Heelllooooo guys…and here is Chapter 16.

Hope you guys enjoyed this story because one can never get enough of these two assassins. Never thought this story would go over 10 chapters anyway as long there's review I'll continue writing. My thanks to Discordchik and The NaggingCube for reviewing the story continously. You guys rock. To all other reviewers, favs and followers, thank you for your support and I'm glad that you enjoyed this story as much as I enjoyed writing it.

I'll be coming back with another story soon so watch out for it.

Thank you to Marvel and Stan for creating these characters and all mistakes were mine…

Ok then lets see what happened since the last chapter.

Chapter 16 - Hope

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'Thank you, Agent Hill. Send all the information to Strike Force Echo and Tango. They will lead the assault. I want my agents back here before dawn tomorrow, alive.'

As Director Fury stood, all the personnel in the briefing room took their leave to carry out their orders. Hill had managed to compile the necessary information on the location of Barton's tracker as Sitwell had identified. Fury was adamant that this time they would destroyed the Hydra's lab base once and for all. He'd informed the Council about his decision and they had agreed on the planned assault, even suggested to Fury to contact Stark to assist in the destruction of the technology that HYDRA had managed to develop. Fury knew Stark would welcome the idea but he preferred to have him excluded in this knowledge. It was enough that he had miscalculated HYDRA's tenacity in their crazy ass idea in the Death Spores project, which he thought had been eradicated years ago; he was not going to give Stark the pleasure of 'lecturing' him about keeping the lid on possible world destruction technology.

Fury sighed deeply and thought about the folder he had in his safe. Perhaps he needed to expedite the Initiative's Phase 1 after all.

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Natasha was trembling. Her fist clenched and unclenched with the sound of screaming. She couldn't utter a cry or to call out to Clint to let him know above the ruckus that she was still here by his side. She wanted Clint to know that she hadn't abandoned him to face the pain alone. She closed her eyes and felt the tears streaming down her cheek.

All the while, Alexei stood behind her with his hands on her shoulder.

One of the armed guards rushed into the room and whispered something to Barney. He nodded to him and called Alexei over. Both of them went out from the room and Natasha doubled her effort to release her bond. Clint was still thrashing weakly on the table. His muffled screamed had changed to occasional grunts that she tried so hard to ignore. Frustration had been building up in her that she roughly rocked the chair and it toppled to its side. She gasped at the pain when her head hit the floor.

Suddenly a loud explosion rocked the room and Alexei came rushing back into the room. He found Natasha on the floor and quickly came to her side.

'Well it seemed that we have underestimated your SHILED, Talia. They have come for you and the hawk. We must go now, both of us.' Alexei quickly released Natasha and pulled her up. The moment her hands and feet were free, Natasha launched herself onto Alexei. A hard punch to his right face stunned him for awhile but he recovered quickly to avoid another from her. He sidestepped her and grabbed her from behind, entrapping her hands.

'Now, now, Natalia. You know I taught you all your moves.' Alexei grabbed her right hand and pulled it backward high behind her. She grunted in pain. Her left hand grabbed her right shoulder but quickly snapped back connecting to Alexei's face. He yelped in pain and released her. Natasha turned to her left and chopped on his lower back. Alexei fell to his hands but his feet flew backward catching Natasha in her stomach. She reeled backward breathless and glared at him.

'Natalia dear, stop this. It is not worth it. Mother Russia will embrace you again if you come back.' Alexei smirked at her. She narrowed her eyes and lowered her stance.

A long shrill sounded from behind her caused her to lose her focus. She turned her head and Alexei quickly dove towards her and pinned her down. He straddled her and successfully trapped her hands beneath his feet. Another loud explosion rocked the place and she could hear gunshots and shouts from outside the room. She raised her legs and circled it around Alexei's neck and rolled him off her body. A sharp pain on her thigh drew a gasp from her and caused her to loosen the thigh grip on him. When she tried to stand she realized that there was a gash on her lower thigh. She looked up at Alexei who was brandishing Hawkeye's knife in his hand.

'Very sharp knife, Natalia. Your hawk really knew how to take care of his weapon. He's probably not going to miss his weapon now, would he?' Alexei pointedly looked at the table behind her and smirked.

Natasha wanted so bad to look behind her shoulder. With all the noise of the gunshots and shouts, she couldn't hear Clint's muffled scream or grunts anymore. Alexei stood taller and beckoned Natasha to come closer.

