𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗦𝗜𝗥𝗘𝗡 | 𝗡. 𝗥𝗢𝗠𝗔𝗡𝗢𝗙𝗙

»»» 𝔳𝔦.𝔦𝔦

✠ ——— ✠ ——— ✠ ——— ✠

𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐰𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐀𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭

━━━━━━━━━▼━━━━━━━━━

It wasn't until Frodo was given his quest to destroy the ring that Natasha's attention was pulled away from the TV.

She almost thought that she'd imagined it. Taking her eyes off the screen, she glanced over at the other couch. Truth hadn't moved a muscle, and neither had Heidi, who still laid awake on top of her, following along with the movie.

Only, there it was again. A soft creak coming from the hall outside the apartment.

Other people lived in the building, Natasha knew. It was a rather small, upscale complex, with three apartments on each floor. People came and went, but this sounded like someone who was purposely trying to be quiet. And, with recent events, Natasha wasn't keen to take any chances.

This time, Heidi's ear flicked in the direction of the sound, but otherwise made no motion to move. Natasha had grown to notice that she wasn't much like a typical domestic cat, and wondered at the behavior. 

Maybe she expected Natasha to go investigate herself? It made sense that she wouldn't want to leave Truth's side.

Under this notion, Natasha stood, grabbing the knife hidden behind the dancing woman, just as Truth had promised.

By the door, she waited in the shadows, her breathing steady. The steps grew closer until they stopped.

The door unlocked with a click. As soon as it was shut closed, Natasha had the intruder pinned against the wall, knife at their throat.

They didn't fight back. Instead, the man chuckled upon getting a glimpse of her face.

"Hey, Red."

Natasha frowned. The man had a hood obscuring most of his face, but she recognized the voice.

"Castello?"

"The one, but not the only."

For a moment, Natasha didn't move. The sounds of the movie continued playing in the background, but Natasha was stuck between time.

"I liked it when they screamed."

Natalia didn't think. In an act of pure fury, she had him pinned beneath her.

Then she'd watched as he choked on his own blood.

"Romanoff," Michael said. "Any time, now."

Natasha blinked. As though burned, she released him, fighting the instinct to look down in fear that her hands were stained with blood.

Micheal leaned down to pick up the bags he'd dropped during their altercation, Natasha watching from a distance as he walked further into the apartment and spotted Truth on the couch.