Purple Day, Chapter One
Two Months Ago
"What are we going to do?"
"Not tell anyone."
"Clint, there are four dead IMF agents that I killed! The IMF is going to take this very personally, especially considering that their own analyst killed them."
"But they don't have to know it was you or me, and besides, they weren't even IMF agents. They were HYDRA!"
"That doesn't matter, because the IMF doesn't know that they were HYDRA, and I'm not going to tell them."
"They're not going to suspect a field agent turned analyst turned field agent to commit murder against their own coworkers. That's more of a SHIELD thing."
"You better be right, Clint."
"Relax Will, I'm always right. And besides, they deserved it."
"So when do we tell our teams?"
"Last moment possible. We don't want to drag them into this mess."
"The last moment possible could be too late Clint."
"Fine, as soon as it gets to personal or someone targets them. Then we'll talk."
"What do we call this… mess?"
"I don't know; names are your thing. Just call it Purple Day or something."
"Purple Day, really?"
"I told you names were more of your thing. No one would suspect Purple Day meant the killing of four IMF Hydra agents."
"Whatever. Let's get out of here before someone arrives. Did you get rid of any evidence?"
"You act as if I've never done this before. I'm hurt."
"Let's just go already."
"I was waiting for you, princess."
"Shut up."
"Make me."
And with that, Clint Barton and William Brandt turned away from a disaster that would one day bite them both in the butt. But for the meantime, they were going to act as if none of this happened until it was too late.
Present Day
William Brandt was many things in life. A field agent and analyst, friends in all types of places, the best coffee, a kickass brother, a badass himself, a carnie (although he would never openly admit it) a skilled fencer, and a nearly perfect memory. The only thing he lacked was patience. Out of the two twins, he was the least patient, and that was saying something. So, while he waited for the stupidly slow HAMMER Computer, (No doubt made by Stark's business rival, Justin Hammer) to load, he felt like hitting his head on his desk countless times.
There had been no missions lately for him and his team, especially since almost all teams had been dispatched to find out who killed those four IMF agents, and yes Clint told him not to feel guilty because they were the ones who put themselves into that situation, and also because there had been no crazy nuclear scientist who wanted to blow up the world and start World War Three.
So when his phone that Ethan had given the team after Ghost Protocol started ringing, he picked it up almost immediately.
"Please tell me there is some crazy scientist running around?" Will said into the phone.
"No, nothing like that. They think they caught the prime suspect in the murder of the IMF agents." Ethan responded, laughing slightly.
"And they want us to interrogate them?"
"Yeah, weird right? We're leaving in thirty minutes. Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to help interrogate the prime suspect of the murder of four IMF agents. This phone will not self-destruct in five seconds because these caused way too much money."
"Be there in ten." Will said, murmuring "drama queen" under his breath as he hung up.
The deal he made with IMF after he became part time field agent and analyst was that he would assign an analyst to take over his position as head analyst while on missions. His first choice to fill in as analyst was Samantha "Sammy" Bridge, a young analyst that held promise.
Getting up and cracking his back, he looked over and made eye contact with Sammy, who took her clue and made her way over.
"Leaving for a mission, Boss-man?" She asked.
"Not your boss, but yeah. You know the drill, and don't touch the coffee."
"Why not, IMF's coffee is crap and the field agents always take the coffee." She whined.
"You can have my coffee once I die or resign."
"Whatever, we all know that won't happen."
"Which part?"
"Both."
Will shook his head. "Just make sure World War Three doesn't start while I'm away."
Sammy smiled, "Can't make any promises."
Will rolled his eyes and continued his way through the office into where Ethan, Benji, and Jane were waiting.
"'Bout time, we thought we were going to have to leave without you." Benji said, smiling, before pulling him into a small man hug.
Jane pulled him into a quick hug before they grabbed their gear and boarded the plane. Once they were on, Ethan handed him a folder containing all the information on their suspect.
Opening up the folder, his eyes met immediately with a picture of a young women with long red hair labeled as the Black Widow, real name Natasha Romanoff. Reading through the file, he realized that this Natasha was the same one Clint always referred too. However, this file had no information regarding her position as a member of the Avengers Initiative, but instead as a cold blooded assassin.
"So the IMF wants us to interrogate one of the scariest women in the world?" Benji asked in a high pitched voice.
"Yep." Ethan responded, his lips curling up at the corners.
"But why us and not an interrogation team?" Jane asked.
Ethan frowned. He didn't really know why. "The Secretary wanted us on the job. Don't know why, but shouldn't be that hard, right?"
"Sure, just ask the assassin why she killed four IMF agents for almost no reason at all." Benji said, sarcasm laced heavily in his tones.
