I Am Iron-Man

Chapter 43

Clint Barton's POV

"I'm glad that we were able to have this date tonight, Clint. Seeing how Tony's very strict about training and I'm busy with SWORD", Laura commented as I was walking her back to her apartment.

"I know, it's nice to have a moment to ourselves and have a break from...everything"

"Exactly, especially due to the fact that the Rogues are getting on everyone's nerves. At least that's what I have heard"

"Well, you've heard right. Jessica wanted to murder them when they interrupted our training and when they arrived, and one of her teammates, Ethan, gets really frustrated when they're around"

"Well, I can't say that I blame them", she responded as we walked to her door. "Anyways, thanks for walking me home, I had a fun time on our date, Clint"

"So, did I". Before I could leave, Laura kissed me on the lips.

"Goodnight, Clint".

"Goodnight, Laura". As soon as Laura closed the door, I walked down the street back to the tower, but, unfortunately, I ran into a certain spider.

"Clint". I turned my head to the side to see Nat--Romanov standing there.

"Romanov". I tried to walk away, but she intercepted me. "I have nothing to say to you. Please, move"

"I see that you found someone", she commented, ignoring everything that I said as usual.

"Yeah, she's one of the SHIELD agents that you burned, then left behind"

"I thought that Tony would have taken care of everything"

"How was he supposed to know what you and Rogers were planning to do? Because, from what I heard, you never called him in to help"

"We didn't know who to trust. Anyone could've been HYDRA at that point"

"So, you're calling the man who flew a bomb into a portal, the man who destroyed all of his weapons sold illegally and stopped weapon production altogether, the man who picked up the Avengers after you and Rogers have almost destroyed them on multiple occasions, and the man who's my older brother, HYDRA?"

"That's not what I'm saying"

"You just said that anyone could've been HYDRA, so you just implied that Tony could've been HYDRA"

"We did what we had to do. We didn't have enough time to figure out who were HYDRA or not"

"But, apparently, you had enough time to erase most of what your file said". She just stared at me with a blank expression, but I could tell that she was shocked that I knew that. "Yeah, I saw your file. It didn't even show half of the things that you have done. Trust me, l know. I mean, I was sent to originally kill you after all"

"Clint, what do you want me to say? What we did was the right course of action to take"

"Correction: you two thought that what you did was the right course of action. What you two did could've been avoided if you had just called the best hacker in the world. And that's Tony. I mean, he invented those helipads that you and Rogers decided to crash into the river, why didn't you call him to help land them safely? Why didn't you call him to effectively and accurately separate the files between HYDRA and SHIELD agents in the first place?"

"I wanted to, but Steve told me not to"

"Well, of course he would tell you not to. Because Tony would've seen his parents' murder and the person who did it on those files. But I didn't ask why Rogers didn't call Tony. I asked why didn't you? Because last time I checked, Steve can't control what you do, but he thinks he does, but he doesn't. So, why didn't you?". She stayed silent for a moment and that's when I got my answer. "I rest my case". I started to walk away, but not until I said some final words. "You know, that report that you wrote about Tony had to be the worst self-projection piece of crap that I had ever seen in my life"

"You believed it"

"Yeah, after Ultron, when that witch messed with our heads and brainwashed me. Of course, you didn't seemed to notice because you just can't accept that you might be wrong. Thankfully, when you and the rest of that so-called team went to hide in Wakanda, her magic went away and I had some sense knocked into me. I apologized to Tony and we made up. We still have some bumps in the road, but we'll be fine. No thanks to you". I turned to walk away again, but Romanov decided to try another manipulative tactic on me.

"Clint, you're all that I have"

"And Tony is all that I have. And Tony is all that Jessica has. You should've seen the look on her face when they bought Tony back from Siberia after "golden boy Rogers" left him there in the first place. Trust me, Friday showed me the footage of her face. Poor kid. But you had to switch sides at the last minute and let those Rogers and Barnes escape. I'm glad that I refused to help Rogers on his delusional mission that led to nothing. I almost lost my older brother and Jessica almost lost her cousin. Because you have no loyalties to anyone. But I don't need you. Because, unlike you, Tony would never left me to get burned and captured by an anti-mutant psychopathic criminal. Even though he was in the hospital unconscious a the time, he still made sure that I was okay and took my file off of the internet as soon as possible. Congratulations, Romanov. The Red Room would be so proud of you"

Romanov paled with I said that, but I couldn't bring myself to care. I just walked away and didn't look back.