Blackmail - 12

Author Notes / Past few weeks I haven't been as active, I know. Life's been hectic. I also lost my 'Clintasha'. Like I got into some fanfictions where Clint was more of a Father figure to Nat and I just thought it was really cute. So I had a massive Clintasha fanfiction binge, to get my love for them back. Like literally read over two hundred stories. I was sobbing and then I was happy and then I was back to sobbing. I read a story about Clint and Nat's friendship breaking apart after AOU. Which then explains why he didn't side with her during CW and why he never visited after the snap. Personally, I don't agree with the friendship breaking part cause in my mind that kind of bond can't be broken but the story DESTROYED ME like I couldn't function for like days. So yeah my Clintasha splurge had some ups and downs but now I'm here! So I'll continue to finish this story (I don't want to be that kind of person who doesn't finish a story) and while Clintasha/Blackhawk remains my OTP I might try branch out into other ships.

Hope you had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

MillyWidow

~Last Time~

"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

"By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail." – Benjamin Franklin

"I'll arrange that for you," Fury said. It was the best he could do in the dire circumstances.

Nobody talked for a good 10 minutes, the chill was tranquil but they wouldn't say it was comfortable because it wasn't, they just found out someone they cared about, didn't care about them.

"I hate to say this but what the fuck do we do now," Maria asked from the corner of the room. Somewhere along the way during the 10 minutes of limbo, she had stood up, unable to bear the burden and moved to stare into the hanger.

"We need to throw Agent Hands the scent first, Maria, tell her that Romanoff's somewhere undercover."

"Roger that"

"What do I tell the team?"

"Nothing at the moment," Fury said turning back into director mode. "Act normal. She can't find out we are onto her, otherwise, she might speed up her plans. We don't know what her endgame is here. You two need to find out what." He continued. "As soon as she comes back we go into action"

"Maria, organise a girls night with her and Pepper. Try to gauge where she's at"

"Clint, you're the only person she ever confides in so do whatever you normally do."

"I want reports on her movements every 12 hours. Talk to Tony but don't tell him too much, he has a close relationship with Natasha so make sure he thinks it's for her wellbeing. Make him do something with the tower security so we know when she leaves."

Clint nodded to his boss as Fury dismissed him. Clint almost ran out of the room desperate for fresh air.

He had to keep reminding himself that the 'She' they were talking about was his partner, his girlfriend, his everything.

Was everything she did fake, just a part of her big plan.

Did she really love him?

He drove home knowing full well there was literally nothing he could do, he felt hopeless.

Tony was in his lab as usual except he wasn't actually working. Pepper was next to him sending emails to some of her staff. Apparently, it was her job to do this but she bet Tony never had to deal with her janitor asking her out for a date twice a week.

It was a welcome distraction when Clint walked in.

The bags under his eyes seemed to of increased since the last time Tony had seen the archer.

Tony was about to offer the man a drink, definitely looked like he needed one. But Clint got there first and asked to talk to Tony privately.

At first, Pepper didn't get the hint and continued to type away but after a nudge from Tony she quickly packed up, apologising profusely.

"What can I do for you Birdbrain?"

"Fury needs you to update the security of the tower so that we know when Natasha leaves the building," he said bluntly.

"Uhm I know this sounds very unlike me but isn't that an invasion of privacy."

"SHIELD is worried about her. She is stressed and Natasha doesn't know how to deal with that, or any kind of emotion really."

"Right okay. So how is tracking her going to help that?" He said. He knew enough about Natasha's past to not question any more than he had to.

"That's confidential" he responded curtly a small smile playing on his lips.

"So when do I have to finish this by"

"As soon as you can"

"Sounds great," he said sarcastically but Clint could see the slight energy in his eyes. He was happy to finally have a task to do.

"Speaking about Spidey, when does she get back from this mission"

"I-uh-I don't know" he stumbled. It sounded stupid but he forgot that she was just 'away' and was expected to come back. The thought of her coming back and pretending everything was ok set his teeth on edgel, but he couldn't get distracted right now, he had a job to do.

