Chapter 4: Red
The ride to the airport was quiet for Natasha. Beside the fact that she was riding by herself, her mind was quiet. She knew what was going to happen, how her journey would probably end today. She was trying to make peace with it, but there was something in the pit of her stomach that was slowly rising. Natasha rolled up to the airport and turned off her bike. She leaned it over and kept it propped up with her foot. She took her helmet off and hung it on one of the handle bars. She glanced over to her right and saw Pepper Potts standing at the front door.
"This oughta be interesting," Natasha murmured, her mind still in other places.
The last time she saw Pepper, and well Pepper saw her, was when she was Natalie Rushman, evaluating Stark for the Avengers. She didn't say much to Pepper after she took off after Vanko from the Expo. In fact she had Shield sent her resignation in and didn't talk to Pepper to explain herself. What she did know is that Pepper was now one of the best CEOs in the entire world, and had a whole lot more confidence than she had back during the Expo. Which meant that Pepper could do whatever she wanted to her, throw lawsuits and sue her for all she had, and she wouldn't even have a case. Her assets were still resetting after the Shield takeover, and she had lost a good three million dollars from her web. She had her private accountant working on retrieving most of her money back, and she knew that Matt would help her in the courtroom, but it was still a fight she did not want to have.
She followed Steve, Terra and Bruce towards the plane, not saying goodbye to Sam due to the fact that they barely knew each other and made her way to the plane. Pepper said her hellos to the rest of the group and then turned to Natasha. Natasha could see Pepper trying to read her and she was almost afraid of what she was going to say next. As it turned out, she had nothing to worry about.
"Hello, Natasha. I was informed you were coming along, nice to see you again," she said, as professional as ever.
"It is nice to see you as well Miss Potts," Natasha said respectively. She didn't want to push anything, and she knew she had limited time anyway.
"We should start boarding now," Pepper said, heading off with Terra to the plane. They seemed like they were very good friends, and Natasha was glad that Pepper had someone at least. She figured Tony would be enough of a handful to need someone to vent to every once in a while.
Natasha waited for everyone else to board first, making sure her backpack was secure. She did have a couple of concealed weapons, a couple meaning about 7. Two guns, her widow bites, and a couple of knives. A girl could never be too sure, especially with Hydra running around. She knew she could get them through airport security, what kind of spy was she if she couldn't get past TSA agents. As they boarded the plane, Steve and Pepper had a conversation about stopping in New York for supplies, but Natasha felt like she wasn't needed in this.
Natasha just moved in silently and sat down in a seat that was facing a small table. Stark always had his fancy jets. She pulled out her laptop and opened it up, easily cracking the wifi. Natasha plugged some earbuds in and opened up the web browser, ready to do some serious research. Her home page popped up and it was just a popular news site, and boy was it busy. Pictures of the helicarriers and Rogers were everywhere. Videos of his and Terra's press conference were dotted around too, and for the most part, they were all singing Captain America's praises.
Captain America Exposes Hydra, saves the world.
Shield no more, Hydra Exposed thanks to Captain America.
Natasha smirked at the headlines that were there and was about to click off the page when an article in the bottom left caught her eye. She scrolled to it and read the headline.
KGB Assassin, Natasha Romanoff, not being charged with anything.
Natasha opened the document and it led her to a video from Alex Jones. Natasha sighed as she saw the numerous comments agreeing with the man even before she watched the video. She looked up from her laptop to make sure that none of the other people were close to her at the moment, and clicked play on the video. It opened up with Alex Jones sitting on a chair in front of a screen with her face on it. Natasha knew this was trouble when he began to speak.
