SHIELD HEADQUARTERS NYC
May kept a close eye on Barton and Lee on the flight back. Medical cleared them both with only minor injuries. Barton had a flesh wound bandaged and disinfected while Lee had minor burns on her arms and a nasty bruise on her side, though it didn't extend further than the dermis. With limited resources and no back-up, what they were able to accomplish was remarkable. She knew Barton had the skills to take on twelve armed men himself, she'd supervised his training when Fury brought him in, but she hadn't been as familiar with Lee. What she'd done tonight was just as impressive. They made a good team.
"SHIELD should really invest in some in-flight movies," Clint said when they landed at headquarters.
"And snacks. Saving the world from nuclear warfare left me famished. Is the kitchen open?" Kat asked, stiffly exiting the plane with Clint's hand resting on her back.
"An omelet and coffee sound good." He'd need lots of coffee to make it through the boring paperwork that always followed missions.
"With hash browns," Kat said.
"Coulson's waiting for you on the top floor," May said, herding them into the elevator. "There's a vending machine at the end of the hall."
"The Triskelion would open the kitchen." Kat leaned into Clint's side. "Just saying."
Clint's response to her competitive remark came when the door dinged open to Natasha holding a paper bag, the bottom stained with grease.
"How?" Kat asked when she handed them each a burrito.
"I figured you'd be hungry," Natasha said. Clint was always hungry after a mission.
"The Triskelion doesn't have Natasha, or Russian delis that owe her favors," Clint smirked, taking a bite of his burrito.
"Is this part of your tactic to convince me to transfer?" She glanced between Clint and Natasha.
"No, this is Nat's way of saying she missed us and she's glad we're alive." It was Nat's version of a hug.
"Columbian brewed coffee is waiting for you in the conference room. As is your laptop and phone." She had twenty missed calls from Angie and twice as many texts.
"Now you're just flexing," Kat said.
Natasha fell into step behind the two lovebirds, smiling to herself at Clint's protective hovering. He automatically moved closer to her, his left hand moving towards her back. She'd seen the medic's report even before Coulson obliged to share it with her. She knew they were fine, just a few scrapes and bruises. Lee was smart to wear bulletproof clothing, it probably saved her months of medical leave, if not her life. Her injuries would heal in a matter of weeks, but even though she was only badly bruised, Clint still worried.
"Clean up what you can, while there's still a pretense of a gas leak. The less anyone knows about what really took place the better," Coulson said, hanging up the phone when Barton, Lee, and Romanoff entered the conference room.
"You can thank me for that cover," Clint said. He'd pulled the gas leak excuse out of his ass to save civilians lives, and inadvertently saved SHIELD from creating a cover story to prevent bad press.
"You're the reason we need that cover," Coulson said.
"We're also the reason we're not living in a toxic post-nuclear wasteland." Kat poured herself a cup of coffee that tasted just as divine as it smelled.
"Thank you for that, truly," Coulson said, taking a seat at the head of the table. "I admit, I didn't want to call in you or Barton, knowing we'd risk your security, but Romanoff was right. We needed you."
"Does this mean you're reconsidering letting us in on the operation to take down Slater?" Clint leaned forward in his seat, waiting for the go-ahead to make the bastard pay for targeting Kat.
"If I pull you in on the case, you have to stay in headquarters until we find him and put a plan in place to take him in." Coulson needed his best on this case, even if his best were targets.
"Deal." Lee and Barton spoke in unison.
"That was, surprisingly easy." Coulson expected some pushback on his terms, like they'd done when going off grid. "I'll need you to fill out the incident reports. When you're done the bunk rooms on the fifth floor have a couple open cots. I already sent the order to have fresh clothes laid out for you."
Coulson pushed the stack of paperwork across the table to them.
"I already miss the cabin," Clint said, staring down the paperwork.
"I wouldn't worry about that." Kat pulled her laptop closer. She could type five times faster than she could legibly write. "The forms are on the database. We can complete them electronically."
Natasha gave a half-smile when Coulson pulled the papers back across the table, dumping them in the recycling bin in the corner. He knew the forms were digitally accessible. He just preferred to do things old-school.
The questions on the forms were mundane, but necessary for the insurance company and SHIELD's financial office. Clint leaned over Kat's shoulder, adding his insight into damages she had no idea had even occurred while she was in the booth with her computer.
