Chapter 3 (Natasha):
"This is not how I wanted this evening to go."
Natasha, her hands bound to her chair, tried and failed to hide her disgust. She replied coolly in Russian, "I know how you wanted this evening to go. Trust me, this is better."
"Who do you work for? Lermentov, yes? Does he think that we have to go through him to move our cargo?" Luchkov was going to be easy to manipulate, considering how obvious it was that he thought her just a helpless little girl. He would soon see. She'd always known teenage boys weren't that bright, even seniors… Although how he'd ended up working for an illegal international business, she wasn't quite sure.
"I thought Solohob is in charge of the export business."
"Solohob. A bagman, a front. Your outdated information betrays you. The famous Black Widow and she turns out to be just another pretty face."
Well, she had to give him some credit. After all, she wasn't that famous. She was 14. "You really think I'm pretty?" Who cared what he thought?
Luchkov smiled faintly. "Tell Lermentov we don't need him to move the tanks. Tell him he is out. You might need to write it down," he added, switching back to English and picking up a wrench. Idiot.
Her cellphone rang and one of Luchkov's thugs answered it. "It's for her." Duh.
"You listen up," Luchkov began, and then stopped as whomever it was spoke. A moment later he walked over and she held the phone up to her ear with her shoulder.
"We need you to come in." It was Agent Phil Coulson, one of her superiors at S.H.I.E.L.D.
"Are you kidding? I'm working," Natasha complained.
"This takes precedence."
"I'm in the middle of an interrogation. This moron is giving me everything," Natasha protested.
"I don't give everything." Luchkov frowned. Natasha raised an eyebrow at him.
"Look, you can't pull me out of this right now."
"Natasha…Barton's been compromised." Clint. Clint.
"I'm gonna have to put you on hold." These boys would serve as a great target for her fury.
…
"Where's Barton now?" Clint, what happened?
"We don't know."
"But he's alive?" Please, please, please… Clint, I don't know what I would do without you.
"We think so. I'll brief you on everything when you get back. But first, we need you to talk to the big guy."
"Coulson, you know that Starks trusts me about as far as he can throw me," she said, smiling slightly and remembering the events of last month…
"Oh, I've got Stark. You get the big guy."
He meant Banner. Natasha muttered a bad word in Russian.
…
"You should've got paid up front, Banner," the guy muttered, staring out the window of the deserted house as the young girl Natasha had hired scampered off.
Natasha stepped out of the shadows. Clint was under Loki's spell, destruction and death had occurred at the school, and Nick Fury was assembling a team of 'Avengers,' and Loki had the Tesseract. So now it was her turn to do something.
"You know, for a guy who's supposed to be avoiding stress…" Natasha trailed off. All advanced classes as a senior in high school, lots of duties as a medical assistant, research on his own…
Banner turned around, and Natasha was careful to keep a pleasant face. At least she'd gotten to change out of the ripped up clothes she'd been wearing before, even if she was facing two of the things that truly scared her: Banner and possibly losing Clint.
"Avoiding stress isn't the secret."
"Then what is it? Yoga?" she teased, pushing away her emotions, as per her training.
"You brought me to the edge of the city. Smart. I assume the whole place is surrounded," he said, glancing out the window.
"Just you and me." Of course the place is surrounded. Do I look like I have a death wish?
"And your actress buddy? Is she a spy too? They start that young?"
"I did." The Red Room Academy… Child assassin…
"Who are you?"
"Natasha Romanoff." I go to your school, smart guy.
"Are you here to kill me, Natasha? Because that's not going to work out for everyone."
"No, of course not. I'm here on behalf of S.H.I.E.L.D."
"S.H.I.E.L.D. How did they find me?"
"We never lost you. We've kept our distance, even helped keep some other interested…parties…off your scent," Natasha replied calmly.
"Why?"
"Nick Fury seems to trust you. But now we need you to come in."
"And what if I say no?"
A chill ran down her spine, but she ignored it. "I'll persuade you." With all the S.H.I.E.L.D. military personnel outside, she added silently.
"And what if the other guy says no?"
"You've been more than a year without an incident. I don't think you want to break that streak."
"Well, I don't every time get what I want."
"Banner, we're facing a potential global catastrophe," she interrupted a tad impatiently, taking out her phone.
He laughed. "Well those I actively try to avoid." She couldn't blame him there.
Selecting a picture, she passed him her phone, hoping he wouldn't break it or something. "This is the Tesseract. It has the potential energy to wipe out the planet."
"What does Fury want me to do, swallow it?" Actually, compared to how things had ended up going, that would've been a good idea.
"He wants you to find it. It's been taken, and it emits a gamma signature that's too weak for us to trace. There's no one that knows gamma radiation like you do. If there was, that's where I'd be," Natasha said honestly.
"So Fury isn't after the monster?"
"Not that he's told me."
"And he tells you everything?" Nick Fury told no one everything.
"Talk to Fury. He needs you on this."
"He needs me in a cage?"
"No one's going to put you in a …"
"STOP LYING TO ME!" he yelled. Natasha's gun was out before he'd even finished. He smiled sheepishly. "I'm sorry. That was mean. I just wanted to see what you'd do," he said, not looking sorry enough. Natasha trembled a little, still pointing her gun at him. "Why don't we do this the easy way where you don't use that and the other guy doesn't make a mess. Okay? Natasha?" She trembled.
"Stand down," she managed finally. "We're good here."
" "Just you and me," " he quoted in amusement.
Author's Note: I tried to stick with the original lines as much as possible. Thoughts? Steve is up next!