RE//MCU - Black Widow: Nemesis

No happy ending

October 1st 06:20AM
LOCATION: Helicopter

All of them wanted to be far from the smouldering crater that had once been Raccoon City,
Jill glimpsed at Natasha who sat back with her eyes shut-
Although Jill doubted that the redhead was actually sleeping.
She'd remained on Nikolai watch, personally she still thought he deserved to die along with the city that he'd single handily destroyed, but she understood Natasha's reasons for not doing so
'She's an Avenger and therefore bound by some kind of morality code'
Jill wondered if the Avenger would be pissed if she threw the bastard out of the helicopter-
'No- he's not worth it' Jill decided and besides, he wasn't her problem anymore
"Carlos, what are you going to do now?" Jill asked Carlos who hadn't said anything in the last twenty minutes as he piloted them into the distance-
Carlos had lost just as much in Raccoon City, his career, his friends and his trust.
Jill wanted to tell him that it was going to be ok, she was going to make certain of it,
"A fresh start for a new Carlos" he smirked, but Jill realised that the humour didn't reach his eyes- but at least he was still trying.
Jill knew that Natasha was going to have a word with some of the folks at the company she used to work for- S.H.I.E.L.D, to see if she could set him up with a position there,
Jill thought that it would suit him and besides, if Carlos was working for S.H.I.E.L.D then Black Widow would be able to keep an eye on him- and Jill would always know where she could find him.
She found her thoughts quickly drifted to Chris; she wondered if he'd heard about the outbreak yet- did he know that Raccoon City was gone?
Jill was convinced that he knew, and that he was likely on his way back the US to come and find her,
But what of the Black Widow?
The Avenger was taking the destruction of the city the hardest, she guessed that Natasha wouldn't be sticking around.
What the Black Widow intended next she kept to herself- she couldn't stay, and she didn't want to return to the Avengers 'at least not for a little while' she needed some time alone.
She would drop Nikolai off at the 'Raft' – a high security prison stationed in the Ocean North of Rykers Island' catch up with Director Hill and then drop off the grid for a little while,
Thankfully she knew a man that could help her on her quest to disappear for a while, being alone would give her the time she needed to reflect and plan,
She'd heard Norway was a lovely area to get lost in for a while.
Natasha is dragged out of her thoughts by her communicator ringing, she sighed- she'd been expecting this call once she was back in S.H.I.E.L.D's communications range.
She answered the call on her stingers activating the holographic screen and a very not happy looking Director Hill
"What the hell happened Romanoff!?" the woman's words caused Jill to cringe, it wasn't Natasha's fault
"There were- complications" Natasha stated and glared over at Nikolai who was still seemingly unconscious, Natasha had been adamant when she said that she would make him pay for everything he's done
"What kind of complications?" Hill asked as Jill moved over to where Natasha was sitting, she waved at the woman on the monitor
"Hey there, I'm Jill Valentine former member of S.T.A.R.S" the woman on the screen acknowledged her,
"Yes Ms Valentine, I'm aware of who you are" Hill had made sure to go back and read everything stated in the reports from the incident at the Spencer Mansion
"We had the vaccine, but it was destroyed by a rogue U.B.C.S mercenary" she still didn't understand Nikolai, but suspected that he worked for whoever could pay him, she hoped that the Black Widow would get the answers out of him that she needed
"The same Nikolai Zinoviev whose files you requested?" Natasha nodded although she was suspicious of those files,
To her trained eye it looked like somebody had already gone through them and deleted prominent information-
"I see- so I assume you killed him before he could tell you who he was working for"
Jill and Natasha shared a blank glance, Black Widow shook her head,
"No Hill, he's unfortunately still very much alive, I'll rendezvous at the Raft this afternoon" Hill was genuinely surprised, the Black Widow could often be an unforgiving woman
"Well- that's something at least. Romanoff the world is going insane over the destruction of Raccoon City, its important we get all the facts straight"
Natasha nodded 'work to be done' she knew that the news of the incident must have made it to the Avengers by mow.
She watched as Hill spoke to someone off screen, she looked mildly annoyed, and Natasha knew that there was only one person that could put that expression on Maria's face
"There's someone here demanding that he speaks with you or he's going to start shooting people"
Maria moved from her seat when Clint Barton came into the view of the monitor
"Nat, thank God! Are you alright?" It felt good to see Clint, she could do with the friendly moral support that only her good friend could give her
