FINALLY I'VE GOTTEN TO DOWNLOADING A NEW CHAPTER. I'VE BEEN ON THE LOOKOUT FOR SOME REALLY GOOD BLACK WIDOW FAN FICTIONS LATELY IF YOU KNOW ANY I WOULD REALLY APPRECIATE IF YOU WOULD COMMENT THE AUTHOR AND TITLE BELOW :-D

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CHAPTER 9 

"I ran

I ran so far away
I just ran
I ran all night and day

I walked along the avenue
I never thought I'd meet someone like you
Meet someone like you
Reached out a hand to touch your face
You're slowly disappearing from my view
From my view"  I Ran by Hidden Citizens 

LOCATION: NATASHA'S SAFE HOUSE

Natasha's POV

The lumpy mattress beneath me was an unpleasant reminder that I wasn't at my own apartment which I suppose I could refer to it as home. 

The smell of burning was overwhelming it lingered on my hair and skin,

 I don't know what's worse that I burnt private property down to the ground or that I enlisted the help of Gotham's most wanted in-law,

 <I really wasn't getting off to a great start in my first week back in Gotham.>

 I look at the alarm clock that sat on the old bedside table it read in florescent green writing 6:42am,

 I knew that trying to get back to sleep was pointless so I head straight for the shower it wasn't as pleasant as my one at home but staying filthy obviously wasn't an option so I take my cold shower. 

Before I get in I check the news feed on my phone and although it briefly reported on the fire last night it barely covered any details 

<that's because it's being covered up> 

He knows it was me all I can do now is wait for Ras Al Ghul to find me but in the meantime I've got other problems this gang war for instance 

I still couldn't wrap my head around why Red hood saved Nightwing and myself it's frustrating that all I can do is wait to see how it unfolds 

<waiting is all I seem to be doing lately is waiting>

 I hated it but the next move on the chessboard is the enemy's. 

The water drops falling on my skin was a pleasant wake up call, out of the corner of my eye I see my phone light up as it receives an incoming message.

 I dry myself on a towel as I reach for my phone it was from Barbra the message read

 "We need to talk meet me at the Pancake Shack just around the corner from your safe house" 

I hope that Amanda wasn't driving her too crazy.

.-----------------------------.

I'm dressed and outside the door and down the street in 20 minutes flat.

 The establishment was very busy this early morning not that it surprised me any they did serve up the best pancakes in all of Gotham City,

 I immediately spot 3 familiar faces sitting in a booth in the back corner, what was Dick doing here? 

Dick was reading his menu intently 

"Come on Dick there's only like 7 options" Barbra rolls her eyes 

"Breakfast is no joke Babs" he seriously insists as he brings the menu closer to his face,

 I cough loudly to announce my presence drawing the attention of my friends,

 I wore my long red hair under a  black Gotham knights baseball cap, blue jeans and a navy blue shirt that was far too big for me, but very unrecognizable as the  infamous Black Widow 

"Morning uh Natalie" Amanda speaks up first,

 Barbra passes me a mug of delicious fresh coffee the taste was rich and smooth and it gave my brain cells a delightful wake up call. 

"What have you told her?" I ask Barbra who simply shrugs I look at Amanda who looks offended at my question

 "I don't want to know anything about your little Bat family I just want my life back" I drink back the hot coffee 

"Sorry that's not what I meant" although it kind of was 

"Did you hear about a huge fire down at Gotham Docks last night it started in a building owned by a 'friend' of yours Romanoff" Barbra asks looking at me and I wasn't going to lie to her 

"Yes I know I started it" I smile as all 3 faces look at me in horror and Dick begins to choke on his coffee so Amanda heavily slaps his back 

"What the fuck Romanoff" Barbra angrily whispers, 

Dick grabs Amanda's arm "Come on let's get some free refills"

 They hastily pick up everyone's empty mugs and the pair quickly jog over to the coffee refill station.

 I place my hand up to stop her as she pulls in a breath to give me a goddamn shouting at 

"I know what you're going to say but I've played this game for longer than you've been alive so just trust me Barbra I need you to trust me" I see the fight slide right out of her as she breathes out again

 "Ok I trust you, I suppose you have been doing this a lot longer than me" just her saying that took a massive ton of weight off my shoulders 

"No one got hurt I just hope that you know what you're doing" so do I Barbra Gordon I knew that I was playing with fire and I can take a few burns but let's hope that this flame doesn't become an inferno

"Actually that's not what I wanted to talk to you about" she confesses as she adjust her squarish glasses, 

I cross my arms and give her my full attention as she leans further out of my chair 

"What was going on with you and Bruce the other night I know tension when I see it" although I was not expecting that I have had this conversation before 

"Nothing we're just friends" although that was true, did I wish it wasn't?

 <ugh when it comes to Batman I get so confused> 

"Friends, but is that what you want?" wow it was almost like she could read my mind 

"Even if that was the case Bruce is in a relationship with Selina now and he's happy, that all that matters" 

I wish I could convince myself, if I could entertain that simple thought in my mind for one minute I might feel better,

But I can't, I notice Barbra's lips twitch in amusement

 "Well I wouldn't exactly call it a happy relationship"

 <hmm I wonder what that's supposed to mean> 

Even if that was true there's no guarantee that Bruce feels the same way, 

He hates killers could he ever truly love an ex-assassin?

