Bird Set Free | Natasha Romanoff ✓

Chapter Twenty-Nine

To say that Aquila Cadman was anxious would be an understatement. 

She was absolutely terrified that something was happening to Natasha right now because she knew that it was her fault. 

She should have reached out for Nat's hand earlier, or even quickly transformed to have a human hand for Natasha to grab instead of a sharp talon. 

Clint sat beside her, looking as worried as she felt. They had both been examining the cradle only to discover that it was sealed shut and neither of them could see an immediate way of opening it. 

"Anything on Nat?" Aquila said, standing up just as Tony entered the room. 

"Haven't heard. But she's alive, or Ultron would be rubbing our face in it."

Aquila sighed loudly, was that really supposed to make her feel better?

"This is sealed tight," Clint told Tony and Bruce. 

"We're gonna need to access the program, break it down from within," Bruce explained, placing his hands gently on the cradle. 

Tony turned towards where Clint and Aquila were standing. 

"Barton, any chance Natasha might leave you a message, outside the internet, old school spy stuff?"

"There are some nets I can cast."

"What about you, Cadman? You and Nat are practically soulmates at this point, are you sure you just can't sense where she is?"

"Tony," Aquila said, shaking her head slightly, at his attempt to lighten the mood. "But we'll find her." 

Clint sighed loudly before leading Aquila downstairs to an old computer room. 

Clint got set to work straight away, typing vigorously on the laptop as Aquila pulled a chair up next to him. The situation too serious for Aquila to do what she usually did when she sat in those chairs. 

She watched, her foot tapping quietly against the floor. Until eventually her exhaustion finally took over her, forcing her eyes to close, her head dropping down onto the desk. 

The next thing she recalled was Clint frantically shaking Aquila.

"What?" She asked groggily. 

"Listen." He said passing her a set of headphones. 

Static from the radio was the first thing, Aquila could hear before she heard the small thumps of sound. Morse code.

Clint quickly understood the code as he tapped out the name of the city that she was trapped in, the map revealing exactly where she was. 

Aquila felt like jumping up and dancing about the fact that Natasha was alright and they knew where she was so they could rescue her. 

"Well, that's fun. We have to go back to the place where this insane week all started." Aquila joked, grinning at Clint in pure happiness. 

However, the happy moment was destroyed when the loud thump of a boot stomped on the ground above their heads. 

Aquila quickly stood up as the three figures loomed above them. A handgun had been left on the table next to her and Aquila picked it up, just as a safety precaution. 

A blue blur shot around the room at rapid speed, the same blur from the fight for the retrieval of Loki's scepter. One of the Maximoff twins. The sound of machines shutting down were clearing heard even for Clint and Aquila below them. 

"No, no, go on. You were saying?" A male with a heavily accented tone said. 

Acting without thinking as she had quite the proclivity to do, she shot at the glass above her as the boy fell to the ground next to her.