Hi there…I'm baaacckkkk. So, luckily I've managed to escape TheNaggingCube's wrath and came up with another update. Discordchick…sorry to disappoint you but not all are being revealed yet…we are not there yet….muaahhahhaaa..ehem…
Keep the review coming and chapter will be posted sooner. Hehehe (..continued typing on my laptop for chapter 13 now..)
Thanks for the reviews, favs and follows. You guys and gurlzs are the best. See ye soon.
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Chapter 11 - Getting Away
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The guard at the vault's entrance raised his head sensing a presence at the door.
He saw no one there. He eyed the monitor and moved the surveillance camera panning it from left to right. Nothing showed on the screen. He shrugged, blaming paranoia. Who wanted to break in SHIELD's vault room, he thought.
He didn't realize that the front door was not the only entrance. Above him Clint slowly made his way through the vent by passing all the coded passage. He opened the grate and popped his head out and surveyed the area inside the vault room. He knew the layout of the room and the alarm system. When he saw that the area was clear, he quickly jumped down from the vent and landed without a sound. Clint had already found which compartment the ring was being kept and made his way to the storage compartment. He kept an eye on all the surveillance cameras and kept to the blind spots.
When he reached the area, he waited until the camera panned away before quickly disabled the lock and retrieved the ring. He has been trying to figure out a way to alert Coulson and Fury but everytime he tried to write a note or texted the blinding pain in his head will crippled him and left him gasping for breath.
We see what you see and we hear what you hear.
Barney's warning kept on playing in his head. The notion that Barney was alive and has been keeping Natasha plagued Clint's soul. He shook his head from thinking about it. He needed to concentrate in this mission to rescue Natasha. He looked at his watch. 45 minutes had passed by and he had to make his way to the rendezvous point. He couldn't be late.
He pocketed the ring into his cargo pants and looked to his left while closing the box and slowly made his way back to the vent opening. Once he reached under it, he crouched and jumped up and grabbed the side of it and pulled himself up. Once the grated lid was secured, he made his way back slowly and silently.
I'm coming Natasha. Hold on.
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Coulson glanced at the door for the …he had lost count at how many times he had looked at the door, expecting Barton to burst in declared that he had a plan. He knew Clint would be on the roof thinking. It was one of his nesting spots. He wanted to go there but he respected Clint's request to leave him be for awhile. But that was over an hour ago and he felt that was enough time to be calm. He looked at Fury who was in deep discussion with Sitwell. His desk was littered with documents on whatever information Sitwell managed to gather with the number Fury had rattled to him an hour ago. Both James and Cross had been dispatched to prepare a jet for departure at anytime soon. They were just waiting for the clearance from Fury.
Coulson sighed and thought that he might try to contact Clint thru the comm. Then he realized that Clint was not wearing his comm after his clearance from infirmary and with the headache that he had been having he had left the comm in Coulson office. He sighed again and massaged his temple.
'Coulson, if you kept on sighing that way, you might blow the documents out from my table.' Fury remarked dryly while still looking at the document in his hand. Sitwell took a chance to glance at him but quickly drop his eyes on the documents infront of him.
Coulson looked at the mission briefing folders and took another one from the pile and flipped it open. He glanced at the information of the target and the briefing notes from Clint. The mission had them posing as newlyweds again. Clint always looked forward to go undercover as a couple with Natasha. Coulson knew the archer had harbored deep feelings towards the Russian but have kept it hidden from her. Posing as a couple gave him a chance to play the part and he lavished the idea. Coulson chuckled at the look he received from both of them when they were told about the mission. Clint's eyes lit up like a fireworks and Natasha would have a scowl on her face.
The mission almost cost them their lives and the thought of losing them both in one mission made Coulson realized how important these two had became for him. He remembered the early times when Clint was recruited into SHIELD. He had such a challenging and difficult task in instilling trust in the talented archer. Knowing his background and the dark history, he knew Clint felt betrayed when they identified Barney at the crash site. He should have told him before they met with Fury. He recalled Clint's face when they were at Fury's door.
'Remember this Clint. Whatever the Director asked you to do, I want you to think really hard. Consider all angles before you made a decision. Do you understand me? We will get Natasha back. That I promise you.' The intent look Coulson was giving him and the vehement of his voice, caused Clint to shudder but he nodded his acquiescence.
Coulson closed his eyes and regret the opportunity to tell him the truth. Now he felt the trust that he had so painstakingly built with Clint were starting to crumble. He sighed once again and belatedly realized that one of the papers started to fly away. He quickly snatched at the wayward paper and stole a glance at Fury. Fury snorted at him without even raising his head. Coulson gave a small smile and was about to put the paper back to its place when something caught his eyes.
