Time Unchanging

Chapter 74

"How can you say that, Lena?" Nat asked, her voice as pale as her face.

Is this bitch for real? Steve doubted that the redhead was really that stupid. No, she was up to something. The super soldier knew it.

Yelena kept far enough away that Nat couldn't grab her, but both would be ready to jump at the other if need be, saying, "Everything you did was just a twisted version of him. You took Evelyn from people who love her, took her right to be a mother, and tortured and brainwashed her for your own means. Just like him."

Nat began to really cry at the list of her sins as she replied, "No, I just wanted her to love me like I love her. You..." Anger took over and she pointed a gun at the blond woman. "You betrayed me, Lena."

Just then, several SHIELD agents burst onto the roof, Maria Hill leading the charge. Every gun was trained on the ex-Avenger, ready to fire if she tried to fight back. Sam dropped Bucky to the left of Steve before standing between his boyfriend and the blond Widow.

"Drop it, Romanoff!" Hill ordered.

Fury looked at Nat with disappointment in his eye as he said, "You are officially under arrest. You know why."

Tony landed next to Steve, saying, "Time to give up."

Thunder rolled as Thor arrived and stood next to Clint as he added, "It is time you pay for the pain you caused Loki and Evelyn!"

Nat looked at the circle of bodies around her, all ready to put her down. She dropped her guns, knowing she would not survive otherwise. Maria came up and put handcuffs on her.

"SHIELD and the Avengers against one person," Nat taunted. "How heroic."

"It's over, Romanoff," Steve yelled, Bucky holding him back.

Clint, holding on to one last shred of hope, said, "Tell us who helped you. Please, Nat."

"I'm no traitor," was her only reply.

Sharon, who had come in with Maria and Fury, replied, "We will find out. You aren't saving anyone."

Hill began to escort her former colleague away. On the way to a secure prison jet, they passed by Bruce. He spared her only a calm, irritated look. Nat knew how close Hulk was to the surface at that moment.

Taking a chance, Nat stopped and looked at her ex, pleading, "Bruce, please. Surely you can't hate me. We don't need Hulk-"

He interrupted, "Oh, we're way past that. I could choke the life out of you and never change a shade."

His words stunned her enough to allow the Deputy Director of SHIELD to get her moving again. The Avengers followed. Nat turned to her old team, getting ready to try and defend her actions again.

"You have destroyed everything good in your life," Steve said, stopping her before she began. "You did that."

Trying to prove him wrong, Nat looked to the others before asking, "Clint?"

The archer said nothing, not looking at her. He was grappling with having to let her go. The woman he had taken a chance on saving for so long was gone... no, he had fooled himself into thinking she had existed in the first place. He still believed in second chances. Hell, he had been given one. But now, he would be more weary of those he stuck his neck out for.

Tears falling again, Nat turned to her sister, "Lena, please."

Yelena knew a Hail Mary when she saw one. Before, the blond Widow would have tried to help her sister, but those days were destroyed by hearing what Nat had done to Eva's baby. Yelena, unlike Clint, stared directly at the person she once called a friend, showing her disgust. All bridges had been burned and the ashes swept away by the currents below. Nat could see she no longer had any friends among the Avengers or SHIELD. She stopped all pretense.

"Fine," she said, her voice dark. "I hope you said goodbye."

As the redheaded Widow was loaded onto the prison jet, the Avengers each took off in their own ways. Tony, Thor, and Sam took to the air while the others went for the quinjet. The way she said that did not make the Avengers feel good. The longer it took for them to get home, the more the pit in Steve's stomach grew, the more volatile the lightning in the clouds became, and the more Bucky wanted to be sick.