malignant (Natasha X Reader)

part 1|first encounters|

A/N: I have no idea how often I will be posting / how much. This was just an idea, so don't expect a great story. It's also just to empty my brain a bit, so a lot of it probably won't be descriptive or will be completely rambling.

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SONG OF THE CHAPTER: Hit the Road Jack - Ray Charles

In an alley, punching a bartender to death was stygian. Or at least that was her nickname. She wore a black catsuit with lines of white throughout. She wore a mask over the top half of her face, and her red and brown hair was tied at the bottom of her head.

Born on the streets and taken in by Strucker at age 3. Until the age of 18, when she managed to escape, she was tortured and beaten and experimented on. She was their "failed" super soldier. The serum had worked, but she showed no physical changes.

When she escaped, all she knew how to do was kill; for the past 4 years, that is all she had done. Wanted by many. Feared by many. Stygian worked for herself, not wanting to return to being a slave but would often take opportunities to take down powerful gang members and mob bosses.

The "bartender" she was beating was one of the mob bosses. He owned a casino along the road and was known for skimming from others. He was powerful, sure, but Stygian knew her way around the mafia by now.

Once the mob boss had lost his pulse, she hauled him over her shoulder and took him to a forest. There, she would dig a shallow grave and dump him inside.

Every victim she took, their graves were marked with a small dagger with "stygian" engraved on it. The dagger would be stabbed through the soil around the victim's head. If it even still had one.

She was careful with what she did. She had advanced technology all in the small watch on her wrist: an ai who had advanced abilities. She would only go on mass killing sprees if each person deserved it or had attempted to hurt her.

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She reached the cabin she had stayed in for the past month. She would have to move soon. Every month, she changed her home to keep her trail clean.

Turning around, she locked the door and slid down the back of the door. Taking off her mask and chucked it into the sink to wash.

Once she had reached her room, she took a shower, washing away the blood. Patching up her gashes and wounds was something she had learned to do at a young age.

She had a job to do the next day. There was a scheduled meeting in an abandoned warehouse nearby. She was going to murder the man. He'd caused trouble, to say the least.

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In the vents, she peered above, watching the man finish his meeting. Unfortunately, there were no important plans or dates set, so she didn't have much to go away with.

The room had emptied, and she jumped down, pulling her sword from her back. The top half of her face was covered by a black mask. She swung her sword a few times until the man pulled out a gun.

"Well done, you brought a gun to a sword fight," she said with a smirk, putting her sword back into the holder on her back. The man thought she was giving in and tried to make a stupid comment.

"Giving up that easily? Wow, the stories I've heard are false. As suspected," he said laughing

"Don't get your hopes up." she quickly took a knife from her pocket and ran up to him, slitting his throat. He tried to shoot, but she easily dodged it. He fell onto the floor, grabbing his throat and choking.
"Aw, did I hurt your feelings, I apologize," she said, stabbing one of her signature daggers into his throat and then pulling it out.

Wiping the blood on her suit arm, she spoke again. "Why did he send you?" she said. This was not directed towards the man; she knew he was dead. However, it was directed to the short figure that stood in the corner of the room. Stygian knew she had been there the entire time, watching her kill the man. But she didn't care. She'd kill her too if she was here to cause trouble.

"Oh, so you knew who sent me? Done your research." The figure moved from the wall, revealing her red shiny hair and black catsuit.

Stygian dropped her burner phone onto the floor and shot it with a gun from her waist. Raising it to point at the redhead, she repeated herself.

" Why? Did. He. Send. You. "she said slowly.

" Please put the gun down, I'd like to talk. "

"We are talking."

"Fine. We would like to recruit you but also help you."

"bullshit" Stygian put the gun onto her belt and turned around. She picked up the bloody corpse and flung it over her shoulder, facing away from Natasha. She took this opportunity to tap on her watch and find out how many other people were there. The ai had a program to find people by tracing their body heat.

She hadn't been held at gunpoint yet, but to her surprise, there was no one around.

Stygian turned around to look at the other woman again, pulling out a knife, and walking slightly closer.

"You came alone. Why? What are you here for that makes you think you should come unprepared?" she asked.

"thought I could use my persuading ways"

" Tell me the real reason, now. Or I will do the same thing to you as I did to him, princess," she said now holding the knife close enough to almost touch Natasha's chin.
"I'm sure you don't want that, do you, Natalia?"

The redhead's face clearly showed disgust at the fact that this killer knew her name.
They broke out into a fight: Stygian swinging her knife occasionally cutting the other woman; Natasha trying to use her widow bites and gun against the other; the brunette flipped backwards to avoid Natasha's attack. Mid-air, she pulled her gun out of her waist belt and shot at one of the assassins' ankles, knocking her down.

She put the gun away and kept her knife grasped tightly in her hand. She pinned Natasha onto the floor and held the knife to her throat.

"Is it that much of a secret you can't tell a fellow killer?" she said, starting to add pressure onto the knife against her neck.

"We are not alike," Natasha grunted.

"Oh, but we are. Killed thousands, dripping ledgers," she said with a smirk. "The only difference is one will refuse to accept that," she said, now staring evilly into her eyes.

"You're insane."

"Well done, Sherlock. I never thought," she said, now starting to cut lightly into Natasha's neck. "If you could just use that clear intelligence of yours to save your life and tell me why you were sent, that would be pleasing," a grin spread across her face.

"Fine," the redhead practically cried out in pain. "he wants to stop you from doing this. What you're doing. And I don't blame him. You're not fixing anything by taking your anger out on others."

Stygian took the knife off the assassin's neck and started to speak. "I asked for an answer, not your input, but thank you, now if you'll excuse me," she said, starting to get up. "Oh, and enjoy the headache," she said, turning around, and looking down with a smirk.

"Wha-?" For Natasha could finish, the killer knocked her out, leaving her on the floor unconscious. She bent down and took Natasha's phone out, calling Fury.

"Natasha? How did it go?" a deep voice answered over the phone.

"It went wonderfully. I suggest you come to pick her up and see." Stygian said, horridly laughing with a grin.

"You sick bastard," Fury said

"Thank you! Finally, someone recognizes my talents. "

She hung up and decided to leave the dead man's body with the dagger still in his neck for the shield team to come to his rescue.

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