Black Widow: Forever Red Read online

  Ava rolled onto her back, reaching to pick at the bottom of the institutional striped mattress above them. “I don’t know. Since the river—since Natasha grabbed my hand—everything seems different in my head. Have you ever felt something like that?”

  I’ve never felt anything like this.

  Alex turned toward Ava, laying his head on the pillow next to hers.

  Like you.

  He knew he was staring but he couldn’t help it.

  Like me, lying by your side.

  “Everything seems different since I met you,” he said slowly, without realizing quite what he was saying. Then he turned red, because he did. “But even that doesn’t explain my suddenly being able to speak Russian.” They were face-to-face now—his lips almost grazed her cheek when he spoke.

  She smiled at him. “I guess not.”

  Alex pulled on a strand of cinnamon curl, studying her profile. She was so beautiful it was almost shocking to see in this depressing gray cell of a room.

  How did I get to be here?

  He looked at her. “Why did you come over and talk to me like that, in the middle of the tournament? It doesn’t seem like something you’d do, now that I know you.”

  “What, talk?”

  “To a stranger? Ava Orlova? No way. You keep to yourself.”

  “You weren’t a stranger. I told you, I thought I knew you.” Her eyes looked fleetingly sad, but her smile was soft.

  He pulled on another curl. “Yeah, well, I said I thought I knew you—but that didn’t mean I did. That only meant I wanted to.”

  “Maybe it was different for me,” she said. Then she looked at him. “Do you still? Want to—I mean? You don’t think I’m crazy? After I lost it back there?”

  “Is that even a question?” Alex asked in Russian, pulling her toward him. She curved into him, warm and soft and welcoming.

  Come closer, he thought.

  Then she pulled back, smiling. “Even after all this? Getting shot at?”

  “Yes.” He nudged her and smiled. “Of course.”

  “Taking a dive off the bridge?” She laced her fingers through his.

  “Definitely.” Alex was still smiling, and he brought the back of her hand to his lips. His heart was pounding, but he didn’t know if it was from nerves or adrenaline.

  Probably both.

  Ava pretended to think. “Being dragged onto a S.H.I.E.L.D. plane?”

  Alex laughed. “That doesn’t count; I did the dragging on that one.”

  She leaned closer to him. “Getting stuck in this hole with me?”

  “I think I can handle it.” He raised himself toward her. “Life with you is never boring, Ava. You’re not like anyone else I’ve ever known.”

  “Not like the other girls in Mountain Clear?” She teased.

  “Not like anyone on planet Earth,” he said, hovering over her.

  “I’m going to choose to take that as a compliment.”

  “Believe me, it is.”

  She was so close to him now, he could feel her breath burning on his cheek. God, I want to kiss her. He drew her even closer. “And who knows? It could be our last night…”

  He closed his eyes and dropped his lips to hers—

  Bad move.

  Ava frowned and pulled away, sitting up. Not yet, Alex. That was the message, and he understood. She didn’t really know him. She didn’t trust him. He didn’t blame her. He wasn’t sure he’d trust himself, either.

  He fell back on the mattress. “I shouldn’t have said that.”

  “Why not? It’s the truth.”

  “You don’t know that,” Alex said.

  Ava sighed. “You’re just being an optimist. You and Tony Stark.”

  “I’m not. I’m a realist.” He shrugged.

  “I don’t think you know what the word means.”

  He took her hand in his again, kissing the back of it once more. “I do. It means I’m real-ly happy I met you.”

  She groaned. “Oh, that was bad.”

  “How bad? Scale of one to Tony Stark?” He raised an eyebrow.

  “It was half a Tony bad.” Ava smiled.

  “I’ll take it.”

  “Alex?” Now her voice was quiet.

  “Yeah?”

  “I’m scared.”

  “I know,” Alex said, tightening his arm around her. “We both are. That’s okay.” And we’re probably not the only ones.

  He didn’t even want to think about how worried his mother must be by now. If Dante hadn’t already gone to his dad, which was the same as going to the police.