"About as alright as someone that just watched hundreds of thousands of innocent people die can be" she rubbed at her swollen arm, it still hurt from where it popped out and had been reset.
Clint sighed, she knew the expression on his face well enough
"It's not your fault Nat, Maria told me what happened and I don't doubt that you did all you could"
Natasha sighed, the events of Raccoon City promised to live with her forever, but that didn't change the fact that the people responsible were still out there- no doubt engineering more monsters
"Clint, I want you to meet Jill Valentine, Jill say hi to Clint"
Jill waved slightly at the Avenger on the screen "Hi"
Clint waved back "Hey- So you've picked up some new friends?"  he was glad that at least she had left with some other survivors
"She saved my life, multiple times" Jill stated,
Clint laughed "Yeah- she has a habit of doing things like that"
Natasha wasn't paying attention on what was being said about her, now she only had one thought on her mind and that was making sure that Umbrella pays for all of it.
She doubted that Clint would approve of her plan to vanish for a little while, so she kept that to herself
"I assume your plan is to go after Umbrella?" Clint asked, he knew that look in her eye- she'd let it become personal and if there's one thing in this world you don't want, it was for the Black Widow to be coming after you
"Have Umbrella made any public statements yet about what happened in Raccoon City?" Jill asked Clint who was quickly moved aside by Director Hill
"Yes, they have in fact. At the moment they're claiming no affiliation with the incident or the monsters. I trust that you've collected evidence of their involvement?"
Natasha pulls out the USB drive that she'd been using to collect all the data she could find
"I've got plenty, Including a recording of a top Umbrella scientist confessing to everything, it was his final request to get the message out" she still disliked Dr Bard for the man that he was and for his involvement with the Bio-weapons,
But at least he'd provided her with her most condemning evidence- not that the testimony of a dead man was enough to bring Umbrella to its knees, but it went some way
"That's good" Director Hill sighed
"Look- Natasha, this is the part of the job that both you and I hate the most. Not every war is a war you can win" Natasha smirked;
She had once used similar words after the destruction of Sokovia.
Director Hill is quickly pushed aside by Clint
"Nat you know that if you need some help taking down these sons of a bitches- I'm only one call away. And I'm sure that goes for the rest of the team"
Black Widow smiled, of course the Avengers would all insist she take their help- she was sure she would once she had a better idea of what's going on within Umbrella.
"Thanks Clint, I'll talk to you again soon" she hung up the transmission on her Stingers
"So... what's next?" Jill asked, she quickly became aware that Carlos was landing the helicopter somewhere on the outskirts of the city
"Well first I'll see what I can get out of Nikolai, you regroup with any remaining S.T.A.R.S members and I'll suppose we'll get the wheel spinning from there" she silently passed Jill the broken vaccine vial
"What about you?" Jill asked as she had the sinking feeling that she wasn't going to see the Avenger again for a while.
Natasha shrugged, she'd made a promise to go after Sergie Vladimir, but she supposed right now personal vendetta's could wait a little while longer-
"Don't worry about me Jill, I've come through worse before" next thing Natasha knew, Jill wrapped her in a tight hug
"I'll miss you" Jill ginned as the Black Widow gave in and returned the hug
"Trust me Jill, you'll be hearing from me again soon".
Carlos entered the back of the helicopter; he'd landed them not far away from the edge of the Arklay Mountains
"I assume you're gonna be needing the helicopter?" Carlos asked as he shared a small smile with Jill.
Natasha nodded "Yeah, but I don't want to leave you both in the middle of nowhere" as far as she could tell there were no signs of civilisation close by,
Jill laughed "Don't worry about us Natasha" Jill climbed out of the back of the helicopter as Natasha climbed into the cockpit,
She watched as Jill took Carlos's hand in her own and gave it an encouraging squeeze
"До скорого" Carlos waved to Black Widow as she started back up the helicopters blade, his pronunciation was still awful.
Black Widow waved at the pair of them as she set off in the direction of the rising sun. She realised that she couldn't spend too much time mourning the loss of Raccoon City,
There was still work to be done and Red that needed clearing from her Ledger.

*****

Authors Note: You may have guessed that this story is set directly before the Black Widow movie- instead of going on the run she leaves the Avengers for some time of self reflection when she is contacted by her 'Sister' Yelena leading to the events of the Black Widow movie.
Yelena will feature heavily in the next MCU/Resident Evil Fanfic