Kakashi emerged from the back exit of the warehouse, as he scanned the scene.
Clint stood near the main entrance, his bow lowered, guarding a handcuffed the Black Widow. .
Kakashi approached, his tone calm but edged with frustration. "General Dreykov escaped. Had a jet waiting. Sent a dozen soldiers to keep me busy while he slipped away."
Clint's face fell, but before he could respond, Kakashi's gaze shifted to Natasha, then back to Clint, his eye crinkling with a mix of teasing and accusation. "I thought Fury was joking, but it seems he was right. Getting soft on the girl, are we?"
Clint flushed, his hands flailing defensively. "I can… explain!" he stammered, his voice rising. "Look, I'm not—okay, maybe I feel a bit bad for her, alright? But it's not like that!"
Kakashi's eye narrowed, his tone dry. "Uh-huh. Sure. Just so you know, those handcuffs won't hold her. She's flexible—can probably dislocate her wrists to slip out." He gestured at Natasha, who, as if on cue, raised her hands, the cuffs dangling uselessly, her expression one of mock surrender.
Clint's jaw dropped, his eyes darting between Natasha and Kakashi. "Hey, whose side are you on?" he shouted, his voice a mix of shock and exasperation. "I'm trying to save you here, lady!"
Natasha's smirk widened, her eyes gleaming with amusement. Kakashi chuckled, shaking his head. 'She's good—playing Clint like a fiddle.'
"Told you," he said, his tone light but pointed.
Clint sighed, his shoulders slumping. "Alright, fine. I decided we're bringing her back to SHIELD. She's got intel on the Red Room—names, locations, operations. Plus, she's just a tool in Dreykov's hands since she was a child. Blaming her's like blaming a kid for their parents' crimes."
Kakashi's eye softened, a memory flashing through his mind—Tenzo, his kohai from Root, a boy molded into a weapon by Danzo's schemes.
'He was innocent, too, caught in a system that used him.' The parallels were uncanny: Natasha, like Tenzo, was a victim of her training, her loyalty forged in pain.
'Rejecting Clint's call would be hypocritical of me,' Kakashi thought, his resolve wavering. 'I saved Tenzo. Maybe she deserves a shot, too.'
"Fine," Kakashi said, his tone grudging but accepting. "But you're explaining this to Fury. I'm just following orders, oh great team leader."
Clint brightened, his grin returning. "Deal! I knew you'd come around, Kakashi."
Kakashi turned to Natasha, pulling a coil of ninja wire from his pouch. "As for you, no more slipping out. This wire's pretty sharp—it'll cut if you wiggle too much. Let's not test it, yeah?" He bound her wrists behind her back. Natasha didn't resist, her smirk unwavering, though her eyes flicked to the wire with a hint of respect.
With that, the trio moved toward the SHIELD outpost, where a chopper waited to ferry them back to headquarters.
---
The chopper's interior was cramped. Kakashi and Natasha sat in silence, their expressions unreadable, while Clint fidgeted, unable to handle the quiet. He leaned toward Natasha, his tone casual. "So, what's your name? I don't wanna keep calling you Black Widow."
Natasha hesitated, her eyes flicking between the two men. "Natasha," she said after a pause, her voice low but clear.
Clint grinned, undeterred by her guarded tone. "Nice. I'm Clint, and this guy with the gravity-defying hair is Kakashi."
Natasha's gaze shifted to Kakashi, her lips curling slightly. "Kakashi… unusual name. And that hair—is it gelled?"
Kakashi's eye crinkled, his tone lazy but sharp. "Nope, all natural. And quit fishing for intel, Black Widow. You're not getting under my skin that easy."
Natasha's eyes widened briefly, surprised he'd clocked her subtle probing. 'She's good,' Kakashi thought tracking her micro-expressions. 'testing me, seeing what I'll spill.'
"You know a lot about spies, don't you?" she said, her tone half-admiring, half-challenging. "How to trick, how to handle them."
Kakashi stayed silent, his expression unreadable behind his mask. Natasha pressed further, direction her question to Clint, "does he always wear that mask—hiding his reactions? Don't want to show yourself blushing in front of a beautiful woman?"
Clint snorted, jumping in with a smirk. "Oh, he always wears that mask. I've never seen his face. Probably hiding a weak chin or something. But get this—he's a total pervert! Found a stash of Playboy magazines in his safehouse. And I checked his browser history—dude's into smutty romance novels!"
Kakashi's eye crinkled wider, unfazed. "Yo, so I like a good story. Big deal." He leaned back, his tone mock-serious. "You're just jealous my reading list is spicier than yours, Hawkeye."
Clint's jaw dropped, his face reddening. "Jealous? Me? You're the one googling 'steamy ninja love triangles' at 2 a.m.!"
Natasha laughed, a genuine sound that cut through the tension. "You two are ridiculous," she said, shaking her head. "But I like it."
Kakashi's thoughts turned inward, his amusement fading. 'She's sharp—diverted to Clint when I stonewalled her. Classic interrogation move. She realised that the weaklink between the two of us is Clint and is more willing to give her information that she can use in future.'
He sighed, recalling Shikaku grumbling about women being "a drag and trouble."
'Shikaku-san, you weren't kidding. She's playing us both, and Clint's eating it up.' But he couldn't deny her skill—Natasha was a master at reading people.
As Kakashi continued to hear the conversation between Clint and Natasha, he figured what the information that she was fishing for. 'So she wants to know what's next is for her in Shield. How Shield would help her deal with General and the red room..hmm. From the look of things, she is feeling guilty for all her assassinations until now. Well, It looks like Clint might have made a right call.'
-----------Author Notes---------
Thankyou Christian Jaime and Joegreen32$ for supporting me!
You can read the next 12 chapters on my pat*reon. Enjoy the chapter!
https://pat*reon.com/Charizard6
[No star]