Previously:
I giggled and pulled him closer, but then stopped suddenly. "Did you just giggle?" he asked, smiling at my actions. I had never done that before and I was kind of embarrassed, but of course I wouldn't show it.
"No, I didn't. You must be hearing things." I said and handed him the files containing the mission. "Now get out." I said strictly.
He laughed slightly, taking the files this time, and left my bedroom. I took a deep breath and gathered my files before heading out the door. I admit, the idea of a relationship scared me...but the idea of it being a secret brought me some comfort.
I made my way towards the main room, where we get ready to leave the plane, and saw the others standing there around the table. "Where have you been? Playing monopoly or something?" Tony asked.
"I was looking over the mission briefing." I replied. I saw Clint look back at me from the piloting desk and smile lightly. I didn't return it in case the other Avengers saw me doing so. I also noticed that it was just becoming dark. It was about 7pm.
"Good to know." Steve said. "Once we touch down, we need to move fast. Maria and Nat take grappling hooks with an extended rope so you can hook them onto the rooftop and abseil down to the ground with me." he explained and we followed his orders. "Clint, Thor and Tony take it from the top. Go straight to floor 11 and get Ward. Bring him to extraction alive, not dead. Him dying will mean that we will have no leads as to...where to find Bucky." he said, emotionally. Hopefully he didn't become compromised. Maria kissed his cheek lightly and he smiled. I could see that she relaxed him and his mind slightly. She was good for him. "Thor, Iron Man and Nat you take out the guards. Clint, Maria and me will deal with Ward. Got it? Comms on everybody and get into place."
We all nodded and got into our positions as soon as Clint landed the plane. I took a deep breath and switched on my communicator. I looked over at Clint who was already on the other side of the helicarrier, ready for the doors to be opened. He tensed and untensed his fists a couple of times. He always did that before a mission. I think it was his way of steadying himself and not getting distracted as well as preparing his fingers and arms to fire arrows.
"Let's go!" Steve shouted and the doors opened. Our attachment hooks were already clasped onto our belts, so we just attached them to the side of the building and quickly abseiled down. Once we reached the ground, we quickly unclipped ourselves, sending the hooks back up to the top of the building to be collected later, and ran into the hotel. They had already been called about the situation and telephoned each room about it, telling them to evacuate the building, one room at a time so it did not look suspicious. Ward probably heard the sound of the elevator on the top of the building and was probably already trying to escape.
"Widow, take the lift. Me and Maria will take the stairs." Steve ordered and ran off with Maria.
"How come we have to take the stairs?" I heard Maria ask Steve whilst running.
"I'll carry you. Don't worry." he said and I heard a small squeak from Maria, indicating that she was being carried.
"Sounds like you're having a lot of fun Steve." Tony commented.
"It is for the efficiency of the mission Stark." he said as the elevator started going up.
"Whatever you say lover boy." I could almost see his smirk from here. The elevator stopped at the eleventh floor and I pulled up my gun, ready to take on Ward if he was waiting for the lift.
The doors opened and Ward was standing there, gun pointed at me too. "Nice to see you again Widow." Ward smirked, but his fake happy face dropped. "Now put down the fucking gun."
"You first." I said and exited the elevator so it didn't make for an awkward confrontation where the elevator door would keep shutting.
"Not gonna happen." he said pacing around me. It was a pretty big corridor. I heard the stair doors open and I spun round, thinking it was one of the guards, but it was just Steve and Maria. However, before I knew what was happening, Ward had a gun to my head. Shit. I cursed in my mind. "Nice to finally meet you Mr. Rogers. Never had the pleasure of meeting a super soldier like yourself. Well a less advanced one called Bucky Barnes but…" At the mention of Bucky, Steve's body went rigid, as did mine slightly. "You know he told me about you. Always being an idiot, getting into trouble, couldn't punch to save you life before the serum happened." he said and I could tell Steve was getting angrier by the minute.
"Steve…" Maria said so quietly that I could only hear it through the comms. She laced her hand in his and stroked it lightly. "Just stay calm." she whispered.
"Awww. How sweet." Ward said sarcastically, smiling sickly. His face dropped and I wonder what caught him. "You know, I used to have a girlfriend." he said.
"Skye?" Maria asked.
"Kara. You want to know what happened to her?" he asked and I could feel his heartbeat get faster against my back. "She died with her lungs filled with blood." He turned his head, so that he was looking at Maria. "I should've taken you as a hostage instead. Would've been much more entertaining to see the super-soldier crying in front of his girlfriend." He pushed the gun further against my head.