Would she know? Would she know that he knew?

It had been a week since she left, he had no idea when she was coming back.

"Soon, I think" he continued on, "But probably best in the meantime not to tell anybody about this"

Tony touched a finger to his nose as if to say - your secrets safe with me.

Clint rolled his eyes and left the lab, climbing into the vents.

The life of the CEO of Stark Industries was a hectic one.

What with running one of the biggest business in the world and living with the avengers and having to deal with all the shit that comes with them.

Not to say she didn't like the Avengers, she did, she really did.

Bruce was good for Tony. Thor and Steve always treated her with respect and Clint always helped her out in the kitchen.

The person she would say she was closest with (Apart from Tony) was one Natasha Romanoff.

Trust me, no one was more surprised by this than Pepper herself.

Ever since the whole 'Natalie Rushman' thing, Pepper was wary around the agent. But ever since Pepper had met Natasha, the actual Natasha, she started trusting her a lot more. She had saved Tony's life twice now and for that, she would be eternally grateful to the redhead.

It was also good to have a friend who wasn't obsessed with Tony and his money, on the contrary, whenever Tony had offered financial support, she declined.

After about a month of living with Nat, she found herself feeling more sisterly towards her. Some would call it motherly which it was but she preferred the term big sister.

Pepper always made sure Natasha was eating the right amount of food, wasn't training too hard and made sure she was feeling okay.

Through her friendship with the assassin she had also grown close to Maria Hill, who Tony calls the 'ice queen'. But like Natasha when you got to know them outside of their work they were actually quite nice. She found Maria a little bit easier to read than Natasha, she knew enough about Nat's past to understand.

Hill had called her earlier asking her if they wanted to have a girls night when Natasha got back and naturally Pepper had agreed.

But the one thing that took her by surprise was the fact that Natasha was on a mission, so soon after the 'incident'.

She had seen Clint's stress features over the past couple of days, so she decided to talk to Bruce instead.

She walked into the lab, her heels clicking the whole way down the long hallway.

"Hey, Bruce,"

"Oh," Bruce jumped, startled. "Oh, hey Pep. How was your conference?"

"Boring as ever." Pepper rolled her eyes in a very Romanoff fashion.

Bruce chuckled at the small act she had clearly adopted from her friend, "Still can't believe Tony did that for years…"

"Honestly, neither can I"

"So what can I do for you?"

"Just wondering if you've seen Nat lately."

"I'm pretty sure she's on a mission."

"Oh. Oh, should she be in the field, with the…you know"

"Yeah, I think she's okay. She told me it was just a relapse and she hasn't done it since"

"Oh okay. Thanks, Bruce"

"No problem. Why'd you ask?"

"Just got a call from Maria wanting to do another girls night, she told me to ask Natasha after she got back from her mission."

Mission?

That sent warning signs through Bruce.

Maria Hill was the person who organised Natasha's missions, so she would know that Natasha wasn't actually on a mission. So that meant that either Natasha had managed to trick Maria (Unlikely) or Maria knew the truth, or at least what she thought was the truth.

Pepper left a moment after that and Bruce was left to his thoughts.

He needed to contact Natasha.

He needed to warn her.

The vents were the place he felt safe.

As a child, whenever his father was drunk or dangerous, he would hide up in the roof of the barn. Obviously, there were no wooden beams in Avengers Tower but the vents would have to do.

The rest of the day was a blur to Clint.

He lost count of the amounts of times he cried, got over it, then cried again.

His partner, the person who he trusted the most in this world had abandoned him. They were Strike Team Delta, no matter what life threw at them, they went through it together.

But he still couldn't wrap his hand around it. Natasha, the person who was so caught up on clearing her ledger and becoming a good person, was a traitor? Or was all that just a trust ploy?

With those thoughts, he was eventually called down for dinner by Tony's British butler.

He was the last person that reached the dining table, apart from her. Everyone was talking and some even laughing, oblivious. Clint couldn't match their happiness no matter how hard he tried.

