Beautiful Crime // Natasha Romanoff

11

"It's not your fault."

---

Will.

Will!

Dr Banner, can you please respond.

He couldn't.

After that man had died, Will shut off. He hadn't moved. Just sat there, staring at his blood covered hands.

Time seemed to pass quickly but he wasn't sure how much time had passed. It might have been a while because his back had started to ache due to sitting against an uncomfortable wall, but he was unsure.

He could hear voices next to him, but their words merged together and felt far away.

A woman's voice spoke louder, clearer, sharper than the others.

Will! Will, focus on me.

He could feel warm hands gently grip his face as they tilted it up.

At the corner of his eye, he watched as a small puddle of red seeped towards him, slowly. At first, he was confused, wondering what it was, until he shifted his eyes up a few inches, he let out a dry sob and started to curl his body inwards. In his few moments of silence, he had almost forgotten the horrible deed he did.

But now he remembers. Now he won't ever forget.

He continued to stare at the lifeless form until his vision was blocked. Blinking back into reality, he noticed the thing that blocked his view was a body. Trailing his eyes up, he came in contact with green eyes that he knew as Natasha.

Natasha, relived that Will came back to her, let out a sigh, "Will, can you hear me?"

He responds with a somewhat strained nod, with Natasha happy with.

"These men," she gestured to two men behind her who had medical supplies with them, "Need to check the wound on your head, is that alright?"

He hesitated but he knew he could trust Natasha, so he nodded again, wincing when he felt the pain.

One of the doctors spoke, "Please refrain from moving your head too much, Doctor."

Will was about to nod again but then realised he was told not to. He didn't want to talk so he simply sat there while the men did their work. Checking for infection, cleaning the wound, stitching it, wrapping it up and looking for any further damage by shining a light in his eyes, making him flinch.

Once the doctors were satisfied they went to move onto the assassin, but she waved them off, deciding to focus on her friend.

"Will?"

She watched as the younger Banner glanced around, looking almost surprised that he was there before he frowned. Natasha was about ask if he was OK but was cut off before she could open her mouth.

"Bruce?" Will's voice was rough, probably because of the dry throat and the body shaking sobs he had released, "Where's Bruce? I need him, I need my brother."

Will started to sit up, trying to ignore the dizziness, and tried to stand. However, the red head wouldn't allow it, she put a on hand on his chest and pushed him back down, possibly too hard.

"Will, don't move. Bruce isn't here, he's gone."

He stopped trying to move.

"What do you mean 'gone'?"

"Remember he hulked out? Well, someone was sent out to distract him, but he took them out and we then lost contact with him." As Natasha told him this, Will's heart beat increased, he was worried for his brother. The assassin, seeing the concern on his face, was quick to reassure him, "It's OK, we have people looking for him, we will find him soon. I promise you."

Will had started to relax until he heard the last line, he suddenly turned to Natasha and said harshly, "You had promised that you wouldn't let me kill anyone, look how that turned out."

The red head was shocked at this outburst but hung her head as she nodded, "You're right. I'm sorry Will, I shouldn't have left you alone."

Banner started to feel guilty, he hadn't meant to say what he said, it just came out. He reached out to try to lift her head up but noticed his hands were still covered in now dry blood. Natasha, seeing the movement, lifted her head, "I'm sorry, Nat. It isn't your fault, you were doing your job."

Natasha smiled at the nickname and took Will's hand in hers, despite the blood, "If it's not mine fault, then it's not yours."

The Doctor was about to shake his head to disagree, but she just shot him a look, "It's not your fault, Will."

He just nodded, not agreeing with her. Fortunately, she was happy with his answer and helped him stand, "Come on. We should go to the medical centre."

They walked down the hallway, passing the dead body that Will refused to look at. Natasha had her arm wrapped tightly around her friend, they were helping each other walk whenever one of them stumbled.

Before they turned the corner, Will built up the courage to look back at the life he took.

Turning his head, he expected to see the body lying still in a puddle of its own blood.

What he saw he didn't expect.

The man who he had shoot not too long ago was standing where the body was. His skin, a sickly pale and covered in blood. His eyes were dull.

And staring straight at him.

Will blinked.

Then the body was back where he had left it. Dead.