May 1st, 2015
San Francisco, California

Remember that old saying 'Never meet your heroes', well Natasha was currently on a quinjet towards a large celebration that would allow numerous young children the opportunity to meet them. And, she hoped to God that the saying was just an old wives tale.

The team was in San Francisco for "Avengers Day", something Pepper had come up with. Due to the events in Sokovia and other disasters around the world, Tony and Pepper had been working around the clock with Stark Industries to produce medical ships on the size and scale of the Helicarrier, all for humanitarian outreach and to help people with disasters, whether it be from battle or natural disasters, it was sure to be a huge safety key to the world. The first ship, dubbed the "Chiron '' was finished and stationed in San Francisco, giving it access to the entire Pacific Ocean and places along its coast. With most of the scandals dying down, Pepper thought it would be a good idea to flash the press a little bit.

Thus, Avengers Day was born.

They would be arriving on the deck of the Chiron in full uniform to unveil the new ship and meet with any fans that wanted to show up. Sign some autographs, take some pictures, build morale back up with the Avengers in essence.

Natasha had a good past month and a half. Her relationship with Steve had only strengthened with him being able to start coming to various doctor's visits and being able to take a part of the pregnancy for the first time in a while. Wanda's training was coming along beautifully, she was really starting to get a hold on her powers and Natasha was even teaching her how to read people better without her powers and learn to fight without them as well. You never knew when that would come in handy. What was most surprising to just about everyone was how good of friends that Natasha and Tony were becoming. They chatted with each other numerous times, and Natasha even took a couple days and went to Tony's current lab where they built her new suit. It had lightweight armor around her stomach area, protecting it from knives and gunfire, anything but a point blank shot wouldn't hit. There were also some shock absorbents to make sure if she did get hit anywhere, pressure wouldn't be hit on her stomach.

She was really happy with her relationship with Tony, they were actually able to start quipping with each other without it being awkward, they had both come a long way.

Natasha brought the quinjet just past the Golden Gate bridge and towards the bay where the Chiron was docked.

"One minute out guys," Natasha said. "Terra, you really need to learn how to fly this thing. I'm not gonna be able to go on stuff like this soon and you can't all walk there."

Terra hummed in agreement from her place on the bench, scrolling through a tablet and dressed in her mission suit. She was looking at the social media response for today and communicating with Pepper on their ETA. "I want to, but Steve said something about knowing how I drive, and how he'd rather hike than be in a plane I'm piloting, yadda yadda," she said with amusement. "He's exaggerating."

"No, he's not," Sam deadpanned, starting to strap his pack with his wings on. "I'd rather go on a million rollercoasters than drive with you again."

Terra rolled her eyes and grinned, setting down the tablet and fixed her braid. "Whatever. You weren't complaining when we went Christmas shopping."

"That's because there are no rules for Christmas shopping."

Pietro snickered sitting by Vision and Wanda, also in his blue and silver mission suit, and doing some stretches. Vision was sitting beside Wanda, hands folded in his lap. He'd imagine the Halloween parade they went to was good practice for this day, he knew a bit of what to expect. A bit.

"Yeah, I don't think giving Terra the wheel - or any wheel - would be a good idea," teased Steve from the co-pilot's seat.

"I think Tony said he was working on bringing Friday into the quinjets as the primary pilot," Bruce piped up. "Though having someone knowledgeable enough for a manual takeover would be best." Bruce was here purely to accompany Terra. After Sokovia, the PR specialist Pepper had hired informed him that it would be unwise to continue referring to the Other Guy as an Avenger. It had been harsh but understandable. Bruce was more than happy to stick to the sidelines and avoid all public appearances. Of course, the specialist had assured him that he was free to help out on "Green-level" missions. He'd sarcastically thanked her for her permission.

"I can do it," Steve volunteered automatically, though Natasha knew that Steve hated it due to past experiences, mainly flying a giant plane into the ice and trapping himself for seventy years.

"I know you don't like to fly," Natasha said quietly to him, knowing what memories it brought up.

