JANUARY 2011: TRISKELION
"Communications, how can I help you?" An agent answered the call coming in from the field, already opening up the directory so she could transfer the call to science, tech, or black ops as needed.
"I need to talk to Agent Lee," Clint demanded, automatically adding, "It's urgent."
"Agent Barton," the agent sighed. He was the only agent who ever asked for Agent Lee directly.
"The one and only." The agent's fingers clacked against her keyboard as he waited for her to patch him through. Urgent usually made them move faster than the sloth's pace she was going.
"Agent Lee is working on another case. I'll patch you through to a free agent."
"I'll wait for her," Clint insisted before the agent could hit the transfer button.
"It could be a while, and you said it was urgent," she pointed out in a flippant tone.
"Urgent as in important, as in it needs Agent Lee to help me with it because she's the best." Despite actually needing tech help, Clint preferred to wait for Kat. She was more fun. Plus, last time he'd gotten a level 3 noob who'd taken forever to solve a passcode which resulted in graze wounds from enemy bullets.
"You do know she's not your personal tech assist, right Agent Barton?" Because by the number of times Barton's files had ended up on Lee's desk, she started to think he believed she was. "I'll patch you through to another agent."
Clint didn't want another agent, but before he could say a word against it he was transferred to another, less competent, less entertaining agent.
"Agent Martinez, how can I help you?" The voice was definitely female, meaning they hadn't given him the newbie agent again. Still, it wasn't Kat.
"I need text from a file translated from computer to human."
"You sound grumpy. Usually Kat's all smiles when she's helping you." Angie had been intrigued when Clint Barton's name popped up on her dashboard. She'd never worked with him before, and she was curious if he'd live up to the hype Kat built up when talking about him.
"Angie?" Clint never knew Angie's last name, just that she was Kat's best friend and worked the tech department with her.
"You do catch on fast. I take it Kat's told you about me."
"Here and there. Sorry, I'm sure you're more than capable, it's just—"
"Kat's more fun to talk to and you've got a repertoire going. I get it." Angie finished for him, accessing the file that popped up in her air drop folder. "Unfortunately, she's stuck trying to help Tweedle-dum."
"Who?"
"Rollins. She pulled the short straw this week and had to take the black-ops calls."
They all hated helping the black-ops crew. Not only were they arrogant, but they were also impossible to teach anything tech related. There was no meeting halfway when working with black-ops. You had to do all the work for them and hope you didn't lose remote access to whatever they needed you to work on.
"I see. In that case, I hope she's got a translator handy that is fluent in meat head and she has one of those squishy stress balls."
"I'm planning on buying her chocolate afterwards. Now I'm really sorry, but unlike Kat, I need silence to work." She didn't want to be rude, but translating the code was hard, and it was made all the harder when she had to try and concentrate on it and what Clint was saying.
Clint waited in silence while Angie worked, wondering if Kat tried to small talk with other agents, because working with him had made it a habit. Or perhaps she always small talked with agents, and it was nothing new once she started helping with more of his missions. He liked to think it was kind of like their 'thing.'
"Alright, done," she said when she broke through the code. "Any last words before I close this file out?"
"Tell Kat I said hi," Clint said as he accessed the now unscrambled file.
"Tell her yourself. I added her direct line to the end of the file." Angie hung up without saying goodbye, a huge smile on her face. She could see why Kat loved matchmaking her and Jensen. It was kind of thrilling.
Guess who I just worked with. Angie messaged Kat.
Can you call it working when it's Jensen?
Can you call it working when it's Barton?Cause with his constant sarcastic quips, I don't know how you do it. I had to tell him to shut up, politely, so I could focus.
You got to work with Clint?Kat met Angie's eyes with a disgruntled look. That meant if she hadn't gotten black ops today she could have worked with him.
Don't worry I suspect you'll hear from him soon ;)
What did you do?
Something you should have done a long time ago. You almost done with Tweedle-dum?
God I hope so. It took hours of pain staking patience to work with Rollins, but they seemed to finally have reached a breakthrough. About time, Kat was in desperate need of a coffee break.
She'd just sat down with a fresh cup of coffee when an unfamiliar number popped up on her dashboard. Slipping on her head set, she answered without hesitance. It wouldn't be the first time SHIELD had an agent undercover whose identity was hidden from even the data analysts.
"I hear you spent all morning talking Rollins through his mission." Kat smiled at Clint's greeting.
"Angie gave you my direct line?" Kat guessed. Her earlier comment about hearing from him soon made more sense now.
"After she broke the news about Rollins to me," Clint said, using a flashlight to flag down the extraction team. "I gotta admit, it hurt when communications said they couldn't patch me through."
"I'm sorry." Kat clasped her hands on her desk, preparing to break the news as if he could see her, "I didn't want you to find out this way, but I'm helping other agents."
"I'm disappointed you can't remain monogamous, but I respect your wishes to have an open relationship. As long as I'm still your favorite agent."
"Trust me when I say there is no other agent quite like you."
PRESENT DAY: NEW MEXICO
Kat ordered a glass of white wine from the bar, figuring if she was already in the doghouse with her superiors, she might as well get a buzz for the lecture waiting her when they returned. Besides, they needed to blend in, which was hard enough to do in a small town bar where everyone knew each other. They didn't need to stand out more by only ordering virgin drinks or water.
"Wasn't that guy with the doc we took the computers from?" Clint asked, nodding down the bar where the blonde who tried to steal the hammer sat.
