After Civil War
The sun was shining brightly in Rio. Its bright glare was dimmed by the flourishing trees of a newborn forest. A royal blue bird jumped from tree to tree, snatching up insects and grubs from time to time. A gun fired; its bullet narrowly missing the bird, who screeched in fear and escaped the scene.
"I'm gonna ask you one more time. Where is Mateo Hunt?" Natasha Romanoff, or Black Widow, stood with her gun pointed to the trees above. "Where is he?" She demanded, her eyes darkening. She moved her hand so she was staring down the barrel of her Glock into the eyes of a man. She didn't know or care about his name. All she cared about was that he was an escaped convict who had the whereabouts of America's most infamous criminal and drug dealer.
He trembled but tried to hide the fact, leaning on a tree with a sort of defiance in his eyes and a smirk on his face. Natasha rolled her eyes. He stood up. "Hey lady, I don't know who ya are, but FYI, I don't know who Mateo Hunt is either. Get the hell outta my face. God knows it'll do ya better than if ya stay. Good day, ma'am." He nodded his head towards her like a sheriff, then turned on his heel and slowly shuffled away. Natasha cocked her head to one side, knowing that he wouldn't get far.
From his view in the sky, Tony Stark could see everything in this small town. He saw a woman petting her Golden Retriever puppy; saw a group of teenage boys glued to their phones. He then saw a young girl at a fair with her family, licking a chocolate ice-cream cone. She looked up. Only the children ever looked up.
In her pure awe of seeing Iron Man in her town, she accidentally dropped her cone. She looked down in surprise and began to cry. Tony frowned. "Heya, FRIDAY? When do you think Miss Romanoff will need me? I gotta do something for a sec."
FRIDAY responded instantly. "Natasha Romanoff is currently interrogating the suspect in question at gunpoint. You have time, sir, but hurry."
Tony nodded a silent yes and raced down to an ice-cream booth near the edge of the fair. "Hey buddy. Can I get a small chocolate in a waffle cone, and can you get that asap? I gotta go interrogate a guy. Thanks." He waited for the flustered teenager behind the bar to quickly put together his order. Tony threw down a 20 on the counter, grabbing the cone on his way. "Keep the change. I'll throw in a good word of you to your manager!"
He flew past tons of people on his way to the little sobbing girl, quietly taking pride in all of their stares of admiration. He landed next to her, taking a knee. "Here, kid. It's on me." He stood up, floating in the air for a second. "Stay in school and don't drink." He flew away, making sure to say goodbye to her parents.
Tony scanned the land until he saw an old run-down warehouse next to a thick green forest. His left visuals were explaining that there were two human life forms in the wood. One was Natasha, the other unidentifiable "Hey FRIDAY. I gotta make a big entrance." Tony smirked, hovering in the air.
"Sir, would you like me to play AC️DC's Back in Black? It's on your favorites playlist."
FRIDAY's faint Irish accent questioned.
"Yes," said Tony with a smile. "Yeah, that sounds good. Hey, boost my thrusters up a percentage, will ya? I gotta look cool." As the
first few electric guitar chords resonated through the trees, Tony landed next to Black Widow, making sure to slowly look up, not too quick, because the slower, the cooler.
The man, who had only walked a few feet, stiffened, then turned around. "Ah. Iron Man. Ya see, this girl was tryna take your job! She was all like ooh ooh I'll beat you up if you come close to me! Yeah huh I'll hit you with my high heeled boot!" He snapped his fingers in a z-formation, imitating a valley girl.
Natasha glared at him, then turned to Tony. "May I?" She asked. Tony nodded, a small, almost un-noticeable motion, but a nod nonetheless. Before the man even knew what was happening, Natasha ran at full speed at him. She put her hands on his right shoulder and swung herself around him so she was perched on his shoulders, her thighs around his neck. She smashed his chin shut with one hand and took her Glock out in a fluid motion with the other, holding it to his head. "Scream and I'll shoot."
It was almost like a dance, a dance she had rehearsed hundreds of times. His nose began to bleed, and he squirmed. Tony walked up to them. "Hey, hey, woah, Nat. You don't have to be so violent!" He winked flirtatiously.
Natasha grumbled, but she reluctantly let go. Her hand, which had been trapping his arms and mouth in an uncomfortable position, readjusted around his wrists, shoving them between the two of them, behind his back. "Hey bro." The man stuttered, "I... ya can't do this. I gotta wife and son I gotta go home to. I... I'll do anything. Anything you want, ya got it!" His jaw was clenched, and his eyes were filled to the brim with fear.
Natasha's face hardened. She tightened her grip on his neck. In the tense moment, she somehow kept her grip on her Glock calm. "Maybe you should've thought about that wife and son before you went to jail or before you escaped or before you associated yourself with Mateo Hunt." Her eyes flashed with pure rage and fury, and all she could hear was blood thrumming in her ears.
Tony's eyes widened. He stepped in to intervene, but before he could, someone spoke. "Stand down, soldier."
Natasha looked around, confused, until her eyes landed on a shadowy patch of land, hidden from view. "Excuse me?" Natasha questioned quite ferociously. "I am not, and will never be anyone's soldier."
"Natasha, please. I said stand down." The voice spoke out again. It was a husky but sweet voice, worn down from years of living.
Natasha frowned. "How do you know my name? Come out where I can see you!"
The man padded out into the clearing, and Tony froze. Natasha's face went white as if she'd seen a ghost.
"Steve?!"