➶ ｡˚ ° ➶ ｡˚➶ ｡˚ ➶ ｡˚ ➶ ｡˚
(𝐑𝐔𝐍)
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO----▹

BATTLE OF NEW YORK

ON THIS SITE IN 2012
DURING THE BATTLE OF NEW YORK,
THE AVENGERS FIRST ASSEMBLED.

STEVE ROGERS
TONY STARK
THOR ODINSON
BRUCE BANNER
NATASHA ROMANOFF
CLINT BARTON

Clint took a deep breath standing in front of the memorial, and removed his hearing aid, the world around him becoming muffled, "Natasha," he paused still looking down, "I really need to talk to you right now." he said looking up at her name. "You were the bravest of us all, weren't you? Loyal, Stubborn. You always had to win, didn't you?" he paused, half expecting a light laugh from his best friend, "Iskra's like you in that way. So incredibly stubborn."

"And for a stupid orange rock." he scoffed, "You know, I replayed that a million times in my head, hoping for a different outcome." he paused, "But I do my best every day to earn what you gave me." 

"I just wanted to say, I'm-" he swallowed not wanting to cry, "I just wanted to say I miss you. And I'm so sorry, for what I'm about to do." he finished, he stole one last glance at the memorial before putting his hood up and walking away.

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"So Kate," Iskra said into the phone, "Yeah?" Kate asked, "It really is nice to hear your voice, but I need your help with something," Iskra began, and Kate hummed, "Uncle Clint, practically has me on house arrest, and I'm afraid he's about to do something really stupid." Iskra began, "Ok, I'll come, get you and we can go." Kate said already standing up, "One more problem though..." Iskra said, "My mom's only out of the apartment for another, ten minutes probably," Iskra said, "Say no more. I'm on my way."

Much to Iskra's relief, Kate did make it there pretty quickly, it was just a lot harder than anticipated, for them to actually get Iskra out of the apartment, the buzzer rang through the apartment, and Iskra slowly pushed herself off the couch, immediately, getting dizzy, "Damn, I got up too fast," she muttered in Russian. 

The buzzer continued to go off, and Iskra groaned in frustration and in pain, she lifted the bottom of her shirt, checking to make sure she didn't tear her stitches, and then continued her limp towards the buzzer, "What took you so long?"Kate asked jokingly, "I got stabby-stabbed, I can barely move, you're lucky I even made it to the buzzer." she replied. 

Soon enough, the door creaked open and Kate spotted Iskra who was leaning against the kitchen counter, a mug of coffee, in her hands, "You ok?" Kate asked, "Yeah." Iskra spoke, setting the coffee cup back on the counter, and began walking, her hand over her side, "Are you sure this is a good idea, Kate asked walking over to help Iskra keep her balance, "Nope, this is virtually an awful idea, but it's better than doing nothing."  Iskra replied, "Iskra..." Kate said, 
"Please, Kate, I can't just sit here, I can't." she said shaking her head, "Okay," Kate said.

Kate struggled to help Iskra down the stairs of the apartment building, "You know, maybe this was a really bad idea." Iskra groaned, "But there is no way in hell, I'm going back up those stairs." Iskra said, looking up in the direction they came from. "Alright C'mon let's go," Kate said, taking Iskra's hand, and Iskra glanced down at their interlocked fingers and smiled. 

They got into the car, "What's the plan?" Kate asked, "We track him again," Iskra shrugged, "Right, got it." Kate said opening her phone, "Also, umm, I have something to tell you about the other night..." Kate began, as she scrolled through her phone, tracking Clint. "Yeah?" Iskra asked, "You know the black widow assassin Clint and I were fighting on the roof?" 

"Um, yeah." Iskra said, "Well, she paid me a visit." Kate said, and Iskra's heart dropped. "She uh...she said some things." Kate started, and Iskra looked at her, "About?" she asked, "She said, she's Natasha's sister." Iskra could've sworn her heart stopped, "What?" she said, a long string of Russian curse words following, as she pulled up her phone, dialing Yelena's number, Yelena of course, did not answer, sent her right to voice mail, "Aunt Lena I swear to God, you better call me back right now." she said into the phone, before ending the voice mail, "Tell me everything that happened, do not leave out a single detail." Iskra said to Kate.

Kate told her the whole thing, once they got to the small coffee shop, "Iskra, Yelena thinks Clint killed Natasha." Iskra's heart dropped, "What?" she breathed, "Oh My God," she murmured, "I, uh...I need a minute," Iskra stood up, and limped her way out of the coffee shop door, shrugging Kate's offers to help away.

Iskra let out a long breath sitting on one of the benches, similarly to Clint, she switched off her hearing aid, the sound around her becoming muffled, she looked up, "What do I do mama?" she whispered, "I...I just want this all to be over, everything since you...everything just feels so overwhelming, and I just want you back. You would know how to fix this." she murmured, "I feel like everyone's relying on me for one thing or another, and I," she paused, holding back tears, "I just want to go college, I just want...I just want to be normal." she whispered, ending with a simply humming the end of a Russian lullaby Natasha used to sing to her.

How can a person know everything at 18 and nothing at 22...

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A Trust A Bro moving van, drove down the street, Thomas and Ivan sat having a conversation about the music that was playing. "Tony Soprano, 'Forget About it'" Thomas said, "Royal Tenenbaums? Come on. Do we look like Royal Tenenbaums?" Ivan responded, laughing. "Yes," Thomas said very seriously. 

"You know what you don't see anymore?" Ivan asked, "Yeah?" Thomas said, "Brass knuckles. What are we going to do, huh? Pull them out of our pocket in the middle of a fight? 'Wait on second please, Let me put on my brass knuckles to punch your face.-" He was cut off by an arrow piercing through the window and Thomas shouting in horror, Ivan reached over and pulled out the small piece of paper."Maya, meet me tonight where you first met the Ronin. Alone." Ivan read the note, "But we are not, Maya." Thomas said.

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Kate sat down on the bench next to Iskra, "I paid for the coffee." Kate said, but Iskra still didn't have her hearing aid turned on, Iskra looked at her, "Are you ok?" Kate asked, and Iskra shrugged switching her hearing aid back on. Iskra sighed, leaning her head against Kate's shoulder, and Kate held Iskra's hand. 

"How sweet, little Iskra and her little archer friend..." Mikhail taunted

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

SO I JUST FOUND OUT THIS MOVIE SCENE EXISTS AND NOW YOU GET TO SEE IT AT THE END OF EVERY CHAPTER! LILI AND HAILEE (ISKRA AND KATE)