Ghost Widow

Family

"Why can't you just tell us now?" Yelena asked Natasha impatiently as they all walked downstairs.

"Trust me, you'd rather see." Nat said and Yelena huffed.

Alexei jogged up to Natasha who was leading the group, "Is he here?" 

"Is who here?" Natasha asked confused.

"Captain America!" Alexei exaggerated like an excited child.

Natasha stopped and span around quickly, staring the man dead in the eyes. 

"Yes of course he is here! But this isn't about him... or you for that matter. Are you so incapable of thinking about anyone but yourself?" Natasha asked angrily.

Melina spoke from a few steps away, "Natasha! Don't talk to you're father like that."

Nat rolled her eyes at them all, "Look, this is really important and I just need you guys to focus, okay?"

The group nodded at her and they all continued walking.

When they got to the right level, Natasha stood in front of Ana's cell and the rest gathered around. Melina gasped and Yelena took a few steps forward placing her hand on the glass. 

"Ana?" Alexei muttered under his breath, astonished to see the girl he thought was dead.

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Alexei got in the passenger seat of Dreykov's car. He couldn't suppress the guilty feeling he had in the pit of his stomach. He had just let those soldiers take his family and he didn't put a protest or even check if they were alright. What gave him some comfort was that he knew his girls were strong and could survive anything.

Dreykov could obviously sense his unease and said to him, "You got attached, gone soft maybe, huh?"

Alexei laughed at the man and responded, "No. No! They were annoying, so clingy. Never give me a break. Living with that many women is hard, you know."

Dreykov laughed loudly and patted the super soldier's shoulder with his free hand.

"Don't worry my friend. I'll put you on a real mission next time. I think it's time to get the Red Guardian back into action." Dreykov reassured. 

And just like that, all the worry of his family had dissipated from the super soldier's mind.

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"We came across her 2 days ago in a HYDRA facility in Washington." Natasha informed them.

Ana noticed the people watching her and stood up from her bed. She walked over to the glass and smiled at the group. 

"Why is she in a cell?" Alexei asked.

As if on cue, Ana began her show of repeatedly slamming her head into the glass. Natasha took a step back and looked at the floor; Alexei looking at her concerned, wondering why she wasn't doing anything to stop this. Blood was smeared over the glass as the girl continued. Yelena looked away and ran back up the stairs.

They all turned to watch her go and Ana stopped. She smiled and sat down on the bed; staring at the wall. Alexei walked off to go find Yelena, whilst Natasha told Melina all about the past 2 days. 

Alexei found Yelena in the stairwell; knees to her chest, head in her lap and breathing rapidly. He sat down next to her and placed a hand on her shoulder to comfort her.

"I really thought she was dead. All these years I had accepted it, but now. Now she's actually here... some part of me wishes she still was." Yelena explained.

She looked up from her knees and faced the super soldier, "If she was dead she would've never have gone to the Red Room, or have been involved with HYDRA. She would still be an innocent kid, not a killer."

Alexei had no way to console her. She was right, the Red Room does unspeakable things. And what's worse was he put them in that situation, all for nothing.

"I know." ,was all he could say. 

The pair sat like that for a while before they went to go find Melina and Natasha, who were still talking outside Ana's cell. 

They all went upstairs so Natasha could introduce her family to the rest of the team. She found most of them in the living room watching Back to the Future. When they realised that people had entered the room, Bucky, Steve, Peter, Wanda and Sam all sat up whilst Clint paused the film. 

"Hey guys, this is my... family. This is Melina, Alexei and Yelena." Natasha said pointing at each of them individually. 

Everyone greeted them and they all sat down, Alexei sat next to Steve. They all talked for a while about Ohio and how Melina, Yelena and Alexei were all in Russia freeing people who were under the control of the Red Room. As the conversation died out, Natasha took Melina down to the lab where they would sure find Bruce and they could discuss trying to make a cure for Ana. 

When Alexei was sure that Natasha was out of earshot, he asked Steve, "Do you know who I am?"

Steve looked confused for a second, but whispered back, "Of course. How could I forget the Red Guardian?"

A huge smile crept over the Russian's face as he crossed his arms and leaned back into the sofa with a smug expression.

Natasha and Melina arrived at the lab and saw Bruce typing something on the computer and poking something on the desk with a bit of metal. 

"Hey, Bruce. This is the person I was telling you about that could help with Ana." Nat said.

Bruce stretched out his hand and Melina shook it, "Nice to meet you, I'm Bruce Banner."

"Yes, I've heard about you. You're the physicist that was working with gamma radiation." Melina answered and Bruce looked down awkwardly.

He walked over to the medical fridge and took out the original vile of antidote that Natasha had given him and handed in to Melina.

"This is the original one that Natasha gave me. The one we gave Ana though was a replica that I synthesised." he explained.

Melina answered bluntly, "I don't think that your version is the problem. I think that the issue will be that there is a chemical imbalance in Ana's brain constructed by the Red Room which meant that the cure only worked temporarily because her brain structure is now different to those of the other widows."

"That would make sense. So we just need to engineer another version of this antidote based on Ana's specific brain pattern." Bruce stated.

"Well we better get to work." Melina said.