First Encounters [Multi-Fandom]

Natasha & Elijah

Natasha's jaw ticked for the umpteenth time, green eyes glaring a hole in the suit laying before her that she hadn't set eyes on in a very long time.

When the Avengers disbanded for good and went their separate ways- all except Stark who somehow managed to drop money in their bank accounts and leave toys on their doorsteps even as they were on the move- Natasha called in a favor from a friend to get her all new papers for another identity. She bought brown contacts to disguise her vibrant greens, bought a black wig to hide her normally red locks that everyone now associated her with, and told anyone and everyone she met that her name was Talia Wright.

Thanks to Stark's generous cash deposits, Natasha easily bought a car that wouldn't draw too much attention. She spent months in the wind, stopping in every other state to spend a week in a decent hotel before moving on once again. She knew she couldn't keep it up forever, she didn't want to, but she didn't have a plan either. She had always thought that her life was with SHIELD, but after finding out that HYDRA was deeply rooted within and many agents were not who they said they were, she couldn't find it in herself to belong to such an agency again even after it was rumored that there was a new director who was working from the shadows.

As the days passed, Natasha watched couples happily mill around her wherever it was that she stopped for the week, and she found herself thinking more and more about her supposed soulmate's words along the arch of her right foot; They'll wake up soon. She had thought that after everything she'd been through- what with the Red Room and their conditioning- that she wouldn't care to meet him or her, but more often than not she found her mind straying to all the possibilities. And just when she actually fancied the idea of settling down somewhere to try her hand at being normal, Phil Coulson swept back into her life.

The second Natasha had laid eyes on Phil, she punched him clear across the face and then slapped him when he mumbled something about expecting worse. So worse she gave him by gripping his wrist, twisting his arm just so until she was a tug away from dislocating it and close-lined him so he fell flat on his back. She was clearly vibrating with rage as he apologized from the floor, taking a handkerchief from the inner pocket of his suit jacket to dab at his busted nose as Natasha silently and angrily cried. She listened to his story after he climbed to his feet only to take a seat on the chair near the corner of her room, her anger being split between both Fury and Coulson now, and then tensed when he asked her for one last favor.

Apparently, Coulson had a whole new team to work with so no one else knew he was alive. Fury gave him everything he needed to proceed as the Director of SHIELD and then when SHIELD fell, one of his best agents turned out to be HYDRA and another of his agents was being stalked by her even more psychopathic father who called himself Cal. And now still acting as Director of the new and improved SHIELD, Coulson wanted Cal taken out and he needed the Black Widow to do it.

Even after calming down and explaining that she was out and not doing mission work anymore, Coulson still managed to persuade her to do this last mission for him because Cal's daughter, Skye, was someone he wanted to protect with every fiber of his being and he himself was no match for Cal.

Had she not seen the emotion in his eyes- or even heard it in his voice- when he talked about Skye, Natasha wouldn't have ended up agreeing. After all, Phil had once taken her under his wing, so she knew the bond between Coulson and Skye fairly well. He'd given her a folder of leads that Skye had collected, the leads pinpointing Cal's location in New Orleans as the man searched for recruits for whatever plan his crazed mind had concocted.

So that's how Natasha finds herself staring at her SHIELD issued catsuit- the charge in her Widow's Bite never having diminished thanks to Stark's technology. Figuring that enough time had passed, Natasha makes quick work of stripping from her silk robe and slipping the suit on. And even though she personally made the decision to give all of this up, she can't help but smile at the rush of power she feels when zipping up and listening to the hum of the Bites at her wrists. Her boots get slid on next, guns are holstered to her thighs, and then she's staring at her reflection in the mirror as she lets her red curls cascade down her back and over her shoulders.