DISCLAIMER: I do not own the Avengers, Black Widow, Hawkeye, or anything else related to them. That is all on Marvel (lucky ducks).
Natasha though the mission was going fairly well. Nutian was already practically drooling on her the moment he laid eyes on her and his men were not much better. This was going to be much easier than she'd originally thought. Clint made it seem so difficult at first because he had a rather rude welcome but not many men were worried about a woman coming along to take them down. Especially not one like her who walked around in stilettos and form-fitting dresses. She'd been underestimated by men more than once and she often could use that to her advantage. After all, when a man was around a beautiful woman there was usually only one thing on his mind. Natasha was very good at putting those thoughts into men's minds. She wasn't being overconfident about it that was just the way things usually were. She walked in and all coherent thought vanished from her target's mind until it was too late.
So when Nutian said they "talk" in his office, she was more than happy to keep the man happy for a little while longer. She could kill him easier if it was behind closed doors. She wouldn't have to worry about his men this way. They wouldn't dare disturb their master when he was in the middle of entertaining a woman. So she wasn't as on guard as she should have been. In fact, she was probably more relaxed than she had been in months. She blamed the sound of Clint's steady breathing in her ear for the sudden lack in self-awareness. It had been a few weeks since she'd had him with her on a mission and hearing his breath in her ear reminded her of times when their relationship wasn't quite so strained. When he looked at her with eyes that weren't guarded and hiding things from her. When his laugh wasn't quite so strained and the wrinkles on his face were from smiling and not from frowning. That was why Nutian was able to catch her off guard so easily.
The prick of a needle jabbing into her neck automatically drew a Russian expletive from her lips and she saw the sadistic little smile on Nutian's face. He slapped her across the face and she stumbled, some sort of sedative working its way through her system. Her body was growing heavy, her eyes dropping, and her mind was growing fuzzy. She grabbed the back of a wooden chair, attempting to pull the dagger from the sheath against her thigh. Nutian smirked and smacked her across the face once more and she fell to the floor this time, the chair coming with her. She groaned softly, unable to stand back up now that she was down. Nutian stood over her, "I am not a stupid man and I am not blind either. I would recognize the Black Widow anywhere. My men have memorized your face and your movements ever since you resurfaced in New York. We are smarter than your precious S.H.I.E.L.D thinks."
Natasha felt her eyes widen. No one knew she was a S.H.I.E.L.D agent. Fury had worked to ensure her name would never turn up should anyone start investigating their list of agents. She was supposed to be like a ghost, drifting and helping where she was needed but unknown to anyone on the outside. She felt her eyes slipping closed now and she heard Clint curse in her ear before everything faded out around her. This mission was definitely not going as planned.
~*AVG*~*AVG*~*AVG*~*AVG*~*AVG*~*AVG*~
The first thing that came back to Natasha was sound. She could hear voices, muffled but there, around her. They were speaking in Chinese as far as she could tell but her mind couldn't quite keep up with their words just yet. She groaned softly, her head lolling forward against her chest, and felt her brows furrow. She winced, her head pounding now that she was coming back into reality. Her mouth tasted like cotton balls, like she hadn't had anything to drink for days. She lifted her head slowly, afraid the pounding would only grow worse and that would just add to the crappiness of this entire situation. She had to blink once her head was raised though, the lights around her bright and blinding. She huffed out in annoyance. Waking up after being drugged had to be her least favorite experience in the whole entire world. That and getting shot. Nothing was worse than getting shot.
"Finally awake are we?" Natasha very nearly groaned again at the sound of Nutian's annoying little voice above her. She lifted her eyes to meet his, her hair falling over her face now that it was no longer in the neat little chignon at her ear. Men could never understand how much time and effort went into making her hair stay in those damn chignons.
"You should practice your bedside manner," Natasha said, her Russian accent leaking into her words a bit as her anger and annoyance began to take over. At least she had practice with these kinds of situations. Making small talk with sadistic drug smugglers wasn't something she overly proud of but it came in handy on more than one occasion, "You're supposed to treat women kindly, or did your mother never teach you that?"
Nutian smirked, his face pinching up in amusement, "Women who deserve respect do not go around killing people."
Natasha almost laughed, "I think women who can kill deserve the most respect."
