Budapest » [Clintasha]

Chapter Sixty: Firsts and Lasts

"What do you know about Hungary?" Said Nick Fury.

A projector whirred in the dark room, a carousel of slides clipped into place and clicking as it spun like a merry-go-round. Light filtered through the Kodachrome, the reel being translated into a white drop-down screen. Intercepting the beam of light transmitted from the lens, were particles of dust, some clumpy enough to make the quality of the photos grainy.

The room was nothing more than me, a table, and a handful of S.H.I.E.L.D. Representatives; of whom, most people's faces were deluged in shadow.

"Not much, but that it's completely out of reach. It's beyond the Iron Curtain, that's all that matters." Slumped in the chair, I shrugged.

"What if I told you it's not out of reach. Not for us, anyway..." Nick presented, gesturing to the techie to reel through the images. "Let me rephrase that... Not to you."

"I really don't like the way you've said that..." I surrendered my opinion.

"Contentions are high between the USA and the USSR, and have been since the start of the Cold War. Espionage, guerrilla warfare, missile crises... Any blatant American intervention in the United Soviet States could start World War Three. But you... You, Clint, are a legal loophole..." Fury drawled, smirking.

I quirked an eyebrow, unsure if the expression had gone noticed in the pitch black boardroom. "Elaborate."

"He means-" Coulson's voice crossed the table. "-you've not technically graduated from S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy. You're not legally on the roster."

"Which means-" Nick interjected. "-if on this mission, everything goes to shit-" he cleared his throat, unamused mumbles and grumbles coming from his seniors in the darkness. "-we can abdicate all liability and culpability."

"Explains why you're sending me rather than..." I looked around in the blackness, I was pretty sure any one of the anonymous faces were more qualified than me. But I could make out Bobbi's face a couple seats down. "Bobbi-" was that Doctor Pym? "Professor Pym-" I looked back at the dimly lit face parallel to me. "-Agent Coulson."

"The reason we're sending you, Clint is because you have a very specific skill set," an authoritative sounding voice pierced the tenebrousness, threading through the utterances like a needle. "Nick, if I may?"

"Certainly Alexander."

The ominous clicks of heeled gentlemen's shoes preceded his emergence from the gloom. He stepped into the firing line of the projector, glasses perched on his nose and one hand slotted into his pocket. The waistcoated middle-aged man made a wrinkle-eyed smile before addressing me.

"You have a very specific skill set, Clint. I've never once seen you miss, neither has anyone else in this boardroom, or even this facility. Contradicting your skill, you, as a person, can - yes - sometimes be misguided. But your innovation, your youth, your resilience? It's unrivalled... Just work on that self-belief for me, son."

Pierce patted me on the shoulder before strutting back to his seat.

"We've been sidetracked," A voice remarked from the wings.

"Hungary..." Nick nodded to the projector operator, and an assemblage of images careened across the screen. "Budapest."

"Hungary, the country has a history of political volatility with the overthrow of the monarchy in 1848, the separation of Austria-Hungary in 1918, the Trianon Treaty of 1920, the revolution of both 1848 and 1956," Coulson relayed like a textbook, a comprehensive overview of their history.

Coulson stood, and paced to a position of presentation. "Budapest, the capital, is one of the biggest cities in the European Union. Once two cities, separated by the river Danube, Obuda and Pest. Unified in 1873 by King Franz Joseph I, facilitated by the main chain bridge. Five-hundred and twenty-five square kilometres of city, occupied by a population of just over two million. One hour ahead of Greenwich Meridian Time, six hours ahead of us here in Upstate New York. The currency is the Hungarian forint." He paused, though not a hint of breathlessness fringed his words. "This is where you'll be going."