I wake up and Yelena isn't next to me. I go into panic mode. She's gone already. I get up and look around a few rooms and they're empty. I go into the kitchen and what do I know? Yelena is sitting at the table casually drinking coffee.
She notices me and smiles as she sets down her coffee. I dash over to her and jump onto her lap and a few tears roll down my cheeks.
"Lizzie, what happened?" asks Yelena, concerned. "I thought you left me," I say. "I'm not going anywhere ever. I think we both learned our lesson from that last night in Ohio," says Yelena. I nod and I bury my head deeper into the crook of her neck.
"Lizzie, you're shaking," says Yelena. "I am? I didn't even notice. Sorry," I say. "Lizzie, it's okay. I'm not going anywhere. There's nothing for you to be sorry about. You know, I missed this. You on my lap, snuggling into me. Or even you on Natasha's lap and me snuggling into both of you. I miss those days. I'm just so happy I have you back," says Yelena.
"Me too. All I've been thinking about is those days. What's going to happen to us now? We're basically dead if a single Black Widow finds us and reports us. To avoid that, we'd have to go completely off the grid," I say. "You are one intelligent six-year-old," says Yelena. "Thanks. Credits go to Dreykov. For the past two years since I've been unfrozen, he's been training me like I'm 25 which is how old I'm supposed to be. Training includes adult vocabulary minus bad words, lots of Ballet on pointe, and shooting guns in a lot of different ways. Plus going on countless missions. Oh, and I can't forget the brutal private training lessons from Madame B," I say. A shiver runs down my spine as I think about training with Madame B.
"SHE HAS YOU ON POINTE?!" screeches Yelena. I cover my ears from the sudden racket. "Yes, I've been on pointe since the day after I was unfrozen," I say. "Next time I see her, I'm gonna kill her. A six-year-old on pointe! That should be illegal!" says Yelena.
"The Red Room doesn't care for the law so good luck with that. But, wait, next time you see her? Are you taking me back there? Please don't. Please. I'm scared of it. For example, last year, I fell out of a Ballet routine on pointe and I had to redo it 100 times so the instructor could be satisfied. Then he made me do it one more time and I fell out of that one and earned myself a lecture from Madame B and another 101 times, messed up feet, oh, and a training private lesson, before training with my group. Everyone says I'm Dreykov's favorite but, I don't think so given the way I'm treated. He probably only likes me because of you and Nat. But, please, I'll do anything. Just don't send me back there," I say.
"Oh, Lizzie. That's horrible. But, I'm never, ever, going to send you back there or bring you back there unless it's to kill Dreykov or Madame B for what they did to you," says Yelena. I nod and smile.
It's been three days since we got here and Yelena has been doing renovations like crazy. It's mid-morning and Yelena and I hear a little clicking noise.
"Lizzie, go into the closet and stay there," whispers Yelena. "Why?" I ask. "It's nothing bad. It's just Nat. I need to sort things out with her," says Yelena.
I smile and nod. Natasha's here! I hug Yelena who kisses my head and then I run into the closet and shut the door.
I hear Yelena say "I know you're out there." Natasha's slightly muffled reply is "I know you know I'm out here." I hear the front door open and close and I get a little excited.
"Then why are you skulking about like it's a minefield?" says Yelena. "Cause I don't know if I can trust you," says Natasha. "Funny, I was going to say the same thing," says Yelena. "So, we gonna talk like grown-ups?" asks Natasha. "Is that what we are?" says Yelena. "You two are, I'm not," I mumble to myself. "Put it down, before I make you," says Yelena. Oh, that's right. They're using guns against each other.
"You put yours down," says Natasha. I pull my gun out and look at it. "Watch your step," says Natasha. Yelena chuckles softly.
At this point, their voices are very muffled. Then I hear fighting. Is this really how Yelena wants to sort things out? I hear things breaking. "Stay down. Stay down. Stay down," says Natasha.
Yelena yells and I hear a plate break. They're both grunting and yelling. I hear a bang and glass shatter.
That's it! I'm done listening to this. I walk out of the closet with my gun in my hand in case I need to get their attention.
Yelena sits up and sees me. "Lizzie, go back where it's safe," says Yelena. "Lizzie?" asks Natasha. She whips around and sees me.
"Hi, Nat. Anyways, Yelena, this is your way of sorting things out? Fighting with your older sister?" I say. "Lizzie, I thought I told you to stay in the closet. I told you to stay so you wouldn't have to see this," says Yelena sternly with her voice raised a little.
I hate it when Yelena is stern with me. Add having her voice a little raised and it's a little scary.
"I could hear everything. These walls are really thin," I say. "Lizzie, how are you still four? That was 21 years ago," says Natasha. "Actually, I'm six. Anyways, Dreykov froze me until two years ago. But, you two continue doing what did you say, Nat? "Talking like grown-ups?" I say. Then I walk out of the room and back into the closet.
I close the door behind me and sink in front of it with my head in my hands. "Why was I so stupid that I had to go and meddle with my older sisters?" I mumble to myself. I hear my sisters continue fighting.
