Hi everyone! Sorry for the delay I've been bouncing around with work the last week. Thanks for the follows and favorites and to all the readers! I appreciate all of you endlessly. Enjoy xoxox

The ride to Isengard was uneventful and done in a great deal of contemplative silence. Unsure of what lay ahead; the company dare not speak of the possibilities of the future or events of the past. They'd been raked over the coals the few days past both physically and mentally. Yet hope remained in all their hearts. The trip to Isengard could be a turning point for all of them.

For Natalie's part her mind had settled even more during their ride to Isengard. She knew what needed to be done. She knew what the right moves were, but her heart ached in protest. Nat glanced in Gimli's direction where he was seated behind Legolas, looking rather disgruntled at the arrangement. The great tower loomed ahead, dark and foreboding. Smoke rose in numerous areas, billowing high and obscuring the very top from view.

Gimli caught her eye, "Do you still have what I gave to you?" She asked, careful not to raise her voice. He gave her a curious but proud look.

"I've never taken it off lass." He tapped the side of his head.

"Good," She slipped her own on, tapped it, and looked up at the tower; it's spires gleaming black. She spoke quietly into her earpiece, "We'll need them."

Warily they entered the grounds. Water pooled at their feet, lapping at them from a distantly broken dam. Smoke billowed from the ground where the water had extinguished the factories of industry that had armed the Uruk-hai. Gigantic trees had come to life and were milling about picking up rubble and rock, casually tossing the bodies of Orc and Uruk alike into the smoldering pits. Isengard was in ruins; defeated at the hands of the forest. Middle Earth itself had risen up against the impending darkness.

She heard laughter and the voices of two very pleasantly drunk men came into range.

Ahead of her they greeted Gandalf, "Welcome, my lords to Isengard!"

Gimli pushed his and Legolas's horse forward, "You young rascals! A merry hunt you've led us on and we find you feasting and... and... smoking!" he stuttered in disbelief.

The pair looked entirely too small and young to be drinking and smoking as they were. A barrel or two of liquor shared between them. They reminded her of children, sweet-faced and curly-haired, they were exuberantly youthful.

One of them slurred, "We are sitting on a field of victory enjoying a few well-earned comforts." He took a too large bite of his sandwich, "The salted pork is particularly good."

"Salted pork!" Gimli barked in disbelief. The remaining party smiled at the two young hobbits.

The other added, "We're under orders from Treebeard." He motioned behind him to the remains of the tower and surrounding structures. All of it in ruins, "He's taken over management of Isengard." A particularly large tree began its lumbering journey toward them. Its long slow stride made heavy impacts on the ground. She could see the outline of its face and its large blinking aged eyes as they met the giant. Of all the things she'd seen in the last century this was absolute insanity.

"Hooooom, young master Gandalf." Treebeard groaned out. Nat supposed that an ancient tree would consider an old man like Gandalf young. "I'm glad you've come. Wood and water, stock and stone I can master, but there is a Wizard to manage here locked in his tower." He motioned with a long slow limb to Orthanc.

"Gentleman this is where we part ways." She dismounted smoothly into the water and tied her reins to her saddle. Gandalf looked down at her from atop his mount. "I'm going around behind. I'll get in, grab the scepter, grab Eric and get out. You take care of Saruman. Keep his attention." She checked her weapons and unstrapped them from where they were secured in their holster before she met the wizard's heavy gaze. "If, at any point, he uses that thing on me." She turned to Wulfric, "He'll send me after you. You'll have to beat the mind control out of me. Rendering me unconscious should do the trick. If it doesn't, do us all a favor and blow my brains out." She tossed the weapons to him. "I don't care who does it."

"You can't be seriously considering this lass?" Gimli asked in a disbelieving shout that echoed through her earpiece.

"There's nothing I haven't already considered, Gimli." She sent him a sharp look. Her fierce eyes were hot with temper. She wasn't one used to being questioned. "I'm not asking for permission."

She flipped up the control panel on the inside of her sleeve and focused the screen toward the tower.

"User: Blackwidow, engage voice control."

A well-mannered automated male voice responded. "Voice recognition: Blackwidow, command confirmed."

"Scan building; provide possible layout, identify heat signatures."

"Command confirmed. Scan will begin in three...two...one…" A bright laser band shot from her wrist; the red haze of its scan was only visible within three feet from her arm. Carefully her arm unit scanned the tower.