The archer still had no clue how he was going react to seeing Natasha again, but he had a little bit of time to work that out first…Right?

"Sir, Miss Romanoff as entered the building"

He went stiff. No No No. He wasn't ready for this.

The feeling of emotional control left his body and the persona of Hawkeye the agent took over.

It took 136 seconds for the elevator to ping and for her to walk out, he counted every second with bated breath.

And then there she was, decked out in her khaki jacket and skin-tight jeans.

Pepper was the first to greet her, embracing her in a bone-crushing hug and kissing her on the cheek.

Natasha couldn't help but smile, she was home. All the stress from the last week vanished and she felt herself visibly relaxing.

The CEO placed both of her hands on Natasha's shoulders and moved her eyes up and down Natasha's body.

This was a habit of Pepper's - checking Natasha for injuries. She did this every time the agent came home, but that didn't make it any less uncomfortable for Nat.

"Hmm too skinny" she muttered to herself and led Natasha to the kitchen. She wasn't all that surprised that she had lost weight, in the past week she didn't remember eating… at all.

The kitchen opened up to the rest of the dining room where the team was situated.

They all said their greetings and Steve gave her a hug. Clint also came up and patted her on the back, which was not altogether weird because they weren't very big on public shows of affection.

"Actually…I'm a little tired I just might go to bed." She wasn't actually that tired, but she had seen the false look on his face and that told her everything she needed to know. Clint had found out.

"So how was the mission?" Clint whispered to her as they hopped into the elevator together.

"Not too bad"

Not to bad

There goes his last hope, his last illusion that maybe she was doing it against her will. 'Not bad' meant she - Natasha Romanoff- was happy to do it.

A voice in his mind mirrored Fury's previous statement.

She's back on their side.

It took all he had not to show his emotions.

Clint got of the elevator leaving Natasha behind, and with her, his illusions

Their connection was gone.

The strongest bond in SHIELD history had broken.

"Sir, I have organised to spend the night with Potts and Romanoff. What are my orders?"

"Context. We need to gather context and information. Find out any information you can get that will either clear her of any suspicion or… add to them,"

Maria looked down at her hands, the situation was just so surreal.

A week and a half ago, she considered Natasha Romanoff a friend and one of the most loyal SHIELD agents.

Now 9 days later, she was investigating her for infidelity.

"Yes, Sir"

"That's all Agent," Fury nodded towards her and the senior agent stood up and went to leave her boss' office.

"…and Hill,"

"Sir?"

"Try to enjoy yourself,"

"I don't think that will be possible sir…due to the circumstances"

Fury nodded his head sadly and turned away to the window.

This was taking a toll on all of them.

Natasha tried to stay out of everyone, especially Clint's, way as much as she could without causing to much suspicion.

She was meeting with Pepper and Maria for drinks tonight, and she was hoping for a relatively good night.

Unbeknownst to her, Bruce had been trying to talk to her privately ever since she got back to warn her about his suspicions about SHIELDs knowledge. But every time he found her, there was someone else with her.

But now she was dressed in a sweet emerald, spaghetti strap, dress and her silky red hair bounced in perfect curls against her shoulders.

She turned up five minutes after Jarvis notified her of Maria's arrival, so she didn't have to sit through awkward small talk while they wait.

Eventually, she did decide to join the other two girls downstairs in the room Tony had specifically designed for them.

It was stocked with all the types of alcohol they liked and a collection of comfy chairs and seating arrangements.

"Natasha" Pepper greeted as Natasha walked in as if she hadn't seen the redhead that morning, "I almost thought you weren't coming,"

"Wouldn't miss it for the world," she remarked as she gave Maria a quick hug and sat down.

They ate some food. Watched some crappy TV that they couldn't watch with the boys around. But mostly they just chatted.

Pepper ranted about how annoying board meetings were and Maria joined in with the ranting with the prolonged debriefs and council conferences that she had to go to with Fury.

Natasha didn't join in the ranting as much as the others, because, well, she didn't have anything to rant about. As far as she was concerned, her life was perfect. She had been to the lowest of lows, and anything could be considered perfect compared to her childhood.

