Author's Note: Yay! The chapter I (and maybe you) have been waiting for! I love Clintasha fluff. :) And mean Coulson is so much fun to play with. And Hill get's another cameo! (I like Hill...the first time I watched Avengers, I was so mad at Natasha for stealing the show.)
This picks up exactly where the last chapter left off. If you're confused as to what exactly is happening, go back and read the last few sentences of Chapter 2.
Thanks to all you awesome reviewers! Enjoy, everyone!
Chapter 3
Tony looked at Natasha in bewilderment.
Suddenly, Natasha started screaming and thumping the legs of her chair on the ground.
"What's wrong?" cried Stark. "What happened? Are you all right?"
Natasha continued to shriek as though she hadn't heard him.
"Natasha! Are you okay? What's going on?" His voice dropped to a fearful whisper. "Did...did...did a spider bite you?"
The door opened and Agent Barton ran in and dropped to his knees by Natasha's chair.
"Sweetheart..." he panted, "are you okay? Did he hurt you?"
"Who? Me?" cried Tony.
"Oh, Clint!" sobbed Natasha. "I'm dying in here! I can't take it any longer! You have to make Coulson let me out of here!"
"But, Nat..." said Barton, "I can't! Coulson doesn't listen to me..."
"You don't love me!" said Natasha, ceasing her wails and fixing him with a haughty glare. "I should have known it! All right, very well. Clint, we're through!"
"No! Natasha!" cried Clint in horror. "I love you! But Coulson never pays any attention to me!"
"If you really loved me,' said Natasha, "you would steal that nice, fancy hammer for me."
"But...!" exclaimed Clint.
"You won't? Very well. I told you you didn't love me."
"But I do love you!"
Natasha continued as though she hadn't heard him. "If you don't get me that hammer, we're through. Forever."
"Why would you want that silly hammer?" pleaded Clint.
"Coulson doesn't want anyone to take it, so I want someone to. It's time someone showed that evil tyrant that he can't always have things his own way."
"Dearest," said Clint carefully, "I love you, but I don't see why you want a silly hammer."
"Very well. That's that then. Clint...it's over!"
"No! Natasha!"
"Yes, Clint. If you don't love me enough to do a simple little task for me, I will have nothing more to do with you."
"No! Wait! I'll do whatever you say!"
"Even steal that hammer?" asked Natasha, fixing him with a piercing stare.
Clint gulped. "Yes," he whispered hoarsely.
"Then go do it!"
"So we're still friends?" asked Clint, anxiously.
"I'll decide that when you come back with the hammer. Now, go get it for me!"
Clint left, his head hanging like a kicked dog.
Tony stared at Natasha.
"He won't be able to lift it," he said doubtfully.
"I know," said Natasha, with an odd smile.
Clint crept quietly through the make shift building. Had Natasha gone mad? No...more likely she wanted to make him pay for not being able to take her out to that fancy restaurant last Saturday. Well, it wasn't his fault Coulson had decided that he had to work during the weekend! Or maybe (horror of horrors!) she thought he had been in league with Coulson to capture her! The thought almost made him run back to the interrogation room to clear his name, but he remembered just in time that Natasha wouldn't believe him. She probably wouldn't even listen to him. Not unless he brought her that nice, fancy hammer.
He reached the hammer before long, and had no trouble knocking out the gaurds. (SHIELD was beginning to run low on agents to act as guards, by this time.) He approached Mjolnir cautiously, wondering what could make this alien object so hard to lift.
He set his hand to the handle.
Coulson looked up as Agent Hill strode into the room.
"Sir," she said, looking a little nervous, "we have a new development."
"Is he here?" Coulson stood up with a gleam in his eye.
Maria shook her head. "No, sir...it's Clint."
Clint set his hand to the handle.
He pulled.
Nothing happened.
The hammer did not feel heavy. It did not drag him down with it's weight. It felt as if it was glued to the ground. It was more like trying to pull the back of a chair off than trying to lift a car off the ground. If there was any way to pick it up, it was only by breaking either it or the ground. But neither the hammer nor the ground would break.
He stood back to catch his breath, and stared at Mjolnir in disbelief. There was no way he was going to be able to pick it up. Had Natasha seriously thought he would be able to?
Suddenly, realization hit him and everything made sense. How could he have been so stupid?
Natasha had known he wouldn't be able to lift it. She hadn't been able to lift it. Stark hadn't been able to lift it. She had known that no one could lift it. Definitely not Clint, who didn't have a high tech super suit. Not Clint, whom she had always considered inferior to herself. She had known he would fail, as she and Stark had failed. She had known...
Clint spun around and looked upwards. Sure enough, there was Coulson, leaning on the railing of the second level.
"What are you doing?" asked Coulson quietly.
To Clint, his voice sounded mocking...as though he was glorying in his defeat.
"You know well enough," said Clint, with a shrug.
"It's against the law to try to steal government property," said Coulson.
"Tell me something I don't know," replied Clint. "Just get this over with."
Coulson nodded. Several SHIELD agents appeared out of nowhere and marched him off towards the interrogation chamber.
"Do you want to play 'I Spy'?" asked Stark.
He and Natasha were sitting in the interrogation chamber, where they had been sitting practically all night (all night since they had tried to steal that stupid hammer, at least), and he was bored to death.
"No, thanks," replied Natasha.
"How about, 'Virtual Hide and Seek'?"
"No."
"'I'm Thinking of an Animal'?"
"No."
Stark gave up. Instead, he made faces at himself in the mirror.
Suddenly, the door opened, and Clint was marched in. The SHIELD agents tied him to a chair and left.
"You couldn't lift it?" asked Tony.
Clint said nothing. He silently stared straight ahead, and steadfastly refused to look at Natasha.
Natasha smiled.
Author's Note: *SPOILER ALERT* If you don't like spoilers, skip the next paragraph. If you are considering not reading this story any more because you're mad at me for putting an end to Clint and Natasha's relationship, READ THE NEXT PARAGRAPH!
The story doesn't end here (of course). Clint and Natasha will make up and get back together again...I promise! Just not for a couple more chapters. So don't give up on me. Of course they can't get along together all the time, but they can't get along too well without each other, either. :)
Anyways, PLEASE REVIEW! Thanks!
