The Black Widow Chapter 14, an avengers fanfic

From the Treaty of the Treason. In the penance for their uprising each district shall offer up a male and female tribute between the ages of 12 and 18 at a public reaping.

These tributes will be delivered to the custody of the Capitol then transferred to a public arena where they will fight to death until a lone victor remains.

Henceforth and forevermore, this pageant shall be known as the Hunger Games.

Chapter 14

The sound of a cannon startles me awake, although it does little to my sleeping companions. There's no point in waking them for this. Another dead tribute. I don't even allow myself to wonder who this is. Clint's head snaps in my directions when a twig snaps from beneath me, but he relaxes when he sees it's only me. Before we could say a word to each other, there a loud tolling of bells.

Bong!

It's not exactly the ones they ring in the Justice Building on New Year's, but close enough for me to recognize it. Pepper and Tony sleep through it, but Steve and Bobbi are jarred from sleep. They have the same look of attentiveness Clint and I feel. The tolling stops.

"I counted twelve." Steve states from beside me.

I nod. Twelve. What does that signify? One ring for each district? "Mean anything, do you think?"

"No idea." He says.

We all stay silent in hopes of a message from Claudius Templesmith, but nothing comes forward. The only thing of note appears in the distance. A dazzling bolt of electricity strikes a towering tree and then a lightning storm begins. I guess it's an indication of rain, of a water source for those we don't have a mentor as smart as Haymitch.

Well right now, I'm well rested and it'll be a waste trying to go back to sleep. "Go to sleep Clint, It's my turn to watch anyway."

Clint hesitates, but finally relents. No one can stay awake forever. He settles down at the mouth of the hut, besides Bobbi who had laid back down to sleep. His arm snakes around her waist protectively and she smiles softly before falling asleep. He soon follow after her. I pry my eyes away from the couple and turn to Steve who begins to get up from his spot. "What are you doing? Go back to sleep."

Steve shakes his head, "No. I'll keep you company."

I frown, "I can watch by myself. Besides you need your rest." Because you almost died today. I purposely leave out. All his energy was drained today and he needs to rest up.

Steve sighs, "Are you sure?" he asks, his shoulders drooping in exhaustion.

I nod and motion him over. He crawls over to me and lays down, his head on my lap. "Go to sleep." I whisper, running my hand through his blonde curls. He's asleep within minutes. Leaning against the hut, I keep my knives in a tight grip and allow my eyes to wander around. Now that everything is peaceful and I'm not running for my life, I can actually look around to see what kind of surrounding I'm in. This isn't a forest, as I figured out before, it's more of a jungle. So far I've only found that animal we cooked earlier, but now I'm curious to know what other kind of animals live here. There isn't the original squirrels, deers or raccoons running around. These animals seem foreign and unnatural.

After about an hour of sitting there, the lightning stops. I can hear the rain coming in, though, pattering on the leaves a few hundred yards away. I keep waiting for it to reach us, but it never does. But shockingly, it only rains for a few minutes. The elusive rain shuts off suddenly. Moments after it stops, I see the fog sliding softly in from the direction of the recent downpour.

Just a reaction. Cool rain on the streaming ground. I think.

It continues to approach at a steady pace. Tendrils reach forward and then curl like fingers, as if they are pulling the rest behind them. As I watch, I feel the hairs on my neck begin to rise. Something's wrong with this fog. The progression of the front line is too uniform to be natural. And if it's not natural…

I reach for the others, shouting for them to wake up when a sickeningly sweet odor begins to invade my nostrils. In the few seconds it takes to rouse them, I begin to blister.

"Run! Run!" I scream at the others.

Clint, Steve and Bobbi snap awake instantly, rising to counter an enemy. But when they see the wall of fog, Steve instantly shakes Pepper and doesn't wait for her to wake up. He tosses her over his shoulder and begins running with Bobbi and myself following. Clint forcefully shakes Tony and has the boy up and running within a few seconds.

"The fog!" I scream. "It's poisonous. Hurry!" I urge.

I look back at the wall of fog descending on us in a straight line as far as I can see in either direction. A terrible impulse to flee, to abandon my allies and take Steve with me shoots through me. It would be so simple, to run full out with him. Perhaps even climb a tree above the fog line. But when I turn around to look at Steve, he still has Pepper in his clutches and she's holding onto him like a lifeline. I violently curse under my breath. If he wasn't carrying her, I would've been able to do it, but she's preventing me from running away with Steve. And I know Steve wouldn't put her down and leave her, especially when she's so scared and disorientated from being shaken awaken so abruptly. She probably doesn't have control of her legs at the moment.

