NATASHA'S P.O.V
"So, are you gonna' answer or...?" Tony trailed of while sitting on the chair on the other side of the table.
Natasha raised an eyebrow while staring at the man she had considered her friend, her family, for the last five years. "What do you want?" She questioned him bluntly, still trying to figure out the reason why he was there.
"I don't know," he shrugged, betrayal lingering in his eyes as he stared back at her. "Maybe I just want to understand why you always keep such big secrets, huh?" He answered. "Imagine my surprise when I was told that you had been found with a seven-year-old-"
"She's ten." Natasha had the urge to correct him on her child's age.
She was aware her kid looked a lot younger than a normal ten-year-old, but she didn't need a constant reminder of it. She felt guilty enough of her daughter's upbringing.
"Oh, ten. Excuse me, I didn't know," he spoke in a sarcastic way before his facial features softened a bit. "Natasha, I really want to help you... I even got the old man out-there not to record this conversation, I told him you would be more cooperative..."
Natasha wanted to trust him, but it was hard not to think that it was a lie. When she left, they weren't on good terms, were they?
"How do I know you're telling the truth?" She asked him, carefully searching for the minimal hint that would mean he was lying.
Tony's eyes widened a bit as he answered, "Because I don't want to die, maybe?"
-/-
VERA'S P.O.V
"The eight-year-old redhead sat on a bench in front of the school's entrance, skinny legs swinging on the edge since she wasn't tall enough for her feet to reach the ground.
Most of the days she would walk alone back to the small apartment they had been staying in for the past two months. But that day, she had to wait for Anya, the older widow she had been placed with for the mission.
A high pitched cry got her to turn her face. A small girl had fallen down while playing on the playground. The mother had already rushed to the girl's side, eyes and hands scanning for possible injuries, but only a scratch on the knee was found.
Vera's eyebrows furrowed with sadness, maybe even with a bit of anger, and jealousy, when the woman placed a kiss on her daughter's knee before taking the child in her arms.
She didn't have that at the Academy. No. Instead she had harsh words and punishments. There was no motherly touch. If she fell, she had to get back on her feet and pretend the pain was non-existent. Good widows were made of marble.
She knew what it was to be held when she fell. Melina would always kiss her wounds and cuddle her for longer whenever she was in pain or just scared. She missed all of that and she missed Melina, she wanted to go back to how things were when she lived on the farm.
Vera's green eyes met Anya's brown eyes as the teenager walked closer to her, "Get you backpack, we have to go." Anya urged her, but Vera's gaze shifted to focus again on the mother-daughter duo. "Come on, kid, we really have to leave."
"Have you ever wondered what it's like to have a mom?" She asked out of curiosity; Anya had always answered her questions.
"No." The answer was blunt, and it got the young girl to frown. "Why you ask?" Anya questioned her, crouching in front of her, but all Vera did was shrug. "Okay," the teen sighed, finally realizing what the kid had been observing the whole time. "Our mothers abandoned us. They didn't love us enough to keep us. We meant nothing to them." The dark-haired girl explained with anger, her hands cupping the child's face. "The Red Room is our home, so do not ever ask that question again. Especially not to the General."
Vera looked down, trying to stop herself from answering back that her Mama hadn't abandoned her. Natalia didn't know about her existence, but still, she wasn't sure if things would have been different if Natalia had known. As far as Vera knew The Black Widow had turned her back on her people, Natalia was traitor or, at least that was what they had told her. So, maybe, Anya was right, and she wouldn't have been enough for her Mama to keep her."
Vera blinked away her angry tears. Her legs burned as she continued to push herself to the limit while dancing, just trying to keep her own thoughts away. She had run outside shortly after the Avengers started to discuss what they could do.
Natasha had promised to never leave her. But now the woman was miles away from her and she wasn't sure of what to believe anymore. Dreykov's voice was loud in her mind as the words "She will never love you," were repeated over and over again.
Her Mama had left her. Tasha had chosen to leave with that man because of her. She had heard the Black Widow threatening anyone that would get closer to her or Yelena. So would things have been different if they hadn't been there as well? Would Natasha have fought them?
