➢𝗕𝗥𝗢𝗞𝗘𝗡 𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗠𝗜𝗦𝗘𝗦➢

『 Don't blame me, love made me crazy
If it doesn't, you ain't doin' it right
Lord, save me, my drug is my baby
I'd be usin' for the rest of my life 』
―𝘛𝘢𝘺𝘭𝘰𝘳 𝘚𝘸𝘪𝘧𝘵, 𝘋𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘔𝘦

⟶𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 24: 𝑨 𝑻𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝑯𝒆𝒊𝒔𝒕: 𝑷𝒂𝒓𝒕 2⟵

❝𝙉𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙮... 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙋𝙍𝙊𝙈𝙄𝙎𝙀𝘿 𝙢𝙚.❞

-𝐀𝐔𝐆𝐔𝐒𝐓 𝟏𝐒𝐓, 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟒-

𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐀𝐆, 𝐎𝐔𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐏𝐀𝐂𝐄

✹𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄 𝐇𝐄𝐈𝐒𝐓✹

The second group has traveled through the Quantum Realm to the next location of the official 'Time Heist'. This time, the year is 2014.

On a planet by the name of Morag, the hatchet doors of a much larger ship belonging to the Guardians of the Galaxy―the Benetar―tries to land the smaller model of transportation currently being controlled by the blue-skinned woman.

War Machine directs her, "All right, bring it down, Blue. Right on that line. That's it. Down, down."

With a fierce black-booted foot, Natasha Romanoff kicks away some sort of unearthly-looking species that hisses before running away. Both the ex assassins make expressions full of discomfit and disgust at the unusual environment they are in.

Clint Barton bobs his head, "Hey, can we hurry it up?"

"Guys," Black Widow heaves a sigh, then begins to complain about the time being wasted, "chop-chop. Come on. We're on the clock."

Rhodey has none of it, yelling back with a sarcastic voice, "All that... is really helpful."

His dryness and un amusement bring a smile to the faces of the two humans, but their attention is drawn elsewhere when more help is needed―suggested by the metal-suited man as both hands cup over his mouth.

"Dan! You plan on lendin' a hand?"

Natasha and Clint turn to meet the back of a slightly tall young woman, one with long double braids and who wears a black suit almost identical to the Black Widow's―no leather jacket this time. 

The eighteen-year-old initially struggles with staying up to par on task, due to the reality of where she is right now―Space. Incredible...

It was incredible, the purple dimly-lit skies and darker structures truly captivated her in their out-of-the-ordinary appearance. Well, the ordinary she is comparing it to, hers. Back on Earth.

Dani Rockland has only been in outer space for a mere couple of minutes, though already it feels as if it could be a second home. Somewhere she could belong if granted the time. Her abilities stand out far more than most, definitely superior to the individuals she presently works alongside, and for that, the girl experiences joy. A rush of excitement.

She is capable and grand right now. She is extremely powerful right now.

Dani feels so entirely... free.

She's not though, because away from Earth she is to complete a mission, an important one, that will hopefully save the universe. Bring back her Uncle Sam, Wanda who was like a sister to her, and everyone else unfortunately lost in the Snap five years ago. 

Her body and mind are in desperate need to connect so that she can focus, however, the teenage girl's heart beats too wildly for any of that to occur.

Dark hair spins around at a fast rate, combated with remembering just where she was and doing here in the first place, in time, and an eager-beaver Dani sets off on a few leaping steps before her body levitates into the air, towards where Rhodey and the ship need help landing. 

Blue aura from pieces of an Infinity Stone capture the inside of her palms and encircle around her ankles.

Hawkeye reacts to the action by asking his longtime friend, his arms crossed in question, "When she learn to do that?"    

The side-braided redhead with blonde streaks belonging to Black Widow tilts her head to the side, and formulates instead of a simple answer, another query, "Do what? Learn to follow orders?"

Clint clicks his tongue at the small jab aimed at the brunette, daughter of Captain America who was just as resilient as him sometimes―precisely living up to the name―but the arrowed man is genuinely curious, "No. Fly."

