Clintasha- The beginning

FitzSimmons - first encounter

After he sat down Barton hands me a sleek black smartphone and a bracelet similar to his.
“This is a Shield pager and technically you should get one once you passed evaluation and training but I think you should be able to reach me if necessary. Just remember that It does not work as a phone even though it looks like it. Trust me I’ve tried.” He chuckles “Anyways you can page me through it and it will appear on my wristband. Coulson’s contact and mine are already in there but you can add others if you know their Name and they approved.”
I nod, adjusting the bracelet to my arm. “How am I supposed to contact Coulson? I didn't notice one on his arm.”
“There are different kinds of pagers. He just has the ‘phone’ one but I prefer the wristband because it vibrates and you can't miss a call this way even if you are sleeping.”
I raise my eyebrow “Do you ever take it off? Like to wash it or something?”
“No not really.” He says scratching the back of his neck “But since I shower with it, it should be fine. I also destroy those quite frequently so I get a new one every few weeks.”
“Don't they get annoyed at the tech department if they have to make you a new one all the time?”
“Not anymore. They keep everything I use in stock.” Barton concentrates back on his coffee when a guy in a dark blue suit enters the room. He carries a brown leather bag and overall looks like the typical banker macho.

“Good evening recruits. We are here to talk about tactics in group operation today.” The suit-guy starts his speech.
“That's Mace Wilbur he's an ass.” Clint mutters next to me.
“Yeah looks like one with that expensive suit and all.” I reply before falling silent at a harsh look from our tutor. Barton starts to pile sugar cubes to a small tower. I don't know where he got them from but I also don't think I want to find out.
About 10 minutes later he ran out of sugar cubes. His tower was now maybe 15 cubes tall and stood perfectly balanced between us on the table.

