"What do you mean 'you buried me'?" Thea asked in confusion before pushing away from the man.
"Please forgive me for scaring you, I never meant to harm the child. Allow me to introduce myself; I'm Loki."
Thea backed further away and handed Juliette to Luka before placing herself in front of them protectively. "You never answered my question, what did you mean by that comment?"
Loki was at a loss for what to say. After following Natasha and her team around the past week and learning what they knew, and then discovering her... From what he's seen, Natasha has no idea who this girl was, and the girl seemed to have no idea who Natasha was.
"It means what I said, child. You died the night you were born. Your mother and I tried so..." he cut off as he was choked with emotion. "We tried so hard to save you, Ksenia, but you were just so tiny."
"You knew my mother?" Thea asked stepping closer to the man in fascination of both the information and the name he had just called her.
"Thea..." Luka warned before Loki continued.
"In time," Loki said as he made up his mind. It wasn't safe for her to know yet, she could become reckless with the information, Natasha as well. With Project Echo after them, they all needed clear heads to keep each other safe. He wasn't sure if they knew the connections yet, and with the discovery of Juliette, the game became extremely more dangerous.
"Does this Project Echo know about your daughter?" he asked as he looked at the spitting image of what Ksenia looked like.
"No," she answered quickly before becoming fearful. "You won't tell them, will you?"
Loki then looked horrified. "Of course not! If they knew of her legacy, then this wretched cycle would never end."
"What cycle?" Luka asked this time.
"I don't want to say too much," he said looking back to Thea, "but you were...taken... from your mother too early so they could run their experiments on you. From what I've seen, you are just like your mother and if your daughter is anything like you, who knows what they would do to her. The link between you and your mother I fear is the reason Echo is after you."
"What do you mean link?" she asked, desperate for any information.
Loki shook his head, "I cant say anymore until I know for sure, I have to look into this more and gods I hope I am wrong."
Just then, he got an awful feeling about his brother, Thor. It hit him in his gut and he knew something was wrong.
"I've got to go, but I need you to do me a favor first. I need you to give the flash drive to my friends, they may be able to use some of the information to help you." He knew that the information would eventually lead them to the truth, but first and foremost it would help them understand why Project Echo was after Thea and lead then to help her.
"I don't know...who are your friends?" she asked skeptically.
"I believe you have already met. Natasha Romanoff and her team could be a great asset to your cause..." he started as he got ready to apparate.
"No!" Thea all but yelled. "My father warned me against her, she is bad news and there is no way I would ever trust her with this information."
Loki then appeared in front of her, almost magically and stared into her bright eyes. "Do you trust me?"
She had stories about him, how he almost destroyed New York. There was something else though, there was a look that she always saw when Anatoli would look at her, like a father's love. He disappeared then, and it left her with a sense of trust as well as more confusion.
"Thea, we need to leave, I don't trust that man," Luka all but begged when Loki had left. They argued back and forth but the confusion Thea felt and the instinct to protect Juliette won and they packed up to flee once again. They drove for hours into the night before choosing a place and backtracking in case they were followed.
The motel they found was nice, but mostly vacant. Once they got to their room on the third floor, she spent the next two hours scouting the place and surveying the parking lot in case of any danger that may have found them.
Many miles away back with team Romanoff, the team had finished looking through the small amount of information that was pulled from the flash drive before Thea made her escape with it.
"So," Darcy concluded as she sat amidst the rubble in the room, "we now know that Luka could possibly still be alive and is somehow connected to our new friend who has a fascination with flash drives. This 'Echo' group you heard on the girl, Thea's, phone from her friend is after her because she can absorb other people's powers. And to top it off, this Thea chick is an accomplished assassin at a young age of 23 for our favorite club HYDRA."
Bobbi sighed before sarcastically rolling her eyes at the brunette. "Yeah, I think that just about covers it, but why did those guys want Nat?"
