hello back my dear readers..I hope you all had a great summer and started recovering from AoU..
anyhow, here's chapter 24 and the conclusion of the Al Aldir mission..hope you enjoy it
reviews are welcomed..=)
The quinjet landed before Natasha and Clint got there.
"Sir, they aren't here yet." Rollins informed.
"They are probably taking a longer route to avoid detection. Agent Morse, get me director Fury on the monitor."
"Right away sir." She answered and went inside. The rest followed her shortly.
"Coulson, what's the status?" Fury asked as soon as he appeared on the monitor. Hill stood next to him.
"Barton disarmed the toxic bomb and minimized the effect of a small charge that was left. There was a second device, for structural damage, but Romanoff took care of it." Coulson explained.
"What about Al Aldir?"
"He got away but we notified the airport, port, metro, bus and train stations so he's trapped. We'll find him sir."
"How the hell did Romanoff know he was in Greece?"
"She said she had a gut feeling, sir." Coulson answered.
"She's been having a lot of those." Rumlow commented.
"Looks like her gut is more accurate that all of our intelligence." Hill replied.
"Sir, a car is approaching the base." The tech operator said.
"Must be them. Blake get them in here right away." Coulson ordered.
Natasha was still in her waitress uniform and Clint took off the waistcoat so he was wearing just the white shirt.
"You two look like someone stole your candy. Barton, you good?" Fury asked but Clint gave no response. "Barton, would you answer me?" He asked again.
"He can't hear you." Natasha said.
"What do you mean? I thought that was only the temporary effect of the explosion. " Coulson questioned.
"Well, it's not. I tried different frequencies during the ride over here but nothing. He doesn't hear anything." She explained in a thin voice.
"How the hell did that happen?"
"He was on the roof so I'm guessing he planned to throw the bomb in the air. It must have exploded close to his head."
"Where were you when this happened?"
"Downstairs, clearing everybody out."
"And saving yourself in the process." Morse commented.
"At least I was in the right city!" Natasha shot back.
"You know, it's funny how you are the one who magically figured everything out." Morse remarked. Natasha rolled her eyes.
"I'm really not in the mood for this. Get him to a doctor." She turned around and started walking out.
"Where are you going?"
"First, I gonna get out of this stupid uniform and then I'm gonna find that idiot."
"We can handle that. You stay here and rest." Coulson told her.
"I don't need to rest. I always finish my missions and I will finish this one as well."
"Athens is 15 sq miles big. You can't find him looking around the city. Not even you are that good." Rumlow professed.
"There are very few things I can't do. Cooking is one of them. Finding people is not." Natasha replied. "Also, you have no idea how good I am, or what I'm capable of!" She snapped at him and left the room. Coulson went after her.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you. The only thing you'll achieve is a visit to med bay and making her even more pissed." Clint said and continued. "To answer your questions: No, I can't hear you but I can deduct what's going on. About Al Aldir, Nat will find him, trust me. If I learned anything this past few days is that she is exceptionally good at her job."
"Triplett, Morse take Barton back to HQ. We'll call ahead to Gray and explain the situation to him. Use the quinjet that Romanoff and Barton came with, just wait for her to change."
"Copy that, sir." Triplett answered.
Coulson turned to Clint to explain everything but then turned back. "Someone find me a peace of paper and a pen?"
An hour into the search, Natasha was walking down a shady alley. She found out that Al Aldir was planning to leave town in a private jet he rented from one of the crime bosses in Athens. The plane was scheduled to leave in 2 hours, until then he was laying low in an old abandoned building. She went in and cleared floor by floor. On the second one something cought her eye. From a broken window she saw two men in black across the street from the building. She recognized them right away – Red Room agents. Natasha knew they weren't the only ones. They are just the look out, a 3 man team is already in the building. There is no way she could get Al Aldir out alive. She got to the fifth floor and there he was. He started shooting at her but she kicked the gun out of his hand. The Red Room agents were on the floor beneath and immediately started shooting at the ceiling. Al Aldir ran to the back stairs with Natasha right after him. She caught up to him and pushed him. He rolled over the stairs and, from the looks of it, broke his neck. Natasha checked his pulse to make sure he's dead. Perfect, mission completed. Now she just has to get out of here, preferably without anyone seeing her. Going down is not an option, so she opted for the roof. She got up as quietly as possible and revised her possibilities. One came up, but she really didn't want to do that.
