Black Widow: Red Vengeance (A Marvel YA Novel)

by Margaret Stohl

  Ava faltered. “What about you?”

  “I can take care of myself. Go—” Natasha hissed. She could already see the dark silhouettes moving toward the edge of the clearing.

  “Slyshal chto?” Hear that?

  “Do svidaniya—” Ava said, looking back at Natasha. Good-bye.

  Then she took off running.

  BOOM—

  She didn’t look back, and Natasha didn’t want her to.

  Not even when Natasha assumed blast position—diving into a tangle of green, expertly angling her boots to absorb the firepower as she landed—not when the heat and the smoke and shrapnel overtook them both—not when the shocked, shouting Russian grew louder—

  Not when the first boom ignited the next—

  BOO-OOM!

  S.H.I.E.L.D. EYES ONLY

  CLEARANCE LEVEL X

  SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES & INDIVIDUALS (SCI) INVESTIGATION

  AGENT IN COMMAND (AIC): PHILLIP COULSON

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

  A.K.A. NATASHA ROMANOVA

  AAA HEARING TRANSCRIPT

  CC: DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE, SCI INQUIRY

  COULSON: Cutting it a little close, weren’t you?

  ROMANOFF: Seeing is believing, Phil. I wanted them to see enough to cross us off.

  COULSON: So you blew yourself up?

  ROMANOFF: That was the general plan.

  COULSON: Great plan.

  ROMANOFF: Everyone’s a critic. It was better than Plan B, which was “get shot.”

  COULSON: You could have called for backup.

  ROMANOFF: The area was a total dead zone. They were jamming the signal. Even if the base at Manaus hadn’t been decommissioned, there was no way to get word to anyone.

  COULSON: You call it in. That’s how the protocol goes, Agent Romanoff.

  ROMANOFF: Sometimes the protocol is staying alive.

  COULSON: But for how long?

  ROMANOFF: This is the job. Things happen. You think I didn’t know that?

  COULSON: You’ve lost one person in your life. You didn’t want to lose another.

  ROMANOFF: I was doing the best that I could.

  COULSON: Listening to this, I’m not so sure.

  ROMANOFF: Is this an investigation or a lecture, Agent?

  COULSON: Both, that’s sort of my specialty.

  ROMANOFF: You say that, but I’m not really feeling all that special.

  COULSON: You’ll get there. Keep talking.

  DEEP IN THE RAIN FORESTS OF

  THE AMAZÔNIA LEGAL, BRAZIL

  ONE HUNDRED KILOMETERS

  SOUTHWEST OF MANAUS

  Ava limped up the twisting jungle trail. She was a mess—wearing one boot, a dirty T-shirt, and no jacket. If the mosquitoes were eating her alive now, she didn’t know and didn’t care. PropX 101: Field Experience. A+. She’d like to see anyone else in her class take on these particular games.

  Or not.

  Once she was safely over the ridge from the blast site, Ava squeezed her eyes shut, feeling her way toward the Quantum link she shared with Natasha, the place where their minds connected.

  Show me. Where are you, sestra?

  Her mind was full of static—she was still reeling. She could only catch a momentary glimpse of Natasha, low crawling through the mud on her belly, but it was enough.

  There. Thank God. You’re alive.

  Ava focused again, this time catching the feel of damp earth oozing between Natasha’s fingers, creeping down the front of her undershirt as she dragged herself forward.

  So she’s on the move.

  She caught one last glimpse of Natasha just as the uneven ground beneath the agent crested, sending her rolling down a sloping jungle hill.

  Ava could feel Natasha giving up, letting herself fall, bumping over twisted roots and rocks, and when Ava opened her eyes again—

  There Natasha was, well within sight of the trail Ava had cut into the jungle undergrowth on her way to the riverbank that morning.

  Sestra—

  Ava was at Natasha’s side before Natasha could open her eyes, before she made a sound. Now that they were out of earshot from the bewildered Russians, and the ringing ordnance was just starting to fade from their eardrums, the adrenaline began to recede. Suddenly all that was left was the panic. Natasha was hurt, and Ava had to step up, whether or not she was trained for it, and whether or not she knew what she was doing….