"Oh well, the Widow will have to do." he laughed. Okay, he is definitely insane.
"What do you want with me?" I asked.
"Oh no, it's not what I want. It's what the Winter Soldier wants. He wants to work for HYDRA and we want him to. He is currently doing so, but only under the impression that you are coming back to him."
"You planned this?"
"Of course not, but you know it's funny how this world works." he said, chuckling. Clint, Tony and Thor came through the other door that was directly behind us. Ward spun round so he could see them, but still had the view of Cap and Maria - we were side in the corridor. I wasn't worried that I was going to die. Ward was an idiot.
"Let her go." Clint said, through gritted teeth, and he couldn't take his eyes off of me.
"Ah...who needs the iceberg and Agent Chill when you have the Hawk and his crazy girlfriend?"
"Don't you dare call her crazy." Clint said.
"We haven't started on the real degrading names yet and he's already getting upset." Ward told me, laughing near my ear.
"We won't even get to those names." he said and shot an arrow before Ward's feet. He didn't even flinch.
"Is that supposed to do some-" Ward was cut off by a high pitched sound that only he could hear. Our ear pieces protected us against the noise. The distraction allowed my to flip Ward over me and onto his back.
I picked up Clint's arrow and threw it back to him. "Good shot." I complimented and he smiled.
Me, Thor and Tony went into the guard's' room and found them packing up some other stuff as the team were arresting Grant. There were six of them and they all immediately had their guns trained on us. "Excuse me men, but I'm afraid we will have to take those packages off of your hands." The men laughed, but still kept their guns locked.
"Well then, if you're going to be like that…" Tony said, putting his robotic hands in the air. "we'll just have to take them by force.
I ran up to the nearest guard, who tried to shoot me in the face, but completely failed and actually ended up hitting Tony's suit, as I ducked. "Sorry Stark." I said, punching the guard in the stomach.
I kneed him in the face as Iron Man replied "Don't worry. I will make you pay for it." Twisting his neck, I was punched in the face by another HYDRA agent who also slashed my stomach with a knife.. I targeted my foot against his ankles, knocking him down, and kicked him in the stomach. I got down and punched him in the face, but he grabbed me and turned me over, so he was on top of me. He punched the side of my face that was undamaged, which made me very unhappy, so I kneed him in the balls and punched his left temple, knocking him unconscious.
Getting up, I brushed myself down and looked at the other dead guards. "High five." Stark said, to me, but I ignored him and went outside. I heard a big clap behind me as Thor's palm sent shock waves through Tony's suit. I heard a little "Ow." from Tony, but I couldn't imagine how much that hurt.
When I returned to the corridor, Ward was in handcuffs and being taken to the stairway by Steve. "Grab all the files and then lets go." he ordered and we all followed what he said. There weren't that many black boxes of files to carry so we did it in one trip. "I've sent in sweepers to dispose of the bodies." Steve said, an element of sadness in his voice. He never did like the thought of killing people even though he really wanted to be in the war business. I remember his flle stating that in his interview to be a soldier, when he was asked whether he wanted to kill Nazis, he replied "I don't want to kill anyone. I don't like bullies; I don't care where they're from." Such an inspiration to people.
"Get the hooks and let's go." Steve said to me and got into the plane along with everyone else. Clint flashed me a small smile before joining them. I can't believe how pure he is...compared with someone like me especially. He doesn't deserve me. He deserves someone way better.
I went to pick up the last hook, hurting slightly from the knife wound that I had gotten earlier, but noticed someone crossing the street with one of the cases wearing the same uniform as the guards. Without thinking, I clipped the rope to my belt and abseiled down the building. I ran across the street, following him, and said "Guys, there is a guard running down the street with another brief case. I think this one might be important seeing as it is one of the only one's left. The bastard must have left before anyone else."
"Lady Romanoff, where are you?" Thor asked.
"I am in pursuit." I replied. "Home in on my signal." The agent turned down an alleyway and I stopped just before the turning. I looked down the alleyway secretively and saw him open the briefcase. I pulled up my gun and said "STOP! Put your hands behind your head and get onto your knees."
The man was in a black balaclava, only allowing me to see his mouth, but I could fully see the smug smile on his face.
"Why don't you put your hands behind your head and get onto your knees. We can play a little game then." he replied, smiling. Bucky...
"I do not want to play by your games any longer Bucky." I said. The briefcase was open, but I could not see its contents because it was faced towards him.
"You do. And you will. You will be with me again." he said, stepping towards me with his hands in his pockets, leaving the briefcase on the ground.
