A Different Call

Coming to Light

A.N. I think the next chapter will cover the Winter Soldier if you all are chill with that. Though that chapter would deal more with right before the movie, the truck ride, and then after the cemetery and Capitol Hill scenes. Also, I might have weird publishing again next weekend I'm going on a bit of a holiday and might not be able to write.

Natasha's P.O.V.

"Agent Romanoff, can you please remain still?" One of the SHIELD techs told me.

I readjust myself in the chair, "Sorry, just didn't think it would take this long." I glanced over to Fury who had been silently watching from the corner this whole time.

I have to admit that when Fury had told me that there was a special task for me to do I didn't expect that task to be sitting in some new lie detector Fury designed getting asked the same set of twenty questions over and over while scientists made tweaks to the machine in between rounds.

"We're just trying to thorough," Fury commented.

I just raise a brow at him before turning back to face the camera that was pointed at my face.

"Next question Agent. Where are you from?"

I held back my eyeroll while I try to come up with my next lie. "I am from Kenya. My mom and dad were zoologists and I came back to the states when their funding ran out."

I glanced out of the corner of my eye and Fury just shook his head; meanwhile, when I looked forward to where the scientists were shaking their heads while taking notes. Guess that last round of tweaks still wasn't enough.

They were about to continue questions when the door behind them opened.

"What's going on?" Fury asked. "I specifically stated that there should be no agents that aren't directly tied to this entering this hall."

"Sorry, director. But I need Romanoff," Morse said, slightly out of breath, which caused me to tense. What was so important that she had to run to get here?

"The hell you do. What's so important that you need to take Romanoff away from an Alpha level project."

"Barton came back."

"And?"

"And I need Romanoff."

The tone that Morse used sent a shiver down my spine, and I assume that Fury got a similar feeling. "Obviously this needs more work anyway, so Romanoff, you're free to go."

I began to remove everything that was attaching me to the chair and began to tear after Morse. It wasn't long until I realized that we were headed toward the medical wing and I began to outpace Morse. I knew that Clint's last job was dealing with a pretty nasty merc, but he had promised that he could handle it.

Once I got to the medical wing, I made my way to Barton's room, Morse had told me it when I had begun to get antsy moving at her speed. The sight that I saw made my heart drop. I thought that how he looked after Abidjan would be the worse I could see, but that look like child's play compared to what was laying in front of me.

I sat next to the bed while taking in what exactly was in front of me. The wires and tubes that were attached to Clint's arms and torso where nothing new to see, pretty standard for medical; however, the tube that was coming out of his mouth, as well as the fact that he had enough bandages on his body to make him look like a cheap Halloween mummy, where what set me off.

"Come on Barton you promised me, besides who else is going to deal with my post-mission rants." I leaned forward so that my head was resting against the rail of the bed, while still clutching Clint's hand. I didn't really believe in someone up there, but in this moment, I was sending a prayer to every god and being that I knew.