Chapter 23

Lost

"Clint?" Natasha called out in the darkness. Her head was throbbing from the fall the two had endured. "Clint are you here?" There was no reply at first. "Clint!" Natasha tried yelling.

After a moment there was a groan, "Tash? Who jumped us?"

Natasha let out a quick breath of relief. "No idea. You alright?"

"Head's pounding up a storm but otherwise okay. What about the others?"

Natasha looked around at the darkness cursing slightly that she couldn't see anything, searching her pockets for a flashlight or something. "No idea. I don't think they're with us though."

"Bruce? Steve? Tony?" Clint tried yelling as Natasha heard the sound of him standing up. There was no reply.

"I remember falling," Natasha commented, "But I think it was just the two of us who fell."

"We have to find them and regroup," Clint replied as Natasha found the flashlight buried in one of her pockets and turned it on. They were standing in a small room with a hallway that stretched out past it into more darkness. "And of course we only get one path."

Natasha pointed the flashlight up at the ceiling to see if maybe they could climb out the way they believed they came in but saw no evidence of a hole that deposited them here. There was the dark thought that they might have been moved when they lost consciousness; if that was the case though, why were they together and free to move around? She shook her head; she really didn't want to think of the possible answers to that question.

"You ready to see what's in store ahead?" Clint asked, looking down the dark path.

"As ready as I can be." With that the two started down the hallway, sticking close to each other. Now and then they each would brush up to the other to remind themselves they were together. The path continued on and on in darkness the small flash light barely penetrated a few feet in front of them. It was cold and felt slightly damp as they walked, making them both uncomfortable.

"Guess we've got to be deep underground," Clint commented softly, "it's the only way this place can feel like this."

"That's anything but comforting, this place could go on for miles underground and spit us out anywhere," Natasha muttered in response. They came to a turn and Natasha ran a hand along the cold wall. "The hallway is getting thinner." This bothered her more than anything else. The light of her flashlight lit up both walls of the hallway showing how tight it was becoming, they couldn't continue beside each other.

"Guess it's one at a time," Clint looked behind him, maybe it was worth their time to go back and search the area for some other way out. Anxiety was building up quickly in his stomach as he silently hoped that someone would show up and get them out of there. He hadn't had much problem with closed in spaces until he was locked in the madhouse. He hated feeling like the walls were closing into him, feeling like he was just something for someone else to play with. He had no idea what was going on and it was unnerving to him to think that he'd come all this way for nothing.

"Give me your hand," Natasha's voice brought Clint's attention back to her as he felt her touch his arm lightly. He grabbed onto her hand quickly, giving it a squeeze before following her down the hallway. They both felt the wall rub up against their arms as they moved but thankfully it didn't get any tighter than it was.

As they continued they could sometimes feel something wet drip on them, Clint tried to tell himself that it was just water building up but his mind couldn't help but twist it into something else. Each touch and sound became heightened to him as his mind looked for a rational explanation for each but without being able to see it he could never confirm what it was. His grip on Natasha's hand tightened for a moment.

Natasha focused on moving ahead, feeling Clint tense behind her she started to worry but tried to stay focused on possible dangers. Each step was careful, making sure the floor wouldn't give out from under her as she moved. She tried to will Clint silently, this hallway couldn't go on forever, could it? There was another turn then another, both in the same direction. No, it couldn't go on forever, but it could just go in a circle. She hoped this wasn't the case.

Another turn and Natasha had to turn away, the hallway widened again and there was a light blinding her. Even with her eyes adjusted to the flashlight she carried the darkness that had been around her messed with her vision enough that the bright room burned. Clint was in a far worse position since he was behind her.

As the burning faded the two stepped towards the room, finding that it looked nearly identical to the one they had started in only that it wasn't kept in complete darkness. The only way in and out that they could see was the way they had just come from. "Well this is frustrating."

"We're trapped in a loop," Clint muttered as he looked around the room, his panic rising. "He trapped me again. He's going to win." He followed Natasha into the room and looked around then back at the hallway they had walked through to get there.

"Clint don't lose it on me," Natasha turned to face Clint, "he hasn't won yet."

"Don't you see? This is the madhouse only worse. Now he's going to kill you and win. This was all a trick, everything was a trick. The rescue, Fury, getting this far, it's all been a trick, he's going to win." The fear in Clint's voice made Natasha freeze for a moment, completely terrified for her friend.

"Clint don't say that, the others are probably looking for us right now, they'll come. You know they will," Natasha started off, "and we can find a way out of here. They put us in here somehow so there's a way out, we just have to stay calm and think."

"The others are probably dead. We're alone. I'm alone." Clint looked around frantically for a moment before staring wide-eyed at Natasha.

"It's okay, the others are fine. Nothing is wrong, just stay focused on me. I'm here for you, I always am," Natasha spoke softly to Clint, locking yes with him as she spoke.

Clint breathed out as he returned her look with a barely audible, "I can't…"

Natasha leaned forward and kissed Clint who froze at the sudden contact. After a brief moment Clint returned the kiss and wrapped his arms around Natasha's waist as hers wrapped around his neck. They stayed like that, in each other's arms, deepening their kiss and making it last as long as their lungs would allow. Slowly Clint's body started to relax, he started to calm down.

Natasha pulled away to catch her breath and looked at Clint, "We'll get out of this, okay?"

"Y-yeah," Clint gave a shaky nod but seemed a lot better than he was, not breaking apart at least.

"I'm real, so are the others. They'll come Clint, they always do," Natasha promised.

"You're right, Bruce is probably threatening to rip this place apart to find you," Clint smiled just slightly.

Natasha was a tad confused at that, "He'd do it to find us."

Clint nodded just slightly, "Sure but he'd go for you first, just like I would."

"Perhaps, I guess it's kind of comforting to think that he'll come," Natasha started to look around wanting to find a way out before then to meet up with the others again. A loud metal thump got her attention. She turned around to face the hallway they had come from to see a metal door blocking their path, "That's never a good sign."

The room started to fill with a gas and both went to cover their faces as Clint quickly spoke up, "That's even worse."

What was all of this for? Natasha looked for a way out, a way to clear the gas or a way to stop it. What was the point of these rooms? There had to be an answer, something. If she knew why then maybe she could figure out how to get out of there but without a gas mask or any way to move the gas that filled the room she found herself with no options. Her lungs burned crying for air and eventually forced her to give in and take a break. The odorless gas filled her lungs and soon enough everything started to blur as she and Clint collapsed on the ground. She looked at Clint for a moment long as her vision faded to black. Not again.