Whumptober Day 11

Just Keep Swimming

Prompts: adrift/drowning/dehydration

I keep thinking I'll write shorter chapters to get caught up, then ideas hit me, and that plan flies out the window!

And, yes, part of this story may steal a scene from a Renner movie. Would you expect any less?

The lights flashed purple in Clint and Mikayla's room, signaling their presence was being requested in the conference room for a mission briefing. Clint woke up and immediately noticed something missing. There wasn't a body curled up next to him, no head propped on his chest, no leg swung across him; that's when he realized how cold the sheets were, warmed only with his body heat. Clint sat up, swung his legs over the side of the bed, planted his feet on the ground, then reached over to the nightstand. He removed his hearing aids from the charger and placed the tiny devices in his ears. "Babe?" Clint called out, grabbing a robe, then trudging into the central area of their living quarters. The heavenly scent of coffee wafted toward him. Before following the odor into the kitchen, he sensed a presence to his left. Turning toward it, he noticed Mikayla standing in front of the floor-length window, staring out at the city landscape. Clint walked toward his wife. "Mikayla? Everything OK?"

She was rubbing her hands up and down her arms. "Ghosts."

"What do you see?" Clint noticed she was already dressed, so he assumed she'd been up for some time. He nodded and stood behind her, placing his strong, comforting hands on her shoulders, knowing just what to do to bring her back to the present.

"Your reflection, skyscrapers, clouds."

"Hear?"

"Your voice, the coffeepot dripping, my breathing."

"Smell?"

"Coffee, your shampoo, burnt popcorn."

"Feel?"

"Your hands, my arms, heat coming from the vents."

"Taste?"

"Coffee, milk, cinnamon roll." Mikayla turned around to face him, wrapping her arms around his waist. "Thanks for catching me when I fall."

"Always, babe." Clint kissed her temple. "I'll go get dressed, and then we'll head downstairs."

Mikayla nodded, then watched her husband as he disappeared back into their bedroom. She then went to the kitchen, stopping to warm up a cinnamon roll in the microwave, then getting a cup of coffee ready for Clint.

After getting dressed, he returned to the kitchen, downed the coffee in one gulp, grabbed the cinnamon roll from the saucer, then headed down to the conference room, Mikayla right behind him. Getting to the meeting, they saw it was just the two of them, with Maria on the big screen. "Before you ask, this is a mission for just the two of you. I'll be your handler. We've discovered a married couple, Stan and Sonia Beaumont, arms dealers specializing in former Stark technology left behind when he refocused his company. There's going to be an auction in 72 hours, and they're expected to be there. We need the two of you to put a stop to their activities by any means necessary. There will be other teams there to take care of the people running the auction, so no need to bother yourselves with them." She laid out the details and gave them information on their covers. Their covers were Michael and Catherine McCloskey, power brokers from Madripoor, looking to cause strife and chaos behind the scenes of the small, insignificant country and hoping to make it more significant on the world stage.

"Where's the auction being held?" Clint asked.

"Odessa, which is why Mikayla is assigned to the mission and not Romanoff. She has too much history and is too visible. All of your missions over there, Clint, you weren't seen, and Mikayla's never been, so it'll be easier for the two of you to carry off this mission." Maria stood up. "Once you've handled them, contact me for extraction."

The display went blank. "Well, guess we'd better dress more warmly if we're going to Odessa. I keep hoping for Hawaii or the Bahamas, but the bad guys don't want to listen to me." Clint stood. "Let's go grab our stuff."

Twenty-four hours later, the couple found themselves in a large suite at the best hotel in Odessa. After recovering from jet lag, the couple spent the time until the auction scoping out areas around town and making themselves known to their targets, who were staying in the penthouse suite in the same hotel. Clint made sure to allow Mikayla some downtime, taking her to small cafes and gift shops, even making time to visit some museums, putting her in the frame of mind to carry off the façade needed for the mission easily. "So, how are we doing this?" Mikayla asked. Clint handed her a lip pencil. She smirked. "You're now branching out into makeup? Impressive."

"Ha, ha, no. Twist the end of it." Mikayla did, and a small needle appeared.

"Tranquilizer." Clint held up his keychain, displaying a miniature flashlight to be used for the same purpose. "You'll find a way to get Sonia alone, then use the tranquilizer to neutralize her, and I'll do the same to Stan. We'll call Hill, and she'll send in the cleanup team."

"I love it. I have my Q." Mikayla smiled at Clint. "Oooh, that makes me a Bond girl now, right?"

Clint grinned, shaking his head. He knew she was joking to cover up her nervousness. 'Probably learned that from me,' he thought to himself. "Yep, except no place for a bikini here."

Mikayla put down the weapon, then draped her arms over his shoulders and leaned into him. "Then we'll have to improvise."

