Lost in seas of forgotten memories

A/N: I'm back!

Medical Terminology – complete science-fiction (I made it up people!)

Dormant virus - is like a disease waiting to take over your body and give you full blown negative symptoms. As long as it stays dormant (inactive) it does nothing drastic. A dormant virus can have less serious inactive side effects – like Natasha' amnesia. Every unique active virus can do something different. (You don't know yet what Natasha's virus does)

Trigger - is like a chemical that causes the virus to activate. By itself it does nothing. It is still just as potentially dangerous because once coupled with the right virus it will active it within a certain amount of time (in this story it takes 1 hour for reaction to occur).

Transfer process - you can only get infected by this virus through direct blood transfer. Otherwise you are not contagious.

Current situation - Clint and Natasha are relatively healthy and sane at the moment. They are simply now a serious danger to one another.

Now how are they going to actually deal with this knowledge?

Chapter 26

It was only a matter of time before James figured out Barton wasn't on the train when it blew up – they needed to leave the station and get off the streets as fast as possible. They needed to go now.

However it was rather difficult to do when you were both frozen to the ground staring at each other like you would suddenly burst into flames if you moved a muscle.

At the moment they didn't know if they should run away from each other or never let go.

The tension between them was unbearable and time was running out.

Clint took a deep breath.

"Tasha... do you trust me?" he asked slowly as he clenched his hands at his sides. He was painfully holding himself back until she was sure of what she wanted. He knew what he wanted. She thought she did…but she didn't look so sure anymore.

"You knew the danger behind the virus and yet you still came back Tasha. There had to be a reason why you came back," he said giving her a pleading look. They both heard her take a shaky breath – there was no time for regrets anymore.

"Yes…yes I do trust you Clint," she whispered finally. She's never trusted anyone more in her entire life. He sighed in relief. Thank god.

"Good," he said before he crossed the space between them and pulled her slim body into a tight embrace. She froze in his arms but didn't pull away. They both felt her heartbeat spike as it frantically thumped against her chest between them. But after several tense seconds she slowly gripped the back of his shirt and gently leaned her forehead against his shoulder. So that's what people mean when they say you find relief in your loved ones arms.

"No matter what happens Natasha, no matter how bad it gets, promise me we'll get through this together," Clint murmured into her hair as he held her close. Natasha wished she could give him the answer he wanted. She really did.

"I can't promise that Clint…" she whispered against his shirt. He didn't let go – if anything he held on tighter.

"Promise you'll try Tasha," he whispered as he pulled away and stared at her right in the eyes. She stared back but with much more nervousness lurking in her eyes.

"I-I'll try," she said hesitantly. He gave her a weak smile.

"Thank you," he said softly.

He leaned forwards and kissed her on the forehead and then pulled her out of the station through the frantic crowds.

It was time to get the hell out of here.

"Now we really have to get off the streets and away from this location before whoever blew up the train finds us," he said weaving through the panicked masses of people moving away from the station and the site of the explosion. The police were everywhere trying to calm down the crowd as they investigated the explosion. But Natasha already knew who the culprit was.

She tensed beside him. He sent her a cautious look.

"It's Ivan," she said darkly. Clint paused – he had a feeling it was going to be that bastard.

"Okay… So I'll just have to break his nose like I did last time but make sure this time he can't get back up," he said casually. Natasha snorted. Men.

"Clint…I don't know if you remember properly…but the last time you met him you got one good punch in before he beat the shit out of you 5 times over…" Natasha said warily. Clint scoffed as he glanced around and pulled them down a less crowded and away from all the chaos around the station.

"Hey! I'm not the one with amnesia! My memory is fully intact and does not resemble Swiss cheese!" he said childishly. Natasha gave him a blank look.

"How many bones did you break after the Loki Incident?" she asked frankly. He paused as he tried to remember the exact number from his medical file. When the sweat broke out across his forehead she knew she had won.

"Perfect memory my ass," she said muttered. Clint scowled as they continued their path through the maze of alleys. Her eyes shot up when she felt him stiffen suddenly.

"How much do you remember Tasha…?" he asked slowly taking in her cautious eyes. She instantly looked away. He was probing for answers again.

