Dread Your Demons (Natasha Romanoff x OC)

~3~ Abandoned

~ Like the coldest winter, I am frozen from you ~

Natasha's POV:

NYC, United States 11/03/2014

"I contacted Doctor Foster, Thor will meet us halfway.", Maria informed them on the platform, where Clint had already prepared the Quinjet for the team. Natasha nodded and Steve put a thankful hand on her shoulder, then they walked into the jet. After the door closed everyone sat down and strapped themselves to their seats and Natasha could feel herself being pushed into it as the plane softly lifted off the ground. It didn't take long until they had reached a steady height, where they could all come together in the middle to talk about the details. 

"It is unknown to us how many troops are still at this base. The last reference we have to it is from 3 years ago. We are looking for this woman.", Natasha explained, not daring to look up at the picture of Kate, that she had found in the "Creating Chimera" file. "She is very dangerous, has worked under Hydra's command for years, and is genetically modified."

"What can she do?", Bruce now asked. He had been very quiet before, but the last words had awoken his interest. 

"Hydra depicts her ability as "the manipulation of temperature" and her limits as "unknown". Old S.H.I.E.L.D. records might tie her to certain deaths by fire.", she said, still pretending that none of those words had any effect on her. Opposite her, she could clearly see Tony stiffen at the last sentence. 

The jet shook as the god of thunder landed on it and their conversation was put on hold until he too was standing in their circle. "Who's that?", he asked clearly excited to be out on the field again. 

"A very dangerous woman we have to catch. Right, Romanoff?", Tony asked, slowly beginning to think, that something about Natasha's behavior just didn't add up.

"Exactly.", she replied, wondering if Tony meant to sound like he was going to put her down or put her behind bars. 

"I haven't had a proper fight in a while. I can't wait to show her my hammer!", he exclaimed. Steve shook his head smiling, but Natasha frowned. 

"She might be dangerous, but it is important that she is brought in alive. In this.", she pointed to a casket-shaped container between the cockpit and their little circle. A little something Tony had come up with to transport dangerous individuals or hurt Avengers. 

"And why is that?", the genius asked, challenging the spy to a little verbal battle that she had no interest in whatsoever. 

"Because, according to her file, she was forced to do unspeakable things just like people we let go and people that stand in this circle. If we get a chance to do better, so does she.", she said, shutting the little hologram presentation down and moving away. Before she went to the front she softly put her hand on Bruce's shoulder whispering into his ear. "Don't worry. I doubt that we'll need the big bad. I just wanted you to be around."

The team didn't know, but he had given her a shoulder to rest on for the last months. They had gone to bars, enjoyed walks, and barely talked. She simply accepted his pain and so did he. She was thankful and found herself drawn to him, which confused her even more at a time when not one emotion in her was sorted. 

She moved on, sat down in the co-pilot's seat, and shared a look with Clint. He just tapped her thigh and she tried to relax for the rest of the flight. Unsuccessful she stared at the bright sky and the clouds beneath them. She watched land turn into sea and she knew it was time. 

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Natasha's POV:

St Lawrence Island, United States 11/04/2014

The snow crunched under her boots, the smell of rust and decay ascended to her nose, and her eyes scanned the old, ragged barriers and walls for a sign of life. Natasha was relieved they didn't have to fight off half an army, but the waning hope in her chest caused her pain she had wished to be spared that day. Tony and Thor up front, they moved closer to the main building, which was partially built into the hill it was standing on. They reached the entrance without any interruptions and then formatted around the door. She stayed behind Steve's shield and Tony waited behind Thor as he ripped the door off its frame. They expected an alarm, some shouting, anything. But nothing happened. At the Captain's sign, they all moved in. Quickly the smell of rusting metal and dying plants changed as she entered the dark facility. Human decay filled her nose, then her lungs. Every second they spent searching the rooms stretched itself to the unbearable. She could feel the heavy heartbeats as she turned corners and cleared rooms. Eventually, she found the reason for this bestial smell at the end of the main hallway. 

The dead body was lit up in the cone of her flashlight. The skin was only closely hanging onto the bones. The jaw was already visible. So were the ribs. They had been wrecked by something she would identify as a shotgun wound. The rest of the team had met behind her and she called them over. Her heart had sunken at the thought of what she had to expect if this actually was, where Kate had been held. She motioned for Tony to carry the body away from the door it was leaning against. The door opened by itself as soon as the body was removed. Another bullet-torn body hit the ground before her feet. Every single light directed at it. Fearfully she looked at the body to her feet but was relieved when it was way out of proportion. She looked back at her teammates they nodded and together they walked into the even darker room, that, by the looks of the metal bars, appeared to be a prison. Not the Scandinavian type, though. The smell only worsened but that wasn't what made her frown. Instead, it was the feeling of snow under her feet, that stopped when she took a step closer to one of the cells. She aimed her light at the floor finding a snowy path leading to the back of the endlessly long prison. She split from the group, noticing that Tony was following close behind.

At least he couldn't see the tear rolling when she found what remotely looked like the woman she loved. All she wanted to do is fall to her knees and take her face in her hands, see if behind that blue skin was still a beating heart, but she stopped herself from doing so. "Tony, check for vitals.", she ordered and the man in his suit stepped closer. She could see the laser slider over her motionless body and she waited for an answer, but even after the scan was done it took some more time. She had to hold it together. What she wanted to do is scream at Tony to tell her. To work faster, but she knew it was senseless. Finally, she could hear the voice from inside his helmet.

"The woman appears to be alive.", she could Jarvis state, what she had hoped, but didnÄt understand. 

"How?", Steve asked from a bit further back, and though Natasha wanted to know just as much, there was one thing that was way more important to her. 

"You can figure that out when we're on the ship. For now, we need someone who is... how do I put this? Someone who isn't very burnable.", the redhead clarified and Stve began to lean down. "No, too sensitive. Thor, how do you handle fire?", she asked.

"Around here? Very well.", he declared very proudly, then understood why that was relevant. "Well, then.", he said and picked her up like she was a feather, throwing her over his shoulder. Natasha flinched and wished that she had excepted Steve's indirect offer but it was too late for that now. Tony was right behind Thor and they had already left the building when Natasha looked at Steve and then around the room. "We can't leave them like this.", she stated and he nodded. 

"We can't leave until they figure out what's up with that woman anyway. I'll go upstairs and dig some holes, you do whatever you're comfortable with.", he said, gave her a little nudge then also left. 

Natasha looked at the cell she was standing in. The walls were frozen up to the ceiling in the corner they found her, dried blood on the bars and the floor, and an open cell door. An open, unlocked door, yet they found her inside. 

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Here goes nothing

Thank you for reading this chapter 

~1452~