The Budapest Objective

Ten

A few moments of silence past, then almost all of the civilians ran for the nearest exit.

"Don't try anything, or I'll kill her," the man warned.

Neither Clint nor Phil dropped their guns.

"Let her go," Clint said, his voice reflecting cold anger.

"I think I'll just take her with me, for safe keeping."

"Who are you?" Coulson inquired.

"Just someone who does what his boss tells him to." He pulled out a knife, and pressed it to Natasha's neck.

"Barton, Coulson, he's got a bomb!" Natasha said in a strangled voice.

"You shouldn't have said that. Now my boss will have to hurt you."

"Who do you work for?" Coulson asked.

"Never mind that, let go of her!" Barton demanded.

"He's going to detonate the bomb," Natasha said. "Go! Get out of here!"

"You should know by now that your partner wouldn't leave you, Miss Romanoff," the man said.

"That's 'Agent Romanoff' to you."

"You're going to have to stop struggling, or I might just have to kill you in front of him."

Natasha only struggled more. He dug the knife into her neck, drawing a good deal of blood.

"Romanoff, stop fighting!" Phil said.

Natasha obeyed.

Blood ran from the wound in her neck and stained her shirt.

"I'm only going to say this once more: Let. Her. Go." Clint was genuinely worried. This guy clearly had the upper hand, and they couldn't do anything until he let go of Natasha. If only he'd had his bow with him.

"Hawkeye," the man said. "Cross says hi,"

The guy detonated the bomb, but in stead of blowing them to bits, it simply clouded the air with smoke. Clint and Phil couldn't see anything. It was only seconds later that the air cleared, but both Natasha and the man had gone.

Clint cursed. "How? How could I have been so stupid!?"

"Barton, calm down. We need to find out where they went," level-headed Coulson said.

Clint took a deep breath. "I know where they went, we just need to find out how to get her out of there."

"See? This was what I was talking about. You're not even thinking about anyone else."

"Who should I be thinking about? Me? I'm not the one that Cross is going to torture!"

"Clint, we need to just keep calm. If you know where he is, then we need to formulate a plan." Coulson paused, seeing the anxious look on Barton's face. "Hey, we'll get her back."

Clint swallowed hard. "I don't mind telling you that I'm worried, Phil. Cross could do things to her that even she might not be able to live through..."

"Oh, come on, Clint. She's strong. Stronger than you know. She'll be alright."

"I know she's strong, but she's still a lady, as far as I'm concerned."

"Yeah, but she's no damsel in distress."

"I know that. Look, we need a plan."

Natasha struggled against the arms of her captor. She was thrown into a dark room, landing hard on the concrete floor. She jumped up, and reached the door barely a second after it slammed shut.