An Unlikely Romance - The Avengers (Part 1)

Extraction Point Secure

Her grip was like iron, and you were reminded for a moment how she had grabbed you the first time you'd met, effortlessly throwing you to the ground. Instead now she held you to her, one arm wrapped around your wrist and the other pointing her gun ahead as she blazed her way through the complex while unleashing rounds at anything that moved. She even reloaded effortlessly, her free hand barely leaving your wrist to properly orient a magazine before it found its way again, dragging you alongside her.

Every time someone appeared her reflexes saved you; only once, when you were passing through the kitchen, did she actually pull you behind cover. Ineffective as the cover was, three HYDRA agents had passed through the open doorway at nearly the same time, forcing Natasha to forcibly throw you toward the wall behind the refrigerator while pumping rounds into the entrance.

The appliance wasn't much comfort; you huddled to the ground as a spattering of assault rounds penetrated right through its edges, with metal and plastic shards added to the shrapnel, some bouncing off the nearby counters and bouncing back onto you. Natasha found her own cover behind the kitchen island, taking down two of the HYDRA agents with accurate, precise shots at the joints where their body armor must have been the weakest. The remaining soldier peppered the island with rapid fire, multiple rounds sending wood and marble flying around Natasha's head. By the time that happened she was already on the move, though, sliding effortlessly into a reload as she circled around. She was at the other end of the island while the soldier was still firing at the front, and in one movement she slid out of cover, into a firing stance, and put three rounds into the HYDRA soldier. He crumpled to the ground with his finger on the trigger, a few rounds uselessly peppering the ceiling before his shoulder hit the tile and forced his hand away.

"Come on," Natasha breathed, somehow already on her feet, gesturing for you to follow her. She waited until you actually started to scramble to your feet, not trusting your panicked mind until she had her palm wrapped around your arm again. Your eyes fell to the other firearm at her side, the unused pistol that she had yet to touch, too busy babysitting you and making sure you were following her. For a moment you remained silent, eyes locked not on Natasha but on the doorway that you were passing through... it was the door you'd been told never to cross. The place you'd always believed was your escape, if you could only find a way to unlock it and pass through.

Instead of sunlight, instead of an escape, Natasha pulled you through that door and into a network of tunnels, cold metal and an unyielding steel meeting your gaze. The area you'd been living in was designed and dedicated to looking like an apartment, apparently... but beyond that doorway, there were only shiny metal corridors as far as the eye could see, numerous doorways and branching paths making you wonder where you were, how vast the facility truly might be, and how many resources were dedicated to keeping you there.

None of those questions mattered anymore, it seemed. The only thing you really understood was why Clint and Natasha were insisting on carrying packages out of the facility themselves despite their alleged trust of you. Natasha led you through the tunnels effortlessly, so familiar with their layout she managed them effortlessly, even amid constant assaults from HYDRA forces. You were so overwhelmed by the facility's size that it wasn't until the third time she awkwardly shoved you into a doorway to return fire on a set of approaching soldiers that you found your voice.

"I'll follow you," you said, loudly enough that you hoped it carried over the repeated shots echoing around you. "You can let go of me. Please, I... I know you don't trust me, but you need both hands! I'll hold myself together. For your sake and mine. If I fall behind just fucking leave me!"

Natasha didn't turn her head back, but you saw her eyes flicker to you between rounds. She seemed to be weighing something in her head. After a long moment, she nodded slightly, then turned her eyes back to the fight at hand. A second later her hand fell away from your wrist entirely, pulling a free clip from her belt and readying it. The second her gun ran out of ammo she reloaded, catching one of the HYDRA soldiers who had been counting rounds off-guard. She put three rounds into his helmet before he had fully raised his rifle, and the enemy soldier fell to the ground in a heap while she started down the hallway.