Whatever it Takes: Black Widow

Chapter 1

Natasha had been on the ship taking her to Norway for under an hour. She had changed clothes, pulled her hair up and wiped the makeup off of her face. While she was hovering over the sink inside the one stall bathroom, she kept an eye on her iPhone which was playing the live security footage of Ross searching for her in the building where she had left her suit. Access to the cameras was curtesy of Tony Stark as an apology for his harsh words before they parted.

She called Ross, who answered quickly, "Yeah."

"Don't do this," she said, her voice lacking any emotion, so she didn't give away that she was already several steps ahead of him.

"Do what?"

"Come after me. I mean, you're embarrassing yourself. It looks desperate."

"Thought maybe you'd be calling me to cut a deal," he said. She put the phone on speaker to put Bruce's hoodie over her head and listened as he continued. "Cause from my vantage point, it's the federal fugitive who's desperate."

"From my vantage point, you look like you could use some bed rest. What is this, your second triple bypass?"

"I wouldn't worry about me. We got Barton, we got Wilson and that other guy, the incredible shrinking convict. Rogers and Banner are on the run. You got no friends. Where you gonna go?"

"I've lived a lot of lives before I met you, Ross. You shouldn't have gone to all this trouble. I'm done."

Natasha hung up the phone then exhaled before unlocking and opening the bathroom door. She went outside to get some fresh air. The sea and view was calming as she went to the edge of the boat then dropped her phone in the water so Ross couldn't track her.

She wouldn't miss the object. All of her photos were printed out and kept in a scrapbook, similar to the one Melina kept when the small family lived in Ohio. She never kept important things on her phone or laptop in case it needed to be destroyed.

As she walked around the boat, she hoped that she had distracted Ross long enough to give Bruce some extra time while he was running. Bruce would be Ross' top priority, then Steve. The former military man had an unhealthy obsession with super soldiers, particularly the Hulk.

As more people stepped outside, Natasha put her hood over her head, blocking her face and noticeable red hair from any passengers who might recognize the infamous Black Widow. The cons of being a celebrity was the lack of privacy and everyone knowing what she looked like.

When she got to her room, she let out a sigh and flopped onto the bed, lying on her back. Her hand went to her bag as she sat up and pulled out the album. Natasha skimmed the pictures of the team and focused on the ones with her and Clint's family, then her and Bruce.

Natasha knew that she and Bruce going opposite directions was for the better. He was an expert on being on the run to the point where it was second nature to him. Her gaze landed on a photo Tony took of them without knowing where she and Bruce were laughing at something and looking in the other's eyes.

She had to force herself to stop thinking about him and closed the album. The spy took a breath and pushed her emotions back, not wanting to let them get the better of her. She didn't want to think about how much her heart ached for Bruce, nor did she want to remember the last time she saw the Bartons, especially with what was coming.

Before the airport fight, she was too caught up in Bruce, Steve and Tony, and feeling helpless. If she was being honest with herself, she didn't think things through and she was proud of Bruce for taking control of what he wanted to change.

This time she knew she would have to put what she could control at the forefront. She knew she could do that and still put Bruce first, that is if Natasha ever saw him before seeing her family. It was time to regain control. This was her and her family's fight.

Natasha knew her family would be the way they were the first time. They would all have their walls up until they reached their breaking point, which would be tough to crack. She was less worried about Yelena, and more so about Alexei and Melina, who had changed the most since Natasha was a child.

Facing Dreykov again terrified her. She hated that man with a passion for everything he did to her, Yelena, Antonia and the other Widows. For a brief second Natasha wondered if this was how Bruce felt the last time he saw his father.

As she thought of a plan for the upcoming family reunion and coming face-to-face with Dreykov, Natasha was thankful the quiet trip with no interruptions while getting her farther away from Saxony and one step closer to finding her sister.

Note: I do not own "The Avengers" or MCU characters.