"So what's next?"
Yelena looked over at Bruce, who was the one who spoke. They were all in the den of the compound, even Peter. Scattered around on the various couches, they had been chatting about random things, just enjoying the peace, until Bruce rui- I mean, spoke up.
"We need to somehow bring Natasha back," Clint replied.
"Can you do that?" Natasha asked, turning to Tony.
Tony's eyes narrowed thoughtfully, "Maybe. But only if I knew how the heck you are here. Any ideas Strange?"
"No," Doctor Strange shook his head, "and I'm afraid I won't be much help. I have to go."
"Why?" Wanda asked.
"There's a... situation back at the Sanctum."
Then the Doctor? Wizard? Strange person disappeared. Wow. The one person who might have had a chance of figuring things out just poofed away.
Tony sighed, "I hate when he does that."
"Same," Bucky pulled a block out of the jenga tower. He was playing the game with the kids (including Yelena and Peter). Lila's turn was next and she pulled out a lower block, freezing when the tower wobbled dangerously, but it didn't fall.
Yelena went after her, "What do you suggest we do?"
Then it was Peter's turn, and as he was pulling out the block Yelena gently gave the table a shake to.... help.... yeah help, Peter.
The tower fell with a loud crash and Peter glared at Yelena, "You shook the table!"
"No I didn't. You're imagining things."
"Guys," Captain America said, "How about instead of arguing about who cheated at a children's game we talk about how to bring Natasha back?"
"We need to know how she got the way she did first," Sam pointed out.
"I think I have an idea," Wanda put in.
"What?"
"Well, what if, when Natasha gave her life up for the soul stone her soul was kind of... connected to it. Then when Cap put the stone back, Natasha's soul got trapped between the... soul realm and... ours?" she explained.
Clint nodded slowly, "That sounds like the best explanation we have."
"Ideas?" Natasha asked.
"What if... we... make a giant slurping machine to slurp Nat back into this realm."
Everyone turned to Tony, all of their faces mirroring the same thing, 'are you okay or did you finally go insane?'
"Yeah... that wasn't my smartest idea."
"Any more ideas?" Captain America asked.
"She could eat some fruit leather," Tony put in again.
"You're only saying that because you sponsor them," Sam added.
Tony shrugged, "So? Fruit leather fixes everything! Or we could burn the soul stone and see if that works. Though we would have to sacrifice someone to get the stone..."
"I vote Sam," Bucky said.
"Hey!"
Natasha spoke up again, "I'm no longer taking suggestions from Tony."
"Why not?" Tony whined, "I'm the only genius here!"
"Actually, we have Peter," Wanda replied.
Tony pouted and Peter grinned widely, "Yay!"
Yelena smiled softly, how could one family be so chaotic and yet so organized? They really did seem to love each other.
"How about Buck and I take the kids and Fanny somewhere to play while you guys figure it out?" Captain America suggested.
Everyone agreed with that, and the six of them left the room. Slowly, the others left as well, Peter going with Bruce back up to the med bay to rest, Tony going with Sam to brainstorm ideas, Clint heading to an empty room to call Laura, and Wanda drifting off somewhere else to think things over.
Soon, Natasha and Yelena were alone, sitting side by side on one of the couches in the room.
"So..." Natasha started, "I'm the only one who cares about you?"
Yelena bit her lip, but nodded. She had hoped Natasha would forget about that.
"Why do you say that? I'm sure Alexei and Melina care about you."
"I haven't seen them in a while..." Yelena admitted.
"Why?"
"After you died.... I just needed some space... to figure things out. And, I know they care about me, it just... isn't the same anymore.
"When you left, we spent a long time freeing the Black Widows. They came to live with us at the Farm, and our family was suddenly much bigger. Sure, we cared about each other. But we were still nervous around each other, our guards were still up.
