Natasha's head was pounding and she ached all over, she had only just regained consciousness but had kept her eyes closed, trying to suss out the situation before alerting anyone else around that she was awake. She could hear the faint noise of a TV in a nearby room, the rustling of a food packet and someone talking on the phone over the TV. She listened into the conversation.
"Yeah, she's fine... She came pretty close but I've dressed the wounds and she should make a good recovery with plenty of rest... I've not healed her, no... Well she's skilled, if she went for me in this state it would be easier to stop her without injuring her too badly... No I don't expect her to attack me, but we've not exactly met... You're the ones that have had me on surveillance duty for the past week... She was retrieving a flash drive... No it's safely hidden... No I'm not getting you a fridge magnet... I'll talk later."
The voice stopped and the TV was turned off, Natasha heard approaching footsteps as she felt around her for any weapons, anything she could use to defend herself.
"I know you're awake." The voice was close to her face, startling her briefly.
"For the love of God." she blurted out, wincing as her body jumped in surprise, she opened her eyes to see Castiel stood over her. She saw she was on a couch and tried to sit up before realising that her arm was virtually useless.
"You know him?" Castiel asked, surprised by her outburst and choice of words.
"Know who?" She awkwardly pushed herself up against the arm of the couch with her one good arm.
Castiel realised his misinterpretation and shook his head, "Sorry my mistake. How are you feeling?"
"Fantastic." She closed her eyes and let her head fall back on the arm of the couch, exhaling deeply.
"Really? You seem to be in quite a lot of pain."
"Sarcasm, Angel boy. Google it." He gave her a confused expression. "Wow. You really aren't from around here are you?" She opened one eye to look at him. "Got any painkillers around here?"
"Are you going to try and kill me?" Castiel asked, deadly serious. He didn't want to help her if she was going to try and fight him.
"Straight to the point huh? I guess that's a good thing. But uh... no, actually. I guessed we were on the same side." She swung her legs off the couch and to the floor in an effort to stand. "Shit." She groaned. "Hurts like a bitch." She looked at the bandage that was wrapped round her thigh, blood starting to leak through.
Castiel raised an eyebrow, he didn't remember anything like a female dog attacking this strange woman. It must have been that 'sarcasm' she referenced, Dean used it all the time. Sarcasm... Such a weird thing.
"If we're on the same side I can heal y-"
"No." Natasha interrupted, standing awkwardly and limping toward the kitchen of the flat they were in. She didn't recognise it but sensed they were still in Turkey. "It's more believable if I turn up a mess... They'll be easier to persuade." She opened a cupboard and found a pill bottle, emptying four or five pills into her hand and then into her mouth and putting the bottle in her jacket pocket.
"You won't make it back to America in that state." Castiel replied.
"How do you know? Plus, who says I'm going back there?" She approached him, her face inches away from his.
"I just know." He said quietly, slightly intimidated by her presence.
"Go on then doctor." She pulled a wooden chair from the table in the centre of the room, directly facing him. "What's my diagnosis?"
Castiel took a seat opposite her, preparing a lengthy list. "You have a laceration to your head, mild concussion, three broken ribs, a badly fractured humerus in your right arm, a major laceration to your left thigh, blood loss, exhaustion, dehydration and severe fatigue."
"Yeah well those last few come with the job." She smirked at how naive he was in the situation.
"With that list, and your ridiculous plan of riding a motorbike back to the US, your ribs would break completely, puncturing and collapsing your lung, starving your body of oxygen and killing you slowly and painfully. Not to mention the possibility of you crashing and the fact you just overdosed on painkillers. I'd estimate that you'd last a day."
"You certainly know how to make a girl feel special."
"I didn't mean that as a compliment..." Castiel replied awkwardly, still not grasping her ever present sarcasm.
Natasha smiled, shaking her head. She had let Castiel run the conversation until now, but wanted to get to the point. "You have the flash Drive?" She brought back a serious tone to the situation.
"And if I do?"
"What do you want for it?" Natasha was making a mental note of the possessions she had with her, which was pretty short considering she had no idea where she was. She studied his appearance, the drab trench coat slightly dirty from the earlier confrontation.
"I'll buy you a new coat." She leant back in the chair with a sense of accomplishment, studying his response.
"Deal." Castiel smiled. "But... You have to let me heal your most life threatening injuries."
"Sounds peachy."
Castiel rose from the chair, moving closer to Natasha, he knelt beside her and put one hand on her arm and looked toward the area of her rib cage that was damaged with an awkward expression.
"Go for it Angel boy."
He gave a look of annoyance before proceeding, resting his hand against her side. After a few seconds he retracted both hands and then rested one on her injured leg. "I'm Castiel by the way."