  Ava looked at him. “That thing Natasha said back there, about how I lived at the shelter? It’s true. I have. But I don’t want you to feel sorry for me.”

  “Nothing’s changed, Ava. You’re just you.”

  She leaned over and kissed his cheek in response.

  He took a deep breath when she pulled away.

  He took a deep breath. “Ava?”

  “Yes?”

  I’ll wait for you, he thought, as she lay her head back against his shoulder, relaxing for the first time since she’d woken up next to him.

  “If I’m catching something, Ava, it’s not just Russian.”

  “I know,” she said softly. “We both are. That’s okay too.”

  He rested his cheek on top of her curls. When you finally do let me kiss you, Ava, maybe I won’t ever stop.

  Hours later, it was only when they heard footsteps in the hall outside that they knew their time was running out. Even without Romanoff and Tony Stark around, there were probably more security guards monitoring the hall outside their door than could have fit in the room itself.

  Alex felt Ava tense up, next to him. “We have to get out of here before they come back,” she said, sitting up.

  Romanoff and Tony Stark were still back in the lab. Alex guessed it was late, but it was hard to keep track of time in the perpetually lit underground levels of the S.H.I.E.L.D. base.

  “Still. We need a plan, seeing as we have to get past about, I don’t know, maybe twenty-five guys? With guns as big as Romanoff’s?” Alex rubbed his hand through his tangle of hair—his thinking gesture.

  Cutting out of here isn’t going to be easy.

  “Twenty-two,” Ava said automatically. “Guns. In the halls, I mean.”

  Alex looked at her.

  She rolled over to face him. “Two per floor, and we’re eleven floors down. We can take the utility elevator, but even then, that’s at least six more guys in the annex, another four if we cut through the west atrium. Thirty-two armed, trained operatives, not including the standard perimeter guards out front.”

  “So you spent a lot of time around here?” He frowned.

  “Not really,” she said. Ava closed her eyes. “It must be the—you know—her. I don’t really understand it myself.”

  “Ah,” Alex said. “Right.”

  “It’s like I can see parts of a movie playing in my head sometimes. Only it’s not my movie.” She looked at him. “It’s hers.”

  “Which is why she wants you locked up,” he said.

  She looked him in the eye. “I’m not going back into hiding. Not now, and not tomorrow.”

  “Back to prison?” Alex said. “I didn’t think so.”

  “I would die. Really. It would kill me.” Ava sounded like she meant it, and Alex didn’t doubt her. He didn’t imagine her life had been easy, and he’d heard enough already to know she had reason enough for everything she felt.

  She didn’t seem to want to tell him more than that, and he didn’t push her. There’s time, he thought. She will when she’s ready.

  Her voice was dark and low now. “You know what they’ll do to me? If they decide I’m too dangerous? What I know, what I’ve seen?” Ava looked at him. “Have you ever seen an agent get wiped?”

  “I’ve never even seen an agent,” Alex said quietly. “Not before today. Why? Is that even a thing S.H.I.E.L.D. can do?”

  Ava nodded, almost im
perceptibly. She looked like she was going to be sick—and so, so sad. Alex sat up on the bed next to her, so close that he could feel her heart pounding next to his. He slid an arm beneath her, and she pulled closer to him.

  “Tell me,” he whispered.

  She leaned into his chest, as if she couldn’t look into his eyes. As if it was all too hard to think, let alone say.

  “I spent years in 7B hearing all the gossip on deprogramming and hypnotic suggestion. They’re like S.H.I.E.L.D. ghost stories. It isn’t only Moscow that knows how to do that. One day you’re you, and supposedly, the next day you’re—”

  She stopped.

  “What?” Alex honestly had no idea.

  Ava looked up at him now. Her eyes were dark. “Nothing.”

  “Nothing?” Alex didn’t even want to imagine what that would be like, what he would be like, without his mind and his memories.

  “Or worse—they tell you you’re something that you’re not, and you believe them. Their lies. And it doesn’t matter, because you’ll never know the difference. You might as well already be dead.”

  Alex stared at her. “Do you believe it? That someone would actually do that?” He shivered.

