Chapter Twenty-Five

The Widow's Curse

Blurry images and vague sensations came to Natasha one at a time, each lasting only moments before disappearing to make way for something else.

Dark tunnels lit by a few bright lights. Strong hands clutching her ankles. The back of her head scraping on a hard rocky surface. She heard frantic voices all around her, of men shouting, cursing, and threatening one another. The air was dusty too, and it clogged her nostrils with the caustic odor of spent explosives.

She wasn't having a nightmare though. Somehow, she could tell that she was slipping in and out of consciousness.

Yelena...killed them...Must...stop this...

As hard as she tried, Natasha just couldn't will herself enough to take action. She was completely helpless as a few ominous figures dragged her off into who knows where. Her unwilling passivity was terrifying, and that fear stayed sharp even while all of her senses remained dull.

The snippets of sound, light, and pain continued intermittently, until it was all replaced with darkness. Natasha had lost all sense of time and place. All she could do was torture herself with thoughts of how she had failed. How she had let down all of the people she cared about.

Sorry Steve...Had to kill them...I killed them. Priyanka...It's my fault. Why didn't they just kill me?

"We should kill her already," a man said. "It's only a matter of time before the rest of them get down here."

"You have your orders," Yelena replied.

Natasha cracked her eyelids open just wide enough to see. Yelena and one of her men were standing just a few feet from her, on the other side of a small room with a concrete floor and walls. Natasha tried to spring up but she couldn't. She was stuck in an awkward sideways position on the floor, hogtied with her hands and feet all bound together behind her.

"You're asking us to die," the man said.

"Hydra asked you to die. I'm only asking that you wait until I can take care of this." Regardless of her words, Yelena's tone made it clear that she would have no problem with killing this guy if he didn't get with the program.

The man took off with a grunt, closing a heavy metal door behind him as he left the room.

"Thought he'd never leave," Yelena said. She turned to Natasha and grinned.

Steve wouldn't slow down one bit even as bullets from three different assault rifles streamed into his shield. Barreling down the narrow tunnel, he reached the first gunman just after Clint's arrow plunged into the guy's head. Steve smacked the man's flailing body aside with his free hand and pushed on unabated. With the second man falling to Sharon's gunfire, Steve zeroed in on their final enemy at the end of the corridor.

He slammed into the man like a truck, lifting the guy up before pinning him against the wall behind him. The tunnel forked off to both sides here. Steve didn't know where to go but he had a feeling that his enemy might. "Where is she?!" Steve screamed into the man's face. He didn't like the way that his own voice had come out, but he was determined to save whatever friends he still could. "Where did they take her?!"

The enemy only mumbled incoherently instead of giving a useful reply. With his anxiety spilling over, Steve grabbed the man's collar and shook him. "Spit it out!" Tell me something! Please!

Earlier that night, Steve had jumped from the Quinjet with eight other teammates. Four of them had already been shot dead, with Agent Brooks suffering far too long before his abrupt demise. Sam could be gone as well. Steve didn't want to believe that, but they hadn't heard one word from Sam since those missiles had blown him out of the air. And Natasha...The last he'd seen of her, she was plummeting into a sinkhole created by the detonation of numerous buried explosives.

At first, it didn't even look like they could go after her. Clint had called in Maria's air support though, and the barrage of Hellfire missiles she had launched from the Quinjet was enough to suppress the enemy forces closing in on them. Steve, Clint, and Sharon had thus been able to jump down the hole into these tunnels, which were still packed with even more enemy troops.

They had started as a team of nine. Now they were down to just three. Unable to accept that number, Steve kept on shaking his entrapped foe. "Come on! Say something!"

The man rattled back and forth, before he groaned and went limp in Steve's hand.

"Come on!"

"Easy," Clint said as he and Sharon arrived behind Steve. "You must've hit him harder than you thought. The guy's got a concussion or something."

Steve pushed the man upright against the wall. "Hey," he gasped with mounting anger and desperation. "Answer me!" He shook the man again. Nothing. "I'm not done with you!"

"Keep it together, Steve," Sharon said. She laid her hand on his shoulder and he looked at her, seeing the moisture glistening in her eyes. Sharon was putting on a brave face but she was clearly shaken by what had happened to their team as well. "Please."