  Basic first aid. I’ve got this. Field medics. I remember that unit.

  “Come on.” Ava bent over Natasha, dragging her to the side of the trail where they both could rest under the shaded cover of a banana tree. “Oomph. You know, you’re deceptively heavy for an Avenger. I thought you people were supposed to be in fighting shape or whatever.”

  “Bruce is heavier,” Natasha said, her eyes still shut.

  “Tony in his robo suit,” Ava said. “Wouldn’t want to be dragging the junk in his trunk around right now.”

  “Probably could have used Tony in his robo suit back there.” Natasha coughed, opening her eyes. Her mouth was bruised and bloody.

  “Now you’re going to admit that?”

  “It’s fine,” Natasha grunted, but it looked to Ava like it was still hard for her to speak. “I didn’t know what Tony had put in that thing, and I underestimated the fireball. It happens. I’ll be fine.”

  “You better be,” Ava said fiercely.

  “Really.” Natasha sat back against a rock and brushed the mud from the front of her own filthy black tank. It made no difference. “I’m peachy.” She felt her forehead, wincing. When she lowered her fingers, they were bloody.

  “What? You are seriously screwed up,” Ava said, sitting down next to her.

  “Hey, I’m not going to say that was perfect, but it got the job done.” Natasha wiped her bloody hand on her pants. “In fact, I’d classify that as your basic unscrew-it-up operations hack.”

  “You think?” Ava stared at her pointedly, then looked away. “If that was one of your better experiences in the field, remind me to start carrying around a body bag for you.”

  Natasha laughed, closing her eyes. “I feel like crap.”

  “You look like crap,” Ava agreed. Then she sniffed. “And you smell like barbecue.”

  “That’s my skin you’re smelling. Maybe my hair. I did get pretty smoked,” Natasha said.

  “Excellent. I think I’m going to be sick.”

  “I’ve seen worse,” Natasha said. “Felt worse, too.”

  “Why is that not a surprise?” Ava sighed.

  Natasha shrugged. “I could maybe use a shower.”

  “You think? The smell right now is killing me.”

  “Bad? I can’t smell it. I think I burned off whatever part of your nose does the smelling,” Natasha said.

  “I wish you didn’t have to be such a freaking super hero all the time,” Ava said, pulling her damp T-shirt over her head. She dropped it on the ground next to her, whipping out one blue-lit blade and slicing the fabric in half.

  “It’s a habit.” Natasha leaned back against the rock behind her.

  “I’m starting to get that.” Ava wrapped the makeshift bandage around Natasha’s head, blotting the gash at her temple. “Let’s just get you back to the chopper,” she said, standing up. She reached for Natasha’s arm. “Can you make it that far?”

  “Yeah. Really. I’m okay,” Natasha said, taking Ava’s hand and pulling herself up. She tried a few wobbly steps, by way of proof. “See? What about you?”

  “Me? I’m fine,” Ava said, tying the remnants of her shirt around her waist. Her tank undershirt was soaked all the way through with sweat and mud. “I just wish we could have followed them. They probably would have led us right back to the camp.” She sat down on a rock next to Natasha.

  Natasha looked at her slyly. “Yeah? Check this out.” She pulled out the ComPlex, tapping it twice. The network of bright blue lights reappeared on the translucent square. She dragged one finger alon
g the side, and a group of green blobs came into view. She pinched her fingers together and the image shrank until the river and the surrounding ridges of the basin came back into sight.

  “You’re tracking them? The Russians? How?” Ava squatted down in the mud next to Natasha to get a better look.

  “A little PropX bonus—Tango Tracker. That’s what Tony calls it, anyhow.” Natasha shook her head. “That thing is genius. It’s actually an old Russian intelligence trick from fifty years ago, spy dust. Now it’s Stark’s aerosolized way of marking anyone who shows up at a blast site after the fact. Seeing as it’s not usually the good guys hanging out at the scene of the crime.”

  “Incredible.” Ava stared at the plexi in disbelief.

  “Yeah, just don’t tell Tony that. I’m so tired of hearing about his Like Minds think tank, and his head is already big enough.”

  “No kidding,” Ava said.

