So glad to see so many of you again! Thanks for joining me on this next part of Bruce and Natasha's journey!
Chapter 1:
"When I met you I was half a person,
With half a heart and half a chance."
Two weeks later.
Natasha was avoiding the public areas of the Avengers' Training Facility like the plague. Someone had the brilliant thought that letting schools have field trips to visit would be good for their image, not to mention good publicity, but she didn't share that opinion. When she wanted her fill of playing with kids, she went to the Barton farm and played with the ones she actually liked, not the children of strangers, children who treated her like she was a hero or an idol. It took years for her to accept being 'Auntie Nat'. 'Black Widow the Hero', however, was much further out of her comfort zone. Steve didn't seem to appreciate her avoidance of the field trips but he also seemed to know that mentioning it was unlikely to yield any promising results. Though, they had lacked in the communication department for the last six months, so she was sure that only added to him leaving well enough alone.
Natasha actually had to do a double take when she walked into the training center and saw a flash of green out of the corner of her eye. On the second look, she saw it was a scrawny little boy, maybe seven years old. His dark hair was shaggy, he had a pair of glasses over big brown eyes, and his face and hands were painted green to go along with his green t-shirt. Her lips curled upward without her consent almost immediately as the boy, clearly in costume as The Hulk, sat on a bench eating an apple. Her first thought was how much Bruce would absolutely hate this and that forced a chuckle from her lips as she approached the boy.
"Hey, Big Guy."
He looked up immediately, clearly stunned to not only be caught, but to be caught by the Black Widow outside of the public areas and his classmates. He at least had the decency to look a little embarrassed when he answered her, though he also looked a little thrilled with the nickname, "U-uh...hi. Y-you're the Black Widow..."
She crouched down in front of him, trying not to laugh at the fact he actually reminded her of a certain scientist. "I am," she assured him with a nod, "and you must be The Incredible Hulk." The comment was effective because he gave her a sheepish little grin. "You know you aren't really supposed to be in here, right Big Guy?" she asked next.
He gave a hesitant little nod, "Y-yeah..."
"You've probably got people worried," Natasha tacked on for good measure, "why'd you run off from your class?"
"They made fun of me..."
She watched the way he looked down at the ground and shuffled his feet in the air where they hung from the bench and gave him a playful bump to the chin, "Well, that's not very nice."
"All the others kids say Hulk isn't one of the heroes, not like Iron Man or Thor or Captain America," he admitted next. "Or you," he tacked on with a sheepish smile.
Natasha gave a small sigh at that before she gave him another smile of her own. "Well, you and I know that's not true, right?" she questioned. She held her hand out to him, "We should get you back."
"Mm'kay..." he answered as he put his green painted hand in hers.
She couldn't resist the smile when he hopped off the bench and walked out of the training room with his hand like a vice grip in her own. "You know, he saved my life quite a few times," she mentioned as they walked down the hall.
"Really?"
"Mmhmm," she answered with a nod.
"Is it true you can change him back into a person?" came the next question.
Natasha couldn't stop herself from hesitating as they rounded a corner and it still took another moment before she could give him an answer, "I used to."
"But not anymore?" he asked next.
"Well, he doesn't fight anymore," she explained in the nicest possible way but her next words left a pang of regret in her heart, "so he doesn't need me anymore."
"Oh. Well...he's still my favorite," the kid told her as they finally found the class with quite a few people, Steve included, clearly searching the area for the boy.
Natasha gave him another smile when he looked up at her and she released his hand as she crouched back down to his level. "Mine too," she assured him as she held out her pinky finger, "but that's our little secret."
His laugh was immediate as he locked his own pinky finger with hers, "Our secret."
She took his hand again as she led him over to the group. "Hey, Rogers," she called out, watching her star-spangled leader who was already looking at them both with a look of relief, "think I found someone that belongs to your group." It seemed to take the entire class of children by surprise as the twenty or so boys and girls looked at their classmate holding hands with her. She gave him another little knuckle bump to the chin and ruffled his hair before sending him off to his classmates, "Thanks for keeping me company, Big Guy."
He grinned in an instant, and given that his entire class surrounded him, she supposed that showing up holding hands with the Black Widow helped them get over his hero costume of choice.
Natasha glanced to her side as Steve stepped up beside her. "We've been looking for that kid for fifteen minutes..." he admitted with a sigh, "where'd you find him?"
"Training room, eating an apple," she answered with a chuckle. "I actually had to do a double take when I walked in and saw a miniature-Hulk," she admitted next and Steve let out the smallest of laughs. She quirked an eyebrow up when he held up his phone and she saw herself crouched down doing a pinky-promise with said mini-Hulk. "Who taught you to use the camera on your phone?" she grumbled out with a roll of her eyes, "I'll break their fingers."