Dani's highlighted figure in blue catches the attention of the two ex assassins once more, and Natasha is  grinning ear-to-ear when explaining, "I don't know, but it's pretty amazing, right?"

"Yeah..." Clint gets lost in watching her, the near-to-matching bewilderment still ever-present on the woman's face, as well as her daughter's.

Nebula emerges from the landed ship's console moments after. Settling down with little to no issues from flight is a hyped-up Danielle, and the two share a brief interaction before departing onto two different teams. 

Many similar to the first group of the Time Heist, there is more than one Infinity Stone in this timeline. Power and Soul.

The woman configured into parts inquiries to the one of flesh, bone, and a sustainable energy source with somewhat of an incredulous tone―one that consistently presents a lack of emotion―regarding her anomalous powers, "You've really never been to Space before?"

"I went on Space Mountain once." Dani acclaims with a giddy hop to her few strides, demeanor increasingly chipper, which contrasts with Nebula, who is serious.

It continues to persist before the blue female says something that momentarily bewilders the eighteen-year-old, "What is Space Mountain?"

"It's..." Dani informs through a stunned expression, "A rollercoaster."

"At Disney World."

"You know," Agent Rockland proceeds to do a wavy motion with her left-gloved hand, primarily an example of what a 'rollercoaster' does... but Nebula just stares at her.

Dani scrunches her lips together in a pout, then remarks in a knowledgeable tone, "You guys don't have those up here, do you?"

When all are eventually settled and prepared for their designated missions, Natasha wraps an arm around Rhodey and hugs him tight, the man returning the affection as he insists, "Take care, okay?"

"Yeah." She nods before pulling away, and Dani is next.

Wrapping both arms around the metal suit belonging to her uncle the girl buries her face into his chest, Rhodey squeezing her life-suckingly tight as he tells her, "Good luck."

"Won't need it, Uncle Rhodey. I'll take care of Natty and Clint." Danielle affirms confidently.

And Rhodey specifies with a small smile as she moves away, "I wasn't talking about you, Dani."

His heartiness is replaced with dry candor when bumping fists with Clint, muttering to him and Natasha solemnly regarding his niece, "Make sure she doesn't trip over her own boot-laces."

The ex assassins stifle laughs as the eighteen-year-old makes a shocked expression, and from across the two, emphasizes along with a sharp gasp―to Rhodey, "Liar!"

Referencing his earlier phrase. His sarcasm.

He is one indeed, though, a liar... as not too much faith is had in the young girl who when nervous, can be indisputably clumsy, but luckily that was okay. She had Hawkeye and Black Widow, the more experienced and wiser adults to look out for her. 

Yes, Agent Rockland is stronger... but supervision and precaution were certainly required on all accounts of this mission. If not going somewhere familiar, they shouldn't know what to expect, and thus, must constantly be on their toes.

Rhodes says to the three before they go, "Take that stone and come back. No messing around."

"Hey. We got this." War Machine encourages Clint, who nods, "Let's get it done."

"Yes, sir."

"I'll see you back."

Natasha and Clint walk up the ramp behind Dani who has already ventured in, and stopping them once more leading up to their departure is Rhodey's signature word―instruction, "You guys watch each other's six."

They all give confirmative nods before going in, and the hatchet doors of the Guardian's ship automatically close before the transportation begins to lift. Nebula and Rhodey stand by one another while watching them take off. 

The Benetar rumbles as at close-to lightning speed it races off toward the destination.

"Coordinates for Vormir are laid in." Nebula maintains dignified features, adding importantly, "All they have to do is not fall out."

Within the ship, Natasha and Clint are seated in the front. Dani is in the back, and right when a certain jump is made through space the ship's turbulence and momentum pick up tremendously, amazingly. 

Wholeheartedly better than any rollercoaster Danielle Rockland has ever been on.

The arrow-shooting man articulates to his gun-holding ally, "We're a long way from Budapest."

Black Widow chuckles back.