'Sitwell, confirm with me the number again, please.' Coulson signaled Sitwell with his hand and looked closely at the document.
'What is it, Phil?' Fury looked up from his folder. Coulson's hands flicked at Sitwell who quickly rattled off the mysterious number.
'Bravo 7 – 2 – 8 dash Hotel 4 – 3 – 7.' Sitwell raised his head expectantly at Coulson.
Coulson mumbled the numbers over and over and flipped thru the folder urgently. His eyes stared at the folder and then he sighed deeply.
'Coulson, I promise you. If you sighed one more time I'm gonna …..' Fury started to growl at him frustratingly.
'It's the Paris mission. The numbers were the hotel rooms where Clint and Natasha had stayed during their undercover as newlyweds. H437, honeymoon suite room number 437. The other one is the target's room in the same hotel, B728, Business room number 728.' Coulson explained to Fury. He looked at Fury and Sitwell.
Fury furrowed his brow, 'So?' he questioned the logic of it.
'The target was a Chemist working for HYDRA. He was developing a potent drug that fairly undetectable by our conventional instrument and can be released in our water. The mission was a success but Natasha was poisoned and Clint managed to escape an inch of his life. He brought back a ring that contained the poison for our doctors to analyze and find the anecdote.' Coulson quickly explained.
'I need to find him and asked him about the mission. He must have remembered something. Clint rarely forgets about his mission, unless…' Coulson eyes bulged out and understanding dawned on him.
'Goddamnit, Clint!' Coulson slammed his fist on the table causing Sitwell to jump back. Fury was reaching for the phone and barking orders for security to go to the vault room and secured the area.
'Coulson, let's go. Sitwell, I want you to run a trace on Agent Barton. I want to know where he was an hour ago until now. Do it discreetly do you understand?' Fury eyed Sitwell who nodded and went off to do the biddings. Fury grabbed his sidearm and checked his ammunitions. He glanced sideways to Coulson who looked at him questioningly. He huffed and with the fluttering of his leather coat he made his way out from the door with Coulson hot on his heels.
They reached the vault area and made their way to the compartments section. Coulson punched in the security code and the box opened. His eyes narrowed dangerously and he took the box off the counter.
'He was here.' Coulson said and then he showed the content of the box to Fury.
'He left us a souvenir, Director.' Coulson fished out the folded paper and give it to Fury. There was a scribbled on it. Obviously from the look of it, it was Clint's handwriting. Fury looked at it questioningly.
'Why in the hell that he left us with another number.'
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Natasha was tired and thirsty. She was tied, again, on the chair and the last drink she had was last night with Clint. They gave her water this morning but she had refused to drink any. The guard that brought the water received only glares from her and he removed it from her room. She inhaled deeply. Her eyes were everywhere, the wall, the ceiling, the light fixture and the barred window. Alexei had not yet come and see her today. She tried again at the knot to no avail.
Then she heard voices outside her door. When it opened, Alexei came in smiling.
'Good afternoon, Talia.'
'Stop calling me that. That's not my name anymore.' Natasha hissed but Alexei just smiled and continue with his ranting.
'No matter. I like the name Talia. It sounded more Russian. One must not forget their roots.' Alexei said while shaking a finger at her face. She felt she wanted to bit that finger off. Alexei was walking up and down in front of her and she would have tripped him if her feet were free.
'Just tell me what you want from me.' Natasha closed her eyes and sighed.
'In due time, my sweet Talia. In due time.' He patted Natasha's cheek and ignored the glare he received from the assassin.
With that he just left Natasha alone in the room.
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James and Cross were sitting in the mess room. Both of them looked tired and unapproachable. The tables surrounding them were empty. Many agents had taken their lunch before and only a few were seen drinking coffee and chatting. James was nursing his neck and Cross pitied him. He gave him a friendly pat on his shoulder and said, 'Well at least you are not wearing a bandaged around your throat. You see it could be worse, right.' He offered cheekily.
James shrugged Cross and took a sip of his water.
'Not funny, Cross. You wouldn't be laughing if you were at the other end of that knife.' James shuddered at the memory. Cross quickly sobered up.
'Yeah. Did you see how sharp the thing was?' Cross pursed his lips remembering the shining serrated long mean looking blade. James gave him a smack behind his head eliciting a yelp from him. 'I was there, remember. You are such an idiot!' James couldn't help but chuckled. Cross gave him a small smile. 'I'm sorry, James. You okay? You wanna rest for awhile? We can go back to our bunkers and wait for Director's orders. You heard him. You're gonna take Hawkeye for a spin back to the crash site.' Cross peered up to James face. His lips quirked upward when he heard a groan from his pilot-friend. He stood up and put his hand on James's shoulder and urged him up. 'Let's go, birdie boy.' He laughed when James smacked him lightly.