"Natasha. Nice to finally meet you."
Castiel removed his hand and stood up. "Finally?"
"Yeah." She laughed. "I saw you with the boys in New York, knew you'd been keeping them in check for a few years before that too. Thanks for that."
"Ah..." Castiel recalled the incident from 6 months ago. "The Chitauri were quite strange creatures weren't they?"
"You found them strange?" She smiled. "Aren't you, like, an Angel?"
"Yes... How-"
"I've had experience in the field. I'm guessing Sam and Dean told you who I am?"
"I've had a brief explanation... There was apparently a lot to cover."
"Yeah... there's somethings they know that I'd like to keep quiet if that's alright with you?"
"No problem." Castiel assured as he retrieved the flash drive from his pocket and placed it on the table in front of Natasha. She immediately took it.
Natasha had an idea, one that would get her back to the US ahead of schedule. "Listen. The guys who had this USB - they've been selling weapons made using Chitauri technology. I-"
"Need to take one back to SHIELD with you. I know. I've had eyes on you too." Castiel finished her sentence.
"I don't blame you." She smirked. "I know where they're being stored... I'm just having a trouble getting in there..."
"I can help. You probably knew that already though, right?"
"Go figure. You mind if we stop by the flat on the way?" She asked, figuring there had to be a limit to the number of favours she could ask him.
"Yeah that's no problem."
Natasha stood up on her newly healed leg, looking for any of the belongings she had on her when the jeep crashed. "You got my guns? Motorbike keys?"
"No to 1, yes to 2. More guys arrived after you blacked out, I fought off a few but we had to get out of there quick when the ones with big guns showed up." He threw the keys toward her and she caught them and put them in her jacket, removing the now unneeded painkillers.
"Let's get going then." He said, holding out his arm as if to offer a dance. She played the role and graciously accepted, putting her arm on his.
"Never tell anyone I did that." She instructed as they disappeared from the room.
They landed heavily in the main room of Natasha's dingy Turkish flat. "Of course not." He smiled, shaking off the transition easily. She watched stunned as he seemed unfazed by the trip, her own mind and stomach spinning.
"Nice place." He complimented, walking slowly around.
Natasha had already made her way to the safe in the corner of the room. "Want one?" She asked, pointing to a selection of ten handguns and three automatic weapons.
"Uh... I'll take a small one, thanks." He said awkwardly, feeling it to be rude to refuse.
"Coming right up sir..." She picked up two loaded handguns, putting them into her own holsters before picking up a third and loading it. "One pistol with twelve bullets for the man in beige." She held the gun at the barrel, leaving Castiel to grab the handle.
"Twelve?" He asked, knowing that was far more than the average handgun.
"Modified." She answered, pulling the strap of a machine gun over her, the gun secured at her back. She slid another handgun into her ankle holster and four grenades into her belt and looked around the room, making sure she had everything she needed.
"Enough weapons?" Castiel asked.
She raised her finger, realising one last item she needed. She went over to the couch and pulled a small knife from behind the cushions. She noticed Castiel give a concerned look. "Better to be safe than sorry." She strapped the knife to the sheath on her upper arm. "Ready?"
"Let's get going." He said. This time there was no act, Natasha simply held on to Castiel's shoulder and within a second they had teleported into a shipping container.
"Do you ever get used to that?" She asked, exhaling loudly as she fought vomiting.
"Give it a few hundred years." He said seriously, walking over to a wooden crate. He held on to the lid and removed it, along with a dozen nails that were keeping it in place.
"Nice." She said, joining him to look into the box. A smaller container was inside, puzzling Natasha. "What the hell is this?" She studied the box carefully, before making any sort of move to touch it.
Castiel was about to reply when, without warning, a burning blue light burst through the seams of the box and immediately exploded. Castiel moved to block Natasha from the blast.
The remains of the shipping container lay across what looked to be a large port, otherwise unusually empty. Castiel was still alive, being immortal to all non-supernatural wounds.
He had shielded Natasha from the heat of the explosion, and quickly got to his feet and scanned the area for any enemies. "Come on Natasha, we need to go!" He shouted to her. He saw a nearby gun with a glowing blue light inside. Sure that was the weapon she was supposed to have retrieved, not the one in the booby trapped crate they had opened, he put it into his pocket and turned to see why Natasha was taking so long.
She was led in the same position facing the ground, still. He ran over and turned her so she was facing him, still not moving.
"Natasha? Natasha come on! We've gotta go!" He shook her shoulders frantically as he pleaded. She looked quite peaceful accept for the dirt and ash that coated her face and body, her relaxed appearance made no difference though. Castiel studied her carefully... Blunt force trauma. Head injury.
She was dead.