Title: Ordinary Morning
Author: Cindy Ryan
Pairings: Clint/Natasha
Timeline: Post movie follows my Got your back series: Got your back, Dance in the rain,Linger
Summary: Just once Natasha wished she and Clint could enjoy a day off
Clint pushed debris out of the way as he surfaced. He was behind the front of the sailboat. Or where the sailboat used to be. It was nothing but burning timber, oil and shattered fiberglass now. The gunfire had stopped, the sun had set and people were huddled on the pier. Sirens filled the air and booted feet could be heard running up the boardwalk. None of that mattered to Clint. What was scaring him was that he couldn't see his partner anywhere. The fire was providing more than adequate light. Shoving aside his emotions Clint swam around the debris field.
"Natasha!"Barton shouted.
Only the crackle of the fire and the screams of approaching sirens answered him. /Damn it,/Clint swore silently not wanting to give in to what reality was trying to tell him. Reality and odds didn't apply to them. They'd come out of worse scrapes than this more times than he could count. Taking a deep breathe Clint dove under the water searching for his partner. Praying that karma hadn't finally bitten them.
Natasha surfaced coughing. The smell of burnt oil and fiberglass was nearly overwhelming. Combined with whatever she had swallowed in the water. It was dark where Natasha was. She'd been thrown farther from the boat than anticipated. Romanoff had come up in between two small piers that were elevated supported by wooden poles. There was no police activity at this end of the marina. The gunfire had stopped. Natasha's ears were ringing slightly from the explosion.
When she got her first real look at what was left of the sailboat Natasha's heart stopped.
Nothing but debris.
If Clint...
No, he had to have jumped or been thrown clear too.
There wasn't another option. Losing Clint now would be too painful. He'd made Natasha a better person. To slip back to what she had been Natasha couldn't fathom.
The rescue crews were suiting up in dive gear and search lights were being assembled. Natasha swam forward her gaze searching for any sign of a familiar face. She looked in the water, amongst the debris and finally to the group on the dock. Nothing. Swallowing back fear and dread Natasha continued on keeping out of sight. She didn't want to answer questions yet. Suddenly arms gripped the Black Widow from behind. She whirled as best she could in the water ready to fight. Natasha nearly went limp with relief seeing her partner.
"Easy, just me."Barton greeted quietly.
Relaxing Natasha looked Clint over for any injuries. His shirt was torn by his collarbone, and there was a small cut on his chin. Clint's eyes were clear and focused and full of worry. From what Natasha could tell he was alright.
"Don't do that again."Romanoff admonished her voice strained. "You scared me."
"Wasn't fun on my end either."Hawkeye replied quietly. "You scared the hell out of me. Nat, you okay?"
Natasha nodded as she turned to look at the rescue operation. "They're starting to get in the water. We should go. Might still have a chance to catch up with Juarez."
How bad guys always found the darkest spot for a hideout Natasha didn't know. Monaco was an old city and Juarez was holed up in a series of tunnels and catacombs under the hotel district. They'd found the ex-drug runner through sources and tracking his known cell phone numbers by GPS. He wasn't really hiding; he was waiting. It was his brother, Miguel, Natasha and Clint had arrested earlier. Family ties always made things messy. Not being familiar with the layout of the tunnels made the Black Widow nervous. They'd pulled up what they could, what was known, but with this area so old not much was mapped. There were too many ways this could go wrong.
Sensing Natasha's apprehension Clint placed a comforting hand on the small of her back. "We can still wait for backup."
Romanoff turned to face him. They were standing in an alley between two hotels. The entrance to the catacombs was in the basement of the hotel on the left.
The Black Widow shook her head as she checked her gun. "By the time they get here he'll be gone. Juarez made this personal."
Natasha saw an emotion she couldn't quite place flicker across Clint's face as he nodded.
"Yeah he did."Barton stated grimly as he donned his night vision goggles. "Lets go."