What am I turning into? Steve thought. He loosened his grip on the man and eased him down into a sitting position against the wall. What would he have done to this poor guy if Clint and Sharon weren't there?

His teammates were depending on him for leadership. Depending on him to stay levelheaded and hopefully rescue Natasha. Protecting his friends was all Steve wanted to do, but he had allowed his emotions to cloud his mind. Steve had to admit that he was having trouble dealing with it all. Understanding it even.

He had reached out for Brooks but fallen short of saving him, just like he had failed to catch Bucky all of those decades ago. And Natasha...why had she stopped him back there? Brooks was critically wounded, dying perhaps, but not beyond the point of any help. The enemy was stretching his life out as bait. They weren't going to kill him just yet...So why had Brooks suddenly been shot in the head? And why had that shot sounded like it had come from behind?

Those questions simmered in the back of Steve's mind, adding fuel to his desire to save Natasha. What had happened to them all that night? What was going to happen? He needed to know she was safe, but just as much he needed to know.

Steve straightened up and looked both Sharon and Clint in the eye. They still had a mission to complete. Reasons to fight on. Hope this was all worth it, Steve thought as he tried to think of what to do next.

The lights and sounds coming from the tunnel to his right made the decision for him.

"Where are those girls you took?" Natasha growled.

"My, aren't you all business. I was hoping we could at least talk for a while. Catch up on old times."

"What's there to talk about?" Natasha stared dead into her rival's eyes, putting on a believably defiant appearance even as she rolled to face her. Let her talk. Buy some time. Natasha's hands were now entirely hidden behind her. She had the degree of secrecy that was required for any escape.

"How you humiliated me before? How you made yourself Uncle Ivan's favorite student, before you betrayed him and the rest of our caretakers? The Red Room was our home, Natasha, and you destroyed it! There's a special place in hell for traitors like you."

"Who betrayed whom?" Natasha asked. She wiggled her body, feeling for any weapons or tools she might still have. Her guns were gone, as were her bracelets and utility belt. However, she felt something underneath her glove on her left wrist. The tiny, handleless blade she carried for emergencies was still there. In their haste and excitement, Yelena's henchmen had failed to notice it. "The Red Room was corrupt and filled with extremists. It would've destroyed Russia as well if I hadn't done anything."

"You always know what's best, don't you? You go around executing own secret agenda, without any care for the people you hurt along the way." Yelena's face remained strong with an angry facade that Natasha was quite familiar with. However, the slight quivering in her voice betrayed her inner torment. "It's not just the Red Room though. It's everything else that's happened since."

"Yeah?" Natasha said in a deliberately snarky tone. "Like what?"

"Like you don't know." Yelena stopped and gritted her teeth, hissing with anger for a moment before she continued. "You, who received your nice little 'redemption' at SHIELD, while your fellow Russians, your sisters, were all hunted down as terrorists. Most of us ended up in their hands. Only they weren't interested in redeeming us."

"It wasn't SHIELD who got to you." Natasha tried to manipulate her blade without giving herself away. "It was Hydra."

"SHIELD, Hydra, it's all semantics. Both just excuses for the corrupt Western fascists to exert control over others. It's all about who wields the power. That's the only law that exists."

Natasha kept working away as Yelena ranted on. With her hands tied, there was no way she was going to pull the blade out of her glove. Instead, she scraped her wrists together to force the blade forward bit by bit. It was a painstaking process and she fought for every millimeter. Eventually, Natasha was able to force the point of the blade hard enough to pierce it out through her glove.

She would have to keep pushing it out until she could get a finger on it. However, it was difficult for her to concentrate while also listening to Yelena's account. Though Yelena was bitter and angry at the world, Natasha couldn't help but identify with her pain. "What did they do to you?" Natasha asked with genuine interest.

"They forced us into their 2R program in the hopes of making us more like you." A tear slid down Yelena's face, and she trembled with rage while struggling to maintain her composure. "Even when we were apart, you were always there, hanging over me as an example of what I had to be. What I hadn't achieved yet. It made me sick. Every day, it was Natasha this. Black Widow that. Do you know what it's like to be held up to an ideal? To be told all the time that you just aren't good enough?"

