind Tony. Tony suddenly looked very sheepish.
"Don't quite know why to the first and I don't know at all to the second," Tony replied warily.
"Clint has been stalking us hasn't he?" Steve said tiredly.
"Yup," Tony said with a shrug. Not going to deny the truth.
"Where the hell did they go?" Steve asked glancing around anxiously.
They both heard gun shots in the distance and shared a worried look.
Natasha and the blond girl both ducked as they ran down a dark alley and felt bullets wiz over their heads. However the kid was just in too much shock to duck fast enough.
"Duck kid duck!" Natasha shouted as she shoved the girl to the ground as a bullet came too close to ending her life. Natasha gritted her teeth as her shoulder hit the ground at an odd angle but ignored it as she quickly dragged the girl to her feet and kept running.
"Who the hell are these people?" Natasha asked herself as she pulled the girl in front of her. Don't die kid – don't die yet. I'm not a hero but I'll damn well make sure you don't die.
"They're people my d-daddy sees sometimes really late at night," the girl said shakily glancing over her shoulder in fear.
"Don't look back - just keep running!" Natasha whispered quickly. They heard shouting not too far around the corner. Natasha quickly grabbed the girl by her arm and dragged her behind a dumpster.
"Where did they go?" one of the masked men shouted angrily rounding the corner. Natasha slowly covered the girl's mouth to keep her from making a sound and giving them away.
"The brat is going to slow that bitch down – they couldn't have gotten far," another thug said dangerously. Natasha locked eyes with the little girl shaking in front of her. She couldn't stop them with the girl still here. She quickly pushed the kid down the alley as the men got closer.
"Run!" she whispered holding her bruised shoulder in pain – she had hurt it while hitting the ground a minute ago. The little girl stared back at her with frightened eyes.
"But-" the girl faltered. Natasha quickly fell to her knees in front of the terrified little girl and grasped her firmly by the shoulders. She could hear the stomping of several angry feet behind them.
"Don't think - just run. Find the police, but whatever you do don't stop running until you do okay?" Natasha said firmly pushing the kid down the alley. The little girl shakily backed away while still staring at Natasha with fear swirling in her eyes. Natasha pulled out her second gun as she watched the girl quickly sprint around the corner. Her eyes darkened as she lost sight of the kid. Now she had thugs to shoot.
"Alright you bastards – who wants to die first?" Natasha said dangerously from behind the 4 men. All the thugs tensed as they spun around and finally found the bitch the that took their target.
"You talk big for a girl who is outnumbered by 4 men 4 times her size," one of the thugs said darkly. Natasha snorted.
"Please – I constantly have to deal with a gigantic green rage monster that is 4 times your size. You pansies are a walk in a park compared to the giants I work with," she said narrowing her eyes.
They scoffed and promptly raised their guns to fire at her. She rolled her eyes and she fell to the ground and rolled out of the line of fire. She raised her own gun and fired two clear shots actually hitting her targets in the leg. The two thugs still left standing quickly rushed her from both sides. She quickly stepped back and let them nearly crash into each other before she pulled her arm back and smashed her fist into one of their faces and kneed the other in the gut. She took several deeps breath as they both fell to the ground in pain. Well that was that.
Natasha froze as she felt a cool metal gun make contact with the back of her head.
"You forget there is always back up arrogant girl," a voice whispered from behind her. Natasha took a deep breath.
BANG!
She froze and she heard the shot fire but felt no pain. Instead the man behind her gasped and fell forward beside her.
"Natasha?" someone said from behind her. Natasha spun around and locked eyes with an out of breath Clint Barton who had a smoking gun at his side. Well, where the hell was he 5 minutes ago?
"Clint?" she said in confusion.
BANG!
Clint froze as he watched the expression on Natasha's face freeze.
Natasha hissed in pain as she dropped to her knees clutching her leg in pain. The bastard on the ground still had his gun in his shaking hands and was still conscious.
"Not. Dead. Yet," the bleeding man said through gritted teeth. Clint's eyes darkened as he stepped forward and shoved his gun into the man's chest.
"Now you are," he whispered before he pulled the trigger. Natasha clenched her jaw as she heard the shot echo around the alley and watched the man fall to the ground.
"SHIELD is going to kill you for shooting down civilians outside of missions Barton," she hissed as she leaned against the wall beside her. The darkness cleared from his eyes as he looked away.
"I didn't kill him – it was a taser," he said looking away from the unconscious body. Natasha paused.
"Damn, you just like to scare the shit out of them don't you?" Natasha said warily. Clint shrugged – the man shot his partner. It was a mercy he was still alive at all.
Clint quickly ripped off the end of his shirt and crouched down beside the bleeding Russian. Her red dress was completely ruined.
"Well that was a horrible way to end a date," Natasha mumbled staring at her wound. Clint shook his head in disbelief.
"You're always getting into trouble on or off missions Tasha," he muttered as he tied the cloth quickly around the bullet wound in her thigh. Natasha gritted teeth as she tried not to hiss from the pain. Getting that bullet out was going to hurt like hell. She glanced up at the serious eyes of her partner and was about to response when she noticed a flicker of movement behind him.
Clint froze as he felt her suddenly whip forward, pull his gun out of his back pocket and shoot something over his shoulder. Clint slowly turned around and watched a masked man fall in his knees clutching his stomach in pain. There were just too many thugs crawling around these dark alleys. She slowly leaned back against the wall behind her with the exhaustion clear on her face and dropped the gun. The adrenaline was the only reason she was able to shoot properly at all. The blood loss was making her lightheaded. He slowly felt the back of his neck – there was the slight trail of blood there. Oh shit he was seconds away from being beheaded.
