"So are you sure these will work?"
"Yeah, it's Stark Tech."
She nodded in understanding, folding the two thick parkas and stuffing them into one of the three water resistant bags. She ran her finger over the Stark Enterprises patch sewed onto the bag before turning to face me.
"Do we have everything?"
"Laptops, bombs, weapons, food and water, warm clothes, communicators…" I counted each off on my fingers and she rolled her eyes at me, raising an eyebrow before walking out of the Tech Room and coming back with two wetsuits slung over her arm with goggles and flippers hooked on her fingers.
"We wont be swimming far without these." She smirked, and I let out a sigh of relief.
"We shouldn't be swimming at all."
"Do you regret bringing me in now?"
My head snapped towards her and I narrowed my eyes as she stared blankly up at me.
"No."
She raised her eyebrow momentarily before turning the zip up the bags. She slung two over her shoulders and threw one to me, which I caught easily as I followed her out of the room and down the too many halls of base.
She'd been acting weird all morning, as if she were a mistake and that I could back down whenever I wanted to. I knew she was scared and regretful to be betraying Mother Russia, but she was more then happy to be taking down the organization that put a bad name on it in the first place.
She was going to have to try a little harder then that to make me regretful, however. I made my decision loud and clear, and although it was the wrong decision in all the right ways, I have to face the consequence… of swimming in ice-cold water in the place that I was most likely going to die in.
Still, I didn't regret it.
Coulson seemed to be warming up to her more and more everyday, seeing the young girl behind her mature features and cold eyes. For the past week he's been giving her pep talks and advice, hell, he wasn't even that nice to me on my first mission!
Fury really was using the Council's lack of planning as a loophole in the mission. Yes, the two of us (and just the two of us) will be executing the plan on our very own right under their noses with no help from anyone else, but with much more advanced technological help and a hint of sneakiness to ensure at least a small amount of safety on this suicidal mission.
I actually felt rather excited to see if we came out dead or alive.
But she wasn't excited. She was determined, and although she'd deny it, she was a scared little girl who was fighting for the life that was stolen from her.
It was quite sad, actually.
Really sad.
And the sadness and loss and loneliness that she has had to face is what made me determined to walk out of this mission with her by my side.
.
Fury watched from his one good eye as the two agents boarded their jet with a nod of their heads. Coulson was hurriedly explaining to Romanoff how to use the comm links at the foot of the platform, Barton just rolling his eyes and tugging her by the elbow and waving goodbye to his worried handler.
"How do you think it'll go?" he asked as we watched the jet take flight and soar in the sky until it faded into a tiny black dot far into the distance. I glanced down at him as he removed his glasses and tucked them into the collar of his suit with a glazed look over his eyes.
For once, I didn't have a certain answer to this constant question. How will it go? I didn't know. Will one of the best agents at S.H.I.E.L.D ever return alive? Was his different call worth the sacrifice?
"I'm not sure, Coulson."
He looked up at me with a grim expression, a slight frown forming on his brow as he considered the death of his agent. I knew they shared and father-son bond, no matter how much Coulson claimed that it was unprofessional.
"Well, he better come back." He sighed, rubbing his temple.
"And why's that?"
"I have a hell of a lot of paper work for him to fill out for me."
He turned and walked off the runway and towards base. I chuckled and threw one last glance to the direction that they were flying in, praying to whoever was listening that they'd make it back alive to prove that goddamned Council that they weren't always right.
.
We buried our parachutes in the blinding white snow and watched as the jet took off back into the direction we first came.
"So, now what?"
"We trek it." I sighed, crouching to pull out the white parkas in the bag I was carrying. We shrugged them on and pulled the hoodies tight around our heads, blocking some of the harsh cold wind that bit at our skin. Aside from the black of our uniform that covered our legs and bottom halves, we mingled with the snow well enough to keep the unwanted eye from seeing.
"Do you know where we're going?"
I shot him a look, smiling at how the snowflakes caught on his long lashes. "Of course."
I led us towards the outskirts of the forest, the trees almost completely white in the blanket of snow. I kept tabs on the direction we were heading, how many paces we were to take before we made a turn, which trail was the most safest to tread through and how long we'd been wandering around for. We kept silent for quite some time, until Clint decided to spark up a conversation.
"How do you know the area so well?"
I frowned as I skimmed my hand across the bark of a tree, the same one I'd done to so many times to before.
"They used to dump us in all sort of remote area's outside of base. I've travelled along these paths more times then I can count. It's pretty stupid of them, I suppose, but I guess they never expected one of their most trusted spies to turn sides and use their sick schemes against them."