"Now," he began. "I think we all owe Captain America and his team a giant thanks for what they did for this country. But let's talk about something that everyone is seeming to forget. The person that dumped all of the information on the web was a woman named Natasha Romanoff, or as she is called in the underworld, the Black Widow. Shield has had her in the background doing covert ops and staying out of the light for a decent amount of time, and for good measure. Natasha Romanoff is a criminal. Before, there might have not been enough information to convict this woman, but due to recent developments, Romanoff has handed all of this information to us. She is an ex-KGB spy, working against the United States for most of her life. She is credited with the murder of over 300 American citizens, and those are just confirmed kills. That doesn't count any US citizens that were not confirmed, or any international kills. She is also, get this, responsible for the capture of Ho Yinsen, the man that created and saved Tony Stark aka Iron Man. Now this Russian whore is just waltzing through our great country without having to answer for her crimes. I think we as an American people should demand that this woman be apprehended, convicted, and hanged for the horrible crimes she has committed against this country, and if I was Captain America or anyone from the Avengers, I would look into these files before you protect this scum of a woman. And if you are watching this Natasha Romanoff, the American people will not stand for this, and we will be coming for you."
Natasha didn't even know she was holding her breath until the video was over. She looked to the analytics only to have her stomach drop even lower. 15,654,867 views already, and over 500,000 likes and less than 50 dislikes. Natasha just leaned back and played the video again, listening to every true word that this man was saying.
After playing the video again, she glanced up to see Steve waving at her, trying to get her attention. She quickly took her ear buds out and hit the back button on her page, sending her back to the main home screen. She didn't need Rogers seeing anything that would bother him at this point.
"Captain," Natasha said, lying fluently. "I'm sorry, just reading up on the latest news. The media loves you guys, almost makes me sick to read and here everything on the web now."
"Steve," he corrected, always being the gentleman. "And you don't have to apologize. I was just curious what you were reading. You seemed very engrossed in it." He leaned his chin on his palm and his elbow on the armrest to get a better look at both Natasha and her laptop. "What are they saying about us now?"
"All good things," Natasha said truthfully, not including herself in the 'us'. "Praising you and Montgomery, heroes of DC. The sentinels of Liberty. Sacrificing all to take down Hydra, no matter the cost. Your speech is on every news site on the planet. Approval rating is through the roof. It's like you're on those dreadful War Bond tours again."
Natasha smiled a little at that memory, the first time she saw a video of Captain America. They had showed it to the Red Room girls in her early days of training, figuring that Captain America would be a target for Russia in the future and not anticipating him going down in ice.
"The Star Spangled Man with a plan right?" Natasha said. "Surprised you didn't keep the triangle shield, I mean how do you know what to say without looking at your lines on the back of it."
Steve groaned and slid his hand up to cover his eyes. "Ugh, don't remind me." He leaned back in his chair, amusement bubbling inside him despite himself. "I've recited those damn lines so many times I could probably still do it. As for the triangle shield, it was only made of tin. It came in semi-handy that first time," he admitted thoughtfully, rubbing his chin as he looked back at his memories, the ones that weren't too traumatic. "But it got kind of destroyed after. And when I saw her later-" he patted the shield that stood next to his chair, "-I knew she was the one for me."
"Yeah well I owe a little of my life to that shield," Natasha said. "You saved my ass in Stalingrad when you were there in '44. That school you got civilians out of when the Germans had us pinned. So thanks for that I guess." She hadn't seen Rogers that day, but she heard all of the buzz after they were rescued. Captain America and his Howling Commandos had swooped in and saved the day, saving all of the children from the Nazis. She smiled internally at the memory, it being one of her fondest ones.
He blinked in surprise and sat up straight. Natasha knew he was trying to piece together how she was in that situation, and for good reason. Her age and serum were off the books, no access to anyone but four people at SHIELD. Fury, Coulson, Hill, and Barton were the only ones. "Uh, you're welcome," he managed, and Natasha could tell that he really didn't know what to say. "It was a team effort."
"Fury probably didn't tell you about that," Natasha said, shrugging. "Him and his compartmentalization and all. See the Russians also wanted a Captain America. As did Hydra and so on and so forth. There were many attempts across the world at trying to recreate you. James was one of them, you've seen his strength and speed, and well I'm another attempt. Enhanced speed, strength, regeneration. Not as good as yours, think of it as a light beer to a regular."
