Before the War - {Clintasha} - {Pre-Avengers} [#Wattys2019]

Chapter 1: Short Leash, Short Fuse

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"Agent Barton, Agent Romanoff. Agent Barton, Agent Romanoff."

Agent Clint Barton and Agent Natasha Romanoff froze in the middle of their training session as they heard the announcement come through the old intercom plastered to the side of the wall. Sweat dribbled down Clint's face and Natasha's face. The sudden announcement also made a few other training agents in the room freeze in their current sparing or training positions and look up.

"Please report to Director Fury's office immediately. Attention, Strike Team Delta, please report to Director Fury's office immediately." The robotic voice ended with the squeal of a machine and then a click. The other agents in the room unfroze and continued on with their training.

Natasha, currently flat on her back with her arms stretched out and her hands pressed against Clint's shoulders, brought her knees up against her chest, twisted her legs around her partner's abdomen, then threw him to the side before standing up.

Clint sucked in a sharp breath of air when Natasha kicked him away. "What the hell, Nat? I would've let you up." He stood up, then gave her a fake glare and a smirk as he walked over to the stack of pristine white towels in the corner closest to where they were currently sparring. He grabbed two thin towels and tossed one to the Black Widow.

Natasha grabbed the towel and wiped her face off before draping it around her neck. "I don't think that's what a master assassin is supposed to do. You're not supposed to let go of the enemy, well, maybe after they're already dead." It received an eye roll from the infamous Hawkeye.

Clint mimicked Natasha by draping his own towel around his neck before nodding to the door so Natasha could join him on the walk to Fury's office.

No agent made eye contact with either assassin as they walked to Fury's office. Clint turned his head to see the side of his partner's face. Her short red hair was currently behind her ear. The ends curled up because of the sweat from training. "So what do you think this is all about?"

Natasha looked up and gently shoved him back, an annoyed and disgusted look on her face. "Don't do that, Barton. You need to shower."

"Uh, so do you. We're gonna hear it from Fury or Coulson, you know that." Clint had a similar appearance when it came to being covered in sweat. His dirty blonde hair, once quickly styled with gel, was now flat down to his head.

"Don't be a baby. Look, just keep quiet in there and be a good little murderer." Natasha kept her eyes forward. 

"Nat..."

Before the War

Of course, when they got to Fury's office, Director Nick Fury didn't look so happy to see them. Agent Coulson, Strike Team Delta's handler, was standing next to him, a binder in his hands.

Fury seemed like he didn't know how to react once the pair walked in. "After all I said about you two being my top agents, you walk in here looking like that?"

"I-I...well...you see. We were training...and the intercom said to come immediately..." The dirty-blonde agent seemed nervous as he answered the director. Fury just waved his hand, not interested in hearing any more excuses.

"You two are the only team I thought could handle this mission. Hydra bases are popping up everywhere across the world. They're letting us easily track them, so we don't exactly know what is going on with them. We don't have enough information to explain why, but we have reasons to believe they are building something that could wipe us all out. Your job is to shut them all down before they can press any buttons."