Natasha heard distant screaming, she could feel slight heat at her back and tried to turn towards its source but her feet seemed to be rooted to the spot. All she could do was go forward. One foot in front of the other seemed like an easy enough task but, for some reason, it was harder than usual. It felt like she was in knee-deep mud.
The screams and heat faded away and a figure appeared in front of her "FATHER!" Her voice was working normally but she couldn't figure out why she was speaking English instead of her native Russian…but it felt right, better somehow.
Natasha made her way to her father as fast as she could, when she reached him Natasha threw her arms around him asking for help "please father! I don't know where the others are! Help me find them! Help me find the Black Widows father!"
But it was not Ivan who answered, Natasha looked up into his eyes and saw Clint's staring back at her, he was holding her in a different way "I can help. Let me help you Natasha" Clint rested his lips on her forehead as he spoke again this time in Russian: "Я буду защищать вас с моей жизнью"
There was more heat now, Natasha thought it was the same heat that she felt earlier but couldn't find where it was coming from, now it seemed to be all around them. The sound of wood burning reached her ears but Clint seemed deaf to it and no amount of pleading could get him to move. Natasha let out a scream…
The room was bright as Natasha quickly sat up in bed, drenched in sweat from her nightmare. Panting and running her fingers through her hair, Natasha got out of bed feeling like she hadn't slept at all. All she could think about was the dream.
She thought that if she concentrated hard enough, she could almost still hear the burning wood and smell the smoke; don't be stupid! Natasha scowled herself.
It had been several weeks since Clint, Anya and herself had got back from their mission, it wasn't exactly unsuccessful but both Natasha and Clint thought it could have gone better.
Then Natasha gasped and sat up wide-eyed in bed as she remembered…she was late for water skills training! All the other agents had forgotten to wake her! Natasha quickly got dressed and raced down the hall, hoping that she would make the final training exercise.
When she got to the large indoor pool though; they were finishing up. The training exercise was over and she missed it! The others girls greeted her with smiles and began to explain what they did, one girl's voice dropped to a whisper "and one lucky girl got partnered with Clint!"
"Who?" Natasha asked but then rolled her eyes…Anya of course.
There she was, wearing a wet black T-shirt and jeans, her hair in wet ringlets down her back. Anya always looked stunning. She strolled over to where Clint was standing drying himself with a towel "Thanks for being my partner Clint" she gave a flirtatious smile "Nat is usually my partner but…she slept in, she hardly ever misses training" she gave Natasha a side-long look "I should have you save me more often, Natasha always holds on way to tight"
"I'm sure that Natasha had a good reason for missing training, Anya" Clint seemed oblivious to Anya when he caught sight of Natasha and gave her a slight wave.
Clint knew that his progress was slow, he wasn't getting the results he wanted and Fury knew it. Clint had sent off a small report that morning in private about the talk he had with Natasha; Nick just told him to keep at it.
Clint walked over to Natasha and gave her a smile "we missed you this morning"
Natasha smiled back
"You hardly ever miss a training session, sister" Clint stepped aside when Anya appeared next to him
"I slept in" Natasha shrugged and looked away from Anya
"You look like you haven't slept at all" Clint gave her a concerned look "are you feeling alright? Maybe I should get you something from the doctor here"
"No, no I'm fine, really" Natasha waved him away and followed the other agents out trying hard to strike up a conversation so that Clint would stop staring.
Clint knew that right now there was no talking to Natasha about why she wasn't sleeping but he knew he had to talk to her again; in private if possible. If Natasha wasn't sleeping that could only mean one thing – his plan was working. Implanting ideas in her head and waiting for her to come to him for information and answers about what was happening to her. It felt better to him than just flat-out telling her about her past and potentially having her attack him. This would work but it needed time and patience.