Steve's full laugh was instantaneous and she shook her head a little at his words, "Worth it. And Nat? Thanks for the save."
Of course, night after night and day after day, Bruce's haunted and betrayed look plagued her. In her dreams, in her wake, it really didn't make much of a difference anymore. It took her two weeks to take everything that had previously been evoked in her, dig as far back into the recesses of her mind as she possibly could, and bury it with the rest of her skeletons. It was the longest it took her to ever hide something away, but after she did, she wasn't sure if she felt relieved or empty. She supposed it didn't really make a difference, not after six months.
Instead she chose to focus on what she still had left. The job.
Even at sundown, when most the Avengers were calming down for the day and beginning to relax, Natasha wasn't, not after that run-in with the little boy from the field trip who had been so much like Bruce. She used a combination of backflips and somersaults as the crimson energy balls flew towards her. Avoidance was the main key because she wasn't exactly equipped to deflect them, hell, nobody was. The thing was, it was near impossible to get a read on where Wanda may shoot next because sometimes Wanda didn't even know. Learning to control her ability with smaller and faster bursts would be more accurate in the long run, but the girl needed to learn it outside of an adrenaline filled battle for the world's continued existence.
Wanda never actually hit Natasha, her volunteer moving target, not once since they had started this weird and amiable training. She tried, but never managed to do it successfully, not until now. The crimson and swirling ball of energy didn't go in the direction Natasha had planned for and she got the full force of it right in the chest. It wasn't enough to send her flying, not with Wanda purposefully holding back on the strength of her attacks, but it did put her flat on her back. Natasha heard the gasp of surprise leave the girl's lips in an instant.
"Are you okay? I never actually imagined I might hit you," Wanda spoke with worry evident in her voice.
Admittedly, Natasha had to blink several times and take a few breaths to get her senses back before she spoke, "Think I bobbed when I should have weaved." The poor girl looked amused by the comment but guilty over the circumstances and Natasha chuckled, "It's fine, really. That's what we're training for, remember? It's a good thing."
That was the more effective comment because this time Wanda smiled, "Right."
"You're doing good on speed," Natasha told her as she sat up and took the hand Wanda offered to help her up, "but you can't rely solely on your powers."
"Steve, Rhodey and Sam have been working on combat with me," came Wanda's reply.
Natasha smiled a little at that, "Bet you never thought three soldiers would train you to fight."
"Certainly not," Wanda admitted with a small laugh.
The thing about Wanda's laughs, even now, was that sadness still lingered in them even during a moment where she was happy. Conversation wasn't something that either of them did well and they tended to avoid it with each other like it was the end of the world. But that lingering sadness and pain was something Natasha understood. The younger woman had lost the only thing she had left in the world. She lost her twin brother, and though she never experienced that exact loss, Natasha did know what it was like to have parts of you ripped away. Unfortunately, Natasha also knew what it was like to have new pieces forced into the empty spaces, and at least Wanda hadn't experienced that hell.
While Steve brought Wanda out of her emotional shell using niceness, Natasha used training her as a way to let her release the pent up feelings. It also seemed to have frustrated Steve to realize that her method was working better than his. That conversation hadn't gone particularly well.
"Natasha, you can't just let her throw energy wave ball...things...at you to let her get her anger out. She needs to talk about it."
"It's called energy projection," she corrected as she quirked an eyebrow up at Steve and shrugged, "and talking is overrated."
"You need to talk too," Steve insisted next.
Natasha actually let out a disbelieving little chuckle, "Steve, you made me your second in command, not because you trust me more than you trust say, Sam or Rhodey, but because I'm your opposite. When you punch, I kick. When you say talk it out, I say fight it out. If we both had the same methods of tactics and dealing with problems, this wouldn't exactly be productive."
Steve just shook his head a little, "Yeah, I know that, but you can't just settle for that one method, that's exactly the point. I told you this a while ago, before all this happened, you can't keep living like this."
"It was working fine then and it's been working just fine for me lately," she told him before she walked away.
That had been four months ago. Natasha finally sucked it up and studied the sad smile on Wanda's face and let the question out, "How are you?"
It clearly took her by surprise because Wanda was looking at her with her lips parted just slightly. "My brother was a part of me," came the honest reply, "I still miss him if that's what you mean."
"You lose a piece of yourself like that and you'll always miss it," Natasha informed her as she inclined her head slightly towards the younger woman. "You can't get it back but you can build around the ruins."
"Speaking from experience?" was Wanda's quick question.
Natasha gave the smallest of shrugs to answer that as she thought about the way to word an actual response.
"Do you have a brother or sister?" Wanda asked before she actually could respond to the previous question.
