Chapter 20 ━━ Crimson Widow, Bro

Enjoy your second dose of Hedeon for the day!

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Heather and Clint are now waiting for Kazi to show up.

"Okay, why is it starting to feel like you're Batman and I'm Robin? I don't want to be Robin all the time." Heather speaks up, cutting the silence.

"Nobody's Batman and Robin any of the time." Clint grumbles.

"Not even some of the time?" Heather asks and Clint glowers at him as the response. "Oh my god! Fine!"

Just then, Kazi opens the car door and gets in, totally oblivious of the two brothers in the backseat.

"Surprise." Clint says when Kazi adjusts the mirror. Once Kazi notices the two brothers, he immediately tries to take out the hidden gun, which is already in the possession of Heather, who waves it mockingly. "Ah, ah. Just wanna talk. I need to get out of the city. But before I go, I need to put this Ronin situation to bed."

"Here are the lack of options you have. Option one: Spill off the dirty secrets of your little squad like a good boy. Option two: violent disembowelment." Heather adds.

Kazi's eyes pop out its socks. "What?"

"No. No. There's no violent disembowelment." Clint tells.

Heather turns to Clint with a scowl. "There isn't?"

"No."

"You're no fun, Clinton."

"Look, I know you have Maya's ear, and you seem like you're a reasonably not stupid guy." Clint says to the Tracksuit member.

"If you're tryin' to flatter me, you are way off the mark." Kazi remarks, less than thrilled to be ambushed by the two brothers like this.

"Don't get me wrong, I think you're a doormat." Clint states. "Look, you've been working under William Lopez as a lieutenant for, what, for four years? And now under Maya for a few more years. You know this operation better than anybody. You know what Maya's boss wants. And you know what he's already done to get it."

"So what do you know?" Kazi asks.

"I know he doesn't like this attention, that's for sure. I know Maya's obsession, wanting to hunt Ronin down, is dangerous." Clint replies.

"So you're concerned for the organisation? And, uh... And my rank in it? What do you want?"

"I don't want anybody else to die. But Maya's need for vengeance is gonna get her killed." Clint says and Kazi attempts to grab the hidden blade, which is as well as under the possession of the Barton brothers.

"Looking for this? Nice blade." Heather says, showing the blade in the air. "Or maybe it's the box cutter under the seat. But there's this thing. Bad boys don't get toys."

Heather leans forward, placing his elbow on the front seat. "Are you free tonight? They say NY is the best place to plan a date. I'll buy the drinks and of course, the dinner."

"Sure thing." Kazi responds, which surprises the younger Barton brother.

"Really?"

Kazi mocks a laugh before his face turns all serious. "I'm kidding. No."

Heather leans back with a deep scowl and a dramatic huff. "You know, you don't toy with a guy's emotions like that, bubba. It's not very attractive. All right?"

"Look, are we done here?" Kazi questions, already done with the interrogation.

"She's chasing a ghost. I think you know that." Clint says.

"But I can't convince her of that." Kazi argues.

"And I'm guessing you're the only one who can. This is the final warning. Just get it done." Clint demands and opens the door on his side before getting off the vehicle.

"Bye, don't miss me too much. Ta-ta!" Heather grins at the Tracksuit member before stepping out of the vehicle as well.

"Hey, can I have my gun back?!" Kazi yells from the vehicle.

"Yeah, what do you think?!" Heather yells back before throwing the gun out of Kazi's reach and catching up to the speed of the Avenger. "What now?"

"I have a plan." Clint says as they continue to jog down the street, away from the Tracksuit hideout.

"Does it involve us not getting into trouble?"

"I said I had a plan, not a miracle." Clint responds.

"Thank god. There's nothing more horrifying... than a miracle." Heather mutters.

The missing watch from the auction has been located, and it's nighttime when Heather is standing on a rooftop with Clint. The Christmas light decorations are shining down beside the stars in the dark sky.

Clint tries his best to teach Kate how to do a simple in-and-out retrieval. However, Kate has other ideas and goes completely rogue, deciding that she's the one who's going to break and enter, rather than serve as a lookout.

The cold breeze of the night gives chills to the supersoldier though he is already wearing a Turtleneck sweater, long sleeve t-shirt. He unrolls the collar, which is now masking his face upto his nose and it somehow brings satisfaction to Heather. Noticing eyes on him, he turns to see Clint watching with a raised eyebrow. "What? It's freezing out here."

"Okay. I'm at the door." Kate talks through the ear piece as they hear the doorknob rattling, followed by a door creaking. "Okay. Living room's all clear."

"Okay, this plan is really starting to suck, Clinty." Heather comments, looking bored at the lack of action in the mission. Just then the sound of arrows whooshing takes place, sending him alarm. "What was that?"

"I don't know. There are, like, strobe lights attached to the wall." Kate replies.

"What do you mean, strobe lights?"

"I don't know."

Not thinking much of the 'strobe lights', Clint speaks. "Yeah, what do you see?"

"Okay, what am I lookin' for?"

"A watch, vintage Rolex. Belongs to someone I used to work with." Clint replies.

Heather gives him a look, knowing Clint is talking about his wife, Verity. A former agent of SHIELD. "Is that the whole story, Clinty?"

"They've been out of the game a long time, but their identity is still attached to that watch. If the Tracksuits find out about it? It would blow their cover. Goodbye, friend." Clint says and Kate continues to search and snoop for the watch without questioning further.

"Got the watch." Kate says.

"Great."

