Despite her dismissal of the man, Natasha Romanoff knew that Tony Stark was, as he always was, right.
She had attacked the ruler of a sovereign nation, and a signer of the Sokovia Accords, based on flimsy reasoning. She would now be marked as a criminal. And like Tony had said, even he did not enough influence to deter a sovereign ruler. Certainly not for someone whom an appreciable percentage of the world did not actually know was an Avenger.
And with Tony, understandably, angry at her for letting Steve escape and leading to Rhodey's accident, he had no incentive to even try. But on the positive, given that Iron Man had bigger fish to try, he wasn't keeping an eye on her. Natasha had one rapidly closing window to escape into the wind and recent events had given her the perfect idea on how.
Taking inspiration from her codename and Steve's funny little recruit "Ant-Man", Natasha had surreptitiously helped herself to a vial of Pym Particles. With a little luck, she'd sneak out undetected, hide in someone's purse and then make her way to some forgotten plot of the Earth when the Particles wore off.
With a shrug and a smirk, Natasha closed her fist, feeling the capsule shatter and a sticky liquid seep into her palm. Before she could process it further, the world grew at an astonishing rate and she found herself much closer to the floor.
"It worked." Natasha laughed as she looked herself over. It was a good thing that her clothes had shrunk with her. While she had considered that her pale white skin would better blend in with the sterile floors, it wouldn't do her any good to suddenly grow back in her birthday suit. For all she knew, the particles might wear off in a public park.
But that belief was, as she would soon learn, quite wrong.
Everyone at SHIELD knew of the Pym Particle but had given it little practical thought given that it was a popularly known fact that the Particle's effects, without Hank Pym's technology, would only last for a few hours. Natasha had no way of knowing that this was a lie spread by Howard Stark, Hank Pym and Peggy Carter, all three keenly aware that shrinking down prisoners forever was a power that could be very easily abused. As such, the truth of the Particles was a closely kept secret, one that Natasha had not been trusted with.
Or to summarize, she'd shrunk herself without acquiring a way to grow herself back. But measuring herself against a ruler she'd set up, such a thought was far off from the fugitive agent's mind. And clocking in at 1.5 inches in height, she gave a small, very small, laugh that she was indeed the average height of a black widow spider.
Natasha was jolted from her musings when the door was forced open, agents swarming in to search for her. "Thank you boys." She smirked as she casually sauntered out through the open door and to freedom.
Natasha had barely taken ten steps before a giant foot slammed into her, sending her flying down the hall. Skidding on her tiny rear, she only just dodged the next one, thankful for her spy instincts as she pressed herself against the wall. Craning her neck up, she saw an endless stream of people the size of Stark Tower shooting past her. Their legs accomplishing in seconds what it would take hers hours to do.
Huh. Maybe that was the ticket.
Crouching low, Natasha waited for her moment before she bounded up and grabbed a passerby's shoelaces, ditching her unwitting transport for a new one whenever their paths diverged.
It was one of the most physically demanding and humiliating things that Natasha had had to do in her career but she eventually made it down to the lobby.
And as Natasha sat herself down in the shadow of a potted plant while catching her breath, she realized that she maybe could have shrunk herself in the lobby. And maybe she shouldn't have gotten so caught up in the joke of being the size of an actual black widow. She'd probably have gotten along just as well if she were three inches tall.
Natasha shook away these thoughts as she stood up. What she needed now was to find someone with more money than brains, hitch a ride on them, and wait until she grew back to normal to use their computers.
She was so focused on scoping out her targets that she didn't notice the giant pair of fingers descending down towards her until it was too late. As she was hoisted upwards, Natasha saw that the fingers belonged to __
1) An unamused Maria Hill. Having been called in to arrest her former subordinate, Maria decides to elect herself as Nat's jailer, shoving the shrunken Russian down the back of her pants.
2) A smug and satisfied Ayo. Deciding that the Dora Milaje's prisons will not be torturous enough, Ayo decides to gift Natasha to Shuri's research.
3) Hope van Dyne. Having come to collect the Ant-Man suit, Hope quickly detected the errant Pym Particle signature. Hope decides to gift Natasha to Cassie but it's an eleven-hour flight back to San Francisco can bunk in Hope's ample bosom.
4) Sharon Carter, who simply donned a wig to sneak out. All too happy to help Natasha escape as well, Sharon sticks the shrunken super spy down her boot.
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