Log: Natasha Romanoff and Clint Barton Who: Natasha Romanoff and Clint Barton Where: Clint & Jim’s room, the hallway of Tower Three. When: Immediately after Clint’s arrival. Rating: PG Warnings: Slight language.
Clint Barton had seen a lot of strange things in his life. Interdimensional aliens, mythological gods, super soldiers, and outright magic… waking up in a strange bed in an unfamiliar room with a foreign city visible through the windows barely rated a, “Huh.”
Training took over automatically. He wasn’t restrained, and his weapons were beside him. There did not appear to be anyone else currently in the room. Clint got up, checking his bow and arrows for tampering first and his guns next. He crossed to the window. The city below looked like nothing he’d ever seen before, a mix of ancient and modern, much like some older cities he'd known, but with architecture that did not quite match any. He was preparing to check the doors and windows when the hologram started up.
Clint watched the recording with his eyebrows steadily rising. The world was ending. So what else was new? Atlantis. Sure, why not? Then came the list of people in Atlantis he might know: S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and Avengers past and present. Avengers past, he corrected mentally. There were no Avengers, anymore. Barnes, who had never been easy to categorize. Clint made a mental list of allies and enemies should this turn out to be real. Wanda. He’d have to find her and check on her. Two names stuck out more than any others, however.
Natasha.
Coulson.
Clint’s stomach clenched for two very different reasons. He hadn't seen Nat since Germany, although he gathered she'd had something to do with the jailbreak at the Raft. He hadn't seen Coulson alive since New Mexico.
“Where am I?” he asked the hologram.
“Tower Three room 101,” said a slightly tinny voice. “Residents: James Kirk and Clinton Barton.”
“James Kirk, huh?” Clint couldn’t help a chuckle. “Star Trek fans for parents?” Never mind that. “Show me a map of this place.”
“A map is accessible on your phone.” Clint looked around and saw a large smartphone - a phablet the kids were calling them - on the table next to the bed where he’d woken up.
“All right, then.” He picked it up and headed out the door. Time to get some answers.
Natasha had received the alert but she wasn’t going to believe it until it was confirmed. Before she could call someone at HQ, she’d gotten the text from Daisy and she knew she hadn’t imagined it. Agreeing to meet Daisy for a drink before she went to find Clint had been Natasha’s way of getting herself together as much as anything else. She hadn’t seen Clint since everything had happened in Berlin although she had played a part behind the scenes in getting him and the others off the Raft. There was so much to say, so much to talk about and it seemed that finally she was going to have that chance.
She had checked to see which tower he was in and when she left the bar, Natasha made her way in that direction. Her plan was to go and knock on his door but as it turned out, she didn’t have to, Clint was walking out the door as she turned down the walk. She stopped for a moment and just looked at him, remembering all they’d been through together, wondering what his being here would mean, what point in time he’d come from, but mostly she just wanted to look at him. There weren’t many people that Natasha allowed herself to get emotional over but Clint Barton was on that list.
“Hey you,” she called as she walked toward him. “I heard a rumor that you were here. Glad to see the grapevine was right.” As badly as she wanted to throw her arms around him, she was going to wait and let him make that move. She had no idea where things stood with him where he’d come from but she’d know as soon as he met her eyes.
They’d fought each other in Berlin, but they’d fought each other on other occasions, if never under such circumstances, and Clint had a lot of faith when it came to Natasha. He hadn't known when he’d see his best friend again after becoming a fugitive. “In the flesh,” he said. “Mostly.” She’d made no reference to the airport, and neither did he. He was smiling and casual, but someone who knew him as well as Natasha could see the relief in his eyes. “Spies are the worst gossips,” he added. “What else does the grapevine say?”
“It says that if you don’t give me a hug, I’ll have to kick your ass and you know I don’t offer to hug very many people,” she said with a grin. Clearly he was glad to see her which made her feel better. The way things had been left was strange but the look in his eyes and the fact that he appeared to be much the same as the last time she saw him and not years younger or older reassured her that they were probably on or at least close to, the same page.
Clint grinned back. “I know to take that threat seriously,” he said, stepping forward to hug her. He surprised himself a little by holding on. It had been a while back home, if not in time since they’d seen each other, then certainly in magnitude of life-altering events. It was good to have her there. Even if Atlantis proved to be other than what it claimed, the two of them should be a match for it.
After a moment, he said, “I heard the spiel. Is this place legit?”
Natasha didn’t mind that he held on, she did the same. No matter what had passed between them, he would always be her best friend. He had believed in her when she couldn’t even believe in herself. When she finally let go, she nodded in answer to his question.
“It is. Surprised me to be honest but yeah it’s exactly what it says it is,” she waved a hand in the direction of the city around them. “All part of the multiverse they say so you’re here but you’re also still wherever you were at home and whatever you do here doesn’t affect what’s going on there. People have left here, gone back and then returned here. They don’t remember this place while they’re home but some people have memories of it when they come back. Apparently I did that but I have no memories of having been here before.” Which was kind of strange but she’d gotten used to it. “And I’m a field commander so I guess that kind of makes me your boss,” she grinned. “Depending on the mission. Not everyone goes on every mission but they usually seem to happen about every month or so. And there’s also a lot of weird stuff that happens, like magic. People turned into Care Bears a while back, I felt compelled to adopt a mini cow, she’s cute, her name is Edwina. I’ll take you to meet her.”