On the night of the auction, Mikayla stood in front of the full-length mirror and stared at herself, still seeing the chubby, nearsighted, nerdy girl from her youth. Clint was sitting on the edge of the bed, putting on his dress shoes while watching her, still not believing how lucky he was to be married to the gorgeous woman in front of him. Mikayla wore a deep purple, floor-length evening gown with a cowlneck, pleated bodice, and an embellished waist. The dress had a slit going up along the hem of the left leg, ending just above the knee. "Gotta be honest, babe. I like that look better than a bikini." Mikayla raised her eyebrows in response. Clint stood and ambled his way to her, wrapping his arms around her waist. "Leaves things to the imagination. Plus, I know what's underneath and the only one who gets the privilege of seeing." He started caressing her neck with the back of his fingers, sending chills along her spine, causing her to shiver visibly. "Patience." He was telling himself that as much as he was her, wanting nothing more than to leave bruises along her neck and collarbone from his kisses.

"Damn, Barton." Mikayla looked in the mirror and focused on his reflection. His outfit was a charcoal gray tuxedo, with a bow tie and handkerchief in the same color as Mikayla's dress. "I could say the same for you." She thought he was made to wear tuxedos because no one filled them out like he did. He had to have them tailored specifically for him because of his biceps and upper body, not that she minded in the least. Looking at him in the mirror, she sent up a thank you to her Uncle Phil for bringing Clint into SHIELD. If he hadn't, Hawkeye would've never flown through her window, and she would not have ever met him.

"He'd be so damn proud of you, you know." Clint always did know what she was thinking.

Mikayla took a deep breath and slowly exhaled, nodding. "I wish I could tell him about everything that's happened that he missed."

"He knows." Clint softly kissed her cheek. "Time to go. Remember the plan?"

"Cozy up to them, split them up, knock them out."

"Bingo." Clint handed her a silver clutch purse, dropping the lip pencil into it and giving her another small kiss. "Let's go."

Arriving at the auction, they found their targets, making their way through the crowd to greet them. "Catherine, darling," Sonia greeted her. "I'm so happy you and your handsome husband could make it. That dress is fabulous. Purple is so your color."

Sonia was dressed in a similarly styled gown but with much more revealing cleavage. "I love the silver of yours, Sonia."

Sonia rattled off the name of some up-and-coming designer. "This way, I can say I knew him when," she chuckled. A server walked by carrying a tray of champagne flutes. Sonia took two of them from the tray, handing one to Mikayla. The two women continued talking, Mikayla noticing Clint had cornered Stan across the room. When Clint turned around and saw Mikayla, she raised her glass to him. He smiled, nodded, then turned around to continue his conversation with Stan.

"The two of you make a beautiful couple. Where did you meet again?"

"At a charity function in Madripoor. I returned from school abroad, and my father thought it was time to settle down, so he dragged me to one of his parties. Michael kept finding ways to bump into me all night long, so I finally called him out on it. He blushed and said he'd arranged to take his father's place at the gala so he could meet me, then proceeded to trip over something in the carpet and spilled his drink all over my dress. Michael looked so cute that I couldn't help but fall for him."

"Oh, that is so adorable," Sonia gushed, placing a hand on Mikayla's arm. "I met Stan in Berlin. Our fathers had some business dealings together, and my mother was looking for a gallery to showcase my art. When she found one, it so happened they were hosting a gala, and Stan was there. He took great interest in my art, and that's how we met."

"What type of art?" Mikayla asked, taking a sip of her champagne.

"Sculptures." Sonia pulled her phone out to show Mikayla photos. "They're in all the best houses around the world." Mikayla looked at the pictures and almost did a spit take. The sculptures were torsos of naked women. Some were just sculptures, but others had been made into lamps. "They're in high demand, so if you see one you like, you'll need to hurry and put in your request."

Mikayla nodded until she could get her voice back. "I'll talk with Michael." There was no way in hell anything like that would ever appear in any house Mikayla resided in; she'd never seen anything so tacky in her life.

"Go time," Clint whispered in her comm.

Mikayla stepped back and stumbled, making sure the heel of her shoe snapped. "Oh, no!" Sonia grabbed her arm. "Are you OK?"

"Aw, my heel broke. Could you point me to the restroom, please? I was afraid this would happen, so I carry a small tube of glue with me so I can fix it."

"Of course, dear. Right, this way." Sonia took Mikayla's champagne glass, set it on a buffet, and then escorted Mikayla to a bathroom near the exit. 'Perfect,' Mikayla thought to herself, 'that's the one I was aiming for.'

When they got to the bathroom, Mikayla went to the seating area, took a seat, then removed her broken shoe. Reaching into her clutch, she pulled the glue along with the lip liner. Discreetly placing the liner pencil into her left hand, she bent over as if to begin gluing the heel back on and stuck the needle into Sonia's calf. Sonia was so busy going on about how she would sue the shoe company she didn't even notice, and within 5 minutes, she fell to the ground unconscious. "It's done. Meet you outside?"

