Scars and Origins

Chapter 6: Revelations Within SHIELD

In the 30 minutes leading up to the meeting, Clint tucked in Natasha, back in her designated bed. After he changed his clothes, he curled his vest up into Natasha's arm, knowing she would appreciate the gesture if she woke while he was gone. He had donned a pressed, ivory collared shirt and black slacks at the advice of Coulson and Fury, who warned him several higher ups would be attending via video chat. Her doctor came in as he was leaving, and Clint slowed him with a gentle hand to the shoulder.

"Please call me immediately if she asks for me," Clint said, stern but friendly. He handed Dr. Carrion a slip of paper with his burner phone number on it. Ever the diligent spy, he had one or two extra phones on him at all times. 

Dr. Carrion accepted the paper and gave a polite nod. "Not to worry Agent Barton, we're gonna take good care of her," he replied. They shook hands respectfully, and Clint carried on walking.

Director Fury stood outside the room with his arms crossed. A scowl spread across Fury's face as Agent Barton appeared before him, hands in his pockets, slacks and shirt, but no tie. "Barton, do I really have to be so specific that I have to ask you to wear a tie," he sassed. Clint pulled his hand out of his pocket to reveal a professional purple tie. He smirked as he held it up to show Fury. "Smart ass," Fury said as he motioned for the agent to follow him.

Clint busied himself with finishing his outfit while Fury yapped at him about how to 'drop his attitude' and 'focus for once.' A series of nods and one word agreements was all Clint could manage. Barton sarcastically considered choking himself out with the tie rather than attend this meeting, but was snapped out of it when they approached the doors of the conference room. "Natasha is only a 5 minute walk away," Clint reminded himself under his breath. He squared up his shoulders and put on his best poker face as he pushed through the glass doors.

SHIELD executives lined the long, chestnut table at the center of the room, a mission report packet perched in front of each one of them. The title "Operation Footnote" was bolded across the front page. Silence filled the air as Clint sat on the chair opposite Coulson's, the only empty one remaining at the head of the table for Director Fury. Coulson pressed a button on a control panel integrated into the table, and a large section of the wall slid away behind Fury to reveal a massive flat screen TV. Whirring to life, it showed the same title as the packets throughout the room. 

Fury stood to begin addressing the room with his hands clasped behind his back. Clear and authoritatively, Fury began, "STRIKE Team Delta was dispatched on Thursday to the headquarters of a mercenary group located in Canada. They were tasked with retrieving intel and escaping unnoticed. Unfortunately, someone within SHIELD compromised their mission by alerting the organization they were coming. This led to Agent Clint Barton and Agent Natasha Romanoff's capture. Miss Romanoff will not be attending today due to the injuries she sustained. We are all here today to go over what we know and to get the perspective of the man on the ground, Agent Barton."
Fury motioned to Clint sitting at his left. Eyes from around the room darted towards him. "Yeah, that's me," he blurted with an awkward hand raise. If the big bruise on his face wasn't clue enough that he was involved in this mess, at least now he had been introduced.

Coulson suppressed a grin, whereas Fury outright ignored it and clicked to the next slide. Pictures of the compound flashed onto the screen and a chill ran up Clint's spine as he remembered the soul crushing screams he heard through those hallways. Fury went into a five minute lecture about who the mercenaries were and why anybody cared about them. Something about 20 members of different world wide royal families having been attacked or successfully killed fell on the deaf ears of Barton. He was focused on maintaining his composure and story.

"So now that you know why this mission was so critical, let's have Agent Barton give you a first hand account of what happened inside the complex," Fury concluded and patted Clint on the shoulder. He sat and watched the archer rise out of his chair.