Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Earth 616, 2024

The team had defied Natasha's wishes by giving her a funeral service even though it had been known by half the group that she had never wanted one. And even though they didn't have a body to bury, they also gave her a gravestone that was planted next to a tree in a small cemetery in Ohio. It had her name near the top, her symbol of Black Widow in the center, and on the bottom read, "Daughter. Sister. Avenger."

Aerith, Yuffie, Kairi, and Aqua had arrived together on the world for a few days and decided to pay their respects to their friend's grave. Aerith and Yuffie left Leon while Aqua and Kairi left Roxas and went together to Ohio, placing down some flowers to join the collection of mementos that were around the gravestone. Their flowers joined the many other flowers, little stuffed animals, candles, and pictures of Jesus.

The four of them stood together and stared down at the gravestone, sighing out as they thought about their fallen friend/ally.

Aerith and Yuffie still remembered Natasha from that time they had crashed on this planet some time ago. It was one of the more interesting experiences they had an a different world, and they wished that they could have done something to help her.

Kairi had recently woken up from her magical coma to try to look for Sora, and had traveled here with Aqua before they started their training together. She still remembered what happened on Vormir, when Natasha insisted that things were okay since she was sacrificing herself to restore half of all life. She could understand that the woman was just trying to reassure them once more that they were doing the right thing.

That didn't mean that she still didn't feel guilty that she couldn't do anything to change what they tried doing at Vormir, though.

Aqua wasn't sure she belonged in the first place. She had never met Natasha, but she heard about the exploits that the woman had done with the Avengers, saving the world more than once before sacrificing herself to help restore half the galaxy, including herself. Aqua was grateful for what the woman had done to help return her and all of their friends back to life, and was still upset that she'd never actually get the chance to meet the woman.

"I still miss her," Kairi admitted, looking down sadly at the headstone. "We went through a lot together. She became like a sister."

"I can understand that," Aqua said. "What all did you guys do?"

"Well, first there was the problem with Ultron," Kairi said. "We all worked together to fight off that army of robots, keeping the bastard from destroying the world and killing all of humanity."

"Is it me, or do a lot of robots tend to go crazy and decide that they all need to destroy the world and kill all of humanity?" Yuffie asked, looking at Kairi. "It's like every robot is born with a huge ego complex."

"We seem to have an exception to that rule with Vision," Aerith pointed out. "So that's a good thing."

"One in a dozen situation," Kairi commented. "We got lucky."

She sighed out.

"Anyway, after that, the next time we worked together was to fight Heartless Thanos at The Garden," Kairi explained. "Once that bastard was destroyed, we came back to Earth to recuperate. Riku and I went looking for Sora, but nothing happened for months. So, I came back here and spent a month with Nat monitoring over the situation with all the others. She taught me more hand to hand stuff."

"И немного русского," Kairi added in Russian.

She looked down and sighed out sadly.

"Then we learned about the Quantum Realm and went through everything with the Time Heist," Kairi continued. "And, well... you guys know the rest of the story."

"Yeah," Aerith said, looking at the gravestone sadly. "She gave her life to bring everybody back. Including three of us."

"Man, I wonder how Yelena took this," Yuffie commented.

"Who's Yelena?" Aqua asked.

"Natasha's sister," Yuffie answered.

"You guys met Yelena?" Kairi asked.

"You've met Yelena?" Aerith asked.

"No, but I've heard of her," Kairi admitted. "Along with Alexi and Melina. Nat told me all about them."

"Uh, I'm not in the know here," Aqua reminded them. "Who exactly are Yelena, Alexi, and Melina, and how do Aerith and Yuffie know them?"

"Well, I can answer some of it," Kairi said. "Natasha, she was trained ever since she was a kid to be a spy by Russia. She was placed with another forced agent named Yelena Belova, and were placed in Ohio under the guise of being children of two other agents named Alexi Shostakov and Melina Vostokoff. They were there to steal information from SHIELD under the guise of a recently moved family. Of course, Natasha grew to enjoy their life in Ohio, and she didn't really want to leave because it was the closest she had ever gotten to a real family. Of course, they decided to be assholes and take her and Yelena away, putting them through Red Room training and brainwashing to be Black Widows. Once Clint got her out of it, Natasha took the Black Widow moniker to do good for SHIELD, and then continue doing it as an Avenger."

She sighed out and looked down nostalgically.

"She always talked about how she was getting red out of her ledger," Kairi said, remembering those conversations. She smiled. "I think by the end, her ledger was pretty clear."

She sighed out, once again feeling sad over what happened on Vormir.

"Man, that's quite the family history," Aqua commented.

Yuffie chuckled.

"And we thought we had a dysfunctional family," she commented.

Aqua and Kairi looked over at Yuffie and Kairi.

"So, how did you guys know Nat and Yelena?" Aqua asked.

"Well, it's kind of a long story," Yuffie admitted. "About a month before Thanos happened and we disintegrated, us and Leon got contracted into a job."

"We had to destroy lots of Heartless for a society on a planet called the Sovereign," Aerith said.

Kairi's eyes widened in remembrance.

"You know them?" Aerith asked.

"Unfortunately," Kairi said. "I'm guessing they gave you guys some pretty bad shit?"

"Oh, you have no idea..." Yuffie said, her and Aerith preparing to tell the story. *1*

Radiant Garden, One Year Prior (Kingdom Hearts Galaxy Time)

Aerith and Cid went through part of the neighborhood in the Castle Town of Radiant Garden, going from house to house and check on everybody to see how they were doing lately. They were still making reparations to the city that were made even worse by the war against the Heartless just a few months prior, so they were taking a census to see how everyone was feeling.

Luckily, Tron using the city's defense mainframe helped lower the amount of Heartless that actually appeared, making the streets relatively safer for everybody. This gave then more time to actually get projects done that didn't involve fighting for their lives against the Heartless. Aerith almost felt like she could retire her quarterstaff when on this world.

Almost. Something leftover from her years of traveling and fighting with the others still left her on edge, since they never knew when the next fight would happen. That hadn't gone away over the last year since they returned to Radiant Garden.

And honestly? She was okay with it. That paranoia helped keep them all alive during the battle in the mountains and when the MCP was sending Heartless into town to fight them. Aerith had learned to trust her instincts a long time ago, and she would continue to trust them till the day she died.

Aerith and Cid had finished taking the census from their neighborhood, so they started walking back down the road towards Merlin's house, their "command center" for the Restoration Committee. Just about everyone was surprised and grateful towards the wizard being so open that they used his house for all their business. The man really did care about helping others, and since this helped a lot of people, he was okay with it.

As she and Cid walked back towards the house, Aerith started thinking about Leon and Yuffie.

Things had calmed down quite a bit for them over the last few months. Now that they had settled back in on their home world over the past year, they weren't going on as many world saving adventures, fighting Heartless and saving lives. Aerith could admit that sometimes she missed the thrill of the adventure, and she had a feeling that her two friends felt the same way.

Leon had adjusted well to being back home, and was usually the one to lead operations as they work on rebuilding the town. He had grown a big leadership role throughout their adventures, so he continued that role with restoration projects on rebuilding the city. She could tell that a little part of him still missed the thrill of going on adventures, but he always helped build the city with little complaint.

Yuffie, however, much more obviously missed the thrill of the adventure. Since she was the youngest and most excitable of the group, she was always the most eager for a grand adventure in the past. She never complained when they had to calm things down so they could rebuild on their world, but she was obvious with how much she wanted to go on another adventure. That was made very clear by how often she announced that she wanted to go on an adventure.

Which was about every morning at breakfast, and every night at dinner.

It was annoying, but they all would bear through it because they loved Yuffie so much. *2*

As mentioned before, Aerith and Cid were walking through the neighborhood, having finished taking a census from the citizens of the neighborhood as they walked back to Merlin's house.

"Seems like everyone's managing since the battle with the MCP," Aerith assessed. "People are more okay with leaving their houses again, so that's nice."

"Good," Cid said with a smile. "We gotta work to get back to how we used to be before Maleficent. It looks like we're reaching that level."

"Those were the good old days," Aerith said with her own smile. She looked up in a nostalgic manner. "Oh, man. Those days way back when, when it was the three of us, Tifa, Cloud, and Zack."

Her smile disappeared pretty quickly when she remembered how half of their friend group from back then wasn't there. At the moment, Cloud was on a different world probably fighting Sephiroth, Tifa was visiting Dissadia on business to help ensure Migdar was still okay after one of the battles leftover from a conflict between the aforementioned two, and none of them knew where Zack was anymore.

"Hey, everything'll be all right," Cid said, placing a hand on Aerith's shoulder in a sympathetic manner. "Tifa will be back soon. V told Yuffie about where Cloud is at the moment. And I'm sure we'll find Zack sooner or later. We're too stubborn to just let him stay lost."

"Yeah, we sure are that," Aerith agreed with a smile, feeling slightly better.

They continued walking to the house, pretty soon reaching the right alley and walking to their base of operations. The two of them walked through the door to find Leon and Yuffie sitting together at the tea table raised up on the stone platform.

"V's heading to Destiny Islands with Sora, Riku, and Kairi," Yuffie told Leon. "He and I are gonna stay in contact with our Gummiphones."

"Well, make sure to keep your discussions of your right ages," Cid said, announcing his and Aerith's arrival to the room and getting the attentions of the other two inhabitants.

Aerith smirked.

"Cid, they're both teenagers," she pointed out. "That means that their 'of the right age' discussions will most likely sexting."

"Shut up!" Cid snapped with his eyes closed as he sat down at the computer.

Aerith, Yuffie, and Leon all laughed at his actions.

Since Aerith and Yuffie were so young when they had all left Radiant Garden a decade prior, Cid ended up seeing the both of them growing up. Even though they weren't related in the slightest manner, Cid still saw the girls as his own children. So, hearing them discussing about or actually doing grown-up things like this was not something he wanted.

So the both of them sometimes did it just to mess with the old man.

He was also become like a father to them, and that's what kids did with their parents most of the time. *3*

The four people in the room were drawn out of their thoughts by the sound of knocking coming from the front wooden door. Aerith raised an eyebrow in surprise, not having expected company. Especially since their company usually just barged in without knocking.

Looking towards her friends, Aerith noticed that Leon and Yuffie were sharing a similarly confused look, confirming that this was strange to them as well.

Leon took the initiative and pushed himself to his feet. The ladies in the room watched Leon walk up to the door and pull it open to see who was on the other side.

Aerith and Yuffie couldn't see who was outside of the room, but they saw how Leon's eyes widened in surprise at the sight. So, the two of them walked over so that they were in range of the open door.

They weren't expecting to see a small drone floating in front of the door, little cybernetic arms attached to the sides that had been used to knock. On a screen in the center, Leon saw a woman with golden skin and matching hair looking at him.

Leon turned around and shared confused expressions with Aerith, Yuffie, and Cid before looking at the android again.

"Squall Leonhart?" the woman asked.

"It's Leon," Leon said.

Aerith still remembered the full conversation they had where Leon told them that he would be going by Leon instead of Squall Leonhart. At least until they had gotten Radiant Garden back and made it what it used to be. Of course, now he was sticking with Leon because everyone was used to him being Leon.

Yuffie still occasionally called him Squall to mess with him, though.

"I am a worker of High Priestess Ayesha of the Sovereign," the woman said. "We acquire assistance from people specially trained in fighting the beasts known as 'Heartless'."

"You guys have a Heartless problem?" Yuffie asked, walking over with a curious expression on her face.

"I'm afraid so," the woman said. "They have been appearing left and right across the Sovereign. Some of us guess it has to do with what High Priestess Ayesha has been doing lately."

"What's she been doing?" Leon asked with a curious frown.

"We were humiliated some time ago by a group of savages," the woman admitted. "And so, High Priestess Ayesha has taken control of our genetic engineers. She plans on constructing someone new and powerful, but she has grown obsessed and determined in her efforts."

"Well, that sucks," Aerith commented. "But what's that got to do with Heartless?"

"It is just our best guess to explain why the Heartless have appeared," the woman admitted. "We could be wrong, but we still have a problem with the hideous beasts attacking our towns."

Leon, Aerith, and Yuffie shared looks, then Leon shrugged his shoulders as he looked at the drone.

"Give me and my team a few hours," Leon said. "We'll leave immediately in our ship and be there as soon as we can."

"Thank you, Mr Leon," the woman said. "You are doing us a great service."

The drone turned around and flew up into the air, leaving the world as it quickly flew into the space between worlds.

"All right!" Yuffie exclaimed, pumping her fist in excitement. "I missed adventuring between worlds."

"I kind of have, too," Aerith admitted. "It oughta be fun to visit a world and save people from Heartless, like the good ol' days."

"Well, unlike the good ol' days, don't get close to dying so many times," Cid commented.

"Yeah, yeah," Leon said, smiling as he walked out of Merlin's house.

The trio made their way to where the ship was docked, mentally preparing themselves for whatever they'd face at The Sovereign.

The three of them made it to The Sovereign pretty easily, making their way through the cities and fighting through lots of the Heartless in the cities. There was a good amount of Shadows, Soldiers, Large Bodies, Minute Bombs, Morning Stars, Armored Knights, and Surveillance Robots. They even had to fight a Volcanic Lord and a Blizzard Lord, taking out the Bosses leading the many enemies through the cities.

Once those were all destroyed, they were led to a big chamber where dozens of people stood on the sides of the room, smiling in gratitude at the trio. The woman they recognized from the drone stood at a throne, next to a woman with disheveled, golden hair.

"I must thank the three of you," High Priestess Ayesha said. "Squall Leonhart, Yuffie Kisaragi, and Aerith Gainsborough, you are all to be commended for your defense of our city. You have done us a greater service than the savages who betrayed us in the past ever have."

"Who even are these savages you guys keep talking about?" Aerith asked, curious about who these 'savages' were. "They sound like they were kinda dicks."

"They are a group of people who were reported to have saved the galaxy, more than once," Ayesha said. She frowned in disgust. "But they disrespected us and stole some of our property."

She looked up and growled in irritation, surprising Leon and Aerith.

"I have taken ahold of our genetic engineers that create new people of our civilization," Ayesha proudly announced. "We are constructing a new member of our civilization. One stronger, better, and much more capable of destroying those savages."

Leon and Aerith shared a wide eyed look, deciding it was probably time to go back home.

"I call him Adam," Ayesha said, smiling crazily. "Would you like to meet him?"

Leon and Aerith were about to decline, but their attentions were drawn to a nearby ringing. They looked at Yuffie to see her pulling out her Gummiphone.

"Aw, it's a new text from V," Yuffie said, gushing with a smile at the sight.

"V?" a male Sovereign asked nearby.

Yuffie turned on her phone, unintentionally showing people her profile picture of herself and Vanitas with their arms around each other. People on her right side gasped in surprise and looked towards Ayesha.

"She knows Vanitas Jordan!" a man yelled, pointing at Yuffie.

"What?" Ayesha demanded.

"Yeah, V's a friend of ours," Leon said. "He used to do this with us about a year or two ago."

"He and I are an item," Yuffie proudly said.

"Well, then," Ayesha said, venom in her voice as she looked at the trio maliciously. "I guess you'd be interested to know that Jordan and his friends are allies of the Guardians of the Galaxy, the savages we aim to destroy."

'Uh, oh,' Aerith, Leon, and Yuffie all unknowingly simultaneously thought, already knowing where this was going.

"Anyone associated with the Guardians of the Galaxy is to be executed immediately!" Ayesha bellowed. She pointed at the trio. "Seize them!"

Leon looked at Yuffie and Aerith, panic on all of their faces.

"Run!" Leon exclaimed.

They turned and started running out of the chamber. People tried moving to grab them, but Aerith jumped up and scissor kicked one woman in the chest, while Leon elbowed a man in the face, and Yuffie kicked another man in the groin as they all ran towards the exit of the chamber.

They made their way to the ship, flying it off of the Sovereign and out into the Lanes Between.

Unfortunately, a Sovereign Fleet followed them, firing as rapidly as they all could at the Gummi ship, damaging it significantly.

"We gotta get the hell out of here!" Yuffie exclaimed, terror in her voice.

"There's that Warp Drive function on all the ships we have now," Aerith suggested. "We can use it to get to another part of the universe like that."

She snapped her fingers to express her point.

"All right!" Leon said, pressing a few buttons.

He started going through the procedure to initiate the Warp Drive. The Sovereign fleet continued firing at them, damaging more and more of the ship, which caused the glass of the windshield over them to crack.

"Leon, hurry!" Yuffie exclaimed, terror in her voice.

"I'm going as fast as I can!" Leon exclaimed.

He turned on the Warp Drive and prepared it for travel. There were many options for a world he could travel to, some of them places that they had visited, while others were new ones they hadn't ever been to. Leon stared in thought for a second before another explosion shook the ship. He exclaimed in terror again and selected a random world, initiating Warp Drive.

Light fathered around the ship and made them disappear.

The ship flew through the Warp Tunnel for a few seconds before it reappeared in a completely different part of the galaxy, incredibly far from the Sovereign.

Unfortunately, the ship was so damaged that it continued flying down towards the green and blue planet far below them.

"Where are we?" Yuffie asked.

Leon muttered to himself as he looked at the computer again.

"Looks like another Earth," he said. "Numbered Earth 6..."

The ship suddenly shook again, causing them all to yell out in surprise as they were shook around by another explosion.

Their Gummi ship was flying down towards the Earth at a dangerous and rapid rate. Leon tried grabbing the controls. He yelled out as he pulled up, but then exclaimed in surprise when the wheel broke off in his hands.

"Uh, oh," Leon said, eyes wide in surprised.

"We're all probably going to die," Aerith remarked.

"I hope you're wrong, but I know you're right," Yuffie said, fear in her voice.

"Just hold onto something, you two," Leon said, buckling his seat belt on his chair. "Looks like we're in for a crash landing."

Yuffie was about to sit in a chair when the Gummi ship entered the planet's atmosphere, causing fire to erupt all around it. The windshield over them shattered, causing heavy winds to fly through the inside of the ship.

These winds were so strong that they picked up Yuffie, who was still standing, and Aerith, who hadn't buckled her seatbelt, yet. Both of the women yelled out in surprised terror as the winds ripped them out of the ship, sending them flying out in the air, causing them to plummet through the atmosphere. *4*

Aerith and Yuffie yelled out in terror as they plummeted through the air, falling extremely rapidly towards the ground that was still far below. They passed through clouds and their eyes widened as they saw the ground start to get closer and closer.

"Yuffie!" Aerith shouted over the howling winds.

"What?" Yuffie shouted back.

"Aim for the trees!" Aerith shouted. "If we can grab onto a trunk, we can slow the momentum a bit! Keep ourselves from getting any lasting damage!"

"Will that work!?" Yuffie shouted back.

"It worked all those other times!" Aerith reminded her.

Yuffie nodded her head as they continued to plummet, remembering those situations from when they were crash landing on a world.

So, the both of them looked up as they saw the ground get closer and closer more rapidly by the second. The two of them moved their arms to the sides as they aimed for the trees. Turning in the air, both of the ladies managed to grab a hold of the tree trunks, and kept the momentum going to launch themselves at the ground at a less deadly speed.

They dropped towards the ground, and managed to land in rolls on the grass.

Even though they had slowed their momentum, landing hard enough on the ground like that still messed them up pretty bad.

Both ladies rolled pretty roughly on the grass, hitting various parts of the ground as they moved across the area.

They came to a stop a few seconds later, looking up into the sky while panting from the impact.

"Ow," Aerith simply said.

"Double ow," Yuffie said.

The two women winced as they pushed themselves to their feet. Aerith pulled out her quarterstaff and pressed it into the ground to keep herself on her feet. She wrapped an arm around Yuffie's shoulders to help her friend stay on her feet, as well.

"Thanks," Yuffie said.

"No problem," Aerith assured her. She looked around. "Where are we?"

The both of them looked around the landscape. They were in a large grassy field, which extended out as far as the eye could see. There were trees out in the distance, along with a few right behind them. Even farther across the distance, mountains rose up in the air, much higher than either of them had seen a mountain reach. The atmosphere had a grey tune to it due to the clouds obscuring most of the sky.

"I have no idea," Yuffie said. She raised her hand, pointing it towards something out in the distance. "Hey, look!"

Aerith followed her pointed gaze to see a trailer parked in the distance, with a large, white SUV parked next to it.

"You think whoever owns that is home?" Yuffie asked.

"I don't know, but we don't really have any other options," Aerith admitted.

So, the both of them started limping their way across the grassy landscape, with Aerith using her quarterstaff to help them move across the fields. They trudged across the fields as they inched towards the trailer.

It took a while, but they reached the trailer, and Yuffie stepped up onto the lower stair, using her free arm to knock on the door.

There was a moment of silence after the knock, during which nothing happened. Neither of them noticed that a curtain had slid open slightly further down the trailer, and the person looking through frowned in confusion at the sight of the two.

Seconds later, the door opened up, revealing a red haired woman dressed in a grey shirt, jeans, white shoes, and a few earrings on her ears. She was frowning in confusion at the sight of the two otherworldly warriors.

"Um, hi," Aerith said, feeling awkward as all hell. "My friend and I were in... an accident. And we don't really know where we are. Can you tell us?"

The woman kept frowning as she looked between the two.

"Are you both from another world?" she bluntly asked.

Aerith and Yuffie laughed awkwardly.

"What makes you think that?" Yuffie asked.

"Because there's only been two moments where I saw someone dressed like either of you," the woman said. "And since we're not in Japan, I'm guessing you guys aren't from this world."

Both Aerith and Yuffie were silent for a few seconds.

"You're good," Aerith said. "I'm Aerith and this is Yuffie."

"I'm Natasha," Natasha said. She frowned as she recognized the names. "Do either of you know Vanitas Jordan?"

"That depends on whether or not that's a good or bad thing here," Aerith admitted.

"He's an ally," Natasha said. "Helped me out a few times in the past."

"Oh, Natasha," Yuffie said, pointing in remembrance. "You're Natasha Romanoff! The Black Widow."

Natasha nodded her head in confirmation, a little happy to finally be seen as that in a positive manner.

Yuffie tilted her head to the side as she looked at Natasha.

"Wow, V was right," she said. "You are really hot."

Natasha closed her eyes and let out a small laugh. Sometimes, it was really easy to forget that a fraction of her friends and allies were teenagers.

Situations like this reminded her of that fact.

"Come on inside," Natasha told the two. "I'll help patch the both of you up."

"Thanks," Yuffie said.

"We're really grateful," Aerith said.

"You're fine," Natasha assured them. "V's helped me out a few times in the past. Might as well do him a favor and help his friends."

Aerith and Yuffie nodded their heads in understanding as they walked up the stairs into the RV. Natasha helped them inside, ready to do what she could do to patch them up.

None of the three of them knew just what was in store for them over the next few days.

Chapter Text

After they had been led into the trailer and sat down at a table by Natasha, Aerith and Yuffie sighed out in slight relief from the new situation. They were both still very surprised, confused, and in a bit of shock from their new situation, but having a place to sit down and recuperate helped calm them down a bit.

Natasha disappeared into the bathroom and came back with a box of bandages, some disinfectant, and a couple of towels, but Aerith held up a hand to stop her.

"It's all right," Aerith said, grabbing her quarterstaff. "We won't be needing that."

She held her staff in both hands and raised it up into the air. Green light flashed and surrounded them in a small circle. Seconds later, the wounds on both hers and Yuffie's bodies started healing, causing them both to sigh out in relief as they felt more and more energy flowing through them.

"Whoo!" Yuffie cheered, leaning back in her chair. "That feels a lot better."

"Would've done that back in the field, but we couldn't risk letting anyone see us," Aerith said in an apologetic manner, sighing out in relief as the pain disappeared from her body.

"Eh, you're fine," Yuffie assured her.

"Okay," Natasha said. She held up the band aids and disinfectant in her hand. "So these won't be necessary."

Aerith shook her head in confirmation, so Natasha placed the two down on a counter.

"But I'm sure you'll need these," Natasha said, holding up the towels.

She was right. From all the crashing and skidding that Aerith and Yuffie had done in the grass, they were quite dirty, with green stains from the grass littering their bodies and clothes. There was also some dirt on other parts of them that could easily be wiped off.

"Yes, please," Aerith said in confirmation, looking up at Natasha.

Natasha complied and walked up to the two of them, holding out the hand carrying the towels.

"Thank you," Aerith said, taking one towel.

"Yeah, thanks," Yuffie said, taking the other one.

"No problem," Natasha assured them. She took a step back and watched them wipe off their faces with the towels. "So, the elephant has to be addressed: You're both from another world."

"Yeah, we are," Yuffie said, nodding her head. "That's not going to be a problem, is it?"

"Not really," Natasha said. "I mean, I've worked with your friends before. Vanitas, Sora, Riku, Kairi, even Donald, Goofy, and Mickey were good fighters. Cloud stuck around and helped us out a lot, even though he spent half the time between missions and briefings staring at my ass."

"Sounds like Cloud," Yuffie commented, wiping off her arms with the towel.

"Wait, Cloud was here?" Aerith asked, looking at Natasha in surprise.

"Yeah, he showed up a year ago when we were fighting Ultron and Sephiroth," Natasha said.

"Sephiroth?" Aerith asked, her eyes widening in surprise.

"Oh, yeah, you weren't in the room when I discussed this with Leon," Yuffie remembered. "Yeah, V helped him out. He and Cloud shot Sephiroth until he exploded."

"I was there," Natasha said. "Sephy put on quite the show when he blew."

"Heh," Yuffie said, pushing herself to her feet. "Sounds awesome."

She then placed her hands on the counter and held on with a firm grasp. She then pushed up, raising herself slightly into the air with her arms.

Aerith was still in shock. She knew from Tifa's reports that Cloud and Sephiroth had been transported to a different world during their confrontation, it was just that none of them knew where they had been taken to for that confrontation. And now, it sounds like after that confrontation ended, they had ended up here and ended things once and for all.

"Hey, wait," Yuffie said, stopping in the air, having pushed herself up so her feet were above the ground. "You said Cloud's been on this world since the others left. Does that mean he's still here?"

Aerith looked up in similar realization, hope in her eyes.

"The Avengers kind of split up," Natasha admitted. "Some of us are dealing from the fall out of a big attack, others are in hiding, and some of us, including Cloud, are restrained in a maximum security facility."

Their eyebrows furrowed, Aerith and Yuffie's eyes widened in surprise.

"Cloud's in prison?" Aerith asked.

"Yeah," Natasha confirmed, looking down sadly with a nod of her head.

"That... somehow surprises me and doesn't surprise me at all," Yuffie admitted.

"Yeah, me, too," Aerith admitted, looking down with a sigh. She looked up. "So, what's your history?"

Natasha tensed up a bit, then sighed out as she looked down.

"There's a lot about my history that even some of my closest allies don't know," she admitted. She looked up at them. "The most that they know is the most you're about to hear. I'm a former KGB Russian spy that joined SHIELD at the behest of a man with a good heart. During that, I ended up joining the Avengers, and worked on atoning for the sins I committed during my time with the KGB."

Aerith and Yuffie nodded their heads at that.

"And the mantle, the Black Widow?" Yuffie asked.

"It's what I went by in the KGB," Natasha said. "I still go by it in the Avengers to try to do some good with the name."

The two off worlders nodded their heads again.

"So, what's your histories?" Natasha asked, crossing her arms as she looked at them.

"Our histories are kind of the same," Aerith admitted. "We came from the same world of Radiant Garden. It was taken over by Heartless, so we had to leave when we were kids. Leon was sixteen, I was thirteen, and Yuffie was seven. V and Cid helped get us to safety on Traverse Town."

"One by one, all three of us ended up on a world called Dissadia," Yuffie said, swinging slightly from her raised up position on the counter. "We went by age, with Leon going first since he was sixteen, Aerith going second when she turned fourteen, and me going third when I turned ten. We got training to fight Heartless in our own ways. Leon got a weapon called a Gunblade and learned how to use it from a mercenary group called SeeD, capital 'S,' capital 'D'."

Natasha raised an eyebrow at that.

"We thought it was weird, too," Aerith admitted. "But we didn't pay too much attention to what he was occupied in since he had a relationship with a woman named Rinoa."

"I think he still misses her," Yuffie said. "We might have to go back there one day."

"Maybe," Aerith said, nodding her head in agreement. She then closed her eyes, shook her head, and gestured with her hands. "But that's not important right now."

She opened her eyes and looked at Natasha again.

"I ended up finding two different factions to train from on Dissadia," Aerith explained. "The warriors that use quarterstaffs, and the mages of magic. So, I use both a quarterstaff and magic for fighting. And the magic helps with healing so that we don't constantly have to rely on Potions and Ethers."

Natasha nodded her head approvingly before glancing at Yuffie.

"And you?" Natasha asked.

"I got to Dissidia and started learning from the Ninjas they have there," Yuffie said with an excited smile. "They taught me everything they knew. I was graduating them by the time I was thirteen."

"She did learn a lot of stuff from them," Aerith admitted. "But by 'graduate,' she means that she was so eccentric and full of energy that they decided they had enough of her."

"You say tomato, I say 'to-mah-to'," Yuffie said, still swinging on the counter. "What's the real difference?"

Natasha let out a short laugh.

"I see why you and V like each other so much," she commented, looking at Yuffie. She looked between the two. "Huh."

"What?" Aerith asked.

"When Cloud got here, I told him that most of us on the team have our own little monikers that represent who we are on the team," Natasha explained. "Most of the time, we use memories of our past, or our special skills to represent what our names are. And usually, it includes a color of some form."

She smirked.

"You'd probably be Pink Mage, I'm guessing since V says you wear a lot of red and pink," Natasha said, looking at Aerith. She then looked at Yuffie. "And you... you'd probably be Frantic Ninja." *1*

Aerith let out a laugh when she saw Yuffie's reaction to the nickname Natasha suggested for her.

"Okay, energetic, I would understand," Yuffie said, lowering herself and dropping onto her feet. "Hell, I'd even get why you would choose erratic. But frantic? I don't think so."

"Actually, I can see it perfectly," Aerith rebutted with a smirk.

"Oh, who asked you?" Yuffie rebutted.

Natasha and Aerith shared a smirk before Natasha's expression became serious again.

"How did you guys even end up on this world in the first place?" she asked.

"Well, we took a job helping some people by fighting Heartless they were dealing with," Yuffie said. "Unfortunately, they're dicks and decided to kill us for being friends with Vanitas and them."

"It's why I made sure to ask when you asked if we were friends with him," Aerith said. "We've made a lot of enemies over the years, and he's gathered his own personal collection of 'em. They don't hesitate to go after people he care about to screw with them."

Natasha nodded her head in understanding, having gained a few enemies like that over the years.

"Our ship was pretty banged up by the time we managed to make a Warp jump to get away the bastards," Yuffie said. "It wasn't any better when we came out of the jump over your world."

"The controls were pretty much out, so we couldn't turn and fly anywhere else," Aerith admitted. "After we entered the atmosphere, the windshield over us basically shattered. Leon had on his seat belt, but we were still standing up. We were sucked right out of the ship and crashed into the ground while Leon was sent hurtling towards god knows where."

"Damn," Natasha said with a wince. "Did you see where he might've fallen? We might be able to find him."

"The ship was still going at full speed when we got sucked out," Yuffie said. "And we were so high up that when we were falling, we plummeted a bit before breaking through clouds. Wherever he is, it's nowhere we'll be able to find."

Natasha nodded her head solemnly.

"I've got contacts," Natasha said. "I can take a look around, see if we can find him. A full ship crashing somewhere isn't really that easy to miss."

She paused.

"Anymore," Natasha corrected herself. "I mean, it was missed when Sora and them first appeared here, but people are more observant nowadays. Anyway, I'll help you both out."

"Thank you," Aerith said, gratefulness in her voice. "You don't have to do this."

"I know," Natasha said, nodding her head. "But someone showed me a kindness years ago when I didn't need it. Might as well show that same kindness to people who do need it."

"Thanks," Yuffie said with a smile.

Natasha nodded her head, then gestured around the RV.

"I've got some food and supplies," she said. "Not a lot, just enough to last one person a few days. Take what you want, but don't be greedy."

"Oh, sure," Yuffie said, nodding her head.

"Of course," Aerith said, also nodding her head.

Natasha nodded her head back, and then went down the length of the RV to the room.

Things progressed at a pretty quick and pretty calm rate for a few hours. Aerith and Yuffie grabbed some water while Natasha put on a light grey hoodie and carried some boxes and stuff to her car to put them in the trunk. She then made a quick run to a store and brought back some more food. During that time, Aerith and Yuffie read some books that were around the RV.

"This story sucks," Yuffie announced, holding up a Twilight book.

Natasha winced.

"The movies are much worse," she informed the younger woman. "Don't worry. I won't subject you to that torture."

"Movies, plural?" Yuffie asked, her eyes widening. "There are more after this book?"

Natasha winced and nodded her head in confirmation.

"Mother of god," Yuffie said, terror in her voice as Natasha walked back to the bedroom. *2*

Natasha changed into more comfortable clothes of a shirt and shorts, then grabbed a beer from one of the bags, using a bottle opener to... well, open the bottle.

"Hey..." Yuffie said with an eager smile.

"You're seventeen," Aerith reminded her.

"Shit," Yuffie said, looking down sadly.

Aerith then stood up and walked over to the counter.

"Hey," Yuffie said, offense in her voice.

"I'm twenty three," Aerith reminded her.

Natasha smirked at the banter between the both of them, especially with how Yuffie pouted like an upset child at the situation.

Aerith took a beer offered from Natasha and opened it with the opener. She took a swing while Natasha took out a box of blonde hair dye and looked at it in thought.

Things got calmer as Natasha prepared for a simple night by getting dinner and preparing movie to watch on her computer. Aerith and Yuffie sat on either side of her on the couch as she watched Moonraker and ate food that required chopsticks from a little jar.

"You're not a sportsman, Mr Bond," Hugo Drax said on the screen.

"Why did you break up the encounter with my pet python?" Natasha muttered with Drax on the screen. She then said Bond's line, "Because I discovered he had a crush on me."

"You've seen this a lot, huh?" Yuffie asked as Natasha used her chopsticks to eat something from the little jar.

There was a low rumble before the lights went out, getting all three women to look up in confusion.

"Oh, great," Natasha commented, placing her chopsticks in her mouth to eat a little more.

She placed down the food and looked around to confirm that the power had just gone out, while the laptop continued to play Moonraker. Aerith reached forwards and paused the movie to stop it.

Natasha changed into pants before they went outside as the sun continued to set in the distance, hoping they could work on the generator and use that to power up the RV again. Natasha tried yanking at the cord and fiddling with the mechanics, which did nothing. Yuffie tried using the Fonz method of kicking it, which still did nothing. Aerith went the ultimate route of blasting it with Thunder from her staff, thinking the electricity could work.

The generator blew up in a small explosion, causing all three women to jump in surprise. She then immediately had to use Aero to put the fire out before it could spread.

"My bad," Aerith said.

"We all make mistakes," Natasha assured her, shrugging her shoulders. "Just be happy you didn't hit the gas cans. That'd have caused a big problem."

With the generator destroyed, they decided to just pack up and start leaving.

Aerith and Yuffie decided to help a bit by grabbing the supplies in the house while Natasha picked up the yellow gas can that actually had gas inside of it. They stuffed the equipment and supplies into the SUV before climbing in themselves.

Natasha drove while Aerith sat in the Passenger's seat and Yuffie sat in the back seat (in a sulking manner, having lost Rock, Paper, Scissors). They drove away from the RV as the radio played Cheap Thrills by Sia featuring Sean Paul.

