Title: Conquer
Author: SLynn
Summary: While Phil and Clint settle back into their normal lives, Natasha begins to see that things are not the same.
Notes: I really am trying to finish this before I leave on vacation next Saturday. I made huge progress this week and so I'm posting another chapter. Enjoy!
x.
Bruce seemed to be in a particularly sour mood for the rest of the day, but Natasha couldn't be bothered by it. She knew she should just focus on the work they were doing, but with each passing image she grew more and more agitated until ultimately she called it quits.
He didn't even object, Bruce simply shut down the program and left the lab, leaving Natasha behind.
She knew what she had to do.
Natasha would have no peace of mind until she confronted Clint directly about his attitude and the changes she sensed in him. The idea that he'd undergone experiment after experiment, with no idea of what or why it had been done was making her nervous in ways she had not experienced in a long time. It was too close to her own ordeal in the Red Rooms. Too similar in sound and too similar in the casual way he was cutting her out of his life now.
She never expected him to come back to her with open arms, but she always expected him to fight.
Clint had changed, pure and simple, and Steve had unwittingly given her an idea of how she could at least expel one of her fears regarding those changes.
"Hey," she called out as she entered the gym, not surprised to find him alone.
"I was just finishing up," he said as he got to his feet. "It's all yours."
"I'm not here to work out," she said, stopping in front of him and giving him a hard, scrutinizing look.
"I've told you -"
"Shut up," she cut in, not wanting to waste time. "You're moving on. I'm moving on. I'm a big girl. I'll try not to cry myself to sleep at night."
"Okay," Clint said, crossing his own arms and looking puzzled. "So what's this about?"
"The codeword," she said without inflection. When all Clint did was blink back at her in confusion, Natasha began to doubt. Not that he hadn't been affected in some way by his experience, but that she'd been wrong about what it really was affecting him. Still... "Do you remember it?" she pushed.
"You're serious?"
"Am I ever not?" she fired back at him.
"Fine," he said, throwing his hands out wide as he gave her a shrug. "You want me to prove I'm not some kind of brainwashed drone, I will."
"Just say it so we can be done."
"It's Winston," he said but Natasha didn't budge. "You know, like the main guy from 1984. Not the guy in Ghostbusters." When she still appeared unmoved, Clint sighed and shook his head. "The whole point of a codeword is to just say the word and that's that. It's kind of meaningless if you keep standing there expecting me to explain it in detail."
"Fine," she said, relaxing her posture as she rolled her eyes.
"Are we done here?"
"Yeah, we're done," Natasha answered, stepping aside and waving him past.
"Good because -"
As soon as Clint had gotten a few steps past her on his way out the door, Natasha struck. With a high kick to the back of his head, she sent him reeling forward several feet. Clint swung back around but didn't engage.
"Who are you?" Natasha shouted at him.
"Have you lost your mind?" Clint fired back at her.
"Okay," she said, nodding her head and bracing herself. "We'll do it the hard way."
"Natasha," Clint began warningly, but she didn't give him a chance to say more.
In a split second she was at him. Natasha rushed forward but Clint caught her above the elbows, holding her at arm's length. To retaliate, she brought her right heel down hard on top of his left foot before kicking at him with her free leg. But it was a move he expected, and easily rolled away from, releasing her with a shove that knocked her to the floor.
She didn't stay there long.
Natasha charged in again, feigning a tackle as she ducked under his arms and got behind him. Capitalizing on her advantage, Natasha threw her arm around his neck and wrenched him backwards, but again she was disappointed. While sparring they had always been evenly matched; not any more.
Clint was stronger now.
He reached up and ripped free of her hold, turning on the spot and pushing her hard in the stomach. Natasha fell back again, but this time she didn't go down.
"Who are you?" she yelled.
"You're sick, Natasha," he returned, his eyes trained on her eyes as she slowly began to circle around him.
"What the hell is going on?" Steve called out from the doorway.
The two of them had been so intent on one another, they hadn't noticed he'd entered the room; drawn in, no doubt, by the sounds of their fight.
"I don't know," Clint started to say but as soon as he'd turned his attention on Steve, Natasha sped in again for an attack.
This time, when she hit him square in the chest, Clint hit the floor but it went no further. Steve stepped in quickly, getting between the two of them and pulling Natasha away as he simultaneously asked JARVIS to send for help.
"Calm down, Tasha," Steve said as he blocked her path without actually restraining her, but she kept shifting her stance to try and see around him. "Calm down."
"That's not Clint," Natasha said as she took a step backwards and pointed across the room. "That's not him. It's not."
"We'll sort this out," Steve said evenly.
"Who the hell does she think I am?" Clint asked from across the room, still on floor and rubbing the spot on the chest where Natasha had got him in her last charge.
