PRESENT DAY: NEW MEXICO
Katherine had been redirecting planes flight paths that went over the 084, per agent Sitwell's request, for the last two hours. It was mind numbingly boring. She'd expected the field to be more exciting than this.
"I think this could be considered a type of torture," Katherine muttered into the com when Sitwell wasn't in the near vicinity.
"At least you're watching inanimate objects that move. Mine is just sitting in the dirt." Clint sat on the platform above the hammer, his legs dangling over the edge as his arms rested on the lowest rung of the railing.
"Did you try shooting one of your fancy electronic arrows at it?" If nothing else it'd be a fun experiment to see what would happen.
"Coulson won't let me." Something about it possibly being unstable and not wanting to start an electronic version of a nuclear disaster.
"Bummer," Katherine said. "Honestly, this seems like a waste of SHIELD's resources. I mean even Eric could do what I'm doing, and he's level 3."
"But he wouldn't be as fun to work with. Besides, agents need to have at least a level 6 clearance to work on this." 084's were no joke in SHIELD. All of them were treated as potential threats, meaning you had to be trained up to a level 6 to work on one.
"At least they didn't send in Rumlow or Rollins." Talk about not as fun to work with.
"Coulson wanted the best and brightest, not just brawn." Rumlow and Rollins were known as the meat to Nat and Clint. They were mostly sent in to draw out the enemy like raw meat to guard dogs. While they kept the enemy busy, other agents would do the brain part of the operation.
"Yeah. One of my first jobs was helping Rumlow on a mission. Talk about leading a horse to water." Rumlow couldn't hack anything even when she fed him the code. "I gotta go. Sitwell's coming back to watch me play the most boring version of virtual keep away ever."
Katherine turned off her com so she wouldn't laugh at something Clint said while Sitwell observed her. She wouldn't put it past Sitwell to confiscate her com, and then how would she entertain herself? Her work was sporadic enough as it was, and not the most complicated of tasks.
"How's everything going?" Sitwell asked, coming to stand behind Katherine's chair.
"I've re-routed a dozen flights, including one headed to Orlando. Glad I'm not a parent on that flight." The parents probably thought they avoided the 'are we there yet' by flying instead of driving. They thought wrong with the layover Katherine just had to add to their flight.
"Right, keep up the good work," Sitwell responded. Clearly he wasn't used to anything more than a direct answer to his questions. He'd have to learn to adapt.
The rest of her first field day was relatively unremarkable. She rerouted more flights, drank more coffee, and talked to Clint when no supervising agents were around. As the sun set, the temperature dropped drastically and Katherine found herself reaching in the bag she packed for a pullover sweatshirt. As warm as the leather jacket would be, the sweatshirt was more comfortable. Plus it had pockets she could stuff her hands in when she wasn't typing.
They started pulling out the cots in the back room later in the evening, around the same time they handed out the night sleeping schedules. They couldn't leave the hammer unprotected, after all.
"What watch are you on?" Clint asked when he got his schedule. He had yet to come down from the platform he'd been sitting on all day, but he wanted to know what shift Kat got.
"The first. What about you?"
"Same. Looks like we'll be having a slumber party." He hoped he'd get the same shift as Katherine. She'd help keep things interesting, and keep him from dozing off.
"I just hope dinner is soon because I haven't eaten since before I flew out here." Although Katherine loved coffee, it wasn't a substantial meal.
The good news, not long after that they passed out food. The bad news, it was freeze dried in vacuum sealed bags. Coulson handed Katherine her bag.
"Is this the stuff NASA eats?" Katherine asked, tearing open her bag and reaching in for a piece.
"NASA wishes they had this," Coulson countered.
"No, they don't," Katherine gagged after taking a bite. The stuff was absolutely disgusting. If this is what it meant to work in the field, Katherine was rethinking the whole field experience thing. She could make it to level 8 without it.
"What flavor playdough did you get?" Clint asked as he sidled up beside Katherine holding his own bag of 'food.'
"Supposedly roast beef, you?"
"Turkey and gravy." That didn't sound much better than hers.
"Is there a vegan option?" she asked, turning back towards Coulson. "At least I know it can't taste worse freeze dried than it normally does."
Coulson heaved a heavy sigh. He wasn't paid enough to deal with Lee and Barton together.
"Don't one of you need to find your cot?" If he could just separate them it would be better. They wouldn't play off each other's sarcasm and no one would have to suffer through a joint attack.
"Nope, I'm on first watch."
"Me too," Clint said with a wide smile.
"God help us," Coulson murmured turning to find his cot. He'd let Sitwell deal with them on the first watch.