Natasha looked towards the back at the group that was gathered. They were all back there and all could learn how to fly this jet, even if just in extreme cases.

"There will be a group lesson on how to fly the jet," Natasha said, glancing back towards the front. "I know you won't be as good as me, but you should all know in a pinch."

Natasha did a flashy jet move as she swung around to the deck of the ship, already trying to impress the huge crowd that had shown up. Natasha was very surprised with the number of people that were here, but nonetheless glad. The Avengers needed a win right now, a lot of the governments of the world were starting to whisper about the very need for a team like the Avengers at all. She had been speaking to Pepper about the Avengers having an official ambassador to the governments of the world, and her being that person. It would give her something to focus on while she was off active duty, and would allow the actual leaders of the Avengers to do that. She just needed to talk to Terra and Steve about it and then start setting up those tedious meetings.

She landed the jet on the landing deck and lowered the ramp, hearing the cheers as they had arrived.

"Have fun guys," Natasha said, looking back and knowing that a lot of the members of the team were really going to enjoy this day.

Natasha got up from her chair and went over to where Steve's helmet and shield were. She grabbed both of them, heading back over to him and stealing a private moment between the two of them while everyone else was leaving the jet.

She looked a bit different than a month and a half ago. Aside from the fact that her stomach was a little bigger, her hair had grown out longer, going down to the tops of her shoulders now. She also had a bit more of a glow to her, thanks to the pregnancy, and she seemed a lot more relaxed due to her new relationship with Tony. Steve hadn't said much about it, and she figured that he was just nervous that there would be a relapse and things would be as tense if not more than before.

But her new suit had hidden most of the pregnancy at this point, even though there was no secret about it. She smiled at Steve and held out his helmet and shield to him.

"Are you ready Captain America," she said with a coy smile.

He accepted the helmet and slung the shield behind his back. "As I'll ever be, Black Widow." He slipped the helmet over his head, effectively ruining his hair, and clipped the chin strap. He was all set. But he didn't take one step to leave the jet quite yet.

"Thanks for offering to teach flying lessons to the team," he said quietly. "I appreciate it. And not just because it would be useful."

Natasha smiled and placed her hand right over the star on his chest.

"I got you," Natasha said with an adoring smile. "Whenever you want to talk, I'll be here. But I know you, and I'll always have your back."

Natasha stood up on her toes and pressed a kiss to his lips, letting him know that she was there. There were still parts of his past he wouldn't share with her, and parts of hers that she wouldn't share with him. They were slowly working their way towards full transparency, but they both had some troublesome pasts.

"Before we go out there," Natasha said. "I was thinking about something on the flight over. I think I should go meet Peggy. She was an important part of your life and I think you should be able to tell her about your son. Plus, I've never met Director Carter before."

He raised his eyebrows at that. "I'm surprised you haven't met her before," he said. "Not sure why. But I know she'd love to meet you." He squeezed Natasha's hand and then kissed it. "I'd be happy to introduce you sometime. I haven't been to see her since the last time I was in DC. We could make a trip of it. Walk down memory lane," he half-joked. DC was where they had officially met but it hadn't been under the greatest of circumstances.

Someone called out that there was one minute until his cue. Steve kissed Natasha one more time before making his way down the ramp. "Wish me luck."

"Good luck soldier," Natasha said, following him out and going over to stand next to Pepper.

They had become decent friends since she made up with Tony and Pepper even helped her pick out some maternity clothing. She knew she had to go on stage soon, but she was going to wait until she was in the back. She had a better media reputation than four months ago, but she didn't want to take any chances.

"Any chance they won't notice if I don't go on stage," Natasha asked Pepper.

Pepper hummed uncertainty, giving a so-so hand motion, without looking away from the bustle of the backstage crew. "Couldn't say. But you don't have to go on if you don't want to," she assured, knowing being in front of people and the press could be touchy for her.

Natasha straightened up when the music on stage grew and the announcer's voice boomed throughout the Chiron.

"Who's ready to see... the Avengers?!"

The crowd roared in response as the lights on the stage dimmed in anticipation.

