"Agents Romanoff and Barton, you two are being assigned to a case in New Jersey" Secretary Ross explained to the pair of Avengers.

"Is there a threat?" Clint asked, confused as to why they would be called in to investigate the case.

"The FBI agent on the scene will explain it to you once you arrive." Ross stated, silently sending them out of his office.

"Looks like we are going on a road trip to New Jersey" Clint walked beside Natasha toward their car.

"I'm driving" the red head stated, getting into the driver seat and buckling up.

~~~

"There's our guy" Clint nodded to the FBI agent who was talking with some local cops when they drove to the edge of the city. The agent notices them and walks over to join them by their car.

"James E. Woo, FBI." He introduced to the pair who were occupied looking at the town ahead.

"Agent Barton" he stuck out his hand to shake Jimmy's.

"Agent Romanoff, shield. What's the story here, agent Woo?" The red head asked, nodding towards the town ahead.

"I've got a witness set up down the road in Westview, and this morning, it looked like he flew the coop." Woo explained the situation.

"Your missing person is in the Witness Protection Program?" Barton asked back.

"I have contacted known associates, relatives..." he started to list.

"And let me guess, none of them have seen him either?" Natasha cut him off.

"No. None of them have ever heard of him. Something seemed hanky to me, so I took the first flight out of Oakland to interface with local law enforcement, which is when I encountered a new wrinkle."

"What is that?" Barton asked. Woo directed them over to the police officers, leading towards the two men who were leaning against the hood of their car.

"Here we go." A sheriff spoke up to the other one as they joined together.

"Pardon me, Sheriff. Would you mind repeating your claim about Westview to my colleague here?" Woo asked him.

"No such place." The sheriff stated.

"You're saying the town of Westview, New Jersey, doesn't exist?" Clint pressed on, eyes darting with confusion to the sign reading Westview.

"It's what I keep telling your G-Man here, but he won't listen." The sheriff said.

"I see. And, um, I'm sorry, what town are you from?" Clint poked the question.

"Eastview."

"Thank you, Sheriff. I'll reach out if we need any further assistance. I, uh, pulled phone numbers for all the residents. I'm only through the Ds, but so far I got Diddly Squat." Woo said as the sheriffs drove away in their car.

"So you can't reach anyone inside and everyone on the outside has some sort of selective amnesia?" Barton looked to Jimmy with his observations.

"This isn't a missing person's case, agent Barton, it's a missing town. Population 3,892." Jimmy corrected.

"Why haven't you gone inside to investigate?" Natasha inquired.

"'Cause it doesn't want me to. You can feel it too, can't you? Nobody's supposed to go in." Jimmy explained his reasons, causing Clint to sigh. Clint nodded along and walked towards the trunk of their car, pulling out a case to reveal a shield drone that he had modified.

"What about you?" Natasha asked while Clint set up the drone.

"Me?" Woo questioned. "Well, I'm from Bakersfield, originally. Growin' up, other kids had Michael Jordan posters on their walls, but I had Eliot Ness."

"No, no, no, no. I mean, why is it that you have an awareness of Westview? Or me, for that matter? Is it because we are outside of a certain radius, or maybe because we don't have a personal connection?" Natasha continued with her thought process. Clint flew the drone towards the barrier outside of the city.

"Hmm..."

"Wait, where'd it go?" Natasha asked after looking down at the monitor Clint held to see the drone go inside a field of energy and looked up to see it missing from sight.

"It was right there." Woo said, pointing ahead. Natasha moved to walk forward until an electric barrier crackled in front of her.

"Whoa..." she gasped with interest.

"What is it?" Clint worried for his friend.

"Some sort of energy field." She stuck her hand out to touch it with caution.

"Careful nat" Barton warned.

"Agent Romanoff" Woo started to warn too as she stepped closer. "Watch it! Romanoff!" He called as she was pulled in with a shout.

"Natasha!" Clint rushed towards it only for Woo to hold him back from going missing too.

"Barton, you can't go in after her"

~~~

"Hey. What's your field?" Darcy caught the attention of a man sitting across from her in the back of a truck.

"We're not supposed to talk to each other." He reminded in a timid voice.

"Hmm? Boy Scout leader. Got it." She nods to him. "And you?" She looked to the woman sitting beside him.

"Nuclear Biology."

"Artificial Intelligence." The next man spoke up from beside her.

"Astrophysics." Darcy tells them her own field.  "We got the full clown car. It means whatever the threat is, S.W.O.R.D. clearly has no idea what they're dealing with." She thought out loud to the others.

"I'm a chemical engineer." The first man added, now feeling left out.

"No one cares." Darcy mutters as the vehicle pulls to a stop.

"All right, grab your gear." The driver tells them strictly. Darcy grabs her bag and walks out onto the set up base, looking around in amazement at how quickly everything had been set up.

"Ms. Lewis?" An agent calls out for her.

"Dr. Lewis." She corrects.

"We have your gear set up inside." He told her before leading her into the base to look out at the town through the windows.

"Those drones you're sending in, what kinda data are you getting?"she questioned as she noticed a drone being sent in.

"I'm afraid that's highly classified."

"You can't see anything? FBI, Army. I saw the Air Force Office of Special Investigations out there. Research Lab, Space Command, too. A bona fide, joint, multi-service response. Really looking forward to the commemorative T-shirt. Is there somewhere a lady could get a cup of coffee? You guys look like you might get down with those little pod things. Horrendous for the environment..." Darcy seemed unimpressed as she started to set up her gear at a small table in the back corner.

"Make your assessment, please." The agent cut off her rambling. She turned on a device and started to read it.

"Whoa... I mean, whoa..." she spoke as she adjusted her glasses to see the readings off the charts.

"What're you getting?" The agent asked with worry at her reaction.

"A colossal amount of CMBR."

"CM..." he started to ask.

"Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation." She explained simply.

"We've been told the radiation is within a safe limit."

"Uh, it is... For now."

"Wait, what do you mean..." he began to ask again but was shushed by Darcy who was deep in thought.

"There are longer wavelengths superimposed over the noise here." She thought to herself. With a groan of strain she pulls a large machine out from under the table and puts it on top. "I got it." She claimed as he made no move to help her. Darcy tinkered with the settings of the machine until an image appeared on the small screen. "I need a TV. An old one. Like, not flat."

———————————————————
Question of the day: what do you think of Natasha being pulled into the hex?