Alex POV:
She's bleeding out on the ground. Someone so important to me, knocking on death's door. Because of me. This can't be happening.
My stomach drops. My hands won't stop shaking. Her breaths come shallow, wet, uneven. My head's screaming, but my body's frozen.
This is my fault.
I scramble closer, my knees slipping on her blood. It's warm. Sticky. It's on my hands. "Natasha, no, no, no…"
What can I do, what can I do?!?
Think, Alex, THINK.
First aid. She taught you this. She trusted you with this.
C.A.R.E. Cleanse, apply pressure, raise, and ensure effective treatment.
I don't have anything clean to cleanse the wound. Shit. Nothing clean to bandage with, nothing to press down on the wound with. The area is too big. Fuck. I guess I can raise it, but I can't find an effective treatment for a wound like that. Shibal.
My thoughts are racing, but they're not helping. All I see is her lying there because I lost control. I never even thought to examine what my passive ability would do.
I don't know what to do. What can I do?
A clink from my belt distracts me. Right. The potion.
My hands fumble for it. I carefully pour the liquid onto the wound.
Nothing happens.
[System-generated items can only be used by people connected to the system]
My chest caves in.
That was the last one.
Flashback:
In one fluid motion, he flicks his wrist.
Another knife sails through the air. I leap to the side to dodge it.
I feel a tug on my torso, and it turns out that the serrated blade of the dagger caught on my belt and ripped it clean off.
The leather slips, and I feel the vials tumble from my hip.
Clink, clink, crack.
Two shatter. One rolls under a crate. The last hangs uselessly, too far to reach.
"Oopsie-daisies!" Bullseye says with a giggle. "Dropped your little vitamins."
Flashback end:
I snap out of my sudden flashback.
I need to find it.
I expand my senses. I can feel, hear, smell, and see everything around me. Every breeze, every sway of the docks, every breath of Nat slowly getting more shallow-
Focus.
I close my eyes.
...Tink.
There. Under the rubble, 30 meters to my right. It's crazy how strong my senses are. It's almost to the level of observation haki.
I sprint over and quickly pull it out of the debris like a life depends on it. Because it does.
But then my stomach sinks again. Now what am I supposed to do with this? I can't even use it on her without her being connected to the system.
...Fuck.
Okay. Pros and cons.
The pros are that she's a capable fighter and a cannon character that has a lot of potential. She's also one of the only real people that I've met ever since landing here a year ago. I feel like I have a genuine connection with her, and I can trust her with my life.
The cons are that she's a god forsaken shield agent. If Shield finds out about my abilities, I'm being instantly locked up and, at best, being used as a buffer to train their soldiers, and at worst, being straight-up dissected.
Second, she's a spy. There is a possibility that everything I learnt about her in this life, our memories, our connections, was just a ruse. nothing more than a disposable mask.
...
...
...
Fuck, what am I even doing. wondering about some fuckass pros and cons when someone I deeply care about is bleeding out in front of me?
"What have I become?" My voice cracks.
Even if it ends up harming me in the long run, even if everything was fake, I can't let this happen. Even if it wasn't real for her, it was real to me. I can't let her die here.
I rush back over to her bleeding out form.
I drop to my knees next to her, shaking her shoulders gently. "Natasha! Stay with me! Please, just for a second, stay conscious!"
Her eyelids flutter. She's pale, sweat slick on her brow.
"Stay calm, okay? You're going to see something weird, like a hologram- just press confirm. Please. I can't lose you."
I open the party tab with trembling hands and send the invite.
Seconds crawl like hours. My chest tightens with each one. Then...
[DING!][Party Member Added: Natalia Alienova Romanoff]
[Name: Natalia Alienovna Romanova]
[Stats]
[Strength: C]
[Agility: B-]
[Durability: C-]
[Skills: Hand To Hand Combat (Passive), Master Spy (Passive)]
I quickly swipe away the tabs. I don't care about these right now.
"Nat. Listen to me. This will heal you. You have to swallow, okay? Please."
I pour half the potion down her throat, half over the wound.
The glow spreads, her wounds knitting slowly. Her pulse steadies under my fingers.
And only then, when the immediate danger passes, does my body finally register everything I've taken. The cuts, the coins, the knives. Every nerve is screaming.
My vision swims. The docks tilt sideways.
Sirens wail somewhere in the distance.And through the haze, I catch a faint thwip behind me.
Then, black.
-o-
24 hours later, Neds house, Alex POV.
My eyelids flutter open. My body feels refreshed. Must have been that hibernation passive-
Wait. What happened. The last thing I remember is...
Natasha. The Kids.
A sudden urge to protect overwhelms me, and I leap out of the makeshift bed that I was in.
I'm in Ned's living room. I think I've been sleeping on the bed for the last... How many hours? Days?
"Shit-" I mutter, stumbling through the hallway.
I stop at the door to Ned's room. There's a faint murmur from inside, something about installing the jet fuel engine or something.
I slam the door open.
CRASH.
The sound of plastic exploding fills the air. The LEGO Death Star detonates into a million pieces, bouncing off the carpet like tiny shrapnel.
Peter freezes mid-assembly, eyes wide. Ned's jaw drops. And on the bed-
Natasha. Sleeping.
Or at least she was.
She jerks upright instantly, instincts snapping into place faster than I can blink, her eyes lock onto me. No recognition, just calculation. Then, she darts around the room. Assessing. Measuring.
In one smooth motion, she grabs the nearest thing sharp, a broken piece of the LEGO Death Star, and yanks Ned into a headlock, pressing the jagged shard against his throat.
"WHO ARE YOU?!" she hisses, voice like a blade. "Where am I?"
Ned squeaks, both hands up, terrified. "I'm sorry for waking you up! Please don't kill me!"
"Nat! Stop! It's me!" I blurt out, hands raised. "You're safe! You're with me, it's Alex!"
Her eyes flick to me, narrow. There's a pause. One heartbeat. Two. Then Peter steps forward carefully, hands up in surrender.
"Miss secret agent," he says gently, voice calm but shaky. "It's okay. You're safe. W-we brought you here after the cops came. No one's gonna hurt you."
Her gaze lingers between us for a long second. Then she exhales sharply and releases Ned, who stumbles away like a freed hostage and immediately collapses to the floor. If the dark patch on his jeans was what I thought it was, I wasn't going to mention it.
The shard clatters from her hand. She looks around, piecing it together.
Her voice drops to a low but sharp murmur. "Explain."
(a/n Well, I decided to take a break from writing my uni apps to write a chapter after seeing so much positive feedback on the last one. Seriously. Thank you guys so much. Reading all of y'all's comments and replies brighten up my day. I actually wrote this and the next chapter as one, but it ended up being like a 3k word beast, so i kinda cut it in two, so expect another upload soon!)