Venomous

26. Friendly Fire

a/n: if you thought the drama was over...sorrryyyyyyyyyyy

3 Weeks Later

(Natasha's POV):

Parker hadn't been to her apartment in three weeks. She had to have another place to lay low. To be honest, we all did. It was an unfortunate side effect of the job. I sat back in my seat as I glanced towards her apartment building. I had, of course, broken in shortly after she left. Some clothes were missing. The place seemed cold and empty, like any trace of life of the person that had lived there was gone now. I texted Tony that she hadn't turned up and gotten a sad-face emoji in return. Typical. I was halfway back to the compound realizing that I had stayed out far later than I thought I had when urgent coms came over the radio.

"We've got something here," Rhodes was talking and from the way he sounded, it seemed as though he was mid-flight.

"I'm on it." I was surprised to hear Clint's voice – I thought he was back with his family. I was going to have a talk with my best friend about giving me a heads up before he shows up out of the blue, especially since I hadn't caught up with the kids in so long.

"Where are you?" The microphone crackled for a moment before Rhodey's voice sounded through.

"Central Park – tree cover. We've got something big, and it's moving."

"I've got movement just through the tree line," Clint chimed in.

"What is it?" I was curious, too.

"Can't tell. It's big. White. Looks almost slimy. I caught wind of it at a robbery a few blocks away." Shit.

"Do not engage, I'm on my way." I gripped the steering wheel hard with both hands, slamming my foot down on the gas. "Если ты причинишь ей боль я убью тебя. (If you hurt her, I'll kill you.)" I was one block away from the last known location when I heard a sound that stopped my heart in my chest. Gunshots.

I jerked the steering wheel, skidding the car around the corner, revving the engine and jumping the small wall, using a bench for leverage. Rhodey was going to pay for repairs to my car, damnit. I rolled out of the driver's seat before the car could come to a complete stop, diving into the treeline and placing myself between me and Parker – well, AV – but Parker. I knew damn well that she didn't need me to protect her, but my instincts had kicked into gear, and there wasn't a lot I could do about it.

"Romanoff, watch out!" Clint called, and I glanced up, trying to spot the archer from his no-doubt bird's eye vantage point.

"Boys, what part of 'do not engage' was unclear?" Neither of them answered me for a few moments.

"Natasha, that thing was at a robbery." I scoffed, motioning behind my back for AV to stay out of sight. I don't know if they could see me or not, but I hoped so.

"Was it doing the robbing or was it stopping the robbers?' Clint cleared his throat. Rhodes was lowering himself towards the ground, and the mere fact that I could now hear Clint breathing into comms was indication enough that an arrow was not currently trained in my direction. Everything seemed to be calming the fuck down, until...

A twig snapped off to the side of where AV and I were standing. I could feel them tense behind me, and a long white arm immediately snapped out, coiling itself around my waist and pulling me towards the muscular body it was attached to. I watched in slow motion as Rhodey began raising his arm again, having his first clear shot of the figure behind me. A single shot rang out, and instinctively jumped in Parker's direction, cringing as I felt a stinging sensation in my side. I fell against AV, who caught me easily, pulling me to the side just in time to avoid the tree branch that initially cracked as it now fell to the ground.