As John and Natasha both arrive in front of the Brooklyn hospital after a long drive from D.C. they both rush into the hospital and meet up with Steve, they watch the doctors currently operating on Fury.
"Is he gonna make it?" Natasha asks worriedly as she stares in horror at the scene before her.
"I don't know," Steve says solemnly as he looks down briefly.
Natasha's resolve begins to waver and John notices immediately.
She may have acted as if Fury was just her boss, but he wasn't, he was the man that gave her a second chance, the man that showed her the path of righteousness, he was a mentor, a father and a friend.
And seeing him like this must be hurting her beyond compare.
The Last Godfather goes to place a hand on her shoulder, but hesitates, and eventually lowers it.
He feels the presence of two more figures and turns to see Maria and Jack both enter as well.
John then glances back at Natasha and notices the way her eyes began burning with rage, "Tell me about the shooter."
He goes to tell her that now shouldn't be the time to think about that, but knows that this is her training kicking in already with her flurry of emotions.
"He's fast and strong," Steve begins, "Had a metal arm."
John and Natasha's breaths hitch for a moment as one of their fists both clench.
Jack notices this and swallows a comment that was ready to fire when he sees John clench his jaw as well.
"Ballistics?" Natasha tries to keep up her facade of bravery, but deep down, when she heard the metal arm comment, she became instantly terrified.
"Three slugs, no rifling. Completely untraceable, S--" Maria steps in to explain.
"Soviet-made."
"Soviet-made."
John and Natasha both say at the same time before glancing to one another momentarily.
"Yeah," Maria's eyes narrows quizzically at this.
Suddenly they watch in shock as Fury's state deteriorates.
"He's in V-tach!" a male nurse shouts out.
"Crash cart coming in," a female nurse now chimes in as well.
"Nurse," the doctor beckons, "Help me with the drape!"
"BP is dropping," the male nurse warns them.
"Defibrillator!" The doctor orders for immediately.
John, Jack, Steve, Natasha and Hill all watch in shock as Fury is flatlining.
"I want you to charge him at one hundred!" the doctor wastes no time.
"Don't do this to me, Nick," Natasha touches the glass currently separating them from the operating room.
"Stand back! Three, two, one," the Doctor begins, "Clear!"
Fury is given a shock with the defibrillator.
"Pulse?" the doctor asks.
"No pulse," the male nurse shakes his head.
"Okay. 200, please," the doctor tries again, "Stand back! Three, two, one. Clear!"
Fury is given another shock.
"Give me epinephrine!" the doctor orders once more, "Pulse?"
"Negative," the male nurse says with the shake of his head.
"Don't do this to me, Nick." Natasha could feel her eyes begin to water, "Don't do this to me."
The five agents watch the doctors as they continue to revive Fury, but the director is still showing as flatlining, Steve turns away as they finally call his time of death.
"What's the time?" the doctor sighs sadly.
"4:03, Doctor," the female nurse says softly as well.
"Time of death," the doctor begins briefly, "4:03 a.m."
Steve looks down at the flash drive Fury had given him as John notices The Black Widow's lips begin to tremble.
The former assassin finally decides to throw caution to the wind and holds her shoulder comfortingly.
Natasha wastes no time and immediately turns and crashes her head into his chest whilst wrapping her arms around him.
John hesitates for a moment, not sure on what to do, before he eventually brings his arms around her as well and listens to her soft sobs.
She didn't want anyone to see or hear her cry in that moment, fore it would make her seem weak in their eyes.
But...even if John knew how truly broken she was in that moment, she didn't care, because with her in his arms she felt safe, sheltered and above all else, protected.
Jack and Steve both look down as a lone tear escapes Maria's ducts before she wipes it away and goes over to the doctor.
...
Natasha, John and Steve are in a room where Fury's dead body has been laid out, Natasha is looking at Fury's body with tears running down her face as John still has an arm around her, rubbing her upper arm comfortingly.
Hill and Jack both join them, "...I need to take him."