They all looked to Natasha for an answer, but she just shrugged her shoulders and continued going through the dead mans pockets. He had nothing but weapons on him, not even a radio to use to trace back to wherever Echo was operating from. "He said that they needed me later, but I'm just as confused as you are. And what the hell did he mean when he said, 'they are coming for me'? she asked with air quotations.
"Whatever it is," Dove voiced from the behind the laptop, "we have more problems to worry about. It looks like the girl just defected from HYDRA." He continued to scan through the information he gathered from a contact. "It looks like she actually 'stole' the information that we stole from them, they aren't sure because she wiped their systems.
Bobbi then stood up in revelation, "since the file had information on Thea, she had to of known about it before hand. And what if Echo had a key to it? As soon as Darcy accessed it, it could have tipped them off. What if Thea was only a part of HYDRA so that she could monitor this Echo group?"
"That's a serious long shot," Natasha said as she sighed in frustration. "But now Echo isn't the only one after her, HYDRA is too, so...."
"No," Darcy said as she started shaking her head. "You aren't going to say what I think you're going to say." When Natasha didn't respond, Darcy groaned in defeat.
"Care to enlighten me?" Dove asked when all three women in the group got up to gather their belongings.
"We have to find her before anyone else does," Bobbi said. "For her own protection as well as for us to find out more."
"Okay, I need the hack to all of your secret girl code talk. I can never keep up with you all," he said before going to his room to grab his own stuff. "I was looking forward to a hot bath tonight in a nice new hotel or something."
About an hour later, the group was on the road and following the tracker that was on Thea's car. They knew she would have dumped it, but the location could at least point them in the right direction. When they got there though, they found the car totally trashed. Dumped in a small town next to a bar, they discovered that either HYDRA or Echo had gotten to it first in search of any clues. Natasha peeled off and went into the bar without a word while the others went through the car just to be sure there wasn't anything they could go on. Just as they figured, there was nothing.
Agitated, Darcy threw her arms up in defeat. "At least Nat had the right idea and got a drink. God I can only imagine what she must be going through."
"I'm fine," Natasha said as she rejoined the team, "and I wasn't in there for a drink, though that's not a bad idea. Bartender said that a patron's car was stolen last night, black Chevrolet Traverse, could be our girl."
Slightly embarrassed, Darcy shuffled her feet before Bobbi brought her out of her slump.
"Darcy, could you somehow find it? There's got to be a way to track it."
She thought about it for a moment. Getting an idea, she looked around and noticed the bar camera, and then down the street saw a pawn shop camera. "Maybe I can camera hop, but we need to be moving and the cameras need to actually be working. Hopefully this dingy town doesn't just have them for show."
"Let's go," Natasha demanded, "we have not so friendlies between her and us. Lets just hope we get to her first."
The camera hopping idea worked. Darcy was able to hack into their systems and they saw the SUV on their footage. By doing this all through the town, they got a good idea to where she was headed. At first, they thought that she was on her way to the next town over but not a single camera found the car. They then doubled back and tried another way, this time taking them though an even smaller town with no cameras this time. They found the car, but there was no Thea, so they assumed she had stolen another one.
"I think I need that drink now," Natasha said in defeat and all the others agreed with her. They did their best to disguise themselves and then spent the next few hours having a few drinks and trying to come up with another plan.
"What about using satellites to find facial recognition?" Dove asked.
"She's a trained agent, Dove," Bobbi said. "She's going to keep a low profile, especially with HYDRA, Echo, and us after her. I don't think that's going to work and even if it did, we don't have time to sit around and wait for her to show herself."
"She's right," Natasha agreed along with Darcy shaking her head, "she's going to be resourceful."
"I'm going to get the laptop and do some more digging," Darcy offered as she spun around in her chair and headed back to the car.
There has to be something, some way to find this girl... Before she could even finish her thought when she got to the car, she sensed a presence behind her. Spinning around though she saw no one. The feeling never left her, so she grabbed the lap top in a hurry and started to make her way back to the bar. She made it two steps when a figure grabbed her by the shoulder. Out of reflex, she slipped her silver chain from her wrist and spun to face her opponent. As soon as she saw who it was, she flicked her wrist and smirked when the chain made contact. When it did nothing to tase the man, she realized what was happening.
