The Eternal Avenger

Chapter Nine: A Demonstration

(Natasha's POV)

I watched the entire interview from behind the glass. I was a mixture of relieved and anxious about Claray's honesty with Clint and Maria. On one hand, she wasn't overtly making any attempts to dodge his questions. On the other hand, she did have weaknesses that could easily be used against her if they fell into the wrong hands. I could only hope that our hands would be safe enough. I suspected, by the way the first part of the interview went, that Clint liked her. That suspicion was confirmed as he walked into the observation room with a grin on his face, dragging a reluctant and disgruntled-looking Maria Hill behind him. I raised my eyebrows at him expectantly.

"She could give you a run for your money on dry humor and pure snark, Natasha," Clint spoke, walking over to me and chuckling. I nodded, looking down at the floor.

"Nick is going to want to talk to her himself," Maria started. I folded my arms and looked at her.

"She's been candid with you. And she's not wrong." I stated, simply. "All of us are threats. That's why we're on the watch list." Maria reluctantly nodded.

"She seems to be telling the truth," Clint added, "given what we know about what can be out there, and the fact that we have very little idea of what she's actually capable of knowing now that she is able to shift any time, if she wanted to hurt us, she could." Maria's lips pursed together.

"I'm going to make a call." She snatched her phone off the desk in the corner and stalked out of the room. As soon as the door slammed shut behind her, Clint looked at me with a smirk.

"You could have warned me what I was walking into, Natasha," he teased.

"I didn't want to spoil the surprise," I gave it right back to him. He characteristically rolled his eyes. "Any word on the blood test?" I tried to make the question as casual as possible, not knowing what – if anything – Bruce and the rest of the medical team were likely to find. Clint shook his head.

"Not yet, but it's not like we've seen anything like this before, so it's hard to tell what we're even looking for." It made sense. The only likely possibility was that the results would come back and match mostly with the dead wolf we had downstairs. Less than ten minutes later, Fury stalked into the observation room, looking back and forth between me and Clint.

"So?" He asked, addressing Clint. Clint shrugged.

"She seems to be telling the truth, Director." Fury nodded.

"I have a few questions, myself." The Director started out the door, pausing with his hand on the knob before opening it. "Are you coming, Romanoff?" He looked back over his shoulder at me, and I was following him faster than I could respond verbally. Claray looked up as we entered the room. Her eyes narrowed at the sight of Director Fury, but I caught just the faintest hint of a smile when her eyes briefly locked onto mine.

(Claray's POV)

The older, one-eyed pirate that had foiled our escape attempt entered the interrogation room, Natasha following on his heels. I couldn't help but smile. What the fuck is wrong with you? My brain's center for self-preservation was unimpressed with my apparent soft spot for the ginger.

"Ms. Ridel, I am Nicholas Fury, director of Shield." I raised my eyebrows expectantly. "Two of my best agents have reported that they do not believe you to be a threat, but I wanted to see for myself." I nodded. It made sense. I was hesitant taking people's words on potential threats as well. "Is it true that you – more specifically your wolf – protected Agent Romanoff last night?"

"It is." With someone this high at Shield in the room, I wasn't about to offer up any additional information than was necessary to hopefully secure my release.