The Eternal Avenger: Book Two

Chapter Twenty-Eight: All the Time In the World

(Natasha's POV):

A loud snarl brought Yelena, Wanda, Lerato and me to our feet in a hurry. We rushed towards the field, Widows scattering in our path as we pushed through regardless of who or what was in our way. I ran to the center to find Claray on her knees in the dirt, one hand buried in the grass, the other clutching her side. "Baby, what's wrong?" I heard Yelena scoff beside me at the nickname, but any humor she initially ascertained was wiped out when Claray made no effort to get up.

"Claray, are you okay?" It was Wanda's voice this time. She crouched beside the hybrid, lightly resting a hand on her shoulder. Claray spit a mouthful of blood onto the ground but still looked up at us with a smile.

"They caught me by surprise," she panted. I glanced down at her side, seeing blood seeping through her fingers.

"Were they armed?" I growled lowly, staring over at the group of Widows clustered closest to us. They took a collective step backwards. I allowed myself to relax a bit when Claray grabbed my hand and squeezed reassuringly.

"I told them to." I took a deep breath, exchanging worried looks with Wanda before helping the hybrid to her feet.

"Stubborn ass," I growled lowly in her ear. She smiled, leaning down and kissing me on the forehead.

"Softy." One of the women approached us.

"You fight?" I turned to Claray, but the hybrid was watching me expectantly. I then realized that the widow had been speaking to me, not to my fiancé.

"I have a better idea," my head snapped around to see Yelena and Lerato approaching our position. The widow nodded her head to Yelena deferentially. "Us against you." My eyebrows raised, and I wasn't the only one taken by surprise, given the way Claray and Wanda immediately reacted. Wanda looked...amused. Claray looked skeptical. Lerato looked downright excited, and Yelena – well, she looked scary. As usual. The widow who had asked initially turned back to her friends, no doubt explaining the proposal. I caught the smiles that spread eagerly across their faces. This was the kind of fight they trained a lifetime for. And now they got to do it for fun, without their lives being put at risk. They knew that they could enjoy it because it was a safe environment for them to do so. Well...safe-ish. I don't know how safe anyone would be going against a vampire, a hybrid, a werewolf, a trained assassin and an almost all-powerful witch. I glanced over at the porch where Melina and Alexei were standing. He had his arm around her waist. Disgusting. But Alexei looked like he was one excitement notch away from grabbing pom poms and a cheerleading outfit. Melina had her tablet clutched eagerly in her hand, ready to catch the action. I rolled my eyes, exchanging smirks with Yelena. Our group formed a loose circle, keeping the middle clear for Lerato. As we formed up, we explained the ground rules and the danger. Dull weapons only. Stay away from the wolf's mouth. A tackle from the wolf would count as a knockout. Anyone bleeding would have to leave the field immediately. I felt Claray's fingers wrap around mine and I caught a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. I grinned at her.

"See you in a minute," I called to her.

"This is a cool way to die!" Yelena called from the other side of the circle. Lerato snarled, ducking into a crouching pose and eyeing potential threats. I felt fingers on my other hand and looked down to see Wanda's hand, crackling with magic, grabbing mine. It instantly flowed through me and must have zapped Claray, because she jerked slightly before smirking down at our hands, noticing the red tendrils now encompassing them.

"Do you have magic fingers now too?" She smirked. I was going to smile until I processed what she said.

"Wait, too? What do you mean, too?" Wanda chuckled at my other side.

"She's just trying to wind you up," Wanda's voice echoed clearly in my head.

"It's working." I mumbled. There was little doubt that my normally green eyes were more reddish now. The two groups clashed in the middle of the field as the Widows performed a perfect flanking maneuver, perfectly surrounding our smaller unit. Lerato growled, and I caught Yelena murmuring to her in Russian. I glanced at Claray, who grinned at me excitedly.

"Let's fuck some shit up," she muttered, which triggered a laugh in both me and Wanda. By then they reached us. I slid under the initial onslaught, taking out at least two as I saw Claray flip over me, pulling two more widows with her on the way over. Three more were hoisted in the air by red magic, reminding me that I could use it too. I created a red wall, using it effectively as a shield to push the press of widows backwards.

"Natalia!" Yelena's voice called from the other side of the battle, and I spun in place to see her and Lerato being pushed back.

"Up!" Claray called, and I lifted her with my borrowed red magic, moving her over towards Yelena and dropping her behind the widow's front line. I hissed when a baton made contact with my shoulder blade as I was propelling my fiancé to help my sister. Families were weird. I spun, kicking upwards and wrapping my knee around the widow's shoulder, flipping her over onto the ground.

"Stay down," I hissed at her before moving on to the next. I grabbed the wrist holding the next baton headed towards me, flipping her easily and swiping the legs of the one coming behind her. Claray was right. They were good, and they were learning and working as a team, which went everything that the red room had engrained in them. Melina called a truce however long later by announcing that lunch was ready. Yelena ran past me towards the food, scowling down her nose as she glanced at my position.

"Such a poser," she called. I flipped her off. Claray spotted me on the field and jogged over to me, a large grin spread across her face.

"You did great, love." I smirked at the hint of Scottish accent in her voice. Some twinges of my former Russian accent were beginning to creep their way back in as well. Surely the environment contributed to that.

"Not so bad yourself, Ridel." She tilted her head at me grinning.

"Maybe not for that much longer." I blinked, processing what she just said.

"Wait, what?" She pulled me into her arms. We were both sweaty messes, but neither of us seemed to care.

"Romanoff is growing on me." She murmured lowly into my ear. I leaned into her, softly kissing her neck.

"Funny, Ridel was growing on me." She chuckled.

"We can fight about that later." I hummed lowly and smiled when I realized. We had all the time in the world.

a/n: do we want to see if Jace will write a bonus extra chapter for Wanda, Claray and Natasha that is not necessary for the plot, just for fun?

@avengerswriter4eva