A few minutes later, there's a knock on the door. "Lizzie?" says Yelena. I don't answer. "Lizzie, I want to talk to you," says Natasha. "Why?" I say. "Because I missed you," says Natasha. "Fine, you can come in. Yelena can't," I say.
I stand up and open the door. Natasha walks in and Yelena looks a little hurt that I won't let her in. "You scared me," I say simply, before closing the door.
I sit on the floor and break down crying. I haven't seen Natasha in 19 years. "Hey, hey. It's alright. I'm not going anywhere. I promise," says Natasha as she pulls me onto her lap and cuddles me just like she used to. This brings me some comfort.
"I missed you. But, anyway, that's what I thought last time, and look what happened," I say. "I promise this time will be different. You're not going back there. None of us are," says Natasha.
"How do you know? I'm part of Dreykov's grand plan to lure you back there," I say. "That's not gonna happen. You're free now and so is Yelena," says Natasha.
Then she goes serious and says "Did she really scare you when she raised her voice?" "Yes. In the Red Room, raised voices meant trouble for me. I learned to secretly fear raised voices and mistakes," I say.
"Oh, Lizzie. Yelena's your sister. She loves you and she doesn't want to scare you or hurt you. She just wants to protect you," says Natasha. I nod. "Okay," I say.
I hug Natasha tighter and she hugs me back a little tighter than I'm hugging her. This warms my heart.
After another moment of hugging, I get up and open the door revealing a sulking Yelena. "I'm sorry," says Yelena. I disregard this and I fling myself onto her and hug her. "It's okay. I just care that I have you two back now," I say. Yelena and Natasha smile.
I leave them to change in the closet. I'm already in an outfit that I can do anything in. Aka, a jumpsuit. My go-to outfit. Especially on missions.
They come back out into the kitchen and Yelena asks about the arrow marks on the wall. Nat answers that but I don't hear her because I feel like something bad is about to happen.
Then suddenly there is an explosion and Black Widows come down from the roof. Nat and I hide behind one wall and Yelena hides behind another. The Widow's guns have red lasers coming from them. They pass Nat and I's spot a few times. Then we see Yelena run out from her hiding spot and I facepalm myself as the Widows shoot at her. Yelena runs into Nat who grabs her. Yelena turns the white dial on the wall and some lamps and things explode.
Nat punches some of the Widows as the three of us run for it. We are by a balcony and Nat pokes her head out and some Widows on the ground shooting at her. We all successfully dodge the bullets.
Then some Widows on the stairs start shooting at us and Yelena throws a grenade next to them and the three of us run upstairs. Yelena is in front, me behind her, and Nat behind me.
"Where are we trying to get?" asks Nat as we run. "Motorbike. East side of the building," says Yelena as we run.
A shot narrowly misses us as we run around a circular part of the building. We climb out of a window and keep running. Then we slide down a roof. It's really fun. We run on another roof. I turn my head around and I see a Widow chasing us. She's closing in.
Nat, Yelena, and I run over to a big pole. We grip on and Nat and Yelena remove the parts of it that are holding it in place. The other Widow is about to get to us. Nat and Yelena kick the roof next to the pole and we start going down as the Widow jumps and grabs onto Nat catching her by surprise and she slides down holding the other Widow's wrist.
Yelena and I stay put though. "I got you," says Nat. The Widow has other plans. She pulls out her knife and tries to cut Nat. Nat dodges a little and the other Widow loses her grips and she falls. "No," says Nat.
At the same time, the other Widow is screaming as she falls into the water below. Nat grabs the pole with both hands as it hits a building.
Yelena and I fall into a window that shatters. Nat, on the other hand, falls and ends up by the other Widow.
"Nat!" I scream as I stand at the window. "Lizzie, Nat's gonna be okay. Are you okay?" says Yelena. "That was fun! Let's do it again! Anyways, are you okay?" I say. Yelena laughs and says "Yeah, I'm okay."
After a few minutes, we walk down to Nat. We see the other Widow dead with part of her face burned. "Let's go to the motorbike before more of them come to get us," I say.
The three of us jog a few blocks to where Yelena's motorbike is. "Which one?" asks Nat. "Black, brown seat," says Yelena. We get to her bike and she says "Where are my keys?" Nat tosses them and catches them. "Ah bitch," says Yelena in Russian. I giggle. "Right. Sorry, Lizzie," says Yelena. "It's okay. I'm used to it," I say.
Then a car is thrown. The three of us freeze for a second. Nat is already on the motorbike and she says "Any day now." I am in the middle of Nat and Yelena.
Nat turns on the bike as a tank shows up on the right. Then she turns left and starts driving. I hold on to her tightly and Yelena holds onto me tightly. The tank is knocking over anything in its path. We are hearing a lot of destructive noises and Yelena and I turn our heads and watch a lot of things fall. Then we face forward.
We see a van pull up and we are about to hit it. Nat does a cool side break and we keep going down an ally. I hear the tank go past where we are. Then we are driving on the opposite side of the road than we should be and I hear another motorbike. I turn around and I see a Black Widow driving it.