"How does it work?" Haldir slid down from his mount beside her. His boots made a soft splash in the standing water.

Surprised by his genuine curiosity Nat looked up at him. He towered over her. The very top of her head just reached the wide breadth of his shoulders. She met his eyes, set elegantly on his strong face. His features were so pronounced she doubted the world's most renowned sculptors could carve a relief so dramatic from marble.

He could see light, vaguely, coming off the device on her arm. A haze of red that shot into the distance in a rhythmic pattern. It disappeared into thin air a short distance from them.

She studied him as he studied the device on her arm.

"It uses light waves to capture precise geometric data, it measures the building density and can identify where the walls are solid and where they're open. It recognizes temperature fluctuations which would indicate a body."

In seconds she had a holographic rendering with a possible floor plan based on density and heat signatures from the inside. She turned the model with a flick of her finger.

"See here" She zoomed in on a window opening in the stone toward the rear, a floor below where heat signatures were registering.

"I'll enter here, make my way up." She measured the distance visually, "I'll need six minutes to reach and scale the building, one to make the stairs and assess the situation from inside." Nat zoomed back out and took his wrist in her hand. She put his hand inside the hologram. His eyes widened in disbelief. "It's only light."

He ran his hand back through it on his own and looked closely between the building and the small replica in front of him. It was incredibly detailed and very accurate. The small structure was scaled to perfection.

"It's remarkable." He said quietly he studied her a moment. "How much time do you need?" He asked quietly.

She shrunk the hologram down with a quick flick.

She looked between him and up at Gandalf, "Not much. Keep his attention, get what you need from him and I'll make my move when Eric's clear." She pointed at Gimli and tapped behind her ear. "I'll wait for your signal."

Collectively all their gazes turned to the billowing column and the balcony overhanging the edge of the tower.

No one spoke for a long moment. She knew they didn't have the words to tell her to be careful or to try and change her mind.

She was making the rules. She was calling the shots. It was about damn time.

She met Haldir's icy gaze, "Let's move."

She moved quickly and quietly. Her speed and stealth were unparalleled. She'd given herself six full minutes.

She slipped through the opening in the stone, an old-fashioned shutterless window. She checked her timing and grinned. It had only taken her five and a quarter.

She could hear Saruman's raised voice from overhead, carrying down the stone stairs and echoing through the room.

"You are all going to die! But you know this don't you Gandalf? You cannot think you will be triumphant? Gandalf does not hesitate to sacrifice those who are closest to him! Tell me, what words of comfort did you give the Halfling before you sent him to his doom? The path that you have set him on can only lead to death." Saruman, the great deceiver, Gandalf had called him once in passing. He planted the seed of doubt just as strongly as Gandalf could impassion positivity.

Nat wondered what kind of havoc a deranged wizard could wreak upon them. She could feel it in the air and smell it on the breeze, his power and the sulphuric scent that had permeated into her dreams. She hadn't seen Gandalf use much magic except in Rohan when he'd released Theoden from Saruman's hold, but she'd felt its power. She knew it's heady scent.

Nat tapped the earpiece tucked behind her hair. "Gimli, do you copy."

Her wait only lasted a moment, "I hear ya lass."

"I'm in."

Gimli dismounted into the water below, "I've heard enough! Shoot him! Stick an arrow in his gob!" He summoned Legolas to his back.

Legolas reached for an arrow, halting only at Gandalf's next words, "No, come down Saruman and your life will be spared!"

"Save your pity and your mercy. I have no use for it!" He slammed the glowing staff into the ground, the shard from the cube flared a bright blue, sparks dancing around it. "A new power is rising." his fingers caressed its smooth handle.

Gandalf lunged forward, his staff thrusting toward Saruman with a great spark of lightning. Saruman swept the scepter in front of him, the glowing blue shard absorbing the blow and sparking with renewed energy. It would not be so easily dismantled.

"Saruman!" The air around them stirred as Gandalf harnessed his powers. A frigid winter squall, the air went bone chillingly cold. Gandalf drew every ounce of power he could from the world around him, "Your staff is broken!" His voice boomed and with a splintering crack Saruman's staff snapped in his hands.

His wizardry broken; his powers cast aside with his broken staff. He no longer possessed the gifts granted to him by the Valar. The powers he'd taken for granted and twisted to his own dark purpose were gone.

"What have you done!" He turned sharply back to Gandalf. "You do not have the power for such things!"