A pair of arms wrapped around her to keep her from falling when her legs collapsed, startling her. "You're okay." Yelena whispered, gently turning her around to look at her face. "Let's go inside so you can rest, okay?"
The ten-year-old didn't protest when the woman started walking them towards the main door, being too exhausted to even complain about wanting to stay outside. However, Yelena stopped on her track, sighing tiredly after hearing Alexei questioning Steve again if he truly didn't remember him.
"You know what? We're going to wait here for a bit." They both sat down on the small bench that was on the porch by the main door. Vera melted into her aunt's comforting embrace, letting the exhaustion take over her whole body. "We're going to get her back." Yelena assured her, gently tucking her red hair behind her ears, "I promise, my Little Widow."
-/-
NATASHA'S P.O.V
"Hold on, so you're saying you've just discovered you have a kid and that she has your training?" Tony seemed to be confused about all the information he was getting.
"Yes." Natasha nodded tiredly. They had been with this conversation for a few hours now.
"Sign the Accords." He told her, but she just shook her head slightly. "Come on, Romanoff, even Barton did." Tony added, but when she was about to deny it again, he continued, "Think about the kid. You wouldn't be on the run. You would be able to give her a normal life, a life she deserves-"
"I'm not signing the Accords," she stated.
Tony sighed exasperated, "Why not? I'm trying to help you out, Natasha."
"I'm tired of being used," Nat finally answered after a few seconds. "I fought wars for other people my whole life. That's not what I thought I would be doing when I joined the Avengers. And that's definitely something I don't want to do ever again." She explained with a firm voice. "We had a choice. We don't anymore, we're just weapons they can use. I want to do what I believe it's right, not what they believe." Her eyes met Tony's right before he looked down in thought.
"That didn't work out the other time, did it?" He raised an eyebrow.
"We messed it up? Maybe. But we can't save everyone, Tony," She softened her voice.
For a moment, Tony went silent, his head resting on his hands, before he spoke again, "Okay. They will take you tomorrow afternoon to a trail in New York," he told her, getting her to frown. "You'll be on your way home before it-"
"You don't have to do this," she told him, not wanting to put him into a risky situation.
"No, I don't. But you have a little girl waiting for you back home and it's my choice to make sure that kid doesn't grow up without her mother." Tony answered, a reassuring smile on his face as he added, "You're going home to your kid, Romanoff."
Natasha exhaled deeply, "Thank you."
Tony just waved at her in a dismissive way, "Thank me tomorrow once all this mess is over, okay? I'll get going, I still have to talk to the old man outside."
"Good luck," she said before he left.
-/-
VERA'S P.O.V
Vera's heart was pounding heavily in her chest as she kept herself hidden inside the Avengers quinjet. She wasn't supposed to be here. Not even Yelena was here. Only the Avenger's were flying to New York and her aunt had made herself really clear about Vera not going with them. But she couldn't help it.
With her training, getting inside the quinjet had been easier than what she had expected. However, she was aware that the tricky part would be to not be discovered, especially when it would be a long flight.
The ten-year-old wasn't sure for how long she had been hiding or for how much longer she would have to stay in the tight space she had squeezed herself into. She couldn't see them from there, but she could hear them talking quietly.
"How do we know it's not a trap?" Wanda asked.
"We don't," Steve answered. "But Tony mentioned Vera. He wouldn't know a thing if Nat didn't trust him," he explained.
"I hope you're right, Cap, because we're not the only ones walking into it." The young woman murmured, her voice sounding a lot closer to where the kid was. "Vera, come out, kiddo."
Vera felt how her heart skipped a bit as she heard those words, for a moment staying completely still, hoping Wanda wouldn't insist. But the young woman didn't move, asking her once again to come out of hiding.
The kid did so shamefully of being caught, her eyes not meeting anyone's as the fear of the punishment she could receive settled in.
Wanda kneeled down in front of the shaking child, her hands gently holding the small girl's shoulders, "No one in here is going to hurt you, okay?" The woman tried to assure, but the kid wouldn't stop trembling in her hold. "We don't have enough time to go back to the farm, so you'll have to listen to us, okay?" The witch waited until Vera nodded slightly to pull the kid into a hug. "Please, don't do this ever again."
Hi!
So, what do you think? Will Vera break the rules again?