Nat is swerving like crazy. Then we go down some stairs and narrowly miss being hit by a trolley. Then the bike hits a wall and the three of us fall off of it and onto a blue car below.
The three of us hit the hood of the car for a second before rolling on the street. A guy gets out of the blue car and says "Are you okay?" Yelena points her gun at him and he backs away, and she says "Fantastic." and she climbs into the front seat of his car. "Sorry!" I say.
Then I get in the backseat in the middle so I can see everything and I buckle up. Nat gets in the driver's seat and says "You can't just steal a guy's car!" "What? You want me to chase him down and un-steal it?" says Yelena. I laugh.
Then Nat tries to get out of the parking spot. She hits the car behind us and the car in front of us. "Anytime now," says Yelena. "Shut up!" says Nat and then she gets out of the spot.
Then I look out the right side window and I see the Black Widow on her motorbike shoot at us. The bullet hits one of our windows and glass comes down on us. Nat hits some cars as we drive. Then we hit the open road. Yelena and I are looking out the back windshield. The other Widow is right behind us and she's shooting at us. The back windshield shatters and it showers me in glass as I duck. Some glass makes its way up towards Yelena and she curls up in her seat while covering her head.
Yelena sits up and says "Okay, you got a plan, or should we just stay duck and cover?" "My plan was to drive us away," says Nat. "That's a shit plan," says Yelena. Then she opens her car door and it hits a pole and breaks off. It hits the Widow on the bike and she falls off. "Awesome!" I say. Yelena now has no door on her side.
The car was backward so Nat turns it around. "You're welcome," says Yelena. Nat is driving like a crazy person. It's actually really fun! We are going pretty fast as we weave through traffic.
Then to my horror, I see that the tank is back. The tank hits a car which hits the back of ours and Yelena and I duck. "Shit, it's back," says Yelena. The tank is hitting any car in its way as it chases us. The Taskmaster is now on top of it. They have their bow out.
"Put your seatbelt on," says Nat. "You're such a mom," says Yelena as she puts her seatbelt on. The Taskmaster shoots an arrow and it hits our car. Causing an explosion that raises us in the air on what looks like a cloud of fire.
Then the car starts flipping and we hit the tank and land on another car before rolling off of that car and going downstairs upside down. The car spins around before skidding to a halt in what I think is a subway but I can't tell since we're upside down.
Nat gets out first. Then she helps Yelena out. I unbuckle my seatbelt before crawling over to them. Yelena tries to wrap her arm with a cloth but Nat stops her and says "No! Not now." and we take off running.
We slide down the side of an escalator as the Taskmaster chases us. They throw their shield at us. We get to the bottom of the escalator and we roll on the floor. Their shield wedges itself into a pole. Yelena got some blood on a grate on the ground and Nat opens a vent in the ceiling. The three of us climb in and close it just before the Taskmaster can see us.
From our spot, we can see the Taskmaster rip open the grate where Yelena's blood is and they jump into it. "You okay?" asks Nat.
I nod and Yelena says "Great plan. I loved the part where I almost bled to death. And the part where you showered our six-year-old sister in glass from a car, that should win an MTV for best action scene. Really brilliant." I smile. Yelena is so funny.
Then I zone out for a moment processing what just happened. While I zone out Yelena and Nat are talking about Dreykov. And killing him or something. Nat is talking about killing his daughter and I cover my ears because I have no desire to hear this.
After a few minutes Nat taps my shoulder and I uncover my ears. "We're done talking about the memory. We're just debating whether I killed Dreykov or not," says Nat.
"I can confirm you didn't kill him," I say. They turn to look at me. "What?" says Natasha.
"Yeah. While I was at the Red Room I met Dreykov and he talked to me. Then the next day he called me into his office and he showed me some of his secrets. So yeah. He's very much alive. Didn't I already say this earlier?" I say. "I can also confirm that he's alive, Natasha. You definitely didn't kill him," says Yelena.
Then we end up getting out of the vent and getting in a car. We drive to a store and we walk in. Nat and Yelena are fighting about the Avengers I think. I'm still in shock from the Red Room, the chase, and reuniting with my sisters. I am definitely a lot less focused than normal.
I hear Yelena say "I doubt the God of Thunder has to take an ibuprofen after a battle."
They continue fighting and we are paying and Yelena says "You weren't really my sister and the Avengers weren't really your family. Why do you always do that thing?" "Do what?" asks Nat. "The thing you do when you're fighting. The...like...the," says Yelena.
She gets on the ground and tries to do Nat's pose she does during almost every battle at some point.
"That thing you do when you're fighting with the arm and the hair. And you do like a fighting pose. It's a fighting pose, you're a total poser," says Yelena. I am doubled over laughing.
"I'm not a poser," says Nat. "Oh, come on. I mean they're great poses, but it does look like you think everyone is looking at you like all the time," says Yelena.
I catch my breath and I get down on the floor and do it. My ponytail makes it so much better when I whip my hair. "Yeah, like that," says Yelena. Then we exit the store.