THE SOUND OF A VIOLENT BUZZING WAKES ACE up from her peaceful slumber. "Romanoff." Murmured the redhead beside Ace. Ace sat up and watched as Natasha's face grew somber. "Really?" She asks and Ace looks at Natasha, waiting to be informed of what's going on. Suddenly, without a single word, Natasha hopped up off of the bed.

She began putting on her shoes, "What's going on?" Ace asks and Natasha doesn't answer as she walks out of the room. Ace pushes the blanket back and sits on the edge of the bed as Nat walks back and forth past the doorway. "What? Are we not talkin' anymore?" Ace yells and Natasha just mumbles something under her breath. 

Ace walks up to the doorway and grabs Natasha's upper arm. Nat's eyes are wide with something Ace has never seen in Black Widow's eyes. Fear? Unease? 

"Let me go－" Ace drops Natasha's arm and stares at Nat's eyes. 

"What the hell is wrong?!" 

Natasha walks into the room, bumping her shoulder on Ace's. "I've been called in, Avengers stuff." Nat attaches her Widow Bites dispenser onto her wrists. "I should be back soon..." Ace hears the uncertainty in Natasha's voice.

"But why does it sound like you aren't coming back then?" Natasha doesn't reply as she walks out of the house. Ace realizes that she hadn't been speaking to Nattie, she'd just met Black Widow for the second time. 

ACE GLANCED TO HER RIGHT, MORE MEN CIRCLED HER as she crouched in a defensive pose. It's been one day short of a week since Natasha left and since then Ace has been in... fourteen fights? Possibly twenty, she lost count after the tenth fight. Ace didn't understand why her luck was running dry during this particular fight, but she came here to bust some skulls.

There were three men to her left, four on her right, and two in front of her. She doesn't notice the four men just around the way in the other alley, waiting.

She saw something flash and noticed a bullet, she ran out of her mini explosive bullets a couple of days ago and hasn't taken the time to make more. As soon as Ace made a move, the men advanced on her. She pushed herself off the ground as high as she could and brought her fist down on one man's head.

He stumbles and pulls two guys down with him, three down... six more.

Ace grabs the crowbar in the man's hand and hits himself in the throat with it and when another tries to grab her, she ducks under his legs then attached one of the Widows Bites she stole from Natasha to his inner thigh. Four more. Ace kicked her leg out behind her and punched another guy in front of her. 

Two more. Ace spun in the air like a ballerina and swung her foot into the man's jaw, he dropped like a dead fish. Ace landed on the ground in the same crouch she was in when the fight began. Ace froze when the feeling of a gun pressed against the back of her neck pushed her toward the ground. The two men that the first one pulled down, stand up and brush themselves off.

Now is when Ace sees the other four men. Leaving her against seven, but something seems off. She usually sees everything... what changed? Ace hears the rev of a bike engine before she sees the light and when she does, she looks up with a smirk. "Oh, you guys are so screwed!" She cackles and the man presses the gun against her neck even harder.

Ace closes her eyes and begins counting down from five. "One." Ace whispers.

NATASHA, IN ALL BLACK, BLENDS INTO THE shadows as she shines her bright headlight into all of the men's faces. She uses their disorientation to get behind them and take them down. Natasha grabs the knife from the man's belt and slashes his throat with it just enough to warn him. Next, she uses the butt of the knife to hit him in the face.

"Two."

Natasha runs at the next guy and does the classic Black Widow move. Wrapping her legs around his head and twisting, Natasha pushes herself off the ground and punches a man in the same motion. "Get her!" Someone yells. A grunt of pain sounds in the alley as Natasha hits her forehead against another.

"Three."

A man reaches his hand out to stab Natasha but she catches his arm, twists the knife out of it and kicks him back with ease. A man grabs her neck and she flips to the side, knocking him down in the process. Natasha punches him in the face and he's out cold. 

"Four." 

Natasha rushes at the last man who has his gun against Ace's pale neck. She springs into the air and uses all of her body to thrust him over Ace's body. He lands on his back and begins crawling away from Natasha in fear. All he can see is the outline of her red hair and the black suit. She looks like Death Herself. Nat hops over Ace and straddles the man, punching him far more times than needed.

"Five."

ACE STOOD UP STRAIGHT AND WATCHED AS NATASHA brutally punched the man over and over. Ace was grateful, but if it weren't for Natasha, then Ace wouldn't even need the help. "Why the hell did you come back?" Natasha stopped her attack and in a fluid motion, stood up. 

Nat shrugs, "I said I would be back... and what else do I find, but Ace fighting thirteen men?" Ace rolls her eyes, still remembering how cold Natasha was.

"I didn't mean now－" Ace sighs loudly, "－I meant in general. Why keep coming back? I don't understand your internal need to try and correct me－" Natasha cut Ace off and with a voice, the quietest Ace has ever heard Nat speak, Natasha speaks.

Natasha closes and opens her fist, "I－ I don't know okay－" Ace groans and grabs her head in irritation.

"I am so sick of your 'I don't know' line! Well, fucking figure it out! You already know how I feel and I just want to know how you feel! I've never risked myself like this before! So－ until you fucking don't not know －leave me the hell alone. You're the reason I keep almost dying anyways. My luck wasn't faulty until I met you, Widow." With that, Ace is gone.

Slipping into the shadows without another word as Natasha clutches the necklace in her hand. Natasha looks down at the red gem and sighs, wondering what Ace really meant. Ace couldn't have meant all that... could she? 

Author's Note:

Ah shucks, I'm sad... tings are gonna get hecking sad :(