Hey everyone! I planned on having this posted Christmas Eve as a Christmas present to you all but holiday festivities got in the way...and then fell I asleep on the couch. Whoops! But forget all that, I have the next chapter here for you! I hope you like it! Enjoy!
"Well Stark," Director Fury said as he glared at the billionaire. "I'm waiting."
Tony stared at the director of SHIELD with wide eyes before glancing over at Bruce and Steve on the couch. The moment they locked eyes, Bruce and Steve looked away as if to tell Tony he was on his own on this one. Nervously, Tony turned back to Fury, who was still staring down the billionaire.
"Well…" Tony started.
"Don't 'well' me, Stark. I know it was you who cancelled the recovery team for Agent Barton and I know it wasn't your idea. It was Agent Romanoff's," Fury snapped.
"Then why are you here?" Stark shot back.
"Agent Romanoff has fallen off the grid and I need you to tell me where she is," Fury said. "There's no doubt that you've had contact with her. She may be an independent and introverted woman, but even Agent Romanoff needs a little help sometimes."
Tony started to nervously fiddle with his cufflinks as he avoided Fury's gaze at all costs. He wasn't quite sure what he was afraid of. What exactly was Fury going to do when Tony told him the truth anyways? Suspend him from the Avengers? Kick him out? Or worse, put him in time out? Fury wouldn't do any of those things, so Tony wasn't quite sure why he was nervous to tell him the truth.
Tony sucked in a deep breath before releasing it nervously. "I don't exactly know where she is staying," he said. "But she is in Rome.
"The last I heard from her was about six o'clock this morning," Tony continued. "She wants maps for the Catacombs of Callixtus because she found Barton's arrow tip in there and she thinks that's where he is. I haven't heard from her since."
"I need you to track her phone and pinpoint her location," Fury said suddenly.
"Why?" Tony said with a frown.
"Stark, if Agent Barton was compromised on this mission, it is far too dangerous for Agent Romanoff," Fury said. "We need to send in backup."
"With all due respect, Director," Steve chimed in. He rose from the couch and walked across the room to stand with Fury and Tony. "We would like to be on that team. Or specifically, we would like to be that team."
"Overruled, Rogers," Fury said. "This is a SHIELD mission."
"But the Avengers basically work for SHIELD," Steve said. "I think we have a right to go in and help our teammates."
Fury shook his head as he sighed. "Fine," the one-eyed director snapped. "Report to the SHIELD base in an hour. You will be briefed before suiting up and departing for Rome."
Suddenly, Fury turned towards Tony. "I still need you to pinpoint Romanoff's location. There's no telling where she'll be. It is Agent Romanoff, after all." With that, Director Fury turned on his heel and marched to the elevator. He pressed the button for the elevator and the doors immediately slid open. He stepped onto the elevator and turned around, nodding at Tony before the doors slid shut.
By the time Bosco came to, Natasha had tied and bound him to a chair belonging to his kitchen table. She had found a pack of zip ties in a drawer in the kitchen and used them to keep Bosco bound to the chair. In fact, she had used several on his wrists and ankles just as a precaution. She heard Bosco grunt as he regained consciousness and she stiffened in her seat. She pulled her gun from her belt and set it on the table next to her, pointing it towards Bosco to show him that she meant business.
Bosco blearily blinked as he tried to bring his gaze into focus. He lifted his head so that he was facing straight and his gaze locked on the red-headed woman seated in front of him. He flinched and tried to scramble from his seat but he found that he was tied to the chair.
"Oh good, you're up," Natasha said unenthusiastically. Bosco flinched at Natasha's voice as he fought against the zip ties binding his wrists and ankles to the chair. Natasha rolled her eyes at Bosco's feeble attempts at escaping before kicking him in the knee with her foot. The man howled in pain as Natasha rolled her eyes again.
"What the hell do you want?" Bosco said in his thick Italian-accented voice.
"I don't shoot the breeze," Natasha said. "So I'm just going to get to the point. You're going to take me to the catacombs where you're developing nuclear weapons and possibly keeping my partner, Hawkeye, hostage."
"Ah," Bosco said. "We knew you'd come for him. The infamous Black Widow."
"What do you mean we?" Natasha asked.
"That is a surprise," Bosco said confidently.
Natasha grabbed the gun from the table and cocked it before aiming it at Bosco. "You will tell me now," Natasha said. She moved the gun from where it was aimed at Bosco's chest and pressed the barrel of the gun up against his right knee. Bosco immediately flinched and squeezed his eyes shut. "I don't fuck around, Bosco. You will tell me what I'm walking into or I start shooting."
"So shoot," Bosco said. "You think I care?"
Natasha shrugged her shoulders and pulled the trigger. The gun went off and Bosco howled in pain. Red blood oozed from his knee from the bullet lodging itself deep into his flesh. As Bosco was howling in pain, Natasha pressed the gun up against Bosco's left knee. Bosco stopped screaming and looked at Natasha with wide eyes, shocked.
"You think I'm screwing around with you?" Natasha asked. "I told you I don't fuck around."
"You dumb bitch," Bosco breathed.
"Hmm, nobody accused me of being dumb before," Natasha said with a smirk. She pressed the gun further into Bosco's knee cap and his breathing hitched in his throat. He squeezed his eyes shut again and his body stiffened as he waited for Natasha to shoot him again.
"If you cooperate, I won't shoot you. It's as simple as that, Bosco," Natasha said.
Natasha watched the man tremble from head-to-toe. That's when she realized that he couldn't be working alone. In fact, he had to be working for someone. No nuclear war lord was this afraid of being shot. Actually, nuclear war lords pretty much encouraged it. But this guy, he was scared. He was beyond terrified. There was no way he was the nuclear war lord the mission brief made him out to be.
