Black Widow: Dark House

54. "Wild Thing"- The Troggs

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Italics- any language besides English

**- thoughts/ memories

Clint watched the car, gleaming sunlight bouncing off its glimmering paint job, barrel down the highway, kicking up clouds of dust behind it.

He was out with Tony and Steve, inspecting the last coordinates that Ana's tracker had pinged at. The sunlight beamed down on them, making the red dirt and shrubbery around him almost seem to glow in the heat. Tony had been scanning the site while Clint and Steve were still trying to piece together the whole scene, making sure they had the whole picture of what happened. They had left early in the morning, without telling anyone in hopes to try and expedite the process... and if they were honest, to try and avoid any unfortunate encounters with an unnamed red head that they knew would be ready with a vengeance once she found out.

"I don't even know why we try at this point" he whispered to himself as he watched the speeding car.

The car zoomed past the guard cars and he found himself smirking, knowing exactly who it was.

His phone in his pocket buzzed. Pulling it out, he saw that it was Yelena.

"Yeah?" he answered.

"Hey, so Natasha is coming to the site. And she's a bit... um, upset" Yelena carefully chose her words.

"Who the fuck are you talking to?" Nat's voice boomed in the background.

Clint raised an eyebrow, "eh, I've seen her worse. So I guess that's you guys coming up the road?"

"Yeah, it's us. And I'm glad you feel that way, because you could cut the tension in this car with a butter knife" Yelena commented.

An audible smack cracked through the phone speaker.

"Ow Bitch! Focus on driving, you look like a maniac" Yelena shouted.

"Yelena so help me I will push you out of this car without stopping" Natasha shot back.

"You better get ready. She's coming in hot."

"Yelena!"

Then the phone cut off.

"Guys, Nat's here, and it isn't going to be pretty" Clint called as he stowed the phone in his jacket pocket.

The car skidded to a stop, making a pillar of dust heave through the air as Clint caught sight of a very angry Natasha getting out of the car and slamming the door, followed by a very serendipitous Yelena who was spitting dirt out of her mouth with a frown.

"I got her guys" Steve said, who was closet to the car at this point. He walked forward confidently, shoulder back with his hands out, trying to be as calming as possible.

"I wouldn't" Clint called warningly but doing nothing to stop him.

Steve, however ignored him and walked towards Natasha.

"Nat, listen, it's not as bad as it- oh!" Steve heaved out a gasp as Natasha punched him in the throat then landed a savage knee to his crotch before spinning around him and continuing in her path.

Clint made a pained face as he watched Steve try to recover. "Ouch" he whispered to himself.

Yelena hissed through her teeth sympathetically and knelt next to him, "You okay Mr. America?"

"Yeah... I'm fine" Steve weezed, "I'm just gonna, sit down right here for a sec" he said, trying to control his breathing as he slumped to the ground.

Natasha, with eyes that could kill stalked forward, wordlessly past Clint, his head bowed and eyebrows raised as he watched her, knowing well enough not to get in her way. He'd worked with her enough to know that any interference with her at this point would end in more bruises than anything else.

Tony in his suit landed a few feet from her and started walking towards her, his voice audibly enhanced, "Nat, you don't need to be here. I'll head back to the compound here in a bit. So just calm-"

Natasha threw a punch, this time charging up her Widow's Bite and landing a direct blow to the center of the suit's chest, over the power source. The charge surged through the iron man suit, the light in its eyes flickering as the suit's power circuits became overcharged, automatically turning the suit off. Tony was now stuck in a hunk of mental like his own personal sarcophagus.

"Was that really necessary?" He called at Natasha kept walking towards the site where yellow tape flapped in the air and cones marked potential evidence.

"She was alone Tony, fighting for her life when you hit that fucking chip" Natasha growled as she scanned the ground, her tracking instincts kicking in immediately as she noticed the signs of a battle around her.

Tony's suit had an emergency ejection, which he used to step out, his hands on his knees as the effects of Nat's charge wore off.

"She was off compound after attacking Wanda. I had no choice" Tony said, recovering himself as he stood up straight.

"She had a flash back! She couldn't help it" Natasha screamed, her eyes locking on Tony.

"Regardless, Nick was right. She was dangerous. I'm sorry she got taken. I didn't mean for that to happen" Tony explained, holding his hands up in surrender.

"You never gave her a chance. You judged her from day one... I judged her..." Natasha's voice cracked as she turned away, awash with guilt and shame.

"We're thinking the second Taskmaster took her" Tony tried again, wanting Nat to see he was on her side.

"She could have fought it off if you and Fury hadn't fucking disabled her!" Natasha shouted, throwing her baton straight towards Tony's head.

It stopped mid air thanks to Clint, who caught it expertly just as Tony was stepping back, his eyes wide with fear and surprise.

Natasha eyed him, daring him to give her a reason.

Clint's calm cool gaze was unwavering as he pocketed the baton, "We can't change any of that now. Let's work with what we can change. Now, are you done hurting the people who want to help you?" he asked pointedly, crossing his arms over his chest.

Natasha's jaw clenched as she looked down and turned away, not willing to let anyone see the pang of tears that threatened. She banished them from her eyes and took in a deep breath.

"What are we going to do?" She asked through gritted teeth as she turned back to the group.

"Well" Tony said, rubbing his chest and breathing heavily, "Wanda knows where Melina is. Melina probably knows better than anyone where Dreykov is. I say we start there."

"We should bring dad" Yelena said, walking towards the group with Steve, who slightly limped.

"What! Why?" Nat shot, crossing her arms.

Yelena shrugged, "He's the only one she probably won't shoot on sight. If its you, me and, dad, we have a better chance of figuring out where Dreykov is. And then the rest of the group can follow" Yelena explained.

Nat worked her jaw, hating how much sense that made.

"Fine, we leave in an hour" Nat said with finality as she stalked forward, the group quickly clearing a path for her out of fear of another one of her blows.

Yelena sized up the group, her eyes judgmental as she shook her head, "pussies" she mocked before turning and following her sister.