Ch. 5

Natasha took her hand, they were still small and soft, she gave a comforting smile and began walking hand in hand with a young girl who had lived almost the same life as her. Natasha led them out the back way, earning a confused look from Bucky but she didn't want the girl to have to look at all bodies in the lobby. Even though Ekaterina was probably used to it, Natasha felt this strong need to protect her, she couldn't describe it so she just held her hand tighter.

She could feel the girl's muscles tense as they walked away from the only home she had ever known.

Ekaterina didn't know whether to cry or laugh and smile that her nightmare was finally over, that her heroes had come and rescued her. They were her heroes but she couldn't trust them, she couldn't trust anyone, that's the only way she's survived this long.

Once on the plane, Nat led the girl to a seat where she buckled her in and placed a blanket on her lap. Natasha was surprised she allowed her to not only hold her hand but buckle her in as well, Natasha knew if it was her, she would not have been as kind. But the girl had been through a lot, her eyes were still wide and her face pale, reality hadn't caught up to her yet.

Natasha walked toward the pilot's cabin where Bucky was waiting but she stopped at the doorway to look at the girl who only stared blankly in front of her. Natasha sighed, there was one thing she knew for sure, that girl is strong but she is a child. All she wanted to do was take the weight off her young shoulders, children should not have to fight to be young, she knew that better than anyone.

The girl had almost distracted her from Bucky's announcement. Almost. She could not believe that he remembered everything. How could he not tell her? She was furious but despite that, she understood. She wasn't quite sure how she felt either, it had been so long but she was pretty sure a love like theirs wouldn't disappear so easily.

She knocked softly on the door before opening it. Bucky sat hunched over with his face in his hands, if he heard her entered, he didn't show it.

"James?" She asked resting her hand on his shoulder.

He jumped up, startled and looked at her blankly,

"Did you do that?" He asked softly

She thought for a minute,

"Do what?" She responded even though she knew what he meant.

He scoffed,

"You know, Natalia" he said softly, "After I um... left. Did you have to kill the last of the girls?"

She stared at him. Of course he wouldn't know.

"Uh yeah I did. It was a part of the Graduation Ceremony. I had to in order to be the Black Widow"

His confused look remained,

"Graduation Ceremony?"

She sighed and moved to sit in front of him, they were so close their knees were almost touching,

"In order to become the Black Widow, I had to be the last one standing" she looked away from him, this was always difficult for her to talk about,

"And then they sterilized me and I became the Black Widow"

She looked back at him and he was staring at her with such pain in his eyes that it broke her heart a little.

"It's effective I guess, a child would be one of the only things more important than a mission" she said laying a hand on his knee, comfortingly.

He did something that surprised her, her pulled her off her seat and into a hug. He held her and whispered,

"I'm so sorry I couldn't protect you, Natalia"

She pulled away and playfully hit him,

"You know damn well I can protect myself" she smiled.

He smiled and said, "I remember"

Her smile faded,

"Yeah, we need to talk about that" she said crossing her arms.

He rubbed the back of his neck,

"I thought you might say that"

"I-" he started when Natasha's phone rang.

"Saved by the bell" she laughed as she answered the phone.

She put it on speaker phone and Fury's voice filled the room,

"How did it go? Were all the threats eliminated?"

Natasha shot a panicked look at James. She couldn't give up the girl but she couldn't exactly hide her. She wouldn't be able to hide anything from Fury, she thought too highly of him. She really hadn't thought this through.

As if reading her mind, Bucky mouthed, "I'll take care of it".

She relaxed and smiled brightly at him. He took the phone from her and took it off speaker phone. Putting it to his ear he said,

"Hello Director. I will start the briefing now if that's alright"

Natasha sat down. She couldn't hear Fury so she listened to James intently.

"The mission went exactly as planned. We took out the guards in the main lobby and then proceeded to basement where we found the Red Room supervisor, Madame B"

He paused, and she assumed he was giving Fury time to write it all down.

"Um, sir, she knew we were there. She knew that specifically Natasha and I were there to kill her. She brought up our past and then asked if I would come back" he said, she was glad he kept the conversation vague.