"A few months, or well, years ago, they had started to become my greatest friends. But Natasha, I bliped, none of them did. When I came back, they had formed deeper bonds that I hadn't been able to. I tried to form bonds with them, and with a few of them I did. But... your death was hanging over us.... and I needed space, so I left the farm," Yelena traced the pattern printed on the carpet with her eyes, "I thought things were getting better, but that was just another lie."
"What do you mean?" Natasha asked softly.
"Don't you see, Natasha? The greatest parts of my life have only been fake. It's always been that way, and I'm sure that this is all going to turn out fake as well," Yelena smiled sadly up at her sister, "Maybe someone caught me and this is all some weird test? Or maybe I'm in a coma and it's all a dream? Who knows, maybe none of the past few months were real and I'm still in the Red Room."
She glanced away, "I don't want to be back there."
Natasha didn't know what to say.
Bucky led the way outside to a large grassy area, Fanny darting out and rolling around on the grass. The kids followed him out, Captain America behind them. Nathanial immediately ran around, exploring every inch of the area.
Lila flopped down on the grass and gave Fanny a belly rub, as Captain America sat down next to her.
"You're Lila, right?" he asked.
She nodded, unsure of how to talk to the hero. I mean, how do you talk to THE FREAKING CAPTAIN AMERICA.
"You can call me Steve, or Cap."
"Okay... Cap," Lila said.
"Do you have a million questions, like your brother?" Cap asked with a grin.
Lila laughed. "Only one."
"Go ahead."
"How do you do it? Fight for others, even though you could die. Or other people could die. I asked my dad that question, but he's really bad at explaining."
He thought for a moment. "Honestly, I'm not entirely sure. But maybe it's because I know if I don't stand up and fight, more people will get hurt. And I can't let that happen."
"I'm gonna be an Avenger one day," Lila said, leaning back to stare at the clouds. "Dad said he'd teach me."
Cap laughed. "So you're going to be the next Hawkeye?"
Lila shrugged. "I'm tied between the next Black Widow or the next Hawkeye."
"Not the next Captain America?"
"I'll leave that to Nate, he's a huge fan."
Cap laughed and they fell into comfortable silence, watching Bucky chase Cooper and Nathanial around.
That's when Fanny started barking and growling loudly.
"Fanny, what's wrong?" Cooper asked.
Everyone looked at the growling dog, not noticing a shadow crouching in the trees, gun raised. That was, until it was too late.
The sound of gunshots filled the air and Cap and Bucky were fast to react, throwing the kids behind a tree before taking cover themselves. Bucky pulled a gun out of seemingly nowhere, and Cap glanced around for his shield, only to find it a few feet away.
Cap waited for a slight pause in the shots before rolling forward, grabbing his shield, and throwing it at where the shots were coming from. Bucky was quick to attack, his own gunshots following close behind Cap's shield.
The shield thudded into a tree and there were no reply shots.
"Stay here," Cap warned, before running forward. Bucky followed quickly, reloading his gun while he ran.
But they found nothing. No one was there.
Cap pulled his shield out of the tree, "Where did th-"
Barking and a yelp brought their attention back to the kids, where an armored person stood, holding Nathanial in one hand, and a gun in the other. She turned to look up at Cap, their eyes meeting, before she raised her gun and shot at him. Then she pointed the gun at Nathanial's head. She started backing away quickly, keeping the gun pointed at his head.
Cap raised his shield, his view of her getting cut off, but he could hear Bucky cursing, being forced to stay still for Nathanial's safety. Then there was silence, and Cap lowered his shield slightly, checking it was clear, before running to the kids.
Lila was standing in front of Cooper, who had his back to a tree, Fanny laying beside him, the grass around her turning red.
"What happened?!" Bucky asked.
"That woman was the same one who shot Yelena!" Lila exclaimed, "She took Nate!"
"She shot Fanny too," Cooper glanced fearfully at Cap, "She shot her when she was trying to protect us. I don't think she's okay!"
The attacker and Nathanial disappeared behind the building.
"FRIDAY?" Cap asked.
"Unauthorized takeoff on the launch pad," Friday announced over Cap's com, Lila only caught bits of it, but it was enough.
