Forgotten Ghost | Natasha Romanoff

Chapter 56: This Is Who You Are

Small warning before reading: there are some gruwesome scenes, lots of death and mention of suicide. Overall really angsty. Once again: if you are struggling with something, my DM's are always open. Also: try and spot the Agents of SHIELD reference ;)

The sandy wasteland greeted them through the windshield and Katya scrunched her nose at the dead ground. 

''Yeah it's no Tahiti,'' Natasha remarked from the pilot seat. She was back in her new suit with the blue stripes, her red hair perfectly framing her face. How she always looked so effortlessly beautiful, Katya didn't know. 

The blonde looked to her left, a faint smile on her lips. ''You can say that.''

Steve had briefed them on the mission earlier. He was always the one to come up with the plan, although Natasha and Katya were quick to lend their expertise to him. After all, they had been in the business way longer than Rogers. 

The plan was for Natasha, Katya and Clint to sneak in the boat from the top deck and circle down, taking out any people they ran into. They were least prepared to fight a robot, Steve had said, to which Katya for once didn't protest. If she could get out of fighting Ultron, she gladly left the boys to handle that this time.

Steve, Thor and Tony would confront Ultron, who had made it to Africa before them. He had also brought the twins, which was an extra pain in the ass. 

Katya wasn't scared of the boy. He was just a speedy annoyance. But his sister did unnerve her, and not many people could say they made Katya Petrova nervous. She had seen the way Stark had walked around mindlessly those days after they first retrieved the scepter from Sokovia. He said the woman had showed him something. Whatever it was, it had shaken him to his core. 

The screams of his nightmares woke the others in the nights he did sleep. Eventually, when he couldn't handle them anymore, he just opted for staying awake all night. 

Katya had asked him about it, but he didn't want to talk and shrugged it off. The last thing she needed was for that witch to show her her worst memories, they were already too bad to handle one by one, let alone all at once.

Banner would stay in the jet first, to be called in when the team needed him. He really didn't mind and was glad they didn't need the Hulk immediately.

Natasha skillfully landed the jet in the jungle next to the beach, dropping the ramp as it hit the ground. 

Katya was already out of her seat, checking to see if she had all her weapons ready. The guns wouldn't really help with the robots, but they did help against people. Natasha had given her some of her Widow Bites, which would help to short-circuit the electronics of the robots.

Natasha stopped in front of her, drawing Katya's attention away from her guns. Her rough hands carefully grabbed Katya's face and her green eyes looked deep into Katya's blue ones. ''Hey, be careful out there.'' 

''Always,'' Katya answered automatically, pressing a quick kiss against the redhead's lips. Those two sentences had become a standard reminder before a mission. They never left the Quinjet without the ritual and a kiss. Whether it brought them luck or not, Katya didn't really know, but nothing bad had ever happened until now so maybe it did.

The others didn't even notice anymore, it had become quite normal.

''Thor, Stark, with me,'' Steve ordered, leading the group out of the jet. ''Petrova, Barton, you're with Romanoff. Remember, look out for the kids and try taking them in.'' Steve believed they could turn the kids and get them on their side. Katya was more skeptical but she had once been in their position too, brainwashed with false information, so maybe it wasn't so crazy after all.