There was an uncomfortable silence as Natasha drove the SUV out of the forest and through roads outside of small villages. It got darker by the minute as Natasha kept driving.

"So, there's something I'm curious about," Natasha announced. She glanced up into the rear view mirror to look at Yuffie. "V told us all about how you and him are together now. I just have to ask. Have you guys... you know... yet?"

"Hey!" Aerith exclaimed for her friend. "TMI much, you know?"

She sighed out as she leaned back in her seat. But then she looked down, bit her lip, and looked back at the now surprised looking Yuffie.

"Have you guys?" Aerith asked, interest on her face.

Yuffie sighed out and looked out the window.

"...Yeah," she admitted with a smile.

Both Natasha and Aerith's eyes widened in surprise.

"What?" Aerith asked with a smile. "When?"

"It was just after the mess with that Ultron guy," Yuffie explained. "He stopped by to give me a Gummiphone so we could stay in contact while he was on Destiny Islands. No one else was in the apartment, and he was still super ecstatic to have his life force back. The emotions were running high, so..."

"Oh, my god," Aerith said with a small chuckle.

"Never knew the little bastard was so smooth," Natasha commented with a smirk. "More often than not, he made his attraction to myself very obvious. And his attraction to Wanda even more obvious 'cause she looks just like his childhood crush."

"Oh, yeah, Elizabeth Olsen," Yuffie remembered with a smile.

"Okay, I just have to ask," Aerith said. "How was V?"

"Aerith!" Yuffie exclaimed in mock offense. "I'm not one to give all the sordid details."

"All right," Aerith said, smiling in resignation.

"Although," Yuffie said, still smiling. "For such a short guy, V actually has a pretty big..."

"Ah!" Natasha said, pointing up and looking at Yuffie through the rear view mirror. "I've known the guy for years, and he's still basically a kid to me. If you finish that sentence, I will cut off your tongue."

"I was gonna say 'tongue'," Yuffie feebly lied, fear on her face as she seemingly shrank in her seat.

Natasha kept glaring sternly, but her face slowly changed into a mischievous smirk.

"Oh, you bitch!" Yuffie laughed in realization.

The three occupants of the car laughed loudly together, the tension from moments prior having disappeared completely.

As she continued driving, Natasha continued to smile as she realized that this was probably the first time she actually had "girl talk" with friends. It was actually pretty nice. *3*

It was pretty dark by now, so Natasha had the headlights on pretty bright as she drove through back roads, with a forest on one side and a lake on the other. Eventually, she came to a main road that had a bridge on the left, which she was about to drive down.

Just as Natasha was moving the SUV to make the left turn, something shot out of nowhere from down the right road and hit the car, causing a large explosion that sent it flying up into the air.

Natasha, Aerith, and Yuffie were knocked around quite a bit in the car as it flipped multiple times while flying down the road, roughly hitting the ground every second before it landed on the tires and skidded towards the railings of the bridge, knocking a few parts off before it came to a stop as it hit the main pillars. The front tires were hanging forwards off of the bridge, causing an unpleasant unbalance that was not an ideal situation for the three women in the SUV.

Fluid was leaking out of the back of the car and dripping onto the road, there was a small fire on the road, the front of the car was sparking loudly, and it was starting to move forwards dangerously by the second.

A black jeep with headlights on the roof drove down the road from where the missile had been fired, moving at a slow pace. The driver was taking their time since they were sure that victory was in their grasp.

Natasha, Aerith, and Yuffie woozily woke back up as the jeep came to a stop, and the driver climbed out.

Glancing out their windows, they saw who the driver was: a tall individual dressed in a blue and grey metal suit with silver platings and red lines along different parts. The suit covered up the individual's entire body, including their face, hiding if they were a man or a woman. There were pouches around the individual's waist to carry equipment, and a hood over their covered head that was probably completely unnecessary.

Aerith wasn't sure how, but something told her this individual's code name was Taskmaster.

She immediately got nervous from the potential implications of that name, and the fact that Taskmaster was walking right towards them.

Natasha yelled out as she unbuckled her seat belt, causing her to fall forwards and push the SUV a bit further over the edge. Aerith and Yuffie followed her example and held on as the SUV moved forwards a bit more, giving them a better view of the river below through the large hole where the windshield used to be. The gas can fell past their heads and dropped down into the water below.

"Shit!" Yuffie exclaimed, fear in her voice as she started climbing towards the back of the car.

Aerith and Natasha also started climbing up the SUV to get towards the back. Natasha stopped to momentarily grab a sidearm that she had hidden and put it in her jacket before resuming the climb.

"I'm pretty sure Ross has no jurisdiction here," Natasha called out to Taskmaster through another shattered window.

Taskmaster said nothing as they continued walking forwards at a slow pace. Yuffie and Aerith reached high enough into the SUV that the weight started to balance it out. Natasha, meanwhile, sat in the back seat and frowned through the shattered window at Taskmaster.

"And you should know I'm a better shot when I'm pissed off," Natasha muttered as she pointed her Glock out the window.

Natasha started firing the Glock at Taskmaster, but the armored enemy extended a shield over their right arm and raised it over themself, using it to block the incoming bullets. The bullets deflected off the shield and went flying in all directions, so Natasha, Aerith, and Yuffie ducked to dodge any ricocheted gunfire.

Natasha hopped back up and resumed firing, but Taskmaster then threw the shield, which ended up hitting the car pretty hard, embedding itself into where the window of the back door, stopping Natasha from being able to fire. She yelled out as she jumped back in surprise from the shield.

With no options left, the trio of women climbed out of the back windshield of the car, landing on the road pretty easily. Natasha landed on one knee, while Aerith and Yuffie landed in a roll on the ground. Natasha was already pointing her Glock towards where they last saw Taskmaster.

When Aerith and Yuffie looked up, they saw that the armored enemy was already gone. The two of them and Natasha looked around in confusion, not knowing where Taskmaster had disappeared to.

When Natasha looked up, she saw pretty quickly that Taskmaster was on the roof of the car, the shield back on their arm. Taskmaster jumped up in a flip, raising the shield over themself in defense as Natasha raised her Glock and fired at them. Natasha kept firing as Taskmaster landed on their feet in front of her. Natasha kept firing for a few seconds before Taskmaster swung the shield, knocking the gun out of her hand and sending it firing.

Aerith took out her quarterstaff while Yuffie took out her shurikan. Natasha rushed at Taskmaster, ducking as the armored enemy threw the shield at her. The shield hit the car and deflected off, landing on the ground. Natasha wrapped an arm around Taskmaster, and used her skills to leap around the armored enemy, going up and placing her legs between Taskmaster's head. She used her own strength to pull downwards and drop Taskmaster to the ground.

Unfortunately, Taskmaster landed on their feet, and jumped up to repeat the move to Natasha. Taskmaster jumped up and used their aerobics to wrap their legs around Natasha's head, then pulled down, dropping Natasha to the ground.

Natasha rolled on the ground, wincing when she hit broken glass. She looked at Taskmaster to see the armored enemy seemingly scanning her through the enhanced mask. Natasha turned on the ground before she and Taskmaster did the same thing: propelling up with their legs, then leaping up and landing on one knee, placing one hand on the ground to brace themselves.

Aerith and Yuffie had stood back, not knowing when to intervene during that entire fight. They watched as Natasha and Taskmaster studied each other, with Natasha tilting her head in confusion as she looked at Taskmaster.

Taskmaster then slowly turned and looked back towards the SUV, and the three ladies followed the armored enemy's gaze to a black case that had fallen out of the trunk and landed on the ground.

Taskmaster jumped to their feet, so Aerith and Yuffie sprung to action.

Aerith swung her quarterstaff at Taskmaster, who stepped back to dodge before kicking the mage in the stomach. Yuffie threw her shurikan at Taskmaster, who sidestepped the attack. The shurikan then turned in the air and started flying back towards Yuffie, hitting Taskmaster in the back of the head before it flew back to Yuffie's hand. Yuffie yelled out as she jumped up with a kick, hitting Taskmaster in the stomach, which appeared to do nothing.

Yuffie then swung her shurikan at Taskmaster, but the armored enemy stepped back and delivered a strong punch to Yuffie's side, knocking her back. Aerith blasted Fire at Taskmaster, which the armored enemy walked right through. Aerith swung her quarterstaff at Taskmaster, but the armored enemy caught the weapon and pulled down hard, pulling Aerith forwards in a flip and ramming her down onto the road pretty hard.

Taskmaster walked right past the two and towards the case still on the road.

"You're not here for us," Natasha muttered to herself in realization.

She pulled a knife out of her boot and charged at Taskmaster.

Natasha tried jabbing the blade at Taskmaster's head, but the armored enemy moved their head out of the way and caught Natasha's hand with their own. Taskmaster then spun around in a circle to face Natasha as she pulled back the knife to attack. Natasha tried stabbing at Taskmaster, but Taskmaster caught the hand and raised it up. She dropped the knife and caught it with her other hand, and tried slashing at Taskmaster, who jumped back in small spinning hops, moving past Aerith and Yuffie's wincing bodies on the ground.

Natasha tried stabbing Taskmaster, but the armored enemy caught the hand in the gears on their leg and pressed down, forcing Natasha to the ground. Natasha winced as Taskmaster gripped the side of her head, pressing down and applying more force. She reached up and grabbed at Taskmaster's wrist as the armored enemy raised her head up. She yelled out again as Taskmaster raised her head up, then punched her in the chest, sending her flying down the road again.

Taskmaster turned to start walking towards the case next to the SUV again, so Yuffie and Aerith tried grabbing their weapons. They tried swinging their weapons at Taskmaster's ankles, but the armored enemy jumped up to dodge both of their weapons. Taskmaster kicked them both in their faced, knocking them into the ground again before landing on their own feet.

Natasha also tried pushing herself to her feet to attack Taskmaster again, but the armored enemy charged at her and lunged forwards. Taskmaster kicked Natasha with both their feet, knocking her back down the road again.

Luckily, Natasha still had another trick. Still on her back, she pulled out a little rod that had grappling lines on each side and fired one out that flew towards Taskmaster and wrapped around the armored enemy's ankles. She then fired another hook out of the other end, which flew up into the air and attached to one of the metal arches of the bridge.

The hooks then started retracting onto themselves, tightening around Taskmaster's ankles and pulling them off of their feet. The armored enemy was dragged across the ground and soon hung upside down from the metal arch of the bridge.

While Taskmaster was dragged down the road, Natasha, Aerith, and Yuffie quickly ran to the case and opened it up, seeing a little collection of red vials wrapped together to form a circle.

Unfortunately, Taskmaster was very skilled. As Taskmaster was pulled into the air by the cable, they extended out a sword from their gear, slashing at the cable around their ankle. Still in the air, Taskmaster grabbed a hold of the cable and looped around, swinging through the air back towards the ladies.

Taskmaster lunged at them just as Natasha picked up the case, swinging their sword at them. They managed to step back, with Aerith swinging her quarterstaff at the armored enemy. Taskmaster deflected the attack with their sword before kicking Aerith hard in the stomach, sending her flying back. Yuffie yelled out as she tried swinging her shurikan at Taskmaster, but the armored enemy caught it with their sword. Taskmaster then grabbed Yuffie's arm and yanked upwards, using the strength of the suit to send Yuffie flying backwards through the air.

Yuffie yelled out as she flew through the air, spinning a few times before plummeting and landing in the water with a splash.

Taskmaster then swung their sword at Natasha, who stepped back to dodge before picking up the dropped sword with her free hand. Natasha kept blocking against Taskmaster's sword strikes, moving around the armored enemy with her defenses. She then swung her arm holding the case at Taskmaster, who caught her hand and grabbed the case, pulling it out of Natasha's hand.

Aerith tried swinging her quarterstaff at Taskmaster, but the armored enemy caught it, turning the staff in her hands and making it hit Aerith in the head. Taskmaster then reached down and wrapped their arm under Aerith's and lifted up with their suit-provided enhanced strength, throwing Aerith up high into the air.

Aerith yelled out as she was projected through the air, going over the edge of the bridge and landing in the water with a splash, just like Yuffie did.

Natasha kept blocking Taskmaster's sword strikes with the shield, deflecting when Taskmaster tried doing a sweep like attack. Taskmaster then jumped up in a couple of spins, which also deflected off of the shield, before landing a kick directly in the center of the defensive weapon. The kick was hard enough that Natasha yelled out as she was launched backwards, sending her flying off of the bridge, where she also landed in the water with a splash.

With them out of the way, Taskmaster retracted their sword and stuck it back into the case of equipment on their back, storing it away for later. Taskmaster opened up the case to view its contents...

Only to discover that the case was now completely empty.

Natasha, Aerith, and Yuffie had managed to recover in the water, but they kept their heads under as they floated down the surging tide, wanting to be safe in case Taskmaster saw them. They were like this for a while until they eventually reached a bank in the water, where they could stand up and walk. The three women winced as they trudged through the water and towards a shore in a forest, panting as they tried to get back their breath.

"What the hell was that?" Yuffie asked as they continued to trudge through the water.

"Taskmaster," Aerith said. "I don't know what it is, but something told me that that's their name."

"It doesn't sound like a pleasant one," Natasha commented. "You get a glimpse of who they are under the mask?"

"Unfortunately, no," Aerith admitted. "I don't even know how I got this much. All I knew was that they're called Taskmaster."

"Damn," Natasha commented. "Could've used some more info."

They continued pushing through the water, until they came to a shoreline where they were able to climb out and rest. There was a large rock on top that the three of them laid on top of as they tried to get back their energy.

"I'll use Curaga in a bit," Aerith announced. "Help us get back our strength."

She said this because she noticed a large red mark on Natasha's side, evident through her jacket.

However, the color was misleading.

Still breathing heavily, Natasha reached into her pocket and pulled out the collection of vials, which were glowing brightly.

"Oh," Aerith said, feeling embarrassed. "Never mind."

"What are those?" Yuffie asked, curious.

Natasha looked at the vials curiously, quickly noticing something else was packed in between them. Curious, she grabbed at the little tab and pulled the item out.

The item turned out to be a little strip of paper with two pictures in a line, sort of what you would get from a vendor at a carnival. Inside were two smiling little girls, one with red hair dyed blue at the front, and one with blonde hair.

Natasha's eyes widened as she looked at the pictures, using the light from the glowing vials to illuminate the pictures better.

"Oh, shit," Natasha whispered to herself.

It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out who was in the picture.

"Is that you and your sister?" Yuffie guessed. "When you were kids?"

Natasha paused for a second.

"Yes," she admitted, somewhat reluctantly.

"I'm guessing you guys aren't on the best terms?" Aerith said, having noticed Natasha's hesitation.

"...You could say that," Natasha admitted.

This certainly was not going the way either of the off-worlders were expecting. *4*

Chapter Text

Even though Natasha insisted that she'd be able to figure out the trouble with Taskmaster, the vials, and her sister on her own, Aerith and Yuffie insisted that they would be tagging along to help. She even tried threatening them to get them to stay at a safe house, which failed miserably. They informed the spy that they had heard worse threats from even Vanitas, but still managed to defy the ravenette.

Hearing some of the threats that Vanitas had issued the two, and knowing that he actually could have done them but the two ladies had talked him out of it, Natasha reluctantly agreed to let the two off worlders follow her on her mission.

After dressing in different clothes at the replacement safe house, the three ladies made the trip to Budapest, arriving by train within the city.

Natasha, Aerith, and Yuffie walked out of the train, with Aerith and Yuffie dressed in new clothes that were different from what they wore before since they didn't want to stick out too much. Natasha had her hair braided back and was still dressed in her leather jacket, pants and boots.

Aerith wore a pink shirt (there were a lot of things she could agree to change, but the pink was something she'd never change), a partly zipped up brown jacket, a long skirt and leggings, and her mauve boots. She had her hair tied back in a ponytail, while some parts still hung over her forehead in bangs.

Yuffie had listened to Natasha and taken off her headband, though she carried it in her pocket. The ninja was dressed in longer clothes, something she almost never wore. She wore a dark green shirt, a black leather jacket, blue skinny jeans, and sneakers. Her hair hung down to cover a bit more of her face now that her headband wasn't on her forehead, and she got irritated by constantly brushing it away. But, she trusted Natasha's instructions that it was a great way to help stay incognito, so Yuffie reluctantly bore through it.

Natasha led the way through the city, hitching them a ride on a city tram before climbing off and going towards an apartment complex. The redhead opened the door that led through a small hallway into a large open air atrium. This atrium was circular, with the apartment buildings surrounding it. Instead of hallways, there were walkways with railings that led to the various apartment buildings. One person was air drying their laundry on a railing while a cleaning lady used a broom to sweep at the ground on another walkway.

"This is very different from our apartment buildings in Traverse Town and Hollow Bastion," Yuffie muttered.

"Different cultures of different worlds," Aerith muttered back.

Natasha continued leading the way down the small road, walking with Aerith and Yuffie towards the indoor staircase part of the building. They rode the dingy elevator up a few floors through the building, with Natasha resting her head against the stained mirrored wall as she prepared herself for what she'd face.

They walked out of the elevator, with Natasha kneeling down to open a small doorway in a wall. She reached into the upper part of the wall and grabbed a stored object wrapped in a towel.

Aerith and Yuffie were only slightly surprised that the wrapped object turned out to be a handgun and a lock pick.

Natasha then started walking towards the locked double doors on their floor, moving to the lock and going to work with her pick. Aerith and Yuffie stood on either side of her as a form of camouflage.

"I know you're out there," a female, Russian accented voice called through the door, slightly muffled.

Natasha stopped and slowly reached for the handgun she stored in the small of her back.

"I know you know I'm out here," Natasha called inside.

Aerith and Yuffie shared looks, wondering what kind of confusing situation they were about to find themselves in.

Natasha opened up the door enough to slide within the room, followed by Aerith and Yuffie. The two of them kept themselves prepared to take out their weapons at any moment as they creeped into the room, shutting the door behind them.

Natasha pointed her handgun forwards as she entered the room, keeping it pointed forwards the entire time she led the way into the room.

"Then why are you skulking about like it's a minefield?" the voice called out, getting slightly more and more clear.

Natasha continued leading the way through the hallway of the apartment, allowing Aerith and Yuffie to see a room with a large wall lined up to the top with guns. They were surprised and impressed, since they weren't used to armories outside of Vanitas's bag being that big.

"'Cause I don't know if I can trust you," Natasha called out to the woman behind the voice.

The woman chuckled.

"Funny, I was going to say the same thing," she called out to them. "Who are your allies?"

"Friends from another world," Yuffie quickly and defiantly called out.

"She's a little frantic," Aerith admitted.

"I am not frantic," Yuffie remarked, annoyance in her voice.

Natasha rolled her eyes at their banter before continuing her trek down the hallway. She walked to the end of the hallway and kept her gun pointed as she looked at the closed doorway on her left, then the open one on her right.

"So, we gonna talk like grown-ups?" Natasha called out to the other woman.

She walked right into the doorway that led into a small living room, keeping her gun pointed at the other woman just as she came into view.

Aerith and Yuffie weren't really that surprised to see that the other woman, a blonde woman dressed in a grey coat with her blonde hair tied back into a ponytail, was also armed, pointing her own handgun at Natasha in her own warning.

Somehow, Aerith knew that this woman was named Yelena.

"Is that what we are?" Yelena rebutted.

Natasha blinked to hide her emotions as she continued keeping her gun pointed at the woman.

Aerith and Yuffie watched in slight surprise as Natasha walked towards her sister with her gun raised, while Yelena backed away while keeping her own gun trained on the redhead. The two off worlders followed with expressions of surprise on their faces as the sisters walked through the living room and towards the kitchen.

"Put it down before I make you," Yelena said in an actually calm form of warning.

"You put yours down," Natasha rebutted.

"And I thought we had family problems," Aerith commented to Yuffie.

Natasha and the Yelena continued moving through the apartment while pointing their guns at each other, moving towards the kitchen. Yelena's foot slipped on a little part on the floor between the rooms, causing her to stumble slightly. Though she never wavered in her aim.

"Watch your step," Natasha quipped.

Yelena chuckled softly and gave the tiniest smile Aerith and Yuffie had ever seen as they continued into the kitchen.

Natasha and Yelena continued pointing their guns at each other as they got closer and closer, eventually coming to a stop. They were close enough that their gun muzzles were literally inches apart from each other.

The two sisters stared at each other as Aerith and Yuffie waited for the obvious to happen.

Sure enough, the two sisters snatched each other's handguns, pulled back, then turned and pointed their firearms at each other again. Natasha and Yelena grabbed at each others' guns again, but this time they yelled out and knocked the firearms out of each others' hands. Yelena then reached forwards, grabbed Natasha's jacket, and yanked hard, twirling the redhead around. She then grabbed a hold of Natasha from behind, then slammed her into a nearby wall. Keeping a hold of the redhead, Yelena then slammed her into the doorframe across from the wall.

Aerith had already taken out her staff, and charged forwards. She yelled out and swung the staff, hitting Yelena in the back and making her yell out in pain. She released her grip on Natasha with one hand and reached back to hold the wound.

Natasha used that to her advantage, grabbing Yelena and pushing her back into the kitchen. She shot a thankful look towards Aerith before picking up Yelena and ramming her into one of the cupboards over the stove, ramming her hard enough that they broke, making Yelena yell out. Yelena pushed at Natasha's face, but Natasha kept her grip on her sister firm, slamming her down onto the countertop, and holding her head over the sink.

"Stay down," Natasha told Yelena, an expression on her face that scared Yuffie a bit. "Stay down. Stay down."

So of course, Yelena fought back, kicking her legs trying to get out. She then yelled out and grabbed a ceramic plate, swinging it and smashing it against Natasha's head, making her lose her grip and take a step back.

Yelena jumped to her feet and spun in a circle, swinging a fist holding a towel at Natasha, which Natasha caught. She then pulled forwards and grabbed the towel, turning Yelena around and wrapping the towel tightly around her neck. She pulled hard at the towel, but Yelena pushed forwards, pressing her foot against another counter top. She pushed with her foot against the counter, pulling down Natasha as she dropped to her back and sending the redhead flying backwards, crashing into a door before rolling roughly into the living room.

Yuffie then moved in front of Yelena's dropped form and had her shurikan grow to a large size. She yelled out as she threw it downwards, having two of the large blades stab the ground between Yelena's neck, forming a trap to keep her down.

"Don't even try getting up," Yuffie commented.

Yelena reached up, grabbed the other two parts of the shurikan, and yelled out as she raised her leg, kicking Yuffie in the stomach hard enough to send her flying. She then pulled the shurikan out of the ground, allowing her freedom.

Yelena tossed the shurikan to the side, and Aerith swung her staff at her. The blonde woman ducked, then swung a fist that Aerith dodged. Aerith twirled in a spin, swinging her staff at Yelena. But Yelena caught the staff and pulled inwards. However, Aerith didn't let that stop her, and jumped into the air, raising her quarterstaff to turn it in Yelena's hands. Aerith then came down and elbowed Yelena in the head, knocking her down again.

Aerith let out a small, victorious chuckle, but Yelena used that to her advantage, wrapping her legs around Aerith's. Yelena then turned her legs, causing Aerith to yell out as she was quickly dropped to the ground. She then kicked Aerith in the head, knocking her back towards Yuffie.

"What the hell just happened?" Yuffie groaned to Aerith.

"This is the first time in probably a year we've fought a human enemy that's as skilled as us in hand to hand," Aerith responded. "We let ourselves get cocky." *1*

Yelena then turned and looked at Natasha in the living room, just as she pushed herself to her feet. The blonde grabbed a kitchen knife and started walking towards Natasha. Natasha backed up and grabbed a large object from off a desk.

Yelena started slashing the knife at Natasha, but she backed up to get away from the attacks. Natasha swung the object in her hand at Yelena at the same time Yelena tried swinging the knife. The two attacks ended up landing on each other's forearms, preventing any damage from being taken. They pushed against each other for a bit before Yelena pulled back and tried slashing the knife at Natasha, which failed again. She swung again, but the two managed to lock their arms, glaring at each other briefly.

Yelena then used that to her advantage, grabbing Natasha and flipping her in the air, causing her to crash to the ground on her back. Natasha turned on the ground and delivered a kick to Yelena's shin, sending her dropping to the ground as well. Yelena tried stabbing Natasha, but she knocked the knife away with the item she was holding. Natasha then wrapped her arm around Yelena's neck, and the sisters jumped to their feet as Yelena grabbed a hold of Natasha. The two locked onto each other, with Natasha keeping an arm wrapped around Yelena's neck and covering her mouth with her other hand.

Aerith and Yuffie healed with Curaga and quickly made their way back into the living room just as Yelena got out of the hold.

Yelena knocked Natasha's arm off, brushed it to the side, then charged forwards, wrapping her arms around Natasha and crashing her into the wall behind them. Natasha was lifted up into the air by her sister, so she grabbed a hold of a curtain next to her and ripped it off, wrapping it around Yelena's neck. Yelena dropped Natasha, and wrapped another end of the curtain around Natasha's neck. Natasha then grabbed a hold of the curtain and used it to flip Yelena down onto the ground on her back, surprising Yuffie and Aerith since she landed right next to them.

Of course, Yelena kept a hold on the curtain, pulling Natasha down with her, causing her to crash on the ground next to her. Natasha and Yelena both grabbed a hold of the curtain, pressing a foot against the other and pulling to choke each other.

"Stop," Natasha said through a strain in her voice.

The two stared at each other, a bit of desperation in her voice as she looked at her sister. Aerith pulled back with her staff at the same time Yuffie pulled back to throw her shurikan.

Then Natasha said something in Russian, taking her hand off of the curtain and holding it up to show a form of peace.

With that, Yelena pulled back, gasped for air, and started pulling the curtain off of her neck.

Yuffie threw her shurikan, cutting the curtain in half and causing the tight grip to lesson a bit. Natasha pulled the curtain off of her neck and looked at her sister, saying something in Russian. Yelena looked at her for a second before responding in Russian, pulling the curtain off of her neck.

Yelena then pushed herself to her feet and walked past Aerith and Yuffie, going right towards the kitchen. The two off-worlders looked at the blonde woman before looking at Natasha.

"So, is that it?" Aerith asked. "You're not trying to kill each other, anymore?"

"We have a weird family dynamic," Natasha admitted, pushing herself to her feet.

"Clearly," Natasha commented, taking her shurikan back and letting it shrink back down to normal size.

Natasha walked after Yelena into the kitchen.

"You had to come to Budapest, didn't you?" Natasha asked as Yelena opened the fridge.

"I came here because I thought you wouldn't," Yelena said, grabbing a bottle of vodka while holding two shot glasses in the other.

Natasha walked into the kitchen, followed by a still wary Aerith and Yuffie. Yelena placed the glasses on the table and poured vodka in one of them.

"But since you're here, what bullet does that?" Yelena asked, gesturing to a wall behind Natasha.

Natasha, Aerith, and Yuffie looked at the wall, seeing three holes underneath a coat rack.

"Those aren't bullet holes," Aerith said.

"We lived with a guy who barely cared how he used his guns, so we can confirm that," Yuffie confirmed. "We've had all kinds of bullet holes in our walls, so we know what they look like. Those are not bullet holes."

"They're right," Natasha told Yelena. "Those are from arrows."

"Ah, right," Yelena uncaringly said, pouring vodka in the second glass.

She took the glass and raised it to her lips.

"I'm Aerith, and this is Yuffie," Aerith decided to make the introductions.

"Yelena," Yelena said, taking the shot of vodka.

"If you didn't think I'd come here, why'd you send me this?" Natasha demanded from her sister, taking out the red vials and resting them on the table, along with the pictures of them.

Natasha looked at her sister with her hand on her side in a chastising manner. Yelena looked at the items, then looked back up at Natasha with wide eyes of surprise.

"You brought it back here?" Yelena asked, shock and surprise in her voice as she walked around Natasha and the off-worlders to leave the room.

Natasha grabbed the pictures and walked after Yelena, followed by Yuffie and Aerith.

"I'm not here trying to be your friend, but you need to tell me what that is," Natasha snapped at her sister, following her towards an adjacent hallway.

"Someone tried to kill us to get those things, so we kind of wanna know why," Aerith added.

"It's a synthetic gas," Yelena said, walking through the hallway to another room. "The counteragent to chemical subjugation."

Yuffie furrowed her eyebrows in thought.

"It fights against chemical brainwashing, giving people back control of their own minds," she assessed as Yelena crouched down, reaching into a cupboard.

"Exactly," Yelena confirmed, standing up with a bag in her hand. "The gas immunizes the brain's neuropathways from external manipulation."

"I can get it thanks to the girl," Natasha commented, walking around her sister. "But maybe in English next time?"

Yelena then stubbornly said something in Russian. Natasha retaliated in Russian as she grabbed some clothes from a nearby hanger.

"Why don't you take it to one of your super-scientist friends?" Yelena asked her sister, stuffing clothes in her bag as Natasha took off her jacket. "They could explain it to you. Tony Stark, maybe?"

"V told us about him," Yuffie said. "Sounds like a hell of a guy."

"Oh, yeah," Natasha said, staring forwards with little emotion in her voice. "We're not really talking right now, so..."

"Great. Perfect timing," Yelena sarcastically commented as Natasha continued perusing the clothes on the rack. "Where's an Avenger when you need one?"

"Ain't that just how life works?" Aerith agreed.

Natasha turned around and looked right at Yelena.

"I don't wanna be here," Natasha announced. She gestured to Aerith and Yuffie. "They shouldn't even be here because they crash landed here. They're here by accident. And I'm on the run. You could have gotten all of us killed."

"Well, what was I supposed to do?" Yelena asked, looking right at her sister. Natasha took her shirt off to change, revealing some bad looking bruises across her back that had Aerith and Yuffie wincing. "You're the only superhero person that I know."

Yelena looked forwards and sighed out.

"That's the whole reason I sent it to you," she admitted, zipping one part of her bag closed, while Natasha kept perusing the clothes on the wrack.. "I kept checking the news, expecting to see Captain America bringing down the Red Room."

Natasha slipped a shirt on as Yelena started to walk away, carrying her bag and a purse.

"Uh, what's the Red Room?" Aerith asked.

Natasha sighed out before looking at her sister, surprise on her face.

"What?" she asked.

Yelena said nothing as she looked at Natasha, then started walking down the hallway.

"What's the Red Room?" Yuffie asked.

"Taking down the Red Room?" Natasha asked, walking out of another door out of the room, while slipping her jacket back on. "What are you talking about? It's been gone for years."

Yelena said nothing as she walked to the armory room.

"Dreykov's dead," Natasha added, taking her hair braid out of her jacket, walking to the room to see Yelena stuffing guns into her purse with a smile. "I killed him."

"You really believe that, do you?" Yelena asked. When she saw the sincerity in her sister's voice, Yelena's smile disappeared as she walked forwards. "You really do believe that."

"Dreykov's dead," Natasha repeated. "It took almost destroying the city just to get to him."

"Okay, can someone please answer our questions?" Yuffie demanded. "What is the Red Room? Why does it matter if it's gone or not? And who the hell is Dreykov?"

Natasha and Yelena shared a look, before sighing out and looking at Aerith and Yuffie.

"The Red Room is the program that took us from our homes as children and made us into Black Widows," Natasha explained. "They trained us to be spies, to become great soldiers for the head of the institution, murdering people across the world at the behest of the leader, Dreykov."

"New recruits are sterilized upon graduation," Yelena added, causing the two off-worlders to wince at the thought. "We are also apparently brainwashed, so that we do everything they order us to do without question."

"Damn," Aerith said, looking at the sisters sympathetically. "You've both had some pretty terrible experiences."

"You have no idea," Natasha agreed, looking down and sighing out. She looked up and turned around to look at her sister. "But once again, I know that Dreykov's dead."

"If you're so sure, then tell me what happened," Yelena told Natasha. "Tell me exactly."

Natasha paused for a second, mentally collecting her words.

"We rigged bombs," she started explaining.

"Who's 'we'?" Yelena asked.

"Clint Barton," Natasha explained. "Killing Dreykov was the final step in my defection to SHIELD."

Yelena looked at her sister and shrugged her shoulders.

"Simple as that?" Yelena asked.

Natasha looked at her sister and started walking past her sister to the kitchen.

"Yeah, sure, 'simple'," Natasha said.

Aerith and Yuffie shared a look, already knowing that there was more to the story. They shared a look with Yelena and started following Natasha towards the kitchen.

"That's what I'd call imploding a five-story building and then shooting it out with the Hungarian Special Forces," Natasha remarked.

"We did that once on a different world," Aerith said. "Sure, they weren't Hungarian Special Forces, but still."

"Took 10 days in hiding before we could even get out of Budapest, Natasha added as they walked to the table.

Yelena picked up something off the ground and stood up, looking at Natasha as she put it in her bag.

"And you checked the body?" Yelena asked as Natasha took the earlier poured shot of vodka. "Confirmed the kill?"

"Performed the Double Tap?" Yuffie added, remembering a term Vanitas used a lot in the past.

Natasha paused for a second before looking at Yelena, a bit of pride in her face.

"There was no body left to check," Natasha told her sister.

Natasha turned and started walking out of the kitchen.

"You're forgetting Dreykov's daughter," Yelena remarked, getting Natasha to stop walking.

"Uh, from the sounds of it, this Dreykov guy likes using young women and make them into assassins for his own amusement," Aerith assessed. "Sounds like a thing of power and abuse. How the hell could someone really wanna have a kid with this guy?" *2*

"I've asked myself that for years," Yelena admitted before looking at Natasha.

Aerith and Yuffie followed her gaze to see that Natasha had stopped in the doorway that led to the hallway.

However, all of their attentions were drawn to the sound of footsteps ringing out from the floor above them. All four women looked up in curiosity, hearing the footsteps moving towards the living room.

All of a sudden, the roof of the living room crashed in from a large blast, sending rubble and smoke crashing down into the room.

Yelena quickly grabbed the vials of gas from the table with a set of keys, moving to hide with Yuffie in one corner. Aerith followed Natasha as she moved through the apartment, moving towards another room, where the smoke from the room was also spread out through.

Yuffie glanced out into the living room, seeing two red lights shining down through the smoke, with the sight of two people falling down through the smoke.

'Rifle lasers,' Yuffie thought.

Yelena moved forwards a bit, just in time to see the front door of the apartment crash in, with two women rushing forwards, one of them pointing a rifle that was shooting a red laser point for aiming, just like the two in the room. Yelena softly gasped and jumped back to stay out of sight. She stuffed the vials in her bag and looked towards Yuffie in worry.

'Black Widows?' Yuffie mouthed to Yelena.

Yelena nodded in confirmation.

'Shit,' Yuffie thought.

Yelena and Yuffie, and Aerith and Natasha kept themselves hidden in their small corners, seeing the lights from the rifles moving across the entrances to their rooms.

Yelena and Yuffie decided to just go for it, leaving the kitchen and moved towards the other hallway. Yuffie threw her shurikan towards the Black Widows as they fired their rifles at the two through the smoke. The sai knocked aside one of the Widows before flying back into Yuffie's hand, just as they hurried into the hallway where Natasha and Aerith were.

Natasha grabbed Yelena and pulled her into the bathroom, slamming her into the wall, while Aerith and Yuffie shared a quick, relieved hug.

Yelena then reached across the room to the shower, and turned a crank. This caused an explosion to blast from the lights out in the hallway. Another one burst from the ceiling, causing more smoke to burst through the hallway to help eclipse sight within the room.

Natasha then led the way out of the hallway, just as two Widows outside raised their rifles. Natasha caught the rifle of one Widow and kicked the second in the stomach. Aerith took out her quarterstaff and hit the woman with the rifle in the head, before Natasha stomped the woman in the leg, causing her to stumble to the ground.