Lila didn't hesitate. She ran in a dead sprint towards the outdoor launchpad, where the sounds of a quinjet engine were coming from. Bucky went after her, quickly catching up and passing. Cooper tried to follow, but Cap stopped him.
Lila did her best to keep up with him, but she knew she couldn't. That didn't stop her from running though. She turned the corner of the building and saw the Quinjet, engines fired up, ready to take off.
She pushed herself to go faster, her lungs burning. She had to make it. She had to save her brother.
Just before Bucky got there, the Quinjet took off into the air. He leaped up to grab onto the jet, but it was already out of reach.
Lila watched the quinjet fly away, her eyes growing hot. As it flew past her she saw two people. One was Nate, tied and strapped into a seat. The other was the attacker.
Lila's nails dug into her palms, as she watched them fly away, not able to do anything. Letting out a sob, she fell to her knees, rocks digging sharply into her skin.
She couldn't even save her brother. How did she think she could ever be a hero? He was gone.
He's gone.
He's gone!
He'sgonehe'sgonehe'sgonehe'sgone
Bucky came running back to her, "Hey. It's going to be alright. Let's go back to Cap and Cooper, then tell the others what happened, okay?"
Lila sniffed and nodded, "Okay."
When they got back to Captain America and Cooper, the superhero was holding Fanny gently in his arms, Cooper standing behind him. They looked at Bucky and Lila with hope, they needed some sort of good news.
Bucky only shook his head, and Cap understood right away. All the hope drained out of Cooper's eyes. "Nate..."
"Come on. Let's go."
When they made it to the den, where everyone was currently (minus Peter who was resting and Wanda who was who knows where), they were met with the sight of Sam holding a vacuum, trying to suck Natasha into it, Tony watching eagerly next to him.
It wasn't working.
"Well, we can cross that one off the list," Sam grumbled, switching the vacuum off.
Natasha saw Lila first, tears streaming down her face and out of breath. "What's wrong?"
Cap burst into the room after her, cradling Fanny in his arms, while Bucky came in behind him, Cooper next to him.
"Fanny!" Yelena yelled, jumping up and rushing over to them, "No no no! Please no!"
Cap definitely wasn't close to Natasha's sister, he actually hadn't really talked to her that much, but seeing her so worried about her dog, even when she herself was injured, gave her a lot of respect from the soldier, "It's okay. She's still alive."
"Bring her up to the med bay!" Bruce commanded, "Now!"
"Do you even know how to treat a dog?" Tony asked as Captain America started to the door.
"Not really, but I can try!"
Captain America, Bruce, and Yelena rushed upstairs. Natasha looked back at Lila and Cooper. They had dropped to their knees and were clutching each other tightly, as if one of them would just suddenly disappear.
She quickly moved forward and hugged them both tightly, "What happened?"
Lila took a moment to compose herself, and take in deep breaths so that the burning in her nose and eyes would fade, "She got Nate."
The room fell quiet.
"YOU GUYS ARE THE AVENGERS! WHAT ARE YOU DOING JUST SITTING THERE?!" Lila snapped, gently releasing Cooper and shoving Natasha away. Not waiting for a response, she jumped to her feet and ran down the hall.
She flung open the door to the room that she knew was Clint's. Slamming it behind her, she rifled through his stuff to find a bow and full quiver.
Slinging the quiver over her shoulder and tightening her grip on the bow, Lila gritted her teeth and opened the door again. She ran down a separate hallway, one that led away from the den and where she hoped led to another exit.
Sprinting around a corner, Lila ran into the Scarlet Witch, literally.
"Woah! Where are you going?" Wanda asked, stumbling slightly backwards before blocking the hallway.
"I'm going to get my brother back." Lila glared at the Avenger. "and no one is going to stop me."
She really hoped that she didn't just ruin her relationship with the witch. She really really hoped she didn't.
But instead of getting mad, Wanda simply smiled grimly. "Then let's go."