TGS - #29 (Patreon)

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Manhattan 

–Natasha Romanoff–

“NOOOO!” She yelled as she looked at the sceptre that was now glowing yellow, so much so that even the suit’s eyes were nearly blinded, forcing it to switch to other sensors to give her any idea of what was happening outside.

It was just so sudden. She was focused on the horizon where Stark was coming from and the next moment, there was a whining sound.

She lunged at the sceptre and painfully found that she was slow. Too slow for what was about to happen. Fast enough that she could predict the trajectory but not fast enough to do anything about it.

It all seemed to slow down as if the sceptre was travelling in slow motion but it was just a second. In less than a second, the sceptre had traversed the distance and stabbed The Green Guardian right in his chest, skewering him. She looked at the sceptre as it had penetrated the barrier, such was the force with which it had struck the Green Guardian. 

The Green Guardian was somehow now stuck on the barrier, the impenetrable barrier made up of pure energy.

“AAAAAAAA” The scream of pain that followed was harrowing but what happened next made her blood freeze in her veins.

Due to the injury or due to the energy field itself, the Green Guardian’s armour dissolved, revealing the face underneath.

No. Not this. Not again.

No no no no nonononono.

This could not be happening again. Her body went limp as her eyes grew hazy with shock, even as the suit continued to make its way to the Green Guardian, hesitation and shock evident in its movements.

The barrier surrounding the Green Guardian had been dispelled, revealing the form of a teenager at best, screaming and twitching in pain as arcs of blue zapped him across the body.

The boy could not have been older than 14 years as he gritted his teeth, trying to bring forth his power, only for the Tesseract’s barrier to interfere with the process, shocking him once again very painfully.

The sight brought her out of her shock.

“Stay with me, alright? Nothing will happen to you here. I am here with you, alright?” She bumbled out everything she could, all her training forgotten as she watched as a child was skewered straight through, stuck to something that could not be removed, not without killing him.

“Romanoff? You better be ready,” Stark’s voice reminded her of the fact that Stark was on his way with a freaking nuke of all things. But he didn’t say anything about…

“Jarvis?” she mumbled slowly, trying to think of something that could work. Banner was the brains guy but he was in his muscles form as of now and Stark was coming in hot with a nuke that would turn the entire neighbourhood into a smoking crater, destroying the city of New York in the aftermath.

“I felt it prudent enough that Mr.Stark not be informed about the current developments. The task he is handling is paramount, sadly,” Jarvis’ voice was tinged with pity as he delivered the reason to her, and as much as it pained her to admit it, he was right.

She stuttered out a reply, “Yes, Stark. I am in position,” She said and took shaky steps towards the Green Guardian, her hands outstretched towards the hilt of the sceptre.

Her hands trembled as she realised what she would have to do if they wanted the Nuke to not detonate on top of a civilian population.

“.....D-Do…it,” She slowly looked at the kid who was trying to speak to her, while his body betrayed him as specks of green tried to cover his body, only for waves of blue to disintegrate the green light out, leaving behind painful wounds that immediately cauterized due to the sheer heat.

She was sure that had it not been for the suit enveloping her, she would have suffered second-degree burns standing so close to the Tesseract.

“But you’ll die,” She was usually not the sentimental type but she did not want another kid’s life on her hands. No, she never recovered from when that happened the first time, and doing that a second time might just break her.

No, she could not have that on her conscience, and yet, and yet…

As her hands shook inside the suit, her body trembled as she saw flashbacks of that day. The day when she decided to blow up a five-story building, all in a bid to kill General Dreykov, the big bad of her life, the bane of her existence.

Only doing so did not come without a cost. A mental cost to be precise. She had to use his only daughter, Antonia, to lure Dreykov in that building. And then, she made the conscious decision to blow both of them up.

Her finger never even hesitated as she killed someone who was innocent, someone who had no idea about the dealings of her father. That was the day, more than any other, that cemented the idea of using her skills, these skills that were used to kill so many, to use those skills for the good of the world.

To help wipe off even a small bit of the red-stained ledger that was her life. She knew that it was a fool’s endeavour, what with the impact of her kills always being more high profile than any other life-saving mission she had carried out and yet, she could not, would not rest until either her body gave out or her mind finally rested. Finally rested enough once it knew that she had done her part, wiping out the red in her ledger.