As for the power-filled Agent Rockland, Dani is mesmerized. Rather than undergo the aching of nausea sickness in her belly from the intensity of the trip, the eighteen-year-old does her best to take in the colorful atmosphere that conclusively comes off as freedom for her. 

Fuels her up with emotions like excitement, and adrenaline-rushing. Like a bird in the sky, she wanted to be, to witness the true existence of what is out there beyond the stars from Earth. 

Now more than ever the young girl wants to explore new potentials, with her outlandish, and unmatchable powers. She wants to rise up.

For now, she still rolls stones, however, awaits the arrival on the planet Vormir, embracing the beautiful and thrilling journey there. 

The view, and the happiness.

❀❀❀

A rumbling sound occurs within Benetar and with some more turbulence, the ship soars smoothly towards the planet that is indeed at the center of celestial existence―the air gives off a purple mist that accentuates the dark and eerie aspect of Vormir in 2014. 

The humans are consistently baffled by the outlook of the destination they are witnessing, and both Clint Barton and Natasha Romanoff fail to hide their astonishment.

"Wow." Clint breathes, "Under different circumstances..."

"... this would be totally awesome."

Dani Rockland finds herself inter-locked in a similar trance of pure bewilderment that takes a few seconds of mentally coaxing to rip her gaze away from the side window, that still projects the colorful space aspects, and start to gather her things together. There isn't much because all of her power is her power, comes in-set with just herself. The eighteen-year-old for good measure makes sure to re-tighten the ropes holding her black sturdy boots together.

She sits in one of the Guardian's chairs while doing this, and her leaned-over position causes both her double braids to somewhat annoyingly fall on her shoulders and into her face. Not to mention also put them in tugging reach.

"I don't think your boot laces will be the things that you trip over." Natasha touches one of Dani's braids, gently pulling on them as she was the one who did the work, but her voice is silky and low and has more meaning to it.

"I'm grateful, then." The green-eyed girl responds, earnestly.

She exhales a bit through her speech, as she is almost entirely aware of what is to come next.

What this conversation is turning into.

A persuasion.

"Dani."

Dani shakes her head, "Natty, no. Uh uh. I am not."

The child, while still sitting down, pouts when believing that she is right, refusing to give in to the convincing acts of one smooth ex-assassin. Dani is the same but stubborn.

... She is not cutting her hair.

Natasha runs a hand over her dark head in a nice way, continuing to pry, "You know, I really think a long bob would look nice on you, your beach waves and all. Come on, for once in your life live, Sweet Pea."

Her drag out on that last part brings a snort to Dani's nose, and quickly she rides off the proclamation with an acclamation―a sincere one, "There are other ways I can 'live' that don't involve taking a power saw to my locks."

"Hmm," the woman is still in her teasing mood, always no matter where, or when with Dani, "like Dante?"

Mentioning the brown-eyed boy is just what strips the frown and attitude right from the girl's soul, and the eighteen-year-old is suddenly flustered. Incredibly.

Her face is pink as Natasha says openly from inside the ship, "It was about time you two kissed."

She leaves Dani's blushing and tomato-faced side to ready herself for departure, leaving the only other individual in the space to―efficiently, rather―team up on an ultimate attempt to remind her of the events leading up to their Heist. Aka... embarrass the heck out of her.

Clint tags along in rehashing the ordeal, "Though... untimely if you think about it."

"Well, Uncle Clint," Dani pleads her case, rising up to meet the mo-hawked male, "it wasn't really ideal that you all had to see that."

"See what?" He questions, casually, before he himself turns out to be in a witty mood, "Your shocked and red-faced expression?"

Their tag-teaming proves to be detrimental to the eighteen-year-old, and immediately Dani's head is in her hands, "Ugh... was it that noticeable?"

Natasha kindly covers up her laugh with instead a reassuring set of pats, on the taller―but younger―female's shoulder, "No, Sweets, it was adorable."

"The cutest." She emphasizes with the utmost amount of care, and Clint follows her with a warm, teasing smile

Dani lets out a groan.

