The Failure

Web

Who are you? 

Does that matter anymore?

~

I opens my eyes, staring up at the ceiling. There's a spider crawling over the white concrete, building a web near the air ducts. I watch as it slowly climbs from one place to the next, spinning the perfect web.

Life must be simple for spiders.

Suddenly, I hear heels clicking on the wooden floor. Fast purposeful strides, with no pauses in between. The sound of a woman who has somewhere to be.

"Welcome back." She removes whatever was holding me in place. "You failed your last mission. You failed to protect him, and fight in the battle."

"If you would have actually let me-"

"Hush."

I fall silent. My whole brain protests. At least, the parts I have control of.

"You have a chance to redeem yourself." Susurro hands me a picture. "Two of them must die within the year. It doesn't matter which ones."

Then she leaves.

And I am left feeling like a fly caught in the spider's web.

~

I don't really have anything to pack. Everything I own is in a backpack:

Three pictures.

And one phone.

~

It's easy to get the attention of any organization if you're a criminal. It's easier to get SHEILD's attention.

Simply appear in the view of a security camera and they'll be hunting you like dogs.

This, of course, is how I ended up surrounded by SHEILD Agents, and later in the very cell my fa- Loki was imprisoned in.

I could kill them. I could kill them all.

But I won't.

Not yet.

~

"We have some blanks that we need you to fill out."  I turn around to see a redhead staring at me. Something flickers behind her eyes. Something I've seen before- fear.

"Pray tell."

"Exactly how many people have you killed?" She opens a file, "According to this, you've killed one person and also about a thousand."

 "Some questions are better left unanswered."

"Some answers save lives." Natasha folds her arms.

"Some questions," I create a illusion of myself in the cage, while teleporting out and behind her. "End in tortured answers."

She spins around, a gun pointed at me.

For a moment, both of us freeze, ready to attack. Me, with a knife at her throat. Her, a gun pointed at my forehead. Poised.

Natasha pushes my blade away from her and attempts to kick me. I grab her foot and throw her across the room.

Gun shots fire.

I lose control.

My mind is not my own.

I conjure a gun, firing at her. she ducks, avoiding some of the bullets, but one catches her shoulder.

Moments blur together.

And then she's lying on the ground, bleeding.

This is my chance.

I walk towards her.

A woman who has seen death a thousand times.

A woman who has lived life.

A woman.

A SHEILD agent.

A assassin.

Natasha Romanoff.

A corpse.

(485 Words)