Chapter: 9

It was only seconds. They reached the lot and jumped quickly out of the cab of the truck. Clint made sure that he put it in park, not wanting the truck to travel out of the safest zone they could find. As if reading each other's mind, they slammed the truck doors closed and ran away as fast as they could. Neither of them daring to breathe until their lungs screamed for relief.

Natasha came to a stop and took a second to catch her breath. When she stood she immediately looked towards the direction her partner had fled. In the opposite direction of the truck he was hunched over as she had been a moment earlier. It appeared that he was trying to catch his breath but was not having an easy time of it.

"Barton," she called but he didn't respond. This worried her but then he started coughing. He grabbed at his chest unable to stop and, after taking a deep breath, she was running as fast as she could towards him. She reached him and quickly pulled him further away from the truck. She kept moving until she could no longer hold her breath then stopped to assess her partner. "Breathe Barton," She said as she was pulling out her cellphone.

"Barton inhaled some of the gas. We need a cleanup crew and medics immediately." She commanded as Clint was finally starting to catch his breath.

He got a few healthy breaths into his chest then stood up properly. He shook his head to clear it then looked at Natasha who was still on the phone giving whoever was on the other end their location. He shook his head again and ran his fingers through his hair.

"I'm good Tasha," he croaked out and she shot him a look. He was about to tell her to stop worrying about him but a flash of something went across his vision and had him pausing. He looked into his partner's eyes and everything went fuzzy for a moment before clearing again.

"Barton?" He heard her clearly one second and then it sounded as if he were under water the next. He tried to focus on her face but it faded in front of him to be replaced with another.

"Barney?" Clint asked. His brother looked at him with disgust and pulled out a knife. "Barney don't!" Clint yelled. "Don't!"

"Why couldn't you just mind your own business Clint?" Barney's voice sounded so evil that it sent shivers down Clint's spine. "Why couldn't you let it go?"

"Barton!" Natasha yelled at her partner. "Clint!" His eyes were red and his breathing had turned rapid. She took a step towards him and he quickly retreated.

"I just wanted to help you Barney."

"Why couldn't you leave me alone?!" Clint saw the knife coming but there was no stopping it. The pain was excruciating and he couldn't help but yell out.

"Clint, it's not real!" Natasha yelled as she got to her knees beside where her partner had just collapsed. He whimpered in pain and held his stomach. Natasha quickly undid the tactical vest he was wearing and lifted the shirt he wore underneath. The only thing that was there was an old scar that looked to her like a knife wound. She filed the information away for another time. "It's all in your head," she tried to reassure him. He jerked away from her and scrambled backwards.

"Come here boy!" A man yelled and Clint turned from where he laid on the ground. He saw his father approaching him and felt his heart drop. "You worthless little shit! Get up off the ground!" Clint felt like a rib might break as the man kicked him hard in his side. "You are nothing! I should've gotten rid of you a long time ago!"

"No!" Clint yelled as he saw a gun in his father's hand. There was a shot and the bullet hit the wooden floor, barely a foot from his head.

"It's ok Clint," Natasha said as he started shaking "It's not real." She heard cars behind her. The gun at her side was up and aiming towards the road until she recognized the SHEILD agents coming towards them. "One moment." She said to her partner then got to her feet. She rushed to meet the agents and it was due to her reputation that all four of them froze, apprehension plastered on their faces.

"Where's Coulson?" she demanded. Clint cried out and the other men took their attention off her and looked towards her partner. "Where's Coulson!" She snapped louder, snapping them back to her.

"Here Romanoff!" Coulson approached and walked right past her towards Clint. Natasha didn't take her eyes off the agents in front of her. She saw one that she knew Clint liked. Adams, she thought his name was. She remembered that he had been one of her guards when she had first arrived at SHEILD. He wasn't a bad guy.

"Go," she said to him and he rushed over to help Coulson. "The rest of you back in the car." She commanded. "Prepare for clean up." They all looked dumbstruck but she held her glare. She was not going to let more agents than necessary see her partner in such a vulnerable state.

"Do what she says!" Coulson yelled from behind her and the men were quick to get back in the vehicle. "We'll have them come back to contain the area." Coulson said to Adams as they lifted Clint. "Thanks Romanoff," he nodded to her as they rushed to get Clint in the second car that Coulson had arrived in.

She followed and climbed in behind them. Adams took the wheel as another vehicle arrived at the scene. "There's the cleanup crew." Coulson commented. "We're on our way to meet up with the medics. We couldn't risk bringing them all the way in case there were hostiles." Natasha nodded then was catching Clint's fist as it shot out and probably would have hit Coulson square in the nose. He yelled out at being restrained.

"Thanks" he said to her with wide eyes. He was never more thankful for her quick reflexes.

"No problem," she replied struggling to help him hold her partner still. They didn't want him hurting himself or them.

"Did you breathe any in?" Coulson asked.

"I don't think so," she replied, "I haven't had any hallucinations." She caught his other fist that was attempting a shot at her temple.

"Ok," Coulson said, "let me know straight away if you feel any different Romanoff. Don't play around with this stuff."

"Yes sir," she barely managed to get out as they strained to push Clint back down into the seat.

It took both Natasha and Coulson to get Barton out of the car when they arrived. The medical team was ready to go but didn't rush them, they had learned quickly. All was looking good until Clint broke away and began to lash out at the medical team.

"Clint!' Coulson yelled and moved to jump in but Natasha was already on it. Barton whipped around and threw a punch at her when she tried to subdue him. She ducked quickly and tried to tackle him to the ground. What she didn't expect, was for him to use the momentum to turn them around and pin her down. The brief surprise allowed him to get his hands around her throat.

"Romanoff!" She heard Coulson approaching but, unfortunately, that meant that Clint did as well. He got off her with lightning speed and was engaging Coulson. The air burned as it rushed back into her body. Natasha quickly got to her feet and ran towards the medic team. She knew that Clint needed treatment as soon as possible and she was done playing around.

No one stopped her when she grabbed a bag and dug around until she found what she was looking for. The second her hand wrapped around it she heard someone hit the ground and whipped around to see Coulson on his back. Clint pulled Coulson to his feet and landed a hard punch to his handler's ribs. She winced when she heard the impact. Natasha ran to intervein and managed to tackle them both to the ground, this time being more aware. She rolled away from Coulson knowing that Barton would follow her lead.

They both recovered quickly, and Natasha had to move fast to avoid a fist directly aimed at her nose. Clint yelled out a frustrated scream at her and moved to attack again. She dogged and reflected as he fought like a caged animal. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Coulson move in to help but she shook her head.

The problem was that they had fought together so often that, even if he didn't recognize her, his body did. He reacted on instinct and every time she tried to get close to him he managed to stay away. Natasha knew that they were running out of time. It was time for a different approach.

Clint went to tackle her and this time she didn't stop him. The weight of him slamming into her knocked the air out of her lungs but she remained focused on her goal. The syringe was stabbed into his neck as he once again reached for her throat. He collapsed a second later and was quickly taken by the medics surrounding them. Coulson was by her side in an instant to help her to her feet.

"I'm fine," she wheezed as she was trying to breathe properly again. They walked over to where Clint was being loaded and Natasha felt a wave of guilt crash over her as she saw her partner's unconscious form. She had drugged him. She had done the thing that they both despised, something they both deeply feared.

"Natasha," Coulson's voice cut into her anxiety. "We needed to get him looked at. It was the right thing to do." She nodded but it didn't help much to ease the pressure quickly building in her chest.

"C'mon," Coulson said "let's get back." She nodded and followed him to the waiting car.