Oceans Away
Chapter One
Three months ago
The room was dark, grainy, with a little bit of sunlight filtering in, barely making an impression through the amount of dust, filtering and dancing through the air. Asia Monroe, Agent of Shield, lay on the thin cot beneath her for a moment, unmoving, simply taking in her surroundings. She didn't want anyone to know she was awake yet, not until she figured out where she was and why she was here. And why the fuck her head hurt so badly. She closed her eyes for a moment, taking in the pain, and the musty scents of dust, and trying to feel for anything at all, anything familiar. She stretched her senses out, feeling for any bit of water, the water that composed a human body, that she could.
Before she even got the chance to do so, a door creaked slowly open. Asia forced herself to take slow, measured breaths, not wanting to give away that she had woken up quite yet. Not that she would even get the chance. "So, you're awake," a familiar, deep voice spoke, a weight touching the edge of the bed as a man sat down. "How's your head? They had you pretty messed up in there."
The brunette slowly opened her eyes, the jig was up anyways, to see Clint Barton, wearing all black, sitting at the foot of her bed. "Clint? What are you doing..here? Where is here, by the way?" She asked all at once, trying to prop herself up, but a blazing pain raced through her head before she could do so.
"Ehh, you probably shouldn't try and do that just yet. You're going to be pretty out of it for a bit. What do you remember?" Clint asked her, brow furrowing as he looked down at her.
Asia tried to think about it, tried to remember where she was, what she had been doing. Why was she out with Clint? Where was Nat? Where was the rest of her usual team? Thoughts, inklings of them, started to slowly drift into her mind. They had been on a mission for....something? Whenever she tried to think about that it was like someone had cut the footage, there was nothing but empty black. "Mmm....Coulson sent us...you and me and Natasha out here, for, uh, for something?" She said, trying once more to sit up, rubbing at her left eye with the heel of her palm. "We're in Eastern Europe, I think? I guess it's hard to tell from in here but I'm....pretty sure that's where we were. Where are we?"
"A little place called Hell. And, you've got that much right," Clint grinned, adjusting the curtain to let a little more light in for her, "Looks like the Red Room didn't fuck with your mind too badly. Shame, now I'll still have to deal with your annoying jokes," his words were teasing, but there was still that intense look of studying her, making sure she was okay.
"The Red Room?" Asia asked groggily, the words causing her brain to ache when she tried to think about it. "What...what was I doing there? What were we doing?"
"Deep undercover, Monroe. You were pretending to be their latest initiate. Was going great, till they clearly caught wind of what we were doing," Clint sighed, shaking his head. "I should have done something more. Something...." he looked like he wanted to punch something. "They had started a basic mind-wipe on you. Thankfully, I got there in time. You should, hopefully, be back in tip top shape shortly."
"What about Nat? Where is she? Is she okay?" Asia asked, finally managing to sit all of the way upright. If she was hurt, Nat should be here. She always was.
"Calm down, kiddo, she's fine," Clint said, standing up and placing a pillow behind Asia's back. "She's just doing a little bit of...clean up. Eliminating the rest of the Room's operatives who were there, getting the kids out safely. She'll be back soon, I'm sure. Until then...want some soup or something?"
On queue, her stomach growled. "Yes, please," Asia muttered, her head still pounding. What else had she forgotten? She didn't like the idea of being unmade. Hazily, she reached for the phone on the wooden table beside her cot, looking at the time. 17:39. The man on the background of her screen, she knew him instantly. Leo Fitz. At least she hadn't forgotten the people who mattered. At least it was just the details of this mission.
But, unfortunately, she did remember the familiar ache of her screen, empty of all messages. He hadn't reached out to her, not once, not to make sure she was okay, to make sure he was alive. He had been far too busy as of late, too busy for her, too busy for anyone. He spent all day, every day, in the Lab, in the basement, in the Library, trying to find any sort of hint as to what happened to Jemma Simmons. And his leads were starting to run dry, just like their relationship was starting to run dry.
It felt like he hardly paid her time of day anymore. They hadn't had sex in weeks, and he barely kissed her ever. She got it, he was busy, dedicated, wanting to make sure that their teammate got home alive. But she couldn't shake the feeling it had something to do with the grand confession of her emotions that Jemma had made to Leo literally days before her disappearance.
