2012 New York City. Age 28
Fury had called a meeting with Clint while Natasha was working in one of the labs learning some more hacking skills from a soldier. When Clint returned he motioned for her to follow.
Natasha hurried after him, knowing he was heading for the roof by the look on his face. He liked to be up high, he said it helped him think. She worried slightly that something awful was happening.
"What is it?" She stood behind him as he leaned over a railing and looked straight down.
"They're sending me on assignment."
It was bad. Clint had ben confiding in her that he wanted out of S.H.I.E.L.D. the kids were little and he was missing milestones. Lila said daddy the other day and he missed it. Cooper started pre-school. He missed the first day of school while they were in Siberia looking for intelligence.
"Where?" She asked and moved towards the railing and leaned against it.
"Mojave Desert."
Natasha was rusty on her American geography and grimaced. If it was close she would have heard of it. She guessed it must be west then.
"Where exactly."
He huffed, "I can't even tell you. It's above your clearance level."
"Shut up! You tell me everything. Clearance levels haven't mattered before." She pressed. "Where is it."
"Somewhere in the West. It's classified, I'm not joking. Fury said I shouldn't tell you." Clint laughed.
"He knows us so well. He won't be surprised then when I go down there and ask him why I wasn't asked to go." Natasha put her hand on her hip and pulled out her cellphone. Surreptitiously googling the Mojave Desert and S.H.I.E.L.D.
Clint looked at her, "I was requested to go. They don't need you."
Natasha rolled her eyes, and then smiled. She turned her phone around and showed him a picture.
"Jesus, Nat. How'd you find that."
"You'd be surprised how far you can get with googling S.H.I.E.L.D and Mojave Desert." She smiled.
"What did you hack?" He asked.
"Google.. and the S.H.I.E.L.D. database. Whoops." She put her phone away. "Dark energy, what the hell is that?"
"Alien stuff, Nat."
"Really?" She looked at him. "I'm coming with then. Why do you get to do all the fun stuff?"
He shook his head, "I need you to keep an eye on Laura and the kids. She's upset right now. I just told her. I've got to leave tonight. Some strange stuff is going on out there."
"What am I supposed to do while you're gone? We're a team." She groaned.
"I heard they need help with Rodgers. Plus Stark just built a tower in New York. You could hang out with your old buddy." He smiled.
"There's so much wrong with that sentence." She pouted. "First, Rodgers is old. Second, eww.. Stark."
Clint laughed, "He's not that bad, Nat."
"You didn't work for him for half a year undercover."
"How did I know you two would be up here." Fury said as he strolled across the roof. File in hand.
Natasha cocked her head, "Why can't I go do alien stuff in Nevada?" She added a quick smile just to get under Fury's skin.
Fury looked angrily at Clint. Clint held up his hands. "I didn't say a word. Ask her."
Fury handed her a file, "Romanoff.."
"Well… It's really not my fault. I didn't know what desert he meant. Google is a wonderful machine."
"You hacked google?" He said more impressed than annoyed.
"…and S.H.I.E.L.D.'s database." She cringed. "Honestly it's your fault. If you upped my clearance level I wouldn't have to hack."
"This is exactly why we don't up your level, Romanoff." He motioned to Clint to head downstairs. "Plus, we need his eyes there, and you need to head out in an hour for that." He tapped the file in her hands. "Hill's got something for you to wear."
Natasha smiled, "New cat suit?" She perked up a little.
"Not quite.. Cocktail dress and heels."
She smirked. "Perfect, I love taking down the bad guys in heels. So empowering." She hugged Clint and whispered, "Don't worry I'll stay with them."
She walked away after scanning the file and smiling. "Russians... My favorite."
Fury sighed, "Did you even try?"
Clint shrugged, "I did. She doesn't take no for an answer. You know it's an act. She likes pestering you. She's too smart for her own good. You could be having her do more."
"I have a feeling she will be plenty busy soon." Fury said.
Natasha seemed to think Fury was trying to make it up to her by letting her have access to the nicest Quinjet. She landed the jet on a nearby abandoned roof and strapped her gun against her thigh.
