5.9k

Platonic~

Angst

This is based on a I received (it was my first one too so ty :D). It is more bloody than I am used to writing but I thought that the challenge of not writing complete fluff could be fun, so I hope it's at least half-decent. I tweaked it slightly to fit my writing style, and also added a reader element as that's the theme of this one shot book, though the reader character is gender-neutral in this one.

Kidnapping, blood, torture (I do not go into too much detail).

Set in 2012 before the Avengers Initiative. Natasha receives a call from Fury informing her of a new villain in Scotland on the rise - Vax. When in Scotland things do not go to plan, and Natasha ends up in a less than ideal situation.

--- 2012 ---

The very early morning was peaceful. The full moon shone brightly in the sky, exaggerating the thick waves of fog that rolled through the city as if part of a Tsunami. Shadows from trees danced around the streets with perfect choreography, those without blackout blinds got free tickets to the show.

Birds in those trees had started singing their morning tune, earning small smiles from people sleeping nearby—the peaceful songs wriggling their way into their dreams.

Natasha's early morning was just as peaceful as everyone else's for once. Though that peace was promptly thrown into a titanium safe, crushed by a train, and then thrown into an active volcano.

She cursed her phone for going off at such an unreasonable time in the morning. She was in the midst of having a few rare days off, so she was less than enthused with her work phone ringing on her nightstand.

Looking over to her digital clock quickly, it read 4:10 am. She groaned whilst picking up her phone and answering it as she slammed her head back into her pillow.

"Romanoff", the voice of Fury came through the phone. Natasha pursed her lips and let out a loud puff of air from her nose. She was being called into work.

"Yes, Sir", she replied monotonously.

"I need you to come in, it's urgent".

Again, the redhead sighed, "It's my day off, Nick", she pinched the bridge of her nose to try and relieve the stress headache she was already getting.

"This takes priority, unfortunately, Agent. We have been tracking down an illegal weapons dealer from Scotland. He goes by the name 'Vax'. He showed his face in public for the first time in months today".

"I'm aware of him", Natasha slowly sat up and chewed on her nails. Vax was not good news. The weapons that he created were like the old HYDRA ones from the 30s, only with updated technology making them infinitely worse. The test subjects for these weapons were random civilians plucked from the streets, missing persons cases had been piling up exponentially.

"I need someone of your skill, preferably you, to head up a team, try and take their base down".

"I'm on my way". She slammed her thumb onto the end call button and threw her phone down next to her as she swung her legs over the side of her bed, and planted her feet onto the carpeted floor. Stretching her back, she tried to rid herself of tight muscles and vertebrae, earning a few satisfying cracks whilst doing so.

Natasha was used to having to get up early for various missions, but that was when she was on 24/7 call. She had been given annual leave for a couple of weeks to recalibrate her system. Something that SHIELD did to prevent burnout. Burnt-out agents equalled dead agents.

Due to being on annual leave she had let her sleep schedule slip and had ended up having more wine than she should have whilst watching Grey's Anatomy until 2 am. So it was safe for her to say that she was exhausted.

Begrudgingly, she hoisted herself up off of her bed and padded over to her en suite bathroom, wincing when the light hit her eyes. She practically choked on her spit as she took in her appearance in the mirror. Her pupils were barely visible as she tried to get used to the new harsh light shining down on her, her auburn locks were all over the place, looking like a bird had laid a nest there, the dark circles under her eyes resembled that of a raccoon, and there was dried drool resting on her chin.

'Classy', she thought to herself as she rushed to clean her face and flatten her hair.

Frantically, she brushed her teeth, knowing that time was running out to get to the Triskelion. She scrubbed so hard in slight panic that her gums had begun bleeding slightly, though she didn't have time to focus on that.

She stumbled when putting one of her legs into her catsuit, having to grab hold of her dresser to keep herself from getting carpet burn on her face. The exhaustion was already taking over. Realistically she knew that she should call Fury and say that she is physically not up to going on a mission, but her pride got the better of her as she continued getting herself ready, before exiting her apartment.

The cold 4 am air harshly hit her face and ran through her hair, sending chills through the redhead's body. Her teeth chattered as she jogged over to her car parked down the road. Parking in her neighbourhood was a nightmare.

The only sounds that could be heard that early were the wind, the birds, and Natasha's feet slamming against the concrete as she rushed towards her vehicle. Though when she neared the Corvette, she began feeling as though she was being watched.

Shadows contorted into different shapes as she looked around, the dark playing tricks on her eyes. She put the feeling down to paranoia and tiredness, but the feeling still wouldn't shake, causing the hairs on the back of her neck to stand up. After scanning the area again and concluding that there was no one there, she promptly jammed her keys into the car door and unlocked it.

Clambering into the freezing car, she immediately turned the ignition to start the engine so that she could put the heating on. Whilst waiting a few minutes for the engine to warm up so that the car would run smoothly, she rubbed her hands together to try and generate some warmth. The heater hadn't kicked in yet and she could tell. Goosebumps were plastered on her arms and legs.

