Under Lock and Key

by ChocolateXMyMouth

Summary:

She has her secrets.

But her most recent one may be the worst one of them all... and Ultron just casually dropped it in front of her, stomped on it, and set it ablaze.

Pretty shitty weekend.

Notes:

While this will absolutely have a happy ending... I'm gonna indulge a bit in the whump. <3

(Natasha is my favorite character btw. Its why I wrote this fic. :))

Chapter 1

She wakes up in an unfamiliar location.

Not an unfamiliar setting - the ground is cold and ungiving, rock solid. Many nights have been spent like this previously. What scares her is the sounds of whirring, engines humming with life, metal breathing like man…

And the machine before her.

He terrifies all who know of his existence…

He terrifies her.

“I wasn’t sure you’d wake up,” Ultron says coolly, tending to some contraption on a metal bed. “I hoped you would; I wanted to show you. I don’t… have anyone else.”

For the briefest, fleeting moment, she pities him.

He’s sad. Confused. He may even be in pain.

But that instantly goes away when she’s reminded of what atrocities he wishes to commit across the globe. Insane may be like all others in some aspects, but they are still insane.

“I think a lot about meteors,” he said. “The beauty in them… boom! The end, start again - the world made clean… for a new man to rebuild. I was meant to be them… I was meant to be beautiful.”

Tony really needs to get his shit together…

“They’ll come for you,” she mutters, barely even audible.

He doesn’t hear her, for he continues uninterrupted. “The world would have looked to the skies and seen hope; seen mercy. Instead, they’ll look up in horror, because of you.”

He then chuckles, stepping closer to her.

“T-They’ll… they’ll-”

“They’ll what?” Ultron says, shrugging. “Wound me? You’ve already done that, for which I give full marks. But, like the man said, what doesn’t kill me-”

A hand ripped through the robot’s head, turning it to molten steel with the friction sending sparks through the air.

Natasha scurries back in surprise and fear, but instead of landing in the room behind her, she crashes into the wall next to it, clashing her back against the brick with a much too high speed. She winces in pain, even a small whimper escaping her lips out of pure fear.

She doesn’t want to feel this way.

Not at all.

No one would.

But possibly looking death in the eye would extinguish life from anyone else.

Just being fearful was about the best she could do right now.

A new Ultron appeared above the corpse of the old, easily a foot taller and much more powerful with a glance alone to prove. “Just makes me stronger.”

“They’ll come for you,” she finally manages to get out.

Ultron smirks.

“Ahh, so that’s what you were going to say… sorry for interrupting earlier, but you kind of interrupted me first.”

Natasha tries to continue. “Y-You’ll be n-nothing but dust.”

“Oh, yeah? And then what?” Ultron asks. “You’ll get a good night’s sleep? You? Highly unlikely, whether or not I survive.”

“H-He’s going to find me,” she stammers.

“Who? Dr. Banner? Oh, don’t even get me started on that crap,” Ultron facepalms. “Look, I’ve been beating around the bush as to what your silly little planet deserves - but just this once, I’m going to be brutally honest. It’s high fucking time you realized that you don’t WANT him!!!”

Natasha was left breathless, yet gasping for air.

What was he…

“Look, I had access to every camera in Stark Tower when I first killed that unfortunately placed obstacle,” Ultron begins. “I could already see everything, but getting to know everything… That took a few more minutes. I knew the basics by the time your little shindig was over and everyone else had left. When it was just you and your little family.”

…No.

No, he didn’t know.

Did he? How could he?

“Your little dick-measuring contest with that hammer was pretty amusing, I’ll admit,” he chuckled. “Watching everyone fail… that little look you tried to support Dr. Banner with, my gosh, you really are pitiful.”

“Fuck you,” Natasha spat.

“Oh, I understand, just one second,” Ultron holds up his finger, before continuing. “I saw as well as anyone else - Captain Rogers moved that hammer. You were impressed… then I saw something new. Something not yet in my files.”

Please… she thought. Don’t say it…

“My first look at true human destruction,” he mutters. “…Heartbreak.”

Damn this piece of metal.

“You and I both needn’t pretend; we both know your resume,” he kneels down in front of her, their faces eerily close; it's almost like she can feel him breathing in front of her. “When you saw him budge, and then, of course, him refusing to display this open secret… you knew. You’d never have him.”

