Blending In Was Never Easy For Anyone (Young Clintasha Short Story)

CHAPTER 7: Consider It, For Later

"Her eyelids are flickering!" Said a woman's voice. I couldn't open my eyes. 

"Get her awake." A male voice, deep but calm. 

I felt weak, but I wanted to wake up. I could hear, but couldn't quite comprehend. 

The nightmare that had ensued kept running through my brain, haunting me. I was afraid that if I woke up, the nightmare would continue. 

"Natalie!" I heard a voice yell. It seemed familiar. "Nat! Nat, wake up!" It was Clint. 

I tried yelling his name but only got the sound of my own voice reverberating around in my head. 

"Get him out!" I heard a man yell. And then I heard some scuffling. 

I felt like I could throw up. Light was starting to come into my vision. 

"Sweetheart? Can you hear me? You need to wake up. You're fine now. You're safe. It's over." A woman with a sweet voice said. 

It was over? 

Did I take the chance? Or was I still dreaming? Dreaming that I had been saved. But saved from what? Sure, maybe from the vampire sister of the Master? But what about from the Master himself? I could never escape him. If I tried, he'd simply press his pretty little red button. And then...

BOOM. 

I shivered in my unconsious state. 

"NATALIE!" I heard Clint's faint voice yelling my name. 

And then my eyes shot open, and were immeditately blinded by the light over my head. I squinted my eyes closed and slowly raised my hands to try and shield my face. They felt as if they weighed a thousand pounds. And I couldn't even feel my legs. 

"She's awake!" A woman yelled. 

"Natalie. Natalie, open your eyes. Don't go back to sleep." The deep male voice said. 

I slowly opened my eyes, my head lolling. My mouth felt so dry and my lips felt as if they were glued together. I was looking into the face of a large, bald black man who had an eye patch over one eye. 

"Welcome back to the land of the living." He said. 

I looked around slowly. Behind the man was a small woman in scrubs. She must be a nurse. I could tell we were in a small room underground. A basement maybe? I no longer heard Clint. 

"Where-?" I began, but my mouth was too dry. 

"Get her some water." The man said. 

Almost immediately, I felt the wonderfully cool liquid flow down my throat. After drowning myself in it, I felt that I could speak. 

"Where's Clint?" I whispered. I couldn't have him getting hurt. 

"He's fine." The man said, sitting on the edge of my bed. 

"Where. Is. He?" I spat. 

"In the next room. He saved your life. We just made sure you stayed alive." He said. 

"What happened?" I asked. There was something about this dark man, all dressed in black and with his mysterious eye patch that was trustworthy somehow. 

"According to Mr. Barton. The girl was feeding off of you, and quickly. The older woman was watching from a distance, and was distracted by the momentary distraction. Mr. Barton took the distraction to take her out, hitting her over the head with a large plank of wood he had run off and gotten. He then shot the man who was holding you in the arm with a bow and arrow. And then he fought off Meg, who was too high off of your blood to do much fighting back." The man lightly touched my neck, which I realized was covered in a bandage. "You lost a lot of blood, but you'll be fine." 

"Doubtful." I said, thinking of the Master. "Where'd he get the bow?" I asked, thinking about what he had told me. 

"That," He said."You will have to ask him yourself." He patted my arm. "I know about the Master, Natasha." He whispered.

I immediately tensed. 

"I know all about you." 

I couldn't breathe. 

"Don't be afraid. I am trying to help. I am with an organization called SHEILD. We fight for the greater good, keeping the bad guys out. Your skills could be greatly utilized in our agency. And I would sware to you, as Director, I would never send you into a dangerous situation unless you wanted to go. You're not just a good spy, Natasha. You're extremelly intelligent, and you're an amazing fighter. We've been watching you for a long time, trying to catch up with you. But your like a Black Widow Spider. Dangerous and hard to catch." He smiled. 

I didn't know what to say. What do you say to something like that. So many different responses ran through my head. 

"Oh, and your friend- We could use him too. He's got amazing agility, and I won't even start on his archery skills or his intellect. The pair of you would make a great partnership." His smile faded slightly. "We don't usually take in kids, don't make them agents. But for the pair of you, we would make an exception, train you and guide you. Both of your pasts make you the perfect subjects to fight back what needs to be eradicated." He paused. "And we could keep you safe." He looked deep into my eyes. 

"How do our pasts make us perfect for the job?" I asked. I knew my past, but didn't see how it was relevant to the subject. 

"Both you and Clint were trained by great warriors, starting almost from birth. Clint was taught to hunt and rely on his hearing more than his eyes. He's like a hawk. He sees things from above and assesses them, takes care of them. He's smart, far beyond his years. His father taught him everything he knows about archery, hunting, fighting, surviving. And then his father was taken by some very nasty people, and was killed for information that he would never give up. Clint went on the run until he finally found his godmother. He's haunted by his past, and doesn't know exactly what his father did, whether he can even consider his father a good or bad man. He wants to take out evil maybe even more than you do."

I snortted. "Highly doubtful." I had been abducted when I was a year old, but I could sware I could still smell my birth mother's rosey perfume and my father's aftershave, even though I couldn't see their faces. I had been taken in by a small group and they had taught me how to fight and steal from the moment I began walking. They taught me every type of martial arts and combat type, and even had me take ballet and gymnastics with the pros. They taught me how people think and how to break the system, how to get in through its holes. They made me who I am. And then they were caught. Some of them got away, but most of them ended up dead. I ran, ran like there would be no tomorrow. I had always been told that the outside world was full of monsters and people ready to slit each other's throats. Turns out, I was the real monster. And that's when I found the Master. He took me in when I was 9, and ripped out my heart, my ability to care. He turned me into a killer and a fighter. I was unbeatable. He turned me into a time bomb.

"Do you see how you too are similar?" He asked after my life flashed by. 

I nodded my head. 

"I don't know if I can be good." I whispered. 

"Tell you what. We are going to get you all fixed up, and then we are going to let you get back to your mission. The Master won't suspect a thing. And you can consider it, for later. You can be a part of a team. You can save the world." He said. 

Could Black Widows help eliminate evil, or did they just help create it?