He nodded and shifted slightly under the weight of the two heavy bags he was carrying on both shoulders, and I sighed, grabbing the heaviest one and swapping it for the lighter one I was carrying.
"Thanks."
The wind started to pick up and the snow became heavier as it howled past our faces. We'd been walking for hours, the occasional question shared between the two of us when things got too quiet.
Clint's lips were starting to tremble and I could hear the chatter of his teeth beside me.
"I hate the cold." He hissed, and I turned and smirked up at him.
"It's not that bad."
"Oh please, if only you could see how red your cheeks were and how much you're actually shaking."
"I am well aware of that; I've just learnt how to shut it all out."
"How?"
I paused mid-stride and thought for a moment.
"Years and years of practice."
The look he was giving me! With his big stormy eyes that showed so much sympathy that I had to look away, not used to actually being cared about by another human being. What was that fluttering feeling in my stomach? Why did it make me uneasy when his eyes sparkled like that? Why was it suddenly becoming hard to breath, like his eyes could hold a steel grip on my lungs?
"We're going to get them back for what they did to you." He whispered, placing a hand on my shoulder, sending little sparks down my body that ignited my cold bones. My intake of breath was a little ragged, and a small smile was beginning to form on his lips… his trembling lips…
"Natasha?"
I snapped out of my thoughts and quickly regained composure, shaking his hand off my shoulder with a curt nod and restarting the walk through the trees and snow. He didn't say another word, just followed silently behind me, before I stopped in my tracks and hand to push him back before he went tumbling down the sharp slope into the rocks below.
"Do you see it?" I crouched down beside him as he leant up on his elbows from the fall, squinting in the wind and hardly spotting the small black silhouette in the distance of a grand building out in the middle of nowhere.
He nodded and glanced up at me, eyes wandering to all the flyaway strands of hair that blew about my face in a flurry of red. I quickly tucked them behind my ears before he could reach out and do it himself.
"The lakes not far from here. A couple of miles at the most. We have to make our way down here first, and then stay in the boarder of the trees to avoid being spotted… then we go under."
He tensed at my words but mumbled his agreement and hauled himself up, weighing the bags in his hands. "What are we going to do with these? They'll only drag me down."
"Here," I found the most clear alignment of rocks, a bumpy pathway that would cause the less damaged to our equipment. I kicked the first one down, then the second, and the third, and we stood and watched as they went tumbling down the steep slope and landing at the bottom.
He chuckled. "I swear, if you broke my bow and arrows-"
"You can learn how to use a gun." I finished, hauling myself over the edge of the slope and beginning the dangerous climb down below.
"As a matter of fact, I know very well how to use a gun."
I scoffed and watched him work his way down to level next to me, a serious look in his eyes.
"No, really, they don't call me Hawkeye for nothing. That's how I got a spot in S.H.I.E.L.D in the first place, because of my aim and accuracy."
"So your also a sniper?"
He flashed me a grin and continued his way downwards, and I followed in pursuit.
The sharp rocks were tearing holes in our thick white gloves, and beneath the fabric I could see Clint's flesh, which was a dull red from the coldness of the snow and the pressure being put onto them from the climb. He cursed often, about how rocks are stupid and should never have been invented, and I had to hold back the laughs so he didn't think he was actually funny and got a big head out of it all.
We finally reached the base of the slope, and he ran down to the three bags and unzipped the ones that carried all our weapons. He pulled out his bow case and ran his fingers over the metal of his beloved weapon, letting out a sigh of relief before checking none of his arrows had snapped.
"Child…" I muttered under my breath, and he threw me a look and poked his tongue out at me to prove my point correct when he knew everything was okay.
Zipping up the bag and handing me one while he slung the other two over his shoulders, we re-began our trek through the snowy terrain.
"How old are you?" I asked out of no-where, unable to hold my curiosity for much longer. He was like a child in a mans body, playful and silly and no doubt ably stupid, and reckless and immature and clingy… but he was also the complete opposite of each of those things! It was driving me insane!
"I'm twenty-three."
Oh. So he wasn't that much older then me, then. I glanced at him as he stared straight ahead. He had strong eyes. Always watching, with a childish grin plastered on his face most of the time. He had sun kissed skin that any girl would die for and his muscle build was quite the sight, especially in the upper region of his arms that looked so strong and powerful that I was just dying to see if I could put up a fight against them.
We continued walking in silence, then, and the unseen sun was beginning to set, just like I had planned. Clint looked a little worried as the darkness became more and more dense, but I ignored it when the frozen lake appeared not far ahead and the building rose sky-high in front of us.
