It was around 6:00pm when Natasha called…
"I saw Phil today" he said
"And?" she said hopefully
"No change."
She sighed. "Peg is awake now, but her mind is here one minute, and gone the next."
"I'm sorry." Was all Clint could say.
The obvious hung in the silence over the call.
"Clint, I think this is the end for her. What should we do?"
"I don't know, Tasha."
"I think I should stay here a while longer. I'll call Fury tonight and maybe he can talk to her, you know, maybe convince her? What do you think?"
"I think it's a good idea, Nat."
"She's asking for me, I have to go. I love you."
"I love you too." He said and pressed END CALL
Clint knew that being around Rogers tonight was going to be impossible, so he just left. After everything that had happened in the last month, this was just too much. Clint found the roof of the building and sat there, leaning against the wall of the HVAC system, just looking out across the skyline, hoping that no one found him tonight. After several minutes, his mind began to wander and somehow landed on that night in Moscow, the night that EVERYTHING in his life changed…
"You said I could say no to any kill, sir."
"Yes, I did say that, but what I'm wondering is why you chose this one?"
"Our intel was old. She left her employers 6 months ago. They were hunting her too and got to her first."
"Hummf" grumbled Fury.
"And…" Barton hesitated "and I saw her hold back on kill to save an innocent bystander. The intel we had said she wouldn't care, but she did."
That got Fury's attention. "So you think she can be turned to an asset?"
"Don't know sir, but the thought did cross my mind."
"Dismissed, Agent." Said Fury and Clint turned to leave.
"It was the right call, Barton."
"Thank you sir."
"Oh, don't thank me yet."
Clint was never sure what Fury's oblique references meant, and he wasn't going to push it just then. Barton nodded again and left.
Coulson stopped him in the hall. "You were right, they were hunting her. Latest intel says she was ordered to blow up a hospital, but refuse, and then made a break from her handlers, but the details get fuzzy after that."
"That sounds an awful like what just happened in Moscow last month."
"They sent someone else." Said Coulson flatly.
"So what now?" asked Barton.
Coulson scoffed at him "what, I thought you had a plan, hotshot?"
Barton shot him a pissy look.
"Just be prepared to finish what you started, ok?" Phil continued, admonishment still in his tone.
"Don't get carried away in your encouragement, Coulson."
"Oh, don't worry, I won't." said Coulson with a tired look and turned to walked into the director's office.
Coulson sat down wearily and noticed Fury's smug look.
"She's sedated." Coulson sighed and tossed a $10 bill on the desk.
Fury chuckled.
"So, boss, what's your plan for handling a 19 yr. old Russian girl with over 100 kills to her name?"
Fury lost the smug look a bit "I'm thinking about it." was all he could offer at the moment.