It didn't realize it, but I seem to have slowed down enough for the fog to catch up to me. I scream as the chemicals find my flesh and cling it to. They burn like fire. It burrows down through the layers of skin. The jumpsuits are no help at all. We may as well be dressed in tissue paper, for all the protection they give. The chemicals find my leg and I frail forward, in a tangle mess of limbs. I cant help the continuous screams as I try desperately to crawl away, my right leg seeming to become paralyze and useless. Steve stops at the sound of my scream and is about to run back to help me, when Clint gets to me first. He noticed I was having problems the minute I began to scream. The fog touches him too, but he doesn't scream. Only picks me up, breathing heavily through gritted teeth, and throws me over his shoulder as he takes off running, Bobbi at his side and Tony and Steve slightly ahead of us. The fog had touched Bobbi and Tony too. The side of her face is enflamed and Tony's arm lays useless at his side, unable to move. Clint has minimal damage to his face and his arms seem to flailing uncontrollably. He cant use them anymore and if I fall off his shoulder, he wouldn't be able to pick me up. I hold on for dear life, my legs having no use and I know if I fall, I'm dead.

When I look over at Bobbi, the left side of her face sagged, as if every muscle has died. Her eyelids droop, almost concealing her eye. Her mouth twists in an odd angle towards the ground. "Bobbi-" I begin and that's when I feel the spasm run up my arm. Whatever chemical laces the fog does more than burn- it targets our nerves. A whole new kind of fear shoots through me when I realized the fog has moved in on us. Steve turns around when he notices we're having trouble. "RUN!" He shouts. "FASTER!" His speech is slightly garbled, but we're still able to figure out what he's saying.

Clint, Bobbi and Tony move considerably faster with Steve cheering them on, and even though the fog is catching up, I realize Clint had begun a trail diagonal down a hill. Steve is following as well with Pepper still hanging from his back. They're trying to keep a distance from the gas while steering us toward the water that surrounds the Cornucopia. I almost cry out in relief. Water!

Now I'm thankful I didn't kill Clint or Bobbi. Because I wouldn't have gotten out of here alive and, mostly likely, neither would Steve. Clint's legs begin to betray him at this point and he trips over a rock and the two of us go downhill. I seem to have no ability to stop my own forward motions and simply propel myself onward until I hit ground level. Everyone else closely follows.

My body hits a rock on ground and I'm left gasping for air, unable to move my body. My companions seem to lose all the adrenaline in their bodies and they slump to the ground in defeat.

This is it. This is where and how and when we all die. I think. my only wish is that I hope Aiden isn't watching. I hope he's asleep at home, but that's a fruitless dream. I just hope that my death is quick so it doesn't plague him in his nightmares.

Now I can see the wall of fog, which has taken on a pearly white quality. Maybe it's my eyes playing tricks or moonlight, but the fog seems to be transforming. Yes it's becoming thicker, as if it has pressed up against a glass window and is being forced to condense. I squint harder and realize the fingers no longer protrude from it. In fact, it has stopped moving forward entirely. Like other horrors I have witnessed, it has reached the end of its territory. Either that or the Gamemakers have decided not to kill us just yet.

"It's stopped." I try to say, but only an awful croaking sound comes out of my mouth. "It's stopped!" I say again and this time I must be clearer because everyone turn their heads to the fog. It begins to rise upward now, as if being slowly vacuumed into the sky. We watch until it has all been sucked away and not the slightest wisp remains. I sigh in relief and slump against the ground in exhaustion. I hear moans all around me from my companions as the pain finally consumes them. Before I can stand another second, I pull myself onto all fours and lift my head, only to shriek in fear and crawl back as fast as my bones will allow.

"Natasha?" Steve's muffled, hoarse voice asks from behind me. "What is it?"

I don't know what I'm staring at, but this… creature has big, round eyes, large pointy ears, a small torso and claw-like fingernails. I've never seen anything like it before in person, but it looks similar to a picture I had seen in the Capitol. This creature was in it, but looked much sweeter, and childlike. Also the creature didn't have fangs or claws. I think I heard someone call it an elf. Only this is no childhood self. It looks dark and dangerous. "I don't know." I whisper softly trying not to alert it.

