To Go Unseen (A Natasha Romanoff Story)

60 [dead end, romanoff]

Natasha swallowed, her mouth going dry.

“This is it then?” She asked and Yelena only laughed and took a step closer.

“I’m afraid so,” she said. Natasha let out a quick breath, sizing up Yelena, and when she stepped closer and aimed her Widow’s Bites, Natasha jumped into her space and grabbed her arm, twisting it behind her and kicking her down, so fast Yelena could hardly retaliate. Yelena fought back as soon as she could, however, whipping her head back forcefully so the back of her skull met Natasha’s nose and Natasha saw stars and heard a crunch. She shuddered. Her nose was still healing from the last time it’d been broken!!

Yelena took the opportunity to take her arm back from Natasha and whirled around, but every punch she threw, Natasha blocked. They became a whirlwind of attempted attacks, but Natasha was still blocked up between her and the wall and every time she tried to turn the fight so she could escape, Yelena blocked her.

“You are frustrating,” Yelena huffed between hits. “But I suppose I would be disappointed if you were any less.”

Natasha didn’t respond. She didn’t need to. Instead, while Yelena was hesitating to speak, she made a hit directly into her face, jabbing at her eyes. Yelena screeched and threw her hands up and Natasha turned back to the wall.

This is stupid, she thought to herself as she started running at it. This is something Steve or James would do. What am I doing?

Natasha leapt at the dumpster at full speed, catching herself on the lid and throwing herself at the wall. She dug her fingers into the mortar and scrambled upwards, propelled only by a few outstanding bricks and her momentum. Her right wrist screamed in protest and pain jumped up and down her arm.

“So much for rock climbing at the Grand Canyon,” she muttered to herself, although she had to admit she was somewhat pleased when her fingers curled around the top of the building and she dangled there, starting to heave herself up.

“GET BACK HERE!” Yelena screamed in Russian below and Natasha felt something-a bullet?-clip the top of her ear. She scrambled over the top of the building and climbed to her feet, stopping only for a second to gaze down at the infuriated Yelena, who was red in the face, before turning to run again.

If Yelena had anything like Natasha did, then she’d have a grappling hook and she’d know how to use it. She’d be over that wall faster than Natasha had been and Natasha knew it. She ran.

Leaping from building top to building top in LA wasn’t typically the Black Widow’s thing. That was more for people like Matt Murdock or Spider-Man, but Natasha would take what she could get. And right now, this was all she could do.

She reached the edge of the building in seconds and her heart caught in her throat, thinking about the fall, but she knew if she slowed down for even a second, she might not make it. Instead, she pumped her arms and legs harder and when her feet no longer found purchase, she soared. She hit the second building in a roll, jumping back up to her feet.

What to do??

Find the hotel room, find her weapons, kill Yelena Belova.

It seemed like a good plan A, but the details were a little harder to eck out. And what about James? What if Yelena attacked him while they were there? Natasha didn’t have a lot of time to decide, and when she reached the roof of her hotel building and turned around, Yelena was there, approaching at alarming speeds. Natasha didn’t think so much as do and when Yelena met her at the top of the building, she grabbed her and wrapped her arms around her torso and threw the both of them off the building.

She wrapped her legs around Yelena’s and reached for her wrist, but Yelena seemed to be thinking the same thing, and they pointed the Widow’s Bite’s at the rooftop and shot off the grappling hook. Natasha felt the yank as it caught on the edge and suddenly, they were swinging through the air. Yelena scraped and clawed at her, trying to get her off, but Natasha only held on tighter. She looked up over Yelena’s shoulder, through her thick blonde hair as they headed right for a hotel window and squeezed her eyes shut as they burst through.

Yelena hit the glass first and caught Natasha’s fall as they skidded to the floor against glass and dirty carpet. She looked up, praying she’d picked the right window, and was rewarded to see James standing there stunned, holding his cell phone to his face.

“Hold on Steve, I’m gonna have to call you back,” he said.

“Uuuugh,” Yelena groaned.

Natasha jumped to her feet and leapt over Yelena’s body, running for the suitcase in the corner.

“Weapons, James!” She shouted. “Now!!”

James joined her as they tore the suitcase apart. Natasha didn’t have time to get into her entire suit, although it was adorned with weapons, and instead pulled her Widow’s Bites over her wrists. James strapped guns onto her waist, and as Yelena pulled herself to her feet and ran near, James whirled around to face her. In one fluid motion, he grabbed a lamp off the table and swung it at her full force. The electrical cord ripped out of the wall and Yelena was broadsided in the face with a lampshade. She stumbled back, her hands over her mouth, and when she pulled them away, she spat out blood.

“Damn you, Winter Soldier, get out of the way,” she hissed, and from beside him, Natasha cocked and aimed a gun.

There was a moment of pause while Yelena looked down the barrel of a semi-automatic and Natasha rested her finger on the trigger. Yelena’s eyes traveled up to hers.

“We don’t have to do this,” Natasha said.

“This is all we have to do,” Yelena replied. She stuck out her bloody tongue and spat on the floor.

“You will not be happy,” Natasha said. Yelena scoffed.

“Happiness isn’t the goal,” she said back.

“Then what is?” Natasha said.

“Are you happy?” Yelena said and she grinned. “Really, Natalia? Are you happy?”

Natasha hesitated.

“You’re conflicted,” Yelena answered for her after a moment had passed. “You’re struggling. You’ve never achieved happiness, not as long as you’ve been chasing it.”

“Then maybe it wasn’t about that,” Natasha said. “Doing the right thing hurts sometimes, you know.”

“So that’s it?” Yelena said. She cocked her head. “Doing the right thing? That’s what you want?”

“It’s important,” Natasha said. Yelena rolled her eyes.

“Enough chitchat,” she said and she leapt forward. Natasha shot off the gun and the bullet ricocheted through the room. She heard James scream. Yelena knocked her away and made a break for the broken window, glass crunching under her boots.

Natasha watched her leap out and scrambled to follow her.

“Wait!” She heard James shout behind her, but she could hardly hear over the roar of adrenaline in her ears.