Not My Choice

Coin Toss

"And you brought her here why?" Nick Fury asked once more hoping for a new answer. 

"She needs our help, Nick." Clint, yet again, said.

"You know what, Clint? Maybe try a different answer."

"Can't do that, sir. She needs our help and I won't turn away from a cry for help. And I will do everything in my power to help her even if that means her moving in with me."

"Your stubbornness is annyoing, Barton."

"I learned it all for Nat." Fury's eyes darted towards Natasha who had been standing silently next to Clint with her arms crossed. She only shrugged. "Look, Fury, I won't give up until this girl is getting help. We know what Hydra can do to an adult and a child. Look at Natasha. We saved her-"

"You saved me," Natasha added. 

"Yeah, I saved her and look at where she is now. Plus, Nat was an adult when we saved her imagine what we could do for her because she's a teen-"

Nick held up his hand to stop Clint from speaking, "Let me see if I can dig up a file about her then we'll talk." He rubbed the bridge of his nose. Clint did a small fist pump. Natasha just lets out a small smile. 

"You won't regret this," Clint said.

"I haven't done anything yet, Barton." Nick waved off Clint's thankfulness.

Clint turned to Natasha and stated, "Thanks for the help."

She turned and began to move down the hallway with Clint close behind her, "You had it handled."

"Nat, you know you're-"

"Clint, calm down, you won. She's getting the help she needs like you wanted. I don't know why you're making such a big fuss about it now."

"Because we're supposed to have each other's backs but you didn't have mine."

"I'm not the one who thought so strongly about her needing help." She began to put her gear away."

"Are you saying that she doesn't need help."

"No, I'm not. She needs it but I'm not the one who jeopardized the mission to bring her dying body back here."

"So you would have just left her there?"

"Clint, what I'm saying is this. She's Hydra, she maybe she is only a child but still Hydra. Which makes her a target. We don't save targets, we take them out."

Clint stood there speechless, he knew Natasha was right but she didn't turn down a cry for help either. Before he could come up with something to say, Steve and Bucky walking over to them. "You're back early," Steve said.

"Yeah, we would have been back sooner but-" Natasha slammed her locker door shut, "Clint wanted to play hero." She stormed off. Something Clint had to deal with later. 

"What's her problem?" Steve inquired.

"When we were in the Hydra base we found a girl, maybe fifteen? Sixteen? Her heart beat was faint and she was strapped down to an experiment table. She was barely holding on to her own life."

"I-is she okay?" Bucky asked, his voice low.

"We aren't sure. She's being examined right now."

"You did the right thing, soldier." Steve patted Clint's shoulder.

"Thanks, Steve. Hey, maybe you could talk to her if she wakes up, Bucky?" Clint suggested.
Bucky seemed nervous by this idea but fortunately didn't have to answer. "That's a when, Barton." Fury joined the group. 

"Excuse me, sir?"

"That's a when she wakes up. It seems like as soon as you and Natasha took her off of those machines she began to stabilize herself."

"Hydra was killing her?" Steve asked.

"Slowly draining her of her life force."

"To make another. Hydra knew you were going to attack." Bucky commented.

"We knew that thanks captain obvious," Clint stated. 

"No, they knew you were coming, couldn't get her out in time so they started to drain her. They were killing her so they could make another. But you guys came too soon."

"It would make sense. But what was so important to Hydra that their only other option was to kill her?" Steve inquired. 

"Not my problem. You wanted her, you take care of her. I'm transferring to the Avengers tower. She should be fine, it's only a matter of time before she wakes up."

"And once she wakes up, sir?" Clint questioned. 

"I don't care. She can go live in one of Natasha's safe houses, one of Tony's many mansions, the Avengers towers, heck buy her an apartment. I don't care." Nick slammed a file into Clint's chest, turned on his heels, and stormed down the hallway.

"Who feels like adopting a child?" Clint asked.