I forgot to do it for the last two updates but I don't own Marvel or any of their character.
May 2000
"Plie, Plie. Beautiful technique, Natalia!"
I tried to hold back a smile as the ballet teacher had applauded my technique.
Alexei had suggested that I take up hobbies considered 'normal' for me to participate in alongside the Soviet, so I decided to take ballet and tennis classes under the name 'Natalia Romanova'. I was familiar with ballet, it was a regular subject back at Red Room Academy, only the instructors there were much more brutal compared to Madame Abramov who constantly spoke with a calm voice. I had been at this ballet school for almost 6 months and not once had I heard her raise her voice.
The two-hour lesson had drawn to an end when the clock struck 7 pm but I stayed because Madame Abramov wanted to speak with me.
"I think it would be an amazing opportunity for you! You have so much talent."
She had wanted to enter me into a competition.
I kindly turned down the offer, I wasn't too sure how Alexei would react to it, and I didn't want to make a second name for myself. One was just about enough.
I pushed past the wooden arch door to get my bag from my locker, everyone else had left.
I threw my bag onto my shoulder, rummaging through it to find my Motorola RAZR phone to check for any texts until I became aware of somebody else's presence in the room.
"You do know it was only a suggestion when Alexei said you could do 'normal' activities, right?"
I turned sharply on one foot, a wave of relief hit me.
"It gets me out."
"If you wanted to get out all you had to do was ask me, Nat, I'm sure there's a film on we could have watched down the road."
A flirty smile flashed across Bucky's face. I rolled my eyes in return.
It was difficult to put a label on the two of us, it was obvious that he wanted something more, but I couldn't, love was nothing but a weapon, and to some, it was nothing more but a simple children's game, and I don't play games. But I did enjoy it at night when he would come into my room and tell me stories of his past when he couldn't sleep, he was very passionate about telling them and it was sweet because his eyes would light up in a certain way.
I began walking towards the door, Bucky moved to the side, so I could pass. The sound of his footsteps followed behind me as we exited the brick coloured building.
I buckled up my seat belt.
"Alexei has a mission for us."
I looked up at Bucky as he reversed out of the parking space and began driving forward with the ongoing traffic. This would be my first mission with Bucky, I normally went alone.
"A couple of years back somebody stole something of great importance to Alexei."
"Who" my voice interjected.
"Unknown."
As the car came to a stop behind a traffic light Bucky handed me a file.
"Alexei has been getting signals on his radar very similar to the tesseract, he wants us to go and look."
"We don't know who has the tesseract- "
"But we know where to look. We just shoot at everyone who shoots at us, it's not that difficult, Nat." His voice was stern.
I continued reading the file as Bucky focused on driving back to the base. Serbia. Alexei wants me and Bucky to travel to Serbia for a blue cube.
"Apparently it holds unimaginable power, it comes from God's. Supposedly." It was almost as if Bucky had read my mind, sometimes I really think he can.
I glanced up at him, he was clearly in as much disbelief as I was, but a mission was a mission, no matter how strange it was.
"When does he want us to leave?"
"ASAP. Alexei has arranged for us to be taken to Serbia in the morning. So, no stories tonight because you need to sleep."
Bucky turned the engine off as we came to a stop outside the base, I let out a small sigh as I snapped the case file shut.
"I hope you're ready to see the real me."
"I already have."
His voice was gentle, fighting at the walls that I refused to let down.
We left the camp before the sun even had a chance to rise
"Bring the tesseract home!"
were Alexei's last words to us as we boarded the aircraft. The engine roared as it took off into the sky.
The quickest time possible to get to Serbia was just short of three hours so there was a lot of anxious waiting around, but Bucky took this as an opportunity to begin telling me about his journeys with Steve Rogers. His eyes softened when he began talking.
"He saved almost 400 hostages from Hydra, Including me."
"He sounds like a good man"
"Yeah..." He smiled to himself, deep in thought, most likely thinking about this Steve guy.
"Anyway, how do we plan to get into this base? We can't just stroll in and expect them to hand the cube over."
Bucky stood up from his ragged seat and walked over to a small cabinet towards the exit of the plane. He opened one of the drawers and began to take out a selection of ammo and weaponry.
"We make them fear us."
His words came out dull, making it sound as though it was the easiest thing in the world.
"So, what, we just bomb the place, take what we need and run?"
Bucky smiled innocently before handing me a few grenades.
"That's exactly what we do."
I placed the weapons carefully into my gun belt.
"It's always easier said than done Buck"
"It's just as easy done as it is said when you have one of the worlds best assassins and the Black Widow teamed up."
The aeroplane began to decelerate from the sky into a clearing between some trees
I stood up ensuring that I had everything I needed before opening the plane door.
I gasped sharply as the crisp morning air hit my body beginning to nibble at the tips of my fingers.
