Cant Have It Both Ways

Natalia smirked at her as if she knew something that Natalya did not. Something hard and painful struck her in the back of the head suddenly. As the floor of the roof seemed to come up to meet her, Darkness took her. On the top of another roof Hawkeye pushed a button on his bow and it collapsed to he could attach it to his hip.

When Natalya finally woke up she was in a square well lit room with an acrylic table and chair in the center. She sat in a similar chair across room from the empty one with her hands shackled to the desk. They were separated by a 10 inch bar which would not allow her to use her hands together to pick a lock. She only needed one actually but they had removed the small pin that she had embedded under her skin at the base of her hand. Her head hurt and she saw Hawkeye looking at her from another room that was separated by an explosive proof glass. Her ankles were shackled similarly though she had no pin down there. She had one more along her collar bone but she had no opportunity to use it right then. Not when she was being watched anyway. Evan was nowhere in sight.

The door suddenly unlocked and then opened as Nick Fury stepped in with Phil Coulson. Natalia joined Hawkeye along with Captain America who stood beyond the glass outside of the room. Captain America drank a cup of coffee and he did not look particularly happy right then. Phil stepped just inside the doorway while Nick moved casually and sat in the chair across from her. He didn’t say anything immediately and he leaned back in the chair as he looked her over.

“You know, we have been looking for these two for over a year,” he said as he looked over at Phil. Phil nodded and gave a silent chuckle as Nick continued. “They were right under our noses this entire time. It seems the SSB taught her more tricks than we thought. Evan was the real mystery. We saw him come and go from the office and lab but could never seem to follow him. It must be that shadow thing he uses,” He said as he gestured with his hands. He gestured to Phil and Phil came over and handed him the small black ring box.

“Now this was a surprise...you two settin up house like you’re two normal people. Natalia never told me what your answer was,” he said as he set the box down between them. Captain America looked over at Natalia and they appeared to have words with one another. By the looks he flashed her, they weren’t very pleasant words.

Natalya’s head throbbed and her vision was blurry as she opened her eyes. She blinked a few times and flinched at the harsh light above her. Instinctively, she tried to move but immediately found she couldn’t. As she looked around she found herself in a small room. She was shackled to an acrylic chair with matching table and additional chair in front of her. The room was otherwise empty. There was one window and she could see Hawkeye looking at her. A moment later Natasha and Captain America joined him. She was irritated to find that she wasn’t just shackled by her hands, but by her ankles as well and there was a metal bar separating her hands. A quick glance at her left wrist told her that they had removed the pin she had kept embedded under the skin there. She didn’t see Evan and that upset her.

A moment later the only door in and out of the room opened and Nick Fury walked in followed by a man she didn’t recognize. Nick didn’t address her immediately and her agitation began to grow. When he finally did speak to her she didn’t answer his question.

“Where is Evan? I was going to come here voluntarily. Why am I shackled?”

Nick fury’s one exposed eyebrow rose in surprise at her question and his face took on a look of disbelief. “You mean, why is a former SSB agent that has murdered several SHIELD agents as well as FBI, CIA and other citizens of the US and NATO? Why is ‘that’ agent shackled? Forgive me for not taking you for your word,” he said dryly. He did not answer her other question and instead produced his cell phone and scrolled to what he wanted her to see then showed her.

It was an image of her and Evan, SSB agents, SHIELD agents and the Reality Stone. “You tell me where the stone is and I’ll let you see Mr. Cullen. You see why already asked Mr. Cullen where you hid it but he refused to tell us. We’ve searched the house top to bottom and besides a bunch of guns and such, we haven't found anything. Now, you might think that we are asking for the stone for our own purposes. Mr. Cullen certainly seemed to but you see Miss Sokolova, there’s a much bigger picture here than you know. We’re not talking about some post cold war crap like nu,nuke codes or some formula to a nerve agent that could kill millions. We’re facing much worse,” he said then paused to let that all sink in. “You ever heard of Thanos? Corvus is one of his minions and he hired the SSB to find out where the Reality Stone is,” He said then his look hardened and the facade of friendliness changed into a more, dangerous severe look. “If Thanos gets his hands on the stone, half of the population of the universe...gone,” he said and snapped his fingers. “In the blink of an eye,” he said then sat back in his chair.