And she understood it, she did, she really really did. The desire to save a friend. She got that. She felt it too. Of course, she wanted Jemma back. But did she have to lose him along with it? That hurt more than her fucking head did right now. She looked over at Clint, her friend, her partner, her mentor. He seemed to have a fine relationship with Harper, even when he was gone for a long time. How could he make it so easy?
The shirtless man, the assassin turned Avenger turned part-time Avenger turned dad, gave her one last grin, before disappearing out the door he had come through, presumably off to make the soup. God, she wanted food. And she wanted to sleep, more. Her body begged for it. She let the phone drop back to the table, pretty damn sure she wouldn't be getting any messages on it any time soon.
She would sleep, she would eat, and then they could fly back to base and give a debrief to Coulson, if he was around and not too busy. And she was sure Daisy would want to see her. They had been up to their ears in work lately, with the Terrigen getting out into the ecosystem, causing an influx of people to turn Inhuman. They were pretty sure it had to do with the crystals dropped into the ocean, and somehow being consumed by fish. Most of the people who had turned had been taking Fish Oil pills, so it seemed like a likely answer. Too bad their best scientists were otherwise occupied.
As she leaned back down to let herself sleep, she found that the desire to rest was gone. Of course. Her mind was moving far too much now. Slowly, she swung her legs one by one over the edge of the bed. She wanted her ice bath. Back at HQ, she had started using an ice bath to absorb and heal her wounds. It also made her feel stronger, much stronger. She had found that, just as her body was able to control water, it was also able to make a space underneath the water for her to breath, separate the water from the oxygen. Sometimes, she even slept in there. She looked down at her arms, covered in green sleeves, and slowly rolled them up, revealing the bruises beneath. Yea, she could use an ice bath right about now.
Cautiously, she stumbled out of the makeshift bedroom and into the equally dimly lit hall of whatever shack they had rented for this mission. The cement floor was cool and clammy against her bare feet. She could hear the sound of water boiling on a stove just a door away, feel it bubbling if she tried hard enough, smell the soup in the pot, smell tea that Clint was making. She pushed into the kitchen, wincing at the bright light coming from the bulb above.
"God, whatever the hell they did feels like a hangover times a thousand," she groaned, dropping herself into one of the wooden kitchen chairs, feeling it groan beneath her weight. "Soup almost ready? I could kill for food right now."
"Funny part is, I'm pretty sure you would kill for food," Clint joked. "About two more minutes, so just hold your horses. Nat will be back soon, and then we can all fly home."
The two minutes went by quickly, and, in silence, the two Shield agents slurped their meal, waiting for their third member to arrive back safely.
And she did, safely and silently, which was quite a Natasha thing to do. They hadn't even heard her enter until she spoke. "What, ate all the good food without me while I'm out there cleaning up after you two?" Her tone was teasing, lighthearted. The redhead was still wearing her black suit when she walked into the kitchen, hugging Asia tightly from behind. "I'm glad they didn't hurt you too badly. Next time, I won't let them lay a finger on you." She said seriously, and Asia believed it. There were few people Natasha hated more in the world than the Red Room and their operatives.
"It's okay, it was worth it," Asia shrugged in reply. "If we were able to shut down one of their locations, then it was all worth it. Did you get the kids out?"
"Yea, to a Shield monitored orphanage," Natasha replied, setting her guns down onto the counter and pouring herself her own bowl of soup. "It may not be the best life, for now, but it's a hell of a lot better than what would have happened to them there. Plus, I talked to Tony and he's going to make a donation, help spruce things up a bit." She shoveled the soup into her mouth, and Asia took this as a sign that she didn't really want to talk about it anymore. The brunette nodded, going back to eating her own food.
"Well, now that we're all here and the jobs done, what do you guys say? Shall we blow this lame excuse for a Popsicle stand?" Clint asked, putting his bowl in the sink and rinsing it for a moment.
Nat and Asia looked at each other, before looking back at Clint and both nodding enthusiastically.
"That's what I thought," Clint grinned. "Plus, I'm sure Monroe here is excited to see that boy whose waiting for her back at base," Clint winked at her, causing Asia to roll her eyes and plaster a smile to her face. As good as spies as the two were, Asia had gotten pretty good at lying to both of them, at least when it came to her feelings. Yea, she was excited to sleep in her own bed. But she was pretty sure no one was there waiting for her.
