"So…" Clint shifts in his seat as he sits across from the mother/daughter duo. "This drug…it's warping your brain?" He feels a bit uncomfortable asking Lucy, but he's curious. She dished out an entire plan of action in under one minute. That kind of thing takes at least an hour, give or take. If not for Lucy, he and Natasha would be stuck trying to track down three of Killian's hostages with whatever info S.H.I.E.L.D. picked up from FuturePharm. They'd be screwed if that were the case. Killian's drug would make it onto the black market and affect handfuls of people on a global scale.
Lucy sinks back in her cushioned seat and shuts her eyes. "I'm unlocking all of my hidden potential," she muses. "And making a sacrifice to benefit humankind."
"Fury should make you an honorary agent after this," Clint chuckles.
"Either way, I die a hero's death," she hums.
Natasha's eyes dart from her phone to Lucy. "Don't talk like that!"
Clint feels his heart drop to his stomach at the sudden exchange. Lucy's dying now? He watches the girl, floored by what she's just said. It feels like it was just last week when he was visiting the hospital to see the tiny 'spider baby' as he had called her. Now he's supposed to accept that she's dying? He turns to Natasha, desperate for some kind of explanation.
"We'll sort this out once we've acquired the hostages," Natasha vows. Her eyes slowly return to her phone.
Lucy keeps quiet because she knows Natasha will yell and fight her with useless promises that she has absolutely no control over. She can sense her mother's harbored regret that she keeps bottled up. It's dangerous, not to mention it makes her more hostile. Lucy's picking up a spike in her blood pressure that makes her realize that the woman's fretting over her. She carefully observes Natasha's phone. Her thumb is hovering dangerously close over her father's name. Does she plan to tell him what's happening? Lucy's willing to make the call for Natasha to spare her the grief of speaking with her ex, but she's curious to see how Natasha will choose to handle a conversation with her father.
Lucy can see one instance where Natasha straight out tells him everything that's happening to their daughter. In another instance, she calls Matt to have a casual conversation. It starts with 'I talked with Lucy. She seemed stressed.' To which her father will agree by stating that his last call with her felt awkward… Natasha's still mentally debating about making the call, and Lucy knows exactly why. "If you tell him, he won't blame you," Lucy says aloud.
Natasha shoots her a glare and forces her phone's screen to go black. "Don't do whatever it is you're doing," she groans, bringing a hand to her face.
"Doesn't it make you feel better knowing that Matt won't blame you for what's happened to me?" Lucy continues. "Like you, he'll want to find a way to fix what's happened to me. He'll be as torn up as you are." Her hand moves to a lump in the front pocket of her jeans. What's left inside the tiny bag of blue is much safer with her until they're back at S.H.I.E.L.D. HQ.
"I'll handle this on my own, Lucy," Natasha answers, pinching the bridge of her nose. Part of her wonders if this is just a scheme to get her to talk things over with Matt. Lucy pulled the same trick when she was six during a 'mother-daughter' weekend. She claimed that she left her doll at Matt's and she couldn't sleep without it. Natasha was forced to call her ex to keep her screaming child quiet, and it worked… until he showed up, knocked, then took a taxi straight home. To Lucy's dismay, her plan failed. Natasha begins to watch Lucy from behind a veil of red curls. Would a twenty-four year old woman still pull these tricks just to get mommy and daddy back together? Lucy knows how unhappy their marriage was… Or maybe Lucy isn't doing it for her own personal benefit… Lucy is Matt's world. If she's really not going to survive this mess, Matt will be destroyed. And alone. Natasha looks away and decides that she'll call Matt when Lucy's not around. She can't even remember the last time she called him. Their only communications are an occasional phone call that never lasts more than three minutes. If Lucy really won't make it, then Natasha knows that she'll have to be there for Matt. For Lucy's sake.
Clint eyes the two women, still oblivious to any subtext behind their conversation. All he can see is that Lucy has a distant look in her eyes while Natasha's mentally beating herself up over something, most likely a 'Matt' thing.
Lucy's the first to be dropped off. Before leaving the two assassins, she gives herself straight dark brown hair and a short black dress. Clint nearly has a heart attack upon seeing her dawn a disguise in the blink of an eye, but Natasha looks unimpressed "Remember to get to your hostage before Killian's men do," she warns. Lucy exits the jet and makes her way towards the Schonefeld airport. Disguise is key for her. Killian's henchmen are going to be stationed within the airport, and if Lucy's recognised, then it's game over.