The group leaves the aircraft and begins a journey on foot towards the destination of the Soul Stone on Vormir, ominous wind and chilling weather accompanying them the whole way there. Eventually climbing up the mountain adds a significant drop in temperature, including snow that falls into the hair of the braids belonging to Black Widow and Agent Rockland.

 Dani shivers as her nose somewhat noticeably tints to a protuberant red color, and wrapping both arms around herself with little to no trouble―due to being enhanced―she makes her way up the several rock steps with no exhaustion whatsoever. Despite that, she still brings up the rear.  

Groans and pants are easily heard in front of her as the two human adults she joins find themselves, while athletic, struggling a bit due to the long voyage, and Natasha is the first one to vocalize their predicament, "I bet the raccoon didn't have to climb a mountain."

Hawkeye corrects her referral with a lifted gloved finger.

"Technically, he's not a raccoon, you know?" Clint pops his hip out while breathing somewhat heavily.

"Oh, whatever. He eats garbage." Black Widow pertains, and from behind Dani silently smiles at the two friends and their banter.

That she is then brought into as the man notices her completely stable, and not-out-of-breathe-at-all stance, liveliness, "How hard would it be for you to fly up here?"

"Easy." Danielle shrugs, without missing a beat.

She glances down at the steep view below them, and then back up.

Her own sense of humor pops by.

"But where's the cardio in that? Come on, come on!"

She is having fun. Enjoys being liberated.

Natasha and Clint's heads twist in dismay, though one more advance is taken in the direction that is behind them. 

Dani abruptly extends her hands out in front of both their figures, in protection, as an unknown individual stands across from them.

First beckoning with a deep and misty tone, "Welcome."

Like a reflex, Clint and Natasha both draw their weapons, and beyond that blue aura threatens to seep out of Danielle's palms―arms still in front of her mother and uncle figure. This mysterious person while remaining faceless and floating with a black hooded cloak, proceeds to read the three who stand before him.

Identify, and he starts with Black Widow, "Natasha. Daughter of Ivan."

"Clint," then Hawkeye, "Son of Edith."

Red Skull's voice has a glimmer of inflection to it, as he conclusively lays eyes on the young woman―lastly recognizing, "Danielle. Daughter of Steven."

Dani, Clint, and Natasha, slowly make their way closer.

The redheaded woman reacts to his knowledge of all their heritages by asking low and with a slight quiver in her voice, "Who are you?"

"Consider me... a guide." The echoey voice replies, and further steps into the purple light when explaining, "To you, and all who seek the Soul Stone."

Natasha's tone carries the same amount of lightness as it reeks with amusement, but at the same exact time, threat, "Oh, good. You tell us where it is, then we'll be on our way."

"Ah, liebchen," Red Skull speaks in German, the language making a brow of Dani's quirk, "If only it were that easy."

He leads the three while half-walking half-levitating until they reach the very end of Vormir's cliff, and below, is an unbelievably steep drop.

Danielle stands in between Natasha and Clint while the red man insists, "What you seek lies in front of you... as does what you fear."

"The stone's down there." The Black Widow approaches the drop-off, Clint right next to her as the wind blows into his hair, and both their expressions are perturbed.

"For one of the three of you. For the other..." Gears start to turn inside their heads before Dani's, the eighteen-year-old left standing a few paces back until the words of Red Skull permanently graze the girl's skin like lighting a match―she feels sick.

 "In order to take the stone, you must lose that which you love. An everlasting exchange."

"A soul for a soul." That is what he is relaying, which ultimately means that out of the three currently questing to retrieve the orange infinity stone, one of them would have... to do it. 

To sacrifice. Sacrifice themselves.

Only that one person... would die.

Dani Rockland's neck furiously twitches as realization settles in, bewilderment. A sacrifice. One at the biggest and most detrimental cost: one's life.

Just... just who was going to do it? And how?

How? No.

No...

