The next few days flew by. I did as I was told and raided the freezer at Clint's place. I don't know who cooked it but the pesto chicken pasta was amazing. While I was there I stopped to have a coffee with Laura and told her all about Riley. Coffee turned into picking Lila up from ballet lessons. Much to Clint's youngest delight. In training, I felt like I was actually getting somewhere at long last. Not only did I managed to punch Clint again, I also landed a kick as well. Natasha had been called away on a mission the day after Clint and me bonding over X-Box. She looked set to murder someone after she'd come out of her briefing. She stormed away muttering about killing the bitch this time. I didn't bother to chase her down or ask. When it was my business to know Natasha would let me know. Until then I was just another target for her to hit.
Jared was away again as well. All I'd gotten from him this time was a brief text saying he was going to be in Europe for the next few weeks. Not wanting to deal with being in an empty apartment by myself, I packed a few days worth of clothes and asked Riley if I could crash at his place for a bit His reply was that I didn't ever have to ask that. It had made me smile. I was worried I might have been pushing the boundaries a bit too much too early. But he didn't seem to care. Like Clint and I, his team were quiet this week. He'd be home by lunchtime most days leaving our afternoons free together. He wasn't a great cook either so he enjoyed the freezer raiding from Clint's place just as much as I had.
I was putting my workout clothes back in my locker with Clint leaning against his having a casual conversation. Coulson had told me Clint didn't know he was learning to fly with me yet so I had to keep it quiet as a surprise. I wasn't due in the hanger until 1400 meaning had most of the day to kill.
"So, you've got to be quicker on your feet and really step into the punch to get more power behind it." Clint was briefing me on where I went wrong this morning in our sparring. I had been listening until Riley walked into the locker room in just a pair of trousers. He must have just gotten out of the shower from after his gym session. I followed him out of the corner of my eye losing my train of conversation with Clint completely. Riley noticed it too and sent me small smirk in my direction. I was enjoying the view a lot. I might be staying over but I still hadn't got much of a glimpse of Riley except for him being shirtless. I, on the other hand, had no problems in underwear and a shirt. Usually one of his. We still hadn't had sex and waking up to his hot body every morning was going to be my undoing soon. I was hoping his too because he made it very hard to pull away from him this morning. If my 'Get the fuck out of bed right now' alarm hadn't gone off I might have even gotten my way.
"Hey." Clint snapped his fingers in front of my face. "Stop gawking at your boyfriend and pay attention to me."
"I'm paying complete attention to you Hawk," I lied dragging my gaze away from Riley's very attractive half naked body.
"And what did I just say?" Clint asked raising an eyebrow at me.
"That we're going out tonight, picking up another chick and having a wild threesome," I said casually, hoping it would distract him enough that I wouldn't get into trouble.
"Creative," Clint said dryly "What part did you hear last?"
"Stepping into the punch," I admitted with a short laugh "Sorry."
.
"Just fuck him for god sake," Clint switched to French. It'd been a small surprise when I'd found out he could speak it as fluently as Jared and me "Seriously, he's a guy. He won't complain. Pull his pants off, blow him and then have your fun."
"You aren't helpful," I said back in the same language. It took every bit of my self control not to let that mental image get into my head. I may combust if I thought along those lines too much. "He doesn't want to mess it up. But I'm going to combust soon though if nothing happens."
Somewhere in our little bonding session over X-Box the other day Clint and I seemed to have reached a new level of our friendship. Nothing was off bounds now. I had quickly found out how damn dirty Clint's mind really was. The man knew no limits.
"Then get a good vibrator," Clint kept going in French with a dramatic sigh "Tie him to the bed so he can watch you use it."
"Now who's being creative?" I laughed before switching back to English "Wow, that was a good one."
"I'm full of good ideas," Clint informed me smugly. "Trust me."
"Now those are dangerous words coming from your mouth," I laughed again "Trust you."
"Yeah, I know it's…" Clint got cut off by an emailing coming from his phone. Judging by the noise that went around the room it must have been sent to a lot of people. My own phone chimed a second later. Clint pulled his phone out frowning at the email as his fingers hovered over the screen.
"Aww fuck it all to hell." Clint's face screwed up in disgust. "No fucking way."
"What?" I asked peering over the screen. I couldn't read the email upside down.
There were various groans coming from around the room along with a lot of swearing. The locker room had been fairly packed as usual for this time of morning. Most people were having a shower after hitting the gym or just arriving for the day.
"Fucking Arctic Survival Course," Clint groaned looking horrified. "It's compulsory and we leave in an hour. Sneaky fuckers doing it when they knew we were all here. I bet the doors are locked so we can't escape from it."