"Natasha..." John says and she doesn't respond, instead she tenderly touches Fury's head then turns and walks out with John, Steve follows them.
"Natasha! John!" Steve finally catches up with them as he sees Natasha sitting next to a vending machine that sold beverages.
John buys her a water.
"Hey...I'm sorry," Steve begins with a down-strucken look.
"Why was Fury in your apartment?" Natasha immediately goes into Widow mode and John sends her a look as she begins to bury herself beneath her super-spy instincts.
"I--I don't know," Steve just spreads his arms exasperatedly.
John just sighs, "Nat, give us a minute."
Natasha just nods as she watches John take a hold of Steve's arm as they go over to another vending machine that was currently being restocked.
"You okay?" John asks Steve immediately.
"Yeah...Yeah, I think so," Steve just looks down.
"Steve," John holds his shoulder and Cap jolts up to look at him.
Steve just coughs before suddenly remembering something, "Hey, John..." he reaches into his jacket pocket and rummages through it before taking out a small object and placing it into the former assassin's hand, "Fury...he told me to give this to you...said you'd know what it meant..."
John looks down and suddenly releases a breath with a small, sad smile. It was a bullet, he rolls it between his fingers absentmindedly.
"What's the story behind it?" Steve asks with extreme intrigue when he sees John's expression.
"This bullet..." John begins, "It's the one I shot Fury with..." his face suddenly contorts to one of thinking as he whispers more to himself now, "...when I faked my death..."
"What was that?" Steve asks as he didn't quite hear what John just whispered to himself.
They are interrupted by Rumlow, "Cap--Boss, they want you back at S.H.I.E.L.D."
"I'm afraid I won't be going," John glances back to see Natasha sitting still, looking directly at the vending machine in front of her, "I want to get Nat home safely first."
"I'm afraid that won't do, Boss, they want you now," Rumlow persists and John glances back towards him.
Steve just takes a step back and Rumlow is instantly put on edge.
"Well, you can tell They, that if they have a problem with that, they know where to find me..." John's voice comes out calmly, yet with a ghastly undertone, "Or do they have a problem with that too?"
Just then Rumlow taps on his earpiece as he listens to someone on the next line, he clears his throat and avoids John's eyes.
"N--No sir, they've changed their--" Rumlow begins.
"I'll go," Steve suddenly volunteers, "If you'll still have me, that is."
"That'll do wonders, Cap, trust me," Rumlow releases a breath of nervousness. He taps on his earpiece, "STRIKE, we're escorting Cap back to base, move out!"
Before Steve could leave, John grabs his elbow, "Steve..."
"What is it?" Cap asks as he notices John looking at Team STRIKE before returning his gaze to Steve.
"Whatever happens in the next few hours, we meet back here, okay?" John asks him.
Steve just frowns, "Wha--"
"Just...be here at 1300, alright?" John says seriously, "...And wear a hat."
"Got it," Steve just decides to go along with it when he sees the serious look on John's face.
The men both nod to one another before going their separate ways.
However, before Steve can go far, he notices the vending machine next to him still being refilled, he glances around himself as discreetly as he could before hiding the flashdrive that Fury gave him behind some packs of gum.
What he didn't notice however, was that both John and Natasha saw the whole thing...
Just as John approaches Natasha however, Jack shows up.
"Hey," Jack nods to his brother.
"Hey," John returns the favor.
They both look to Natasha, whom is still portrayed to be in her own little world right now.
"Jack, can we talk?" John asks.
"Uh, sure," Jack gives in just as he sees Natasha look down, "But, uh--"
"Why don't we give Nat some space for now," John finishes and walks a little ways away from Natasha.
"What's going on?" Jack asks his brother whom sighs.
"Evidently," John begins, "A lot ."
Jack chuckles sadly, "Yeah..."
"Hey, could you do me a favor?" John asks Jack, whom nods.
"Of course," Jack gives in immediately.
"I need you to keep you spare burner phone on you at all times," John says to him and Jack nods.