"Then get ready to show some love for your heroes! GIVE IT UP FOR THE FALCON!"

As Sam went on stage in his entrance he planned, Natasha ended up shrugging.

"Yeah well they're going to say my name," Natasha said, charging her gauntlets.

She was slated to go after Sam, Pietro, and Vision, and she decided to throw caution to the wind. It may have been all a ploy to begin with, but what the hell, Natasha was going to work this a bit.

"Beware her bite, give it up for BLACK WIDOW!"

Natasha blew a kiss to Steve before lighting up her gauntlets all the way. She did a little run on stage and flipped into the air, coming down center stage and slamming her fists into the ground, sending out a huge electric shock in a small area surrounding her. She caused the lights to flicker a bit, and the crowd would feel a slight static electricity, but nothing more than that. Natasha stood up straight and smirked for the crowd, and then headed over to stand with the other three, glad that she was getting a huge round of applause and super excited to see a little girl in the front row with the hourglass logo on her shirt jumping up and down like crazy.

The rest of the team was ushered on stage in similar fashion, until finally Steve was the only one remaining.

"And last, but certainly not least, the very first Avenger, CAPTAIN AMERICAAAAA!"

The red, white, and blue shield shot out from stage left, ricocheted off a pole on stage right and slid home onto Steve's arm in a flash, revealing that in the seeming split second that the shield had been away from him, Steve had materialized onstage. The crowd paused, confused, then cheered even louder.

"One more round of applause for Earth's Mightiest Heroes... THE AVENGERS!"

Steve waved, not really a fan of these big events but understanding that they were necessary. His smile was big but forced. This was Tony's forte, not his. But Tony was off in India treating his stakeholders to a nice retreat and trying to convince them to invest even more since the unveiling of the Chiron apparently wasn't doing it for them.

The clapping died down eventually. Together, Steve and Terra approached the podium in the middle of the stage. It had two microphones sprouting out of the top like vines from a potato. Steve cleared his throat.

"Thank you, everyone, for coming today to announce the launch of the Chiron," he began. "The Avengers have always protected and defended humanity and that will continue to be our goal moving forward. But I have always seen my team first and foremost as humanitarians. You may ask yourselves what we do when we're not fighting aliens or enhanced super villains. The answer is this." He lifted his arms to gesture around them.

"We advocate for a better world. Stark Industries has taken us one step closer to that world by bringing us this medical ship, named for the centaur in Greek mythology, famed for his wisdom and knowledge of medicine. We want to show you that we are not just the ones who fight for you. We will fight with you. And that means cleaning up the messes that we make and ensuring that the people we save make it past the defense line."

The audience applauded in agreement. Steve leaned back to let Terra say her piece.

Terra stepped forward to speak into the microphone. "The Chiron has top of the line medical facilities that can accommodate more than fifteen thousand injured parties and have some of the best medical professionals on call." The animated schematics of the Chiron played on the monitors. "None of this would have been possible without those volunteering to help out, the brilliant minds behind the construction, and all of you guys," she said with a warm smile and the crowd cheered in response.

"Your continued support has meant the world to us and has allowed this project to move forward. We cannot wait to cut the ribbon and have it in service officially, but first, we would very much like to meet you," Terra grinned, folding her hands together. "So please enjoy the awesome food, activities, and stop by to say hi! We'll see you all soon!"

The audience applauded and the music played, cueing the Avengers to take their exit. As soon as Pietro and Sam got backstage, they began bickering at who got the loudest crowd cheer. Natasha left the stage and felt pretty good about what she had accomplished. She didn't do much, well hardly anything at all. But she made it on stage and got a few people to cheer. Steve and Terra spoke brilliantly about the Chiron, and that's what today was really about. Overall, she didn't have a mental breakdown in her first public appearance since the scandal. She wanted to congratulate Steve and Terra on their speeches, but unfortunately, there was only one thing on her mind.

"Can we get some pickles and root beer," Natasha said. "Like a lot of root beer, I'm talking about that big glass you can get from a truck stop size."

