Scars and Origins

Chapter 7: Old Habits Die Hard

Chapter 7: Old Habits Die Hard

Fury reconvened the meeting without a hitch, everyone with coffee in hand, since the only person who actually wanted to be there was Natasha. The library down the street was mentioned briefly, and STRIKE Team Delta carefully scanned the faces around them for any nervousness. No signs of sabotage in the room, they mutally decided.

"Well, now that Agent Romanoff is here, I'm sure we would all like to get a more detailed explanation as to her viewpoint on what the mercenaries seemed to want to know," the director suggested, and Natasha obliged, staying seated since standing was impractical.

"Well, I originally thought they wanted to know about SHIELD intel, as that's what Henri kept asking about," Natasha began, sending a wave of relief since their stories matched perfectly so far. "But now, after seeing that email, I don't think it had to do with me personally. Agent Barton and I have a solid partnership and our teamwork is brilliantly unmatched by any other duo I've seen, and I believe they wanted to exploit this and try and break our team apart. For what reason is hard to say, but their motives seem complex, and not as simple as one thing or another," she explained. 

'She always had a way with words in these big meetings,' Clint thought proudly. They truly went together like chicken and waffles or fries and a milkshake. Two people that wouldn't seem to go together at first glance, until you tested it, and boom, you get something totally new and perfect. If Natasha was right about anything, it was that they were in sync. No words had to pass between them to come to a mutual understanding. And this was no exception.

The man in the light gray suit slightly raised his hand and waited to be addressed. Romanoff nodded in his direction and he wondered, "Agent Romanoff, why is it that you two work so well together? I can't help but question the basis of your relationship." The suggestion had been aimed at her, and not the archer. Clint could feel the bubbling irritability radiating off of his partner, but he was surely the only one that could sense it. Her posture and demeanor didn't shift in the slightest to the average person's eye.

"Agent Barton and I are coworkers, partners, and teammates, nothing more. He is the one who recruited me to SHIELD, and naturally, is the person I trust most in this building. I hope you are not suggesting that a man and woman cannot work together without," she did air quotes for emphasis, "'taking things to another level', but I assure you it is entirely possible, sir," she shot back. Confidence oozed off of her, and that train of thought had been put to rest, made obvious by the gentleman who brought it up leaning against his hand and attempting to hide his embarrassment. The two female executives in the room tried to hide their smirks at how quickly the sexist comment was shut down.

"Anyways," Coulson announced, clearing his throat, "we haven't talked about the breakout itself yet. I have a map here of the route STRIKE Team Delta took to get back to the evacuation point." The slide on the TV was switched to show a Google Earth perspective of the mountainside, a red line traipsing through the terrain.

Imposingly, Fury stood and proclaimed, "Thank you, Coulson. Agent Barton, please tell us how you two managed to escape the compound."

Barton took a sip of his water, and rose to his feet. "Well, as I mentioned earlier today, Agent Romanoff managed to swipe the key from a guard. I took out the cameras; we ambushed the people that rushed down the stairwell, took their weapons, and made our way to the first floor again. Once we had retrieved our weapons after blowing out a wall, they didn't stand a chance. I picked them off one by one as Nat-Agent Romanoff," he stumbled over his words, "held onto to my shoulder for balance and shot at anything that moved. Only one guard was able to get close enough to make contact, and it's because he jumped from above us. He dislocated my shoulder, but Agent Romanoff managed to kick his feet out from under him and pop my shoulder back into place. We hustled down the mountainside here." He began to point at the map in unison with his words. "And they followed us down into this ravine. So we hid behind the rock formation here, and ambushed them. We crossed this canyon and cut the bridge to avoid being followed. By this point, she had lost a lot of blood and it was getting dark and snowing, so we had no choice but to whole up in this cabin, marked with that star toward the top of the map, to treat our wounds and recoup." Clint took another drink of water after that long monologue. He had been doing more talking in this meeting than he had originally hoped.