I promise you that I have not abandoned Death Wish. It's just that I can't weave threads that aren't there to be woven yet. And Snapshots is technically complete seeing as they are all one-shots, unrelated and could stand alone. I present to you "The Threads They Spun"s

Its silky web the spider made

The thread it spun, on them it laid

And so, bound, that day they were

Eternally linked to the other

2017 (Five Years after The Avengers Initiative)

"Romanoff, I need you to assemble a team and leave for Chicago straight away. I need you to perform an extraction." Natasha Romanoff sat up straighter as she listened to Director Nick Fury talk. It was obvious from his demeanor that this particular mission was one of utmost importance and that it required the best of efforts, not that she gave any less in any of her missions.

"Understood, sir. May I know the details of the mission? It will make it easier for me to choose the group."

"There is a S.H.I.E.L.D. affiliated school in Chicago where the children of agents go. Unfortunately, a crime syndicate in Germany found out about this and managed to get one of their men to pose as a teacher. This teacher managed to fool several parents into thinking that there would be a special activity that would take place on Saturday. While some managed to escape, there are still thirteen children who are being held hostage in the school." Natasha leapt up from her seat, appalled at the news he was giving her.

"Sir, it's been two days! Why are we only organizing an extraction now? Something could have happened to those kids. And do their parents know?" Fury's face hardened as he listened to her.

"Agent Romanoff, you are here to do your job not ask questions." She boldly glared at Fury and her voice was firm and unrelenting as she spoke again.

"With all due respect sir, I'm not going in blind and I need to know because I know the agents who send their kids to school there and it matters to me whether or not they are aware of the situation." Their eyes met and there was a clash of steely gazes as they both stood their ground and refused to budge. Finally, Nick Fury sighed and rubbed his face.

"We thought we could negotiate peaceably. And, yes, those parents who are not currently working are currently being made aware of the situation. Which is why I need you to be in Chicago yesterday." With that, he left the briefing room.

Natasha Romanoff was nothing but efficient. Within the next thirty minutes, she had assembled at seven-man team and was on her way to Rosewood Elementary.

Upon arriving, they immediately spread out to their assigned spots in order to do a thorough reconnaissance and assessment of the situation. There were eight men patrolling outside: two on the rooftop, two by the front entrance, two by the back entrance and one on each of the two remaining sites. The surveillance footage revealed that another eight were spread out patrolling various other floors while the thirteen men were in the third floor art studio with the kids. The last one was in the school's surveillance room.

She quickly formulated a game plan. Their technical expert was stationed on the rescue chopper and had already managed to hijack their communications system. He and another agent, who was in charge of monitoring everything, were responsible for looping the footage from the school cameras and taking the place of the enemy agents in answering their comms unit.

Natasha was to slip in along with Agent Storm through the roof access after taking out the men stationed there while the others would buy them time by taking out those on ground level. The tech people would keep them apprised of the movements of the hostiles so that they could take them out accordingly. All in all, they expected to have the children out in less than an hour's time.

And they did just that, managing to disarm the men who were patrolling the school before knocking out the guy in the surveillance room. All the while, the two men stationed at the chopper were keeping up the charade by answering the comms unit whenever one of the people from the art studio contacted them. Suffice to say, by the time the five agents had assembled together near the art studio, the agents inside were completely unaware of the danger before them.

Agent David and Agent Campbell silently took out the two guards standing just outside of the art studio before they threw in a flash grenade. Natasha knew that it wasn't exactly something you throw in a room full of kids but they really needed that moment of surprise in order to take out the men without harming any of the kids. When the grenade went off, they immediately charged in, guns blazing.

The difficult part came in here as they had to incapacitate the men who were holding the kids without them doing anything to the children. But Natasha had picked the best of the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to do this with her and they had most of the men unconscious in no time. They had already begun evacuating the place, and nudging the kids towards the main entrance (the chopper was waiting for them outside) when a piercing wail resounded. She immediately saw one of them men heading toward a smaller exit that they had (foolishly) failed to take note of. He was holding a terrified little girl that Natasha took to be about four. She immediately identified the running man as the leader of this team and told the others to finish up in there while she took care of it.

She went after the guy who, in his panic, was running as fast as he could toward the fire escape. She managed to shoot one of his legs and he came down fast. She quickly fired another shot, this time it was directed at his head and his body tipped forward, pining the girl underneath him.

She made her way there as fast as she could and shoved the man's body away from the little girl. When she saw her face, she froze and sucked in a breath.

She looked just like him. And then the memories came, unbidden.

REVIEWS, please? They mean a lot to me. Also if anyone can figure out just who the agents are, then well, virtual giants cookies and lava cake for you! IF you get all three right, I will write you a fanfic of your choice (no slash, no smut. Be nice to the poor kids.)