In today's chapter, we have two crossovers, and just one of them will carry on to the next chapter.
Also, I listened to Bastille's Doom Days (This Got Out of Hand Edition) and let me tell y'all, it fits PERFECTLY with both the story and the ship, maybe I'll even use the whole album for this, watcha think?
WARNINGS: Ya know, the usual fights and an almost death.
Anyway, enjoy!
"I can't fight this feeling any longer;
and yet, I'm still afraid to let it flow.
What started out as friendship has grown stronger
I only wish I had the strength to let it show.
And I can't fight this feeling anymore,
I've forgotten what I started fighting for."
—Can't Fight This Feeling, Bastille.
The first time she ever fantasized about having children was when she met Tony. Not Clint, but Tony. Looking back it seemed like a bad joke, but it was real.
They hooked up a couple of times, and he even took her out to have dinner in rare occasions for over a month. It started the third time he took her out for dinner at a fancy restaurant; they ate, drank wine, laughed, kissed, and, finally, he took her to her apartment and kissed her goodnight, nothing else. He didn't try to take advantage of the fact that they were mildly drunk, or the fact that he was powerful, or that she was completely willing to have sex with him, and it moved something inside her.
As she showered, she closed her eyes and pictured a little girl, with her hair and his eyes, running around a big old house while Tony chased her until the kid hid behind her. Laughing, Tony would take her between his arms and kiss her sweetly, only to be interrupted by their daughter, who he would carry to the sofa as she put on a movie to watch. Then, once she and the kid were asleep, Tony would take their girl to her bedroom, kiss her goodnight, come back for her and take her to their bedroom, where they would just cuddle and sleep soundly for hours until the kid woke them up.
Pepper told her there were no hard feelings, and they actually managed to stay good friends through it all.
Then Bruce came. With him, she only dreamed about adopting a boy, maybe one who had been on the system for a long time, to give him hope. Bruce would teach him everything he needed to know about school and manners, and she would help him stay alert and protect himself and his friends. But then, he just disappeared from the Earth, leaving her with a broken heart.
But before him, there was Steve. She never allowed herself to think about it too much, and that's why she always tried to set him up on dates. Steve was different, in many, many ways; perhaps it was the fact that he was literally from another time, or that she was way too gone for him, but it all felt different. She truly believed that Steve deserved the world, and yet the world didn't deserve; Steve deserved so much better than her, and she was willing to help him find someone like that.
She wasn't Peggy, the brave and badass founder of SHIELD, and perhaps his one true love, and she didn't mind this: no one could one-up her on anything. She wasn't Sharon, an outstanding agent who managed to save both Steve ad Fury at the same time.
She was an assassin, a traitor, a spy who couldn't be trusted, and who couldn't trust anyone, but yet Steve did. And the feeling was mutual.
The waitress put her cup of coffee in front of her and she smiled at the woman.
"Thank you." She muttered. Clearing her throat, she raised her cup to carefully sip her beverage, slowly looking around her.
"Oh man, I'm having a throwback," Sam said, making her chuckle. She heard Steve sigh and clear his throat after taking a sip of something.
"There's no activity at the bar." Natasha hummed and set down her cup, taking a hand to her hair just so she could turn her head to the side slightly.
"Wanda?" Natasha asked, smiling at Vision, who sat across her. The other woman walked past her towards the entrance to get out.
"Nothing outside." Wanda sighed. Vision muttered something and took a hand to his forehead.
"Headaches again, darling?" Natasha asked sweetly, leaning over cover her face with her hair. "What's wrong, Vis?"
"It's nothing, just the... how did you call it?"
"Tingling?" Wanda asked, amused. Steve snorted over the earpiece and the sound of the glass being set down echoed through her ears.
"I have eyes on the package now at the candy store," Sam said, and the rustling of paper made Natasha frown; "can you put it in a nice scarlet box? That's her favorite color."
Vision looked down at his coffee and decided to take a sip just to keep the appearances. Natasha reached for his hand and stroked it slightly, letting him know that she knew the feeling he was going through at the moment.
"We're on our way." Vision said before clearing his throat. Natasha nodded slightly and stood up, calling the waitress. After paying for their drinks, they walked out towards the least populated area, catching up with Wanda, who now was sitting on a bench.
Steve walked out of the bar with a cellphone on his ear, acting pissed, and made his way towards them, his voice rising as he came closer.
"No, I don't care about that!" a simple pause. "Have it by the end of the day or you're out." He tapped the cellphone and ran a hand through his hair. Damn, he was a great actor, and he definitely got better than the last time. She smiled at the memories and laced her fingers with Vision's.
As Sam strolled down the street, carefully putting a scarlet box inside his backpack, a truck passed them towards the woods.
"Let's get on position." Natasha muttered as she tugged Vision towards the woods.
"I never understood the necessity to go to a place like the woods just to have sexual intercourse when you could just go back to your home and have it on the safety of it." Vision said, and Natasha swore to see Steve's face turning red. Letting out a soft laugh, she gripped his arm and kept on walking, swaging her hips.
