PRESENT DAY: NEW MEXICO

Agent Sitwell was irate when Katherine returned to the SHIELD hamster tunnels, and they hadn't thought to bring him a milkshake. Not that it would help. He seemed like the kind of person that was lactose intolerant as well as intolerant to fun.

"I asked her to join me. Being our data analyst I believed she'd be helpful retrieving the computer systems of Ms. Foster." To Katherine's surprise, Coulson came to her defense, interrupting Agent Sitwell's rant about respect.

"You should tell me before you pull agents under my authority," Sitwell quipped, turning to return to the agent Katherine had gotten to take over rerouting the planes.

"Thanks," Katherine said, turning towards Coulson.

"Next time ask your senior agent for permission before drag racing in the desert," Coulson said. "And if you really want to thank me, you could look into some of Ms. Foster's data to determine if we could use any of it."

"I'm on it." It would definitely beat rerouting planes.

Picking through the pile of electronics SHIELD had confiscated, Katherine spotted a hard drive amidst all the monitors and keyboards. Climbing up on the side of the truck, she leaned forward, reaching as far as she could for the hard drive. When she still couldn't reach it, she stepped into the back of the truck and waded carefully through the computer parts for it.

"I heard Sitwell really laid into you." Clint commented from behind her, causing her to stumble over a computer monitor.

"Yeah, Coulson helped put out that fire. Even though I'm pretty sure Sitwell is all talk." It was never fun to listen to a lecture from a senior agent.

"Coulson's cool like that." Crossing his arms and laying them on the side of the truck, he rested his chin on his hands as he watched Katherine pick through the computer parts. "Need any help?"

"Aren't you supposed to be guarding the hammer?" Katherine asked, turning to face him once she had the hard drive in hand.

"Coulson said he'd let me know via coms if he needed me," he said, tapping his right hearing aid. "So, I'm all yours, even if you don't need help, I've been told I'm great company."

"I'll happily take the company." Hopping down from the truck, Katherine led the way back to an unused corner in the air conditioned Plexiglas box SHIELD had set up.

They sat next to each other, their backs against one of the walls, while Katherine accessed the hard drive with a laptop. Kat's legs were crossed, balancing the laptop on her knees, while Clint's were spread out in front of him. He watched as she pulled up multiple windows and hacked her way through the password protected drive, her fingers flying over the keyboard.

"You make it look so easy," he commented when she got in and started pulling up files.

"I'm sure I'd say the same about your shooting skills." She had yet to see him shoot anything, but from what she'd read and heard, Clint never missed his target.

"Is that English?" He pointed to a file on the screen that looked like gibberish to him.

"I think it's Celtic," Katherine murmured, opening an internet tab and copy and pasting some of the text into the search bar. It was kind of cool to see her work firsthand rather than just hear the results over coms.

Katherine kept sifting through all the information on the hard drive, and there was a lot of information, pulling things she thought might be relevant to the hammer sitting in their makeshift base's courtyard. Most of the scientific stuff she wasn't fully grasping, science lingo didn't come as natural to her as computer code, but she could decipher enough to tell if it was worth keeping for further analyzation by SHIELD scientists.

"I know this can't be very exciting for you. I won't take offense if you ditch me." She'd been sifting through the files on the hard drive for hours, Clint miraculously sitting with her the whole time except when he left to get them water.

"Are you kidding, this is way more fun than watching the hammer," Clint insisted. Katherine was actually doing something. "Even though this girl has more files on her hard drive than my middle school principle had on me. And I had a very large disciplinary file."

Katherine could definitely picture Clint being a trouble maker and rule breaker when he was younger. He had to have started somewhere.

"Yeah, research really was her life," Katherine agreed as she sent off another chunk of files to the science team like she'd done sporadically throughout the day so as not to overwhelm them.

"Personally, I think a little action is good for the soul."

"She definitely wasn't getting any action." Hours upon hours of data and notes were logged, making tracking the girl's days fairly easy. She didn't get much interaction with actual people and her days didn't vary much either.

"I don't think she ever found that important balance between work and pleasure," Clint agreed as he looked over Katherine's shoulder as she sifted through more files and logs of field work.

"Says the guy who's on a mission every other week."