"What's so bad about it?" I asked curiously. Well, there goes my first flying lesson with Clint right out the window. I hadn't heard much about any compulsory courses within SHIELD. I knew they'd come up eventually just not this quick. One agent was banging his head against his locker room. Riley had buried his head in his locker kicking his feet against whatever it was in the bottom of his locker. My guess this wasn't going to be fun.
"It's the worst four days of your life as a SHIELD agent." Clint sighed heavily locking his phone. "By the way, you were included in that list."
"No fucking way." I frowned reaching into my own locker and grabbing my phone. Sure enough, the email was there. STRIKE Teams Alpha, Bravo, Delta all had the first round. The rest of the STRIKE teams were to follow after we got back. Everyone's names were listed and to my slight horror, I was the only female going since Natasha was on a mission. She was going to be pissed when she came back having to do this by herself.
"I'm the only girl," I whined looking to Clint for help. "Come on aren't there rules in SHIELD about fraternisation and needing another female around with me? I mean SHIELD has something about killing your own partner if they go rogue for fuck sake."
"Where did you read that?" Clint looked torn between laughing and being horrified that I actually knew that. "Also, why am I not surprised you remember that of all things?"
"It was after my first day and it freaked me out!" I crossed my arms defensively kicking Clint's shin. My barefoot landed on his shin without a flinch from him.
"This is the same person who can't remember which buttons to push on the X-Box," Clint teased grabbing me in a headlock. I squawked in protest smacking his arm trying to wriggle out of his iron grip. With his strong arms, I had no hope. Clint gave me a hard nookie on my head, like an immature teenage boy. Again the man acted his shoe size.
"Let me go Barton." I elbowed him hard in the stomach. It hurt my elbow more than it hurt him. Did he really need such damn hard abs? His grip only tightened on me, along with him now laughing at my feeble attempts to escape. Thinking back to a lesson Natasha taught me very early, I didn't hesitate when I went straight for his groin. The effect was instant. He let go of me and dropped to the ground with a strangled groin, immediately cupping his balls. He rolled onto his back with a groan, glaring daggers at me.
"Fuck you and Natasha for hitting dirty." His voice sounded so strangled "I fucking hate you both. Fuck Natasha for making you a clone of her."
Everyone in the locker room was politely trying to ignore what was going on between us. I didn't miss the round of muted laughter that went through the room at the sight of the great Hawkeye lying on the ground clutching his balls. I had to bite my own lip to stop myself snickering. I offered my hand to him to help him up. Clint glared at it before begrudgingly taking it and getting to his feet. He gripped onto his locker hard trying to straighten himself up.
"All of a sudden I'm feeling like ASC is going to be a good training exercise for you." Clint scowled at me ."I can't wait. Get your shit together Lyngley and off we go."
Uh oh.
It was a mad rush to get my boots on and ready to go. Clint stood there tapping his foot impatiently, scowling at me the entire time. He didn't look impressed with me at all. I cringed and hoped I hadn't pissed him off for real. I was only starting to get the hang of having friends around. I wouldn't know what to do if he was really angry with me.
I didn't get a sympathetic look from Riley. He just shot me a look of 'That was the stupidest thing I've ever seen' as I scuttled out of the room behind Clint. I didn't miss the laughter going around the room as soon as the door shut either.
"Are they laughing at me or at you?" I asked tentatively hoping I actually hadn't pissed Clint off for real. I didn't mean to hit him as hard as I did. I just wanted him to let me go.
"Me." Clint looked back at me gruffly. Then his face split into a broad grin. "Gotcha."
"Asshole," I laughed giving him a shove from behind before I caught up to walk beside him. That was a relief. "I thought you were angry with me. Like proper angry at me."
"My balls are angry at you." Clint flinched as he readjusted himself. "You have skinny elbows. But no I'm not angry at you. I'm proud actually. I'm so very glad you didn't do Natasha's trick of biting me."
"I've never seen Natasha bite you." I rolled my eyes seeing if he'd admit he was bullshitting me or not.
Clint just made a noise of disagreement in his throat. He turned his left arm so his palm was facing upward, showing off a very impressive scar on his forearm I'd never seen before. It was a very clear set of teeth marks. I pulled a sympathetic face at the sight of the scar.
"Ouch."
"Yeah, the punch in my head hurt more when I asked her if she was current for her rabies shot though," Clint laughed shaking his head at the memory. "Nat is brutal. Actually, this reminds me of an idea. We should get someone else for you to spar with."
"Why?" I cocked an eyebrow at him.
"Because being against Nat and I all the time is going to give you a skill set a lot quicker than you realise," Clint explained. "So, if we put you with someone else you can actually see the progress you're making."
"I somehow feel you won't be getting a long line of volunteers for that," I said dryly. Truthfully, I didn't feel ready to face anyone else yet. My confidence while steadily growing every day had taken a beating thanks to Rollins. "Did you have someone in mind?"
