Forgotten Ghost | Natasha Romanoff

Chapter 47: Tying Up Loose Ends

It had been a couple weeks since SHIELD fell. 

Steve had woken up in the hospital after a couple days with Sam sitting right next to his bed. From what Katya had caught from Natasha's phone calls to Sam, he had a couple gunshot wounds to his body and lots of bruises all over, but would be fine. Just like she had expected. 

After being dismissed, both men had disappeared off radar and dodged the media and the government. To nobody's surprise, Steve hadn't been called for a hearing concerning his actions for SHIELD and the fall of it. 

To nobody's surprise either, both Katya and Natasha had been called in for a hearing. With the whole world having access to their SHIELD files and their history as spies, it was just a matter of time until somebody wanted an explanation.

Both women had been recovering and gaining their strength back after everything. Although Natasha had had gunshot wounds before, they were a bitch to recover from. So it was just a lot of resting and being pampered by Laura, Clint's girlfriend, whether they wanted to or not.

Katya's shoulder had been operated on by a doctor who owed Fury some debts and did everything off record. She had no idea what exactly they had done, but over the course of weeks, she had begun to feel a lot better. 

Between Laura's good food, physiotherapy and lots of medicine, it had started to heal nicely and she was able to use it more and more for light movement. It would take months before everything was healed nicely and she could start training again. Until then, it was accepting other people's help, which she hated, and taking it one step at a time.

Natasha had refused to be heard in front of a committee until Katya felt better and didn't need her as much anymore and they could go together. No way was either of them letting the other face all of that alone, even though they could handle it.

Other's opinions on them never mattered and Katya didn't care about what other people thought of her, even if in this case, 'other people' meant the whole world. Because that is who would be watching the hearing live on television. But that's what you get for being an Avenger and being known everywhere. 

Nobody had heard from Fury since he had dropped them off at Clint's, but they weren't surprised or offended. Disappearing meant having no contact with anyone, especially with two of the world's best known spies with questionable pasts.

Currently, Natasha and Katya were on a government airplane on their way to Washington D.C., where the hearing would take place. Since they were no longer SHIELD agents, they didn't have any Quinjets at their disposal anymore, which meant they were dependent on the transport they were offered by others. 

Katya had eyed the amounts of security inside and around the plane with one unimpressed eyebrow. They were treated like criminals and highly dangerous, although they were no different than that day in 2012 in New York City.

White clouds prevented Katya from seeing the city down below as the plane started their descent into the nation's capital. Across from her, Natasha was reading something on her tablet like she was unbothered by all of it, but Katya couldn't share that feeling.

Believe it or not, she didn't like having lots of eyes on her and was nervous about the committees verdict. Natasha had reassured her they wouldn't throw them in jail because they needed them, but nobody stood above the law, not even the Avengers.

''Did I mention that I think you look beautiful?'' For today's outfit, Natasha had chosen to wear something very similar to what she was wearing when she was disguised as the councilwoman. Everybody saw the footage from that room and what she did to take HYDRA down. This outfit was a reminder of what she had done that day and on which side she really stood.