The Battle
Natasha turned on her bed and felt someone put their hand on her waist. For a second she was terrified of what was happening but then she remembered that the person behind her was not a threat.
“Good morning” Steve’s warm voice was heard in her ear and she smiled happily. She turned around and placed a quick kiss on his lips beforestaring into his gorgeous blue eyes.
“Morning” She answered and he was now smiling too.
“Did you sleep well?” She asked from the man she adored.
“Better than in a long time” Steve answered and left a long trail of kisses on her neck.
“Really?” She asked with her husky voice and smirked.
“Really” Steve confirmed and continued kissing her, traveling a little lower before coming back up again.
“You know” Natasha started and closed her eyes for a second, enjoying the feeling.
“We could stay in bed today” She continued. Steve kissed her jaw before moving to her lips, pressing his firmly against hers. They moved in sync for a while before Steve broke the kiss, resting on his hands to keep him from crushing Natasha’s body.
“We could” He said and placed a quick kiss on her lips again.
“But you have to wake up” He said and looked at her.
“What?” Natasha asked in confusion. She blinked her eyes rapidly.
She was already awake, wasn’t she?
“Wake up!” Steve’s voice said but soon his face turned into Bucky’s and she was too aware of the stupid smirk he had on his face.
“Good, you finally woke up” Bucky said and stood up from the floor where he had been knelt down next to Natasha’s sleeping form.
“Don’t you dare say anything” Natasha said with a firm look and slowly lifted herself up from the couch, where she had apparently been daydreaming.
“I won’t. Although it was pretty hilarious to watch you” He remarked and earned a pillow thrown in his way.
“Stop it!” Natasha said. It was already bad enough that she saw these dreams about Steve but Bucky knowing made it much worse. She was embarrassed and she was never embarrassed.
“Okay okay!” Bucky said, his hands thrown up in surrender.
“So, why did you wake me up?” Natasha asked and stood up, flexing her stiff muscles.
“Oh right, we have another mission we have to go” He informed and already made his way out of the room.
“What mission?” She asked. She hoped someone would have woke her up earlier.
“You remember those odd break-ins we have faced in these past weeks?” Bucky asked, although he was certain Natasha knew what he was talking about.
“Yes” Natasha simply answered.
“Well, Clint and Sharon were able to get their hands on the security footage from our previous mission and it turns out it’s as alarming as we thought” He explained as they made their way into the plane hall.
“So, metahumans?” Natasha asked, or rather, stated.
“Yep” Bucky said.
“What’s the plan?” Natasha asked when they arrived to the plane. She really didn’t like the fact that they were the last ones. She was used to being on time, usually the first person to be ready.
Luckily she had slept in her mission suit, since before her nap they were practicing with their outfits on. Apparently she had been tired and fallen asleep.
Steve was little surprised to see Nat arriving with Bucky, and they were late. Natasha was never late. He found himself making up different scenarios to why they were late and he didn’t like any of them. Steve suddenly felt a weird feeling in his stomach but he brushed it off as fast as it had occurred. Maybe this mission just made him feel uneasy.
“The footage we have isn’t good enough to identify these metahumans, but at least we were able to count how many of them there is, so we have at least some sort insight what’s waiting for us” Steve explained and Natasha nodded.
“Well that’s good enough for now, let’s go then” Natasha said.
The mission was going well. They were rescuing people from burning building, that some of the remaining HYDRA members had lit up, they supposed it was in order to make a statement and show they were still on full power. Despite the fact that the mission was going according to plan, Natasha had an unnerving feeling in the pit of her stomach. She kept waiting for something bad to happen. Nothing unusual hadn’t happened yet, no metahumans in sight, but she just knew they were coming eventually.
She didn’t have to wait for long. She was guiding two little girls out of the building when she saw familiar figures standing in the yard, talking to Steve.
She smelled trouble.
“Aah! Agent Romanoff, it seems like you found your people” Stark spoke and Natasha sneered at him, taking her place next to Steve. Steve glanced at her quickly and was glad that she still stood beside him even if they were currently not on best terms. The others took their places as well and studied the ‘enemy’ opposite to them. Next to Stark stood Spider-Man, poor kid, and five other guys Natasha didn’t recognize.
“What do you want Stark?” Natasha asked annoyed.
“Well it seems like somehow you know all of the mission we should be taking care of” Tony said and pointed at his ‘team’.
“So we came here to make sure you stop whatever the hell you are trying to do and go back to hiding. Or surrender, I don’t really care” He continued.
“That’s not going to happen and you know it” Steve said with his firm voice and stared Tony down. Tony let a long sigh escape his lips before he talked again.
“Then you leave me no choice” And in instant Steve flew ten meters back and fell on the ground. Natasha turned to look behind where Steve had fallen and saw Sharon immediately by his side. She rolled her eyes, Steve could take care of himself and the impact Tony’s hit was on him was barely making him wince. It hurt more mentally than physically.
“You’re going to regret that” Sam said and that was their cue. All the hell broke loose.
