Hello lovely comm! I've been mulling this topic over for a few weeks now, and decided that on this wonderful long holiday weekend I would share my Clint/Natasha thinky-thoughts as they pertain to Marvel's Agents of SHIELD. Beware of spoilers for all episodes, including the most recent. I'm hoping to spur some discussion, some speculation... maybe inspire some fic... *looks hopeful*




1) I don't have any desire whatsoever to engage in or instigate character-bashing, but I'm assuming that I'm not the only person on this comm who groaned - loudly - at the comparison between Ward's espionage skills and Natasha's. :D

2) As of the episode The Hub, we know that Coulson is a Level 8 agent, Ward and May are Level 7, and (I think) Fitz and Simmons are Level 5. So, what level are Clint and Natasha? High enough to have gotten the memo that Coulson is alive? Maria says the Avengers don't know, that "they're not level 7" (Like that could stop Tony...) but is she just referring to the Big Four?

3) Speaking of the Hub (which looked to me like a giant mall for SHIELD agents) one has to assume that there's all kinds of sub-Level 7 agents walking around there at any given time, any who could have seen Coulson, which has to mean he's not such a big secret after all. I would <3 fic about Clint and Natasha at the Hub, running into an old friend, or maybe just hearing about what happened to Sitwell ;)

4) "Barton, Romanoff... they never have an extraction plan."
"They know that going in."

I squealed. I'll admit it.

5) In the most recent episode, Repairs, we learn about a SHIELD Academy, and how pranks were played on freshmen/rookies. Have Clint and Natasha been to the Academy? Were they ever considered rookies by other agents (with predictable/hysterical/disastrous results) or someone trying to give them the "full experience?"