"I swear, I had nothing to do with it." Natasha saw her foe narrowing her eyes, and she tensed up even as she finally pulled the blade out through her glove. Easy. You're halfway there. Carefully, Natasha slid the blade between two of her fingers and began sawing away at the ropes that bound her. She didn't have to cut through all of them. She just had to weaken the ropes enough so she could force them apart.

"That doesn't matter anymore," Yelena said as she shook her head. "Because after far too long, I finally realized that I would never be free from your shadow unless I seized control for myself."

"The Hydra mutiny underneath Paris. That was you." Natasha felt a section of the rope beginning to split, barely held together by a few thin strands of fiber.

"Magnificent, wasn't it?" Yelena kept smiling even as more tears fell from her eyes, splashing down into a small pool by her feet. "I found allies within Hydra's ranks, and we did to them what they did to SHIELD. Then, I used your interest in those two Indian sisters to draw you out into Paris. Just a few clues, a few small pushes, and you came running in to shatter Hydra's defenses for me. After that, it wasn't hard for my troops to mop up what remained at 2R."

"You found freedom, Yelena." Natasha had timed her sentence to cover the sound of the rope tearing apart. Unfortunately, the knot around her wrists and ankles was still mostly intact. "Why won't you let those other girls have it too?"

"Have you been listening to me?" Yelena looked at her for a moment as if the answer should be obvious. "In a world ruled by power, what reason is there to give it up?"

"So this is just about being in charge for once. Using others to destroy me and my name."

"Oh no, Natasha. I haven't been trying to destroy your name. Not after all those years of wishing that it was mine."

"You're still hung up on Ivan calling me the Black Widow instead of you?"

"You didn't deserve it!" Yelena yelled. She stood up and kicked Natasha in the stomach, almost shaking the blade out from between her fingers. "Not then and certainly not now!" She kicked Natasha again, harder than she had the first time. "The Black Widow isn't a hero! She isn't someone for people to look up to. She's someone to be feared."

"All those killings..." Natasha clenched her teeth and tried to submerge her physical pain. "Your terrorist attacks –"

"They worked like a charm, tearing away at America's dwindling sense of security. It's trust in heroes and even in its government. All while restoring the Black Widow to its proper place in the public consciousness, making the name something that I could again be proud to claim as my own."

"You wanna be the Black Widow?" Natasha breathed heavily, seething with rage even as she began to pull the knot apart behind her. "Then you can have it! Every day is a struggle. Every night is torture! I hate the very moment that Ivan gave me that name...And now I see that you're just so stupid that you actually want it for yourself!"

"Shut up!" Yelena yelled. She grabbed Natasha by the throat and squeezed hard before shoving her away. "Don't pretend it's of no value now that I can finally take it from you!" She drew a combat knife from her belt.

Hurry up. She's gonna do it...Natasha squirmed, trying to loosen the big, clunky knot.

The metal door buckled as Steve rammed it again and again with his shield. Less than a minute ago, a young woman had shouted, "Keep him away from the prisoner!" before fleeing into the room behind it. That was the best thing Steve had heard in the past hour. Buoyed with hope, Steve kept pounding away at the barrier as Clint and Sharon guarded his back against another squad of enemies.

Putting all of his weight into it, Steve finally crashed through the door and stumbled into the next room. He couldn't even rebalance himself before someone came at him from the left.

The man fell against Steve's shield, grabbing it with both hands and trying to snatch it away from him. Holding firm, Steve shook him off and knocked him out with a quick backswing. He heard footsteps to the right and turned just in time to deflect three point-blank shots from a handgun. One of those bullets ricocheted back into its shooter. The other two veered toward the far wall, scaring a third man into ducking instead of taking his own shot. Steve hurled his shield to finish the guy off.

Clunk!

Steve exhaled, taking a momentary respite as the shield bounced neatly off of his opponent's head.

Someone else pounced on him before he could catch it.

Two slender but powerful legs wrapped around his torso from behind, followed quickly with a cord around his neck. His attacker was a woman, one with more skill and ferocity than any of the guys he had dispatched that night.

Steve spun around but couldn't shake her. His shield clanged down on the floor several feet away and he instinctively, futilely reached out for it. Too far...Gotta get her off! This woman was locked on. With her expert use of positioning and leverage, she was negating any advantage he had in strength. Judging from the gunfire outside of the room, Clint and Sharon wouldn't get there in time to bail him out.