She muttered a string of profanities about how cold it was and had just placed her foot down on the clutch, readying the car to go from neutral to first gear, but her movements stopped when she saw something moving in her peripheral.

Once again after scanning the area, she came up with nothing. Though she could have sworn she saw someone darting around the corner. Not wanting to be there anymore she swiftly changed gears, found the biting point, and lurched the car forward. "Just had too much wine before bed", she muttered as she flexed and her fingers over the steering wheel repetitively, her knuckles turning white.

Her clouded brain went on auto-pilot for the rest of the short journey. When she arrived at the Triskelion and headed inside she found that she couldn't recall anything from the drive. She didn't even know if she had run any red lights, though she would just get SHIELD to nullify those so she wasn't too worried about the complications surrounding breaking the law.

Moving through HQ was an easy feat early in the morning. Only 25% of the organisation's Agents did regular night shifts, so along with the few that had been called in to go to Scotland, it was practically empty which meant she didn't have to barge past people dawdling to be able to get to the hangar where a jet and team was waiting for her.

Natasha being Natasha, she put on her best intimidating face when she neared the other Agents waiting for her by the selected jet. She had a reputation to uphold regardless of how much she wanted to let her knees buckle and take a nap on the floor.

Her reputation within SHIELD was that she is a hard-ass that takes no shit from anyone and always, always, gets the job done. So, when she came to be standing in front of her team, they all immediately looked up to their superior and shrunk below her gaze as she looked each one of them up and down searching for any flaws.

Most of the time she found no flaws and just did her search to let them know who was in charge. Regardless, the fear of God ran through every Agent when she did this. She was not afraid to reprimand someone for their incompetency, and word spreads fast. A lot of lower-level Agents were well aware that you might as well dig your own grave if you got on her bad side.

Natasha found it kind of amusing. Those that she could call her friends knew that this was all an act, and she was herself around them, acting as any other person would. Sure, she was still more closed off than the average, but she would go for drinks with them, contribute to inside jokes, buy her friend's crappy gifts that reminded her of them, that sort of thing. She was a person with a heart of gold, but not everyone needed to know that.

With a curt nod of her head, the Agents scrambled to get onto the jet and get it smoothly up into the air so that Natasha could read through the files and gather them to go over the plan.

Natasha always subtly looked over at those who piloted when they first started the jet up, and this time was no different. It was just to make sure that everything has been done perfectly so that they didn't plummet to their deaths mid-flight which she thought was a valid concern. She watched which part of the control panel their hands went to and counted every flick of a switch, every push of a button, and every beep that came from the front. Everything seemed to be in order, the noises came at the right time for their hand positions on the panel, so she got to work on looking through the file.

Her brain still felt awfully clouded from the excessive alcohol consumption and lack of sleep, so whilst she had her eyes locked onto the pages in front of her, she found herself pinching her thigh harshly to stop herself from relaxing. Relaxing could mean that her head stupidly droops with tiredness and there was no way that she would allow that to happen. To anyone who looked over it would just look like a habit, everyone taps their fingers every now and again.

The file showed the last location of Vax and his goons a few miles out from Achachork. Pairing this information with some previously known locations they had managed to get a grasp on whereabouts his main base was at the bottom of a small mountain range. The plan was to make as many arrests as possible, with Vax being at the top of the arrest list. His henchmen were too loyal to leave behind, they'd continue with the group's operations even if Vax was behind bars. So they all had to go.

Natasha had decided that the element of surprise was the main way to go about it, so the jet would need to be parked out of sight, and they would have to sneak their way in on foot and try and silently take out as many people as possible.

Every Agent on board that jet including Natasha had successfully completed multiple stealth missions, so the skill involved in this she wasn't worried about. However, Vax had incredibly damaging weapons, so they weren't sure what to expect upon their arrival. For all they knew, Vax could have a weapon that could just disintegrate a person with one shot. There was no way to tell as he kept his weapons testing results locked down more than the President's bunker.

When she shouted to get everyone's attention, they all promptly stood in a line in front of her as she explained her plan along with exit strategies and contingency plans for if things went wrong. The Agents were impressed, she had covered every base that she could with the limited knowledge that they had on their target.

It took a while to explain the ins and outs of it due to the sheer attention to detail that Natasha had. She knew that the Agents wouldn't remember all of what she was saying, it would be impossible to do so, but she wanted to cover it all anyway. As long as they remembered the key parts and strategies then all was well.

She answered every question that was given to her with a well-thought-out and immaculate response. Natasha was impressed with some of the questions that made sure there were no loopholes in her plan. This was a good team, she would be sure to recommend them for promotions when they got back to HQ, and after she had a nice deep sleep.

When everyone had gone back to their corners of the jet, Natasha stayed studying that file, going over everything over and over again in her head. She could not fail this, there was too much at stake.

