a simple encounter

natasha romanoff

Once we all arrived back in our own time, Tony was the first one to speak up.

"Did we get them all?" Tony asks

"Are you actually telling me this worked?" Rhodes chuckles

Before anyone else can say anything, Clint drops to his knees with a blank expression. He looks straightforward and avoids eye contact with us all. I look around the circle only to realize, Clint's partner is no longer by his side.

"Clint... where is Nat?" I ask

His eyes fill with sadness and he doesn't answer my question, though he doesn't really need to. Nat was gone. Once everyone realizes what had happened, the room grows quiet and the air feels heavy and sad. We all loved Nat more than anything, she was a good friend to everyone here. Clint finally looks up at us with tears in his eyes, the first one to make any noise whatsoever was Banner. Once he put the pieces together and saw the sadness that Clint expressed, he knew his past love was gone and let out a gasp of disbelief. Banner breaks down to his knees just like Clint did just moments ago, he sits there in silence with his head in his hands.

"No," I blurt out

Everyone looks up at me in confusion as I continue.

"No. No, she can't be dead. We have to go back again. We have to get her back. She deserves more than that. I can't do this without her... I can't..." Before I can finish my voice begins to break and my thoughts race by faster than I can think.

"Hey, hey, why don't you take a seat," Steve states while putting his hand on my shoulder

"Steve I can't... I can't do this anymore,"

Before he can reply with his words of comfort, I run off out of the building. As I run I begin to feel heavier and heavier almost like the weight of losing all these people that I love was pulling me down. I finally stop at the dock nearby. It was a quiet and serene place, a good place to sit and think for when you need a clear head with no distractions. It was the only place I could think of that would be of comfort right now. During the five years that it was just Nat and me, we spent a lot of time here on this dock. We would come here and open up about things I didn't think I could ever tell anyone. There was something about Nat that just made you feel comfortable and like you could trust her with anything and she would know exactly what to say. She would know exactly what to say right now, she would sit here and listen to me cry about whatever problems I had and she would know all the right words to make the pain that I was feeling disappear. In this case, she would probably sit beside me in silence as I told her how much I need her and how I can't win this fight without her support than she would laugh and tell me that I can do it alone and that I just don't want to. She would tell me that it had to be this way and that I will be okay.

"Hey kid," Tony mutters, sitting beside me on the dock

"How'd you find me," I mutter back

"You're slightly predictable," Rhodes chuckles

I look behind me only to see Rhodes, Thor, Steve, Banner and Clint all standing on the dock behind me and Tony.

"You're all here?" I whisper

"We all need each other right now. Plus, you are always there for all of us when we need it most. It's only fair," Tony smiles

"I'm really gonna miss her," I whisper as tears fill my eyes

"I know, we all will. She kept us together half the time," Rhodes states as he sits down on the dock beside me

"Do we know if she had family?" Tony chokes out

"Yeah. Us," Steve mutters as tears flow down his cheeks

"Why are we acting like she's dead? We have the stones right? We can use the stones and get her back," Thor blurts out

"We can't get her back," Clint mutters

"What?" Thor sighs

"It can't be undone. It can't," Clint replies

"Look. No offence but you're a very earthly being, okay? And we are talking about space magic. The word 'can't' seems very definitive. Don't you think?" Thor chuckles

"Yeah, look, I know that I'm way outside my pay grade here. But she isn't here, is she? It can't be undone. Or that's at least what the red, floating guy had to say. Maybe you wanna go talk to him, okay? Go grab your hammer and you fly and you go talk to him!" Clint shouts

"She sacrificed her life for that god damn stone. She bet her life on it," Clint continues

In a spit of rage, Banner rips one of the doc benches off the platform and whips it out into the river. He turns around and looks at all of us in pure sadness.

"She's not coming back. We have to make it worth it. We have to," Banner mutters

"We will," Steve replies

"For her. For Nat, for Wanda, for Bucky, for Helen, for Laura, for Peter, for Sam, for Fury, for Maria, for all of them," I state

"Let's get back inside. Figure this stone shit out. Plus I'm not sure what that raccoon is capable of and he's in there with a lot of expensive equipment right now," Tony states

Everyone stands up except for Steve who remains seated on the dock while everyone else heads back inside. I stay behind and take a seat beside him.

"You gonna be okay?" I ask lightly

"I think so. I just really hope this works," Steve replies

"It will, It has too," I state

"If all of this fails and we don't get everyone back, whaddya say to going back and living in the '70s?" Steve chuckles

"Sure, if all else fails, we can result to time travel. Now come on, let's get back inside," I chuckle

Steve and I get up and walk back inside to join all the others. It was definitely going to be a long day.