Old Scars Resurface - Natasha Romanoff

News of a fugitive

With another short and heavy breath, Erin thrusted her fist towards the punching bag once again. She'd soon started to feel the burning ache in her arms, but she didn't allow herself a break for anything. Her hair - which hung just above her shoulders - swung in front of her face every time she threw her fist forward, but she didn't bother moving it out the way. The only sound in the room other than the noise of the bag being continuously hit was the outpour of angry grunts that came from her with every movement.

Over the sound of her frustration, she wasn't able to hear the noise of the door to the training room being opened, so she didn't see the man who came through. When he saw how hard she was training, a smile grew on his face and he rested his arms on the railing so he could watch her for longer.

"That bag owe you money?" Coulson asked as he stood at the other side of the room.

Then, she was finally able to catch her breath and calm down. While panting heavily, she grabbed the bag at each side to stop it from swinging before turning around to see who it was. She sighed with relief when she knew who it was, but immediately turned back around to continue punching the bag. Although she still had waves of anger to release, she didn't hit the bag as hard so she could listen to the lecture she knew she'd receive from her uncle.

"I don't have much time to myself, do i?" She asked him, "I might as well use it when i get it."

"There's other ways to relax that don't involve violence, you know?" He rhetorically asked as he made his way over to her.

"How can i relax at a time like this? The avengers had a breakup, everyone is hastily trying to put them back together." She scoffed as she threw another punch, "its only a matter of time until the entirety of my level are shoved out there to put them back in their place."

Without saying anything, Coulson stood and watched her for a moment longer. His eyes studied her technique with every hit, the posture she had, the determination and focus in her eyes, and he smiled to himself once more. "Your dad would be so proud of you."

That was what made her want to stop fighting. With a quiet sigh, she left her place at the punching bag and began to walk past him. Clenching her jaw, she looked down at her hands so she wouldn't have to look at her uncle, "yeah, well, if he wasn't such a selfish dick, maybe he'd still be here to tell me that himself."

While he watched her walk away, Coulson changed the subject, "have you thought anymore about Ross' offer?"

"To join his little task force?" She cocked her brow while unraveling the cloth from her hand, "hard pass."

"He's sending a team out in an hour, they think they know where she is." He mentioned.

She looked over at him, "and you're telling this because?"

"I thought you'd like to know." He answered, "i thought you'd want a chance to see her again before they lock her away."

She chuckled to herself, "Phil, if they actually manage to capture the Natasha Romanoff and put her behind bars, I'd be impressed."

"That's why they want you. You're the best we've got." He shrugged.

"They want me because it'll be a shock to her when she finds out I'm still alive." She corrected him, a slight annoyance coating her jokey tone, "they want to use me for the shock factor, not my skills."

"Erin." He gave her a look.

"Oh, come on, coulson." She flashed him a look back, "the moment she joined shield, they've kept me away from her. They made my files private, they refused to put me on any missions with her. She doesn't even know that I'm alive, why else do you think they did that?" She rhetorically asked, "They knew there'd be a day where they'd need something to bring Natasha down, why not use someone from her childhood just to hit her where it hurts, isn't that right?"

The man sighed and looked at the ground with nothing to say. "Maybe its not such a bad idea. I mean, they're not wrong, you-." He cut himself the moment he looked up and saw Erin.

She was listening to him, but she wasn't looking at him. In an attempt to cool herself down she brushed her hair off of her sweaty face and pushed it behind her ears, which unknowingly revealed the scar that was engraved into her head. It was the scar she got from her dad's carelessness; the scar she always tried to forget about. After taking a sip of water, she looked back at him and saw the look on his face, which caused her to huff to herself.

"Good idea, is it?" She sarcastically asked as she cleared her throat, "I don't care if romanoff is a fugitive from the organisation I've pledged my life to, i am not doing that to her."

"I just want you to have closure." He admitted, which caused her to pause, "i know you think about her all the time."

She took a breath before huffing it back out, "you don't know what you're talking about."

"I know that you still wear the necklace she gave you." He told her. That caused her to clench her jaw and go silent. "The necklace you wore during the crash, the necklace you refused to take off when we made it to the hospital."

"That doesn't mean anything." She lied.

"Yes it does, Erin." He argued, "It clearly does, otherwise you wouldn't spend extra hours after a mission analysing her reports just to feel connected to her. You care about her, i know you do. So I'm just warning you, this might be your last chance to see her again. Secretary Ross wont let you visit her where she's going."

Erin chuckled angrily through her frustrations, "they're not going to catch her. I know you think they will, but they wont. You don't know how like i do."

"How can you be sure that you still do? You know what's happened to her, why are you so confident that she hasn't changed?" Instead of answering, she dropped her head down for a moment to think. However, before she could answer, a rush of people raced past the door, which caught her attention. She turned her head sharply to watch the fleet of armoured guards marching past the door. Coulson saw the desperation that glistened in her eyes when she looked at them, so he reminded her, "there's still time for you to go with them."

When she looked back at him, she cleared her throat, dropped her head to the ground, and slung her bag over her shoulder, "I'm having a shower."