Blackmail - 11
Warnings /
Author Notes / I've realised this story is going on for way too long so I will try to speed it up.
Also, I know there is a lot of mistakes in this - when I get some time I'm going to edit every single chapter.
~Last Time~
"I'm going to prove your wrong Agent Hill," he said looking directly at her as if she was filth.
She was hopeful for a second that maybe she was just overreacting and everything would be okay.
If only life was that easy.
The man who fights against his own country is never a hero. - Victor Hugo
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Clint was sitting in the living room of the Avengers towers.
He hadn't moved since Maria called him, telling the archer that Fury didn't take the news very well and that there was now a secret operation trying to find her.
Tony had offered him a beer earlier, noticing he looked stressed but it didn't make him feel any better.
He didn't think anything could make him feel better right now. His partner the person he trusted most in the world, was presumed a traitor.
Clint tried his best of the last month or so to not even consider she was up to no good but know that all went to shit.
What would make him feel better was a call from a relieved Maria saying it was all ok.
But he doubted that would ever come.
"Where's spider"
"Mission"
"Is that why you're so down because your girlfriend is away"
"She's not my girlfriend"
"I doubt that you're not fooling anyone Katniss," he laughed and took a swig of his beer, "Well maybe Thor but I mean he doesn't count"
Tony chuckled to himself again and turned to find out that Clint wasn't even laughing. Tony suddenly went serious and placed his beverage back on the ground.
"You love her" it was more of a statement than a question.
He did love her but this pent up anger he had towards her was about to explode.
He trusted her when no one else did. He gave her a new life, a chance to be better and this is how she repays him by betraying the company that gave her a second chance.
He had calmed her down from nightmares from her past almost every night.
Taken her to every session with the psychiatrist.
Sat with her in the hospital every time she got hurt.
Clint wondered how long this had been going on for. Was their whole relationship just a cover? Did she only stay at SHIELD so she could take it down from the inside?
The archer was so furious and even though they hadn't got any proof about it happening, his mind was already made up.
He hated Natasha.
Hated the way her hair blew in the wind
Hated her breathy little laugh.
Her smooth milky skin.
And more importantly
Hated the fact she had used him.
Used him to get closer to Coulson and Fury so she could pass the information along to her other agency.
The anger he had been holding inside of him now enveloped him.
"No," he said defiantly.
Tony flinched back at the passiveness of his voice. He sighed, not knowing what to say, so he just got Barton another bear and they drank in silence.
Later on, Bruce joined them. He too was drinking about Natasha.
The scientist had gotten her note,
Bruce
Got called out about the thing discussed at the restaurant.
Gone for a little while.
Watch Clint
NR
Natasha had told him what Adrian had told her at the restaurant.
He was shocked that Romanoff was going along with it though.
To her defence, Bruce would have probably done the same thing.
Not the killing part just the doing something he didn't want to save his family.
He wasn't worried about him dying because whatever they did the other guy would come out.
The scientist was worried about Natasha, he didn't tell her this, but what if he only blackmailed her to get her to do this job for him. And after she finished the job he wouldn't need her anymore, would he kill her?
Like Clint and Tony, he drank his problems away.
—
They had settled into her safe house relatively well.
The little boy who she found outs name was Marco, was a sweet little boy who asked her a lot of questions.
She knew she couldn't stay long, she had been gone for too long anyway.
Michael and Ranek were kind enough and seemed grateful for her help but still wary of her. Not that she could blame them.
When she walked into the main room the eldest of the two seemed to know what she was thinking, because he stood up and called Ranek over.
"I'll send you some money, but I only get my paycheck every month so you'll have to be conscientious with what you use it for"
"What about you, don't you need the money"
"I live with Tony Stark, I'll be okay"
Both men hesitated for what felt like an eternity.
"We uhh wanted to thank you, Miss Romanoff"
"There's no need for that"
"Yes, Yes there is. We worked for the organisation that used you as a slave, and you're helping us. You protected us, you protected Marco and for that, we are… eternally grateful."
She slung her bag over her shoulder and made her way over to the door.
"You're a good person Natasha Romanoff," he said as she opened the door. She paused with her hand on the doorknob halfway through the turning it.