Inside the viewing room Captain America shook his head disgustedly. “This isn’t right. We’re supposed to be the good guys. We don’t hurt people just to get them to do what we need them to do,” he said. “That’s not how we operate,” he added and Hawkeye stepped toward him but it was Natalia that spoke first. “Cap, this isn’t like anything we’ve dealt with before. It’s half of everything at stake,” She said urgently. Captain America still shook his head. “Its still wrong,” He said. “Any more wrong than allowing Thanos to wipe out half of the universe? We’re only hurting them, Thanos will kill them and get the stone anyway,” He said honestly.

With Natalya enhanced hearing, she heard every word through Coulson’s earjack. He had been listening in on them at Fury’s request.

Natalya listened to Nick and when he began to talk about the Reality Stone she visibly tensed up. She knew it was dangerous but hadn’t realized just how dangerous until now. She knew who Corvus was, but has never heard of Thanos. However, if Nick was telling the truth about what Thanos could do if he got his hands on the stone, then she had every right to be cautious about whose hands it fell into.

“The Stone is in a very safe place where it will never be found. I can guarantee you that. Clearly you didn’t find it and I’m assuming you tore that place apart. And how do I know I can trust you when I’m the one shackled to this chair. You could end up being just as evil as this Thanos is.”

Nick wished that they had more time. Doing anything in haste usually involved making mistakes but they were on a time crunch and had to get that stone If he took what Doctor Strange had said as truth. Nick Fury sighed and nodded to Coulson. Coulson hit a button on his phone and 4 SHIELD agents came into the room. They unshackled her ankles and where her restraints were held to the table but her wrists were not free. “Alright,” Nick said and stood. “The carrot didn’t work,” He said to the three behind the glass. Grim faces stared back at them as two agents lifted her to her feet. They had no firearms, only stun batons. Two others followed Nick out of the room and Natalya was led out behind them.

Where ever they were the walls were of a titanium mesh and the glass was some kind of explosive resistant material. Cameras were everywhere and it looked fairly new. Certainly nowhere she had ever heard of. She was led down a long hall with several doors that led to other places. At the end of the hall they moved through another set of double doors and then more doors that led into yet another room. The 2 guards that were next to her fastened her wrist bar to a cable that hung down from the ceiling. The moment they stepped back Nick moved over to a small panel at the front of the room. He put his access card into a slot and then tapped a few buttons. Once he did that the opaque glass in front of them lit up to show them that there was another room there. It was very bright and Evan was there, strapped to a clear table.Light came from all sides including the floor and there was another light on a gimbal that moved around the room and pivoted so Evan couldn’t form any shadows. He was only in his black small clothes and she noticed immediately that the cable she was attached to could move forward toward the glass. When she was closer she could see that his flesh looked almost gray and his veins were dark almost black. He appeared to be crying as if he was in alot of pain. Nick Fury only watched her as he casually leaned up against the glass with his arms crossed.

“We’re not certain but we think not being able to touch shadows is killing him. I’m willing to bet that if he dies, where ever the stone is, we’ll be able to detect it then,” he said coldly. Nick Fury hated doing this. This kind of thing was beneath him but the entire world...the universe was at stake. He simply had no other choice. To corroborate his threat Evan let out a pained gasp and he struggled wildly against his bonds as he wept.

Natalya looked through the glass at Evan and was shocked by what she saw. His skin looked almost grey and he was trembling in pain as he cried. Anger swelled up in her chest as she became more and more upset. They were killing him! How could they do this?! She began to panic as she felt the noose tightening around her. They knew that she loved Evan and wouldn’t let him die. She didn’t care what happened to her, but she would save Evan.

She looked over at Nick with angry eyes and felt he was lucky that she was shackled. “How are you planning to keep the stone out of Thanos’ hands? I won’t turn it over to you without knowing you will actually be able to keep it safe.”

Nick eyed her with his one eye curiously but he retained his casual demeanor. He was the one holding the cards and he wasn’t prepared to give that up. “Well Doctor Str…”He began and then the lights began to flicker. Not in Evan’s room but everywhere else it seemed. Evan’s eyes were open now and Natalya noticed he was no longer crying out in pain. His eyes were all black and his face had gone very pale.