Steve suddenly heard a hard blow against his attacker's head. In an instant, the cord loosened and he could feel the woman slipping off of him. He fell to one knee, before he turned around to see who had saved him.

"Still having trouble with the ladies, huh Steve?" Sam smiled as he rubbed his knuckles.

"You're alive..."

His face was bruised, and his costume was sporting some rather large scorch marks. His wings were all torn up, dangling uselessly from his back. Sam unhooked his flight harness and discarded it before giving Steve a hand up.

"Wilson!" Clint yelled as he and Sharon ran into the room. "You look pretty good for a dead guy."

Sam chuckled as he let go of Steve. "Tony wasn't kidding when he said he'd made a few upgrades." He looked down at the ruined flight harness. "Wrapped those wings around me when the missiles hit. They probably saved my life."

"Bad thing is you'll have to beg Stark for a new pair," Clint said. "Natasha. You see where they took her?"

"Yeah," Sam said as he took a pistol from one of their fallen enemies. He checked its ammo, before turning toward another door. "Right this way."

Yelena groaned with frustration as one of her men interrupted her with a radio call.

"They're getting closer!" the man yelled. "We can't hold them off for long!"

"Regroup in Section E," Yelena said. "Guard the prisoners at all costs."

So that's where they are, Natasha thought. Always good to receive intel without her needing to beat it out of somebody first.

"Make sure they're all locked down," Yelena said. "Except for the Indian girl. Send her over to Section C."

"That's it?" the man asked. "That's your plan?"

Yelena turned the radio off. "Now," she said to Natasha, "where were we?"

"Why separate her?" Natasha asked. "What is she to you?"

"Nothing. I just know that she means something to you. I want her to be the last thing on your mind when it ends." She crouched down and pointed her knife at Natasha again. "You're afraid." Slowly, she began to pull down the zipper of Natasha's catsuit. "That must mean I'm doing things right."

After taking the zipper down past Natasha's navel, Yelena pulled the suit apart to expose the big scar on her belly. Remnants of the gunshot wound she had received from the Winter Soldier just off of that highway near Odessa. "Ah, there it is," Yelena said. She menacingly grazed the tip of her knife along the scar. "After Hydra tried to kill you that first time, it was 2R's lobbying that kept you alive. I had no say in that, of course."

Always gotta take your time. Natasha felt the ropes finally coming apart.

"But 2R is mine now, and I've decided to reverse that decision." Yelena pulled her knife back, readying herself to plunge it into Natasha's stomach. "I know how petty this looks. As hard as it might be for you to believe though, I do have actual business reasons for this."

"Whatever you say." Natasha tore herself free, screaming as she kicked Yelena away from her.

The knife flew from Yelena's hands, and she rolled over to retrieve it.

Big mistake, Natasha thought as she jumped on Yelena from behind. She went for the pistol on Yelena's hip and pulled it out for herself. The damn safety was on though. Natasha switched it off, but Yelena elbowed her away a split second before she pulled the trigger.

As she rolled to her feet, Natasha saw Yelena fleeing through the door. She took aim and fired several more rounds without any luck. Damn it. Zipping herself up, she pursued Yelena into the tunnel outside.

"Stop her!" Yelena yelled to a man standing guard over there. She kept on running, disappearing around a corner.

Just another pawn, Natasha thought. She gave the man a quick double tap through the chest before he could bring his assault rifle to bear. Running forward to take his weapon, Natasha saw that it was a short and handy G36C. Her pistol was empty now but she was definitely trading up. Their lives don't mean anything to her, she thought as she took the rifle. Yelena had needlessly thrown away so many of her people's lives, and she would undoubtedly do the same to Priyanka and Sanjana. No way was Natasha going to let that happen. She'd put a stop to it, even if she had to kill everyone in those tunnels that night.

Section B, Steve read from the letters painted on the wall. That's where Sam had said Natasha would be. Hold on, Nat. We're coming for you. Once again, he ran ahead as his team mopped up a group of the enemy troops.

A young blonde woman sprinted across his path into another corridor. That's her. Yelena. Steve was about to give chase when he heard several horrified screams echoing out from the tunnel section she had come from.

"No!" someone yelled. "No! Don't do it!"

A long burst of gunfire silenced him.

Steve froze in his tracks, preparing to raise his shield if he himself came under attack. He heard some slow footsteps, accompanied by the agonized gasps of another man.