It was the first time in a long time that a question actually made her stop and think. The truth was, she honestly had no idea if she ever had a sibling, though she supposed it was possible even if she didn't actually remember having one. It had never once crossed her mind, and given Wanda's weary look, she supposed she took too long to answer. "I can't tell you I know what that's like or that I'll ever know what that's like. He was your brother and I've never had that bond," she finally answered with the most truth she could.
Wanda's brow wrinkled as the young woman studied her and gave a reply, "That bond doesn't have to be blood. I see that bond between you and Clint."
Clint. He was the one person that Wanda did talk to more openly. That man always seemed to have something about him that drew it out of people, people much like herself and Wanda, he drew in the strays without effort. Even Pietro had clearly seen the quality that said Clint was worth giving his life for, which likely added to the reason why his sister saw it too. She supposed Wanda might be right. Perhaps she did have that sort of bond with her best friend, she had just never had a word for it before now. Fortunately she was saved from actually needing to confirm or deny what Wanda said when she heard familiar footsteps enter the room. "Tony," she commented before she even turned to look at the billionaire.
"I swear it's like you're Yoda," Tony stated with a roll of his eyes. "The spidey senses be strong in this one, and look at that, you're playing with The Force," he added as he gestured to Wanda. Natasha could see the slight smirk grace Wanda's lips against the poor girl's will. She understood that grief given that she had faced it in the past when she wasn't his biggest fan. It was annoying when Tony Stark could make you want to laugh when you didn't like him, in truth, it usually just made you want to punch him in the face even more. "Anywho, don't mind me. Just came to check out that issue Cap said you guys were having with the proximity alarms."
That made Natasha arch her eyebrow up in an instant, "I didn't know there was an issue."
"Told me it's been down since this morning, probably just a bug in the system though," Tony answered with a shrug, "I'll get it up to par."
"Could Vision not have done that?" Wanda questioned.
"Sure he could," Tony answered, "but then what excuse would I have to come and harass my favorite of all assassins? That and I'm incredibly bored with Pepper in Malibu for a few more weeks."
And Natasha arched the other eyebrow up so that they were both raised, "I'm not a stand-in for your fiancée, Tony."
"Future fiancée. Now suck it up, Red. We have a dinner date."
It forced a smile from her as she rolled her eyes, "No, we don't."
"We do now so wear something nice."
Natasha snickered as he left as quickly as he came in, not giving her a chance to tell him no. She couldn't remember when she had accepted that Tony had asserted himself into her inner circle of friends, but at some point she had, and she was actually grateful for it these days. She looked over at Wanda and it was clear that something was bothering her but the question Wanda asked proved it, "You felt rattled when he said the proximity alarms were down...why?"
"You know I hate when you do that, but to answer, no reason in particular," Natasha assured her. She hadn't even realized that she had given herself away on that, she usually guarded herself better in Wanda's presence. "I just prefer that defense systems run properly."
"It wasn't intentional, it was just a very strong feeling you gave off," Wanda admitted, and while her eyes narrowed slightly with clear uncertainty over the answer she received, she did seem to decide to let it go, "But very well...if you say so."
Natasha wasn't entirely sure what made her do it, but the question left her lips of their own volition, "You like movies, Wanda?"
The confusion that masked Wanda's face was immediate, and if it weren't so depressing that having asked such a simple question could evoke that expression, it might have actually been funny. Natasha knew for a fact it only confused her because they didn't interact much beyond training. It was her own fault and not Wanda's. "I don't watch very many but I do love them," came the answer after the confusion and surprise faded slightly.
"Me either," Natasha admitted, "I do like the older ones but that could just be because they're almost the only ones I've watched." Wanda still looked mildly confused so Natasha explained the sudden question reflected in her eyes, "somebody who was a much better friend to me than I was to them once told me that they helped when things were...rough."
Wanda seemed to understand it was Natasha's version of a friendly gesture, "Would you like to watch a movie?"
Natasha was pretty sure she was supposed to ask the question, but she supposed it didn't matter that Wanda beat her to it, "Sure."
"Do you have a favorite?" Wanda questioned as they walked out of the training room and headed towards the lounge that had been so carefully crafted by Tony. The man spared no expense. It had a mini-bar, a too large TV, a pool table, and nearly anything else that one might want to do for fun and relaxation. It was also sorely underused on most days.
"Casablanca," Natasha answered without missing a beat. It also sent an annoyingly sad flutter through her before she could squelch it. Something told her that Wanda sensed it because the young woman was looking at her in curiosity as she dug that bothersome reaction as far back into her mind as she could. "But like I said, I haven't watched many either, so I'll let you pick," she added next, "I make terrible movie choices."
