Executioner

How did this happen? Natasha thought as she ran around a corner of the S.H.I.E.L.D. base to hide. She heard several fellow agents run past her and ran back the way she had came looking for an exit. She was a beloved and valuable member of S.H.I.E.L.D. and yet here she was running away from fellow agents because of an accident. But they wouldn't understand it was an accident because of Natasha's early obvious hate for the woman.

She heard footsteps again and ducked inside a darkened hallway.

"Hey there," a voice called, she let out a sigh of relieve if anyone would understand it would be him.

"Clint," her voice was considerably relaxed as she turned to face the archer. She was surprised though to see his bow drawn and pointed directly at her. Her eyes were sad and she backed away from him pressed flush against the opposite wall. "Clint you have to listen to me," she pleaded, and she never pleaded.

"You tried to kill her Natasha!" he screamed.

"No I didn't Clint, we were sparring and she got hurt," Natasha tried to reason with him.

"Liar!" he bellowed drawing his bow back tighter. "Why did you run then!"

"An agent came in and started screaming at me, he pointed his gun at me and fired, I was lucky to dodge but I didn't feel like testing that luck so I ran."

"You manipulate people all the time Natasha, why should I believe you?" his eyes were cold, like nothing she'd ever seen.

"Clint," she whispered looking at him hurt. "You told me when I first came here, when I didn't even trust my own shadow that I could trust you. I snorted and asked you why I should and you said 'because we're partners and that's what partners do'."

"We aren't partners anymore," he said releasing the bow. Natasha caught his arrow and ran keeping it firmly grasped in her hand. "Natasha!" he screamed running after her.

She was panicked and frenzied now and had lost all perception of where she was on the ship. She found herself out on the deck though surrounded by several agents and Clinton as well.

"You'll be punished for your crimes," Fury said. "And when we pull out your ledger I don't think we'll even need to look at this last incident to put you down Natasha Romanoff."

"I didn't try to kill her!" she screamed. "We were sparring and I kicked up and she tried to dodge me but I nicked her chin instead of her chest because she moved. Her neck snapped but when I left she was still breathing."

"Why did you leave!" Fury screamed.

"Another agent ran in and tried to shoot me," Natasha said beyond frustrated and her wrists were starting to chafe from the handcuffs.

Fury looked decided upon killing her but maybe he was just as sick as she was because he opened his mouth to speak again, "we'll let Hawkeye decide what to do with you." Fury stood and left the isolation room they were keeping her in.

"Guess who has all the power now," her favorite voice said while coming in.

"Clint please," she whispered. "It was an accident."

"Well your accident almost killed her, almost killed the woman I love!" ouch, Natasha physically flinched when he said that. She thought that she was the woman he loved. But of course not this new woman came in and latched her arms with him and coiled him tighter and tighter around her finger. By a week of her presence Natasha barely had a partner anymore and defiantly didn't have a friend.

"You said," she began in a shaky voice, "that you had known her before, right?"

Clint eyed her suspiciously and nodded.

"If you knew her before then why weren't you together by the time you met me?"

"Bobbi had things she had to do," he said looking away.

"Mockingbird didn't have time for you Clint! She doesn't care about you! But she knows you care about her and she just wants guys to fall at her feet Clint!"

"Don't you ever speak of her like that again," he snarled walking over to her and bending down low. He grabbed her chin and forced her head up and stared at her in her eyes. "Execution," he announced. She had known though, she had known that he wouldn't pick her ever again the second he shot an arrow at her, she had known.

He stood up and walked away from her, "goodbye," she whispered and turned to face the wall.

"Goodbye," he said slamming the door behind him.

S.H.I.E.L.D. waited two days to put the execution order into effect. They pulled Natasha from her cell her arms tied with ropes all the way to her shoulders. They took her outside onto the deck, she had just enough time to see Bobbi standing beside Clinton wearing an ugly as hell neck brace. She was fine, Natasha was confused, the woman wasn't dead and yet she was going to be put to death. A bag suddenly eclipsed her vision since they didn't want her to see where she was going.