Natasha, Yelena, Aerith, and Yuffie hurried out of the apartment, dodging some gunfire from the Widows in the room. They hurried out of the room, but pressed themselves against a wall, seeing briefly that there were more Widows on the ground of the atrium. Natasha briefly looked around to the outdoor railing, then moved her head back to dodge the gunfire from the ladies on the ground.

Yelena jumped back to dodge the gunfire. She looked down the nearby staircase, and then jumped back again as two other Widows fired up at them with their own rifles.

"Jesus Christ!" Yuffie exclaimed. "How many damn bitches with rifles are after us?"

Instead of answering, Yelena took out a grenade, pulled the pin, and threw it down towards the two at the staircase. Aerith pointed her staff into the air and sent out some magic, causing two blasts of Thunder to rain down towards the Widows in the atrium.

Yelena then hurried towards the staircase that led further up, followed by Natasha, Aerith, and Yuffie.

"Where are we trying to get?" Natasha exclaimed to her sister.

Motorbikes!" Yelena exclaimed back, charging down a hallway with a large, stained glass wall, followed by the other three. "East side of the building."

All four women exclaimed in surprise when a sniper firing a rifle hit the glass next to them, narrowly missing their heads.

"You remember how I said that I missed adventures throughout other worlds?" Yuffie frantically asked Aerith as they hurried through the halls. "Yeah, I changed my mind!"

"Saw that coming!" Aerith rebutted.

The two off-worlders followed the sisters' as they climbed out of a window, hurrying across a rooftop. The four women hurried across the roof, with Aerith and Yuffie glancing backwards at the sound of footsteps. They noticed a brown skinned Widow hurrying after them, murder clear in her eyes.

Aerith blasted Blizzard at the woman three times, all of which she dodged, just as they slid down the slant of a rooftop. The four of them hurried across the rooftop, to an edge that had a raised, pole shaped, metal chimney that hung over a small deposit of water between buildings. Yelena and Natasha reached the chimney and placed their hands against it.

Aerith yelled out as she delivered a strong kick to the chimney to try to knock it down and form a bridge, which didn't really do anything but cause dust to fly off as it shook. While she tried to do that, Yuffie threw her shurikan at the Widow to try to slow her down, though she dodged every strike.

Yelena then reached down and grabbed a metal screw from the chimney, pulling it out and loosening it from the wall. She, Natasha, then, Aerith and Yuffie held onto the chimney as it started to drop, all with the Widow still on their tails.

The metal creaked as the chimney started to fall, and the Widow lunged at them, catching onto the chimney and causing it to turn from the move. The grabbed the Widow to stop her from falling as the chimney continued to spiral around.

"I got you!" Natasha assured the Widow.

"Nat, sure that's a good idea?" Aerith called to the older woman.

Then the Widow pulled out a knife and slashed at Natasha's wrist, causing her to yell out and let go.

"No!" Natasha called as the Widow started falling.

The Widow yelled out as she dropped towards the ceramic ground below that was covered in water, causing a big splash of water to spray in different directions, making Aerith and Yuffie wince.

The chimney then crashed into a nearby wall, causing the four women hanging on to lose their grips. Yelena and Yuffie crashed through a window into another building, while Natasha and Aerith hit the wall outside the building. The both of them yelled out as they started stumbling down the side of the building, crashing into ventilation shafts before dropping down to a large trash can. They landed on their feet on the ceramic ground, shakily from getting knocked around so much.

Holding onto their aching sides, Natasha and Aerith looked up to see the Widow that had crashed on the ground. There was blood in the water around her as she looked up while lying on her back, making it clear to the two women what had happened.

While Yelena and Yuffie slowly winced to their feet in the building, Natasha and Aerith moved towards the woman, with Natasha pointing a hand at her to emphasize that they wouldn't hurt her.

"Hey," Natasha said. "Don't move. You're hurt. Let us help you."

"I know healing magic," Aerith said, taking out her staff.

She winced when she saw the way the woman's leg was turned so badly. She raised her staff and tried to cast Curaga, but it had no effect. Aerith looked down in disappointment, realizing that she had used up all of her magic with the blasts of Blizzard. It would be a while before the magic finished recharging.

The angry expression on the woman's face didn't even change. Instead, she activated the gauntlet on her wrist forearm, causing red light to glow on the gears around it. She pointed her forearm at Natasha and Aerith, a very angry expression on her face, while the two women looked at her. The women's expression then changed into one of sadness.

"I don't wanna do this," she admitted with a sob.

"What are you doing?" Natasha asked, frowning in confusion.

"He's making me," the woman said with another sob as she slowly raised her closed fist and forearm to her head.

Aerith's eyes widened in realization.

"No, wait!" Aerith shouted.

The woman sobbed once again as she blasted her gauntlet, sending red light out from it and into her head, knocking her head to the ground and making blood start coming out of a wound in her head.

Very shocked, Natasha and Aerith crouched down next to the woman, eyes wide and their jaws dropped. They closed their eyes solemnly before looking at the woman, seeing the left side of her face burned badly, which also made one of her eyes turn red from damage.

"What... the fuck?" Aerith asked, surprise and shock in her voice.

Yelena and Yuffie hurried out of a nearby door from the building, with Yelena holding the collection of vials in her hand, one of them in her hand to give to the woman. However, their eyes widened in realization at the sight of the woman on the ground after she killed herself.

Yuffie's jaw dropped, and she covered her mouth with her hand as she and Yelena walked forwards, with Yelena looking down solemnly as she placed the vial with the others.

"Do you believe me now?" Yelena asked.

Natasha and Aerith looked up at Yelena, determined expressions on their faces.

"How many others?" Natasha asked.

"Enough," Yelena informed them.

"Do you have enough cures for them all?" Aerith asked, gesturing to the vials.

"I don't know," Yelena admitted. "But I have to hope I will."

"Same," Yuffie said. She gestured to the dead woman. "I don't want anyone else to go through this."

"Neither do I," Aerith agreed.

Yelena nodded at the two before turning and moving towards the door of the building, followed by Yuffie. Aerith and Natasha pushed themselves to their feet. They looked down at the dead Widow with solemn expressions on their faces before following the other two through the building.

After leaving this new building, the four women found themselves out in an alleyway outside of the building, leading out into the residence of Budapest. Natasha, Aerith, Yelena, and Yuffie looked around to make sure they weren't being followed before turning and running down the sidewalk. They kept running towards a smaller alleyway, where multiple motorcycles were parked.

"Which one's yours?" Natasha asked.

"Black. Brown seat," Yelena quickly rebutted. She looked at Yuffie and Aerith. "Do you have the keys to any of them?"

"Don't need it, we've got a spell," Aerith informed her.

They hurried to the bikes, with Yelena and Natasha reaching Yelena's.

"Where are my keys?" Yelena asked, patting her pockets desperately.

Natasha then tossed said keys up into the air, catching them and making it clear that she would be driving. Yelena said something in Russian, which Yelena and Aerith actually recognized as "...ah, bitch."

Vanitas said that one a lot.

Aerith used a spell to power up one of the bikes while Natasha started to turn on the bike.

A large, red car was then thrown down of a nearby road, moving in their lines of sight before it moved out of sight through the alleyway.

"Any day now," Natasha commented.

Yelena climbed onto the back of the bike, holding onto Natasha, as Yuffie did the same with Aerith's bike. Just as a large, armored truck drove out from that road, turning and driving towards the alleyway they were powering up the bikes within.

Aerith yelled out in surprise as she and Natasha powered up their bikes. They drove the bikes forwards, then turned and started driving them down the alleyway, away from the armored truck. The armored truck started driving down the alley after them, sending anything in its way flying as it chased after the two driving bikes.

Yuffie extended her shurikan to its full size, and yelled out as she threw it towards the truck. The shurikan deflected off of the side of the windowless truck before flying back into Yuffie's hand.

Natasha and Aerith continued driving their bikes down the alleyway, dodging as the truck sent traffic cones, scaffolding, and whatever else that was in its way flying in all directions. Taskmaster was the one driving the truck, using the mechanics of their suit to scan the occupants of the bikes.

A van then drove out of a road connected to the alleyway, parking in front of the bikes to try to stop them.

Of course, Natasha and Aerith were resourceful, stopping their bikes long enough to turn them, and start driving down a different road. They drove down that road, leaving the van to get destroyed by Taskmaster driving at it with the armored truck. The two bikes were driven onto a main road, with Natasha and Aerith working together to dodge the cars in their way as they navigated down the streets.

Of course, the Widows were smart, with one of them having "acquired" her own bike and driving after the heroes through the streets of Budapest.

The Widow managed to get blocked by the frantic traffic, so she just used an older car as a ramp, launching up through the air as she followed the two bikes. Yuffie threw her Shurikan towards the woman as the bikes were driven down a nearby staircase, hurrying across a set of tram tracks. Just as a train moved along the tracks, the widow fired her automatic, then got knocked aside by Yuffie's shurikan.

Of course, the bullets from the automatic had hit the tires of the two bikes, causing them to crash into a railing and sending Natasha, Yelena, Aerith, and Yuffie down onto a road on a lower level, rolling on the hood of a blue SUV before crashing into the ground pretty roughly next to the cars. *3*

"Ow," Yuffie said, holding up her hand and catching her Shurikan as it flew back within her palm.

The four pushed themselves to their feet just as the male driver of the blue SUV climbed out of the car, concern on his face. He said something in Hungarian, and Yelena pointed her sidearm at the man as she responded, moving towards the driver's seat to steal the car.

"Sorry!" Aerith and Yuffie said as the man started running.

"You can't just steal a guy's car," Natasha chastised her sister as Yelena climbed through the driver's side to the passenger's seat.

"You want me to chase him down and un-steal it?" Yelena remarked as Natasha, Aerith, and Yuffie climbed into the car.

"Can we just stop bickering and get the hell out of here?" Yuffie complained.

Natasha got the car ready to drive, and backed up a bit, crashing into the car right behind them.

"Okay. Any time now, please," Yelena requested, repeating Natasha's phrase from earlier.

"Shut up," Natasha snapped.

Automatic gunfire then rang out, shattering the front windshield and making Yelena and Aerith duck down to dodge the bullets.

Natasha hit the gas and started unsteadily driving through the traffic, occasionally bumping the SUV into cars as she hurried it across the road. The Widow that was chasing them on a bike earlier drove down a nearby staircase and followed them down the road.

Aerith quickly decided that the man wouldn't be getting his car back, and used her staff to knock out the back windshield of the car. She then yelled out as she started blasting Fire and Blizzard back through the large hole, attempting to hit the Widow chasing them on her bike. The Widow weaved through traffic, dodging the blasts as she followed the large car across the road.

"Okay, she's good," Yuffie commented.

"Keybladers have been here since 2012," Yelena reminded them. "Some of the instructors probably added a course to dodge any of their possible attacks, including the one where they blast out magic."

"I can understand that," Aerith admitted. "It's something I respect and am not happy about at the moment."

Natasha kept weaving through traffic, making a hard right turn to enter another busy district. She kept driving the car through the streets of Budapest, still followed by the Widow driving after them on the bike. The Widow weaved through traffic after them as Yelena turned to look back with Yuffie and Aerith. The Widow fired her automatic again, taking out the remaining glass of the back windshield, sending glass flying that had Aerith, Yelena, and Yuffie ducking to dodge. The Widow continued to fire at them with her gun as she drove her bike next to the SUV.

"Okay, you got a plan, or shall we just stay duck-and-cover?" Yelena asked Natasha.

"Yeah, my plan was to drive us away," Natasha rebutted.

"That's a shit plan," Yelena didn't hesitate to insult.

"Can you guys save this family melodrama for Oprah and work on getting us out of here?" Yuffie snapped.

"Oprah hasn't been on for over five years," Yelena commented.

She then reached forwards and used one hand to turn the wheel within Natasha's hands. The SUV shakily turned around, but the blonde turned the gears so that they were driving backwards, still going at full speed. Yelena then kicked open her door, causing it to get knocked off by a passing street sign, crashing through the road and hitting the front wheel of the bike, sending the Widow and the vehicle crashing to the ground.

Natasha then turned the car around as Yelena shifted the gears, turning the car around so they were driving normally again as they went down the road.

"You're welcome," Yelena quipped.

"Okay, that was pretty badass," Aerith commented.

Natasha continued driving the SUV, less than gracefully driving it out onto a main road again. She turned right and started weaving around the cars again as she tried to get away from that encounter.

But then the large truck Taskmaster drove burst out of another street, barreling down the road as the armored enemy chased after the SUV with the four women in it. The large truck knocked aside two cars, sending them flying as Taskmaster chased after them. Yelena looked back, recognizing the truck.

"Oh, shit, he's back," Yelena said, a bland tone to her voice.

Yuffie tried throwing her shurikan at the truck, which once again deflected off of its strong exterior before flying back into Yuffie's hand. The large truck knocked aside many of the cars that Natasha weaved around, getting them out of the way as Taskmaster did whatever they needed to follow them.

"Whoever this Taskmaster is, they sure are persistent," Yuffie commented.

A port then opened up on the top of the truck, and Taskmaster popped out. The armored enemy scanned the environment before pulling out a little rod, which extended out into a high-tech bow. Taskmaster pulled out an equally high-tech arrow before notching it in the bow. The armored enemy pointed the bow and arrow at the SUV, waiting for the right moment.

Natasha noticed this in the car's rear view mirror, and started to prepare for the upcoming blast.

"Put your seat belts on," Natasha instructed the other passengers of the car.

"You're such a mom," Yelena complained, putting her seatbelt on, nonetheless.

Natasha continued to wave through traffic, trying to get away from the armored truck.

Taskmaster then fired the arrow, sending it flying through the air towards the SUV.

The arrow went underneath the large car and stayed for a minute before exploding, causing a large blast that sent the car flying up into the air. The car flipped around a few times, landing upside down pretty roughly on the armored truck, making Taskmaster move back to dodge. The car ended up crashing along the tops of other cars before roughly moving across the street, moving across the road.

The car then roughly went down a set of stairs that led down into a subway, roughly moving across the large room that served as the entrance to the subway, sending everyone within running for their lives.

Natasha shakily climbed out of the car, followed by Aerith and Yuffie, then a just as shaky Yelena, who's hand was bleeding from the glass.

"Natasha, no," Yelena said as Natasha stopped to help her sister. "I think I'm bleeding. I'm..."

Natasha helped Yelena up onto their knees. While Aerith and Yuffie pushed themselves to their feet and looked around to keep watch for Taskmaster (ignoring the crowds of people watching them), Yelena raised a rag towards her forearm.

"No. Not now, trust me," Natasha told her sister.

"I've still got some time before my magic finishes charging," Aerith said. "I'll be able to heal it later."

The four women hurried through the subway, hurrying through the crowds of people as they moved as fast as they could to get away from Taskmaster. They hurried towards a set of escalators that led up and down towards the underground trains, with Natasha and Yelena jumping up onto the railing and sliding down it towards the lower level. Aerith and Yuffie shared a look before jumping onto the railing, sliding down it after their friends.

The four women slid down the railings, glancing up briefly to check to see if they were still being followed.

They got lower to the ground, sliding off of the railing and crashing onto the ground, narrowly dodging the shield thrown by Taskmaster, which flew over their heads and crashed into a nearby pillar.

The four women pushed themselves to their feet and hurried through the subway, ignoring the people murmuring to each other in surprise and confusion. Yelena was leaving behind a trail of blood from her wound, but they used that to their advantage, causing the blood to fall over towards a grate in the ground that led to the mechanics of the subway underground.

With that out of the way, they put the rag on Yelena's hand to patch up the wound before climbing into a ventilation shaft at the ceiling and hiding within. Taskmaster followed the blood trail, and opened up the grate in the ground just as Natasha shut the grate to the vent.

Natasha, Yelena, Aerith, and Yuffie watched through the vents as Taskmaster jumped down into the tunnels below the subway, successfully falling for the gambit.

"Dumbass," Yuffie commented with a smirk.

Yelena sighed out as she used the rag she had grabbed to form a tourniquet on her arm, using it to stop the bleeding. Aerith's magic had recharged, but there wasn't enough space in the vent for her to use the staff, so they'd have to wait to heal the wound. Yelena sighed out as she rested her head down on the ground.

"You okay?" Natasha asked, slightly concerned for her sister.

"Yeah," Yelena said, pushing herself up. "Great plan."

She pushed herself up a bit more, with Yuffie helping the blonde get into a sitting position.

"I love the part where I almost bled to death," Yelena quipped. She looked around at the ventilation shaft they were within. "This is cozy."

"Barton and I spent two days hiding out up here," Natasha informed her.

"That must have been fun," Yelena quipped.

"It probably was," Yuffie said, looking around with a smile. "This place seems pretty cozy."

She and Yelena looked around, seeing Tic Tac Toe and Hangman carved into one ventilation shaft.

"She's kind of crazy," Aerith admitted to Natasha.

"I got that when I heard that she's in love with V," Natasha admitted.

Aerith smirked while Yuffie smiled in pride, resting her fists against her sides.

"Who the hell is that guy?" Natasha asked Yelena. "We get that he's named Taskmaster, but what's his angle?"

"Taskmaster is Dreykov's special project," Yelena said, looking forwards to avoid eye contact, emphasizing how dangerous Taskmaster was. "He can mimic anyone he's ever seen. It's like fighting a mirror. Dreykov only employs him for top-priority missions."

"Why are you assuming Taskmaster's a guy?" Yuffie asked. "Women can be skilled and dangerous warriors, too."

"This doesn't make any sense," Natasha said, looking down in thought.

"Well, the truth rarely makes sense when you leave out key details," Yelena rebutted.

She looked right at her sister in an accusatory manner, causing Natasha to look at her in return.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Natasha asked.

"You didn't say one word about Dreykov's daughter," Yelena reminded her.

"Yeah, you kind of left that part out," Aerith agreed.

Natasha said nothing.

"You killed her," Yelena accused.

"I had to," Natasha said, a tiny bit of regret on her face. "I needed her to lead me to Dreykov."

She paused for a second.

"Dreykov's daughter was collateral damage," Natasha admitted. "I needed her to be sure."

She blinked rapidly and looked to the side, avoiding eye contact. Aerith and Yuffie shared a look, both of them internally wondering how old this daughter was at the time. They unknowingly simultaneously, mentally decided that they'd rather not know the answer to that question.

"And here you are, not so sure," Yelena told Natasha.

Natasha sighed through her nose.

"I needed out," she admitted, looking up at Yelena.

She looked back down again, showing to the two off-worlders and Yelena just how damaged she had been during her time serving under Dreykov. Yelena looked to the side, understanding that since she had experienced her own turmoil under the man. Aerith placed a sympathetic hand on Natasha's shoulder, while Yuffie did the same for Yelena, knowing how the sisters had gone through similar trauma and would need support to help them out.

They knew that they wouldn't be enough to help at the moment, but Aerith and Yuffie would still try to be enough for the moment. *4*

Chapter Text

Once they were sure that enough time had passed to ensure that Taskmaster was long gone, the ladies climbed out of the crawlspace in the roof and left the subway station, entering an alleyway where Aerith used Cure to heal some of the wounds on Yelena's arm. The four of them then left the main city, traveling through the more rural area before they found a gas station called Varoil.

Along the way, Yuffie pointed out that all four of them had different colored hair, with Yelena being blonde, Natasha having red hair, Aerith being a brunette, and Yuffie herself having black hair. Yuffie laughed at the diversity in hair color.

She was the only one who did so.

They walked across the parking lot, with Yelena carrying her jacket in her bag (revealing her bare arms, one of which still had the cloth wrapped around that was slightly stained red with blood), while Natasha gripped her side slightly as they walked towards the station. Yuffie and Aerith still had their weapons concealed, knowing that stealth was important on this world. The two spies kept glancing from side to side, anxious in case of any incoming threat.

They walked right up to the small building of the gas station, with Yelena and Yuffie walking in first, followed by Natasha and Aerith.

"The Red Room's still active," Natasha said as they walked into the small building. "Where is it?"

"I have no idea," Yelena admitted, looking around the wares on the shelves before moving towards another room of the station. "He moves location constantly."

"So it's a mobile base," Aerith assessed as they started perusing through the shelves, with Natasha grabbing a small case while Aerith grabbed some gum. "Big enough to be able to train and brainwash so many women, but clever enough to hide."

"This sounds like it's not going to be easy to take down," Yuffie commented, her and Yelena looking through a different shelf of supplies.

"It won't be," Yelena confirmed, grabbing a small box of painkillers, since she was still kind of sore even after having Cure applied. "And every Widow is sedated on entry and exit for maximum security."

"I'm just finding it hard to believe that he could stay off my radar," Natasha admitted, she and Aerith walking into the room with the others as Yelena checked more supplies from a shelf.

"Well, it's not smart to attack an Avenger if you want to stay hidden," Yelena pointed out, checking more stuff from the shelf. "I mean, the clue is in the name. Dreykov kills you, one of the big ones comes to avenge you."

"Sounds about right," Yuffie remarked.

"Wait, what are the big ones?" Natasha asked, a little confused.

"Well, I doubt the god from space or the one without the life force have to take an ibuprofen after a fight," Yelena pointed out.

"Actually, he has his life force again," Yuffie pointed out. "And he and our other friends say that Natasha is actually one of the most important because of how she holds the team together. According to them, without Nat and Clint, they'd have probably fallen apart long ago."

"Huh," Natasha said, surprised to get the praise, albeit secondhand, from her teammates from the other world. "That's actually nice to hear." *1*

There was a moment of silence as Aerith and Yuffie checked the shelves again, while Yelena looked at Natasha.

"Where did you think I was all this time?" Yelena asked.

Natasha slowly looked down, then looked back up.

"I thought that you got out and you were living a normal life," Natasha said, moving towards a sink.

The words didn't sound that truthful, not even to Yuffie or Aerith.

"And you just never made contact again?" Yelena asked Natasha, looking down with a bit of hurt on her face.

"Honestly, I thought you didn't wanna see me," Natasha admitted, glancing up into the mirror as she washed her hands.

Yelena scoffed, then commented, "Bullshit."

She walked to the other room as she said her next words.

"You just didn't want your baby sister to tag along, while you saved the world with the cool kids," Yelena accused.

"Hey, I have no problem having my sister tag along on the journeys I go on," Aerith said, shrugging her shoulders.

"You don't have a sister," Yuffie said, looking at Aerith with an eyebrow raised.

"You and Tifa are my sisters," Aerith told her with a smile.

"Aw," Yuffie said, cocking her head to the side.

The two shared a smile filled hug that had Natasha and Yelena gagging.

"Besides, the team isn't really family discriminatory since Sora and V are cousins and they work together on the team," Yuffie added.

"Sora and V are cousins?" Natasha asked, frowning in confusion. "That... surprises me and doesn't surprise me at all, at the same time."

She shook her head and started following Yelena.

"But it's different for us," Natasha told Yelena, walking back into the room. "You weren't really my sister."

Natasha walked into the main room, ignoring Yelena as she stared blankly forwards. Aerith and Yuffie winced when they saw the hurt in the blonde's eyes as she looked down.

"And the Avengers aren't really your family," Yelena rebutted, stepping towards the counter to pay.

Aerith and Yuffie were still watching the two of them, and were happy that the man behind the register was too preoccupied with his phone to pay attention to their conversation.

"Man, V's right," Aerith muttered to Yuffie. "Those things can be very addicting and time consuming."

"Why do you always do that thing?" Yelena then suddenly asked Natasha.

"What thing?" Natasha asked, turning and stepping towards the blonde.

"The thing you do when you're fighting," Yelena said.

Natasha, Aerith, and Yuffie raised their eyebrows in confusion as they looked at Yelena as she stepped back.

"The..." Yelena started. "Like, the..."

She rolled her head back before leaning forwards, gesturing with one hand backwards, crouching down slightly to place her other hand on the floor.

"This thing that you do when you whip your hair when you're fighting, with the arm and the hair," Yelena said, raising her head up and down to send her ponytail flying back and forth. "And you do, like, a fighting pose."

"You do that a lot in battle?" Aerith asked Natasha as Yelena laughed at the redhead.

Natasha said nothing as she looked down at Yelena, though there was a bit of annoyance on her face.

"It's a fighting pose," Yelena said with another laugh. "You're a total poser."

"I'm not a poser," Natasha said with a tiny smirk, while Yelena kept laughing.

"It kind of sounds like you are," Yuffie admitted with a laugh.

"Oh, come on," Yelena said, still laughing as she pushed herself up. "They're great poses, but it does look like you think everyone's looking at you, like, all the time."

"Heh, we're kind of posers, too," Yuffie admitted.

She reached into her pocket and took out some polaroid-like pictures.

"Check these out," Yuffie suggested.

Yelena reached forwards and took the pictures. She started looking through them, seeing Yuffie and Aerith in various poses while in their main outfits. In one, Yuffie was smiling and had her shurikan at full size, with the weapon raised over her head to strike. Another showed her in her green top and tan shorts, with a large plate of armor on her left arm, while she raised her shurikan up in her right hand. A different one showed Aerith in her previous outfit, standing with her hands clasped. A fourth showed Aerith with her staff raised, glancing over her shoulder towards the camera.

"Impressive poses," Yelena complimented. She frowned. "Why do you both look so different in the pictures, though?"

"I don't know," Yuffie admitted. "I think the camera I used had an anime filter attached or something."

"Yeah, I'll admit we're also kind of posers," Aerith admitted. "All of us. We've got others for ourselves, Leon, Cid, Cloud, Tifa, and a bunch of our other friends. How we found the time to take all those pictures while fighting for our lives against Heartless, I have no idea."

"Why do you even have these pictures, anyways?" Yelena asked Yuffie.

"Why not?" Yuffie asked, shrugging her shoulders with a smile.

Yelena then glanced over at Aerith, seeing the brunette mouthing, 'She's a little weird,' to her. Yelena nodded in understanding and handed the pictures back to Yuffie, who put them back in her pocket.

"Whatever the case," Natasha then said. "All that time I spent posing, I was trying to actually do something good..." She looked down. "To make up for all the pain and suffering that we caused. Trying to be more than just a trained killer."

She turned and looked at the counter attached to the paying station. Yuffie glanced up at the TV over her playing football, while Yelena turned and started perusing through another set of shelves.

"Well, then you were fooling yourself..." Yelena said. She turned and started walking to Natasha. "Because pain and suffering is every day and we are both still a trained killer."

Natasha looked at Yelena.

"Except I'm not the one that's on the cover of a magazine," Yelena added. "I'm not a killer that little girls call their hero."

She then turned and started walking out of the gas station. Natasha looked down at her sister's words.

"To me, it sounds like she's kind of jealous of your status as a hero," Yuffie commented to Natasha.

"Well, wouldn't you?" Aerith pointed out. "They both spent all this time with that Red Room, formed into murderers, and one got out and used her skills to become a hero while the other was still forced to murder people across the world for the abusive asshole in charge. I think that gives pretty good reason for jealousy."

"Yeah, I guess that's fair," Yuffie said, shrugging her shoulders.

Aerith and Yuffie looked up at Natasha, seeing the redhead giving them a blank look.

"Not the time?" Aerith asked.

She and Yuffie then both nodded their heads with winces.

"Not the time," Yuffie confirmed.

Yuffie decided to not vocalize her wish to become like Natasha and gain lots of fans for what she does with fighting the forces of darkness. She kept that to herself as she followed Yelena out of the gas station.

Some time later, the sun had gone down, so the small group made their way to a place for them to rest up and recuperate, wanting to wind down a bit before having to go after Taskmaster and the Red Room. They ended up finding a different gas station across the street from a few apartment complexes. The station had some outdoor tables and chairs, where a couple of families were eating dinner.

Kids played around at the nearby empty field, and next to a closed-off, above the ground pool. They kicked a soccer ball around while a pink and blue fake car for kids sat a short distance away. Aerith and Yuffie smiled nostalgically at the children, remembering their own time as kids like that back on Radiant Garden, a period that seems like so long ago.

Yelena sat at their table, with the towel detached from her arm as she used the disinfectant she had, pouring it on the still open wound with a wince. There were paper wrappers on the table, a roll of gauze, and Yelena's still open bag, which showed them the small canisters of gas within.

"How exactly does your magic work, again?" Yelena asked, glancing at Aerith.

"Well, you need the stronger forms to actually close wounds," Aerith explained. "Cura and Curaga, they can do feats like reversing pneumonia or curing cancer. Curaza can do stuff as great as reattaching recently removed limbs, but even that has its limits. But the crash set me back to level 1 with all my spells, so all I have is Cure. That one can heal infections, stop bleeding, and rejuvenate you after more than a few strong blows. While I was able to stop the bleeding, the wound only healed slightly."

"If she had Curaga, the wound would've closed in half a second," Yuffie said. "Wouldn't even leave behind a scar."

"Well, it's just my luck that I get a wound like this and the healer I meet isn't strong enough to completely heal it at the moment," Yelena commented, still wincing as the disinfectant burned her wound. *2*

Natasha then walked forwards and placed a beer down on the table in front of her sister, sitting down opposite from her as the blonde winced a bit more from the wound. She also placed a beer down in front of Aerith, and a bottle of Coke in front of Yuffie (earning a glare from the ravenette). The redhead glanced across the field next to them, looking at the auto repair garage to see a man working on a nice-looking vehicle.

"That gas," Yelena said, getting the other three ladies' attentions. "The counteragent, it was synthesized in secret by an older Widow from Melina's generation." She looked down. "I was on the mission to retrieve it, and she exposed me, and I killed the Widow that freed me."

"Damn," Aerith commented with a wince as Yelena looked up at Natasha.

"Did you have a choice?" Natasha asked.

"What you experienced was psychological conditioning," Yelena told Natasha. She looked down again. "I'm talking about chemically altering brain functions. They're two completely different things."

"They both sound like fucking hell," Yuffie commented.

"Mine especially was," Yelena admitted. "With mine, you're fully conscious, but you don't know which part is you. I'm still not sure."

She fiddled with her wound and the cloth still tied underneath the actual wound. Natasha then pushed herself to her feet and moved around the table, pulling up another chair next to her sister. She slowly started pulling the cloth off of her sister's arm.

"Is that all there is left?" Natasha asked, looking at the vials sticking out of the bag.

"Mm-hmm," Yelena confirmed, looking at the vials with Aerith and Yuffie while Natasha worked on the wound. "It's the only thing that can stop Dreykov and his network of Widows."

She spoke a bit more roughly as she looked at Natasha, feeling her wound being pushed on both sides. Natasha then gently blew on it to help clear out anything within.

"He takes more every day," Yelena continued, glancing over at the kids playing in the field with the soccer ball. "Children who don't have anyone to protect them. Just like us when we were small."

She looked at Natasha to emphasize her point.

"Maybe one in 20 survives the training, becomes a Widow," Yelena continued, looking down. "The rest, he kills. To him, we are just things." She looked up as Natasha placed a piece of gauze on her wounded arm. "Weapons with no face that he can just throw away... Because there is always more."

Aerith and Yuffie had kept quiet during the entire explanation so that they could hear every detail from Yelena. The whole time, they frowned angrily, which became deeper and deeper by the second. When Yelena finally finished her explanation, the two were openly growling at the very thought of this Dreykov.

"I'm just about ready to extend my shurikan to full size and putting it through this guy's eyeball," Yuffie announced, anger in her voice.

"I'm just about ready to help her," Aerith said, an equal amount of anger in her voice.

"That might be a difficult feat to accomplish, as much as I want to see it happen," Yelena admitted. She looked at Natasha. "The worst part is, no one's even looking for him, thanks to you and Alexei."

"Alexei?" Natasha asked.

Yelena let out a dry chuckle as Natasha finished wrapping the wound, using a pair of scissors to cut the tape and close the bandages.

"'Dad'," Yelena changed her answer.

She looked up at Natasha as the redhead walked back around the table, sitting back down. Natasha and Yelena looked across the field, and Yuffie and Aerith followed their gazes to see them watching the people in the field. Specifically, the kids running around in excitement, with one running to his dad, the man who was working on the car. The man laughed and picked up his son, looking at the child like he was the best thing ever.

Which, to a parent, was the best thing ever.

"Did you ever look for your parents?" Yelena asked Natasha. "Your real ones?"

They watched as the kid hit a button on the wall, turning off the light of the garage.

"Well, my mom abandoned me in the street like garbage," Natasha said, glancing down to hide the sadness on her face.

Yuffie and Aerith winced while Natasha glanced up with a bitter smile before picking up her beer again. She looked out at the family as they started to gather together in the field.

"What about you?" Natasha asked Yelena, still looking across the field.

"They destroyed my birth certificate, so I reinvented it," Yelena explained, getting Natasha and the other two to look at her. "My parents still live in Ohio. My sister moved out west."

"Is that right?" Natasha asked, looking down with a smile before looking back up.

"You're a science teacher," Yelena continued with a smirk. She looked down. "You're working part-time, though, especially after you had your son."

Yuffie and Aerith smirked with Natasha, all three of them glancing up into the air.

"Your husband, he renovates houses," Yelena continued.

"That is not my story," Natasha remarked, giving a small laugh.

"Not even the story I'd want," Aerith added, all four of them laughing slightly.

"What is your story?" Yelena asked Natasha.

Still smiling, Natasha slowly shook her head for a few seconds before glancing down. Aerith and Yuffie could see the sadness within the older woman's eyes.

"I never let myself be alone long enough to think about it," Natasha admitted, glancing up at Yelena sadly before looking down.

There was a moment of uncomfortable silence between the four as the atmosphere quickly changed.

Yelena pushed herself to her feet and reached across the table to a free chair, grabbing a green vest off of the chair.

"Did you ever wish for kids?" Yelena asked, grabbing the vest. There was another moment of silence as Natasha looked wistfully at the kids, while Yelena sat down and started to put her vest on. "I want a dog."

"We have a dog," Aerith said. "Back at Traverse Town. His name's Portland."

"He likes eating bad guys' throats," Yuffie said with a smile. "Tears them out of their necks, gobbles them up, then gives us blood covered kisses. He's so cute when the blood of our enemies is dripping off of his lips." *3*

Yelena and Natasha looked at Yuffie, wondering how crazy this teen girl was. They shook their heads before Natasha looked at Yelena again.

"Where you gonna go?" Natasha asked Yelena, a bit of concern actually in her voice.

"I don't know," Yelena admitted, looking down. There was another moment of sad silence. "I don't really have anywhere to go back to, so I guess anywhere."

Still giving a small smile, Natasha leaned forwards again in her chair, resting her arms on the table as she placed her beer down.

Aerith and Yuffie got an idea.

Yelena must have also gotten an idea, because she frowned slightly at Natasha.

"Don't," Yelena said.

"Don't what?" Natasha asked, an inquisitive frown on her face.

Yelena gave a small chuckle as she looked down.

"You're going to give me some big hero speech, I can feel it," she said, looking back up at Natasha.

Natasha smirked.

"Speeches aren't really my thing," she remarked.

"Why don't you just join the Avengers?" Yuffie suggested to Yelena. "I mean, once they get over this little dispute, they'll probably be open to new members, right?"

"And I guess I wouldn't mind if you did join the team," Natasha admitted to Yelena. "I've had more annoying people on the team. There was the talking duck, after all."

Yelena chuckled as she looked down.

"I'm not entirely sure that being a part of a team like that would work as a unit like that," she admitted.

"Just about everyone has moments like that," Aerith pointed out. "Maybe if you got out into the field, you'd be able to actually do a good job of it."

"Of course, with how things are going right now, it'd probably be a while before that could happen," Natasha admitted, holding up one hand. "Just a heads up."

"I'll think about it," Yelena said, no emotion in her voice as she rolled her eyes.