“W-What are you-”

“Shh, let me finish,” Ultron says, quiet and low. “You didn’t take it up after he did. Said it wasn’t a question you needed answered… because you knew. If he’s worthy, there’s no way in all of existence that you would ever be - of him. So, what did you do?”

Natasha remained silent.

“That wasn’t rhetoric,” Ultron whirred, his voice deepening. “Answer it.”

All she could do was shake her head.

Ultron sighs. “Fine, then I will - you settled for less. Took your cards and went to another table; sure, you had sown the seeds as a joke, but guess what? They still came to harvest. And your crops are bitter, Agent Romanoff… then again, so is that game you play called ‘love’.”

She finally forces herself back into that room, her entire being shaken to the core.

“For what it's worth, I do hope you get to apologize to them both,” Ultron says. “It's just… the thought of there being no loose ends when everything concludes… It soothes me.”

He hovers away to go tend to his machines of war…

She’s thankful.

Maybe her sobs will go unheard by that metallic monster.

Chapter 2

“Nat!”

Her head lifts up. “Bruce?”

The scientist appears in front of her prison cell doors, a look of relief and joy sweeping across his face. “You alright?”

She can’t really lie about that. “No, not really.”

He chuckles. “Yeah, don’t worry, you’re in good company. Team’s in the city, it’s about to light up.”

“We gonna get out of here?” she asks hopefully.

Bruce smirks, pulling out a massive blaster. “Yeah, we are.”

He takes the lock off of her door with ease, and the door swings open - but Natasha doesn’t budge.

“Come on, let’s go!” Bruce says urgently.

Natasha looked down at her boots… was now the best time? Were they even certain they’d be making it out of here alive?

If now wasn’t a good time, then when?

“I’m sorry,” she mutters.

Bruce tilts his head. “Hey, what? What’s that about? Come on, let-”

“Bruce, I led you down a path you never deserved to be taken down,” Natasha says, her eyes already threatening to brim with tears. “I… I gave you so many wrong signals. You deserved none of it. I just… I can’t be in love with you. I’m sorry. If we’re about to have our last stand, I… I didn’t want you to hate me.”

Bruce is quiet for a few seconds…

But then, he smiles.

“I’m sorry too,” he mutters. “That I didn’t let you down easier and sooner.”

Now, it’s Natasha’s turn to tilt her head. “What do you mean?”

“Nat, I’m aromantic asexual,” Bruce says. “I’ve always thought I leaned more towards that, but… I just didn’t know how to tell you without hurting you. It was actually… was actually whatever we had going on that… Well, it made me realize. That’s just… that’s not what I want from life.”

Natasha bit her lip.

“S-So you don’t hate me?” she asks softly.

“Gosh, no,” Bruce assures her. “You’re one of my dearest friends. I was more concerned about how I’d tell you I didn’t think we’d work out than if we would find you - I knew we would. But talking’s always the hard part, y’know?”

Natasha chuckled. “Well, I guess we both fucked up royally, huh?”

“Little bit,” Bruce smirks, pinching his fingers together.

“You still didn’t deserve what I put you through,” Natasha insisted. “If there’s anything, ever, that you need from me-”

“I know,” Bruce nodded. “And I’ve been hurt far worse by far worse. Nat, as far as I’m concerned, we’ll just sleep this off tomorrow morning. It’ll be something we can laugh at when Tony throws his next big party and gets one year closer to senile, hm?”

Natasha actually laughs at that one.

“I adore you,” she smiles.

He smiles back. “Me too.”

“But, I kinda need the other guy,” she mutters. “I hope he’s not mad at me.”

“Oh, never,” Bruce smiles. “Just might wanna hang on tight.”

Notes:

I apologize for the horrific shortness of this chapter BUT I have two reasons why I personally am proud of it:

1) Sometimes, a lot can be said with just a little bit of talking 🥰
2) Whedon could have fixed this in one scene
3) The city of Sokovia is crumbling

Chapter 3

“Up here vs. everyone down there? Steve, there’s no math there.”

“I’m not leaving this rock with one civilian on it.”

Gosh, that unwavering self-sacrificial nature inside of him… he’s a soldier, alright. It’s one of the many, long-winded list of reasons that she loves him so much…

And, well, right now…

Doesn’t look too likely that they’ll be going anywhere anytime soon.

“I didn’t say we should leave,” Natasha mutters.

Steve looked at her - a look mixing the emotions of pride, worry, and admiration. It made her feel good, at least.