"Rumlow actually," Clint said. I looked at him like he'd just grown two heads.
We'd come to the elevator so there was a brief pause as we stepped in. I still felt completely stupid telling the elevator where to take me so I let Clint do it.
"He's a big guy, not afraid to use his strength, but he won't kill you either." Clint kept going as he lent against the elevator wall explaining his choice to me. "He was dumb enough to say something about it in the shower yesterday morning about you. So this can his punishment."
"Aww, how sweet you guys talk about me in the shower," I said sassily. I hated being the centre of gossip. "Is this while you're all standing around naked checking out each other's bodies?"
"Why don't you come in and find out for yourself?" Clint's mouth turned up in a half smirk "Practice your invisibility."
"I have a feeling I could just walk in there and no one would know what to do," I chuckled, ignoring his jab at me about using my powers. "Take my phone in, snap some photos and make my own little album of happy snaps for nights alone. Have to say I'm enjoying all the big muscles walking around."
"My god you need to get laid," Clint laughed hard ."So badly."
"What did Rumlow say about me?" I changed the subject quickly from my sex life. Clint didn't need to tell me twice that I needed to get laid badly. His constant teasing wasn't helping either.
"That your ass is looking fantastic for all the training you're doing with us," Clint said. I didn't miss the brief flicker of annoyance cross his face. It looked like I had another protective older brother now. "So I told him he should come and spar with you and see how good your ass looks when it's kicking his."
"Yeah, it's not looking too bad," I said smugly glancing over my shoulder as if I was looking down at it. "I know I'm still skinny but there isn't anything on me that jiggles."
"You should walk out into the locker room in your underwear one day," Clint suggested with a smug smile playing on his face. "Nat doesn't get a reaction anymore. It's disappointing. I bet if you did it there'd be some stares and gawking."
"I am not parading around in my underwear," I said quickly. "What good would that do? Besides aren't you forgetting the fact that my boyfriend in the locker room most mornings with me and he'd probably shoot someone if they said the wrong thing."
"Fine walk into the men's shower then." Clint looked disappointed. "With your phone and take a photo then walk out without saying anything. That'll be funny."
"Only if you aren't in there naked," I teased. "There are somethings I don't need to see and you naked is one of them.
I was saved from any more embarrassing suggestions from Clint as the elevator opened to the hanger. As usual, it was busy. But we seemed to be the only STRIKE team there.
"So what's so bad about this course?" I asked curiously as we walked down the stairs onto the tarmac.
"It's four days of being cold, wet and miserable," Clint said with a miserable sigh. The look of disgust on his face let me know this really wasn't going to be fun. "Slogging through the snow and slush after being dumped in a cold river."
"It's Autumn?" I looked at Clint in confusion. "Where on earth are they dumping us to do this?"
"Somewhere in Greenland." Clint sighed heavily "I hate ASC. Actually, everyone hates ASC. The only time it was mildly bearable was when Jared did it with us one year. At least he can make a fire."
Wonderful. Being dumped in basically the Arctic circle. I suppose it could be worse. It could be the middle of December.
"So what actually happens?" I tried again to get some more information about this course. I knew it wasn't going to be fun. I just wondered if it was going to be SERE training, not fun or a whole new level of shit.
"We jump off the ramp of the Quinjet into a lake, then it's pretty much the quickest swim and run of your life to a shelter where SHIELD stores what you need for the next few days. It's not much beyond some winter gear, basic rations and a few weapons. There's a map, but I've done this so many times I know it back to front. It's a three and a half day hike to the rendezvous point. Which is spent slogging over a few mountains, through shitty terrain and a lot of mud and slush if it isn't snowing."
"This sounds like an entirely new form of torture." I screwed my nose up at Clint's explanation. Why did SHIELD have to come up with the craziest things? Oh wait, this was SHIELD we were talking about.
The hanger was packed a few minutes later as the rest of the STRIKE teams thumped down the stairs heavily. No one looked happy to be doing this. Especially on such short notice. Four days of hell here we come. At least I'd have a warm body to cuddle up with of a nighttime. Work or not, I'll be damned if I was going to shiver my ass off on the cold ground alone.
"Hang on." I thought about what Clint had just said. "We're jumping into a lake and then running to somewhere for supplies?"
"Yes?" Clint gave me a questioning look.
"What the hell do you do with your wet clothes?"
"You strip them off, grab a thermal blanket and warm yourself up," Clint said, explaining like it was the simplest thing in the world. "Then there's cold weather gear to change into."
"I'm a girl." I pointed out starting to feel stressed about this for an entirely new reason. "Going on this with 30 guys."
"And?" Clint raised an eyebrow looking confused again. He wasn't being a smart ass or a tease. He really did look confused about why I was stressing about this.