"Hang on a minute. Clint, somebody is taking notes on your family. Clint Barton, wife, Verity, brother, Heather, daughter, Lila, age 14, son, Cooper, age 16, son, Nate." Kate reads on the tabs kept by whoever lives in this apartment.

Realisation falls upon Clint's face as he quickly calls out. "Kate, get out of there now. That light's an alarm. It's a silent alarm for people that can't hear. It's Maya's apartment."

"Plan officially sucks." Heather mutters, rubbing his face with his hand. Suddenly, he begins to feel another presence on the rooftop with them. He turns on his heel only to get strangle by a masked assailant.

He throws them off his back, and attempts to shoot them, only for the stranger to punch him in the face and throw an electric device which shocks him before running off to fight Clint.

Heather grits his teeth as painful electric waves roll through him and pulls out the device and tosses it aside. "That was cute."

Limber Heather rushes to them, grabs the masked assailant by their collar and throws them away, giving the opportunity for Clint to help Kate, who is stuck with Maya in the apartment.

The masked assailant winds up for a head-shot... but Heather catches their fist, mid-swing, in a vice-grip and forces their hand down with his supersoldier strength.

The masked assailant strikes Heather's shoulder once, twice, kicks him in the stomach again, causing him to fall on his back. He springs up, blocking a kick from the masked assailant and grabs them by the jacket before he kicks their leg, sending them to the ground.

Now, all focus is on the masked assailant as Heather gets the upper hand and pulls off their hood, revealing a blonde, Yelena Belova.

Somewhere in Heather's memories, he feels like he knows her. He narrows his blue orbs to figure out where he has seen her. He wakes up from his thoughts when the blonde raises her arm, activating spiderbite. He pounces on her in immediate action before he becomes a victim of the painful electric waves and then flips her head over heels and slams her into the floor, grabbing her throat. "Shoot me once, it's your luck. Shoot me twice, it's your funeral."

Yelena's muscles tense as she hears his voice. She can recognise the voice from anywhere, but she's too stunned to talk. She blinks once, twice before she kicks him once again, freeing herself from his grip and takes the opportunity to pull down the collar hiding his face.

"Hedeon?" Yelena whispers in disbelief, her jaw practically hitting the ground at the sight of her presumed dead lover, now standing in front of her alive.

"Close enough. But it's Heather, hotstuff." Heather smirks, before getting a counter punch in and she falls once again, but quickly recovers.

Just then, Kate appears and shoots Maya in the shoulder leaving her to retreat and holds up her bow at Yelena. Though Kate has a clear shot, Yelena glances back at Heather before jumping off the roof herself and disappears.

Heather runs to the edge to catch a glimpse of the blonde, only to find none.

"Who the hell was that?" Kate asks as she helps Clint up, who has small cuts on his face and arms.

"You don't wanna know, Kate." Clint says.

"I cannot be your partner if you don't tell me what's going on." Kate argues.

"You're not my partner. Do you understand that?" Knowing Kate's life is now in danger, Clint retorts. "You never were. Someone has hired the Crimson Widow assassin. And there's the issue of Charles. This has gotten very real, very quickly. So I'm doing this alone."

"No, you're not." Kate steps forward. "Look, I understand the risk, I understand all of that."

"I'm not gonna do it." Clint states. His facial expression is a blank slate as he continues, his tone growing cold at the next few words. "Do you hear me?"

Heather silently watches as Kate sniffles and nods.

Clint's face softens as he catches the sight of Kate on the verge of tears. He sadly looks at her. "Go home, Kate. It's over."

Without another word, Kate stomps away leaving the Barton brothers behind.

"That was harsh." Heather comments, not happy with his coldness towards the girl.

Clint sighs. "It's for the best."

"Do I know her?" Heather asks. His voice is low, but loud enough for Clint to hear him.

Clint looks at him with a confused look, but then realisation hits as he understands his reference. He breathes in and nods slowly. "Yes, you do. Yelena Belova. She's Natasha's sister."

Not satisfied with his answer, Heather raised an eyebrow. "There's more, isn't it? What am I missing?"

"Sometimes it's better to not know." Clint mutters.

Heather runs his hand through his hair, feeling distressed. "I don't care. I want to know. It's my fucking life."

"She's your ex." Clint blurts.

Heather looks shocked first, but then, he chuckles, clicking his tongue with amusement. "Woah. I dated her? That's a good one. I knew I got a good taste."

"You two were on a mission, then you saved her and died. You proposed her before you died. Everyone thought you were dead. But the super soldier serum in your blood kicked in and you barely survived. Natasha owed you a debt. So she begged Nick Fury for your life. He had the technology to bring death back to life. It's painful. Too painful to bear. You went through it and somehow you made it out alive. You know the rest." Clint explains briefly and skips the unwanted details. He keeps repeating in his mind that it's for Heather's best even though guilt is killing him slowly and painfully.

"So it was real. The nightmares." Heather realises.

"I'm not quite sure about that. But you did kill people. A lot of them. You weren't in your right mind at that time." Clint clarifies.

Heather shoots him another look of confusion. "What do you mean by I wasn't in my right mind?"

"That's for another day." Clint replies to cover up. "She saw you. It's not a good idea for you to stay."

Heather feels annoyed at the feeling there's more and Clint is hiding them from him for some reason. "And you want me to leave you to deal with this problem all alone?"

"Yes."

"Fine." Heather sighs, grabbing Kate's bow, which is on the floor and leaving out of the rooftop and the apartment complex.