Scarlett
Part 31
Denial
Sounds, noise, people crying and screaming from pain, grief, lost hope and no future. Agent Romanoff saw it everywhere in the streets of the cities, villages. Everyone was morning and everything was incorrect. She had to travel back to her home, where she had left her precious child. Deep inside she was empty, no feelings, no emotions, nothing. She hasn't felt this way for a long time, since she blew up that hospital where a lot of children died. Was it her fault? She blamed herself for this during all these years ahead. She hated herself trying to gain on redemption. That very moment so long ago she felt nothing, just like today when she traveled back to her house in the woods.
Earlier robbery and looting made Romanoff stare blankly at those weak cowards, who tried to get something more for their miserable lives. But today was different. She was driving through a small town when suddenly she saw a man with his head covered in blood lying on the street near, probably, his own shop where a gang of looters were taking out the goods. Natasha pushed the breaks so hard that they squeaked and the car came to a halt. She didn't say a word, came out of the car and shot the first man who was carrying some merchandise in the head. His friend had the same ending. Then she finished the other guy. Someone shot back hiding behind the shelves with cereal, but in ten minutes the gang of 6 were lying dead in puddles on blood liking from their heads. Romanoff dialed 911, put the phone in the hand of the shop's owner and drove away.
It took the woman three weeks to get home. She went up the silent stairs of her empty house and opened the door to Scarlett's room. Books on the shelves, a computer on the table, bed neatly covered, some toys in a special treasure chest and nauseating silence. One thing was missing, the girl was not here anymore…
Anger
"Hello, Barton," she said entering his house. She wasn't too polite. Why asking "How are you?" when everything's is written on the face of your friend. Dark circles under his eyes, slightly weight loss, tiredness in the whole body, some grey stripes of hair on the head. To be polite this time might end with a punch in your face.
"Hi, Nat." He greeted and let her come inside.
Nathaniel was crying in the kitchen while Cooper was persuading him to eat something. Romanoff came in the kitchen, took Nathaniel in her arms and threw him in the air two times to take the toddler by surprise. The little fellow immediately stopped crying very puzzled by an unknown lady. When his face turned from an astonished one to scared one she quickly put the toddler on the lap of his brother, who managed to give him a spoonful of porridge.
"Thank you, Nat!" Cooper greeted her, "I cannot feed him today. Maybe he's sick."
"Where's your mom?" She asked picking on some crackers that were on the table.
"Laura's upstairs sleeping, I guess," Clint's voice came from the doorway.
"It's already ten o'clock." Natasha looked at her watch.
"She's sleeping a lot recently since Lila's disappearance," Clint answered in a low voice.
"I see." Romanoff took a deep breath looking how Nathaniel was eating his porridge without any protest. The child was hungry for sure. "I came to take Scarlett's things if you don't mind."
"Yes, of course. They are in Lila's room. Let's go."
In Lila's room Natasha found what she was looking for. Chesire, a stuffed purple cat was sitting on the desk near Lila's computer.
"Does she eat anything?" Romanoff broke the silence.
"Who?" asked the man with a pink elephant in his hand. This was Lila's favourite toy.
"Laura."
"She's falling away to nothing before my very eyes. I tried everything I could, but nothing can take her out of this depression. I don't know how to help her. I lost my girl, now I'm losing my wife, what a man am I?" He sat down on the edge of the bed with tears falling down his cheeks.
Romanoff sat near him and put her hand on his knee.
"Clint, I want you to take Nathaniel and go for a walk. I need Cooper, maybe I can help you with Laura."
The man nodded wiping away his tears.
"I'm sorry, Nat. I'm so sorry for Scalett! If it wasn't her, I would have lost my whole family."
"It's not your fault, Clint."
He took her hand in his and squeezed it a little.
"I'll go take my son for a walk."
Half an hour later agent Romanoff pushed Cooper into Laura's bedroom pointing a gun at him.
"Move, son of the bitch!" She commanded the boy sternly who was shaking a little from such behavior of his favorite aunt.
"Nat," Laura's weak voice sounded in the room. The woman lazily sat up when her eyes widened from the picture.
"Open the curtains, Cooper, let your precious mother see how you'll die in front of her!" Romanoff pointed the gun at boy's head, watching with one eye Laura's reaction.
"Oh, Dear! Nat, calm down!" Laura stretched her arms towards the agent already sitting in a startled position of the woman who would do anything to save her child from danger.
"Why so jumpy, Laura? Cooper said you didn't give a damn about him or Nathaniel for weeks. Maybe Scarlett's death to save you was in vain? Maybe you can return her to me?!"
Without hesitation Romanoff shot. The bullet hit the wall taking down some parget. The boy ducked and squinted with fear, when Laura jumped at Nat, who immediately threw away the gun taking the woman down with her. No matter how weak Laura was, she was fighting like a panther, whose kitten was in danger. But who could take down the Black Widow? In a minute Natasha was standing above Laura, twisting her arm in a strange angle to make the woman lie down with her face on the floor.
