The Revenge of Devil | Irondad, pepperony

Chapter 55

"We're all here," he told her and went to sit with Pepper.

Elizabeth gave him a kind smile that turned devilish as Tony disappeared and she closed the door. Then she put the luggage and went to the kitchen, where two glasses were waiting for her, in which the Rohypnol was crushed. She opened a bottle of sparkling wine to pour white powder, which dissolved in a second. She grabbed the tray and put on a friendly smile again before going to the newlyweds.

"Your drink," she told them, handing each one a glass. "Five minutes to take off," she added and went to the pilot to inform him of the change of destination.

•••

Natasha parked at the school and went to sit on a bench next to a brown-haired man. He looked a little bored but still focused on the school building and its surroundings.

"You know, it means a lot to Tony and me that you're here, but if you don't want to, you don't have to be here. You practically don't know Peter, I'm sure Steve would exchange places with you," she said after a long moment of silence. Maybe that would be better. Bruce would be relieved, but to be honest, Nat didn't want Steve by her side. At first, she wasn't thrilled with Bucky's arrival, but she quickly got used to it. She was close to him because they were similar. He was an equal opponent and she liked it.

"I spent some of that time with him. I may not know him as well as you do, but -"

"But he has grown close to your heart," she interrupted amusedly. "That's what he can do."

"I owe it to Tony, too," he sighed.

For a moment there was silence between them again. Natasha remembered what Tony had told her in the car. And then she realized Peter's approach to the matter. She thought about it. She could have tried to solve it in a calm way, but if Teresa attacks, does Peter really expect her to do nothing? That she won't do everything to get rid of the threat? She tried to imagine how she would react if Yelena were in Teresa's place. Natasha wouldn't want to kill her, of course, but she would if the situation called for it. She was just like that. She had tried to get rid of this side, but now she knew it was impossible. She put up with it. If she has to intervene, others will have to come to terms with it.

"Would you kill her? If we got there earlier, would you kill her? Or if something happens - will you do it?" she asked him almost absently.

"That's a difficult question," he muttered, then paused to think about his answer. "It would depend on the situation, but I would probably try not to kill her. Maybe hurt, but not necessarily kill. I'm no longer a Winter Soldier, I don't want to have more blood on my hands," he explained eventually.

"I would," she told him without emotion. "When I started working for Fury, I tried to forget about Russia. I tried to forget who I was. When Peter was kidnapped in the fall, I couldn't do it. The person they had created surfaced and longed for blood. I learned from that. I can't suppress Black Widow. It's a part of me and how many times she saved my life. The only thing that sometimes worries me is that others don't accept it. I'm a trained killer. I've been led to it since childhood, it can't just be erased. It would be enough for me to see her aim a gun at him and I would shoot her before she had a chance to shoot Peter."

"You know, I don't judge people. I don't know what you had to go through, but I know how hard it is to get rid of the past. I know it's practically impossible. I don't care if you kill her and save Peter, but he does care," he said quietly.

Natasha sighed. "That's the problem. If something happens, I need you to assess the situation and stop me if it can be resolved in any other way."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, because when we meet Teresa, I'll be Black Widow, and she knows no mercy," she said coldly. She remembered Betty involuntarily. At the time, she had to work hard not to kill her.

"There's one thing that's bothering me," he said thoughtfully, looking at the redhead by his side. "If I don't count Steve, you're the only one who can go with me to the ring. And I'm not even talking about how you beat me up when you were jealous of Thor's friend. I don't understand," he said, keeping his eyes on her.

Nat turned to him and stared hard into his eyes. "It will be our secret, okay? The only person who ever found out didn't leave our meeting on their own," she whispered mysteriously, then got up and walked to the school from which Peter and Michelle had just left.

Bucky watched her with a puzzled look on his face, but a smile soon appeared on his lips. He hated being drawn to her so much, but what was he supposed to do? And if she was really improved, as he thought, then it had never bothered him so much that Steve found him so late. Maybe if he got to her before Dr. Banner, he'd have a chance. But he couldn't think about it. He saw that they were happy together and would never stand between them.

There is a holiday calendar in which we will focus on fragments from the lives of our heroes in The Devil All The Time series. You can find on my profile on Ao3, my name is eliotandq and the book name is The Devil's Christmas ❤️

 https://archiveofourown.org/works/35219575/chapters/87763270