"Al...right..." Jack raises a brow, "Is there something I should know about?"
"Not at the moment, no, but eventually," John replies and Jack chuckles. "Look, just have it on you at all times, okay?" John asks him now and Jack raises his hands in feign surrender.
"Alright--" Jack fixed his leather jacket, "Hey...I've got your back."
"I know," John nods just as Maria shows up.
They both look to her.
"Jack, we've go to go," Maria says and Jack nods before turning back to his brother.
"I'm just gonna go with--"
"It's fine," John just smile, "Go. We'll be okay."
Jack nods with a smile of his own before leaving with Maria.
John sighs and turns around just in time to see Natasha over at the vending machine Steve was at with a pack of gum in her hands and the flashdrive now going into one her of jacket's pockets.
Ghost simply clenches his jaw in annoyance at what Natasha was doing. She was pushing aside her emotions and going straight back into work.
Ignoring her pain...
Exactly like she was trained to do...
Just like him...
But the way he saw things now was different...running away from your pain, it wasn't healthy...
He goes over to Natasha now and as she notices, she quickly goes back into her grieving.
She sniffles as John is now in front of her, "Hey..." she avoids looking at him.
"You ready?" John asks her in a quiet voice.
"Yeah, I'm ready," Natasha's voice is soft.
"...Is something wrong?" John presses her gently, testing to see if she would keep the drive for herself and not share any info with him.
"No, I-I'm fine, I just want to get out of here," Natasha holds onto herself.
She fails to notice John's clenched jaw, "...Are you sure there's nothing you want to tell me?"
"I'm sure, I told you," Natasha tries to reassure him with a smile as she finally looks up to him, "I'm fine, John."
John just looks down at her with a straight face before turning around and begins to walk away, "Alright then, let's get you back to D.C."
"Wait, don't you want to visit the girls?" Natasha follows after him.
"Not with what's about to happen," John whispers to himself as he and Natasha both leave the hospital as they head back to D.C.
...
After a three hour drive thanks to the lack of traffic, John was finally able to pull up on his apartment complex as the morning sun was gleaming in the air.
It was about 8:00 a.m. right now.
As they both got out of the car, Natasha goes to head over to her Corvette...if it wasn't for John suddenly grabbing her arm.
"Let me make you some coffee," John says to her and Natasha raises a brow.
"I mean...how could I say no to coffee?" Natasha attempts to joke, however John just walks off.
Natasha becomes confused at his suddenly dry attitude, but just brushes it off as she theorizes that it may be due to Fury's death hitting him hard as well.
They both move up the elevator before eventually making it to his floor. John allows Natasha to enter first before he also enters his apartment.
John closes his door before turning around and looking at Natasha with folded arms as she had her back turned to him.
"Well, you already know my favorite blend of coffee so--" as Natasha turns back around, she notices John sending her a knowing look, "...What?"
"The drive that Fury gave to Steve," John begins, his face deathly serious, "You pocketed it..."
Natasha swallows a bile of emotions in her throat, "I don't know what you're talking about...I should go--"
She tries to brush pass John to exit, but it doesn't work as when she opened the door in an attempt to leave he simply uses a hand to push the door shut once more.
"You're lying to me, Natalia," John accuses as their bodies were mere centimeters apart.
Natasha flinches as he uses her real name, "Like I said, I don't know what you're--"
Natasha is cut off as John traps her between him and the door, his hands on either side of her head as they rested on the door.
"...You're afraid," John concludes, his voice low.
Natasha bites her bottom lip, but hesitantly nods non the less.
"Why? Because of The Winter Soldier?" John says once more, "Because of The Winter Soldier?" Natasha's head snaps in his direction.
John's jaw clenches as he and Natasha both engage in an intense staring contest. The Black Widow, after what seemed like an eternity, finally nods as she could feel her eyes begin to water again.
