Natasha was walking around in circles. Someone who didn't know her, would say she looked quite relaxed, but someone who did knew that this meant she was worrying sick.

"Everything will be fine, Natasha, please sit down and relax," Bruce called to her from the sofa, but Natasha wasn't listening.

"Not helping," Tony told Bruce, who sat next to him. Both of them were studying blueprints of all kinds of Iron Man suits.

"Maybe he was confused and gave you the wrong number," Steve put forward, as he looked up from the novel he was reading - but Natasha did not respond to him either.

"Not helping," Tony repeated.

"Maybe someone should head to the land of Russia in order to look for your friend," Thor politely offered. Both Steve and Bruce looked at him and shook their heads. That was not going to happen anyway. As worried as Natasha was, she was not going to take such a risk. Clint could get exposed.

"Thank you for your kind offer," Natasha gently told Thor, "but that is not an option, I am afraid. Imagine how HYDRA would react if an Avenger would show up at their doorstep."

"Actually, Clint is an Avenger too. Don't you think it is curious that no one recognized him?" Bruce remarked suddenly. It was Tony who gave an answer: "Nah, SHIELD and it's security stuff, it's pretty decent They made sure no footage of Barton of Romanoff was broadcasted and they took every amateur movie of them of youtube within an hour after the battle. They would not recognize him."

Steve raised an eyebrow at Tony: "But Natasha put every SHIELD file on the internet. And you were able to get to such information before she even did that. The possibility that they looked at those files and found out about Clint is really high."

"Yeah," Tony paused for a moment, "But I am Tony Stark. I am worth ten HYDRA's – they can't hack into SHIELD. They are too stupid for that. And probably, too stupid to use the internet properly too." Tony shot a meaningful look in Steve's direction and gestured that he should drop the case.

"But didn't the Captain explain that SHIELD was already infiltrated? They should have been able to access information on every SHIELD agent, don't you think?" Bruce said, as he had nod noticed Tony's attempt to change the subject. Tony palmfaced when he heard something snap in the distance. Natasha had broken the pencil she was playing around with, which indicated that she was losing it.

"What?" Bruce asked innocently as he saw Tony's face. "Not helping at all," Tony snapped. He turned around and looked at Natasha over the back of his seat.

"I know that you aren't stupid, Natasha. You probably figured everything out long before any of us did. You have to admit that we have a point. I don't want to be the break bad news to you, but the possibility of…" Tony's voice trailed off when he saw a tear blinking in the corner of Natasha's eye. It was so un-Natashalike that Tony did not dare to say anything else. He stood up and walked over to Natasha and pulled her into a hug. He expected to be judo-flipped, but to his surprise, Natasha didn't resist.

"You know what - we'll find him. I asked JARVIS to check every street camera in Kazakhstan, maybe he'll discover something. And he will also notice when strange news that might be about Clint would hit the internet. Let's just not declare your partner death before we know for sure, shall we? There is still hope," he whispered to her. Natasha pushed him away and nodded. Her face was pale, but she wasn't crying. "Thank you", she croaked as she struggled to pull herself together.

"JARVIS," Tony raised his voice.

"Yes, sir?"

"You did not find anything at all yet?"

"I am afraid not, sir. Otherwise, I would have reported to you immediately."

"Of course. Thank you anyway."

"You're welcome."

"I think I am going to train a little, downstairs. Keep my mind of things," Steve suddenly remarked as he got up from the sofa, "Does anyone want to join me?"

"No, thank you Cap, I'm good," Bruce pointed at the paperwork on his lap. Tony shook his head: "I'll be staying with the doc. Those new suits and armor will not build themselves, will they?"

"Fine," Steve looked at Thor and Natasha. "I'll join you," Thor said, "Maybe we can learn from each other. Lady Natasha, do you want to join us as well. It'll be a good way to clear your mind while we wait for news."

Natasha slowly nodded: "You are right. Fine, I'll come with you." The three of them greeted Bruce and Tony and left.

Steve lost track of time. He, Thor and Natasha had been in the gym for almost 4 hours. Thor had demonstrated some Asgardian fighting techniques that Steve had found very interesting, and Steve showed Thor several new ways to defend himself. Natasha hadn't been interested in what they were doing by the tinniest bit, and had been hitting a punching bag the entire afternoon. Both Thor and Steve decided to leave her alone, as she clearly wasn't in the mood for a talk.

It was only because the AI spoke to them, that Steve realized how much time has passed.

"Excuse me to interrupt you, but Mr. Stark requests your presence in the dining room."

Steve looked up at the clock and was surprised to find out that it was already time for diner.

"Of course, tell him we'll be there in a minute. I am going to change clothes first," Steve told the AI, and Thor added that he would do the same. Natasha, on the other hand, did not react, but kept punching the bag.

"Mr. Stark told me this was urgent," JARVIS explained. When she heard the word 'urgent', Natasha suddenly stopped boxing.

"Is this about dinner getting cold of something else?" she demanded.

"I believe this is about something else, Ms. Romanoff. Mr. Stark insisted that you'd come as fast as you could, but he also ordered me not to tell you why."

Those words had an enormous effect on the Widow. Without untying her boxing gloves, she left the room and headed upstairs, with Steve and Thor on her heels.

"Do you think…?" Steve looked at Thor.

"If there is news, I hope it will be good news," was all the Asgardian said.

By the time that the two of them reached the dining room, Natasha was already there. She stood in front of Tony, her hands on her hips and rapidly tapping her right foot. She was clearly irritated, perhaps because she believed that it took Steve and Thor too long before they arrived upstairs.