He let out a low whistle, and I grabbed him and quickly rushed us over to the south end, where the building cut into the lake and down below, the sewage system.
"Will we be spotted?" he asked as I knelt down and yanked him with me and began opening up the lighter bag.
"Do you see any windows?"
He looked up, sharp eyes scanning the wall of the building. Touché to my word, there were no windows on this side, and he mumbled something under his breath before he helped me pull out the swimming equipment.
I stood up and shrugged off my parka, and I unzipped my cat suit to reveal the wet suit underneath it. Clint did the same, shrugging out of his vest uniform and pants, looking reluctant to fold them into the bag. I threw him the BTH Communicators and he began starting them up as I moved towards the ice, pulling out the laser and finding a weak spot in the ice.
"Be careful." Clint called out as I took a step onto the slippery surface, balancing easily as I knelt down on my knees and activated the laser. I cut a large hole into the ice, large enough to fit two people in at the same time, and pulled out the large chunk that was no longer of use and throwing it in the snow. The dark water sloshed about the edges of the hole, spilling over and wetting my knees. It was freezing.
I nodded to myself and turned back to Clint, who was now slipping on his flippers and had his goggles atop his head. I quickly did the same, hands shaking from the cold but never fumbling. He handed me one of the mouthpieces.
"Don't activate the oxygen flow until we're in the water." He said as he wrapped his own around his head and secured it over his mouth. I did the same and quickly began tying each of the bags together with a rope and buckling the ends to the waistline of our suits.
"It'll be easier to swim with them and make sure we don't drift apart at the same time." I explained when I saw his raised eyebrow. He nodded and we made our way to the hole.
"Why is it so big?"
"We're going in together to save the last amount of body warmth we have before we go under." I said, sitting down and slowly sliding my flipper feet into the water, slicing the thin layer of ice that had already started to form. My muscles tightened at the cold temperature and I let out a ragged breath until both my legs were dangling in the hole. Clint swallowed and did the same, hissing under his breath.
"My poor balls…"
"Gross."
He chuckled as I grabbed the three bags and lowered them into the water one by one, watching them disappear into the darkness of the icy liquid. Clint passed me one of the torches and I shined it into the water and saw the bags floating innocently down below.
"Ready?"
He gulped but nodded, and slowly we began sliding the rest of our bodies into the hole, the water over flowing and spilling over the edges. As soon as we were mostly submerged, we began concentrating on our breathing that was coming out in ragged noises and in white little clouds that faded into the air.
Clint suddenly pulled me close to him as we treaded the water, and I felt my eyes widen slightly. He was shaking violently and his lips were a light shade of blue from under the mouthpiece. He wrapped his arms around my waist and held me firmly against his chest, and I frowned at myself when I slowly wound my arms around his neck and held on.
My body was numb and we began kicking our legs to gain movement, and I tried to ignore the sudden warm feeling pooling into my stomach as we moved up and down against each other as we kicked. He was looking down at me with a burning intensity in his eyes, his lashes coated with tiny snowflakes that settled onto the fine hairs. His face was only inches from mine, his hands suddenly burning into the skin on my waist beneath the wet suit…
"We should get going." He mumbled, his voice slightly husky, as he pulled away, the electric surge that had coursed through my body cutting short. I kept my face neutral and nodded, the cold water suddenly bringing me to my senses. He flicked his own torch to life before winking at me, pressing the red button on the mouthpiece with a quiet whooshing sound that activated the oxygen, he ducked into the water and I quickly did the same.
.
I watched as her lithe body glided through the water easily, how she kicked her powerful legs and I had to try to catch up with her. The bags were only weighing us down slightly, and my whole body felt like it was going to quake apart with how much I was shaking. My bones and joints were stiff and cracking with each movement I made.
I tried not to ponder too much on how close and how good it felt to hold her in my arms.
"I can see the grating." Natasha's voice cut through my thoughts, and I followed the direction her torch was shining in and saw the outline of the grating that leads up into the sewer and land.
"Finally." I breathed, still not used to being able to talk under water. We kicked a little harder then, her red hair floating about her head and making her look like a goddess.
By the time we'd reached the grating, there was only fifty-three minutes of oxygen control left. Natasha pulled out her laser and began burning a manhole into the thick metal, hooking her feet underneath one of the bars to hold her in place and stop her from floating around. I yanked the excess metal out of the way, and we grabbed our bags and shoved them through first before we swam into the more murkier and dirty water.
I clicked on my earpiece and waited for the signal to clear.
"Coulson, we're in the building."
.
part two will be up shortly, but my brother is deciding to steal the laptop from me and I have to cut it short :(
review!