Hawkeye followed Natasha through the catacomb entrance. The walls were limestone and the ceiling was low to say the least. Clint had to practically duck walk through the narrow passageway that led from the small grate opening. To his relief about twenty feet in the passage widened to almost a normal sized hallway and Clint was able to stand. That was the only part of this that brought relief. Clint should have protested more that they wait for reinforcements. On the other hand he knew Natasha was right and that they'd lose Juarez if they waited. Even with Stark having all the top of the line toys at his disposal it'd still take him a few hours and they didn't have that.
As they moved along the corridor which smelled strongly of mildew Clint kept thinking back to the boat explosion. They'd been through a hell of a lot worse over the years as far as injuries were concerned. Natasha had said she was fine and he mostly believed her. There was just something a bit off. Something about the way she carried herself favoring her left instead of her right. As if perhaps some ribs were more than bruised. Barton shook off the worry and focused on the task at hand. Natasha had taken care of herself long before he came along. If she said she was fine….they'd deal with whatever else after they got Juarez. Clint just hoped this wasn't going to be as ugly as he knew it was going to be.
Natasha schooled her expression to hide the pain she was feeling. It'd started as soon as the adrenaline wore off. She'd had bruised ribs before but something told her this was worse. The Black Widow knew she had two possibly three broken ribs on her right side. It was more than a little painful to breathe and every step she took was like a lightening bolt to her chest. Medical treatment would have to wait. There was nothing the doctors could really do anyway besides wrap the area and give her pain meds. Romanoff's poker face must not be as good as she thought it was. She could feel Clint's worry radiating off of him like a heatwave. He'd kept silent about his concerns. Natasha knew he'd complete the mission before giving lectures. Hawkeye was hardly one to judge Natasha remembered several times he'd ignored injuries and dove into a firefight. It was part of the job. Mission first, individual concerns later.
One of the high-tech toys they'd brought with was a handheld computer that detected body heat. Other than the night-vision goggles it was their best defense in the labyrinth of tunnels. Natasha glanced down at the device in her left hand. She saw ten green dots clustered in a cavern about forty feet ahead around a bend to the right. Through her night-vision goggles Natasha saw Clint pull a smoke grenade from his utility belt. Phase one of the plan was to confuse and scatter.
No words were necessary, no signals. They'd planned everything in advance. Knew each others body language. Barton moved ahead and reached the fork in the passageway. He went to the right and Romanoff followed gun raised. Clint activated the grenade and threw it. They were lucky half of Juarez's gang was asleep or drunk and were easy to take down. Unfortunately the others opened fire flanking protectively around Juarez. Clint dove to the left side of the medium sized cavern and Natasha to the right. She rolled and came up firing. Two more grenades went off courtesy of Hawkeye. Even over the gunfire the Black Widow could hear Clint release his arrows. It was a sound ingrained in her; a comforting one.
The first round of the battle was short; fifteen minutes. Those that weren't knocked out were bleeding from various gunshot or arrow wounds. Time for phase two: distraction. Natasha would distract while Hawkeye circled around and got Juarez. If all went as planned they wouldn't need phase three. Natasha moved slowly to the center of the cavern gun still at the ready. The cavern was dimly lit by a couple lanterns scattered about the floor. With the remaining smoke from the grenades the atmosphere was eerie and tense.
"Carlos Juarez you're coming with us."Romanoff stated coldly."You know the drill by now."
Juarez was a handsome Hispanic man in his late forties. Lean and tall with short cut black hair and a nearly trimmed mustache. A nasty scar ran down the length of his collar bone. He wore a white t-shirt and black jeans.
"I did not think an explosion would be enough to take out the great Black Widow."Juarez stated with a smirk as he raised a pistol. "Gives me the pleasure of finishing the job personally. Unless of course you're here to tell me you're releasing my brother."
"You're going to share a cell with your brother."Natasha replied as she took another step forward. "Unless you want all these men to die your best plan would be to surrender."
As predicted several of Juarez's bodyguards stepped forward forming a line. It gave Clint the opportunity to get behind. All Natasha had to do was keep their focus. Then this would be over and she'd be recuperating on the beach with an umbrella drink in her hand. As always there was a monkey wrench to deal with. At the last second the Black Widow saw one of the injured men to her left stir and rise to his knees aiming a gun. She whirled and fired hitting him in the forehead. That was all it took for chaos to erupt.