"I hate my job." She ranted and jumped to the building across. The agents got to the roof, saw it empty and left. Natasha waited a couple of minutes for them to leave and then headed back to the base. It's been a long day.
"Agent Romanoff, you're here. Great, we can leave now. I take it the mission is complete?" Coulson asked when she got back.
"Al Aldir accidently fell down a staircase in an old abandoned building."
"Perfect. Anything else?"
"Not really."
"Good, then we can leave." They got to the quinjet and left Greece.
7 hours later Natasha, along with Coulson, was heading to medical. The quinjet landed 10 min ago and the first thing that both agents wanted was to see how Clint was doing.
"Mark, how is he?" Coulson asked the moment they entered.
"Unfortunately, I have bad news. The damage to his hearing is permanent."
"You can't operate or anything?" Coulson pleaded.
"I consulted the finest otolaryngologists and they all said the same thing. We can insert a hearing device, the newest model, Stark Industries made it. It will take some time to get used to and additional training but he's up for it." Gray explained and continued. "The operation will take place tomorrow at 3 am. You can see him now."
"Romanoff you can go in, I have to clear something with Mark first."
Natasha nodded and went in. Clint looked miserable. She smiled at him and sat on the chair next to the bed. There was a notepad and pen. She took it and started writing.
'Look on the bright side, it's not your eyesight. You can still pretend to be Cupid.' She wrote and he chuckled.
"Your sense of humor is really something. Guessing Al Aldir is swimming with the fishes?"
'Something like that.' She wrote. Clint leaned back and sighed. Natasha took the pen and continued writing.
'I'll help you train. I can even teach you how to read lips, and we can both learn sign language. It will be like nothing happened.' She put her hand on his. "Trust me."
The next day, Natasha woke early to write the mission report. She decided to leave out the part about the Red Room agents. At least until she can find out why they were there. She finished it and left it at Coulsons desk on her way to medical. She stayed with Clint until he was taken into surgery. She taught him some basic lip reading. The surgery was 2 hours long so Natasha opted to wait in the waiting room and take on sign language. She sat in the middle of the three seats. Morse came to the waiting room and took a seat next to Natasha. It was an awkward silence and Natasha decided to take a chance.
"I saw you training a few weeks ago, your baton skill is impressive. Best I've ever seen."
Morse looked at her in surprise. "Are you ok?" She asked skeptically.
Natasha rolled her eyes. "I'm fine." She turned and looked Morse in the eyes. "Look, I get it why you don't like me. I would be the same if it was the other way around. But I'm not a mole and I'm here to stay." She reassured her. "We're obviously not gonna be best friends, but do we have to be at each others neck? I mean it's so cliché. Women should stick together, especially in a business filled with sexist egoistic men."
"Well, I get why Hill likes you. You're right. We can be civil professionals."
"Fabulous. The atmosphere in this room was becoming unbearable."
"Are you learning sign language?"
"Yeah, I'm trying to be a supportive partner."
"But you're not just a partner, are you?" Morse questioned.
"Meaning what exactly?"
"Oh come on. You're maybe impossible to read but he isn't. I see how he looks at you. He used to look at me like that."
"It didn't start like that. He didn't spare my life because I seduced him. We didn't even speak until he caught me escaping medical."
"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. He and I were never ment to be, it just took me a while to realize that. I hope we can eventually be good friends again. He is a great guy."
"Yeah, annoyingly great."