That man stumbled into Steve's corridor, dropping his gun as he fell flat onto the floor. He was bleeding from multiple gunshots through his legs, unable to do much more than turn to Steve with a pleading look in his eyes.

Another burst of gunfire ripped into his back, ending his life as well. Seconds later, Natasha marched into the corridor with her rifle still pointed down at the man.

"Natasha..."

"Steve," she replied with surprise of her own. She averted her eyes and bent over to check the dead man for ammo.

"What did you do?" Steve's mouth hung open, and he stood there hoping that she could say something to somehow make this better. Killing people in battle was a tragic necessity, but this looked like a callous execution.

"I got out," she said. Failing to find any replacement mags, she stopped and checked the remaining ammo in her rifle. "The girls are being held in Section E. Make sure to get them out as well."

"Where are you going?"

She didn't reply as she sprinted away into the same tunnel where Yelena had fled.

Crap, Natasha thought as she ran. Didn't know he was there. She had never fully opened herself to Steve precisely to avoid moments like that. The disgusted look in his eyes...His near loss for words. She didn't know what she could even say to him after that. That was assuming they would even get out of those tunnels alive. Now's not the time, she told herself. She forced those thoughts of Steve from her mind as she ran toward some lights at the end of her tunnel.

With only three more rounds in her magazine, she switched her G36 to semi-automatic fire. She'd have to conserve ammo and try to make every shot count.

The tunnel opened into a metal walkway that ran along the walls as well as above the middle of a square room. Yelena stood at the other end of the central walkway with two other people. One of them was a masked woman with a knife. The other one was Priyanka, who was tied to a wooden chair.

"Don't, Natasha!" Priyanka yelled. "It's a trap!"

The masked woman squeezed Priyanka's shoulder and held the knife across her throat to shut her up.

"I know that, angel." Natasha proceeded up the central walkway with her rifle's holo sight set in the middle of Yelena's chest. "It's okay."

"Stop lying to her," Yelena said. She had armed herself with another handgun, but a greater threat was the remote detonator that she was now brandishing in her other hand. "All you ever do is lie."

"What's your game?" Natasha asked. She kept her rifle pointed at Yelena even as she glanced around at their surroundings. There were two flights of stairs at opposite corners leading to the concrete floor fifteen feet below. The floor just beneath the central walkway was clear, but both the right and left sides were neatly covered with two rows of cylindrical metal tanks. Those tanks were stacked two high, and each one was about five feet tall and wider than a person.

There were exits on the far side of the room, both on Natasha's level and below, but they were both closed off with heavy armored doors set several feet within the rocks. Yelena wouldn't have shut those doors behind herself if she intended to escape.

"These storage tanks contain the last samples of a chemical weapon developed by Dran Tech more than fifteen years ago," Yelena said. "It's not nearly as quick and merciful as nerve gas. All it does is burn away the top few layers of flesh, leaving victims alive long enough to truly suffer through their fate. Your government was horrified to learn that such a thing even exists."

"I'm not impressed with your trap," Natasha said as she came to a stop. She had spotted two globs of C4 plastic explosives, each one hooked up with blasting caps and radio receivers. The C4 was pressed onto the same spot on both sides of the room: Between the rows, on the top tank closest to the central walkway. All of the room's deadly contents were thus rigged to blow with just two explosives. "Don't you think it's a bit redundant?"

"It's not for you, Natasha. It's for your little friend. Now I know you don't care about either of our lives. But would you please just think about the child?"

"You're sick."

"How else would I force you into a final duel?" Yelena giggled as she handed the remote to the other woman and took a few steps forward. "It doesn't matter anymore if your friends are on their way. That's because with just one push of that button, young Priyanka over here will die in the most gruesome way imaginable. So let's drop the guns, Natasha. Let's fight each other fairly, one-one-one, like we used to do in the Red Room."

"That's just what you want, isn't it?" Natasha wasn't about to comply by handing over all of the cards. She had a feeling that the henchwoman had been instructed to blow the place anyway in the event of Yelena's loss. The key was the detonator in her hand. How could it be neutralized though? Natasha considered shooting the henchwoman, but even a fatal hit to her vitals might cause her hand to tighten down on the detonation button. There weren't any decent choices here. Only one incredibly risky course of action...