"The key is every other week. And aren't you the one who takes her work home with her?" Clint recalled several instances when Katherine would work his cases from her couch.

"Only on rare occasions," Katherine hedged, not wanting to admit it was only ever Clint's cases she worked on after hours. "I do occasionally have a social life." Most of her social life was thanks to Angie setting up happy hours and game nights, meaning she wasn't getting any action, but she did have one.

Clint was about to comment on that before he was distracted by shadows falling over them from the glass wall to their right. Dark clouds had rolled in seemingly out of nowhere and thunder rumbled in the distance. Katherine was just about to send off the next round of files when her connection became spotty, the screen becoming a jumble of colors and static.

"I guess this means I get a break," Katherine said when she couldn't get the connection back. She'd never had a thunder storm disrupt her internet connection. Not when using SHIELD's satellites.

She closed her laptop just as Agent Sitwell came storming towards Clint and her.

"Lee, I need you to get cameras back up, there's been a breach in the perimeter," Sitwell ordered.

"Connections are down sir, the only way to access the video feeds would be to tap into them remotely." Just as she said it, the sky opened up and it started pouring, the rain drops thundering against the Plexiglas to her right. "And electronics and water don't mix well."

"We're going in blind, Coulson," Sitwell sighed into the handheld radio. It was old school, which was Agent Coulson's style from what Katherine had heard. Sometimes old school tech was the best tech. The stuff was resilient and didn't rely on Bluetooth or internet connection.

"Copy that. The intruder was located on the western side of the compound. I've sent agents in."

Every guy Coulson sent in was bested by the intruder, and he kept getting closer and closer to the courtyard with the hammer. Katherine and Clint listened to it all go down via the radio. Whoever he was, he knew how to fight. SHIELD Special Forces were highly trained and it took a lot to take so many of them down. The intruder was either highly trained, or just really pissed and determined.

"I need eyes up high with a gun," Coulson ordered over the coms, which thankfully Katherine was able to get to work by switching them to the radio signals.

"Looks like I'm up to bat. Wish me luck," Clint said, zipping up his jacket and ducking out into the rain towards the weapons truck before Kat could offer said luck. At least in person. Slipping in her own com, she tuned into the channel Clint was on.

He'd already hopped onto the platform connected to a crane with his bow by that point. She loved how even when Coulson ordered a gun up high, Clint still chose his bow.

"Don't get struck by lightning up there," Katherine commented once she was connected, and was rewarded with a warm chuckle from Clint.

"I'll try my best KitKat." Using his sight to find the intruder, he pulled back the string of his bow and rested his left knuckles against his jaw. To Coulson he added: "do you want me to slow him down, or are you sending in more guys for him to beat up?"

"I'll let you know," Coulson said.

"I really wish I could see the smack down you're about to witness. Coulson just sent in Richards." If any of the agents on site could give the intruder a run for his money in hand to hand combat, it was Richards. The guy was huge.

"I'll do my best to provide accurate, yet entertaining narration."

"Barton," Coulson chided, reminding the two that they weren't alone on the coms as per usual.

"For the good of providing intel, of course sir," Clint amended, but Katherine could hear his smile through the coms. "Like how mud isn't slowing the guy down, but Richards seems to be fumbling in this wrestling match."

"How is that intel?"

"It's accurate and entertaining," Katherine countered, enjoying the mental image of Richards and the intruder mud wrestling in the storm.

With one final kick to the head, Richards was down and not getting back up anytime soon.

"You better call it, Coulson," Clint said, adjusting his hold on his bow. "I'm starting to root for this guy."

"Starting?" Katherine challenged, following behind Coulson until they were standing looking out at the hammer. The intruder, who was a huge dude with hippie-ish hair, had finally made it inside and stood staring down at the hammer. He was so close, yet Coulson wasn't doing anything.

"Last chance, sir." Clint took aim, waiting for the call, only to be surprised when Coulson told him to wait.

Katherine watched in anticipation, not sure what Coulson expected would happen. Then the guy wrapped his hand around the handle and pulled…and nothing. It didn't move an inch no matter how hard the guy tried. And he tried pretty hard. Coulson let the guy let out his frustration until he sagged to the ground before sending in agents to collect him. That time he didn't fight back.

