Baby Widow

Chapter 3: In the middle of a gunfight, in the center of the apartment.

Anna's Point of View:

     The ride to my apartment wasn't very far, I couldn't tell if it was from the light traffic or Clint's reckless driving but we got there in under ten minutes.  Now I was in the apartment of my bedroom packing clothes for about two weeks, meaning all my clothes. Inside one of the compartments of my bag, I packed my valuables such as my laptop and my few pieces of jewelry that I had. 

     My apartment was a house but never a home. Even though I lived there for three years, I never decorated it or personalized it. There was never more than the bare necessities, meaning not a single bit of television, no more than a single set of utensils, only one cup in the entire space, and a mattress. In the back of my brain rattled the thought that I would always be on the run and that no place was truly safe, so I lived like that. The only thing I had an excess collection of was my weapons, more specifically two katana and a loaded gun with an excess of ammunition and clips that was always under my only pillow. "I understand why you live like this."

     I turned to see the red-headed woman at the doorway for my room. "What do you mean?"

    Natasha looked around at the bare and plain room. "The lack of decoration, hardly any furniture, and just enough food and supplies. Not to mention your entire closet fills a medium suitcase." She walked around the room stopping at the closet to look at me. "I was the same way when I left the red room. Clint convinced me to leave and pursue a better life, that was working for shield."

     "For the longest time, I had to struggle with my new life. Clint would check in on me every other day and help me adjust. First, it was convincing me that I need a bed frame, after that he took me shopping so I had at least a months worth of outfits. Slowly from there, with his help, I got used to living here and living healthily." By this time she had made my way to my luggage, "I still sleep with a gun near me though, there are just some habits you never break."

     She walked off with my bag of clothes and I followed behind with my bag of weapons. We walked to the kitchen where Clint was scavenging for some food and something to drink aside from water and coffee. As he began to complain about the lack of food, a storm of bullets broke through the wall causing everyone to duck. I pulled my katana from my bag and tucked my gun into the back of my jeans. Once the dust settled, Natasha had been positioned behind my couch and pointed her gun at the door ready to pull the trigger. I aimed my gun at the same spot while looking at Clint who was covered from head to toe in dust.

     Cocking the gun back, I slowly rose from my spot behind the coffee table and motioned for the two spies to follow me back to my room.  Once we were in the empty room, I slid open my window tossed my bags out the window and began to climb out. "What are you doing?!" Natasha whispered shouted at me. "We are on the fifth floor, you'll kill yourself! Get back in here!"

     "There are ledges to grab onto on the way down, also the drain pipe we can slide down if needed. Are you gonna stay and become a target or come with me back to the car?" I decided to do my own thing and worked my way down, being careful with where I placed my hands and feet. The bricks were rough and hard under my hand as I made my way closer to the ground and to the drain pipe. Once the pipe was in arms distance, I grasped on and looked up to see Natasha and a dust-covered Clint above me following the path I had taken. 

     At the bottom of the building, I grabbed my bags and we ran back to Starks car where Natasha called back to the tower to give them a heads up. "They know where she lives, they found us and shot at us. We are safe and on the way, be there in five." When Natasha hung up she looked back at me, she warned me to hold on. Weaving through traffic, Natasha was easily going fifty over the speed limit. Clint was trying to clean the dust off of himself and causing it to fall on the black leather seats of Tony's car. "So why exactly do they want you so badly?"

     "Some of the experiments worked on me and gave me heightened abilities, the power to control electricity, and the ability to talk to animals and shift into a wolf. They wanted to train me to work for them, so I took my file and high-tailed out of there." I kept my focus through the back window shield to keep an eye out for the HYDRA operatives. 

     Clint asked if I still had the files. "Yeah, it's in the bag with my ammo."

     As we pulled in to the gates for Stark Tower, the gates asked for ID. " Spider lady and Birdman with a guest." 

     Clint looked back at me and explained that those were the voice passwords to enter the compound when security was on high alert. "He makes the password and no one can change it. It tends to be something stupid, hopefully, if you get one, it won't be as bad as ours."