Chapter 2: Mission to Moscow

Fury gave them their orders. The Black Widow and Captain America were going to Moscow to element a growing terrorist threat. It was nearing time to go, when Steve approached her. Lately she had been acting very strange. She was a spy, so of course she had secrets, but this was something else. It took him a while to break through all the walls that she set up to shield herself from getting hurt, and he wasn't even done breaking all of them down yet, but he finally felt as though he was getting through to her.

Most mornings when he woke up she was there next to him. Even some days when she had been out on a mission he'd wake up to find her in his bed, bruised and bandaged, but there. Sometimes she would even stay for breakfast. Though these last few days she had been acting so distant, even more than usual. She begun waking up extra early to get out of the door before him, avoiding him at work, taking more missions just to waste time, and anytime he asked her what was wrong she would play it off. He was finally happy after 70 years, he finally felt like he had a purpose, but now it seemed like everything was falling apart.

This mission though, this one was different. Normally Natasha wore a very stoic expression on her face while at work, making sure to observe, not be the thing that everyone's looking at, but when Steve made eye contact with Natasha from across the room there seemed to be a panicked expression in her eyes. The mission was in Russia, her home country, and the last time they were there things didn't exactly go as planned, but that wasn't why she was acting this way right now.

Steve walked up to her after the briefing and asked her what was wrong.

"I'm fine really," she said sounding slightly annoyed.

"Liar,' said Steve, knowing that she wasn't fine, that they weren't fine.

There it was, the pain in her stomach again. Natasha didn't know how much longer she could keep this a secret. She had gone to Fury, told him that something was off, and he believed her. The only problem was that he made her promise that she wouldn't tell Steve anything because he could compromise the operation, he would compromise it. She wasn't exactly lying, she just wasn't telling Steve the whole truth, but either way it was killing her inside whether she was willing to admit it or not.

"Look, can we not do this here," said Natasha trying not to make a scene. She was more comfortable hiding in the shadows then being out in exposed like this, and people were starting to stare.

"Natasha we're partners, we're a team, and whether you like it or not I deserve to know what's wrong with you, because lately I have no idea," he said in a frustrated tone.

"Steve- I…"

"No! Enough will all the excuses. I know this is hard, I know it's hard to care about someone, but I care about you, and for a while I thought that things were going great. Apparently I was mistaken because you don't seem to give a damn anymore," said Steve as he raised his voice in the process.

Natasha was about to say something in return but was interrupted by one of the pilots coming over, telling them it was time to board the plane. Deep down Natasha was thankful for the interruption; not wanting to continue this conversation here.

The plane ride was long and awkward, and Natasha was dreading this particular mission because the nightmare she had a few weeks ago had happened in Moscow. She was only hoping that this didn't end quite as badly.

Once they neared the location she watched as Steve jumped out of the plane without a parachute and she made a mental note to scold him about that later. Soon after she jumped out of the plane and landed not too far away from him. All they had to do was get in and get out without being noticed. Her job was to grab the hard-drive with the stolen government information on it, while Steve had to keep the target busy.

It was night time and boy was Moscow and pretty place to look at in the dark. The way all the buildings lit up, illuminating the cold, dark sky was beautiful, but Natasha wasn't here to admire the view. She found it funny though, how despite living in Russia for half her life, not once did she ever stop and look at her surroundings, not like she was given the chance though. She shook her head, trying to rid herself of all those thoughts that haunted her dreams. She caught Steve looking at her out of the corner of her eye. Normally she would probably look back, nod her head maybe, but she was still pissed at him for causing a scene so she put her game face on; ready to get to work.

There was a guard tower in the center of the facility that they were infiltrating, so as long as she stayed away from that she would be fine, or at least she hoped so. With the com in her in her ear Natasha could hear Steve clearing each room.

She was nearing the room where the hard-drive should be. As she approached she noticed two guards standing in front of the only entrance. She snuck up behind them using there loud chattering as leverage and three punches and a drop kick later they were both down.

"Approaching the item, any news on your side Cap?' she whispered into her com.

"Not yet," Steve said in his serious Captain America voice.

A few short minuets later, right as Natasha snagged the hard-drive she heard gunfire begun to erupt over her com.

"Dammit Steve," she whispered to no one in particular.

She quickly made her way over to the check point where they were supposed to meet once she got the hard-drive, but Steve was nowhere in sight. The backup helicopter was there ready to take them back to base. The pilot was telling her to get on, that they had to leave now before they were spotted, but there was no way in Hell she was leaving Steve behind. She left the hard-drive with them before she went to got 'rescue' Steve.

The gunfire seemed to only get louder as Natasha got closer and closer to where Steve was last. She found him ducking behind a metal table. There was an empty gun on the floor next to him. She ducked down right beside him and tossed him her spare gun.

He caught it easily but then said "What the hell are you doing here?"

"You're welcome," she said while firing rounds at the enemies.

Steve did the same, and soon later the gunfire seemed to quiet down.

"We need to leave now!" said Natasha urgently, not wanting to waste any time.

Steve nodded his head I agreement. Natasha stood up quickly making her do the door before Steve when more gunfire came out of nowhere. She felt a bullet get lodged into her right shoulder, as more grazed past her head. Running on adrenaline, and adrenaline only she ignored the pain as she and Steve made their way to the extraction point that was just about to leave without them. Just before Steve boarded the plane he looked back and noticed a familiar face amidst the smoke.

"Bucky?" he whispered under his breath, but it couldn't be true; Bucky died ages ago.

They quickly boarded the helicopter, just as it took off. That's when her adrenaline started to wear off, and the throbbing in her shoulder became stronger by the second. Steve not realizing anything was wrong until now rushed to her side.

"Are you hit?" he asked, concern etched all over his face.

Natasha put her hand over the wound to slow down the bleeding. "It's a through and through, probably just needs some stitches," she said. She only wished that getting shot was her only problem, but it wasn't, and Steve would find that out soon enough.


The next chapter should be posted tomorrow. Thanks for reading and don't forget to review