The Ultimate Fix-It Fic

5| Dear Melina

The helicopter slowly puttered it's way down to a field of purple.

"You should've brought the Avengers' superjet," Alexei muttered.

"You are aware that all of this–" Natasha gestured from herself, her sister and her boyfriend, the helicopter, to her adoptive father– "is illegal?"

Alexei shrugged. "So?"

Yelena sighed. "I swear, if I hear one more word from him, I will kick him in the face," she muttered to Nat.

The two trudged behind Alexei's walk, with Bruce at the end.

"It doesn't matter what Bruce says," Natasha said softly, "but right now, Alexei's the worst."

"Agreed."

Their father turned and waved to Nat. "Natasha. Natasha. Natasha. Come here, I want to ask you something. Come, it's important."

Nat walked to him reluctantly. "What?"

"Did he talk to you about me?" Alexei looked excited.

"What?"

"Did he talk to you about me? You know, trading war stories?" He sounded giddy.

"Who– What are you talking about?" Natasha said.

"Captain America. My great adversary in this theater of geopolitical conflict. Not so much a nemesis. More like a contemporary, you know? Coequal. I always thought there was a great deal of mutual respect–"

" – Wait. You haven't seen either one of us in 20 years and you're gonna ask me about you?" Natasha interrupted.

Alexei looked at her as if he wasn't being a prick.

Nat sighed and went back to Yelena.

"What is with this tension? Did I do something wrong?" Alexei called over to the two as he slowly made his way to where they were.

"Is that a serious question?" Yelena asked.

Alexei managed to lumber over. "I only ever loved you girls. I did my best to make sure you would succeed to achieve your fullest potential, and everything worked out."

"'Everything worked out'?" Natasha repeated.

"Yes. For you, yes." Alexei pulled them into a bear hug. "We accomplished our mission in Ohio. Yelena, you went on to become the greatest child assassin the world has ever known. No one can match your efficiency, your ruthlessness. And Natasha, not just a spy, not just toppling regimes, destroying empires from within, but an Avenger. You both have killed so many people. Your ledgers must be dripping, just gushing red. I couldn't be more proud of you."

Natasha pushed herself away and went to go walk with Bruce.

"Hey," her scientist smiled. "You smell like vodka and sweat."

Nat rolled her eyes. "Great. Just great."

"Does, uh, Yelena need rescuing?" Bruce asked as he watched Yelena and Alexei's trudge.

Natasha shrugged. "She'll be fine."

After a few minutes of quiet chatting and walking, Nat saw Alexei and Yelena stop, so she and Bruce followed them to the gate.

Alexei was staring at someone through the fence. "Honey," he was saying, "we're home."

Natasha looked where he was and she sighed. Melina was alive and well indeed.

"Come on, girls," Alexei said, reaching out and getting rejected by the two women. He eventually grabbed Bruce. "We men have to stick together, eh?"

The scientist smiled nervously. "Sure."