Insane in my Russian Brain - P. Parker

Chapter Nineteen

Natasha swiped Dreykov's wedding ring across a scanner, highlighting it red. Kat peered over her shoulder, trying to get a look at what she was doing.

Natasha pushed her off, typing on his computer. "Would you stop that? As you can see I'm trying to do something."

"Can I know what that is?" Kat drummed her fingers against the table rhythmically.

"I'm trying to get files on the widows so we can locate them." She didn't add the part that she was trying to find Kat's files specifically. It wasn't that important.

She inserted a card, watching the screen tick up with a percentage. Faces of girls, some as young as toddlers passed by in a breeze. Every girl that had ever been cycled through the Red Room, all on one card.

"Do you want help with that?" Kat looked at Natasha's broken nose. Kat had snapped her's back in place sometime during the fight.

"If you wouldn't mind."

Kat shrugged. She stood on her toes, trying to match her mother's height, and held her nose between her hands. "Hold still." She shifted her nose to the right, cracking the bone into place. "Better?"

Natasha grunted. "Thanks, Kat, you're a lifesaver."

An explosion set off behind the two, alarming them. The Red Room was going down, it was now or never.

"Any day now..." Kat interlocked her fingers. She wasn't one to believe in miracles, but this would not be a cool way to die.

As soon as the number on the screen flashed to 100%, Natasha pulled out the card. She slipped it into Kat's hand, and the two ran out of the room just as the fire hit where they had been standing.

Natasha grabbed two guns from her holster, shooting the windows in front of them. She beckoned Kat in front of her, jumping out of the window immediately after the girl.

They were now free-falling. Before hitting the ground, Kat grabbed Natasha's hand, clinging on to a metal bar desperately in a point to not fall.

They swung back and forth on one arm, trying to get a good view of what was below them. They could see a group of widows running out of the building, but there was no sight of Yelena.

"Come on!" Natasha swung back into the building, waiting for Kat to follow after her. But that never happened. Part of the building collapsed forward in front of Kat before she could swing through, blocking her entrance back into the building.

"Shit!" Kat observed the ground below her, jumping down and rolling to a stop. She ran alongside a group of widows, helping the injured who were struggling along.

They ran as fast as they could, merely avoiding parts of the falling Red Room. They came to a stop in front of a quinjet, rushing inside.

"Does anyone know how to drive this thing?" A young woman, maybe ten or eleven asked.

Kat raised her hand, going into the cockpit. Her phone rang in her pocket, and Kat took it out. Incoming call from Peter Parker. She silenced her phone, putting it on the dashboard.

She rose the quinjet into the air, flying over to a point where she saw Yelena, Natasha, Melina, and Alexei huddled. Her family.

She landed the quinjet in front of them, opening the door. All the widows filed out, Kat being the last. "Nat!"

Natasha looked over, smiling at the girl as she made her way over. "Why didn't you follow me?"

Kat shook her head, laughing. "Red Room collapsed over the entrance. Blocked the only way back in."

"Understandable." Natasha put her arm over Kat's shoulder. This was how it should have been. Their first reunion as mother and daughter should have been like this, with Yelena and Melina, and Alexei. Not with Dreykov.

Kat looked over at Melina, smiling. "You knew."

"It wasn't in my place to say."

Kat nodded, parting her lips. "Thank you."

Yelena blinked with confusion. "Wait, what's happening?"

Nat cleared her throat, clutching onto Kat's hand like she would disappear any moment. "Yel, remember when you asked if I had ever wanted biological kids?"

Yelena nodded. "Yeah... wait, no. Is she..."

Natasha smiled. "Yelena, this is my daughter, Ekaterina."

The corners of Yelena's mouth turned up. "Natasha- she, she was my real sister. And you are... my real niece?" It was almost like a question, but they both knew that even if Natasha wasn't related to Yelena, it was true. Kat was Yelena's niece.

Kat nodded. She looked out towards the group of widows, who were walking towards them. "You didn't leave."

"We wouldn't leave with you."

Kat shook her head. "I'm sorry. I'm not coming. But, I can offer you shelter with my aunt."

She looked at Yelena, who nodded. Yelena stepped forward, taking the widows by their hands. They were in this together.

Natasha rested her chin on Kat's head. "Where are you gonna go?"

"I'll go back to Steve. He's offered me shelter for a while, I'll stay with him."

Natasha smiled teasingly at her. "Isn't his name Dad?"

Kat smacked Natasha on the arm. Natasha laughed, trying to avoid the reign from the girl. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry. I'm sorry." She slowed her breathing. She wasn't talking about her comment anymore.

Kat shook her head vigorously. "No, it doesn't matter anymore. We found each other, it doesn't matter whether or not we weren't together. We'll make up for it. We always find a way."

Natasha nodded, a single tear rolling down her face as she watched a squad of cars pull up. She knew they were here for her, and Kat knew it too. "I'll see you. I'll visit."

Kat laughed, biting her lip. "Maybe this time I'll find you." She walked backward, away from the group of cops who got out of their cars.

"In your dreams, Ekaterina. In your dreams." Kat stuck out her tongue, laughing as she turned around and ran off.

⧗ ⧗ ⧗

"Steve?" Kat flicked the light switch to the wall of their apartment. The kitchen lit up as she walked into the room. She had yet to bandage any of her wounds or change clothes, coming straight from the airport.

She heard a clearing of her throat, causing her attention to turn to the living room. Two men sat there, but she couldn't tell who they were from her angle.

"I'm sorry I didn't say more, it was just-" she came into view of a blonde and brunette. Both she recognized. "Peter?"

Sitting next to the famous Captain America was the web-slinging spider, concern etching his face. He had always felt like he knew who Kat was, but in a white outfit stained with blood, he couldn't tell.

Steve cleared his throat again, looking Kat in the eyes. "I called you. So many times. I came out of hiding to get Peter. I thought maybe he could get through to you, but not even then. I received a call from Natasha, who said you were coming home. What happened, Ekaterina? Where were you?"

"Don't call me that."

"Stop." Steve stood, raising his voice. "I'll call you whatever I damn want to. You left, I was supposed to be watching you, and you just left. I've been so goddamn worried about you, Kat, I didn't know what I would do if I lost you. Your just a kid, and I need answers."

Peter swallowed nervously. This was the most he had heard from Kat in months, and she was shutting everything down. "You better start talking."

Kat met his eyes. He was serious, and she knew it. She had never seen Peter Parker so worried about her, and it was mortifying.

"Right..." Kat sat down on the couch in front of the two, resting her head in her hands. "Where do we start?"