"Five years ago, we lost. All of us. We lost friends. We lost family. We lost a part of ourselves. And today, we have a chance to take it all back." Steve spoke as he glanced between everyone in their white suits, some (that some being Raiva and Natasha) holding hands whilst others patted each other on the back.
"You know your teams, you know your missions. Get the stones, get them back. One round-trip each. No mistakes, no do-overs. Most of us are going somewhere we know. That doesn't mean we should know what to expect. Be careful."
Raiva lifted her head as she felt Stella creep around her head.
"No dying."
Raiva shoved Stella back into her spine with a chuckle, nodding to Steve so he could continue.
"This is the fight of our lives, and we're gonna win. Whatever it takes. Good luck."
"He's pretty good at that." Rocket muttered as Steve finished his speech.
"Right?" Scott smirked, Raiva rolling her eyes as she heard his high heart rate.
"Alright, you heard the man. Stroke those keys, Jolly Green." Tony called out as Bruce stood by the switches.
"Remember, the date on the left and the month on the right!" Raiva called out and he rolled his eyes.
"Come on." Nat turned her around and knelt down in front of her.
"What are you?"
"Brave, bold and beautiful... but mostly a bitch." Raiva smirked as she added that last part, causing Nat to scoff playfully and shove her.
"Brucie, save me from your ex!"
"Don't reference me as a shark, thank you very much." Bruce groaned as he found his place next to Tony and pressed the start button on his wrist.
"See ya in a minute." Nat smirked at Steve.
"Gross."
"Raiva, you are literally wearing an engagement ring."
"What? I can't say flirting is gross? What's that? Flirting, and it's gross."
The panels above them began to rotate as their masks slid onto their heads, slowly expanding before the tunnel opened and they were sucked through.
----
"I'M IN OUTER SPACE AGAIN! OH YE-"
Raiva choked on her words when Nat hit her in the chest with the back of her hand, coughing as her saliva went down the wrong pipe.
"Ow."
"Oh, calm down." The Widow rolled her eyes playfully as her white suit disappeared to reveal her iconic one, the same to Clint, Raiva and Nebula whilst Rhodey's simply fell back into his War Machine armour.
"Rhodey, how's it looking?"
"Alright, bring it down, Blue! Right on that line, that's it. Down, down." He responded to Nebula's call.
Raiva suddenly spun and Stella took her over for a hot second, a web shooting out to catch an Orloni and eat it. When Stella subsided back into Raiva, she coughed a little and saw Nat's concerned look.
"Stella wanted a snack." She murmured.
"Alright. Hey, can we hurry it up?" Clint asked Rhodey.
"Guys, chop-chop. Come on, we're on the clock." Nat jeered.
"All that, is really helpful." Rhodey grumbled.
As the Benatar's pod finally landed, the trio walked over to Rhodey and Nebula to say their farewells. Raiva heard a small squelch behind her and smirked as Stella waved goodbye with a small tendril, a chuckle coming from Rhodey whilst Nebula stayed silent.
"Get that stone and come back! No messing around!" The armoured flyer yelled as the ramp closed.
"What did he say?" Clint asked Raiva.
"Don't get the stone, stay there, and mess around as much as you'd like." She grinned.
"Don't listen to her. She's turning into Stark." Nat almost absorbed her grin, hers growing as Raiva's fell.
"Excuse you! I am not Tony! A, I am such a good person to listen to; B, I am not becoming Stark - I am way smarter than him when he was my age, and C... stop being so mean."
Nat chortled at getting the younger woman riled up, but she easily picked her up and buckled her into her chair like she was tying a toddler into a car seat.
"Close your eyes." The Widow cooed, kissing each eyelid softly before she slid into her own seat as she knew Raiva had fallen asleep.
Soon enough, the jet lurched into speed and both Avengers chuckled as they looked at one another.
"We're a long way from Budapest." Clint grinned whilst Nat shook her head and laughed.
Beneath Raiva's eyelids, her eyes moved around slowly as she dreamt, but her eyebrows furrowed at a voice inside of her head.