Usually when Clint had time to spare he would work on his archery and melee weapons skills or explore the base and learn more about it, always making mental notes about it to give to Nick Fury back home, however, lately, he often found himself spending time with some of the younger Black Widow agents. The young girls, between the ages of 15 and 10, couldn't seem to get enough of their 'big brother' but not in the way the older agents did – defiantly not that way – but they enjoyed his company. They would play games when they had free time, hide and seek was their favourite, but they would also just sit down all around him while he read to them (it helped Clint learn even more Russian) but they asked more and more about his old agency. Clint told them a little about S.H.I.E.L.D but would always try his best to curve the conversation back to something else.
Clint enjoyed spending time with the children and felt bad for them, when all of this was over he silently promised them that he would find their parents or at least make sure they were adopted into good homes.
Right now as he followed the other agents out into the hall, Clint went straight to see his little friends; they greeted him excitedly "Клинт здесь!" (Clint is here!) One of the small girls jumped into his arms
"Вы пришли к нам читать?" (Have you come to read to us?)
"Хотите играть в игры?" (Do you want to play a game?) All the little girls were crowding around him now and jumping up and down. Clint couldn't refuse them.
Gently, he put the little girl he was holding down and sat down himself, immediately the other girls sat down and crowded around him eagerly awaiting a story. Clint began to make up a story in his head:
A/N: As Clint will be telling the story in Russian you won't understand what he is saying and I don't really feel like translating it all so I will put the story in italics for you and you can pretend that it's Russian. Sorry about this. Now back to the story!
"Once upon a time, there was a beautiful princess who lived in a faraway land. The princess had many sisters and a loving father. For many years they were all very happy, until one day when a knight came to visit the castle after hearing much about all the beautiful princesses. See, the knight was from a different kingdom and his king knew about the princesses' father, he was a dark and cruel man yet the princesses had no idea. They were perfectly happy living their lives. The knight found one of the princesses in a garden outside the castle, she had hair as red as the flames from a dragons breathe, she caught the knights attention without even knowing. This knight, who believed that everyone should have a pleasant life free from evil and cruelty, vowed to protect the princess and free her and her sisters and take them all back to his kingdom. The knight had a hard time trying to talk to the princess"
Clint knew that his imagination was running away with him, his own feelings were spilling into the story, but he couldn't stop himself, he continued:
"she was so beautiful and strong that he didn't think she would even want to talk to the knight. The knight tried his best to help the princess, they had become friends since his arrival at their castle, the knight felt himself liking the princess and that only made him want to save her all the more."
He paused and looked around at all the girls, sure enough they were soaked up in his story and looking at him with their bright eyes full of life and hope, Clint quickly made up an ending to finish the story, much to the girls' dismay. He went on to say that the princess and the knight managed to save all the other princesses and overthrow their evil father and rode away on white horses to the knight's kingdom.
All the girls begged for more but Clint declined, feeling truly sorry, and got up from the floor "Пожалуйста, оставайтесь старший брат!" (Please stay big brother!) One clung to his waist
"Расскажите, пожалуйста, больше! Что происходит с принцессой?" (Please tell us more! What happens to the princess?) asked another
Clint held up his hands and said there would be no more story for now, that he had to leave but he would be back soon to tell them another story.
Trying not to focus too much on the sounds of sniffing and crying, Clint left the girls behind and made his way down the hall, he wished he could spend more time with them, they needed him, but if he were to carry out his mission he would be doing more for them than reading the odd story every now and then.
Turning to walk up a flight of stairs Clint looked around casually to make sure no one was following him and then took the stairs four at a time. With Nick Fury sending him plans of the Black Widow base, he knew his way around and knew exactly what he was looking for. After walking down another hall and then turning right he found himself at a door. Ivan's office. Inside was what he needed, inside was information about the real backgrounds of all the agents here: where they came from, who their families were and if they had extended family or not. This could be a turning point in his mission.
Heading straight for the large filing cabinets, Clint began to sift through them, pulling out random ones and reading a few pages here and there before replacing it. He found Natasha's file but already knew most of what was in it already but then came to Anya's file. This surprised him.
