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It was supposed to be another simple mission. Just another bad guy taken down, another success under their belts. Nothing they couldn’t handle.
But fate had other plans.
The team was in the middle of securing the last of the targets when Maria noticed him. The shooter. He had been hiding in the shadows, just waiting for his moment, and as soon as Natasha turned her back, he took it.
Time seemed to slow down as Maria’s eyes locked onto the barrel of the gun aimed directly at Natasha’s back.
Without thinking, she pushed Natasha out of the way, the bullets hitting her instead—one in her abdomen and the other grazing her shoulder.
The world spun into chaos. Natasha screamed Maria’s name as she collapsed to the ground, the pain searing through her like a wildfire. The shooter was quickly subdued by Clint and Steve, but none of it mattered.
All Natasha could focus on was Maria, bleeding out in her arms.
“Maria… Maria, stay with me,” Natasha cried, her hands pressed desperately to Maria’s side to stem the bleeding, but it was hopeless. Maria was slipping.
“Babe… please…” Natasha whispered through gritted teeth. “Stay with me. Don’t leave me. Please.”
Maria’s shaky hand reached up, brushing Natasha’s cheek weakly. Her eyes were blurry and unfocused, but there was a small, painful smile on her lips.
“I love you,” Maria whispered her voice barely a breath.
“No, no, no,” Natasha sobbed, shaking her. “You can’t say that and leave me, please—don’t leave me. I need you, Maria. We have so much left to do. We have a future. We were going to adopt kids and get a cat, I can't do that without you.”
Maria’s breathing was shallow now, each breath a struggle. “You can do anything Natasha” she whispers. Her hand still held Natasha’s, the only connection keeping her tethered to this world.
“I don’t wanna die, baby,” Maria whispered, her voice breaking. “Don’t make me die, please… I love you.”
Those words….Those words will haunt her for the rest of her life.
And just like that, the light in Maria’s eyes slowly faded into nothing. Her hand went slack in Natasha’s, and the steady rhythm of her breathing stopped. Maria was gone.
“No… NO!” Natasha screamed, her entire body trembling with the force of her grief. “No, you can’t leave me! Please, Maria… Please!”
Her screams were raw, and feral, and they echoed through the clearing. Clint and Steve flinched at the sound, their hearts breaking for Natasha as she clutched Maria’s lifeless body to her chest.
“I’m so sorry, baby,” Natasha sobbed, pressing her forehead to Maria’s. “I should’ve been faster, I should’ve—”
Her voice cracked, and she choked on the sobs that tore through her chest. She kissed Maria’s face, begging her to wake up, to come back, but nothing changed.
Maria was dead.
Natasha had failed.
Natasha was a widow.
Her body shook with sobs as she rested her forehead against Maria’s, whispering over and over again, “I’m so sorry… I’m so sorry… Please, come back. Please…”
But Maria didn’t come back.
The anger bubbled up in Natasha’s chest like a poisonous wave, and she slowly stood, wiping her tears away with a shaking hand. Her eyes hardened with rage.
She walked over to the shooter, still lying unconscious, and stood over him, her breath coming in heavy, ragged gasps. She could feel the heat in her chest, the fire that wouldn’t burn out until she had done what she needed to do.
Without a word, Natasha pulled out her gun, aimed it at the man’s chest, and emptied an entire magazine into him.
Click. Click. Click.
The gunshots rang out, and each one was a scream she couldn’t release. Natasha’s hands shook with fury as she dropped the empty clip to the ground. The shooter was a mangled mess, but it didn’t matter. Nothing mattered anymore.
Clint was the one to pull her away, his hands gripping her shoulders gently as he tried to stop her from going further. “Tasha… please. Come on, let’s get you out of here. You need to get to the Quinjet.”
Steve was already carrying Maria’s body, his face grim as he walked toward the jet. Natasha didn’t even notice as Clint led her away, her mind consumed with only one thought—she had failed Maria.
On the ride back to the SHIELD facility, Natasha didn’t let go of Maria’s hand once. Even as Clint made sure she stayed upright and Steve looked at her with pity in his eyes, Natasha was locked in a silence deeper than anything she had ever felt before.
When they arrived, the mortician was waiting for them. He tried to usher Natasha out as soon as they brought Maria inside, but Natasha wasn’t having any of it. She fought to stay, her fists pounding against the door, kicking, screaming, refusing to let go.
“No! You don’t get to take her from me! She’s mine!”
But the mortician didn’t flinch. “I’m sorry, but you can’t stay here. We need to begin the process.”
“I’m not leaving her,” Natasha growled, her voice a low, deadly growl.
Clint had to drag her out, pulling her away from Maria’s body with all his strength. She fought him every step of the way, screaming Maria’s name as if it would bring her back.
But Maria didn’t come back.
Natasha was left with nothing but the emptiness inside of her chest, the loss too much to bear.
As Clint pulled her out of the morgue, she felt the weight of her grief crash over her, drowning her in the sorrow that would never leave.
She was a widow.
And there was nothing left to do but live with that.