"Loki, bring your real self over here and take your beating like a man!" The image of Loki in front of her dematerialized until she was alone. From around the other side of the car though, the real Loki stepped out of the shadows and approached her with his hands up.
"I mean you no harm," he announced when he stood in his astral figures place.
"Then what are you doing here, do you realize how badly you hurt Nat? Not only does she go icy when she's upset, she needed you," Darcy all but yelled.
"I know, I know, and I am so sorry. I've been following you all for the past few days, trying to find the right time to talk to Natasha. I'm here now to help you find the girl, I've got to go away for a few days to help Thor with a little problem. Listen..." he pleaded as he stepped closer to Darcy. When she took a step back, he paused.
"Listen," he started again, "this girl needs your help, you absolutely cannot let Echo get to her under any circumstances."
"Why not, its not like it would be the end of the world, I mean she almost killed me and Nat." The look on Loki's face told her that this was serious. "Loki, what's so important about this girl?"
"I found her shortly after the altercation at your last place of rest, and she led me to the revelation of Echo's motives." He started to say something else, but then stopped himself. "Look, Darcy, the people who are after her will do terrible things, please, find her and keep her safe..."
"Who exactly is it that is after her and why is it making you all of a sudden care?"
"Echo's leader will stop at nothing to get this girl; do you understand me!? There is nothing more I can say about this, Natasha cannot find out I was here and gave you this information. I can't let her find out what I know in case Echo finds out, things could only get worse.
Darcy chewed over the information for a moment before giving him an ultimatum. "I'll go wherever you tell me to, but first I need name. Who is Echoes leader."
Loki sighed before giving in, he only hoped that it wouldn't get her killed. "His name is Yuri... Yuri Petrovitch.
Darcy gasped as realization hit her. "Petrovitch, as in Ivan Petrovitch?" Now it made sense as to why the Echo agent had wanted to take Natasha back at the hotel, why the guys last words of 'he's coming and he's coming for you,' made sense.
"Yes Darcy, he is the son of the former Red Room leader. Now go to this address and keep the girl safe. You know just how far the Petrovitch's will go for their experiments." He pushed the piece of paper with the address into the girls hand and silently pleaded for her to help Thea.
As Darcy's mind churned, pieces started to fall in place and dots started connecting. The files... one named 'The Lazarus Project' in particular; Lazarus referred to coming back from the dead. It couldn't be, could it? And the coincidence of a Petrovitch obsessing over a girl for experimentation, while also obsessing over the capture of Natasha Romanoff. Could it all be connected? She believed so, but Loki clearly didn't want her to know this information and she could see why. With this kind of information, Echo would 100% know that Thea and Natasha were connected, and it would all start over again. But she had to be sure...
"Fine, ill help you," she agreed much to Loki's relief.
"Thank you, Darcy, and I promise I will be back soon."
Darcy smiled "It's okay, I'll watch over Ksenia and do my best to keep her and this secret safe."
"Thank you..." he stated again only to realize that he had been tricked. She knew, but the promise held in her eyes told him that the secret would be safe until the right moment.
"Don't tell her, don't tell Natasha, please," he begged just in case.
"I won't, I know what will happen if she knows. Information is a dangerous thing to have but if she figures it out, there is nothing I can do."
Loki pondered for a moment before stepping closer to whisper in her ear. Darcy cringed for a moment but then allowed it.
"Thea has her own little secret to protect, and you know just how far a mother will go to protect her young."
As soon as the words left his lips, he was gone. A tinge of fear flooded her body at the new revelation, Thea was a mother as well. She had to get back to the group and get them to their new destination before it was too late.
She burst through the doors of the bar and started pushing her friends off their seats.
"Where the hell were you? We were just about to come looking for you, what took you so long?" Bobbi asked in annoyance at being pulled away from her drink.
"I found her," she replied exasperated, "I used the facial recognition...thing, and found her. Let's go before Echo gets to her."
