Right by your side | Natasha Romanoff

26 | I love you

"Yeah, I do."

"Great! On the count of three, take a deep breath, and go underwater." You said before moving, checking where the shot came from and moving closer to the edge. It was dark and it would have been hard to see the target so you assume he was wearing night vision goggles. Having gone to the theme park so many times, you'd already memorised where this ride would lead and which others were closest.

"One, two, three. NOW." You pulled Nat underwater with you just in time as another shot went past your head. Using the floats around as cover, both stayed until your lungs were screaming for air. You checked on her as you were underwater and could clearly see her at her limit. Taking your chances, you pulled her up as you gasped for air. Seeing as the exit was near, you checked behind you if Rumlow was following and you could see him riding the float as well.

Grabbing Nat's wrist as you got out of the water, you began running towards a certain direction as you looked at the time. 7 minutes, I should be able to make it. You thought.

You ran to a particular spot with your hands still on Nat's wrist. "Stay down and hide, when I give you the signal, jump." You pushed her behind the rock and showed yourself to Rumlow.

"Who are you?" He flipped his goggles up since there was light shining here and it was messing his vision. Rumlow slowed his pace down when he saw a kid standing there unarmed.

"You know me." You could see Rumlow searching through his head and rightfully so since they've dealt with so many children who do not deserve to be taken away from their family.

"You're the one who shot Wanda. Your target was Wanda all along. That's why you pulled the trigger so quickly. Someone was telling you where she was." You revealed it to him. You may look very confident in front of him but you were shaking on the inside, afterall he was still holding a gun whereas you had nothing.

"What are you going to do about it?"

You took a step closer to him and placed both hands behind your back and he raised his gun at you at the action. Natasha came out from her hiding spot and he changed the target to her since she was technically the only witness and it's better to eliminate her while she still has amnesia.

Without a word, she jumped onto the slide that you were hovering around and followed after her. Seeing that both of you escaped again, another shot rang and a wrenched scream.

At the end of the slide, you took Nat's wrist again and started running towards a certain direction. "Why are you doing this for me? Isn't it easier to just leave?"

"Because I love you. I love you too much to leave." You said while running, not thinking too much and not thinking of the consequences. Nat was stunned at your words. You were just a seven year old kid. Falling in love with a thirty year old adult doesn't make any sense.

Perhaps you were just one of those kids that enjoys going around saying you love people to everyone. There's no way. Nat thought.

You ran towards something you recognised. An empty spot in a circular shape.

Just under a minute. It's possible. You thought

You ran towards the center with Nat and turned back to face Rumlow. Now trapped and nowhere else to run, he threw away his night vision goggles with his gun still pointed at you. With each step he took towards you, you took a step back. "You! You made this all harder than it needed to be."

"Don't think I'm going to let you off easily."

You were counting down the minute in your head and once it reached zero, water sprung up from the ground hitting Rumlow's arm in the way, creating a divide among the fountain. Unable to resist the force of the water, he pulled out of the way in frustration, yet another thing got in his way.

"You won't be able to get away after this. Once this fountain stops, both of you are going to die."

Seeing the scene in front of her struck something in Nat's mind. You set this all up for this moment, to reset everything so you could have an equal ground against Rumlow.

"Just give me a moment." You said while taking out the rocks you hidden earlier. Nat didn't say anything but you were too busy to question her. Throwing one up in the air, you see the rock split into two when Rumlow shot it, thinking it was one of your tricks.

In reality, it was just so you could see where he was standing so you knew where to aim. Charging your shoes up, you let go of the rock in front of you and kicked it with full force towards your target. You hit him right in the center of his forehead and he stumbled backwards.

Once he regained his posture, all he saw was Nat charging towards him and her fist connecting with his jaw.

"Ouch." You felt the pain for him as you rubbed your jaw.

"This is for hurting Wanda. This is for threatening Allie. This is for making me go through all this trouble and this is because I hate you!" Nat punched him harshly for each sentence until his face was almost unrecognisable with all the bruises.

I fell to the ground and chuckled dryly in relief that everything went well in the end.

"Allie!" You heard Hailey shouting from somewhere. She brought along a group of people, who you're guessing are the employees of this place with Conan and the rest of the kids and Clint following behind them.

"Natasha! Are you okay?" He went to check on his best friend that was standing slightly away from you.

"That was real stupid of you to bait him here." Conan said as they crowd around. "But anything for your girlfriend huh?" He wiggled his eyebrow teasing you.

"Allie has a girlfriend?" Amy asked.

"No. Too young to have one." You immediately replied.

---

Clint called SHIELD to bring Rumlow in as he was a high profile criminal that SHIELD deals with. After collecting our statement and congratulating Nat for getting back her memory, we went to visit Wanda. She still hasn't woken up but at least no one is coming for her now.

"I got you something." You looked at Nat and she took something out from her pocket. It was the white dolphin you were looking at earlier.

"Thank you. You didn't have to."

"It's alright. It was the only thing I saw you staring at. They said there was a only one since it was supposed to be painted like others and gave it to me for free." Nat explained.

"Thank you for saying it." Nat said out of nowhere. You gave her a confused look as you made your way to Wanda's room. "You said it because you thought I missed Y/N isn't it?"

"Uhh- umm." You stuttered and nodded your head, lost for words.

"Thank you." She bent down and kissed your forehead before entering Wanda's room.

Posted on 17 Jul 2022