The vibrant colours of orange and yellow in the sky were beginning to peak through the gaps in between the trees as we walked slowly towards the camp in silence.
Sounds of gunshots tore straight through the peace as Bucky and I ran for cover behind a tree.
The birds flew from their nests above us in fear.
"The guards are onto us, we need to make this quick." Bucky's voice was a whisper.
"Don't forget the plan. We are onto them." I reached into my gun belt for one of the grenades Bucky had handed me earlier, moving to take cover behind a tree closer to the base.
The base was hidden in very clear view, the odd passer-by would most likely just assume that the worn-down building was nothing more than a secured house.
The gunshots had since stopped so I took this as my chance to cause havoc. I pulled the small pin out of the bomb and tossed it towards the base. An eruption of orange flames exploded from the shell.
I waited for the fire to calm down before sprinting towards the entrance. Occasionally checking behind me to make sure Bucky was close behind.
I stood in front of what was left of the wooden door, turning around once more to look at Bucky as he stepped over the dead bodies from the explosion.
I pulled my pistol out of my belt, holding my finger on the trigger as I anxiously pushed open the door, unsure as to what would be behind it, I expected the door to be surrounded with loaded guns pointed directly at me and Bucky but there was nothing but an abandoned corridor. This made me very suspicious.
"Strange." Bucky voice filled the desolated hallways.
"Sh!" I hissed back.
"Yeah, because the explosion wasn't loud enough." He rolled his eyes
I ignored his snarky comment and began to progress further down the dusty corridors, except for the few dead bodies outside there wasn't a single trace of life. All the doors inside were left open. My mind was haunted by all the possible outcomes of this mission. It felt like a setup.
"Stay close, Buck."
The further we trod into the building the louder my pulse became in my ears.
I gripped my pistol tighter towards my chest, my two index fingers stuck to the trigger as we climbed the stairs. Instead of armed people, there were just more open doors which lead to empty rooms. My suspicion of this being a setup grew bigger and bigger with each creak of a floorboard under my feet.
"There!" Bucky's voice whispered as he rushed forward towards the only shut door in the hallway.
There was a bright blue light peaking through the gap under the door. He put his gun back into his belt and placed his hand on the door handle, about to push the door open.
"Bucky…"
He looked back at me before letting out a sigh as he realised his mistake. He pulled his gun out, holding it close similar to how I was holding mine before pushing the door open. I followed his lead as we walked through the door, squinting my eyes the closer I stepped to the tesseract. The blinding blue light radiated off from it illuminating the room.
I picked the cube up into my hands and dropped it almost instantly onto the floor.
I bit back a scream, squeezing my hands in a failed attempt at pain relief as they burnt red.
"Careful, Nat, are you okay?"
Bucky reached down to pick up the lethal cube, not even flinching when he held it in his hand.
"How are you doing that?"
he shrugged before placing the cube into his belt.
It shouldn't have been that easy.
I was proven right as an arm squeezed tight around my waist and a gun was held against my temple.
"It was very brave of the two of you to show up here, it's a shame, really. I hoped I wouldn't have to kill anyone, not today at least, but here we are. Hand it over." The man's voice demanded.
"Okay, okay." Bucky reached into the belt for the tesseract and hesitantly began to hand it over.
The grip around my waist was released so I grabbed the wrist of the hand that held the gun towards my head and turned it inwards towards the man as he pulled the trigger. I removed the gun from his lifeless body and shot him a few more times to make sure he was dead.
"We need to get out of here, quick."
I nodded in agreement. Bucky placed the tesseract back into his belt once more.
I hastily moved towards the door, we didn't even make it to the stairs before more armed men ran in our direction. Bucky pulled me into the closest room on our left.
"There's too many of them" His voice was shaky, unsure of what to do next, I shot at the ones in my eyesight, but it wasn't enough to keep them away, as they got closer, their gun aim became more accurate. A bullet shot through Bucky's shoulder. They weren't stopping, and neither was I.
I continued shooting at the ones I could see, too busy fighting to acknowledge what Bucky was doing.
He began pulling me towards the window, throwing two grenades at the mob in the process.
He pulled me in towards him, holding me tight against his chest, throwing his body into the window smashing it with our impact as the two bombs exploded creating a thunderous sound.
Shards of glass and rubble surrounded us as we fell to the ground. Bucky's grip tightened on me, shielding me from us much debris as his arms could.
Thud
Bucky rolled away from me, groaning, but now wasn't a time to stop, I stood up and grabbed Bucky's arm, pulling him up next to me.
"We just need to get back to the aeroplane and then you can rest okay Buck?"
I didn't give him time to respond. I pulled him towards the clearing in the trees, running as fast as I could, keeping a tight grip on his arm so we could avoid any more trouble.
