Not Everyone Can Be Saved

Chapter 1

It started out as a normal day at the tower. Then, Maria had to ruin it by bringing in that mission.

"Alright Hill, what have you got for us?" Tony quipped.

She tossed the file onto the table.

"This is (Y/N) (L/N). She's the best shot there is. Trained by a secret order of assassins in Mongolia from a young age, it's pretty safe to say she knows her way around all kinds of weapons. But, she's best with guns. She never, ever misses. Unfortunately, she's causing us all kinds of trouble; targeting SHIELD agents and our allies."

"What do you want us to do about it?" Bruce asked.

Maria hesitated.

"She needs to be... Taken care of. Before she single-handedly takes down SHIELD."

"Uh, I thought Rogers already did that?" Tony said sarcastically.

Rolling his eyes, Steve interjected, "Isn't there another option? Couldn't we try to reason with her?"

"A second chance did me a world of good, Maria. Is it completely off the table to recruit her?" Natasha asked.

The agent shook her head tersely.

"This isn't like with you, Agent Romanoff."

Then she continued, "We need one of you to handle the situation. It can't be more than one or else she'll realize what's going on. Whoever accepts this needs to realize that they may not walk away from this one. (Y/N) (L/N) is dangerous, possibly more dangerous than you, Nat."

Clint's voice broke the stifling silence.

"I'll do it."

Natasha immediately faced him. "No you won't."

Ever since Laura had been killed, the ex-assassin's friend had suddenly started taking more risks, going on more dangerous missions more often. He stopped caring whether or not he came back.

"That's not your call."

Her gaze hardened and she grabbed ahold of his collar, pulling him out of the room. Once they were alone, she gave him a glare that would have had anyone else running for their lives.

"Clint, listen to me. You need to get your head in the game. You have your kids to think about. Cooper, Lila, Nathaniel... They need you. Now, more than ever."

He avoided her accusing stare.

"I'm fine."

He finally looked her in the eye. "Yeah, I'll admit that these past few months have been rough. I haven't been fair to the team. But look, I just have a feeling about this one. I need to be the one to do this."

Nat's expression softened. "You heard what Hill said. This one can't be saved."

Clint smiled. His best friend knew him too well.

"Doesn't mean I can't try."

"And if you die trying? You'd be okay with leaving your family behind?"

He hesitated.

"Look... I promise that I won't purposefully do anything stupid. I'll do my best to make to back."

Natasha considered that.

"Fine. But if you don't come back, I'll kill you myself."