Forcing down the rest of their meal, Clint grabbed two cups of coffee while Katherine grabbed a laptop, and they climbed up to the top platform surrounding the 084. The spotlights made stargazing impossible, which was a shame because Katherine heard the desert was the best place to stargaze. Guess SHIELD wanted to prove that wrong.
"So, this is what you did all day?" Katherine asked, her shoulder brushing Clint's as she stared down into the pit below them.
"Pretty much. I suppose all missions can't be exciting. At least this one isn't physically taxing." If he was sitting around all day, at least he got paid for it.
"A lot of yours are." Every time she'd helped him on a mission, there was always a lot of action and fighting, and things blowing up.
"You just get to listen in on the fun parts." A lot of his missions are spent waiting and watching. It just happened he most often needed Katherine during the interesting parts. Not that he minded. He got to seem like a complete badass spy whenever she was on the other end of the com.
"I don't know, this is fun too," Katherine murmured, sipping her coffee. As much as she loved helping Clint out of a bind, she liked sitting and talking with no ninjas, guns, or imminent danger too.
…
"Stop what you're doing and meet me by the weapons van. Coulson's putting a team together to go into town," Clint demanded, causing Katherine to jump in her seat. She'd been close to dozing off as she waited for more flights to cross into her radar.
"How do you know that?"
"I can read his lips. And he is physically rounding up agents. So get someone to cover for you because we both need some real food."
Katherine wasted no time coercing another agent to man her computer. She met Clint outside just as Coulson divided up the agents between cars. He didn't notice them until Richards and a few other agents moved out of the way.
"You two are in separate cars," Coulson said pointing at Katherine and Clint. There was no way anyone could handle them together in such a confined space.
Katherine and Clint shared a look before moving towards separate black sedans. Richards, the big agent who pulled a gun on her yesterday, stood beside the car with the keys, waiting for the other agents to be divvied up.
"I'm driving," Katherine said, holding her hand out for the keys. When Richards didn't seem like he would give them up she added, "it's the least you can do for almost shooting me."
With a grunt of disapproval, Richards handed over the keys, albeit reluctantly. Smiling brightly, Katherine slipped into the driver's seat and clicked her seatbelt into place. She had to move the seat closer to the pedals so she could reach them. She knew she was short, but whoever had driven last must have been a freaking giant. Richards climbed into the passenger seat as she adjusted the mirrors. Once everything was set to her height, she looked to her left, meeting Clint's gaze.
"Last one there pays for food?" Katherine asked, confusing Richards until he realized she wasn't talking to him.
"Are you on a com?" Instead of answering him, she tucked her dark hair behind her right ear, showing the small black com in her ear.
"You're on," Clint's voice buzzed in her ear. She could just make out his smile before the agent in his passenger seat blocked him from her view.
"On three," Katherine said.
"What's on three?" Richards asked apprehensively, only to be met with a countdown that ended with Katherine slamming her foot on the gas and his whole body crashing back against the seat.
Coulson watched as Barton and Lee's cars sped off, leaving a cloud of dust behind them. Apparently separating them hadn't solved anything.
"I now realize that was a very bad idea," Coulson said as he put the truck into drive.
"You're insane, the both of you," Richards muttered, his left hand gripping the armrest and his right clinging to the handle above the door.
"We're fun, you should try it some time," Katherine quipped, trying to coax the car to go faster before she maneuvered it in front of Clint's, cutting him off.
"Do you think they have steak in town?" Katherine asked, her eyes flicking up to the rearview. She smiled when Clint's eyes met hers in the mirror.
"For your wallet's sake, I hope not." Whipping his car to the side, Clint slammed down on the gas pedal until he was beside Katherine.
They were neck and neck for most of the drive, but Katherine pulled ahead at the last minute, turning her car until it was stopped perpendicularly in front of Clint's. She waited for the dirt and dust to settle before stepping out of the car.
"Where'd you learn to drive like that?" Clint asked, rounding the front of the car and leaning back against the hood.
"My dad owned a race track. He had me driving at 13." Her mom put a stop of summers with him when she found out, but Katherine always had a love for driving fast because of it. "Come on, driving circles around you made me starving."
Shaking his head with a wry smile, Clint pushed off the car to walk with Katherine. Richards called after them about waiting for Coulson before leaving, but they ignored him. Coulson had enough muscle to do whatever he came to do.
"Are you sure Coulson won't be mad?" Katherine rather liked her job. She didn't want to be fired, or demoted back down to level six.
"We'll get him a milkshake and everything will be fine," Clint reassured her, holding the door to the diner for her.
The diner didn't have steak, but a double cheeseburger with large fries and a coke was good enough. Much better than the freeze dried food SHIELD had fed them last night.
