NUMB || MARVEL

22

FIVE YEARS LATER

Aileen looks at Rhodes as holograph Natasha is the only one left. Natasha sighs and she look exhausted. Her gaze turns to the videocall before her and she sits a bit more upright as she sees that Rhodey is still online.

"How's Aileen?" The girl hadn't answered any of the calls and didn't want to be included in whatever the 'important' people had to say.

"She's good. Figuring stuff out."

Natasha chuckles. "Took her long enough."

"I'm right here." Aileen says off screen and Natasha smiles and waves.

"It's really good to hear your voice." She says and Aileen makes sure that Natasha sees her thumbs up. "Where are you?"

"Mexico." Rhodey sighs. "The Federales found a room full of bodies. Looks like a bunch of cartel guys. Never even had the chance to get their guns off."

Natasha purses her lips."It's probably a rival gang."

"Except it isn't." Realisation washes over Natasha's face. "It's definitely Barton. What he's done here, what he's been doing for the last few years... I mean, the scene that he left..." Natasha starts to show signs of sadness as she gradually tears up. "I gotta tell you, there's a part of me that doesn't even want to find him."

In a moment of silence, she tries to chew her tears and emotional feelings as she eats a sandwich.

"Will you find out where he's going next?" Natasha asks and Rhodey's head tilts a bit in sympathy.

"Nat..."

"Please."

"Okay." Rhodey reluctantly agrees before he cuts of the video.

"How do you want to do that?" Aileen asks him as she throws him an apple, biting in one herself. He sighs and sits down.

"No clue. You?" Her eyebrows furrow and she looks at the map they have drawn for the specific cases that Clint Barton may/probably has done. Rhodey looks over her shoulder and shakes his head. "I have no idea what you see in this."

Aileen turns the map around and looks at all the name places upside down. Barton had been busy, mostly with people that he would consider bad guys. Except, he was the bad guy now. Aileen still didn't really know who he was. Though most of her memories had been back - she could defenitely use new notebooks - there were still some cracks in her mind that couldn't be written down. There were feelings though.

And though she feels familiarity and safe when she remembers Clint, she can't understand why. Not when he has done so many bad things.

"I think he's going to Japan." Rhodey raises an eyebrow.

"Japan." He scoffs. "And why do you think that?"

"Have I been wrong before?"

"How about Qatar?"

"Well, that was a calculated mistake." Aileen sighs. "Look, I see a pattern but I can't explain it." Rhodey purses his lips but nods.

"We don't tell Natasha until we're sure." Aileen nods quickly and walks over to their bags, throwing in the last few of her clothes and belongings. "What are you doing?"

"Getting the hell out of this miserable place." She says with a shudder as she remembers the scene that they had witnessed and the constant crime that was going on between gangs, making sure that she wasn't able to sleep at night.

The flight wasn't as long as Aileen had expected it to be and she was glad to be seated away from Rhodey. They had been working together ever since everything fell apart and though they had their separate moments here and there, it was nice to get a moment where she didn't have to do anything and pretend to be anything.

Because even though she was helping people and doing good and even remembering approximately 80% of everything that she knew, she felt hollow and alone. Lately memories of Sam had been coming back and though she loved to remember how they met or how their first (secret) date had went, it all brought painful feelings to her chest. Because he wasn't there. He was gone. And everything they were doing was simply to make sure that the world didn't end up being even worse a mess than it was a year ago or the year before that. And she was doing it without the person she loved.

And that hurt.

"You sure that it's here?" Aileen looks at Rhodey behind the steering wheel before looking to the right. She frowns but shrugs.

"Not as sure as I was." She mutters before they both get out of the car and walk towards the dark and lonely building. There wasn't a sound to be heard as the door creaks open and Aileen lets out a gasp at the sight before her.

Bodies were spread all around the entree and Aileen knew that if they went through the rooms that they would also be filled with people that had families that cared for them.

Aileen knew that Clint was an excellent marksman but she had assumed that he would be going at everything with his bow, seeing as it was his weapon of choice. But seeing this had her mind change her small memory of the man.

They softly walk up the stairs, guns ready and Aileen flinches as she hears a creak from where Rhodey steps onto the next floor.

"It's just me." He softly says and she nods slowly before they walk into the hallways and they see even more bodies in the rooms around them.

"I think it's time we call Natasha." Aileen breathes and Rhodey nods as he grabs his phone and leaves Aileen alone to look at the massacre before her.