"Fury…" She called in just before she left the jet. "Thanks for the nice ride. Quick question though... How does insurance work on these things, like if you break a wing trying to land it? Asking for a friend." She fluffed her curled hair and hurried out of the jet. Her targets already walking about below on the streets.
"Romanoff…" Fury warned. She heard Hill laughing in the background. "What did you do?"
"Oh, Nick." She teased, "The jet is fine for now. Moscow's gone to the dogs. It might not be here when I get back... Anyway… Start the timer I'll have this done in record time."
She scaled a ladder in her heels effortlessly and dropped to the cement. She tailed two henchmen as she pretended to window shop. She rounded a corner and a third henchmen cracked his gun against her head. She was out like a light.
When she woke, the man she was looking for was standing right in front of her. Her hands were bound not nearly tight enough to be effective, but she played them like it was. She smiled greeting him in Russian to which she earned a quick slap. Amateurs she hissed to herself.
After several minutes of their empty threats a phone rang. She cursed technology for interrupting when she was getting the information she needed. The man thrust the phone at her and she cradled it against her ear.
"Barton's been compromised." Phil's voice came through the phone.
"What?" She hissed.
"You need to get going. Abandon the mission."
"Don't pull me out of this now." She sighed.
Phil was hesitant, "We need you, Natasha. Barton's going to need you too."
In three minutes she hung the leader from a chain by his ankle. She left his two henchmen crumbled on the ground a story below where they had been interrogating her in a factory. She grabbed her heels and called Phil from the jet.
Dread filled her stomach as Coulson picked up. "What happened? Don't you dare tell me it's above my clearance level, Phil."
"It's need to know right now." Phil replied.
"Bullshit, I thought we were friends, Coulson." She sighed. "Is he dead? Where am I needed? Headquarters."
"He's not dead. That's all I can tell right now. You'll be filled in at headquarters. We need you to get the big guy."
Natasha fired up the jet, "Ugh, can I protest? You know Stark doesn't trust me. Why do I have to go collect him?"
"Not Stark, the big green guy."
Natasha groaned audibly, "You're on my shit list Coulson. Tell Fury he's on it too."
Phil laughed. It took him a few years to decipher when she was teasing and when she was not. "I'll have that latte you always drink waiting for you here. Sending coordinates now. Good luck, Natasha."
"I'm gonna need all the luck I can get." She replied to herself and sped off in search of the thing that probably scared her the most about her job.
With the helicarrier not under attack anymore, Natasha was hovering near the bridge keeping an eye on things. Thor paced, Bruce was gone. Steve was sitting at a table.
"Hey Natalie." Tony stalked into the room. "Nice cat suit. Gonna see that on a front page somewhere? Tokyo perhaps?"
She raised an eyebrow, "Never a dull moment. Do you need something?
Steve interjected, "It's Natalie? I thought you were Natasha."
She turned towards Steve, Thor seemed interested in the conversation. "Oh, don't listen to him. Tony's a little upset still because I made his body guard look bad in a fight, and I managed to pull one over on genius over there."
Thor laughed loudly. Steve was amused. Tony however had a sour look on his face. "Barton's in room 6B. You should go see him. I'm curious what name he'll remember you by. Natalie, Natasha… Natalia."
Natasha stalked out of the room her ears picking up Steve commenting, "That wasn't very nice, Stark."
Tony laughed, "You clearly don't know what she can do then if you feel bad for her. She can take a little trash talk. She bites back when she's had enough."
Clint was visibly in distress when she entered the room. She hadn't seen him since she knocked him out before he tried to kill her. He was pulling at restraints that kept his on a large chair like table.
She sat down and started talking. Knowing that a familiar voice would help ground him. After five minutes he had calmed down and seemed to be his normal self.
"What happened?" He asked.
She grimaced. "Well after the Hulk nearly killed me, you stepped in. I knocked you out."
"No way. You couldn't knock me out if you tried." He huffed jokingly.
"It was easy, old man." She patted his arm. "Loki got inside your head. He was controlling you."
Clint's jaw clenched, "What did I do?"
She shook her head, "You'll just beat yourself up over it. You need to relax. I know…" She started but he interjected.
