Natasha Romanoff: Killer of men, Lover of women

7

The first thing I did the next morning was use my laptop to hack into the hotel's system. Really it was child's play, as though no one had even considered stronger protective measures over all of the people's privacy.

It took me a while, but I scanned every room to find out who was staying where. By examining each room, I was able to obtain complete access to people's bank accounts, passports, driver's licenses, even their educations. I could know whatever I wanted about anyone in the hotel.

Of course Iris was probably using a fake identity, fake history, fake everything, but if I checked them all, I was sure I could find the false one.

Once I knew where she was staying, it was just a matter of shutting all feeling off, and making the kill. I'd done it before, I'd do it again.

Hours later, I knew everything about everyone in the hotel, not finding a single blip in the system. Iris had slipped in right under my nose and I still had no idea where she was.

Or maybe she was staying somewhere else...

A sudden knock at my door made me jump from my seat, quickly moving to grab my gun from the table. I stalked to the door. I knew I hadn't ordered room service. The knock came again, more impatient than the first.

I unlatched the safety chain on the door, peeking around so that only my eyes could be seen.

"Lunch for you?" The woman said, clearly impatient with how slow I was being.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't order room serv-oh" I gasped as the woman pushed past me, dumping the large tray of food onto the table, and scurrying out of the door, slamming it behind her.

Well that was weird.

I walked over to the food, eyeing it for any threats. But no, it just seemed like food. In fact it was a platter of all of my favourites: sushi, sandwiches, apples, and lots more, and of course, lots and lots of peanut butter.

Hmmm, perhaps the room came with complementary lunch?

No Natasha, you know better than that!

At the very end of the tray was a bouquet of, irises.

Of course, I should've known.

I decided to get one of my gadgets out of my bag, just to check none of the food had been poisoned or anything.

However it was clean, all of it. It made no sense. Why did she keep trying to help me? If I was her, I'd have been here last night, waiting, hiding in the closet ready to jump out and drive my knife into her neck.

And should that have failed, of course I would've poisoned her food. But not all of it, just one piece or two. Less detectable.

I just couldn't understand why she wouldn't want to kill me. I mean sure, I could heal myself but it was still possible. Strangle me, stab me repeatedly until I bleed out, burn me alive for gods sake!

But she knew she could so I just couldn't wrap my head around the reason why not to. If it was me, and I knew someone had been hired to kill me, I'd make sure to kill them first, before they even got the chance.

Wouldn't everybody?

Underneath the plate of sandwiches, was another note, this was becoming a habit of hers it seemed.

It read:

Hey Natasha,

Make sure to eat up. You'll need to have your strength next time you see me. Last time you weren't quite strong enough so hopefully this will help. Hope you like your room.

I

Oh how she infuriated me! She had me wrapped around her fingers and I couldn't do anything about it. She always knew what was happening before I did, always a step ahead.

I scrunched the paper in my hands, tossing it in the trash can.

She called me weak. Im not weak. The only reason I lost to her that night was because of her distractions, but I wasn't going to let her get the better of me again.

Although it was a plate of my favourites, I couldn't bring myself to eat any of it, calling the maid to take it away. My pride was too strong to let her have this on me.

Instead, I made myself a pb&j with some of the groceries I bought in Amsterdam, scoffing it down as I hadn't realised how hungry I really was.

Despite saying to myself I didn't need her presents and keeping my pride strong, I still for some reason kept the flowers.

They were beautiful and purple, just like Iris' eyes. Even though she meant nothing to me and was just a target, the flowers were still too pretty to throw out.

I took each one, snipping the stem and arranging them delicately in a vase of water on my bedside table. They smelled amazing too, fresh and slightly earthy, kind of like how Iris smelled, only more floral.

The hotel didn't have a gym, which was surprising because it seemed to literally have everything, a bar, a dance floor, a pool, a spa.

To get my workout in, I went down to the pool to swim. I decided to go late in the day so it wouldn't be too busy with families and such.

I walked into the changing rooms and was instantly surrounded by mothers and their children. I was bumped and brushed against as they all tried to keep eyes on all of their kids.

I sighed, admiring the families. They were hurrying to try to make it for early dinner, but of course the little ones were slowing things down a lot.

Deep down I longed for this, a family, children. I dreamed that one day I'd have a loving wife who accepted me for who I am. She would bare our children and dance while I sang to them.

And at night, we'd sing lullabies to them until they fall asleep, going to bed ourselves and sleeping in each others arms.

No Natasha, with a job like this, there's no way out, nothing but this. You're on your own, always have been, always will be.

I shook myself out of my stupid daydream, finding a locker and pulling off my loose jersey dress. I was left in my red bikini, one of the only ones I actually owned.

I didn't get to swim much.

As I grabbed my towel and pushed through the crowds of families, I felt my heart drop.

The deep scent of amber surrounded me. Intoxicating me like it always did.

She was there.

Time slowed down as I spun around, searching for a glimpse of sparkling purple. It was like time had completely stopped, I could see the hairs on my arms stand up, one by one as I got chills.

I felt a warm body brush against mine, moving at usual speed while everything else was in slow motion. But when I turned to see, she was gone.

I snapped out of my daze, everything around me seeming to return back to normal. I shook my head.

You're going crazy Natasha, get a grip.