*Raiva... I need to show you something.* Stella murmured.
*Not now, Stels. I'm tired.*
*It's important. And it's about Mom.*
She slowly pulled herself out of her dream, having mastered lucid dreaming to stop her nightmares, and kept her eyes closed in peace.
*What?*
*I want to show you the hive mind.*
*I thought Klyntar died.*
*It did, but the hive's knowledge was passed down from Mom to me.*
Raiva felt an urge to look, just to fulfill her childish curiosity, but she shook her head in the smallest amount possible.
*After we get back to our time.*
*Fine. But then no more pushbacks - you have to listen.*
*I promise.*
"Rai."
She opened her eyes at the sound of Nat's voice and her small hand on her shoulder.
"Hi. We're here."
Raiva stood next to Nat who stood next to Clint, amazement in their eyes as they saw Vormir before them. It looked beautiful, with swirling clouds and horrendous thunderstorms that tickled the scientist part of Raiva's curious brain.
"Rai - mission now, nerdy brain later." The Widow murmured and the host simply nodded.
----
The trio slowly climbed the mountain, Nat and Clint's thoughts on the Soul Stone whilst Raiva's was on her symbiote.
*Raiva, I'm sorry, but you need to see this.*
*Stella, seriously, not now. Can't it wait until we get back from the mission?*
*NO. This needs to be dealt with now.*
Raiva sighed and paused, nodding to Clint and Nat to continue whilst her symbiote came out from behind her back.
"Go on."
"You need to see the hive mind. It goes beyond Klyntar, beyond our universe."
"So, what? You're saying there's other universes out there?" Raiva chuckled, but she didn't expect Stella to nod.
"The multiverse."
"Don't you bullshit me, Stella. It's real?"
"Duh."
Raiva held her excitement in, but then refocused and concentrated on her symbiote.
"So then what does that have to do with the hive mind?"
"Things that we have not experienced, things we may not have done, can help us. If we see what others have done, we can do the same. It will help us." Stella gurgled, but the sound of a katana unsheathing drew their attention to the top of the mountain.
"Mask."
*Copy.*
They launched up the side of the mountain, Stella's talons digging into the hard rock before they came to face the back of a floating, shadowy figure.
"Natasha, daughter of Ivan. Clint, son of Edith. Raiva, daughter of Alina. Stella, daughter of Nemesis."
The three bodies and four minds converged onto the figure, Stella's head peeling back to reveal Raiva's hard glare, almost like a suit without a helmet.
"Who are you?" Nat murmured, her voice shaky and concerning the two by her side.
"Consider me a guide... to you... and to all who seek the Soul Stone."
"Oh, good." The Widow spoke sarcastically.
"You tell us where it is and we'll be on our merry way." Raiva added, her hands morphing into small daggers.
"Oh, liebchen (sweetheart), if only it were that easy."
The man stepped into the setting sunlight, his face a dark red in skin tone whilst his cheekbones were better than Angelina Jolie's. His nose was gone, simply two nostril cavities, and his lips were thin and burned.
He slowly turned, still floating, and hovered up the mountain, the trio looking at each other before they followed.
"What you seek... lies in front of you. As does what you fear." He spoke gravely as they looked over the edge of the tall cliff.
*Raiva, I must show you.*
*Wait. Let the Red Skull Guy speak.*
"The stone's down there." Nat muttered.
"For one of you. For the other..." Red Skull Guy interjected, confusing the trio.
"In order to take the stone, you must lose that which you love. An everlasting exchange. A soul... for a soul."
*Raiva, we are sitting down now.*
Stella took control of her body, much smoothly than she used to, and sat her down on a tree log. She forced her to close her eyes and open her mind, to the point where the two stood together in an endless, blank space.
*Show me.*
*I can only show you a little bit at a time.* Stella kept her omitted truth to herself.
She slowly opened the hive mind and held Raiva's body tight as she seized, her knowledge expanding as she saw parallel universes of neon colour, grayscale, future and past. Some were almost complete paradises, and some were far worse than her nightmares could even fathom.
