YELENA'S P.O.V.
As Yelena held onto her namesake, she dropped her batons in shock and stared mouth agape at the woman in the truck. She looked the same as when they'd last seen each other, after the aerial Red Room had crashed. Same long coppery hair, slightly thin-faced, and she had the exact same green eyes...
"Eto ya, sestra," (It's me, sister) she said, standing up and walking over to step out of the truck. Yelena was completely silent, trying to find her bearings again amidst the dying chaos. The younger woman reached out and stroked her red hair and cheek with just the slightest tug, making sure it wasn't a second wig. Neither would budge, which shocked her even more.
For the briefest moment, Yelena had wondered if this was just another veil and wig. But she remembered those. Only one of those veils could fit at a time. A second one would fall off her face. Plus, in order to imitate the face and voice, a DNA and voice sample from that person were required. So if that was still true...
"It's really me." Natasha said with emphasis. "And you have to get Lena out of here."
Yelena looked over her shoulder at Kate as she also tugged her night-vision goggles off. The helicopter lay grounded at the far side of the glade, away from the wreckage.
Looking back at Natasha, Yelena saw the older woman smile again.
"You must be Kate. I see you've been taking care of my sister."
The archer nodded hesitantly, seeming at a loss for words. Not nearly as much as Yelena, but still a lot since she was the type who actively followed Avengers news and had sympathized with the others like Clint who lost her.
"So it's... it's really you?" said Kate calmly, more confused than anything since Yelena wasn't striking. "You're back?"
"Mama's here." little Lena smiled. Yelena put the child down gently as a smile formed on her big sister's war-torn face.
SMACK!
"Yelena!" Kate scolded with distress as the hard slap flew across Natasha's face. Little Lena squealed and hid behind Kate, clearly more confused and scared than any of them.
The older sister stood there not bothering to resist Yelena's physical expression of grief. There was a look of understanding in her eyes, as if she were expecting her to do just that. She didn't even bother touching the new red welt on her cheek. She could take a punch easily.
And for right now, Yelena despised that about her. "You... YOU POSER!" she exclaimed, full of anger and grief. "They told me you were dead."
"I was." Natasha nodded.
"How is this possible, then?" Yelena asked loudly.
Her hands and voice shook as she remembered visiting the tombstone with little gifts surrounding it; incense, different flowers, pictures like Jesus or Mary, candles, even small teddy bears. The Black Widow symbol was etched into the tombstone too. So many people had paid their respects to Natasha, and it turned out she wasn't dead!
"How are you here? Why didn't you come back for us? For HER? There's a tombstone back in Ohio, I... I put that gravestone there myself! I MOURNED for you, Natasha!"
"And I hate myself for putting you through that. You, Clint, my friends... my little girl..." she said sadly. "But I couldn't come back. Clint Barton watched me die and told the others what happened. When I was brought back, I had to keep it that way. There's too much at stake here."
"Oh, so would you have shown your face at all if she hadn't been taken?"
"I can't afford to. Not if it wasn't my kid's life on the line. But you and Kate Bishop?" She looked at Yelena and Kate, a proud smile on her face. "You tracked her down on your own. You didn't even need my help. Plus, I'm still technically out of the picture." Natasha laid a reassuring hand on her sister's shoulder. She said fondly, "Yelena, I chose you for a reason. Clint was a strong second when I picked who her next guardian should be. I only wanted his family to bring her up long enough to find you. It was always supposed to be you, moya sestra." (my sister)
-/-
Back on Christmas Eve, Clint had looked Yelena in the eyes and told her that Natasha sacrificed herself. But he'd also said, "if I told you what really happened, you'd never believe me." The way Nat put it, it pretty much confirmed the bits and pieces about this 'Vormir' she'd heard about from Clint; that it was some sacrifice that was required for part of bringing back half the planet—to reverse the Blip and bring the people back using these special stones. Yelena remembered being in a friend's house when her surroundings changed... that she'd turned to dust and then came back... how it'd been maybe five seconds for her but in reality it was five years. If that was true, how could Natasha be back?
Nat explained as best she could how Steve Rogers—Captain America—had gone back in time the same way the other Avengers had so they could undo it all. "He put the Infinity Stones back where they belonged, to their timelines at the moment they were taken". When he returned this one called the Soul Stone, placing it at the right moment where it was like it never left, he was somehow able to ask for Natasha's soul back. Steve lived a normal life from the WWII era he came from but, right before he did, Natasha ended up back on Earth disoriented in one of her old safehouses thanks to that stone... she'd been really dizzy and feeling like it had only been a few seconds ago that she'd fallen off that cliff on Vormir...
Yelena rubbed her temples as her sister sat on a rock telling these things to her and Kate. This was simply too much to process with too little time.
