Black Widow: Dark House

7. "I'll Be Good"- Jaymes Young

Bold Italics- Russian

Italics- any language besides English

**- thoughts/ memories

**Natalia clutched her weapon as she walked through the musty room of an abandoned mansion. They had been in China, the mission to assassinate their head of national security to incite a war.

She had succeeded and was now making her way out of the city. She had to blend in with the tourists, looking like she was just there on vacation. The Chinese government had responded quickly, throwing up roadblocks faster than she thought they would.

Ana had been her second but they had been split up. Coming to a side door in the mansion she poked her head out to get a sweep of the area.

To her surprise she saw Ana rounding the corner, running at full speed, clearly trying to evade the security detail of the man they had just killed. Natalia ducked back, sure that Ana had not seen her. She waited and listened to Ana's footsteps.

After a second Natalia reached out the door, grabbing Ana's arm and collar before throwing her into the house and slamming her against the wall that Natalia was on, just before the doorway.

Natalia pressed her body into Ana's to combat her struggle, clapping her hand over Ana's mouth, giving her a warning glance.

Once Ana realized who she was she stopped, her eyes going to the door as she listened. Heavy foot falls of two security guards ran past them, shouting at one another and eventually deciding that the woman had jumped the fence at the end of the alleyway and was heading towards the train station.

When Natalia looked back at Ana she noticed that Ana was now starring at her, her eyes wide and unreadable, but not guarded or menacing as they usually where.

Ana cleared her throat and gestured with her eyes at Natalia's hand. Natalia removed it and stepped back, keeping her eyes on Ana this time.

"We need to get out of here" Ana said, taking a deep breath as she looked around the house.

"The city is crawling with police and private security. We're not leaving any time soon" Natalia pointed out.

"Well then what do you suggest?" Ana shot back, clenching her jaw in frustration.

Natalia looked around the house, "A lot of these older houses in this area usually have tunnels. They were built when this area had rampant smuggling problems. There's probably one in the basement" she said, going further into the house.

Finding the basement was easy, but it was just a small square room. There was no evidence of a tunnel. The floor creaked beneath them, giving voice to the house's age.

"There's nothing down here Natalia, we need to get out of here and find a different plan" Ana said, looking back up at the stairs as Natalia looked round the room with determined eyes.

Voiced shouted from inside the house, causing both of their heads to snap up. Ana drew her gun, "get a plan going little dragon" she hissed.

Finally, Natalia saw it, a faint line in the wooden floor that denoted a hatch. But how to open it? Adrenaline fueling her focus she frantically looked.

On a hunch she kicked a spot in the wall that seemed to pressed farther out than it should have. She was rewarded with a click and the hatch popping open. Ana noticed and silently ran to her, dropping down into the hatch after her before closing it.