Gimli turned his face down and mouthed as quietly as he could, "It's done lass."

Nat took Gimli's word and rushed the stairs. Her hurried feet were light and silent over spotless black marble. The tower was well-lit with torches. Their flames danced in the smooth reflection of the floor.

She could hear Gandalf's voice from below. Strong and full of restrained power. "Tell us what you know!" Gandalf demanded, "And we will spare your life in exchange. That is your only option Saruman."

She crept around the last bend in the spiraling stairs. The light from the balcony out front cast it's glow into the stairwell. Small specs of dust swirled in the breeze of outside air. She peaked carefully around the corner to see Saruman leering down at the company below.

The wide-open room was frankly a disaster. Books, papers, plates, cups and left-over food were strewn across every available surface. Wax from hundreds of melted candles pooled all over the floor. The entire place was a disaster.

"You still don't see do you? I still have the advantage. I hold the greatest bargaining tool." He reached down and cradled the blue stone in his hands. It hummed and flared at his touch.

Dangerous, Nat thought. The stone was so incredibly dangerous. If they didn't destroy it or get it to a planet that could defend it, they would all be doomed. Loki had used it as a beacon of power. She imagined if anyone was looking for it, they would have the technology to track it.

Nat took another step forward up the stairs, "Agent Romanoff knows where the power truly lies." He palmed the stone gently, "This, this is limitless."

He sounded all too like Loki. The stone, driven by its own purpose, had its own hold over the wizard. He paused for a moment as he caressed the glowing blue stone, it sizzled and crackled at his fingertips, "Isn't it?" He turned just so and cast his gaze to where Natalie now stood exposed on the stairs. "It's good to see you again, Natasha."

Saruman moved to the center of the balcony as she ascended the last few stairs.

Saruman's magic was gone but he still had the power of the scepter, a very dangerous power in his experienced hands.

She quickly scanned Eric from head to toe. He looked beyond exhausted. The heavy age lines that decorated his face were deep and worn. His skin was darker, likely from the forced sun exposure from atop the tower, yet he looked unhealthy. His cheeks were hollow. His eyes were heavy with worry.

"Are you alright?" Her voice had gone stone cold. Eric's age had caught up with him here. The youthful spirit that had clung to him, that left a twinkle in his eye, was gone.

A subtle shift of his eyes traveled over the wizard and the scepter, "Well enough." He said. His voice a rich timber, 'all things considered' his eyes seemed to add.

"I was so hoping you'd accompany Gandalf and give us some time to talk in person. The dream walking is quite taxing." Saruman added, his long bony fingers wrapped possessively around the scepter with both hands.

"Talking won't get us anywhere new. Your wormy minion ensured that well enough." Natalie shot her angry gaze toward Grima who cowered down behind Saruman. "Your choice of servants shows rather poor judgement Saruman." She tisked her tongue and shook her head, "Not impressed."

Saruman turned gently to gaze behind his shoulder, "Grima has had his uses. There's one more in him yet." Saruman reached out a gentle hand and patted Grima's cheek. Reverently Grima gripped his sleeve and bent to kiss his knuckles.

He hit his knees before Saruman, "My Lord, I am ever in your service."

"I have a deal for you Romanoff." Saruman let his gaze slip to the top of Grima's grease ridden hair as he knelt still at his feet. "I will tell Gandalf everything he's asked to know. His enemy's plans, the locations of our troops and exactly how we plan to defeat them." He turned back to Natalie, "I will give you Grima and Dr. Selvig. Their lives are yours to do with as you wish."

Nat smiled slowly. Did he think her stupid? No deal could possibly be so sweet. His price would be steep. He wanted her and wanted her badly.

"I know what it is you would have me do." Nat glared down at Grima. He'd spilled the beans about that already. "You'll have to do better than that. Do you think that their lives mean that much to me? That anyone's life means more to me than my own?"

Saruman caressed the staff and gazed longingly into the stone, "Coin? You have only to name your price. Power? We can grant you lands, titles, and servants. You can go home. With Sauron at full power we can take you there and make it ours. We can open a gateway between our worlds. If you but join me Natasha. Your doctor will remain unharmed and be free to live out the remainder of his life in comfort." He smiled in maddening glee down atop Grima's head. "And I'd happily watch you do your best on this whimpering fool."

