Spider-Man: Duty and Loss Chapter 32: Ambush

Natasha walked out slowly from Avengers tower deep in thought. Just last night she had returned from a mission to free some hostages on a captured Shield vessel. Of course Fury wanted her to also extract some data off the ships computers while all that was going on.

Steve wasn't happy that he wasn't kept in the loop, but that was the job. There were certain advantages and disadvantages to being one of Fury's best agents. But that wasn't why she was deep in thought. There was something different about the last mission.

Call it the instincts she had developed over the years, or just a gut feeling, she didn't really care. Something about the last mission felt off, especially the leader of the STRIKE team, agent Rumlow. There was something about the way he assessed and interacted with both Steve and her.

She had kept her eyes on him during the mission, but nothing happened. But even now a small part of her was screaming that something was going to happen soon. After getting back and handing the data to Fury, Natasha came back to avengers' tower. Say what you will about Tony, his tower had world class security, enough to let her relax at night.

Now the morning, she made her way to meet up with Peter. Slowly lost in her thoughts she made it to the park by 8am. Slowing down as she finally came into sight of the bench he usually slept on, a disappointed look flashed through her eyes. He wasn't there.

Shifting the bag that was resting on her shoulder, she considered her options. She liked the tranquility of the area, but for right now she had no reason to stay and enjoy the sight, she had other things to worry about. Preparing to leave, her eyes scanned the area one last time.

Tapping her leg for a second after doing the check, she continued on her way forward and sat down on the bench. Placing her bag down next to her, she reached in and pulled out a sandwich that was wrapped up and went to reach back into the bag.

In one fluid motion she whipped out the gun prepared within and aimed at a person moving towards her. *Bang* The man fell to the ground still trying to reach for the gun secured to his side. Not wasting any time Natasha rolled to the side and aimed at one of the group that was now closing in fast.

*Bang* *Bang* *Bang* Bullets slammed into the bench she was sitting on as she rushed towards the big oak 4 meters away from her. It would give her enough room for cover. Behind her a group of men dressed in casual clothes aimed their guns as they tracked her retreating figure.

Using her quick agility she rushed to the oak without being hit. Finally given a small amount of time to breath she fired out 2 quick shots to make the people closing in back off. *Bang* *Crack* The tree was splintered through by the opposing fire but none hit her as she reduced her area of mass by crouching down.

Reaching into her back pocket she quickly reloaded and strained her ears. All she could hear was the soft crunch of their boots as they made their way closer, they weren't speaking to each other. Which showed how well trained they were. Either they didn't need to communicate, or they were using hand signals.

Either option wasn't something Natasha wanted right now. Reaching into her other back pocket she pulled out a small mirror that she used to peek around the corner. In the rush to find cover she couldn't assess properly how many were after her.

Shifting quietly and positioning the mirror she was able to make our 6 men closing in, with a standard formation. Before she could pull back the mirror one of them raised their gun and fired twice. *Bang* *Bang* the first just missed the mirror and the other hit it square flinging it out of her hand.

"Блядь" Swearing and reaching for her ankle, she pulled out one of her reserve weapons. Mentally calculating their positions and likely movement pattern Natasha slowed her heart rate down and prepared to kill these guys.

Bending down to pick up a small piece of the chipped bark, she threw it to the left. *Bang* A few shots where herd as she flung her right arm out of cover, before quickly pulling it back. *Bang* *Bang* More shots went out as they expected the distraction.

Bursting forth from the side she threw the bark, her eyes drifted to the nearest target and she unloaded on them. Rushing forwards 3 dropped to the ground fast. Not wanting to give themselves away, none of them wore body armour under their clothes and had no defenses.

By the time the 4th one dropped *Click* *Click* Natasha was out. Throwing her weapon away and grabbing one of the slowly slumping bodies as a body shield. She slipped her hands behind her back and grabbed two throwing knives.

Quickly flicking her wrists, the last two dropped to the ground dead, 2 knives in their heads. Looking at the surroundings to make sure there were no more around, she started to go over the people in front of her.

Using her experience she was able to tell that they had training, but there was nothing on them that showed who they were affiliated with. Their ethnicity was white, non-descript appearances, and store bought clothes, she would have to use shield resources to gain any clues.

Opening one of their mouths slightly, she noticed a small fake tooth that contained something. 'Probably cyanide or some other poison so they didn't talk' That narrowed down the list of organizations they might be working for, only a few of them still used this method.

Fishing out her phone Natasha quickly took photos of their faces before, making a call to Fury. After a few rings he didn't pick up, causing a small frown to form on her face. She was using the emergency number, seeing as she was just ambushed by a group of killers, which shouldn't happen.

Seeing that he wasn't going to pick up, she sent a small message with the pictures she had taken. Done with that, she went over to the bench and picked up her bag and sandwich. The frown on her face got worse as she looked at the empty bench in front of her.

Peter should still be asleep at this time and she wasn't sure if he had any other place to go. He should have been here at this time, but instead a group of killers ambushed her. It wasn't a good sign and made Natasha fear the worst.

Before she continued her train of thought her phone vibrated. *Beep* Looking down at the message Fury just sent, she frowned again. 'This has to do with the last mission?' 'What was in that data?' Sending one last glance at the empty bench she sent a message to shield, to get a cleanup team there ASAP.

She had to report back to Fury right away, she would have to check if he was ok later. Looking down at her watch, Shield would arrive in a few minutes. Finally Natasha moved to leave the park and head to Avengers tower. Her gear and a ride would arrive in 20 minutes.

'It looks like my instincts were right'

Chapter end