Spider-Man joins the avengers

Part 20

NATASHA

It is a horrible thing to watch, to see. Clint, wading in to action, his bow pulled out for an absent enemy. Been and gone.
His children run out first, screaming and crying, blood scattered on their clothing. He clings to them for a moment, relieved. But then he looks up again, past his three children and turns back to me.
He runs inside and his kids follow. I run in behind them and stop in the doorway as I see Clint on the floor, bow dropped beside him, still.
Laura lies at the base of the stairs, bloodied and bruised, a gun shot to her head. A pool of blood has collected around her and he does nothing but stare.
My head spins, I've known Laura almost as long as Clint. And now she's dead.
My first thought is to comfort his children, but a noise comes from behind me. I turn and walk out onto the porch, bend down and pick up an old coin. Russian.
I look up quickly and see a movement beside the nearest part of the forest. I move towards it, cautious, and follow the movement, trace it down.
'This is for you.' A voice comes from above me and a girl drops from a branch above my head, two metres from me. 'All for you.'
'Anja?' I whisper, looking at her long brown hair tied back. She's taller than how I remembered, but it is her.
'Old friend.' She says in Russian.
'This is you. All of this.' I reply as we circle each other. 'You killed all those people.'
'I thought you'd realise soon enough. I only do as they taught me.' She says, smiling.
'What they...?' I try to think back.
'The root technique.' She says, 'hurt the people who'll make people hurt. To get to you, I get to the people you love. And to get to the people you love...'
'You kill their families.' I finish.
'Before you make a move.' She says, just as I'm about to lunge at her, 'I should tell you that I've placed some landmines very strategically around here. If I press this button, you will survive very easily, almost without a scratch. But those people back in that house? That you so stupidly love? They won't be so lucky.' I fall back, suddenly fearful as to what she might do.
'What do you want from me?' I ask desperately.
'I don't want anything.' She spits back, 'You killed my family, so I kill yours.'
'They weren't your family.' I plead with her, 'they were using us, Anja! Can't you see that?'
'Maybe they were. But it was all I had. And you took it from me. So I'm going to watch as the same happens to you.' She waits for a moment longer before turning and running away from me. I don't go after her, scared that she might be telling the truth about the land mines.
So much has happened that I'm barely able to comprehend it all. I stumble back to the farmhouse and fall to my knees outside the ship. I see Clint through the open door, his arms around all his children, staring at his wife on the floor.
I stay outside, this is not my loss.