"Financial needs a thorough list of every item you stole from the store," Coulson said. Lee hit the enter button before her fingers flew over the keyboard again, not missing a beat when Barton's hand rested on her shoulder.
"Borrowed items. I left an IOU." Clint looked up at Coulson. Noticing the focus of his gaze, he moved his hand to the back of Kat's chair.
"On Post-its that you stole," Coulson said, his gaze meeting Barton's.
"I'm not sure it counts as stealing if it never left the store," Kat said, adding Post-its and pens to the list. At least the items were considerably cheaper in the superstore they commandeered as compared to other supply chains.
"Fantastic point, KitKat. Make sure to add that in the report."
Katherine nodded, adding it at the end of her list with two asterisks before it.
"You two are incorrigible," Coulson said.
"I'd take that as a compliment," Natasha said, propping her feet up on the table.
She pretended to be uninterested until she noticed the mini tremors of Kat's hands, making her hit the wrong keys. It looked like the adrenaline of their impromptu shootout had finally waned. Kat's body was starting to crash. It was inevitable. She wasn't used to being in the field. Not like Natasha and Clint. And even they felt the aftereffects at times.
"Kat?" Clint asked, his hand moving back to her shoulder when he noticed her symptoms.
"I'm fine," she insisted, blinking several times to diffuse the fog encroaching on her mind. It didn't work. "Okay, maybe not."
"I'll finish the report." He pulled her laptop to the side. "Nat can show you to the bunk rooms."
She didn't want to dump all the work on him, but he persisted in his persuasion for her to get some rest, and her body obviously agreed with him. Kat walked with Natasha through the practically empty halls, her steps sluggish and stiff. She favored the side she'd been shot on, trying not to jostle it too much. They didn't talk in the elevator down to the fifth floor, and when they finally reached the bunk room that was temporarily hers, she collapsed onto the cot.
"I don't know why I'm so tired. Usually coffee has the opposite effect," she joked, smiling up at Natasha.
"You're crashing after the adrenaline rush of the fight. It's natural." Not only had she been stressed with keeping a hacker from starting a nuclear war, she'd gotten caught in the fire fight and shot.
"Clint seems to be doing fine." He'd shown no signs of being affected by the fight, and he'd been in the thick of it.
"He's more accustomed to people shooting at him."
"I know. I'm usually on the other end of the comms during that part." It was a lot easier to compartmentalize when she only heard one-side of a shoot-out, most of it second-hand.
"You did good. You kept calm under pressure, were able to focus on the job in a dire situation and waited to crash till you got back to headquarters." She'd kind of expected Kat to be freaking out on top of crashing.
"I'm not sure that last part was a conscious choice." If she had a choice in the matter, she'd prefer not to crash at all. "But thanks."
Natasha leaned against the wall across from the cot, faking nonchalance. She wanted to get to know Kat, seeing as her and Clint were only getting closer, but when it came to honestly bonding with someone she was completely out of her depth. She was much more accustomed to adopting a persona with people.
"I'm fine, I promise," Kat said when she noticed Natasha lingering. "You really don't have to feel like you need to watch over me."
"I don't," she said. When she didn't elaborate, Kat let it go, lying back on the cot and staring up at the ceiling.
"Is it weird I miss being off grid?" It was just a matter of hours since Clint and her were laying side by side on a blanket, staring at the stars above them. The white drop-ceiling of the bunk room seemed a bit confining now.
"No. I find it can be peaceful." It offered a taste of the life no SHIELD agent would ever truly have until they retired. They could try to balance life and work, but work always encroached, pushing life further into a corner. Until SHIELD is the only life an agent knows.
"Like the vacation we never get to take."
"Exactly." Natasha nodded. "Where would you go on a real vacation?"
"God, if I got an actual vacation. I think I'd visit my parents for more than a day. Maybe take a trip to China and see some of my cousins again." It was hard to spend real time with her family when her mom and dad lived in separate states and half her family never immigrated to the US like her mom.
"That sounds nice." Natasha didn't have a family to visit. Not anymore.
"How about you?" Kat turned her head towards her. "How would you spend a vacation? Would you go back to Russia?"