‘Tha-thuuuum!’ A loud sound came from far down the hall and the ceiling lights flickered again. ‘Tha-thuummm...Scrrreeettchhhhh!’ Something made a horrible sound as if a giant insect who had found its prey. “What the FUCK!?” Nick said and pulled out his pistol. In the distance they heard men scream and shots begin to fire in quick succession. There were more screeches and more loud noises as if something large was moving. The walls shook as a loud sound of something hitting the wall. More high pitched scratches as if large claws clawed against the meal walls. Natalya knew what it was though Evan had only told her about it. When he thought e was going to die...or the shadows did...he wasn’t all too clear on that part, they would rise up to help him. But it seemed that whatever it was it was out of his control and it was attacking anyone who it came across. Down the hall the lights flickered again and a black silhouette of some kind of huge, clawed beast was there in the hallway. Agents shot at it and it attacked them back with its giant claws. Soon Captain America, Hawkeye and Natalia were there and they began to attack the giant black creature. Captain America threw his shield at it and it seemed to become injured but it didn’t stop its assault. It swiped at him as the others shot bullets and arrows at it. It hit him hard though he had managed to get his shield up and as it pressed against him his feet slid a few feet back. It was strong, really strong and the bullets and arrows did not seem to have an effect upon it.

Natalya blinked as the lights in the room began to flicker. Down the hallway she suddenly heard a loud thumping and then screeching sound that made her want to cover her hears. The lights continued to flicker and as she looked through the glass at Evan she could see his eyes were black and his face had gone white. She suddenly realized what was going on. Evan had told her about it, but she had never witnessed it before now. She knew that it was the shadows that were rising up to try and save him. She began to panic because that meant that Evan was near death.

"Listen to me!" she shouted to Nick in a demanding tone. "The shadows are trying to help Evan! You cannot kill them...but they can kill you! You need to give Evan back the shadows in that room immediately! He's dying! And if he dies then I will ensure you never find the Reality Stone!"

Nick scowled at her suspiciously though Phil Coulson moved toward the door behind her as he did the creature flung Captain America and he crashed into the wall then fell to the floor. He was slow to get up but managed to rise once more. The creature turned toward Natalia and Hawkeye and began to attack them. They managed to dodge its massive arms but as they grew more tired, it did not. Nick grunted and began clicking on his phone. In an instant her shackles came off and fell to the floor. She was free and in another instant the door to Evan’s room opened and all of the floor lights in his room winked out. “Then stop it, if you can,” he said then stepped beyond her toward the door. He opened it and began firing at the creature alongside Phil.

Natalya knew that time was of the essence here and she could see Nick carefully considering what she had said. She watched as Captain America was thrown through the wall and onto the floor. It was pointless what they were all trying to do. Finally, Nick seemed to realize that and released her from the shackles. The door to Evan's room opened up and the lights in the floor were extinguished. She gave a small nod to Nick and then rushed into the room where Evan was being held and shook him gently to try and awaken him. "Evan...Evan...please wake up."

The large phantom had managed to pick up Hawkeye and it slammed him down onto the floor. He bounced and unlike Captain America, he didn’t get back up and continued to lay there unmoving. Evan was one with the negative energy that infused his entire body. Out of the corner of his vision he saw her. A violet, shadowy shape that resembled Natalya. It was as if he were looking at her through a thick, violet bottle but he knew it was her. Her voice sounded...desperate which was not like her at all. He did know her, he could not feel familiarity with something unless he knew her, right? But there was more and black tears dropped from his black eyes and it was clear to Natalya that something had happened to him as if he had reached a different level of kinship with the shadows and the dark energy he was able to sense and control.

The creature had a hold of Natalia now and it began to squeeze the life out of her. She groaned and struggled but it did not let her go. “Na...Natalya?” He said weakly and slowly his eyes shifted from the solid black to his blue eyes. He had tears in his eyes as he looked over at her. From the hall the shadow creature began to melt back into the darkness. Natalia dropped to the floor and Nick, Phil and Captain America sighed in relief.

“I love you Natalya...I’ve always loved you,” Evan said and a shadow near her suddenly shifted. It rose up and the dark blue sphere that contained the reality stone suddenly appeared and was held up by the shadow like it was a pillar of stone. “I don’t want to hold you back...anymore,” He said honestly but it was so hard. He feared that she would gravitate away from him and become the Avenger she was meant to be.

Natalya felt a few tears come to her eyes as his eyes slowly looked over at her and then began to shift from black back to blue. The color returned to his face and out in the hallway she could hear the fighting cease and a collective sigh of relief. Worry remained in her eyes though for the man sitting in front of her...the man she loved. She had brought this on them...she had caused this. If she had just walked away from the ice cream shop that day then they would likely be in bed right now making love instead of huddled together in a small room wondering what was going to happen next.

Out of the corner of her eye she suddenly saw some shadows shift and then suddenly the Reality Stone appeared. She looked back at Evan when he told her he didn't want to hold her back anymore. She immediately shook her head. "You're not holding me back Evan. I love you too...I want to be with you. I want to say 'yes' and marry you. My life is nothing without you."