"Woah, what's the rush? Dove asked annoyed as well.
"She slipped up," Darcy lied as they left the bar and loaded into the car. She plugged the address into the GPS and they pulled away. "She slipped up and there's no telling when she's going to move again, this is our chance."
"Darcy's right," Natasha said as she agreed with her. "If Echo is doing the same thing then they may have found her as well. We have no way of telling how technologically advanced they are."
In the meantime, Thea finished all of her security checks and she relaxed for a few hours with Luka and Juliette. It was nice to catch up on a little sleep even though so many thoughts swirled around in her mind. In the end, exhaustion took over and she was pulled into a deep sleep. It was hours later when she awoke to the sound of Juliette's cries. Luka beat her to it and scooped up the crying infant to soothe her.
"Were fine Thea, get some more rest."
Thea smiled at her brother and daughter. "I'm fine, in fact I should go get some supplies before we figure out our next move."
"Fine," Luka said, "then we will have fun without you."
Thea giggled at his smirk and threw on her coat. She kissed Juliette on the cheek and waved her brother goodbye.
Luka spent his time by changing a few diapers and watching tv. About an hour into a movie though, he hears a strange noise. According to the front deskman, they were the only ones there so this was considered out of the ordinary. He quickly rose and shut off the lights and tv. Sneaking over to the door, he pressed his ear to it and heard multiple sets of boots stalking the hallway. He quickly rushed over to the bed and carefully picked up a sleeping Juliette before quietly placing her in the closet. Gently covering her with blankets in a way that wouldn't smother her, he tried coming up with a plan. There was no time for escape, so he would have to try and fight. He only hoped that the blankets covering the baby would muffle her cries if she woke up. Closing the door and then leaning over, he grabbed a gun from the bedside table and then hid to where the hotel door would cover him when it opened.
It all happened slowly; the doorknob slowly turned, and the door was pushed open. He could sense the man scanning the room as the door opened further. When he saw no one, he entered and expertly checked behind the door only to be met with a bullet to the face. Everything sped up then, agents poured into the room and Luka took many of them out before they eventually got the upper hand. The Echo agents didn't make it too far until a flutter of commotion overtook their comms. "Romanoff and her friends are here, get the prisoner out of here and keep looking for the girl. The objectives still remain the same, grab Romanoff."
As soon as they saw the old motel, they went on the alert. Natasha cursed herself when she saw that Echo had made it there before them. They went in with guns blazing and tried taking out as many men as possible. Loki's directions were exact, down to the room number in fact so they made their way to the third floor. Dove peeled off onto the second floor when he was separated during the fighting, so the three women made it to the room without him.
"Shit," Darcy said when they saw the dead Echo agents amongst the blood. "They found her, come on, maybe we can still find her."
"Darce..." Bobbi began before she was cut off by three agents filing into the room. Without question, the team went on the defensive and fought them off. Natasha finished hers off easy and then went to assist Darcy who was having trouble with the other agent. He had gotten in a good hit and Darcy hit the ground. Natasha kicked his legs out from beneath him and he hit the floor next to Darcy, who then used her chain to tase him into unconsciousness.
Looking up, Darcy yelled for Natasha to help Bobbi who now had two attackers on her. Natasha cringed when one of the guys hit Bobbi in her middle. Bobbi doubled over in pain and tried to protect her injury from the men when one of them grabbed her by the shoulder and then slammed her into the floor.
"Hey!" Natasha yelled and as she got their attention, she tackled the one who had thrown Bobbie to the floor. She started pounding him in the face until a blow to her shoulder cause her to roll off him. She faced the guy who now had a gun pointed at her head. The room froze, no one dared to move, and it wasn't because of the gun. Small cries came from the closet at the other end of the room and it sounded like a baby.
The man then tried radioing back to his men, "guys, she has a..." before choking on his own blood. Bobbi had used the distraction to rise and shove a knife into the back of his head. He hit the ground with a thud and then all three women rushed to the closet. Underneath the blankets they found on the other side of the door was a tiny baby.