It eased Wanda's uneasiness as the girl laughed, "No promises that my choice will be any better."
Natasha smirked in an instant, "I'm just daring enough that I'm willing to take my chances."
"You may regret it," Wanda warned with a lighthearted twinkle in her eyes. It seemed Steve had been right all along. Normal people, though Wanda wasn't exactly normal, they needed more than to just get their problems out through physical exertion. Wanda needed a friend and the truth was, maybe she wasn't the only one, Natasha was beginning to think she could use one as well.
"Well, it certainly won't manage to rank at the top of the list for things I regret," Natasha replied with a shrug, "so do your worst, Maximoff."
Wanda's laugh came easily and Natasha found herself smiling in response as they entered the lounge. It seemed they had garnered the attention of Sam and Rhodey at the pool table, neither of whom were likely used to seeing either of the women laugh or smile, and especially not at the same exact time. They probably thought the end of the world was coming. It seemed this was one day where the lounge wasn't underused and, in fact, was instead now filled with four of the six team members.
"Ladies," Sam greeted.
Natasha could see the the sparkle of amusement slowly dim from Wanda's eyes and she was determined to at least let it stay there a little longer. "Wilson," she acknowledged in return, "you actually know how to shoot pool or do you just strut around the table with the stick and try to look pretty?" It was effective. Wanda looked an equal amount of shocked and entertained when Sam gave a cheery grin and Rhodey released a laugh.
"Ohhh...ohh, I see how it is," Sam responded with a laugh and a shrug as he leaned an arm on the pool table and looked to Rhodey, "she's jealous because strutting, kicking ass and looking pretty is her job when playing pool."
It was hard not to laugh at Sam's off-handed compliment, even harder when Rhodey commented on it in return, "Well, no offense Wilson, but Romanoff does all three of those better than you do."
Wanda's laugh was quick and easy and even Natasha couldn't help but release a chuckle as she went around the mini-bar and pulled out a bottle of vodka. She removed the cap and took a swig before handing it to Wanda and the young woman looked a little uncertain as she took the bottle in her hands. A moment later Natasha chuckled before she pulled out a glass, tossed in a little ice, then pushed it across the bar to the young woman.
"On the rocks is much better, I think," Wanda stated as she poured the vodka into the glass with appreciation.
"All a matter of preference," Natasha agreed with a shrug, "never much made a difference to me."
Sam asked the question that was clearly on all of their minds, "Tell me something, if you've never gotten drunk off that then why the hell do you torture yourself by drinking it?"
"I like the burn," Natasha told him. She gave him a tiny little smirk as she took another swig from the bottle. The bright side about the entire team being aware of her own serum was that nobody bothered to question how much she drank anymore. Now they just questioned why she bothered to drink at all.
"You are by far the strangest woman I've ever met," Sam admitted with a shake of his head, "and I once went home with a woman who turned out to have fifteen ferrets, so that's really saying something."
Wanda's eyebrow raised immediately, "You have strange taste when it comes to women. Perhaps it's you who are strange and not the women."
Natasha snickered when Rhodey and Sam belted out laughs in response and she took a seat next to Wanda and refilled her emptying glass with vodka. At this point they were probably skipping the movie with the others being in the lounge, so Natasha took a third swig as she saluted Sam with the bottle, "I'm actually offended that you find me stranger than the ferret lady, but then again, I have two pet birds...Falcon."
Rhodey's laugh was immediate, Wanda was sipping her vodka with a smirk, and Sam merely groaned as he rested his forehead atop his arm on the pool table.
Sam picked his head back up and looked between them, "Is this a Russian thing? The vodka straight up?"
Natasha quirked an eyebrow up in an instant and noted that Wanda had much the same reaction. It was the brunette who answered first, "I'm Sokovian."
"Know how you tell the difference between a Russian and a Sokovian?" Natasha questioned and watched as both men looked in her direction with interest. "Sokovians need a glass and ice, and unless Russians are trying to act like ladies, we just need the bottle," she informed them as she held said bottle up to them before taking another sip.
Wanda was grinning into her glass as she took another sip.
"Ohh, so we aren't good enough to act ladylike around..." Sam mumbled out with clear amusement.
"You're ladylike enough for all of us, Wilson," Rhodey called out as he sipped his beer.
Natasha felt her lips curl upward even further at the remark as she leaned on the bar and eyed Sam with a studious gaze. "He's right," she agreed and watched Sam groan at the comment. "There's just something about all of this," she stated as she swirled her hand over her face, "that just makes you look pretty."
"Only when he shaves the stash," Wanda stated as she placed her index finger just under her nose and above her upper lip to mock a mustache, "otherwise he's a very butch sort of pretty."