"You don't know me," she spoke confidently but truthfully the comment hit her straight at home.
That's what everything for the last 3 years had been about.
Becoming a good person.
Clearing her ledger of red and atoning for her past.
The simple word of assurance that it was working was all she needed.
"No I don't, but from what I've seen…. I'm glad those thugs didn't manage to wipe out all of your humanity"
It took all of her training not to react, not to cry.
"You don't know how much that means to me" and with that, she left the safe house.
The car ride to the airport was short but it felt like forever. Her mind was felt light-headed, mostly from stress.
In the seven days, she had been gone she hadn't stopped stressing once. Even when she was back at the tower she still wasn't 'calm' per se.
She had called Kozlov on the burner phone he had given her. One of his men had picked up the phone and told her to go to the nearest airport.
She couldn't exactly go to the actual 'nearest' airport because then they would ask questions, questions she didn't want to answer.
The stolen car smelt of leather and disinfectant but that was the least of Natasha's problems. Her back was stiff with anxiety and she gripped the wheel so hard her knuckles turned white.
She kept telling herself nothing would go wrong, she had both of the men's watches, covered in their blood, she would hand them to Adrian and he would take her word for it.
But that's not what she was worried about because heaven forbid she should ever worry about herself.
She was worried about someone else.
Her mind kept flittering to visions of a specific archer.
She knew Clint trusted her, but he was a spy and there was no such thing as an ignorant spy. He would connect the dots soon, and who knows how he would react then, she definitely didn't.
He might break up with her, or worse just leave.
The thought of a life without Clint made her heartthrob.
A life without his childish antics.
A life without his untidiness.
No, she didn't want to live without Clint.
But again, that was being selfish.
She always wondered why Clint chose her. He was a handsome guy who could practically have anyone he wanted, yet he chose a cold, bitter, emotionless redhead with serious mental problems.
Natasha always told him he deserved better than her but even she couldn't deny how happy she felt around him.
They were both damaged goods but somehow together they felt a little bit more whole.
Reminiscing on a life she didn't deserve didn't do anything to ease her nerves, it only made her sorrowful about what was sure to happen.
But it would be ok, she told herself, he would find a nice girl who wasn't just damaged goods and who could treat him the way he deserved.
Maybe they even might have kids. Clint liked kids, she reflected. Perhaps this was a good thing. Natasha could never give him that and god knows he deserves it.
She managed to convince herself that no matter how angry Clint was with her, she wouldn't try to make him stay, she would let him go.
Nevertheless, she recited what Michael told her not even 5 hours ago,
"You're a good person Natasha Romanoff"
Maybe she did deserve to be happy.
NO, she almost yelled.
She was the Black Widow,
She was a cold-blooded killer,
She was a murderer
Murderer a cold voice whispered in her ear,
Murderer.
—
Agent Hill was checking over the reports in her office, the setting sun peeping through the blinds.
She had a stress diffuser on the shelf behind her but it didn't do much go actually defuse her stress.
Fury had barely talked to her in the past couple of days, the only time she had seen her boss was when he came in to give her more work to do.
She was so busy with trying to keep the absence of a particular redhead out of her head and out of the whispers in the hallways.
Maria knew most people trusted Romanoff but there's was still a couple of those 'manly men' who didn't like her, probably just jealous. Frankly, it didn't matter what they thought, Fury trusted her and that's all that really matters.
It wasn't that hard to keep it under wraps, most people shouldn't notice she was gone for 2 reasons. 1 - She was practically always in some sort of mission, sometimes lasting a couple of months. 2 - Now that she lived with the rest of the Avengers, she only came into SHIELD in those spurts of time between coming back from a mission for debriefing.
So no most people wouldn't realise the Black Widow was missing but she still had to make sure their investigation was kept secret.
And if there was one thing a secret agency was good at, it was keeping secrets.
So Maria Hill had a hell of a headache. What with co-running the biggest spy agency in the world and trying to find one of the best assassins, she was exhausted.
So she couldn't say she was ecstatic that she got an alert that she was needed in Fury's office in 20 minutes.
She really couldn't handle any more dork at the moment and the only reason Fury had talked to her was to give her more work.
