DISCLAIMER: I do not own the Avengers, Black Widow, Hawkeye, or anything else related to them. That is all on Marvel (lucky ducks).
A/N: Well, I feel like this chapter is maybe a little bit better than the last one, I was a bit of a meanie and left you guys with a cliffie…dun dun duuuuunnnn! I don't think it's all that bad of a cliffie but I will let y'all decide on that! Again, reviews are WONDERFUL! They keep me motivated and ready to write! ^_^ ENJOY!
Clint wasn't feeling as confident as he pretended. This mission had been a problem from the start. The moment he stepped onto the tarmac at the airport in Beijing he should have just turned right back around and gone home. Let some other agent handle this. Of course, if he couldn't handle it then no one else could either. Except maybe Natasha. She was here now so he should be feeling like things were going better, like they would handle this as usual and never have to think about this disastrous mission again. Budapest had been bad but so far this was worse. His only asset was dead and he couldn't even get within one hundred feet of Nutian's mansion without being gunned down. Natasha was going in alone on this one and he hated that more than he thought he would, seeing as she had gone in on more than one mission alone and she'd come out on top. This would be no different, right?
The cocky smile he gave her as the elevator doors slid shut was more out of habit and less because he was feeling confident. He grabbed his bow and arrows and placed them in the long black case he would carry them around in before sliding his archer glove into the zippered front pocket. Satisfied, he returned to their prisoner, making sure he was secure and unconscious, before heading back out of the room. He needed to be close behind Natasha if he was going to watch her back. He had no idea where she was meeting with Nutian today since Nutian was probably going to be overly cautious and not meet anyone at his mansion for a little while. Clint felt a little bad about that since it was his fault that she would be in an unknown location today.
He reached the lobby of the hotel, walking confidently toward the front doors, the hood of his jacket on his head and somewhat concealing his face. Natasha was sliding into a long black limousine in the front drive, glancing briefly toward the lobby where he stood before the door was shut and she was gone. He picked up his pace a bit, reaching the circle drive as the limo turned right out of the lot. He waved over the valet, handed him the ticket for his bike, and waited rather impatiently for the boy to return. He could still see the limo's taillights from where he stood but he knew that wouldn't last much longer. They could turn off the main road at any second. He tapped his foot impatiently, glancing toward the garage and muttering under his breath in annoyance. This was the biggest problem with staying in fancy hotels like this. Valets slowed everything down.
Finally, the valet came back to the drive with his black Ducati and Clint let out a huff of annoyance before taking the handlebars and slinging his leg over the seat. His bag was now on his back now, a comfortable weight after so many years, and finally he was able to set off. He didn't pay any attention to the other vehicles working around the circular drive; he simply wove in and out of the vehicles until he reached the main road. The limousine was almost one mile away now, the left turn signal blinking lazily as the vehicle slowly rounded the corner.
Clint wove through the last few vehicles in his way and rounded the corner. He kept back after that, never drawing too close to the limousine so as not to tip the driver off that he was tailing him. He didn't need Natasha to be in as much trouble as he already was with Nutian and his men. They really needed this mission to go off without a hitch or they would be in some serious trouble. Fury wouldn't be too happy if his two best agents couldn't pull this mission off because that meant no one else could. That would sit fairly badly with their eye-patch wearing boss. They'd be lucky if they ever went on a mission again if they screwed up here. Clint wasn't in the mood to lose his job today. Maybe next week when he was in a bad mood or something.
They rounded another corner and a large warehouse loomed over the road just ahead. The limousine slowed, turning into an underground parking garage and disappearing from sight. He cursed under his breath, there was a manned gate blocking the entrance to the garage. No way inside without arousing suspicion and he was fairly certain the guard was one of Nutian's men from before. He had a black eye and his arm was in a sling. Clint wouldn't be welcome there. He'd be shot the second they saw his face, no questions asked and no fucks given.
Plan B then. He always hated resorting to plan B because that meant plan A had gone sideways and everything was screwed up. Well, not everything he supposed since Natasha was inside and he hadn't heard any gunshots yet. Or Russian expletives over the comm unit yet. That had to be a good sign, right? Natasha wasn't going commando and fighting her way out of there. Yet. So he looped casually around the garage and to an abandoned warehouse just beyond. He parked his bike in the shadows of what must have once been a busy loading bay, and hurried to the top floor of the building. Hopefully, the meeting would be taking place in the warehouse like he assumed and he would have a perfect shot into the building. He needed to see what was happening.
