Chapter 20 – Clint

Enjoy.

May was in deep thought. There was only so much she could take of the main area of the Bus, especially with the population growing by the second with the newest addition of Damien. He'd settled in easily and was getting along with pretty much everyone but herself. She was stubborn, he was stubborn and it was clashing. The relationship was much like her and Lance's but in comparison she had more respect for Lance and his willpower to put up with Bobbi for so long. Despite liking Bobbi a lot, May knew how she would've been back when they were married. Damien was yet to prove such strength.

As she mused, an aircraft appeared in the radar, heading straight for the Bus as it gained height. May could almost instantly tell who it was and reported over the speakers,

"Brace yourselves, we have company. Barton's here."

She imagined the unnecessary panic happening in parts of the Bus as they prepared for the unexpected to happen. Clint Barton may be out for revenge but that didn't make him any more threatening to the team. The only person not to know Clint at all was Damien and May thought of how he was most likely freaking out.

"Natasha, please. If you're going to curse, English would work nicely so I know it isn't about me." Damien repeated. The Russian next to him glared before continuing to mutter in her native language. He sighed and resumed contemplating the situation as the team waited for Clint to come down the stairs after he docked.

He knew he had an advantage over the majority of the Bus because Clint had no information on him to get under his skin. There was a possibility he would play the 'new guy' card on him and drone on to call him weak, but Damien got the vibe from Clint's video that he was coming for a purpose.

A voice next to him broke into his thoughts, "There really is no need for you to be here, you know."

Damien tilted his head towards Lance who continued to speak.

"I mean, I say that in the nicest way possible Clint isn't going to want an audience when he gets down here. To be honest he only wants Natasha and with more people here it could cause more problems…"

Lance trailed off as he waited for a response from Damien who nodded along with his words. A small period of silence passed before he spoke,

"Then why are you here?"

Lance's jaw opened to reply but no sound came out. His eyes flickered towards Bobbi then back to the space in front of him he was gazing at before giving an uneasy smile to Damien.

"I guess we're even."

The room slipped into quiet anticipation for a moment before a clang from above dragged in a wave of fresh tension and bodies visibly tensed. Heavy footsteps met each step of the staircase, leading to the waiting team below. Step by step, the newcomer was slowly revealed until he was staring them in the face.

Clint's eyes rested on Natasha first. She fought his gaze and tried to draw her eyes away but they remained fixed to his. The other agents in the room also seemed to be muted so only Damien, and surprisingly, Bobbi remained able to communicate with him. Bobbi stepped in front of Natasha to block Clint's view of her with her own body.

"Stop it, Clint." She said in a low tone but sounded just as serious and intimidating than if she had raised her voice. His features twisted into a smile that looked horribly untrustworthy.

"Stop what? I only want to look at the woman who I've loved and not stopped loving since the day I set eyes on her."

"Oh please." Bobbi scoffed in disbelief.

Clint continued, "And you. It's been a while since we've spoken, Bobbi. In fact, the last time I saw you was-"

"I know when and where it was and they don't need to!" Bobbi interrupted sharply, gesturing to her team. Clint raised an eyebrow but said no more. The curious looks at Bobbi also put her off from saying anything else as her glare spoke a thousand words she wished she could voice at Clint in that moment. Coulson felt like it was a fair time to interrupt,

"I'm going to say it how it is because from this discussion and your video I think it's the only way we're going to get any form of cooperation from you. Do you have information about our mission that could provide use to us or not, Barton?" He spoke clearly and his words left no trace of hesitation for Clint to cling onto in his reply.

However, Clint still refused to give a straight answer, "If I don't, what kind of punishment is in store?"

Coulson's eyes were hard and unwavering as he answered, "We move on. Ignore the fact that you even stepped on this plane. There is no more time to waste because we don't know when Markovic is putting his plan into place. So answer the damn question."

The atmosphere dropped. Clint's head was nodded in acceptance rather than defeat but finally said what they had wanted to hear.

"I was debating whether my information was going to be any use anyway, I was using it as more of an excuse than anything. But what I found was that Victor Markovic isn't the man he says he is. He doesn't run this operation."

Damien frowned, "Then who does?"

Clint stared at the owner of the new voice but voted against questioning him right now considering the impatience of the director stood in front of him.

"I suspect a man named Peter Lukin. I listened into a phone conversation between him and Victor Markovic and by hearing the dynamic between them, I think Markovic is working for this guy. I traced the call and came up with nothing but I tracked him down and got some samples of what could be his DNA," Clint reached into the pocket of his jacket and pulled out a tube, "Figured you would have some kind of scientist to analyse it."

Coulson nodded to Fitzsimmons and Simmons took the tube from Clint before the both of them disappeared to the lab. Clint seemed to have finished giving the information that he had to offer so that left only one thing to do.

"You can leave now."

Clint looked not far from outrage at the statement. He gives them what they want and this is the thanks he gets?

"You can't be serious, Coulson. You have to let me talk to Natasha at least." He refused to plead, but the element of desperation lingered in his tone.

"At least?" Bobbi cut in, "That's probably the worst thing you could do right about now. I don't know if you realise but we have the upper hand, not you."

"You and I both know that isn't true." Clint declared loudly, making sure that every agent in the room heard his words to out Bobbi for the second time since he came onto the plane.

Bobbi surged forwards but only got so far before Lance had appeared in front of her to stop her from getting near Clint and Natasha had grabbed her arm. Bobbi took a deep breath and turned to look at Natasha who watched her with a concerned gaze. Maria, who had been quiet throughout a large quantity of the past day, looked as though she wanted to help but moved no further than half a metre from the corner she had been standing in. Instead, she used words to offer her help,

"How about we take a few steps back. Clint claimed to have information, we said we'd accept it if he did. He had the information and we got it. Moving past the mind games he hasn't done anything immediately wrong for us to just kick him out. I say we let him talk to Natasha if she wants to." She finished.

Natasha looked over at Maria with a hint of confusion in her eyes. Coulson eyed the two of them, knowing what Natasha was thinking. Their conversation after Natasha had been shown the video of Clint had been unspoken of and so Maria didn't know that Clint could harm the growing relationship between her and Natasha. On the flip side, Coulson didn't know if Maria felt the same way as Natasha did for her, despite the obvious signs.

"What do you say, Nat?" Clint urged, not even sparing Maria a thanking glance. Natasha forced herself to push past the uneasy feeling settling in the pit of her stomach and spoke,

"Okay, let's talk."

Thanks for reading.

First off, I'm major sorry for not updating in 3 weeks. It's been pretty hectic is all I'll say. I hope that someone out there still has the patience in them to keep reading!

Thanks again to everyone who reads and the reviews!