It came so out of the blue that Natasha actually choked a little as she took a sip of vodka, though she still got the liquid down her throat without too much effort, and it seemed without anyone else noticing the slip up. Or they just weren't willing to comment on it. It wasn't often she realized that Wanda actually had a sense of humor but she could certainly learn to appreciate it.
"Heard you finally made an appearance for one of those school field trips," Rhodey mentioned next, "Cap said the kids really liked seeing you."
That hurt and regret filled her in an instant when she thought of the little boy who had been so remarkably Bruce-like and she could see Wanda's eyes shift from lighthearted to sad. It seemed that feeling must have been a strong one too and she gave a small nod to Rhodey, "Mmm. Fun as that was, not going to happen again." It seemed to kill the entire conversation in an instant and silence ensued throughout the room for a few awkward seconds before Natasha spun the cap back onto the bottle of vodka. "How about a raincheck on the movie?" she questioned to Wanda, "I think I'm going to turn in early."
Not one of them made a comment on her leaving as she walked out but she paused in the doorway when Tony was in her path. His comment was nothing if not expected, "Turn into what, a pumpkin? It's not even close to midnight, you've got time." She arched an eyebrow up in warning but he still didn't budge. Instead he locked his arm with hers and led her down the hall in the opposite direction of her room.
"What the hell are you doing, Tony?" she questioned.
"I told you, we have a dinner date."
"And I told you no. I thought you were dealing with the alarms, done already?"
Tony actually paused in their trek down the hall and she saw how his face studied her. "I'm running a system analyses. I told you, it's probably just a bug, why does that have you so bent out of shape?" he asked pointedly. She supposed now was the time to stop hiding Ross' threat from everyone. She didn't imagine he was insane enough to actually attack the facility of the Avengers', but with the alarms down, it was a chance she was no longer willing to take. It was always one thing if it was just her own life at stake, it was another entirely to put so many other peoples' at stake. "Natasha, what aren't you telling me?"
She glanced out the large array of windows in the long hallway that looked out into the darkened sky as she ran her hands over her face and rubbed at her eyes. "How sure are you it's a bug in the system? Is there a chance somebody turned it off?"
Tony's eyes narrowed in response to the question but he seemed to know she was being serious. "Only way they turn it off is from inside the control room. I didn't give the facility outside systems access," he answered. "Natasha, are you telling me you think someone inside did this?" he asked next.
Natasha took a weary and deep breath before she shook her head, "No...I don't know that."
"What has you so worried?"
"Two weeks ago, Ross called me," she admitted as she leaned against the glass. "I...politely declined an offer he made me, which resulted in him saying he would come after me with everything he had," she explained.
Tony's expression was nothing if not frustrated and she watched as he removed his sunglasses and rubbed at his eyes much the same way she had done moments ago. "Declined what offer, exactly?" came the question.
Natasha folded her arms across her chest and shook her head a little, "Does it really matter?"
"He wanted Bruce, didn't he?"
"Like I said...does it really matter?" she asked again with a shake of her head. "Bruce isn't coming back, and this is my problem," she reminded, "I can deal with it."
Tony's eyes narrowed, "It's not only your problem, not when you're on a team."
She took another deep breath before she commented on that, "I won't be on the team. I'm leaving."
That seemed to get his attention because he looked less annoyed and more worried. "Natasha, I agree with what you've obviously thought for these last two weeks, that Ross can't possibly be nuts enough to attack this place...but that means you don't leave. You stay. You tell the damn team what's going on!" Tony was pissed, plain and simple, and she didn't entirely blame him.
She had planned on being gone well over a week ago, but setting up a safe house these days wasn't as easy as it used to be, it wasn't as easy as when she was unknown to the world. He was right that she thought Ross wouldn't be crazy enough to attack her at the Avengers' facility but that wasn't an excuse. Not really. And she found out the hard way that they were both wrong in that very instant.
Natasha only barely heard the sound of something that tapped the glass behind her, and she almost didn't bother to give it a second thought, but she shifted her eyes up anyways. A tiny black circular device was in the upper corner of the window and she narrowed her eyes in an instant. She felt the glass pulsing against her back and quickly moved from her position of leaning on the window and watched as Tony's eyes followed her own.
"What the hell is that?" came his immediate question, and it was a damn good one, right up until the glass shattered. She gripped his arm the moment it happened and pulled him away from the shards that flew in at them, but even above the noise of window being demolished, Natasha could hear the sound of a gunshot.