Lightly skimming through the pages he read No parents, found in psyche ward…multiple personality disorder…breaking down…possible candidate for new training regime…very promising…
It looked like Anya was the new guinea-pig for something that Ivan was working on with the Black Widows, all of these entries to her file looked recent and was full of scans and data. Clint was so absorbed in what he was reading about the Black Widow agent that he nearly jumped out of his skin when a hand lightly tapped him on the shoulder.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Natasha lay on her bed now, feeling happy that she was alone but deeply annoyed with herself. She never missed training! Now Natasha would have to work harder to catch up and all because of a few bad dreams!
The dreams. Nightmares. Natasha dared not think about them in public but now that she was in her room, she was free to think about them. It was always the same dream: the sound and smell of burning wood, feeling lost and running to her father but then finding Clint there and reminding her of his promise. His words sent shivers down her spine and butterflies sprang up in her stomach.
Clint said that he would be there for her and protect her with his life, surely he meant to say that about all the Black Widows, and so far he had kept his word. He had helped her on his mission, been supportive and comforting when Natasha told him about her first kill. Natasha's sisters had told her about men on their own missions, that they were 'stress relief' and only thought of getting one thing from a woman. They didn't care that the men didn't care, they each got what they wanted and parted ways. The whole thing seemed strange to Natasha.
Hadn't she gone on 2 missions now? Both times Clint was with her and both times he was nothing like her sisters described.
Clint was nice to her, talked to her, and made her feel safe. He never tried to get anything from her at all.
Natasha thought again about her dreams, they were bothering her but talking about them with someone she trusted as much as she was starting to with Clint might help. She got up from her bed and left her room, trying to figure out where Clint would be at this time. Natasha saw a woman up ahead, she didn't think much about it until she saw that it was her sister; Anya. Anya looked up a flight of stairs whilst trying not to be seen before scaling them herself.
Forgetting all about Clint for the moment, Natasha followed Anya and made sure that she herself wasn't seen.
Why is she going to fathers' office? She asked herself as she scaled the stairs, stopping just before the last few steps.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Clint spun around to dropped the file, Anya was staring back at him with a soft smile on her face "Dear brother" she said kindly "if you wanted to know more about us" something in her eyes changed and made Clint's stomach turn "Clint, you only needed to ask" her voice had taken on a flirtatious tone.
Clint could only stare back as she started slowly stroking his face "what do you want to know about us" Anya asked
"Anya…" But what could Clint say?! He had no idea how to go about dealing with this
"You look scared" Anya came even closer so that their bodies were pressed together and they were leaning back against the cabinet "you don't need to be scared" Clint could feel his body betraying him as he tried to think of a way out "let me help you" and at that Anya's lips were on his.
"Anya…?"
Clint felt his blood run cold as he heard her voice…Natasha!
They both stared at the door, "Nat!" Clint said weakly
"What's…what's going on?!" Natasha couldn't hide the fear, the shock that swelled up in her eyes
"Sister" Anya smiled at Natasha "Clint only wanted to know more about us"
"You…Anya!" Natasha couldn't do anything but feel a burning rage deep inside her. She looked from Anya to Clint trying to understand
"Natasha" Clint shoved Anya roughly away and didn't feel any sympathy as she hit the floor "believe me I…she"
"Clint is our BROTHER! He protects us! Takes care of us and you do this!?" Natasha grabbed hold of Anya and pulled her to her feet, pure rage in her eyes
"I was willing to give him anything he was looking for" Anya said and then began to laugh "a good Black Widow does whatever she can to get the information"
Clint and Natasha both stared at Anya, Natasha knew Anya longer but Clint knew that this wasn't normal "I'll…should I go and get someone?" he asked
Natasha nodded, still looking at Anya "this isn't normal for her…she was always ambitious but…maybe get father" Anya now looked dazed and confused, Natasha stared down at her sister. What was wrong with her?
A/N: Sorry to end on a cliff-hanger and with something so out of the blue but this DOES mean something in future chapters TRUST ME! It will make sense! Sorry for not a lot of Clintasha either, that is on its way too. I'm sorry for this. I might go back and edit some of it in the future.
As always read and review! Would love to hear what you think!