Chapter 6: Can't Seem To Miss

In the secret headquarters of the Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistics Division, or S.H.I.E.L.D., Deputy Director Maria Hill was monitoring the communications of one of their agents before she lost contact. Before she did however, one last word was able to make it through.

"Budapest."

Hill swore, then tossed her headset aside.

"Someone get me Agent Barton!" she requested. "We have a Code Black. Repeat, we have a Code Black."

Meanwhile, Agent Clint Barton was in the rafters of the hanger bay, sifting through the prescribed files for his directors 'Avengers Initiative'. He was reading over the many potential candidates, snorting at their descriptions and histories.

"Man, Fury must be desperate if he thinks these guys can do what he wants." Clint remarked. "No way any of these clowns could-"

"Agent Barton!" a voice called out.

Clint looked down to see Coulson standing directly beneath him. With grace born of a life in the circus, Barton slid off the rafters, landing perfect in front of Coulson. The agent didn't even bat an eye at this, having gotten used to the odd behaviors of Barton over the years.

"Agent Hill's looking for you." He explained. "Agent Romanoff needs your help."

"What? Nat needs my help mingling with the one percent and eating shrimp cocktails?" Barton asked.

"Budapest." Coulson replied bluntly.

With that, Clint dropped the wise ass attitude and got serious.

"Give me ten minutes to prepare." he replied before walking off.

"You have eight." Coulson told his retreating form.

Within the hour, Clint was prepped and on a jet heading towards Natasha's last known location.

"How long since Nat's last transmission?" Clint asked.

"About thirty minutes ago." Hill answered over comms. "We received intelligence that Gorgon Castle was a front for a HYDRA operation, and we were right."

"I was there for the briefing, Hill." he interrupted. "Skip to the stuff I don't know."

"HYDRA's making a comeback, and Romanoff was right in the center of it. She was about to give us a peek at their plans before Gorgon got his hands on her."

"I'm guessing that's where I come in." Clint surmised.

"Right." Hill confirmed. "You need to get to Natasha before Gorgon kills her."

"No, I need to get to her before she kills him." he corrected.

With that, Clint hit the button opening the hatch, just as they were approaching the castle. He then fired a grappling arrow out of the jet and into the wall of the castle. Without a moment's hesitation, he ziplined on the rope towards the castle.

Outside on the wall of the castle, one of the guards was walking around, keeping watch for any intruders. Suddenly, a strange sound rang out. He looked around and eventually saw Clint ziplining towards him. Before the guard could react, Clint kicked him in the head, knocking him out before landing on the wall. He then drew an arrow, shooting an adjacent guard before he had time to react. With the outer guards down and out, he continued making his way along the wall looking for an entry point.

Inside the underground lab, Natasha was tied down to a chair being interrogated by Gorgon and several of his men. Infuriated by the lack of information he was getting, he promptly smacked her across the face.

"I must say this is not how I wanted this evening to go." he lamented.

"I know how you wanted this evening to go." Nat replied curtly. "Trust me, this is better."

Gorgon chuckled a bit before pressing on.

"Tell me, how much does S.H.I.E.L.D. know about me?" he inquired.

"Enough." she snapped.

"Such spirit from one so… close to death."

As if on cue, one of his men pointed a gun at Natasha's head. The woman didn't even flinch.

"Is this supposed to scare me?" she questioned. "Because it's failing miserably."

Gorgon growled in response.

Inside the castle, one guard was walking by a stain glass window when Clint crashed through it. The guard readied his weapon to fire, but Clint fired off an arrow before he could. The arrow hit his chest and electrocuted him, causing him to fall to the ground unconscious.

"Sorry about the window." Clint told the unconscious guard. "Hope it wasn't too expensive."

As he finished, he looked up to see several more guards charging toward him. In response, he drew another arrow and strung it in his bow, ready to fire.

"Let's do this!" he let out, firing the arrow.

Back down below, the loud noises of battle reached Gorgon and Natasha. While Gorgon had a look of confusion and irritation, Natasha smirked, knowing exactly what was going on.

"What is that?" Gorgon let out.

"That… is overdue." Natasha replied.

