Avenging Us (Steve + reader) JGWI part 2

Ghosts of My Past

   "Third wave coming from the basement level" Tony warns "Wilson and I are gonna join you."

   "How many people are they hiding down there?" Bucky complains.

   "No idea" Tony replies "Either their cloaking tech is more advanced then mine or they've found away to jam my signals."

   "Come on old man!" Natasha cuffs Bucky on the back of the head "I promise we'll have you back in time to take your medication."

   "I'm not Steve!" He frowns "Comments like that don't go unchallenged!"

   Natasha laughs an dodges his arm.

   "Barnes! Romanoff!" Steve barks "Get it together!"

   "Grumpy Gramps" Bucky whispers and Natasha snickers into her glove.

   The three of them followed by Clint and Wanda, who is still shielding them from the gases.

   The third wave of Hydra is the largest and most heavily armed.

   Steve descends the basement stairs first with Bucky covering him.

   Several soldiers struggle with heavily reenforced crates, and other men in hazmat suits examine their contents.

   "This is why I miss Fury" Natasha hisses "At least he would have given us some kind of intel."

   "Tony, I need another aerial scan" Steve says.

   "Those are the results of S.H.I.E.L.D. biological weapons testing. Stuff that they created but didn't know how to dispose of."

   "Great!" Clint groans "I really wanted to come out of retirement and spend the rest of my life cleaning up after S.H.I.E.L.D"

   Natasha shoots him a look "What's the plan, Captain?"

   "Take them out and don't touch anything, Tony! I don't care if it's for science! Fury can send his people to clean it up later." Cap bounces his shield off the brick wall and it ricochets at the men carrying the first crate.

   "Why did he have to go and get all personal about it?" Tony whines.

   "No one cares, Stark!" Clint snaps "Just get your butt down here!"

   "Touché"

   Another day another set of unruly Hydra agents, Natasha muses.

   There must be hundreds of them, but she knew they had the advantage of surprise.

   She jumps and kicks out with both feet felling a clumsy foot soldier.

   "Night night" he hits the ground with a satisfying thump.

   "Natalia" the voice is soft and sweet, but the feelings that it brings to Natasha are anything but.

   "Malyutka (little one)" Natasha tries to respond without the obvious surprise she is feeling "What are you doing here?"

   The other woman is Yelena Belova, Natasha's protege, her best friend and now her worst nightmare.

   "You should have made sure I was dead, sestra (sister)" Yelena's voice never changes. It still sounds like the child, Natasha had once mentored.

   "I didn't want you to be hurt like I was, Malyutka" Natasha tries to reason with the other girl "I loved you like my own sestra. I couldn't watch you suffer like I did."

   Yelena absorbs this intel with a smile "You wanted to be the Widow. You couldn't stand seeing me as an equal"

   "Yelena, that's not true!" Natasha protests.

   "Your pleas are futile, Sestra! I was always better then you!"

   Yelena cries out and launches herself at her former mentor. Natasha has barely enough time to dodge.

   Clint breaks from his fight with a foot soldier long enough to see the blond woman land beside his friend.

   "Nat!" He hollers.

   The millisecond of distraction is enough.
Natasha glances up at the archer and yells "Stay back, Clint!"

   Yelena dives at her knife in hand and stabs it into her abdomen "Another wound to match the one James gave you."

   Natasha kicks her legs out attempting to push the other girl away from her, but the loss of blood is making her weak.

   Yelena gets to her feet "We will meet again, Sestra! Do not worry. I will not hurt this one. He has seen enough."

   The blond woman calls to her team and motions for them to move out.

   Through her haze, Natasha can see Steve and the rest of the team, as they attempt to hold the remainder of Yelena's team. And much closer, Clint is staring into her face and calling her name.

   Are those tears in his eyes?

  Natasha doesn't get the chance to find out.