A sharp inhale caused Raiva to come back to it, her eyes open as she sat up and Stella resorted to her right arm.
"Maybe he's making this shit up." Clint scoffed as he paced in front of the two women slowly.
"No. I don't think so." Nat murmured as she held the waking Raiva in-between her legs with her arms wrapped around her protectively.
"What? 'Cause he knows your daddy's name?"
"He knows my mother's. I didn't." Raiva muttered.
"Thanos left here with the stone... without Gamora." She remembered her late night calls with Nebula, talking about their loved ones and was surprised when the blue-tinged woman was so open to her.
"That's not a coincidence."
"Whatever it takes." Nat murmured from next to Raiva's ear, her chin resting on her shoulder.
"Stay here. Do not move." She ordered Raiva as she pulled Clint to the other side of the small mountain.
*Stella...*
*Yes?*
*I don't know what to do.*
*You do. But for once in your life, you don't want to.*
Raiva looked at Red Skull Guy, his cloak floating in and out of shadows, and he slowly nodded at the thoughts that wandered the darkest parts of her mind.
*I don't know if I can. How do I know if I can?*
*You won't.* Stella put it simply.
*It's a leap of faith, Rai. In your family, in yourself. That's all it is.*
"A leap of faith." The host muttered aloud, drawing the attention of the duo opposite her.
"Don't you even dare-"
Raiva sprinted for the cliffedge, growling out in pain as she felt a Widow Bite hit her calf. She bent down and pulled it off of her, a web flinging out to catch Nat and throw her back.
She watched Clint aim an arrow at her, one she knew contained fiery explosives, and put her hands up.
"Stay." Clint murmured and she nodded, turning down onto her knees before he calmly walked to the edge.
At the first sign of distraction, Raiva leapt up and he missed, the arrow falling off the side of the cliff only to explode at the bottom. She looked up at his quiver and a precise web sliced the strap on his chest, allowing her to tackle him and wrench it off.
"Tell her I love her."
"Tell her yourself!" He shoved her off of her, a small EMP of Nat's hitting her in the back whilst Clint managed to get away.
He dodged another EMP and grabbed one of his tangling arrows, firing it at Nat and entwining her legs. He quickly glanced at both of the women, downed, and sprinted towards the edge.
And he leapt.
But not before Nat and Raiva tackled him, a Widow grappling hook attaching to Clint's hip whilst Nat and Raiva hung from beneath him.
"NO!" Nat yelled, holding onto Raiva as tightly as possible, not caring if she caused her bruises.
She would not lose the only person she called her child.
"Damn you! Give me your other hand, NOW!"
Clint's heart tugged in two directions, thankful that it wasn't his best friend but he couldn't lose Raiva either. The kid had grown on him, whether or not she was a kid anymore.
"CLINT! PULL US UP!" Nat's voice broke as she cried, stretching desperately for Raiva's hand.
As she looked down, Raiva smiled warmly at the setting star. She felt it's warmth, similar to her own sun, and it made her body tingle. First, it started in her toes, and it slowly rose through her body like goosebumps, but nice ones.
Onces that made her reminisce, the ones that made her remember the times Eddie had held her through a nightmare, or when Wanda kissed her for the first time; even when Nat had put her to bed and called her 'her little one' in Russian, the Widow not knowing that she understood it.
She craned her neck back up and her tears fell freely, a feeling of completion in her soul before she spoke.
"Mom... let me go." She murmured, her voice as soft and sweet as Nat remembered the first time.
"No." Nat strained, her grip tightening whilst her arm's muscles screamed at her.
"No, please no."
Nat analyzed the calm in her face, the way that Raiva pulled herself up just to put her forehead against Nat's hand, just like the time she had taken care of her ill form when she lost her symbiote.
She slowly pulled back, glancing at Clint's turning face before locking eyes with Nat.
"It's okay."
"Please! Raivina Neptuna Romanova, please!"
Raiva kicked against the cliff.
And Natasha lost her grip as a 'CHEE-HOO' echoed down the mountain.
A/N - Not me crying as I read this back :')