"This little initiation wasn't really what I was thinking," Natasha admitted. "What I had in mind was more of an invitation."

"To go to the Red Room and kill Dreykov?" Yelena asked, looking up at Natasha.

"Yeah," Natasha confirmed.

"Even though the Red Room is impossible to find, and Dreykov is too slippery to kill?" Yelena asked.

"Yeah," Natasha confirmed again.

"And we wanna help," Aerith said.

"Yeah, someone who does stuff like this to women doesn't deserve to live," Yuffie agreed with an angry frown. "If we backed out now, when we know we could help out in some way, it'd feel like a form of betrayal."

"Even with two extra hands, that feels like a shitload of work," Yelena remarked, looking up at Natasha.

"Yup," Natasha sighed out, looking down with a smile. She looked up at her sister. "Could be fun, though."

"Yup," Yelena said, still looking down.

Natasha let out a tiny chuckle as she continued looking down, resting her head on her forearm. Aerith and Yuffie grabbed their drinks and took swings out of the bottles as Natasha looked up at Yelena, still smiling.

"You know, I saw where he put the keys," Natasha said.

"Top drawer, green cabinet," Yelena said, also smiling.

The sisters clinked their bottles together before taking swigs of beer.

"I've also stolen a car," Yuffie said, trying to find a conversation point similar to what they were talking about.

It didn't work, so she just took another swing of Coke.

They finished their drinks before quickly making their way across the field and stealing the car in a pretty easy way. Natasha drove, Yelena sat in the passenger's seat, and Yuffie and Aerith sat in the back seats. The redhead of the group drove out of the small section of the city and started driving through the highway, moving much quicker through the area to get to their next destination.

Yelena leaned back in her chair and looked down at the vest she was wearing.

"You know, this is the first piece of clothing I've ever bought for myself," Yelena announced, using her thumbs to push the vest up a bit more, specifically to draw more attention to it.

Natasha, chewing on gum, glanced at her sister before looking back at the road.

"That?" she asked.

"It's not bad," Yuffie said, nodding appreciatively.

The vest reminded her of her green tube top shirt.

"Yeah," Yelena said, smiling at Yuffie in gratitude before looking at Natasha. "You don't like it?"

"Is that like a..." Natasha said, thinking of her next words to choose. "Is it an army surplus, or..."

"Okay, it has a lot of pockets," Yelena roughly said, looking at Natasha again.

Natasha and Aerith laughed in response.

"But I use them all the time, and I made some of my own modifications," Yelena said, looking down at her vest and scoffing at her sister's attitude.

"Oh, yeah?" Natasha asked before laughing.

"Whatever," Yelena said, looking out the window with her arms crossed. Natasha laughed again, so Yelena looked at her. "Shut up. The point is, I've never... (sigh) I've never had control over my own life before, and now I do. I want to do things."

"We were the same way," Aerith said. "For about ten years, our lives were about survival and helping people against the Heartless."

"We went world to world saving people from the beasts, then offering them refuge at Traverse Town when their homes were lost," Yuffie explained. "Then we got back Radiant Garden and spent a year building it back to what it used to be."

"We've still got a ways to go," Aerith admitted. "But we're getting close to getting back our home. And now, we get to do things for ourselves that doesn't resolve around fighting, survival, and helping people. Now, we get to be ourselves."

"Which involves me getting to spend time with my boyfriend," Yuffie said, smiling once again at the thought of Vanitas.

"See?" Yelena asked, smirking and gesturing towards the two off-worlders. "They know what it's like."

"Hmm..." Natasha hummed as she stared out the windshield at the road. Deciding to humor them, she announced, "I like your vest."

"Ah, I knew it," Yelena said, pumping her fists in overly dramatic victory. "I knew you did. It's so cool, right?"

"It's good," Natasha said, smiling and nodding her head while keeping her eyes on the road. "Yes, I like it."

"And you can put so much stuff in there," Yelena said, looking down at her vest again. Then she looked at Natasha again. "You wouldn't even know."

She looked down at her vest before looking out at the road again. There was a small moment of silence as the four women looked forwards at the road as they drove down it.

"I really don't know where the Red Room is, though," Yelena admitted. "I'm sorry."

"I know," Natasha said. "But I think I know somebody who does."

Yelena, Aerith, and Yuffie quickly looked at the redhead.

"Oh, yeah?" Yelena asked. "Who?"

"We're gonna need a jet," Natasha admitted instead of answering.

The other three frowned in confusion.

Empty Field, The Next Day

Natasha led Yelena, Aerith, and Yuffie through the forest and out into an empty field. She explained to them that she had gotten into contact with an ally named Rick Mason, a man who she described as "a finder for people who aren't so affiliated with armies." He was the one who supplied her with the trailer that didn't have enough gas... so Aerith and Yuffie were a little skeptical of his skills.

They walked out into the field, sure that Rick had fulfilled Natasha's request of supplying them a jet.

There was not a jet in the field.

"This is not a jet," Natasha announced with a frown as they entered the field.

There was a rusty looking helicopter waiting in the field, small enough for just a few people to ride within, but large enough for five blades attached on top. The helicopter had red, white, and blue lines running along the sides, but blue Russian words on one of the white parts, showing that it was a dingy, older one.

Rick Mason, a man with light brown skin, climbed out of the open door of the parked helicopter, dressed in a flannel shirt, grey jacket, jeans, and boots. He slowly stepped down the helicopter and looked at Natasha across the field, the cloudy sky slightly dimming the area.

"Yeah, you know what you didn't give me?" Rick asked in his British accent as he stepped down the stairs. "Time. Or money. I'm not made of jets."

"Man, can you imagine what someone made of jets would look like?" Yuffie asked with a smile. "That'd be one wonky-ass Transformer."

The ladies all smirked at the mental image before glaring at the dingy helicopter again.

"I thought you were supposed to be the best," Yelena commented to Rick as they walked towards the chopper. "Like a real pro."

"Oh, I beg your pardon, tsarina," Rick remarked, a bit of offense on his face. "Was the free flat and lifetime supply of kissel not to your liking?"

"Ha!" Yelena let out a sarcastic laugh.

"How is it that British people sound so regal with literally everything they say?" Aerith asked, looking at Yuffie. "Really, they could be talking about taking out the garbage or using the toilet, and they sound so regal and fancy." *4*

"Don't let her wind you up," Natasha said, gesturing to Yelena. She then gestured to the two off-worlders. "And they're just easily amazed by anything."

"I don't mind the amazement," Rick admitted before glaring at Yelena. "But I take exception to impugning my professionalism."

"Well, you did set me up with a generator that crapped out after six hours," Natasha remarked, walking towards the back of the helicopter to look at it better.

Rick scoffed in offense.

"You, too, huh?" he asked, pointing at Natasha, then gesturing to both sisters. "Tag team."

"Aw, he's sensitive," Yelena said, walking towards the front of the helicopter. "See why you keep him around."

"Where's the rest?" Natasha asked Rick.

While Yelena breathed onto the front windshield of the helicopter, then wiped off the condensation, Rick reached into the helicopter again and pulled out a bag that he let land on the ground. The four women stepped up and watched the man crouch down.

"Voilà," Rick announced, zipping open the bag.

He stepped back while Natasha turned and walked towards the helicopter again.

"Ooh," Yelena said, crouching down and grabbing a yellow wrapped energy bar.

"Oh, I stashed that, like, five years ago," Natasha said as Yelena stood up with the bar.

Nevertheless, Yelena opened up the wrapper and took a bite out of the energy bar, which had Aerith and Yuffie raising their eyebrows in surprise.

"How is it?" Natasha asked as Yelena slowly chewed.

"It's dry," Yelena said. She turned and started walking to the helicopter. "It's really dry.

She grunted as she climbed into the helicopter, leaving Rick to frown at her actions.

"Surprisingly, not the strangest thing I've seen these last few days," Aerith commented.

Natasha then crouched down and started pulling clothes out of the bag, which consisted of four Black Widow outfits that were pure white with grey lines instead of the black from before. She handed suits to Aerith and Yuffie, who took the outfits in their hands and frowned at them in thought.

Yuffie and Aerith shared a look, then nodded their heads.

Aerith pulled out her staff and pointed them at the suits. The one in Yuffie's hand quickly became black with green lines, while Aerith's turned pink with red lines.

"Gotta look the part of our names, right?" Aerith said with a smile. "After all, I'm the Pink Mage, and she's the Frantic Ninja."

Yuffie sighed out in annoyance again.

"I'd still prefer eccentric," she remarked.

"Hey, you guys do what you wanna do," Natasha said. "As long as it doesn't impact what you do on the mission."

"You know, you're getting dangerously close to running out your tab," Rick told Natasha, breaking the ice. Natasha smirked up at the man before putting the other two suits back in the bag. "Supplies I can tally, but you bring me attention from the authorities, all my prices go up."

Natasha put a handgun in the bag, then looked up at Rick in surprise. She pushed herself to her feet, frowning at the man with Aerith and Yuffie.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Natasha asked.

"Your mate, Secretary Ross, has been sniffling around my affairs to the point at which I've got clients declining my calls," Rick explained.

Natasha had told Aerith and Yuffie about this Secretary Ross that first night at the safehouse after Taskmaster's initial attack, explaining why the Avengers were separated at the moment. They had both frowned when they heard what the man was forcing upon the heroes of the world, just because they happened to be in the right and he was in the wrong. They hoped that someone figured out the truth and threw the man in prison for the rest of his life.

"I'm a private contractor," Rick reminded Natasha.

Natasha looked down before looking up at Rick again.

"You are sensitive," she commented.

Aerith and Yuffie smirked.

"You're a very annoying individual," Rick commented as Natasha crouched down, picking up the bag.

Natasha got up to her feet and smiled at the man.

"I'll make it up to you," she promised.

"Mm-hmm," Rick hummed, clearly not believing her.

Natasha walked around Rick and tossed the bag into the helicopter. Yuffie then climbed up the steps and entered the helicopter, hoping there were snacks in here that weren't five years old.

"That's what you say every time," Rick told Natasha.

Natasha smirked back at Rick before she and Aerith climbed into the helicopter. With a begrudging expression on his face, Rick grabbed the door and slid it shut.

"He seems nice," Aerith quipped.

"Eh, he has his moments," Natasha said, shrugging her shoulders. "Now, we better start getting ready."

Aerith nodded her head in agreement. The four women hurried through the helicopter to get things ready for their plan. The two off-worlders were surprised when they learned what exactly the plan was.

They were breaking Natasha and Yelena's father out of prison.

Chapter Text

Natasha and Yelena took the time to give a quick explanation about the man that they were breaking out of prison. Their "father," Alexei Skostakov, was a Russian Super Soldier who earned the mantle of Red Guardian back during his younger days. He carried the mantle for many years, and was prouder of his time as Red Guardian than just about anything else in the world. He had also convinced himself to having some form of brawl with Captain America in the 80s, even though the man was still frozen in ice in that time period, leaving that impossible.

He also happened to be old accomplices with Dreykov, the man that they were looking for who ran the Red Room. So, they needed to break him out of prison so that he could help them out.

After hearing Alexei's full story, they honestly weren't really surprised that he ended up in prison, and was in there for so long.

They put the plan in motion, hiding items to inform Alexei about what was going on in some of his Red Guardian fan mail. They hid a communicator within an old Red Guardian fan letter and sent it to the prison so he could get it, disguising it in with some letters and even a box of pastries.

Everyone had dressed into their new battle suits, with Natasha and Yelena putting on the white Widow suits that Rick had found for them, with Yelena sliding her dark green vest on overtop of it. Yuffie and Aerith also dressed in their suits, which Aerith had used the spell on. Aerith wore her pink suit with red lines, attaching her staff onto her back and braiding her hair in the way she usually had in battle. Yuffie was also dressed in her black suit with green lines, with her shurikan at normal size while attached to her belt, and her black headband covered her forehead (she figured since they were going into battle and breaking a man out of prison, keeping things hidden wouldn't be that big of a problem).

They waited outside of the prison in the helicopter for a little while, with Yelena and Natasha sitting in the pilots seats of the helicopter with headsets on their heads, flying the chopper across the snowy mountains. They hovered over the prison, which was disguised as some large construction site with large walkways, a red and grey silo, and towers all over the place over a large, circular hole in the ground that went down to serve as an outside yard for this prison.

Aerith and Yuffie stayed in the back of the helicopter for a little while as the two spies piloted the chopper. They continued to circle the prison until they heard the sound of the transmitter reacting, coming online as it was placed within a (very possibly) confused Alexei's ear.

"Today is your lucky day, Alexei," Natasha announced into the intercom as she and Yelena continued to pilot the chopper.

Yelena then held a small tablet towards Natasha, showing her the screen that was an electronic blueprint of the prison. Given that the transmitter was also a tracking device, the ladies were able to watch Alexei's progress through the prison. There was a large red dot on one part (which signified the place where Alexei needed to go), and a large green dot on a different part (which signified Alexei), while information surged on the lower part of the screen.

"Move to the door on the south wall," Natasha instructed into the earpiece.

As they continued to pilot the helicopter around the mountains, Aerith and Yuffie moved forwards to check Alexei's progress on the screen. There was a moment of movement in his same location, but he continued to stand there for a little bit before finally moving down the hall.

"How much you wanna bet he was kicking ass there?" Yuffie asked.

"No one take that bet," Natasha announced. "He most likely was, since the guards in this prison have a specific specialty of being jackasses."

"You just gotta take the joy out of everything," Yuffie said, crossing her arms and pouting like a child.

Aerith and Yelena smirked at the younger woman's antics.

The four women then looked at the tablet to track Alexei's progress. The Russian man had made it to the end of the hall and had reached where he needed to turn to enter a different room.

"Go left," Natasha instructed to Alexei. "Just don't make a scene."

"You know, now that you've said that, he's most likely going to make a scene," Aerith commented.

Natasha frowned in thought at that.

Aerith's suspicions were confirmed when the sound of yelling, some fighting, alarms blaring, and metal breaking rang out through the intercom.

"You made a scene, didn't you?" Natasha asked, both surprised and not really surprised at the sound.

They piloted the helicopter out over the main part outside the prison, with the large hole far below them, right past the pieces of metal scaffolding that formed the aerial walkways over the small area with fences on each side that formed a small road. From their position high in the air, Aerith and Yuffie were able to see the tiny image of a man hurry out of the prison and out into the open. Glancing at the tablet to track his location, they quickly figured out it was Alexei.

"What now?" Alexei's Russian accent called through the transmitter.

"We're gettin' you outta here," Natasha said, as if it was as easy as eating pie.

"Uh, we might wanna hurry," Aerith commented, pointing down towards the ground.

Alexei was in the center of the circular area far below on the ground, and inmates were rushing out after him from all four directions, eager to take advantage of the situation and riot. Alexei hurried to try to get out of the line of fire as inmates kept hurrying towards him. Things were made even worse by guards moving across the walkways, brandishing rifles and shotguns, firing down at the crowd to try to maintain some form of "order."

"Go to the upper level," Natasha instructed into the earpiece.

They watched as Alexei pushed through an open gate, hurrying into a small field while dodging a road flare thrown at his feet by a guard.

"Move your ass, super soldier," Natasha said into the earpiece as more inmates charged into the field after him.

"Yeah, something tells me you don't wanna get shot," Yuffie said, forgetting whether or not she had an earpiece in.

They watched as Alexei panted before lunging upwards, parkouring up the wall pretty easily. He leaped into the air, pressed a foot against a ledge, then propelled himself into the air, catching onto a bar in a wall. He then lunged up to the edge of a walkway, pulling himself upwards.

Then a guard came out of nowhere, taking out a long stun rod and electrocuting Alexei. The Russian super soldiers yelled out in pain as he lost his grip, falling down towards the ground and landing on his back in the snow.

"This already isn't looking good," Yuffie commented.

"He's never going to make it," Yelena remarked.

"Get me closer," Natasha instructed.

Yelena's eyes widened in realization as she looked at Natasha.

"You got a better idea?" Natasha asked.

"Oh, I am so joining in on this," Yuffie said, excitement in her voice.

"You see how high above the ground we are, right?" Aerith asked.

Yuffie looked out the windshield and glanced outside. Immediately, her eyes widened, and she jumped back, pressing herself against a wall.

"Never mind; I'm good," Yuffie said in a small voice. "It's better if I stay away from all open windows. That made this earlier trip bearable." *1*

"I've never had a problem with heights," Aerith admitted, looking at Natasha as the redhead got out of the seat and took off her headset. "Will you mind some backup while doing this?"

"Not at all," Natasha said, turning her neck in preparation. "As long as you don't end up pissing yourself."

"Hasn't happened since preschool," Aerith assured her.

Natasha and Aerith stepped to the door of the chopper and slid it open. They reached to the side and each grabbed onto the rope hanging from a winch on the side. Keeping a hold of the rope, they jumped down and dropped through the air, swinging through the air by the rope as Yelena continued to fly the chopper, moving it downwards to one of the walkways, where guards were still aiming their guns.

The guards looked up in surprise at the swinging women and exclaimed in confused Russian. Natasha and Aerith hung through the air, swinging back and forth before they used they swung forwards again. The two women launched themselves forwards, doing a few flips before landing on the ground of one of the walkways between the guards.

Natasha landed in a small crouch, with one hand on the ground and the other pointing back, then she looked up with a glare at the enemies in front of them. Aerith landed on the ground, crouching slightly before quickly standing up, spinning and extending her staff out to full length.

Up in the helicopter, Yelena scoffed at the sight of the two landing on the walkway.

"Such a poser," Yelena commented.

"Like I said, we're also guilty of that," Yuffie admitted. "You saw those polaroids, after all."

On the walkway, Natasha and Aerith quickly went to work against the guards. Natasha held onto a rope from a nearby crane and used it to lunge forwards, kicking one man in the chest with both feet, knocking him over the railing and making him fall towards the ground with a scream.

While Natasha delivered spinning kicks to knock aside the other two guards, Aerith went against the ones on the other side of the walkway with her staff. She twirled her quarterstaff and knocked a man's gun out of his hands before hitting him in the face, knocking him unconscious. She then brought the staff up between a man's legs, using them to latch onto the man and toss him sideways, sending him off the railing and falling towards the ground far below.

Natasha then grabbed the crane and threw it, causing the metal hook to hit a man in his helmeted head, knocking him to the ground. Aerith then hooked her staff in the ground, then lunged forwards, kicking a man in the chest and knocking him back. The man hit the ground roughly as Aerith landed on her feet.

Some guards at the upper part of the prison fired their rifles at the helicopter, which caused Yelena to yell out in surprise. Yuffie pressed against the wall as the bullets deflected off of the chopper, but a red light started blaring. Yelena shakily lowered the helicopter just over the walkway where Aerith and Natasha were fighting the guards.

Luckily, none of the guards were smart enough to use the rifles or shotguns they were carrying, instead rushing in to try to fight the two hand to hand. Natasha kicked a man's shotgun out of his hands before turning and kicking him in the chest, knocking him back. Aerith, meanwhile, knocked another man's rifle out of his hands before swinging upwards, hitting him in the chest and knocking him back onto the ground.

The guards on the upper parts continued to fire their rifles at the chopper, and Yelena yelled out as the bullets clanged against the wall. Yuffie yelled out as Yelena pulled at the controls, sending it spinning around a bit. Natasha and Aerith yelled out as they dropped to the ground, narrowly missing getting hit by the tail of the chopper.

"Seriously?" Natasha commented.

Inside the chopper, Yuffie shakily pushed herself to her feet.

"That wasn't pleasant," she commented. "This is why I prefer being behind the guys shooting the guns instead of in front of the ones firing the guns."

"Whoo!" Yelena called out, glancing downwards. "Sorry."

While Alexei recovered and started his way across the yard again, Natasha and Aerith pushed themselves to their feet, with Aerith carrying her quarterstaff and Natasha carrying one of her batons. They looked angrily up at the helicopter as Yelena in the pilot's seat turned to look down at them.

"What are you doing?" Natasha shouted. "Are you kidding me? Back up!"

"Yeah, you're too damn close!" Aerith added, gesturing with her hand.

Yelena gave them a thumbs up from the pilots seat.

"We're all doing a really good job," she sarcastically announced.

Yuffie panted in and out as she held onto the wall, while Yelena started to help the chopper rise into the air again.

All of a sudden, heavy gunfire erupted from a guard tower far in the distance, these bullets hitting the helicopter, some of them cracking holes into the front windshield. Yelena and Yuffie yelled out in surprise as the bullets continued to be fired from the large gun at the guard tower. These ones were strong enough to tear through the walls of the helicopter, which had Yuffie quickly moving into the other seat in the front to dodge.

"No!" Yelena exclaimed.

The bullets kept firing, breaking more holes into the walls of the helicopter.

"Okay," Yelena said. "Enough of this."

She put the ship into auto pilot, and stood up, walking to the back of the helicopter. Yuffie frowned and followed her, seeing a rocket launcher in a bag nearby.

"Hey, what kind of RPG is that?" Yuffie asked, a little curious. "Thanks to my boyfriend, I'm always trying to figure out the different kinds." *2*

Instead of answering, Yelena stepped to the still open door of the chopper and kneeled on one knee, while the man behind the gun showed how he was a stormtrooper with how much he missed hitting them. Yelena pointed the rocket launcher and fired the blaster, sending a massive rocket flying through the air to the tower. The rocket hit the tower, causing a gigantic blast that sent grey smoke rising into the air.

"Kick ass!" Yuffie cheered.

"Ha!" Yelena exclaimed triumphantly.

Aerith and Natasha watched with surprise as the tower blew up, while Yelena and Yuffie moved back into the front seats of the helicopter.

Unfortunately, since they were in the mountains, the explosion had a predictable effect.

There was a large rumbling sound from the mountains, drawing everyone's attentions. They looked up to see snow starting to slide down from the highest part of the mountains, surging quickly down the mountains and towards them.

"That was a bad idea," Yuffie said, nodding her head with her eyes wide in surprise.

"This would be a cool way to die," Yelena commented.

The mountains continued to rumble as the snow kept falling down the large landscape, moving quickly and roughly towards the prison.

Alexei had still been fighting other inmates on the ground, and he quickly noticed the incoming avalanche.

"Tell me that's a good sign for us!" Alexei shouted into the earpiece.

Natasha stepped to the edge of the walkway and looked down the railing.

"Move your ass!" she shouted to her "father."

"Yeah, we need to get out of here!" Aerith agreed.

So, they all moved as fast as they could.

While the other inmates pissed themselves at the sight of the incoming avalanche, Alexei resumed his attempt to parkour up to the higher walkway to get to the escape helicopter. The helicopter continued to hover in the air, with Yelena working hard on the controls to maintain it. Aerith and Yuffie still stood on their walkway, staring at Alexei as he continued making his way up.

"Get us outta here!" Natasha shouted to Yelena.

As the avalanche continued to surge down the mountainside closer and closer to the prison, Natasha and Aerith ran down the walkway to get to the helicopter as it hovered close enough to the walkway, with the rope still hanging down. While Alexei continued to parkour his way up the walls to the highest walkway, the two ladies lunged to the rope hanging from the helicopter, holding on to make sure they didn't fall too far.

The two of them continued to hold onto the rope as Yelena piloted the helicopter around the area, moving around the outside parts of the disguise of the prison. There was an explosion that they all narrowly dodged before Yelena looped the helicopter around, flying across the large area as the avalanche got closer.

While inmates and guards hurried to try to get back inside, Alexei reached the highest walkway and looked up at the helicopter and the avalanche, watching both of them incoming, with the avalanche moving much faster than the helicopter. He gestured forwards as the helicopter moved around part of the large cranes, moving to get around the cranes and reach the man.

"Wait!" Alexei bellowed, a little desperate.

Yelena turned the helicopter so that it was flying right towards Alexei. With Natasha and Aerith still holding onto the rope, the former held out a hand towards the prisoner on the upper walkway. Just as the snow started to cover the large pit, the helicopter, and the walkways, Natasha reached down and grabbed Alexei's hand, pulling him up as the helicopter continued to fly through the air.

Yelena continued to pilot the helicopter, making it rise up through the snow, dragging the rope upwards and pulling Aerith, Natasha, and Alexei out of the snow, taking them away from the snow and the prison.

Yelena and Yuffie laughed victoriously before the former sighed out in relief.

"Yes!" Yelena cheered.

"Mission successful," Yuffie said, sighing out in relief.

It took a short period of climbing, but Aerith, Natasha, and Alexei climbed up the rope and into the helicopter, with Alexei coughing pretty roughly. This was probably due to the fact he was much older, but Aerith and Yuffie didn't focus on that too much as everyone got into the chopper.

"I need some help up here!" Yelena announced.

"Yeah, I don't know how to fly a helicopter," Yuffie admitted. She pushed herself to her feet and climbed out of the other seat. "Come to think of it, I don't think I even know how to drive."

While Natasha climbed into the other seat to replace Yuffie, Yuffie and Aerith sat down in the seat on one of the sides, watching as Alexei stepped to the still open door of the chopper. He held onto the sides of the doorway and shouted something in Russian. The only part the off-worlders could recognize was, "douchebags."

That was another term Vanitas used a lot.

Alexei climbed back into the chopper and slid the door shut, sighing out as he felt the adrenaline start to wear off.

"Oh, that was exciting," Alexei said in English. He breathed heavily with a smile before looking curiously at Aerith and Yuffie. "Who are you two?"

"I'm Aerith, and this is Yuffie," Aerith said, introducing the both of them. "We're from another world. We kinda crashed here the other day."

"Hi!" Yuffie said, smiling cheerfully and waving. "My boyfriend killed 600 people across a lot of worlds over ten years."

"She's talking about Vanitas Jordan," Aerith said.

"Impressive!" Alexei said in a laugh. "I was already a fan of this Jordan, and now I like him more."

He breathed heavily a bit before looking towards the front of the helicopter with a proud smile on his face.

"Oh, I'm so proud of you girls," Alexei said.

Yelena and Natasha said nothing in response, and instead looked around out the front windshields of the helicopter, with Yelena's jaw dropping slightly.

"Oh, you can't hear me, huh?" Alexei loudly asked, laughing and pointing at his ear. He laughed. "Huh."

He then reached down and grabbed a headset for himself and slipped it onto his ears, letting the microphone hang next to his mouth to be able to speak.

Despite the fact that this guy was in prison two hours ago, Aerith and Yuffie were impressed that he actually appeared to care about them as if they were his actual daughters, even though Natasha and Yelena confirmed that he wasn't. That was actually a pretty nice thing from the man. *3*

"Ah..." Alexei said with a proud chuckle. He rested his arms on Natasha's chair and glanced between his two "daughters." "Wow."

Then Yelena suddenly smacked him in the face, making him yell out in Russian as he took a step back, holding onto his face.

Aerith and Yuffie's eyes widened in surprise. While Alexei obviously cared for Natasha and Yelena as if they really were his children, it appeared that the two of them didn't feel the same way.

"Okay," Alexei said, holding onto his nostrils to keep them closed. "Why the aggression, huh? Is it your time of the month?"

"I don't get my period, dipshit," Yelena snapped at Alexei. "I don't have a uterus."

"Or ovaries," Natasha added.

Aerith and Yuffie winced at the reminder that the "sisters" had been sterilized after passing their training.

"Yeah," Yelena agreed. "That's what happens when the Red Room gives you an involuntary hysterectomy. They kind of just... go in..." She looked back at Alexei and reached up with her hands to intimidate what they did. "...and then rip out all of your reproductive organs." She continued gesturing with her hands in a pretty crude manner as she spoke. "They just get right in there and they chop them all away."

Aerith and Yuffie winced again.

"Everything out, so you can't have babies," Yelena emphasized to Alexei.

"Okay, okay. Okay! Okay!" Alexei exclaimed, slowly sitting down in the other set of seats. "You don't have to get so clinical and nasty."

Yelena looked forwards, hiding her annoyance.

"Well, I was about to talk about my fallopian tubes, but okay," she sarcastically commented. *4*

"No," Alexei said.

Aerith and Yuffie shared a look.

"This is much better than the sex-ed talk that Cid and V gave us," Yuffie said with a laugh.

"I'm sorry, did you just say that V helped give you guys the sex-ed talk?" Natasha asked, one eyebrow raised.

"Yeah, it was pretty crazy," Aerith said. "Cid was all awkward and didn't know what to say. Then V bluntly stepped forwards and said, 'Men have penises, or dicks, and women have vaginas, which can be crudely referred to as pussies or cunts, neither of which I suggest you use unless insulting someone you hate more than anything in the world. The purpose of these in sex is that the man...'"

She hummed in thought.

"Actually, I think you can figure out the rest," Aerith admitted. "He told me that when I was fourteen."

"I heard the whole thing," Yuffie cheerfully said. "So I wasn't surprised that much when I heard it when I turned fourteen."

Aerith frowned and looked at Yuffie.

"When I was fourteen, you were eight," Aerith said. "You weren't traumatized in the slightest hearing that at eight?"

"I had just seen monsters murdering people in the streets a year prior," Yuffie reminded her. "That pretty much desensitized me from anything."

"Heh, that usually does it," Alexei said with a small chuckle.

He then looked towards the front of the helicopter to Natasha and Yelena.

"It means so much to me that you came back for me," Alexei slowly said, pride in his voice.

"No. No," Natasha said, shaking her head. "You're going to tell us how to get to the Red Room.

"Huh," Alexei commented, looking around the chopper. "Whoa, look at you, huh? All business."

"Trust me, this isn't pleasure," Natasha rebutted.

"Little Natasha, all indoctrinated into the Western agenda," Alexei said, speaking as if he was talking to a child.

"I chose to go west to become an Avenger," Natasha informed him. "'Cause they treated my like family."

"Really? Family?" Alexei asked. "Well, where are they now?" He spoke slowly as he enunciated, "Where is that family now?"

"Tell me where the Red Room is," Natasha requested.

Alexei looked between his "daughters," then closed his eyes.

"I have no idea," he said.

The way that Yuffie and Aerith were looking at the former prisoner, they actually couldn't tell if he was lying or not.

Whether or not he was, Yelena scoffed in distrust. Natasha also took off her headset, then stood up and walked out of the front seats, using her hand to brush Alexei's headset off, making it clatter on the floor. Alexei looked down in surprise before looking up at Natasha.

"Come on," Natasha remarked, sitting down next to Aerith and Yuffie, looking right at Alexei. "You and Dreykov were like..."

"Dreykov?" Alexei asked, a bit of anger in his voice.

"Yeah," Natasha said.

"General Dreykov, my friend, huh?" Alexei asked, leaning back in his seat. The two off-worlders could see the anger on his face at the thought of the man. "Gives me glory, Soviet Union's first and only super soldier. I could have been more famous than Captain America."

Natasha leaned back in her seat, sounding annoyed at hearing this speech, since it probably wasn't her first time hearing it.

"Then he buries me in Ohio on that stupid mission," Alexei continued. He looked over at Yelena as she looked back at him. "Three years! So tedious, boring me to tears."

Aerith and Yuffie were starting to think that there was more to the man than they thought, so they frowned at him slightly. Especially when they saw the slight hurt on Yelena's face. Alexei seemed to realize what he said as he still looked at Yelena.

"No offense, huh?" Alexei asked as Yelena turned to look out the windshield again. "Then puts me in prison for the rest of my life. Why, huh? Why? Why would he put me in... You know why? 'Cause maybe I want to talk about the withering of the state. Or maybe I don't like his hair or something, and I say something casually about that."

"Didn't that happen to V once?" Yuffie muttered to Aerith. "He got arrested because he made a negative comment about some dude's hair?"

"We should ask him about that again," Aerith muttered back.

"I want the Party to actually feel like a party instead of this sourpuss organization," Alexei continued. "But instead, no." He kicked a case sticking out from underneath the seat. "He puts me in prison for the rest of my life. He just runs off and hides, huh? I'm not even the one who, uh, you know..."

He gestured to the side, getting Aerith, Natasha, and Yuffie's attentions again.

"I'm not the one who killed his daughter," Alexei elaborated.

Aerith and Yuffie winced when they remembered Natasha's story while inside the crawlspace in Budapest.

Yelena then muttered something in Russian.

"Can we throw him out the window now?" she asked in English.

"I think we should wait till we get to a higher altitude," Natasha informed her.

"Okay, I understand that you guys are assassins, but can you please not make us party to a murder?" Aerith asked. "We've been part of enough with our other friends."

Alexei then said something long in Russian, with the only part that the two off-worlders recognized as a name, "Melina."

"Wait, Mom Melina?" Yelena asked, looking back at Alexei.

"I thought she was dead," Natasha said, frowning at Alexei in surprise.

Alexei scoffed at the very thought.

"You cannot kill a fox that swift," he said, his attraction to Melina obvious in his voice.

Natasha, Aerith, and Yuffie frowned in disgust at the man's words.

"Ew," Natasha said.

"What?" Alexei asked. He sat up a bit straighter. "She was the, the scientist, the strategist. I was the muscle. She worked directly for Dreykov far more than I ever did."

"Oh, I get it," Yuffie said, smiling in realization. "Sorry, it's just, the way you said that, it seemed like you really wanted to fuck her."

"Oh, well, I do," Alexei said with a laugh.

All four of the women exclaimed in disgust at the mental image from what Alexei said. Aerith and Yuffie were now much more open to the idea of throwing him out the window.

"Wait, subject change to something less gross," Natasha said. "Are you telling me that Melina is still working for the Red Room present day?"

"She works remotely outside St. Petersburg," Alexei told them.

Yelena scoffed as she looked down at a gauge on the console.

"Uh..." she announced. "I don't think we have enough fuel for St. Petersburg."

"No, we're good," Alexei assured them. "We'll make it."

"Are you sure?" Aerith asked. "'Cause this is an aerial craft that you weren't even inside until less than an hour ago."

"I am sure," Alexei confirmed. "I know my craft better than you would think."

Yelena shrugged her shoulders.

"Okay."

They didn't have enough gas. *5*

They made it pretty close to St. Petersburg, but they ran out of gas in a plain of fields outside the actual city. The helicopter dropped through the air and crash landed in a worn out road within the grass pretty hard, sending dust out in all directions due to the roughness of the crash. The blades continued to spin for a few seconds before they came to a complete stop, showing that the chopper was out of it.

Natasha slid open the door and sighed as she walked out of the helicopter, followed by Aerith, Yelena, Yuffie, and Alexei. The small group looked around at their surroundings, seeing nothing but more and more field as far as the eye could see. Yelena had her bag in her hand, Alexei looked up at the crashed chopper next to them as it released smoke into the air, and Natasha sighed out and crouched down, wanting a small moment of rest.

"You should've brought the Avengers' superjet," Alexei commented.

"I think it's technically called a Quinjet," Yuffie pointed out.

Natasha sighed out and walked forwards, walking past Alexei to Yelena. The two "sisters" led the way across the field, followed by Aerith and Yuffie, who were followed by Alexei.

"I swear, if I hear one more word from him, I will kick him in the face," Yelena commented to Natasha.

"He's the worst," Natasha softly agreed.

"Eh, there have been worst fathers in the world," Aerith pointed out. "Look at Abraham from the Bible. Or Peter Griffon."

"Honestly, I'd prefer one of those guys," Yelena remarked.

"I'd want Peter Griffon," Yuffie said with a smile. "At least with him, something interesting would happen every week."

"Natasha," Alexei then said, jogging across the ground to try to reach the redhead. "Natasha. Natasha. Come here, I want to ask you something. Come, it's important."

Natasha considered this action for a few seconds before she begrudgingly stopped, letting Alexei catch up to her as Yelena kept walking. Aerith and Yuffie looked at the two, honestly curious about how this conversation would go.