  She just looked at him. “You’ve met these people. You tell me.”

  “How about we don’t stick around to find out?” Even talking about it made Alex want to bolt.

  “And go where?” Ava sighed.

  He rested his chin on the top of her head. “My house. My mom doesn’t know her way out of a litter box, but we can ask Dante’s dad what to do. My friend’s dad is a cop. He’s good with stuff like this.”

  “With Russian mercenaries and Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D. super spies?”

  “Yes. No. I mean—he will be.” I hope.

  Ava raised an eyebrow. “What’s your mom going to do when Iron Man and Black Widow show up to nuke our brains? Politely ask them to go away?”

  “Talk them to death? Let them hold the cat?” he said, standing up to pace. “Yeah. Okay. We need a plan.”

  “What if we’re making this harder than it is? What if it’s simple? What if we just need to solve the whole Ivan Somodorov problem before getting rid of us becomes the solution?”

  “Simple? How is that simple?” Alex shook his head. “You’re thinking we just solve quantum entanglement? We don’t even really know what QE is.”

  “So there you go. There’s our first move.”

  “What, google quantum entanglement? Look for the QE Reddit?”

  “Maybe we just have to go back to the beginning.”

  Alex looked at her. “The beginning of what? And why do I have a bad feeling you’re not just talking about the beginning of this weekend?”

  Ava shook her head. “I’m talking about the warehouse in Odessa.”

  “Odessa, Ukraine?” Alex stared.

  She nodded.

  “And you’re serious.” Alex was still staring.

  Ava shrugged. “Why not? We have nowhere to go, and it’s the last place he’ll look for us.” She grabbed his arm to still him. “Just think about it.”

  Alex thought about it—but it was hard to sort out what he thought from what he felt. Only one of those two things was perfectly clear.

  How do I feel?

  I feel like I’d go with her anywhere, anytime.

  Ava bit her lip, and he realized she was still waiting for him to say something.

  He sat back down beside her and reached over to zip her black S.H.I.E.L.D.-issue jacket up, all the way to her chin.

  “Listen,” he began.

  “Yeah? I’m listening.” She smiled.

  Be cool, Manor. Don’t scare her away. Not yet.

  Alex gave up. “I guess it couldn’t be worse than Philly.” Except for what my mom will do to me, when I get home. That will be ten times worse.

  He tried not to think about it. It wasn’t going to be pretty.

  “Philly? You clearly haven’t been to Odessa.” Ava poked him in the ribs.

  Alex let a hand drop on each of her jacketed shoulders. “So, what now?”

  “First things first,” she said, standing up next to the bed. “We need to take out two guns per floor for eleven floors.”

  She offered Alex a hand, pulling him up next to her. He sighed. “Great. Is that all?”

  “No. After that, we need a cab.”

  “We have to take out twenty-two guys, and you’re worried about getting a cab?”

  “This is New York. Transportation can be a real issue.”

  She hoisted her backpack over her shoulder and put her hand on the doorknob. She looked at him, and he nodded, raising his fists to his chin.

  “You go left; I’ll go right,” Alex said.

  She shook her head. “I’ve got a better idea.”

  “Hey,” Ava called. The S.H.I.E.L.D. agent patrolling each end of the hall snapped to attention. She raised her hands. “It’s just me. Can I ask you a favor?”

  The agents looked at each other. The one on the left nodded, and they began the short walk down the hall to her door.

  Ava pointed to the battered iPod in her hand. “I can’t get this thing to work. Can I borrow one of your ear-thingies? So I know if mine are broken?”

  “With this?” The agent on her left pointed to his fitted black earpiece.

  “Why not?” She examined the jack on her iPod. “It’s a kind of speaker, isn’t it?”

  He shrugged. “I guess.” He unclipped it and handed it to her. She jammed it into her ear and plugged the other end into her device.

  “Oh, awesome.” She nodded, turning up the music. “Thanks, guys.” She stepped back inside the door.

  “Hey—I need that.” The agent leaned in, holding out his hand for his earpiece back.

