never leaving your side || romanogers

Chapter 33

They arrived. Natasha stormed in, ready to go all dark, no stars. Her weapons were all on her. She was ready to fight. 

Tony blasted the door open with his hand. "Let's do this."

Natasha, Yelena, and Tony ran in, attacking the first few guards they saw. 

"Ha!" Natasha kicked one in the stomach, making him double over and groan in pain. She gave him a few more kicks just to make sure he couldn't get up, then quickly twisted around to block another guard trying to punch her.

Soon, all 5 guards were passed out on the floor, maybe even dead. They moved quietly around the building, following Yelena. She knew where the Avengers were most likely being kept. As they walked past a corridor, Yelena suddenly stopped. "Talia!" She hissed. "Do you hear that?"

Classical music floated out of a closed door down the hall, filling the air with the sweet, melodic tunes. "Someone's there, probably girls," Natasha murmured. Without waiting for anyone's reply, she ran lightly toward the sound. 

Through a crack in the door, Natasha watched girls dance. They wore pale blue leotards, camisole strap, high cut. Each girl had a pair of pointe shoes, mostly satin ribbon, but also some elastic ribbon. A pale blue skirt in a matching color was wrapped around each waist.

One thing that bothered Natasha a lot while she danced was the body stereotype. Especially during her teenage years, she was criticized a lot for having wider hips and a bigger bust than most dancers. All the girls in this class had long, skinny limbs, flat chests and butts, and hyper-extended legs. Fucking stereotype, Natasha thought. Then the teacher came into view. Miss V. A young-looking woman, even though she was already probably 40. The same look as all her dancers, skinny and flat. She was a very harsh woman and she tortured Natasha whenever she messed up, or for just having the body she did. 

Natasha flew into the studio, a pistol in each hand. 

Pow. Bang. Bam.

Miss V fell to the ground in a crumpled heap, blood seeping out from around her like a pool. The girls were frozen, not frightened by the blood or the dead body, but by Natasha. One edged away from the blood, making sure that nothing stained her shoes. 

Natasha took one glance at the horrified looks on the girls' faces, then threw one of her guns on the ground. "Take it, defend yourself if you need to." Then she left.

Her breath caught up in her throat as she followed Yelena into a small interrogation room. After busting through the lock, Tony pushed down the door and they stormed in, hoping to catch a few guards that could be pressured into helping find their friends. But instead...

They found a very passed out Steeb, wrists handcuffed, body bloodier than when Natasha last saw him. She had to clap her hand over her mouth to stifle a scream.

"Steve, my god, Steve, please wake up please wake up." Natasha shook him as gently as she could, making sure not to hurt him, but wanting him to wake up. She found a pin off her suit and picked at the handcuffs. Then, she pressed two fingers to his neck, feeling for a pulse. It was there. 

Natasha let out a deep sigh of relief. Her boy was alive. 

"Hey, Talia, I think that the rest of the team is in another room," Yelena hesitated, not sure of how much her friend could bear to hear right now, "do you want to go find them?"

She shook her head. For once, the Black Widow was turning down a mission. She never would have, before Steve. But now that she had finally found him, she was never leaving his side. 

"Alright. We'll leave you here, but don't go, ok? We're going to find them and bring them back here." Tony spoke gently and softly, like he was talking to a little girl. But for once, Natasha didn't mind being treated like a child. 

As soon as Natasha heard their footsteps growing fainter and fainter, she held Steve's limp head in her hands, and started to sob. Big, ugly, tears. Tears for what she had done to him, leaving him behind with no good explanation, then expecting him not to follow her, and then him getting beaten because of her. It was all on her hands, every drop of blood that had come out of Steve's body. 

A few minutes passed, then a few more, and gradually her tears dried up. She pulled Steve's heavy body out of the chair, and set him on the ground next to her. "Wake up, my love." She whispered into his ear. "Wake up, Steve. Wake up, Rogers. Wake up, golden boy. Wake up, Capsicle, because I love you." She held her breath, hoping that Steve had heard her, and was going to wake up. But he didn't stir. Finally, she traced her finger over every bruise on his face, and leaned down to press her lips against his. And then she held him in her arms, rocking slowly, back and forth.

---

Yelena and Tony walked as quietly as they could down the corridor. Finally, the awkward silence was broken. 

"You know, you're not half as bad as I thought you'd be." Yelena commented. "I've heard of you, of course, and I thought you'd be some posh rich boy. But you're pretty decent."

Tony didn't know how to reply. "Thank... you?"

Yelena nodded in response. "Here we are. It's where we usually keep prisoners." She jammed her elbow into the door, but Tony stopped her. 

"Here." He held out his hand and blasted the door open. "And now," he swooped his arm in a bow. "We enter."

Yelena passed by him without a word, not even looking at his gesture. "I could have done that myself," she muttered, probably thinking he couldn't hear him. He heard, but he didn't say anything.

As soon they entered the room, as Tony entered the room, the three Avengers looked up in surprise.