"Damn, that's why she's running, the kid has a kid," Bobbi said painfully.
Natasha volunteered herself to grab the child and held her close to comfort her. "We have to get her out of here. She made her way to the door only to press her back into the wall after peeking
out. The baby had stopped crying and they all hoped she was falling back asleep. "Incoming," she warned. Darcy took cover on the other side of the door while Bobbi positioned herself in the middle of the room to draw fire. It was a silent plan to have Natasha slip out of the room as soon as the agents entered so she could get the child away from the danger. The plan worked, and Natasha made it all the way to the lobby, only having to take out two agents on her way. In her haste to escape, she didn't notice an agent lying in wait for her. At the last second, she was able to turn her body and curl into the baby in her arms. She hissed when a bullet tore through her back and shoulder. The shots made her drop to her knees but her grip on the child never ceased.
She turned to see even more agents filing into the building, there was no way out of this for her. At least that was what she thought until the girl they were after charged into the building with guns blazing. Using the distraction, Natasha slid over and took cover behind the lobby fountain. Bullets ricocheted all around her, but she tried her best to keep the baby covered. A stray bullet knicked Natasha's cheek as she tried to look for Thea amongst the chaos. She found her quickly and watched as she took down the guards one by one. All six of them were down in a matter of minutes. As soon as the danger had passed, Natasha painfully rose and made her way over to the girl.
As soon as Thea saw her child in the Black Widows arms, she froze. "Please," she begged in fear, "don't hurt my daughter." The only thing running through her head at the moment were Anatoli's warnings about the dangers of meeting Natasha Romanoff. "Here," she said as she dropped her gun to reach into her pocket for the flash drive. "Take it and give me my daughter, please...she's all that I have left."
Natasha's heart broke for the girl. She didn't know that she wouldn't hurt the child, she was only trying to help. "Its okay," she said soothingly, "she was alone, and the agents..." Natasha froze. The girl had stepped close enough for her to see her eyes. Weren't they a different color before? Now they were...purple? Natasha couldn't speak, she couldn't even move. The last time she saw eyes like that was the night Ksenia had died. "Ksenia?" she asked in wonder.
The girl didn't hear her, she was too focused on her squirming baby in the assassin's arms. "Please don't hurt her."
Natasha shook her head to clear her mind. She then looked down at the baby in her arms and froze again. The same shade of purple gazed back up at her, and her heart swelled. She just had to ask again. "Ksenia?"
This time, Thea's head snapped up. "That's what Loki called me, how do you know that?"
"I..." she started before she saw the danger. One of the agents was suddenly rising behind Thea and he had a knife. Natasha's body then carried her towards Thea with an overwhelming instinct to protect. She clung to her then with the baby between them and spun them around so that Natasha's back was exposed to the attacker. She felt the knife go through her back and the force of the blow along with the weight of the man crashing into them sent them all sprawling to the floor.
Thea recovered quickly from the shock and snapped the man's neck, realizing that Natasha Romanoff had saved her life, and that she wasn't getting up from the floor. She then dropped to the floor and checked on Juliette, who was still safely in the Black Widows arms. Natasha smiled at her and pushed the child into her arms after cringing from the motion. Thea grabbed Juliette and then tried to assess Natasha's wounds, surprisingly worried about her.
"No," the red head said, "you need to run, more of those agents are coming; get you and your daughter safe."
Hearing footsteps, Thea was torn between what to do. "They will kill you..." she choked as tears started to spring from her eyes.
"Go!" Natasha shouted with tears in her own eyes as she struggled to get up. She watched as Thea ran with the baby, she longed to be with them, to protect them, but there was another way she could do that. She reached for an agents' gun and summoned the strength to stand. Finding it extremely difficult, she managed, but had to lean against the wall to keep her balance. More fighting was heard upstairs, and she prayed that her friends would make it out safe. The backup then arrived, and her pistol was no match for the flood of agents. They managed to subdue her and then injected her with an unknown substance. Not too much later, she slipped into unconsciousness and was dragged away.