[Fic] Reactivation - Chapter 7: A Party That Goes South (avengers_xbb)
Title: Reactivation
Chapter Title: A Party That Goes South
Rating: PG-13
Chapter Word Count: 1,008
Overall Word Count: 15,660
Spoilers/Warnings: Spoilers for all movies; Violence
Summary: Clint Barton is called in as William Brandt with his IMF team. Seems that they're tracking the last Black Widow of the Red Room's program. While Clint is off being another person, Natasha starts to feel like her old life is crawling back while Tony's problem with his heart becomes bigger.
Author's Note: I do not own Avengers, Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, Bourne Legacy or any of the characters from those various fandoms. Yes, the title is from Train's song; please don't sue me.
Thank Yous: A big thank you for my beta and cheerleader sirwynai for you are awesome and you know it. A huge HUGE thank you to evian_fork for all of the amazing art. I love it, all of it.
Clint finished getting ready for the party and came out of the room that he was sharing with Natasha. He didn’t feel all that comfortable about leaving a part of himself at the hotel, but it was easier to hide a gun with what he was wearing. He sighed as he looked around the room. Ethan and Bruce had gone over first with Coulson in tow. He was the next group and then Natasha would show up with the Captain and Tony. He wasn’t happy about that, but it made sense since she was using her alias as Tony’s personal aid. He put on a smile as she came over to her in a beautiful gray dress. “You look amazing.”
“Your bow tie isn’t straight,” she said and fixed it. “Now you look better. And you should be going.”
“Yeah,” Clint said.
“When this is over, we should talk,” Natasha said.
“Something always wonderful to hear,” Clint retorted.
“It’s nothing bad,” Natasha said. “The Director wanted me to be the one to talk to you about the contract to join the team fully. He wanted something showing that you were sane and doing this is helping.”
“I doubt that I’m sane, Tasha,” Clint said.
She smiled at that. “I know that you are.” She kissed his lips lovingly, letting him pull her a bit closer as she hugged him tightly. “Just don’t do anything stupid. I nearly lost you once. I don’t want to again.”
“You won’t,” he promised. “We know that they’re up to something. We’re going to be able to stop them. So don’t you go do anything crazy either. I can’t imagine life without you, Tasha.”
She smiled and let go of him before smoothing down his suit. “I’ll see you there.”
“You will,” he said with a smile and went over to the party. It was easy to get in and he was glad that someone - probably Coulson or Ethan - reminded Tony to get the Brandt name on the list. He looked over the room as he entered, saw a nod from Ethan, and moved over to talk to him. “Anything?”
“Not yet,” Ethan said. “But I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s here but hiding.”
“I don’t see her on the balconies,” Clint said. “But that doesn’t mean that she isn’t further back. If anything, they’re probably not going to do anything until Stark gets here. If they’re after Stark. There could be an entirely different angle - this isn’t as open and shut as the last one.”
“That wasn’t really open and shut either,” Ethan pointed out. “We just knew where people were going instead of being in the dark.”
“Yeah,” Clint said. “So, should I start calling you Secretary?”
“Not just yet,” Ethan said. “The President still has to agree to it again. Want to come be an analyst again?”
“Tempting as that is, I think I’m getting a big job offer soon,” Clint said. “I can give you some good names.”
“Can they also take out people with a few punches?” Ethan asked and smiled as Clint laughed. “I am going to miss you.”
“Who says I’m fully going away?” Clint asked. “You’ll probably still need me and the Director can spare me for the odd mission here and there.”
Ethan was about to say something when he looked towards the people coming in. “I thought Mr. Stark knew to wait a half hour.”
Clint looked over and shook his head. “It’s Stark. Rules are flexible in his mind. We’re trying to disabuse him of the notion but it’s probably going to take a while.”
“And he’s also on the comms,” Natasha reminded them. “Steve stopped him from getting into your car. So it was basically come over or have to sit on him.”
“That would have been interesting to see,” Clint said.
“Do I have to remind the two of you about chatter?” Coulson asked.
“You could and make us feel really at home,” Clint replied as he looked up at the balconies again. “I still see neither of our targets.” He looked to Ethan, who was looking a bit confused. “Coulson was - well, still is - our handler. So I’m a bit used to having him in my ear and scolding me for talking too much. Bit of a habit.”
“I’m not too surprised,” Ethan said.
Clint started to say something before he noticed Natasha motion for him to come over. “Excuse me,” he said and made his way over to her. “What’s up?”
“About to ask you the same thing,” Natasha said and motioned up to the large diamond chandelier that they were standing under. “Did you look there?”
Clint looked up. “I didn’t think that would be a good hiding place. Mainly for - move!” He said as he pulled Natasha out of the way of the chandelier as it crashed into the floor. He knew that Coulson was asking something but he wasn’t listening too closely as he saw Jane come out of the chandelier and start shooting. “One way to make an entrance.”
“I’ll deal with her, you get Stark out of here,” Natasha said.
“Deal,” Clint said as he made his way over to where Stark was. “Time to go.”
“Don’t have to tell me twice,” Tony said as he started to move to the exit with Clint in front of him and Steve behind him. “Wait,” he said as they lost Steve. “Where did he go?”
“He’ll get out,” Clint said as he grabbed Tony’s arm and started to drag him a bit. He was glad that Tony started walking and they were able to get out and move towards the car. “We need to - “ he couldn’t finish the sentence as he cried out in pain as he was tasered and fell to his knees. He heard someone talking to Tony as he was picked up and put in the back of a van. Both of their ear pieces were yanked out of their ears and thrown onto the sidewalk before the van sped away.