Her Assistant | Natasha Romanoff

27. Something Huge

Third POV
Even in such a close distance, Pietro managed to dodge the bullet and swung a punch at Natasha with all the betrayal he felt causing her to drop her gun. All he wanted to do was to bring his sister to safety even though she may be in captivity.

This time Pietro was on top strangling Natasha and pointing his gun at her. "If only... if only... you didn't come... Wanda would...!"

Bucky knew he wasn't going to be able to reach Natasha in time and she was left defenseless.

"Is it time for someone to pick up your messes?" Someone came to her rescue and kicked Pietro's gun away from her before he managed to shoot. However, he maintained his balance and pulled out his knife trying to stab the person but it was blocked by their gun.

"Strange?"

"I never knew you had a younger sister." He joked. "Hey you!" He brought the attention to Bucky who didn't know who he was. Pietro turned to look at Bucky thinking they were in cahoot and were planning for a double attack.

"Just joking." He kicked Pietro away and shot his arm that was holding the knife. Knowing he was at a disadvantage now, he retreated slightly since Strange was still shooting in his direction.

"Thanks Strange, but what are you doing here?"

"You just laid your hands on something terrible."

"If you're talking about the gas, it's already..."

"NO! Not just that, in this forest, the army is-" From the corner of his eyes, he saw something and pushed Natasha on the ground before the trees around them got obliterated into bits.

"Shit- too late." He mumbled under his breath.

"Miss Romanoff, are you alright?" Bucky asked as he went unsteady on his feet. Everyone felt the ground shaking and thought that an earthquake was happening.

Instead, it was a tank moving in the forest! Everyone started running knowing they were not able to take down the tank with what they have with them.

Inside the tank, they were adjusting their aim for the cannon while the infantry moved forward.

"How did you think you could run away from that?" Strange asked as they were running away.

"I wasn't expecting something like that!" Natasha exclaimed.

"On the eastern side of the forest, there's a military railway that was used to transport the materials used to build the village. If the train is still going we can escape on that!"

"Good, let's bet on that- uuh" Natasha fell to the ground after sustaining all the injuries from earlier. Pietro sure knows how to pack a punch.

"Miss Romanoff!!" Anyone who was in the war knows that you should never stand still on the battlefield. You would just be sitting ducks waiting for the enemy to shoot. The cannon fired and as much as they wanted to hop in and save her, they couldn't.

"Ouuu you're pretty battered." Y/N said when she brought Natasha to the side and took in her bruises. "You went as far as to dress up and this is the result..." Clearly she knew her boss couldn't do anything to her in this state. "You should have left everything to me."

"Shut up. You should've come earlier then." Natasha scolded her lightly.

"Hurry up, another one's coming!" Strange couldn't stand their bantering and chased them.

"What about the Raven?" Natasha asked.

"It's here, I took all the samples." Y/N presented it in her hands.

Natasha nodded and quickly formulated a new plan in her mind. "Bucky, follow Strange to the railway. Also, show the way to Wanda with a flare. Strange, you carry the Raven."

---

As the fight continued, Pietro realised that they didn't hesitate to shoot even though they still didn't know that it's not Wanda. The army was planning to kill her!! He went around the side even in his injuries after learning of their plans.

Y/N and Natasha stayed behind to deal with the tank. Since it was the latest technology, the tank was moving very quickly even through the dense forest.

"This is an order, destroy that tank!"

"Yes, Miss Romanoff."

Y/N went around the tank trying to spot any weakness but the minigun was able to turn 360 degrees around. Bullets weren't able to penetrate the tank's body as the armor was very thick and the infantry was in the way. Natasha doesn't think that the entire body is covered in solid steel as it would be too heavy to move at such speed. A part of it must be thinner to make it lighter, somewhere that doesn't need to be protected...

"Y/N, we'll scatter the flies first." She followed her orders and began approaching the infantry at the same time as Natasha. She dropped a can on the ground and Y/N only had a short second to see what it was before it blew up.

"It was a good idea to get this from Bucky. The hors d'oeuvre is over. Now to the main dish!" She said as she held it in her hands. Before the tank could finish reloading its cannon, Y/N ran up the tank and smashed a rock on top of the tank making a hole.

Indeed as Natasha thought, the top is soft and thin. Y/N squatted and peeked inside the tank and looked at the soldiers operating it. "You look just like mice caught in a trap. Trembling close to each other inside that box. Since you look so pathetic, Miss Romanoff decided to present you with special supplies prepared by us."

Once Y/N finished talking, Natasha dropped another can in the tank and it exploded soon after. "Now it doesn't look like a moving battleship, more like a moving oven." Natasha laughed as she saw the tank burning.

While Y/N and Natasha settled this problem and Bucky was trying to get to the railway station, Wanda was running towards the exit that Natasha had told her earlier. Even though she may not have gone further than her village, her genius brain was more than enough to guide her through the forest.

Once she saw the flare she knew that Natasha had changed course and needed to head to another direction.

Bucky and Strange were already there waiting for her when she arrived. Bucky placed finger on his lips asking her to keep quiet as he heard people inside. This made Strange excited because it meant the railway was in use and could start immediately.

They told Wanda to stay put as they went in and wreak havoc, quickly killing the guys with accuracy. The soldiers panicked when they were ambushed and with no one to give them any orders they were flustered and did not know what to do.

When they confirmed they were safe, Bucky told Wanda to come with them and have her settle at the back of the train.
(note that it's for transport of goods hence there are no seats. Just an empty platform to place the crates.)

They went to get the train to working condition as quickly as they could and the horn sounded as soon as they took off.

"WANDA!" Pietro's voice echoed in the room.

"Pietro?" She didn't think he managed to follow them here. He raised his gun and aimed at them. Wanda was shocked that even at this point, he was trying to kill her. She shut her eyes tightly waiting for the pain to arrive but it never did.

"Pietro... you betrayed us..." Pietro shot Hilbert who was on the other side of the platform.

"Piet... why...?"

He dropped his gun and started running after the moving train that was already reaching the exit. "Wanda! I'm sorry for lying to you all this time! You can hate me, you don't have to forgive me but, Wanda... you... you are-" He didn't get to finish his sentence as someone shot him from behind and he fell on the tracks.

"Traitor...! Die, Red Witch!" Hilde shouted even though her body was all battered up. Her clothes were torn apart and blood and dirt caked her face.

"Oh... it seems some food escaped from the oven. I guess the fire wasn't strong enough." Y/N said as she slit a knife in her throat.

"PIETRO!"

"Wanda... you are not a witch, you are a normal girl..."

Posted on 26 Feb 2023