"She tried to use t-the trigger words to get to the Winter Soldier but Natasha shot her before anything could happen"

He paused as Nick responded

"Well, that not all sir".

Even though she couldn't hear him she knew Fury was annoyed.

"While we were waiting on the target to move out of the shadows for a clear shot. There was a fight, no um, a graduation ceremony going on" he looked back at her and corrected himself.

She got up and put her ear next to his, she wanted to hear what Fury had to say.

"You took them out, didn't you?" Fury said

"Well sir-" he started

"Call me "sir" one more time, Barnes and I swear I will move Sam's room next to yours"

"Sorry s-" he stopped himself and cleared his throat,

"Sorry Director"

"Continue Barnes, have all the threats been eliminated?"

"No. There was one lone survivor of the Red Room, we have brought her back with us".

"You did what?"

"Director, she is a child" he raised his voice and Natasha was surprised, he was always so calm and almost never raised his voice, especially not to someone in authority.

She took the phone from him,

"Nick. I think that she can be useful to SHIELD. As I'm sure you know I'm getting older, what if something happens to me?" James stared at her with a look she couldn't quite read.

"What if a mission goes wrong and I don't make it? You told me I could pick my replacement when I retire and I choose Ekaterina" she said and stopped herself, she didn't want to make him too angry.

"When I said that I thought you'd pick a shield agent not a threat"

"A threat? Nick she is a child. I was a threat once too. was I eliminated? No Clint decided I was worth saving that I deserved a second chance. And now we are doing that for her"

Nick sighed, "alright she can stay"

Natasha sighed a sigh of relief,

"For now. But you and Barnes better help her catch up to the times and train her like a agent"

"We will!" She smiled so big, she couldn't remember the last time she was this happy.

She hung up the phone, nearly giddy, she was so happy, she laughed and turned around to see Bucky staring at her.

"What?" She laughed, "why are you looking at me like that?"

He smiled at her,

"I don't think I've seen you this happy in a long time"

"Yeah it takes quite a lot" she admitted solemnly.

He mumbled an agreement and she shook her head,

"I'm going to go talk to her"

He blocked her path to the door,

"Are you sure that's a good idea? Should we interrogate her?"

She stared at him,

"Are you crazy? Interrogate her? She is a child"
She had thought they were on the same page, apparently not.

"I'm going" she said before he could get a word in.

She opened the door and smiled. The girl was putting her seatbelt back on but she struggling slightly.

"You were listening weren't you?" She said to the girl.

Ekaterina let go of the seatbelt and nodded.

Natasha was impressed. She hadn't even heard her.

"You haven't tried to escape yet so you must have not heard anything too bad" she said, sitting next to her.

"No" was all she said.

Natasha stared at her hands in her lap, she didn't want to startle the girl she wanted her to trust her.

They sat in silence even after the plane started to take off.

At the start of the plane's engine Ekaterina's hand shot out and gripped the metal of her seat so hard her knuckles turned white. And she let out a small gasp but didn't say anything and neither did Natasha.

Once the plane was sailing through the sky, she released the chair from her iron grip and rested her hands in her lap. Her finger absentmindedly tracing a scar on the top of her wrist.

"How did you get that one?" Natasha asked quietly.

Ekaterina shifted in her seat trying to cover the scar but she had nothing to cover it with.

When she didn't say anything Nat turned her body to face the younger girl. She rolled up her pant leg to just above her knee, revealing a faded silver scar in the shape of a line on the side of her knee.

"I got this one when I was eight. It was my first solo fight against another girl and I had her on the ropes until she landed a kick to my chest to knock off my balance and before I could recover she sent another to my knee"

The girl was staring intently at her, hanging onto her every word. So Natasha continued,

"I heard this sickening crack and I knew my bone had popped but I couldn't just lay down. So I layed on the ground, waiting for her to pin me, and when she was about to, I flipped her and held her down until she passed out"

She finished her story and sat back against the seat, leaning her head against the wall. She had just closed her eyes when she heard,

"What happened next?"

Nat looked at her again. Her English was perfect and so was her Russian. How did this girl know two languages perfect. That would have to wait.

"Well, when she passed out they gave me thread and a needle and told me to fix it before my next fight" she finished

The girl nodded at her and looked back at her own scar.