Natasha knew that she needed to get some trust out of Steve. Not for longevity or any purpose for herself, but so he would know that any information she gave him about the Winter Soldier would be legit. So he could actually find some stuff out about who James Buchannan Barnes was.
"Natalia Romanova," she said with a little shrug and smile. "Born 1929 Volograd, Russia."
Natasha could see him try and process all of the information. She could see a little anger about the repeated attempts to recreate him, something that wasn't shared with him, so rightfully so. Also, the fact that he was talking to someone that had some shared life experience with him, and was roughly the same age. He had about ten years on her, but that was neither here nor there.
"Steve Rogers. Born 1918 Brooklyn, New York," he said, figuring it was only appropriate. "It's nice to meet you officially uh, Natasha."
"Natasha is fine," Natasha said, sensing his uncertainty of what to call her. It was actually kind of sweet. Not wanting to assume anything or be rude. She could read people really well, and she could also tell the questions that were nagging him. "So," Natasha said. "What do you want to know about James Barnes?"
He looked away, suddenly tense. He tried to hide it, but he was crap at it. "I..." but Natasha could tell he didn't know where to start. He probably wanted to know everything. He hadn't even gotten a good look at the folder before he'd given it to Sam, but that didn't really compare to real life experience, and Natasha had plenty of that. Steve took a deep breath. "When did you first meet him?"
"September 23, 1957," Natasha said, remembering the day well. "He oversaw the last part of my training. It was brutal, harder than anything I've ever gone through before. It hardened me, allowed the serum to really flow through my body. He cracked my femur that day with his metal arm."
He blinked again. "I may need a bit more explanation than that," he confessed. "Why was he overseeing it? What was his exact role? And why did he break your femur? If- if you don't mind my asking."
Natasha had never talked this much about her past with anyone other than Clint and Laura before. It was information that no one really needed to know, and that she was comfortable with sharing. But she could tell that Steve wasn't so much interested in her past but in James'.
"The Russian Army picked up James when he fell off the train," Natasha said, racking her brain for the information. "After attaching his metal arm, they cryofroze him until the war was over and you were in the ice. He would be woken periodically to train and carry out kill missions. His memory would be wiped periodically to keep him loyal to the Soviet Union. After I graduated from the Red Room and became the Black Widow, we became partners if you will, but he trained me until I was up to his standards. He broke my femur in a spar. I left an opening and for the Red Room, that usually meant something broken."
Steve swallowed thickly, and Natasha could see the guilt building up. "Did he...? Were there any.. signs that he was... that he remembered...?" He was trying to keep composure, and Natasha admired the hell out of that. "Was he like he is now? Blank? No personality or emotions?"
Natasha saw the absolute sorrow on Steve's face. She knew what that was like. To have her past and integrity questioned by something that wasn't in her control. "Hey," Natasha said, pushing her laptop aside and placing a hand over his. "None of this is your fault Steve. You hear me? None of it. Here." Natasha reached into her backpack and pulled out a bottle of vintage Russian vodka. She snatched two glasses and poured a hefty amount of the liquor in each glass. "I know you can't get drunk," Natasha said, putting the top back on the bottle. "I know the pain. But when I drink enough of this stuff, it dulls the senses a bit. Russian liquor will do that for you."
He looked down at the hand she'd placed over his, and Natasha knew that it would take more than her words to convince Steve that it wasn't her fault. The best she could do was help him through it. "Thanks," he said, accepting the glass. "Alcohol never quite did the trick after the serum, but old habits die hard, you know?" He tried to smile, but Natasha could tell that it didn't quite reach his eyes.
Natasha looked at him, for real this time. She had a way of reading people that she didn't do often. It was intimate, and almost as she was staring into his soul and picking him apart. She usually did this with marks, men or women she needed to seduce to gain information. But this, this was different. All she saw was a man that wanted to fight for others, and blamed himself for what went wrong.