Nutian bent down, his hands resting on the armrests of the chair she was tied to, "I prefer my women a little more…delicate."
Natasha rolled her eyes and shook her head, "Of course you do. Easier to manipulate, right?
Nutian sighed and stepped away from her, shaking his head as he did so, "That and they don't try to kill me when I'm least expecting it. Luckily, I knew you would be coming for me soon."
She frowned, cocking her head to the side, "How?"
Nutian smiled and glanced over at her with amusement, "I have many resources. They were more than willing to give your name and picture when I went into business with them. And they were willing to tell me who your partner is. That was why I was expecting you, little spider. Hawkeye shows up on my doorstep practically and not even a day later I'm receiving word that a rich French heiress with red hair wants to make a deal with me. Now, call me paranoid, but somehow I just knew that heiress was you. And I knew that capturing you was in my best interests. After all, many of my clients would be willing to pay a heavy sum of money for you."
Natasha barked a laugh, "You're very confident in yourself. Your sources are a little behind schedule. Hawkeye and I haven't been full-time partners in months. We're solo acts now. He was too weak for me, too slow and too soft. We've separated."
Nutian paused, looking over at her with confused eyes, "Then why are you here now?"
Natasha's smile turned coy and a little sarcastic, "Your sources didn't tell you?"
Now Nutian looked angry, his face contorting slightly. He was back in her face, his hands gripping the armrests so hard his knuckles were white, "Why are you here?"
Natasha leaned forward slightly, her eyes narrowed, "Come on, you haven't figured it out yet?"
Nutian's hand slapped her face hard and she winced, blood dripping from her now split lip. She gritted her teeth and turned back toward Nutian, "Did I pinch a nerve?"
Nutian grabbed her chin, forcing her to look into his eyes, "Why?"
"To kill you. That is my job after all," Natasha ground out, her eyes hard as she tried not to look like she wasn't completely bored with this whole situation. Nutian had to be one of the least scary bad guys she'd ever dealt with. Tiny, little Asians just didn't scare her after being brought up by big, bulky Russians.
Nutian smacked her again, his voice harsh, "Well you failed didn't you?"
Natasha smirked, biting at her lip to keep the blood from dripping down her chin even more, "And what makes you think that?"
~*AVG*~*AVG*~*AVG*~*AVG*~*AVG*~*AVG*~
Clint paced back and forth across the hotel room. He was muttering to himself, a map spread across the dining room table and their current guest locked up in the spare room. Natasha had already been gone by the time he managed to get to the office. He'd killed six more of Nutian's men on his way into the building but none of it had meant anything because Natasha was gone. Missing. Shit. He'd put a call in to Fury a few minutes ago saying they had some things they seriously needed to discuss. Now, he was waiting for a response and trying desperately to figure out some plan to locate and extract Natasha. This mission was blown. Now they simply had to find some way to get out of this damn country alive.
The phone rang. Clint felt his heart slam to a stop in his chest before racing about fifty times faster than normal when the readout said it was Fury. He knew he was going to be in trouble but that wasn't what was making Clint so nervous right now. It was what Fury would say when he asked what their next course of action was. He pushed the little green button, "Barton."
"What happened?" Fury sounded pissed already and Clint hadn't even started in on his story. This was going to be one painful conversation.
"Agent Romanoff has been captured. Her identity was compromised and by the time I reached her location she was already gone. Nutian took her," Clint's voice was clipped, to the point. He hated these phone calls.
"Do you know where Nutian could have taken her?" Fury didn't like these calls either.
"No, sir. But I have one of his men here. I could interrogate, see if he spills any locations S.H.I.E.L.D does not already have intel on. She could be close."
"Or she could be dead or halfway across the country. Barton, your orders are to remain the same. Destroy the warehouse and kill Nutian. Once that is done, return to the Hellicarrier. We can locate Agent Romanoff once you are back on American soil." Click.
Barton cursed, chunked the phone across the room. It shattered and the pieces skid across the wood floors. The action didn't make him feel any better. Fury's words were banging around in his head. How could he simply forget about Natasha until after the mission was over? If she wasn't dead now, she would be by then. There was still a chance to save her. A chance to bring her back. She didn't give up on him when he was under Loki's magical mind control; he wasn't going to give up on her now. The circumstances were different but the principle was the same: don't leave your partner behind.
He would find her.