Capítulo 518: Crossfire

The next morning.

Natasha was brushing her hair when she suddenly heard a knock on her bedroom door.

"Who is it?" she asked as she continued brushing her hair.

"It's me, are you ready to go yet?" asked Dom as he was outside.

"Give me five minutes." she said.

"Alright, see you in five minutes." replied Dom as he left and Natasha finished brushing her hair.

She looked at herself in the mirror and decided to tie her hair up with a scrunchie. Then she turned to her bed and put on her sneakers. She looked around the room and was silent. She seemed to be thinking about something.

Natasha walked to her closet as she brought out a little stool and moved her hands across the space of the top shelf and brought out a metal case.

She put the case on her bed and opened it, revealing her gun. She had moved it here a few weeks ago.

Natasha picked up her gun, contemplating whether or not to take it with her. She did not know why, but she had a bad feeling about this.

She had a really bad premonition about this funeral. For Romanoff to warn his daughter Jean not to attend his own funeral, it was clear that he had something really dangerous planned, and she definitely did not want to be caught in the crossfire.

But then again, this man mentioned her in a letter dedicated to her, and he specifically wanted her to be there in order to pay her 'final respects'. She was very, very worried, and she knew that she had to be realistic.

Natasha sighed as she put her gun back and hid it in her closet. There was no point bringing a firearm to a funeral. Even if something were to happen, she would be interrogated for bringing a weapon.

Natasha knew that she had to be very careful and very discreet. She could not risk raising any suspicion to herself.

Natasha walked out of her bedroom, down the stairs and out the front door. Dom was already in the car waiting for her when she got into the passenger's seat and buckled her seatbelt.

"Are you ready to leave?" asked Dom as he started the car.

"Mhmm, and I would appreciate it if you didn't say anything until we get there." said Natasha, she did not want to have a headache knowing that Dom would express his concerns about this matter, and quite frankly, she was not in the mood to argue right now.

"Noted." he replied simply. That one word sufficing enough to express that he too was not in the mood to argue as well.

And so they drove off in utter silence and true to his word Dom did not say anything until they arrived at their destination.

Dom parked the car as he switched it off and Natasha got out of the car as Dom followed.

Natasha stood in front of the gate to the cemetery. She could not lie that the bronze gate was beautiful. She could not remember the last time she had been to a graveyard. Probably because she did not want to remember considering the last time was when her father was buried.

Natasha shook her thoughts away as she continued on. Then she slowed down remembering that she was not here alone, but supposedly tagging along with Dom. Hence in common sense, she should be the one following him and not the other way around.

So she slowed down and stopped walking, waiting for him to catch up with her.

Natasha groaned in impatience as it felt like she had been waiting for three full minutes when in reality it was only fifty six seconds. She had never noticed before that Dom was such a slow walker, but maybe he wasn't that slow and she was just in a rush.

Dom on the other hand was wondering why Natasha had stopped walking. In his mind, the possibility that she could be waiting for him never occurred to him.

He thought that maybe she stepped on something disgusting or maybe there was something on her shoe, and hence why he took his sweet time walking to catch up to her while answering a text from Dians on his phone.

"Could you be any slower??" asked Natasha in annoyance as Dom looked up from his phone in confusion.

"Sorry, I didn't know that you were waiting for me." he replied apologetically as Natasha scoffed.

"Dians sent me a text asking if I was here." he said as the irritated look on Natasha's face turned to a cautious one.

"And what did you say?" she asked.

"I told him that yes, and you decided to follow me." said Dom.

"Good, and what did he say?" asked Natasha.

"Nothing, he hasn't replied yet." said Dom as he walked ahead and Natasha kept a steady pace following after him.

"I find it weird that he hasn't replied yet." she said.

"Maybe he's still in a meeting. Well it doesn't matter if he is anyway, we're already here." said Dom as right ahead of them away from the path was a brown open casket as four police officers were stationed around the area with serious looks on their faces.

Of course there was no way that Dians would leave Romanoff unguarded even if he was dead.

Natasha stood still looking at the casket from afar off. She did not know why, but her heart suddenly felt a little bit sad and heavy.

"Come on." said Dom as he looked at her, he could sense the change in her emotions and he knew that regardless of if Natasha was in denial or not, anyone close to someone dying was not easy to get through.

Natasha followed after him as she looked around. They seemed to be the only people here to pay their final respects. That wasn't surprising at all, a man like Romanoff had more enemies than friends.

Dom closed his eyes and said a little prayer while Natasha followed in suite. Regardless of if she was convinced that this was fake. They were not raised mannerless and it was always good to pray that the soul of the dead found rest, and for their own souls as well, so they would find rest on their final day.

Natasha opened her eyes and approached the casket. Her heart was beating quickly internally. There was just something eerie about knowing that there was a potentially dead body in a wooden box right in front of you.

Natasha braced herself as she stopped in front of the casket and looked down into it, and there it was...she saw his face.

His face that looked as if it was far from resting. Romanoff's face had been frozen in a serious look, one of unfinished business...or at least that was how Natasha saw it.

Natasha held her breath as she suddenly started to feel a little queasy. Romanoff did look very much dead. His skin was pale, the colour of his hair somehow bland, loosing it's shine and all that made Natasha a bit nauseous.

She had never seen a dead body before. Even at her dad's funeral, she did not have an open casket simply because she was unable to handle seeing his lifeless body in a coffin.

Natasha snapped herself out of her queasiness as she narrowed her eyes and moved her hand across Romanoff's nose. She could not feel any breathing at all, but that was far from enough to convince her that he truly was dead.

She moved her hand to lift his eyelid as she saw his pupil stagnant unmoving. And yet that still did not convince her, she frowned and pinched his cheek as hard as she could, getting more confident with every move, and yet still no reaction from him.

Dom on the other hand had just opened his eyes and was shocked to see Natasha standing right by the casket and dipping her hand into it.

Natasha brought out a little pin from her front pocket as she took it and instantly stabbed Romanoff's hand with it, looking for a reaction, anything to assure her that this man was not dead.

"Natasha are you crazy?!!!" Dom shouted in a hushed tone as he pulled her back from the casket.

"The man is dead, this is so disrespectful, you look so crazy right now!!" he said as Natasha looked as if she could not care less.

"I don't think he is." she replied.

"Oh so sticking a pin in a dead old man if the way to prove that??!" he asked in disbelief looking around, grateful that there was no one here. It was about right now that he was very glad he decided to follow her here, Natasha could be so... stubbornly crazy sometimes.

"Yes, so he would be forced to move." she replied.

"And did he move?" he asked.

"Well no." she said.

"You see! He's dead. He's as dead as dead can be, there's no life in him, I hope that's enough to convince you." he said as he finally let go of her and she frowned, still refusing to believe that Dom was right.

"You should just pay your final respects so we can get out of here." he said as suddenly the loud revving sound of motorcycles rang in the area.

"What in the world is that?" asked Dom but before he could receive an answer to his question he suddenly saw eight masked riders of eight black motorbikes heading in their direction with no sigh of stopping anytime soon.

"Get down!!" rang the loud voice of one of the officers as he brought out his gun and proceeded to shoot down the masked men.