"I remember bits and pieces of pretty much everything. Everything except…" she started to say but then trailed off hesitantly.

"…us," he finished for her quietly. "And why is that?" he muttered to himself. She stared at him warily. She didn't have the answer to his question. An uneasy silence hung between as they both got lost in their own thoughts for a moment.

"12," she said quietly.

"What?" he asked glancing at her solemn face.

"You broke 12 bones after the fall you had during the battle in Manhattan," she explained staring at the ground. He blinked.

"How do you remember something like that?" he asked genuinely stunned. She shrugged and shifted uneasily beside him.

"I remember things that matter," she said while not looking at him. He gave her a soft look.

"I'm glad I matter," he said quietly giving her hand a light squeeze. Natasha flushed and was about to respond when she did a double take as they ran past an electronic shop window. She skidded to a suddenly stop which had Clint nearly crash into the cement sidewalk. He turned around and gave her a confused look.

"Tasha why did you…what the heck is going there?" Clint exclaimed as he finally noticed the news channel playing in the TV behind the window. It was the image of a completely destroyed building in the center of downtown New York. They've been gone for only a day and some idiot already decided to blow something up?

"I have no idea Clint…" she said cautiously. She froze as she recognized the area of the explosion. It couldn't be…

"Is that Avengers Tower?" Natasha asked in utter shock as they both stared at the screen. Clint froze as the camera zoomed in on a speeding streak of light traveling down the street and stopping right in front of the wreckage. It was a blond man in a familiar armor diving into the rubble.

"Is that Thor?" Clint asked in disbelief. How the hell is he there when he was supposed to be here?

"We need to find Stark and the others – now," Natasha said shaking her head and stepping away from the unbelievable image. They've been out of the loop for too long.

Hawkeye and Black Widow were officially ready to get back into the game. Virus or no virus. They were going to fight until their last breath.

They just hoped their last breath wouldn't be because of each other.

Memories memories memories memories memories

Chaos. Chaos could not describe the utter shambles that SHIELD headquarters was in at the moment. All the agents were scrambling to deal with different problems that were popping up all across the city let alone the ones that they were experiencing around the world at the moment. Their oversea agents were swarmed with problems and enemies they did not foresee. SHEILD contacts were backing out of several key missions in priority countries and to top it all off – all their systems were going berserk at the moment.

Someone was screwing SHIELD over from the inside. Someone was doing a damn good job of having all their people scattered. Wait until Fury got his hand on the person responsible for this mess…

Because everything was going to shit at the exact same moment.

And Fury was at his last sliver of patience when he got a call from a dinky little junior agent who was on patrol duty in what was supposed to be the safest section of the city – the Avengers neighborhood.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN AVENGERS TOWER JUST BLEW UP?" Fury shouted into his phone.

He was pissed.

He was angry.

He was going to fucking murder somebody.

WHERE WAS HIS FREAKING A TEAM WHEN HE NEEDED THEM?

Gallivanting across the globe chasing after his missing right hand woman who also chose the worse possible week to go missing.

Those bastards.

"Careful Fury – if you shout too much you'll pop a blood vessel and have to go on medical leave. I don't think your organization can handle any more key players being taken out of the game now can they?" a voice said ominously from behind him.

Fury froze with the phone still held to his ear. He slowly put the receiver down and ended the call. He would have to deal with that problem later.

"You had to get past a lot of security measures and countless agents to reach this room…Cairo," Fury said as he slowly turned around and came face to face with a smirking dark haired man leaning against his wall.

"It's not as hard as you'd like it to be Fury," he said with a secretive smile. Fury wanted to slap that look right off his face. But he was a professional. Professional badass.

"Alright cut the bullshit opening bad guy speech in half. I really do have better things to do with my time then humor you while my organization is being turned upside down," Fury said frankly. Cairo raised an eyebrow. Someone was edgy today.

"You sound a bit stressed Fury," he said tilting his head to the side. Fury narrowed his eyes as he noticed the gun shaped bulge in Cairo's pocket.

"Are you here to try and kill me Cairo?" Fury asked pointe blank. He wasn't the beating around the bush kind of guy. People were always trying to kill him. Why should now be any different?

