Is This Love?

Chapter 1 - The Mission

Hey, author here!

Just a few things to keep in mind before you read this book. To avoid confusion, all author's notes will be in bold. Let me know what you think of the book and as always, constructive criticism is welcome but please no hate.

Enjoy!

******************

The rays of morning sunshine streamed in from the window of the Avenger's Tower. The first to wake up that morning was the Black Widow herself. Her eyes fluttered open and she let out a small groan, blinking a few times to clear her vision. The clock read 5:32 am.

She listened out for any other noise in the tower,  but upon hearing nothing other than gentle birdsong out her window, she knew the rest of the tower was yet to rise. She had always been an early riser, especially when she was younger, well not that she even had a choice in the Red Room, but it was a habit that she wasn't sure she could ever break. 

Upon deciding that there was no point lying awake in bed thinking about her past any longer, she sat up. Gracefully flipping out of bed, she stretched her arms above her head, followed by a quick leg stretch. Flexibility was something Natasha put great emphasis on, as had the Red Room, it was the key to her lethal abilities. 

She walked over to her wardrobe and riffled through her cupboards before finally deciding on a turquoise printed shirt, black shorts, and black trainers. Grabbing them, she walked into her bathroom and took a cold shower, she had never been one to take a warm shower as she felt that the cold water made her feel more awake and alert.

Emerging 10 minutes later, feeling much fresher as she finished styling her short hair into loose waves at her vanity. She had always been appreciative of Tony's generosity in letting her and the rest of the avengers stay in the tower. Typical Tony, the room was one of the most luxurious she had ever seen, with a king-size bed, vanity, dresser, full-length mirror, walk-in robe, T.V., and bathroom (which she was sure was bigger than her entire bedroom in any other house she had ever had). There was also a sitting area in the corner, complete with couches and a coffee table.

As always, her room was tastefully designed and suited her needs perfectly, Tony even took into account a removable ballet bar and punching bag which could be stored in a separate hidden closet along with her various weapons and uniform. The whole room was amazing and Natasha was immensely grateful for it.

Taking one last look at her reflection in the mirror, and giving the stamp of approval, she made her way out of her apartment, locking the door behind her. At the very end of the long corridor, there was an elevator that lead to the other floors. The elevator dinged and Natasha stepped in, pressing the button that would take her to the middle floor between all of the living quarters; 'the Common Room' as they liked to call it.

The Common Room had an oversized kitchen, dining, and living area. She arrived at her destination and stepped out. She was taken aback by how vacant the room still was. Sure she was an early riser, but so were a lot of other people on the team such as Clint and Steve. Usually, there was always someone there, but today there was no one. Strange.

It was only when she finished dishing up her toast that it dawned on her why it was so quiet. Clint had told her yesterday that he had taken the weekend off to go see his family, Thor was in Azgard taking care of a few issues, Bruce and Sam were sent on an overnight mission who knows where, and Wanda was off to see an old friend for a few days. That explained the eerie silence. 

10 minutes later, the two remaining Avengers strolled into the room together, chatting about Tony's latest inventions. Well, Tony was ranting about his invention and Steve was making his best effort to be interested, even though Natasha knew how little interest or knowledge he had in the subject matter. 

"Morning Red" came a voice that she distinctly recognized as Tony's.

"Morning boys," She replied, sending an exasperated look at Tony, never having taken a liking to the nicknames that he had for all of them. Just as she was about to make a snarky remark to Tony, Natasha was cut off. 

"Agent Romanoff, Director Fury would like to see you in his office." Came the robotic voice of FRIDAY. She rolled her eyes, Fury always had the worst timing.

"I better run, see you, boys, later," She swiftly bid them goodbye, grabbing the last morsels of her breakfast and taking it with her to the elevator. 

"Agent Romanoff, you have a mission." Fury gruffly greeted as she walked into his office, brushing the last of the crumbs from her shirt. 

"Morning to you too." Natasha snarkily remarked as she glanced with mild interest at the file Fury pushed across the desk to her. Briefly scanning it, she concluded that it was a relatively simple mission, nothing the Black Widow couldn't handle. 

Nothing more than a routine bust, take out a bad guy or three, who, according to the limited information in the file, were stealing valuable minerals from docks. Allegedly, they had a storage warehouse on the edge of a forest, roughly a 2-hour flight from the Tower.  

"Should be no problem, I'll go suit up." With that, she stood, grabbed the case file, and walked out of his office just as swiftly as she had come in.