With that, Natasha stood up still tied to the chair, and spun around and hit Gorgon with the chair. As a guard tried restraining her, she slammed a chair leg on his foot before hitting his head with the back of her head. As another guard came running up to her, she placed a foot on a recovering Gorgon and sprang up flipping through the air landing on the oncoming guard and shattering the chair in the process. As she got back up, another guard tried grabbing her. Before he could, she swung one of the pieces of the broken chair around, hitting him in the face. As he stumbled back, she ran up and jumped towards him, wrapping her legs around his neck. She then used her weight to flip him onto the ground as she landed on her feet. As she steadied herself, more guards came running towards her. She just shrugged it off and got ready for the fight ahead.

Back inside the main castle, Clint was knocking down guards like shooting skeet. Some of the guards tried firing at him, but he just rolled on the ground and fired off another arrow. The arrow landed right in front of them before blowing up, sending them flying. Clint then stood up, letting off one arrow after another, each one of them finding their target with precision accuracy. He then let off one arrow that embedded itself into a guard's chest before firing several bullets out at other nearby guards. He was about to exit when he saw more guards coming. Looking up, he fired another arrow at a chandelier that sent it crashing onto the oncoming guards. Smirking, Clint continued walking through the castle until he reached the study.

"Now if I were an evil super villain," he said to himself. "Where would I hide the entrance to my secret lair?"

Clint practically scanned around the room until his eyes locked onto the bookshelf. Shaking his head smiling, he walked over to it.

"Alright, now to find the correct book."

His eyes rested on Mein Kampf and he felt part of him want to hurl.

"I can't believe they actually still print this."

He grasped it, then yanked. There was a click, then the shelf moved to reveal the same elevator Nat had taken. Proof she'd used it could be found in the pair of heels and the fur coat that laid on the ground. He shook his head and picked them up. After he got it, the shelf closed, and the elevator proceeded downward. Expecting a fight, Clint pulled out another arrow and strung it on his bow. Finally, the elevator stopped, and the door began to open. Clint quickly rolled out into the room and aimed his bow and arrow… only to find all the guards present on the floor either unconscious or dead.

"Well… this is awkward." Clint said to himself.

"You're telling me." another voice agreed.

Clint turned to see Natasha back at the computer downloading several files. Her dress was slightly torn, and she had marks on her wrists and ankles, but aside from that, she was fine. Clint just shook his head as he replaced the arrow and stood up.

"You know, what's the point of me coming to rescue you if you can handle several dozen flunkies by yourself?" Clint asked.

"You cleared the way out of here, didn't you?"

"Touché. What about Gorgon?"

"Over there." Natasha answered, gesturing to the unconscious HYDRA member.

Before another word could be said however, another door opened and several more guards came pouring out. Nat cursed in Russian, glancing at the screen.

"It's not done yet."

"Then we'll just kill some time till it is." Clint remarked pulling out an arrow.

As Clint let loose one arrow after another, Nat drew one of the guns she got from the guards and began opening fire. While several guards were being mowed down by the two, a few were able to get past their wave of fire.

"Watch your flank Clint." Nat warned, shooting a guard that got a bit too close to the archer.

Clint quickly kicked one oncoming guard in the face before resuming fire.

"You know if this is what happens when Fury sends us to these fancy shindigs, I'm really disappointed I missed out." Clint commented.

"Usually it's just small talk and pretending I give damn." Nat replied. "Give me Papa Johns and John Wick at your apartment any day"

"Eh you got a point." Clint admitted letting loose another arrow. "Maybe it's just the fallout I enjoy so much."

"And that's why we're partners. Duck."

Clint ducked, and Natasha let out another shot, taking out an oncoming guard behind him.

"Nice shot." Clint complemented standing up.

"Your turn."

Nat hit the ground, shooting between Clint's legs as he shot an arrow at a guard attempting to brain her.

"Think that's all of them?" she asked.

Clint pulled out one more arrow and aimed behind him. Not even looking, he let the arrow loose as it hit the last guard.

"Yes."

At that moment, the computer made a dinging sound, indicating that the download process was complete. Natasha went over, pulling a flash drive out of the computer, sliding it back into the necklace she'd used to smuggle it into the party.

"Think that'll give us a better look into HYDRA's plans?" Clint asked. "I bet my .45s on it." Nat replied. "Now please tell me you parked close to the gate."

"Jet I came in on is looping around as we speak." Clint informed.

"Then let's go." she decided, taking her shoes from Clint. "Can't wait to get out of this dress."

"Why?" Clint asked. "You've worn worse for undercover ops."

"You try fighting in a dress 'Hawkeye'." she retorted. "It's harder than it looks."

With that, the two shared a laugh as the exited the castle.

...

Not much to add to this, other than I hope you all enjoy the story.