"Ready and waiting, babe," Clint replied. Mikayla hurriedly glued her heel back, then left the party via the exit door, jumping into the black SUV they'd driven for their assignment. "I'll call it in to Hill. Where's Sonia?"

"Bathroom floor. Stan?"

"Kitchen freezer."

"Do I want to know?"

"Probably not." Clint reached over and squeezed Mikayla's hand. Before he could say another word, bullets blew out the back window. "Get down!" He shoved Mikayla's head down. She reached into the door pocket and pulled out her Glock. "Did you see?"

"No." As she went to sit up, more shots came through the passenger and front windows. One of the bullets struck Clint in the right shoulder. "Damn it!" He sped up and started swerving to avoid pedestrians. The next shots took out the passenger side tires.

"Hill!" Mikayla was finally able to connect her comm. "Might want to hurry on that extraction because we're taking fire." Mikayla still couldn't get a bead on the shooters.

"On it," Mikayla heard Maria saying.

Clint swerved, then tried to overcorrect but drove the vehicle into a stone bridge, flipping the car over into the Black Sea. He immediately leaned over to try and protect Mikayla as the car splashed into the water.

Suddenly, Mikayla couldn't breathe. She tried to hold her breath so she wouldn't drown, but eventually took a breath, inhaled some water, and felt as if she were drowning. She was doing her best not to panic, but all she could think of was the waterboarding she went through during her time Barney had held her hostage. The world was becoming blacker around her.

"Mikayla!" Clint saw her fading, but he couldn't get out of his seat belt. After several minutes, he reached the knife in his boot and cut himself out of the restraint. As he did, the car landed upside down on the bottom of the tributary. There was just enough room for them to hold their heads above water. "Come on, babe. Wake up. You've got this." Finally, she woke up and started coughing. After the coughing fit, Clint asked her, "You OK?"

"Are we dead?" All Mikayla could see was black.

"No, thank goodness. Are you hurt?"

Mikayla shook her head. "But you are. Your shoulder." She pointed to where he'd been shot.

"It's fine. Once we get out of here, I'll get it looked at." He looked around. "Stay here. I'm going to take a peek above water." He swam to the top using only his left arm. As soon as his head appeared, more shots rang out. Clint drove back to the bottom. "Damn, they're still there. I have an idea. How attached are you to your clutch?"

"Not very, if it'll save our lives." She was still holding it and handed it to him. He took the keys out of the ignition and broke off the flashlight. He turned it on, then fastened it to the clutch. Somehow (Mikayla didn't get the science behind it), the clutch floated to the top. As soon as it broke out of the water, people were shooting at the light, giving Clint and Mikayla time to swim in the opposite direction. When the car crashed to the bottom, the doors broke away. Clint grabbed one of the doors, placed Mikayla on it, then wrapped his left arm around the two and, holding on to the door, drifted away on the current.

Thankfully, the water took them around a bend where the extraction team, consisting of Sam and Bucky, could fish them out of the water. "Fancy meeting you guys here," Clint said.

"Eh, not like we were doing anything but trying to beat your high score on Mario Kart," Sam answered.
"Never gonna happen." Clint looked over at Mikayla, who was bent over coughing up water. "Get her checked out. Don't want her to get dehydrated from all the saltwater she inhaled."

"Only after you get your shoulder looked at." Mikayla pointed to the wound in his right shoulder. "Here," she tore material from the bottom of her dress, "use this as a tourniquet."

"Oh, look," Bucky commented, "it matches the color of your bow tie." He picked up Mikayla and carried her bridal style to the waiting vehicle.

Mikayla, who'd begun fading in and out, looked up at him. "My hero."

Bucky laughed. "Nope, doll. You've already got one of those."

"Fine. His plucky sidekick, then."

Sam and Clint both started laughing at that.

"Always the sidekick, never the lead," Bucky muttered to himself.

Later, when they got back to the safehouse, Mikayla was hooked up to an IV, and Clint's shoulder was wrapped up. Mikayla thought of something. "Please tell me we cloned their cell phones."

Sam looked over at her. "Yep, why?"

"Please tell me. Who in their right mind who buy anything like that to display in their house?" She showed them the pictures of Sonia's so-called art. She reached out with grabby hands to get Sonia's and flipped to the photos.

Sam refused to say anything since he was married to Misty. "Don't look at me," Bucky replied. "I'm more of a Van Gogh fan."

Mikayla looked over at Clint. "Not me. I've got you, so why would I need something like that."

"Smart answers, gentlemen." Mikayla drifted off to sleep, knowing she was safe and secure with three of the most powerful men in the world protecting her, not to mention three of the most tactful ones, when it counted.