Locked, Loaded, Loved ✔️ COMPLETE | UNDER EDITS

Chapter 15.2--Natasha

I shook my head in disbelief. There was no way my sister was behind this. It had to be Kristina. I refused to believe otherwise.

"Yelena would never do that," I said, standing up and pacing the living room. "Not willingly."

"Nat, you don't know her like I do," Bucky replied softly.

I glared at him. "Don't. Don't you dare, Barnes. She's my sister. My responsibility. And she would never do this willingly." My voice broke on the last words.

Steve wrapped me into his arms and I shook with sobs.

"I can't lose her again." My voice was muffled against his shirt.

"You won't," Steve assured me. "Let's just go home. I'm sure if we talk with Yelena, she can clear this up for us, ok?"

I nodded. "Yeah, ok."

"There's something else you should know, Natasha," Bucky said.

"Right now, I don't trust anything you have to say," I told him coldly.

*    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *

Twenty minutes later, we were back at the compound. And upon our arrival, I was ambushed by Emery.

Natasha Romanoff, where have you been? You missed our dress fitting appointment yesterday, you didn't call-"

"Not now, Em," I told her. "Where's Yelena?"

"She's in the training room with Wanda. But about the dress fitting—"

"Em," I warned her. "Please. Enough. I need to see my sister." I pushed past her with Steve and Bucky close at my heels.

"Nat, what's going on?" Emery asked.

I ignored her for the moment, my mind only focused on talking to Yelena and getting this whole thing sorted out.

Grunts echoed throughout the training room followed by comments in my sister's unmistakable accent.

"Yelena!" I called out.

She looked up from the punching bag she had been steadying for Wanda, calling a timeout. "You're back." She wiped her forehead with her wrist.

"We need to talk." I crossed my arms over my chest.

"About what?" Yelena steadied the punching bag again. Wanda glanced nervously at the rest of us.

"You lied to me, Lena."

She sighed and turned to Wanda. "We'll pick this up again later, yeah?"

Wanda nodded. "Thanks, Yelena." She walked away to the other side of the training room.

"Let's go upstairs," I said. Yelena followed me upstairs to the kitchen where we found Steve and Bucky talking. They stopped when they saw us.

"What did he tell you?" Yelena jutted her chin toward Bucky.

He scoffed. "What makes you think I said anything?"

Yelena and I shared a look then glanced back at him.

"James, the only reason Natasha would be telling me that I lied to her is if you told her about our conversation last night," Yelena said.

I tensed at the way she called him by his first name. James. Not Bucky. Not Barnes. Just James. It was...intimate.

"Ok, so what if I told her? She was going to find out anyway," Bucky tried to reason.

Yelena shook her head. "This is so much more than you realize."

Was that...terror I sensed in her voice?

"What's going on, Lena? You can tell me the truth. It's me."

Yelena's eyes flickered between Steve and Bucky. Steve seemed to get the message, whispering something to Bucky and they both left us.

"Now will you tell me?" I asked, this time softer.

"I hate Kristina as much as you do, Natasha. She's the reason Alexei targeted you, she's the reason for everything that has gone wrong. These powers are her way of making it up to us. To those of us she's wronged."

"It's a pretty shitty way to make it up to us if all she's doing is just manipulating us to do her bidding."

Yelena nodded. "Exactly. ASSET originally was set up to be a team of weapons experts. But it went rogue after Hydra, following in their footsteps."

"Figures." I hopped onto the kitchen counter and swung my legs.

"I'm only doing this to take them down. The same way we did to Dreykov," Yelena told me, her voice quiet. "And I've been running for so long. Maybe if I do this, I can finally settle down. Get a dog or something, you know?"

I gave her a small smile. "You can always come live with us here. Permanently."

"Aren't you and Steve gonna move out when you're married?" she asked.

"We're still figuring out the details. Anyway—"

"Why are you skirting away from that?" she interrupted. "I know we don't normally talk about this sort of thing—"

"For that exact reason," I retaliated. "My private life is just that."

Yelena crossed her arms over chest. "So your ship name is part of your private life?"

I paused. She had me there. "First of all, how did you know about..." I thought about it. Tony. "Nevermind. And two, I am doing my best to separate my private life from my professional life. And before you say anything—yes, I know that by being with Steve is the definition of mixing those sides of my life, but I refuse to talk about it further."

"Are you scared?" It wasn't a taunt, it wasn't meant to hurt me. It was merely an inquiry question with sincerity and concern.

"Maybe," I muttered. "We've only been together for...not even a full year." Even as I said it, it was hard to believe. It made me feel...giddy?

"You know I never say this because I'm not into the gushy stuff, but I am really happy for you and Steve. Seeing you two together...it makes me optimistic that I can still have a normal life."

Steve popped his head into the kitchen. "You girls gonna come in for dinner? Food's getting cold."

I smiled. "Be there in a minute, babe."

He kissed me and gave a small nod to Yelena before leaving again.

"Listen, Natasha." Yelena kept her gaze straight ahead. "If we're gonna do anything to retaliate against Kristina, I need you to be all in. Are you prepared for that?"

"Yes. What do we need to do?"

Yelena bit her lip. "You're not gonna like it."

I shook my head. "Doesn't matter."

"Ok. Here's the deal."