'A little closer, Natalia.' Alexei looked at her with a deadly squint. Natasha rushed forward to knock the knife from his hands. A gunshot and pain on her shoulder caused her to stumble to the ground. Barney held her other hand behind her back and pressed her face down. Natasha tried to dislodge the hold but unable to. The pain from her shoulder shot through her whole body and she grunted in pain and raged.

'Are you crazy, Barton. Why the fuck did you shoot her? We need her, idiot!' Alexei shouted and came down beside her and tried to push Barney away.

'Damn it Shostakov! We don't have time for this. They have already breached our inner security and on their way down. WE must leave now!' Barney shoved something underneath her wound and she grunted in pain.

'We'll take her with us, Barton. That was the deal.' Alexei yelled at Barney wildly amidst the chaos.

'She'll slow us down and I don't know about you but I don't want to end up in SHILED's shithold. We have what we need from my brother and now from her. We must retreat and regroup. We have the formula.' Barney was about to stand and aimed the gun at her, when Alexei pushed him to the ground.

'You do not get to kill her, Barton. She is mine.' Alexei put a hand on Natasha's shoulder to hold her down while Barney glared at him and stood.

'Up to you, asshole but I'm leaving. You better get your ass back to the plane or I'm leaving you high and dry.' Barney turned and rushed out from the room amidst the chaos. Alexei, with Hawkeye's knife still in his hands, turned Natasha to her back and stared at her.

'Come with me, Natashen'ka.'

Surprised at the endearment, she could only glared and spit to his face. Alexei wiped his face, grabbed her arm and pull her up roughly. Natasha took her chance and flowed with the forward momentum ignoring the pain on her shoulder. The moment she was upright she tucked herself and rolled forward effectively dislodging Alexei's hold on the knife with a kick to his hand. It fell to the floor and with a twist to his hand, Alexei spun and dropped onto it. Natasha stopped to a crouch and ready to launch to another attack when she realized that Alexei was stilled on the ground. A small puddle of blood was seen spreading underneath him and Natasha cautiously made her way towards him.

Alexei's eyes were opened but she could see the tip of a silver blade protruding from his chest. He was dead by the Hawk's knife. Natasha closed her eyes and quickly turned towards Clint.

Echoes of footsteps sounded and she quickly pulled the power line off of the machine. The shrilling noise stopped but Clint was still, she couldn't see his chest moving. His face was pale and his lips were turning blue.

'Clint! Clint! Open your eyes.' Natasha shouted at him and pulled out the IV and the jugular needle that was still stuck at his neck. Blood oozed from the both wounds, but still Clint didn't move. She released the straps and pulled his body down from the table and dragged him behind the machine for cover, ignoring the pain on her shoulder. The footsteps were closer now and Natasha has no weapon to protect them. She looked at Alexei's body and ran to it. She turned the body over and pulled out the knife and quickly slide beside Clint. She ignored the drops of blood from the knife as her left hand gripped Clint tightly. She couldn't feel any movement from his chest and her heart clutched painfully. She needed to get away from this room and find help for Clint before it was much too late.

The footsteps were heard running just outside the room. Shouts of command were heard. Natasha pulled Clint closer to her with the knife ready to strike the latest enemy. Her shoulder still bleed but Natasha didn't feel any of it. She took a deep breath and tightened her hold on the knife. She could only see red and Clint. That was all that matter to her and anyone or anything were hindrance to her accomplishing her mission to safe Clint.

'Check all the rooms. Make sure they are secure!' A familiar voice was heard and Natasha leaned over to take a look behind the machine. Shadows of armed people were running and four of them entered the room. They were wearing black with a familiar insignia on their kevler's vest. Their guns were trained to Alexei's body and a shout behind Natasha caused her to brandish her knife at them. Natasha only saw enemies.

They are NOT going to take Clint away from me.

Her eyes were wild and she was breathing harshly.

'Agent Coulson! We found them. Black Widow and Hawkeye!' The SHIELD guards were alert enough not to approach the two assassins until Agent Coulson arrived but trained their weapons at her nevertheless. Natasha kept her vigil until she was sure that all this was real.

'Natasha.' A soft voice broke her trance. She looked up and found Coulson standing to her left. He has his open hands up to show her that he meant her no harm.

'Natasha. It's okay. We got you. You can stand down now.' Natasha grab holds onto Coulson's calm voice and slowly released her breath. She released the death grip she had on the knife but not on Clint. She looked at Coulson and her eyes registered that these are her own people.