I can feel someone behind me and when they put their hand on my shoulder, I chance a glance behind me. It's Clint. He nods his head towards in the opposite direction. The others have begun to move away slowly, Steve waiting for us to follow. Without tearing our eyes away from it, Clint and I begin to move backwards until we meet Steve then we all limp away, since walking or running now seems as remarkable a fear as flying. We limp until the vines turn to a narrow strip of sandy beach and the warm water that surrounds the Cornucopia laps our feet. I jerk back only to fall flat on my butt as if I've touched an open flame. I can almost hear my mother laugh at my reaction. Rubbing salt in a wound I can hear her voice whisper in my ear. Without hesitation, I crawl forward and shove my hands in the water biting my bottom lip to hold in a scream. The water makes the pain of my wounds so blinding I nearly black out. But there's another sensation of drawing out. Torturous, yes, but then less so and through the layers of water I see a milky substance leaching out of the wounds on my skin. As the whiteness diminishes, so does the pain. I unbuckle my belt and strip off my jumpsuit, which is little more than perforated rag. My shoes and undergarments are inexplicably unaffected. Little by little, one small portion of a limb at a time, I soak the poison out of my wounds. When I turn my head I see Steve and Pepper doing the same. But Clint, Tony and Bobbi backed away from the water at first touch and lies face down on the sound, either unwilling or unable to purge themselves.

Finally, when I have survived the worst, opening my eyes underwater, sniffling water into my sinuses and snorting it out and even gargling repeated to wash out my throat, I'm functional enough to help Bobbi. Steve takes Clint and Pepper takes Tony. Together we drag them through the water and help soak out the poison. Even when she's in pain, Bobbi doesn't fight as much as I thought she would. When I'm done, she just lies there, eyes shut, giving an occasional moan. The night has turned to day and being out in the open does little to conceal our group. "I'm going to tap a tree." I say as I pull Bobbi back with me to lean her up against a tree. Steve and Pepper are still working on Clint and Tony since both refuse to put their heads underwater. Bobbi did at first, but I finally convinced her to do it.

Steve shakes his head in frustration. "Let me get water." He says letting go of Clint. "You deal with him." I smirk up at him as he storms past me. When Steve walks out of my line of view, I turn to Clint. Walking up to him, I place my hand on his shoulder. "There's just your head left, Clint. That's the worst part, but you'll feel much better after if you can bear it." I say in a calm voice, my fingers tightening on his shoulder.

He shakes his head, "No." He moans.

I roll my eyes, if he wants to be stubborn so can I. "We can do this the easy way." I reach in my belt and grab a knife. "Or the hard way."

Clint eyes the knife wearily. "You wouldn't dare."

"Do you want to test me?" I ask with a raised eyebrow. Of course I wouldn't do it, but I can't possibly tell him that. Finally Clint relents when he sees how dead serious I am. I help him to sit up and let him grip my hands as he purges his eyes and nose and mouth.

By the time Pepper and I finish with both boys, they get usage of their limbs again and begin to splash around in the water. Bobbi, Pepper and I sit on the sand watching the boys play. They dive and surface, spraying water into each other faces. Pepper giggles and Bobbi just rolls her eyes. I just watch with a bemused smile on my face. Might as well let them have some fun. Fun in the arena is very limited. But soon both boys go underwater and don't resurface for a while. They're underwater so long that I feel certain they've drowned until they both pop back up right next to us.

I frown, "Don't do that."

"What? Come up or stay under?" Clint questions swimming up to me.

"Either. Neither. Whatever. Just soak and behave. Or if you feel this good, let's go help Steve."

In just the short time it takes to cross the edge of the jungle, I become aware of the change. Put it down to years of hunting, but I sense the mass of warm bodies poised above us. They don't need to chatter or scream. The mere breathing of so many is enough. I don't even need to alert the others of the change because they notice it too, Steve is the only one oblivious. During the time we were all absorbed in restoring our bodies, they assembled. Not five or ten, but scores of elves weigh down the limbs of the jungle trees. The pair we spotted when we first escape the fog felt like a welcoming committee. This crew feels ominous. I turn my guns off safety mode, Clint and Bobbi arms their bows with two arrows each, Tony grips the glowing blue arc in his hands like a lifeline and Pepper posies her knives in front of her. "Steve," I whisper as calmly as possible. "We need your help with something."

"Okay, just give me a minute, I think I've just about got it." He says, still occupied with the tree. "Yes. There. Have you got the spile?"

"I do, but we've found something you'd better take a look at." I continue in a measured voice. "Only move towards us quietly, so you don't startle it." For some reason I don't want him to notice the elves or even glance their way. They are creatures that interpret mere eye contact as aggression. Steve turns to us, panting from his work on the tree. The tone of my request is so odd that it's alerted him to some irregularity. "Okay," He says casually. He begins to move through the jungle, as silent as a mouse. He's only halfway to us when his eyes dark up for a second, but it's as if he's triggered a bomb. The elves explode into a shrieking mass of pale white skin and large sharp claws as they converge on him. Steve seemed to be their target.