"What?" Natasha asked.

Alexei continued walking, slowly as he tried to think about the right words while putting his hands in his jacket pockets. With the man still walking, that let the other three know they could also continued walking down the worn out road, away from the crashed helicopter.

"Did he talk to you about me?" Alexei softly, awkwardly asked Natasha.

Natasha frowned in confusion and looked up at Alexei.

"What?" she asked.

"...Did he talk to you about me?" Alexei repeated, just as softly. "You know, trading war stories?"

Aerith and Yuffie frowned in confusion and looked back at Alexei, also confused at the man's words.

"Who? What are you talking about?" Natasha asked.

"Captain America," Alexei said, enunciating his words.

Remembering the story about the man's obsession with claiming how he had fought in Captain America in the 80s, Aerith and Yuffie covered their mouths to hide their laughs.

"My great adversary in this theater of geopolitical conflict," Alexei explained as Natasha looked down in annoyance. "Not so much a nemesis. More like a contemporary, you know? Coequal. I always thought there was a great deal of mutual respect..."

"Wait," Natasha snapped, coming to a stop and glaring at Alexei, getting the Russian Super Soldier, along with Aerith and Yuffie to stop. "You haven't seen either one of us in 20 years and you're gonna ask me about you?"

Yelena, who had walked near a small deposit of sand, turned and looked back with a frown on her face, as well.

"What is with this tension?" Alexei asked, walking into the grass with his hands still in his pockets, looking over at Yelena. "Did I do something wrong?"

"He did at least seem congenial back on the chopper when we first got him out," Yuffie pointed out, gesturing back to the crashed helicopter.

"Still," Yelena said with a small chuckle before glaring at Alexei. "Is that a serious question?"

Alexei frowned, a little offended that she even asked that.

"I only ever loved you girls," Alexei announced. "I did my best to make sure you would succeed to achieve your fullest potential, and everything worked out."

He looked over at Natasha, hoping she would look at him while Yelena wasn't at the moment. Aerith was starting to feel like they were intruding on a family moment, which made her a little uncomfortable.

Yuffie wanted popcorn for the very same reason.

"Everything worked out?" Natasha asked, gesturing with her hands as she glared at the man.

"Yes. For you, yes," Alexei said, gesturing to Natasha, while she shook her head in disbelief. "We accomplished our mission in Ohio."

He looked at Yelena and walked towards her.

"Yelena, you went on to become the greatest child assassin the world has ever known," Alexei said, pride in his voice as he walked up to the blonde, crouching slightly so he was face level with her. "No one can match your efficiency, your ruthlessness."

Aerith and Yuffie shared a look, wondering exactly how this family actually operated.

"And Natasha," Alexei then said, suddenly rushing to the redhead, pride still in his voice. "Not just a spy, not just toppling regimes, destroying empires from within... but an Avenger."

There was a lot of pride on Alexei's face, which once again had Aerith and Yuffie wondering if it was a good idea to break him out of prison. The man looked between Natasha and Yelena, pride on his face.

"You both have killed... so many people," Alexei said. He took the wrists of the clearly uncomfortable Natasha and Yelena in his hands, still looking between the two. "Your ledgers must be dripping, just gushing red. I couldn't be more proud of you."

He then wrapped his arms around Natasha and Yelena's shoulders, pulling them in for a hug, despite the fact that Natasha was clearly uncomfortable and Yelena was impassive.

Natasha then grunted and pushed away from Alexei, turning and walking down the road towards the deposit of sand. Aerith walked after her while Alexei decided to focus his attention on Yelena, reaching with his other hand and patting her arm.

"Okay. You can..." Yelena said, trying to break the hug as Alexei kissed the top of her head. "No. Let go of me now." She pushed away from Alexei a bit more gently, getting his arm off of her shoulder. "You smell really bad."

"Yeah, dude, you really need a shower," Yuffie agreed, waving a hand in front of her face.

They resumed their walk down the road, going down the well worn path for quite a while. Enough time had passed that the already cloudy sky had started to turn more grey as more clouds grew in the distance, covering more and more of the sun. The small group continued walking down the road, paying attention to the length and how far they still were from the trees out in the horizon.

Eventually, Yelena decided to act like a stereotypical annoying kid on a field trip.

"So, are we there yet?" she asked.

"You'll know when we're there," Alexei assured her.

He then started snorting like a pig, making gestures with his mouth to resemble a pig's snout.

"You'll show more of who you really are on the inside?" Yuffie quipped.

"Ha!" Yelena said, patting the ravenette jovially on the shoulder as the other women laughed. "I like you, Yuffie."

Alexei just sighed out, having heard more than a few jokes of that calibre in the past.

They continued their way down the road for a good, long while, with Alexei leading the way through the forest since he was the one who knew the way. He led them through the trees and out onto a ledge before coming out of the woods, eventually leading them to a large farm with multiple stationsthat had a fence surrounding it, with barbed wire at the top to prevent anyone from climbing within. Just across the pathway from the fence was a cabin that was no doubt for humans to live in, unlike the small cabins behind the gate that were clearly for animals.

As they walked next to the fence, all of their attentions were quickly drawn to a woman coming out of a small cabin, with her black hair braided up on her head, dressed in a grey jumpsuit, and carrying a large sniper rifle with a silencer over the muzzle.

Aerith and Yuffie quickly guessed that this woman was Melina, and she was staring incredulously at Alexei, Natasha, and Yelena. The two off-worlders smiled awkwardly and waved at the woman, Natasha, and Yelena avoided eye contact, and Alexei glanced at his "daughters" before smiling up at Melina through the fence.

"Honey, we're home," Alexei said, which is exactly what the two off-worlders expected him to say. "And we brought some friends for dinner."

Chapter Text

Even though Alexei was borderline ecstatic to see her, Aerith and Yuffie couldn't help but notice that Melina didn't seem to share the same feelings. The older brunette woman kept the sniper rifle in her hands as she walked down the steps of the small shack and through the gate in the fence, ignoring eye contact as she walked across the field towards the cabin.

Natasha watched Melina walk down the grass, before Alexei took the initiative of following her down the field.

"Come on, girls," Alexei encouraged the four younger women.

Natasha and Yelena started walking after Alexei, and after sharing a shrug of the shoulders, Aerith and Yuffie followed after them. They followed Melina across the large field before Alexei stepped to the side, letting Natasha and Yelena walk past him after Melina.

"How awkward do you think this is gonna be?" Aerith muttered to Yuffie.

"So awkward that, once again, I wish I had some popcorn," Yuffie muttered back.

Melina rested the rifle on her shoulder as she led the way into her cabin, pushing open the door and walking inside.

"Welcome to my humble abode," she called to the others as they walked in after her (Natasha, Yelena, Aerith, Yuffie, and Alexei, in that order). "Make yourself at home."

From the door was a long hallway into the cabin, with a room that had couches and a dining room table next to a window on one side, and at the end of the hallway, there was the much larger living room that connected to the dining room, and the kitchen on the other side. Connected to the living room was a doorway that led to a bedroom, and there were pieces of furniture all over the place, including little tables with lamps, a desk, and a large bookshelf.

"Let's have a drink," Melina sighed out, walking into the kitchen.

While Alexei walked into the living room and Yuffie and Yelena looked around, Natasha and Aerith followed Melina into the kitchen, where the older woman rested the rifle against the wall as she opened up a pantry, revealing shelves holding cans of food.

Aerith was only slightly surprised when Melina pushed into the pantry, then rolled the shelves on a set of wheels, revealing a hidden room holding weapons and spy equipment.

"Hey, no funny business," Natasha said.

Melina rested the sniper rifle against the wall in the room, and looked at Natasha.

"I am putting away my weapon," Melina diplomatically said.

Natasha and Aerith turned and started walking through the kitchen as Melina finished storing the rifle in the room.

Meanwhile, Yelena and Yuffie were at the kitchen table, and Yelena had her hand on the back of a chair. She shakily pulled the chair out and less than gracefully sat down in it. Yuffie sat down in the chair next to her, at the end of the table.

Alexei had gone into the bathroom to freshen up, which had everyone happy. The man had smelled pretty bad.

Aerith and Natasha walked around the kitchen, with Natasha walking towards a sink as Melina came out of the hidden armory.

"Are there any booby traps around here?" Natasha asked. "Anything we need to know about?"

"I didn't raise my girls to fall into traps," Melina told them with a small smile.

"You didn't raise us at all," Natasha rebutted, holding her hand under the sink as she turned the faucet and turned on the water.

Aerith winced at that reminder again.

"Oh, maybe so," Melina agreed, working at one of the countertops and a small cupboard, grabbing a bottle of alcohol. "But if you got soft, it wasn't on my watch."

Aerith turned and left the kitchen, leaving Natasha and Melina still working on doing... whatever. Aerith moved into the dining room, sitting across from Yelena on the other side of the table.

After a short moment, Natasha and Melina moved into the dining room, as well, with Natasha sitting next to Aerith and Melina sitting next to Yelena. They had set down a few containers of food on the table, along with dishes and silverware in front of the seats. Most of the seats were filled, leaving the remaining seat at the end of the table between Melina and Natasha empty, for Alexei.

They waited a little while for him as he continued freshening up in the bathroom. Of course, their attentions were quickly drawn tot he sound of him grunting loudly reverberating throughout the cabin. Melina and Yelena shared a look, while Aerith and Yuffie shared one of their own.

"What do you think?" Yuffie asked. "Could he be having bowel problems, or is he just having an allergic reaction to the soap being too clean?"

Yelena did smirk at her friend's joke.

"Let's drink," Melina then announced, grabbing the bottle of vodka.

She quickly started pouring the alcohol into glasses, but Aerith held up a hand to stop her from pouring a fifth.

"Yuffie's seventeen," Aerith said.

"Damn it. Why do you gotta keep screwing me out of alcohol?" Yuffie complained to her brunette friend. *1*

Melina nodded her head in understanding at Aerith's instructions, so she just handed the alcohol to Natasha, Aerith, and Yelena.

The door to the bathroom opened up, and Alexei stepped out and loudly cleared his throat. All the ladies at the table turned to look at Alexei, with Yelena's eyes widening in surprise while Natasha and Aerith smirked slightly.

Alexei was leaning against the wall, smirking while dressed in his Red Guardian suit, with the red, black, and white suit with stripes and a white star in the middle of the chest, red and white gloves that covered some of his forearms, white pouches attached to his belt, and a red and silver mask that covered most of his head. His eyes were shown through the holes of the mask, and his mouth and chin were shown out of the bottom, allowing his bushy, slightly grey beard to be revealed by all.

Alexei smiled at them all.

"Still fits," he proudly announced.

Melina gave a wolf whistle and a smirk, which got Aerith and Yuffie to smirk.

"Oh, my God," Yelena complained, turning and looking forwards.

Melina, Aerith, and Yuffie clapped their hands as Alexei laughed victoriously.

"I never washed it once," Melina said as Alexei gave a little dance. He then started walking forwards, taking off his mask as she turned to look at the table again. "Come and drink."

Alexei walked over and sat down in the chair at the other end of the table. Melina was much more chipper than earlier (probably due to the vodka), so she smiled and started pouring him a drink.

"Rise, you workers of salvation," Alexei started singing. He scatted a bit as he looked between Melina and Natasha. "Family... back together again."

He gestured to Aerith and Yuffie.

"And we are honored to have two visitors from another world here to witness this reunion," Alexei said jovially.

"Sorry if we're interrupting anything," Aerith said, taking a sip of water. "We crashed pretty hard here, but Nat offered us help."

"Really gave us a solid," Yuffie agreed, taking a bite of a strawberry.

"Hmm," Yelena hummed.

"Seeing as our... family construct was just a calculated ruse that only lasted three years..." Melina said, breaking the ice as Alexei poured what looked like potato salad from a container onto his plate. "I don't think that we can use this term, anymore, can we?"

She took a sip from her shot glass as Alexei replaced the container of (probably) potato salad with a container of chicken legs, grabbing two for himself.

"Agreed," Natasha diplomatically said. "So, here's what's gonna happen..."

Alexei interrupted her by reaching across the table to grab the Tupperware container filled with strawberries.

"Okay," he announced. "A reunion then, huh?"

He sat back down and placed the container down.

"And, uh..." Alexei said, suddenly brushing his hair back to try to look proper before looking at Melina. "I want to say something right off the bat."

Having experienced what this man is like firsthand, and seeing how he was looking at Melina, Aerith and Yuffie each reached forwards and covered each others' ears with their hands. They already had a feeling this was something they wouldn't want to hear.

"You haven't aged a day, huh?" Alexei said to Melina, trying to sound flattering. Natasha and Yelena shared a look. "You're just as beautiful and as supple as the day they staged our marriage."

Natasha and Yelena frowned in disgust, with Yelena quickly downing her shot of vodka. Somehow, Melina was smiling and actually looking flattered.

Once again, Aerith and Yuffie put that up to the vodka.

"You got fat," Melina bluntly told Alexei. Natasha downed her own shot as Melina covered the side of her face and smiled at him. She softly said, "But still good."

Alexei chuckled.

"I just got out of prison," he softly told her. "I, uh..." He gritted his teeth and looked around before looking at her again. "I have a lot of energy."

"Oh!" Melina responded.

"Please don't do that," Natasha requested, looking like she was gonna throw up.

"Yeah, we've had enough trauma with the crashing on the planet and the people trying to kill us," Aerith said.

Natasha sighed out and looked between Alexei and Melina.

"So, here's what's gonna happen," Natasha said, leaning forwards.

"Natasha, don't slouch," Melina said, looking down at the food on her plate.

Natasha frowned and looked down before looking up at her again.

"I'm not slouching," she said, sitting up a little straighter.

"Yes, yes, you are," Melina said, still looking at her plate.

"I don't slouch," Natasha said as Melina stuttered to think of her next words.

"You're going to get a back hunch," Melina said, gesturing with her hands while Alexei reached to Natasha to try to convince her to sit up straighter.

"Listen to your mother," Alexei said.

Aerith and Yuffie hid their mouths with their hands to hide their smirks. Even though these people claimed that they weren't a real family, they obviously were. Yelena even had her hands clasped and was resting her chin on top, looking annoyed at the very situation.

"Oh, my God, this..." Natasha said.

"Up, up," Alexei said, sitting up straight in his chair to show her how she should do so.

"All right, enough," Natasha sternly announced. "All of you."

"I didn't say anything," Yelena complained, holding her half-full shot glass. "That's not fair."

"Here's what's gonna happen," Natasha sternly repeated.

"I don't want any food," Yelena complained, looking down as Melina put food on her plate.

"Eat a little something, Yelena, for God's sake," Melina said, causing Yelena to finish her shot of vodka.

Aerith and Yuffie shamelessly laughed out loud at the situation happening in front of them. Natasha shot them a death-glare, so they struggled to replace their smirks with expressions of indifference.

"You're gonna tell us the location of the Red Room," Natasha told Melina.

There was a moment of silence as Melina scooped food from one container onto Yelena's plate, while Alexei ate chicken from one leg, and Aerith and Yuffie ate some of their own food. Melina smirked slightly as she scooped the food onto Yelena's and her own plates.

"You know, it's like when you told them that they could stay up late to catch Santa Claus," Melina accused, glaring at Alexei.

"What?" Alexei asked. "That was gun. You know, 'He comes down the chimney, girls. Look out. Where is he?' You wait for him, and then when the cookies are gone, then you see he's there." Natasha looked incredulously between her "parents," while Melina refilled her shot glass. "No, no. What? What? I want them to follow their dreams."

"No good," Melina rebutted.

"Reach for the stars, girls," Alexei told Natasha and Yelena. *2*

"Finding Dreykov is not a fantasy," Natasha sternly told them. "It's unfinished business."

"Yeah, quite a lot of us want to take out the bastard," Aerith said.

"You can't defeat a man who commands the very will of others," Melina said. She looked down while Alexei continued to eat. "You never saw the culmination of what we started in America." She looked from Natasha to Alexei. "Nor did you."

She pushed herself to her feet and turned, starting to walk out of the room.

"Natasha, always focus, focus," Alexei gently chastised the redhead. "Get what you want."

Melina then walked back into the room with a tablet in both hands. She placed the tablet down as she sat in her chair, while Alexei continued to eat a chicken leg. She pressed buttons on the screen, activating something that Aerith and Yuffie couldn't see.

"Come in," Melina announced.

All of a sudden, they could hear the door opening. There was the sound of tiny feet on the ground before a brown and pink spotted pig walked through the hallway, entering the dining room and snorting the whole time as it walked up to Melina.

"Did that pig just open the door?" Natasha asked, sharing surprised frowns with Alexei and Yelena. "I mean, I know I'm friends with a giant, talking mouse, duck, and dog, but this pig isn't anthropomorphic."

"Yes," Melina said, smirking at Natasha. "It did."

She grabbed a little treat and held it down in front of the pig's mouth.

"Good boy, Alexei," Melina said, handing the pig the treat, and getting the human Alexei to look at her with a shocked expression on his face. "Good boy."

"You named a pig after me?" Alexei asked, betrayal on his face.

"You don't see the resemblance?" Melina asked the man.

Aerith and Yuffie laughed at the situation, and especially at the expression on Alexei's face. They watched the pig chew with his mouth open.

"See, he sits like dog," Melina said, grabbing the tablet on the table. "Amazing. Now, watch."

"It's a little weird, to me," Alexei commented.

"Stop breathing," Melina commanded, looking down at the pig.

Melina fiddled with something on the tablet, and Pig Alexei grunted loudly, closing his mouth quickly after a couple of grunts.

Yelena's eyes widened as she looked at Melina in realization.

"That's a little freaky," Yuffie commented.

"We infiltrated the North Institute in Ohio," Melina reminded everyone. "It was a front for SHIELD scientists. Actually, it was Hydra scientists at that time." She looked at Natasha and Yelena, gesturing with her bottle before pouring herself more vodka. "In conjunction with the Winter Soldier project, they had dissected and deconstructed the human brain to create the first and only cellular blueprint of the basal ganglia."

Natasha and Yelena shared a look of realization.

"Was the hub for cognition," Melina added. "Voluntary motor movement, procedural learning."

Aerith and Yuffie looked lost, while Pig Alexei dropped down, still not breathing.

"We didn't steal weaponry or technology," Melina said, looking at Alexei while holding a glass in front of her mouth. "We stole the key to unlocking free will."

"Jesus christ," Aerith commented.

There was a moment before Pig Alexei grunted loudly, falling to the side and landing on the floor with a loud thud.

"What are you doing?" Natasha demanded.

"Oh, I am explaining that the science is now so exact," Melina said, looking down at the pig. She spoke in an instructive manner as she looked up at Natasha. "The subject can be instructed to stop breathing and has no choice but to obey."

"Like the lady that killed herself in Budapest," Yuffie remembered.

"Okay, you made your point. That's enough," Natasha quickly said, trying to save the pig.

"Yes, all right," Melina agreed, looking down at the pig before looking at Natasha again. "Well, don't worry, Alexei could've survived 11 more seconds without oxygen."

She worked on the tablet again, letting the pig start breathing again. Pig Alexei tripped over himself as he pushed himself back up onto his hooves.

"Good boy," Melina praised the big. "Now you go back, back home where it's safe."

The pig grunted in agreement, then turned and started walking towards the hall.

"You go," Melina said. "You go back home, back home where it's safe. Back home, Alexei."

Human Alexei grabbed the bottle and started pouring himself a refill.

"The world functions on a higher level when it is controlled," Melina told them. "Dreykov has chemically subjugated agents planted around the globe."

"That's pretty bleak," Yuffie commented.

"Suddenly, I'm glad I don't live on this world," Aerith said, taking another sip of her water.

"And do you know who they test it on?" Yelena asked.

"Hmm..." Yelena hummed in thought, taking the bottle for herself. "No. That's not my department."

"Ah, come on, come on," Alexei said, trying to alleviate the situation. "Don't lie to them. Hmm?"

"I'm not lying," Melina said.

"You're Dreykov's architect, huh?" Alexei asked.

"What were you?" Melina rebutted. "If I was his architect, you were his partner. You were his business partner."

"No, no, no. I was patsy!" Alexei snapped, banging on the table.

"Don't give me that..." Melina started to say.

"He sell me ideology," Alexei said.

"Oh, stop with the politics," Melina said, waving a hand at him.

"All the while, bigger..." Alexei started.

"Apparently, these people really hate politics," Aerith muttered to Yuffie, taking a bite of food with her fork.

"Who doesn't?" Yuffie asked, taking a bite of a chicken leg.

"Shut up!" Natasha sternly snapped, looking at Alexei. "You are an idiot."

Alexei looked offended at the claim as Natasha looked at Melina.

"And you're a coward," Natasha added. Melina looked up at her. "You're a coward. And our family was never real, so there's nothing to hold on to."

Yelena looked down sadly at that claim.

"We're moving on," Natasha announced.

"Never family, huh?" Alexei asked. He looked up at Natasha. "In my heart, I am simple man. And I think that for a couple deep undercover Russian agents, I think we did pretty great as parents, huh?"

"Yes, we had our orders, and we played our roles to perfection," Melina agreed.

"I think the general consensus to being a parent is, 'make sure the kid isn't as fucked up as you are'," Yuffie commented. *3*

"Who told you that?" Aerith asked, frowning in confusion at Yuffie.

"Who do you think?" Yuffie asked.

"Oh, yeah, that makes sense," Aerith said, thinking of Yuffie's boyfriend.

"Who cares?" Natasha asked, smiling bitterly between Melina and Alexei. "That time wasn't real."

"What?" Yelena asked.

"That wasn't real," Natasha repeated. "Who cares?"

"Don't say that," Yelena said, looking just as upset as Alexei. "Please don't say that. It was real."

Natasha brushed her face with her thumb as Yelena looked like she was nearing tears.

"It was real to me," Yelena said, voice thick with emotion as she gestured to herself. She then gestured to Melina next to her with both hands. "You were my mother. You were my real mother. The closest thing I ever had to one... The best part of my life was fake." She breathed deeply. "And none of you told me."

Aerith and Yuffie looked at Yelena sadly, seeing that tears were gathering in the blonde's eyes as she banged on the table.

"And those agents you chemically subjugated around the globe?" Yelena asked Melina, quite a bit of anger on her face. She pointed at herself. "That was me."

Melina looked at Yelena as she nodded her head.

Aerith and Yuffie took sips of their water, avoiding eye contact since the situation suddenly got much more real.

"Hmm," Yelena said, looking down before looking at Natasha. "And you, you got out. Dreykov made sure no one could escape. Are you gonna say anything?"

Natasha said nothing and looked down.

"No," Yelena said, shaking her head. Melina started to put a hand on her shoulder, but Yelena pushed it off. "Don't touch me."

She grabbed the bottle of vodka and pushed herself to her feet, standing and walking away from the table.

"Yelena," Natasha called to her "sister."

"No," Yelena called back, not even looking back at the table.

Yelena walked through the living room and entered the bedroom, shutting the glass doors to make it clear that she wanted to be alone.

Melina looked down, guilt on her face.

"I had no idea," she admitted.

"It's okay, it's okay," Alexei assured her. He picked up his napkins and put it on the table. "I'll go talk to her."

Alexei reached down and grabbed his mask, picking it up as he pushed himself to his feet. The former prisoner walked through the room and towards the door.

Aerith and Yuffie looked around, wondering how it suddenly got so much darker outside. They shrugged their shoulders and looked at each other. *4*

"We really were lucky," Aerith commented. "I mean, all things considered."

"No, I know what you mean," Yuffie assured her. "I mean, we lost our home, and our families vanished. We still don't even know where they are today. But... on Traverse Town, with the guys, we got enough in terms of a father, and weird older brothers, one of whom I had a crush on."

Aerith raised an eyebrow, and Yuffie shut her eyes, realizing what she just said.

"Never tell them I referred to him as that," Yuffie requested.

"Lips sealed," Aerith promised, gesturing with her hand over her mouth.

"My point," Yuffie said. "Is that even though we lost our families and friends, we gained a new family through the trauma, which is more than some people got. We still got people that we loved who loved us in return."

"Exactly," Aerith said, smiling at Yuffie.

Yuffie smiled back, and the two shared a small, sisterly hug. Once they separated, they looked at Melina and Natasha, who were still looking down solemnly.

"You know," Aerith muttered to Yuffie. "Despite everything, it still does seem like they all care about each other."

"I agree," Yuffie muttered back.

The two shared a look.

"I got blondie and the red maniac," Yuffie muttered. "You get crazy mother and daughter."

"Got it," Aerith agreed.

The two shared a fist bump before Yuffie pushed herself to her feet.

The ravenette walked through the living room and pushed open one of the doors to the bedroom, shutting it behind herself. She looked around, quickly finding Yelena sitting on the floor with her back against the bed and her arms resting on her knees. The bottle of vodka was resting on a nightstand, and Alexei was sitting on the bed behind her.

"I came in here because I didn't want to talk," Yelena sternly told Yuffie. "I'm not talking to him, and I won't talk to you, either."

Yuffie held up her hands in surrender.

"All right," she said, stepping back.

She slowly sat down on the floor, resting her back on the wall opposite from where Yelena was sitting.

"I'll just wait here 'til you're ready to talk," Yuffie said, sitting down and sighing out.

She had a feeling she'd be waiting for a while.

Aerith was still at the table with Natasha and Yelena, and there was an uncomfortable, awkward wave over the room that kept all three women from saying anything for a good, long while. After a short period, Aerith opened her mouth to speak.

"For the record, I'm not crazy and neither is she," Natasha told the brunette.

Aerith quickly closed her mouth and looked down.

"Super spy hearing," Aerith said. "I keep forgetting that."

"Plus, we're literally sitting right next to you," Melina pointed out. "Even if you were speaking softly, of course we're gonna hear you."

Aerith looked down, suddenly embarrassed.

Natasha then suddenly pushed herself to her feet.

"Where are you going?" Melina asked.

"To do this myself," Natasha said, walking to the door that led out of the living room.

"Yuffie and I will still come," Aerith said, pushing herself to her feet and walking after Natasha. "Like I said before, with the stuff we've heard about Dreykov, we're gonna let a man like that live when we have the ability to help stop him."

"Don't," Melina called to Natasha. "You won't survive."

"I wish I could believe that you cared," Natasha said, walking into the kitchen and turning on the light as Aerith walked after her through the other door. "But you're not even the first mother that abandoned me."

"No, you weren't abandoned," Melina called from the living room. "You were selected by a program that assessed the genetic potential in infants."

Aerith and Natasha had reached the door to the armory, but they stopped and looked back to the entrance of the living room as Melina appeared in the doorway. Natasha looked at the older woman with her eyes wide and her jaw dropped in surprise. Aerith, remembering Natasha's earlier claim about her mother, looked at Natasha then back at Melina as they walked towards the older woman.

"I was taken?" Natasha softly asked in shock.

"That... that's very, very fucked up," Aerith commented.

"I believe a bargain was struck, your family paid off," Melina explained to Natasha. "But your mother, she never stopped looking for you. She was... like you in that way. She was... relentless."

Aerith looked at Natasha in surprise and concern, seeing a couple of tears growing in the redhead's eyes.

"What happened to her?" Natasha asked.

With a sorrowful expression on her face, Melina admitted, "Dreykov had her killed."

Natasha and Aerith solemnly looked down at that, having expected it to be something along those lines.

"Her existence threatened to uncover the Red Room," Melina informed Natasha. "Normally, the actions of one curious civilian wouldn't warrant an execution, but as I said, she was relentless."

Natasha continued to look down solemnly, so Aerith sympathetically patted her on the shoulder.

"I thought about her every day of my life," Natasha admitted. She looked up, and then to the side. "Whether or not I admitted it to myself, I did."

"Understandable," Aerith said, thinking of her own mother. "I mean, it's your mom.

Melina crossed her arms and stepped forwards with a sympathetic expression on her face.

"I've always found it best not to look into the past," Melina said to try to console Natasha.

Natasha softly breathed in and out, then glanced at the bookshelf next to her. She stepped to the shelf and reached through a stack of books, pulling out one with the cover of many flowers on a grassy field, with a backdrop of many thin trees. She frowned in remembrance before looking up at Melina, holding up the book to present it.

"Then why did you save this?" Natasha rebutted.

Melina looked from the book to Natasha.

Natasha then opened up the book and looked down at it. Aerith stepped up next to her and looked into the pages, seeing pictures of Natasha and Yelena as kids taped together between the pieces of paper, with both of them smiling widely into the camera while easing snacks. Melina walked forwards to look at the pages, seeing Natasha flip the page to show pictures of her and Yelena as kids at Christmas. Aerith smiled at the pictures of the two kids smiling widely near the tree, with lots of presents piled next to them.

"I remember this day," Natasha admitted with a nostalgic tone in her voice. Melina walked forwards to look at the pictures, as well. "We shot Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, and summer vacation all in one day. Perfect backdrops."

"Hmm," Melina hummed, her expression never changing as she stepped next to Natasha, her arms still crossed.

"I knew all the presents under the tree were just empty boxes, but I didn't care," Natasha admitted, shaking her head with a tiny smile. "I wanted to open every single one..." She turned the page to show more pictures from Christmas. "So just for a second it would feel real."

"Let's stop this," Melina said, snatching the book out of Natasha's hands.

Natasha and Aerith looked up at Melina, seeing her slowly walk away while looking down, taking the book against her hand. Natasha tilted her head to the side while Aerith frowned in curiosity.

"Why you doing this?" Natasha asked.

Melina turned to look at her, a bit more sorrow in her eyes.

"Why does a mouse born in a cage run on that little wheel?" she asked. She hugged the scrapbook against her chest. "Do you know I was cycled through the Red Room four times before you were even born? Those walls are all I know. I was never given a choice."

"But you're not a mouse, Melina," Natasha said. She softly shrugged her shoulders. "You were just born in a cage, but that's not your fault."

"Yeah, over the years, you've gained options," Aerith agreed. "You just haven't used them yet because you haven't recognized them."

Melina softly scoffed with her mouth closed and softly shook her head.

"Tell me, how did you keep your heart?" Melina asked Natasha.

Natasha looked down in heavy thought, which had Aerith looking at her.

"Pain only makes us stronger," Natasha said, looking up at Melina. "Didn't you tell us that?"

"It really does," Aerith agreed, seeing tears grow in both Natasha's and Melina's eyes. "I mean, I lost my home when I was thirteen. But I went to another world and learned how to fight Heartless from mages and soldiers that use quarterstaves, and I used the skills they taught me to fight for what I believed in. I still do. And what I believe in is my friends and the family I've gained over the years."

"Exactly," Natasha agreed, looking from Aerith to her "mother." "It helped her, and what you taught me kept me alive."

Aerith looked between the two of them, actually seeing in their eyes as they finally saw themselves as mother and daughter.

Unfortunately...

"I'm sorry, I already alerted the Red Room," Melina admitted. "They'll be here any minute."

The tears finally slid out of Natasha's eyes, and she looked down in resignation.

"Aw, shit," Aerith commented.

Yuffie and Yelena were still in the bedroom with Alexei. The two ladies were still sitting on the ground resting their backs against something (the bed for Yelena, and the wall for Yuffie), while Alexei continued to sit on the bed. He was telling them a long story about his life, which Yuffie guessed was part of some kind of lesson he was trying to teach Yelena.

"So, there I am, ice fishing with my father," Alexei explained. Yelena closed her eyes in annoyance and reached up to the nightstand to grab the bottle of vodka, drinking it directly from the bottle. "It's very cold in this little ice shed. Cold even for Russia, you know? 'Keep the vodka by the fire,' my father would say to me."

"Please stop talking," Yelena said, shaking her head.

"Why?" Yuffie asked. "I was enjoying the story."

"Please, wait," Alexei said at the same time Yelena shook her head, saying, "Please, no."

"Please, wait," Alexei repeated.

"Please, I don't want to talk," Yelena said as Alexei kept insisting.

"Please. Please," Alexei requested. "There is a reason why I'm telling you this, okay? Trust me."

"I say hear him out," Yuffie suggested. "I was liking the story."

"I am reaching for fish," Alexei continued, gesturing with his hands  as Yelena placed the vodka back on the desk, annoyance still on her face. "Oh! I lose balance. Ah! Splash! My hands go in the river."

Yelena sighed out and looked down.

"In this weather, frostbite sets in quick," Alexei continued, causing Yuffie to wince at the thought. "My father, he go toilet on my hands."

"Oh, my God," Yelena said, covering her hands in embarrassment, while Yuffie exclaimed in disgust.

"Urine is 35 degrees Celsius, staves off the frostbite," Alexei continued despite the annoyance and disgust on the two womens' faces.

"How is this relevant?" Yelena demanded, looking up at the man.

"You know... fathers," Alexei said.

Yuffie nodded her head in understanding, remembering how Cid would do a lot to be a father for her in the toughest of moments.

Yelena didn't share that same feeling about Alexei.

"No. No," Yelena said, turning and looking up at Alexei. "You have done nothing but tell me how bored you were. I was the chore, the job you didn't want to do. To me? To me, you were everything."

There was a moment of silence, so Yelena nodded her head as if this confirmed something.

"Exactly," she said, turning and looking away from the man. "You don't care. You don't care. The only thing you care about are your stupid glory days as the Crimson Dynamo, and no one wants to hear about it."

There was a moment of silence as Alexei looked down in thought and sighed out.

"It's the Red Guardian," he whispered, which is honestly what Yuffie was expecting.

"Get out," Yelena snapped, not even looking at Alexei. "Get out!"

Alexei looked to the side and sighed out. The older man pushed himself to his feet, keeping a hold of his mask as he took a few steps away from the bed. However, instead of leaving the room like Yelena requested, he stepped into the center of the room and placed his hand on his forehead.

"I can't remember," Alexei sang, confusing Yuffie. "If I cried."

He shook his head and walked to a nearby chair, while Yelena's eyes widened as she looked up at the man.

"When I read about his widowed bride," Alexei continued. He turned around and slowly sat in a chair next to the window during his next words. "Something touched me deep inside. The day. The mu-usic."

The man was bad at singing. To Yuffie, every time he sang a lyric, he sounded like he wanted to kill someone. But whatever the case, Yelena was finally smiling as she looked at him.

"Died. And they were singing," Alexei continued singing, getting Yelena to laugh. "Bye."

"Bye," Yelena softly sang with a smile.

"Miss..." Alexei sang, before he and Yelena sang, "American Pie."

Yuffie laughed when she realized that the two of them were having a moment.

"Drove my Chevy to the levee," Alexei continued singing. "But the levee was dry."

Yelena softly sang, "Was dry" with him.

"Them good old boys," Alexei sang, Yelena muttering along with him. "Drinking whiskey." He smiled. "Singing."

"'This will be the day that I die'," Alexei and Yelena sang together.

"'This'll be the day'..." Alexei said, still smiling.

"Oh, that song that sex comedy was based on," Yuffie said with a knowing smile. "It's not bad. Although, you kind of sound like you wanna kill someone when you sing, Alexei."

"I must agree with that," Yelena agreed with a smile. "You're good at a lot of things, but singing isn't one of them."

"Oh..." Alexei said, sounding offended, but smiling nonetheless.

The moment was quickly broken by very bright lights shining in through the window behind Alexei.

The former prisoner pushed himself to the feet and looked out the window in surprise. Yelena and Yuffie pushed themselves to their feet and looked out the window in shock.

They looked out the windows to see three large jets floating through the night sky, circling the house and pointing their front lights at the house to illuminate it. The jets landed in the grass, and armored men with assault rifles started climbing out, charging across the lawn towards the cabin, their intentions obvious.

"That's a lot of henchmen," Yuffie commented.

"Get down," Alexei instructed.