❀❀❀

THE SENSITIVE GIRL IS FREAKING OUT. NOT ONLY INTERNALLY IS IT VISIBLE, BUT Danielle Mairead Rockland has never been in a position like the one she is in right now, and quite frankly, it's safe to say that almost no one has. 

It would make sense for one working in this business and in this world to eventually reach a point where a tough decision must be made... a sacrifice, but unfortunately, due to the young woman's delicate heart―Dani struggles in being able to cope. Literally. She can't.

Wintery breath hitches in her throat as she pants, concentrating heavily on her breathing while also on the gentle patterns her Uncle Clint runs up and down her arms. 

They both stand, Hawkeye motioning with a hand to the red-faced man in-between trying to console his niece, "How's it going?"

He chuckles with a nice salute, the chipper demeanor not lasting long.

His gloved hand that previously held Dani's shortly becomes empty when the double-braided girl covers herself in as much warmth and comfort as possible, beginning to pace nervously, distractedly.

Disconnectedly... and Natasha witnesses it all.

Looking straight forward and seated on a log is the fearless woman herself, and she both identifies and agrees with the sounds of disbelief that emit out of Clint, "Jesus."

"Maybe he's making this shit up."

That she doesn't agree with, and with two figures now pacing on either side of her she attempts to find a common ground, "No. I don't think so."

"Why? 'Cause he knows your daddy's name?"

Dani does not engage with the current topic at hand though there is a reaction in her expression that causes her to stop walking, when the soft palate inside Natasha's mouth lifts, when talking about her own life, "I didn't."

Clint glances back at her while she continues to talk in a hunched position, hands brushing against her lips, "Thanos left here with the stone..." her head shakes when articulating, "Without his daughter. That's not a coincidence."

"Yeah." The man nods, succumbing to the reality of the matter a lot faster than the eighteen-year-old currently chewing off her fingernails ever could, and then there is a flashback.

A reference to the entire meaning of this mission, this 'Time Heist'. For one reason and one reason only, that is saving the universe―the intent is clear. The motivation.

"Whatever it takes." Natasha Romanoff whispers as snow drips near her face.

Dani's wandering-in-looking finally ends when momentarily, she gets a glimpse of the path directly in front of her... one leading to the edge of Vormir. The end goal. The obstacle in-between retrieving the next Infinity Stone. 

The young woman presses both hands onto her cold cheeks.

Meanwhile, Clint repeats, "Whatever it takes."

Natasha looks up at him and rises, "If we don't get that stone... billions of people stay dead."

"Yeah," he nods in understanding, again, before solidifying, "Then I guess we both know who it's gotta be."

She nods back, "I guess we do."

She swallows. Taking hold of the hand diagonal from his, Clint gives it a tight squeeze, and Natasha places her other one over his gingerly. They thought they were on the same page, about who is going to do this. They're not.

Danielle somewhat snaps back to the present time, and she impedes their exchange, carrying nothing but anxiety with it. 

Shakiness and even the actual talk are making her spiral into an instant of skittishness and fear. The eighteen-year-old wants to stop this.

"H-Hold on a minute, guys, wait," they turn to look at her and are grieved to realize she is not in an exact clear state of mind right now, she is panicking.

Dani blows out air in order to organize her thoughts, but even then they are jumbled, "I-If we just slow down for a minute, a-a-and think about what we could do, maybe we could..."

"There's no point in that, Dani. It has to be one of us." Natasha, with unintentional harshness, shuts down her claims, feeling that it would only make things worse, and that intuition was right.

The girl then while out of it, suggests, and she offers herself up to death's table, "Okay, then maybe it could be me."

"No." Two voices who currently are in a battle of their own team up once again, because they believe this to be true.

Dani... should NOT be the one sacrificing herself on this day. Never. 

But she doesn't understand.

Dani tries to respond with alternatives.

"It's how I'll pay my debt back to you two," she thinks of Steve, "for protecting me all these years..."

