SUCKER FOR PAIN ▹ N. Romanoff

THIRTEEN. did you forget us?

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          ━━ XIOMARA HAD CARRIED NATASHA TO HER ROOM and was in the process of laying her in the bed. However, as she laid the woman down, Natasha's eyes opened as she processed her environment. She didn't expect to be in Xiomara's arms, practically being tucked into bed.

"I can explain." Xiomara dropped the woman onto her bed, her body bouncing on the mattress. "You kinda passed out in the elevator, and I pried the doors open, and I got you to your bed."

"You-" Natasha needed a second to properly process the information. "You pushed the doors open? By yourself?"

"I mean, Casper the friendly ghost wasn't there to help me..." Xiomara chuckled as Natasha stared at her in utter shock. "Do you realize how heavy those doors are, Centeno?"

"Well, now I do! Do you see the sweat and hard work plastered all over my face, Romanoff? Those shits were heavy!"

The redheaded woman was too stunned to speak. Instead, she climbed off of the bed. "Where's- where's Barton and Hill?" She questioned, still stirring from her little trauma nap. "You shouldn't be walking around..." Xiomara warned uncertainly. "I'm not a doctor, but something tells me that you're too tired to be solving mysteries. Sit down, Daphne."

"Daphne?"

"You've never watched Scooby-Doo?"

"Sorry, I was too busy getting brainwashed to watch pointless cartoons." Natasha remarked with an eye roll as she left the room. Xiomara knew that the woman was too tired to walk around like this, but what was she supposed to do? Knock her out?

I mean, no one would see me do it...

She followed the tired woman down the hall and to Clint's room. The man had been in his bathroom, the water from his faucet rushing to the drain as he brushed his teeth. Xiomara and Natasha burst into the room with angry expressions on their faces, their hands balled into fists. "Hey, uh, did you just not notice that we were missing for an hour?!' Xiomara grabbed the blue towel that hung on the doorknob and hit him in the head.

"What the hell?!" Clint flinched before grabbing the towel and ripping it out of her hands. "You guys said that you went back to your rooms!"

"Yeah, we did!" Natasha's voice had a newfound rasp to it, and Xiomara could only assume that the fatigue affected her throat. She surprisingly didn't hate the little croak in her throat. "We got locked in the damn elevator for an hour! There was a whole power outage and you didn't notice?"

"Um, what are you talking about? All the lights and shit were on for us!" He let the towel fall to the ground before wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "Uh, well, obviously not! The emergency lights were on and everything! Romanoff pressed the emergency button, what, 80 times? Even that didn't work!" Xiomara complained as Natasha quieted down. Clint could see the gears turning in the woman's head, so he covered Xiomara's mouth with the palm of his hand.

"Let her think, Dominguez." He hissed at the brunette, who stared at Natasha.

"When we killed the Fury," She recalled the events, going through each step in her head. "Did we actually dispose of his body?"

"Of course we di-" Clint began, stating this as if the answer was obvious. However, when he ran through the incident, the pieces began to connect. "We all ran out of the room when Maria got slashed." He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"So, if we don't know where Fury went," Xiomara caught on quickly. "Who's to say he didn't cut the power to stop us?"

The agents shared a knowing look before darting out of the room, hurrying down the hall. Natasha's leg jutted out, her forceful kick making impact with the door. It crashed into the wall with a booming thud. To the agents' dismay, Fury's body was nowhere to be found. The only evidence that he was ever there was the oil splatters that covered the bed and floor. "Um, JARVIS?" Xiomara stared at the empty space with widened eyes. "Do you have any video of Fury messing with the power panel?"

"I do, Agent 12." The AI deadpanned, sending goosebumps to the surface of Clint's skin. After this experience, the man wasn't very fond of robots and anything similar to them. "I'll warn Tony and Maria, you guys find out where that damn power panel is!" Clint jogged out of the room, the women following closely. "What floor is the panel on, JARVIS?" Natasha requested as the two approached one of the elevators.

"Floor 91."

Natasha seemed to hesitate before pressing the up button. Even though she knew that it wouldn't happen again, a sliver of her was nervous to enter. When the elevator opened, the two boarded, Xiomara pressing the 91 button. The shaft closed and raised, Natasha absentmindedly picking at her pant leg. Xiomara noticed and quickly assumed that it was a nervous habit. After all, they had just got locked in an elevator, and the redhead passed out. It made sense that she was uneasy in the shaft.

The elevator opened when it reached the 91st floor, and Natasha was the first to exit. Xiomara followed her, as she seemed to know where she was going.

Obviously, she didn't, considering that the women walked in circles for five minutes straight.

The women opened one of the doors on the long hallway to reveal the many switches and buttons that activated various things. Xiomara made a step towards it before grimacing at the wet sound at it made. She lifted her foot, and the odd noise made sense instantly.

"I just stepped on Fury's blood." She stared at the oil on the ground, Natasha joining her. "Ew." The redhead's nose crinkled in disgust. "Well, now we know who killed the power."

"Agent Romanova? Agent Centeno-Dominguez?" JARVIS came onto the intercom again. "Mr. Stark requests your presence in the library."

"Still not over the fact that your name is Natalia Alianovna Romanova."

"Say that name and I'll make sure you won't be able to say anything ever again."

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The two women ran into the library to find Maria and Tony frantically searching through various file holograms. "It's all gone. The files are all empty." Maria mumbled, shaking her head as her widened eyes held fear behind them. "They have everything. The Fury bot must've stolen all of our files while we were distracted with Maria." Tony had a cross and focused look on his face. "All of it is missing. My shit, S.H.I.E.L.D's shit... everything."

"Then where the hell is the Fury bot himsel-" Natashe exclaimed as Clint entered with the bot in his arms. A bit of oil dripped from the body, staining the floor behind him and the sleeves of his shirt. "Found this sucker in Tony's workshop," He threw the machine on the floor, the fake Fury skitting across the tiles. "I synced it up with JARVIS, and you should get your files back soon. I don't think it had a chance to send HYDRA anything because of how bad we fucked him up. JARVIS also found all the video that it had recorded with his one eye, so that told us where these things are coming from."

"Are you sure it's dead, Clint?" Xiomara nudged the creature with her foot. "No one likes zombies, but we especially don't need robot ones."

"Trust me, Dominguez, he's long gone."

"Then by all means, let's watch this shit and kick some Nazi ass." The billionaire gave a devilish grin. "JARVIS, roll the clips!"

"Rolling the clips, Mr. Stark."

{ AUTHOR'S NOTES }

Look at Clint, saving the day!!

- V