Marvel Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3
Natasha Romanoff x Black fem!Reader Â
WARNING: Violence, Torture / Abuse(non-graphic), Kidnapping, Scientific / Medical, Imprisonment / Captivity, Weaponization, Trauma Themes, Mild Adult Language, Mild Spice / Soft Tension, and Slow burn.
a/n: Ik, I have been leaving ya'll hanging as of late, but don't worry, I am back since my break has finally started for me, so I'll be off and on posting on here for the next couple of days. Anyway, I hope ya'll enjoy the show. <3
-----------------------------------------------------------------
PREVIOUSLY ON THE GIRL OF EMBERS
The Hydra footage froze on your face â breath fogging in the cold, eyes glowing like embers, expression unreadable.
Natasha leaned in because she recognized a survivor.
Bruce leaned back because he recognized the way Natasha looked at you.
But neither of them understood what your expression truly meant.
You werenât searching for rescue.
You werenât searching for connection.
You werenât searching for the Avengers.
You were hunting the man who locked the shock collar around your throat â and whatever you planned for him was far worse than death.
Fury laid out the mission. The team split. No one noticed the blinking red light on the screen: the collarâs signal had dropped by 40%.
Hydra was losing control.
Meanwhile, deep in the snowâcovered forest, you moved like a ghost â tattoos glowing, collar dying, fire whispering under your skin. Hydra agents searched not for you, but for him.
You sensed the Avengers long before they arrived â six heartbeats, six intentions. One stood out: Natasha Romanoff. Familiar in a way you didnât like.
But she wasnât who you were after.
You followed your prey⌠until fate shoved you into a clearing at the exact moment Natasha stepped into it.
Hydra agents burst through the trees.
One heartbeat of silence.
Then everything went to hell.
CHAPTER 3 â THE CLEARINGÂ
Snow hissed when it hit your skin.
It always did â a soft, irritated sizzle, like even the weather knew better than to touch you. The clearing glowed faintly orange around your boots, heat bleeding through the frost in slow, dangerous pulses.
Across from you, Natasha Romanoff froze midâstep.
Her hand hovered near her thigh holster, but she didnât draw.
Behind her, Hydra agents crashed through the trees, shouting orders youâd stopped giving a damn about years ago.
Behind you, more agents emerged, weapons raised, collars ready.
And in the middle of it all â you and Natasha, staring at each other like two predators whoâd accidentally walked into the same crime scene.
One heartbeat of silence.
Natasha moved like a blade â sharp, fast, pissed off. She dove behind a fallen log, returning fire with clean, controlled bursts. Snow exploded around her boots.
A bullet sliced toward your shoulder â and melted midâair, turning to steam with a soft pop. Another ricocheted off the heat shimmer around you.
Natashaâs breath caught.
Sheâs not blocking them. Sheâs not dodging. Theyâre just⌠dying in the air.
You werenât here to be understood.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Steve heard the gunfire before the comms crackled.
He exchanged a look with Sam and Clint. Samâs wings flared. Clint already had an arrow nocked.
âMove,â Steve ordered.
They sprinted through the trees, snow kicking up behind them. Steveâs instincts screamed that something was wrong â not Hydra wrong, not ambush wrong.
And when the first wave of heat rolled through the forest, Steve stumbled.
Steve steadied himself. âThat wasnât an explosion.â
No â it felt like a heartbeat.
A pissed-off tension in the air
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bruce froze midâstep as the ground trembled beneath him.
Wanda looked up sharply. âThat wasnât seismic.â
Bruce swallowed. âNo. That was⌠her.â
He didnât like the way Natasha had sounded earlier. He didnât like the way sheâd looked at the footage. He didnât like the way sheâd walked into the trees like she was following a ghost she already knew.
And he really didnât like the way the heat spike made his pulse jump.
âNatashaâs in the clearing,â Wanda said quietly.
Bruce didnât need his powers to know that.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Tony hovered above the treeline, HUD flashing warnings.
âTemperature spike detected. Rising. Rising. Risingââ
âYeah, no kidding,â Tony muttered. âRomanoff, talk to me.â
He dropped altitude, repulsors whining. Snow melted in a perfect circle beneath him as he landed on a branch.
A figure in the clearing, flames curling from their hands, tattoos burning like molten gold.
Tony blinked. âWell⌠thatâs not ominous at all.â
Natasha was standing ten feet away from you, hands open, calm but coiled.
Tony swore under his breath.
âOh shit, thatâs bad. Thatâs really fucking bad.â
-----------------------------------------------------------------
A Hydra agent lunged at you with a shock baton. You caught his wrist, twisted, and let a thin ribbon of flame curl around your fingers. It slithered up his sleeve like a living thing.
You shoved him aside and scanned the treeline.
Where was that mother fuâ
A voice crackled through a Hydra comm.
âSubject is in the clearing. Hold position. The Handler is en route.â
Natasha heard it too. Her head snapped toward the sound, eyes flicking between you and the Hydra agents like she was assembling a puzzle midâbattle.
âHandler?â she muttered.
You sprinted toward the nearest Hydra soldier, flames bursting from your palms in a controlled arc. He flew backward, crashing into a tree trunk with a sickening thud.
Natasha stepped into your path.
âHeyââ she said, voice low, steady, like she was talking to a cornered animal. âYou donât have toââ
You growled â a low, instinctive sound you hadnât made since you were a child learning to shape fire.
âIâm not here for you,â you snapped.
Natashaâs eyes softened. âI know.â
------------------------------------
Sam burst into the clearing first.
Steve skidded to a halt beside him.
Clint nearly ran into both of them.
Because the scene in front of them didnât look like a mission.
Snow melted in a perfect circle around you. Flames curled from your hands. Hydra agents lay scattered like broken toys. Natasha stood inches from you, calm but tense, like she was trying to soothe a wildfire.
Sam whispered, âThatâs her.â
Clint whispered, âNo shit.â
Steve whispered, âNatasha, step back.â
----------------------------
A branch snapped behind you.
Both you and Natasha spun.
And there â stepping into the clearing with a tranquilizer rifle and a smile carved from cruelty â
Natashaâs breath caught.
Tony dropped from the sky.
Wandaâs eyes glowed red.
And the snow beneath your feet melted in a perfect circle as you whispered:
-------------------------
A/N: So⌠did ya'll enjoy this chapter? Because I had waaay too much fun writing it. Share your thoughts, theories, reactions my comments are always openâ I enjoy them.<3