"James will come back," Natasha said. "He didn't give up easily when I knew him, real pain in the ass sometimes, but always came back after a mission. He just may need some space, time to try and figure out who he actually is now. I know it took me some time after Clint brought me to Shield, and you probably needed some too after they fished you out of the ice."
Natasha picked up her glass and downed the entire thing, putting her burdens aside for Steve now. She grabbed the bottle and uncapped the top, filling the glass again.
"I know it's hard to believe and that you don't right now, but in this job that we do, the crazy death defying stuff that we take on, is to protect people," Natasha continued. "It took me a while to see it, but in all that you've done, you try to save as many people as you can. Sometimes, that doesn't get to be everyone. But, knowing James the way I knew him, a man of that integrity would make that sacrifice over and over again to accomplish the goal that you set out to do. It fucking hurts right now, and there is a part of it that always will hurt. But the night is darkest just before the dawn. He'll come back, when he's ready he'll come back to you."
Natasha topped Steve off and grabbed her glass and stood up. She walked over to the other side of the table, threw caution into the wind, and kissed Steve on the cheek. It wasn't much, just to let him know that she would be there. That she knew what he was going through and that James was a crucial part of her life too. She walked to the back of the jet where the bathrooms were to freshen up before the slog that was about to come.
Manhattan, New York
Avengers Tower
When they landed in New York, Steve ordered the team to suit up and grab their gear. They were leaving again in fifteen minutes for Mexico City. Pepper led Terra and Natasha to Terra's old room when she stayed previously. "Tony knew your weapons of choice and, well, you know him," Pepper said to Terra with a hint of adoration as she walked over to press her hand against the wall to open a hidden cabinet. Terra gasped at all the new toys.
There was a new suit, a different design from her old one. It was the catsuit but it was cut as a dark grey latex t-shirt with a zipper down the middle and black mesh sleeves. The suit had hard protective black pads on the shoulders, elbows and knees. There was an A insignia on the right arm, for Avengers. Her lower face mask was the same, except navy blue, as was her belt. Terra took down the metal bo staff of the rack to examine it.
"Uh yes, I know Tony made some modifications to the staff," Pepper said slowly and looked at her apologetically. "I have no idea what they are though."
"Guess I'll just have to fiddle and find out," Terra chuckled, whipping it down so it extended. Good to know some things were the same.
Pepper left her with a hug and made her promise to be safe before leading Natasha to a workshop with racks of general guns and weaponry Tony had. "He may have a prototype for Terra's suit since he had to specially make it to adjust to her mutation," she said. "And you guys should be around the same size, though Terra is a bit shorter, aha!" She pulled it out from a cabinet. It was like the one Terra had but darker and no mesh sleeves, just regular black long-sleeved. "I hope this will be okay?"
Natasha eyed the suit that Pepper offered her and looked at the 'A' on the shoulder. "I have my suit from DC," Natasha said, pointing to her backpack. She didn't feel like she had earned the Avenger title yet, or even deserved it in the first place. "I'll take some ammo though."
Pepper nodded and left the room so Natasha could change and gear up. Natasha slipped into her catsuit, and pulled out her belt. She paused before clipping it on, and looked at the red hourglass on the front of it. She took a deep breath and clipped it on, grabbing some extra Glock magazines and placing them in her belt. She holstered her two guns and took out her gauntlets. She was short on a couple widow bites, and she didn't have any spares, so that would have to do. She put them on and activated them to see that the tasers still worked in them. Her garrote was still intact, so that completed her checkup on her weapons. She did grab a combat knife that Stark had on the wall and placed it in a sheath on her calf.
She was about to walk towards the elevator when she looked in the mirror. Her hair was turning into her brighter shade of red it usually was. She had dyed it darker to keep her less suspicious, but she was headed towards a Red Room Installation, where she would probably end up dying. She took a deep breath and took out the combat knife and started cutting her hair to chin length. If she was going out, then she was going out herself.
