At Long Last (OC x Natasha Romanoff)

Chapter 10

Nat's POV

Once we got back on the quinjet, I sat next to the cage the wolf was in. Some part of me felt safe and calm. I have not felt this feeling in a very long time. Not since I lived in Ohio with Yelena. Taking my eyes off the wolf, I grabbed the bag that I found. Taking another look at the pictures I found. The one of the two wolves caught my attention again. Taking a closer look at the picture, the two wolves had very similar features to the wolf that sat in front of me. One being All black and the other being all white. But when you compare the two wolves to the one, we caught. Their physical features were all the same. The coats were a perfect combination of the two wolves in the picture. Going to the next picture, of a little girl with two wolves. The child sat in front of the white wolf. The wolf curled its body around the small girl. The black wolf sat behind the girl and white wolf, while looking down at the girl. The girl had her head tilted back and looked up to the black wolf with her arms straight out. I thought it was a cute picture, but why would anyone let their child this close to wolves.

"Hey Stark, can you take a look at these pictures? See if we can maybe get a trace of anything off of them, including face recognition?"

"Yeah J.A.R.V.I.S?"

"Yes, Sir?"

"Scan these pictures. Check for face recognition and any other information we can get from them."

"Well, I could have done that," I said to him. I turned back to the wolf and opened the cage door. My body seemed to be moving on its own as I sat in front of it and started to slowly pet its head. The wolf was still fast asleep as a purring like noise started to come from it. The noise made me chuckle,

"Romanoff, what are you doing?" Steve asked.

"Petting a wolf."

"Better question is, did it just purr?" Stark asked.

"Sounded like it. Bruce, when can we take the arrows out? We can't leave them in it like that."

"I can try to take them out once we get back. It will be easier and safer to do in the lab."

I continued to pet the wolf the rest of the way back to the tower. The wolf never woke but moved its head closer to me and continued to purr. Once we got back, I stood up and closed the cage door again, so we could move it to a larger cell.

Alex POV

"This should hold her. Now everyone go get ready. Party starts at 8. Romanoff, I better see you there no later than 8:30."

"Yeah, whatever Tin Can."

I could hear voices around me but couldn't open my eyes. I felt my ears twitching towards the noise, trying to hear better.

"She's waking up." A female voice said. It sounded familiar, but I couldn't place it.

"Well we don't have time for this. Party is starting in a few hours. Just tranq her again and we can take care of it in the morning."

"Oh, yeah, of course. The party always comes first." there was the female voice again. I tried to open my eyes again, but all I saw was a bright light, which made them instantly close again. "Do you ever put the job above a stupid party?" I moved my head towards the voice. For some reason the voice kept me calm.

"My parties are not stupid Romanoff. They're great!" I heard footsteps walking around me. The steps stopped for a moment then came closer. I let out a weak growl, that sounded more like something coming from a small pup, not a huge wolf. "Awe, that sounded kind of cute." I then felt a pinch in my back leg. My eyes shot open, I looked behind me and saw a short man with a funny looking beard move away from me with a needle. Our eyes made contact with each other. Then mine shifted toward the needle still in his hand. My eyes narrowed as I glared back at the man and let out the deepest growl I could. "Oh, that's not good. Easy Wolfy. It's ok." I started the stand up, while still growling at the man. He held his hands up in front of him and continued to try and calm me down.

"Way to go Stark. Now we have an awake, angry wolf." The female voice said again. I turned towards her. Making eye contact, I stopped growling and just stared at her. "Easy girl. We aren't going to hurt you." As the woman continued to talk, I felt calmer. I took a slow, uneasy step toward her and tilted my head.

"MATE! Alex, it's our mate." Artemis screamed while bouncing around in my head again. Now I know why I liked the voice and why it calmed me down. I stopped moving towards the woman as the flashbacks of meeting our mate the first time came. Letting out a whine, I lowered my head and pinned my ears back. I started backing up towards the corner of the room I was in.

"What just happened? It went from wanting to kill me, to looking calm to you, then like it was a kicked puppy." The man said to mate.

"I don't know, but we should leave it be." Mate said. I layed down in the corner of the room, keeping an eye on the two as they made their way out. A glass door slid shut as they stepped out of the room. My vision started to get blurry. I tried shaking my head to make it stop. "Looks like the tranquilizer is starting to kick in. We should start getting ready. You head up, I'll stay here until she's asleep."

"Okay, Let J.A.R.V.I.S know if you need us down here." the man said as he started moving away from Mate. I looked back at Mate and let out another whine and closed my eyes to help stop the blurriness. I rested my head on my paws. My leg was still hurting but this position made my side hurt more. I moved to lay on my side and let out another whine. The new position helped to take the pressure off my side.

"Artemis, what do you think of mate? Do we give them another chance, or do you think they will try to hurt us again?"

"Mate hasn't hurt us yet. I think we should give them another chance but be cautious."

"Okay" I said as my eyes started to get heavier. I continued to stare at Mate, my eyes getting heavier by the second. I fell asleep with a new determination to get closer to Mate.

Nat's POV

I stayed by the cell door as the wolf started to fall back to sleep. Our eyes made contact again and I could see all the emotions through the wolf's eyes. It looked scared, when the whole team was here looking, but a mix of scared and almost happy emotion showed when it was just me. Once the wolf's eyes closed and it's breathing evened out, I opened the cell door and stepped inside. I once again sat next to the oversized wolf. I ran my hand down its body. Each time I went over a rib bone, the wolf's side would twitch like it was trying to get away from my hand. Taking a better look at its sides and the rest of the body some areas had small lines of missing fur, almost like it was scarred. I checked on the two arrows that were still in its body. There's no reason these need to still be kept there. I gave the wolf one last pet on the head and stood up. "J.A.R.V.I.S."

"Yes, Ms. Romanoff"

"Where is Bruce?"

"Dr. Banner is currently in his lab with Mr. Stark."

"Thanks J.A.R.V.I.S" I exited the cell, making sure it was secure, then made my way to the lab. "Hey, Bruce. When can we take the arrows out. The wolf is still having a hard time breathing and we can't leave them in like that.

"I'm not sure I'm the best person to take the arrows out. I might be a doctor but I'm not a veterinarian."

"J.A.R.V.I.S" Tony yelled out.

"Yes, Sir?"

"Call a few veterinarian hospitals in the area. Get someone over here to take a look and operate on a wolf. Let them know that it's for a large dog."

"Right away, sir."

"There should be someone over in a couple hours."

"Thanks Tony. Have we gotten anything in any of the pictures?"

"Not anything that we can check out yet. The most relevant thing I got was about 100 wolves found dead in a wooded area in upstate New York. There are ruins of homes in the area where the wolves were found."

"That could be something." I turned and started to leave. "I can follow up that lead and let you know what I find." I yelled to them as I turned the corner of the lab and the doors shut behind me.