Also having memories of the blonde-haired Captain and SuperSoldier, Natasha knows that what she does here would be entirely approved by Rogers if it meant his daughter was safe―though what she, in particular, does to ensure that, maybe not so much.

She lets go of Clint's hand to grab onto Dani's, insisting, "This one's on us, Sweets. On me."

"I was betting we were referring to different people here, Natasha."

Clint's knowingly voice causes both females to become more alert, especially Dani, whose light green irises widen when addressing―inhaling, "Uncle Clint."

"For the last five years, I've been trying to do one thing." Natasha tells him heartfeltly, "Get to right here. That's all it's been about."

"Bringing everybody back."

Clint fights back her claims, being witty, "No, don't you get all decent on me now."

It continues. Them... 

"What, you think I wanna do it? I'm trying to save your life, you idiot."

"Yeah, well, I don't want you to. How's that?"

The man goes on to bring up his past actions, occurring in the last five years. Since he lost his family. Since he lost himself.

"Natasha, you know what I've done." His voice is somewhat gravelly and sorrow-filled as it chokes, "You know what I've become."

The corners of Dani's cheeks sink inwards when the girl bites down, knowing full well that this conversation, or rather the topic of interest regarding one's morality has surely been tossed around in her mind the past few days as well―her own human decency. 

During this time, Dani has done things and become someone who vaguely she was not proud of. Some of the things still haven't come back to haunt her yet, though she knows the list is piling... and it will follow her for as long as she allows it. The guilt.

Agent Rockland is aware of how important it is to save the world, trust you, she does know after living in the one that they had been for the last however many years―the majority of those her a runaway... She understands the vitality that everyone is brought back from wherever they are. To become intact again. 

But, there is always a cost, to freedom, to happiness for all, and this time it was a life. Only one, but it going to be the one of her mother, Natasha. And it takes the girl more than one second to adhere to the actuality rather than the reality of how she is feeling, and Dani is grief-stricken.

Completely grief-stricken, and that proves to be so when a sniffle unravels from her soul, sadness pouring out when the woman who she has always looked up to says something wise―something that rings true, "Oh, I don't judge people on their worst mistakes."

A tear manages to trickle down Dani's cheek.

Clint voices the eighteen year old's additional thoughts, "Maybe you should."

Natasha responds in proof of their past, again, "You didn't."

Clint is silent for the next few moments that follow, and his face contorts before reaching a resolution, and softly he remarks with a dead-panned face, to his friend, "You're a pain in my ass, you know that?"

Natasha nods because she knows. They move closer to one another and rest their foreheads together, the second of them doing so seeming like an hour. 

When they finally pull away, the redhead now has tears leaking down her cheeks.

"Okay." Clint pulls back, agreeing oddly with a plastered-on smile, acknowledging, "You win."

"No."

Dani vocalizes strongly from the side, and when both adults look up, their hearts are broken. 

The child is not a puddle of mess and tears, full-on crying like her persona may enlist... no, she is angry. So angry and frustrated that it makes her expression scrunch up, which MAKES water spring out of her eyelids. Her infuriated features cause her to blink furiously. In the sacrifice... Natasha Romanoff is about to make, in the inability Clint Barton had to stop her.

 In fact, he agreed with her!? It's absurd!

But what she is failing to interpret or recollect is that there is―no―other―option, nothing can be done. 

Accept what is done and remember goodbyes and farewells. Dani and Natasha's is toxic.

"No. What?" the eighteen-year-old repeats in voicing her utter shock, and from there Natasha tries to approach her.

Dani rejects her.

"No. Natty... Natty, you promised me. You promised that you'd be there to watch what I do." Her voice quivers.

Their earlier and unfortunately recent conversation plugs an amount of devastation into the woman's watery but trying to be a firm response, "I know, I know I did. But promises don't last. You... you will, Sweets."

"And I'll make sure of that―"

"No," she shrugs off the arm that the redhead tries to pull her close with, and Dani is devastated, "You... you don't understand. I need you!"

She needs her to stay. She needs her to keep guiding her through life, with advice, being there to talk to... being there for milestones. Accomplishments, relationships, but they couldn't have their way.

