Insane in my Russian Brain - P. Parker

Chapter Thirty Four

A/N: Sobbing as I write this

"Five years ago, we lost. All of us. We lost friends. We lost family. We lost a part of ourselves. Today, we have a chance to take it all back. You know your teams. You know your missions. Get the stones. Get them back." Steve looked at Kat, waiting for her to continue.

"You could be a poet, you know? But he's right. We've got one round-trip each. No mistakes. We can't afford it anymore. Most of us are going somewhere we know. That doesn't mean we should know what to respect." Kat smiled at the group of older Avengers, fidgeting with the end of her braid. "Be careful. Look out for each other. This is the fight of our lives, and we're gonna win."

Steve took over, turning to Tony. "Whatever it takes. Good luck."

"All right. You heard the man. Stroke those keys, Jolly Green."

"Got it, got it." Bruce walked to stand with the rest of them, finishing off the circle.

"See ya in a minute." Natasha turned to look at the rest of the Avengers, exchanging a smile. This was the fight they had been expecting for nearly five years, and now that it had come, it was all surreal.

They retracted their masks, completing the suit of armor around their bodies. Natasha was right, this was surreal. If this is what the Avengers went through every day, Kat wanted no piece in it. But at the same time, it felt good to be adventurous and get revenge for all the wrongs Thanos had done.

The group was set off, a blue forest of tunnels filling their vision. As long as they picked the right one, everything would be fine. Bruce, Steve, Scott, and Tony made their way to New York, while Thor and Rocket were to go to Asgard.

That only left Clint, Natasha, and Kat to go to Vormir. Simple? Not at all. This was the most unknown territory for the Avengers out of the three, and of course, they had managed to get stuck with it.

"Wow." Clint looked out at the horizon that was Vormir, at loss for words. "Under different circumstances, this would be totally awesome."

They climbed up the snowy mountain, trying to catch their breath and keep going on. They had infinite time, of course, but the sooner they were back home the better. "I bet the raccoon would have loved it here."

"Technically he's not a raccoon, you know."

"Pff, high school dropout, remember? He eats garbage."

"But," Natasha broke up Clint and Kat's argument, scolding the two. "I plan on getting you back into it when all of this is over."

Before she could respond, another voice cut in. "Welcome." They retrieved their weapons, holding them out in front to protect themselves from the ghost-like figure. "Natasha. Daughter of Ivan. Clint. Son of Edith. Ekaterina. Daughter of Natasha."

"Who are you? How do you know us?" Natasha held her gun in front of her, pushing Kat behind her back. She put the bullet in the chamber, ready to shoot if necessary.

"Consider me a guide... to you and to all who seek the Soul Stone."

"Oh good." Kat smiled, but it was fake as could be. "You tell us where it is, then we'll be on our way."

"If only it were that easy." He lead them through an archway to a cliff, leading down into an infinite abyss. "What you seek lies in front of you. As does what you fear."

Clint and Kat joined Natasha at the edge, staring at the ground they could hardly see. "The stone's down there."

"In order to take the stone, you must lose that which you love. An everlasting exchange. A soul for a soul."

"Jesus." Clint walked away, staring at the rocks near his feet. "Maybe he's making this shit up."

Natasha sat down next to Kat, staring off into space. "No. I don't think so."

"Why? 'Cause he knows your daddy's name?"

"Clint, I didn't. Thanos left here with the stone without his daughter." She looked at Kat and wrapped an arm around her. "That's not a coincidence."

"Yeah."

"Whatever it takes."

Kat looked up at her, peeling her arm off her body. "Don't even think about it."

"If we don't get that stone, billions of people stay dead."

"Yeah." Kat looked at the ground and shrugged. "Then I guess we all know who it's gotta be."

"I guess we do." Clint joined them, grabbing Natasha's hand. "I'm starting to think we mean different people here, guys."

"For the last five years, I've been trying to do one thing. Get to right here. That's all it's been about. Bringing everybody back."

"Mom, don't you get all decent on me."

"What, you think I wanna do it? Do you think I wanna leave you alone? I'm trying to save both of your lives."

"Yeah?" Clint walked forward so they were inches from each other. "Well, I don't want you to. Natasha, you know what I've done. You know what I've become."

"Oh, I don't judge people on their worst mistakes."

"Maybe you should." Kat walked closer to the edge, staring down at the ground. This was it, she was going to bring everyone back. Rewrite all of her wrongs.

"Clint, you didn't."

"You're a pain in my ass, you know that?" Natasha nodded and rested her forehead against Clint's.

He pulled back and nodded. "Okay. You win."

Natasha smiled, but before she could act upon what he said, Clint slammed her to the ground. "Tell my family I love 'em."

She kicked him off of her, standing up. She loaded a round of widow bites, aiming them at Clint. "You tell them yourself."

She shot him in the chest, sending violent rays of electricity through his veins. Natasha took a running start, grabbing a hold of Kat and throwing her to the ground. Kat groaned, kicking her mother in the side.

Clint shot them both with his bow, racing to the edge of the cliff. He jumped, but before he could make it far enough down, Natasha grabbed a hold of him and shot a grappling hook at the mountainside. "Pull us up, Kat."

Kat grabbed the hook and prepared to pull them up. But she knew her mother had other plans than to come back up to the cliff. She took her own grappling hook, swinging down to the edge of the mountain, face to face with Natasha and Clint. "I'm not losing you."

Clint's hold on Natasha loosened. Her hand was slipping out of his, and she wasn't even trying to hold on. "Let me go."

"No, Mom, no. There has to be another way, I can't lose you." Those words broke Natasha's heart. Of course, she would never want to lose her daughter, Kat was everything to her. But she knew there wasn't another way. There was nothing that could be done to save her. "No. Please, no."

Natasha used her free hand to wipe the tears from her daughter's face, stroking her hair. "It's okay."

Kat sobbed, burying her head in her arm. "Я тебя люблю. I love you."

Natasha kicked off of Clint's arm, and then she was falling. Clint screamed out, tears running down his face. In his despair, he latched on to Kat's arm, knowing she would try to follow him.

A sickening thud hit the ground below. The sound of bones breaking. Kat could see the light outline of her mother's body, and it made her want to scream and cry. Why did it have to be her? Why did Natasha have to be so selfless?

Before either Clint or Kat could do anything, they felt themselves surrounded by a pool of water. They struggled to their feet, their tears still deadly and fresh, looking at their surroundings.

A strange warmth filled Kat's hand, and when she opened it, a glowing stone lay inside. The soul stone. Kat punched the ground, her fist burning with blood.

Her mother... her mother was gone. She had been so selfless that she had sacrificed her own life for people she had never met.

Natasha Romanoff was never coming back.