Shots in the Dark (A Clintasha Divergent AU)

Three

Natalia nodded, her vibrant hair shifting ever so slightly. Clint caught on very quickly that it was hard not to focus on it. It was like dangerous blood red Christmas lights. "Well, nice to meet you, Clint. Do you know a lot about Dauntless?" she asked. Her eyes darted everywhere as if someone may decided to throw them off the train and into some poor person's path below. The train and everything was a pretty big change, but he didn't think that the faction was full of bloodthirty killer kids. "Er, yeah. I kinda was bent on going here since I was small. What about you?" Erudite had a stronger bond with Dauntless than Amity did - in fact, the two didn't get along with each other really at all. Brave and the peaceful - aw, no.

"Ah, no. I don't know a lot about anything that wasn't out of Erudite. I barely knew that much about Erudite, actually." Her nervous laugh just made him more puzzled, and interested. "Whaddya mean about - aw, ow." The train had jerked around a corner and his head had slammed into the wall. He rubbed the back of his head. They seemed to be going straight now - in fact, straight as far as he could see.

"Initiates, get ready to jump!" a voice yelled. He turned to see a guy about thirty, out of place but very well fitting somehow in the crowd of teenagers. His hair was already thinning. Kids shoved harder than they had getting on, and both Natalia and Clint stumbled to get up. Two or three were jumping out at once. He barely glimpsed what they were going for when the two jumped. It was terrifiyng for a couple of moments - he would've screamed probably if it had been a couple of seconds longer. The jump was farther than expected and he landed awkwardly on top of the parapet a bit on the other side.

Natalia skidded onto the gravely top, in running position. She straightened up, looking at Clint. "Move!" Three initiates, already large and somewhat muscular, came flying towards him and he rolled away. "Thanks." He barely wheezed out. As they watched the train go, Clint could've swore someone's hand flailed out of the car door.

"Aw, man. Hopefully that's the worst thing we have to do today." he got to his feet and they walked to the forming group near the edge.

"Hello everybody, I'm Phil Coulson, mainly just Coulson. I'm the third leader of Dauntless and I will be a familiar face during initiation. Now, what we're about to do is arguably the hardest part in the first stage of your training. You will jump. questions?" the man's stern gaze kept him from asking any sarcasting questions out loud. He supposed they wouldn't let them all die, but how easy would it be to pass this? He shivered. Nobody asked questions, so Coulson continued. "Who's jumping first?"

Natalia stepped forward, her head held high and her green gaze like needles as she stared at Coulson. "I am." the brown-haired man smiled. "No sense in waiting." She did not smile back. "No sense indeed."

°°°

On regular accounts Natalia would not take such a risk before seeing someone else fare it. But it was a very good opportunity in many ways. She could see how Dauntless people functioned if she survived, or if she did not then that was it. Nobody could hunt her if she had fallen to her death. Breezing past the others, she confidently stood at the edge and took a quick glance down. a seemingly endless hole through many layers of concrete. She couldn't delay. Without waiting one more second, Natalia sprung towards the mysterious black hole.

For a few seconds her mind went completely blank, but she was involuntarily shifted to face the building she had jumped from and was snapped back out. Falling was quicker than expected and she'd have to make sure not to fall onto the concrete surrounding the hole. Turning again, Natalia found herself already through it. Another second and she was facing a net.

She shrieked and twisted to land feet first, like a cat. The force of it made her bounce up again, closer to the edge where Dauntless members had been waiting. Now they offered her a hand and pulled her to the floor. "Welcome to Dauntless." One said, but didn't have much time until someone else came flying in. Clint. He was almost literally grinning from ear to ear. "Hey, we didn't die!" she snickered, nodding. "Maybe not yet."

A person from the side turned to them again. "I'm going to bring you to your dorms once everybody is here. My name is Maria Hill, second leader of Dauntless. You?"

She almost gasped. It was the same Abnegation woman who had been the host. Why had she needed to pose as an Abenegation member? "Uh, Clint. Barton." he had to notice too, because he was looking uneasy. "Natal... Natasha, Romanoff." It was a split decision, in a way. She had debated on changing her name, but it was final.

"Okay Clint and Natasha, hold tight. Congratulations." They nodded and watched everybody come down in the next two minutes. Maria stood at the front of the group. "Initiates!" she called and somehow she brought all attention to her immediately. "I will be showing you your dormitories and you will get standard Dauntless clothing. Follow me." She turned on her heel and they followed. Natasha listened to people debating over what it would look like.

However, it was much different from anybody's ideas. Steel bunkbeds with yellowing mattresses, dark walls and a cold tile floor. Even more gorgeous was grimey, open steel toilets and showers. "Get ready in 10." Maria commanded, and left them to stand dumbfounded in the room.