Saruman stepped closer and left Grima on the floor where he began to blubber and plead for mercy. His already pale skin, drawn even thinner and whiter. His fear was palpable.

Eric strode two quick steps forward. His expression was incredibly sobering. "Romanoff." he said in that rich voice of his. The worry lines of his face were drawn together in concern and an unspoken question. How was she going to get them out of this?

Saruman looked up at her and she let him see. Let him see the spark of interest, the heat of murder in her eyes. He wanted the monster...she'd give it to him.

His eyes sparkled with amusement and joy. He'd gotten something he wanted and perhaps this would redeem him in Sauron's eyes. "Come, come." He motioned for her to join him, "Claim your prize." With the scepter clutched in his hand he backed away from Grima, leaving the floor open. Wide eyed and terrified Grima sniveled on his knees before her.

"Please my lady...please…" he cried and crawled away from her on hands and knees toward the balcony railing. Nat grabbed a common dinner knife from Saruman's stale leftover plate. She ran the blade down her thumb; it left a thin trail of blood. Sharp enough.

"Please." He begged in the light of day. He'd just made it to the railing when she was on him. He grabbed the marble spindles with white knuckled hands.

"Shh shh shh.." Natalie knelt beside him and carded her hand through his grease ridden hair. She cupped his face and gripped it tightly between her hands, squeezing until his jaw was forced to open wide. He let out a choked sob as she drew his face up. She forced him to look at her, green eyes bore into wide terrified blue.

"Spiders dream of many things, little worm. I've thought about your death for some time now. I've dreamed gruesome, beautiful, things. I've filleted you alive, piece by piece dismantled you. I've sectioned your skin from muscle and muscle from bone." She inhaled deeply, nostrils flaring, she could nearly taste it. His fear permeated the air. "I've peeled your milky skin from your flesh. Have you ever seen a man turned inside out?" She caressed his cheek. "I have. I've done it with my own hands."

Her deft fingers rotated the blade in her hand and she brought it to his cheek.

"But the hunt is over and I've caught my prey." She let the weight of the blade cut a thin line over his cheek. Blood welled to the surface and over her hand clutching his face. "Your corpse will rot here, headless and broken." She thumbed the blood across his cheek. "Can you picture it worm? Your flesh bloated and rotting, filled to bursting with maggots until, poof, you split open and the stench alone would render a man unconscious."

Grima gagged at the image. Tears spilled down his cheeks unchecked.

"Good, good you're picturing it." She tilted his head back, his face toward the sun. "Hold on to it." and ran her blade across his throat. The red bloom of his blood flowed behind in its wake. She pulled his hair tighter and levied the slit in his throat open wider. Skin stretched and ripped. He gagged on his blood. His mouth opened in a silent scream.

She let him suffer. Tears cascaded from his stricken eyes and his blood burst forth in a spray that coated his face and hers.

Death was a messy business.

She sliced again all the way to his spine and with a mighty twist and a pull she separated his head from his body. A shiver ran down her spine and she grinned like the devil himself. Nat left his body slumped on the marble floor. His blood seeped out in waves with the last beats of his heart and cascaded over the balconies edge. Blood mingled with his own piss as his body died and his muscles went lax.

She grabbed his head by its hair. His mouth stuck open in horror.

Fucking maggot.

Using the handrail, she steadied his head and drove the blade through the top of his skull plate with bone crushing force.

Never again would he lay an unkind hand on any woman or child. Never again would he stalk the halls of Rohan.

Looking out she met the horrified gazes of the company. Gimli stood at the ready, his ax in hand and her gun strapped to his side. Surely he was relaying everything he heard. Did he think she would betray them? Did they?

Wulfric, Haldir and Legolas had moved to the front line...Good. Leave it to the dwarf. She could count on him. Then she turned her gaze to Theoden, a spineless excuse of a man.

"A gift." She said as she tossed down Grima's head, "For Eowyn." The skull thudded to the marble base with a wet smack and rolled down the stairs into the shallow waters below. "For her I did what you could not, what you would not, do." Grima would never again exploit the innocent women and children of the Mark. Her glare sharpened. "And for your son, a victim of Grima's deceit and treachery."

Theoden's face contorted in pain. Her emotional hammer appeared to have caused him physical anguish. Mercy...Grima had deserved no such thing.

She whispered as quietly as possible for only Gimli to hear, "Gimli?"

"Aye." Came his choked reply, "You don't have to do this lass."

