You're my escape- A Peter Parker Love Story

Salvation

Eliza stood with her shoulders drawn back defensively and her chin raised skeptically. Her narrowed, icy blue eyes were set on the woman who stood several feet in front of her. The snow blew between them, casting a white sheer curtain that made it hard for Eliza to read her eyes.

"How could you save me?" She asked through the storm. Her black curls loosened from the low bun and flew freely around her neck. They caught under her jawline and tickled her frozen skin, but she had endured far worse torture, so she didn't move an inch as she waited for the answer.

The woman's red hair moved in much the same fashion as Eliza's, yet her curls were wavier while Eliza's were coiled and frizzy. Her pale skin shined almost translucent with the snowy curtain pulled between them.

"I got away," she started as she lifted her black, leather-bound shoulders. "I found a new place that accepts me. I don't have to kill."

Eliza quirked a cold, black brow as she turned her head to stare down at her dead sisters. The dropping temperatures stiffened them insanely quick and covered them in a thick blanket of white. Eliza could barely make out their shapes under the falling snow.

She lifted her gaze back towards the woman with a long frown pulling on her purple lips. The woman let out a sigh as she lifted her shoulders and corrected herself with, "I don't have to kill my own people to prove myself."

Eliza's teeth started to chatter as the cold set in. Her stripped jacket had long since been buried by the falling snow, but she wasn't about to show weakness in front of a stranger, so she clenched her teeth and curled her numb fingers into tight fists. Her dry eyes stayed perfectly still on the woman who hadn't given one shiver or indication that she even felt the cold.

"What's your name?" Eliza tested her. The Academy was infamous for deception. If the woman opposite her was lying about anything, she'd give a false name. That would be how Eliza could trap her. If she lied about her name, she was lying about salvation.

The woman shuffled on her feet as her eyes lifted over Eliza's right shoulder. When they met hers again, she could see the determination in them. "Natasha Romanoff."

Eliza's eyebrows skyrocketed at the familiar name.

The name caught her off guard as she suddenly thought of all the praise Madame B. had placed over the Romanoff name. "You're a legend," she told her breathlessly.

"I was," Natasha corrected her. "And now I'm doing everything I can to clear my ledger." She chanced a single step towards Eliza, but she matched it with one of her own back. She looked around at the other guards who were positioned behind her. She had the sudden feeling of an animal being forced into a trap. Instead of clawing her way out, she looked back towards Natasha. The woman's eyes had softened, Eliza could see it even through the constant snowfall. "You're still young, there isn't as much blood on your hands-"

"You'd be surprised," Eliza told her bitterly.

Natasha's lips pressed together as she gave a stiff nod. "Come with me," she lifted her hand as an offering. Eliza looked at it but made no movement towards it, or away. "You'll be safe and you won't have to do anything you don't want to."

Eliza's shoulder relaxed at the premise. Had she ever been able to do what she wanted? She couldn't remember a time. Not clearly at least.

Eliza gulped and loosened her numb fists to feel a rush of blood course through her freezing fingertips. Her blue eyes pierced Natasha's as she looked for a single drop of deception. When she wasn't sure, she asked, "How can I trust you?"

Natasha smiled at her paranoia. It was a common trait between them, a trait they both inherited from the program. To ease her qualms, she answered, "Because if I wanted you dead you'd be dead."