Warning: Major Character dead?
43 : WE REMAIN**
Steve had Natasha all to himself for a day until Fury and Hill marched into the tower and demanded to see Natasha. The three spoke privately in the library while the others waited outside before Fury called all of them in.
Natasha had been told that she was about to be hunted down by every intelligence agency around the world and that she shouldn't decide to abandon without telling anyone and that he was glad to have her back. Fury also needed her to be combat ready within a week.
Steve sighed in relief that she didn't have to face any punishment and that Fury also protected her when she disappeared.
"Agent Romanoff, glad to have you back"
"Glad to be back too, sir"
Steve spent a week to nurturing Natasha back to her normal good health. He noticed how thin and pale she was when she came back to him. He cooked all the delicious food and smothered her as much as he could.
"You are gonna make me fat, baby" She told him and took another bite of the sandwich he made for their picnic at Central Park "If you keep making these delicious foods"
"It's my duty to take care of you in every possible way, my love" He replied and continued with his sketch.
"What are you drawing?"
"You"
Natasha had an urge to tell him to stop but she saw how happy he was, she couldn't do it and let him do whatever he wanted. She owed him too much after what she constantly put him through. Natasha finally and willingly to open up every past of her to Steve and told him every single detail of it. She thought that she might saw a hint of disgusting in his face but she was so wrong. He just nodded and squeezed her hand gently, fully understand everything. he asked questions and he got all the answer he wanted to know.
One week passed by very fast and Fury didn't let his best agent sit around freely. He ordered her and Clint to come in immediately.
"Nat, do you know what this is?" Clint asked.
The two best friends were in the meeting room of the helicarrier. JARVIS notified them of the mission and nothing more in details.
"Normally, they would call you and Steve in"
"I don't know. Maybe it's a mission about…" Natasha stopped in the middle of the sentence when she saw who was at the door "Shit! It's Sitwell"
"I hate that guy" Clint replied
"Me too" Natasha agreed "There's something sketchy about the guy"
They both silenced when Sitwell walked in with a file for the duo.
"I have a mission for both of you"
Steve, Tony and Bruce were playing video game together at the living room when JARVIS interrupted them.
"Captain Rogers, there is an urgent call from Agent Romanoff"
Tony hit pause button while Steve accepted the phone call "Hey, Nat"
"Steve, Clint and I will be ship off to a classified location in one hour and I will be back in a week"
"Such a short notice, don't you think?" He said, a little worry "Be safe, sweetheart. I love you"
"I love you too"
Natasha and Clint landed in a remote area of a Middle Eastern country. Local SHIELD agents took them to the safe house where the two master assassins would receive more details and be prepared for their mission.
Their dinner was terrible but after years of eating weird crap around the world it made them immune to everything. Natasha admitted that the food made her misses Steve even more. He is a damn good cook.
Agent Ahmed led them to their room. It's a two bedroom suite with a small living area for them to share. Natasha called dibs on taking a shower first. She thought about Steve a lot after she left the Triskellion. She knew she shouldn't think about him too much to become a distraction in her mission.
But she couldn't help it. She really missed him, badly.
She decided to go to bed early to recharge her power and get herself ready for tomorrow's mission.
The spy drifted off the moment her head hit the pillow. She had a dream, a dream about him, so she assumed that this was going to be a good night for her that her angel visited her like this.
They were walking together, arm in arm, under the clear sky and the summer sun. But then he began to bleed and she was panicked. He fell down to the ground, hands clutched his stomach. Blood poured from his wound that not heal like it normally did.
"Tasha" He groaned in pain "Why do you do this to me?"
"Steve…" She said before she noticed that she was the one that stabbed him. Knife coated with blood when she pulled it out.
What the hell just happened?! She's the one who killed him. NO!
"STEVEE!" Natasha screamed before waking up, sweating and panting.
This was another night that she had her nightmare about Steve again. She heard footsteps coming her way and Clint burst the door open.
"Are you alright?"
"It…just a nightmare" She told "This is not good, Clint. I never had a nightmare about him like this one before"
"What do you mean?"
"In this dream, I killed him"
"Nat, it's just a stupid nightmare."
"I know. But sometimes, what we dream reflects over sub consciousness. What if whatever hold that Red room still had within me…."
"Stop right there, Nat. whatever bond you have with Red Room is all gone when you decided to break free from them" Clint said "And don't be such a baby, Widow. This is not you"
"Tell me, you are not afraid of not seeing Bobbi again"
"Actually, every single day" Clint replied and he saw a surprising look on her face "Sucks, huh? Two of us never have to feel this vulnerable for a long time but we manage to fuck up by letting someone in our lives, compromising us"
"But it did feel good"
"Very good. Knowing that there was always someone waiting for you when you come home, not just another day at work, and another target to kill."
"And you know this is not good for our career"
"Yeah, I know. But I do love the feeling I have with Bobbi more than anything in this world and I bet you are feeling the same with Steve"
"With him, it always feels right"
They exchanged a smile and Clint lightly patted her shoulders.