"Wulfric takes point on me. Shoot to kill Gimli."

"Lass." She heard him say. Distress clear in his voice. She turned from his view and made back to the room's interior.

"Goodbye Gimli." She replied and reached up to turn her ear com off. Saruman was waiting.

Her re-entrance was rewarded by Saruman's slow steady clap. "Well done, Agent Romanoff, well done."

Eric stood quietly by the door, his weight shifting from one foot to the other. He looked incredibly uncomfortable and pale. She thought perhaps he might be ill from the look of him. She tried to calm him with a look. To communicate to him that she would make sure he was safe and that the stone was with him.

"Let him go." Nat indicated to Eric, "I'll do as you ask." She stepped closer to him until she was invading his personal space. His yellowed teeth peaked past his thin lips, rotten from the inside out. "Give Gandalf the information he wants." She reached out slowly, a small smile playing on her lips. "And I'll show you how to really use this." Saruman leaned in ever so slightly and eased the staff away from her quick hands. His stinking breath exhaled close to her face. She could see it now, the subtle hint of flame in his eyes. Sauron was with him in many ways.

His eyes turned to glass as he beheld the stone in wonder, "It speaks to me." He whispered in awe, "It tells me many things." he caressed it softly, maddeningly.

He turned those mad eyes to her. His dark brows hung low over his eyes and he looked for a moment as if he'd come to a very clever decision. With a speed that surprised her he lashed out with the business end of the scepter. She barely dodged the strike, low to the ground she rolled away and back to her feet.

That's the way it's going to be then, she thought. She had figured it would come to this. She'd planned on it.

He struck again and again. Desperately trying to touch her with the stone, to invade her mind and make her a slave to Sauron. She shuddered at the thought. She was dangerous as she was...in the hands of someone else she feared for the people of Middle Earth. Weaponless she grabbed the scepter with her bare hands and with a twist she tried to wretch it from his hold and was surprised when it didn't budge. Somehow, he was impossibly strong. His connection with Sauron had ensured he'd kept some of his supernatural abilities, including his strength. With his staff broken and his powers gone, the only strength he had left was what he could draw through Sauron. When his hold remained unbroken, she dropped down using her body weight to draw him over her and braced her feet at his hips to throw him. His eyes were ablaze with fire and sorcery. Remarkably he remained standing. The full heat of his gaze seared her to the marble floor. She grunted with effort, but he'd gone solid as lead. Desperately she tried to dislodge him to no avail.

"Eric!" She yelled, turning her gaze to find him against the wall, wide-eyed and frozen. "Run!" She said with as much effort as she could spare. Saruman began to sink down over her, pressing his full weight and power into her. His eyes scorched her with the fire that was the entity of Sauron staring down at her. Her arms strained and she pushed desperately to lock out her elbows. She cried out with the effort. Above her Saruman's face grew into a slow smile, his thin lips peeling back over his yellowed teeth.

The scepter was locked between them as their battle continued. The stone flared with the surge of power in Saruman's eyes.

"I….See...You." A voice deeper than his own echoed from his mouth and straight into her mind. She shook it trying to clear the echo of his voice but found herself unable to counter the driving force of Sauron's magic. Her head pounded as if someone was bashing the inside of her skull against the floor at her back.

A flash of grey b-lined straight for them. With an enraged cry Eric lunged at Saruman brandishing a candelabra. The warning cry had barely left her lips before Eric managed to swing his weapon. Perilously she kicked out a leg, it connected with Eric and sent him reeling toward the door.

She'd bought his safety with her demise.

Unbalanced her other limbs gave way beneath the tremendous weight of Saruman's body and Sauron's sorcery. The stone and scepter pierced her shoulder. The red and orange burning stare suddenly blazed in an inferno of blue. Absolute agony took her over as its power flowed through her. She couldn't contain the gasping cry of anguish that tore past her lips. Saruman's arms went lax at his accomplishment and with the last shred of her sanity, she tore the scepter from his weakened hands and flung it with all her might at the door. A guttural sound escaped her as every muscle in her body spasmed against the onslaught of power over-riding her nervous system.

Her back arched off the marble.

Her nails split into her own palms.

And then ...she was gone.

****8/2/20**** Hey all I'm working really hard on editing this next chapter. It might take me a few more days to finish up. I'm hoping to have it up by next weekend as I have two weddings to conduct Friday and Saturday and their rehearsal dinners! Wish me luck.