"Down! Get down!" she growled out quickly, shoving Tony down beneath her. She felt the bullet graze her skin at her ribs and the burning sensation it left behind, but it also wasn't anything to worry over, not when no further shots ensued. She kept his arm in a vice grip between her fingers as she pulled him to his feet while her other arm kept him hunched down. "Go! Go! Run!" she yelled at him as both their feet moved quickly through the hallway. She saw those same black circular devices hitting each window ahead of them and she pushed Tony's head to look down at the floor as they ran. "Don't look up! Don't stop!"
Even as their feet padded as fast down the hallway as possible the windows shattered and the glass sprayed at them until she dove through the doorway and landed half on top of the billionaire on the other side. Tony was taking shaky breaths beneath her but from what she could tell it was merely from the nerves since she couldn't see any injuries. His statement as they took a few seconds to breathe told her he was his normal fine self, "I take it back...he's nuts enough!" His breaths evened out easily enough and then he sounded less sarcastic with his next words, "And...thanks for uh, you know, all that."
That probably would've been at least a slightly amusing statement if the windows in their newest hall hadn't blown out a moment later and men in black combat gear didn't rappel in with their guns aimed towards them. Dozens of bullets sprayed over their heads and she pushed Tony's head down under her arms in an instant as she ducked her own down. Another sting pierced the skin of her upper arm and she gritted her teeth as she kept Tony covered beneath her.
It only lasted seconds before she heard one of them men yelling over the noise, "Stop shooting, you idiots! He needs her alive!"
Natasha heard the footsteps behind her, but through the ringing in her ears, she couldn't be sure if they were ones she recognized. She lifted her head until Wanda's voice told her to do otherwise, "Stay down!" She watched the wave of red energy fly over her own and Tony's heads and each of the half dozen men were sent careening back out the windows they entered from.
"We need her alive!"
"Find Romanoff!"
"The others don't matter!"
More voices came from the hallway herself and Tony had initially been attacked in and she saw Wanda turn towards the words with a frown. For half a second Natasha felt her vision go into a haze, and for another moment, an overwhelming sense of nausea took over.
"Natasha!" Tony's voice hissed out her name and she shook off the nausea as he yanked her to her feet, "We gotta move..."
The door that she and Tony came through flew open, but just as Wanda raised her hands to attack, Natasha watched the familiar red, white and blue shield slam into one man, bounce into a rafter on the side, and continuously knock back and forth like the ball in a pinball machine. Rafter, intruder, rafter, intruder.
"Who the hell are they?" came Steve's immediate question as he stepped up beside Wanda and caught the shield that flew back to him. She half expected Tony to make a comment about watching his language but apparently even the billionaire knew now wasn't the right time.
"They're after Natasha," Wanda answered in an instant.
She felt Steve's eyes shift to her within a second of the statement and then Tony finished Wanda's statement with his own, "It's Ross. He's after Natasha to get to Bruce."
"You knew?" and Steve's question was directed at her with obvious frustration, but a burning sensation rippled through her like a shockwave before she could reply, and this time she did vomit. "Did she get shot?" Steve asked, not caring that his previous question wasn't answered.
"No, she—" Natasha felt Tony's hand touch her side as he kept her on her feet and his words paused in an instant as his eyes traveled down to his hand. "You got shot..." his words came out in mumbled disbelief.
She shook her head a little, "Just a graze..."
"We need to look at it, but somewhere else, preferably with no windows," Steve ordered them, "let's move." Her vision blurred in and out continuously as Tony pulled her along and she noted that Steve stayed ahead of them both while Wanda kept behind them. "Sam, Rhodey, Vision, what are we lookin' at outside?"
"Looks like they're retreating, Cap," Sam responded, "Got several bogeys running back into the woods, want us to give chase?"
She watched Steve turn and look back at her for a moment before he spoke again, "No, I want all eyes outside watching the perimeter, the attackers are after Romanoff. Retreating might only be a distraction."
"Copy that."
The burning seared through her side again without warning, her footsteps faltered, and she felt Tony's grip tighten around her in an instant to keep her on her feet. "It's barely even bleeding, she should be fine," she heard the billionaire tell Steve and Wanda, "and this isn't fine!"
"C'mon," Steve stated, shoving the door to the training room open and ushering them in. "Sit down, Nat," he ordered next and she really wanted to tell him she was fine. That idea ended the second Tony's hand pressed a little harder onto her side and it felt like pure agony as the moan left her lips. Both men pulled her down to the floor and Steve's fingers lifted her shirt up over where she was bleeding.
"What the hell is that?" Tony's question came in an instant and she felt her eyes drift to look at what he saw. "Last time I saw skin have that look, it was me, and I was dying," Tony informed her with worry evident in his voice.
She barely managed to look at the blackish-gray veins spiking out from the wound just a little bit, not without throwing up, and she laid back down within seconds of the effort. "Bullet must've been laced with something. But Ross need me alive...means it must be temporary..." she reminded him.
