The Irony of it All

Part 1: Chapter 1

The sky was a gloomy gray, and the air was cold but stiff. It just felt like trouble. Natasha felt a shiver crawl up her spine. In her years of spying, she had learned to always be on edge and to always trust her instincts. The problem was, she still had no clue what had caused the shiver, so her instincts weren't going to be any assistance. 

   She straightened her posture and looked around. She was surrounded by ash and destruction. The battle with Ultron had taken a toll not only on the city they were standing in but also on her team. She felt her own fatigue catching up with her. She wiped away the warm blood she felt dribbling down her temple, and took a shaky breath. 

    Banner had finally calmed down and was detransforming. She inwardly cringed. It looked so painful. Tony landed next to her. "You good, Romanoff?" His voice sounded metallic through the steel suit.

   "I'm fine." She turned to Bruce who was sitting up now. "What about you, Banner? You good?"

   "Never better." He answered unconvincingly. "Do you have a location on Ultron?"

    "Vision took care of him. It's over."

    "How fitting." 

    

    "No kidding."

    "Has anyone heard from Steve?" Natasha asked. She knew the super soldier could take care of himself. He had cheated death enough times, but she felt an inkling of fear and dare she say worry, sitting in the back of her brain, burning a nice little painful hole in her thoughts. 

    They had gotten closer these past few years since they had met during that first battle against Loki and the Chitari. Fury had partnered them up after Clint had taken leave to heal after his mind control ordeal. 

   To be honest, she hadn't been too thrilled about being stripped of her partner of five years and being put on babysitting duty so to speak. But after training him in more modern fighting tactics, she learned to appreciate his skills. He was an extremely quick learner. He wasn't just his strength. His knowledge had been a bit outdated, but he was intelligent, quick witted, sarcastic, optimistic, fast, faster than her, and agile, but not nearly as agile as her, and that brought a smirk to her face.

   She had developed a bond with him. Something she almost never does. He wasn't Clint. He never would be. But Clint wasn't him. She had been trained to act confident but live in fear. To always watch her back and keep up her guard. She had never, for one second dropped that facade. But with Steve, she had unwillingly let down her guard. On those few missions when they had found themselves in a tight spot and they had huddled together for warmth (more for her than for him), and she had dozed off, she found that the nightmares that had plagued her ever since she could remember, would dissipate. She could sleep peacefully, unafraid, when she was next to him. That was something she had never experienced before.

    She still didn't know what to make of these feelings. The Black Widow didn't love. She could never have the life Clint had managed to have with Laura. It was impossible. It didn't matter who the person was. The most she could do was admit to herself that she did care for him. That didn't mean anyone else would ever know. 

    "I don't know where the Cap is. He went off of coms a while ago."  Tony said. She didn't say anything. She glimpsed Clint's spiked hair, passed out on a bench about a hundred feet away. She began working her way through the crowded aircraft, to him. She went to shake him when she stopped in her tracks. She found herself staring down at the bullet riddled body of one of the twins. His white hair starkly sticking out against the gray/blue suit turned purple from the crimson liquid still oozing out of the wounds. 

   "He saved my life." She looked up to see Clint who was now sitting up and staring at the body too. "Mine and a little boy's." 

  She swallowed thickly. "Does she know?" 

  "Knowing her with her telepathic abilities, probably, but I can't be sure. She's off coms."

   "Steve too." He leaned back and looked up at her.

   "He'll be fine, Nat." 

   "I'm not worried", She lied. He quirked an eyebrow at her so faintly she almost didn't notice it. Almost. She looked around for other members of her team. She recognized the familiar long blond hair and red cape framing the gigantic form of Thor. Next to him she saw another blond head on another broad, tall frame. She started walking towards them, relief flooding her system like cool water extinguishing a small fire, but not so quickly that she seemed hurried.

   As she got closer, she noticed that the form clad in red, white, and blue, was slightly slumped. Her pace quickened just a bit. She rounded on them. 

   "Lady Natasha." Thor greeted.

   "Nat." 

   She nodded her own greeting back. They looked sweaty, grimy, and tired. Steve had a few cuts and small bruises on his face that were already turning yellow as they healed, thanks to the serum. They both looked fine at first glance, but as her eyes traveled downward, she noticed red blooming between Steve's fingers which were tightly grasping his side. She frowned."You're wounded." 

  He shrugged. "Nothing that won't heal in a couple of days." 

  Her frown deepened, but she changed the subject. "Where's the Maximoff girl?" 

  His forehead scrunched slightly in confusion. "She's somewhere here. I just saw her passing by a little while ago." 

   She looked away. "The boy's dead." She glanced back at him. He physically deflated.

   "No." His voice thick with emotion. "Pietro?"

   She shook her head, not able to look him in the eyes anymore. "I'm sorry, Steve." 

   "Oh, Wanda." She heard him say.  

   Of course he would take this hard. She had known immediately when she saw them together, that he had taken them under his wing, trying to act as a sort of barrier, protecting them as best he could, not from the horrors of Ultron, but defending them in front of the team. He would know how Wanda was feeling. He had lost his best friend and brother in arms also.

  "Meet me in the Med Bay in 10 minutes. I'll stitch that up for you." She said, making sure to keep her voice steady, and then she turned on her heels and walked away.