Avengers Imagines

Snap Out Of It- Natasha Romanoff

(Gender Neutral Reader)

Warnings: Mild injuries

You always thought that Loki was the worst it could be. That no one could compare to his combination of ruthlessness and insanity. You didn't know how soon you would be proved wrong. Turns out, some fanatic from Asgard wanted to "finish what he started." He found a way to build off everything Loki did, everything he used.

You snuck your way through the halls of the facility you called home, gun tightly in hand, and senses on high alert. He had infiltrated your own compound, almost just to add insult to injury. Everyone was scattered through the mass amount of hallways, trying to corner the Asgardian somehow. Despite having numbers on your side, you couldn't help but feel that you were all at a disadvantage. It caused you to be even more on edge, which didn't help your worrying. No matter how long you did this job, you still worried about your team. It consisted of your friends, and as of last year, your girlfriend. Of course you were going to worry.

With footsteps barely audible, you rounded a corner and strained to see the end of the corridor in front of you. With the internal power cut, the almost blaring external lights offered ghostly shadows through any window in the building.

You didn't want to risk him hearing you, so talking over the coms was out of the question. It was just the slight padding of your feet and your breathing. Not for long. Soon, there was the slightest sound of footsteps that weren't your own. You were practically perched on your toes, now frozen in place. If it were the Asgardian trying to kill all of you, he wouldn't be subtle. So, it must be someone from your team, right? You were definitely doing your best to convince yourself of this.

Pushing past the goosebumps on the back of your neck, you spun delicately on your toes and saw a figure down the hallway. However, your muscles relaxed when you recognized the silhouette. You allowed your heels to touch the ground again, and your finger to slip from your gun's trigger. "Nat," you sighed in relief. It offered some comfort to be with your girlfriend in this anxiety inducing time, despite it going against Cap's orders of keeping apart.

However, as you made your way towards her, something seemed off. She was staring down the hallway, back facing you, and completely still. Your brow furrowed, and the grip on your gun tightened subconsciously. The tension of not knowing if something was wrong with your girlfriend rose with each step closer to her. "Natasha," you repeated, more sternly this time. Still, no reply.

She didn't even acknowledge your presence until your gently reached out to touch her shoulder. Like throwing a rock into a completely still pond, Nat finally broke her stance to turn and look at you. But your stomach dropped when she did. Your expected to be greeted with her stormy gray eyes, but now pale, icy blue ones stared back. Your hands fell, and your grip on your weapon started to slip in shock. You'd seen this before, and you wished you'd never have to again. You knew this wasn't quite your girlfriend. It wasn't her mind.

Your realization was abruptly interrupted by Natasha relentlessly grabbing your shoulders and shoving you against the nearest wall. Your gun clattered to the floor, but all you could focus on was that the utter vacancy in Natasha's almost hateful stare was chilling. The Asgardian had gotten into her head somehow, and this wasn't the girl you were in love with.

You were thrown to the ground with unsurprising force, and realized that of all the people you didn't want to fight, Black Widow was near the top of that list.

Thinking as quickly as you could, you scrambled to your feet and a few feet away from Nat. "Nat, snap out of it!" you shout echoed down the hall but it seemed lost on her ears. With her training and lack of control of her own mind, you had a strong feeling she wouldn't back off until you were dead or almost there. You would have to fight someone you loved, with significantly more advanced skills. What could go wrong?

The two of you looked like you were in a boxing ring, arms up and on your toes. Natasha took the first swing, her fist swung beside your head, but you deflected it with your left arm. She wasted no time grabbing your arm and twisting you into a head lock. You tried to slip to her knees to escape, pulling on Nat's arm, but her grip was steady. It was like a boa constrictor on your neck; every breath you released, her elbow tightened on your neck.

"Tasha, please... Please don't make me do it..." you uttered under the weight of your suffocation. You didn't get a response, not that you expected one. Tears were welling in your eyes, and it wasn't from the black spots starting to infiltrate your vision.

You begrudgingly threw an elbow into her stomach and your heel into her shin. Her death grip loosened enough to pry yourself free, but you kept your hold on her wrist. You tried to ignore the feeling of your nails digging into her skin as you wrenched her arm behind her back. Natasha's back was pressed into your chest, her head conveniently knocking back into your shoulder.

"Natasha!" You hoped your strangled yell could get through to her, but ultimately, you had no idea how to snap her out of this. She had no intention of slowing down to listen.

Nat dropped to her knee and yanked you over her shoulder. Any breath previously in your lungs was forced out when your back struck the ground. You immediately knew you were in trouble, since she had the higher ground. A gravelly cough escaped your throat, and something suddenly ripped through the hallway.

"You're weak!" she shouted, "You're pathetic!" A kick was planted in your stomach, but that wasn't the worst pain of the situation. You couldn't even look up at her through blows of her feet meeting your gut. You couldn't take watching her spit slashing insults at you. It was brutal enough to hear them. "You really think you're any kind of match for me? You think you're anything but insignificant to me?!"

Suddenly your limp body was jerked from the ground, as she had gripped your shirt with your faces now mere inches apart. "Do you think I could feel any sort of love toward you? I took pity on you. You had nobody and I pitied you, because you're pitiful!" A firm punch was planted on your cheek, not once, but twice and you familiarized yourself with the floor yet again. And you were familiarized with Nat's heel again, only this time, it was nose that made the introduction.

You spat out a mouthful of blood that you didn't know the origin of. Could've been from a teeth caused gash in your mouth, or maybe internal bleeding. Your entire body felt numb. There was no way you could take any more of this, and you will yourself to take some sort of action.

As another kick was flying towards you, your hands jetted out to grab her ankles. With whatever force remaining, you tugged her legs forward. She went soaring backward, and you could hear when her head smacked against the floor. Your otherwise dulled senses picked up a guilty twisting in your gut as you saw Nat groan and tentatively touch the back of her head.

You pulled yourself up to your knees and crawled over to where she could see you. You only hoped she was herself again. Her face was scrunched up in pain, and her machine like diligence seemed to be gone. You gently pulled her head into your lap and looked over her. "Please be okay, please be okay..." you whispered, gently running your thumb over her cheek bone. "Tasha?" Your voice was cracking as tears returned to your eyes.

She pried her eyes open upon hearing your voice, and your battered body softened when you saw the familiar gray in her eyes. "Y/N?" Nat's voice was almost as broken as yours. Her body quickly went from tense to relaxed at the sight of you, but right back to tense when she saw the condition you were in. Natasha then worriedly looked down to her knuckles and saw the damage your face had done.

She hurriedly sat up to assess your injuries. "Y/N did...did I do this to you?" Simply seeing her face start to chip away in devastation was enough to draw tears from your eyes again. Enough to bar you from even speaking, you just hung your head and sobbed into her chest. "I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry..." she kept saying over and over again, and her arms gingerly wrapped around you. Like she was afraid to hurt you.

"It's really you..." you mumbled through cries. Her hug tightened with comfort, with familiarity, when you hugged her back like she was your lifeline.

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What up guys, thanks for reading! This one's a bit late, only took two weeks, but still close to on time. Later this week will be Thor, woohoo! And OH MY GOD I saw Black Panther last week and holy hell it was awesome. If anyone wants to talk about it, shoot me a message. Vote, comment, and request!