Retnikopf: Widow Of Siberia (old Version)

Chapter 12 - Life Right Now

Carol only watched Vienna from across the ship. She looked tired. Part of her wanted to go and yell at the young assassin for the damage she had caused, she had said a fight not a massacre, but Natasha had asked her to leave Vienna alone for now.

The difference between the way each of them worked was clear when looking at the way they handled each of their enemies. Natasha's were often unconscious and tied up, Yelena didn't tend to tie up her targets but she would knock them out to the point where some of them wouldn't wake up, and Vienna would leave a trail of limbs and organs in her wake. No one was coming back after she got to them.

"Has she said anything?" Natasha asked, her worry written all over her face. Carol shook her head. "You know, I knew it was going to be hard, bringing her back from Siberia and Hydra but, when I came back and saw the smile on her face. She was making jokes, she seemed happy. I thought I'd missed the whole redemption, I thought she was okay."

"I was missing, held captive in a way, for six years and I'm not the same person I was before then, I don't think I ever will be," Carol told her, her arms crossed as she leaned her head back, "Vienna suffered a lot worse, for a lot longer, she'll never be the kid you knew again. And there's no reason why she should, she needs to find who she is on the other side of all this. She's spent the last year or two trying to get back to a version of herself that hadn't been tortured because everyone wanted her to be happy but, she's looking for something that isn't there. "

"Thank you, for understanding," Natasha nodded as she felt the tears form in her eyes. She knew she was guilty of it, when she thought of Vienna she could still see the little girl that liked to dance more than she liked to fight and the kid that pulled pranks even though she knew how much trouble it would get her in. "And thank you for not yelling, I don't know what she would have done."

"You think she would have attacked me?" Carol asked, a little surprised by the idea. She wasn't worried though as she knew Vienna wasn't capable of hurting her.

"I don't know, I don't know how she's going to react to anything," Natasha sighed, rubbing her hands over her face, "whether she'd completely crumble or just lose it. She's my baby sister and I don't know her at all."

"It'll be okay Nat, you'll both be okay," Carol said reassuringly, placing a hand on Natasha's shoulder, "you're all together now and you can heal from there. Plus, I heard you have a soldier boy waiting for you at home."

Carol smiled at Natasha as she tried to lighten the mood before they got back to Earth. She wanted Natasha to have something to look forward to rather than worrying all the time.

"Oh my god, I'm gonna kill Yelena," Natasha groaned, rolling her eyes, "James trained me in the red room. Hydra and the red room have a very close relationship so they work together a lot. He and I developed a relationship and the last time I saw him properly, he said, 'you know one day Tasha, I'm gonna get us out of here and we'll have a life that's worth it.' and then they put him back on ice and I didn't see him again until I was doing the whole Avengers thing and he had no idea who I was."

"But he remembers now," Carol said softly, a smile on her face as she watched Natasha blush as she thought about her past with Bucky.

"Apparently so," Nat nodded, resting her head on her chair.