CHAPTER 24

Natasha's POV

"Fury".

I glanced up at as the SHIELD Director appeared on the screen in front of us.

Stark grinned, "Nicky! How nice to see you again!".

"... Fuck sake. Why is it always you?" Fury muttered, "Why can't it be someone nice and polite like Banner? Or Rogers? Or even Barton doesn't mess around as much as you, even though he's a complete bastard most of the time".

"Feeling loved as always, sir" Clint replied smirking and Tony laughed, "Same here Feathers. Much appreciated Nick".

"What do you want Stark?" He asked tiredly.

He sighed, "Well. As you have decided to get straight to the point as always... I've got info on Legolas's kidnappers".

Fury immediately straightened up, "I see... And what is this information?".

"Criminal organisation. Goes by the name of COBRA. They want to bring both the Avengers, and SHIELD, down to the ground".

"... Right" Fury finally replied, "And asides from the obvious, why are you telling me this?".

"I got a location on their hide out. Abandoned warehouse. Very cliche. Typical Disney villain stuff... We want to go in" Tony replied.

He slowly nodded, "You and the Avengers, I presume? You want to take them down?".

"Yep".

"Right now?".

"Yep".

"And you have the right authorisation to fight where ever they are?".

"Ye- No" Stark said suddenly and Fury sighed, "Then I refuse to send you in".

We stared at him.

"... What. The. Fuck. Did you just say?" Stark asked quietly and the Director sighed again, "I'm not sending you in. I refuse to let you to off and cause some international crises that will be blamed on me. You. Are not. Allowed. To go. After them. Got it?".

Steve stepped forward, "With all due respect sir, but do you honest-".

"Yes. I do" Fury replied firmly, cutting him off, "No bad guy hunting. End of. Good day Avengers".

The screen went black.

It was silent for a few minutes.

"Fucks sake... He can't do this to us!" Stark yelled, angrily storming out of the room.

"I... I'm going to check on Tony" Steve said quietly, quickly following him out.

I glanced over at Bruce, whose eyes were an alarming shade of green, "You ok Banner?".

He took a couple of deep breaths, and a few minutes later, his eyes went back to their original dark brown.

He let out a shaky laugh, "Fury really should find out whose in the room first, BEFORE springing something like that on us... But I'm not the one you should be concerned about".

I frowned slightly, confused, and he sighed, pointing over to the corner, "He went that way".

Then he left.

I stared after him before slowly standing up and following the direction he pointed in, only to find Clint sitting down on the ground, leaning up against the workbench as he stared blankly at the wall.

I paused for a minute before slowly sitting down next to him, "... You alright?".

"We've come so close to almost ending them..." He said quietly, "... Only to be blocked by a fucking authorisation code".

I sighed, leaning my head on his shoulder, "I know. It's... Frustrating, to say the least".

"Frustrating... No. It's more than that... It's fucking Fury's doing" He muttered harshly.

"Clint, it's not his fault and you know it" I replied softly, "If anything, it's the Ministry Of Defence who should be blamed. They're the ones who managed to let COBRA slip pass them so many times".

"... So what we gonna do?" He asked quietly.

I thought for a minute, before suddenly grinning, "You, are going to stay here and rest... Stark and I, and the others if they want in, are going to chase bad guys".

"But Fury said the-" He started but I cut him off, "Who gives a fuck what Fury says. I refuse to let the men who did this to you get away scots free. They're going to pay for what they did".

He glanced up at me, and it almost broke my heart at the hopeful innocence that was slowly forming in his eyes.

"... You would do that for me?" He asked quietly and I straightened up, staring back at him, "You would do the same for me. I'd do anything for you Clint".

He paused, "... Anything?".

"Anything".

He stared at me, "... Then kiss me".

I froze, "W-what?".

"Kiss me" He repeated, "It's a simple request Tash".

I slowly shuffled closer to him to see if he was lying, "Seriously?".

"Course".

"But you do know if I kiss you we'll hav-".

Then suddenly his lips were on mine.

And I even surprised myself by kissing back.

Wrapping my arms around his neck I leaned in closer to him, only to break away a few minutes later.

We stared at each other.

"That was...".

"Horrible".

"Couldn't agree more".

"We can never do that again".

"Never ever ever ever again".

"We won't even speak of it".

"It was like kissing my sister".

"It was like kissing my DAD".

"Then we must never mention this again, deal?" He asked, holding out his hand.

I smirked, shaking it, "Deal".

We stared at each other for another minute before we burst out laughing.

"That... That was S-SUCH a fail" He gasped out and I grinned, "Completely. What the hell were you thinking?".

He smirked, "I wasn't".

We started laughing again.

But then, as quickly as we started, we stopped.

I stared at him, "... It was kind of nice though".

"It a really weird way" He agreed.

"But it's not like we would ever go out or anything" I continued and we both paused, speaking at the same time, "... Would we?".

I shook myself out of it, standing up, "Come on. We'll talk about this later. Right now, however, I got a few terrorists to deal with".

He grinned and slowly got to his feet, "Admit it. You liked it".

"Liked what?" I asked innocently walking towards the door.

He limped after me, "You know exactly what I'm talking about Tash".

"No Clint, I don't. I really don't".

"The kiss" He replied, "Of course I'm talking about the kiss... And you liked it".

"And how would you know if I liked it or not?" I shot back and he paused, his voice barely a whisper, "Because... Because I liked it".

I stopped.

He... He liked it?

Did I like it?

I... I... I actually liked it.

I turned back around to face him.

He was staring at the ground awkwardly, leaning on his good leg.

I silently walked back over to him, lifting his head back up.

He stared down at me uncertainty.

I slowly leant forward, before kissing him again.

He tensed up for a minute, before roughly kissing back and my hands somehow found their way to his hair, tangling my fingers in the dark brown strands.

A few minutes later, we pulled back, breathless.

He stared at me.

I stared at him.

And I was the first the speak.

"... I like it".

He grinned, before suddenly looking up, "Come on. The others will be wondering where we are".

I smiled and took his hand, earning another grin from him as we walked along the corridor.

I glanced up at him, "... You should probably fix your hair".

He smirked, "Your lipsticks smeared".

"Your shirts ruffled up" I shot back and he laughed, "Says you".

I shot him a teasing glare, before we both quickly fixed our clothes and dropped each other's hands as we reached the kitchen.

"How do I look?" I asked quietly and he stared at me, "You look... Beautiful".

I blushed and looked away, shoving open the door and walking in, surprised to find everyone calmly sitting down at the table.

They all glanced up at us before smiling to themselves, and looking back down at whatever they were doing.

I frowned, turning to Clint, "... I think we're missing something vital here".

"...I most definitely agree" He replied, "... STARK".

Tony jumped, "I DIDNT D- Oh wait, it's just you. Yea?".

He smirked, "What's with the shared glanced and secretly pleased yet smug smiles?".

Stark grinned, standing up and walking over to him, throwing an arm over his shoulder and he leant in close, "Word of the wise mate, next time you kiss a girl, please remember to wipe her lipstick off your face. It gives the game away".