"Do you know?" He sounded upset. "It's like he got in here and scrambled everything. Broke me down, and built me into something he could control."
She sighed, "I know exactly what that's like. Have you forgotten where I came from? Who made me? What they've done to my head. I get what you're going through."
"I'm sorry, Nat." He breathed.
"Don't be.. Just know that it'll take time. It's not a quick fix."
She uncuffed him and pointed him towards the bathroom. "Go fix your face I did a number on it."
"I'm telling Laura." He commented and got up. Natasha cringed. Laura was her favorite person besides Clint and the kids.
"She'll take my side anyway." Natasha sassed.
"We're not telling her about Loki messing with my head." Clint said firmly.
Natasha nodded but she knew Laura would figure it out. "Have it your way."
The door slid open as Clint was washing his face. Steve stepped in and looked at Natasha. "Can you fly one of those jets?"
She raised an eyebrow, "Depends. Who needs it?"
Clint stepped out of the bathroom, "Don't let her anywhere near the controls, I'll fly."
Steve looked at her as if to question his ability to fly the plane. She gave Clint a hard look, "He can fly, he's good."
They followed Steve from the room, Natasha swatting his arm. "You owe me, I wanted to fly the plane."
"I'm guessing you fly like you drive, too fast." He pointed out.
2012 New York City. Post Chitauri Invasion.
Natasha stared at the absolute carnage around them. There she stood on a once crowded street, now desolate with wreckage.
"Aliens…" Clint huffed next to her.
Never in her wildest dreams did she think she'd be here fighting aliens with a man who wore an iron suit, a green monster, a mythical god of thunder, and a super soldier.
Her tactical suit was depleted. Her weapons all but empty of gone in the battle. She was banged up and oddly reeling with adrenaline. "You're telling me. God.." She looked over at Clint, "You need to step your game. You're more human than I am." She teased.
He shook his head, "I'm out…" He looked down at the street.
"What does that mean?" Natasha rounded on him. "You aren't quitting on me. Suck it up, Clint."
He shrugged, "We're not equipped for this. They are." He reminded and motioned to the super enhanced beings among them and Tony with his technology. "They have way less of a chance of dying."
She shrugged, "I didn't die today and neither did you. And we fought aliens." She teased. She knew where he was coming from. She could die and not feel guilty. If he died Laura and the babies would need him.
"I can help out with your little conundrum, Legolas." Tony dropped in next to them.
He eyed up Natasha, "We could upgrade those headshots, I'm surprised Tokyo hasn't let you go yet. Aren't you getting a little too old for modeling?"
She rolled her eyes. "Never a dull moment, Tony."
He smirked, "Come to my lab, both of you need an upgrade. That performance today was weak."
Natasha raised an eyebrow and fired up her widow's bites. "What was that Tony?" She asked again.
He held up his hands, "I rest." He backed off and set off after Steve.
"Let's get that upgrade and see, Clint." She nudged him, "What's the worst that can happen?"
"Coming from you, that doesn't make me worry any less." He teased and headed down the street.
After the battle, S.H.I.E.L.D. was busy doing clean up. Fury advised them to lay low for a few days. Clint headed to his house. Natasha sensed that the battle with the supernatural unsettled him and gave him his space. She was shaken too. Dealing with her own mortality in the face of everything she had seen over the past few weeks was exhausting. Thor, Bruce, and Steve were basically untouchable in battle. Tony could fly. She was enhanced, but almost enough to not even count.
While Thor and Loki left with the tesseract, everyone else seemed to scatter. Clint and her were the only ones left at their rendezvous point near central park as the Asgardians left.
"C'mon, Nat. I've got a mission you might be up for." He pointed towards his sleek black car.
"What is that? Because really… We just fought aliens and I'd like a nap before we do anything." She looked at him like she couldn't believe the words came out of his mouth. "You were just saying you wanted out!"
Clint smiled, "Not that kind of mission. It's about time I went on a vacation. You, me, Laura and the kids. I'm thinking Brazil. What do you say?"
Natasha buckled up, "Perfeito!" (Perfect!) She smiled.
