The Red Death
Summary: When his parents died, there was something he didn't know. His mother was immortal, after five years in a coma, she returns to her old life, and has an unexpected reunion with the son who should not exist, she is Black Widow and her son is Robin, the Boy Wonder.
The Impossible
She stares at the pregnancy test in awe. Natasha Romanoff has lived so long, and thanks to the Soviets and their experiments, she's infertile.
She's supposed to be anyway.
Natasha had grown weary, saving the world, constant missions, she needed a reprieve, she'd stepped down from S.H.I.E.L.D., she told herself it'd be a month of travelling, sightseeing, and then she'd go back.
It'd turned into one year.
She'd fallen in love with an acrobat named John Grayson, there was just something about him that drew her to him, and after a six month courtship, they got married and became the Flying Graysons, using her new identity of Mary Elizabeth Lloyd.
There was one particular night, on their honeymoon that stood out in her mind.
"I know who you are Natalia Alianovna Romanova, or is it Natasha Romanoff?" John smiled up at her as they lay together in bed.
"What gave me away?" Natasha inquired curiously.
"Your acrobatics, they say you're one of the best acrobats in the world. I believe what I see."
"What do you want to know John?" she lightly touched his cheek.
"Do you love me?" John Grayson held her gaze.
"Love is for children," Natasha replied.
"Then are you stringing me along? I found all your public information; they say you're a master of seduction."
"Really now?" she raised an eyebrow in amusement.
"It's quite obvious, I'll say that much, since I'm obviously not your first, do I mean anything to you?"
"Sex is a tool John, something I use as part of my job, or used to anyway," Natasha glanced over at him; she saw the hurt expression on his face.
"Then is everything we have a lie? My feelings for you don't matter?" John was crestfallen.
"No, I love you, so much," she leaned over and kissed him. "I'm happy with you, and I mean that. I wouldn't have married you if I didn't have feelings for you."
"I also heard that you're…infertile," John sighed, "I'm sorry."
"Don't worry about it, we can always adopt," Natasha chuckled. She couldn't really see herself as a mother.
"So does this mean we won't have sex?" John pulled her close.
"John Frederick Grayson, why would you ever think that?" her grin made him smile.
"I wish you'd stop dying your hair blond, redheads drive me wild!" He rolled her over and leaned in close.
"Is that so?" Natasha teased, "Just because I can't get pregnant doesn't mean sex is out of the picture."
"Good, that's good, now shut up and kiss me!" John laughed, pressing his mouth to hers.
"I love you John," she murmured in his ear.
"Same here sweetheart, same here," he replied. "You're amazing you know that. It's not every day a guy's lucky enough to love you, you know that?"
"Who's luckier?" Natasha teased him, "Me or you?"
"Me, definitely me!" John laughed. He pulled her into his arms. "I'm the luckiest man in the world."
She remembered the day she told him she was pregnant, they'd both been overjoyed. She couldn't believe how lucky she was. This new turn in her life was the reward for all her sacrifices.
A one year in retirement turned into 13 years.
Dick had been such a good boy, everything she had wanted to be in her life, but couldn't, she knew he'd grow up to be a fine young man, Natasha had often discussed with John when she'd tell him about her old life, they had decided when he was twelve they'd tell him about her. He'd always admired superheroes, whether metahuman or mutant. He'd admired both Batman and the Avengers, she smiled, it made her happy that her son held her colleagues in such high esteem.
She never got to tell him, she'd planned on revealing the truth to him after their annual show in Gotham City, but the ropes had unexpectedly snapped during their performance.
This wasn't how her life was supposed to end, but then again, she'd died once already. She knew S.H.I.E.L.D. would take custody of her body, there wasn't any doubt of that, they'd been watching over her, making sure that nothing would interfere with her normal life.
They reset her broken neck and resuscitated her, there was a heartbeat but she was still unconscious. She didn't move for five years.
Natasha finally opened her eyes.
"Hello Nick, how long have I been dead?"
"Physically for a week, we revived you but you were still in a coma," Nick Fury explained.
And how long was I in a coma?" Natasha inquired.
"Five years, sorry about that," Nick apologized. "I bet you're wondering what happened to your boy."
"What happened to Dick?' she asked.
"Bruce Wayne, Batman took him in and raised him, he became Robin the Boy Wonder and eventually moved to Jump City, California."
"So Bruce Wayne huh?" she laughed. "Better him than Tony Stark."
"I'm sending you out on a few warm up missions, getting you back at the top of your game, Black Widow, you'll need to be in peak condition for the guy I'm sending you after."
"I see, it'll be nice to be back out in the field. Who on the Avengers knows I'm back?"
"Stark, Banner, Thor and Rogers, and Logan just them," Nick glanced over at her. "You ready to go Agent Romanoff?"
"Just tell me where to go," she smiled at him.
She'd been on undercover missions for a year, now Nick Fury felt she was ready for what he referred to as "Operation Deathstroke".
"Slade Wilson, known as Deathstroke is a mercenary, a maetahuman who was given a super serum similar to Captain America, he's agile, intelligent and very dangerous. S.H.I.E.L.D. wants him brought in dead or alive, preferably alive, we want information on this super serum of his."
"Of course, but Nick what about the Teen Titans?" Natasha inquired.
"You'll handle them, after all, a wise son listens to his mother," Nick Fury grinned.
She head out to the chopper. It was time to go.
Jump City, CA:
Richard John "Dick" Grayson frowned as he glanced over the evidence in the room.
Slade had been lying low and with just the H.I.V.E. and the other supervillains on ice, things had mainly been robberies and criminal activities perpetrated by civilians.