Fifteen minutes later Natasha walked on to the helipad, seeing Terra there already and surveyed the New York skyline from the top of Stark tower, or the Avengers tower now, she guessed. Her hair blew in the wind as she gazed out and tried to imagine what it would have been like if she was here during the Chitauri incident.
Once everyone was there, Steve took command again. There were a couple of other faces that Natasha recognized from various reports, but she wasn't focused on learning them at the moment. "Alright everyone, if you're ready to leave, let's board the jet. If not, be back here as soon as you can. The longer we wait, the longer Clint's in captivity. Romanoff, can you fly?"
"Yeah, I can fly," Natasha said, heading towards the jet and walking inside. She climbed into the cockpit, sat down and started prepping the jet to go, slipping on a pair of earphones with a mouthpiece to communicate with. Once everyone was settled, Natasha lifted the jet off the ground and sent it skyrocketing into the sky. She pushed the speed on the jet, wanting nothing to get this over with as soon as possible. "We'll be in Mexico City in two hours," Natasha announced. "Sooner if I can."
"Alright, Archer, Stanton. What are we walking into?" She heard Steve say from the back. So she figured out the names of the people that were traveling with them, filed them away in case she needed them. They were probably focused on the Hydra base that was in Mexico City. Information she probably wouldn't need, since the Red Room base wouldn't be there, but she would still listen in, just in case.
"Their base is essentially a massive warehouse. I was able to infiltrate through the roof and sneak through their weapon storage. But we have to tread lightly since they have agents everywhere, every hour of the day," Jenny Archer explained, glancing at Axel Stanton before asking, "What else can you tell us about your father?" The teen was quiet for a moment before he decided where to start.
"He's ruthless, but I suppose that's a given. He grows bored of torture quickly so I'm sure he would have killed Jenny shortly after the time of her escape," he began. "My brother, Lucas, has been training for years, so you're going to want to restrain him immediately if you have to face him. If you can't manage that, you'll have to kill him. Chances are he's been trained to have just as little humanity as my father so I can't promise he'll be easy to capture. Our first goal has to be rescuing your friend because as soon as he finds out you've infiltrated, he won't hesitate to have him killed. I have no clue what kind of defense they have him under, but it's definitely going to be intense. Whatever you do, don't hesitate to kill anyone. They're all brought into my father's branch because of their lack of humanity, and they certainly won't hesitate to kill you first if they have the chance."
"Are there any special mutations we should know about? Anything that will give us a significant leg up on us?" Archer asked.
"As far as I know, both him and my brother are all human. My abilities were simply the result of being his human experiment," Stanton said. "But my brother began training with firearms as soon as my father brought him into business so we have to assume that he's been continuing that training ever since he was a kid. It's a safe bet that he's their best weapons expert so don't underestimate him."
"Anything else you can tell us? Anything at all?" Jenny asked.
"That's all I can think of for now, but if anything comes to mind I'll be sure to tell you," Stanton assured her.
"We'll capture if we can and only kill if we have to," Steve chimed in at that point. "Our priority is getting Barton out of there, but if we can bring this base down around them, we do it."
"Should we call the police?" Bruce suggested. "They could make good back-up."
"Afterwards," Steve answered. "We don't want them getting hurt or breaking our cover. Axel, I'm going to ask you to sit this one out. You're too close to the situation and, to be frank, we could be walking into a trap. I want you to stay in the jet with Bruce until it's all over."
"Uh, is that such a great idea, Cap?" Bruce asked. "I mean, if I go green then..."
"Then that means we'll need you both. I have faith in you, Bruce," Steve responded immediately, putting his faith in Banner.
"So, the strategy will have to be attack and stash as we go along, won't it? No guns," Terra jumped in at this point. "They are bound to have security cameras." Terra looked to Jenny. "Do you think you could hack into their surveillance and make the cameras loop?" She asked curiously.
"Barton won't be in that base," Natasha said, jumping in here to make sure they knew where the goals were. "That's where the main Hydra figurehead will be. You guys can focus on that and I'll get Barton back for you."