In the next 20 minutes, she frowned two cups of coffee, straightened herself up and packed away her stuff.
She grabbed her stuff and locked her office door, she was so tired as soon as this 'thing' was over she was going home and shrinking into her bed.
A hunched over figure was sitting at the chair outside the director's office. Nobody should be here at this hour, Maria told herself placing her hand on her gun, but she quickly returned it back to her side when she recognised the sitting archer.
"Barton," she nodded towards him, "You got the alert too"
He grunted some sort of response, Maria just assumed it was an affirmative.
She could smell the alcohol on him but she knew better than to think he was drunk.
Clint couldn't hold his alcohol anywhere near as much as Nat could but he wouldn't let himself get out of control. Maria knew right now when he was on standby for Fury, he wouldn't risk being too far intoxicated.
She knocked twice on the door to alert the director to their presence before motioning Clint to go inside.
Fury's office was orderly and to the untrained eye it would look almost plain but it wasn't. Almost everything in the room was under lock, and there was a secret room that you could enter with fury's handprint but only Fury, Maria, Victoria and Coulson knew about that.
Fury was looking out of his window and out into the main hanger of the SHIELD base. It was a one-way window so the occupants below couldn't see in.
No-one could see the anguish and pain in his eyes, the tears that threatened to fall but never will.
Nick Fury didn't trust many people, and the people he did often had a good reason for him too. He believed himself to be unable to be deceived or manipulated, he was wrong. He had let the Black Widow into his organisation and after years and years, she had gained his trust.
But she had betrayed that very trust.
He didn't know what was worse the feeling of betrayal or the fact the council was right - people like her don't change.
Fury was absolutely pissed when Agent Barton had gone against his orders and 'saved' the Widow. Nevertheless was relieved the archer hadn't met the same match the past SHIELD agents who were tasked with bringing down the widow had, he had grown rather fond of Coulson's stray.
And even he could admit she was a good asset.
At first, he respected her hard-working attitude and her preparedness to lay down her life for SHIELD.
Further on down the line, he grew to respect her as a colleague, a friend.
He won't kid himself and say he knew the Natasha behind all the masks but he knew her better than most.
So when he first heard Maria's accusation he was appalled that she would say such a thing.
It was when she said that Clint too believed it that he starting questioning it.
Clint had always seen the good in Natasha. Always defended her.
Their bond was stronger than diamond resulting them in being the most successful Strike Team in the history of SHIELD.
He knew they loved each other even before they did themselves, not that he would ever tell them that. He still didn't even know if they were actually together or not.
Funny that the Black Widow and Hawkeye who are faced with life-threatening situations almost every day were too scared to admit their feelings towards each other.
This was a mess, he thought to himself as he heard Clint and Maria enter.
How was he meant to tell the archer his partner was, truly, a traitor.
He had heard Maria say Clint believed it and Maria didn't lie, but surely a small part of him still held onto her.
"Sir" Maria's chill voice cut him through his thoughts and forced him away from the window to face the pair.
Maria visibly flinched when she saw the resentful face of her boss. She realised his eye was glassed over and his features were pure remorse.
That fact he wasn't even trying to hide his pain from his agents, only did more to heighten Maria's worries and prove her instincts correct.
"You were right, Hill," he said, his voice croaky from the lack of use. "We found a person who matches Romanoff's description, in Russia with known KGB associates. She's back on their side"
Maria stifled a gasp and remained a stoic figure
Clint had a less calm reaction than Maria, may it be the beer that still ran through his veins or the feeling of being cheated and betrayed.
He stood up abruptly, his chair making a noise as it was thrown back. He turned around and punched the nearest thing he could see, the wall.
His fist collided with to wall and made an indentation, right next to the shelf.
His eyes fell onto a particular photo on said shelf.
A picture of Strike Team Delta and their old handler Coulson. Fury must have noticed what Clint was looking at because he decided to break his silence.
"I've always liked that photo," he spoke faintly if he was shocked or angry at Clint violent outburst he didn't make it known.
"He needs to know," Clint said, ignoring Fury's confession. There was no emotion in his voice either just and empty void. "I want to speak to him."
She's back on their side