BEAUTIFUL CRIMES ▹ Mama!Nat

ONE. in which we meet the newest villain

[ BEAUTIFUL CRIMES ]
chapter one; in which we meet the newest villain

❝ She's crossed state lines. She's like a damn hurricane. ❞

"NOTHING LIKE WE'VE EVER SEEN-"

"-WORST SPREE SINCE DAHMER-"

"-HUNDREDS DEAD IN JUST A MONTH-"

"THE BLACK DAHLIA."

Natasha Romanoff turns off the TV with a press of a button. Shaking her head, she returns her attention to the laptop that sits upon her lap. She reviews the cases carefully, just like she had been doing for the past month and a half. Pictures of the crimes sit on the screen. She pays special attention to the ones with the hourglass carved into the backs of the victims. This is another her.

It's still wild to Natasha that there's another her out there. It's like 2009 came back from the shadows yet again. And even though she's impressed, she's also nervous. Dreykov has gotten stricter since her escape. She knows he has. She can only imagine the psychological torture he has implemented in these poor young girls. That alone instills an odd protectiveness in her. Of course, she mourns the victims and their families, but this was the work of a distraught victim who will soon face the reality of her bloody - yet scarily well-executed - kills.

She knows because that was her just seven years ago.

Natasha remembers when she first felt freedom. When she first realized that she had options. When she first realized that she had rights.

She wants this killer to feel the same. It's why she's been working tirelessly for so long to figure out who she was. The name 'Black Dahlia' isn't enough. Neither is the mantle of 'Black Widow.' Natasha - and the rest of the Avengers, of course - needs a name, an identity. Even if the girl believes she doesn't have one.

She flinches when the phone rings beside her. She races to answer. "Talk to me." She resumes her serious front.

"Romanoff, we've got another one."

"Seriously? The last case opened only ten hours ago." Natasha groans. "What happened this time?"

"Connecticut senator and his wife, and the child in the room was injured but not killed."

"Injured?" She parrots in confusion. Widows aren't taught to only injure. Widows are taught to kill. "Why would she leave them injured?"

"Maybe the kid got in the way? We don't know. We're trying to get information out of him now. I've sent Rogers to come get you, he'll be at your door in fifteen."