Yeah, she could say it was annoying how Thor always ate all her food, but at least she had access to actual food.

She could complain about Tony's snooping around the tower, but at least she lived in a place that was clean, dry and rent-free.

There were so many things she could technically complain about, but she wouldn't because she was grateful for everything she had.

Not to say that Pepper and Maria weren't grateful, but they had a relatively sheltered childhood and their life experiences impacted what they appreciated.

Most people wouldn't be grateful for the air they breathed, but Natasha was, because she grew up in an underground bunker for most of her life, so the fresh air she breathed was just another sign of her freedom.

"So tell some embarrassing stories about Tony so I can have some blackmail over him," Natasha said maliciously.

"Ohhh yes, I need some to shut him up during debriefs," Maria added looking suddenly very eager.

"Fine, but only if you give me the goss about you and Clint."

Natasha rolled her eyes and gave her automated answer, "There is no 'me and Clint'" she said holding up her fingers in quotation marks, "We're just work partners"

Both women raised their eyebrows in disbelief.

"Come on Nat, you don't have to hide it,"

"I'm not hiding it, we're just friends,"

Natasha realised that this was the first time she had said that to them without actually lying, they were now, just work partners.

Just work partners.

Clint hadn't gone to see her since her mission, hadn't even stepped into their apartment.

Clint and Natasha were no longer Clint and Natasha, they were Clint and Natasha.

Two separate people. Maybe she was over exaggerating, but it still was a punch in the gut.

Their lengthy conversations came to end when Pepper got a business phone call and had to leave.

Maria moved up on the couch till she was sitting next to the redhead.

"So how've you been?" She asked, which earned her a questionable look from Natasha.

"I've been…fine?" Natasha responded trying to gage where this conversation was going.

An awkward silence endured and Maria seemed to be trying to decipher what to say next.

Her background was in combat not in espionage.

"Nat, I'm going to be blunt with you"

That got the assassin's attention and she turned to give Maria her full focus.

"Fury's worried. Nobody knows where you've been for the last week" Even though Mara wasn't a spy, she could see a flash of fear spread across Natasha's face. It was a lie, they knew where Natasha had been, but Fury had given her orders not to give away that much information.

"It's nothing-"

"Natasha, This isn't a joke. Shit is about to get real if you don't talk to Nick,"

"Its really none of your business Hill"

Great, so they were back to Hill, not Maria. At work, it was Hill or Agent Hill but at the Tower or whenever they went out, it was Maria. The fact that she called her Hill was a sign, a sign that the trust between them was gone. All hope that Natasha would confide in her now was gone

There was no point in Maria trying to fix this, so they fell into an awkward silence.

The cogs of Natasha's mind was turning at a rapid rate.

They knew.

If it was true that they did know, then like Maria had said, shit was about to get real. They would tell Clint (If he didn't already know), they might even tell the team. She would have no-one left, they would all believe she was a traitor.

Where would she go?

What would she do?

She thought about travelling back to the safe house in Russia that Michael and Ranek were staying in, but she didn't want to put them in danger. It seemed no matter where she would go, she would always put people in danger.

The endless trail of red would always follow her.

Maybe it was best if she found a safe house secluded somewhere and just live alone, and then die alone.

It wouldn't be fun, but at least the people she loved would be safe.

Peppers footsteps could be heard entering the room again, and both agents masks went back up.

"So what are we watching tonight?" Pepper asked, picking up the remote and flicking through the many streaming services that Tony had bought for the whole team.

"Actually I'm pretty tired, I'm going to go to bed. See you later"

"Oh Uhm yeah, see you later" Pepper stopped her hunt for a show to look at the younger woman, worry evident on her face, "You alright?"

"Hmm? Yep, just dandy" and she vanished into the elevator.

Pepper threw a questioning look over to Maria, who just shrugged as if she didn't know what it wasn't about.

A/N — I am really excited about next chapter because (Like Maria said) SHIT IS ABOUT TO GET REAL. So much angssssttt so yeah be excited.