(hold, still writing) 𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐰𝐢𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐬 - 𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐚 𝐫.

[𝐒𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍]

"Natasha, are you up there yet?" I questioned over comms.

"Working on it!" she replied.

I saw Tony fall from the sky and a bunch of Chitauri Gorillas surrounding him. I got up, running over to help me.

"Not today, bastards!" I kicked some away, shooting some others as Tony blasted the remaining ones.

He got up and flew away, making me scoff.

"Not even a 'thank you, Agent Pierce.'?" I rolled my eyes.

"I can close it. Can anybody copy?" I heard Natasha over comms. "I can shut the portal down."

"Do it!" Steve exclaimed.

"No, wait!" Stark said.

"Stark, these things are still coming."

"I got a nuke coming in. It's gonna blow in less than a minute. And I know exactly where to put it." he was gonna put it in the portal.

"Stark, you know that's a one-way trip." I said.

He ignored me and called Pepper. She didn't answer.

"Tony..." I said as I looked up, seeing him fly in the direction of the portal.

He went into the portal. I took a deep breath. He was gone.

All the Gorilla around us fell to the ground, dead.

"Come on, Stark." I heard Natasha mutter over comms.

"Close it..." Steve told her as Tony didn't appear.

Natasha closed the portal and I sighed, sadly. Suddenly, I saw Tony flying back down, except... he wasn't flying.

"He's not slowing down." Thor noticed.

"'Cause he's not flying. He's falling." I told him.

As Thor was about to jump up and save him, the Hulk came down from a building, grabbing him, and coming to the ground. We ran over to them, concerned.

"Is he breathing?" Steve asked, trying to listen to his heartbeat through the suit.

"Cap... Cap, you can't hear anything through alloy... it's- you can't." I tried not to laugh.

Thor removed his helmet and he wasn't moving.

"Stark? Stark, you there?" I asked, kicking his foot.

The Hulk roared and Tony woke up and I let out a breath. Thank God.

"What the hell?" Tony took deep breaths. "What just happened? Please tell me nobody kissed me."

"We won." Steve chuckled.

"Alright, yay! Hurray, good job, guys. Let's just not come in tomorrow. Let's just take a day." Tony groaned, quietly. "Have you ever tried shawarma?" he looked at the Hulk. "There's a Shawarma joint about two blocks from here. I don't know what it is, but I want to try it." I chuckled at the fact that he was ignoring the fact that he almost died.

"We're not finished yet." Thor said, referring to Loki, who was in the Stark tower.

"And then shawarma after." Tony nodded.

~

The 7 of us stood in front of Loki as he sat on the stair, injured.

"I'll take that drink now." he said.

~

All 7 of us were at Shawarma, eating. We were tired, hurt, stressed.

"God, I'm never doing this again." I muttered, wincing when I sat up straight, making Natasha snicker.

"Yeah, sure you aren't." Natasha nudged my arm, earning her a glare, causing her to chuckle.

~

"Natasha. We need to talk." I said to her as we got cleaned up.

"Yeah. We do." she cleared her throat. "Look... I didn't mean to forget you, Katherine, I really didn't. You were my best friend. We protected each other in the Red Room. I guess... when I got out and... and started killing, I... I forgot about everything and everyone. I was so angry after they gave me a hysterectomy after they took away the chance to have what I wanted most in life, that I went on a killing spree. It wasn't fair. But that wasn't a reason to forget about the person who wanted what was best for me. You. You always helped me. You taught me. You comforted me. You were there when I needed someone, and I betrayed you. And I'm sorry... I hope you can forgive me." she said as I listened, looking into her eyes the entire time.

Her apology seemed very genuine. To be honest, I think it was. I sent her a small smile and nodded.

"Thank you, Natasha." I chuckled as she rolled her eyes. "Really. Thank you." she nodded and I walked away.

~

Loki and Thor went back to Asgard with the Cube and everybody was ready to part ways. I shook hands with Steve, I gave Tony a quick nod, I said goodbye to Bruce, to Clint. And then there was Natasha.

"Am I going to see you around SHIELD?" I asked.

She nodded, chuckling.

"Will you actually speak to me?"

"Yes, I'll speak to you." she smiled softly.

"Goodbye, Natalia." I gave her a hug.

"Goodbye, Katerina." she smiled as I got into my car and drove off.