Fears of the Widow

Hawk Down

Natasha couldn't remember exactly how it had happened, but she did know this horrific reality was no dream.

As she had taken out the guards in the stairwell and continued in her search to find Hawkeye, something had been swirling in her brain. An uncertainty of the actual events in her last twenty four hours.

She remembered Zarcov bringing her here from Fancy Munich, she remembered her jail cell, she remembered changing clothes, she remembered drinking something, and then she remembered escaping from her cell, heading to the lab, and getting the antitoxin. Out of everything she's remembered their was a big chunk of lost knowledge between what she drank and escaping. What had happened to her?
However, the other side of her brain stirred with hatred. She felt no pain shooting the guards, but Natasha didn't understand it. She didn't want to increase the blood of her ledger, yet somehow Loki's words had finally reached her brain and her heart. She wasn't above this life. Natasha Romanoff was a murderer. No ands, ifs, or buts about it, so there was no point in being someone she was not.

Yet the pain of the events after attacking all the guards seared right through her assassin persona rendering her helpless, confused, and trigger happy.

Somehow Steve had pulled the machine gun from her grasp and handed her her usual hand held pistols and electric gloves. His face was full of worry as if he cared... Which he actually probably did not that Natasha paid any attention.

Upon getting her regular weapons she had felt a cool burning sensation through her blood, the knowledge to walk through the doors in front of her, and the ambition to shoot Zarcov upon first seeing him.

Natasha had grabbed the handle to floor something or other, pulled it open, and jumped into a hall full of guards, Zarcov, and Clint. However, Steve was suddenly ambushed in the stairwell, and strong hands grasped Natasha from behind.

"Miss Romanova, won't you join us?" Zarcov had a cocked pistol in Clint's face, but Clint looked relieved rather than worried.

Natasha swallowed the bile in her throat knowing that someone who used her real last name was going to be serious trouble, "I would prefer not to..."

"It wasn't a question to answer," Zarcov snapped, the redness in his face catching Natasha's attention.

Nat looked to Clint who gave her a 'I hope you have a plan' look, and that was when she noticed that he was wearing one of Zarcov's guard's uniforms. Had he been here long? Why hasn't he come to help her? She felt the heat rise in her cheeks and turned away from Clint.

"What do you want?" Natasha gritted her teeth, speaking to Zarcov. He grunted, "my family."

The Black Widow was for once speechless, unsure of what she was supposed to understand from his statement, "I... I'm confused actually."

"Confused, my dear? About what? You killed them. That is all there is to that. Murderer. You murderer them. Monster," he suddenly came towards Natasha with the gun, grabbing the trigger, when the stair doors busted open. Bullets were flying everywhere, a stinging pain enveloped Natasha's shoulder, yet she focused more on Zarcov coming towards her, and then the flash of a bullet. She waited for the pain to come.

Time seemed to stop as guards fell and Steve shot the machine gun like a crazed man. Natasha still waited, but the pain never came. But Clint did. He was suddenly jumping in front of her before he collapsed onto the floor. Zarcov stared in disbelief. Everyone stopped. Or maybe everyone except the three avengers and Zarcov were dead.

But it took no time for Natasha to realize what had happened, and she pulled her pistol up, shooting Zarcov without even thinking. All of her hate flying with that bullet and crashing into his skull.

But that was more like a minute long rendition of less than ten seconds of action, and Natasha reeled to catch up with what all just went down.

She dropped to Clint's level, "hey, hey." She pushed him into his back immediately noticing the stomach wound soaking blood into the uniform. "Oh my gosh... Clint, stay with me!"

Clint's eyelashes fanned to life, "Nat?"

"Why did you do that? What's wrong with you? Why would you do this?" Natasha couldn't cry, she didn't have the energy to. She glumly stared into his eyes instead.

Clint tried to smirk but groaned instead as he spoke, "I... I failed you once Nat... I couldn't fail you again... It was my bullet to take... Not yours..."

Steve dropped to their level, "can we get out of here before you two make out?"

Natasha didn't even turn to slap him, and she wasn't amused, "c'mon Clint."

Both a hurt Steve and a troubled Natasha lifted the dying Hawkeye to his feet and helped him hobble to the elevator. "this will get us to the roof faster than the stairs with Clint hurt," Steve claimed.

"Why the roof? Is that where a heli is meeting us?" Natasha asked.

Clint groaned, "not a smart place. The whole factory is gonna blow."

"We know," Nat and steve replied simultaneously.

Clint groaned again, "my...ba... Bad."

"Are you okay?" Natasha stared impatiently to the elevator floors. One more to go.

Clint nodded, "I... I'm fine."

"Almost there. The helicopter should be landing," Steve pushed the doors open faster before helping Clint out onto the roof where a SHIELD heli hovered over the factory with a rope ladder hanging down.

"Clint can you hang on?" Steve asked as they tottered to the rope ladder.

Clint nodded, "go ahead up so you can help pull me in."

Steve scurried up the ladder, but Natasha stayed on the roof, "I'm not getting on the ladder till you do."

"I can't climb Nat!" Clint groaned, "you gotta go up. Hurry the building is going to explode any second now."

Natasha frowned, "fine," before climbing Halfway up the ladder as Clint grabbed on and held onto it for dear life.

The helicopter began its ascent just as the factory shook, and Clint's face showed pain. Pure pain, shrapnel from the building flew, but the ladder was coming up. Steve and the other helicopter men were pulling them up, but suddenly Natasha's minor shoulder wound stung, and she lost her grip, swinging to the other side of the ladder, "STEVE!" She screamed, "A LITTLE HELP!"

Her right hand couldn't handle the stress as her fingers slipped off of the wood, splintering the wrung. She fell backwards as a hand shot out to grab her falling body. Steve and the men pulled she and Clint in, but Clint's breathing was erratic.

"Clint!" Nat lifted him up as EMTs walked him to the gurney, "stay awake." She pleaded. As hard as Clint tried to keep his eyes open, he quickly succumbed to darkness.

"Clint? Clint!"