Pickles and root beer was her latest craving, and it had been the most interesting one yet. She tolerated pickles, had them on a few sandwiches, but never just ate them by themselves. She did, however, hate root beer. Didn't like the taste, the consistency, and the way it felt on her tongue and teeth after she drank it.

But, the last few weeks that had been a solid portion of her meals. Steve had made so many runs to the grocery store to come back with two liters of root beer and jars upon jars of pickles.

Steve nudged one of the stagehands and asked to fulfill Natasha's request. The stagehand nodded. "Back in a jiffy."

She hardly listened to the stagehand when she saw the food, and made a beeline towards her seat. She sat down and opened up the jar, already munching away. She sighed in content as the baby finally seemed satisfied that he was being fed. She glanced and briefly saw that she was sitting next to Wanda, but she wasn't sure who else was sitting on her other side. She honestly didn't care, she was more focused on the root beer.

"God Rogers I don't know what you did to me," Natasha said, taking a huge drink of her soda. "But this baby you pumped into me is making me eat weird shit."

Steve pulled out his chair next to her and lowered himself into it with a sigh. He reached up to unclip his helmet. "I think you know exactly what I did to you," he said quietly with an amused smirk. "And pickles aren't that weird." He reached to grab one for himself to demonstrate.

"Well I know that," Natasha said, rolling her eyes as she was glad Steve was sitting next to her.

She was sure there was some PR staging to the seating arrangement, but that wasn't her forte or care really. She was here to meet some fans and sign some autographs before unveiling a ship that would help millions, that was the important part about today.

"But you know how much I hate root beer," Natasha said, taking another huge drink. "And your son is making me drink it."

He shrugged and set his helmet on the table, right next to the posters from that cringey photoshoot he did with the other Avengers last year. The photographer had said that he looked great and he'd done some major editing but Steve just couldn't see what made these photos so coveted. Natasha just adored them and used them as teasing energy whenever she could, the relation to them and his trading card photo shoots back during the war being perfect.

"Or maybe you're just finally admitting that it's good and this is just an excuse," he teased.

"I don't think so Steven," Natasha said, crossing her arms a bit and looking at the stack of pictures that she had.

She hadn't had any official photo shoots with the Avengers, so they had provided a picture of her from the Battle of Sokovia. It was a surprisingly decent picture of her stabbing one of the Ultron bots. Natasha guessed that Stark Industries had found a decently low resolution photo from a security camera or phone and used their very advanced tech to clear it up.

"There will be no root beer in our house for at least a year after this kid comes out of me," Natasha said very sternly.

"Yes, dear," he replied, smiling.

He picked up one of Natasha's photos and admired it. "We should get a family photoshoot sometime," he said offhandedly. "Once when you're pregnant and probably a bunch of times after." He set the photo down, then corrected himself. "Just for us, I mean. To have framed and hung up on the walls in our home or something like that. I think that would be nice."

"Well if you insist," Natasha said, knowing that she would like nothing more than the same.

She glanced over at the clock and it was just about time for the meet and greet to start.

"You know I've never signed an autograph before," Natasha said. "How should I sign? Black Widow? Natasha Romanoff? How did the Star Spangled Man with a Plan sign his?"

"Captain America," Steve replied with a shrug. "People didn't care about Steve Rogers back then. Plus, I think the kids would like that better."

Just then, one of the stagehands must have let the people through because a tidal wave of fans came pouring through the doorway. Sure enough, there were several kids screaming the names of their superhero monikers.

"Brace yourselves," Wanda muttered before anyone came into earshot.

"No kidding," Natasha managed before getting swarmed herself.

She signed the pictures, smiled for the people, took a couple pictures with them at their request. Got multiple requests for pictures of her and Steve, which she obliged. Finally she noticed the girl with the Black Widow shirt that she recognized on stage.

"Well hi," Natasha said, smiling at the little girl.

"Hello Mrs. Black Widow," the little girl said, giddy with excitement.

Natasha chuckled at how cute the little girl was and continued on the conversation.

"What's your name," Natasha asked, preparing a picture for the little one.

