Second Chances - Book 1

Chapter 1: A Red Room Delivery

"Nothing. Absolutely nothing." Natasha spoke coldly, frustrated over her lack of luck. She needed but a few extra leads in case her others fell through. It was currently her life's ambition to rid the earth of those who made her the monster.

'Just focus.' Came Clint's voice through her earpiece. The mission being her own during her spare time, Natasha trusted no one more than her best friend with her intentions. Sitting on a close-by mound of dirt, she was quickly running out of options. 'I'm getting readings of a bunker close to your location. I'll send coordinates to your scanner.' His voice came very concentratedly, and without a moment to spare, a set of grid numbers flashed upon her small device.

"I'll stay on the line, in case the building isn't vacated," Natasha told him, heading in the direction of the bunker in a sprint, however still remaining light on her feet. Once she arrived, Natasha glanced around at the seeming baron surroundings. "Clint, check the location again." She told him, furrowing her shaped eyebrows.

'Why?' Clint asked, running it through once more. 'You're where you're supposed to be.' He told her, Nat taking to climb a hill of dirt to gain a little height, spotting a slight pattern of a roof underneath a thick layer of weeds and vines.

"Never mind," Natasha murmured, sliding down the hill carefully to reach the building. Hidden perfectly in plain sight. "Can you find me a door on this thing?" She asked, circling the surprisingly small box building before beginning to tear away the dense foliage to uncover a wall, moving to another side.

'I wish I could help with that.' Clint laughed slightly, amused with her predicament. The infamous Black Widow was defeated by a hidden door. 'I'll see if I can find something like an aerial view from a few years ago to help you out.'

"Try a decade. This is pretty thick." Natasha sighed, taking to using one of her knives to hack at it, finding a door, trying the handle a couple of dozen times. "I found the door, but it's stuck." She added, taking to her search once more.

'There's got to be something.' Clint tried his best to coach her, to no avail of course.

"Hang on," Natasha said, having taken to her hands and knees to dig through the bottom of the wall, finding a hatch, with two R's signalling the Red Room. Subconsciously, Natasha moved her hand to her stomach where two scars remained from her shabby sterilisation. The thought made her stomach churn, a sickly feeling rising in her throat.

'Nat?' Clint asked once silence came through the line, fearing the worst.

"I'm... fine. Just... I think I've found a way in." Natasha told him. Now wasn't a time for reminiscing. Kicking the seemingly metal doors, they soon gave in with the force, falling to the floor below her. "Well, if there was anyone here, I'm sure they would've heard that," Nat mumbled, Clint, giving an amused laugh.

'Keep me posted Nat, don't go silent on me.' Clint warned, as she carefully slid into the building, seeing a floor below surface level. The only light pouring in was from the hatch, which was now a rectangular hole.

"I pinkie promise," Natasha told him, walking towards a few rusty computers. Typing in all the codes she knew, she couldn't seem to bring some life back into the machines. So instead, she set about removing the hard drives. "There's just some computers and stuff. No electricity or anything but there's a weird smell." Natasha told him, putting a few of the more salvageable ones in her bag, before setting off on her ways.

'What kind of smell?' Clint asked, curious to find out more about her surroundings since he wasn't there with her.

"Smells.. clean," Natasha said after a pause for thought. "Like, antibacterial wipes. You know?" She asked, following the smell to a stairwell.