Chapter 12

"Hello Natalia."

The minute he heard the man's voice, Clark knew who this was. This was the man who had put the woman he loved most in the world through hell, who had blown her cover and left her to suffer the worst kind of torture. This was the monster that she had thought long dead, the one who haunted her nightmares.

"Well...Nothing to say to your husband?"

"You...You're supposed to be dead." She finally replied. Natasha heard her voice quaver and cursed herself. She wasn't a child anymore, he shouldn't affect her like this. However, when she saw his cold eyes looking back at her it was like she was back in Russia, back in her own personal hell where this man was the devil.

"Oh you sound disappointed. You should know better than that. I did teach you to be a survivor after all. Now it is time for you to do your duty to your country. A plane shall be arriving at your location momentarily at which time you and my new protege shall board. Then we shall take what is left of SHIELD and restore Mother Russia to her former glory."

For a moment there was silence as the remaining SHIELD agents looked from Natasha to the man on the screen. Then Clark walked over to Natasha, their eyes meeting before she spoke.

"Regimes rise and fall every day. I'm Russian or at least I was, so I tend not to weep over them. I promise you I won't weep when I put a bullet between your eyes Alexei."

"What a shame that this child has corrupted you Natalia. Do me a favor and execute the contingency plan would you my dear?"

"It's already done." Agent May replied before shooting Director Fury in the stomach, just as the plane's engine's began to fail.

"I should kill you." Colson said, and May laughed.

"Your choice...kill me or save everyone on this plane."

With that she ran off, Clark feeling Natasha's hand on his arm a moment before he ran after her.

"Let her go. We have to find some way to make sure we don't all die." She said, and he nodded, disappearing in a blur.

"Grab all the medical supplies we can and get everybody in the car. She blew out two of our engine's...and Colson, she took Lola." Clark said a minute later as he came back, ignoring the awestruck looks on Ward's, Fitz and Simmons faces.

"She's so dead." Colson muttered before he ran over and helped Ward carry the Director to Tasha, placing him in the backseat before jumping in with Ward, Skye, Fitz and Simmons taking seats where they could find them.

"Crap she jammed the doors." Natasha yelled from where she sat in the front seat seeing the doors sealed shut.

"As soon as those doors open, you take off. Don't stop for anything do you hear me?" Clark told her.

"Clark-"

"I love you." He said, cutting her off before racing over to the door. He gripped the doors and pushed hard, feeling them give way inch by inch. He gave one final shove and the doors flew open, sending the Last Son of Krypton flying off the plane.

Natasha bit back a scream and drove off the plane, seeing it hurtling towards the ground miles below. However, of Clark Kent there was no sign.

"Clark." She whispered softly.

"Someone mention my name?" A voice asked from beside her.

"Clark how-"

"Turns out I can fly. Who knew?" He replied with a laugh.

"Okay like the man said...Lucy you got some splaining to do." Ward said, and Clark laughed.

"Later. Right now, we've got to get someplace safe." He replied before pulling out his phone.

"Pete, it's me. It's time. I'll contact you when I can."

"You saw this coming." Natasha said, but Clark shook his head.

"No, but like you taught me...plan for the worst case scenario. This is it. With Garret and the Clairvoyant compromising SHIELD we'll be the most wanted people on the planet by the end of the day."

"Which means we can't be seen together." Fury said as he struggled to sit up.

"How you feeling boss?" Ward asked, and Fury chuckled.

"I've had worse. Now set us down somewhere Romanoff. We need to disappear."

"So where to now?" Clark asked thirty minutes later as he and Natasha walked down a New York street. The team had split in all directions, with Ward and Skye going one way, Fitz and Simmons going another and Colson and Fury going their own way. The rule was simple; no contact, no credit cards, nothing that could tie them to their old lives.

"Now we find a clean car and a place to lay low." She replied, and he nodded.

"I could-"

"No. You use your powers and they will be all over us. I know how that bastard thinks, and he will have planned for this."

They walked in silence for a minute before Clark held up his hand for her to stop. Across the street was a nondescript gray four door.

"I think I found our ride."

Two minutes later they were on the road heading down the side streets out of the city.

"Go ahead."

"Go ahead and what?" Clark replied, making Natasha scowl.

"Go ahead and ask your questions."

"Okay...can I kill him?"

"You don't even know him."

"I know he hurt you. I don't care about details, I know all I need to." He replied, and she smiled softly.

"Sorry, but he's mine."

"No, no...please...please let him go."

"Natasha, Natasha wake up!" Clark said, shaking her awake.

"Clark?"

"Yeah, Tasha you were having a nightmare."

"No kidding. Where are we?" She asked, seeing them stopping in front of a house.

"Somewhere safe." He replied, getting out of the car and opening the trunk. He grabbed two duffel bags and threw them over his shoulder, taking Natasha's hand before they walked to the house.

"When did you get this?" Natasha asked, and Clark chuckled.

"I didn't. Jordan Fredericks did. It's an alias Ziva set up for me just in case I had to run. She and I were the only ones who knew about it so I'm confident that it hasn't been flagged. We should be okay for a couple days at least. I'm sorry I didn't tell you-"

"It's fine. There wasn't really time. Now where are we?"