Yelena and Yuffie listened to the man, dropping to the ground.

Alexei reached up and placed his mask on top of his head, securing it. He grunted in preparation.

All of a sudden, the glass of the window shattered, and a tranquilizer dart hit Alexei right in the middle of his chest.

He looked down in surprise, but then he scoffed and pulled it right out.

"They think..." Alexei started to say.

But these henchmen were clearly smart, because they rapidly fired tranquilizer darts out, all of them hitting Alexei right in the chest. Alexei started to get drowsy as the darts started to take effect as the number continued to increase. Once the number of darts in his chest reached 15 (and yes, I counted), Alexei dropped back and landed roughly on the ground, falling unconscious. *5*

Yelena and Yuffie looked at the downed Alexei in shock, and Yelena gripped his hand in hers in worry. Yuffie could see the care she had towards the man in her eyes, as if she was finally realizing the man was a father to her.

Knowing that they had to move to ensure all of their safeties, Yelena and Yuffie stood up, with Yelena pulling out her sidearm while Yuffie grabbed her shurikan. They panted in preparation, knowing that some would actually try to be "diplomatic" and come through the door.

The two shared a nod of the head before Yelena grabbed one of the doors out of the bedroom, sliding it open. The two of them cautiously walked out of the room, with Yelena in the lead since with her sidearm raised. They hurried through the cabin, keeping their weapons raised in preparation while moving through the living room. Yelena and Yuffie pressed their backs against a wall as they heard the sound of another jet landing just outside.

The two of them turned and stared down the hallway into the kitchen, seeing the door to the hidden armory open. They hurried through the kitchen, checking around every corner with their weapons raised, before moving to the armory, seeing Natasha unconscious on the ground. Yelena quickly crouched down and checked the redhead's pulse to make sure she was alive, while Yuffie kept watch with her shurikan.

All of a sudden, a new figure entered the kitchen, and Yelena quickly stood up and raised her sidearm.

However, both of their eyes widened in surprise when they saw Melina dressed in full Black Widow gear with her hair tied back in braids and shooting them sorrowful expressions.

While Yelena lowered her Glock in shock, Yuffie kept her shurikan in hand and glared at Melina when she remembered that someone was missing.

"Where's Aerith, you bitch?" Yuffie demanded.

"I'm sorry," Melina said in lieu of an answer.

Yuffie raised her shurikan to throw it, but Melina raised her arm and pointed a fist at them. Two red barbs shot out of her wrist gauntlet, hitting Yelena and Yuffie. The two of them yelled out as the barbs electrocuted them, making them drop to the ground and quickly lose consciousness.

Melina turned at the sound of someone entering the house. She looked up to see Taskmaster walking down the hallway, coming to a stop and standing just in front of her.

"Let's not keep him waiting," Melina announced.

They were heading to the Red Room.

Chapter Text

Alexei, Natasha, Yelena, and Yuffie were quickly stuffed into one of the jets, becoming the new prisoners for Dreykov. Once they were loaded within, the three jets rose into the air and started flying up into the night sky, using their lights to illuminate the path for themselves. They flew the jets very high into the air, flying up over the clouds and out of sight of the civilizations below.

It was once they flew up over the clouds that Alexei and Yuffie finally started to wake up. They woozily raised their heads up, finding themselves in a pretty precarious situation.

Alexei was restrained to a large machine that had straps around his shoulders, keeping him standing and unable to move too much. He softly gasped as he looked around. Yuffie was handcuffed to a stretcher, and next to her were two other stretchers, where the unconscious forms of Natasha and Yelena were laying. Armored mercenaries were standing at the back of the jet, standing in preparation for anything.

Yuffie glanced up at Alexei, and the two shared a worried look.

"Request clearance for landing," Melina's voice called out.

Alexei and Yuffie slowly looked towards where Melina's voice came, right at the front of the ship. As a man responded in Russian over the intercom, the two of them realized they were looking at the pilots seats.

"Melina?" Alexei asked.

Melina looked back at them for a second before looking forwards to continue flying.

"You think this wouldn't have happened if we had brought wine to dinner?" Yuffie asked Alexei, only half serious. "I mean, I know it's polite to to bring something to dinner, but I think she's overreacting a bit."

"Funny," Melina called, smirking slightly from the pilots seats. "We're touching down in one minute."

"Then why are we still going up?" Alexei asked.

Alexei and Yuffie both looked up into the air, and their jaws dropped.

More clouds were starting to move to the side as they flew further up, revealing a large aerial station floating in the air, the lights glowing from the outer components creating a wicked looking backdrop for the station.

"Oh..." Yuffie said in a small voice.

"Now you'll know how Dreykov stayed above the radar all these years," Melina informed them.

"The dude fucking Cloud City'd this bitch," Yuffie commented, using the language and references her boyfriend usually used.

Two soldiers then moved forwards, one of them using a high-tech needle to inject Alexei in the neck, knocking him unconscious. The second decided to be a bit more mean, kicking Yuffie in the face to knock her out.

Silence rang out through the jet as Melina flew the aerial vehicle through the air, soon coming to a complete stop and landing on a platform just a short distance from an entrance.

They had arrived at the Red Room.

Melina walked through the bland-looking hallways of the facility of the Red Room, stopping to glance into a room to see dozens of new Widow trainees doing synchronized training, each of them holding a handgun, and with training gauntlets over their forearms. She stared at them long enough for them to stop, handguns raised, and look over at her at the door. Melina gave them all a nod of the head before turning and continuing to walk down the hallway.

She passed a guard holding an assault rifle in his hands and pressed a button for the elevator. The Russian woman then stepped into the elevator, stared outside of it for a second, then let the doors slid shut.

Melina rode the elevator for a short time until it reached the right floor. She walked out into a fancy looking receptionist's area, then came to a stop in front of a closed set of double doors. A buzzer rang out, and the doors opened up. Melina slowly walked into a large, office-like room, and walked down the stairs onto the main floor.

The room, as mentioned before, was office-like. There was a desk in the center with a chair on one side, and a few less fancy desks pressed against the walls, each of them holding some random item, from a VCR player, a lamp, to even an old fashioned large TV. Some chairs, couches, and desks were around other parts of the room, while some shelves held various nick-knacks, including bottles of alcohol.

There were also large lanterns that hung down from the ceiling, all of them adding to the fancy feel of the room, masking the reality of the man in charge of this all. An entire wall of the room consisted of hundreds of tiny windows shaped like panels, showing only grey with some LED lights spreading from one wall to the other.

Taskmaster stood at attention on one side of the room near the central desk, and Dreykov himself was sitting on a leather lounge chair, repeatedly tapping his finger against a small table as he watched Melina walk down towards him in her Black Widow suit.

"My God," the older, grey haired man dressed in a suit wearing glasses boasted in his Russian accent. "Look at you."

He chuckled before pushing himself to his feet.

"So, uh, how was the family reunion?" Dreykov asked, stepping forwards.

"Oh, it was... awful," Melina said as Dreykov stepped in front of her. "They were clingy, and too emotional, and needy."

Dreykov chuckled again.

"Just like old times, huh?" he boasted.

"Hmm," Melina agreed with a small smile.

"Yelena Belova," Dreykov said. "What's the deal with her? She was the only one affected, right?"

Melina nodded her head.

"As far as I know, yes," she said.

"These gases and antidotes, it's a... pain in my ass," Dreykov said, gesturing with one hand and giving a small chuckle. "It's a problem. You need to sort it."

"Hmm," Melina said, cocking her head and looking at Dreykov. "I have nine pigs that will acquire attendance in my absence."

"I don't give a shit about your pigs," Dreykov impatiently said halfway through her words, grabbing her by the shoulder and leading her to the desk.

He pretty forcefully pushed Melina into the chair in front of the desk and placed his hand on top of her head, pulling backwards a bit.

"Cut her brain out..." Dreykov instructed. "Hmm? Identify the weakness."

Which is what they were preparing to do at the moment. Yelena was being prepped for surgery by some people deep within the compound, with one doctor tracing black marker along her head to signify where they were going to cut. Having quickly figured out what they were planning to do, Yelena commented, "This is a much less cool way to die."

Alexei, Natasha, and Yuffie, meanwhile, had been moved to a small prison section, where they were each put in individual cells. Alexei had woken up and angrily punched the walls to try to find a weakness. Yuffie had extended her shurikan to full size and tried throwing it at the glass wall to break it. It ended up deflecting off and nearly took her head off, so she decided to just put it away.

"Alexei. Yuffie," Natasha called from her cell, signifying that she had woken up.

The three of them slowly sighed out and sat down in the beds in each of their cells.

Dreykov was now standing right in front of the chair that Melina was sitting within, resting his hands on the sides and was looking directly at her while sitting on the edge of his desk, forcing her to look him in the eye.

"The off-worlder, what will happen to her?" Melina asked.

"I have always been curious about how the human nervous system works with humans born on different worlds, ever since we learned of their existence all those years ago," Dreykov admitted in thought. "She will be experimented on so we can figure out the full extend of how life outside of this planet works. If we can, we will make her into another Widow, and maybe force her to give us all the information she has on her off-world friends. In case they ever become a threat against us." *1*

Melina nodded in understanding.

"What about Romanoff?" she asked.

"She's a traitor," Dreykov easily said. "She turned her back on her people. On her blood. She had nothing. I gave her home. I gave her love. Put that thing in her you do. You know, uh, chemicals. Turn her into one of your pigs, her and the off-worlder. The chemicals will make the 'ninja' much easier to examine. But for Romanoff... Can you imagine what I could do with an Avenger under my control?"

"Wouldn't you like to speak to her first?" Melina asked, looking the man inches from her face, knowing he had an angle.

"When you look into the eyes of a child you have raised, no mask in the world could hide that," Dreykov whispered, shaking his head at Melina.

Dreykov then sat up straight on his desk, and reached up with one hand. Melina grabbed that hand and glared at him, but Dreykov slipped it out of her grasp, reaching up and pressing a finger at Melina's temple. The device over her face whirred slightly, glowing with a purple light.

Dreykov then reached forwards and pulled off both the electric mask and the brunette wig, revealing Natasha's face and letting her red, braided hair fall down.

"Welcome home," Dreykov said.

Natasha stood up from the chair and glared right at Dreykov. Taskmaster pulled a sidearm out and pointed it at Natasha.

All of a sudden, the handgun was knocked out of Taskmaster's hand, and the armored enemy was knocked backwards, as if they were hit with something strong.

Dreykov frowned in confusion at the sight, since he was just about to tell Taskmaster to calm down with the gun. All of a sudden, there was a big flash of light, and Aerith appeared next to Taskmaster, pointing her quarterstaff at the armored enemy.

"Well, this is an interesting surprise," Dreykov commented. "I knew there were two of them."

He looked at Natasha.

"How did you get this one inside?" Dreykov asked.

"She's a mage," Natasha said, deciding to be nice. "Knows quite a bit of magic, including a spell called Vanish."

"I reapplied it every time we were alone and the spell wore off," Aerith said, looking over and breathing heavily. "No matter what level you are with magic, it's pretty exhausting when you use it so many times in a row."

"Interesting," Dreykov said, looking at Aerith with an eyebrow raised, making the brunette uncomfortable. "That would be an interesting trait to have in a Widow."

Aerith softly groaned in disgust over how that was this man's first thought.

Back at the cells, Alexei had all but given up hope, so he placed his mask down on the bed in his cell, walking forwards to the glass doors and placing his hands against them. He stared forwards as he thought about the situation they were in. Yuffie was sighing out in defeat as she paced her own cell, and Natasha was sitting on the bed in her cell.

"Natasha," Alexei said, his voice projected through the speakers into the different rooms. "I can't save us. I need you to know that I'm sorry."

Yuffie noticed how Natasha sighed out and looked down during the man's words in her own cell. The ravenette thought that was kind of rude since it seemed the man was trying to apologize.

"I pledged my life to a cause," Alexei continued. "You know, I thought I was being very brave. Possibly the bravest. But, I wasn't being brave. I was coward."

The former prisoner sobbed as he pressed against the glass doors of his cell, sliding down onto one knee.

"In Cuba..." Alexei shakily said while Natasha stood up. "When they came and took you away from me... (Sighs) No cause is worth that."

He had his eyes closed and was breathing heavily, causing fog to appear on the glass in front of him.

"You should only sacrifice yourself... for something..." Alexei tried to continued.

Halfway through his words, the glass doors slid open for all of their cells, causing the glass to squeak against Alexei's face as it dragged along his head.

Frowning in confusion, Yuffie stepped out of her cell into the hallway. She saw Alexei look incredulously at the now open door, wave his hand at where the glass used to be in confirmation, then grabbed his mask, pushing himself to his feet and walking out of the cell.

Alexei and Yuffie looked at Natasha, the surprise and curiosity evident on their faces.

"How did you do that?" Alexei asked.

Natasha shrugged her shoulders.

"I designed these cells myself," she said.

"What?" Yuffie asked, confused.

The redhead reached up and pulled an electric mask off of her face, revealing that she was really Melina. Alexei and Yuffie's eyes widened in surprise.

"What?" Alexei asked, shocked.

Melina then reached up and took off the red wig, allowing her braided, brown hair to fall down past her shoulders.

"What?" Alexei demanded, still confused. He stepped forwards. "I bared my soul to you, and it was just you the whole time?"

"Yes, I'm afraid so," Melina admitted.

"Well, that was a waste of a good redemption speech," Yuffie commented. "Sorry, Alexei."

Her eyes widened in realization.

"So, if you're here, then that must mean that Nat's the one who went to confront Dreykov," Yuffie assessed. "But then where the hell is Aerith?"

"She used a spell called 'Vanish,' reapplying it every time she was alone with Natasha," Melina explained. "But shh, I am on comms with Yelena."

She reached up to her ear to emphasize what she was talking about. Alexei and Yuffie raised their hands to their right ears to listen, as well.

"Yelena, it's me," Melina said. "It's Mama."

"Here's hoping she decides to ignore the part where you blasted us with the barbs," Yuffie commented.

"She will," Melina assured her. "Yelena, you have a two inch blade concealed in your beltline."

"What?" Yelena asked loudly. There was a moment of silence where the others guessed she was coming up with an excuse for the scientists around her. "What are you going to do to me?"

"Outside right hip," Melina told Yelena.

There was a moment of silence before the coms were filled with the sounds of Yelena yelling out, along with rough movements. The trio quickly put together that Yelena was kicking ass, knocking aside the doctors that were trying to do her brain surgery. Which, she was, rolling along on her table before she continued knocking aside the remaining doctors. She pulled a needle that she was stabbed with out of her shoulder, then grabbed her vest, slipping it on.

"You couldn't have told me that sooner?" Yelena asked.

"Don't throw a fit," Melina said. "There wasn't time."

"Yeah, we got kidnapped and put in prison pretty quickly," Yuffie pointed out. "I guess the coms couldn't work until after we got out of those cells."

"Okay, girls," Alexei said, preparing his speech again. "I'm having trouble hearing you, but, Natasha, there's something I need you to know."

Yuffie frowned in thought as Melina lowered her hand to look at Alexei, remembering one of the parts of the plan from earlier.

"I need you to know that I'm sorry," Alexei said, pressing a hand to his ear. "No more excuses, okay? I gave my life for a cause. I thought I was being brave."

"You don't have earpiece," Melina reminded Alexei, stepping in front of him.

"What?" Alexei asked, confused.

"No, she can't hear you," Melina said as he looked down at his hand.

"Yeah, I think you took it off after we left the prison, then you never put it back on," Yuffie said, remembering the last 24 hours.

"So you don't have earpiece," Melina said.

"Why not?" Alexei asked.

"Because it wasn't part of the plan," Melina informed him.

"Oh, yeah?" Alexei asked. "Well, what was the plan?"

A few hours ago

Aerith, Melina, and Natasha were in Melina's hidden room, with Melina and Natasha having changed clothes to help fulfill the plan. Natasha had put on a black suit while Melina put on the white suit that Natasha was wearing earlier, and both of them were sliding equipment onto their belts. Aerith watched them both, having already explained how she could use a spell called Vanish to cloak herself once they were in the Red Room so that she could get closer.

The only thing she was dreading was how much energy it usually took for her to use the spell so many times in a row, like she was probably going to have to until they reached Dreykov.

Though, she was admittedly impressed that Melina and Natasha had similar enough figures to fit within the same suits.

"I'll activate my tracker and Ross will come running," Natasha explained.

"You are aware that you are still a global fugitive, yes?" Melina reminded her, attaching something to the small of her back.

"You know the facility," Natasha said, turning and looking at Melina across the room. "There must be some way to land it."

Natasha and Melina walked through the room, changing positions as they continued looking for the right equipment for them each to carry.

"Instruct them to confine us on level zero," Melina suggested as Natasha crouched down to reach within a container. "Once I'm out, I can activate landing protocol, we can descend within the hour."

"Well, here's hoping I don't need to use Vanish for too long," Aerith said. "Like I said, the spell takes a lot more energy than usual, so using it too many times in a row might knock me out."

"We'll make sure to move quickly to ensure you can stay hidden, but still have enough energy to fight if worst comes to worst," Natasha assured Aerith.

"Ah, problem," Melina said, holding up a case of earpieces. "I only have one set of three earpieces."

She put in one for herself and held the case of the other two, holding them out towards Natasha.

"I'll give them to Yelena and Yuffie," Natasha said, reaching forwards to grab the earpieces. "Yelena might have to look for the vials, and Yuffie would be good to be on the channel."

"That, I can agree on," Aerith said.  *2*

"Where did he take the vials?" Yelena asked, moving through the hallways of the Red Room, stopping to grab a wipe to clean off the black marker on her head.

"Probably down to cold storage," Melina suggested as Alexei paced around the room next to her. "Dreykov still has the Widows under his control, so you have to expose them to this antidote."

"Give them back the free will he stole from them," Yuffie assessed.

"Yeah. Sure. Easy," Yelena quipped.

With the marker lines successfully wiped off of her face, the blonde looked up at a nearby ceiling, getting an idea when she saw a ventilation grate embedded above her. She internally smirked as she figured out how to get through this place much easier.

In the main office, Dreykov was still sitting on the edge of his desk, looking right at Natasha as she stood in front of the chair, staring right at him. Aerith was on the other side of the room, pointing her quarterstaff at Taskmaster, prepared for any form of fight. She was still panting a little from the effort of constantly using Vanish, but she was fighting through it since she didn't know when Taskmaster could strike.

"Is this your plan?" Dreykov asked Natasha, having shrugged his shoulders at the redhead.

"My plan is to kill you," Natasha told him with a tiny smile.

"My plan is to help," Aerith added.

"I'm alive," Dreykov reminded them. "So, what do we do now?"

"...What was my mother's name?" Natasha demanded.

There was a moment of silence where Natasha and Dreykov stared at each other, before the man looked over her shoulder in thought.

"Ah..." Dreykov said. He gestured with his hand. "Where we buried her, there was a tree... Um... A pink blossom. Beautiful."

Aerith frowned, thinking that the man was stalling for time.

"And there was a tombstone, with her name engraved on it," Dreykov continued. He looked to the side in thought. "What was her name?"

"Will getting hit in the back of the head with a metal staff jog your memory?" Aerith offered.

Dreykov chuckled.

"I like that one," he said, smiling at Natasha and gesturing to Aerith.

The man sitting on his desk looked to the side again in thought.

"Ah," Dreykov said, chuckling in recognition. He then leaned forwards and gestured with his hand. "'Unknown'."

Natasha frowned and slowly shook her head at the man.

"You don't feel anything?" she asked. After a second, she decided to be mean. "You feel anything when I killed your daughter?"

Aerith smirked until she saw that Dreykov's expression never changed.

"Is this your haunted past?" Dreykov asked, gesturing to the redhead. The tears in Natasha's eyes confirmed this to him. "Really?"

The evil Russian started laughing, even looking down and covering his hand with his mouth. He kept laughing as he looked back up at Natasha.

Aerith and Natasha shared a confused frown, not sure where this was even going, anymore.

"Thank you, Natasha," Dreykov gratefully told Natasha.

Natasha continued to frown in confusion as Dreykov pushed himself to his feet, turned to the side, and started walking across the room. Aerith frowned at the man, but then he walked right past her. Sharing a confused look with Natasha, the two of them watched as Dreykov stepped towards Taskmaster.

"You gave me my greatest weapon," Dreykov announced, patting Taskmaster on the side. Natasha's jaw dropped in realization as Dreykov stepped behind Taskmaster, raising his mouth behind the armored individual's head. "Say hello."

Taskmaster raised up their right arm, and pressed a button on the gauntlet device. They pressed another button, and the gears and components on the mask started retracting and opening up.

Taskmaster then reached up, pulling off the mask to reveal a woman's face, with braided and tied back brown hair, and a few burn marks across her face and the visible parts of her neck.

Remembering the story of the bomb, Aerith's eyes widened as she realized that she and Natasha were looking at Dreykov's daughter.

"When your bomb exploded, it nearly killed my Antonia," Dreykov admitted to Natasha.

Natasha stepped forwards at the same time Antonia did the same, and the two tilted their heads to the side to observe each other.

"I had to put a chip in the back of her neck," Dreykov told Natasha and Aerith, pointing behind his head to emphasize his point. "In the back of her neck. Look at her."

Natasha and Aerith both looked at Antonia, guilt in Natasha's eyes and surprise in Aerith's.

"You find it difficult to look at her," Dreykov said. "I do. She... She watches everything, and she can do it. She's a perfect mimic."

He then stepped right in front of Natasha.

"And she fights just like all of your friends," Dreykov informed her.

"Okay, I think you're being a little overdramatic with the burns; they're not that bad," Aerith remarked. "They're distracting, but she's still pretty."

"Bah," Dreykov waved her off, turning and looking away, placing his hands on his sides.

Aerith rolled her eyes. Men and their impossible standards. *3*

Natasha, meanwhile, was looking right at Antonia.

"She can hear me?" Natasha asked.

Dreykov frowned and looked over at her. He stepped towards Natasha and leaned in so his face was uncomfortably close again.

"What?" Dreykov demanded. "You want to make her feel better?" Natasha looked down. "You want to tell her you're sorry? Well, you should have thought of that before you blew her face off."

"Wait a second," Aerith said, frowning in confusion. She looked over at Dreykov. "You took your own daughter, obviously put her through the mind control program if that blank state she's had for the last three minutes is any indication, stuffed her in that suit, and designed her to become the ruthless warrior of Taskmaster?"

"Yes," Dreykov said, smiling in pride at Antonia in the suit.

Aerith scoffed.

"If you didn't deserve to die before, then you definitely do now," she remarked.

"As the expression goes... 'If I had a nickel for every time I heard that'," Dreykov remarked, waving a hand at the brunette. He then looked at Antonia. "But enough of this bullshit. Go to work. I have rats in the basement. Go."

Natasha and Aerith quickly looked at Dreykov, realizing he knew about the others.

Antonia put the mask back on her head, letting the mechanics tighten so that it would stay on.

"Go," Dreykov instructed to Taskmaster.

Natasha and Aerith watched as Taskmaster walked through the room, going right past them towards the door that led out of the office. Dreykov stepped out of the way, and Natasha and Aerith glanced at Taskmaster in concern (for both her and their friends), as the electric doors opened up. Taskmaster left the room, letting the doors slide shut behind her, leaving Dreykov alone with Natasha and Aerith.

Dreykov stepped in front of Natasha, standing between her and his desk. And as to be expected, as soon as the door shut, she pulled out one of her Glocks and pointed it right at his face as he sat down on the edge of his desk again.

"Well, that was a mistake," Natasha growled to Dreykov.

"Was it?" Dreykov asked, looking at Natasha like she wasn't holding a gun to his head.

"You just sent away the one thing that would stop me from killing you," Natasha said.

"Yeah, that was one of the stupidest things I've ever seen," Aerith agreed. "And when Yuffie was a kid, I saw her give a full court case about why she should watch a Rob Zombie movie."

Dreykov closed his mouth and nodded his head, understanding their line of reasoning.

"Try, then," he invited. "Do it."

Aerith frowned when the gun didn't fire. She looked at Natasha to see that she was grunting while holding one of her fingers on the trigger of the Glock. The irrituation was clear on her face, and continued to grunt when nothing happened.

"Is the safety on?" Dreykov taunted.

"Glocks don't have safeties," Aerith commented.

Natasha gritted her teeth and audibly strained as she kept her finger on the trigger, trying to pull it and end the man. She frowned so hard that Aerith was sure one of her veins would pop from the strain.

Dreykov then reached up in a sweeping motion, grabbing the handgun and pulling it out of her hand. The man observed the gun as he looked down at it in his hand.

"No," Dreykov confirmed.

He pointed the gun into the air and fired, causing a bullet to hit the ceiling before falling to the ground. Aerith and Natasha stared up into the air, with shock evident on Natasha's face.

"Try your knife," Dreykov suggested, gesturing to Natasha's leg.

Natasha reached down and grabbed the handle, pulling it out of the sheath with a loud slashing sound. She grunted as she tried stabbing Dreykov with the blade backhanded, but stopped herself before it could even touch the man. Aerith frowned in confusion, wanting to let Natasha have the kill since she deserved it. And yet, for some reason, she kept stopping herself before she could actually do it.

"Ah," Dreykov taunted, reaching upwards and grabbing her wrist and taking a hold of the knife.

Natasha softly gasped as Dreykov pulled her fingers back, taking the knife out of her hand. The man kept a grip on her wrist as he dropped the knife, where it landed on the ground with a clatter.

"You're in trouble," Dreykov muttered to Natasha.

"This might help a bit," Aerith announced, twirling her quarterstaff in preparation.

She yelled out and swung her staff at Dreykov's head, but the man let go of Natasha, and she suddenly surged forwards, grabbing the quarterstaff to stop the brunette. Both Natasha and Aerith frowned in confusion, so Natasha let go. Aerith grabbed the staff with both hands, then tried swinging at Dreykov's head again. But once again, Natasha stopped it and pushed downwards, stopping the quarterstaff from hurting the evil man.

"How are you controlling me?" Natasha growled, looking up at Dreykov.

"I'm not controlling you, Natasha," Dreykov informed her. "Well, not yet. But there is a pheromonal lock. Smelling my pheromones prevents you from committing violence against me. And it makes you prevent violent acts from happening to me, as witnessed from you stopping the bitch in pink."

Dreykov then raised a hand as if he was about to backhand Natasha, and she hated how she winced and stepped back from him. He turned and started walking away, getting Natasha to sigh out in relief as she let go of Aerith's quarterstaff. She sighed out and slowly looked up with a haunted expression on her face.

"I'm very upset with Melina," Dreykov admitted. "It's a shame I have to kill her."

Natasha and Aerith both shared a look, sharing the same collective thought: 'Shit.'

Alexei, Melina, and Yuffie were still outside of the prison cells, with Alexei making it clear that he didn't really know what his place here was on the team at the moment. The entire time, Yuffie frowned in confusion when she heard a nearby door slide open.

"Come on, now," Alexei said, standing right in front of Melina, with Yuffie half convinced the both of them were about to start making out. "If we're just going to press buttons and hack computers..."

"Yes," Melina confirmed while Yuffie continued looking around, trying to see where the door had opened.

"I mean, I don't know," Alexei said, trying to sound flattering, reaffirming Yuffie's thought that they were going to make out. "There's nothing for me to do. I want to..." He started gesturing with his fists in preparation. "I want to break something."

Yuffie smirked and looked down the hallway behind Alexei, then did a double take as she looked back down the hallway, seeing Taskmaster walking towards them.

"Oh, you do?" Melina asked Alexei.

"Well, then it's your lucky day," Yuffie said.

Melina looked over Alexei's shoulder to see the incoming Taskmaster, then looked back up at her "husband."

"Oh, there is something you can break," Melina informed him in a loud whisper.

Alexei turned around to see Tasmkaster slowly walking down the stairs, looking just as intimidating as ever.

Yuffie took out her shurikan to help, twirling it in preparation as she stepped next to Alexei.

While Melina turned and left the hallway, Alexei chuckled triumphantly and placed his mask on top of his head, pushing to tighten it across his head. The Red Guardian brushed his forearms before raising his arms in preparation. Taskmaster raised her arms to form an X, imitating Black Panther, and extended claws out from her suit's fingers. She then lowered her arms in preparation.

"Melina, if this is the last time that we..." Alexei said.

He reached backwards to take Melina's hand, but he turned around to see that she was gone. He sighed out in disappointment.

"Aw, damn it," Alexei reamrked, turning to face Taskmaster again.

"This just isn't your day, man," Yuffie commented. "No one's letting you do your inspirational, heart-felt speeches." *4*

"I'll get one out by the end of the day," Alexei announced.

Alexei and Yuffie prepared themselves, knowing that Taskmaster would be a pretty difficult opponent to fight.

Chapter Text

Deep within the Red Room, soldiers were working on mobilizing themselves to preparation, wanting to prepare themselves for their next assignment. A full group of soldiers was walking down a hallway at the moment, dressed completely in riot gear and carrying assault rifles. They passed through one specific hallway, turning a corner and quickly leaving to go to a different room.

Once they were gone, a ventilation grate on the ceiling of the hallway moved inwards, being tossed to the side within the vent shaft. Yelena dropped down through the open compartment in the ceiling, landing in the pose Natasha always made, crouching slightly while reaching forwards and resting her left hand on the ground. She looked up quickly, sending her ponytail flying.

Then she stood up and shivered in disgust.

"That was disgusting," Yelena commented.

She turned a corner and quickly incapacitated a soldier that was guarding the vault that the vials of cure were being hidden inside. Yelena strained a bit as she dragged the bigger, unconscious opponent across the ground and used his hand for the imprint recognition key.

Meanwhile, Melina was making her way into the lower parts of the Red Room, climbing down a ladder to get to the mechanics on the lower parts. She went to work on a computer system and went to work to start the landing sequence.

Unfortunately, Dreykov was watching her in the lower corridor she was hiding within through a security camera, which he viewed through a tablet on his desk. He sat behind his desk, and ttapped a finger against the screen, giving himself a better view of Melina as she worked on the console.

"So, this was the big plan, huh?" Dreykov boasted. "Melina was going to land the Red Room and hand me over to the authorities."

"Well, you would've had a couple of knives sticking out of your head when they got you, but basically," Aerith said. "You would've looked like a more kinky Pinhead."

"Heh, more kinky Pinhead," Dreykov chuckled. "That's actually pretty good."

The man then tapped on the tablet once again, giving him control of the Red Room's landing sequence, stopping Melina from being able to do so with the console she was using.

An alarm suddenly went off in the room that Melina was in, alerting to her the fact that the control was being taken away from her. She watched with wide eyes of surprise as the screen informed her that the launch sequence was suspended, right before panels slid shut on either side of her, trapping her within the small space.

"This, uh... isn't faring too well," Aerith commented to Natasha.

Natasha looked at Aerith, understanding her reasoning for thinking so, then looked at Dreykov as he continued to sit behind his desk.

"So, what now, you're gonna fold us into your pathetic little puppeteer act?" Natasha asked with a small smirk.

"Pathetic, huh?" Dreykov softly asked, adjusting himself in his seat.

"You're forcing a whole bunch of women to listen to your every single instruction, and making them into killers for reasons I honestly don't want to understand," Aerith said. "Honestly, it sounds like you put more into this than actually getting laid the normal way. Yeah, I'd say it's pretty pathetic." *1*

Natasha laughed, appreciating the burn towards Dreykov, while the man in question just glared at Aerith. This made her proud.

"She's got a point," Natasha agreed. "I mean, what would you call it?"

"I would call it..." Dreykov started.

"When was the last time that you had a conversation with somebody that wasn't forced to talk to you?" Natasha asked, walking up to the other side of the desk.

"You ran away to fight in the wrong war," Dreykov accused Natasha. He pointed at his table as he said his next words. "The real war was fought here, in the shadows."

"You didn't fight in the shadows," Natasha told him, leaning forwards onto the table. "You hid in the dark."

"Like a coward," Aerith said, nodding in agreement.

"Real power comes from undetectable influence," Dreykov said, completely believing his ideology.

"If no one's noticed, then why even do it?" Natasha asked, leaning forwards and resting her hands on the table. She smirked at the man as he repeatedly tapped his finger on the desk. "You're nothing."

"You really are, man," Aerith agreed.

"Hmm," Dreykov hummed, glaring at the two women.

"You have nothing," Natasha added.

"There are 50 people in this planet..." Dreykov started.

Natasha scoffed and started laughing.

"Oh, stop it," she said.

"Don't tell me to stop!" Dreykov angrily shouted, jumping to his feet to try to make himself intimidating.

"If I don't tell you when to stop, then how will you know when to shut up?" Natasha asked.

"Man, that was also a good burn," Aerith commented.

Dreykov then pulled back his hand and smacked Natasha in the face, sending her reeling back.

Aerith frowned and grabbed her quarterstaff again, twirling it in preparation to try to strike at Dreykov again. She swung the staff at the man, but unfortunately, Natasha once again reached and grabbed the staff, stopping Aerith from attacking. She pushed the staff downwards, forcing Aerith to take a step back.

"Sorry," Natasha told the brunette.

"You're all right," Aerith said as Dreykov walked around the table towards Natasha. "I know it wasn't you."

"You don't have to fight my battles for me," Natasha assured the brunette. "I got this."

The redhead looked up at Dreykov as he walked around the table, and she smirked at him.

"Come on," Natasha said, still smirking. "Think I can't take a bunch?"

"Oh?" Dreykov asked.

He then grunted and punched Natasha in the face, sending her spinning and reeling back again.

Aerith was about to grab lift her staff again, but Natasha waved a had at her to stop her. The redhead slowly turned and laughed as she turned to face Dreykov again.

"God damn it, you're weak," Natasha insulted her past abuser with a laugh.

"Weak?" Dreykov rebutted.

"I bet it's easier to be tough in front of defenseless little girls, huh?" Natasha taunted the older Russian.

"That's enough," Dreykov growled out.

He punched Natasha in the face again, hard enough that she ended up falling to the ground, landing with a grunt.

Aerith said screw it and grabbed her staff again. She tried swinging again, but Natasha's instincts acted up again, using her feet to sweep Aerith's feet out from underneath, sending her stumbling to the ground next to her.

"Sorry," Natasha said.

"Okay, now I'm starting to get annoyed," Aerith admitted.

Natasha pushed herself up to up onto a knee and glanced up at Dreykov. She looked at Dreykov and continued smirking at the man, even as he kicked her in the chest and knocked her onto her back.

Aerith and Natasha moved back across the room and continued glaring up at Dreykov, with Natasha still smirking in amusement at the bastard.

"You wouldn't be so glib if you had any notion of the scope of what I've built," Dreykov boasted to the downed Natasha. Natasha wiped a hand on her face, and Aerith placed a hand on her shoulder to start to help her up. "I own this world. Me."

"You seem desperate to impress me," Natasha commented.

"If you think this'll help you get laid, you're severely mistaken," Aerith commented.

"I don't need to impress you," Dreykov glared at Natasha before looking at Aerith. "And you're starting to piss me off."

"That makes me happy," Aerith said with a smile.

She looked up at Dreykov as the man moved towards his desk, pushing aside the chair from behind it. Aerith frowned when she finally realixed that there was an open door behind Dreykov's desk that led out to another room, but shrugged that to the side. *2*

"I don't need to impress anyone," Dreykov added, glaring at Natasha. While Aerith slowly started helping Natasha up into a sitting position, Dreykov opened up a drawer on his desk. "These world leaders, these great men..." He pressed the back of his hand on a console, dragging the light of his ring across a tiny console. "They answer to me and my Widows.

"What the hell?" Aerith muttered, seeing red light glowing from the drawer.