"Why are you always jumping to conclusions Director? I just came to say hi," Cairo said with a slight smile. Fury was not taking this bullshit.

"Tell me what the hell is going on Cairo because I am this close to taking my gun and shooting you right now," Fury said dangerously. Cairo sighed. Fury was never any fun.

"You seem to be really busy at the moment…anything interesting happen recently?" he asked sticking his hands in his pockets. Fury narrowed his eyes.

There was something very, very wrong with this picture. No one occupies their hands when they need to defend themselves at a moment's notice. Either Cairo was being too overconfident and sloppy – or Fury was missing something.

"Did you blow up Avengers Tower you bastard?" Fury asked threateningly as he clenched his hands into tight fists. Cairo smiled slowly as his eyes swirled with a mischievous hint to them.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" he said spinning a knife in his hand. That was not there a moment ago. He was trying to fucking intimidate him. Who the hell can intimidate Nick Fury?

"Why did you choose now to come back Cairo? Where is the rest of your stupid posse?" Fury demanded. Cairo sighed. So impatient.

"Trust me. When it's time for you to meet them you'll wish it was just me," Cairo said quietly. Fury tensed. What does that mean?

"I just came to say watch yourself Fury. All your Avengers are gone. Your right hand is missing. You're council is not communicating with you at the moment. And how many agents are really yours…?" Cairo said ominously glancing out of Fury's office window. They could see out into the hall but none of his agents could see in. Everyone was continuing to go crazy with the mess they were in while he was in here dealing with this piece of shit.

Sometimes that was a bad, bad office layout design.

"Just because they aren't here right now doesn't they won't be here when it's time to stop whatever your little ring of blackjacks are trying to do," Fury said firmly.

Cairo laughed. He literally leaned on his knees and laughed his heart out.

That pissed Fury off to unimaginable levels.

"You think the Avengers of all people are going to stop us? Oh that's rich. That's rich. We're not an army trying to enslave the human race Fury. We don't have monsters and beasts waiting at our beck and call to destroy nations. There's no profit in destroying nations. And there is no point in controlling said nations – not directly at least. How will your Avengers defeat a shadow Fury? Especially when it will seem to be cast by some very shocking people," Cairo said mysteriously. Fury narrowed his eyes.

"What are you planning Cairo…?" Fury asked suspiciously.

"We have an idea. And it's very hard to stop an idea Fury once it starts catching fire in the right people's minds. You should know shouldn't you? Your past is dripping with a ledger the rival's that of Natasha Romanoff. And boy does she have an impressive count," Cairo said giving him an impressed look. Fury clenched his fists again.

"I am not that man anymore. And Romanoff is no long simply the machine your people used her as," Fury said narrowing his eyes. Cairo gave him a wary look.

"It's amazing you know. That people like you two choose to go to the light side and you forget about where you came from. You forget the darkness you were both born from. You had the assets to win and then you throw them away. You know it was a pretty dumb move cutting off ties with all your contacts in the black market Fury," Cairo said shaking his head at the director. Fury tensed.

"I don't deal with criminals anymore Cairo. I learned something from my previous superiors before I got this chair and title. Everything always goes to shit when you try to appease to both sides. Always," he said firmly. Cairo sighed.

"So you chose the weaker ones. The ones who believe all the problems in this world can be solved through love and caring and sacrifice," Cairo said rolling his eyes. Pathetic.

"Love doesn't make you weak Cairo. It gives you the strength to do things selfish people like you could never do," Fury said narrowing his eyes at the unnaturally calm bastard.

"In my books it's smarter to use other people to do the things you don't want or can't do," he said with a dark look lurking in the back of his eyes.

"There is a reason your side never wins Cairo," Fury said slowly. Cairo rolled the knife in his hand and stared at it contemplatively.

"What happens…when both sides become equal then Fury?" he asked without looking up at the frozen director. "What do you think will happen when SHIELD falls?" Cairo said with an odd tone in his voice.

"SHIELD will never fall – not as long as there are people still out there who believe in what we stand for and are willing to fight for what is right," Fury growled. Cairo smiled warily.