The moment they reached their bunker, James dropped face first on his bed and groaned loudly. Cross chuckled at his friend and plopped at his. He took a book and started reading.
'Hey Cross?' he heard a muffled voice coming out from the pillow from the bed next to him.
'What?' He asked while continuing reading. He glanced to James when there was no response. 'What is it, James?' He poked at him when he didn't answer.
'Would you mind throw me an aspirin. The headache is killing me, man.' James lifted his head and his hooded eyes looked glassy.
'Jeez, James. Are you coming down with something just after your unexpected encounter with the Hawk's blade? You are such a girl, man?' James just groaned louder. Cross closed his book and put it down on his side table. He reached over and opened the drawer for the aspirin.
'Shit, we are out of it. Hey, James.' Cross shook him awake. James opened his bleary eyes to him. 'I need to go the infirmary for the aspirin. We are out of it, man. I'll be back soon, okay?' James gave a small nod and burrowed his head back into the pillow. Cross chuckled and got up and made his way to the infirmary. He was on his way back when he saw Hawkeye on the other side of the corridor. He looked haggard and was stumbling. Cross also realized that he was in full uniform with his quiver strapped on his back. He couldn't decide whether he should go back and informed the Director or at least Coulson or just pretended he didn't see anything. He followed with his eyes to where Hawkeye was heading and decided to follow him. He pushed the aspirin into his pocket and prayed that he did the right thing.
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Clint was dizzy. The headache had not subsided. The pain continuously pricking behind his eyes, making his vision at times blurred at the edges. His breathing was erratic and his hands felt numbed. He felt around in his pocket for the ring. Its presence reminded him that he needed to get moving and meet Barney at the address. His breath hitched when he looked at his watch and noticed that he only had another 45 mins to reach the rendezvous point. Clint blinked several times trying to clear his vision. He needed to hijack a jet but he doubted he could fly it but he pushed on. Luckily for him, there were no agents using the corridor leading to the hangar at his time. Clint concentrated to put a foot forward and regulate his breathing.
He was nearing the hangar entrance when he realized that he was being followed. He quickly took a turn and waited. A shadow passed him and Clint grabbed the person and slammed him to the wall. A painful yelp and curses shouted.
'Cross? What are you doing here?' Clint pressed his arm on Cross's shoulder. Cross was grunting and tried to speak. Clint could hardly decipher the mumbling and released his hold on the agent.
'Why are you following me, Cross?' Clint turned him to face his glare.
Cross was still trying to slow his breathing and place a hand over his heart. ' Jezz, you scared the shit out of me.' He exclaimed. Clint continued to glare at him. 'Well, just answer my question.' Clint impatiently tapped at him.
'Er…I saw you when I was coming back from the infirmary. James was having a headache and we are out of aspirin-' Cross was trying to explain to Clint when he saw Clint's eye started to narrow dangerously.
'I saw you walking – well more like stumbling - so I thought you need some assistance.' He quickly blurted it out and put his hands up.
Clint closed his eyes tightly and his headache is pounding. He closed his fist on Cross shirt and exhaled frustratingly. He released his hold and pushed Cross away. 'Leave.'
When Clint tried to turn and walked back towards the hangar, he lost his balance and almost fell face first if Cross didn't grab him. He let Clint lean on the wall and held him there.
'Are you ok? What happened to you?' Cross asked anxiously.
'I'm fine. Just leave and let me be.' Clint pushed Cross hand and tried to push himself off the wall. The world tilted and he felt Cross hand on his chest pressing him back to the wall.
'Well, you don't look like it. I can help you. Where are you heading anyway?' Clint didn't think he could make to the rendezvous point by himself. He looked hard at Cross. The younger man was worried, but he was not sure whether he'd be able to help him. Clint knew with the headache getting worse, he couldn't fly the jet and if he couldn't get to the rendezvous point in time, Natasha's life would be in jeopardy. He had to do this, for Natasha.
What the hell…I've stolen the ring from SHILED and planning to hijack a jet…might as well do kidnapping. Clint mused regretfully. He turned his attention to Cross who were looking at him awkwardly.
'I need to be somewhere, Cross. You are going to help me.' Clint grabbed Cross shoulder and shoved him forward. Cross could only yelp in surprise when he felt the sharp tip of an arrowhead on his back.
Holy shit…this is worse than the knife. Cross thought quietly while being shoved by Hawkeye.
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Oh no…its Cross's turn to be on the opposite end of Hawkeye's favorite weapon. Tsk tsk…oh dear…
Shila1378
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