"Just outside Denver. Is that okay?"

"It's perfect." She replied, and he chuckled. They both knew it wasn't perfect, not by a long shot. They were still being hunted, and they were low on resources, but they were together and for the night at least they were safe. For now, that was enough.

"His name was Alexei Statstakov. He was my advanced weapons and tactics instructor during my training. I was part of a program called the Red Room, the Russian answer to Captain America. I excelled at everything they asked me to do and became his favorite. If I didn't excel I got beat...badly. Eventually, I became his partner and-"

"His wife." Clark cut her off, and she nodded though he couldn't see it from where her head lay on his chest.

"It wasn't until later that I learned that everything I went through was on his orders. He was the one that blew my cover, he was the one who ordered the other instructors to beat me whenever I failed. Then the bastard had the nerve to comfort me!"

"After the op that blew my cover, he told me had dealt with the people who harmed me. A couple years later I was ordered to eliminate a rogue agent who was deemed too extreme even for the KGB. Alexei was that agent. When I caught up to him, he offered me a chance to join him. I refused, and he told me I was a cold woman, unable to do what was necessary. Then he told me the truth. He smiled and told me that everything I had gone through was on his orders, that he had paid off the men who...abused me. I put four in his chest and set the place on fire before leaving him to burn." She finished softly.

Clark just held her, not saying a word.

"I...I thought I killed him, that the only place I would have to see him was in my nightmares. Now-"

"Now nothing. As far as I'm concerned he's not your problem. You say the word and we disappear to some tropical island where the only thing we have to worry about is a possible sunburn. You have given your entire life to people who wanted a killer. You don't need to give them anything else."

"You would do that? You would run with me even if it meant never seeing your family again, never going home?"

"You're my family Natasha. My home is wherever you are."

He got up and stood beside the bed before pulling a box from his pocket and getting down on one knee, opening the box to reveal a diamond ring.

"Natasha, I wish I could go back in time and stop that animal from ever being born but I can't. What I can do is promise that I will spend every single day of my life showing you how much I love you. Will you marry me?"

"Yes." She replied, and Clark smiled as he placed the ring on the third finger of her left hand.

"So...a tropical island?" She asked a minute later and he nodded.

"Wherever you want."

"I'm afraid the tropical island's going to have to wait. As much as I would like nothing better than to spend the rest of our days not having to fight a war, we both know that we would always be looking over our shoulders. That's no way to live. Your family dosen't deserve that." She said, and he nodded, knowing that she was right but hating it nonetheless.

"Our family." He corrected, and she smiled.

"Our family." She replied before kissing him.

"Tasha, you're going to want to take a look at this." Clark said as she woke up the next morning. For a moment his mind drifted back to the previous night and he smiled. Last night had been without a doubt the best night of his life. Natasha smiled in return, knowing what was going through his mind. She kissed him softly before looking at the television where CNN had just announced that a special task force had been assembled to hunt down rogue federal agents, and that the head of this task force was a confidential special consultant.

"Three guesses who it is, and the first two don't count." Natasha said.

"Do you have some way to contact Fury? We need to make a plan."

"I'll take care of it."

"No one was followed?" Clark asked a few hours later as he looked around at the assorted SHIELD agents sitting in the room. Fury had shown up with Colson, Ward, Skye, Hill, FitzSimmons, an agent named Triplet, and to Clark's surprise Steve Rodgers, better known as Captain America. Barton had shown up a few minutes later with his girlfriend and fellow SHIELD agent Bobbi Morris aka Mockingbird and Pete, Chloe and his parents had arrived a few minutes after that.

Everyone shook their heads, and Clark nodded once, grateful that their safety hadn't been compromised.

"Okay, so first things first...Director, you informed everyone about Statstokhov?" He asked, and Fury nodded.

"Good, so there's no need to debrief anyone. Now I know I don't need to say this, but I'm going to anyway. We are now the most wanted group of people on the planet. So when we strike there can be no hesitation, no screw ups. This has to be done perfectly."

"I'm assuming you have a plan?" Colson asked, and Clark smirked.

"Something like that, but we'll get to that in a minute. Right now we need to talk about what happens once this is done."

"You mean what happens to SHIELD." Fury surmised.

"We burn it to the ground." Steve spoke up, making Fury glare.

"Captain-"

"No Nick, he's right. Whatever SHIELD was it's been contaminated by Statstokhov. If you want to start again once we've finished this, then that's your prerogative."

"What are you saying Agent Kent?"

"What my fiancee is saying is that as soon as Alexei Stostakhov is dead, we're done. We've fought this war long enough." Natasha replied simply, making the others raise their eyebrows before Barton handed Colson forty dollars.

"What? It was kind of obvious." Colson said, making Clark and Natasha laugh.

"So, any idea what you want for a wedding present?" Clint asked, and Natasha smirked.

"Alexei Stostakhov's head on a platter."

A/N: I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Please read and review and the next chapter will be up soon!