"Who are you working for?" Natasha inquired. "I know you're not working alone."
Bosco kept his eyes squeezed shut as he shook his head. "Not telling," he managed to choke out.
"You know what happens when you don't comply, right?" Natasha said. She cocked the gun and Bosco jumped as high as his binds would allow him.
"Okay, okay, okay!" he shouted. "I'll take you there, but I need to call my boss first."
"Fine," Natasha spat.
"Phone's in my pocket," Bosco said.
Natasha rolled her eyes as she noticed the small lump on his right thigh. She set her gun down on the table before hastily digging into Bosco's pocket to pull out his phone. She looked at the phone before glancing at Bosco. She arched her eyebrows as if to ask him what she should do next.
"Go into my contacts and find Mrs. Bosco," he said.
Natasha froze. Mrs. Bosco. There was nothing in the mission brief about Bosco being married. And not only was he married, the missus was also his boss.
"Problem, Black Widow?" Bosco asked.
Natasha rose from her seat and promptly struck Bosco across the face with a left hook. Bosco's head lolled back but he didn't lose consciousness. He blinked to keep his focus as he lifted his head again. Natasha sat back down as she started to scroll through his contacts. She reached the M's and found Mrs. Bosco. She clicked on the contact and then hit send to call the number. She shoved the phone in between Bosco's ear and shoulder and waited for Bosco's wife to answer.
Yelena was working on the serum when her phone rang. She swiped it off of the table and noticed her husband's name flashing across the screen. She flipped open the cheap phone to answer it.
"Did you find your wallet, dipshit?" Yelena spat.
"No, but I found something else," Bosco answered.
"What?" Yelena asked.
"The Black Widow," Bosco said.
Yelena stiffened. Before she knew it, she found herself smiling. If Natasha had Bosco, this could get interesting.
"Well, that's quite an interesting discovery," Yelena said.
"Yeah, well, she's not exactly friendly." At that moment, Yelena heard a smack as Natasha no doubt slapped him across the face.
"Us Red Room alums never are," Yelena replied. "Are you bringing her here?"
"Umm, I believe it will be the other way around," Bosco replied.
Yelena felt her smile disappear. This could only mean one thing. Bosco had been taken hostage by Natasha and she was threatening him for information.
"What's the damage so far?" Yelena asked.
"Possible concussion and a gunshot wound in the knee," Bosco answered. There was a lengthy silence between the two of them before Bosco broke it. "What should I do?"
Yelena wanted to face Natasha but the serum wasn't ready. Yelena knew she wouldn't be able to take on Natasha without a little help. She'd learned that lesson the hard way during their days in the Red Room. But there was no telling what Natasha would do to Bosco the longer she held him hostage.
And that's when Yelena got an idea. Natasha had Bosco hostage while Yelena had Natasha's partner, the infamous Hawkeye, hostage. She shifted the phone from one ear to the other as she walked out of the room. She peeked around the corner to see Clint Barton half-conscious, still bound to the chair. The injuries he had suffered when he had been taken hostage were probably still taking a toll on his body, but the biggest injury that was affecting him was the gunshot wound in his right shoulder.
Yelena mischievously smiled to herself as she slowly and silently crept into the room she kept Clint. "Give the phone to Romanova," Yelena whispered so as not to disturb Clint. Yelena heard Bosco mention to Natasha that his boss was asking to talk to him and there was the sound of static as Bosco's phone was passed off to Natasha.
"What?" Natasha snapped.
"Oh that's no way to talk to your partner's captor. His well-being rests in the palm of my hand," Yelena said, masking her voice by speaking with an Italian accent. She stood behind Clint and then brushed a finger across his cheek. Clint sighed as he forced himself back into consciousness.
"Tell me where you are and we can settle this in person," Natasha said.
"Oh, but let's have a little fun first," Yelena said. Yelena set her phone down on the ground before grabbing Clint's right shoulder and yanking it backwards. Clint screamed out in pain as he felt his shoulder pull out of his socket. Combined with the pain from the gunshot wound, the pain was beyond unbearable. To make matters worse, Yelena had decided to shove it back into the socket, only to pull it out again.
When she had finished torturing him by pulling his shoulder out of its socket multiple times, she was nice enough to allow Clint to catch his breath. However, it was only for a couple seconds before she appeared in front of Clint to hit him with a right hook to the jaw. He tasted the coppery sensation of blood in his mouth for two seconds before he felt another blow to the jaw from the left. More blood pooled into his mouth and he let his head hang to the side so he could spit out a glob of blood.
Yelena didn't stop for Clint received a blow to the stomach and several blows to the ribs. He gasped for air as she continuously pummeled him for the fun of it. She finished it off by kicking him in the groin. Clint yelped in pain and gasped for air as Yelena disappeared from view.
She stepped around Clint's chair and bent over to pick her phone up off of the floor. She brushed the dust and dirt – and even some blood splatters – off of the screen before pressing it up against her ear. All she heard was silence but she knew Natasha was still there.
"Tell my husband to bring you to the catacombs. We'll settle this from there," Yelena said before tossing the phone on the ground. The phone broke apart to three pieces – the battery, the cover to the back of the phone, and the body of the phone. Out of anger, she stepped on the phone, snapping it in two. She kicked the phone aside and without so much as looking at the damage she had done to Clint, she marched out of the room with her head held high, proud of what she had accomplished.
Whoops. Did I just make Yelena beat the shit out of Clint? My bad! You guys were asking for it anyways, so there you go! haha.
As always, thank you for adding this to your favorites, signing up for alerts, and reviewing. Reviews are very much appreciated and they motivate me to write so please leave me a lovely review to let me know what you think!