 "I hear things you know Nat", she smiles at me like she knows something that I don't,

 I was very curious what the big secret was

 "What do you hear?" I ask her 

"Well Dick told me that Tim told him that Bruce told him that on his parents anniversary last year Bruce was going to tell you that he loved you"

 A breath catches in my throat as I remember that night at how he shared such a painful part of his life with me and I with him, 

Could it be true?

 I mentally slap myself, I was being selfish this wasn't my path, I brought nothing but death sort of goes with the title of Black Widow

 I refuse to let Bruce get hurt for the sake of something that could never be.

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LOCATION: GOTHAM 12AM(ish)

After a day of recuperation and rest I begin to feel much better

 I was pleased when Bruce called and asked if I wanted to go on Patrol tonight, it's been too long since we last had some time together, we just both have very busy lives Bruce with Selina, Tim and Wayne Corp and me with well it would take too long to name everything that seems to be happening in my life at the moment 

"And then Tim got so nervous about asking out this Stephanie girl that he faked having tonsillitis for two weeks just so he could avoid seeing her"

 I couldn't help but smirk every time I attempted to talk to Tim about this so-called girlfriend he always got tongue tied and anxious but give the kid a break it's his first relationship 

"He's a lot better now that you're back he looks up to you a lot he was heartbroken when you –uh I mean when I –"

 I put up my hand to stop him mid-sentence

 "All in the past", I assure him we all accepted some blame and we had to move on, Batman nods in agreement. 

Hours pass by and things seemed just as they were

 <I've got to stop thinking in the past this is the now>

 Suddenly a red light on the dash board of the Batmobile begins to urgently flash and the Batmobile makes an abrupt turn

 "What's wrong?" I asks him, since he looked worried as he silently gripped onto the steering wheel 

"That alarm means that something is wrong at Arkham, something very wrong". 

Arkham Asylum home to the criminally insane, there are reasons that the criminals in Gotham would rather plead sane and do their time in prison, because Arkham was where they sent the worst of the worst

Thieves, rapists, psychopaths and murderers and that was the least dangerous inmates. 

We're now half a mile away from the Asylum when we spot dark smoke rising into the thick black sky 

"This is going to get ugly" Batman softly mumbles as we reach the gloomy gothic architecture that was Arkham Asylum,

 Suddenly out of nowhere a deranged inmate wearing the standard Patient nightwear runs out into the road 

"Woah" I exclaim as Batman steps on to the break and steers the car to the left narrowly missing the lunatic, out of the corner of my eye I see him tackled to the floor by one of Arkham's security guards, 

As the vehicle finally comes to a neck breaking halt we both rush out of the car to help him but he seemed to have the situation in control 

"What happened?" Batman asks the security guard as he shakes a mountain of dust off of his uniform. 

The destruction around us was inconceivable almost like a tornado had swept through the Asylum everywhere I looked I saw there was chaos, SWAT teams searched nearby fields and tackled any inmates they saw 

<with aggressive vigour I might add> 

"Batman thank god you're here it was Black Mask and his men they set off a bomb in the central wing and began opening the solitary confinement cells"

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I don't have time to question the why, how or what right now but I have to take action 

Batman seems to agree with me when he runs straight behind me the priority has to be getting out the wounded so I head straight for the central wing the feeling of dread in the air was intense, but then again Arkham was home to some of the modern day's biggest monsters so it's no Disney Land. 

The grey and white tiled corridors seemed endless, like a labyrinth of maniacal laughter and flashing lights 

"Black Widow watch out!", Batman yells seconds too late because suddenly something huge hits me really hard my back hits the wall so hard that the plaster covering the wall breaks, 

I begin to feel double vision cloud my eyes, but I swiftly dodge another punch and regain my composure before I'm gator dinner as I look at the giant green reptile I'm greeted by a sinister hiss 

"I'm leaving freak neither of you are going to stop me". 

Killer croc is too dangerous to be let out

 "Not today croc", Batman says as Croc attacks him but Batman being Batman easily dodges the attack and wraps his line around the reptiles scaly feet and pulls with as much strength as he could muster, but it still didn't come close to having any effect on Croc so I throw a huge punch in his direction him to finally lose his balance. 

The heavy reptile crashes into the solid cement floor and immediately loses consciousness 

"Come on Widow that won't keep him down for long"

 Batman was right Killer Croc was an experience professional wrestler and no stranger to taking heavy hits.

 We both grab a rough scaly arm and begin to drag him in to one of the padded cells, 

The massive man/crocodile weighed a ton but he should be safely contained in here even just for a while, 

Batman pulls across the giant metal latch sealing the door tight

 "Let's keep moving", I suggest as we still had to reach the central wing where the most criminally insane criminals were kept.

 It occurred to me that this was the first time that I'd been back to Arkham since well everything that happened 

"Are you ok?" Batman asks, I could tell he was thinking the exact same thing that I was but I've learned to get over such emotions as regret, what was done was done after all 

"I'm fine" I unconvincingly assure him since he begins to shake his head 

"Natasha it's all in the past we need to let bye gones be bye gones a fresh start", a fresh start that sounds good to me, 

We keep running until we reach the eye of the storm but as we entered into the central wing everything fell silent and everyone turns to look at us and they weren't friendly faces.

 Batman begins to raise his fists in anticipation of a fight and it looks like he was going to get one.

A:> WOW I cannot wait to keep writing since over the summer my ideas were running a little dry but now I have all BRAND NEW IDEAS!!!!!!!!