Running Fearless ( Avengers Fanfiction)

Chapter 5

Tick...Tock...Tick. The sound of a clock ticking was the audible sound of the grains of sand sifting through an hour glass. Each tick was a second lost, never to be seen again. Katie stared up to the wall clock watching second after second pass. A whole forty five minutes had passed and there was still no sign of Steve. Her mind instantly went to the dark places. The places where every worst possible outcome was happening.

"What were you doing here?" Natasha asked breaking their awkward silence as she leaned forward to get a look at Katie. "It's awfully coincidental that you just appear in the hospital the day the director was brought in."

"Not really," Katie says holding up her wrist to reveal her hospital wrist band. "Just shitty luck that seems to follow me wherever I go." Clint grabbed her wrist to look at the band before bringing his eyes to Katie.

"You were admitted?" Clint asked his voice edging on concern, but trying not to react too quickly.

"I was on my way back to turn myself over to Lucifer so I stopped, and decided that I needed to get wasted. I drank a lot of alcohol, tripped and knocked myself out, when I woke up I was here." Katie said not missing the slight snort from the assassin on the end.

"Well are you ok?" Clint asked and Katie nodded.

"I'm fine," Katie replied pulling her wrist from his grasp. "Just a bump on the head." she turned back up to the clock. "This is getting ridiculous, something is wrong." she stood to her feet, but Clint grabbed her arm.

"You think waltzing into SHIELD is not going to help anyone right now?" asked Clint. "Right now we have to work with the idea that the Captain can take care of himself if he needs to."

"And it would seem that he can." Natasha said standing to her feet as they all turned to see a hooded man walking down the hall, his head down. They all took a step forward, but Natasha stopped and turned to them. "How about I go in solo on this one. All of us going over there asking him questions, might get a little suspicious."

"You going over there at all will look suspicious." Katie replied folding her arms over her chest. "There's no telling what happened when he went back to HQ and I don't think the first person he needs to see is bitch warrior princess."

"Too bad this isn't up for a vote." Natasha said glancing over to Clint before turning and heading down the hall. Katie made to follow, but Clint grabbed her and pulled her back.

"What are you doing?" Katie asked turning to Clint. "Every word out of her mouth is either a lie or a lie, and if we're going to figure this out, she can't be the central point of information."

"Whether you like it or not, she is." Clint replied. "It's what makes her good at what she does. She finds the secrets and keeps them under lock and key until its necessary to let them out." Katie let out an annoyed growl as she walked around Clint snatching her cap off of her head, and trying her best to sooth the throbbing bump on the back of her head. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." She muttered not turning to him. She did turn slightly just in time to see Steve pull Natasha into a darkened corner. "Now what?"

"We let her do what she does best." Clint says and Katie simply shakes her head before turning away once again. He stood there staring at her back, words on the tip of his tongue threatening to come flying out. It was just too much to hold in and so he decided to just let it out. "What do you want from me?" Katie whipped around to him with a look of confusion. That question just came out of nowhere. "Do you want an apology, because I'll give it to you. Do you want me to say that I was wrong and my plan was stupid, hey I'll say that too." He took a firm step forward so she could see the seriousness in his eyes. "Just tell me what I have to do to make this better, to make us better." Katie closed her eyes dropping her head. This wasn't the time for this. There was just way more important things to focus on and right now their relationship wasn't at the top of the list. "Kat-"