"If whatever is on this drive the reason for Fury getting killed..." Natasha explains with a heavy heart, "Then I can't let you have it and find out something that could--"
"That could what?" John interrupts her, "That could cause him to hurt me too?"
Natasha says nothing as she turns her head to avoid looking at him, afraid that he'd laugh at her childish logic.
What she didn't expect however, was what he said next, "...Well too late."
"What?" Natasha found herself looking back towards him.
John takes a step back, robbing her of his body's heat, causing a slight shiver to pass through her body.
However, as John proceeds to reach for the bottom of his shirt and pull it up, her body instantly reheats.
Her eyes suddenly zero in on a scar that was on one of his abdominals. Her fingers found themselves tracing the scar.
"It happened back in 2002," John begins his explanation, "A year before I met you...I was tasked with killing a HYDRA scientist suspected of working with Nuclear Weapons."
Natasha's eyes stare into his as he continues, "The assassination was successful, just as I expected...but what I didn't expect...was to be shot while trying to escape...by him...it was the first time that I'd ever felt like I was the one being hunted."
John's jaw clenches, "I made a promise to myself that day...I told myself that the next time we crossed paths...I'd make him repay me the blood I lost...with his own."
"But...we never did," John scoffs, "So...I became the world's #1 assassin to get his attention. It didn't work...and since I left that world behind I heard that he's taken my place now."
Natasha says nothing as John finished his recounting of the events that he experienced.
"...Yeah, well," Natasha finally finds her voice after a period of time, "You're not the only one that's been shot by the bastard."
John tilts his head as Natasha also uses a hand to raise her top whilst also lowering the waistband of her pants to show John a scar of her own.
"Five years ago, after you were presumed dead, I was escorting a nuclear engineer out of Iran, somebody shot out my tires near Odessa," Natasha begins her own trip down memory lane, "We lost control and went straight over a cliff, I pulled us out, but the Winter Soldier was there. I was covering my engineer, so he shot him..." she looks down to the scar, "...straight through me."
John finds himself tracing the scar on Natasha's waistline now as well and she takes a deep breath as his hot fingers ran across her cold skin, nearly eliciting a sound she didn't need him hearing right now.
"Bye-Bye Bikinis," Natasha then quips with a sad smile and John releases a breath of slight amusement.
"Are you certain about that?" John removes his fingers from her skin and Natasha clears her throat as she pulls down her top and fixes her pants back in place.
"Very," Natasha and John both stare into each other's eyes, "So...what now then?"
"Now," John goes over to an old laptop and turns it on, "We figure this out...together."
Natasha takes the flashdrive out of her jacket's pocket and glares at it before eventually looking to John, "...Together."
She approaches him and notices that he holds down the Enter key for a few seconds before the homescreen of the laptop changes and several tabs and files pop up.
Natasha's eyes widen, "John...this is--"
"Information on agents that work for S.H.I.E.L.D." John finishes for her.
"But, why?" Natasha looks at him with a frown, "You don't think that--"
"I have my theories," John says as he leans over and clicks on a specific file that opens up to an image of HYDRA's logo, "But this is the only one that makes sense right now."
"You think that S.H.I.E.L.D.'s been compromised...by HYDRA?!" Natasha sends him an exasperated look and John reciprocates with a completely serious one, "You can't be serious..."
"Try me," John directs her way and Natasha looks back towards the laptop as she scrolls through the incredibly detailed files.
"How long have you been doing this investigation?" Natasha asks him and John sighs.
"Two years..." John begins, "Ever since we took the girls out to the mall and for ice cream."
"Two years?!" Natasha is flabbergasted.
John nods, "That day...I found out that someone was following us around, taking pictures and sending them to someone else."
He looks back on the memory, "When I confronted him I found out that he was working for HYDRA...while also working for S.H.I.E.L.D."
His cell phone suddenly rings...
He takes it out of his pocket and sees that it is coming from an unknown number, he picks it up.
"Hello?" John is the first to speak.
"Ah, Agent Ghost," Jasper Sitwell's voice rings through and John's eyes narrow in suspicion.
