The flight back to the compound felt painfully long, Natasha had attempted to sleep but the horrors of her dreams had put a stop to that. Instead she had sat quietly, trying to process what Yelena had told her. There had to of been a mistake, whatever intelligence Shield had gathered it had to be wrong, there must have been an error. Maybe this was just someone pretending to be Y/N for some sick and twisted reason, but deep down Nat knew that wouldn't make any sense.
"Okay the whole silent thing is starting to freak me out now. Are you going to pull yourself together because we're only five minutes out? The whole team will know something is up if your face stays like that" Yelena said as she wandered round to come and sit beside Natasha.
Nat let out a long sigh and rubbed her face, she knew the team would have a lot of questions and right now she was not ready to answer them. Not when she didn't have all the facts herself, this briefing from Fury and Hill better be a good one, no hidden agendas or information purposely left out.
"Are we ever going to be free of the Red Room?" Nat asked looking at her baby sister, it always seemed like it would be a permanent shadow over their lives.
"I think we're as free as we are ever going to be Natasha. At least no other girls will be subjected to what happened to us and the thousands of others we were able to free" Yelena said with a tinge of sadness in her voice.
Yelena placed a hand on Nat's leg comfortingly, she knew her sister carried many regrets from her time as a widow and also the guilt for getting out whilst so many including herself were left behind. For a long time Yelena had been angry about that, seeing her sister leave them behind so easily but after finding one another again Yelena had grown to understand the choice that Nat had been faced with.
"We're home ladies" Clint called over to them as he guided the Quinjet down onto the landing pad outside of the compound.
The ramp to the Quinjet dropped down and bright sunshine filled the cabin. Nat blinked a few times as her eyes adjusted to the sudden wave of light. Then as her eyes focused she saw Steve and Wanda both standing on the landing pad waiting for them.
Wanda offered her a gentle smile, no doubt the other avenger had already sensed the warring emotions inside of her. Though Natasha always appreciated that her close friend tried to be as respectful as possible and not pry even when she did without meaning to pick up on the feelings or thoughts of other team members.
"Welcome back Romanoff" Wanda said as she hugged her friend tightly.
"It's only been a week Wanda, there's no need to squeeze the life out of me" Nat teased with laugh as she hugged Wanda back, trying to keep her mind clear so that Wanda wouldn't pick up on the lingering memories of Y/N.
"Shut up, it's felt like forever" Wanda smiled even more as she let go of her friend, noting the cuts and bruises on Nat's face. She understood that not all the missions were suit to her abilities but it didn't make it any easier seeing her friends hurt when she could have so easily stopped it with her powers.
Steve nodded at Natasha, his face was set in its usual stern and serious expression. She was sensing that whatever Fury and Hill had sprung on the team last minute had irked him as well.
"So Little Red, you only missed Natasha? I see how it is, clearly you have your favorite" Yelena said faking an offended look as she teased Wanda.
"Natasha doesn't call me names, so yes I prefer her" Wanda shot back a playfulness flickering across her eyes as she looked at Yelena.
Yelena smirked more and as she made her way past Wanda, she purposely let her fingers brush against the back of Wanda's hand, a small gesture that none of the others on the landing pad picked up on. The imminent briefing was occupying their minds.
"Want to tell me what you know?" Nat asked Steve as Clint finally joined them.
"Not much more than the pair of you I'm afraid. Hill called me first and said the order was coming to pull you out and that as soon as you got back the team would be briefed on this new threat. Some person called Komarova, it's not a name I'm familiar with. Does it mean anything to either of you?" Steve explained as the three of them headed back into the compound.
"No" Nat lied "But I guess they're bad news."
When they reached the briefing room, Nat saw that everyone else was already there, including Fury and Hill. Tony was mid conversation with Fury when they walked in. He glanced over and smiled at Natasha welcoming her back.
Natasha moved to take her seat between Yelena and Wanda on the other side of the table. She purposely ignored Bucky who had been staring at her from where he was sat with Sam and Vision. Dealing with him was going to have to wait, she didn't have the mental energy for that right now.
"Looks like someone isn't over your little break up" Yelena whispered as Nat sat down.
"We weren't together" Nat said with a frown.
"Clearly he didn't get that memo. He still looks pretty butt hurt from the rejection" Yelena shrugged slightly as she lent back in her seat and rested her feet up on the table.
Wanda glanced over at Nat, telepathically asking her if she was okay.
Nat gave her a small nod, it probably wouldn't convince Wanda but Nat didn't want to have this discussion in front of the rest of the team.
"Okay looks like everyone is here, Thor is off world at the moment but he'll be briefed as soon as he's back. For now let's get started" Hill explained as she walked round the table putting files down in front of each of them.
Hesitantly Nat reached out and pulled the folder toward her, it was unlike her to feel so nervous about opening a mission folder. Normally she'd be the first one going through the reports, today though the others were all ahead of her.
Using the tip of her finger, Nat flicked the folder open and there it was, clear as day. A photo of Y/N that looked as if it was a CCTV still. Even though the photo was slightly blurred, Nat would recognise that face anywhere.
Continuing to skim through the pieces of paper, Nat's green eyes drifted over the words on the page. They were detailed reports of various high profile hits that happened in the last couple of years, at first they had seemed random but Shield had obviously finally seen a pattern to them and also the signature of the assassin. They would leave a single black dahlia flower on the victim.