"I'm so not wearing suitable underwear for anyone to see me strip off," I explained. Suitable underwear was a bit of an understatement. I hadn't realised we were doing anything further for the day and put a sexy set on to see if I could tempt Riley when I finished work for the day. "I'm just staying in my wet clothes and freezing to death instead."
"Trust me, when you get out you won't be worried about that." Clint brushed off my concern. "No one is going to be looking. We're all going to be too miserable stripping out of our own clothes and getting warm."
"I'm wearing a hot pink thong and matching bra." I crossed my arms not feeling reassured at all.
"Oh." Clint seemed lost for words for a few seconds. "Well, I guess next time you'll remember to wear sensible underwear to work."
"It is sensible." I rolled my eyes at him resisting the urge to punch him "Just because I prefer to wear thongs and have everything match, don't knock my choice of underwear. No one else is supposed to see it except for Riley this afternoon."
"All the more reason for you to walk into the locker room in your underwear." Clint grinned smugly at me. "Since Riley isn't going to appreciate it, can I see it?"
Terrible flirt didn't even come close to describing Clint sometimes. I didn't even bother replying to his sassy remark.
With everyone gathered in the hanger, despite some people dragging their asses, everyone was loaded on a Quinjet and in the air within ten minutes. While I buckled into the back I looked at the pilot seat longingly. The pilot and his co-pilot were both there already with the Quinjet powered up and ready to go. Clint sat next to me and Riley discreetly scooted towards me so he could sit on the other side of me. A twinge of nerves definitely not due to this course started to kick in.
I hated flying if I wasn't the pilot. To the point where I would get airsick and spend most the flight gripping the armrest feeling on the verge of terrified. I knew how wrong things could go while flying. I started to pick at my nails trying to distract myself from what was about to come. It'd be a couple of hours of flying time as well which wasn't helping my nerves.
As the Quinjet started to taxi out to take off, I began to bounce my leg restlessly. Clint reached over and grabbed my knee, effectively stopping it.
"Stop picking your fingernails and bouncing your leg," Clint said lowly. "What's up?"
"Flying scares me when I'm not the pilot," I murmured back quietly so only he could hear me "Like to the point where I throw up."
"There are grates under your feet for a reason." Clint tapped his foot against the grate for good measure. "Just go to sleep. You're going to need all the sleep you can get before this."
"I can't." I couldn't help but feel like a whining child as I said that. "I'd seriously prefer Jared teleporting me somewhere than flying. I hate Jared teleporting me."
The Quinjet bounced as the pilot took off. I gripped the edge of my seat, knuckles going white from my death grip. Riley hadn't noticed my discomfort yet. He was talking to Sam who was sitting next to him. There were a few more bounces before the pilot landed again very shakily. Great, we had a rookie pilot judging by the lack of takeoff. I couldn't help it, soon as the wheels hit the ground again I was unbuckled out of my seat and heading straight for the cockpit. There was no chance in hell I was going to not fly there. Clint called after me but I ignored him. What I was about to do would probably get me into big trouble. I couldn't sit still for a moment longer and not at least try to make this smoother for everyone.
"Hi, sorry," I said in a rush as I lent over the pilot seat. "Look, I can't deal with a rookie pilot who can't take off. Can you do everyone a favour and move so I can fly?"
"And you are?" the co-pilot looked at me with a furrowed brow. "Do you even know how to fly?"
"Yeah, better than both of you probably." I couldn't keep the smart ass tone from my voice "Agent Kari Lyngley. I know I'm being rude but I really can't deal with anyone else flying."
"Oh. the Raptor pilot that Ian was training." The co-pilot lost the look of being annoyed instantly "This is meant to be a training flight for Recruit Tablor here."
He didn't have a lot of conviction in his voice. The recruit looked really young and just as nervous as I felt. I pitied the poor guy. He currently had the pressure of three of four top STRIKE Teams sitting in the back of the Quinjet.
"Recruit Tablor can fly home without the pressure of a jet full of STRIKE personal in the back." I tried to charm my way into getting my own way. "Probably be a hell of a lot less stress. Recruit Talbor can co-pilot until I'm ready to drop if that makes it any easier?"
"Fine by me." The co-pilot didn't need much encouragement as he unbuckled himself from the chair. "I'll be in the back if you need me."
Talbor quickly got himself out of the pilot's chair and slid over to the co-pilot chair. I glanced in the back to where Clint was shaking his head at me, laughing quietly. Riley was watching me looking concerned. I ignored his questioning look, keen to get in the air before the instructor changed his mind about me flying.
"Right, we ready?" I turned to face the front again. Talbor nodded, still looking nervous "Sorry, I know I'm being rude and pushy but I'm a bit of a control freak."
"No, it's fine." Talbor cleared his throat uncomfortably. "I should thank you actually. I was so fucking nervous doing this."