"Relax Benji, it can't be that hard. We have Jane to do the talking. Scary women to scary women." Ethan joked.
Jane yelled a sharp hey as Will wondered if this was a set up like last time and if Clint had any idea about this. He didn't want to walk blind eyed into an ambush, but what scared him the most was that the Secretary asked for them, when there were probably much more qualified interrogation teams than an actual field team. As soon as this was sorted out, he was going to dig anything up on the Secretary.
"Will, you okay there?" Benji asked, snapping Will out of his thoughts as he realized that Benji had been waving his hand in front of his face for the past few minutes.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just thinking."
"Whatever you say, mate."
For the rest of the flight, Will pretended to be listening to his teams' conversations as he thought of the probabilities of getting any information from Natasha or Natasha recognizing him.
The interrogation room was in an old IMF safe house outside of New York. It was made out of old bricks and had only one floor. A communal kitchen, a single bathroom, a living room, and a bedroom being used for the interrogation room.
Benji quickly set up their gear while talking about who was going to interrogate first.
"Count me out, I couldn't stand a chance out there without revealing some secret. And besides, I have to man all the gear." Benji said, waving his hands in a "no way am I talking to a crazy assassin" kind of way.
Jane turned to Ethan. "I'll go first, see if I can get any first impressions or anything. Then either you or Will go next."
Ethan nodded. "I'll go second, and Will will go last." He turned to Will. "Sound fair?"
"I'm good with it. Benji, everything working?" Will asked
"Yes, everything is ready to go. We'll hear everything you say, Jane, and don't worry, the Black Widow isn't going anywhere."
"Thanks, Benji." And with that, Jane turned into the bedroom where the Black Widow waited.
Brandt sat down in the chair across from Benji, next to Ethan. His fingers were tapping to an invisible rhythm on his leg, while he listened to the nonexistent progress Jane made with the Black Widow. If anything, Natasha was doing more of the interrogation than Jane was.
Ethan sighed as he realized no progress was being made. Jane had already been in there for over forty-five minutes, and nothing had been done. Did he have to do everything around here? Turning to Benji to get Jane out of there, he reread the file and prepared himself to step in and tango with the widow.
As Jane got out, you could basically feel the anger rolling off of her. It was intoxicating. Benji gave her a tight smile as she sat down in the same chair as Ethan was a minute ago, sighing as she sat. Ethan made his way into the room.
William Brandt knew they weren't going to get anywhere with Clint's best friend. From phone calls, he knew that Natasha was just as badass as Clint, and could handle interrogation just as well, without the sarcastic and witty comebacks. If anything, Ethan and Jane probably just made Natasha annoyed. But before he texted Clint, he wanted to see if he could get anything out of Natasha about why she was here and just how the IMF caught the infamous Black Widow in the first place. He glanced around the room, his eyes stopping at the clock. Ethan had already been in the room for an hour, and barely nothing. Will just hopped Ethan didn't shoot her or anything. That would make Clint even more upset with Ethan, even though he hadn't even met him yet.
Will's phone vibrated after Ethan was in there for another fifteen minutes. He first thought it was Clint, so he quickly pulled it out and looked at the number. He narrowed his eyes. The number wasn't Clint's, but it was blocked. His eyes quickly scanned the message.
I know you don't believe in coincidences, little brother.
Before he lost any signal, he traced the message via phone. He wasn't the only one with tech skills. He nearly gagged as the source showed up at IMF headquarters. He knew right away it wasn't Clint; Clint always used short phrases, and definitely didn't call him brother. The only other brother they had was Barney, who betrayed them both when they were in the circus.
Reacting immediately, he spoke to Benji. "Get Ethan out, he isn't getting anywhere." Benji raised an eyebrow but told Ethan to get out.
As Ethan got out, Will spoke once more to Benji. "Cut the cameras when I get in there. Don't try to look in at all, or else you will probably ruin all chances of us getting anything out of her."
Benji nodded, confused at his request. Ethan and Jane both narrowed their eyes at his sudden change in demeanor. Walking briskly into the interrogation room, he looked as Natasha's eyes widened and narrowed.
He pulled out a chair and twirled it around so he sat leaning on the back of it, looking straight into Natasha's eyes. He knew he was acting more like a Barton then a Brandt now, and he liked it.
He smiled at Natasha. "Hello Nat, can I call you that? I know Clint does."
He watched as Natasha's entire demeanor changed.
Outside of the room, all three of their jaws dropped at Brandt's sudden change of character.
Authors Note: Yea! or Nay? I appreciate any comments or helpful tips! I know this chapter may have seen a little rushed, but hey, it can always get better! I do not own the Mission Impossible or Marvel franchise, otherwise this crossover would've happened a long time ago. Let me know what you think!