"Uh, when I was seven, we started fighting each other and I kept winning. They other girls didn't like that every much. While I was sleeping two girls held me down and gagged me while another tried to cut my wrist with a shard of glass they found" she said without emotion and Natasha didn't know what to say so she said nothing.

"I still had the handcuffs on so I couldn't move and it was dark and I couldn't see so I just started kicking. I took out the two girls holding and then the one cutting me" she sighed,

"I didn't win a single fight after that. Well, not until today"

Natasha was surprised at her honesty, it would have taken her more time to admit something like that out loud.

"I have more but we all do I suppose" she said running her finger over the scar.

"Do you have anymore from the Red Room?" She continued. 

"No. I only have three scars. One from the Red Room and he shot me, twice" she said nodding her head at James who was leaning against the door frame.

He scoffed and she said,

"It wasn't your fault. You weren't yourself"

He only nodded.

The girl looked between the two adults,

"I can't believe it. The Widow and the Soldat. I heard so many stories about the two of you."

She paused and then looked at Natasha,

"I wanted to be just like you. A hero" admiration evident in her voice.

Natasha rested her hand on the girl's shoulder,

"You can be better. If you would like to learn, we can teach you"

"We?" The Ekaterina asked

"The Avengers"

The girl's eyes widen,

"The Earth's mightiest heroes?"

Natasha laughed,

"Yes, we will train you and you can be a hero too"

The girl's look of wonder faded,

"I can't be a hero. I've caused too much damage. I've killed. Murdered people in cold blood. How can a killer be saved?" Her voice cracking with emotion, she hid her face in her hands.

"I was" Bucky spoke up from the doorway, moving closer.

"I was under Hydra's control for 70 years before I was given a second chance" he said kneeling before Ekaterina, trying to look her in the eyes.

"If I was able to be saved, you will be too, you just have to fight for it. Can you do that for us?"

The girl lifted her head out of her hands and looked him in the eyes,

"I will do my best" she finally answered quietly.

"And that's all we can ask for" he said getting up and started to walk away.

But he turned around and said,

"I called Steve. He and Sam will meet us when we land, they know everything"

Ekaterina tilted her head at Natasha,

"Who?"

"My friend and the bird man" Bucky replied

She looked at him confused while Natasha shot daggers at him.

"Friends" was all she said.

She nodded and mumbled,

"I've never had one of those"

Natasha barely heard it, but she couldn't help but think back to her past and how right the girl was. There were no friends in the Red Room. It was kill or be killed, there was no other way.

Natasha sat with girl until they reached New York.

They gathered their stuff and exited the jet, where Steve and Sam were waiting.

Ekaterina saw two men waiting at the end of the exit, one blond and one dark haired man with sun glasses, these must be the friends Natasha was talking about.

Steve immediately gave Bucky a hug, while Natasha nodded at Sam. Steve then came over and gave Natasha a hug, while Ekaterina looked confused at the whole scene.

Steve went to go stand next to Sam and Ekaterina looked up at Natasha, confused.

"Why did he do that?" She asked quietly

"Do what?" She asked and then it dawned on her,

"Do you mean a hug?" She whispered back.

"Yes. I don't know that word. Why did he do that if not to attack?"

Natasha looked her in the eyes,

"Well, a hug is a sign of affection. We were gone and he missed us so he gave us a hug to welcome us back. Does that make sense?" She told the girl.

"Oh" was all she said

Steve stepped forward and said,

"I'm Steve, you must be... Ekaterina" He said the  Russian name clumsily, the name not sounding quite right.

She left out a small laugh, making everyone smile. That was the first time Natasha saw her smile and she knew the girl would fit in great here.

Sam stepped forward,

"And I'm Sam. It's nice to meet you, Rina" he said with a smile.

Ekaterina smiled at the nickname and said,

"It is nice to meet you, bird man" she said, smiling.

Ahhhh here we go!! Now we can get to Rina (that's what I like to call her) interacting with all the Avengers! She is going to learn so much! This is such an important chapter that it took me forever to write! I also posted a new book about Peggy Carter and Captain America role reversal so go check that out!! English is not my first language so if any spelling or grammar is not right just let me know!!!
Xo,
Renee