Natasha swung her rifle over and fired at the woman's hand.

She shrieked and flailed her arm, as the detonator flew out and rolled somewhere between the storage tanks on the right side of the room.

Natasha didn't have enough time for a shot at Yelena. Knowing that, she jumped over the railing to her left before Yelena could return fire.

"Damn you!" Yelena yelled as she emptied her mag. "Always making things hard!"

Natasha rolled to cushion her landing and get to cover. Several bullets struck the metal tanks around her. Thankfully, they didn't penetrate. Natasha stood up between the rows, before she spun out to fire her last two rounds. Her first shot missed Yelena as she leaped over the railing toward the tanks on the right side of the room. Rifle bullets were much more powerful than those of a pistol, and Natasha didn't want to chance shooting those tanks herself. The henchwoman was getting up though, so Natasha took aim and fired through her chest instead.

"Aah!" Priyanka screamed as the woman's blood splattered her shirt. She was bawling now, reminding Natasha of how traumatizing the violence could be when someone was still so young.

Natasha dropped her empty rifle and ran to the nearest piece of C4. One down, she thought as she yanked out its blasting caps and radio receiver. The fewer variables she had to deal with, the better.

"No," Priyanka said as Natasha ran underneath toward the right side of the room. "Natasha..."

Natasha wished she could say something to comfort her, but she just didn't have any time. Yelena was undoubtedly retrieving the detonator. Where is she? Natasha thought as she proceeded into the rows of tanks. The room wasn't very big but it was easy to hide with so many obstructions. Doesn't matter, Natasha thought as she turned toward the final chunk of C4. She ran to disable it as well.

"Not so fast!" Yelena yelled. She jumped out and tackled Natasha just as she reached the C4. Both of them fell against the metal tanks, knocking the cylinders over into the open space in the middle of the floor. They rolled several times, and Yelena was able to stay on top. "Fight me already! Stop trying to cheat your way out!" She pressed Natasha down with her left hand as she landed several punches with her right.

Covering her face with her own hands, Natasha tried to determine if Yelena was holding on to the detonator. That was the key factor here, above any grudge match, any pain, or even any of the considerations that went into a normal fight to the death. The punches kept coming down, but Natasha managed to glimpse the detonator on Yelena's belt. Natasha reached out for it.

"Fight me! You're not even trying!" Yelena relented as she realized what Natasha was doing.

That was the opening that Natasha had needed. She punched Yelena in the gut and planted her left foot on the floor. Bridging with the same leg, she threw Yelena off as she seized the detonator from her. Yelena rolled toward the closed doorway at the end of the room. Before she could stand up again, Natasha gave her a flying kick that sent her slamming back into the metal door.

End it, Natasha thought. She saw the storage tank rigged with C4 lying on the floor nearby, and she kicked it into the same rocky crevice where Yelena was.

The tank rolled next to Yelena with the C4 pressed against the metal door behind her. Yelena looked down at it, before glaring at Natasha with an expression of rage mixed with terror. "Coward...You have no honor."

"This isn't about me." Natasha turned and jumped away as she pressed the button.

The C4 exploded, caving in the doorway around Yelena. Rock fragments as well as a sinister yellow-green liquid splashed out onto the open floor. However, the rocks had absorbed most of the blast, keeping it from damaging any of the other tanks in the room.

We're alive, Natasha thought as she heard Priyanka's sobbing. She heard nothing at all from Yelena, who was completely buried under the rocks. A quick death for her enemy was the best outcome she could have hoped for.

Natasha ran around the pool of chemicals on the floor and up the stairs to the walkway where Priyanka was. There, she saw that the masked henchwoman was still alive. She was lying flat on her back with blood gushing out from her chest. All she could do was gasp uncontrollably as her chest heaved up and down.

Hang in there, Natasha thought. She had seen enough death that night. If she could salvage this poor woman's life as well, then she would try. She just had to untie Priyanka first and make sure her friend was okay.

"Why?" Priyanka asked. She trembled and leaned away as Natasha approached, stopping Natasha in her tracks. "Why'd you have to shoot her?"

Shoot who? Natasha's dread was all-encompassing as she bent over to unmask her fallen foe. "Oh God...Sanjana."

To be continued in Chapter 26: The Ugly Truth