"Be careful Barton – you'll get yourself killed one day," Natasha warned. He took a calming breath and glanced back down at her tense form.
"That's why I have you Tasha," he said quietly. She snorted.
"Now you're glad I'm your partner eh?" she muttered looking away from him. Clint's eyes softened as he stared at his reserved partner. He slowly leaned forward and brushed her messy red bangs out of her eyes. She tensed ever so slightly as his fingers softly brushed her forehead.
"I always felt like the luckiest agent at SHIELD Natasha – because my partner was the best there was," he whispered softly.
She was about to respond but winced instead. He paused as he watched her face go blank. She wasn't wincing from his words - she was in physical pain – he could feel the pain vibrating off of her in waves. Natasha Romanoff was a master at hiding what she was feeling – but he knew what to look for.
"Time to find Bruce or get you to a SHIELD Doctor," he said with a sigh. They could have this conversation later. He promptly hooked one arm under her knees and another under her back. Natasha froze.
"Hey! What are you doing?" she protested as he effortlessly picked her off the ground and lightly jostled her so that he had a firm grip around her waist.
"I'm getting you out of here before any more street thugs show up and before that bullet wound gets infected," he said calmly as he spun them around and started walking out of the alley littered with unconscious gang members. Never mess with Hawkeye and the Black Widow. It just never ended well for you.
"I don't need to be fucking carried," she growled trying to pull away. He didn't even let her budge, his grip was like steel.
"Do you want to limp back home while you bleed to death?" he said giving her a blank look. She scowled at him. He raised an eyebrow at her irritation.
"You know I'm right Tasha," he said shaking his head at her unhappy face. Such a stubborn Russian.
"I could still make it back on my own – I've lived through worse," she muttered looking away from his careful gaze.
"I know – but you've dragged me back to safety countless of times during missions Tasha. I'm just repaying a debt," he said quietly repeating the same words she once told him. Natasha groaned in defeat. There was just no way to win against Clint Barton.
"Give me your phone," she grumbled crossing her arms and firmly looking away from him. He stared at her as he listened to her odd request.
"Why?" he asked suspiciously.
"Cause I need to call my stupid boyfriend and tell him what happened," she said looking away from his curious face.
Clint suddenly stopped walk and nearly dropped her as he replayed what she just said. Natasha glared at his sudden jerky movements.
"OI! If you're going to insist on carrying me don't kill me in the process!" she shouted grabbing onto his shirt to keep herself from crashing to the ground. Right...her boyfriend. Which wasn't him. He shook the dark thoughts out of his mind and glanced down at his irritated looking partner.
"Sorry," he muttered as he took his phone out of his pocket and handed it to her. Natasha huffed as she took the phone from him. She dialed a sadly very familiar number after seeing it many times over the last few days because of a damn broken water heater. She held the phone to her ear as Clint continued to carry her down the street.
Ring. Ring.
Click.
"Hi Steve – no I'm not dead. If I was dead I wouldn't be talking to you," Natasha said irritably. Steve just did not think things through before he opened his mouth sometimes. She paused as she listened to his reply.
"No I did not ditch you on our date either. I sort of stepped out to get some air and go tied up…ah…in a gang…fight," she said slowly. There was a long pause at the other end of the line. She heard him take a deep breath and quickly pulled the phone away from her ear.
"A GANG FIGHT? NATASHA ROMANOFF YOU GOT YOURSELF IN THE MIDDLE OF A GANG FIGHT?" was heard loud and clear through the small speaker. Natasha winced from the volume. Clint snorted – she's gotten herself into some much worse situations in the past. He wished he didn't have to bail her broken and bruised body out of those either.
"Stop shouting Steve or I will hang up on you," she warned bringing the phone back to her ear. She listened to the thankfully quieter but still angry response. "No I'm fine – stop acting like you're my mother or something," she said heatedly. Clint raised an eyebrow – Natasha always had a weird way of responding to concern for her well being.
"So what if I never had a mother? I know what mothers do! They are worrywarts! And you Steve Rogers are a damn worrywart king," she hissed. She felt her anger reluctantly deflate as she listened to his quiet response. Damn his caring ways. Damn him for making her feel bad for ditching him.
"Yeah…yeah I kicked their ass – you don't have to do it," she said quietly. Overprotective monkey.
Clint quietly continued his trek back to the Tower with the only girl who could drive him crazy in his arms. She was right in front of him - but for some reason he felt like he was a million miles away from her. Because right now he wished he was the person she was talking to at the other end of the phone.
A/N: No Clint! Why don't you see what Natasha is doing? You don't want to be Steve! She doesn't like Steve! No! haha poor confused archer.
Round 7
Natasha saved a little girl from being kidnapped – Natasha 1: Evil 0
Clint totally saved her from being shot – Natasha 1 : evil 0
Natasha saved his ass right after - Natasha 1 : Evil 0
Steve offered to beat up the thugs Steve 1: Evil 0
Total: Evil is winning by just a sliver.
1st - Evil – 8 (darn you evil!)
2nd - Natasha -7
3rd - Steve -4
I'm sorry to say this is my last update for this story until the end of exams! But don't worry! I will be back at the end of January! Thank you for reading Rumor has it!
Review and let me know what you thought and if you would like me to continue when I return!
- Shadowsontherun
