Marvel Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3
Natasha Romanoff x Black fem!Reader
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
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PREVIOUSLY ON THE GIRL OF EMBERS
The Hydra footage froze on your face — 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 weren’t searching for rescue.
You weren’t searching for connection.
You weren’t searching for the Avengers.
You were hunting the man who locked the shock collar around your throat — 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 collar’s signal had dropped by 40%.
Hydra was losing control.
Meanwhile, deep in the snow‑covered forest, you moved like a ghost — 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 — six heartbeats, six intentions. One stood out: Natasha Romanoff. Familiar in a way you didn’t like.
But she wasn’t 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.
Snow hissed when it hit your skin.
It always did — 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 mid‑step.
Her hand hovered near her thigh holster, but she didn’t draw.
Behind her, Hydra agents crashed through the trees, shouting orders you’d stopped giving a damn about years ago.
Behind you, more agents emerged, weapons raised, collars ready.
And in the middle of it all — you and Natasha, staring at each other like two predators who’d accidentally walked into the same crime scene.
One heartbeat of silence.
Natasha moved like a blade — 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 — and melted mid‑air, turning to steam with a soft pop. Another ricocheted off the heat shimmer around you.
She’s not blocking them. She’s not dodging. They’re just… dying in the air.
You weren’t here to be understood.
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Steve heard the gunfire before the comms crackled.
He exchanged a look with Sam and Clint. Sam’s wings flared. Clint already had an arrow nocked.
They sprinted through the trees, snow kicking up behind them. Steve’s instincts screamed that something was wrong — not Hydra wrong, not ambush wrong.
And when the first wave of heat rolled through the forest, Steve stumbled.
Steve steadied himself. “That wasn’t an explosion.”
No — it felt like a heartbeat.
A pissed-off tension in the air
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Bruce froze mid‑step as the ground trembled beneath him.
Wanda looked up sharply. “That wasn’t seismic.”
Bruce swallowed. “No. That was… her.”
He didn’t like the way Natasha had sounded earlier. He didn’t like the way she’d looked at the footage. He didn’t like the way she’d walked into the trees like she was following a ghost she already knew.
And he really didn’t like the way the heat spike made his pulse jump.
“Natasha’s in the clearing,” Wanda said quietly.
Bruce didn’t need his powers to know that.
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Tony hovered above the treeline, HUD flashing warnings.
“Temperature spike detected. Rising. Rising. Rising—”
“Yeah, no kidding,” Tony muttered. “Romanoff, talk to me.”
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. “Well… that’s not ominous at all.”
Natasha was standing ten feet away from you, hands open, calm but coiled.
Tony swore under his breath.
“Oh shit, that’s bad. That’s really fucking bad.”
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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 fu—
A voice crackled through a Hydra comm.
“Subject is in the clearing. Hold position. The Handler is en route.”
Natasha heard it too. Her head snapped toward the sound, eyes flicking between you and the Hydra agents like she was assembling a puzzle mid‑battle.
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.
“Hey—” she said, voice low, steady, like she was talking to a cornered animal. “You don’t have to—”
You growled — a low, instinctive sound you hadn’t made since you were a child learning to shape fire.
“I’m not here for you,” you snapped.
Natasha’s eyes softened. “I know.”
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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 didn’t 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, “That’s her.”
Clint whispered, “No shit.”
Steve whispered, “Natasha, step back.”
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A branch snapped behind you.
Both you and Natasha spun.
And there — stepping into the clearing with a tranquilizer rifle and a smile carved from cruelty —
Tony dropped from the sky.
And the snow beneath your feet melted in a perfect circle as you whispered:
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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 open— I enjoy them.<3