The obvious meaning of the chosen symbol wasn't lost on Nat, it was linked to betrayal and dishonesty. The question was who was it really aimed at?
"For awhile now we have been aware of a person acting as an assassin for hire, they appear to be extremely well trained in, they aren't an amateur. Until recently they've been a phantom, disappearing as quickly as they appear, evading any attempts to track them" Fury spoke now, resting his hands on the table as he looked round at the team.
"So if this has been going on for awhile, why are we only finding out now? I mean we could have handled this" Tony frowned, unimpressed that this wasn't something given to them right away to deal with.
"We'd been hoping to deal with it discreetly" Hill admitted glancing at Fury, "But so far they've managed to outsmart even our best agents."
Yelena snorted and pushed the file away from her.
"That's because your best agents are sat right here and no offence but you should really know better than to expect that you could catch a widow, especially this one" Yelena folded her arms and looked at them both unimpressed.
The rest of the team stopped reading and looked up, all of their attention falling on Natasha.
"You know who this is?" Bucky spoke now, using the chance to get Nat to look at him.
"Yes" Nat replied simply pushing her own file away, instead of looking at Bucky she looked to Fury and Hill, "But you both already know that don't you?"
Steve glanced over at her, concern in his eyes, Nat had only just told him she hadn't known who this was.
Maria gave Nat an apologetic look, she hadn't been okay with keeping this from Natasha and the team for so long but Fury had insisted that they try and deal with it before getting the avengers involved.
"We did, but Romanoff this was not us trying to keep secrets from you" Fury said as he stepped back from the table.
"It sure seems like you have gone back to your old ways Fury" Steve shook his head, the whole point of the reformed Shield was for it to be better than this.
"Okay so why the sudden change of heart? Why are you telling us this now?" Tony asked wanting to get to the bottom of this sudden meeting.
Fury nodded to Hill to carry on.
"It appears that Y/N Komarova has been hired to take out an avenger" Hill finally told them.
"Who?" Both Steve and Tony asked at the same time.
"Me" Natasha answered knowing all too well that it was going to be correct.
Hill and Fury both nodded.
The room fell silent for a few moments taking in the news.
It wasn't uncommon for the team to put their lives on the line, it came as part of the job but to hear that someone was hunting a specific member of the team with the intent to harm them, that wasn't as common. None of them knew quite how to react to the news or the fact that Nat seemed to well aware of who this killer was.
Feeling very much over it all, Natasha stood up, she didn't bother saying anything more as she walked out. All she wanted right now was a hot shower and to try and sleep, maybe when she'd wake up this would all turn out to be some twisted nightmare.
"Hey Natasha, wait up" Wanda's voice came from behind her as she hurried to try and catch up with Nat.
"I don't want to talk about it Wanda" Nat sighed as she crossed through the compound heading toward the living quarters.
"Okay and I totally respect that but I just need to know that you aren't going to do anything um reckless" Wanda fell into step beside Nat now.
"Reckless?" Nat asked with an amused expression, "By that I assume you mean me going off and dealing with this alone?"
Wanda nodded, she had known Natasha for awhile now and had witnessed on more than one occasion just how stubborn Nat could be when she set her mind to something. Like sacrificing herself to save the world.
"Can you blame me for wanting some reassurance that my best friend isn't about to go all hard arse russian black widow on me?" Wanda said defensively as they came to a stop outside of Nat's room.
"I have no intention of making this easy for Y/N so don't worry I won't go disappearing on you. Now I love you Wanda but I really need a shower and my bed" Nat reassured Wanda as she opened her bedroom door.
"Okay I'll come by later" Wanda nodded as she turned and headed for her own room.
**
After a long shower, Nat made her way over to her bed collapsing down onto it, not caring that her hair was still damp. Her body and mind felt totally exhausted, the last twenty-four hours had not been at all what she'd expected.
It didn't take long for her to fall asleep, to fall into a dream that she often had.
Vormir.
She was standing at the top of the cliff, looking down and there below on the ground she was laying broken, dead. Though she had done it willingly, Nat was haunted still, her life had ended that day or at least she had believed that at the time.
If the team hadn't won, if they hadn't gotten all the infinity stones then that would still be where she was. Broken and lifeless on some distant planet. There was no denying that she was suffering with PTSD, not that Nat would admit that to anyone.
Suddenly she was falling, hurtling toward the ground, her eyes fixed on Clint's as she fell. She had told it was okay, to let her go. Before she hit the bottom, Nat woke up.
A cold sweat glistened on her face as her heart raced. She was alive.
Her hands trembled as she reached out for the glass of water on the table beside her bed. She took a deep breath trying to calm herself before taking a sip of the cold water. Nat's phone screen lit up as it vibrated against the wood of the table.
Setting the glass down, Nat picked up her phone, expecting it to either be Yelena or Wanda checking in on her. But the message had 'Sender Unknown' displayed on it. Opening it, Nat's blue eyes skimmed over the message.
'Are you ready to play Natalia? It's been to long love'
Natasha tossed the phone across the room, watching as it shattered on collision with the wall.
This was a nightmare, only there was no waking up from this one.