"That is never going to happen." I said. "I will never come back to you. You changed and I cannot make you turn back to the person you were. Before you took over everything, I did love you." I added, thinking about how peaceful he was before. "But after you decided to destroy yourself, I knew that I could no longer be with you."
"Black Widow…it's my fault you have that name. I don't want you to remain in the dark or be that Widow any longer."
"It's who I am now." I replied, as he was an arms distance apart from me.
"Oh you will be here once more." he said and quickly pulled his hand up. Because of his electronic arm, his movements were much faster. I looked at my forearm and noticed a needle sticking out of it. "The real Black Widow will be here again. The real you will be here again." he repeated and I knew what he meant.
"No…" I said, panicking slightly. "No…no you can't have...you can't…." I tried to get my words out, but I couldn't believe what was happening. I pulled the syringe out of my arm and felt the pain course through my veins.
"Accept it Natalia." he said, disappearing into the shadows as I fell to my knees. "Accept who you really are." were the last words I heard before blackness filled the alleyway. My eyes felt open, but black invaded them. The serum spread through my veins like fire and I screamed out. Thor landed in front of me, carrying Clint and then Iron Man came, carrying Maria and Steve. They rushed over and I got out my knife immediately.
"You will die." I said, smiling. "You vile Avengers."
"Natasha?" Clint asked and took a step towards me. Big mistake. I ran up to him quickly and raised my knife, reading to pierce his neck, but a metallic object hit me in the face, sending me to the ground, unconscious.
A couple of hours later
"Nat?" someone asked, but I felt too tired to respond to whoever it was. "Natasha?" the voice asked again and this time I couldn't stay with my eyes closed. It was almost pulling me towards the light.
"Nat…" the voice said again and I opened my eyes, realising that it was Clint. Towards the light of a hospital room then.
"Hey." I replied, sat up and looked around to find the source of the voice, but no one was there. I realised that my wrists were bound to the chair. "Hey, where are you?"
"Don't worry, you're not dreaming about me."
"Like I would ever." I replied. That um….that's never happened in the past…..nope.
"You are in the med ward at the Tower."
"No shit." I said.
"Do you remember the hotel mission?"
"Yeah, we've got Ward right?"
"Yeah, we've got Ward, but do you remember going after someone else who was running away from the building when you were packing up the hooks attached to the rooftop?"
"Of course I do. That was Bucky. He was carrying a case containing a set of syringes, filled with...something." There was silence across the room and I wondered what had happened to Clint, but he soon spoke up.
"Bucky? Bucky was there?" Clint asked.
"He's the one who had the briefcase. My thought is that all the guards were secretly heads of HYDRA. They thought that Ward was the least valuable, considering he is the newest member, so they sent him out, after the Winter Soldier, because he has less skills than Bucky. That's why he was dressed in civilian clothing. They knew he wouldn't stand a chance out there if he was caught, so he was sent out, after the person who could defend themselves the most."
"Good hypothesis." was the only thing he could reply with.
"Why am I in here?" I asked. "Why am I strapped down and why is there a tube running from my body?"
"All those questions have the same answer. You were...you were injected with the Red Room's Black Widow serum." he said and my breath hitched. They were trying to make me back into who I used to be...back into Natalia Romanova. Well that was not going to happen.
"Did I hurt anyone?" I asked, immediately realising how caring I sounded.
"No one was hurt. Cognitive recalibration. Mjolnir hit you really hard on the head." He laughed. "You couldn't kill me if you tried." he said, smugly.
"Then why am I still hooked up if I don't want to kill you?"
"We have to make sure that it is out of your system. Should take a couple more minutes. There is only 2% left in your bloodstream."
"Okay. You get anywhere with Ward?" I asked.
"Not yet, but Maria has a plan"
"Really? What is it?"
"We're bringing in Coulson."
"Why?"
"It's all part of the-" he said, but stopped and I wondered where he went.
"Clint?" I asked, wondering where he has gotten to. Maybe there was a glitch in the system.
The door opened and Clint came over. "All done." He smiled at me as he reached down and undid the straps around my hands and feet. Feeling his thumb stroke my hand brought comfort to me. He smiled as he slowly undid the buckles holding me down, finishing on the one restraining my right hand. His fingers curled around my wrist, rubbing where the shackles had been.
"You feeling okay?" he asked as I reached my hand out to take his wrist.
"I am alright. Thank you." I replied as our hands joined to hold each others. "There's no one outside is there."
"Just me and you. I told Jarvis to tell me when someone comes this way." he said, kissing my hand. He kissed up my arm, over my shoulder and up my neck. I sighed peacefully and kissed his lips as soon as I could.