"Scarlett gave her life to save your children! A ten-year-old girl was wiser when a mother of three. Yes, Lila's dead and nobody can bring her back, but your sons are alive! They are still breathing! They need their mother! Nothing will be the same again, not for you, not for me, not for them, not for this damn world! But they try to move forward! If you let the sacrifice of my child go in vain, I will come back, kill you and all the members of your family! Do you hear me!"
Natasha screamed mounting above the woman, who was sobbing uncontrollably on the floor. She made a small sign to Cooper who kneeled beside his mother and gave her a hug. Romanoff took the gun from the floor and left the room.
"I'm sorry, Cooper. I'm so sorry, Nat." She heard Laura's sobs but she didn't want to stay. The Black Widow took the crocheted cat, sat into the car and drove away.
Bargain
"What am I doing here in the support group of these abused women? This is nuts, but after the snap nothing has changed. Human nature remained the same. So, I'm sitting here, listening to these poor women, whose husbands or boyfriends sexually, morally, physically abuse them. Still, they don't have enough strength to leave them. All of this is bullshit! I have to do something, to make them feel better, to make the death of my little girl worth the suffering she went through."
Romanoff made up a story about an abusive boyfriend, whom she left several months ago. If she wanted to help these women, they had to trust her. These poor creatures didn't trust anyone, even themselves.
Then, the Black Widow methodically paid visits to all those abusive bastards. Some went away just with broken bones, others faced their worst fears and nightmares. Those, who liked sexual games, went through hell. Natasha was merciless. She found satisfaction in breaking such powerful men. She tracked all the records of the repeated violence and made the offender pay a hundredfold. It couldn't last forever, though. Once, one of the guys finally killed his wife after Natasha's visit and everything went south.
Depression
"Steve, I think I found her," said James Rhodes appearing in the room while others had already made their reports.
"Are you sure about it? You know, this is Romanoff. We have been searching for her like for a needle in a haystack. If we are one step closer, she can be a mile away by now," Steve replied tiredly.
A tail of bloody deaths stretched out after Natasha like an unending stream. The woman killed drug dealers, human traffickers, serial killers, mafia bosses, corrupted politicians etc. The list could be continued forever. She was nowhere and everywhere at the same time. If the leader of one clan died in one country, it didn't mean that a heroin cartel was safe in another part of the world. Black Widow was sly, smart, untraceable. Bad guys called her "Death" while their victims named her "Angel".
"Three years have passed but it's her handwriting. A Yakuza base was massacred in Japan, only the top leader survived. I don't think for long." James shrugged his shoulders.
"How much time do we have?"
"From 24 to 32 hours, I guess."
"Thank you, Rhodes. I'll get the quin-jet."
Japan, 5 a.m.
The shooting stopped when Steve Rogers appeared on the site. It was drizzling outside. Nevertheless, the sky above was covered with a thick layer of dark clouds that didn't seem to be friendly to the stranger. A gusts of wind blew in the face, when suddenly a man with a cry fell from the skyscraper and landed on the pavement fifteen feet away from Captain America. Rogers looked above trying to figure out the window the men got through. Shooting started again from the building to his left. A guy appeared in the doorway shooting uncontrollably at the silhouette, that was following him like a ghost. He shouted something in his language, but Rogers wasn't fluent in Japanese. He didn't even know the basics.
"Nat, let him go." Captain America stood in front of the man, whose gun clip was empty and he hid behind Steve asking probably for help in an unknown language.
"Move away, Rogers, or I'll move you!" The woman hissed not slowing her stride.
"Nat, I don't want to fight with you!"
Steve made a motion to let her know that he was unarmed. She attacked him not trying to hurt but mostly to move him to the side. He fought back, defending himself, trying not to be grazed by a professional katana in her hands. The other man ran, which was his fatal mistake. Romanoff ducked getting away from Steve's fist and send her weapon into a free flight. The katana pricked right through the man's throat. The Japanese guy fell on the ground clutching the blade that stuck out from his bleeding neck. A moment later his body got numb. He fell with his face on the pavement.
"Natasha, you cannot bring her back. Thanos is dead. Thor killed him approximately three years ago."
"I don't give a damn." She shouted getting the katana out of the dead body.
"I do." He came closer and put his arms around her. "Romanoff, this is not who you are. I need you to restore S.H.I.E.L.D. I need the person who cared, who always was on my side, who wanted to make things right. Killing people is a way to nowhere."
"This is my way!" She wanted to shake off his hands but couldn't. He pressed her closer to his body.
"I'm sorry," Steve whispered in her ear making an injection into her artery. In a second the Black Widow lost consciousness.
Acceptance
It took Rogers half a year until he let her go freely wherever she wanted. Patience, kindness, balance was a win-win basis in this awkward game of hide and seek, where one side was aggressively hiding her softer parts and another side was seeking for the true emotions. Finally, they both found this tender equilibrium. Their friendship flourished no matter what challenges the remnants of S.H.I.E.L.D. had to face.
To be continued…