All of a sudden, red lights started glowing from the panels on the wall on the opposite side of the desk, forming into the image of the continents of the world. There was a tab within the center of the map, reading "Logging In." Then it said, "Authenticated." 

"Look at them," Dreykov boasted. Aerith and Natasha pushed themselves to their feet and watched in shock as white dots signifying Black Widows appeared all across the digital map o fthe world, showing that they were on all seven continents. "These girls were trash. They were thrown out onto the street."

Dreykov watched as Natasha and Aerith walked forwards to look at the screens as facial shots of the Widows appeared all across the screens, allowing them to see exactly who these women were. What made Aerith sick was how the ages were all different, from grown women, to teenagers, to even little girls.

"I recycle the trash," Dreykov proudly announced. "And I give them purpose."

"Jesus Christ," Aerith muttered, her eyes wide as she and Natasha stepped up to the screen, seeing some of the faces become more and more clear.

"I give them a life," Dreykov announced, as if what he gave to the Widows was the best thing in the world.

Yelena had gone through the lab and quickly found the vials of cure locked in a fridge. She informed Melina, who escaped the small room she was in by breaking open a vent grate. As she crawled through the ventilation shaft, Melina informed Yelena about the change of plans, and that she needed to get to the Widows.

Meanwhile, Alexei and Yuffie were still fighting Taskmaster. The armored enemy had thrown her shield at them, which Alexei knocked out of the air, making it crash into the floor. The Russian Super Soldier charged at Taskmaster, but she jumped up into the air, kicking him in the chest with both feet. Alexei was knocked aside while Taskmaster flipped in the air, landing in a reverse of Natasha's pose with the right arm resting on the ground.

Yuffie charged at Taskmaster as the armored enemy took out a knife and twirled it in preparation. Yuffie and Taskmaster swung their blades at each other for a little bit, the strikes deflecting off of each other. Yuffie jumped backwards in a flip to dodge the knife slash, then she pulled an old trick and disappeared in a puff of smoke from a smoke bomb. She reappeared behind Taskmaster and kicked the woman in the back, knocking her forwards.

Taskmaster turned to face Yuffie, raising her knife to strike the ravenette. But then Alexei appeared behind her and grabbed her arm holding the knife. Yuffie charged forwards and kicked Taskmaster's hand, causing her to drop the knife to the ground. Taskmaster elbowed Alexei in the gut, getting him to let go, then turned and kicked him in the stomach, knocking him back again. Yuffie yelled out as she tried slashing her shurikan at Taskmaster, but then the armored enemy jumped forwards in a large flip, kicking the ravenette in her head and knocking her back.

Taskmaster pushed herself to her feet and raised her arms in the X again, extending out the claws to imitate Black Panther again. *3*

Alexei charged at Taskmaster with an overhead strike, which Taskmaster ducked behind, moving behind the man. Taskmaster tried doing an overhead strike at Alexei, which he dodged, before the armored enemy slugged him in the stomach, making him grunt. Taskmaster tried doing another overhead swipe with the claws, then tried a side swipe, which Alexei dodged with his forearm. Taskmaster then jumped up into the air and rammed a fist into Alexei's head, knocking him into a wall, before he fell onto his knees.

Extending the claws in her hands again, Taskmaster raised one hand to try to finish off Alexei right now.

But then Yuffie's fully grown shurikan flew down the hallway and hit Taskmaster in the face, forcing her to take a step back. Taskmaster glared down the hallway at Yuffie, watching the ravenette catch her weapon with a smirk. The armored enemy charged across the hallway and tried swiping her claws at Yuffie, which she dodged with smoke bombs again.

Yuffie then jumped up into the air, using the wall as a bracing point, leaping behind Taskmaster with one foot and hitting the armored enemy in the back of the head, knocking her back. Taskmaster turned and looked at Yuffie, and the ravenette swore she could see a face glaring at her between the eyes of the mask.

"Sorry, pal, but only a few people in the entire universe have actually bested me in battle," Yuffie boasted, a bit of cockiness in her voice.

She should have known that being cocky was about to reveal something bad.

Taskmaster reached into the components on her back, pulling out a small handle that extended out to look like a sword. However, this sword has a hand guard for both sides of the hand, extended blades at the end that looked like blades of a teeth, and a little component at the end to look like it would shoot out lasers.

Yuffie's eyes widened when she realized she was looking at a high tech, scientifically made version of a Keyblade.

"You gotta be fuckin' kidding me," Yuffie remarked, using a phrase her boyfriend said a lot.

Taskmaster gripped the tech-Keyblade in both hands, similar to how Sora would hold it in his battle stance. Yuffie backed away in surprise as Taskmaster did a combo attack that Sora would do on his second journey, which included Finishers of Blitz and Lunge 'n' Launch. Yuffie dodged all of the attacks before she threw her shurikan. Taskmaster blocked the weapon with the tech-blade before pointing the weapon at Yuffie. Energy fathered on the blaster function at the end of the blade, before a red laser shot out. Yuffie exclaimed in surprise as she dodged the laser with a smoke bomb.

This just got a whole lot harder.

"It's my network of Widows that help me control the scales of power," Dreykov boasted to Natasha and Aerith, looking up at the gigantic screens filled with pictures of women.

The images changed to show a massive desert area with a mushroom cloud in the distance.

"One command, the oil and stock markets crumble," Dreykov boasted to their shocked expressions. The clip changed to one closer to the fires, with people in protection suits stepping towards them. "One command, and a quarter of the planet will starve. My Widows can start and end wars."

The clip changed to riot footage, with the blurred image of riot soldiers' heads at the bottom of the screen, with the sky above them covered by orange smoke from fires and flares.

"They can make and break kings," Dreykov continued to boast.

The screens continued to show various clips of horrific human disasters.

"You control all of that from here?" Natasha asked, still looking at the screen.

"You deserve to die even more than I thought," Aerith remarked, watching a clip of a missile taking off.

"And with you both, an Avenger and an off-worlder under my control..." Dreykov said. He pulled out his chair and sat down. "I can finally come out of the shadows, using the only natural resource that the world has too much of. Girls."

The video changed to another slideshow of people's faces, this one running through many images of young girls in a separate tab. Natasha and Aerith panted as they watched with wide eyes, with Aerith trying to come to terms that someone like this could actually exist on this world.

The others were right: some people on this world were well and truly evil. Just like with the others, she wouldn't feel bad about what she did to this man.

Natasha and Aerith shared a look, then turned back to look at Dreykov.

"All from that little console?" Natasha asked.

"Yeah," Dreykov easily confirmed.

Natasha slowly smirked and started stepping forwards.

"Oh, you find it amusing?" Dreykov asked. "Why are you smiling?"

Natasha looked down and smirked, stepping forwards with Aerith.

"Don't take it personally, but, uh..." Natasha said. She rested her hands on the desk and looked up at Dreykov, continuing to smile at the man. "Thank you for your cooperation."

"Yeah, you just screwed yourself here," Aerith said, smirking at the situation.

The smirk widened when she saw the confused expression on Dreykov's face.

A few hours ago (again)

Natasha and Melina were still preparing for the plan for them to sneak into the Red Room by doing the "old switcheroo," as Aerith referred to it. Melina was dressed in the white suit with the back on her back, while Natasha wore the black one. Natasha helped her "mother" out by placing the batons that Black Widows use in Melina's back for preparation to fight.

"Even if you locate the database and get you to show him the key, you won't be able to take it from him," Melina admitted, slipping the white gloves on over her hand. "For years, Dreykov has implemented a pheromonal lock in all Widows, even me."

"Okay, that's also pretty messed up," Aerith commented. "I can understand why since that would be a good insurance policy in case one of you guys tried to kill him, but still. Pretty messed up."

"Another thing I agree with you on, Ms Gainsborough," Melina said, standing still to let Natasha finish securing the gear on her back. "But as long as we can smell him, then we won't be able to hurt him. We'll also prevent harm from coming to him, so Ms Gainsborough won't be able to do anything when you're also in the room."

Natasha scoffed with a smirk.

"Well, I'll just hold my breath," she said.

"Yeah, she deserves to be the one to take out Dreykov," Aerith said. "I'm not gonna steal it from her. But, will holding her breath be enough?"

"Unfortunately, no," Melina admitted. "This is basic scientist." During her next words, she turned around to look at her "daughter." "Natasha, to block receptors in olfactory center, you have to sever the nerve."

She stepped forwards and placed a finger on Natasha's head to emphasize what she meant. Natasha smirked, while Aerith winced.

"I think I can handle that," Natasha said. She gestured to Aerith "And if I can't, then I have a chick with a metal staff to help me out."

Aerith hoped she could do it on her own. The brunette had no problem fighting bad guys and killing Heartless, but she was really uncomfortable with willingly harming friends. It's why she never participated in Olympus Coliseum when all the others did.

"You weren't quite strong enough, so..." Natasha said, smirking at Dreykov. She looked around on the desk in thought. "I'll have to finish it myself. Since Aerith's made it clear she doesn't want to."

"Thank you," Aerith softly said.

Dreykov chuckled.

"What are you going to do?" he asked.

Natasha then suddenly moved forwards, ramming her head against the desk so hard that they all heard bone cracking, while blood dropped down on the desk. The redhead looked up again, showing to both Dreykov and Aerith that she had just broken her nose against the table.

"Sever the nerve," Natasha softly said, venom in her voice.

Aerith laughed victoriously while Dreykov's eyes widened.

The man reached for the tablet, but just as he placed his hand on top, Natasha grabbed his palm, then punched him in the face with her opposite hand, knocking him out of the chair. Dreykov hit the ground with his glasses off and winced, placing a hand over his face.

Aerith hurried around the desk and swung her quarterstaff, hitting it right between the man's legs. Dreykov yelled out as he reached downwards, wincing and groaning in pain.

"That's for every woman you've ever disrespected," Aerith growled at Dreykov.

Natasha smirked and nodded her head in approval.

Unfortunately, Dreykov hitting the tablet did cause an alarm to go off in the training room where the dozens of Widows were practicing. The Widows went to work, grabbing batons from a nearby shelf and moving as fast as they could to protect their boss.

Melina had used the vent shaft she crawled through to move out underneath one of the gigantic engines of the Red Room. She quickly took out a soldier and grabbed his gun before slowly moving across the grated floor as more guards showed up. She stepped across the grated walkway over a gigantic fan and raised her arms in surrender as the soldiers aimed their assault rifles at her. A soldier told Melina to drop to the ground, so she quipped, "Exactly what I was thinking," before firing the grenade launcher attached to her rifle, blowing up the engine.

The engine broke into pieces that rained down and destroyed the walkway, along with the gigantic fan underneath. Melina used a grappling hook to escape the falling, fire covered chunks of metal and get back onto stable ground.

"Yelena, Yuffie, slight change of plans," Melina announced into the intercom. Despite the situation, she spoke in a very calm voice as she said, "I completely demolished one of the engines, and we are going into a controlled crash."

"What!?" Yuffie exclaimed before getting hit in the face by Taskmaster.

The bottom engines of the Red Room started to burst apart in explosions in response to the initial one from Melina's blast, showing that the place was slowly falling apart. That was evidenced by the internal hallways having red warning lights glaring, while sparks burst throughout the hallways.

Yelena hurried through said hallways towards the Widows, but quickly found that they weren't in their training room. Seeing the equipment stored on the walls, she got an idea. Grabbing a smoke bomb, Yelena took out a rubber band and tied the vials of Widow cure onto them, ensuring that the gas would be released with the rest of the smoke.

Alexei and Yuffie were still fighting Taskmaster. Taskmaster kicked Alexei through a large glass window connecting between rooms, then hit Yuffie with the tech-blade, knocking her into the room with the Red Guardian. The both of them crashed against the ground while Taskmaster stored the tech-blade away. She then stomped on the shield, causing it to fly up into the air and reattach itself onto her arm.

Alexei coughed as he and Yuffie pushed themselves to their feet, before Taskmaster hurried forwards and hit Alexei in the face with her shield. With Taskmaster's arm raised from the shield strike, Yuffie swiped at the armored enemy in the stomach with her shurikan, doing minimal damage. Taskmaster kicked at Yuffie, which she dodged with a smoke bomb, before the armored enemy struck Alexei twice with her shield, knocking her back. Yuffie reappeared behind Taskmaster, but the armored enemy plucked her out of the air with her free arm, then threw her to the side, causing her to crash against the floor.

Taskmaster hit Alexei in the face with her shield again, causing the Red Guardian to crash into a nearby set of closed lockers. He had no time to recover before Taskmaster hit him in the face with the shield, knocking the Red Guardian forwards onto the ground. Just as Alexei started to push himself up, Taskmaster threw the shield, hitting him in the back and sending them both flying into the other room.

Yuffie extended her shurikan to its large size and yelled out as she threw it at Taskmaster. Taskmaster caught the blade, and Yuffie lunged at the armored enemy, kicking with both feet. The armored enemy side stepped the attack, then swung at Yuffie with her own shurikan, which she ducked underneath. Yuffie yelled out as she delivered quick strikes to Taskmaster's back, before rolling out of the way as the armored enemy tried swiping at her again. Taskmaster raised the shurikan over her head, but Yuffie caught it as the armored enemy swung.

"I'm not getting killed with my own weapon," Yuffie informed the armored enemy.

So, Taskmaster used her other had to grab Yuffie, lifting her up and chucking her into the other room with Alexei.

Alexei had started to push himself up, but Yuffie ended up hitting him in the chest, knocking them both back to the ground.

Taskmaster then walked into the room after the two, picking Alexei up by the shoulder blades of his suit. Holding Alexei over the ground, Taskmaster pulled back one arm and extended a blade out of a gauntlet.

But then Melina leaped out from nowhere, wrapping her legs around Taskmaster's head. She swung around and used the momentum of her swings to send Taskmaster flying into the open doors of a nearby cell, sending the armored enemy crashing onto her back.

Alexei hurried and reached up, hitting the button to close the cell door. The glass slid shut just as Taskmaster swung a fist, so she only hit the indestructible glass. She kept ramming her fists against the glass in an attempt to break it, to no avail.

"That was not easy," Yuffie commented.

"We have to go," Melina announced.

More of the thrusters outside of the aerial facility were breaking apart, ensuring the imminent destruction of the Red Room as it slowly started to lose altitude.

The effect was even made clear in Dreykov's office. The floor shook underneath them, causing the the chandeliers to shake as the red light continued to glare, giving everything a sinister backdrop. Dreykov looked up at Aerith and Natasha as they stepped up in front of him, terror on his face when he realized that they were about to kill him.

"Not so talkative now, are you?" Natasha taunted with a smile, blood standing her lip and cheek from her nose injury.

She grunted as she did a crescent kick, hitting Dreykov in the face and making him hit the desk before stumbling onto the floor again.

"I'm sure that felt good," Aerith commented.

"Oh, it did," Natasha said, smirking at Aerith.

She looked down at Dreykov, glaring right at the bastard.

"You took my childhood," Natasha growled at the man. A chandelier exploded and dropped to the ground, landing in a corner in a crash. "You took my choices and tried to break me."

Dreykov looked up in fear as Natasha reached to her pack, grabbing one of her batons.

"But you're never gonna do that to anybody every again," Natasha announced.

"Say 'Hi' to Sephiroth in hell," Aerith told the man.

Natasha pulled out her baton that had an attachment of a blade on the end, making it sort of like a Kama.

Unfortunately, the door to the office opened, and the Widows that were training hurried into the room, firing out grappling hooks and hitting Natasha and Aerith. The two of them grunted in pain as they were dragged across the ground towards the stairs.

Dreykov moved as quickly as he could, grabbing his glasses and slipping them on. He shut the drawer at his desk, logging off and turning off the console. The electronic map turned off, keeping the information from Natasha and Aerith.

"Nobody leaves this room until they're both dead," Dreykov instructed to the Widows as Natasha and Aerith pushed themselves up. "Make them both suffer."

Dreykov walked right past the Widows as they started getting their batons ready, quickly leaving the room since he knew things were gonna get dicey.

Natasha and Aerith detached wires from the grappling hooks in their backs and pushed themselves to their feet, panting as they looked up at the many Black Widows in front of them.

"We don't wanna hurt you," Natasha said. She converted her baton so that it was less of a Kama and more of a stun gun. "And you don't wanna hurt us."

"Although, something tells me none of us get a say in this matter," Aerith commented.

And she was right.

Three Widows hurried down the steps and started swinging their batons, but Natasha stepped back to dodge while swinging her baton, causing them to also step back, at the same time Aerith swung her quarterstaff. Natasha hit one Widow in the face to knock her back, while Aerith hit another in the leg, knocking her to the ground. A Widow hit Natasha in the back, causing her to drop to the ground, but then she swung at the woman's stomach, stopping the next attack. She grabbed the Widow's wrist, then pulled her inwards, kicking two other Widows in their stomachs.

Two Widows charged at Aerith, but she blasted Blizzard at them, knocking them aside. Another Widow charged at her, but Aerith deflected her baton strikes with her quarterstaff, before turning and hitting the woman in the back. Aerith then pressed her staff into the ground and used it as a lunge point, dodging a baton strike from a different Widow before kicking another lady in the face. She landed next to Natasha just as a different Widow on the ground kicked the redhead in the stomach. Another Widow then lunged through the air, kicking Natasha in the back with both feet, knocking her into Dreykov's desk.

Aerith spun her staff in front of herself like it was a propellor blade to dodge a baton strike, but then a different Widow kicked her in the back of her knee, causing her to stumble slightly. A different Widow tried stabbing Natasha, but she caught the strike with her arm, keeping the blade from striking her. Natasha then blasted barbs from her wrist gauntlet at another Widow, stopping her incoming attack. While Aerith did a backflip to dodge a knife slash, Natasha grabbed the Widow she was grappling with and rolled them both along the desk, keeping a hold of the woman but then stepping back as a different Widow swung a baton.

Aerith pushed herself up and moved next to Natasha, swinging her quarterstaff in defense against the incoming baton attacks. But then two Widows grabbed each of them, throwing them through the air and sending them stumbling across the ground. The two of them rolled across the ground before pushing themselves to their feet. Natasha blasted barbs out of her wrist gauntlets while Aerith blasted Blizzard, stopping many of the Widows and sending them stumbling to the ground.

Lots of Widows dropped to the ground as they were knocked down from the attacks, but one had combined her batons into a staff and lunged at Natasha, causing her to take a step back. The woman charged at Natasha and pressed the staff against the redhead's neck, pressing her against the wall. Aerith tried to help, but a few more Widows moved in, grabbing Aerith's staff to stop her, and grabbing the sides of the other staff, trying to choke Natasha. But Natasha managed to detached the batons, breaking apart the staff and breaking free.

Aerith got her staff out of the hold of the Widow she was fighting, then turned the woman around and kicked her in the leg, sending her stumbling to the ground. Natasha did the same, using the baton she snatched to knock aside one Widow before turning the one in front of her around, kicking her in the back and sending her stumbling to the ground. Natasha hit the pillar and slid to the ground, allowing another Widow to grab her by the neck and start to choke her. While Aerith got kicked in the back by another Widow, Natasha pressed the baton she was holding against the Widow restraining her, pushing back before turning the woman around and slamming her into the ground.

Natasha turned to attack another Widow, but she got kicked in the chest, sending her flying into the desk and stumbling to the ground. Aerith tried swinging her quarterstaff at another Widow, but the woman grabbed the staff and spun it, causing Aerith to get flipped into the air, landing right next to Natasha.

The two allies started to push themselves up, but Widows kicked each of them in the face, knocking them down. Natasha and Aerith winced and tried crawling away, but a Widow slid across the ground and hit Natasha in the face. Another kicked Aerith in the side, rolling her onto her side. Another Widow pressed a baton against Natasha's arm, holding her down. She winced before getting picked up and put into a headlock. Aerith realized that they were fulfilling Dreykov's instructions of making them suffer as she was also pulled up and put into a headlock. *4*

Natasha and Aerith were slowly choked by Widows, who were also punching them in the face to make things hurt even worse. And they were all taking turns. All of the women in the room had formed a circle against the restrained Natasha and Aerith and were taking turns punching or kicking the two, like it was some sick childhood game.

Luckily, they only had to put up with a little of this.

The smoke bomb that Yelena had grabbed, with the vials of cure attached, dropped down through the doors that led out of the office, exploding above the crowd and sending red gas flying in all directions. The Widows all instinctively ducked as the bomb went off, but the gas spread fast enough to enter their nervous systems.

Yelena panted from the doors, and Natasha and Aerith looked up in relief as the gas spread throughout the room, spreading to the Widows and curing them. Aerith saw red briefly appear before one woman's pupils before they returned to normal. The woman frowned in confusion as she pushed herself to her feet, confirming to Aerith that she had been cured.

All around Natasha and Aerith, the Widows frowned and looked around, curious about their surroundings and the outfits they were wearing.

"Hallelujah," Aerith said through a wince.

Yelena hurried through the crowd of nearby Widows to where Natasha and Aerith were and put an arm around her "sister's" shoulder.

"Hey," Yelena said, helping Natasha up. Natasha groaned in pain and gripped her shoulder. "Are you okay?"

"Not really," Aerith said, using her staff to push herself up.

Both Aerith and Natasha were gripping their shoulders, since the grappling hooks from earlier were still sticking through their shoulder blades.

"Those look like they hurt," Yelena commented, glancing at both of her allies.

They each still had grabbling hooks from earlier within their shoulder blades.

"Okay. I take out on three, ready?" Yelena said, grabbing a hold of the hook on Natasha's shoulder.

Keeping one hand on Natasha's shoulder and the other on the hook, Yelena quickly yanked at the hook, making the redhead yell in pain as the hook was quickly taken out.

"I'm sorry," Yelena said as Natasha kept a hand on her shoulder.

"That hurt, didn't it?" Aerith asked.

Yelena confirmed this by grabbing the one in Aerith's shoulder and pulling it out, making her yell out in pain, as well.

"Ow!" Aerith exclaimed.

"Sorry," Yelena said.

Aerith panted before lifting up her staff, casting Cure on herself, and Natasha since she was close enough. This dimmed the pain in both of their shoulders, but didn't close the wounds, as Aerith had gone over earlier.

"Damn, that wasn't pleasant," Natasha commented.

She panted before looking up at the Widows standing in front of them. One spoke in Finnish, which Aerith didn't understand, but Natasha did. She looked around at the collection of Black Widows to address them all.

"Get as far away from here as possible," Natasha told the Widows. "You get to make your own choices now."

"You have freedom now," Aerith emphasized. "So go and do whatever you want to do."

Some Widows looked at each other.

All of a sudden, more explosions, rocked the Red Room, signaling that the situation was getting more and more dangerous by the second.

"We gotta get outta here," Natasha announced.

While the Widows all hurried towards the doors that led out of the office with Yelena, Natasha and Aerith stepped towards the desk.

"We need to find Dreykov," Yelena announced. "Are you coming?"

"We're right behind you," Natasha informed her "sister."

"We'll see you in a bit," Aerith promised.

Yelena nodded her head at the two before hurrying out of the office with all of the other Widows to start escaping. Natasha and Aerith hurried to the desk, knowing that they needed to get some vital information before they could leave the Red Room.

Aerith just really hoped that they were fast enough. She wanted to see her friends again before dying a horrible death.

Chapter Text

Dreykov was being guided by many soldiers around him as they walked through the hallways, dressed completely in armor and carrying their rifles to serve as protection for the evil Russian. The alarm lights were still blaring red above them as they turned a corner, and Dreykov realized his ring was missing. He hurriedly tried to go back, but the soldiers stopped him just as a beam collapsed at the end of the hallway, keeping them from being able to go back.

Even though the room was breaking apart all around them, Natasha and Aerith still hurried to the desk, where Natasha pulled out the drawer that activated the system. Running Dreykov's ring across the digital keypad, Natasha started up the program, bringing the many screens to life and illuminating the room with a different form of red light. Natasha looked down at the console and inserted a card into a console, closing the lid and beginning the data transfer.

Aerith panted in and out next to her, trying not to hyperventilate. She could understand the reasoning for doing all of  this, so that they could get the information for all the other Black Widows in the world, but she was still worried since the room was falling apart all around them.

"I'm praying that this doesn't take too long," Aerith admitted to Natasha. "We can't stay here too long."

"I know," Natasha said.

The both of them looked up at the screens as they showed that the data transfer had started. A little loading bar showing underneath a little square where headshots of all the Widows, showing the two their identities one at a time as the bar slowly loaded to show the progress of the data transfer.

Since they had time, Natasha reached up and wiped the blood off of her face. She then reached up with both hands and grunted as she cracked the bones in her nose back into place.

"Damn," Aerith said with a wince. "That couldn't have been good."

"It wasn't," Natasha confirmed, moving her neck to the side before looking up again. "But now that he's out at the moment, I can afford to sniff again."

Aerith nodded her head in understanding as they watched the information continue to process as the data continued to transfer.

They needed to hurry, though. More and more explosions were surging throughout the aerial facility as Melina's blast caused a full chain reaction of damage, sending explosions throughout the lab and the hallways of the Red Room, once again spelling out its imminent destruction.

Natasha and Aerith quickly looked around as more explosions wracked through the room connected to the office, breaking apart the glass separating the two rooms. The two of them shared a worried look before glancing back at the screen, seeing that there was still about 20% of data to transfer to the card. Luckily, it seemed that the Fates were listening to their prayers, because the information quickly finished surging, reaching 100%, and showing a tab saying, "Data Transfer Complete."

"Yes!" Natasha exclaimed, pumping a fist.

Aerith felt relief surge through her as Natasha rammed a hand onto the keyboard. The compartment opened up, revealing the card within. While the walls continued to fall apart around them, Natasha took the card out of the dock, then crouched down to pick up two vials of brainwashing cure that had fallen on the ground.

"Come on!" Aerith exclaimed.

The two of them hurried through the office, hurrying out of the room through the double doors and stopping just in front of the elevator. They leaped out of the way as the doors slid open, blasting lots of fire out and narrowly missing the two heroes. They hurried down an adjacent hallway as the fire continued to spread after them from the elevator.

They ran down the crumbling hallway as it was filled with more and more fire. Natasha pulled out two handguns and raised them towards the window at the end of the hallway. She fired a few times, breaking apart the glass just enough for them to burst through.

"You ready?" Natasha asked Aerith as they hurried to the window.

"I never am!" Aerith admitted.

"Good; you're fit for this life, then!" Natasha remarked.

The two leaped forwards, crashing through the broken window just as the fire started to surround them. The two of them plummeted through the air, catching onto a broken railing from an outside walkway. An explosion from the facility, breaking apart the railing even more and making them dangle over the sky. The two of them kept ahold as explosions kept bursting among outside of the facility, nearly making them lose their grips.

"I shouldn't have said no to those people who offered me a job in Migdar!" Aerith exclaimed.

The two of them turned and looked down to the lower portion of the Red Room, where people were running along an outdoor platform far below them. They could see the Black Widows running across the platform, towards where the jets were docked nearby.

Of course, more explosions quickly appeared below them, obscuring their visions of the platform.

"Aerith!" Natasha said, getting the brunette's attention. "There!"

Aerith followed her gaze to see a shattered window nearby. The two of them kept a hold of the railing before using it to propel themselves through the air, leaping back into the facility through the shattered window. They landed a bit more easily than normal, and started running down the hall to try to find a way out.

Alexei, Melina, and Yuffie had hurried out of the facility and were currently running across the outdoor platform that served as the dock for the jets. While one jet rose up into the air, more parts of the facility burst apart and dropped down in their path. The three of them hurried towards a different parked jet, with Alexei raising the shield he had stolen from Taskmaster in defense over his head. He grunted as they ran together into the open doors of a parked jet, where Alexei tossed the shield aside for later.

"You're gonna try to get a 'rematch' with Captain America with that thing later, aren't you?" Yuffie asked.

"Of course I am," Alexei promised with a smile. "I would be dishonoring myself if I didn't try again, after all."

Yuffie smirked and rolled her eyes, still finding it funny that this guy was so convinced in his belief that he had fought Captain America back in the 80s. *1*

While they chatted about this, Melina hurried into the pilot's seat, moving quickly to power up the jet. The engines and thrusters powered up, getting ready to launch.

"Do you see the girls?" Melina called back to them.

Alexei and Yuffie hurried to the back panel of the jet, looking out and staring across the field towards the doors. They were obscured heavily by rubble and smoke, making it impossible to see anyone coming through the doors.

"No!" Alexei yelled, despair in his voice and on his face.

"Aerith!" Yuffie shouted, desperate to know where her friend was.

Unfortunately, more of the platform that the jet was on started to break apart, shattering and falling down towards the ground far below. While soldiers charged across the platform and raised their rifles at the ship, the floor soon came out from underneath the jet, causing it to fall, as well.

Alexei and Yuffie yelled out as they stumbled down the ship, gravity taking effect as the floor rotated underneath them. They held onto the walls of the ship as the jet plummeted down through the sky as Melina worked to turn it on. The plane dropped through the air and went right through an explosive blast from another part of the aerial compound. Alexei and Yuffie yelled out as the fire burned outside of the ship, warming them all up significantly.

Eventually, they came out of the flames and continued to plummet down through the air.

"We need to go back," Melina announced.

She turned the ship in the air and started flying back up towards the falling compound of the Red Room.

Some soldiers that were still alive were apparently idiots, raising their rifles and firing at the jet instead of trying to find a way to survive. One ended up landing on the front of the ship as it flew back up into the air. The man stood against it and tried pointing his rifle at Melina through the broken windshield.

Alexei was faster. He stomped on the shield, knocking it into the air and catching it. He then threw the shield forwards, and it went right through the windshield, knocking that soldier off and knocking him onto the roof of the jet. That guy dropped through the air and started falling to his death.

Unfortunately, he knocked off one of the tail wings that the jet had, knocking them off of course and making them start falling again.

Melina tried desperately to stabilize the ship while Alexei and Yuffie held onto the walls, trying to brace themselves.

"We've lost control," Melina informed them.

Alexei hurried forwards into the second pilots seat and tried helping her.

Yuffie continued to hold onto the wall, hoping there was a way to get out of this situation.

Natasha and Aerith were moving as fast as they could through the hallways, with just about everything falling apart around them to make things even more difficult. The two of them stumbled through the hallway, struggling to keep their balance with how much the entire aerial station was roughly moving around. They leaped and crawled down a hallway as the entire place shook, rubble and pieces of ceiling dropping down all over the place and making things more difficult.

Moving past a wheeled desk, the two of them stumbled onto the ground after slipping on ceiling rubble. They pulled themselves back to their feet with the help of a nearby wall mounted vase, right before a large ceiling beam broke down. This beam was able to crash them down through the floor and onto the ground of the room right below them.

"Ow," Aerith said.

She and Natasha breathed in and out as they slowly pushed themselves up through the rubble around them. They glanced upwards, and both their eyes widened in surprise.

Right in front of them was the still locked doors of the jail cell that Taskmaster was inside. The armored burned woman was standing right in the middle of the cell, glaring right at the two of them between the glass (at least, Aerith was sure that she was glaring at them; it was hard to tell with the mask).

Panting in and out, Natasha and Aerith stood up in the middle of the rubble and looked up at Taskmaster, remembering who exactly was inside that suit.

"Man, this girl had a really crappy life," Aerith commented.

"Antonia," Natasha said.

Another explosion somewhere rocked the ship as Natasha stepped up to the glass door, specifically to the panel next to the doors. Taskmaster obviously tried to punch her but just hit the glass, while Aerith looked sympathetically at the armored woman.

"No!" Natasha exclaimed to Taskmaster. She panted in and out and looked down, guilt on her face. "I'm gonna open the door. You're gonna come after us."

Natasha had placed her hand on the glass, and Taskmaster slammed a palm against the glass next to it to try to break it, unsuccessfully.

"It's okay. It's okay," Natasha said. She looked up at Taskmaster's armored head. "I know you're still in there." She panted in and out again. "And I'm not gonna leave you. Okay."

"I can understand your reasoning," Aerith admitted. "You left her in a hellish environment once with the bomb, and you don't wanna do that again. I just hope it doesn't come back to bite us in the ass."

"Nice job tempting Murphy," Natasha commented.

"Sorry," Aerith said with a wince.

Nevertheless, Natasha reached to the panel and pressed the button, allowing the glass door of the prison cell to slide open. Natasha and Aerith slowly stepped over the rubble in the hallway as Taskmaster slowly stepped out of the cell, still glaring at the two women. Large collections of sparks burst from different parts of the ceiling, and Aerith waited for the moment the tension broke as she and Natasha continued backing away from Taskmaster.

"I don't suppose there's any chance you could give us a ten second head start?" Aerith quipped.

Taskmaster reached towards Natasha with one hand.

But then the entire ground of the facility shook, the ground rising up and breaking apart, sending Taskmaster flying in one direction, and Natasha and Aerith flying in the other.

Natasha and Aerith ended up in a hallway as it slanted downwards. The wall at the end broke off, revealing the sky far below. The two heroes slid down the slanted ground, gritting their teeth as they moved towards the edge with rubble and wheel mounted tables.

They turned on the ground and Natasha pulled out her batons, extending out blades so they were like Kama and stabbing them into the floor. Aerith followed her example, pulled out knives that were attached to her ankles, doing the same thing and stabbing them into the floor. Sparks burst as the blades tore through the floor as the two of them continued to drop down the platform.

Luckily, the two of them came to a stop before they could fall right out of the hallway. Instead of plummeting to their deaths, they were holding on by the handles of their blades out of one of the components of the red room that had broken off completely. But, it was one that was conveniently near the landing platform.

Looking around, they quickly noticed Dreykov and his royal guard of about a dozen soldiers hurrying into the remaining helicopter, climbing inside and getting it ready to launch.

Yelena was also outside, running out of the doors of the compound and onto the landing platform.

The large part of the facility that Natasha and Aerith were hanging off of turned as it continued to break apart, moving so that it was pointing right at that same platform. Once the building component was close enough to the floor, the two heroes let go of the handles of their blades, dropping down and landing on the ground in rolls. They pushed themselves up and started running as fast as they could just before an explosion could burst where they were standing.

Running across the landing platform, they could see Yelena in the distance, charging at the rising jet that Dreykov was within. The blonde used a grappling hook from her wrist gauntlet and used it to elevate herself onto the top of the jet. Still running across the platform, Natasha and Aerith watched as Yelena moved across the jet, stepping carefully across a wing as she stepped towards one of the turbines and edging across the ledge of a large engine.

Yelena stepped along the engine and looked down at the large engine turbine right below her. She pulled out her metallic batons and held them backhanded, looking down at the spinning fans. She combined the batons and extended them out into a staff.

"Yelena!" Natasha shouted.

"That's probably not a good idea!" Aerith added.

Unfortunately, this also alerted Dreykov to the situation. He looked up and quickly noticed Yelena standing on the wing, holding her attached batons right over the engine turbine of the ship.

"She's on the wing!" Dreykov exclaimed, gesturing at the wing. He moved through the ship as soldiers moved towards where he was standing, raising their rifles up into the air. "Move! What are you waiting for?"

Still holding the batons in her hands, Yelena glanced up at the approaching Natasha and Aerith.

"Don't do it!" Natasha shouted over the winds, stopping and looking at her sister with tears in her eyes.

"This was fun!" Yelena shouted back, and Aerith could see a tear or two in the blonde's eyes, as well.

"No!" Natasha shouted.

"Yelena!" Aerith yelled.

Yelena jabbed downwards with the staff, getting it caught within the turbine. This caused an immediate effect of a large explosion, sending the blonde flying back pretty roughly. Yelena was sent in one direction off of the platform, and the jet was sent off the other side.

