TW: Brief mention of needles

It had started out as a normal day. Daniella was reading Charlotte's Web at the playground near her house. It was normal. She had a normal life. A mom, a dad, and two older sisters, Natasha and Yelena. She was the youngest. The purest.

Back to the playground. She hears Natasha start, the three sisters' secret whistle that they had. It was a way for the three sisters to find each other should they be lost astray. So they know that they're all okay. Nat started, Lena continued, and then Dani finished.

The youngest looked up from her book to see her two older sisters on the playground, doing backbends and she goes to join them with a smile.

"We're both upside down." Yelena declares.

"And I bet you're gonna fall down first." Natasha says, smirking. I giggle at that.

"I bet I'm going to last longer than the both of you." Daniella blissfully says.

Yelena smirks. "No, you both will fall before me. You can't hold it that much longer." All of a sudden, Yelena falls down.

"Told you you'd fall down first." Natasha says proudly and I smirk.

Daniella falls down shortly after and grunts in defeat. Natasha gives her a teasing smile.

Natasha then tags her youngest sister. The three start playing a care-free game of tag but, Dani ends up falling and scraping her knee on the ground. "Mommy!" She cries for the woman she saw as her mother. Her mother comes and asks, "What happened?"

"She fell on her knee." Natasha explains whilst, Yelena frowns.

"Oh, you bumped your knee?" she asks softly. "Mmm-hmm." Daniella says nodding. "Oh... Kiss it better." The older woman says kindly and kisses her knee.

"There we go. Oh, come on, little one. Get up. You're okay. Come on. You're a brave girl. Your pain only makes you stronger." The girl's mother says as she helps her daughter up. The young girl smiles wiping her tears.

"You guys alright?" Mom asked Natasha and Yelena.

"Yeah." Natasha says and Yelena nods. "Look! Forest stars."

"Those are part of the Lampyridae family. And the glow, comes from a chemical reaction called bioluminescence." The girls' mother says widely with a smile.

Yelena and Daniella look at the woman with interest. She then ruffles Daniella's hair with a smile. "Come on, time for dinner."

"Bio-goomin-feasants?" Yelena and Daniella try to say completely not in sync.

"'Bio-goomin-feasants.' That's right. Dinner! Come on, dinner, big girl!" Mom says and Dani smiles. The four go inside, but Natasha takes off her shoes before entering the house. That's when someone knocks.

The older woman gets up from the table and answers it. She calls across the house, "Dad's home!" Natasha goes to greet the three girls' father "Hey, Dad."

"Hey, baby." he responds. He goes to sit with us.

"Everything okay?" The girl's mother asks their father. The older man sighs.

"How was everybody's day?" The three girls' father asks and Yelena and Daniella smile.

"Mom taught us about lamp bugs." Daniella and Yelena both say, once again completely out of sync. "Lamp bugs." The old man repeats and chuckles.

"And I fell and hurt my knee, but it doesn't hurt anymore." Daniella adds with her little blissful smile. The smile that always seemed to comfort Natasha.

"Mmm-hmm." Dad hums. "And we also saw fireflies in the backyard. That was my favorite part of the whole day." Yelena and Daniella says excitedly. "Lena, Dani, we see fireflies every year." Natasha points out.

The girls' parents leave for a moment and go to speak in private. When they come back, their father speaks to them, "Girls... you remember when I told you that one day we would have that big adventure? Today's the day." Natasha looks at her father with a knowing look.

"Yay!" Yelena and Daniella happily exclaim, not knowing what really was to be.

"All right, let's go." Dad says. "I don't have my shoes." Yelena states. "That's okay. You don't need your shoes." Her father says. "I'm hungry." Daniella complains. "Yeah? Guess what? I got Fruit Roll-Ups in the car." Her father says and the family gets in the car. "Where are we going?" Yelena asks. "Home." Mom answers. "Mommy, you're silly. We just left home." Daniella naively says. "I want my song." Yelena says. Daniella smile at her blonde sister as the song starts playing and the two of them sang along:

"Bye, bye, Miss American Pie

Drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry

Them good old boys were drinking whiskey and rye

Singing, 'This'll be the day that I die'

'This'll be the day that I die'"

"Come on, Yelena, Dani. Hurry up, babies. Let's go. Come on, Nat. Hurry up. We gotta go. We gotta go. Come on, you gotta run." The girls' mother says. She notices that her youngest couldn't run fast enough, so she picks her up.

"Nat, hurry up!" The older woman says to her eldest in a rush and Natasha responds "I'm coming!" and goes inside the helicopter. "Okay. Seat belts." The mother says and the three girls buckle up. Daniella struggles. Yelena notices this and helps her little sister, who smiles in thanks.

"Okay. Why isn't Dad in the plane?" Natasha asks. "He's coming. He's coming, baby. He's coming." Mom reassures.

Daniella hears sirens and finds it hard to breathe. Yelena once again noticed this and tried to stay strong for her 3-year-old sister, hugging her and covering her ears, despite being in a panic as well. "Mom?" Natasha asks.

The girls' mother groans. "Mom!" Natasha screams.

"I need you up here." The mother tells her oldest. "Okay." The girl says and moves to the pilot seat. "What do you need me to do?" Natasha asks. "I need you to pull right." Natasha's mother directs once more, which she does. "Mom, you've got blood on you." Natasha points out. Daniella covers her eyes and cries, whilst Yelena attempts to comfort her baby sister, despite being in full panic.

"It's okay, baby. Hit the accelerator there." Their mother says. The three girls scream. "Hold it steady, hold it steady. You're gonna pull back at 55 knots. Let's count together." The girls' mother continues calmly. "45, 50..." The older woman and Natasha count together.

Yelena let's Daniella go at the sound of gunshots and the two girls cover their ears. Yelena joins Daniella in crying. "Pull back. You can do it! Pull back. All your strength." The three girls' mother directs. Nat grunts and pulls back. The four finally arrive at our destination. "Get up, Mommy. Pain only makes you stronger, remember?" Yelena says to their mother who was hurt. The three girls cry.

"Forgive me, mom. I'm scared." Natasha says in Russian to her mother. "Never let them take your heart." Her mother says to Natasha. The older woman passes out, triggering the youngest to cry harder. "Mommy? Mom?" Yelena asks.

"Daddy!" Yelena says going to her father. "Daddy! Daddy!" Yelena and Daniella, as Dani also goes to her father. "Yelena! Dani!" Natasha says and goes after her two little sisters. "Daddy!" Yelena and Dani call out to their father crying.

Natasha notices the armed men around them and steals one of the men's gun. She steps in front of her little sisters. "Get away from them! Don't touch them!" Natasha says." I will shoot." She says now in Russian. "Don't touch them! I will kill you all!" Natasha says switching to English. "I will shoot. Don't touch them." She says switching back to Russian.

"Honey. You're gonna need to hand me that gun." The girls' father says.

"I don't wanna go back there. I wanna stay in Ohio. You can't take them. You can't. Yelena's only six." Natasha says, her voice breaking. She is crying.

"You were even younger. It's okay. Come here." Their father calmly says. "What about Daniella? She's only three, please she's still a baby." Natasha pleads.

Their father doesn't answer. He takes the gun. The three go closer to their father. "You're gonna be all right. Do you know why it's gonna be all right? 'Cause my girls are the toughest girls in the world. You're gonna take care of each other, okay? And everything, everything's gonna be fine." Their father says.

Some soldiers stick needles in the girls' necks and they go out cold. Three soldiers pick up the girls.