"Where will you get all those people if you have no one left to inspire this will to fight for goodness?" Cairo said staring at the files on Fury's desk with 6 distinct names on them.

"Are you trying to imply something you bastard?" Fury asked angrily.

"No. Actually I'm here to give you an offer to switch sides," Cairo said staring at the tense director straight in the eye. Fury stared back at him in disbelief. Was this guy mentally insane?

"Storm's coming Nick Fury. When the world crumbles beneath your feet - which side will you choose?" he asked inquisitively.

"I'll always choose to side with the heroes," Fury said steadily.

Cairo smiled.

"There is no such thing as heroes," he said pushing himself off the wall.

Fury promptly picked up his pistol and shot the bastard right through the heart. To his surprise the bullet went right through Cairo and lodged into the wall behind him. Fury narrowed his eyes.

Hologram.

Damn it.

"Take care of yourself Fury. No one else will," Cairo whispered before the hologram faded.

SHIELD was in trouble. Big trouble.

Memories memories memories memories memories memories memories memories

Around the same time Natasha and Clint had found out about the tower being blown up Stark was on the phone once again. Red was alive for the moment – which means he could focus all his energies to making sure his girlfriend didn't die because a demigod didn't know how to dig properly.

At the moment Tony was royally freaking out in an alley while Steve and Bruce calmly watched the poor genius pace.

"I don't know what tank you're talking about! Just don't swing your hammer around too much and you won't cause any unnecessary explosions!" Tony shouted in his phone as he paced back and forth in front of his two teammates leaning against the wall.

"How long do you think this will take?" Bruce asked warily as Tony went off on another rant at the demigod trying to save both their loved ones.

"For Thor to finally understand Stark's instructions and get the girls out? Probably just under the 2 hours they have left. And only because they know Pepper and Jane are dead if they don't get them out in time," Steve said gravely. Bruce nodded and winced as he rubbed his shoulder.

"Is he getting anywhere closer to Tony's lab yet?" Bruce asked. They all tensed when they heard the loud explosive sound come from Tony's phone.

BOOM!

"WHAT WAS THAT?" Tony shrieked staring at his phone in disbelief.

"Ah…that was the tank I was talking about…?" Thor said sheepishly. Tony repeatedly banged his head against the wall beside him.

"Where is Rhodey?" Tony asked desperately.

There was some shuffling on the other end and a new voice was heard on the line.

"Yo man - calm yourself! Me and Thor can do this okay?" Rhodey said reassuringly. Tony did not look convinced. Not at all.

"If you mess up Rhodey…" Tony said warningly. Rhodey sighed. Protective Tony Stark as his best.

"Shut up and let me save your girl Stark because apparently you are too busy saving everyone else," Rhodey said as he looked up at ruffled demigod standing beside him. He was just itching to save his love. All he needed was the how.

"This where is the elevator shaft is supposed to be right?" Rhodey asked looking down at the caved-in section beside them.

"That is correct friend of Stark," Thor said nodding his head. Rhodey crossed his arms as he thought about how this would work. He glanced at the indented section and a potentially disastrous idea that may just work, hit him.

"Hey Thor…how controlled can you make your lightning from the hammer…?" Rhodey asked slowly.

"Fairly well," Thor said confidently.

"WAIT! WAIT! WAIT! You're going to make a tunnel…WITH LIGHTNING?" Tony shrieked. Rhodey sighed. His overdramatic friend really hurt his ear buds sometimes.

"Calm down Tony – there is no way we could make it to Pepper and Jane without Thor's level of power," Rhodey said seriously. There was at least 200 feet of rubble they would have to get through. Nothing else could do that in less than 2 hours.

Tony sighed and leaned his head against the wall beside his teammates. Bruce and Steve shared a worried look. Stark looked….resigned to his fate. That was shocking their system. Tony never settled for something he did not agree with.

Even Tony Stark takes himself down a notch for love.

Will wonders never cease?

"Okay. Okay do it," Tony said reluctantly. Thor looked at Rhodey and raised an eyebrow.

"He does know that I would never do anything to accidentally hurt Jane right?' Thor asked slowly. Rhodey patted the gentle giant on the shoulder.

