Marvel one-shots

9. 'Pain only makes us stronger' - Russian family

"Don't touch her!" Natasha shouted, holding Yelena behind her whilst clumsily pointing a gun at everyone. "Don't touch her, or I'll shoot! DON'T TOUCH HER!"

I stood on the other side of Yelena, so me and Natasha protected her. Alexei came over to us and crouched down to our level.

"I don't want to go back there!" Natasha said through tears. "I want to stay in Ohio."

"I know..." Alexei said.

"You can't do this..." Natasha whispered. "She's only six."

I looked around. The guards still had their guns pointed at us. I glared in the direction of the man with the sunglasses. 

"Put the gun down Natasha..." Alexei said gently.

I turned and saw Alexei taking it out of her hand. Not thinking, I grabbed it and pointed it at the man in sunglasses. I heard all the guns of the guards around me click, ready to shoot.

"Y/n!" Alexei gasped.

I was only a year older than Yelena. I was 7. Pointing a gun. Alexei held my arms as I pointed it at him.

"Drop it Y/n," he told me.

"No," I said, crying. "You can't do this to us! Yelena's six!"

"Y/n... you couldn't shoot your daddy," Alexei assured me.

I knew I couldn't. But I could shoot the other guy. I shifted my arm and was about to pull the trigger.

"Y/n, no," Natasha grabbed the gun.

I turned to her.

"You were going to!" I protested.

Natasha held me close, my head in her chest. She spoke to me in Russian. 

"I love you little sister. We need to stay together. All three of us," she said.

I looked down at Yelena. She was scared. I held the hand which wasn't holding her stuffed toy.

"Yelena, stay close," I whispered.

That was the last thing I remembered from then as I felt a jab in my neck and everything went dark.

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"Y/n, do you have the vials?" Melina asked me through earpiece.

I grabbed the red vials from the cabinet, replying, "Yep. Where did you say Yelena was?"

"Medical wing. You need to get to her quickly, they'll be prepping for a surgery!"

My heart stopped still.

"Surgery?"

I began to run towards the Medical wing, careful not to run into any guards.

"Dreykov wants to find out what part of the brain the antidote affects so he can fix it, making the gas ineffective," Melina replied.

As I reached the doors, I stood by the side of them and pulled out the gun from my thigh holster. I gritted my teeth. They deserved to pay for what they'd done to so many little girls - me, Yelena, Natasha, and however many more Dreykov had taken advantage of. I went into the room, pulling the trigger of everyone who turned to me.

"Yelena!" I yelled. "Right waist in your belt!"

I saw her pull out the blade and slice through the restraining straps. She leapt up and helped me fight. Once everyone was either dead or passed out, I went over to Yelena.

"Little sister!" I hugged her.

"I thought you were dead," Yelena whispered in my ear.

"No, no I'm alive," I assured her.

I looked down at the vials that were in one hand.

"Come on, we have to get to the widows," I told her, before passing her an earpiece.

She put it in and followed me outside.

"Melina, where are the widows?" Yelena asked into the earpiece.

"Take three rights, two lefts, then one more right," Melina replied.

"Where's Natasha?" she asked as we followed Melina's directions.

"With Dreykov."

"What?!" both me and Yelena said at the same time.

"She used a widow's veil. She should be safe," Melina assured us.

As we got to the room where the widows were, we realised it was empty.

"No, no, no, no, no," Yelena muttered under her breath as I wiped the sweat away from my forehead.

Me and Yelena turned to each other, a knowing look in our faces.

"Natasha," I whispered.

I grabbed a bomb from the wall, wrapping the vials of red gas around it with an elastic band and tucking the picture strip of me, Natasha and Yelena in my belt. We both ran out of the room, heading towards where we hoped was Dreykov's office.

"Melina, how's it going?" I asked through earpiece.

"We might have had a slight setback," Melina's voice replied.

"What?" Yelena asked.

"Trust me Yelena, Y/n, I'll fix it," Melina assured.

Me and Yelena shared a doubtful glance, but continued to run to Dreykov's office. My heart was beating 100 miles per minute. What if Natasha was dead? What if Dreykov ordered the widows to kill her? I couldn't live without her... Suddenly, Yelena put her arm in front of me as she stopped in front of a door.

"Wh-"

"Shh, listen," Yelena whispered.

I blinked and listened, out of breath. I could hear sounds of fighting from inside. Grunts, yells. I recognised them. Natasha! I pulled the clip off the bomb and opened the door, throwing the gas inside.

"Y/n!" Yelena cried, but I'd already done it.

The bomb exploded over my sister and the widows, shattering the glass and sending the red particles inside showering over everyone. Me and Yelena went inside the room and stood, waiting, hoping. The girl who had Natasha's neck in her grip let go, whilst all the other widows backed away. Yelena ran over to Natasha and helped her up. I went over to the widows who looked scared and confused.

"What do we do now?" one asked.

I looked over at Natasha who was sat on the floor, Yelena beside her.

"You're all free. Get out of here, live. Nobody's going to hurt you like this again," I replied, looking back at the widows.

They hesitated for a moment, until I urged, "Go, one of us will be behind you in a minute!"

The widows ran out of the room. I went over to Natasha. I wiped my black sleeve under her nose, which was bleeding. She winced. Yelena put one arm around me, one around Natasha. Both me and Natasha did this, then we put our foreheads together.

"Thankyou, sisters," Natasha thanked in little more than a whisper.

"Anything we could do," Yelena replied.

I took a moment to reply.

"Our pain only made us stronger."