"Kamala," the girl said.

"Well my name is Natasha," Natasha replied. "You can call me that, okay?"

"Okay Natasha," Kamala said, super excited to get to talk to her hero.

Eventually, the autograph and photo portion of the day came to a close and the volunteers ushered the clamoring fans out of the room. When a volunteer pulled the door shut, it was much quieter in the room, even though many volunteers, stagehands, and other workers milled about talking to each other in-person or through their headsets.

Steve sighed and leaned back in his chair. "I'd say that went well."

"Agreed," said Wanda, flexing her fingers after writing so much. "What's next?"

Terra was resting her head down on her arms on the table, three empty coffee cups next to her. "Ribbon cutting ceremony," she said, speaking through a yawn, patting down the loose strands that came out of her braid. "Easiest part. Unless they give us bad scissors. Then we're doomed." Some stagehands came by and took away the gifts and fan-art that were given to the Avengers to put away. One stayed behind to fix Terra's hair. "Thank you," she mumbled.

Pepper walked in. "You guys did wonderfully," she assured. "If you could head to the stage, we'll finish this up with the last event and then we're done."

"And then more food," Natasha said, polishing off the last of the pickles and grabbing the soda which had about two swallows left in it. "I'm starving."

Natasha was eating more and more food these days. She knew it was because of the pregnancy, but it didn't help her feel a little fat because of that. And she knew none of the other Avengers would dare say anything about her eating habits, lest they fear her wrath. Pietro made a comment one day without thinking and she almost made the poor boy cry. She apologized profusely afterwards and everything seemed fine up till now.


Across San Francisco...

Two mercenaries jogged down the tunnel towards the underground cavern that served as their base of operations. They came to the opening and made their way to the far end. As they walked through, they passed the small army that was getting prepared for the coming attack. They were readying the vehicles, their weapons, and the jetpacks, all courtesy of Shield and the failure to secure all of their resources after the fall. Now they were in the hands of the small Hydra cell that was left.

Led by one particular man.

The two made their way over to the corner where that man was sitting, facing away from them. He was sharpening his knife, slowly and carefully.

"Bombs are in place, boss," the first man said.

"The Avengers autograph session just ended," the second man said. "The ribbon cutting ceremony should start very soon."

"Gear up and roll out," the man said. "Blow the bombs on my order."

"Yes sir," the men said and went to rally the other.

The leader stood up and walked over to the small locker that he had. He grabbed the mask and placed it over his very scarred face. He turned around and looked at his troops. For the first time since the battle in Washington DC, Brock Rumlow was ready to strike back.

Now, as Crossbones.


The Avengers suddenly found themselves backstage in a set-up tent area outside the building. Several stagehands appeared and began fussing over each of them, as this would be the most photographed portion of the whole day. Bruce met up with everyone there, scratching his wrists a little anxiously but otherwise in an amiable mood. Crowds would always make him nervous. There was no getting over that.

Suddenly, two stagehands hefted the largest pair of scissors that Natasha had ever seen and held it out for both Steve and Terra to take since apparently it was so large and awkward to hold that it required two people.

"Well, it'll certainly be hard to miss the ribbon," Steve said.

"Geez," Terra chuckled as she wrapped her hands around the handle on her side, leaving the other for Steve. "These look like they're for trimming hedges."

Pepper came in last, listening to her earpiece. "Alright, we're ready for you all on stage," she told them. "Last event of the day, then you're free to go."

Everyone seemed a bit grateful for that. Speaking with all of those people seemed to suck the energy out of them. The announcer's voice boomed through the stage, gathering the crowd back to witness the ceremony. The press was in a closed-off section upfront. The Avengers were instructed to split up at the stage entrances and walk-on at the same time. Terra and Steve were on the same side, so they could carry the scissors together.

A long, large red ribbon spanned the whole front of the stage, so Terra and Steve could just walk up and cut it.

Everyone got in their positions as the announcer's voice echoed,

"Now, for their final appearance today... let's hear it one last time... for THE AVENGERS!"

The crowd roared with cheers in response.

