Snippet Discovered in the Archives
Apparently, I once started an AU where Clint rescued Natasha from Odessa and it wasn't a SHIELD job the Soldier shot her on.
He finds her bleeding out and half dead, blood bubbling up through her stomach and abdomen and the name of a ghost a whisper on her lips.
He looks at her, dying slowly in misery, with eyes still too alert not to see him and try to track his movements as he comes in close. There is pain in her eyes, betrayal, but no fear.
"Natalia Romanova," he says quietly as he crouches down beside her.
She's still lucid. He can see understanding flickering in her eyes and hear the gurgling under her ragged breaths.
He was left to bleed out once, that look of betrayal in his eyes. He says it because he thinks it and because he will follow up on it, "You deserve better than this."
His name is Clint Barton. He is a SHIELD agent, and she is the target he has been tracking for the last six months. She is wanted in more than a dozen countries. She is beautiful and lethal. Her palms are bloody, her ribs bruised, and there's a car at the bottom of the cliff. She dragged her charge up here to the top again with her own strength, only to be shot and left dying.
His brother left him on the ground once, blood gurgling up in his throat. Clint should have died that day, and he won't do the same to anyone else. Not even the Black Widow.
"Don't save me," she whispers through hoarseness when she finally wakes days after he brought her in and the medical team operated.
He sits up a little in the uncomfortable chair he'd nodded off in. He almost tells her it's too late, but she won't thank him for it. He shrugs at last. "You deserve better than this."
She hates the word. He sees the anger and resigned displeasure in her eyes as she goes through therapy, and her physical weakness buys them time to acquire her loyalty. At last, she tells him he has no need to acquire it.
"I owe you a debt."
Clint jerks back violently. "You don't."
Natasha just stares at him impassively, immovably. "You saved my life. I was your target."
"I didn't sell you into SHIELD slavery," he retorts. "Work here if you want to, but you don't owe me anything."
She tightens her mouth into a grim line but refrains from further comment.
He finds her bleeding out and half dead, blood bubbling up through her stomach and abdomen and the name of a ghost a whisper on her lips.
He looks at her, dying slowly in misery, with eyes still too alert not to see him and try to track his movements as he comes in close. There is pain in her eyes, betrayal, but no fear.
"Natalia Romanova," he says quietly as he crouches down beside her.
She's still lucid. He can see understanding flickering in her eyes and hear the gurgling under her ragged breaths.
He was left to bleed out once, that look of betrayal in his eyes. He says it because he thinks it and because he will follow up on it, "You deserve better than this."
His name is Clint Barton. He is a SHIELD agent, and she is the target he has been tracking for the last six months. She is wanted in more than a dozen countries. She is beautiful and lethal. Her palms are bloody, her ribs bruised, and there's a car at the bottom of the cliff. She dragged her charge up here to the top again with her own strength, only to be shot and left dying.
His brother left him on the ground once, blood gurgling up in his throat. Clint should have died that day, and he won't do the same to anyone else. Not even the Black Widow.
"Don't save me," she whispers through hoarseness when she finally wakes days after he brought her in and the medical team operated.
He sits up a little in the uncomfortable chair he'd nodded off in. He almost tells her it's too late, but she won't thank him for it. He shrugs at last. "You deserve better than this."
She hates the word. He sees the anger and resigned displeasure in her eyes as she goes through therapy, and her physical weakness buys them time to acquire her loyalty. At last, she tells him he has no need to acquire it.
"I owe you a debt."
Clint jerks back violently. "You don't."
Natasha just stares at him impassively, immovably. "You saved my life. I was your target."
"I didn't sell you into SHIELD slavery," he retorts. "Work here if you want to, but you don't owe me anything."
She tightens her mouth into a grim line but refrains from further comment.