Log: Natasha Romanoff and Clint Barton Who: Natasha Romanoff and Clint Barton Where: Around and about Atlantis When: Early Wednesday, March 7. Just before and during the communications blackout. What: Unauthorized investigating. Rating: PG Warnings: Probably none.
Sure, the Atlantis PD had official detectives on the kidnapping, and Clint had gathered that the military was involving itself as well since the ransom demand from COS. That didn't mean that Clint Barton was prepared to let the official authorities do all the work. His trust in the system had always been shaky and focused on certain individuals, and the revelation that HYDRA was hiding within SHIELD had not helped his issues with authority. He hadn't been surprised that Natasha shared his views, which was why they’d agreed to put their own expertise to the task of finding Wanda and Jemma and the others.
Even Tony. Clint would like to have Stark safe and sound so that he could return to quietly resenting his former teammate from a distance.
Early Wednesday morning found him on a rooftop in the city watching members of one of the assigned field teams as they combed every inch of a particular street corner for clues. Clint liked the big picture view he was able to get from such a vantage point, the patterns visible in the movements of people that could not be seen from street level. He narrowed his eyes. Had one of the agents seen something? He was rising to get a better look when a noise like an explosion at close range knocked him flat on his back on the roof.
An attack. That was his first instinct, but Clint had to fight the ringing in his ears for several moments before he could move even unsteadily to look for the attacker. His second instinct was to send messages out to Nat and Coulson, Steve and Bruce to verify their safety and wellbeing. Unfortunately, his device was now dead. No messages, no calls, nothing but the taunting countdown that had appeared in the corner of the screen.
Clint cursed under his breath. He needed to find his team.
She’d known exactly where to find him because it was the very place she would have gone. The perfect vantage point and when the blast went out, she was on the stairs to the roof. “What the hell?” she said aloud. There was nothing new on her device other than the clock and no way for her to get in touch with anyone but she knew she’d find Clint on this rooftop.
Pushing open the door, she breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that she was right. “Hey you,” she said. “It’s me. I knew this was where you’d be.” Natasha walked over to him and knelt beside him. “Anything to report? Everyone’s kind of freaking out down there or at least the people I passed were.”
Clint had risen to one knee and was already drawing his bow when the door began to open. He lowered it when Natasha emerged into the roof. “I almost put an arrow through you,” he said, not very seriously. Accidentally or not, he’d never shoot Natasha. He nodded back over the roof at the corner he'd been watching. “Looks like they found something over there. I don't know what that blast was, though. Some kind of EMP? Seen any hostiles?”
“You wouldn’t shoot me unless you’ve developed a death wish,” she said drily. “I don’t know what that was but it sure fucked things up. No I haven’t seen any hostiles. We know it’s got to be COS but where are they? The bastards have never come to us before and that bothers me.”
“Of course, I have a death wish,” said Clint with rather dark humor. “You’ve heard Coulson's post-mission lectures, haven't you?” He scowled. “I haven't been here long, but I already don't like those guys. That's not a good sign.” He looked out over the street and the panicking people once again. “We should try to calm these people down and then check in at the base.”
“I can’t say I ever really paid that much attention,” she admitted. “Besides he knew we weren’t going to do what he said anyway but he had to do it.” Nat nodded as she knelt down next to him. “They are not good people. For all that they want to do away with creativity, they’ve actually had some pretty creative ways of getting to us. Which is ironic as crap.”
“I liked to at least pretend,” said Clint. “It made him feel useful.” Truthfully, he was still adjusting to the idea of Coulson being alive all that time Clint had been mourning him. There was a time he’d have given his bow to hear one of those lectures again. “I’m looking forward to getting a shot at them.” He looked up with a grin. “So, do you want to take the long way down or the short way?”
‘Natasha grinned. “Oh the short way. It’s a lot more fun than the long way. Might as well enjoy ourselves.” Sometime she missed the excitement of SHIELD but she knew they were doing a good thing and she wasn’t sorry that she’d decided to stay especially now that Clint was here.
“You read my mind.” Clint smirked. It wasn't that the situation wasn’t serious - first the kidnappings (Wanda and Tony missing, along with Jemma Fitzsimmons and others) and now this further attack - but agents who didn't inject a little fun into the job, even if only by way of a little black humor, tended to crack sooner or later. He fired a grappling arrow at building across the street, tested the line, and then held out an arm for Natasha. “Going down.”
She reached for him and settled herself. This wasn’t the first time they’d done this by any means but she always got a kick out of it. It was the closest to flying you could get without a plane and loved to fly. “Let’s go,” she said and held on tightly as they headed for the ground.