Natasha followed the team, but hung towards the back. She didn't know what, but she was getting a bad feeling about this whole thing. She shook it off, figuring it was just the fatigue, and took Steve and Terra's lead.

"Thank you Pepper," Natasha said sincerely, before going on stage.

Steve and Terra walked on first from stage left, each holding the scissors with one hand and waving with the other, the rest of the team coming on and splitting up on the stage, evening things out.

Eventually, the raucous applause died down enough for a high-up Stark employee at the podium off to the side to speak into the microphone. "Ahem. We know it's been a long day for some of you so we'll cut..." He paused for dramatic effect and received a few chuckles for the effort. "... to the chase. We regretfully could not fit all of you on the Chiron, nor could we land it close enough to tie a ribbon to, so we've symbolically tied it to our little set-up here." He waved a hand in the general direction of the stage and the Avengers. "Without further ado, Captains? Would you do the honors?"

Steve nodded and helped Terra maneuver the scissors in place to snap the ribbon.

The crowd collectively held its breath.

Shnip!

The ribbon split and fluttered to the stage floor. The crowd cheered and the photographers in the front had their cameras at the ready, taking numerous pictures. Terra and Steve passed the scissors to two stagehands that came and took it away, so they could wave to the crowd properly. It seemed like everything went right throughout the day with no complications and they would be heading home soon.


Crossbones was watching the feed and just as the Avengers cut the ribbon, he uttered one word.

"Execute."

In seconds, his troops took off and started attacking the Golden Gate Bridge. Men with stolen SHIELD jetpacks zoomed forwards and began working on the supports, terrifying everyone that was there.


Natasha heard the explosion and her head snapped to the sound and her hand went immediately to her gun on her hip. There was a huge explosion on the Golden Gate Bridge, and there were screams in the crowd as they began going away from the explosions that were starting to happen.

Steve snapped into Captain America mode. "I need my flyers on the bridge now."

Sam immediately pulled down his goggles and his wings from the pack extended as he took off a moment later, Vision following not far behind. Pietro sped off in a blur a half-second after Cap told him to. Terra pulled Pepper and some stagehands aside. They would need help to evacuate all these people without causing a panic. Wanda's eyes glowed as she prepared to take off with Sam and Vision.

Steve reached her in two strides and quickly grabbed her elbow. "Not you, Wanda. You're with me." He let go and nodded sharply at Pietro. "Quicksilver, you'll go instead. You'll get there faster."

The magic faded from Wanda's fingers. "What do you need me to do?"

"Terra will help me evacuate the civilians in this general area. This attack isn't coincidental which means it's linked to us. We need to make sure the people are safe and that there are no more bombs."

"I'll see if I can find anything." Wanda blinked and her eyes were suddenly red as she scanned the minds around her for anything terrorist-related.

Steve turned to Natasha. "I need you to be Overwatch and the best place to do that is on the Chiron." It was also arguably the safest place for her and the baby.

Natasha nodded, knowing that she had to do this to keep her baby secure. It would also be chaos over there, and Steve and Terra needed to focus on fighting rather than overwatch, and she could help.

"Be safe," she said and holstered her pistols and ran towards the command center at a full sprint to get their eyes in the sky. Across the deck, a man in black sunglasses watched the entire thing unfold. When all of the Avengers left and only the Black Widow remained aboard the Chiron, he got on his radio.

"Boss," he said. "The Avengers have taken the bait. Only Black Widow is left."

"Good," Crossbones' voice answered. "Start your assault run now. Blow that thing out of the sky and kill Romanoff. I want Rogers to suffer."

"Yes boss," he said and moved to the couple of men that were behind him. "Let's go."


Chiron Terrigen Core Chamber

A couple of scientists were moving to and fro underneath the ship, monitoring the core and any other technical aspects to it. There were two guards by the door, watching the six people work. One of them nodded to the other and then they both raised their guns and shot down all of the scientists. They moved in two separate directions. One went over to the core and started manipulating the controls so it would begin to destabilize and blow the ship up, and the other went to the autopilot controls and overrode the system. It would make the Chiron take off and fly slowly towards the Golden Gate Bridge. It would explode before it arrived there, but it would get ever so closer to Rogers.


