AN: Nervous but interested. Uncharted territory.
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Chapter 2
Bhuntai International was painfully small as far as international airports go. It consisted only of one large, two-story rectangular building made with glass paneling for easy runway viewing. Everyone loaded and unloaded planes directly on the tarmac.
Hawkeye leaned against the wall with his arms crossed, one leg bent with a single carry-on bag beside his all-terrain boots, his dark sunglasses not covering the scowl between his eyes.
That's how she found him.
Pulling her shades off, she looked at him from head to toe. She looked slightly pleased with herself.
"Made me wait long enough, did you?"
"I'm here aren't I?" She replied easily, glancing at her watch. 9:00a.m. "And I am sorry about that. I had some last minute business to attend to. Set my house in order, that sort of thing."
Hawkeye raised his eyebrows but said nothing. Set her house in order? What, was she, 23, 24?
"So, you taking me to your place, or what?" She wore a sly smile. He had to watch himself with that one. She was too easy to fall for. After all, it was what she does/did for a living. And seeing as he hadn't killed her for the last three nights, there was nothing wrong with her self-preservation skills.
She tilted her head, flirtatiously. "I wasn't sure how I would find you as you didn't give me your name."
Hawkeye nodded. Something felt off. Gone was the repentant, humble girl of yesterday. "But find me, you did."
Natasha sighed. "Have it your way."
Clint held out. It was silly, in all reality, to hold something so simple from her as his code name. But he didn't trust her, even if he saved her, and he knew she wouldn't have a problem finding him in this airport. Any distance he could still maintain, though symbolic, was monumental.
Widow shrugged. "Akward. So, we should be…going?"
"Yes we should." Clint pushed off the wall, retrieving his bag in one smooth motion.
Natasha looked around. No known commercial names were on the runway. "Jet Blue, Huh?"
"Well, it says Jet on the side and it's blue."
"Wonderful."
"Didn't want to scare you off before you started."
"Just in case coming to kill me with arrows and not bullets didn't do the trick?"
"Touché," Hawkeye admitted, exiting the building.
Natasha followed him, halted, and looked around. The Kullu airport had a breathtaking view…of mountains on a grand scale in every direction… which might be great for sightseeing, but not so great for trying to take off in a plane. And the run way was a single.
"Nervous?" He asked, after seeing she had stopped.
"I've flown worse." She replied, recovering.
Hawkeye nodded. "Glad to hear it, co-pilot"
"I've never flown a plane that big."
Hawkeye sized her up with a toothy grin and matching dimples. "You're about to get a crash course in flying the friendly skies."
Nat swallowed. For an assassin, she looked pretty shaken. "That's what I'm afraid of."
Hawkeye tried not to laugh at her unease. He was truly being mean. "Look, I could make a penguin fly. You're safe with me. Besides, I do most of the work."
Widow was behind him one moment, scuttling past him the next. "Ummm, FB who refuses to tell me his name, whatever we're going to do, we better do it fast. We've got bigger problems coming."
"FB?" Hawkeye asked as he followed her trail of vision. Careening down the steep banks of the winding road was what looked like all the police force of Manali.
"Free Bird"
Hawkeye picked up his pace. "Widow, what did you do?"
"Didn't show up for work. Emptied a few bank accounts. Burned some documents. Standard get out of the business stuff. Word gets around. It'd be safer to talk in the sky."
Hawkeye nodded. "Straight ahead."
The last person was descending the plane as Hawkeye motioned Natasha up the steep stairs.
"Thanks Nigel," He replied, slipping some bills in the hand of the last worker who maneuvered the stairs away from the plane as soon as Hawk was aboard.
"We're hijacking this?"
"We're borrowing it for government purposes for an extremely long time."
"The American government didn't have an escape plan that didn't involve grand theft airplane?"
Cliff removed his sunglass so she could read his expression. Widow backed away. "Actually, it did, but I can't go to my extraction point. I was watching you last night, and, as you are still alive, I missed my extraction team. We're on the radar, and I disobeyed orders, so I can't call in favors before I contact SHIELD and explain."
Natasha diverted her eyes, really silent for a moment... There was the girl from the street.
Clint left her speechless to strap in and start the pre-flight checks.
"It's nice of the Kullu people to loan us a plane," she whispered, buckling into the co-pilot seat.
"Yes, yes it is." Hawkeye paused, sparing her a glance. "How did you know I was with the American government?"
Natasha snorted while threading her eyebrows. What she was about to say was lost in translation as an explosion hit the side of the terminal. The Calvary had arrived, and they were not fans.
"Later." Clint said, still flicking switches.
"Hopefully," Widow muttered, starting to rock. She had skipped her medicine all week. While this lead to moments of increased clarity and reality, it also came with potent side effects. Among them, increased anxiety.
Another explosion, just missing the building.
"Now or never" Hawkeye started the plane in motion down the run way.
Natasha glanced back to see the airport officials running out of the burning building.
Government vehicles bounced on the runway, their rocket launchers having an improved chance at accuracy with the diminishing distance. She did note, however, that these were regular police, not highly trained spies.
"Hold on." Clint bellowed, pulling back on the stick. The plane soared in the air.
The assent was steep and harrowing. Rocks in the cliffs just below the plane's altitude exploded, creating a temporary smoke screen for the escaping plane.
Widow was glad that police were close enough to follow her and not the official arm of the government she served. Otherwise, they would be dead or the shooter who missed would have been. These men weren't innocent, but neither was she and she didn't want any more death attributed to the cause. Mother didn't care who she trampled on.
Mother Russia, an archaic word for the former Solviet Union. Still, Natasha found that old habits and nicknames die hard. Just like her.
When they had cleared the rocks, Hawkeye leveled the plane and slumped against the seat.
Natasha released a shaky breath she couldn't remember holding.
"That was close." Clint scoffed.
"That was nothing compared to what's coming."
"What?"
"Look. I'm sorry. I should have just let you shoot me. I can't think straight right now. I can't believe we made it this far."
"Hey," Hawkeye looked toward the troubled woman. "Widow," and then, "Natasha," just to get her attention. "We got away."
Natasha shut her eyes, shaking her head. Slowly, she massaged her temples.
"This isn't the first time I've tried to leave, you know."
Clint looked at her as long as he dared, still piloting the plane. Gone was the confident woman at the airport. She was as pale and shaking. "I offered you sanctuary. I'm not innocent and I'm not easy to kill. I know what I got myself into."
"Maybe, if you had the help of your government. But face it. If you're acting solo, we're as good as dead. Just put the plane really close to the river, open the cargo bay doors, and I'll be off your conscious."
Hawkeye shook his head, gluing his attention to the spread in front of him, hugging the river. "If I don't take you back, I have to kill you personally." He didn't relish the thought.
"You must have a death wish."
"Quite the contrary." He smirked, now refusing to look her way. " I think I'll stick around and see what develops. Keeping you alive is getting interesting. Besides, it's good that you ran. I don't know about you, but I'd rather be dead than caged."
Natasha breathed deeply. Freedom. How Quaint.
"Okay, free bird."
Hawkeye laughed. She didn't know how close she was getting.
...to be continued.