"But listen, it won't be long before more Red Room operatives come, when they realize that the convoy was shut down and they've lost Lena."
"Time for what?" asked Kate.
"The second freight truck. Not the third one where that unit was riding, though. I need your help bringing the second one down. I'm not Clint. I'm gonna take a wild guess that he gave you those trick arrows."
Kate nodded reluctantly. "Yeah. And he gave me the contact info for that guy Scott since he helped make some PYM arrowheads. Shrinking, growing, that kinda stuff."
"Good. Good. Yelena, do you have any grenades too?"
"Why?" her sister asked, watching little Lena climb onto a bigger boulder nearby.
"That truck needs to be destroyed."
"What's the cargo?"
"Another synthetic gas." Natasha answered. "One that they're planning on using to make sure that no antidote in the world—like the Red Dust you used to free so many others—will ever work on the brain. Ever. Dreykov may be gone for good, but the new bosses are way more careful. They're scientists like Melina. Some interrogators recently grabbed her in Ohio and tortured her to get the formula. Alexei tried to fight them off but got hit with a lot of darts, and then he got beaten while he was knocked out. They're both still recovering."
Yelena's mouth hung open at the thought of her surrogate mother being tortured. As much as she resented her and Alexei for everything, she couldn't help feeling guilty about it after what Melina had to endure growing up in the Red Room... much like her and Natasha. Now the woman had gone through worse, just for information. And Alexei having to take punches while unconscious and unable to fight back? Yelena could only guess how he felt when he woke up...
"Once they did that, they knew they could create—simply put—an anti-antidote. The ingredients are in there, but the other bases don't know any of them since they can't risk being intercepted. Once the truck goes, their new widow trap goes. They'll have to start over by using psychological conditioning. It'll buy us a lot more time to take down the Red Room altogether."
-/-
KATE'S P.O.V.
Kate noticed Yelena's gaze as she fingered the different arrows in both quivers. "Come on..." She clenched her jaw, staring down at the labeled arrows with a look of panic since she now realized what she needed to use them for. "HA. Right here. Ok, I'm going up."
Kate hung her bow on her left shoulder with both quivers strapped on, climbing up the nearest tree. She could sense the three others watching as she went higher and higher, up until the tallest thick branch. Luckily, Kate was a relatively slender girl and not afraid of heights at all.
The archer made herself comfortable in a strong fork in the tree, checked herself over and slid her bow down her arm into her left hand. After grabbing two specific arrows, she called out... "Might wanna get back! Like, NOW!"
The two sisters ran across the glade away from the convoy, Yelena carrying her niece, all three of them behind a thick tree closer to the Mil Mi-8 as Kate pre-loaded the two arrows horizontally against the handle. She clipped the first arrow directly onto her bowstring with both eyes on target. She saw Yelena shield the little girl in anticipation, Natasha clinging to both her sister and daughter.
Kate's second arrow was held by the shaft between her first two fingers, just above the fletching so the head faced forward. Kate stared down at the only intact vehicle left as she brought the arrow all the way back in a three-fingered pinch grip. She hooked her bowstring fingers deeply to avoid releasing too soon and had the arrow fixed into place. Given the circumstances, she was glad this was a stronger draw weight than the bow she'd shot with alongside Clint.
To make sure the other women were still ready for her, Kate counted down loudly with a lot of nervousness; "One...! Two...! THREE!"
THRUM!
Taking a leaf from the Comanches' book, Kate pushed her heavy bow forward as if punching with it, her right hand drawing back and releasing the string with a 'RIP' motion as the arrow flew off-the-knuckle. The strong shot went in a shallow arc towards the remaining truck. Kate watched it only for a moment to make sure it was going in the right direction. Once she was satisfied, she slid the other arrow straight back and then clung to the tree with her eyes shut.
BOOM!
Kate's heart raced as the explosion went off below. She felt the smoky wind blow her hair around her face, heat rising upward like a tower. Little Lena was screaming in the distance, full of fear. The child had every right to be scared by this, but at least that fear would go away once the noises calmed down.
"Ok... Time to go..."
Kate looked down at the second arrow and made sure it was still in place. Just before jumping from her perch, she drew back and aimed at the furthest tree she could without other trunks blocking it. Upon release, the head spread apart to form a three-pronged grappling hook that embedded itself into the tree with a high-tension cable now linked to Kate's bow. She swung downward and, right before she could hit the ground, let go of the grappler arrow and bow. With just enough space to move, she tucked her head in and rolled diagonally over her shoulder for cushion. It still hurt, but it could have been a lot worse if she hadn't prepared herself. She got up, gasping quietly with a hand on her chest as she retrieved the bow and grappler arrow.
"Huh. Wow. That actually worked. I gotta ask Clint how to make more of those."
Thanks so much for reading, let us know what you think,
Ayrin and Derek