"Small towns always fascinate me," Katherine commented, finishing off her fries as she people watched out the window they sat by. "Everyone knows each other, making professional and personal lines blend."
Doctors in a small town knew their patients for more than the length of time they treated them. Teachers saw their students more than just in the classroom. They were all each other's neighbors and family.
"Yeah, it's nice. Sometimes I miss it." He'd grown up on a farm in Iowa, remote but not completely isolated from the rest of town. "New York can get a little too fast paced and self-absorbed."
"DC's the same. A bunch of people in suits who think they keep the Capitol running on their own, with cell phones glued to their ears and briefcases always in their free hand." As if wearing designer suits automatically made them important. "But the free zoo and museums are nice."
"Is that how you spend your days off?" Clint had always wondered what Katherine did on her free time. Other than go on double dates at the Kennedy Center with Angie.
"When I can. Although right now I'm spending my days off rerouting planes so they don't interfere with a hammer and whipping your ass in desert car races."
"It's always a bummer when SHEILD calls you in on your time off." Tossing his napkin on his plate, he rose from his seat. "We should probably head back to the cars."
As much as he'd rather sit talking to Katherine all day, they were on the job. Grabbing milkshakes to go, they each carried a drink carrier as they made their way back where they left the cars. Rounding the corner they found agents loading computers into the back of the truck.
"There you two are. You know I could write you up for going AWOL, right?" Coulson said when Katherine and Clint stood before him. It wasn't a nice surprise to pull up and be told Barton and Lee had gone off on their own.
"We brought you a chocolate milkshake," Clint said, offering one of the cups to Coulson.
"Just get back to work," Coulson murmured, taking the milkshake.
Heading towards the building they were clearing out, Katherine stopped by Richards, handing him a milkshake.
"You seemed like a strawberry kind of guy," Katherine said when he stared at her in confusion.
"Thanks." Katherine smiled when he took the cup from her.
After distributing the rest of the milkshakes, Clint and Katherine helped move the remaining equipment into a van once the truck was full.
"Do we even know whose stuff we're taking?" Katherine asked after they'd set a large computer monitor in the van and had moved off to the side to allow the next agents to set their stuff down.
"My money is on her," Clint said, nodding towards the red-faced brunette who yelled at Coulson about how her lab was her life and he couldn't just steal it away.
"I feel bad. I know how long it takes to build computers from scratch. And we just stole a lot of homemade equipment." Not only did the girl lose her equipment, but she was also manhandled as one of the agents physically pulled her out of the van when she tried to get her notebook back. The poor girl was not having a good day
"Her research was a security risk. Coulson wouldn't apprehend it if it wasn't. At least he's paying her for it." The CIA wouldn't even pay for it, they'd just take it in the dead of night without a word. At least SHIELD wrote a check for the inconvenience. "Besides, now you might get to do something other than monitor for planes. They're going to need someone to access her research."
"Got to love silver linings." As much as it sucked for the girl, it might provide Katherine with somewhat of a challenge during this mission if she had any kind of security system on her equipment.
They didn't stick around long after Coulson's confrontation with the girl. Finished clearing out the lab, Coulson gave the order to head out. That time he let Katherine and Clint ride in the same car. Clint grabbed the keys from Coulson before he could change his mind and Katherine called shot gun, leaving Richards and another agent she didn't know to climb into the back seat.
A/N another chapter. I hope you guys enjoyed it. I'm trying to keep each one around the same length, but this one is a little longer than the others. Can't wait to hear what you think.
Onto Guest Review Responses:
To The guest who loves the banter: Thank you! I spend a lot of time brainstorming their conversations, things they might say to one another. It's a lot of fun. I'm glad you think it is natural and flows will all while keeping them in character. Hope you liked this chapter!
Electric Raven: I'm so happy you're enjoying my OC and that you're so confident in my ability to merge OCs with the canon world. I am thoroughly loving crafting this story. I've never written such a sassy character and I love playing Katherine's sass off of Clint. I love your points as to why this story isn't cheesy. I love slow burns and showing friendships merging into something more because I feel it creates a believable foundation rather than instantly loving someone. And I'm glad you mentioned this being a scenario that could have happened, because when this story idea came to me I couldn't not write it because I love exploring the inner workings of SHIELD and I love looking at agents who might not be the butt kicking spies and how they would interact with field agents. Thanks you so much for leaving your review. I love hearing your thoughts on the story! Also, I don't know how I update so fast. I've just been having so much inspiration for this story lately that my mind wants to write it.
Cheryl: Hope you're just as excited for this chapter!
Rach
xoxo