"You and me both," I said dryly as I got the Quinjet up into the air smoothly this time. The coordinates were already set in the flight computer so it was just a matter of following the flight path. "First time?"
"First time with passengers." Talbor was watching my every move with great interest. "Were you really a Raptor pilot?"
"Yeah, SHIELD is better paying though." I smiled at him. It was only a half lie, but I didn't feel like explaining myself too much.
Talbor was quiet as we got into the air. But he was watching my every move. I kept the Quinjet off autopilot to keep myself occupied on the few hour flight. I half expected him to get his notepad out and start taking notes. I can remember being like that. The first time I'd actually gotten to sit in the Raptor I thought I was either going to pee my pants from nerves and excitement.
Unlike the front which was silent, the boys in the back were very loud. There were about five conversations going at once which I was listening to bits and pieces. Clint had gone to sleep stretched out in his chair. He looked really uncomfortable and nearly ready to fall on the floor from his sprawled position. Seeing me glance in the back, Riley got up and walked up to the cockpit.
"Can I get a few minutes alone?" Riley asked politely to Talbor. The recruit was far too eager to get out of his seat. He nearly tripped over his own feet in haste to vacate the seat. Riley was nice enough not to laugh at him within earshot. He took the co-pilot chair, stretching his long legs out in front of him.
"Poor kid," Riley chuckled ."So, scared of flying are you?"
"Only when I'm not the one in control," I admitted with a sheepish grin. "Remember I know what can go wrong, and how quickly it can go wrong. It really freaks me out now. I used to love flying before I learnt to fly."
"I will never ask because I happen to like flying." Riley put his arms behind his head leaning back in the chair. "So ready for the next four days of torture?"
"I'm more worried about the hot pink thong and bra I have on that everyone is going to see. It was meant for your eyes only." I dropped my voice so no one else would hear it. Riley snorted in laughter but didn't comment on my underwear choice. "This is going to suck on a new level of suckiness isn't it?"
"Well, it's not Hell week but it comes pretty damn close," Riley admitted with a small shrug. When I looked at him blankly he explained his last comment. "Hell week in SEAL training, never heard of it?"
"Oh," I said feeling like an idiot. Of course, I'd heard of it. The kept everyone awake for an entire week doing drills. I'd heard you spent most of it exhausted, chaffed and wanting to die. "Yeah, I'm with you. Sorry I keep forgetting you were a SEAL. You won't show me any photos of you in uniform."
The last part was said teasingly. Riley rolled his eyes at our small joke together. Unlike mine, his apartment was bare of any photos. It was a typical bachelor pad. The enormous flat screen TV took up most of the lounge room wall. What the TV didn't take up was stuffed with books. Combined with an even bigger stuffed couch it that was big enough even I could stretch out on it comfortable. The awesome surround system topped it all off. It was pretty short on anything of a more personal touch though. With all the time he spent away with work I could see why decorating was low on his list of priorities.
"Well, if you come to Mom's place with me for Thanksgiving if we aren't working you can see them" Riley teased back. But there was a small undercurrent of nerves in his voice. We hadn't discussed this yet. His mom and sister lived in Minnesota. Riley hadn't seen either of them since Christmas last year. He was hoping to have this Thanksgiving off so he'd be able to get home for a few days.
"Sure." I didn't have to think about my answer. "As long as you can put up with Christmas at my parent's place in New York. Actually no scratch that. We have Christmas alone this year, they're going back to Nebraska to my grandparents until New Year. I'll have an excuse not to go this year."
"How bad can it be?" Riley asked.
"Probably as bad as Hell week," I said dryly. "I've never taken anyone home before so it'd be a whole new level of torture for you. My Grams can read minds by the way. It can get really annoying."
"I'm very glad you can't," Riley said with a small chuckle "Because that would just be crazy. Seeing you conjure ice out of thin air is plenty of excitement for me. I'm not sure I'd like you being able to read my mind."
"Right now I'm guessing you're still picturing me in my underwear?" I teased. "Maybe I inherited a little bit of ability from Grams."
"Oh yeah, busted," Riley laughed. "I did catch a glimpse this morning of your plain underwear while you were brushing your teeth. Even that was an amazing view. I swear you did that on purpose."
"I didn't actually, but you're welcome." I felt smugly proud of Riley saying my ass was an amazing view. "How amazing of a view was it?"
"I had a boner nearly all the way to work. It wouldn't go away," Riley admitted with a groan. "I felt like I was 15 years old again seeing a flash of boobs for the first time."
Riley had left for work about five minutes before I had. I'd heard him run back to the bedroom for a second after he said goodbye. I didn't think he'd actually lingered long enough to get a good view. Clint had pushed our morning training sessions back until 0730 because Laura was working night shift at the moment. It gave him enough time to get the kids organised enough for before school care. It was nice to be able to have a small sleep in.