"Yeah, or maybe he changed his mind," Tony added for good measure, "maybe he knows Bruce is gone."
"Doubt he'd just go and give up two weeks after making the threats..." she pointed out, and she knew he knew that, especially given the orders Ross' men were yelling out.
Her entire body burned. Her skin felt like it was on fire. Her breathing had become heavy and the more air she tried to suck in, the harder it became to fill her lungs, and her breaths quickly shifted into painful and useless gasps. "Nat, Nat calm down, you need to breathe..." Steve's words barely registered with her. "Tony...you really think this was Ross?" came the whispered question.
"Has to be," Tony answered quickly, "she was literally just telling me about his threat when these guys attacked...and all the intruders kept saying that they needed to take her in alive..."
"Then she needs to go somewhere that Ross isn't going to find her. You come here in your jet?" Steve's question was quick.
"Yeah..."
"Go start it," Steve ordered next, "I want you to get her out of here. Bring her somewhere, anywhere. Ross wants Banner and I think we all know that won't lead to anything good, not if it's anything like last time." And she knew last time well. Last time an abomination was born as a result of Ross' interest in Bruce. "We can try and deal with Ross on our end."
Natasha groaned as the pain became near unbearable, a limit she never imagined she could actually reach, and she curled in on herself on instinct. "Natasha?" it was Tony's voice as his hand grasped her shoulder.
"Stark, start the jet. We'll get her to you!"
"He's right..." she mumbled out, "Steve's right...Ross gets me and we both know Bruce will come back...and it can't be like that. That can't be the reason he comes back..." she groaned again as Wanda came over with a pressure bandage and pushed it against the wound on her side before she finally convinced Tony to leave and get the jet ready, "Tony, we both know that Bruce has been through enough...I need to disappear before this gets out of hand, like I planned..."
She kept having to force deep breaths out through the entire statement but it worked. "Alright, alright..." he muttered out quickly. It seemed that appealing to his love for his best friend was the best option she could have come up with because he stood up and edged out the door after looking in both directions out it.
Natasha glanced between Wanda's worried gaze and Steve's frustrated and equally worried expression. She decided to speak before Steve could, "I know...I should have told you."
Steve released a little sigh as he glanced at pressure bandage stuck to her side and then the back of his hand pressed to her forehead. "You should have, but I guess I get it," he assured her, though she could tell he hadn't wanted to, "you were always planning to run, weren't you?"
"Yeah."
He gave a brief nod in response. "You're burning up. Nat, how sure are you that this isn't fatal?" he asked with an almost overwhelming amount of concern.
She gave a meager shrug and grimaced at another upsurge of pain when it rushed through her entire body. "I'm not. I don't even know what it is...but if Ross wants me alive then—"
"Then it's a fair assumption he wouldn't risk using something that would kill you..." Steve mumbled as he finished it for her.
"Well, if it was meant to simply disarm her, weaken her..." Wanda interrupted as she tied another a bandage around whatever wound on her arm she had felt the sting from earlier, "he did a damned good job...the pain she's feeling is immense."
"Still hate when you do that..." and at Wanda's half chuckle, Natasha took a deep breath and answered, "definitely the worst I've ever felt though..." She could see the way that bothered Steve. He knew some of her past. He knew she was Enhanced. He knew she's had worse injuries, been tortured in unimaginable ways, and continued to keep on fighting; and yet a gunshot that had grazed her had her in agonizing discomfort.
It was in that moment that the lights flickered before the power died completely and blanketed them in darkness. She could see the way Steve's form went on alert and Wanda's head whipped around and looked in all directions. Only a second later she saw Steve's head turn in the direction of the door and he pressed his index finger to his lips to tell them to be quiet. It was bad timing all around when the pain rippled from her side and coursed through her entire body like wave after wave slamming onto the beach. Steve's eyes were watching her, clearly waiting for some noise she might emit that would give them away, and it took every ounce of willpower to hold it all in. She could feel the sweat beading on her forehead and even Natasha was beginning to question how 'non-fatal' her condition was in that moment.
And this time even she could hear the footsteps as they came closer to the door. Several pairs of feet, all in combat boots, but Steve's head turned behind them to the opposite entrances to the training room. He held up six fingers to herself and Wanda as he pointed towards the rear side door, then another six for the side entrance opposite that one. She held up six of her own as she pointed towards the entrance they had come in at.
It seemed that Steve had been right about the men Sam had seen retreating. They were a false front. The real threat was already inside and the threat knew where they were. She watched Steve speak low into the comm on his wrist as he raised it to his lips, "Guys...we've got eighteen attackers closing in on our position in the training room."
"On our way, Cap."
