Hello, Natalia

Natasha went into the base, trying to find where Steve wandered off to. She walked into a room and noticed a large, human-sized container in the middle. Approaching the front of the chamber, she began feeling cold. When she reached the front, she was hesitant to look at it, knowing what (or who) it could have housed. Looking up, she was saddened to see James frozen. She shuffled out of the room, not wanting to be in Wakanda any longer. As she was leaving, an image of James flashed in her mind. He was in the Red Room instructing her during her time in the Black Widow program. His metal arm was much less advanced and he looked only a year or so younger than he does currently. She stopped moving, shut her eyes tight and waited for the image to pass.

When her eyes opened, Steve was standing just down the hall, staring at her in concern. She stomped over to him and said, “are we ready to go?”

“I have a surprise for you first.” he mentioned.

“What!” she became angry, thinking that Steve was just using Bucky and putting him on ice when they didn’t need him, like they did in Russia.

Steve pointed to the door next to her. When she turned to see what was there, Clint was leaning against the frame of the door. “Hey, Nat. I like your hat.” she realized she was still wearing her Stetson.

“Hi, did Steve tell you about the mission?” she said casually.

“A hug would be nice. The last time I saw you, we were trying to kill each other.” He stepped closer and wrapped his arms around her.

“Are you coming out of retirement?” she asked.

“Well just until this is over. For now I got the family here.”

Clint’s kids ran from the room shouting, “aunt Natasha!” They hugged her while Clint was still holding her.

She pulled away, “okay, that’s enough. Go back to your mother.” When the kids were back in the room she asked Clint, “how is Laura taking this whole thing?”

“I’m not gonna lie, she hates you a little bit because you were on Tony’s side.” he explained.

“Clearly I’m not anymore so she doesn’t have to worry about that. I broke the trust of a lot of people in trying to help you guys.” She turned back to Steve and repeated, “are we ready to go?”

“Yeah. Everyone is waiting in the Quinjet, save for you, me and Clint,” Steve replied and the three headed out, but not before Clint kissed his wife goodbye.

The team sat in the Quinjet, completely silent. Wanda was pacing back and forth. Eventually the sound of footsteps began to bother Clint and he stood from the pilot seat and walked over to Wanda. “Calm down,” he said. “You’re gonna do fine, kid. This is a remote hotel in the middle of nowhere, a perfect practice spot for you.”

“I don’t think I’m ready. What if you guys count on me for something and I can’t deliver?”

“You can and will deliver because I’ll be there pushing you the whole time,” he assured her. She nodded and sat down on a bench connected to the wall. “Thank you,” he said as he went back to piloting the jet.

Steve sat on the floor, feeling naked without his shield. What did it matter that the shield was made by Tony’s dad, it was given to him. But now, he had no shield, yet he knew he could complete the mission without it.

Natasha was curled in a ball in the same corner she was in when she was leaving Arizona. She tried to clear her mind as she needed to be sharp for the assignment.

The Quinjet was nearing Georgia so Steve stood to tell everyone the plan, “I’m thinking we can go straight in and threaten them. Wanda can give us a read on where everyone is.”

“No. We should go in quietly. I’ll drive up and book a room. Hopefully they will just go with it and give me a key. Then they’ll probably come in and threaten me and I’ll take them out with your help,” Natasha said.

“I agree with Natasha,” Wanda said.

“Me too,” said Clint.

“Okay then. Get us maybe one mile out and drop my motorcycle,” she ordered. Natasha quickly changed into a casual outfit and grabbed a pistol from her weapons locker. They neared the spy’s drop point.

Clint said, “drop in 3...2...1” and the bottom hatch of the Quinjet opened, releasing Black Widow on her motorcycle. She drove off towards the target location, her brown jacket flapping in the wind.

When she arrived to the front desk, she saw a tall, dark haired man behind the desk. Seeing her, the man said in Russian, “Hello, welcome. Room for one?”

“Yes,” she replied, “thank you.” He handed her a key and she walked to her room. She couldn’t shake the feeling that they were watching her, though. When she got into the room, she closed the door and, via her earpiece, said to the team, “I’m in the room. I give it ten minutes before they come find me. Are you in position?”

“ETA two minutes,” Captain America replied.