Chiron Command Bridge

Natasha burst in to see about ten people working frantically. She ran over to the main terminal and kicked the man out of his seat.

"I'm in charge," Natasha yelled to everyone around her. "Get this ship prepped for casualties, the Avengers are taking the fight to them. Make sure all rescue teams are on route and keep people away from that damn bridge."

Natasha sat down in front of the computer and started typing furiously. She logged in securely to the Avengers server and pulled up the frequencies on all of the Avengers comm and placed them on a virtual map of the layout of the bridge. She also pulled up everyone's vitals so she could keep an eye on them.

"We're all connected," Natasha said through comms. "I'll see about locating any more explosives."

She looked at the connection and found that it was having trouble relaying through the Chiron and immediately went to fix the connection while scanning the bridge. She felt a lurch then and then looked around as the engines started and the ship seemed to be rising.

"What the hell," Natasha looked back at the techs. "Why are we taking off?"

"No one did it," the lead tech said. "The autopilot must've triggered somehow."

"Well shut it down," Natasha barked and went back to trying to fix the glitchy comms.


The fight had been going on for about 15 minutes now, and the Chiron was still slowly flying over the Bay, and it seemed like none of the other Avengers had noticed.

"Boss," a goon said, coming up to Rumlow who was leaning on a truck just off the view of the bridge on the end that Rogers and the Hulk came from. "They've cut through most of our men and they're about to disarm the last bomb."

"Perfect," Rumlow said, standing up to get to his radio. "Rollins, go now."

"You got it boss," Rollins answered and Rumlow got up into the truck.

"Get the rest of the men and follow me," Rumlow said to the goon and got in the driver's seat of the truck and put his foot down on the gas pedal, starting to barrel down the bridge roadway and completely crushing other cars out of his way as he made his way to the center of the bridge.


"Steve, come in," Natasha said, frustrated that she was only getting static. "Rogers dammit you answer me."

She checked the signal again and found that the Avengers were able to talk to each other, but she wasn't able to talk or hear them. This was more than just a communications malfunction. Something was up here.

"Why are we still flying," Natasha shouted back.

"The autopilot has been manually overwritten," one of the techs said. "We would have to go down to the main controls and-,"

The man was cut off by a bullet going through his head. Through the main doors came a squad of twenty men, all with automatic rifles and heavy body armor. They quickly started cutting down all the techs and Natasha cursed as she figured out the play. Whoever this was didn't care about the bridge. They wanted the Chiron. She tried the communications one last time before the first goon came around the corner and she drew her pistol and dropped him. She rolled back by some cover and pulled out her other gun, knowing she would have to play it smart if she wanted to get out of here alive.

"The itsy bitsy spider climbed up the Avenger spout," Rollins sang as he strolled in.

A couple of the men pointed to the console where Natasha was hiding and Rollins nodded as they prepared a couple grenades. They tossed them over and two landed right back Natasha.

"Out came Hydra and killed the spider dead," Rollins kept on it as Natasha jumped out of the way just as the grenades exploded.

She landed hard on her stomach and thanked whatever deity that was watching that she and Tony added all that protection to her stomach area. She did feel the shrapnel from the grenade rake her right arm, many bits lodging themselves right in there. She bit back pain as she looked up and fired to drop two more of the men.

"That doesn't even rhyme," Natasha said, taking a second to reload her weapons.

"You don't like it," Rollins said as the rest of the men closed in. "I worked hard on it."

"Guess I have other things on my mind," Natasha said, taking another deep breath and leaning out, dodging gunfire and fighting for her life.

She had managed to drop most of the goons, but the ship was breaking down around her. They were about halfway in the bay now, not over any land, but not moving any closer to the bridge. She was basically on her own, and she could tell that the terrigen core was breaking down. She didn't have long before this entire ship exploded, with her on it.

