BW:F Chapter 26

Emil Blonsky sits in the cell when the door clangs open, looking a little rumpled but otherwise unharmed. Seven women in white dresses with flowers in their hair surround him. It looks like they were meditating or something.

“Oh dear,” he says. All eyes are wide. Nat is only a little out of breath. Chest heaving, her naked body is covered in grit and grime from tumbling through this facility, and a few close-range gunshots have left a healthy amount of blood spatter on his skin.

“Blonsky,” she says, leaning an RPK light machine gun on her shoulder.

Blonsky, at least, is staring at her face. The women all gaze at her dangling penis.

“Soul Mates, I presume,” she adds. “Let’s go.”

“Who are you again?” Blonsky asks, looking worried.

“I’m an Avenger.”

“Really?” He squints.

“Yes. And give me your clothes.”

“Well, all right. Suppose that’s the polite thing to do.” He gets to his feet and hurriedly pulls off his shirt. “Did Jennifer Walters send you?”

“She came with me, actually.”

“I knew she would,” Blonsky says warmly, handing the shirt over before starting on his pants.

“Why didn’t you protect yourself? You could’ve handled these guys,” Nat says, glancing over her shoulder at the hallway behind, littered with bodies.

“I promised Miss Walters that I wouldn’t, didn’t I? She did so much for me,” he says, pulling off his trousers. “I couldn’t betray her trust. Wouldn’t be right.”

Nat takes that in as she tightens Blonsky’s belt around her waist.

“Fair enough,” she says finally.

BLACK WIDOW

Osprey aircraft from SHIELD look a little out of place in the Madripoor sky.

Steve Rogers stands in full uniform in the scraggly meadow on the outskirts of Lowtown, where the secret entrance is.

“Secret underground Hydra lair,” he shouts to Nat as she approaches in her oversized clothes.

“Not anymore,” Nat calls back to him. It’s a graveyard now. Steve often frowns on killing, but Nat has noticed that he’s a little more laid back about it when it comes to Nazis.

SHIELD guards are rolling out a gurney with Viper on it; she’ll probably be headed for the Raft. More guards take Blonsky and the Soul Mates toward another Osprey. Everyone’s sweaty in the muggy night heat, and the Soul Mates keep throwing blushing, surreptitious glances at Nat. At least in Blonsky’s clothes, Nat doesn’t have to worry about anyone knowing her secret. She trusts Blonsky and the Soul Mates to keep it. Viper, on the other hand… something will have to be done about that.

“Any trouble in there?”

“Nothing I couldn’t handle,” Nat replies.

“Let’s get you home.”

“Not so fast, Cap,” Janet approaches, still wearing her Wasp suit. “Agent Romanov and I aren’t ready to leave. Go on without us.”

“If you’re worried that Hydra has more of a presence here, I’m happy to help,” he offers.

“We’ve got it from here,” Nat says, picking up on what Janet is getting at. “Get these people home, Rogers.”

He hesitates, then smiles and nods. “Yes, Ma’am.”