"You wouldn't have had that problem if we'd woken up a bit earlier," I teased Riley again. "I wouldn't have said no."
"When we get back we can help each other feel warm again" Riley suggested with a small grin "It might take a few hours but we should give it a go."
"What happened to waiting?" I asked with a cocked eyebrow. I couldn't stop my own grin forming on my face. My body was agreeing with him very strongly. This was going to be a long four days.
"Someone keeps trying to get into my pants every night and morning and walking around in her underwear." Riley pointed out with a laugh. "I'm getting a very strong hint that she might need something taken care of before she combusts. Plus you are making it very hard to resist you."
"That's because I'm irresistible," I said proudly. I hoped he was being serious about this.
"That are you." Riley confirmed with a chuckle. "Completely and utterly irresistible."
The rest of the flight was spent with us bantering back and forth. Rumlow came up and joined us briefly but quickly left when he realised he wasn't going to be included in the conversation. I did manage to get a dig in to him about noticing my ass looking good. In return, he assured me of a complete ass kicking when we got back. I had no doubt I was going to have my ass handed to me when we sparred. I'd barely noticed a few hours had passed until we were on top of our location. I dropped the Quinjet nearly all the way to the ground. We were hovering at twelve feet above the huge expanse of lake. Even in the growing darkness, it wasn't hard to make out the floating chunks of ice on the surface. Nor miss the three feet of snow drifts piled up along the banks.
Fucking cold didn't even begin to describe what was about to come. Someone opened the ramp, sending the arctic blast through the Quinjet. I reluctantly handed the controls back over the recruit and his instructor. Both looked smug that it wasn't them about to jump out of the jet. Clint had woken up as soon as the ramp was open and he wasn't looking happy. I stood next to him, keen to procrastinate for as long as possible.
"Anything I should know?" I asked wrapping my arms around myself to ward off the blast of cold wind. Nothing was going to stop my teeth chattering. It was so fucking cold.
"Jump feet first". Clint was already shivering. "Don't freak out when you can't breath when you hit the water. It's normal, focus on swimming for the surface. There are SHIELD divers down there if you get into trouble."
"That's reassuring," I muttered sullenly watching the first few guys jump off the ramp. No one was in a hurry to actually get this part over and done with. Rumlow wasn't being shy about giving a few of his team a push if they lingered too long. Riley gave me a small smile before he went over.
"Swim and once you get out don't stop." Clint gave me a grim smile. "As soon get to the cave, get out of your wet clothes straight away and get a thermal blanket over you. Wanna hold hands when we jump?"
"Is this so I don't chicken out?" I asked with a short but unamused laugh.
"Me either," Clint admitted with a wry smile. "I fucking hate this."
Everyone else had jumped by the time Clint and I had made it to the ramp. I stood on the edge peering out into the growing twilight.
"Ready?" Clint asked holding his hand out.
"Not a chance." I grimaced but took his offered hand. I squeezed my eyes shut and we both stepped out into nothingness. Unlike the excitement of free falling during a skydive, this was a stomach dropping fall. With a very sudden stop at the end. Clint's hand was ripping from mine as soon as we hit the water.
My body was frozen on impact. I was so cold I couldn't breathe, I couldn't move, there was nothing I could do but float in the icy water feeling helpless. It wasn't until a starving need for oxygen made my legs start to frantically kick for the surface. I hoped I was going in the right direction. The cold made it impossible to open my eyes under the water. It was only a few short kicks and I broke free from the water. Gasping for breath and flailing on the surface, I finally opened my eyes. There was a large cave with a fire already going not far from the shore. I forced my heavy limbs to cooperate as I swam towards the edge of the lake. It wasn't a long swim, but I don't think I'd ever swam so slow in my life. As soon as my feet hit the shore I didn't care what anyone else was about to see. I started stripping my clothes off with my shaking and numb hands. I'd only managed to peel my outer shirt and singlet off by the time I made the cave, but it was better progress than nothing. Clint was right behind me, swearing his head off as he tried to get his own body working and clothes off.
My hands were shaking so badly by the time I got to get my pants off I didn't think I was going to get them undone. But I managed to slide them off, yanking them off over my boots. I grabbed a waiting thermal blanket and huddled into it miserably.
Clint was right that no one was going to look. Everyone was looking cold and miserable as they huddled around the fire for warmth. Me standing there half naked didn't even cause anyone to look up. As soon as I had the thermal blanket wrapped around me I stripped off my soaking wet underwear as well.
"Boots," Clint said to me huddled in his own blanket, lips blue and teeth chattering like crazy. "You'll get frostbite otherwise."
I didn't argue. I worked my laces and stepped out of my wet boots and socks. The floor was freezing underneath my feet. I hopped from foot to foot until my bare feet got used to the change in temperature. The fire was putting some warmth out in the cave. Enough so my wet feet didn't freeze to the ground.