“Make it One.” she readied the charged discs that were attached to her bracelets.

“Copy that.”

“I’m in position,” Hawkeye said. He was situated about 500 feet from the motel, hidden behind a bush with his bow at the ready.

“I am too. I got the roof covered,” Falcon stated.

“Wanda and I are ready.” Captain America informed.

Just as Captain America ended his sentence, Black Widow heard people rapidly approaching. “They’re here,” she noted. She leaned against the wall next to the door, ready for them to barge in. The lock clicked, and the doorknob turned ever so slowly. The men opened the door carefully, trying not to alert the person inside. A few of them walked through the door as she hid behind it, keeping her composure. As the last person walked in, she slipped out from behind the door and strangled the man. The others noticed but as they turned around, Black Widow kicked at one of their faces and threw a charged disc at the other. “Clint, go,” she ordered.

Hawkeye aimed his bow directly at one of the guys. "I got him," he stated confidently. He pulled the string back, but as he let go, he felt very bad about the shot. Suddenly, Scarlet Witch, knowing what had happened, ran for the assassin. Captain America, instead, ran for the back of the motel, wanting to break through the window of the room. When Scarlet Witch got to the room, she notice an arrow sticking out of Black Widow’s gut.

The world around Black Widow faded away and a new world seemed to engulf her. She was approaching Hawkeye from behind. Suddenly he realized she was there and he attacked her, shooting arrows at her from close-range. She dodged his arrows and maneuvered between the pipes of the lower levels of the S.H.I.E.L.D helicarrier. Hawkeye pulled out his knife but she grabbed and twisted his arm. When he freed himself, he went to stab her in the throat, but she held his wrists. His left hand slipped out of her hold and he tugged on her hair. In response, she bit his arm and swung him right into a metal yellow bar, knocking him to the ground. She stared at him, not wanting to hurt her partner. He mumbled, “Tasha,” as he snapped out of Loki’s mind control. She knew, however, that she had to finish him off so she punched him square in the face, and he was knocked unconscious.

As Black Widow was having the flashback, Scarlet Witch noticed that one of the men were holding a knife. He raised his arm up, ready to stab Black Widow in the neck as she laid on her back, unmoving. Scarlet Witch’s fingers abruptly began to glow red and soon after, Black Widow was enveloped in red magic and in the blink of an eye, Black Widow was gone. Captain America appeared in the room a moment after as the man’s knife lay lodged in the floor. Captain America kicked the remaining two men away. Scarlet Witch lifted them up into the air and Falcon spread his wings and flew over to them, grabbing them and saying, “Bye, fellas,” as he threw them through the air to their demise.

Hawkeye ran over to the others. Yelling, “Where is she? Where is Tasha?!”

“I don’t know,” Captain America said worriedly.

“I teleported her. She was about to be killed. She wasn’t getting up, I needed to do something. But, I can’t find her life signal anywhere nearby,” Scarlet Witch explained.

“She wasn’t getting up…” Captain America repeated, remembering back to the flashback she had earlier that day.

“I hit her...with an arrow. I...missed my target. I never miss,” Hawkeye hit himself in the forehead, knowing that this was probably all his fault.

“It’s not your fault, Clint. It’s Tony’s fault,” Captain America told.

“How do you mean?” Hawkeye wondered how Tony could have been involved at all.

“I’ll explain, but we have to get back to the safe house. Now!” they ran back to the Quinjet swiftly.

When they boarded the jet, Wanda said, “I did it again didn’t I?”

“What?” Clint asked.

“I ruined everything with my powers, again.”

“No. When I picked up Natasha from her hideout in Arizona, I noticed she was having flashbacks and she told me she had been having nightmares every night since that asshole Stark brought up her past to her. We have to find Natasha.” Steve said.

“Depending on where she is, that might have to involve Tony’s expertise,” Sam said.

A long way away, Natasha opened her eyes to see a large, empty room. She heard high heels coming closer and closer. She attempted to sit up, but found that an enormous amount of blood was spilling out of the wound in her stomach...an arrow had pierced her abdomen . While she was thinking about her injury, the woman was standing directly in front of her, looking down in confusion. The woman crouched down and held Natasha’s face up towards the dim lights. The woman said, “Hello, Natalia.”