"You don't usually make the best decisions when aroused," Natasha said, scanning the place to make sure they hadn't lost the truck. "Alright, let's do this." She let the android pin her to the nearest tree as she pulled him down to kiss her. His lips felt rarely enough like a human's, but still synthetic and kind of leathery, reminding her of his composition and how they almost died just for him t be created.
"Hey! Hey! You two cannot be here! This is private property!" a man yelled as he approached. Vision's hand slithered across her waist to reach for the back of her pants, pulling out a gun to shot the man.
"That was relatively easy." Natasha nodded, reaching for her own gun, and unlocked it to start shooting the other man.
"Yep. Where did you learn to shoot like that?" she asked, impressed, watching the perfect bullet wound between the man's eyes. Vision transformed and began levitating, a sight that took Natasha off, even though she had seen it a hundred times by now.
"I downloaded all the training I could find," he said, opening his arms, "and, of course, most of it was from you."
"Aw, I'm flattered. And scared." She kept on shooting and running, occasionally dodging bullets and stopping to recharge from now and then as Vision created a sort of dome to make sure that no one else got hurt; Wanda stood behind a tree, keeping the civilians away at all costs and opening the field for Steve and Sam, who were now getting closer to her.
As she shot those men, opening a path for her friends to follow, she couldn't help but wonder what was so valuable that the man behind the operation had to hire them, a group of criminals with nothing else to offer, but over the years she had learned to not question anyone as long as there was money in the middle and she needed it; and, right now, they needed money.
She rabbit kicked a man and retrieved behind a tree to recharge her gun, only to find herself out of ammo. Cursing in Russian, she threw the empty gun at another man's face and took out her batons.
"Package located, at least ten men armed guarding it," Sam said before his line got filled with grunts and gunshots. Something hit her shoulder, and she didn't even bother to hiss or curse thanks to the pain, focusing on the man in front of her. Taking out her batons, she smirked at the mercenary.
"I'm on my way," Natasha said, attacking her target as best as she could. "That was my favorite blouse, bastard." She asphyxiated the man with one baton and let him fall before running again.
Rubbing her wrist, she activated her Widow Bites —at least, the few she got left— and charged at another man, stopping him dead on his tracks with the shock so Sam could put him out.
One more man left, and all she had to do was snap his neck with her thighs.
"Fifteen seconds to retrieve the packages." Commented Vision, lifting his dome. Natasha shot the door with a disc and opened the door as quickly as she could to find two scared scientists.
As she took the man, Steve practically ripped apart the other door and took the woman on his arms before Sam flew down to grab the suitcase in the back of the truck.
She turned around and put the scientist's head on her chest, using her body as a shield to protect him, feeling the familiar warmth of an explosion hitting her back and pushing her forward, and the awful ringing that came after that.
Looking back, she saw Wanda ball up the fire and contain it in a sphere, pushing it towards the floor to stop it from spreading.
Soon enough, they were greeted by the pleasant feeling of water falling down, only that it wasn't raining, and the sun suddenly disappeared.
Natasha sighed in relief, allowing herself to finally acknowledge the pain on her shoulder.
"Agent Fitz, I'm Natasha Romanoff. Please don't be scared." The man looked about to throw up but still nodded. He pointed at her shoulder and his eyes widened.
"Uh, Simmons?" the other scientist ran across the field towards him, but he stopped her before she could hug him. "Is she supposed to be bleeding that much?" the woman's eyes widened and she stood by her side quickly.
"Fuck, no. I think it hit an artery," she turned at Steve, "can you take her inside? She might bleed out and die if she doesn't get attention immediately."
Steve took her bridal style and ran up the ramp of the quinjet, muttering comforting words to the almost unconscious woman on his arms.
"You'll be okay, you hear me? You'll be good as new, Nat. Please, just... God, don't leave me." He sounded distant, and his words echoed between her ears.
She could feel the blood flowing out of her, leaving her emptier with each second that passed. She could barely register Simmons' voice, or their efforts to keep her alive.
"Phil?" she whispered, frantically searching for her friend. Wanda shouted something and, soon enough, a well-known face appeared in front of her.
"We'll save you, Natasha. Hang on."
"You know what to do. I won't make it." Phil shook his head, closing his eyes.
"No, no! I won't! Not you, please." She gripped his arm with all the force she would muster and gritted her teeth.
"I don't want to die yet." She could feel the blood filling up her lungs as she desperately tried to fight it, to avoid the fucking light appearing in front of her. She couldn't go now, especially since her friends needed her, since Steve needed her; she couldn't go after everything she fought for, after everything she lost and was willing to get back. She couldn't go without asking for forgiveness, without having inner peace.
Finally, letting out a pained sigh, Coulson nodded and turned to someone on the other side of the room.
She could smell Steve by her side, and she could feel his hand on her hair. After a brief conversation with Fitz, Steve let her go and she felt a needle penetrating her skin.
For a couple of seconds, it was nothing, she felt nothing.
Then, she was burning up in flames, all her muscles contracting at the same time, her blood boiling inside her veins, her brain feeling like it was going through a food processor.
She let out a scream, not aware of how loud it was, clenching her fists and trying to grip something to keep her grounded.