I've never seen any creature move so fast. They slide down the vines as if the things were greased. Leap impossible distances from tree to tree. Fangs bared, hackles raised, claws shooting out like switchblades. "Mutts!" I spit out as our group of five crashes into the greenery. I know every bullet must count and they do. In the eerie light, I bring down elf after elf, targeting eyes and hearts and throats, so that each hit means a death. But still it wouldn't be enough without the help of everyone. Clint, Pepper and Bobbi spearing the beasts, Tony's blue rays catching multiple at a time and Steve slashing away with his knife. I feel claws on my leg, down on my back, before someone takes out the attacker. The air grows heavy with trampled plants, the scent of blood and the musty stink of the elves. The group positions ourselves in a circle, a few yards apart, our backs to one another. My heart sinks as my gun fires its last bullet. Then I remember I have two extra guns in my holsters and I'm just beginning to reach them when it happens. An elf lunches out of a tree for my chest. I barely have time to react and with no guns, no weapons at all, I brace my body for the claws reaching out for me. I see Steve throw his knife at the oncoming mutt, but the creature somersaults, evading the blade, and stays on its trajectory. Steve and Clint, out of my peripherals, begin to run towards me. But we all know they won't make it in time.

But she does.

Materializing, it seems, from thin air. One moment nowhere, the next reeling in front of me. Already, bloody, mouth open in a high-pitched scream, pupils enlarged so her eyes seem like black holes. The girl tribute from district seven, Sif, throws up her skeletal arms as if to embrace the elf and it sinks it's fangs into her chest.

I drop to my knees instantly and shoot three bullets into the mutt until it releases its jaw. I kick the mutt away, bracing myself for more. I have my guns ready and so does everyone else. "Come on, then! Come on!" shouts Steve panting with rage. But something has happened to the elves. They are withdrawing, fading into the jungle, as if some unheard voice calls them away.

"Quick, help me get her." I tell the others when I know for certain they're gone. Clint and Steve pass their weapons to me and each grab a hold of her. Together they gently carry her the last few yards to the beach while we keep watch.

They lay her body on the sand. I kneel beside her and cut away the material over her chest, revealing the four deep puncture wounds. Blood slowly trickles from them, making them look far less deadly than they are. The real damage is inside. By the position of the openings, I feel certain the beast ruptured something vital, a lunch, maybe even her heart. She lies on the sand, gasping like a fish out of water. Sagging skin, sickly green. I hold one of her twitching hands, unclear whether it moves from the poison that affected our nerves, or the shock of the attack. "I'll watch the trees." Tony says, ushering the others away from Steve and I to give us privacy. I'd like to walk away too, but she grabs my hand so tightly I would have to pry off her fingers and I don't have the strength for that kind of cruelty. Especially after she saved my life. I feel obligated to be here.

Sif takes a long deep breath, her grip tightening. "N-N… Nat-… 'Tasha." She finally finishes.

"Yes?" I whisper coming closer so she doesn't have to strain to speak so loud.

"It… I-It hurts." She whimpers softly.

"I'm so sorry." I sincerely reply, tears running down my face. I glance down at her body. I'm the reason she's hurting. I'm the reason she sacrificed herself. "This is my fault."

Sif, weakly, shakes her head. "No… n-not your fault. Their fault."

"You're dying because of me." I decide to be blunt. Everyone knows she's dying. She does too. "It is my fault." I feel Steve's hand on my shoulder, but I don't acknowledge him right now.

Sif smiles up at me, "Yes I am… d-dying. But," she lifts my head up so I can look at her. "I'm dying a warrior's death. I-I… was never a… c-contestant in this game. I wasn't going to win. N-No one came. in. here. a winner… except you." Her grip tightens just slightly before going slack. "You have to win." Her voice gets softer and softer until it's almost inaudible. I'm already shaking my head before she's even finished. "You have to. You're a f-fighter. You can w-win."

"I can't." I honestly believe I can't. There is no way I'm making it out of this arena. I can't leave without Steve and if Steve dies, I don't know what I'll do.

"You can. Y-You can.. and you will. For y-your brother." She says quietly, tears swimming beneath her eyes. I look away to avoid look into her eyes that are slowly losing its color. "For… m-me... Don't be sad." She whispers when a lone tear runs down my cheek. She uses her thumb to swipe it away. "T-This was… meant to be. But can you do a f-favor?"

I snap my head to look at her, "Anything." I desperately plead. This guilt will eat me alive if she dies without me repaying my debt.

"F-Find Thor… my dis-… my district… partner. P-Please. Find him, h-help him." Her eyes close only to pop back open. She desperately tries to stay awake. My heart hurts for her and I lean forward even more.

"Of course. I'll do it, I promise."

Sif smiles with all the energy she has left. "T-Thank… you."

Less than a minute later, her chest stops moving and her breathing stops. The grip on my hand goes limp and her hand falls back onto her chest. The canon sounds seconds after her last breath.