She could hear the focus turn to her and Steve was the first to speak up. "If he won't be there, then where will he be?"
"While I was retrieving the files on James you asked for, I was met by another Black Widow," Natasha said. "Recluse is what she goes by, Anya is her name. She tipped me off about Barton, which means the Red Room is in play."
Natasha's eyes glazed over as she began telling the tale.
"There is a facility just outside of Mexico City called Smertel'naya igra," Natasha said. "Or Death Game. It was active during the Cold War. Red Room trainees were sent there to train against Americans. Mexico City was close enough that American citizens were kidnapped and taken across the border, but didn't waste a lot of money on transporting the troops. The facility itself is an underground labyrinth. No light and only one exit. The prisoners would be released there, sometimes with weapons, and sometimes without. Then Red Room trainees were sent in. The game was simple, kill or be killed. One initiate would go in at a time. She was given 24 hours to complete the task, after then, a new game began and she was considered dead. If the prisoners survived one game, they would be inserted in the next game till they were dead. They even kept score outside the complex where everyone would wait for results."
Natasha took a deep breath as the memories washed over her. Her name on top of everything, the blood that was shed.
"There is a large opening at the very bottom of the facility," Natasha said. "That's where Anya will take him. I'll get him out, one person will just have to stay at the door to help him."
There was a very long pause from the jet as the information was taken in. It wasn't pretty at all, Natasha knew that, and was going to take a bit to process. Steve seemed to work through it first, coming up with a plan. "Alright, we'll split into two teams. Natasha and I will go after Clint in the Red Room facility. Terra and Jenny will infiltrate Hydra's base. We don't want Anya killing Barton prematurely, so you guys will have to be discreet in your take-down of Stanton until we give you the signal. If Jenny could scramble the cameras and their security system or even mess with the Death Game thing, do it. Once we have Barton, we can bring the whole thing down. I'll deliver Clint to Bruce for medical attention and then Natasha and I will rendezvous with the two of you inside the base. Everybody clear?"
Everyone answered in the affirmative but "No," was all that could be heard from Natasha. "I'm not taking Captain America into that hell hole. I'll get Barton out, but you won't be able to navigate the labyrinth. That's what they want, for you to follow and get lost and eventually die. I can navigate the tunnels, I've been through them enough."
"I'm sure Steve can handle it as long as he sticks with you," Terra brought up, brows furrowed. "It's definitely not a good idea to go in alone, Natasha. Barton will most likely be injured and need help getting out, that'll leave you vulnerable to attack when you're helping him on your way out. You need Steve there to cover you."
"It's non negotiable," Natasha stated. "That place isn't for people like you guys." It's for scum like the Red Room and myself she mentally added, changing course a few degrees and pushing the speed even further.
There was no response to her statement there, and they went back to talking about the mission. Natasha didn't know if they were going to listen to her, but she wasn't focused on anything else now, but getting Barton out, killing Anya, and trying to survive the Death Game one last time.
Mexico City Outskirts
Death Game Red Room Training Facility
After dropping off the members who would be attacking the main Hydra base, Natasha piloted the jet a few miles outside the city and to the location of the facility, like she could ever forget. She landed the jet down and looked out the window. The entrance to the game was simple. It was a metal door that opened to a flight of stairs that went down into the dark labyrinth below. Outside were the scoreboards and a few benches for the views to wait for the victors. She knew her name would still be on top of every single leaderboard, and she hoped that Steve couldn't read Russian, because he might just leave her to dry knowing her numbers.
"You ready?" Steve asked quietly. He had his gear and helmet on, just in case the fight did spill out or there was a trap set.
"Yeah," Natasha said, and she walked down the ramp. "Stay here, Barton will be back soon."
It was almost like she teleported back in time as she made her way towards the entrance. She could picture the little girls waiting outside for their turn. The scoreboards didn't help either, all of them showing the terrible things that she had done. She approached the door and noticed that it was slightly ajar. Natasha took a deep breath and grabbed one of her guns and a knife, and Natasha entered the Death Game for the final time.
