★彡[ ɪ ᴅᴏɴ'ᴛ ᴄᴀʀᴇ ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ'ʀᴇ ᴀɴ ᴀᴠᴇɴɢᴇʀ ᴏʀ ɴᴏᴛ ]彡★

Lia found herself walking alone around the capital city, Budapest, having nothing much to do. She fixed her beanie before digging her hands in her pockets. She hung her head low, not wanting to attract any unwanted attention.

Sighing to herself, she roamed around the streets aimlessly, deciding to buy a hot cup of coffee on the way back to their hideout, knowing that trouble was always near ever since tagging along with Yelena.

Entering the hideout from the back door, she found the blonde readying her gun, making Lia raise an eyebrow at her in a questioning manner.

"She's here," Yelena simply stated as if it explained everything.

Lia blinked. "Who?"

Yelena rolled her eyes before walking past Lia. "You'll find out. Just, be prepared."

"Right," Lia nodded. "Like that helps a lot."

She took a sip of her lukewarm drink as she watched the blonde disappear from her view towards the dining room and the kitchen. A few moments later, the sound of crashes and grunts echoed through the air and Lia made her way over to the living room to see Yelena engaged in an intense fight with a redhead who somehow seemed familiar. 

Yelena grabbed a knife from the knife block before lunging at the redhead, luring her into the living room where the dark-haired female stood, who was keeping an eye on the two as if it were a normal occurrence.

"Your help would be deeply appreciated, Herondale," Yelena grumbled as she ducked under a punch.

The blonde and the redhead both momentarily paused, their attention turning towards the dark-haired nephilim who casually leaned against the wall, taking another sip of her coffee before flashing Yelena an innocent smirk, knowing it would only further irritate the blonde.

Lia placed her cup on the table next to her before lunging at the redhead in a blink of an eye, sending her crashing to the ground, her arm against the redhead's neck in a choking manner, a challenging glint in the nephilim's eye.

"Okay, okay! Truce!" The redhead choked out while Lia glanced at Yelena who nodded at her as the nephilim pulled away.

"God, you're really hostile," the redhead stated, trying to catch her breath as she stared at Yelena.

Lia's eyebrows furrowed as she stared at the redhead before they widened in realisation. "Wait a second. You're Natasha Romanoff, the Black Widow."

Natasha nodded with a smirk before glancing at Yelena. "You're so grown up."

"No shit," Yelena deadpanned, walking towards the kitchen with Natasha following and Lia behind them, still thoroughly confused as to why the black widow was here. 

The redhead stared at Yelena. "You had to come to Budapest, didn't you?" 

"We came here because we thought you wouldn't. But since you're here, what bullet does that?" Yelena pointed to three holes in the wall behind them.

"Not bullets, arrows." 

"Ah, right." 

"What the hell is this?" Natasha slammed down a few dozen of the red vials, the same ones the blonde and the nephilim had discovered from the suitcase in Malaysia.

Lia and Yelena both exchanged a glance while Natasha narrowed her eyes at the two. "You both know what this is." 

"What is it? Where'd it come from?" Natasha asked.

"Well, we didn't send it," Yelena stated. 

"Well my contact said it came from Budapest," Natasha retorted but the blonde was already out the kitchen, stuffing the vials in a backpack.

Natasha sighed. "Look, I'm not here trying to be your friend but you need to tell me what that is."

"It's a synthetic gas. A counteragent to chemical subjugation. The gas immunises the brain's neural pathways from external manipulation," Yelena explained.

"Maybe in English next time," Natasha suggested while Lia smirked, remaining quiet as the two conversed.

"Oh, very mature," Yelena shot back in Russian before exchanging back to english. "Why don't you take it to one of your super-scientist friends? They can explain it to you. Tony Stark, maybe."

Natasha shrugged. "Yeah, well we're not really talking right now, so ..."

"Great, perfect timing. Where's an Avenger when you need one?" The blonde grumbled.

Natasha crossed her arms. "Hey, what am I? And I don't want to be here. I'm on the run, you could have gotten me killed."

"We didn't send you these," Yelena glared at her. "I kept checking the news, expecting to see Captain America bringing down the Red Room."

"What?" Natalia demanded. "Taking down the Red Room? What are you talking about? It's been gone for years. Dreykov's dead. I killed him."

Lia and Yelena both scoffed at that.

"You don't actually believe that do you?" Yelena's expression turned to one of realisation. "You do actually believe that. "

"Dreykov's dead," Nat insisted. "It took almost destroying the entire city just to get to him."

"If you're so sure then tell me exactly what happened," Yelena stared hard at the redhead. 

"We rigged the bombs." 

"That's very reassuring," Lia mumbled while Natasha glared at her.

"Who's we?" Yelena pressed. 

"Clint Barton and I. Killing Dreykov was the final step in my defection to S.H.I.E.L.D," Natasha replied.

"So simple as that?"

"Yeah, sure, 'simple'," Natasha remarked. "That's what I'd call imploding a five-story building and then shooting it out with the Hungarian Special Forces. Took ten days in hiding before we could even get out of Budapest."

"And you checked the body? Confirmed the kill?" Yelena pressed again.

Natasha paused briefly. "There was no body left to check."

"You're forgetting Dreykov's daughter." 

This stopped the redhead but before there was any time to continue this conversation, footsteps were heard on the rooftop, notifying them that they weren't alone. Lia could sense them. There were widows. And there were lots of them. 

"You two go. I'll meet you guys at the car. I'll cover you," Lia told them, ushering them to leave.

"Lia." She turned to Yelena, who had a slight glint of fear in her eyes, something that surprised Lia, as well as the fact that she referred to her first name. "Please don't kill them. I was once them too."

Lia smiled assuringly. "Don't worry, I won't. I'll only knock them out. Now go! Get the hell out of here. I'll see you soon."

Yelena nodded in relief, bolting out the door while Natasha was about to follow but Lia grabbed onto the redhead's arm, stopping her as she turned her attention towards Lia with a raised eyebrow.

"If anything happens to her, I will kill you," Lia threatened, her eyes glowing dangerously. "I don't care if you're an avenger or not. And nothing will stop me."

 Before Natasha had a chance to open her mouth to respond, Lia disappeared out the room.