Steve didn't answer, just turned and glared at Clint who took the hint and kept his mouth shut.
"What's happening?" Bobbi asked from the doorway, having just arrived with Phil in tow.
"Tell them," Natasha said suddenly, moving too quick for Steve and heading for Phil. "Tell them about the codeword."
"She's not thinking straight," Clint insisted as Bobbi offered him a hand up and Steve moved to stand between the now two distinct groups.
"Natasha, what are you talking about?" Phil asked.
"Our codeword," Natasha said, staring hard at Phil now in the same way she had once stared at Clint. "Just the three of us. For exactly this kind of situation."
"I remember," Phil said with a nod. "I know, Natasha. It's Winston. Did Clint get it wrong?"
Natasha's entire face went blank. She had been visibly upset, agitated even, a state no one in the room was used to seeing her in, but it simple slid away. She blinked and she was the Black Widow; a stoic mask back in place.
"Tony, help me out here," Steve said, seeing him the doorway. "Come on, Tasha," he urged, taking her firmly by the arm and moving her towards the door. "Let's go talk this through somewhere else."
Natasha let Steve lead her away with Tony in tow, but her eyes stayed on Phil until he was completely out of her line of vision.
"What's going on?" Bobbi asked Clint.
"I don't know," he shrugged. "She just snapped. She showed up and asked me for our codeword and then... I don't know."
"What codeword?" Bobbi asked, still a little confused.
"It's something we put in place a long time ago," Phil said with a shake of his head. "If ever any of us were compromised for an extended period of time, to be sure that we were still who we were when they left, we made up a code. It was meant to protect against brainwashing or the possibility of an imposter. Ours was Winston."
"Which I said," Clint said, still angry and indignant about not only being mistrusted but also thrown around quite a bit.
"Well, do you think..." Bobbi started to say, but then quickly shook her own head. "No, it's probably just a mistake. We've all been wound tight here lately. I'm sure she was just mistaken, it couldn't be..."
"Couldn't be what?" Phil asked.
"I was thinking it might be another trigger," Bobbi said, seemingly dismissing her own words as she said them. "It's not. I'm sure it's not but she has been working with Bruce to discover more of them."
"You think she might have been accidentally been triggered in the process?" Phil replied.
"It's possible, isn't it?"
"If that's the case, should she be here?" Clint questioned.
"No," Bobbi agreed. "No, she really shouldn't."
"Or, you know, maybe I should leave," Clint offered. "I can go back to the Helicarrier for a few nights."
"I'm not sure that's good enough," Bobbi sighed. "If she's really volatile, no offense, but it might not just be you that sets her off."
"None taken," Clint said with a small smile.
"Clint," Phil said, "why don't you head to your room and stay there for awhile. Agent Morse and I will go and try to convince Natasha to voluntarily come back with us for observation."
"Okay," Clint said, patting the two of them on the back as he left. "Good luck with that."
Bobbi gave him a grin and followed Phil to the elevators where JARVIS directed them up to the main conference room.
Natasha was sitting on a nearby chair, but looked ready to bolt as Tony and Steve both stood around her evidentially having had the same thoughts Bobbi had regarding her de-programming sessions.
"I'm not making this up," Natasha insisted. "I'm not imagining it. He was wrong. That's not him or that's not just him. He was wrong."
"We knew this could happen again," Steve said, firm but kind.
"Nothing happened."
"Except you tried to jump your ex-boyfriend," Tony returned.
"Phil," Natasha said as soon as she saw him enter the room. "Tell them. Tell them I'm right and that I'm not imagining this. This is real. He's not..."
"Natasha, I'm sorry but you're wrong," Phil said. "He had it right."
Natasha continued to stare at him until it completely sunk in. Slowly she lowered her eyes and put her head into her hands.
"Come on," Phil said, reaching towards her as he tipped his head towards the exit. "I'll go with you. It's going to be fine, Natasha. It really is. This is only a set-back."
"Wait," Tony interjected. "I don't know if we have to go that far. No one got hurt. No one got stabbed. Tasha, you can stay here. You should stay here."
"Tony," Steve said quietly, shaking his head in disagreement.
"They're right," Natasha said as she met his eyes with her own. "I shouldn't be here. I should be somewhere safe."
"How are we going to work this out if you keep running away from it?" Tony asked as Natasha headed for the exit, flanked by Bobbi and Phil.
"Don't," Steve interjected, moving to keep Tony from following the three agents out. "You're only making it harder. She can make this call. You don't have to agree with it."
"I thought you all elected me leader?" Tony asked sarcastically, but knew he couldn't win this one. He let out an angry huff of air, watching as the three of them got into the elevator. At the last moment he caught Natasha's gaze and held it, looking for any sign that she was okay.
As the doors shut, she gave him a nod.