She made her way to the middle of the command deck to try and find Rollins and end this, when she was struck in the back and sent flying across the room. She gritted her teeth as the pain shot through her spine as she rolled on the ground to a stop. She looked back over to find Rollins in a new protective suit with electrified stun fists, obviously enhancing his strength a bit as well as adding the stun to it.

Natasha wiped a bit of blood off her lip and stood up, raising her fists and starting to square off. She crouched low, eyes locked onto Rollins as he advanced. The room was a wreckage of shattered consoles and sparking wires, a testament to the absolute wreck that was becoming of the Chiron. Rollins moved with the confidence of a man who believed victory was within his grasp. Natasha, despite the pain coursing through her body, remained focused, searching for an opening.

Rollins lunged, his gauntlet-clad fist aiming for her head. Natasha ducked under the swing, her reflexes honed by years of training and experience. She retaliated with a swift kick to his midsection, but he blocked it with ease, his enhanced strength giving him an edge.

"You've lost your touch," Rollins taunted, his voice dripping with disdain.

Natasha ignored the jibe, sidestepping his next attack. She landed a solid punch to his jaw, but the impact barely fazed him. He responded with a backhanded blow that sent her sprawling across the room. She collided with a console, the sharp edge biting into her flesh.

Rollins approached, his smile cruel. "Is this really the best you can do?"

Natasha gritted her teeth, pushing herself up despite the searing pain in her arm. Blood trickled down her face from a gash on her forehead, her vision swimming.

"Come on, Romanoff. Fight back," Rollins urged, spreading his arms wide in a mock invitation.

She darted forward, feinting to the left before twisting and delivering a roundhouse kick to his ribs. He grunted, staggering back a step, but his remaining gauntlet crackled with energy as he prepared to strike.

Natasha barely had time to react as he unleashed a blast of energy. She dove to the side, the force of the explosion sending her flying into another console. She hit it hard, her body screaming in protest as she crumpled to the ground. Her arm was bleeding badly now, and she was pretty sure she had a concussion. She coughed, a bunch of blood coming up, and wiped it off with her wrist, looking back over at Rollins.

"I thought this would be harder," Rollins said, shrugging off the one gauntlet that Natasha had been able to destroy. He still had one working one though and a couple of cuts on his face. "You've gone soft, Romanoff."

"You know what," Natasha said, standing up again, her voice steely. "I'm done talking."

It was time to reveal her ace in the hole.

Natasha sent out a shockwave all around her and activated the experimental cloaking tech in her suit. It was similar to what the Helicarrier had on the bottom of it, reflected everything around it, making her invisible. The only issue was that this was the first time it was tested and she only had a maximum of thirty seconds before it wore out, so she had to make this quick.

"COWARD," Rollins shouted as he looked around frantically, Natasha circling him.

She got to the point of where she was behind him and jumped forward and struck with ease. She placed a kick to the back of his knee and then one to his neck. When he turned to punch, she dodged it easily, charging up her gauntlets and jabbing him twice to the stomach and one hard one across the face as he was thrown backwards and knocked unconscious.

Natasha's suit deactivated the cloaking as she slunk to the ground, finally feeling all of the pain. She looked around her and the ship seemed to just be crumbling, which was weird because there were no other explosions and they hadn't been attacked by any airborne threats. The ship should be fine unless-

"The core," Natasha said, eyes going wide in realization.

She got up and sprinted towards the chamber that had the core, hoping to destabilize it before it exploded and destroyed the entire ship.

Natasha entered the core chamber and shielded her eyes on how bright the core was getting and made her way over to a computer terminal and started furiously typing, trying to find some security protocol that would shut down the core and go to backup generator power, but she knew she only had a few seconds until-.

CRACK!

Natasha snapped out of her typing and she looked at the core. It was seconds from pure destruction and there was no way to escape. She quickly ducked behind the terminal, shielding her stomach with everything that she could and desperately trying to protect her child, and for the first time true fear running all throughout her body.

There was a large surge and a shockwave sent everything flying. Natasha was thrown up against a wall, pinned underneath some equipment, and the last thought she had before losing consciousness was how she failed.