When Clint made it back into their makeshift base his hair had water droplets clinging to it, a few dripping and trailing down his face. Katherine handed him the towel she grabbed once the intruder had finally been apprehended. He took it with a smile and a 'thanks.'

"And here I was beginning to think nothing exciting was going to happen on this mission," he commented as he dried off his hair and face with the towel.

"Too bad Coulson called it off before I could see your archery skills in action." Katherine had always wanted to see Clint in action after everything she'd read.

"The mission is still young. Wait and see if anyone comes to break him out." There were two ways someone could help break the guy out: using physical force like the guy had tried, or being crafty. The second was always Nat's favorite, but it was a lot harder to fool SHIELD than anyone else, especially when SHIELD had Kat.

While Coulson interrogated the intruder, Clint sat watching Kat searching the internet and different government databases for his identity. The storm had died down, meaning the internet was back up, and Sitwell was back to ordering Kat around. This time he wanted her to ID the guy who made their agents look like a sad excuse for mall security.

"Ugh," Kat grunted. "There's no trace of this guy anywhere. He doesn't even show up on a single traffic cam or kiss cam. It's like he didn't exist until three days ago. With all the cameras in the world something would have come up. All I have is this stupid Facebook picture of him eating in that diner in town."

She'd even tried venturing into the dark web, which was technically against SHIELD protocol, but she was desperate. Finding people usually wasn't this hard, even Romanoff had left evidence of her different covers on the internet. Kat knew because it was one of her jobs to delete it.

"Maybe he works for an organization that deletes their agents' identity when they're compromised," Clint suggested. He had no idea how someone would do that, but it sounded like a decent theory.

"We just got him, there's no way anyone's fast enough to delete every evidence of his existence that fast. They wouldn't even be able to confirm he'd been compromised yet." Not unless they were watching him try and fail. Even then, they couldn't scrub all his info in one dump. Not when you take into account all street cameras and drones that take random pictures of people every day.

"Hang on, I got something," Katherine muttered, pulling up an ID with the guy's picture stating he was Dr. Donald Blake. Of course it was completely fake, not only was the picture on the ID the same one Kat found on Facebook, but the real Donald Blake had a sizeable online presence. Which meant whoever made the ID wasn't a professional organization. Even the CIA could do better than that.

"Why would someone create a fake ID for him?" Clint asked, leaning over Kat's shoulder. Water droplets dripped off his jacket onto her arm, but Kat didn't mind.

"Because amateur hour is probably trying to break him out of here using this ID as a cover story."

Clint was impressed, though not surprised, that Katherine ended up being right, and someone came for the intruder using the ID that mysteriously popped up in her search. What was surprising was Coulson letting him go. Although it made more sense when he ordered agents to head into town to get some answers. If the guy wouldn't tell Coulson what he wanted with the hammer, perhaps he'd tell the guy who came to collect him.

"What would you say to another road trip into town?" Clint asked, leaning against the desk Katherine sat at. "One that entails a glass of wine and some light surveillance."

"Throw in a dish of bar peanuts and I'm in," Katherine smiled, pulling her ID from the computer.

"Are you always this easy to sway?" Clint asked.

"Only when I'm hungry. Food is a huge personal motivator," Katherine shrugged as she walked with Clint to the cars.

"So include food when asking for a favor. Noted," Clint smiled, holding the door to one of the SUV's open for Kat.

They were just pulling away when Kat threw her hand out for him to stop the car and rolled down her window. Sticking her head out she called back to the agents huddled by the stairs leading up to the hamster tunnels.

"HEY SITWELL, I'M HEADED TO TOWN FOR WORK PURPOSES. DON'T WAIT UP!" Katherine shouted.

"What was that about?" Clint asked once she closed her window and turned back towards him.

"Coulson told me to tell my superior officer before I go drag racing in the desert again." Technically he told her to get permission, but close enough.

"Lee," Sitwell's voice came over the radio anchored onto the dashboard of the car. "I didn't say—"

Before he could finish, Clint flicked off the radio and peeling out, sending sand flying behind them.

"I might not have a job when we get back." Despite that fact, Katherine couldn't help but laughing.