"I've missed you." I smiled, pressing my hand against his cheek and stroking over it
"I've missed you too." he replied and kissed my softly, almost not touching my lips at all.
"Mr. Barton, Miss Romanoff. Mr. Rogers and Ms. Hill are set to exit at this floor." he pulled back, his eyes still shut, and sighed.
"Great." he said sarcastically. "Lets go." he said, grabbing my hand and helping me up. Once I stood up, holding my stomach slightly, I noticed that I was wearing a white crop top, showing off my toned, but scarred, abs, a white bandage around my stomach and a white skirt.
"Errrr...when did I get changed? And more importantly who got me changed?"
"Umm…" he said, looking at the ground. "About two hours ago...and it was...umm….it was me..."
I raised an eyebrow. "You undressed me and got me into these clothes?"
"The others suggested it." he said, immediately arguing his case.
"Sure they did." I said, sounding like I didn't believe him. I knew he wouldn't do it unless he had to.
"Don't w-worry. I...I mean I didn't look or anything and anyway you were wearing underwear. I wasn't paying any a-attention to what you were w-wearing or...um...anything. I just mean I didn't look at you and-"
"Clint!" I said, trying to silence him my voice and a death glare. "It's fine. Also, I don't blame you for looking…" I smiled and strutted past him, collecting my clothes that were on side on the way out.
I exited the room and saw Steve and Maria coming towards us.
"Looking better I see." Steve said, smiling. Although his sentence seemed harmless, Maria did not find it the same way.
"Hey!" she warned.
His eyes widened and he said frantically "I didn't m-mean about her state of dress, I meant about her medical health." Maria chuckled slightly and tapped his chest.
"I know, sweetie." she said, smiling. "Are you feeling better though?" she asked me.
"Much better, thank you, but I need to change into my own clothes. I know that my wounds had to be fixed and that involved my catsuit being taken off, but I need to put on some normal clothes." I said and went into the group changing rooms on this floor.
I took off the crop top and skirt that I was in and observed myself in the mirror. I did have an attractive body, but that's because of the serum from the red room. Clint seemed attracted to me and to be honest there was no reason not to. I had the perfect curves on my body and a brilliant complexion, but my mind...my mind was different. I felt like I had a different mind-set compared to everyone else. I felt like my thought processes were abnormal. I would never fit in with the other Avengers. No matter how much I trained my body, no matter whether I was as good as the others...I would never be the same as them.
The mark across my stomach was still inflamed and there was a couple of blood specks on the wrapped bandage. I reached down to touch it, but my hand was stopped by someone else's. It was Clint. He wrapped his hand around mine and put his other hand on my shoulder.
"Have you been watching me?" I asked, as he came behind me, his chest slightly pressed against my back.
"Have you been crying?" he shot back, taking the hand from my shoulder and wiping a tear of my face. I didn't even realise that I had been crying.
"I didn't even know." I admitted and leant back against his chest. "But have you been watching me though?"
"No, I came in after knocking about five times." he said. "I was worried about you."
His cheeks flushed red slightly and I turned around to face him. "That's cute." I said and kissed his lips quickly. I was pulling away, but he pulled me close to him, his chest against mine. He smashed his lips against mine and I moaned in delight. I never thought that he could be so forward.
His hands touched all over my body and he had never made me feel more alive. He leant me down on one of the benches and buttered kisses down my neck and chest. I shivered from the sensation, but it made my stomach sting and I hissed harshly.
He looked up at me and asked "What is it?"
I held my hand out for him to pull me up and he did so. "Can we leave the serious making out session until my stomach is healed a bit?"
He looked shocked and immediately apologised. "Oh my God. I am so sorry Nat. I didn't think and I'm really sorry."
"Don't worry about it."
"No, no. I'm really sorry. I was just thinking about…" he stopped himself and went wide-eyed.
"Thinking about what?" I asked, smirking slightly. Was he thinking about...stuff?
"No, I wasn't thinking about anything." he said quickly.
"So you weren't thinking about me?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
"No, I was." he said, but stopped himself again. "We um...we have an interrogation to be at…" He slowly started walking towards the door and I shook my head.
"You're not going anywhere." I said and scowled.
"Well, you're not dressed, so there is nothing you can do about it." he said, grabbing the door handle.
"Don't you dare." I said angrily.
"See you in the interrogation room." he smiled and exited. God damn it. I quickly got dressed, without tearing my stitches, and went to meet him in the room where Ward was being held.
Hope you liked this chapter :)