The intruders were waiting at each set of doors, though waiting for what, she couldn't be certain. Then one of their voices rang out, "Captain Rogers! Surrender Natasha Romanoff to us now or we're authorized to use deadly force!"
Natasha groaned a little as she sat up and she could feel Wanda's hand on her back in support. "Really? They're actually suggesting that Captain freakin' America just hand someone over to them?" she groaned out, "boy, they don't know you very well, Rogers. You wouldn't even if I asked you to do it..." She could see Steve fighting back a smirk and it seemed the men outside were done waiting. Each door was kicked open at the same time. Three different entry points. Steve turned towards the back entrances in an instant and ran towards them as Wanda raised her hands and sent a wave of red energy into the six men who burst through the front. Natasha gripped her arm and nodded her head towards Steve, "Help him back there. I got this..."
Wanda had that look of uncertainty, but also a look that said she knew it was an order, and after a moment the younger woman took off towards the second rear entrance. Natasha pulled herself up against the wall just to the side of the front entrance, ignoring the continuous ripples of pain, and yanking the knife from her boot. She heard the first of the men getting to their feet as he made his way back into the training room. She reached her empty hand out, yanked him to the side where she stood, and slammed the hilt of the knife into his nose. He never got a chance for a rebuttal when she smacked the back of his head into the wall and dropped his unconscious body to the floor in a heap.
Two more entered the door and she had to get more creative. She got her arm around the neck of the man closest to her, and against every ache and pain of her body's disapproval, she used him to swing her body up and get her thighs around the neck of the second man. Both of them were dragged with her to the floor from the sheer surprise of her attack and she knocked out the first when he went face first into the ground. The second guy was struggling to get air through the vice grip of her legs, and to be honest, breathing wasn't exactly a thing she was doing very well either.
Wanda's gasp had her face whipping towards the back of the room and Natasha threw the knife on instinct alone. Just as a rear intruder put the gun in Wanda's face, having gotten through her bombardment of energy projection, the knife embedded in his temple before his finger could pull the trigger. She supposed it was quid pro quo when their resident witch turned to her in surprised before she returned the favor by hitting the fourth man who entered Natasha's own entryway with a ball of red energy, using enough speed and accuracy to make Natasha at least a little proud. Fortunately, she didn't have to worry about the last two men when Rhodey came flying through her door, one of them in each hand, and dropped them unconscious on the floor.
Natasha released her choke hold on the man she had in her grip once he was out cold and took a few shaky breaths, but getting to her feet felt near impossible, and instead she leaned her back against the wall. Vision was the next one one into the training room and he landed beside her in an instant. He didn't hesitate before speaking, "Mr. Stark requests that I bring Miss Romanoff to his jet now and he will take her to safety," Vision informed them next, "we simply must keep the enemy occupied in the meantime."
"Do it," Steve's reply came in less than a second.
Suddenly her arm was pulled over Vision's shoulders as the android easily lifted her up into his arms. As if whatever the bullet had been laced with hadn't already made it hard to breathe, Vision's take off into flight certainly didn't help. Thankfully it didn't take very long before Vision flew through the open door of the jet and he laid her down on the couch in the back.
Natasha could make out Tony's voice and words the second she could breathe again, "You sure you want me to bring her to you?" There were words spoken back, but through the haze of whatever was in her system, she couldn't make out the voice or words. Even back in the training room her fighting had been a fraction of its usual skill, and she knew she was only getting worse. Tony's voice came out clear again, "Alright. It'll be late when we get there...but we'll see you in five hours, give or take." Who the hell was he talking to? She didn't have the energy to ask as the edges of her vision blackened and then Tony's voice rang out closer to her, "FRIDAY, take off."
"Yes, boss."
She saw Vision fly out the closing door of the jet and then Tony's face appeared in her foggy line of sight. "FRIDAY, can we get an analyses on what's in her system?"
"I've already been attempting it, but so far, it matches nothing currently known in my systems."
The back of Tony's hand felt like cold relief as he pressed it over her forehead and she felt her eyes slowly drifting closed. "Red, I swear if you kick the bucket on me, I'll find a way to bring you back so I can kick your ass."
"Like to...see you try that," she grumbled out. It was effective enough to make him chuckle until the moan left her lips the second his hand shifted from her forehead and moved to peel the pressure bandage off of her side.
And now she couldn't make out Tony's face at all with how far closed her eyes had finally drooped. She didn't even feel it when Tony started stitching the bullet wound in her side, not through the fire that she already felt was burning through her on the inside. "Natasha? You still with me?" she heard him ask. She wasn't even sure if she gave a real response or just ignored him completely. That was the last thing she remembered hearing at all.
See you ladies and gents soon for the next chapter!