"Get back to sleep now" He said and kissed her forehead "We have a long day tomorrow"
Back at tower, Steve had a tingling sense that something bad might happened with Natasha and he wasn't there to protect her. Then he immediately discarded that thought. She can hold her own and she's with Clint. Hawkeye's going to protect her.
But Steve's mind was running wild right now. She was in the middle of classified nowhere location that maybe day or night right now. Maybe it was day there. He could sense that she was hunting down some terrorist with Clint.
It's midnight in New York and it was the third day of Natasha's mission. He couldn't force himself to go to sleep so he decided to walk around the tower to clear his head.
What surprised him is that Tony Stark and Bruce Banner were in the living room, trying to do something together.
"What are you guys doing?" Steve asked.
"Hacking some information out of SHIELD" Tony replied
"About what?"
"Natasha and Clint's mission" Bruce told "Cap, don't you think that it weird that SHIELD shipped them off right away?"
"What do you mean?"
"Most of the time, before we get shipped out for a mission, they will give us some time to prepare or Fury will directly order us to do" The scientist clarified.
"But this time, Sitwell and Agent something want to ship our friends out as fast as they can"
"Yeah, you guys are right" Steve agreed "Every time, if SHIELD wants one of the Avengers on the mission, they will have to get an authorization from Fury or Hill, even if that Avenger was Nat or Clint"
"Maybe, Sitwell didn't want to ask Fury" Tony continued "This whole thing stinks"
"I feel it too. There's something wrong. JARVIS!"
"Yes, Captain"
"Please hack into SHIELD and gather details about Nat and Clint latest mission"
"Yes, sir"
"You know what, Rogers. I like you better when you learn to break some rules"
Pepper found the three of them in the living area at dawn when she was about to leave for Chicago. They were busy with the projectile screen, discussing something.
"Did any of you get any sleep last night?" Pepper asked
"No" They replied in unison
"What's so urgent that makes you guys not sleep?"
"Nat and Clint" They said at the same time.
"Should I be worried about this?"
"No, honey, we will handle this" Tony ensured "And have a safe flight"
The billionaire hugged his wife before he walked her to the elevator. Bruce and JARVIS managed to get the information they wanted. Tony came back and helped them.
"The mission is from Agent Sitwell and Victoria Hand will oversee the operation…in Afghanistan" Steve read out loud
"Afghanistan…must be related to Ten rings"
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah…" Tony said "There! Right there! Agent Romanoff and Agent Barton will infiltrate the ten rings hideout and neutralize the leader and their top operatives"
But Tony Stark, being Tony Stark, he didn't stop there and dig further.
"J, I need a satellite image of the hideout." He said "There is something familiar…."
"The image coming up in 10 second, sir"
They took a close look when it image display and Tony frowned.
"That's the exact same place that they held me captive back in ages ago. I'm sure that I burn them all down when I make an escape….J, can you zoom in? Try to get the better image of this"
They waited and JARVIS showed them the clearer image.
"Steve, we have a problem" Tony exclaimed as JARVIS alert him with something "It's not a ten ring hide out but it's a HYDRA fortress!"
Steve ran to his room and got changed while Tony contacted Thor and Bobbi. The trio headed to the Triskellion to assemble more people to help them with this. Bobbi was at the Triskelion when they arrived and she gathered Steve's team as much as she could find.
Steve marched right into Fury's office where Victoria Hand and Jasper Sitwell were having a meeting with the director. Bruce and Tony followed behind.
"It's a trap!" Steve interrupted "It is false intel! Why did you send them in?"
"This is unacceptable! You sent our teammates in without checking the god damn intel!" Tony bellowed.
"Calm down!" Fury yelled "This is SHIELD's matter, not the Avengers"
"It is Avengers' matter when you decide to send my teammates in there and it's a trap"
"There is still a mole in this organization, director. Why else would they pick this particular spot and falsified the data to lure Natasha and Clint out?" Bruce said
Everyone quiet with a sudden realization hit them all. HYDRA sleeper agents still in their organization and they planned to destroy Captain America by taking out the Black Widow first.
"Sitwell, you son of a bitch!" Steve bellowed and grabbed the agent's shirt "You sent her in!"
"Captain, stand down!" Fury yelled
"I didn't know it, Cap" Sitwell quickly said.
"You shouldn't create your weakness since the beginning, Captain Rogers" Victoria Hand interrupted "You are the only one without any weakness but now, you are in love with Romanoff. They will use her to destroy you"
"They can try" Steve replied and let go of Sitwell.
"Coulson's team was en route to Afghanistan as we speak" Fury said "Your team and quinjet are ready for you"
"If anything happens to her, you will pay the price" Steve threatened Sitwell before leaving the room.
Natasha and Clint infiltrated the fortress without any knowledge that this is a trap especially set for them. They thought that everything will goes according to their plan until they were surrounded by an army of terrorists.
"These are not fucking normal terrorist!" Clint shouted "They are HYDRA soldiers!"
"It's a setup" Natasha dodged behind a pile of wooden box. "Clint! Can you get up there and provide us a better visual?"
"Copy that!"