Natasha gently touches her daughter's back, in a calming but slightly louder voice, attaining, "It's okay, Sweets. It'll be okay."

"No," the brunette says for the millionth time, angrily, "You... You're not listening to me! It's not gonna be okay!"

"Just... keep your heart, okay? Remember to keep it." The steel demeanor of the Black Widow is cracking, and it is all because of the wet face of the girl who she named Agent Rockland.

Her tears, her sorrow. Her underconfidence in being without the woman when in reality, Dani is powerful enough to be just fine on her own. It is something she has not come to terms with yet.

Natasha after running aside the girl's black suit moves to cup both her hands and wipe tears from her cheeks, and with conviction, she says, "Don't let anybody change it. Your heart."

"Don't let anybody change you."

"Natty," Dani's voice cracks through a sob, but her face is still not of destruction.

Her heart is, "I need you."

"You'll be okay."

They've been through way too much together for it to end like this. For Dani to be angry, not understanding that either way something must be done. Somebody has to die, and in her mind, it just can't be Natasha. 

Or Clint, but the enhanced teenage girl knows by now―despite her volunteering earlier―that if she were the one to make the jump, her death would no doubt tear her father from the inside out. Their relationship and his purpose in her life will have meant nothing overall if she dies. Steve Rogers will feel like a failure. 

So would Natasha Romanoff. Her purpose, too, in Dani's life, was to protect her. And when Steve is not around to make the call the responsibility ultimately fell to her. One last time. One last mission. Whatever it takes to keep the girl safe. Whatever it takes to save the universe.

Even if that meant risking her own life.

"You'll be okay," is just a phrase that the current Dani Rockland cannot comprehend nor process at the moment, again, all she experiences is rage and anger not directly for the actions of her surrogate mother―but at the world. 

She turns out of the somewhat rough but equally tender hold of the redhead ruggedly, and as soon as Natasha's hands slip away from Dani's face so does a single tear mark on the other side of hers.

The woman is painfully distraught to be watching the back of her daughter get farther and farther, slightly, that she allows her guard to be brought down.

... And, coincidentally, makes it the right time for Hawkeye to take her out from under her feet with his foot, and soon enough he has her pinned down with both his arms.

The sudden movement and shocked noises cause Dani's braided head to whip back around.

It is quickly determined that Clint was lying earlier about being okay with his friend being the one to sacrifice, and isn't that just like the marksmen? The spy.

"Tell my family I love them." He says to Natasha, who he still has pinned.

All until she grabs hold of his arm herself and flips him over, them swapping positions.

She raises her arm that has a wrist stabilizer ready for a spark, a serene look on her face―things have gotten serious now, "You tell them yourself."

Hawkeye groans in pain as he is shot with the electricity stemming from the Black Widow's suit, and while he is reeling on the ground the deadly assassin makes use of the opportunity to make her way off the mountain―though to her small astound a figure that is not Red Skull waits for her.

It's her surrogate daughter. Her daughter. One who at a point and time, was her student... In combat training.

The girl has evolved a lot since then.

Sea-foam green eyes sharpen a calculated amount as Dani has her usual stance on: Extended palms, feet shoulder-width apart. In her line of charge is her black-suited mother figure, and shortly it can be discovered that this is not going to end well. Natasha's darker and fiercer green eyes narrow in preparation. One that is not wanted.

The Black Widow never expected... to have to fight her own daughter. 

Dani wasn't expecting it either, though that awareness is hidden behind a relatively powerful and strengthening front, "I have everything you taught me, and so much more."

Natasha's red head tilts to the side, and she locks eyes with the brunette while simultaneously beginning to run at her, if not through her to get to the edge of Vormir. Dani's intent is to prevent that.

Her hands slowly but sturdily raise in front of her in devising an amount of power from her energy source combined with super-strength... to give the woman a hefty shove back. Dani does everything right and calls upon the use of her abilities. When Natasha is close enough she places her hands on both the shorter woman's shoulders... and pushes.