Everyone was silent except for the chattering teeth for ages. The night seemed to close around us very quickly and soon the only source of light was the fire giving off a brief glow. The temperature dropped dramatically as the stars came out. It was a perfectly clear night, not a wisp of cloud in the sky. It was going to be fucking freezing. Even through the thermal blanket I could feel the temperature dropping dramatically.
"Come on we need to get dressed." Clint's teeth were still chattering. He nodded in the direction towards the back of the cave. "Ladies first."
"Off you go then," I joked hiking the blanket up further around me. Clint just shot me a barely amused look. While I wasn't as cold as before I was still very uncomfortable. I wasn't going to object though. I followed Clint back to where all the gear was stored.
"I seriously hope they gave you something that's going to fit." Clint paused for a second looking concerned. "Well, if everything else fails you can tie your pants up with string."
"Yay for being tall and skinny." I screwed my nose up.
Everyone else was slowly beginning to move. At the back of the cave, there were supplies all nearly lined out. Jackets and clothes were hung up on racks making it easy to access. Clint and I both made a beeline for those, rifling through the clothes until we both found something to fit us both. I was so thankful someone had put in a set of very obviously smaller size gear that would fit me. At least SHIELD weren't total assholes about that. By this point I was so cold I didn't care about dropping the thermal blanket and pulling over the first layer of clothes. Clint was shielding me from most of the view anyway. The thermal underwear started to warm me up straight away. I pulled on the rest of my layers quickly and made my way back to the fire, my laces still undone on the insulated boots I found.
"Nice underwear," Clint reached over and whispered to me when he came over to the fire.
"I know, how awesome does my ass look?" I said back with a quiet laugh.
"It's getting there," Clint said teasingly. "We'll start doing some more weights when we get back."
"Great," I said half heartedly. Part of me was keen to start hitting the gym harder. The other part of me was so tired and sore already I didn't think I'd be able to do any more work than I was already doing.
"In the meantime." Clint fished into his pocket and held something out for me. "I stole these while no one was looking. Wanna go outside?"
It was a Mars Bar. I could honestly kiss Clint right now. Chocolate just made everything better even in a shitty situation. I didn't object to going outside if I had chocolate. Taking the offered bar, Clint and I both walked away from the group. We were far away enough to still be in yelling range, but away enough that no one would hear our conversation.
"I didn't see you swipe them." I broke the silence as I cleared away a patch of snow with my foot so I could sit down.
"I used to be a very good pickpocket," Clint admitted with a small half smile. "As long as someone was within arms reach, I could get it.."
"Another thing you have to teach me." I finally had enough snow moved so we could both sit. I plonked myself down on the cold ground. "Among everything else."
"You'll get there." Clint sat next to me unwrapping his own Mars Bar. "You can't be as awesome as I am so quickly."
"Whatever," I snorted. "So why are we sitting out here in the cold?"
Clint was silent for a few moments besides a shrug. I was content just to sit back and devour my own chocolate in his silence. Clint was picking pieces of his Mars Bar off and very slowly eating it.
"There are too many people," Clint admitted finally when he was finished his chocolate. "I can usually deal with one team, but yeah it feels crowded with all the guys in there. You can go back in if you'd like."
"Nah I'm good," I said unashamedly licking my gloves which had chocolate on them. "Besides, why would I go inside when I have you to annoy?"
Our conversation the other day about us outcasts and sticking together had really stayed with me. For all Clint and Natasha had done for me, the least I could do was sit out here with Clint. The fact he'd swiped chocolate for us had made it even better. I felt the same way anyway. There were far too many people inside, most of them I barely knew. I didn't want to sit in the corner by myself. Or linger on the edge of conversations that I was only being involved in out of politeness.
"So what happens from here?" I prodded gently trying to his more conversation out of Clint. This was the quietest I'd ever seen him. For Clint to be so quiet I didn't doubt the next few days were going to be torture.
"We sleep here tonight." Clint sighed stretching his legs out in front of him. "Then, first thing in the morning we start walking. We sleep in about two hours blocks but other than that it's pretty much a solid trek there."
"We don't camp for the night?" I asked furrowing my brow.
"Not if we want to get home in the next three days," Clint said grimly. "If nothing else SHIELD packs a shit load of coffee for these things. Not much else though. You live off chocolate and coffee for the next few days to keep your body going. If you promise to piggyback me, I'll carry you when you are tired."
"You weigh like 200 pounds," I laughed at him "How the hell am I meant to carry you?"
"I weigh 190 thank you." Clint shoved me playfully. I smiled at him quickly being back to his normal self. "Not quite at the 200 mark yet. You're like 100 pounds. I have bow's with bigger draw weights than you."
"I'm 125, well I think." I shoved Clint back. "I haven't weighed myself since I started. Part of me doesn't want to know."