"Yeah. Which makes sense. The alias he used was Doctor Donald Blake, an ex of Jane Foster."
"How do you know that?"
"Facebook," Kat said, showing Clint her phone. "He's in her profile picture from 5 years ago. Which is apparently the last time she took a vacation. If you can call a conference on med tech a vacation."
"I think she has a type," Clint said. The real Donald Blake was a muscular blonde as well. "So did you hack her Facebook on your phone?"
"I didn't have to. Her account is public. Not that setting it to private can keep even an entry level hacker out." Facebook cared more about selling your information than protecting it from hackers, which was exactly why Kat didn't have one.
"So what does it mean that the fake Doctor Blake doesn't have any trace of an online fingerprint?"
"He could be a spy, or one of those weird anti-all-things-technology guys."
"So he's a paradox."
"Hopefully not for long." Time to test out her acting skills.
Downing the rest of her wine in one gulp, Kat rose from her chair, taking care to wobble a little as she approached the bar. Reaching between the mystery blonde and his jail springer to get the bartenders attention, she wobbled more to the left until she crashed into the blonde to keep her balance.
"I'm so sorry," Kat said, her left hand squeezing his bicep in an attempt to distract him from her right hand as she slipped a device the size of an Altoid into his flannel pocket.
"Are you quite alright, miss?"
"Fine, just trying to get some water," Kat insisted, pushing herself upright and turning to the bartender who handed her a glass of questionable looking water. "Thanks."
Keeping up the slight wobble on the way back to their table in the corner had water sloshing onto her hand.
"Let's go before one of them recognizes us," She said as she set the glass of water on the table and wiped her wet hand on her jeans.
"What was that?" Clint asked, rising from his seat and following her out to the car.
"I snuck a prototype listening device an early graduate prodigy from the academy is letting me test out in his pocket. Let's hope it works and we hear something that can help me make a case to keep me from suspension."
"And that we don't end up setting him on fire. If it's still in the testing phase, spontaneous combustion is a real threat. Trust me." He'd had one too many bad experiences with prototypes.
"They'll definitely suspend me if I set him on fire." If they didn't arrest her first. "But my guy is the best. If he says it's safe, I trust it won't explode."
"Oh, he's 'your guy' now?" Clint asked with raised eyebrows.
"Not like that," Kat said, shoving his shoulder playful. "He's my go to in engineering. I met him when he was still a student and I was back for speeches on alumni day. Bright kid, who has the biggest crush on his lab partner without actually realizing it. It's adorable."
"Have you trapped them in an elevator yet?" Clint teased, recalling the time she'd stopped the elevators when Angie and Jensen were alone in one.
"They'd just spend their time getting it to work again."
"I would expect nothing less from an engineering prodigy." Engineers preferred fixing problems than waiting for someone else to fix it. "So who is this engineering genius?"
"Oh no, I'm not letting you poach him from me," Kat said as they pulled up in front of the dust pit that was their base.
Kat's heart deflated as they made their way down to the hamster tunnels. She wasn't looking forward to the yelling lecture that waited for her. Coulson couldn't save her from Sitwell this time. She really, really hoped the prototype worked.
"Lee, you actually had the nerve to come back," Sitwell snapped as Clint and her made their way into the main makeshift building.
"Sir, if I may," Kat started, but was quickly interrupted by Sitwell.
"No, Lee, you may not. You didn't get permission to leave from your supervising agent, and then you ignored the direct order of said supervising agent when I told you to turn around."
"Technically, I switched off the radio so we didn't quite catch what you were saying," Clint interjected.
"That is not the point, the point is—"
"The point is if I hadn't gone to town we wouldn't have this," Kat said, leaning over the closest computer to pull up the audio from the device she'd planted on the blonde guy. Please let it work.
"Your ancestors called it magic, and you call it science, but I come from a place where they're one in the same." The blonde guy's voice came through crystal clear, not at all muffled despite being in his shirt pocket.
"What is that?" Sitwell asked, leaning over her shoulder to see the voice wave lengths bouncing across the screen.
"That is your mysterious almost hammer stealer. I tagged him with a prototype listening device while at the bar tonight," Kat smirked. "So, you were saying?"
"Just don't run off like that again," Sitwell grumbled, taking a seat in front of the computer and forcing Kat to take a step back.
"See, I knew you'd be fine," Clint said as she came to stand beside him.
"Yeah, I'll have to let my engineering guy know his device actually worked." He was going to make a lot of agent's jobs infinitesimally easier.
A/N: It's been a while, but it's finally here. I really hope you enjoy this next small installment of the story!
Onto Guest Review Responses
To the guest who is sitting on the edge of their sat waiting: I'm so so so sorry this took so long. I hadn't realized how long it'd been since I'd written. Hope you enjoy this chapter though!
Grazi: I'm so glad you love this story and Kat. I agree, Clint is a great character of the marvel universe. I know this took forever and it's short, but I still hope you liked it. I'm trying to get my groove back when it comes to writing. It doesn't help that my computer charger is just hanging on by a thread.
Kat: Yeah, their interactions are some of my favorite to write. Sorry you ran out of chapters and it's been so long for an update. I don't mind the bias based off your name, I'll take you liking it no matter what the reason is lol.
Kam: I'm sorry you've waited so long. I haven't given up, but sometimes it's harder than others. Sometimes I sit in front of my laptop and nothing comes out.
To the guest who hopes haven't given up on this story: Nope, I'm still on board with this story.
To the guest who needs more: here's more!
Rach
xoxo