She shrugs. “There’s worse ways to go.”

Steve chuckles. “Always the optimist, Nat. I’m proud of you.”

Is it the best time to do this?

No, but the thing is, there may not be another time to do this.

She sucks in a deep breath from the slowly thinning air - it's so much harder to do this when you’re five thousand feet above sea level and rising hundreds more feet every ten seconds. That, and there’s a bunch of ravenous murder bots out to get you.

But… she’s never been one for the “perfect time” way of doing things.

One more thin-air breath later, and she’s ready to speak.

“Steve… Ultron said some things to me,” she said, looking at him. “Made me… it made me think.”

Steve looks over at her. “I hope they were thoughts about how he’s wrong. Whatever he tried to convince you of, they’re not-”

“Steve,” Natasha says. “I-I don’t wanna interrupt, but… I need to tell you.”

He nods, encouraging her without a word to go on.

“I… I’ve been trying to hide it for so long,” she mutters, looking down at the shaking rocks beneath her. “And, well… seeing as there may not be another time… I don’t wanna wait any longer to tell you. And I’m so sorry for what I’m about to say.”

She wipes her eyes, from a combo of dust-encouraged and emotion-draining tears that threaten to fall.

“I think-no. I… I am in love with you.”

Steve’s expression isn’t visible to her. She’s not even able to look at him right now.

“I-I was fooling myself, trying to… trying to deny it, when I flirted with Bruce,” she says. “He didn’t deserve that. I should never have done that. Steve, we all saw that hammer budge - knowing you’re worthy… I thought that sealed the deal that I’d never be able to be yours. I’d pushed those feelings so far down… I-I thought they’d never come back up. I’m sor-”

She’s cut off by Steve putting his hand around her own.

She looks up, and somehow, he’s able to smile at her.

“I’ve known for a while. But… I’m never good with timing, honestly.”

Natasha’s breath escapes her in a gasp, so faint that the rockets lifting the city to Kingdom Come drown it out. Honestly, right now, Tony could be screaming his lungs out telling them to “get the fuck back to the rendezvous” or some other generic stuff.

She really couldn’t care less if that was the case.

Not right now.

Now…

It was a moment she thought would only appear in dreams destined to become nightmares.

“I’m sorry I never said anything,” Steve says, extending his arm - even with the weight of what’s happening on her, she finds it so easy to turn and put her other hand into his. “I should have. Really, I should - but… I just never got it down. And we’re all sinners, Nat. Potholes that, no matter how deep or wide, all look the same when looking down. And if you don’t think you’re worthy of love because of your past… then neither am I for my actions in the war.”

“Steve, those were-”

“Circumstantial? So were yours,” Steve rebuttals without effort. “You were conditioned. Groomed by disgusting humans who made you into what you call a ‘monster’, when you’re… you’re anything but, Nat. We’ve got a lot more in common than we wish to acknowledge - we both are scared about lifting ourselves too high.”

Natasha can’t help but chuckle.

How is he always right? About everything?

She looks over to the sky - the only way back is down… but this moment doesn’t really feel like it could get any better.

Well… actually…

“Can…” she began. “Can I… can I kiss you? Just in case, you know… we don’t-”

Steve interrupts her again.

Her lips are sealed shut by his own, with both of them hungering for a love once thought impossible. It’s kinda fun to do the impossible, when you think about it… especially when it comes to love.

Natasha still feels bent by what Ultron says, yes.

Her heart may never truly settle with what decisions she made.

But at least, if this truly is it, there’s peace that has blanketed her all over… and she knows, once and for all, that Steve loves her. Even if she feels undeserving, he clearly thinks the same about himself, for some reason.

It’s… nice.

“Oooh, hope I’m not interruptin’ anything.”

A familiar voice ruins the tender moment in the best way possible.

The skies are filled with friendly machine within seconds, and as Nat and Steve continue to hold each other, they can’t help but smile even wider - even when Pietro runs up and, somehow, ruins the moment more so than the Helicarrier.

“Fury, you son of a bitch,” Steve chuckles.

“Ooh, you kiss your lover with that mouth?” Fury remarks.

Natasha and Steve both blush, but they don’t separate.

Maybe this isn’t the end after all.

Sure doesn’t feel like it anymore.

Not when something else is just beginning.

Notes:

I hope you guys enjoyed the story!!! Comment/Kudos please? It would make my day <33333

Notes:

Comments/Kudos give me life!!! <3