He set the case with his bow and arrows down on a patch of slightly less filthy concrete near a shattered window and grabbed the sniping scope from the back zippered pocket. He slipped the small black scope onto the ledge of the window, keeping low and out of the sun as he scanned from window to window along the warehouse wall. He could make out about ten of Nutian's men from where he was sitting, all of them armed and looking ready for a fight. Their faces were set in scowls and the few among them with bruised eyes and cheeks looked ready to shoot anyone who tried speaking to them. He smirked a bit; he couldn't help feeling a little proud of his handiwork. At least Nutian knew he wasn't someone to be messed with unnecessarily. His men would be more cautious with him now. They would not charge him like before. That had been stupid on their part.
His mind snapped back to the present as a very familiar head of red hair came into view. Natasha was smiling demurely, playing her part without a hitch. Nutian came into view at the other end of the room, immediately taken in by her long, bare legs and slightly over exposed chest. She broadened her smile, a flirty and sultry edge creeping into her expression as she offered him her hand. He kissed her knuckles, his eyes glued to her face the whole time and she laughed at something he said. Clint wanted to barf, honestly. Watching Natasha wrap men around her finger never became any less nauseating. Ever.
Natasha's voice broke through over the comm unit, finally gaining his attention for the first time. Her French accent was back in place, the flirty edge leaking from her smile into her words, "Bonjour, Monsieur Nutian. I am grateful you are willing to meet on such short notice."
Nutian smiles broadly, slipping Natasha's hand into the crook of his elbow and keeping his hand pressed over her fingers, "But of course. When one such as you asks for a meeting I can hardly refuse. Any chance to see a face such as yours cannot be ignored."
Natasha giggled, the sound girly and yet womanly all at once and Nutian wraps himself a little tighter around her finger, "You are too kind, Monsieur."
He shakes his head, "Not at all. Beautiful women should be complimented frequently. They deserve it."
Natasha's chuckle sends shivers down Clint's spine. He'd heard that chuckle once or twice but not since the mission in Budapest. That chuckle is the most intimate sound Natasha can make and she only ever uses it on missions when everything is riding on her performance. Nutian seems to be just as affected by this sudden mood change from her as his smile turns a little more wolfish, "Perhaps we can continue this meeting in my office? My men can arrange everything to be transported while we…discuss the terms of our deal."
Talk about wanting to vomit. Clint's nausea just spiked about fifty degrees and he could see the way Natasha stiffened in her shoulders. Her face displayed none of this tenseness though and neither did her voice as she leaned into Nutian, "Je suis sûr que vous êtes un très bon négociateur."
Clint rolls his eyes slightly, the smirk back on his face as Natasha gives Nutian the kind of reaction he is wanting. She definitely knows how to keep a man wanting more from her. He's been a victim of her charms twice. One in Budapest and once just after the battle with Loki. Both of those seem very distant now, very far away from the here and now. They had become distant since that last encounter, mostly because Clint was pushing her away. He wouldn't deny that he was the one shoving her out of his life. It was what he did when he felt things were becoming too close, too personal. Natasha was definitely too close and way too personal.
A door opened and Clint looked back in time to see Natasha stepping into a small office off the main room. There were no windows into the office and Clint cursed. She would be completely on her own in there. He knew she could handle herself but he always worried. She was his partner, for better or for worse. Being partners was a lot like being married because no matter what the circumstances, you were always there for each other and you had to have complete trust in one another. If he didn't have trust in Natasha they would have died a long time ago.
With a sigh he turned his gaze from the closed office door and focused back in on the men who were carrying black bags from the building out to the limousine Natasha had arrived in. Clint assumed that the bags being carried from the building meant that this was Nutian's main warehouse. Clint wasn't really sure why Nutian would have a meeting in his main facility but this made their job easier at least. They could burn this place to the ground, torch Nutian's place with him in it, and be out of here by this time tomorrow. Clint smiled a bit, that would be nice. Being home on the Hellicarrier was really the only thing on Clint's mind at the moment.
"дерьмо!" Natasha's voice was harsh in his ear and that was when he noticed the faint sounds of a struggle. Clint cursed out loud this time, pulling out his bow and arrows and sighting the office door, waiting and willing for it to open.
It didn't. The sounds of struggling grew softer and Natasha's curses grew weaker until everything went silent. And then the door opened.
Je suis sûr que vous êtes un très bon négociateur =I'm sure you're a very good negotiator.
Дерьмо = Shit
Well? Thoughts? Opinions? Ridicule? I will accept them all! Next chapter should be up in the next few days hopefully!