Natasha was firing her dual pistols at the enemy but there were wave after waves and it was too much for both the archer and the spy. Natasha engaged in a hand to hand combat and used enemy's weapons against them. She ran out of ammo but enemies kept coming at them.
"I don't think we can hold much longer, Nat" Clint said over the comm "I'm looking for the escape route"
"Better hurry, Clint" She replied "Are we stilled connected to Ops?"
"We lost all the communications, Natasha. We are on our own"
In the midst of gunfire and chaos, adrenaline rushing through their veins and Natasha was caught up in her fight to notice anything around her. John Garrett approaching Natasha while she was surrounded by HYDRA soldiers. The traitor held a gun in his hand and fired.
Natasha quickly dodged while Clint fired his arrow and it stuck at Garrett's left arm. Many HYDRA agents had to cover Garrett out of the warehouse. Clint was busying fending off the rest of their enemy.
"Clint, if I can't make it…" Natasha said out of nowhere.
"Tasha, don't even said that. We will get out of here"
"There was no extraction team for us, remember? We never have an extraction plan"
"This time we have. We have friends that were on their way to us. You cannot give up right now. We finally have a home and someone to come back to, Natasha"
"It's too late, Clint. Please tell Steve how much I love him"
"What do you mean it's too late?"
There was no answer from his best friend. Clint snapped his head to her direction and saw Natasha, still holding her gun, was already unconscious. Her guns slowly slipped off her fingers as she fell to the ground. Clint hopped down and fired at the enemy before dragging her body to the cover.
"Widow! Wake up! Don't die on me" Clint held her tightly. Tears started to cloud his eyes.
"I'm sorry, Clint"
Natasha closed her eyes, hoped all the pain would be gone and then she saw Steve's face. Steve, whatever happened, you will always remain in my heart forever.
"Steve…." That was her last word.
"No! Tasha nooo" Clint mourned.
"Hawkeye! Widow! Come in" The voice came from his comm.
And it was a glimmer hope for Clint.
"Cap! Thank god"
"Hold on, we are two minutes away" Steve said quickly. "Thor make us a wind tunnel!"
"Aye!"
"Steve, we don't have another two minutes" Hawkeye replied quietly. "Nat…gone"
Only two words can send the strongest warrior to his knees. Steve's heart stopped. He forgot how to breathe. This cannot be real?
Thunderstorm rumbling outside caused by the wrath of the Thunderer upon hearing the words from Hawkeye. Banner tried very hard not to Hulk out but he couldn't do it anymore. The good doctor ran to the hatch of quinjet, slammed at the open button and jumped out of the plane, turning into the Hulk in process.
The angry roar could be heard.
"Steve…" Even Stark didn't know what to say.
"We are at their location, Cap!" Bobbi shouted from the cockpit.
Steve didn't say anything and jumped off the plane. He landed nearby the warehouse. Ironman and Falcon did the aerial cover. Steve ran into the warehouse without thinking anything but to save Natasha.
He found Clint trying to protect Natasha's body but the archer couldn't hold any longer due to fatigue and injuries from the fight.
"Get her out of here! I will deal with them"
"Cap, come with us" Clint said. He knew Steve was on the verge of being consume by rage and berserker instinct.
"GO!" That was the commanding voice that no one would defy.
Steve took down the rest of enemy by himself. HYDRA will pay for the Black Widow's life. He will kill every single one of them. He had no other purpose anymore. She was gone. The love of his life was gone and now, he had to avenge for her.
Captain America did not notice any injury that was on him. His rage was much stronger than his physical pain.
"Coulson's team has arrived" Ironman said "I will take her onto the plane. Falcon take Barton with you"
"Copy that"
"Thor get Banner too!"
"Aye!" The god said and flew to his friend who smashing HYDRA tank. "Friend Hulk, we need Lord Banner to help save Lady Natasha"
Hulk roared and jumped onto the plane before changing back to Bruce Banner. Simmons already prepare a room for emergency surgery while other members were gathering outside the glass door.
"May! Take us back to the nearest helicarrier. Fitz tell them what we need for her surgery" Coulson ordered.
"Where's Steve?" Sam asked
They looked around and found that the Captain was the only one left down there.
"Thor! Get Steve out off the warehouse" Tony told and the god flew away.
Thor found Steve covered in blood and can barely stand. The god saw at least six bullet holes but quickly took his friend away from danger. Tony already told Bobbi and the team to fall back to the helicarrier with them.
Steve, barely conscious, limply walked to the room where Bruce was trying to recover Natasha. Steve felt to his knees and started to painfully mourned. It was the most heartbreaking thing anyone ever see or hear.
The Captain, shattered, crying over the love of his life. Bruce and Jemma tried everything in their power but Natasha's condition began to worsen. Her heartbeat dropped drastically. Steve started to slam the glass and scream. Thor had to hold him back while Tony prepared the tranquilizer injector and hit it at Steve's neck.
The last thing Steve heard and saw was Natasha's heart rate dropped and the machine sounded.
Beeeeeeeeeeeeeep!
The line went flat.
AN:
- Thank you to my proofreader, RushmanNatalie!
- Please kindly leave a review!