"No." Russia held too many bad memories of a life she'd left behind. "I think I'd like to go on a cross country road trip. See all the obscure little towns, maybe camp my way through the National Parks."
She'd been so many places around the world, mostly big cities, for jobs. She'd like to see the parts of the US where SHIELD never took her.
"I hear Puente Antiguo, New Mexico is the new Area 51," Katherine said, making Natasha laugh. Clint and her really did have the same sense of humor.
"I did tell Clint that mission sounded more like a vacation than work."
"Then it should definitely be added to your list." Kat tried and failed at suppressing her yawn.
"I'll let you rest." Natasha turned towards the door just as Kat's phone rang.
"It's Angie," Kat said after fumbling for her phone.
"Then I suppose you'll be getting limited rest." Angie would want all the details of the weekend. Not that Natasha wasn't the same. She planned on getting all the dirt from Clint as soon as she left the bunk room. "Tell her I say hi."
…
Clint was alone in the conference room when Natasha returned, his eyes narrowed on the screen as he concentrated on the report. He glanced up when she took a seat beside him.
"How's Kat?"
"Mentally and physically drained. She'll be fine after she gets some rest." He nodded his head once, taking her word for it. "Where's Coulson?"
"He had to take a call from the store manager and confirm the counterfeit story of a gas leak." Entering down to the next question, he typed the shortest answer that would appease the higher ups.
"So…how was your time alone with Kat?" Natasha asked. Clint didn't respond, pretending as though he was actually interested in the paperwork. It didn't faze her; she just pressed the issue more. "How'd you pass the time all alone, with no TV, computers or phones?"
He glanced up, staring at her with what she'd fondly labeled his resting murder face.
"Did you at least talk about your relationship status?" Again, with the silence. "I take that as a no. You do realize you work for a government agency filled with spies. Coulson's already started picking up on all the little nuances of your interactions with her. Not to mention he knows she wasn't coming to New York for work related reasons."
"Yeah, I'm fairly confident he's put two and two together already. He was the one to interrupt our date with a mission and we sort of had our first kiss while on coms with the team."
"Then why put off talking with HR?" Him and Kat seemed solid. It wasn't a one-off hook-up. They cared about each other.
"The paperwork," he said, finally clicking send on the paperwork for their impromptu mission. "Can we be done with this conversation?"
She shook her head with a smile.
"Some best friend you are. You know, Kat's probably in her bunk room telling Angie all about her time alone with you, and all I get is 'the paperwork.'"
"Cheer up, I'm sure Angie will fill you in at your next meeting." He knew they regularly contacted one another to share tidbits and opinions about him and Kat.
"I brought you a breakfast burrito and good coffee, and this is the thanks I get?"
"Pretty sure I don't ask about your sex life."
"But I'd tell you if you did," Natasha fired back. "And since you brought up sex, I'm guessing that means you and Kat did the deed."
"I'm going to my bunk room," Clint said, closing Kat's laptop and tucking it under his arm.
"I'm definitely taking that as a yes," Natasha called after him.
UNDISCLOSED LOCATION
Slater paced the length of the abandoned office waiting for the check in. He wasn't wiring a damn cent until the assassins he hired delivered. He wanted video evidence Barton and Lee were taken care of. Phone already in hand, he answered it as soon as it rang with a call from his techie.
"Tell me you have good news."
"They're still alive."
"Damnit." He kicked the decrepit desk chair, sending it rolling across the floor and slamming into the wall to a splintery death. How? It was twelve men against Barton. Lee couldn't help him fight; she'd been busy counter attacking the cyber threat they'd orchestrated to smoke them out of hiding. "What happened?"
"Honestly? Barton's a beast and Lee is the best hacker I've come against." She had beauty and brains.
"Where are they now?" Slater asked through gritted teeth.
"Back at the New York Headquarters."
Silence.
"Do you want me to contact the Brazilians?"
"No," Slater said. "We're not bringing in anyone else. I'll take care of them."
If you want something done right. You have to do it yourself.
A/N: I know this is shorter than the last few chapters, but it's also a bit lighter subject matter than last time so it was bound to be shorter. Hope you still enjoyed it! I'm super excited for what's to come. I've got pre-made videos ready to post about these two, but I have to wait till we're further into the plot.
Rach
xoxo