The Eternal Avenger

Chapter Six: Turn

(Natasha's POV)

There had been disturbances lately in upstate New York that had Shield stumped. Animal attacks, but stranger than any animal known to be in the area. With all of the things that have been happening lately in the Universe, Fury didn't seem to want to leave much to chance. I was sent with Steve and a couple agents to assist the local field office in an investigation. Steve seemed to be worried about me, for some reason. He volunteered to do the driving (which I now regret), he kept asking if I felt okay.

"Romanoff, I'm just saying that you took a couple good hits the other day. It's okay to slow down." He smiled over at me, rolling his eyes when he noticed my feet up on the dashboard.  "Feet off the dash."

"I'm fine, Rogers." I moved my feet back down to the floor.  He rolled his eyes at me again. "If you want to talk about something useful, maybe finally talk to the girl at the coffee shop." I smirked widely to see the blush creep up his cheeks.

"Fine, we're about an hour out, still. Why don't you get some rest?" He found an oldies station and I leaned against the passenger side doorframe, looking out the window. I felt fine, better than I had in a while, in fact. But I didn't mind taking a break, staring out into the blackness whizzing by.

We arrived two hours later, after Steve took a wrong turn and refused to try to learn how to use the GPS. The moon was high in the sky, fuller than I had seen it in some time. The light was going to be a problem if we wanted to get eyes on whatever this was. Fanning out, we all took our positions. Now it was a waiting game. At nearly three a.m., I heard the crackling noise of multiple branches being trampled at once. Something big was coming this way. "I've got something," I spoke into my coms, crouching down and pulling out a gun. I rolled my shoulders, tilting my head to both sides to loosen up my neck. Here we go.

(Claray's POV)

I do not tolerate rogue werewolves in my territory. And by territory, I mean anywhere within my radius of knowledge. I most certainly do not tolerate rogue wolves that like to eat campers. Although I was certain that I could protect myself, this kind of attention always posed a possible threat. I began to shift into my wolf form after finally catching scent of them after hours of hunting. They were coming straight towards me as I knelt to the ground and let out a scream that turned into a vague howl. Here we go.

(Natasha's POV)

The sound of twigs breaking was soon joined by other sounds – yelping, snapping, growling. It sounded like some sort of fight. Was there more than one of these things? I heard a loud whine to my right, and turned my attention that way immediately. I then heard a low growl coming from the left. I crouched down just in time as two large wolves collided mid-air inches from where I'd been standing, biting at each other. They broke away, and the larger white one stood with its back to me as the smaller, grey one approached, snarling. The grey one lunged at me, and the white one ducked under it, grabbing it by the throat and killing it instantly. It stood there for a moment, ears twitching before it slowly started turning towards me. Fuck. I raised my gun. It cocked its head to the side and looked at me, its eyes glowing red. I hesitated, and it cost me. The wolf advanced, raising its lips in a snarl. I put my hands out to the sides. "Thank you," I said softly. The wolf stopped in its tracks. It looked at me, cocking its head again. A shot rang out. The wolf yelped in pain and dropped to the ground, and I looked to my left to see an approaching shield officer, holding a tranquilizer gun. The wolf looked directly in my eyes with something that looked like betrayal, before collapsing on its side, losing consciousness.

"Wrap it up, lets go!" The shield officer signaled as the rest of the team converged. They must have been tracking its heat signature. They collected the wolves, moved them onto a truck and headed back to the local shield office. Once there, the lab collected blood samples and performed a few tests before placing the wolves in separate containment cells while we waited for results. I pulled overnight observation duty. Tony said it was poker night. Whatever. I sat in the chair in front of the cameras, propping my feet up on the desk. I'm watching a wolf sleep now. It's my job. I shook my head. I fell into a pattern. Glance at the screen, then look at my phone, pace the room, repeat. Around 4:30 a.m. something started happening. I rushed to the bank of cameras, gripping the side of the desk. It looked like it was in pain. I grabbed another tranquilizer and headed out the door but turned back for a second look.

"The hell?" I couldn't believe what my eyes were seeing. It looked like it was unmaking itself, somehow. I gasped as it continued to transform, my hand finally flying to and covering my open mouth. "Oh, my god."

(Claray's POV)

I started waking up, shaking my head. What the hell happened? I looked around, my level of panic growing exponentially. I was in a glass box. A cage. Naked. I looked up, noticing a camera in the corner. The red light blinked off as I stared up at it. I backed into the far corner, sitting down, curling into a ball, covering myself as much as possible . A few moments later, I heard a thudding sound. Someone was coming down the stairs. I looked up, my eyes widening in shock, almost immediately replaced with anger. NO. She rushed down the stairs, staring at me frantically as she grabbed something out of the cabinet on the way. She slid open the drawer allowing external access into my cell, placing the item inside before sliding the drawer back to me. I grabbed the blanket, wrapping it around myself tightly, staring at her. "Agent Romanoff." I spat her name as though it was distasteful. Her eyes widened, and she slightly swayed in place.

"Claray." She gaped at me.

"Was this all you?" I sneered. She hesitated before stepping closer to the glass.

"Are you okay?" She asked. The tenderness in her voice was...confusing.

"Do I look okay?" I walked up to the glass, banging my hand on it hard enough to leave a slight crack. She backed away momentarily before shaking herself off and approaching again. "Is this what all of these lovely chats were about?" My voice cracked unintentionally at the accusation. It hurt. It wasn't supposed to hurt.

"No." She stepped closer even still. "What happened?" her fingertips lightly grazed the glass.

"What happened? Where do I start? I found a werewolf that wanted to make campers into lunchables and I was taking care of the problem. For some strange reason, Shield decided that it wanted to offer it a buffet. Out of all the stupid agents in those woods, the wolf decided to pick you. I saved your ass.  I got careless, because of you. I got shot. Now I'm in a cage." I paced back and forth in front of the glass. Her head dropped slightly.

"Claray, I'm sorry. I never wanted any of this to happen." She looked at me pleadingly.

"Why should I believe you?" I snarled. I didn't need the vampire or the werewolf part of me to feel like a trapped animal.

"You shouldn't. But I'm going to get you out of here." She moved away from the cell, typing something on the computer.

"Agent Romanoff," I started, but she looked at me so intently that I stopped mid-sentence.

"I turned off the security cameras." She turned her attention back to the screen. She was just as stubborn as I was, and arguing with her wasn't going to serve any purpose. I sighed as she pressed a few more buttons and the door hissed open. Just as I made it outside of the cell, floodlights came on above us, trapping Natasha and I like deer in the headlights.

"Want to tell me what you're doing, Romanoff?"

(Natasha's POV)

I spun on my heels when I heard the voice behind me. Fuck. "Fury." I said, looking up at the director at the top of the stairs. He descended slowly, eyeing the situation in front of him. Agents swarmed in behind him.

"Take this young lady to the interrogation room," he gestured to the agents behind him. They approached her cautiously, but she raised her hands. She was going willingly.  She glanced at me as they escorted her by.  I couldn't tell what she was thinking.

"Romanoff, my office." I sighed and nodded, following behind Nick Fury as he marched back up the stairs away from me.