Street Magic

Queen of Hearts

A/N: This chapter is in Blackwidow's POV and takes place before the events in Captain America: Winter Soldier. After this one, it will be in your POV and take place during the movie. I tried to be as gender-neutral as I could. If I slip up I don't mind a friendly reminder. Hope you enjoy it. (F/C)- Favorite color

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Natasha watched from a distance as a street performer stood on a bench in central park entertaining tourists with magic tricks as they dropped tips into a white bucket next to them. She had come to the park to meet up with a colleague but had ended up watching most of their performance. They would pull flowers out of thin air and pass them around the audience and occasionally allow one of the children to participate by making a coin disappear out of the palm of their hand. She had to admit they were good. Whenever she thought she had their tricks figured out they would change it up and make her second guess herself. She almost didn't notice her contact sit on the bench next to her as she watched them pull out a top hat from behind their back and carefully take a white rabbit out of it. 

"They're pretty good, aren't they?" Maria asked her. 

Natasha glanced over at Agent Hill noticing her wearing a rare casual outfit and the newspaper in her lap. "They are. But so are most of the other acts around here."

Maria smiled as she watched all the little kids crowd around the rabbit trying to pet it. "No, I think they're one of the best ones around here."

"Is that why you chose this spot?"

Maria casually slid the newspaper between them and then stood up. "They take a break around noon; I recommend staying until then."

"Didn't know you were a fan of magic tricks," Natasha teased as Maria smiled at her. Once she disappeared into the crowd Natasha opened the newspaper and looked through the file hidden between the pages. 

The first part was a case file on multiple bank robberies around Manhattan and Queens. Security cameras in all the crime scenes had captured an individual dressed in black with a hood and an (F/C) cloth covering their face inside the vaults stuffing multiple duffel bags with as much money as they could fit. There was no footage of the suspect breaking into the buildings or evidence that any of the cameras had been tampered with which puzzled the investigators. The robberies had taken a while to be connected as they had all taken place minutes after each other, but detectives now believe it was multiple suspects working together. It was the only reasonable explanation they could come up with now.

Natasha turned to the multiple pictures taken from the security footage and examined them. At first, she thought they were all of the same places as the individuals in them were wearing the same outfit and appeared to be the same stature but upon closer inspection, she noticed the backgrounds were different and that each one was a different location. The time stamps on the corners confirmed that they had all been taken the same day minutes after each other so it couldn't have been one person committing the same crime that was miles apart. 

As she reached the end of the file, she noticed a photo of a piece of evidence left in all the crime scenes that helped solidify the idea that all the suspects were working together. It was an ace card. Investigators concluded they came from a generic brand of playing cards that sold hundreds every day so that was a dead end. The only thing that stood out about them was a drawing of a happy face that was on the back of every card. This information was currently being kept under wraps to avoid copycats or anyone falsely taking the credit and could potentially help detectives identify the culprits. 

Why Shield was interested in this case, Natasha wasn't sure. She was impressed at how easily the suspects had broken in and out of the building but that was about it. Either way, she was assigned to it and has to investigate it. Though she would have to do it from afar for a while as she was heading back to D.C. to help Steve who was working with Rumlow's strike team for a while now. Since the whole New York disaster, she hadn't seen much of the other Avengers besides Clint, though Stark had offered her a place in his tower if she ever needed it. She was grateful but for now, she declined. She did feel a pang of slight guilt in not being there to help him when his mansion in Malibu was destroyed but she had been halfway across the world undercover for a few months. She had also heard Thor had taken him up in his offer as he had decided to stay on Earth to be closer to his girlfriend. Maybe she will join them at the tower if she decides to come back to New York.

As she thought of her plans, she watched the magician from before taking a card from their deck and hold it up for everyone to see. They then folded it in half and threw it in the air but instead of a regular playing card, confetti rained down making all the tourists cheer in delight. Natasha rolled her eyes figuring they had just switched them beforehand. After the magician bowed dramatically the crowd around them dispersed as they threw a few dollar bills into the tip bucket. Natasha went back to going over her file still hidden between the pages of the newspaper. The weather was nice in Central Park, so it didn't hurt to enjoy it for just a bit longer.

"You didn't seem to like my show." Natasha quickly looked at the seat next to her that was now occupied by the magician who was going through the money they had just made. She hadn't seen them walk over and had been a little surprised as she swore, they had been in front of her just seconds ago.

"They were easy to figure out," Natasha told them as she pretended to continue reading the paper. 

They raised an eyebrow at her, "Is that so?"

"You should work on your sleight of hand; a toddler could have seen it coming." She was lying, she had a hard time figuring out some of their tricks, but she wouldn't admit that.

"Geez at least try to spare my feelings," they laughed at how straight forward she was. "What are you a magic critic?"

Natasha lowered her newspaper and smiled at them, "No I'm just not easily impressed."

Taking that as a challenge the magician grinned and gestured towards the newspaper in her lap, "May I?"

Careful in not exposing the casefile Natasha grabbed the sports section of the newspaper and handed it towards them. They then folded it into half twice and slipped one of their cards in between the pages. Natasha raised an eyebrow. "Are you even trying to-"

Before she could finish, they flicked the paper in the air and it was instantly replaced with a red rose, the card from before tied neatly to the stem. "Sorry I forgot to ask you what flower you would like beforehand."

Natasha took the rose as they offered it to her and just stared at it. It's as if she had just blinked and it just appeared. She looked at the card and noticed it was a queen of hearts, she then turned it around and saw a simple happy face drawn on the back. She quickly turned back towards the magician but by then there was no one by her side. She grabbed the evidence photo of the card from her file and held it up next to the one she had just received. They were the same brand and the drawings on the back were practically identical. 

Natasha realized Hill must have already had a suspect in mind for the robberies and had told her to meet at this spot to point her in the right direction. She still wondered how she could have traced it back to a simple street performer. As she continued to put the pieces together, she got a notification on her phone that read 'Need you in D.C. ASAP".

She grabbed her stuff including the rose and headed towards the exit of the park. She promised herself once she finished her work in D.C., she would track the person who had given her the rose. Little did she know her trip to D.C. would be a little more time consuming than she thought it would be.