"Sitwell's all talk. Besides, SHIELD can't afford to lose you," Clint assured her, his eyes darting towards her, barely making out her smile in the dim dashboard lighting. He was telling the truth. No matter how many computer geniuses SHIELD had, Kat was, in his opinion, the best data analyst there.

"I'm not indispensable," Kat countered.

"Maybe not, but you'd be pretty hard to replace." He knew his missions wouldn't be as fun, or successful, without her on the other end of the com. "And if I haven't been fired for the things I've done, you won't be fired for this."

"What things exactly?" Kat asked, turning in her seat to face him, studying his profile. She knew Clint had a penchant for bending the rules, she'd experienced it via coms before, but she'd never done much digging on his disciplinary file at SHIELD.

"I once recruited my target instead of taking her out as ordered." Katherine let out a long whistle in response.

"Yeah I'd say that's way worse than not getting permission for a joy ride to town." At least Katherine was doing it to help with the mission. "How'd SHIELD take that executive decision?"

"Fury wasn't very happy about it, but it all worked out in the end. She turned out to be one of SHIELD's top agents. And a friend."

"A friend huh?" Katherine only knew of one friend that fit that scenario. "So you recruited Nat?"

"I'm not sure if I should be impressed or insulted by your deduction." It insinuated that his only other friend was Nat.

"How did you recruit her without her killing you?" Nat was a force to be reckoned with. Katherine couldn't imagine her letting anyone close enough to talk things out.

"Okay, now I'm insulted."

"I'll have to tell Nat you don't think she can take you the next time I work with her," Katherine retorted with a smirk and a raised eyebrow.

"Not even. I'm insulted you think so little of my social skills and capability to charm a girl."

"Oh, I have no doubt you can charm girls. But I don't see Nat falling for charm." Natasha seemed incapable of falling for men's charms, she was the one who did the charming.

"I actually don't know why she trusted me. I never asked her," Clint mused.

"Maybe it was your eyes," Katherine commented without thinking.

"My eyes?" Clint asked, taking his eyes off the road to send her a questioning look. They'd finally made it to town.

"Yeah, you have friendly eyes," she recovered, cleaning her glasses as an excuse to break eye contact with Clint. "Or she was impressed by your archery skills."

"I think she was more shocked than impressed. Most people now a days use guns. An arrow wielding assassin isn't too common."

"Why do you gravitate towards a bow rather than a gun?" Katherine asked as they parked in front of the local bar. "It's a lot harder to conceal a bow."

"Maybe I like being noticed." Clint's eyes glinted when they met hers.

"An assassin who wants to be seen, isn't that a bit counterintuitive?" Most assassins tried to blend in, not stand out.

"Not to me. A bow is quieter, I can reuse my ammo, and thanks to whoever makes SHIELD's weapons there are multi-use arrows that can do more than just kill."

"And here I thought you just wanted to be cool."

"I'm flattered you think I'm cool, KitKat." Clint winked as he held the bar door for her. Cigarette smoke wafted out, making her cough a little.

"Don't let it go to your head," Kat threw back once her lungs recovered. She really hoped the wine and intel would be worth the smoke inhalation.

A/N: Hey guys. Just got back from the beach where I completely unplugged (at least from writing) and got some good reading in. But I'm back now and I really hope you enjoy this chapter!

Guest review responses

To the guest who mentioned a typo in the last chapter being that Clint and Katherine have already meant and I said they hadn't met yet: That chapter was in the past. I jump from past interactions to the present, so it's really important to note the bold heading that states location and time period.

To the guest who wants more now: hope you enjoyed the chapter. Sorry I didn't update in a while, I was on vacation. Hope you continue to love the story.

Cheryl: Hey, glad you could catch up! And I'm glad you're loving the back story I'm adding for Clint here and there. I love adding little splashes of his past in and brainstorming what his past must have been like. I'm still working on all my marvel stories, including Anna and Bucky's and Steve and Emily's, I've just been coming up empty whenever I sit down to write them. I know what's going to happen next in some instances, but I just can't make myself write it out well. I'll get there eventually I promise, I'm always trying. But if I'm not feeling a certain story I just move to the next until I find the one my brain wants to work on.

Rach

xoxo