Red Burning Satin (Natasha Romanoff x Reader)

Chapter 5

You gazed out the window as you flew over New York, thousands of bright, glowing pools of light sprinkled throughout the view like all the stars in the night sky condensed into one picture frame. The top of towers, dark grey against the obsidian, scraped the bottom of the clouds many metres below you. Between the lines of shapes and shadows were paths bustling with life and lit by the light of hundreds of vehicles, moving together in one direction on the right and the opposite on the left. You scanned the vehicles, surprised they weren't out of range of your scanner, learning that they were cars.

"Never been to New York before?" the woman you had stood beside earlier asked. You weren't sure how much information you were allowed to share with other people or how much they already knew.

"I've visited the outskirts," you said. That was vague enough. She nodded, following your gaze to admire the view alongside you.

"It's nice, isn't it?"

"It is," you agreed. For as long as you could remember, your tribe's village at the top of the harshest mountain in the sector was the only thing you had known. Seeing a City, an Earthen one at that, was a mesmerising experience. The woman put her hand out in front of her.

"I'm Agent Hill," she said. You frowned, looking at her hand and wondering what you were meant to do. A quick Google search told you to shake it back. Your pause was still long enough to earn a suspicious look from the agent.

"It's nice to meet you," you said. She gestured to your uniform.

"So this is your first mission," she said, "I bet you're glad to finally be out from behind a computer. What did they have you doing? Mission reports or intel?"

"Uh, neither," you said. It was becoming increasingly obvious that this agent knew nothing about you. A voice echoed through the jet before you could continue your conversation.

"This is Fury speaking. We are a few minutes away from our destination so I'll remind you of the plan. Half of you will land on the east side of the building, the rest on the west; your phones should tell you where you're landing. Leave the jet in small groups and stay hidden for as long as possible." All the agents unbuckled their seatbelts and you followed suit, checking their phones to prepare for the mission. You glanced around the room, attempting to identify something that might give you direction on what to do. You were too occupied to notice Natasha walking up to you.

"Here," she said, making you jump, "Your phone." She handed you a phone with the S.H.I.E.L.D. logo engraved onto the back, the device giving you coordinates and a position. "You'll need this too." She handed you a small, black item. "It's an earpiece, you put it into your ear. When you want to talk to the team, place two fingers on it. Understood?" You nodded, double-checking all your equipment to make sure you were ready. As you were doing so, the jet's backdoor opened and two agents stood on the edge, grabbing the straps of their backpacks before jumping. You did a quick scan of the backpacks, your search flooding your brain with information about parachutes. You pointed to the backpacks of the next two agents readying themselves to leap.

"Do I need one of those?" you questioned.

"No," Natasha said, "You haven't been trained to use them so you're with me. You'll see what I mean in a minute." It took a few minutes for most of the agents to exit the jet, leaving you, Natasha and two others on board. You shivered as the cold night air whipped through the jet, your hair pushed back by the force of the wind. Nat went over to get a backpack but this one was different to the rest – it had extra straps and a clip. She threw you a belt with a hoop in the centre and you tightened it around your waist, making sure it wasn't loose. She gestured for you to stand in front of her after her parachute was secured. "You're going to put your arms through these straps after I've clipped myself to your belt, got it?"