"Give yourself a week after getting home from this," Clint suggested. He picked up a pile of snow in his hands and started to pack it into a snowball "I guarantee you'll lose a shit load of weight doing this. Not only from the hiking but shivering your ass off of a nighttime."
"I'm crawling into Riley's sleeping bag with him," I said casually, waiting to see what kind of reaction I got. "At least two of us will be warm."
"Only when everyone is asleep," Clint didn't bat an eyelid at my cheek. "Until then you can crawl into mine. They don't give out enough sleeping bags for everyone so you end up sharing anyway. It's meant to be team building or some bullshit like that."
"That fucking sucks," I grumbled. Of course, that was the case. Why would SHIELD make things easy for us?
"Don't do that either, someone will hear it," Clint teased me "Catch."
He tossed the snowball at me. Even from a short distance, I reacted, freezing it and letting the ball of ice drop the ground. Using that part of my power was easy in conditions like this. There was so much moisture in the air and on the ground to play with. It made everything very easy to manipulate.
"You've gotta be quicker than that Hawk," I laughed at the disappointed look on his face. I formed a ball of ice in my hand and casually tossed it back and forth. Clint watched the ball of ice with a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips.
"How big can you make that?" He asked curiously, motioning to the ball in my hands.
"Pretty big probably." I shrugged stopping my throwing of it back and forth. I concentrated for a second and made the ice form around the ball more to make it bigger. I made it as big as my palm and it was getting hard to hold. "It's easy in a climate like this. There's a lot of moisture I can use to manipulate it how I want it."
"Show me how big you can get it." Clint rested back on his arms watching me with intense interest "I bet you could basically make a shield out of it if you made it thick enough."
I dropped the ball of ice to the side and furrowed my brow in concentration. I'd never really tried to make a shield before. It took a lot of concentration to start building a wall of ice in front of us. Once I got it going it was easier just to keep building the layers until it was a few inches thick and over our heads. I had to stop once I got it that high. I was sweating and trying not to breathe too heavily from the effort it took to maintain it.
"And make it go away?" Clint looked at the wall in front of us. He reached out to touch it as if to find out if it was real or not. His gloved hands came away damp from the moisture.
"That's the easy part." I smiled and pushed my power into it until the entire thing shattered into thousands of pieces.
"So why is breaking things so much easier?" Clint picked up one of the smaller pieces of ice and played with it. "I was really surprised when you did it to my arrow. I barely saw it freeze before it shattered."
"Because it is," I said, trying to think of the easiest way to explain this. Dad had told me years ago the actual physics behind it all. It was mind breaking how complicated it actually all was. "Everything has a limit to the energy that can be poured into it. Once that limit is reach everything breaks. It doesn't take a lot of control to do. Jared can do the exact same things with his fire. Except his just turns to ashes instead of shattering.."
"I've never seen Jared use his fire as anything but a party trick." Clint was still turning the piece of ice over in his hands. "He'll light fires and that kind of stuff to show off. But he doesn't use his offensively. Any clue why?"
"I think it's because his is a lot harder to control," I explained. "His doesn't actually burn unless he wants it to. So say we're roughhousing. He can grab my arm and make flames go up it but it doesn't actually burn me. He has to really want something to burn before it does. The problem then is that once the flames get out of his control, he has no way of stopping it. He's always had better control over his powers than I have though."
"Hence why you need to practice," Clint chided me, handing over the piece of ice ."I am going to keep nagging you about this until you do it."
Although it was said teasingly. I didn't have a doubt in my mind about what Clint was saying. I knew I needed to practice it. My first mission made that abundantly clear about that. I threw the piece of ice up in the air before catching it.
"I may as well practice it while I'm here doing this bullshit hike," I said with half a smile pulling on my lips "At least up here it doesn't matter what I freeze. Everything is nearly frozen anyway."
"That's the spirit" Clint stood up and dusted his pants off "I need food and I plan on racking out early. Coming?"
Authors Note
So I had this chapter written out 2 weeks ago, and the next one to follow half finished. Then I had an anxious moment that it wasn't making the story go anywhere. So I wrote it again…and again…and then completely redid the next 2 chapters. Then decided I hated the alternative and came back to this.
I'm hoping people like it. I enjoy Kari playing with her powers a bit more. Smart ass Clint is always good fun as well. I really enjoy developing their friendship. Nearly as much as I think Riley is cute. He wasn't meant to be in the story as much as he is original. But I drifted a little bit from the original story in my head, and well here he is.
I hope to get the second part of this chapter up in the next few days. Life has been a little hectic here and won't settle down for another few weeks. I'll aim to get at least one update a week but can't guarantee anything.
As always, enjoy! Please review, favourite or follow. I like receiving all of those things.
Edited 6th June 2018