"What did you find?" Steve asked curiously as he sat down, trying to avoid Natasha's angry gaze. Thor sat down beside him.

"Well," Tony's voice sounded a bit strange. Apparently, he wasn't so keen on telling Natasha what he found out. "While Bruce and I were taking a break earlier, I suddenly came up with an idea. We called the police station of the town where Clint was staying," he continued.

"You did what?" Natasha asked, shocked.

"Hey, don't get your panties in a twist! They don't know who called and we asked them – very calm and without being suspicious – if anything weird happened lately," Tony told her.

"Not being suspicious and being calm are not your strongest suits," Steve remarked.

"Bruce called," Tony said quickly, eying at Banner. The latter nodded: "You don't have to worry. They were very gentle and did not sound distrustful."

"What did they tell you?" Natasha urged.

"It's not much, but it's a start. Apparently, HYDRA sent a lot of people away from their facility over the course of 2 days. The police officer found that really strange, as he rarely saw any movement around the building, at least not during the day. They left at daytime," Bruce said.

"Why would they leave?" Thor asked at the same time Steve said: "How were you able to get that information?"

"To answer your question, Cap: you don't want to know, as it would go against your morals. And to answer the more important question from Thor: we don't know," Tony said bitterly.

"It means something happened, at the very least," Bruce added, "I told you it wasn't much of a lead, but it's something. Maybe Clint had to leave with them? And maybe he ditched his phone because of that?"

Natasha looked rather doubtful, but did not say a thing. The other couldn't really tell if she looked relieved or terrified. Her face was blank.

"Well, I suggest we have to look into this a little more," Steve suggested.

"After dinner," Thor added, "I am starving and I can't think with an empty stomach."

"Likewise," Tony agreed, "While we eat, JARVIS can take a closer look at that. Maybe he can find out where those HYDRA men are heading."

"I will, sir," the AI responded.

"Splendid," Tony smiled and he walked towards the bar. He took a bottle of whisky and raised it in the air: "Who wants some?"

"That is not dinner, Tony," Bruce told him as he snatched the bottle out of his hand. Tony was about to protest, when a distraught Pepper entered the room. She was clutching a Stark phone. Before she could say something, Natasha grabbed the phone and put it against her ear.

"Hello?"

Tony narrowed his eyes and looked at Pepper. "It can't be?" he mouthed at her, but she nodded.

"JARVIS, put Lady Romanoffs phone on speaker, please," he commanded.

The AI did as he was told, and suddenly, the weak voice of Clint Barton filled the dining room. The man was just finishing a sentence: "…. Don't have much time."

"Barton, just for your information, you're on speaker now. Oh, and you're a dick – you have no idea of the problems you caused me. We almost hacked every security system in the world in order to find you," Tony said. It was silent for a while, before Clint spoke again. He sounded as if it took him a lot of effort to speak: "I am sorry to bother you Stark, but they have bad reception on the bottom of a canal, so I couldn't make a call."

Pepper put her hand in front of her mouth and shot a worried, but angry look at Tony, who decided to speak no more.

"Where are you now?" Natasha asked urgently.

"Still around. I can't give you further information, it's already a huge risk being out here. I'm using a pay-phone right now, that's safer than using the phone of the place I am hiding."

"Why didn't you come home?" Steve asked.

"I can't get very far. As far as I know, HYDRA believes I am dead, so they won't be looking for me yet. But it doesn't matter. Can you still come here?"

"Of course, we already agreed about that," Natasha told Clint, "We'll leave as soon as we can. How will we find you?"

Tony interrupted: "No need to tell, JARVIS will be able to track his location as soon as we're in town."

"That's a relief," Clint sighed on the other side of the line, "Just, don't make a scene when you arrive."

"We'll make sure he won't," Natasha assured him, looking at Stark.

"Make it quick, Tash, there is not much time left," Clint groaned.

"I know." After she said that, the line died. Natasha grabbed Tony by the arm: "How long before your yet can leave?"

"An hour, maybe two," Tony replied confounded.

"Make a call to your pilot. We are leaving right now," Natasha ordered and she pushed the Stark phone in Tony's hands.

"Suit up," she told the others, before she turned around, in order to leave.

"Oh, wait, wait, wait,' Bruce called to her back, "Can you explain to me what Clint just told you? Because you seem to have understood more of that conversation than I did."

"And I," Thor added.

"We need to leave, and take all medical equipment we have. Apparently, Clint was chased down by HYDRA soldiers. He must have been shot or badly hurt, or so I deduce from the sound of his voice. And because he said that we do not have much time, I assume that the twins are soon leaving Kazakhstan, if they didn't leave already. If we want to succeed in our mission and keep Clint alive, we can't lose another second," Natasha clarified, before she left.

"Is she a telepath, because I did not hear the Hawk say any of that on the phone?" Thor looked at the others.

"No, she isn't Thor. I think she is something very different to Clint," Steve told the Asgardian wisely, "A partnership like theirs does not need much explanation, they seem to understand each other without much words."

Thor looked rather confused: "You mean it's because they are spies?"

"Nah," Tony said, "Those two have a thing. I just haven't decided if I should call it friendship, trust, love, or something even stronger than that."

This was a long chapter this time :-O At least, for me it was . I hope you liked it. Thank you for the review, kristelalugo, and thank you to everyone who is following the story!

Have a nice day!

Ellyn