Serpent - An Avengers Fan Fiction

Chapter Sixteen - Natasha

The dark of the room closed in around her as she lay there, staring blindly at the ceiling. She had neglected to put the light on when she entered, preferring to hide in the shadows of her room where no one would disturb her. She wanted to be alone.

Where did her sister train like that? Who trained her? How long had she been able to do those things?

The questions spun her mind in endless circles. It almost hurt to realise that's she did not know her sister as well as she thought she did. Natasha and Erina had been close as young girls, very close. But once Natasha had begun walking down a bad path she had been so determined to keep Erina off they rarely saw each other.

But that didn't mean she had forgotten who her sister was, did it? Perhaps she had tried so hard to keep Erina safe that they had somehow...lost each other along the way? Natasha searched through her memories for some sign that Erina had changed, but there was nothing.

A knock on the door made Natasha jump, and because she had been so deep in though it took her a moment to work out where she was. "Who is it?" she called.

"Barton," was the reply.

Natasha sighed. She needed a familiar face to look at, if only to remind her that she was not losing her mind. She rose slowly and moved to the door to open it. "Yes?"

"Sethos has fallen off the grid. Fury is sending us down to join the team on the ground." he said shortly.

Did she detect a coldness in his tone? "The whole team?" she asked. 

"No. Just you and me. We will cover more ground that way." Clint turned away. "We need to leave now to pick up the trail."

She was not making it up - the agent was mad at her for one reason or another. But knowing Clint, he wasn't going to let her know what she had done to offend him. Natasha grabbed her go-bag from under the bed and joined him in the corridor. Before she had even locked her door, Clint was striding away towards the upper deck. 

"Hey, Clint, wait!" she called after him, but the agent did not slow or even look back. Natasha groaned and hurried after him, hefting the go-bag onto her shoulder.

Clint was still not talking to her by the time they took off in a small helicopter, and his silence was beginning to get on Natasha's nerves. He refused to talk to her unless necessary, but he insisted on looking at her every few minutes, as if to check that she knew he was mad at her.

Finally, as the lights from the helicarrier disappeared in the night sky behind them, Natasha snapped.

"What is your probem?" she asked, keeping her eyes on the dark ground below, and her hands on the controls.

The agent in the seat beside her rolled his tense shoulders and didn't reply. Natasha could see him grinding his teeth out of the corner of her eye. "You didn't say goodbye to your sister before we left."

"Why does everything have to be about her right now? All I've heard from everyone since she turned up is 'Erina this, Erina that'." Natasha rolled her eyes. He was mad because she didn't say goodbye? No, that was too petty for Clint. Besides, he'd been cold with her before they'd left. 

"Can you blame them? You didn't have a sister until a couple of nights ago!" 

"This is because I didn't tell you I had a sister, isn't it?" Natasha guessed.

Clint's jaw clenched. She'd guessed right.

"I can't believe you are mad at me because of that!"

"I am not mad at you."

"Come on, how long have I known you? I can tell when you are mad at me." 

Clint tilted the helicopter towards the east whilst he thought of an answer. As he leveled off, he said, "I'm not mad at you."

"You are mad at Erina for existing?" Natasha frowned. What the hell? 

"Will you stop guessing? I'm trying to land this thing and you are putting me off."

Natasha swivelled her seat around to look at him in disbelief. "You could land this thing in your sleep so stop with the excuses and tell me what I've done to annoy you."

"Just drop-".

The aircraft shook violently in the air, and they saw one of the helicopters roters fly passed the window down to the dark ground. The engine began to stutter and then they were plummeting from the sky. The dying helicopter spun through the air and the two agents could only watch as the ground rose up to meet them.

"What the hell?" Clint pulled desperately at the controls, at the same time calling through his earpieace, trying to make contact with the helicarrier. Natasha lurched out of her seat and clawed her way to the back of the helicopter where the parachutes were stored. 

"Clint!" She screamed, pulling the sole parachute from the rack. "Clint there's only one parachute!"

"Go! I'll get the helicopter clear of you!"

Natasha stared at the back of his head. He couldn't mean...jump without him? She slipped the parachute over her shoulders and crawled back to the front. "It can hold both of us. Come on Clint!"

The agent didn't move. "Natasha, go." He grabbed the lever above his head and pulled, opening the small door in the side of the helicopter. A strong wind whipped about the aircraft and almost managed to tug Natasha out of the door. She grabbed onto the edge and held on, refusing to let Clint go down in the helicopter.

But the wind was too strong and it ripped her mercilessly from the falling aircraft. She tugged on the parachute cord and it ballooned above her, the remaining helicopter roters narrowly missing the ropes holding her up. 

The helicopter struck the hard ground with an almighty crash that sent shrapnel flying in every direction. One piece shot through the cloth of the parachute, rendering it useless, and Natasha felt herself falling again. She was extremely lucky, landing just after her parachute was hit, and a mere few yards from the black body of the helicopter.

"Clint!" Natasha yelled. She untangled herself from the parachute and stumbled towards the aircraft. It lay on its side in the middle of an empty field, its roters buried in the soft ground. Small fires were everywhere, warning her away, but Natasha could stay away. She pulled herself up onto the side of the helicopter and found the still open door. She dropped down into its body and crawled as fast as she could to the front where a barely conscious Clint was trying to break through the glass of the windshield. "Clint? Clint!" She kicked at the glass, shattering it with one blow before turning back to unbuckle the agent from the seat.

"Nat?" Clint muttered, "Nat, you need to jump...the helicopter...we're going down."

"Clint, don't try to speak. Just lean on me." Natasha pulled him from the seat and out through the broken window. It was a struggle to get herself through the jagged hole, let alone carry Clint through too, but somehow she managed it. The helicopter, however, seemed determined to keep them within its grasp; it fell apart around them, the wings collapsing beneath their own weight and the twisted position of the craft. 

Natasha dragged Clint away from the wreckage, step by step, not realising she was hurt until they reached the very edge of the field, where she collapsed beside the agent, heart beating fast, and her breaths becoming shallow and rapid.

As pale blue headlights appeared on the horizon the helicopter's engine exploded, sending a plume of fire into the black sky like a flare.