“Field Commander?” Clint repeated. “Someone in charge is smart, then.” The idea of coming and going without remembering anything didn’t sit very well with him, but if Nat wasn't complaining about it, he could give it a chance. “I’m definitely going to have to meet this mini-cow. Miss the farm that much, did you?” He meant it as a joke, but he'd missed her between visits. Retirement had meant a lot more downtime than either S.H.I.E.L.D. agents or Avengers ever got. Even when they’d been on separate missions, it hadn't always seemed as long.
After a pause, he said more seriously, “They said people came from different times.” If Atlantis was really what it claimed… “Coulson's really here?”
She smiled. “No, I just have a secret desire to be a milkmaid. That’d be one cover I’ve never tried,” It was easy to joke but the truth was she had missed the farm but more so him than the farm. She wasn’t going to say that though even if it was the truth. “The people in charge here are good. One of them is Sharon Carter, Peggy’s great niece, so that went a long way in my deciding to stick around. I trust her.” Which was high praise coming from Natasha.
“And yes, Coulson is really here. He just got here a few days ago actually. I haven’t had a chance to spend much time with him but he’s here and it’s definitely him.” She had known that he was alive although she couldn’t tell anyone and she knew that Clint would understand that. “Have I mentioned how glad I am that you’re here?” she asked, changing the subject but saying the only thing she could think about right now. He was here. Of all the people she knew that could have appeared, Clint was the one she wanted most. Not that she would admit that to everyone but it was true.
“So would that make me a shepherd?” Clint said, laughing at the idea of Natasha as a milkmaid.
“Sharon’s good people,” he agreed. Carter was one of those Clint still fully trusted after the reveal that Hydra had been hiding in the midst of S.H.I.E.L.D. all those years. Sharon hadn't been in Germany, but he knew she'd been a help to Steve before that. That, like Natasha's presence, went far towards inclining Clint to trust his new surroundings.
“Are we sure he's not a Life Model Decoy?” he quipped, but he trusted Natasha's word. He’d have to track down his old handler, as well. Coulson, like Natasha, was family, and it had been even longer since Clint had seen him. “Don’t worry,” he added, without waiting for a response to the rhetorical question. “I’m going to have to stick close. I don't need my partner running off to another world without me.” Because they were still partners, he hoped.
“She really is. It’s been good having her here. There was another me here before I got here and apparently she didn’t always play well and socialize with others,” Natasha shrugged. “I guess she wasn’t happy here, I have no clue but I assure you that this is me. I am not a Life Model Decoy, I am the Natasha you know and who knows all your dirty little secrets.” She was only half joking. They really did know each other’s secrets and they went no further.
“I’m not planning on going anywhere. I like it here, it’s not as fast paced as it is at home but there’s plenty going on. I’ve met some interesting folks here, I mean hell, your roommate is Captain Kirk, that’s pretty impressive.” She wasn’t close to Kirk but she’d met him a few times so she at least assure Clint that he was okay. “Besides now that you’re here, I don’t have any reason to want to leave.”
It was true. If Clint were admitting it, Natasha knew more of his secrets than Laura did. Part of that was security clearance issues, and part of that was just… Natasha. “I’ll be on my best behavior, then,” he said with a smile.
At the comment about his roommate, he shook his head half in disbelief. “Captain Kirk. It really is him, then? Even after that message, I thought his parents must just be really big fans. I’ll have to get an autograph.”
“Dude, we’ve got Luke Skywalker too so it’s like Geek Heaven. That’s not even counting some of the other people that are here. Funny thing is that there are people who geek out over us too,” she laughed. “It’s kind of nuts realizing that in some worlds we are just as fictional as the people from Star Wars and Star Trek are to us. I promise though that everyone is the real deal. Hell, I don’t even know some of them but there are vampires, witches, wizards, pretty much one of everything.”
“Does this mean I finally get to learn to become a Jedi?” Clint asked. He shook his head. Their world had moved so far past the impossible already. The idea that they could be fictional characters to someone here was just more piece of the same crazy. “Magic and monsters,” he muttered, adding more lightly, “I always knew Rogers was too good to be true.”
He tilted his head at Natasha. “So have you made friends with Princess Leia, yet?”
“I’m not sure if there are Jedi classes but if there are, I want to go too. Especially if they’re passing out light sabers. How cool would that be?” it felt good to be with Clint again, joking about something that was completely ridiculous and smiling. While she smiled more than she used to since she’d been in Atlantis, it wasn’t the way that Clint made her smile. “Sadly Princess Leia is not here although I could try putting my hair in those cinnamon roll buns if you want but I’m not wearing that iron bikini, not even for you.”
“Aww, but Nat…” he said in an exaggerated whine, then passed it off. “I don’t know if this place could handle that anyway.” He studied her - not covertly, exactly as he was fairly sure Natasha knew what he was thinking ninety-nine percent of the time - but silently. Atlantis had been good to her, he thought. It felt like it had been a long time since they’d really relaxed together. That, more than spoken words, made him believe the situation was on the level. Aloud, he said. “I’m not giving up my bow, but I definitely wouldn't mind adding a lightsaber.”
“Never give up your bow, you wouldn’t be you without it,” she said. She had seen his look and didn’t mind it in the least. What they had had and still had despite everything was something special and she liked the fact that they didn’t always have to communicate with words. “So come on, let me show you the place. There’s a lot to see and I’ll even spring for dinner.”
Clint let himself be led out to explore Atlantis. There were other important meetings, other people he needed to see and speak to, but he’d need to prepare for those, and this time belonged to Natasha.