'Coulson…help Clint, please.'

The medic team was hovering nearby. They wanted to jump in and helped Hawkeye, but the death grip Black Widow had on him caused them to wait for clearance from the senior agent. Coulson extended his hands to Natasha and quietly asked her to take his hands. When Natasha had released Clint and grabbed Coulson's hands, she was pulled aside and immediately the medic started to work on Clint. Natasha was trembling in Coulson's hands and a paramedic was working on her shoulder and thigh after Coulson nodded to her. Natasha hissed when the wounds were cleaned but let the paramedic continue her job. Her focus was on Clint who was so still and pale.

Flurry of activities surrounding Clint caused Natasha to block all the conversation but focused only to the one person that was lying on the ground. She wanted to reach over and touch his hands.

'He's not breathing. Prep the defib. Intubate him now and start CPR. Get me ….'

The rest of the voices were swallowed by the scream from Natasha. She started thrashing in Coulson's arms. The paramedic that was attending her wound was knocked backward by her hand. Coulson immediately told her to get a sedative prepared while struggling to maintain his hold on Natasha. He kept talking to her in soft placating voice urging her to calm down. The team that was attending to Clint continued with their task and loaded him onto the gurney and whisked him away. A paramedic was straddling him on the gurney to continue with the CPR and they were on their way back to the jets that were waiting topside.

When Natasha saw they were taking Clint away, she reared back and pushed Coulson away. Two armed guards immediately engaged to hold her down. They grabbed her shoulder and pushed her to the ground. Her wound started to bleed and Coulson instructed the medic to sedate her. Amidst the thrashing and screaming, Natasha didn't feel the prick of the needle on her neck. When her struggled had slowed down, Coulson ordered the guards to release her and cleared the room but have a gurney on standby outside the room. He gathered a pliant Natasha in his hands and soothed her with calm words.

'It's ok, Natasha. I've got you. You are safe. Calm down. Breathe with me, slowly.' Coulson whispered slowly and Natasha eyes started to lose their wild and desperate look. She blinked several times feeling heavy and sleepy. She looked at Coulson and his heart clenched at the desperate and traumatized expression those green orbs showed him. She blinked and tears started to fall down her flushed cheeks and to his arms.

'Coulson, Clint -.' She choked at his name and tried to struggle again. 'I need him -.'

Coulson damned the whole universe at the sound of the pleading voice. His two agents were – his family – and he knew both of them had a hard lives but it seemed fate had not yet finished with her plan of misery and pain to befall upon these two. He looked down at the quiet Russian whose eyes were blinking sluggishly - still fighting the effect of the sedative – wondering if he could see a small smile from her in the future after this. Clint had to make it in order to save Natasha. Coulson knew that Clint had a tremendous will for survival but by looking at his condition before the medic took him away, Coulson hoped that whatever reserved he had stashed away would help him to pull thru this ordeal. Natasha own survival depend on it. Hell, he himself needed to see that the archer that had made his life and Fury miserable would bounce back albeit how long it would take to get him back. He shut his eyes tightly and his brow furrowed hoping that they will have him back. He glanced at the body of Natasha's source of anguish and pain and relief washed over him that at least he wouldn't cause her anymore problem and Coulson felt no remorse or sorry whatsoever.

Natasha started to go limp in his hands and he called the medic to bring in the gurney. He slowly released his hold on her but startled when her hand gripped his front vest.

'Clint - .' Her eyes plead to him to tell her that he was alright. Coulson knew better than to lie to the Black Widow, even though she was almost sedated. So he took her hands and smiled at her, trying to portray all the confidence and reassurance in his look and his hold.

'We're taking you home, both of you.' Coulson nodded at her and smile. She seemed to want to ask him again when her eyes started to droop and lost her battle with the sedative.

They quickly took her back to the jets. The rest of the strike team continued to run down the scattering enemy that had retreated deeper into the facility. They've managed to round up few but the key players had managed to escape. With the order from the Director, the Hydra facility was destroyed together with the equipments. All surviving drives regarding their activities were confiscated and brought back to the HQ.

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Note to TheNaggingCube

I've been dodging Natasha's wrath ever since she knew I leaked this info to you all and I really need a very safe 'safehouse' after this, so if you didn't hear anything from me until this Tuesday, consider I took up Thor's invitation to visit Asgard, ok. So don't rat on me, ok. Bye.

Stay safe uols

Shila1378