  “But now for extra credit—” Natasha double-tapped on one of the green figures and a window popped up. Inside it, a sequence of unintelligible numbers scrolled by. “There. Bingo.”

  “What are the numbers?”

  “Me. Well, my DNA. So now we know the little green men have your boot.” Natasha watched the parade of glowing shapes. “With luck, they’ll think we blew ourselves up while trying to blow up them. Which, sadly, happens all the time.”

  “I know.”

  “From your munitions training?”

  Ava shook her head. “From movie night. Hurt Locker.”

  Natasha tried not to laugh. “Maybe I should have gone over your transcript a little more carefully before bringing you out into the field.”

  Ava’s eyes stayed on the green blobs. “How long will it last? The—spy dust.”

  “Hopefully long enough for us to go back to Rio, pick back up the signal, and move to aerial. Drone and sat surveillance. All things we can do from New York.”

  “Great.” Ava put her free hand on Natasha’s shoulder. “Now let’s get you back to the chopper. Do you think you’ll be okay to fly, all banged up like that?”

  “Yeah.” Natasha held on to Ava’s arm and pulled herself to her feet. “And don’t worry. We’ll get Five Eyes on it.”

  “Five Eyes?” Ava stooped to pick up Natasha’s pack and slung it over her shoulder, in addition to her own.

  “Didn’t get to that one yet? Five Eyes. U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia, New Zealand. We move to electronic eyes, pull out, and then we can SWOT this black bag when we get home.” Natasha leaned on Ava, and they started back in the direction of the chopper.

  Ava frowned. “SWOT? Like a SWAT team?”

  “What, are you kidding me?” Natasha pretended to look shocked. “S-W-O-T. Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats. Threat Assessment 101. You should have gotten that one on your first day of school. Right up there with the ‘Who I Ganked on My Summer Vacation’ essay.”

  “Ouch,” Ava said. As they kept moving, she watched the ComPlex in her hand. “I don’t know. It all looks pretty grim to me.”

  “Why?” Natasha asked. She sounded tired.

  Ava shook her head. “It doesn’t matter now.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because. You’re hurt and we should go.”

  Natasha rolled her eyes. “Oh, please. I’ve eaten chili dogs that have hurt worse than this.”

  “Must have been quite a chili dog.”

  “Chili German shepherd.” Natasha smirked.

  “Ah, I see. You just have to blow her up, then she makes jokes.” Ava smiled, but she kept going. “Let’s go. We’ll leave it to five guys or five eyes or whatever. Just tell me one thing.”

  “Okay,” Natasha said, stopping on the trail. “What?”

  “I was just wondering.” Ava hesitated. Then she handed over the ComPlex. “What’s your take on the purple rain?”

  “The Prince album?”

  Ava pointed. “On the map. What does the purple rain stuff mean?”

  “Radiation. Why?” Natasha looked down at the plexi and slowly answered her own question. “Because our glowing green friends are headed into a massive purple blast zone.”

  “It’s getting brighter. What does that mean?”

  “Der’mo—” Natasha studied the map. “It means we need to turn around.” When she finally looked up, her eyes were serious. “Five minutes. We find their camp. Then we get in, we get eyes on, and we get out.”

  “You sure?” Ava asked.

  “Sure enough.” Natasha grabbed her pack back from Ava. “We can’t walk away, not now. Not from that much radiation. I have to get close enough to see how bad it gets.”

  “Okay. Five minutes,” Ava said as they headed off in the direction of the shifting green blobs and the pulsing purple stain.

  How much is that much radiation?

  It didn’t matter.

  They were going to find the camp, maybe even some answers.

  Ava told herself she should feel relieved. She told herself she should feel excited. Ready for action, at least.

  All she could feel was scared.

  S.H.I.E.L.D. EYES ONLY

  CLEARANCE LEVEL X

  SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES & INDIVIDUALS (SCI) INVESTIGATION

  AGENT IN COMMAND (AIC): PHILLIP COULSON

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

  A.K.A. NATASHA ROMANOVA

  AAA HEARING TRANSCRIPT

  CC: DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE, SCI INQUIRY

  COULSON: Who I Ganked on My Summer Vacation? That’s your idea of a pep talk?