  “Oh yeah. Silly me,” she said.

  And she slammed the door on the agent’s head. The reinforced steel echoed as it made contact with his skull.

  CRACK!

  The guy went staggering back.

  “Sorry, sorry, sorry—” Ava winced.

  “What the—” The second agent lunged at her from the corridor.

  And this time, Alex slammed his head against the iron frame of the bunk.

  SMASH!

  “Hurry,” she said. They dragged the unconscious bodies into the room.

  Alex grunted as he dropped the last booted foot next to the bed. “Jeez. These guys must be eating more than the lousy sandwiches they gave us.”

  Ava went through the pockets of the first agent. Alex yanked an earpiece off the other agent, jamming it into his ear.

  “Got it,” she said, holding up a key card. She consulted it. “Thanks…Elliot.”

  “What about those?” Alex looked at the first agent’s sidearm.

  They both stared, not knowing what to do.

  It was Ava who finally spoke. “Take it.”

  “Really?”

  She nodded. “We’re going to have to do some shooting, Alex.”

  He looked at her. “I’m not—”

  “I meant the cameras.”

  He took the gun, and she slammed the door behind them.

  They were down the hall and at the elevator within twelve seconds. Alex was about to push the button, but Ava grabbed his hand, pointing to her ear.

  They’re on the way.

  Alex nodded.

  Ava pushed open the door to the stairs, directly across the hall. She paused. “Now you take left; I’ll take right.”

  He grinned.

  On the way up, Ava learned three things about herself.

  One, she now knew how to disengage a Glock with a drop kick to the wrist. It was a handy skill for this specific circumstance.

  Two, she now had a highly developed instinct for avoiding mounted surveillance cameras, even before she and Alex had a chance to shoot them out.

  Three, she now knew how to drive a motorboat.

  Which she did, all the way to a slip marina halfway to Manhattan.

  Tony Stark was right.
Being entangled with Natasha Romanoff was not going to be a small thing. That twenty-five-foot jump had only been the beginning.

  S.H.I.E.L.D. EYES ONLY

  CLEARANCE LEVEL X

  LINE-OF-DUTY DEATH [LODD] INVESTIGATION

  REF: S.H.I.E.L.D. CASE 121A415

  AGENT IN COMMAND [AIC]: PHILLIP COULSON

  RE: AGENT NATASHA ROMANOFF A.K.A. BLACK WIDOW, A.K.A. NATASHA ROMANOVA

  TRANSCRIPT: DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE, LODD INQUIRY HEARINGS.

  DOD: Hold up. To be perfectly clear, our two civilian minors have now escaped not only half of that storied global peacekeeping force known as the Avengers Initiative, but also the balance of base security at a S.H.I.E.L.D. Triskeleon?

  ROMANOFF: Everyone has an off night, sir.

  DOD: Off? Where were you in all this, Agent Romanoff? Off the planet?

  ROMANOFF: Stark and I were still focused on trying to sever the Quantum connection, back in the lab.

  DOD: So you put your own discomfort over the needs of national security?

  ROMANOFF: That “discomfort” was itself a breach of every security protocol S.H.I.E.L.D. has ever put in place, sir.

  DOD: Because this QE business gave that girl access to your classified brain?

  ROMANOFF: Because this QE business gave her the tools to take out twenty-two highly trained operatives on eleven floors beneath the East River.

  DOD: So she became the priority?

  ROMANOFF: She always was, sir.

  LONG ISLAND CITY CABSTAND

  QUEENS, NEW YORK

  It was the early hours of the morning when the taxi rattled up to a deserted Long Island City cabstand. There wasn’t enough gas or gumption to get them all the way to JFK by boat, so Alex and Ava waited on a nearby concrete curb, huddling together for warmth.

  The front passenger window rolled down.

  “You’ve lost your mind,” Oksana said, staring out at them from the front seat of the battered yellow cab. “Why am I not surprised? I feel like I should be more surprised.”

  Ava yanked open the door and slid into the back. Alex followed on the other side. Ava leaned forward. “Did you bring it?”