And yet, Loki’s words on the Helicarrier. It brought back memories. Terrible memories but memories all the same. Memories where she was content to sacrifice someone for the greater good. And here she was, about to sacrifice another minor for the supposed greater good. What good was the greater good if it constantly demanded such sacrifices from her? What good was–

“ETA - 59 seconds,” Jarvis’ voice snapped her out of it as she looked at the horizon, where she could see a small bright spot slowly growing larger. Jarvis helpfully pointed out the trajectory that Tony was supposed to take.

“Jack,” her neck snapped to the Green Guardian who was also looking at the incoming form of Stark.

He then moved his neck to look at her, the mere movement causing the barrier to zap him with even more blue arcs of pure energy, creating even more wounds and yet, there was not much blood as the wounds were instantly cauterised. She didn’t even want to imagine the amount of pain he must be enduring at the moment.

“Jack Sullivan. My name is Jack Z. Sullivan. Remember that when you have to write this in your report,” He said with a bloodied grin, the mere act showcasing the hole on his right cheek, as his entire face was covered more in blood and scars than with smooth skin as he looked at the suit of Stark which hit the Stark Tower before going straight to the Portal.

She was so engrossed in looking at Tony carrying the Nuke into the portal that she missed Jack’s movements. Only when a tint of green entered her peripheral vision along with sounds of energy arcing entered her ears, she looked at Jack who was shining….green.

He was being constantly bombarded with arcs of energy that Jarvis said were enough to disintegrate even the reinforced plating on the suit and yet, he grit his teeth and never stopped looking at Stark’s receding back as he carried the nuke on his back.

The area around the portal had been empty, as it had been for a while now since Loki had been defeated and nothing came out of the portal though Jarvis could see that it was mostly because reinforcements were on their way and it was only the first wave that they had dealt with.

She was about to ask him about it but her words were stuck in her mouth as with a pained grunt, Jack shoved his hand in the direction of the portal and dragged it down to the side.

Her jaw hung agape as she watched a small green shroud cover Stark before his entire form was shoved to the side roughly and dragged straight down, all the while the nuke went on, unhindered.

She could hear the agents from the Helicarrer’s bridge cheering as the Nuke crossed over to the other side from the portal.

And yet, as she watched the other side of the portal with a small timer that Jarvis overlaid on top of her HUD, she could not find it in herself to bring forth even a smidge of joy.

For the victory, the pyrrhic victory that they had managed to carve out for themselves was not due to the actions of adults, trained adults. No, it was due to the actions of a teenager who had risked his life to save a city.

“...D-Do it, Natasha,” She looked on, pained as Jack told her to essentially kill him.

“...Y-You’ll die,” She stammered as she looked at the tip of the sceptre. All she had to do was push it a bit and it would close the flow of energy to the portal.

“...I-if you d-don’t, we’ll all die,” He coughed out blood as he squeezed out a few words.

He then rested his head on top of the barrier, looking at the sky, as if the pure energy barrier was a cushion and not something that was killing him.

“Ah, I had so much to do but what can you do? I took this upon myself and I guess, these are the consequences of doing so, Cough Cough,” He chuckled wryly then broke out into a fit of coughs.

“You know, I was so sure I was going to win this. I guess we did win but damn did that man put up a great fight. It was as if Loki was the side character and he was the main antagonist in this fight. That makes me the protagonist, then? Nice.” He rambled on, his eyes growing glassy as the pain finally got to him.

“Hmm? Oh, I am just rambling, Romanoff. That sun seems to be growing bigger. Better plug the hole be…f..or-” Was all Jack could say before he slumped forward, Jarvis’ sensors telling her that his heartbeat was slowing down.

“Ramanoff? What are you waiting for? Just shut it down!” Stark’s shouting in her comms jolted her as she took hold of the hilt of the sceptre and grimaced as she looked into the empty eyes of Jack.

She looked away, muttered a muted “sorry” and thrust the sceptre with all her might, assisted with strength of the suit. The sound of the sceptre sliding through flesh made her gag as with a loud gong noise, the machine was cut off from its energy source, shutting it down.

Only instead of that being the end of it, Red beeps began sounding in her suit as Jarvis immediately brought her away from the machine. She looked on, worried, as the barrier surrounding the Tesseract, instead of fizzling out, began glowing brighter. 

The scepter too, began glowing a bright yellow as Jack’s seemingly dead body was covered in a mixture of green, yellow, and blue, although the green was so small that she would have missed it had it not been for Jarvis pointing it out.

