Chapter 22: Change in employment

"You called, Director?" Clint Barton asked as he walked into Fury's office.

Just earlier today he got a notice that the man wanted to see him, which didn't make Clint happy at all. It was his vacation and he was spending it with his family.

For a while now Clint was noticing how disgruntled Natasha, the young Russian spy he managed to convince to change sides, was slowly getting so he decided to introduce her to Laura in hopes the girls would hit it off, making Natasha more at ease.

He felt a bit responsible for the kid.

Others might have thought it was a risky move but Clint already was on a few missions with Natasha and he had quite a good read on her personality. She wasn't some bloodthirsty monster as people liked to portray her. In fact, he would like to believe they had a quite friendly relationship.

Of course, he would not bring Natasha to his home straight away. Today he was setting up a meeting in a restaurant, booking a table, and preparing everything when Fury called him in. It really sucked but what could he do?

With a sigh, Clint entered Fury's office.

"Agent Barton, we have a problem." Fury heavily said and looked at him from behind his desk just as Clint closed the door behind him and stood at attention.

"A problem, sir?" Clint asked.

Fury narrowed his sole eye into a glare as he gravely spoke, "Romanoff hasn't checked in for the past twenty-four hours."

'Oh... shit.' Clint involuntarily swore in his mind when Fury's words registered in his brain and cold sweat appeared on his back, "Her mission might have gone wrong."

Things going wrong were inevitable in their profession but from Fury's reaction, Natasha's mission should have been an easy one. Nevertheless, Clint still tried to be optimistic.

Natasha was a smart girl. Clint didn't want to believe she would do something as stupid as betraying SHIELD. She should be fully aware there was no running away from them.

"Maybe." Fury slowly nodded but it was obvious he didn't believe it.

This wasn't years in the future when Natasha would have been one of the best assets of SHIELD. Right now, she was just a distrusted new agent who swapped allegiance to them because she had no other option. Fury didn't know her well, not at all on a personal level. He had no reason to trust her and that meant the first conclusion he arrived at was that she deserted.

But of course, there were other possibilities, and Fury was experienced enough to know not everything is as it first seems.

"That's why you are going to England as her reinforcements. We let her join us at your behest. She is your responsibility now, agent Barton." Fury said with finality in his tone before returning to his paperwork, washing his hands of this case.

Clint, stiff as a board, gritted his teeth. He didn't have a problem with being sent there as her reinforcements or rescue detail in case she needed it. No, he had a problem with what wasn't said out loud.

She is your responsibility...

That meant if she had really deserted SHIELD... he was sent to be her executioner.

"I understand." Clint stiffly replied and turned around before leaving the office.

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Natasha happily walked toward Tom's house from the nearby store, almost skipping. It had been three days since she decided to join Tom and so far, she didn't regret it one bit.

No stress from missions. No spending time planning every move or trying to acquire information about a target and how to get close. No seducing people. No distrustful looks. No worrying over how to act to not be suspicious to her higher-ups. No...

Well, there were many things. So many, in fact, that even she realized how much stress she was under only during her second day in Tom's services when she was lying on her bed in her new room, having nothing to do and staring at the ceiling.

She... actually had free time!

Natasha quickly found herself restless and couldn't stay still. She was so used to always being busy with something that having a moment of peace rubbed her the wrong way. She couldn't stand it. But she soon enough found something to do with her time. Whether it was training or learning how to cook, there were a lot of things she always wanted to try but never had the opportunity.

Tom didn't want a lot from her. Her new responsibilities were simple. Train her body, learn at least rudimentary magic, start energy manipulation training... These could be summed up in a 'get stronger so you are useful'.

Natasha had no qualms about that. The second she found out how dangerous the real world could be and how powerless her current self really is, she felt too scared to not strive to improve herself. Honestly, Natasha was deeply grateful to Tom for giving her this opportunity and sharing his resources with her.

Not even three days in his employ and Natasha already felt more loyal to Tom than she ever did to SHIELD in half a year of her service.

Even she was surprised at how fast she gained these feelings. All it took was someone treating her as a human being, instead of a killing tool...

Tom didn't specify her other responsibilities yet, but Natasha quickly took it on herself to do the shopping and she attempted cleaning the house... only for Tom to laugh at her when he found out, showing her a spell that cleaned an entire room in seconds.

That was so unfair…

Needless to say, Natasha's motivation to study magic increased tenfold after that. Who would have thought the household spells could be so useful? Cleaning a crime scene would be a piece of cake with them.

With her failure at helping with household chores... and she still felt embarrassed as heck about that... Natasha tried to ease Tom's burden and asked if there was something she could do, which landed her the job of dealing with unimportant paperwork.

It wasn't much but it was honest work.

Natasha did not mind the mind-numbing work and Tom seemed a lot happier with having thirty minutes more for his research each day. In his giddiness, he even gave her books on spells that could accelerate her thought processes and enhance her mind a bit. Apparently, it was helpful in dealing with the infernal paperwork so she didn't have to spend three hours doing them.

Unfortunately, Natasha was no prodigy in magic so it would take her a bit longer to learn these spells but she was nothing if not patient.

As she walked on the sidewalk, humming to herself, her eyes suddenly landed on a familiar person, causing her to stiffen as her eyes slightly widened.

'Clint...' Natasha disgruntledly thought.

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