little slice of sanity|c. barton

Chapter Two

          It had been three months since Clint met the mysterious woman, and he had almost managed to convince himself that she wasn't real. Life had continued on normally, well, as normal as life could be when you were an Avenger, and there had been no sign of her. Natasha, however, was no where near as forgetful. There was still a year and a half left in her bet with Tony, but she was starting to get desperate. The assassin knew that, if Clint was ever going to introduce his girlfriend to the team, he would have to get said girlfriend soon. So Natasha hatched a plan: she would drag Clint to as many social events as she could, and hope like hell he met someone. It wasn't the most detailed, but it was the best she had.

          Clint sighed, grabbing his coat as Natasha dragged him by the arm out of the Avengers Tower. "Nat, we got coffee yesterday," he whined, stopping just outside of the door. Natasha whirled around, her red hair nearly hitting him in the face. "And we're getting coffee today, too," she snapped, before turning back down the street and pulling him with her. "Jesus," Clint muttered, giving in. "What is wrong with you?" "Nothing," Natasha growled, continuing down the street. "You're just whiny."

          Natasha waltzed into a coffee shop, Clint walking in slowly after her. He was slightly concerned with the fact that Nat hadn't disguised herself in any way, and, sure enough, the moment they walked in, the shop went dead silent. Then the phones came out. Clint sighed exasperatedly, saying, "Nat, I hate you so much right now." "I know, Clinton." The duo fought their way through the crowd, quickly making their orders and sitting in the corner. "This was a horrible idea," Clint grumbled. Natasha rolled her eyes, ignoring his complaint.

          One of their workers appeared in front of the rable, placing down the drinks before leaving. Clint grabbed his cup, and, just as he was raising it to his lips, he saw Natasha's eyes widen. "Didn't you say she called you Pretzel Man?" the redhead asked, putting down her own cup. "Yeah," he replied. "So?" "Look at your cup, idiot." Clint frowned, before looking at the side of his drink and feeling his breath catch in his throat. Text me, Pretzel Man, someone had written on the side, followed by a phone number.

          Clint jumped up from his seat, rushing over to the counter and placing the drink in front of the cashier. "Who wrote this?" he demanded. "Uh," the girl stuttered. "Um, I think it was Leo." When Clint looked confused, she continued, saying, "Leona, I mean. Leona Carmelo." Leona Carmelo, Clint thought. Leona, who the hell are you?

          "Where is she?" he asked, looking into the kitchen. "She's gone," someone called. "She was covering a shift for Charlie." "Dammit," Clint muttered, racing out of the shop. Natasha slid into the place where her friend had just been, smiling pleasantly. "Sorry about him," she drawled. "He's insane." She tossed a twenty in the tip jar, before laughing and leaving the shop.

          The street was crowded when Clint burst out of the coffee shop, his eyes scanning quickly through the crowd. Natasha came up behind him, pulling up the hood of her jacket as she muttered, "This will be interesting." Clint headed off down one side of the busy street, Natahsa sighing before ducking into the alley behind the shop. Clint always forgot about the alleys. She had told him they would be important one day, but no.

          "Leona Carmelo?" Natasha asked when she walked in far enough. The brunette on the fire escape nodded, putting down her phone. "Natasha Romanoff," the assassin said. "I'm going to keep this simple. If you're HYDRA, or in anyway affiliated with an organization such as HYDRA, give up. Clint likes you, but he's not stupid. You'll get hurt." Leona nodded, replying,"I know. I'm not HYDRA." Natasha smiled slightly. She left the alley, calling over her shoulder, "Nicely done with the nickname, by the way!"

          Leona let out a sigh of relief. She suddenly understood why Clint had called Natasha 'one of the scariest motherfluffers you'll ever meet,' and she wasn't anxious to get on her bad side. However, she wasn't lying when she said she wasn't HYDRA. Leo was a normal person, a secretary at a law firm, and the closest tie she had to aliens was a cousin who was a SHIELD agent, which Natasha would be able to affirm after her research later.