"Just shoot the lightning man – we'll deal with Mr. Drama Queen later," Rhodey said taking a step back….just in case.

"Okay – Jane I shall rescue you and lady Potts!" Thor boomed before he raised his hammer into the sky and allowed it to charge up with thousands of bolts of electricity.

"Wow…now that packs a punch," Rhodey said in awe.

Tony switched the line from Thor to Pepper's to see how she and Jane were doing.

"Pepper?" Tony asked trying to keep the worry out of his voice.

"Still alive Tony," Pepper replied calmly.

He really didn't understand how she could sound so calm when he was literally about to break down from the worry.

Jane didn't either. She looked down at her own shaking hands at up at the calm and collected CEO of Stark industries. The woman had nerves of steel.

"How about J-" Tony started to ask.

"Jane is okay too. We're all okay. The only question I have…is what that sound of a dying cat coming closer and closer from the caved in elevator shaft…" Pepper said slowly. Tony banged his head against the wall again.

"Stark you're going to keep losing valuable brain cells if you keep that up," Steve pointed out from beside him.

"Shut up Rogers. I have more than enough brains cells to last me 500 lifetimes. You barely have enough for 1," Tony growled. Steve raised an eyebrow.

The man was oversensitive today.

"Tony…?" Pepper asked carefully.

"I'm still here Pepper. The dying cat noises are Thor and his lightning carving a passage through the shaft to get you two out," Tony said pinching the bridge of his nose. There were so many things that could go wrong with this scenario he didn't even want to imagine them for too long.

"Oh thank god – I have a lot of work to back up once we get out of here," Pepper said in relief.

Cricket…cricket…cricket…

"You…ARE THINKING ABOUT WORK?" Tony shouted in disbelief. Pepper blinked.

"Well…what else do I have to think about after 2 hours of sitting around doing nothing?" she asked in confusion.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

"There goes those brain cells again," Steve whispered to Bruce as they watched Tony hurt his skull once again.

"You're crazy woman - you know that?" Tony asked as he dragged his hand through his hair in worry. Damn. Clint wasn't the only one. He was in love with a crazy too. Why did the Avengers always fall for the not sane ones?

"I have to be crazy enough to fall for you right?" she said with a weak smile. Tony slumped against the wall and finally took a seat beside Bruce and Steve. And so the super businesswoman finally calmed the genius.

"Keep talking – I like this crazy now," he said with a slight smile.

"I'm not that crazy – don't let it get to your head," Pepper said warningly. That just made him laugh.

BOOM!

A large of rubble shot out from the elevator doors and smashed into the wall right across form it. Jane and Pepper stared at the gigantic opening in shock.

"Well…that didn't take very long…" Jane said in surprise.

"JAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANE!….and Miss Potts. Are you alive?" Thor's voice boomed from 200 feet above the surface.

"Yes we're still alive Thor," Jane said shaking her head. Thor was something.

"I think me and Jane need to take a short trip to my L.A office for a few days…don't you think Tony?" Pepper said suddenly as they waited for Thor to climb down and get them out. Tony sighed in relief.

"Yeah – yeah that would be a brilliant idea," he said quickly. She smiled.

"I thought you'd like it," she said as Jane and her got off the ground and walked towards the opening.

"Stay safe Pepper – take care of Jane too," Tony said anxiously.

"I thought that was my line?" she asked raising an eyebrow. He rolled his eyes.

"But Pepper you need it more – I'm always safe remember?" he said cheekily.

"Bye Tony," Pepper said shaking her head with a light laugh.

"Bye Peps," he whispered back. He shut his phone and stared at it for a couple of seconds. Pepper was going to be okay. Pepper was going to be okay. It was the only thing he could comprehend at the moment.

"Well…at least something went right in this gigantic mess right?" Bruce said trying to brighten the dark mood that had been hovering over the 3 Avengers for the last 3 hours.

It was a sad day when Bruce Banner was the trying to be the optimistic one.

A/N: Haha look no cliffy! :O gasp I know – don't get used to it! ;)

But my holiday gift to you…is an update every other day until the 25th. How do you like that idea? lol either way Cheers!

See you all Sunday.