Soon enough, a hand was on her belly, trying to soothe the pain away, which was useless, but she still appreciated the effort.
And it stopped. She couldn't move her sore body, but at least it stopped.
"May, Daisy, you stay here. You four, come with me." Soft lips were pressed against her forehead and were gone sooner than she would like to admit.
"Good to see you again, Tasha," the older woman sat down on the bed and took one of her hands between hers. "The circumstances are awful, I know, but it's good to know you're alive." Natasha tried to smile at her, but found herself too tired to do so.
"Same to you, Melinda." She turned to the younger woman, who looked as scared as a cat, and nodded to let her known it was okay to get closer. "Daisy, I've heard from you. Good job."
"That means a lot, miss. I cannot begin to express how happy I am and... and I'll let you rest." She stopped herself and smiled widely. Natasha nodded and scanned the room for more familiar faces.
"Where are the ones we saved?" she asked, trying to incorporate herself on the bed.
"Stop! Don't!" two voices with particular accents said, pushing her gently to lay back.
"Thank you, Miss Romanoff. It was incredible! The way you just absolutely massacred those men was just... unbelievable." Fitz said, sighing with happiness.
"I'm the one who should be thanking you, you both saved me today," Simmons looked ready to cry out of excitement.
"Oh my God, she's thanking me... I'm about to throw up, this is too much." The woman sat down, not believing what just happened. Smirking, Natasha looked up at the ceiling.
"What's Coulson doing, anyway?" she asked. May chuckled and stood up.
"He's probably lecturing your friends. He called you 'The Secret Avengers' or something like that." She rolled her eyes and disappeared behind a pair of glass doors.
The minutes passed, and all she could think was about how close she was of dying less than an hour before, and what she did just to stay alive.
She knew what the serum did, of what it was made, and why it was such a stupid idea to let it inside her willingly. But then, her mind began to wander to other things it would do to her body, such as healing her scars.
The doors opened again, and her friends appeared. Wanda ran and hugged her with teary eyes, whispering about how scared she was of losing her, and about how it should be her on the hospital bed.
"So now I'm the only one who's not enhanced. Great." Sam laughed softly at his comment and hugged her tightly, glad that his friend was still there to kick his ass. Vision simply nodded towards her before Fitz attacked him with million questions.
Steve knelt beside her bed and took one of her hands between his, kissing it softly, his beard tickling her.
"I was just so scared, Nat. I cannot lose you." He muttered against her skin, and she knew that he was trying his best to keep it together and not cry in front of everyone.
She smiled softly at him, stocking his hand with her thumb, and nodded towards Coulson before muttering a simple "thank you."
/
"Are you sure you don't need our help with anything?" Steve asked, shaking Coulson's hand. The older man shook his head and smiled at him.
"No, I'm sure. You go and stay safe, Mack here has already left a vehicle for you with the money you need, and Daisy made sure to erase any footage of you," he turned to Natasha, "you know how to find me and my team. See you soon."
"See you soon, Agent." She smiled at him and the man left, disappearing inside the quinjet, which later disappeared into the night sky.
Testing her shoulder, Natasha moved her arm up and down. She adjusted her new blouse —a dark red silk blouse with black polka dots, provided by Simmons, thank you very much— and tightened her thigh straps to secure her guns.
"Now, what do we do?" Wanda asked, protecting herself from the chill air of Dublin. Natasha put on her leather jacket to cover both her harness and her body, looking at Steve to confirm their instructions; nonetheless, she found him very interested in the way the new blouse hugged her figure, which made her arch an eyebrow, amused. After clearing his throat and looking away, embarrassed, he opened his backpack and took out a map.
"We divide for a little. Since Wanda, Sam and Vision will be looking into the stone, you will go to the Isle of Man; according to Coulson, there's a SHIELD base and they'll be able to help you research the stone." The three of them nodded. "Natasha and I will go to Galway, there have been reports of an Inhuman terrorizing the city, and Coulson asked us to do some research and put him down."
"Alright, then," Sam said, bringing Wanda closer, protecting her from the cold. "Will you give us a ride to the airport?" he asked. Natasha snorted and patted his back.
"Did you think you could get rid of us that easily? We still have two days here. Let's make them count." She then walked towards the direction Coulson gave them, determined to get the hell out of the cold.
Nonetheless, the place was empty.
"What the hell?" asked Steve, slightly pissed off. Coulson couldn't have been playing with them, especially after saving her life.
"Agent Romanoff, a pleasure to see you again, sweetheart." She rolled her eyes, already knowing the man. Chuckling, she turned around and found a man waiting for them, tossing the car keys.
"You've got to be kidding me." She muttered, forcing a smile. "Agent Tequila, a fitting name for you." He opened the door for them, winking at Wanda, who simply brushed it off. Enjoying his failed attempt at flirting, she let herself smile genuinely this time.
"Agent Tequila, from the coolest espionage agency, Kingsman." He started the car with a smile, and drove away towards their hotel.
Alright! We have people from Agents of SHIELD (since I'm watching it and I'm in love with FitzSimmons, and I just wanted them here), and an agent from Kingsman: The Golden Circle (which I actually didn't enjoy quite as the first one, anyone's with me?)