"Hey Rob, we got a call, down at the laundry mat, someone killed four gangsters and got away," Cyborg informed him.
The Titans made their way down to the laundry mat, Robin could see the dead bodies. Whoever did this was brutal.
"Whoa dude!" Beast Boy exclaimed.
"This is not one of our villains," Starfire observed, villains always stole something or wanted to wipe out the entire city; just a few didn't cut it for them.
Robin approached a young black boy, about 12 years old.
"What happened?" he asked the boy named DeShawn.
"These guys they confronted these hookers," DeShawn looked nervous, "They kept bothering them and then Goldtooth took one of back there and forced her to…"
"Don't finish that, I understand," Robin gritted his teeth. For all the supervillains they took down there were a dozen of these scumbags running around.
Raven was shaking with barely concealed rage. Starfire, Beast Boy and Raven all clenched their fists but remained silent.
"I was just passing by, they started coming after me, said they wanted me to sell drugs, they were gonna kill me, then this guy comes out and hits them over the head with a bottle of Jack Daniels, fights them off with a beer bottle and their own guns, stabs a guy with a one of their knives, breaks everybody's bones and breaks Goldtooth's legs."
"Goldtooth's on the ground screaming fu—"
"Don't finish that, I get the picture," Robin cuts him off.
"Then mystery guy asks Goldtooth, "You know the difference between justice and punishment?" Then he pours the beer on the guy and sets a lighter next to him and walked away. I tried to give him back his tee-shirt, said it had a hole in it."
"What happened after that?" Cyborg asked.
"Hooker that got raped set Goldtooth on fire, not that he didn't deserve that, but she's long gone. Mystery Guy drove away in a white van. Didn't see the license plate though."
"Not that you'd tell me if you did," Robin told him.
"That guy saved me, he's not like you, but he saved me," DeShawn looked over at him.
"The Tee-Shirt, can we see it?" Beast Boy asked.
DeShawn held it up; it was black with a very large, white death skull on it.
"Thank you, now you go home, and stay out of trouble," Robin told him. DeShawn left immediately.
"Robin, that skull, you recognize it, yes?" Starfire asked.
"Yes, anyone who's a vigilante recognizes it, the Punisher," Robin explained. "He's a vigilante who kills criminals."
"I heard his body count is over 1,000," Cyborg glanced over at him.
"How do we stop someone like that?" Raven was nervous, this was bad.
"I heard he likes to go to jail, so he can kill more people," Beast Boy sighed, "It's a no win no matter what we do. Didn't he try to kill Joker once?"
"Yes, Batman stopped him, but he still got away," Robin contemplated what to do. "First we have to find him, and hope the body count doesn't go up."
The Black Widow wore her mission uniform, arriving in Jump City via helicopter. She was dropped off and she began searching for a hotel, she needed to stay somewhere.
Natasha passed by an electronics store, Cooks Electronics, she glanced over at the window. They were playing Disney's Pinocchio on the screen.
I've got no strings
To hold me down
To make me fret, or make me frown
I had strings
But now I'm free
There are no strings on me
"I hate that song!" Natasha murmured under her breath; that brought back an unwanted memory. She left and made her way to the hotel.
The hotel receptionist glanced over at her, "I"ll be booking this room under—"
"Nancy Rushman," she replied. "I pay in cash."
"You'll be in room 815 on the top floor," he replied. She headed up to her room and unpacked her things. Suddenly, she heard her cellphone ring.
"Hi Blackie, Deadpool here, congratulations on the kiddo, that GuardianSoulBlade put you in a crossover eh?" he laughed.
"Wade what are you talking about?" Natasha replied, deeply annoyed.
"C'mon, you don't know you're in a fanfic? And tell GSB to turn off that OneRepublic music, she plays it on repeat—"
Natasha hung up the phone, what was that crazy nutbar rambling on about anyway?
She heard the cellphone ring again, "Wade if you're screwing with me—"
"Hello Black Widow," a voice spoke to her over the cellphone.
"Frank?! What are you doing here?!" Natasha demanded, she was surprised to hear from him.
"I decided to drop in, especially since it's your birthday," Frank Castle replied. "Your tone tells me you're working now, I see."
"It's not like you like me or anything," Black Widow smirked.
"I respect you, that's all," Frank grumbled. "I brought you a present."
"Why would you bring me a present?" Black Widow inquired.
"It's Boss Zucco," Frank replied.
"Where are you?" Black Widow demanded.
"The docks, Pier 41," he replied. "I'll be waiting."
Black Widow arrived at Pier 41 she saw Frank Castle, the Punisher waiting for her.
"You came all this way to bring me Tony Zucco, but you kill for gangsters at a laundry mat, you think you could keep a low profile for once, and this city has its superheroes, they'll be after you."
"Don't particularly care for the Teen Titans, they just won't do what they need to, besides, I've been trying to find Zucco for a long time, if there's criminals I hate more than anything, it's mobsters. Come on in, see him for yourself."
Black Widow followed him inside the warehouse, she could see Tony Zucco tied up in a chair, he was covered in blood.
"You're enjoying this too much Frank," she noted.
"What happens to him is up to you, I've already made my decision," Punisher set his jaw.
"It doesn't really matter what I decide, you're gonna kill him anyway."
"Not yet, I want those kids to see him, see how ineffectual they really are."
"You just want to fight them," Black Widow glared at him.
"Yes, especially Robin, I heard he's good, just like his mother."
"Yeah," Black Widow's voice dripped with sarcasm, "Just like his mother."