"Sitwell, hello," John immediately goes over to the window of his apartment that looks to the front of his apartment complex, "To what do I owe this call?"
He notices a lack of cars in the area and people scurrying along the sidewalks as usual.
"..." the line is silent for a bit before Sitwell speaks again, "Why don't we cut to the chase, Mr. Ghost?"
"And what's that?" John asks as he quickly gathers up what files he has on his desk and proceeds to shred them before disappearing into his room for a bit.
"We both know that you've already found out about us, Mr. Ghost," Sitwell tries to intimidate, "So I'm giving you a chance to join the right side."
"Right side, huh," John says as enters back into the den area where Natasha is with two grenades and a long piece of nylon thread.
The red head raises a brow as John sets up a little trap on the front door of his apartment before signaling her to keep quiet with a finger to his lips.
"Yes, exactly, the right side," John could practically hear the grin in Sitwell's voice.
He goes back over to his window that overlooked the street, spotting several black vans pull up in front.
The doors to the vans open and dozens upon dozens of armed mercenaries exit them before going into the building.
John goes over to his laptop where Natasha was at and switches his laptop back to it's original homescreen.
"Hm," he hums as he continues his conversation with Sitwell, "I'm afraid I'm going to have to take a rain check on that, sorry."
Sitwell sighs, "I really hoped it wouldn't have had to come to this, Mr. Ghost. Goodbye."
Just as the line is cut, John and Natasha both share a glance as an explosion blows up almost half of Ghost's apartment.
Rubble flies everywhere as half of his apartment is now in shambles.
Dust flies everywhere.
Natasha groans from the floor as she moves her head around blindly, the ringing in her ears very prominent.
She suddenly sees John come into view as he kneels in front of her and holds her face in his hand with a worried face.
"--tasha!Natasha!" her ears finally focus in on him.
"John!" Natasha responds to his pleas for her to answer him.
"We've got to move," John begins to help her get up.
"John, the kids!" Natasha pants as she tries to catch her breath, "I--If you're right then the girls could be in danger! W--What if they send him?! What if he hurts them?! We have to--"
"Hey--Hey," John holds her face in his hands, "Focus on me."
Natasha does as she is instructed and regulates her breathing. John smiles reassuringly, "I've got it covered. The girls will be fine, I promise."
"Okay..." Natasha calms herself.
"Besides...he's nowhere near them right now," John says as he looks through the big hole in his apartment complex.
"How do you know?" Natasha asks John whom still doesn't take his eyes off of the big hole in his torn down space.
"...Because he's out on the street," John simply finishes.
...
From the streets where the vans pulled up with the mercenaries, a lone masked man with medium length brown hair stands with a now empty bazooka as he stares at John.
...
"What?!" Natasha's head darts over to the giant hole as well as John leads her towards a window that leads towards the fire escape.
...
The man out on the street drops the bazooka before walking off to most likely take care of his targets.
...
"C'mon," John gets out of the window first and Natasha follows him as they go over to the window of the apartment next door to his own.
"What're you doing?!" Natasha whispers harshly at him as he unlocks the window with ease.
He looks back to her, "First rule of being an assassin...always be prepared."
Natasha just tilts her head as they both climb into the other apartment room designed almost completely similar to the other one that he was staying in.
He looks down to his wrist watch, "We've got about two minutes until those guys reach this floor."
John leads her to the bedroom of the apartment as he takes off his torn up jacket and shirt.
He goes over to the bed before lifting the mattress and pulling out a silver briefcase which contained several I.D.s and passports along with different currencies of money.
He bypasses the I.D.s and goes straight for the stack of cash in U.S. currency before splitting it in half and giving it to Natasha.
She accepts it gratefully as John pulls out his dual Hardballer AMTs and places them on the bed.
After sorting that out, he then goes over to the closet of the room and opens it to find several pieces of clothing hung up on racks.