She felt tears well up in her eyes, Clinton. Who was going to be there for him when the slut left again? Who was going to coax him out of his nest to eat or drink? Who was ever going to be able to make him laugh again? She couldn't leave, no matter how much Natasha hated her she couldn't leave him, because no one was going to be left to fix him. So he was just going to have to be right about the virtue of the whore, because if he wasn't then he would be broken forever.

The man behind her started to make her walk forward, it suddenly dawned on her that no one had told her how she was going to die. The thought was a little frightening since she couldn't see but overall manageable. One thought suddenly scared the crap out of her though. She was going to die. She was going to die and Clinton had no idea how she felt. Maybe it would make his life harder but, but she had to tell him.

"Clinton!" she suddenly called out having no orientation about her at all. The other agents looked at him and he simply took Mockingbird's hand in his.

"Clinton!" she called again. She still heard no movement but decided she didn't care if everyone heard or not. A blush over took her cheeks and she was glad a bag was over her head now, "Clinton I love you," she said. Everyone on the deck turned their head towards him but he himself couldn't take his eyes from Natasha. Bobbi made a disgusted sound from beside him.

"I know you hate me now and everything but, I, this would be a lot easier to do if, if maybe I could just see you one last time. Or maybe a kiss," she whispered the last half.

The crew looked at him again and he stayed glued to his spot, half because he was finally making progress with Bobbi and half because his feet felt like they weighted a thousand pounds each.

The whole crew was shocked though as Tony Stark stepped from the group and walked over to her. The entire Avengers team had gathered and had fought viciously to keep Natasha alive but their pleas, complaints, and threats fell on deaf ears. They thought being here was the least they could do. His shoes didn't make too much noise as he stepped towards her.

He stood in front of her, glaring the man trying to push her forward into submission. He rolled the bag up slowly until just her lips were visible. He leaned forward and kissed her gently thankful that he had decided to lose the goatee for a bit. His fingers gently caressed her cheeks and he almost pulled away shocked to find her cheeks flooded in tears. He made sure to gather up as much as he could on his thumbs before pulling away. He took his hand and ran it down her back before stepping back into line.

"For you," he said as he shoved his soaked thumb into Hawkeye's hand. Clint was surprised, no shocked, no flabbergasted by the tears. Natasha never cried, ever. The man walked Natasha to the edge, they were flying too high to even guess how far up they were, then with the tiniest of urgings he made her walk from the edge. She let out a scream in surprise but it was nothing compared to the commotion that suddenly broke out on deck. Tony had activated his Iron Man suit and the process had frightened a few near by crewmembers. He then took off after Natasha and caught her while she was falling.

"Clint?" she asked sounding hopeful.

"Sorry sweetheart," he said removing the bag. "Just me."

He flew up to hover above the base again making sure Steve, Bruce, and Thor all got into their private jet alright. "What are you doing?" Fury screamed up at Stark holding a huge missile in his hands.

"We're not your weapons Fury, we don't answer to you we answer to the earth, what the good people of earth need to survive not what you need to get a new raise. And what the earth needs to survive is a good strong loyal team. You tried to take out one of our best players, we need her, we're going to have her, we're taking her from you. She is no longer a S.H.I.E.L.D. bitch, now she's an Avenger forever because well, we're saving her. If you try to take down our ship as we fly away remember I know exactly how to disable all of your systems, that's everything in one fell swoop, engines, doors, basically you'd all be trapped in the flying machine of death, oh or the falling machine of death. So don't shoot at us, don't try to find us. Oh and you," Tony said looking from Fury to Hawkeye, "don't you bother trying to find us either, you can't just leave a fellow teammate to die and not only did you leave her to die you sentenced her to die, all for what? A good lay? I get it it's been awhile but there are more viable options out there that don't cost Black Widow's life. Oh and you, tall hot and blonde," she smiled seductively up at him. "You're a heinous bitch from hell." With that Tony turned, still holding Natasha, and followed the jet with his friends.