The explosion in the turbine also caused a chain reaction of explosions, spreading throughout the ship and causing the fire to spread within. Just about everyone in the ship was engulfed within the flame, taking them all out and finally killing Dreykov as he was burned to death.

Natasha and Aerith hurried down the platform, knowing that they had to move to help Yelena. The two of them charged across the platform while Natasha grabbed a parachute off of the ground of the platform. Aerith had just about enough time to once again wish she had stayed on Migdar before she and Natasha leaped off of the landing platform, starting their descent down through the air.

The two of them quickly plummeted through the air, something that Aerith was honestly used to at this point as they dropped through the sky. They navigated through the air and dodged some falling debris before crashing within the open doors of a broken jet. The two of them dropped out of the ship and resumed their descent through the air. While Aerith was terrified at the situation, this was something that she had experience with, so she knew a way to survive. But Yelena was unconscious, so she needed help, so they were going after her.

Somehow, Yelena's barely-conscious form managed to evade all of the debris from the ship in the way, which had both Natasha and Aerith relieved since it meant she was still alive. The two of them dropped quickly through the air, moving towards Yelena. Aerith kept a hold of Natasha as she tackled Yelena through the air, keeping a hold of her "sister." They dropped through the air again a bit more quickly as Natasha slipped the parachute around Yelena's shoulders. She then yanked the cord, causing the cloth to burst out of the pack, causing them to rise into the air a bit more through the help of the surging winds.

After a moment where they had to dodge the debris from the ship, the descent evened out thanks to the parachute. Natasha and Aerith held onto the parachute, with Natasha and Yelena sharing a look.

The moment was broken when Natasha looked over Yelena's shoulder, seeing Taskmaster dropping through the sky, moving across the winds right towards where they were slowly falling through the air.

"Shit," Aerith said, seeing Taskmaster moving through the falling debris towards them.

Natasha paused to look at Yelena before she made a quick decision, which Aerith reluctantly also made.

They let go of the parachute, moving Yelena through the air as they resumed their own less than graceful plummet, dropping down through the air.

With Natasha still being Taskmaster's primary objective, the armored enemy ignored Yelena and turned her descent so that she was going after Natasha and Aerith.

The two heroes continued to descend through the air towards the ground, dodging the debris as Taskmaster pulled out a sword from her pack. Natasha and Aerith landed on one large piece of facility wall, sliding across the flat surface as Taskmaster followed them. Taskmaster stabbed with her blade, sliding down the glass platform. Natasha and Aerith glared at the armored enemy as Taskmaster lunged forwards, tackling Natasha off of the platform. Aerith sighed out before she jumped off, following the two.

Natasha and Taskmaster were grappling with each other as they stumbled through the air, crashing through another large platform on the way down. Aerith grabbed a hold of another platform and used it to propel herself, launching herself down much more quickly now that they were close enough to the ground for it to not be fatal. Natasha cheated a bit by grabbing Taskmaster's pack and causing her parachute to fly out.

The descent lowered significantly for Natasha and Taskmaster thanks to the latter's parachute, causing them both to drop to the dirt ground just below in a less than graceful manner. Natasha let go and landed on the ground, while Aerith rolled in the grass next to her to calm her own descent. Taskmaster ended up getting dragged through a puddle before she used her sword to sever the cable connecting the parachute to her pack. *2*

Natasha and Aerith pushed themselves to their feet, with Aerith casting Cure on the both of them since they were in close proximity to each other. They looked up to see Taskmaster pushing herself to her own feet and glaring at them from across the pond.

The armored enemy pushed herself to her feet and waded through the waters of the pond, moving right towards the two of them.

"Okay," Natasha whispered. "Let's go."

"Time to finish this," Aerith said.

Taskmaster pulled another sword out of her sheath and moved forwards, twirling it in preparation. Natasha rolled forwards and twirled her quarterstaff in preparation. Taskmaster swung the blade, but Aerith deflected it with her staff before hitting Taskmaster in the side with it. The armored enemy turned in a spin, hitting her in the side with the butt of the sword handle, knocking her aside.

Taskmaster then swung her sword at Natasha, but Natasha caught the arm and moved it to the side, moving the blade around all over the place. After unbalancing Taskmaster a bit, Natasha jumped into the air and kicked the armored enemy in the chest with both feet, knocking Taskmaster back while she backflipped through the air, landing on a knee. She pushed herself up and pointed the sword at Taskmaster. Aerith stood on Taskmaster's other side and pointed her quarterstaff at the armored enemy.

Taskmaster glared at both of them before looking right at Natasha, stepping forwards and looking down at the redhead. However, Natasha raised her hands in surrender as she stepped back. She looked up at Taskmaster with a breathless and pleading expression on her face.

"Enough," Natasha insisted.

She let go of the sword and let it drop into the dirt.

Taskmaster had the obvious response, moving forwards and grabbing Natasha by the throat. Aerith moved forwards and swung her quarterstaff twice, hitting the armored enemy in the back before hitting her in the back of the knee, unbalancing her a bit. Natasha grabbed Taskmaster's arm and quickly moved forwards, ducking under Taskmaster and pulling her off balance. She then jumped forwards, using her legs to hook onto Taskmaster's back. Aerith quickly understood what the plan was and grabbed a hold of Taskmaster's right arm. Natasha pressed the buttons on it to power down the mask.

Taskmaster turned around on her feet, stumbling to the ground and taking Natasha and Aerith with her. Of course, with the buttons pressed, Taskmaster's helmet slipped off and revealed Antonia's scarred and slightly cut face. She gasped as she rolled across the ground with Natasha and Aerith.

On their backs, Natasha and Aerith looked up to see Taskmaster crawling across the dirt towards them, a vial of cure between them and the armored enemy. Natasha launched herself into the air with her legs, landing on her knees and punching the vial in the ground just as Taskmaster was reaching for her. Punching the vial, Natasha shattered the glass and released the red gas, which quickly entered the air and entered Taskmaster's system.

Aerith moved forwards so that she was next to Natasha, and the two of them watched as the cure took effect, making red briefly appear in front of Antonia's pupils and changing her face into an expression of curiosity and shock. While Aerith watched Antonia in concern, Natasha placed her forehead against the forehead of the woman she had one wronged. *3*

Aerith and Natasha panted in and out as Antonia dropped to the ground, rolling onto her back and breathing heavily. The two of them moved across the ground and looked at Antonia's burned face, seeing her glance at them before dropping back onto the ground. Natasha had a sorrowful expression on her face as she moved next to Antonia, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry," Natasha sobbed out. "I'm sorry."

She rubbed her hand on the back of Antonia's head in a comforting manner.

"Is he gone?" Antonia asked softly in her accented voice.

Her eyes closed, Natasha placed her forehead against the side of Antonia's head, nodding in confirmation.

"He's gone," Natasha confirmed.

"Good and dead," Aerith said. "He won't be hurting you again."

This was another strange moment where Aerith was actually okay with someone being dead because of how evil that person was. This was a strangely morally ambiguous situation.

Yuffie gasped awake, wincing and pushing herself up. Keeping a grip on her arm, the ninja remembered how the jet was spiraling out of control, so she had strapped herself to a seat in the back ahead of the imminent crash. Glancing up, she saw Alexei and Melina at the pilots sections, with Melina unconscious and leaning sideways in her seat, while Alexei had climbed in front of the windshield in front of her for protection.

Yuffie smirked at the sight.

She watched as Alexei slowly woke up, then jumped into action when he saw Melina was unconscious, his eyes widening at the sight.

"Melina, wake up," Alexei insisted, unbuckling her seatbelts. "Melina."

"Hmm," Melina said, slowly waking back up. "Hmm."

Alexei sighed in relief as he went to work undoing her other seatbelts, moving to sit in front of Melina as she slowly woke back up.

"Oh, my left leg is broken," Melina woozily told Alexei.

Yuffie unhooked herself from her seat and watched as Alexei and Melina stared at each other, with Alexei tenderly cupping Melina's face. After wincing, Melina raised her hand up to Alexei's face just as affectionately. There was only a moment of hesitation before the two of them hurried forwards, locking their lips in a desperate, relieved kiss.

"I'll leave you guys alone so that you have a room," Yuffie said.

She remembered Alexei's words from the previous day, and knew that now there was probably a chance they'd be having "glad to be alive" sex. Yuffie had had enough trauma without having to see these two doing that.

Aerith and Natasha pushed themselves to their feet and breathed in and out, looking around at all of the destruction and debris around them from the Red Room falling and breaking apart. They looked out in the distance to see the gigantic main compound of the Red Room drop down through the air, crashing into the trees of a large forest, causing more explosions to spread throughout the facility. Smoke was rising up from the main console and from much of the nearby debris, creating a less than pleasant backdrop for the forest.

"That..." Aerith panted out. She huffed. "That was not pleasant."

"No, it wasn't," Natasha agreed, shaking her head in agreement. She looked out in the distance. "Yelena!"

"Yuffie!" Aerith shouted, similar worry in her voice.

The both of them started walking forwards as they tried to look for their friends. They walked across the ground, looked around, then started running through the crashed debris to try to find them.

They quickly found Yelena unconscious on the ground, her parachute tangled within the debris closest to her. Natasha charged through the ropes and crouched down next to her "sister," placing a hand against Yelena's face in worry.

"Yelena?" Natasha softly asked.

Yelena slowly opened her eyes, glancing up and blinking rapidly in realization as she looked up at Natasha. She slowly collected herself as she looked up at Natasha.

"We're both upside down," Yelena said, calling back to a moment from their childhood.

At least, that's what Aerith guessed that she was doing since Natasha smiled widely.

Yelena winced and pushed herself up into a sitting position, turning and looking at Natasha. Natasha placed a hand on Yelena's shoulders and pulled her in so that she was looking intently at her. She then said something in Russian that Aerith couldn't understand. Though, the tears in her eyes made it clear that Natasha was saying something emotional.

"I should've come back for you," Natasha tearfully told Yelena.

"You don't have to say that," Yelena assured her, shaking her head. "It's okay."

"Hey. Hey," Natasha said, gripping Yelena's shoulders again. "It was real to me, too."

Yelena slowly smirked, then looked down, resting her face against Natasha's forearm. She raised her head again, and the two sisters pressed their foreheads together before moving forwards and wrapping their arms around each other in a relieved hug.

"Thank you," Yelena said.

Aerith smiled for them before Natasha opened her eyes. Quickly noticing something across the field, her eyes widened and her jaw dropped as she backed away a bit from Yelena. Yelena backed away as well and followed her gaze.

Aerith followed their gazes, and smiled in relief when she saw Yuffie coming across the field, walking in front of Alexei as he helped a limping Melina as they walked next to the pond.

The three ladies pushed themselves up and walked towards the others, with Aerith and Yuffie sharing their own relieved, sisterly hug.

"Everybody good?" Natasha asked.

"I am clearly injured," Melina pointed out the obvious.

"I'm re-thinking some life choices," Aerith admitted, backing away from Yuffie in the hug. "Maybe I should have stayed on Midgar. I mean, I was offered a job there."

"Oh, my God," Yuffie said, smirking and closing her eyes. "When she was staying there for her training, she got a day job at a flower shop. They offered her a permanent position, but she turned them down so that she could come back with us."

"You were almost a flower selling girl?" Natasha asked Aerith, raising an eyebrow at her.

"It's something I was good at," Aerith said, shrugging her shoulders.

"I really don't see it," Yelena admitted, shaking her head and smirking at Aerith.

"That's what I'm sayin'!" Yuffie exclaimed in agreement. *4*

Natasha smirked before looking at her "parents" again, right at Alexei as he looked at her.

"You got something to say?" Natasha asked.

"I'd just mess it up," Alexei said, shrugging his shoulders.

He then reached forwards with his left hand, holding it out. Aerith and Yuffie thought they were about to do the "hands in the middle" thing, but instead, Natasha reached forwards and gripped her hand within his. They shared a moment before Alexei looked to the side and nodded his head. Natasha looked down with a small smile while Yelena smiled up at both Melina and Alexei.

Just as Alexei and Natasha took back their hands, the sounds of engines roaring and vehicles approaching from the distance rang out throughout the field, quickly garnering attention.

"Here comes the cavalry," Natasha commented.

Multiple military vehicles were moving across the landscape, driving down the road as they moved throughout the rubble and towards the main situation.

"So, what's our plan?" Melina asked as Natasha started walking forwards.

The redhead stared out in the distance at the approaching vehicles. Aerith and Yuffie walked after her, already knowing that she had angle.

"You guys go," Natasha announced, still staring forwards. "I'll stay."

"That's insanity," Alexei announced. "We fight. We fight with you."

"I'll hold them off," Natasha announced.

"Natasha, we fight," Alexei insisted.

"Yeah, that's not happening," Aerith said at the same time Yuffie said, "We're not leaving you."

"We can't split up," Melina said as Yelena voiced her disagreement with the plan. "You're so pigheaded."

"You guys, go," Natasha said, gesturing to Alexei, Melina, and Yelena.

"Oh, my God," Yelena said, rolling her eyes and glancing over at Melina.

Natasha smirked and looked at the three people had become the first family she ever knew.

"Besides, if it can work out with the four of us, you know, there may be some hope for the Avengers," she told them with a smile. She raised her hand up to hold them next to each other. "Little bit."

"We don't really have anywhere else to go on this world, and you're the one most likely to get us a way back home," Aerith said. "So we're sticking by you until we find a way back."

"So you're stuck with our annoying asses," Yuffie said with a smirk.

"Damn," Natasha sarcastically said with a smirk.

"Okay, well, if you're leaving, then I guess you should take this," Yelena announced, unzipping her vest. She smiled as she took it off and walked up to her smiling sister. "I know how much you like it."

"Shucks," Natasha said, taking the vest and laughing with Yelena. "It does have a lot of pockets."

"Quite a bit," Yuffie agreed with a smirk.

"Very handy pockets, yeah," Yelena confirmed with a smile.

Natasha then reached into her pocket and pulled out the remaining vial of Black Widow cure, and the card containing the data for all of the Widows across the world, holding them both out to Yelena.

"He had Widows implanted all over the world," Natasha explained, handing the vial and the disk to Yelena. "Melina will need to copy the formula, but you should be the one to tell 'em it's over."

"So, there's work for the three of you guys to do," Aerith said, looking between Yelena, Melina, and Alexei. "You guys gotta make sure that they get back their free will, take out whatever else Dreykov did during his period in charge of the Red Room."

"Wipe the program off the face of the earth," Yuffie emphasized.

The sound of an engine whirring got all of their attentions. Everyone looked up in surprise to see another jet slowly landing ion the ground of the field far in the distance. The side doors opened up, revealing the Black Widows that Aerith and Natasha had fought. The Widows walked through the rubble towards the group, so Yelena walked forwards to meet them. Words were exchanged between Yelena and the Widows before she took two Widows' hands and started walking back towards the jet.

Alexei and Melina were starting to follow, but Melina started to turn to look back at Natasha.

"Hey," Melina said, looking at Natasha and holding her hand. "Hey. You take care of yourself, okay?"

"Don't worry. I got this," Natasha assured her.

"I know," Melina said, smiling at her daughter.

The two slowly let go of their hands.

"It was nice to meet you guys," Aerith said, smiling professionally at Melina and Alexei.

"Yeah, you guys rocked!" Yuffie exclaimed, pumping a fist in excitement. "I hope we get to meet you guys again in better circumstances."

"It would be nice," Alexei agreed, nodding his head at the two.

Alexei helped Melina across the field, and watched as two Widows helped Antonia up, carrying her next to Alexei and Melina to move her to the jet.

Yelena stood at one part of the field and looked across the rubble, then whistled a long tone. Natasha smiled and whistled a different long tone back in response. The sisters smirked at each other across the field before Yelena moved to the jet, where Alexei helped her inside. Alexei smiled at the trio from across the field and climbed in the jet after the others.

Natasha, Aerith, and Yuffie smiled as they watched the doors to the jet close before it slowly rose into the air. The jet rose into the air and started flying away, quickly leaving the area as the sirens from the government cars got closer and closer.

With Natasha still holding the green vest in her hand, she, Aerith, and Yuffie turned and watched the cars move across the road nearby. Yuffie swore she heard epic music playing as the line of cars turned and started driving into the field, going past the rubble towards them. Sharing a look, the three women frowned in determination and stared forwards at the approaching cars.

Chapter Text

Two Weeks Later

After escaping Ross and his government connections, Natasha went into hiding with Aerith and Yuffie for a short period of time, listening to Rick's request from earlier and giving him time after ordering a jet from him. Once the scheduled amount of time had passed, they left the safe house and travelled to the appointed location, using motorcycles to drive through the roads within the countryside of Ohio well into the afternoon.

They stopped along the way to see the house that Natasha had stayed with the others in when they were on that mission, where some neighborhood kids recognized her. The kids just smiled in excitement, and Natasha nodded to them and smiled back.

They left pretty quickly after that, trusting that the kids' parents would think that they were just exaggerating when they said they saw the Black Widow. It wasn't like they would be in the area long enough for authorities to arrive and try arresting them, anyways.

They parked their bikes on the side of a road and placed their helmets on the handlebars, which revealed Natasha's freshly dyed, freshly cut blonde hair.

"You look like a ghost with your hair like that," Yuffie commented.

"Yes, you've said that a lot the past week," Natasha said, smirking and walking away.

Natasha's hair hung down to her shoulders. At the moment, she wore a black top, matching pants, boots, and Yelena's green vest.

Yuffie and Aerith were back in the clothes they wore when they had first crashed on Earth. Yuffie had her headband over her forehead, Yuffie wore her black top and vest, her glove on one hand and wristband on the other, her shorts, and her boots. Aerith wore her red vest with her long, light pink dress, her boots, her wristbands, and had her hair tied back into the braid.

The three of them walked down the road and Natasha smirked when she saw Rick laying in the grass, deep in sleep and snoring loudly while using a satchel as a pillow.

"Does he always do this?" Aerith asked.

"He always looks like this when I find him," Natasha admitted.

She lightly kicked Rick on his ankles, making him shake as he started to wake up.

"You ever not sleep?" Natasha asked.

Rick frowned up at Natasha as she, Aerith, and Yuffie smirked at the man.

"I've been in six different time zones in three days because of you," Rick commented, pushing himself to his feet.

He started walking forwards.

"Oh, really?" Natasha asked, looking down and smirking as she and the other two followed Rick across the road and a nearby field. "What, are you scrapping together some parts? What'd you get me this time, an upside-down lawnmower?"

"That'd actually be useful fighting Heartless," Yuffie said. "Or zombies. Or monsters."

"Do you ever not think about fighting things?" Aerith asked Yuffie. *1*

Natasha smirked at the two before looking at Rick. Rick pointed down the field, and all three women followed his pointed finger.

They were surprised to see a full Quinjet resting in the field across from them.

"You see what I can get you with a bit of time and money?" Rick asked.

Natasha, Aerith, and Yuffie smiled in surprise at the sight of the jet, actually impressed that he did better than the RV and the helicopter. They looked at Rick before looking down the field at the Quinjet again.

"Go on, say it," Rick said, gesturing with his hands as he looked at Natasha. "I wanna hear it. It would really be good for me to hear it. Really."

"Okay, with how you're insisting that, now I'm tempted not to say anything," Yuffie commented.

"I'm impressed," Natasha said, looking at Rick.

"Well, yeah," Rick said, looking forwards in an attempt to be modest.

"You've always been a really good friend to me," Natasha admitted to Rick with a smile.

"That's what every man wants to hear," Rick commented, smiling at Natasha.

"Well, in our experience, everyone loves to hear that they're friends with everybody," Aerith pointed out.

"We talk about how much we love our friends, yeah," Yuffie agreed with a smile.

"Where you gonna go?" Rick asked Natasha.

Natasha smiled and looked down at the Quinjet in the distance.

"It's funny," Natasha admitted. She looked from the Quinjet to Rick. "My whole life, I didn't think I had any family. Turns out I got two, so... One's a bit of a mess right now."

"Most of them are like that," Yuffie pointed out.

"But those can be the most interesting," Aerith added.

"That, I'm aware of," Natasha agreed. "So, I'm gonna go break a few of them out of prison..." She looked towards the Quinjet and took a step forwards. "See if I can't help patch things up."

She sighed out and looked back at Rick with a smile.

"Hey, we can stick around long enough to help with that," Aerith said.

"Yeah, it's been a while since we broke out of prison," Yuffie said. She smiled. "It oughta be interesting."

"Nice to see you guys so optimistic about the situation," Natasha said. "Because even if we find your friend, based on how you described the state of your ship, I don't think we'll be able to get you guys back home anytime soon."

Aerith and Yuffie deflated slightly at that, which had Natasha feeling guilty.

All of a sudden, the sound of a jet engine roaring garnered everyone's attention.

All four people in the field looked up just in time to see a large jet flying out from behind the trees. The jet was unfamiliar with all four people in the field, so they frowned in confusion as they looked up and watched it turn in the air. The jet slowly rose down to the ground and landed on the ground. Stairs extended down from the back of the jet, and everyone prepared for an inevitable clash.

However, relief flooded Aerith and Yuffie's chests as they saw Leon stepping down the stairs, looking across the field to where they were standing with Rick and Natasha.

"Leon!" Aerith shouted, relief in her voice.

"Squall!" Yuffie shouted, partly to mess with the brunette.

The two rushed across the field and quickly barreled into the older brunette, nearly tackling him to the ground in a relieved hug. Leon returned the hug, just as relieved that his friends were safe.

Natasha frowned as she walked across the field to where the three were hugging.

"I'm guessing you guys know each other?" she commented as they separated from the hug.

"Oh, yeah," Yuffie said, looking at Natasha. "Natasha, this is Squall Leonhart, but he goes by Leon."

"Oh, you're the one that was in the crashing ship," Natasha assessed, reaching forwards with one hand.

"Yeah, it was a rough landing, I'll admit that," Leon confirmed. He reached forwards and shaking Natasha's hand. "It's nice to meet you."

"Likewise," Natasha said.

"What happened to you?" Aerith asked, gesturing to Leon.

"I ended up crashing in some forest in Nigeria," Leon explained. "There, I met some people that helped me out."

"Who were they?" Natasha asked. She gestured to the jet. "Because I'm pretty sure Nigerians don't have technology like this. Come to think of it, no one has technology like this."

"At least, no one to your knowledge," Leon said with a smirk. "Have you guys ever heard of Wakanda?"

"Yeah, I worked with someone from there," Natasha said. "Called himself Black Panther."

"I met him," Leon said. "His name's T'Challa. And he was on a mission out there to stop some terrorists and pick up his ex girlfriend for the ceremony of him becoming King. They took me back to Wakanda and patched me up. Turns out, Wakanda is the most technologically advanced nation on Earth, thanks to the Vibranium mines they have there. Those mines are probably the most extensive I've ever seen, it's pretty impressive."

"Shit, never would have seen that coming," Natasha commented.

"That was the idea," Leon said. "They didn't want anyone figuring out the truth of them, so they hid themselves in plain sight, under the guise of being a third-world country. T'Challa's sister is 16, and she took the engine and computer out of our Gummi ship and put it into that jet."

Everyone looked at the ship, certifiably impressed at the sight. Natasha nodded her head in appreciation.

"Not bad," Natasha said. "Stark never did anything like that. Next time Sora and them visit, we should talk about suggesting that."

"Quite a bit happened in Wakanda," Leon admitted. "I helped them try to capture a criminal that wronged them, then helped T'Challa fight the cousin he never knew he had as the guy tried taking over the nation and attempted to wage war on the outside world."

"Damn," Aerith commented.

"We ended up helping Natasha work through some family issues," Yuffie said, gesturing to Natasha. "We fought assassins in Budapest with her and her sister, proke her father out of prison, met her mother who owns a pig farm, then we all waged war against some douche bag who had a favorite past time of brainwashing women and turning them into assassins."

Leon raised an eyebrow as Yuffie finished her explanation.

"Yeah, I have a pretty dysfunctional family," Natasha said, shrugging her shoulders.

"Clearly," Leon commented.

"And we thought we had family issues," Yuffie commented.

"Huh," Aerith said. She looked at Leon. "You ended up helping the king of the most technologically advanced nation fight against his murderous cousin as he tried to start an uprising, while Yuffie and I helped Nat fight a bunch of assassins and armored woman who mimicked the attacks of everyone she saw, with the help of her father that dressed in a red and white suit with a star on the chest."

She sighed out.

"Sora and V were right: nothing normal happens on this world," Aerith commented.

"Oh, and Cloud's here and is in prison," Yuffie said, nonchalance in her voice.

"Yeah, I learned about that in Wakanda," Leon said. "Honestly, I'm surprised it took him this long to get arrested."

"Hey, how did you know that we would be here?" Natasha asked. "Did you have some magical way to track them?"

"No, in Wakanda, we checked traffic cam and extra footage to find out that Aerith and Yuffie were with you," Leon said. "So, they cross-checked a few listenings online and through phone calls, and figured out that you guys were having a meeting out here."

"Okay, either Wakanda is re-e-ally advanced, or Rick's gotten sloppy," Natasha said, gesturing to Rick.

"From the sounds of things, I'd say both," Aerith commented.

"Well, whatever the case, I've got us a ride home," Leon said, gesturing to the ship.

"Aw, no fair!" Yuffie complained. "We were supposed to save you!"

"Sorry to disappoint," Leon said with a smile.

"Well, I guess this is goodbye," Aerith said, looking at Natasha sadly.

"Hey, our lives are a crazy mess of themselves," Natasha assured her with a smile. "Something tells me we'll be meeting again for some grand adventure later on."

Aerith and Yuffie smiled at the thought. The both of them stepped forwards and wrapped their arms around Natasha in a hug, and she hugged them back, glad to have finally gotten some "girlfriends" for once.

"I guess we'll be seeing you around, Nat," Aerith said as they stepped back from the hug.

"I'll see you guys," Natasha said, smiling before looking directly at Yuffie. "And do me a favor. Tell V that now that you and him are together, he needs to stop looking at my ass when I'm in my suit."

"Gotcha," Yuffie said, giving her a thumbs up.

That probably wasn't going to happen. Yuffie followed her boyfriend's example and glanced at how Natasha looked in her suit, and she had to admit that the older woman had a great body.

Yuffie raised an eyebrow and wondered if she was bisexual. She'd have to talk with the others about that.

"Nice to meet you, Natasha," Leon said, nodding at the redheaded woman. "Hopefully next time it'll be under... more pleasant circumstances."

The three of them nodded at Natasha, and she nodded back.

Leon led the way into the jet, and Aerith and Yuffie followed him inside. They looked out of the front windshield and waved at Natasha and Rick, who waved back. Leon sat behind the controls and worked away. Using the controls, Leon rose the ship into the air and flew up into the sky.

Once they left the atmosphere, Aerith announced that she needed a nap, so she laid down in the collection of seats at one side of the jet.

When he was sure that Aerith was asleep, Leon pulled out his Kimoyo beads and used it to pull up the video from Sokovia where Cloud and Vanitas had destroyed Sephiroth. Specifically, he showed Yuffie the banter from before where Sephiroth admitted to them that he had dragged Zack to Hell and tortured him for years.

"Holy shit," Yuffie said, her eyes widening as the video ended. She looked up at Leon. "That's what happened to Zack?"

"I know," Leon said, shaking his head. "I was the same way when I saw the video."

"I still can't believe that that's where he's been all these years," Yuffie admitted. "The little guy we knew in school that was way too obsessed with Aerith's spent years being tortured by the man that he saw as a hero. That is messed up on so many levels."

"I know," Leon agreed. "I guess we should take comfort in the fact that Cloud and V finished off the bastard."

"He deserved to be shot until he exploded," Yuffie agreed, nodding her head in agreement.

She looked down, frowning as she thought of Sephiroth. But then she realized something and looked up at Leon with wide eyes.

"Aerith," Yuffie said. "She still doesn't know about what happened to Zack, and has been wondering for years. What do we tell her?"

Leon looked down in consideration.

"I don't think we should tell her, at least not for now," Leon said. "If we tell her, it'll destroy her because she's always wondered where he's been. I don't want to put her through that."

"Okay, but she does deserve to know," Yuffie pointed out. "So... how do we approach the subject?"

"I don't know..." Leon admitted.

He looked down and hummed in thought.

"Let's just keep things quiet for now," Leon said. "We'll figure out how to tell her eventually. For now, we shouldn't say anything. Plus, it just isn't our place to say anything."

"Yeah, that's true," Yuffie said, nodding her head in agreement.

"We should also make it so that V doesn't feel forced to tell her," Leon said. "So, maybe we should keep this little trip between us for now."

"You want me to lie to my boyfriend?" Yuffie asked, raising an eyebrow at the man.

Leon opened his mouth to say something.

"No, it's fine," Yuffie said. "I mean, there are things I still haven't told V and I'm pretty sure I'm falling in love with him."

Leon nodded his head in understanding, and a little bit of gratefulness. He frowned in realization and tilted his head as he looked at Yuffie.

"You're falling in love with V?" Leon asked.

Yuffie's eyes widened as she realized what she said.

"Can we just forget that last bit?" Yuffie asked.

"We could," Leon said, nodding his head. "But how would that be funny?"

Yuffie exclaimed in offense and smacked him on the arm. Leon laughed as he took ahold of the ship's controls and resumed flying through space. All three of them were anxious and ready to get back home, wanting to put this little adventure behind them for the moment. *2*

Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow

Brianna White as Aerith Gainsborough/Pink Mage *3*

Mae Whitman as Yuffie Kisagari/Frantic Ninja

Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova/Black Widow

David Harbour as Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian

O-T Fagbenle as Rick Mason

Olga Kurylenko as Antonia Dreykov/Taskmaster

With Ray Winstone as Dreykov

With Doug Erholtz as Squall "Leon" Leonhart

With Willa Holland as Aqua

With Alyson Stoner as Kairi

And Rachel Weisz as Melina Vostokoff/Black Widow

Black Widow, Pink Mage, and Frantic Ninja

Present Day

"Then we went back home and things were calm for about a month," Aerith explained. "Then everything with Thanos happened, and well, we all know how that turned out."

"Man, that's one hell of a story," Aqua commented. "I can appreciate you guys helping out against this Dreykov guy even though he did nothing to you."

"A guy like that deserves to be taken out of power," Yuffie said.

"Man, between you guys and Leon, we're having quite an effect on this world," Kairi commented. "I wonder what'll happen next."

"Eh, who knows," Yuffie said, shrugging her shoulders. "For one thing, I actually got used to Frantic Ninja."

She shrugged her shoulders.

"I guess that's my thing now," Yuffie said with a smile.

Aerith looked at Natasha's gravestone and sighed out sadly.

"You know what I'm curious about?" Aerith asked, getting the attention of her friends. "How are the others handling losing her? Yelena, Alexei, and Melina, they were a family that she needed back then. And now... she's just gone. Do they even know what happened to her, and how are they reeling with the aftermath?"

"Oh, man, that's a good thing to be curious about," Yuffie said. "Everyone processed their grief differently..."

"Clearly, remember how Roxas tried to go free Organization after Xion died?" Kairi asked.

"Wow, and I thought Terra made irrational choices," Aqua commented.

"So how are they processing?" Yuffie asked. "Did Yelena hunt down a bunch of bad guy sand murder her with her guns and batons? Did Melina kill some of her pigs out of grief? Did Alexei destroy a car with his bare hands in sadness?"

"Didn't V do that once?" Aerith asked.

"Twice," Kairi corrected the brunette.

"We should look for them," Yuffie suggested. "Clarify a few things for them if needed."

"Let me know when you do," Kairi said. She sighed out and looked down sadly. "I remember what happened at Vormir. I think they might get some closure to know that she didn't die for nothing."

"You've got your Gummiphone?" Aerith asked. Kairi nodded her head in confirmation. "Okay, Yuffie and I will look around a bit on the world before heading back home. We'll give you a call if we find them."

"Thanks," Kairi said gratefully.

"We should get going," Aqua said, looking at Kairi. "We should get back at the Land of Departure and officially start your training. If you wanna get the Power of Waking and follow the boys to Quadratum, we're gonna have to go as quickly as we can."

"All right," Kairi said. "Let's go."

The four of them went through the fields, climbing into the red SUV they had and driving out of the forest-like area, leaving the resting place left behind for their fallen comrade.

They missed the light blue pickup truck that came from the other direction, parking within the small, worn down road.

Dressed in a yellow and black flannel coat, matching pants that reached her stomach, and a white crop top shirt with red lines, Yelena Belova opened up the door to her truck and started climbing out.

"Come on, Fanny," Yelena said, pulling the dog that was riding in her passenger seat with her out of the truck.

Shutting the door behind her, Yelena walked through the dirt pathway with her dog leading the way, barking every once in a while. They went down the worn down path and eventually came out towards the collection of gravestones next to the large tree.

Doing her best to keep her emotions in check, Yelena stepped towards the gravestone for Natasha and crouched down, adjusting some of the trinkets that people left behind to show the words on the stone were much more clear. She stepped around the gravestone and adjusted the trinkets that she had left behind, making it so that they were also clear in front of the stone.

Having crouched down next to the gravestone, Yelena held onto it, closed her eyes and leaned forwards, pressing her forehead against the large stone in the same manner she and Natasha had done when they last saw each other. She raised her head, sniffed, and then softly whistled the long tone that she and Natasha would whistle at each other, also just like she had done the last time they saw each other.

Slowly rising to her feet, Yelena walked around the gravestone and looked down at it, still doing her best to keep her emotions in check.

The faint sound of footsteps crunching on the ground nearby, so she wasn't surprised when a dark haired woman with a purple streak in her hair, dressed in a trench coat, red dress, and red gloves stepped next to her.

She was surprised when her business associate, Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, loudly started blowing her nose with a tissue. Yelena glared at Fontaine as she finished wiping her nose with the tissue. *4*

"Wow. Sorry," Fontaine said, sniffing and putting the tissue away. "I'm allergic to the Midwest."

Yelena rolled her eyes before looking back down at Natasha's grave stone. Fontaine glanced down at the grave with her.

"What this woman did, honestly, I can't even imagine," Fontaine said, nodding her head and holding her hands together as she looked at the grave stone.

"You're not supposed to be bothering me, Valentina," Yelena said, not even looking at her associate.

"Oh, bothering you?" Fontaine asked. "Oh, no, no. I'm just here paying my respects."

"Hmm..." Yelena said, nodding her head. "You know, coming here makes you look desperate."

She smirked unpleasantly and chuckled at Fontaine as she laughed loudly with her mouth open. Valentine continued laughing and looked around as Yelena's smirk quickly disappeared.

"Okay," Fontaine said.

"I want a raise," Yelena told her.

"Oh, yeah," Fontaine said, smiling at Yelena. "You and me both. Believe me, you're gonna earn it."

She reached down to the bag that was hanging from her hip. Reaching inside, she pulled out a closed tablet.

"I've got your next two targets," Fontaine said. "Thought I'd hand-deliver it."

She opened up the case over the tablet and looked over at Yelena, seeing the blonde looking at her curiously.

"Maybe you'd like a shot at the men responsible for your sister's death," Fontaine said.

She handed the open tablet to Yelena, who took it in her hand and looked at the image being presented.

"Kind of cuties, aren't they?" Fontaine said with a smile.

Yelena ignored her as she looked down at the image on the tablet inquisitively. The tablet was showing a picture of two people, both of them dressed in robes similar to that of a samurai. They had their masks off and their hoods down, revealing their faces. One of them had brown hair that was cut into a mohawk, while the other had longer, spiky blonde hair. Both men were glaring into the camera while holding swords.

She was looking at Clint Barton and Cloud Strife when they were in their Ronin and Wrath suits.

And they were her next targets.