The lights surrounding seemed to grow brighter and brighter, forcing Jarvis to switch to energy sensors which too were overwhelmed, making her feel the heat even from inside the suit until it reached a crescendo.

Before, the lights sounded like something really hard was scraping on top of each other, creating a very irritating noise but abruptly, it became silent. The very air stilled as the energy reached its peak before a thunderous blast knocked her back, on her back as she passed through multiple floors before coming to a rest. 

Soon, Jarvis’ sensors came back online as he showed her the vision. The entire balcony of the Stark Tower was gone. She had probably fallen through three different floors, all of which held a red smoking outline that looked like the suit. She squinted as a blue object was falling through the floors. 

‘It was the Tesseract’ She thought to herself before smacking the literally celestial artifact with her hands as it was about to fall on her face. She immediately sat up and saw that the Tesseract had settled down on the floor, albeit by making a hole in the floor due to its sheer heat.

“..j-jack? Jarvis?” She queried and the silence was answer enough for her. Just thinking about the burning, bleeding form of Jack….

Once Jarvis confirmed that it was safe to do so, she immediately commanded the suit open and threw up all over the floor, emptying the contents of her stomach. She looked on as tears were mixed with vomit on the floor as the reality of what she had done, what she had to do, finally dawned on her.

She shivered as she held her knees with her hands and closed her eyes, leaning on a wall as flashbacks of all the bad she had done in this world played again and again.

She looked at her hands and all she saw was red. Red of hundreds of people she had killed, some by these very bare hands.

And now, Jack, someone who didn't deserve to die so young, so full of potential, his blood was on her hands as well.

She sniffed as Jarvis stood over her, watching guard as soon as he had secured the Tesseract.

“Jarvis, do you have the footage? Of Jack telling his identity?” She asked him in a cold detached, mechanical voice.

“...Yes, Ms.Romanoff,” Jarvis’ head inclined in an almost human-like gesture.

“Good. Make sure that it is not buried. The world must know who it was that saved him.” She said as she stood up, her earlier breakdown all but shoved back into the deepest darkest crevice of her mind.

She could compartmentalize, it was one of the first things that one had to learn if one had any hope of surviving as a Widow.

“I assume Tony and the others are on their way?” She questioned as she headed to the exit of the floor.

“Mr.Stark and the rest of the Avengers are on the streets, waiting for you. I have already informed them that you are fine and are on your way. There is a working car already waiting for you in the lobby. Unfortunately, this suit doesn’t meet the optimal energy as well as structural requirements for safe flight at this moment. Mr.Stark’s suit is the same and Prince Thor is exhausted and partaking in a very heavy meal of meat and cheese from a nearby Shawarma shop that was open,”

“..Understood,” She muttered as she made steady steps towards the door. Just as she was about to exit the floor, however, she paused mid-step and looked back, “Jarvis?”

“Yeah?”

“Email that footage to my personal server right now. These are the credentials - ***********. Also, where did the nuke come from?”

“....Footage transfer successful. I am sorry but I don’t have any concrete information about the nuke and looking for it would violate several protocols that cannot be overridden without Mr.Stark’s express permission,” The AI sounded truly apologetic as he delivered the news. He could not give her any intel as it was out of his parameters. He thought she would be disappointed and yet…

“Thank you,” She said and entered the lift which was surprisingly working somehow. Jarvis’ answer was enough for her.

She did not know who ordered the strike and who piloted the plane but she knew where to start. They would have to pay.

Pay for what Jack had to go through. They would have to pay for what they made her do.

She clenched her fists, to the point blood started dripping as she thought of the last ramblings of Jack as he lay on top of the burning barrier as if he had truly made peace with his situation and was content with it.

In the solitary space of the elevator, her frame shook with sobs that she tried her best to muffle.

Even as she cried, tears streaming down her face, her eyes shone with a murderous light.

They would pay. Even if she had to die for it, they would pay. 

After all, if she had to live with this much red in her ledger, she would rather not live with it at all. And what was a little more red in that ledger, before she went out swinging?

After all, the kind of red she was going to spill was the blood of someone who deserved to die.

Deserved to suffer in his last moments. As Jack did.

The World Security Council. She was coming for them.

Now, she had to carry out the difficult task of informing the team and the rest of the world as well, about the sacrifice.

The supreme sacrifice of The Green Guardian of New York.

Word Count  - 2926

A/N - Damn.