On my own
After they took down the Red Room the red dust had to be fabricated on a larger scale, Natasha took Yelena with her to the Avengers Headquarters, where they asked Tony to fabricate the red dust.
While the red dust was being fabricated the Avengers kept an eye on the remaining widows. Since they were located all around the world, they split up. Steve and Wanda stayed in New York. Natasha and Yelena were not sent on a mission, they stayed behind recovering from the whole breaking into the Red Room and destroying it.
A couple weeks later Stark called a team meeting. The Avengers still in New York meet up at the compound to hear the news and the others joined on call. Tony announces that the red dust is done and the mission to free all the widows around the world can start. “I think now’s the time to tell them.” Stark nods to Natasha. “Yeah..” Natasha continues “when I was in Dreykov’s office, he showed me all the Widows on the big screen like I told you. But he also showed me one Widow in particular, my best friend. She and I spent around five years as spies together, working on many cases until one day she went rogue. Or so I was told.” She looked around the group, her eye falling on her sister last. “You want to free her first?” Yelena asked. “Yes, but I need to do this one on my own.”.
The last mission you went on was about a month ago, after completing it you were told to head to Manarola, a small town in Italy, to await further orders and intel on your next target. Normally it didn’t take this long to receive your next mission and you expected Dreykov to be needing you back at the Red Room by the end of the month, but you hadn’t heard anything yet. Since there was nothing to do but await you orders, you took it upon yourself to get to know the town you were staying in. So, when your mission would start, you would know the town like the back of your hand.
You were on your way to the grocery store when you felt like you were being followed. You knew that there was an alley around the corner and decided to lead this person there. You kept walking, making it look like you hadn’t noticed them. Once around the corner you quickly hid in the alley and grabbed your gun. Your follower walked into the alleyway and put their hands up when they saw them pointing a gun at them. “I don’t want to hurt you” the woman said. But why would you trust them. You puffed, “Well since you’re following me, I will have to hurt you.” you said back, taking the safety off your gun.
You were about to pull the trigger when the woman ran towards you and was able to kick the gun from your hands. You rolled your eyes and tried to punch her in the face, she was quicker again and caught your arm. Of course, they would sent a worthy opponent, after all you are one of Dreykov’s best assassins. The woman twisted your arm so that it was behind you now and tried to get you down, you knelt to the ground. But only to grab the knife you hid in your left boot. Once you have the knife, you stab her in the leg. With a yelp, she lets go of your arm. Only to punch you in the face.
“Seriously..” the woman growls as she grabbed one of her batons. “I really didn’t want to do this, but you gave me no other choice.. I’m sorry (y/n)”. You fall to the ground, the shock still stinging in your stomach. You see the woman kneeling next to you with a bright red substance in a tube, as you try to get away she smashes it. It explodes and the red dust like substance covered your face.
“N-Natasha?” you finally let out. “Hey, welcome back. Couldn’t just go down easy huh?” she points to her leg. Everything is still a bit hazy, as you sit up. “I’m so sorry” you whisper, “what happened?”.“You were under Dreykov’s control, but now you’re free and safe” Natasha lent you a hand to get up “I’ll tell you the rest on the way back, let’s get out of here.”.