He slides them all out of the way and is now faced with a beautiful display of weapons. He smirks before pulling out a pair of Glock 26's and tossing them towards Natasha along with 4 magazines for her to carry.
She raises a brow as he does this and watches closely as he pulls out another smaller briefcase from the closet and places it on the bed.
"You have your phone?" John asks her and she nods before taking it out.
"Dismantling time I presume?" Natasha raises a brow as she is already dismantling it.
"You catch on fast," John smirks as he dismantles his own cell and opens the small briefcase which contained a plethora of neatly placed burner phones.
He tosses her one before pocketing two himself. The former assassin then resets everything to how it was before, being sure not to miss a beat as he goes over to one of the chester drawers in the room and begins to rummage through the clothes in there.
He tosses Natasha one of the dark hoodies in his possession along with a cap as he also pulls on a hoodie and jacket to wear.
The red head huffs in amusement.
"Not exactly the scenario I pictured when I'd be wearing your clothes for the first time, but it'll have to do," Natasha quips as she puts on the big hoodie.
"Oh, so you've got jokes now, huh?" John asks with an amused smile and shake of his head as he sticks his AMT's into the back of his pants.
"Always," Natasha says as John comes over to her and places the cap on her head abruptly.
"Leave those to Stark," John also quips as they heard the shuffling of feet going over to the next door apartment where they had previously been.
The Ghost and Black Widow share a nod with one another as the former assassin heads over to a key rack that had a series of keys for different vehicles.
He grabs two before throwing her one, she raises a brow.
"Head down South, two blocks from here," John instructs her, "there should be a black BMW 320i with tinted windows parked parked on the curb."
Natasha hesitates for a moment, "Wait...you're not coming?"
John releases a breath, "No, not right now, you need a distraction--"
"John...I thought we were in this together," Natasha goes over to him.
John was about to say something, but just as he was about to, the mercenaries that had approached the door of his other apartment room...cautiously opened it...triggering the grenades.
BOOM
The building shakes and the duo of Avengers share a look.
"Stay behind me!" John urges her as he puts on a belt of shotgun ammo on his waist.
He walks over to his weapons closet and pulls out a black customized Benelli Raffaello shotgun.
Natasha also equips her Glock 26's and follows behind John as he opens the front door and releases two armor piercing rounds into two unsuspecting mercenaries whom had survived the blast.
Ghost keeps his gun raised and at the ready as he takes the stairs with Natasha, shooting another two mercenaries that were running up as the two Avengers descended.
He reloads his shotgun as Natasha shoots down two other mercenaries and he eventually takes point once more.
He cocks the shotgun, listening to the satisfying click of his rifle as he leads Natasha to safety.
Eventually making it to the bottom of the stairs, John gestures Natasha to take the back entrance of the building instead of going through the front.
The Widow simply nods and moves along as John covers her, walking backwards towards the door.
Two mercenaries come dashing towards them and John shoots them down before turning around swiftly and following Romanoff.
As they both made it to the door that would lead them to the back alleyway of the apartment complex, John and Natasha both exchange a glance as he exits through first.
However, as he did, a metal arm suddenly punches him into a dumpster.
"John!" Natasha shouts as she fires a series of bullets at the figure whom simply raises his metal hand to block them as he approaches her swiftly and grabs the Widow by her neck.
Natasha chokes as the man holds her in the air, however before he could snap her neck, John saves her by sending a running knee into the assailant's side, prompting him to release her.
She coughs as she tries to regain her breath, Ghost helps her to her feet, "Nat, Go!"
Natasha hesitates for a moment as the man that attacked her regains his stance to attack them.
She and John both exchange a final nod as he turns back towards his new enemy, however, Natasha grabs his elbow, "John...you better not keep me waiting long."
"I won't," John smiles at her, "Now get out of here!"
Natasha sprints off and John looks back to the enemy that suddenly has a gun pointed to him.
"Privet ... Krestnyy otets ..." the man with the metal arm's voice growls out to John. (Greetings...Godfather..."
...