Natasha was almost transported back in time. She moved through the tunnels swiftly and expertly, stepping over bones and broken weapons. She was basically a zombie at this point, only focusing on the task at hand, and not around her. After a few minutes of walking she entered the large opening in the bottom of the labyrinth. At once, all guns pointed towards her. Natasha didn't flinch at them, and instead her eyes went straight to Clint and Anya in the center of the room.
"Natalia Romanova," Anya said, drawing a pistol. "Foolish girl, come to die."
"Anya," Natasha said. "Let Barton go, and you can kill me on spot."
"No I don't think so," Anya said, pacing around Hawkeye and running a hand across his face. "He will make an excellent trophy after I have your head. The other Avengers will come for him, and they will fall, just as you will."
Natasha just narrowed her gaze and prepared for her final fight. Almost at once, three Hydra thugs came charging at her. Natasha caught the first one's punch and jabbed him twice in the rib cage before pushing him off. That left her open to another attack, and she felt the pain of a knife slicing into her shoulder. She ducked low, sweeping the legs out from underneath the man and kicking up from the ground to jab the next man in the face twice. He went down hard and Natasha turned to see a fist flying at her face. It connected with her cheek and she stumbled back. The man that punched her cracked his knuckles and came charging at her. She quickly dodged another punch and jumped up on the man, using her legs to wrap around his neck and swing him around, breaking his neck in the process. As she was getting up, a gunshot rang out and Natasha was nailed in the calf by the man she had taken down earlier with a bloody nose.
Fine, Natasha though, grabbing her own pistol lightning fast and shooting the other two men on the spot.
"You are sloppy Natalia," Anya said, stalking forward now. The curious thing about all of this was that the rest of the numerous Hydra troops in the room didn't charge at her, only the three.
"This is what I have been waiting for," Anya said. "The chance to strike you down. To prove who the real Black Widow is. Once I have defeated you, your body will be displayed to show that Natalia Romanova, one of the liberators of Hydra in DC, has perished to a superior Black Widow."
Natasha grunted with the pain that she felt currently, but was overall ready for round 2.
Anya came at her, charging with a small war cry. Anya threw two quick punches to Natasha's head, which were blocked easily. What she didn't see coming was the roundhouse kick to her midsection that Anya delivered. Natasha doubled over as the wind was knocked out of her, and then was kicked again in the face by Anya, her nose breaking and sending blood streaming down her face. Natasha reeled back, landing on the ground.
"Pathetic," Anya said. "I expected more of a challenge. It looks like your age is catching up to you."
Natasha kicked up and charged at Anya, going on her offensive. Natasha threw punch and kick after punch and kick, and Anya almost looked bored blocking them all. As Natasha threw another punch, Anya caught it and spun around to land an elbow to Natasha's eye, making her see stars. Anya pivoted again and drew a knife, slashing it across Natasha's stomach.
Natasha yelped as she stumbled back, inspecting the wound. It was a shallow cut, drawing blood but leaving her insides, well inside. She could already feel her eye swelling as she dropped to one knee, spitting blood on the ground.
"You are a disgrace to the Black Widow name," Anya said. "I've seen children fight better than you. You are soft and weak. The Americans have turned you into something you're not. But there are a few things that the Americans got correct. That Captain America? He is a specimen isn't he. Perhaps when I am done with you, I may go and pay him a visit. A child with him could be most valuable to the Red Room."
At that point, something snapped inside of Natasha. She didn't know if it was her interest in Steve, the fact that Anya threatened a comrade in arms, or that she threatened someone else in general. Whatever it was, it gave Natasha her second wind, and this time, she was going to prove who the real Black Widow was. Natasha came like a fury at Anya, now landing most of her punches and kicks. Anya gave ground, and still the Hydra soldiers didn't come to her aid. She had made it very clear that she would deal with Romanoff without anyone else's help.