She walks with confidence, blending in with a family and another couple as they pass through the airport's main doors. German is being spoken all around her and for someone who's never been exposed to the language, she's able to decipher it as if it's her native tongue. Lucy happens to walk by a police officer with a German Shepherd. The canine's taken an interest in Lucy and he pulls on his leash in hopes for a closer sniff. Lucy knows what it wants. She's got Killian's goods tucked inside a handbag to match her dress. Lucy turns to eye the dog as he pulls the officer closer to her. She gives the animal a hard stare as she sends a telepathic signal to block the dog's sense of smell. He stops, then resumes a seated position to recover from the false alarm. Lucy continues walking and following the signs that guide her to the arrival gate. She's fifty-seven minutes early thanks to the jet's speed, so she chooses to sit and wait. As she does so, her sensitive ears pick up a man in a black suit mention Killian's name into his phone. Lucy stares straight ahead out at the wall-length window overlooking the incoming planes as she eavesdrops in on the conversation. Killian's men are here, and from what she's overhearing on the phone, they're arriving at the other airports, as well.
Clint sits across from Natasha for an uncomfortable thirty minute flight to Rome. He wants to ask his partner about Lucy, especially her magic disguise trick, but Natasha keeps glancing down at her phone every three minutes. "I've got headphones if you wanna call someone," he finally offers.
Natasha ignores the offer. "We're landing soon," she warns her partner who's still dawning his hero suit.
He reaches under the seat and pulls out her duffel bag, then his own. "I'll go change," he grunts.
Natasha waits for Clint to trudge over to the tiny bathroom to finally give Matt a call. The phone rings four times before he finally picks up.
"Hello?" His voice is heavy with sleep.
Time difference, Natasha reminds herself. "Matt. It's me," she begins. "Sorry. I'm travelling," she adds.
"Oh yeah?" he hums.
She can hear his mattress creak as he shifts in his bed.
"My alarm hasn't even gone off yet."
"I think it's just after five over there," Natasha assumes.
"I have a meeting today, so it's good that I'm up a little early."
Natasha can sense a tired smile in his voice.
"Is everything okay, Natasha?"
She hesitates, but then she thinks of their daughter. He needs to know. "I'm with Lucy, actually."
"Lucy…" There's a sudden urgency in his voice. "What happened?"
Natasha can't hide this from him. "A mission." This much is true. "I've been sent in so I wanted to visit."
Matt heaves a sigh of relief. "How is she, really? Last I talked to her, she seemed a bit off…"
The drugs, probably. Natasha's fingers tighten around her phone. "She's been sick," she smoothly lies. In a way, their little girl is sick, but Natasha can't bring herself to tell him the whole story. Not now, and definitely not over the phone. "She's asleep now, so I'm with her."
"Are you sure she's alright?"
"She yelled at me about not wanting me to baby her," Natasha lies with a brief laugh. "Sounds like she's fine."
"Yeah," Matt agrees with a chuckle. "She's lucky for your convenient timing."
Natasha nods. "A coincidence, yeah." She hears Clint open and close the bathroom door. "I'll call you-Lucy will call you," she quickly corrects. "Once she's awake."
"Thank you."
"Take care, Matt."
"Goodbye, Natasha."
There's a warmth to his voice and Natasha can almost feel his stubble against her cheek as he speaks into her ear. "Bye," she says as she ends the call. They aren't as close as they were before their marriage, but despite that and the fights they used to get into, Natasha still cares about him. He's one of her oldest friends and she wants to hold onto him. Maybe once all this is over, they can go back and rekindle their friendship. She knows that would make Matt happy. Natasha has always been the one to push him away, but she can't bring herself to do it anymore if they lose Lucy.
Clint s falls back into his seat and kicks his duffel bag beneath it. "Nat?" He hunches forward, watching her as he laces his fingers.
She grabs her own bag and begins rifling through it for her leather jacket.
"What's going on with Lucy?" As focused as she looks while searching for a change of clothes, he knows that she's stalling. "Is she… is she really dying?"
She stops, then gives her partner a hard glare. "I don't know." Her tone is as cold as her stare.
"You've gotta talk to me, Tasha," he urges. "You can't even tell Matt-who are you willing to tell?"
"We're landing…" Natasha's fingers find her jacket and grip it with unnecessary strength.
Clint abandons his seat to sit beside Natasha. There she goes throwing up walls again. Getting close to the assassin has always been the hardest mission of all. "It's okay, Nat," he breathes, wrapping an arm around her shoulder.
Natasha whips the jacket out of her bag and throws it over Clint's head. "Your stop is soon," she growls as she hurries to the bathroom.
Clint tears her coat away just as he hears the door slam shut. There's nothing he can do to help Natasha now. She's got her barriers up and she's shutting down. He always hates it when she's like this…
