Super Secret Self Defense [complete]

I

Natasha Romanoff shot up and gasped for air. Her lungs and head hurt. In fact, now that she thought about it, her whole body ached. She had forgotten where she was until she looked up the sheer, purple cliff. 

Natasha ran toward the cliff, with the full intention to jump but Clint shot an arrow and the small explosive on the end knocked her away. She pulled herself up as her best friend made a running start toward the cliff and jumped off. She couldn't let him do that; she wouldn't. She jumped and grabbed him midair, attaching him to a grappling hook as they fell a couple of stories. Clint slammed into the cliff wall and grabbed tightly to Natasha's wrist. 

"Damn you," Clint said. He tried to reach for Natasha's hand with the one that wasn't holding her wrist, but it was too far a stretch. They were both breathing hard.

"Let me go," Natasha whispered. It was the only way. It was the only way to get all the stones and Natasha wouldn't sacrifice Clint. He had too much to loose. 

"No," there were tears in Clint's eyes and he shook his head, "Please no," 

"It's okay," Natasha said, trying to mask the fear in her voice. If she pushed off and let go now, there was no coming back now. No serum or stone could save her from that.

"Please," Clint said weakly. His grip loosened enough so that she could push off. She took her chance.

She could hear Clint shouting at her as she fell, but she couldn't hear what he had said. All she could hear was the wind in her ears. She fell down, down, down and she remembered all that she had to fight for. 

Clint had his family and so did Tony. But didn't she too? She had the Avengers, no matter how broken and messy they were. They had to save what was gone from the world.

Natasha remembered that Steve once said that they didn't trade lives. That was over now as the ground grew closer. She was trading her's.

Natasha just hoped that her death would not be in vain. 

Natasha had just died, hadn't she? Was this the afterlife? Why was she here. Even she had thought the afterlife would be slightly more spectacular and less likely to have stone that was blood-stained by the others that had been sacrificed here.

Natasha stood up, a little light headed at first. She tried to activate her Quantum Suit, but to no avail.

She looked around. The landscape hadn't changed and when she looked up she couldn't see Clint, only the Red Skull looking down the cliff, directly at her. She couldn't make out his face at that distance, but if he was looking down at her that must mean something.

Natasha ran several different scenarios in her head. The Avengers had beaten Thanos was number one on her list of possible causes, and she hoped it was true. Or someone had used the Infinity Gauntlet to bring her back, assuming they had collected all the stones. Or a soul for a soul. Someone had sacrificed themselves to bring her back. She doubted that was it though. There were no other people, deceased or otherwise, at the bottom of this cliff. 

But if her suit didn't work, that begged the question.

 How long had she been here?

(-##-)

Nebula knocked on the door of the Stark cabin. She heard footsteps coming towards the door and it opened with a creak. Pepper stood behind the door and Nebula gave her a quick once over. Her clothes were all in place and her eyes weren't red and puffy. 

That was good. It had been over a year since the final battle with Thanos and while Pepper had been better lately, when Nebula came over Pepper's eyes had held the remnants of unshed more often than not.

"Hello Nebula," Pepper said with a small smile, "Come in," 

Nebula stepped inside.

"How are you?" Nebula asked, her words slightly clumsy. She was still trying to break the habits she had been drilled into when she was young.

"Good. And you?" 

"I'm good. How's Morgan?" Pepper's smile fell a little.

"Some kids made fun of her at school today. I had Sam and Bucky pick her up so I could get some work done. They're upstairs playing dress up with her," 

Nebula nodded. She was familiar with that game. Morgan liked to put tiara's and flower crowns on Nebula, insisting that Nebula was a princess. Nebula could never bring herself to correct the little girl.

Nebula waved to Pepper and made her way up to Morgan's room. She could hear Bucky talking inside. She slowly opened the door.

Instead of being littered by dress up clothes, shoes, and other accessories, Morgan's room was as clean as a five-year old's could get. Nebula was slightly confused, but she followed Morgan's eyes to Bucky, who was pointing to a shoe.

"Now, these shoes have an reinforced sole, which means that your kick is going to be twice as painful," The man was saying. Nebula was confused.

"This isn't dress up," she said. Morgan turned and threw her a brilliant smile.

"That's what I said!" the little girl. Nebula noticed that Morgan was missing one of her front teeth. As if reading Nebula's mind, which Nebula knew was impossible for a human to do, Morgan said:

"I lost a tooth today at school! See!" Morgan opened her mouth wide, letting Nebula see where the tooth was supposed to be.

"Good job," Nebula congratulated.

Bucky handed Morgan to shoe in his hand and then stood up again.

"The human body has 206 bones. I will now teach you how to dislocate someone's body in 230 ways-"

"Dude, she's a kid," Sam said, looking over at Bucky, unimpressed.

Nebula sat down next to Morgan and folded her legs "criss-cross applesauce" (as Morgan liked to call it). Sam and Bucky stared at each other like they were having a silent conversation.  She was largely unfamiliar with Terran anatomy, and Bucky seemed like he knew a lot about it. She was interested.

Bucky broke up the staring contest by turning around gathering something on the floor. When he turned around, Nebula saw that Bucky had grabbed a Kermit the Frog hand puppet and put it on his hand.

"Hey kids. Today we are going to learn how to dislocate someone's body. Are you all ready?" he said, in an impression of Kermit the Frog. Nebula could hear Sam's quiet groan, but she didn't pay it any mind. Bucky was already going into the first way to dislocate someone's shoulder. 

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