Natasha didn’t join the fight right away. She liked to observe for a while and see what the opposite had to offer. Wanda was fighting with Spider-Man, although it looked like two children playing, while Steve had moved farther away with Stark. She watched the five men intently as they fought with Sam, Clint and Sharon. There was something off with the men and they seemed familiar to her.
“Are they..” She started as she felt Bucky’s presence beside her but she didn’t complete her sentence. It wasn’t possible.
“Yes. They are like me” Bucky said so she didn’t have to. They shared a look. They weren’t the metahumans they were waiting for but they were still as much trouble. The main question was why the hell Stark had them in his team.
“I thought they were destroyed” Natasha said and didn’t even try to hide her confusion.
“Well it looks like we were wrong” Bucky frowned and watched as Clint got a hard looking punch in his abdomen.
“That’ll leave a bruise” Bucky joked and Natasha grinned at him and with that they were heading towards their friends.
Wanda was ‘fighting’ with Spider-Man while the others fought for real. They weren’t really fighting, they seemed to agree that it was pointless and neither one of them didn’t like to hurt the other one.
“Wow, that’s so cool!” Spider-Man said excitedly when Wanda showed him how she could gather around things from air and create a shield around them.
“You think?” Wanda wondered with a small smile. No one had looked at her powers like that before. He seemed to genuinely think that her powers were something cool and he didn’t seem to be a bit afraid of her, which she liked very much.
“Hell yeah!” Peter assured and took a step closer to look at the red smoke-like element in the air.
“That’s really fascinating..” He spoke out again and he wasn’t lying. He had heard of Wanda’s powers and even saw a glimpse at it in their previous battle but seeing it this close made it even more impressive. Not to add that the girl behind the powers was impressive herself.
“If you don’t mind me snooping, why are you part of Stark’s team?” She asked and the flying mass disappeared. Peter scratched the back of his neck while he tried to think about the right answer.
“I don’t know, at first Stark told me you were breaking the law and I usually play by the rules so I agreed to help him and now.. Well I’m not sure anymore” He explained and Wanda could sense his sadness grow by the end. Peter couldn’t tell her the real reason, it was too painful to even think about let alone saying it out loud. Also, he didn’t have the permission to do so. Wanda nodded and looked around. She saw her team struggling and thought she should go help them.
“I should go help them” She said, feeling little sad to interfere in the fight and leave her safeplace with Spider-Man.
“Okay but first I need you to shoot me with those powers of yours” He said.
“What?” Wanda was startled. Why on earth would she do that?
“We need to make this seem real and besides, I don’t want to join there and fight against your team” He explained. Wanda didn’t like his plan but nodded, understanding his need to be left out of the battle.
“I’m sorry about this” Wanda apologizes before she fired red waves at him, sending him on the ground.
“Are you okay?” Wanda asked worriedly as he grunted in pain. Instead of speaking he gave her a thumbs up and she smiled before heading towards the compat.
Natasha used all of her strength to take down the man she was fighting with. Like Bucky, they were much stronger than she was and she was badly losing the fight. On the corner of her eye she saw Wanda joining them and was glad for the backup. Natasha kicked her opponent so hard she could feel her toes getting bruised but despite her efforts the man didn’t seem to get tired or hurt.
“Need a hand?” Wanda asked but before she had time to answer the man was already across the yard.
“What took you so long?” Natasha asked out of breath.
“I was occupied” Wanda admitted and glanced behind her shoulder at the boy dressed in red uniform.
“I see” Natasha grinned and gave her a knowing look that made Wanda blush deeply. Their attention turned quickly up when they heard the sound of a helicopter getting lower.
“Avengers, this is your last chance to surrender!” Thaddeus Ross’ voice came through megaphone loud and clear.
“Are you kidding me?” Natasha heard Clint mumble to himself.
“I’m sorry Ross, that’s not going to happen” Steve said. Natasha hadn’t even seen him come closer to them, Stark now flying in the air next to the helicopter. The other men shared a look and all turned around and headed towards the other way. What was happening?
“I’m sorry this had to come to this” Ross apologized and put the megaphone away. Wanda looked at Steve with worried eyes and Steve couldn’t help but notice the strange feeling he had in his stomach.
He knew they should’ve left running when Ross said his last words, but they all were brave and stayed in their places.
What a dumb idea.
Ross threw something at them and all Steve could hear about was Sam’s loud yell ‘Watch out!’ before something exploded and filled the air with thick dust. Steve covered himself with his shield and pulled Sharon in his embrace, securing her also.
Wanda used her powers and created a shield around her before she hit the ground, leaving her without harm. She was worried for Natasha and the others, since she wasn’t able to secure them alongside herself. Bucky was a little further away from them so he only slightly stumbled and remained on his feet. Sam managed to grab Clint and fly them above the explosion just in time.
The only one who took a hit was Natasha. She wasn’t fast enough, she didn’t have shield or super powers so she was completely at the mercy of the explosion. She tried to cover herself but she flew several meters before hitting the ground with a loud bang that made the air escape from her lungs.
