Double-Edged Sword ─ age of ultron ✓

prologue

When I tell you I STRUGGLED with aliases, I am not kidding. I don't love the ones I came up with, but if I spend any more time on them, my brain will explode.

★★★

ten-ish months ago

"OKAY." Natasha tossed a thin file folder on the kitchen counter. "Welcome to your new identity."

Sasha dragged it closer to herself.

"Should I be afraid to open this?" She furrowed her eyebrows. "I don't really trust you."

"Trust me to do what?"

"To pick a name. When I first started living with you, I picked my first name, and the last name came from one of your old aliases that S.H.I.E.L.D. gave you. This time, you picked it all."

"I actually spent time on yours." Natasha crossed her arms. "Because I knew you would bitch about it if I handed you something you hated."

She had spent some time on Sasha's new alias, but not for that reason. Mostly not for that reason, anyway. Natasha really did care about Sasha, something that scared her to admit. And after everything that happened in the four years since they met, particularly the last several weeks, they were truly in it for the long haul. In a very technical manner, Sasha was basically her kid. For the first four years, there was always a chance S.H.I.E.L.D. could go back on their decision and make Sasha a full-time agent, although Natasha would have protested that. After all, she once told Sasha, someone had to do the dishes. Now that there was no S.H.I.E.L.D., nobody was going to take Sasha away. They were stuck with each other for good. Natasha wouldn't hand her, one of the few people she had a deep connection with, some bullshit identity she came up with in an hour.

"Just open the damn thing," she ordered, rolling her eyes watching Sasha dawdling for dramatic effect. Sasha sighed.

"Fine," she huffed, opening the file and scanning it. "This is...interesting."

"What does that mean?"

"It means it's interesting." Sasha looked up at Nat. "Do I really seem like an Alina to you?"

It was a nice name, and it seemed like something that would fit Sasha once she dyed and cut her hair. Getting Sasha to agree to that was another headache.

"I think it works. I got bored when I was alone, so I did some flipping through websites, and this name came up a couple times. I thought you'd want to stick to your Russian roots somehow, like with Sasha." Natasha paused. "It has a lot of different meanings, depending on where you are. Light, beautiful, strong-willed, independent."

"Huh. You really did spend a lot of time on this." Sasha smiled. She kept reading. "You're going to go by Nicole? You are not a Nicole. You're a...I don't know, but I don't get Nicole vibes from you."

"Whatever." Natasha rolled her eyes again. "I chose the first thing that came into my mind. Shut up and read the rest."

Sasha's smile turned into a smirk as she kept reading. "We're biologically related this time? I'm honored. And my father abandoned us? Jesus. No pulling punches."

"Would you rather tell the kids at school that I killed him?"

"Is that an option?"

"Only if I get to make up humiliating childhood stories about you to tell people any chance I get."

"Yeah, okay, you win. You're an accountant now?"

"Boring job, a lot of accountants in the world, no one will ask questions."

"No kidding." Sasha shut the file. Natasha fished a box of hair dye and some brand new scissors out of a grocery bag and placed them on the counter. Sasha sighed.

"Do I really have to?" she asked hopefully, even though she knew the answer. If she wanted to be able to go to school and do normal person things outside their apartment, she couldn't look like Anya Avilova or Sasha Rushman.

"Cut or dye first?"

"Dye first. I need time to accept that I'm cutting my hair."

"Works for me." Natasha wrapped her arm around Sasha's shoulders. "I'm sorry, kid."

Sasha let her head fall against Nat's, and Natasha held her a little tighter. At least they escaped this mess together.