Under or Over: Hawkeye & Black Widow

CHAPTER #48

Barton remained in Bird using stealth mode.  The nano-mite tracker spray was doing its job, so he didn't have to visually tail the Council member inside buildings.  Apparently the target had decided he was no longer under surveillance, as he had a roof top lunch. It was two weeks after Uzbekistan and they were now in Turkey.  The man Barton was following, liked to constantly move around and he had become extra cautious. So his meeting with a well known international assassin, wasn't as much as a surprise to Barton as one would think.  S.H.E.I.L.D. already had a big file on this assassin and Barton had once had that very man in his sights. Either the Council member planned to kill someone specific or he was just a hired gun for personal protection. 

"Bird what's Romanoff's status?" Clint asked.

"Captain America is now free from the HYDRA base and they are both on route to the hellicarrier."

"She sure took her sweet time getting him out of there.  I wonder if that was the plan all along.  What about Stark and Banner?"

"Bruce Banner has also returned.  They continue to work on the diamond, although Stark has plans to go after Mysterio for leaching his technology."

"Those two better stay out of trouble, because I can't save their asses this time," Clint snorted.

"Agreed sir," Bird said.

Just as they ended their conversation, Romanoff's voice came into his ear.  "Agent Barton what's your status?"

"Same as it was before Natasha,"  Clint replied.

"Can't you ever be professional Clint?" Natasha asked and got laughter in response.

"Wake up on the wrong side of the bed?"

"You do realize the whole deck can hear you right?"

His smile was heard in his voice when he answered.  "That's your problem not mine... hi everyone... miss me?"

"Hi Barton," Steve said in the background.

"Hi Cap, glad you're back in one piece!"  Clint said. "You going to come join me out here?"

"What, the famous Hawkeye, needs help tailing a target?"  Steve asked sarcastically.

"Ouch.... Alright, I'll send Agent Romanoff the co-ordinates."  Clint ended the call and had Bird relay the information.

"One quinjet with Agent Romanoff inside has left the hellicarrier.  Estimated arrival in Turkey is 2.5 hours," Bird reported.

Barton rubbed his hands together, a grin on his face.  "Things are going to get interesting when she arrives."

Next person to contact him was Stark.

"So Barton do you want to hear the good news or the bad news first?"

"Hi Tony, just get on with it."

"Good news is that Bruce is back and no longer his grumpy green self.  The bad news is we can't get the damn portal to close."

"Glad he's returned.  The Cap is back from his operation too." Clint chose to ignore that the portal wouldn't close.

Tony tapped his nose at Banner before continuing, "maybe we should all go to lunch."

"How civil of you Tony," Clint said sarcastically.

Ignoring the tone, Tony asked, "what are you up to now? Jarvis says you're in Turkey."

"Waiting on Natasha," Clint answered.

"Ah... business or pleasure?"

Barton could hear Banner in the back ground asking Stark why he chose to instigate rivalry.  He couldn't hear Stark's response, but he didn't really care to anyway. 

"Have you done anything about Beck yet?" Clint asked, redirecting the conversation.

"Working on it buddy.... gotta go," Tony hung up.  "He's picking up some of Natasha's crafty avoidance skills."

"It was bound to happen.  Look how fast the Cap, trained him, especially in hand to hand combat."

"Good point."

** ~ ~ ~ ~ ~**~ ~ ~ ~ ~ **

It didn't take long for Barton to leave the minds of Banner and Stark.  They had to focus on closing the portal left open by the Black Diamond. That was first priority, then Stark had to deal with Beck. But Barton was the main thing on Romanoff's mind.  She wanted to find him and the Council member immediately and was pushing the speed limits of the quinjet.  Barton on the other hand had forgotten about Romanoff when the assassin suddenly looked skyward.  There was nothing to see and there was no way that Bird could be detected.  Suddenly the Council member was rushed into the hotel.  

"He's in the elevator sir, it's heading down." Bird reported and then added, "the elevator has stopped between floors and now there are three heat sources in the elevator."

"What the hell is going on?  Set me down.  Is there a roof top entrance for the elevator shaft?"

Bird showed him on his wrist display.  Then taking the smaller hand-crossbow, Barton went after the Council member. In the elevator shaft, he used the cables to slide down until he was on the roof of the elevator cab.  He could hear arguing inside the cab.  Readying three taser darts, he began to open the escape latch.

"Repair Service, anyone in here?"  He said, before poking his head in.

What he saw shocked him momentarily.

"Wait I recognize you....," was all the one man could say, before Barton's reflexes kicked in and his taser darts hit all three targets.

"Shit, Romanoff's not going to like this."  Clint swore, he couldn't carry all of them, so he decided to use the black diamond portal dart.

"Bird tell Agent Romanoff everything is fine.  She'll know where to find us when the time comes," Clint said before opening the portal.  He took two of the three men in the elevator cab and then closed the portal.  

Bird contacted Agent Romanoff immediately, when she couldn't track Barton's location.  S.H.E.I.L.D couldn't locate him either.

"What the hell is Barton up to? Where is he? And what did he mean by everything is fine, but I can't find him until he wants to be found?"  Natasha was pissed off.  "I hate when he does this!"  She decided to take Bird back to the USA, and sent the quinjet's pilot to report to Director Fury.

While Bird took Romanoff back, Barton was opening a portal to Fury's last secret base.  He planned on putting the men in the cage that had held Agent Hill, when she'd been their enemy.  Then Romanoff and Fury could figure out what to do with them.  As soon as he had the men locked up, he closed the portal and activated his communication device that linked him to Bird.

"Bird is Natasha with you?" Clint asked.

"Of course I am!"  Natasha said in a cold, calm voice.  "Stay put, I'm on my way.... Why are you there?"

"You'll see when you get here."  Then to Bird he asked, "are the nanos still trackable?"

"No sir."

"Interesting," Clint said as he realized that the portal jumps had disabled the nano-mites.

Natasha didn't understand, "what are you talking about?"

"Nothing.  Just get here," Clint answered and then disconnected the call.