“BARTON” a loud voice from the front calls out. “Care to explain why you aren't paying attention?”
“I did that shit years ago why should I listen? You think you can teach me something new Wilbur?” Barton challenged. The recruits now turned their heads to look at him. Some of them including Ted seemed to recognize him from earlier.
“If this is so boring Agent Barton then why are you here?” the venom in the other man's voice intensified.
“Fury wanted me to do training with her” he gestured at me “she's new.”
“Well then” Wilbur growled “stop disturbing the others and stay quiet!”
“I was” the archer grumbled before sitting back down “Asshole”
The rest of the briefing went down without further disturbance. My seat neighbour had collected his sugar cubes and stashed them god knows where just as Wilbur announced the end of the lesson.
On our way back to the bunk room he asked me “So was there anything interesting he said?”
“I wouldn't know I wasn't listening.” He laughed at my reply patting me on the back. Usually I don't like to be touched but somehow it felt good with him. The warmth of his hand spreading out over my back for a second.
“You know what Nat? You are awesome. But you will get in so much trouble.”
“Like you are one to talk.” I smirked. “So now let me fix your side.”
“Aww really? Now?” Barton attempted to pout.
“Yes now. You waited long enough.” I said firmly pushing him towards the couch. Once I had the med kit and everything else I need I headed back to the couch spreading my materials on the small table. Barton shifted to give me better access to his side and lifted his shirt. The bandage underneath was soaked in blood just like I thought. “God Barton what did you do?” I ask before remembering the hit he got in sparring.
“What can I say. Stiches don't like me.” He shrugged.
After I removed the whole bandage, I could see that he pulled about a third of the stiches he made. Not as bad as I anticipated but also not good for healing. It must have hurt like hell the whole time and I wonder why he didn't fix it earlier or at least got himself some pain meds.
“You really want to add chlorine water to your wound now?” I asked while fiddling to get the thread trough the needle.
“Please Nat. We are Shield. The water is ozone-cleaned.” I raised an eyebrow and gave him  a sceptical look.
“Yeah that is so much better. And I have told you before no nicknames birdbrain.” Barton looked like he wanted to object but I silenced him by dabbing a cloth with antiseptics on his wound. He exhaled slowly leaning back. It sure stung as hell but it was necessary to prevent an infection. Besides now he was at least quiet and I could do my work.
I told him I didn't want to be held accounted if he got hurt because they don't trust me yet but the truth is that I am actually worried for him. I owe him a debt and I hate owing people, for the simple fact that until now, I never got the chance to pay anyone back. But now I will. And I’ll try my best to keep him from dying even if he is the most annoying human being I know. Once I have saved his life we are equal and I can move on. Maybe even leave Shield again if the time comes.
It took me some time to fix the stitches and it must have been pretty painful since the wound was still fresh. Barton however continued to Breathe evenly and did not complain once. Didn't even stir. It's not uncommon for our line of work though. People like us tend to hide weakness as much as possible. Otherwise someone might use it against you, even if you are on the same side.
Once the water resistant bandage was applied I packed the medical kit together and motioned for him to stand up. He followed my gesture slowly as if trying not to disturb the fresh stiches.
I wonder why he wants to go swimming with his wound. Usually one rests if you get shot. It only adds to the list of strange things he had done. I get the feeling that there is more to his disturbing behaviour than I can see just now. I will have to observe him closely in the next few days to get more information. And I need a plan to this place in case I have to leave. All those things go on my to-do list for tomorrow. According to my schedule I have some hours in between so there should be plenty of time to scout and gather intel. Time to check what’s going on around here.
My thoughts are disturbed by a sports bag flying towards me across the room. I catch it with ease and raise a questioning eyebrow towards Barton.
“Get your stuff we’re gonna go  swimming!” he announced “Towels are in the bathroom take as many as you need.”
I nod and grab the swimsuit and the bikini we got earlier while Barton gets himself a towel and disappears in the bedroom. When I, too exit the bathroom with two towels (one for my hair) he is already standing in the doorway looking at me expectantly. I follow him and pull the door shut behind me.
We walk the first part of the way in comfortable silence. Navigating through endless corridors I try to memorize to get a layout of the base. After a while we reach a staircase with an elevator.
“Stairs or elevator, Nat?” Clint asks turning his head in my direction. “We have to pass four floors.”
“Elevator” I decide. That way I can examine the security cameras in the elevator and possible escape routes through the ceiling. “And don't call me nicknames.”
“Sure” he answers but I am pretty sure he mend the elevator and not the nickname. I guess I will just have to ignore it.
There are already two agents in the elevator when we enter. One of them is a girl with brown curly hair and a floral print blouse the other a boy in a button-down shirt with a sweatshirt on top and khaki dress pants. No field agents that’s obvious. Barton still seems to know them by the way his face lights up when he enters the small room.
“Fitzsimmons! How's the lab?” he asks and starts a cascade of words from the two.
“Well,” the boy starts. “We recently made a new version of icers..”
“They have a longer range now...” the girl continues.
“and can be regulated” the boy interjects again.
“to multiple levels in case of different opponents.” They finish in unison. Creepy.
“I still don't get the monkey though.” The boy looks sad.
Next to me Barton chuckles. “I am sure you will have unnerved Fury enough one day that he buys you one. Have you looked into the blueprints for the new sonic arrow I gave you?”
“Yeah sure. I had to correct some minor flaws but it should be finished by the techs in a week or so.”
Barton’s face lights up “Perfect do you have a prototype to try out?”
“Of course. You can come to the lab tomorrow and try it then we can run some tests for further adjustments. Tough we might have to turn it down a bit. I added more power than originally anticipated.”  The nerd boy continues before he’s interrupted by his female counterpart.
“I tried some frequencies for different purposes. Each arrow has now three modes for either glass, people or mammals and birds. Tough the glass mode is also...”
“great for disturbing enemy comm systems...”
“if they are in range of maybe 50 meters.” The conversation hops from one of the young agents to the other and back. Never breaking the flow of the sentence. Interesting. They seem very close. I file that information for later.
Suddenly the girl turns her focus on me “So Agent Barton who is your new friend here if I may ask?” her auburn eyes study me carefully. She is not to be fooled that easily I can tell.
Before Barton gets the chance to say one of his stupid nicknames I quickly answer her. “Natasha Romanoff, nice to meet you.”  I hold out my hand and wait for her to shake it. Her grip is strong but not threatening. “Likewise” The boy and Barton continue to ramble about new arrow designs while the girl – Jemma – begins to question me.
“You must be new. Field Operative?” her gaze wanders over my body. “Yes covert specialist. At least that's my training group.” She nods. I don’t tell her that I am already a master in my metier and am probably the best assassin there is. Who am I kidding? I am the best.
Of course Barton had to ruin my plot. He had just finished the conversation with the engineer and directly included himself in the conversation.
“Don’t sell yourself short, Nat.” God I hate Nicknames. “She is the best covert operative I met so far, Simmons. I’ll just have to convince Fury she’s no threat.” He said directed at the Girl I now know as Jemma Simmons.  She nods.
“Well then good luck with that.” Jemma answers. “The next one is our stop. See you around!”
“What are you doing down here anyway?” The boy asks just before the elevator stops.
“Swimming” Barton points to his bag with the towel inside.
“Do we even have a pool?” he asks.
“Jesus Fitz!” Barton exclaimed with a chuckle. “You should leave your Lab more often!” He pats the smaller man on the back while the two scientists leave the elevator. The guy named Fitz waves as they depart.