Tony Stark watched in horror the scene below him.
“What the hell was that?!” He yelled at Ross who had a hard look on his face. Something that made him look like a madman, insane.
“Just the beginning” Ross announced and nodded at the pilot who gave some orders through his walkie-talkie.
Tony heard the sound of bullets and in that moment he knew he fucked up.
Ross wasn’t trying to make the world a better place, he was trying to take control of it. He was killing the Avengers so there wasn’t anything standing in their way.
“No!” Tony yelled and fired his weapons towards the helicopter, which started to leave in a rush, men shooting back at him.
Natasha couldn’t see anything but thick dust so she tried to sit upwards. She grimaced when the pain reached her abdomen. She heard bullets near her but she still couldn’t see anything. Suddenly she felt pain in her left side and yelp escaped from her mouth. She looked down at her broadside and saw blood spreading out.
Steve heard Natasha’s voices, she was in pain. He felt panicked and started to look around frantically, trying to find her beautiful auburn hair. But he didn’t see anything and he couldn’t move. Not when he still heard bullets flying and he had to keep Sharon from getting hurt. Natasha’s screams were playing in his head and he could only hope Nat was alright.
Bucky also heard her, everyone heard her. He wasn’t far away from her, or so he thought since her voice was so loud. He decided to move from his spot behind the tree and started to run towards where he thought Natasha was. His instincts weren’t wrong and soon he found her laying on the ground, breathing heavily, her left side bleeding.
“Bucky” She sighed in relief and let her head fall back to the ground.
“Hey, it’s okay. I’m going to help you” Bucky soothed her when he saw her panicked expression. She wouldn’t admit it but Bucky knew for a fact that she was scared.
Natasha wasn’t scared of anything else than death itself. She one time after their ‘meeting’ let it slip from her mouth after he had shared his own secret about being afraid of himself.
Natasha nodded and let Bucky add pressure to her wound.
“They’re gone” She suddenly said when she couldn’t hear the sounds of the bullets anymore and the dusk started to fade away. She was suddenly incredibly tired. This was like the time when Bucky had shot her, only three times worse. Maybe she was hurting more every time she took a new hit.
“I really hope so” Bucky said and ripped his other sleeve away. He gently wrapped it around her and pulled it tightly, in order to stop the bleeding.
“Nat!” They heard Steve’s voice coming towards them, he was running. As soon as Steve set his eyes on her, his heart stopped.
There was blood everywhere and Bucky was already there, trying to stop the bleeding in her other side. Her clothes were dirty and ripped from here and there, she had a cut in her forehead and he could already see some bruises appear around her body. Still, she was as beautiful as ever.
“Holy shit” He mouthed and dropped on his knees, taking her right hand in his, squeezing it tightly. Natasha’s heart skipped a beat when he touched her.
“I’m sorry this happened to you” Steve said, his voice almost breaking. Natasha wanted to answer, to protest and make him see this wasn’t his fault, but she was too tired.
“We need to get her to the plane. She’s bleeding too fast” Bucky said quietly at Steve who couldn’t do anything but stare blankly.
“Steve, are you listening?!” Bucky hit his arm to make him wake up.
“What? Yes.. I umm..” He stuttered but he couldn’t make out proper sentences.
“I’m fine” Natasha tried to assure but even in her own ears she didn’t sound believable.
“You don’t look like it” Steve said with furrowed brows.
“I said I’m fine, stop being so dramatic” Natasha said tiredly and let go of Steve’s hand, she was still mad at him about everything and she just didn’t want to be too close to him.
“Natasha!” Wanda screamed and ran to them, dropping next to Steve and putting her hands on top of Natasha’s. Tears started to run down from the younger ones eyes as she saw her wound. She had gone through it with Pietro before and she wasn’t going to go through it again. She felt Natasha’s pain even when she was far away from her and now that she was close, she could feel it much stronger.
“Wanda it’s okay” She tried to calm down the horrified girl but she could imagine how convincing she must’ve sounded.
“I can’t lose you too” Wanda cried quietly.
“We aren't going to lose anybody if we get moving, now!” Bucky said firmly and Steve nodded.
“Bucky is right, Wanda she’s going to be okay” Steve said and stood up, placing his hand on Wanda’s shoulder.
“I can help with that if you let me” Stark’s voice came suddenly behind them and Steve turned around alarmed.
“Don’t worry I’m not here to cause problem, I didn’t know what they were going to do” Tony said ashamed and glanced at Natasha, his brows furrowing.
“How is she?” He asked, not wanting to hear the answer.
No matter how complicated things between Tony and the others were he was always concerned about them. Especially the former assassin. He had made a terrible mistake by telling Ross about her involvement in Steve’s and Bucky’s escape, he admitted that. He was just so angry at her at that time. But the truth was, Natasha was the only real friend he had. Sure the other Avengers were there too, but Natasha had been with him since the day one, before Avengers were even formed.
Natasha was about to answer, to protest that he shouldn’t talk about her like she wasn’t even there, but her eyes felt suddenly heavier than before and everything around her faded.