---

The jet landed at the edge of a forest clearing in the middle of the evening. For the plan to work it had to be pitch black, so those on the job had to wait for hours until the appropriate opportunity presented itself to them.

Natasha sat incredibly stoic as she listened in on the conversations of some of the Agents. She didn't contribute. In her head she was still going over the plan, trying to map out every possibility and come up with a way for them to come out on top. She was even more exhausted now, all of her brain power had been spent as there wasn't much to begin with. Her batteries had not been sufficiently recharged before accepting the mission.

Thus, she was exhausting herself further by trying to make sure that her plan didn't have holes in from any potential stupid mistakes. She wouldn't be able to live with herself if she was the cause of this going wrong and people getting hurt. Her job position at SHIELD was accepted by her so that she could clear her ledger. Not to add to it. So, for hours upon hours, she sat there with a glazed expression as she stared at the wall.

Anyone else would think she had zoned out, but she was in fact very much aware of her surroundings. She heard every conversation that was occurring, whilst simultaneously having a detailed map in her head of different advancement plans.

When it was time to leave, another Agent was prepared to snap Natasha out of her trance. But she made them jump out of their skin when her head swiftly turned to face their movements that she had detected out of the corner of her eye. She couldn't help but smirk slightly at the wide-eyed expression of the Agent before they tried to compose themselves.

"Let's go", she ordered whilst standing and making sure that she had all of her weapons that she needed attached to her. When she was sure that every holster had a gun in, her utility belt was full of daggers, and her wrist pads had a collection of widow bites, she nodded and slammed her hand onto the big yellow button on the back of the jet.

She inhaled deeply at hearing the hissing of air and steam coming from the jet when the hatch opened. It was time to get to work.

Natasha signalled the other Agents to move forward with her with their backs hunched over slightly to make themselves as small as possible. They stuck to the edges of shadows, hoping that their uniforms would blend in with the darkness.

The element of surprise plan meant that their walk over to the destination would take longer than any of them really wanted. Forty minutes in a hunched position was enough to do anyone's back in. But no one complained when they saw Natasha moving forward with ease. Every time her feet took another step forward, she always avoided the twigs, leaves, and pebbles that were randomly scattered. She didn't even have to look down to avoid them, Natasha just had the ability to be hyper-aware of her surroundings. It was a gift.

---

The cold mountain air caused some shivers in the group, especially with their slow, calculated movements. If they had been running then heat wouldn't be a problem. But Natasha had insisted that they approach carefully from the minute that they step foot outside of the jet, to be on the safe side. There could be armed henchmen anywhere.

She breathed out a sigh of relief when she and her team reached the high concrete wall of the base. It was really here. They had been searching for years. A few Agents checked out the perimeter to make sure that there were no guards lingering, and when they came back Natasha was informed that there was no one there. Her head tilted slightly, it was weird that no one was spotted. It was either the Agents had done a terrible job at looking, or something wasn't right on the other side. Perhaps they had been spotted and there was going to be an ambush?

They had no choice but to continue on though and take the fight if it appeared in front of them. The arrests had to be made whilst they were still there, and with a large group of Agents at her side, things would hopefully go smoothly.

Using the small grappling hooks that they all had concealed within their sleeves, they shot up at the wall. Natasha looked around to make sure that everybody was attached to the wall before nodding, signalling for them to all start climbing up the wall. It was an easy task for Agents who were physically fit.

They all clung to the top of it to once again wait for Natasha's signal. She peered over the edge of the wall to try and see if there was anything to look out for, but again there was nothing. And again she thought that this was incredibly odd. But they had to push on.

When Natasha began hoisting herself over to jump down, the other Agents followed her. Considering the high fall, they all managed to land without making a sound. Another reason that Natasha would recommend them for promotions.

Half of them stalked forward, and the other half got in position in various hiding places. The group who were moving forward had cat-like movements as they moved across a cobbled path to reach the large wooden door that was presumably the entrance. Natasha's hand hovered over the clunky metal door handle. None of this made sense. It shouldn't have been this easy. The Agents behind her could sense her uneasiness, which in turn made them feel panicked.

If Natasha Romanoff was visibly worried then that meant that something was seriously wrong.

As predicted, when Natasha shook off her nerves and placed her hand on the door handle, all hell broke loose. She couldn't even make a move to open the door before a mass amount of gunshots were being sent their way. "Take cover!", She yelled and started trying to hurry the team over to what looked like a shelter whilst they took their guns out and blindly shot in the general direction of the bullets.

When the explosions started going off, Natasha could only watch in horror as she watched some of the Agents get flung around by the impacts. She desperately looked around to find their invisible enemy. But she can't find things that are invisible.

The loud bangs from the various weapons were deafening as they continued raining down on the group that had significantly reduced numbers. Natasha made a move towards the wall, they needed to go back to the jet and get backup, and she couldn't let more Agents die on her watch.

She managed to successfully manoeuvre herself and the others back towards the wall, but as she went to use her final grapple, she was shot.