The Avengers x Y/N Barton

Pt. 2

Impact of the bullets caught by the briefcase covering you was strong enough to bruise you. The spectrum of different shades of blue on your body reminds you of a painting depicting the unprecedented occurrences of past hours.

Clint, Erik and few others were brainwashed and all together with Loki vanished into thin air. Whole remote research facility went down in flames. Literally. The Cube is missing and the only person capable of finding it is you. It's daunting but any kind of emotional or mental breakdown must be postponed to a different time.

Your gun is now lighter by the weight of all the bullets fired. Your mind trails off to the memory of guard's high-calibre projectiles simply bouncing off Loki's body. The cold-hearted maniacal look in his eyes when he took hold of your arm in attempt to coerce you into being his servant will forever be carved in your memory. But Clint's act of almost killing you will be the real nightmare fuel.

You put the gun aside and start flipping through your notebook. Its cover is abraded and many pages are bent and rich in tiny dents after crumbs as you are used to take notes during lunch breaks. All your findings from the studies so far are recorded there, handwritten. It will take time to turn them into digitize form again but it's definitely better than to start from scratch.

Feeling the paper brushing your fingertips, you think about all the books you read as a child. Majority of them were encyclopedias since you've always been fascinated by science and didn't presume fantasy stories even close to the world around you. But now it's time to start believing in fairytales, preferably those with happy ending.

Pinching the bridge of your nose to clear your thoughts, you turn your laptop on and log in the Tesseract project files to pursue your notes into the system. The speaker blares nastily and a red frame Access denied pops up on the screen.

"Weird," you speak for yourself. Your password is correct, your clearance is befitting and it's basically your and Erik's data only.

"Y/N?" Phil Coulson disrupts your mindflow, handing you a cell phone. "For you."

"Y/N Barton speaking," you put the device to your ear.

"Honey?" Only one person in the world has the priviledge to call you 'honey'.

"Nat?"

"Thank god!" Natasha clicks tongue as she acknowledges it was an inappropriate combination of words. All you can thank god for is him turning your lives upside down.

"I thought you were working?" You check the foreign phone area code.

"My shift ends right now," she grunts, then muffled distant screams are heard in the background. "Listen, Phil wants me to talk to the big guy first, then I'm on my way to you. I'll be there tomorrow at the latest."

Hanging up, you quickly replay your brief conversation. "When she said big guy, who exactly did she mean?" You return the phone to Phil.

"Seriously?!" You bust into Fury's office. Phil's on your tail, regretting answering your question when he sees the rise it got out of you.

"You really want to team us up with a hundred years old soldier and doctor Banner?" You take a seat across from the Director.

"I thought you liked Bruce," his expression suggests that he was anticipating your stormy reaction.

It was Bruce who inspired you to study nuclear physics, he passed all his knowledge on you while you were his intern. He took you under his wing, yet considered you equal.

Of course you like him, he's a noble man, but his green side poses serious danger in stressful environment. And right in this moment stressful is fairly drastic understatement. Having him onboard isn't wise, it's an extreme risk.

"Captain Rogers had experience with the Tesseract way long before us and Bruce will lend you a hand. Including agent Romanoff, the five of you will get along just fine. I'm sure."

Natasha's participation is a no-brainer. From purely scientific point of view, involving Bruce makes sense and Captain Rogers is a good strategist. That makes you a team of four members.

"Who's the fifth one?"

"We need all hands on deck," Fury says carefully, foreseeing your disapproving stance, "so Phil's bringing in Tony Stark."

Your eyes dart to Phil, then back to Fury. You've already had the honor of working with Stark and would rather die than repeat it.

"You better be fucking kidding me." Too busy trying to wrap your head around such a stupid idea, you forget to watch your vocabulary.

"Y/N," Fury's tone is cautious as if he's trying to tame wild animal.

"No, Nick, don't Y/N-me," you start gradually raising your voice with each word. "If Stark crosses the threshold of my lab-"

"Doctor," Fury cuts you off, emphasizing your title to keep the conversation on professional level, "you will work with whomever I'll tell you to. Do you copy?"

His words are like a cold shower for your temper. You compose yourself. Shame of being too brash grows in the pit of your stomach. "Roger that, sir."

"Everything you feel is valid but desperate time calls for desperate solution," he knows the amount of responsibilities he put on your shoulders is heavy to carry but you're the best shot SHIELD has.

"I strongly suggest you get some sleep, because as if for now and near future too, I need you to think clearly and not let your emotions cloud your judgement."

"Roger that, sir," you repeat your previous words with due respect to his authority.

Getting up from the chair, you catch a glimpse of pile of papers laid on his desk. At the very top rests your resignation not yet signed, meaning your field status remains 'trainee'.

Seeing the document, you suddenly understand why Clint treated you the way he did. He was trying to dissuade you from voluntarily accepting the dangers inherent in being a field agent.

"When Natasha arrives, could you send her to me, please?" You stop at the door and face Fury one last time before you leave.

"Actually, I think I might assign her to keep an eye on you. I like this vigorous side of yours, but it seems to be a little bit Hulkish."