A Different Call

Shattered and Lost

A.N. Since I am moving through the MCU a little fast than I thought I would, along with the fact that a fair amount of Phase Two and  Three don't really feature Nat, I want to ask now if you guys would rather see the ending of Endgame as it is, or for it to be a little more different. Comment and let me know. An early update for the holidays. Next week might also be a two chapter week.

Natasha's P.O.V.

"You know that you're not supposed to be in here," Barton said as I closed the door to the prep room that he was in. The room itself was meant to be a briefing room, but also served the purpose of giving agents that lived off base – which was pretty much all of us at the triskelion – a place to get in the mission mindset, as well as an area for agents to rest if they get back from a mission at odd hours, but still need to be present for an upcoming debrief. "Besides, isn't a little early for you to be here."

I shrugged. Clint wasn't wrong, it was six in the morning and while I might wake up at this time I was never at work. "When has what I'm supposed to or not supposed to do ever stopped me."

Clint chuckled and shook his head, running his hands over one last arrow before placing it back in his quiver and the holder to the side. "So, is there any specific reason you're here?"

I sat down on the bed in the room, "Wanted to make sure you're up for this especially so soon after the whole Mori incident."

Clint sat down next to me, "Don't worry 'Tash, it's a simple mission. Just a surveillance op, I shouldn't even have to fire a single arrow."

I sigh, "Just be careful please."

'Is everything alright?' Clint signed. I noticed that he had adjusted his body position so that neither of our hands could be seen by the cameras that we both knew were currently surveilling the room.

'Maybe, I don't know,' I responded, 'There's been a launch ship that was hijacked by pirates and Fury wants Rogers and I, along with the rest of STRIKE to recuse the hostages.'

'Shouldn't be so hard and it's not the first time that you've had to recuse a hostage before, so why are you worried?'

'Fury wants me to try and back up all the information on the ship. Not really something you would want if the only threat was pirates that wanted money.'

'You think something bigger is happening?'

I shrugged, 'I don't know, just a bit of a bad feeling.'

Clint hugged me before whispering in my ear, "Don't worry, it'll be okay."

I nodded before punching him in the arm and getting up, "Just saying, those arrows better not all be explosive tipped."

Clint chuckled but I could see out of the corner of my eye as I was leaving that he started to exchange some of his arrow tips.

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"Do you have any idea where Barton is?" Rogers asked me as we drove to New Jersey. I was still ticked at him for treating me like I was Hydra, though I couldn't necessarily blame him. I knew that I gave off the vibe that was never truly tied down to one team and in a situation like this that wasn't the type of behavior that made you friends.

"No, last I heard from him was when he shipped out the morning of the Lemurian Star incident. When I glanced over the mission brief at home it said radio silence and while we have our ways, I haven't heard anything from him yet."