BlackHill | If only

Chapter 9

Maria's POV:

I hadn't been able to sleep at all last night my mind kept going through the details of the mission, ensuring everything would go to plan. Even after that I had listened to Natasha breathing for hours, watched the steady rise and fall of her chest.

I must have eventually drifted off as I awoke to the feeling of something wrapped around me, causing my eyes to jolt open. Natasha had rolled over onto my side and nestled herself next to my body, her breaths warm against my neck. She had wrapped an arm around my stomach her fingertips caressing my side. I stayed there for a while just looking at her peaceful face lit up by the morning sunrise, stayed there listening to the steady pace of her breaths.
My mind began to wander, imagining many more mornings like this.
If only she felt the same way.

As I felt her stir I shut my eyes feigning sleep, slightly turning my head away. She must have awoken as her arm quickly retracted from my middle and she shifted her body away, the space where she was now cold.

Natasha's POV:

It had been a few hours since I had woken up, yet I was still blushing from my recent slip up with Hill. Thankfully throughout the morning, she had given no indication that I had made a complete fool of myself.
I had already readied myself for the mission. Several pistols were hidden around my body, a knife concealed in my boot and an earpiece connecting me to Hill.

I sauntered downstairs noticing the same woman at the lobby desk from last night, throwing her a smile and a flirtatious wink knowing full well Hill was glaring at me from the door.
I half smiled at her, "Good morning Agent Hill."
She carried on glaring at me "Morning Mrs Hart I hope you slept well?"
Rolling my eyes at the mistake she picked up on I replied in a mocking tone.
"I slept very well thank you, but it seems like somebody woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning".
She turned away from me whilst saying
"I could say the same thing about you".

We sat at the vantage point in total silence. I was already embarrassed enough and I wasn't about to give Hill more fuel to add to the fire.
I instead focused on the details of the mission. Ivan was supposed to be meeting one of his dealers in some back alley behind a restaurant. It was crucial that we intercepted him here since it was the only time he insisted on being alone and unguarded.

It felt like we sat on the rooftop for an age until I picked up a rumble of an engine, noticing a black Rolls Royce pulling up by the alleyway. A hulking bald man stepped out of the back dressed in an all-black suit. Hill instantly spoke looking up from a screen,
"That's him, machine just ID'ed him, we need to move in now."
We clipped ourselves onto the ropes Hill had attached to the roof leading down into the alleyway so that we could catch Ivan by surprise.
Hill whispered "On my count"
She began motioning with her fingers.

5... 4... 3... 2... 1...
We dropped down.

As the impact from the landing shuddered through my knees, I could never have prepared myself for what I saw. In one hand Ivan was holding a red vial, in the other a gun pointed straight at Agent Hill's head, a menacing smile plastered across his face.
Sensing a movement behind Ivan I sucked in a breath as I noticed someone walking towards us.
It hardly looked like her but I knew as soon as she said...
"It's been a while sestra"
I stared in awe...
"Yelena?"

Hill looked between the two of us, the gun now pressed against the side of her head. Whether she knew about Yelena or not I didn't have the time to explain. I reached for the gun in my waistband but Ivan's thick Russian accent made me freeze.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you. Stupid SHIELD agents think they are the only well-informed intelligence agency. Such American ignorance"
He turned his gaze to me.
"My sweet Natalia, are you ready to come home?"
I recoiled at the name he called me and I spat in his face, pulling the gun on him while saying.
"Let them go. Or I will make you".
He holstered his own gun and roughly grabbed Hill, pulling out a 6-inch blade from the inside of his jacket and pressed it to her throat.
"I suggest you put the gun down if you don't want me to cut your pretty girlfriends throat".

I gulped, staring at the blood trickling down Maria's neck. I decided to try my luck with Yelena.
"Yelena I can get you out, please, stop fighting for him".
Ivan laughed at the sheer desperation in my voice.
"There's no use, after your betrayal, we added a new ceremony. A procedure making sure our precious widow's minds belong to the red room. She doesn't want to leave I can assure you that. You see I control her now. I might even make your little sister blow her brains out in front of you, just because I can."
"Enough talk". Yelena marched over to me, striking me in the face with a forceful punch. Hill and I sprung into action simultaneously.

I couldn't deny that Yelena was an equal to me, every move I made she deflected, every time she kicked I parried. We had been taught the same strategies in the red room and if not for my training with the Avengers I wouldn't have been able to take her by surprise.
I was able to grab her and put her in a headlock, wrapping my arm around her throat. I looked over to see Hill had already disarmed Ivan and held him kneeling at gunpoint.
"Come with me please Yelena, the avengers can help you". She only grunted with frustration trying to wrestle out of my hold.
Ivan laughed again causing Maria to press the gun harder against his head.
"You can't fix her without me" he began to raise his arm his hand enclosed over something "Not without..."

Bang!

He crumpled to the floor, his mouth left gaping open in shock blood pooling around his head. His hand fell open letting the red vial clatter to the floor.
"What did you just do!" I screamed still holding onto Yelena.
Hill picked up the vial speaking calmly, "I was on secret orders from Fury to kill Ivan at first sight, no matter who showed up". Yelena wrestled against me almost getting free this time. Hill suddenly pulled out a needle from within her boot, injecting Yelena with the clear liquid, causing her to go limp in my arms. Hill spoke, never once looking at me "That will take her out for a few hours".
My blood began to boil, heat flaring in my face "You knew she was going to be here didn't you!" She completely ignored me, turning her back.
I shot up and closed the distance between Hill and me, slamming her against the wall so our faces were inches apart.
"You might have killed the one person that could have helped her. She might be stuck like this forever, just a minion of the red room". Hill had the sense to look afraid for a moment, as she looked at my face full of rage.

She suddenly flipped me over, switching our positions poising a second needle right above my arm.
"Don't test me right now Romanoff, you may not think it but I was trying to protect you. Ivan wanted you back in the red room so he could torture you and mess with your head, make you another one of his mindless widows."
I was taken aback, I never thought Hill was in this to protect me, we were colleagues and nothing else...
She spoke again more like a whisper.
"I suggest you calm down because the only way you can help Yelena is with this", she held up the red vial by my face.
"SHIELD got a tip that the red room was still functioning, and their top assassin was Yelena Belova. I came here to get that vial for you, to get her out for you. I had a feeling Yelena was going to show up and this was the only way to save her."

I was shocked. Hill had done this for me. Calculated and infuriating as it was. I was still impressed.
Panting heavily I tried to process everything, Hill still pinning me to the wall with her arm.
I huffed letting my shoulders slump "You're a dick you know that".
She smirked, "I'm honoured".
"Thank you". I breathed looking into her eyes.
Dropping her gaze, she released me from her grip.
"Let's get your sister to Banner".