Natasha landed a solid punch to Anya's face, cutting her on the forehead with the ferocity of it. Anya growled, landing a kick to Natasha's midsection and then kneed her in the face, sending Natasha on her back. Anya was done playing now, and quickly jumped on Romanoff, straddling her waist and slamming the knife down towards Natasha's neck. Natasha brought her hands up just in time, halting the forward movement of the knife. It was now a battle of strength between the two Black Widows. Natasha's arms were shaky as the knife drew slower and slower towards her neck.
Images flashed in her mind then, Coulson picking her up after a mission, having lunch with Clint, visiting Cooper and Lila on the farm, seeing Laura pregnant, Steve smiling at her. This gave Natasha the last bit of strength she needed. With a yell she pushed back hard, slamming the butt of the knife into Anya's face. While Anya was reeling from the hit, Natasha grabbed the knife and turned it around and stabbed Anya through the neck.
The look on Anya's face was of pure shock as she started sputtering. Natasha was splattered with Anya's blood and she quickly pushed the dying woman off of her. Anya was now choking on her own blood, knife still well embedded in her neck. Natasha groaned as she somehow managed to stand up, holding her cut stomach as the rest of her injuries pained her. She looked down to see Anya finally stop moving, her eyes lifeless. She was the true Black Widow, and she was now the last of the Red Room. With this, there would forever be red in her ledger.
Natasha made her way over to Clint, moving pretty slowly. She untied him and he stood, looking at her with severe concern on his face. All around her, Hydra soldiers were raising their weapons at the two, getting through the shock that seeing their boss die right in front of them had. Natasha and Clint were hurt, Natasha probably worse off than Barton. None of them had any weapons, Natasha being out of ammo and Barton, well, a prisoner. "If you run you can probably get out of here," Natasha said."Go without me, make it back to Laura and the kids. I'll hold them off the best I can."
Then, without warning, the whizz of a red, white, and blue shield came out from nowhere. It rebounded off the wall and smacked a guard in the face. The others whirled their guns at him, but Steve was already upon them. He knocked two guns away from his direction and jumped, splitting his legs to kick two men in the jaw. They both tumbled backwards while Steve landed and swept the legs out from under another. "Go!" He yelled at Natasha and Clint, diving into a roll and picking up his shield on the way. He used it like a battering ram to shove another thug to the ground.
Natasha watched as Steve moved around the room like a mad man. Taking down troops left and right, and if she wasn't in too much pain, she would have complimented him. She started to leave when she noticed something in the rafters. A sniper, zeroing in on Captain America. She used the last bit of energy she had to sprint over to where Steve was, ignoring all of her injuries as she used all of her strength to shove him out of the way. The gunshot rang out and where Captain America just was, Natasha took his place.
Natasha didn't feel any pain with this shot. She stumbled back, looking down at her left breast and noticing a hole there where there shouldn't be. She gingerly went to touch it and her hand came back blood red. She started shuddering as her body was shutting down. She managed to look over at Steve, her eyes scared and mouth open, and then collapsed to her knees and fell down, her blood leaking on the floor around her.
"Natasha!" she heard, although it was faint and seemed like very far away. "Banner! Stand by for medical. Romanoff's down. Bullet through the chest." She was gathered up in strong arms and lifted off the ground. "Hawkeye! Can you run?"
"Yeah," Clint said. "Get going Cap, she doesn't have long."
She felt the beating of running feet as Steve sprinted out of the area. "Suppose this is a bad time to ask if you want to get dinner, huh Rogers," Natasha said weakly, figuring she didn't have a lot of time, so she could at least say she tried.
"Uh, yes!" she heard, though it was even further away this time. "Later!"
"Don't think I have later," Natasha said, sight now fluttering in and out. "Clocking out here. Barton knows where I want to be buried. Just... ask... hi.." Natasha lost consciousness at that point, head rolling back and eyes closing.
A/N
Chapter contributions by A Velvet Rose, SarahCon & Lesha Bee