  ROMANOFF: I was building bridges.

  COULSON: A bridge to an Amazonian firefight, for all you knew.

  ROMANOFF: What was I supposed to do? Walk away? The place was off-the-charts radioactive.

  COULSON: Yes. Emphatically, yes. You were supposed to walk away.

  ROMANOFF: That wasn’t how it played out this time.

  COULSON: Oh, believe me, I know. So do the joint chiefs, the D.O.D., and the Oval. Probably also the Kremlin and—should I keep going?

  ROMANOFF: Should I keep talking?

  COULSON: Are we going to cross the bridge?

  ROMANOFF: Sometimes the only way out is through.

  COULSON: I hate that saying. There’s never only one way out.

  ROMANOFF: Unless you’re on a bridge, Coulson.

  DEEP IN THE RAIN FORESTS OF

  THE AMAZÔNIA LEGAL, BRAZIL

  ONE HUNDRED KILOMETERS

  SOUTHWEST OF MANAUS

  Fifty-five minutes later, the two Widows were still hidden in the thick tropical growth, a hundred meters out from where the green blobs now amassed, with eyes on what looked like some kind of World War II–era military depot—two stories of corroded steel, half overtaken by the jungle itself.

  Veraport. That has to be it. At least, the local version.

  Her head throbbed and her shoulder was probably dislocated, but somewhere beyond the pain it occurred to Natasha that she was impressed. Even with a spotter, she had to look twice before she noticed the sandbags built up by the building’s doors and corners, where the mounted guns stood. The hired guns on overwatch, hidden in the ravine above. The perimeter of newly dug earth surrounding the structure, probably mined with antipersonnel explosives. Thick vines grew over every inch of the corrugated tin-looking rooftop; if Natasha and Ava hadn’t watched with their own eyes as the Russian sniper patrol came sliding back through some sort of camo-draped loading dock, they might not have noticed it at all.

  It wasn’t an amateur operation, Natasha knew.

  That was the problem.

  You can’t take that kid in there. You shouldn’t even have her out here. She has no idea what she’s getting herself into, and you do.

  No matter what you think is in there—what you know is in there—this was the wrong move.

  Also? Coulson is going to kill you.

  Natasha pushed the thoughts off. There was no point. She couldn’t walk away now—even if she could hardly walk without limping.
>
  “Is that an airstrip? There’s something catching the light, over in the next clearing.” Ava pointed, and Natasha moved her spotter.

  “Looks like an old NATO hangar, probably from military salvage. It would make sense. There has to be a way in and out of here, probably by air—and they have to be hiding those birds somewhere.” Natasha handed Ava her spotter.

  “I can’t believe how well they’ve hidden it,” Ava said, looking through the double lens. “You’d never even know it was there.”

  But the digital footprint of the place was a different story. When Natasha took out the ComPlex, the pulsing purple circle that surrounded the blobby green figures on the screen of the sensitive instrument could not have been brighter.

  The nearer they had come to the depot, the more brilliant the violet aura had become. Now the whole thing’s lit up like New York City at Christmas, like Rockefeller Center, Natasha thought. Only not in a good way—

  “That has to be it,” Ava said, watching the plexi screen over her shoulder. “The source of our purple rain.”

  “I’m getting irregular gamma and neutron readings now. That’s too much radiation for it to be nothing.”

  And nothing about this is good.

  “What does that mean?” Ava looked somber. “Gamma what? What’s in there, exactly?”

  “We can’t know for sure until we get closer,” Natasha said. “You can measure plutonium and uranium at a great distance, but who knows how reinforced that structure is, with what kind of shielding. To get the full picture we need a much tighter range.”

  You shouldn’t even be telling her this.

  You know what all of this means, and it’s crazy.

  “How close?” Ava asked.

  “Ten meters. Basically, just outside that bunker—or better yet, just inside.”

  “That’s pretty close.” Ava looked back at the building.

  Natasha slid one map off the plexi, and another appeared in its place. “Forget the radiation for a second. Let me check the heat map—”

  It would help to know the odds.

  Before you get into direct action with a child.

  “Right. How many hostiles are we looking at in there?” Ava asked, trying not to sound nervous.