Dani's abilities do not come to help her at this time.

The eighteen-year-old retracts with a rather haunted expression, horrified to find out that her sustainable energy source worked so hard to control for years... became one with... is not accessible at this time. No blue aura exits the girl. 

Her off-putting mentality is seemingly predicted in the features of Natasha Romanoff, the glimmer in her gaze causing Dani to find herself having to rely on her physical combat skills in a martial arts type of bout... with the Black Widow. That is not good.

Natasha out-skills Danielle by far in that department, not forgetting her involvement in the braided girl's sustainable energy source malfunctioning, and she quickly uppercuts the child before laying waste to the side of her face with a mighty harsh elbow. Dani cries out as she hits the ground.

Not even seconds after she got hit down she is back up, now tossing swings at the ex-assassin that the woman easily dodges until Dani like a bull dives into Natasha's body, and still with her enhanced strength manages to lift her up in a firefighter carry―planning to flip her over but Black Widow dances her way out of it by wrapping her legs around Agent Rockland's neck and backflipping off and to the ground. In the process, she twists her legs which twinges Danielle's neck and she falls to the floor again.

The side of her head bleeds from a rock but hasn't healed yet when Natasha gets on top of the eighteen-year-old in an attempt to restrain her. Her arm presses down on the girl's chin, and her knees dig into her biceps. Dani's black boots kick rapidly like a child throwing a tantrum in the sense that the Black Widow has her stuck, and that is very much the objective.

Natasha with gritted teeth seethes out to the fussing brunette who still is not well, "Stay down! Stay down!"

Her tone is authoritative and direct in its own entity in that the woman wants nothing more than to stop fighting... but Dani just doesn't seem to listen. The Black Widow's somewhat brief facial expression of fear winces when a shrill but piercing scream is let out of the girl as she works to get Natasha off of her.

The two are so caught up in their scuffle with each other that they're a second late to noticing that Clint has recovered and has since dropped his bow, breaking into a full-on sprint off of Vormir. Natasha and Dani watch him like he is in slow motion.

The redhead yanks herself off of Danielle and surges forward to presumably tackle Hawkeye right as he leaps. Scrambling to follow her is the enhanced eighteen-year-old, who grabs hold of Natasha's right leg and all three go tumbling off the cliff. 

In somewhat of a three-way-hug but more like a desperate hold on one another, the Black Widow with the most intelligent and quick-thinking mind takes a grappling hook and secures it onto both Dani and Clint's belts―in return making the girl and man harshly smack into one another as they are now tied together. Natasha isn't.

https://youtu.be/1LrcyhQ9Lg4

Hawkeye tugs on the cord with one hand while the other catches Black Widow's, he curses, "Damn you."

Dani's mouth opens, "Natty!"

The redhead slips until Clint catches her but his grip is very loose, in fact, his body is being stretched based on the lack of balance and distance between them―although he is right next to Dani, and as the brunette herself tries to extend her palm to help her mother, it simply does no good. Natasha had outsmarted them both.

That was just like her. No.

Upon nearing her evidential fall, she only wears a look of much reassurance, and comfort―a trait never offered to her, "Let me go."

"No." Clint's voice quivers as his eyelids scrunch up, he has never been in so much pain, emotionally, before, "Please. No."

It is exactly like when he lost his family. Natasha is his family.

Dani Rockland hasn't suffered as much either, finding it hard to believe with all she has been through, but the image of somebody who although not blood to her, made some mistakes... Still was more of a mother than Deborah Rockland ever could be, willingly accepting her death, it shakes her to the core. No one else could ever be so noble.

Or peaceful.

"It's okay."

"Dani, Baby, look at me."

The girl's light green eyes are filled to the brim with tears, her lip pushed up to her nose as a sudden heat overcomes her―a lump is in her throat as she struggles to speak.

She manages to instill what she believes to be true and what she has been trying to get across this whole time, truly, "I can't... I mean I... I... I'm not like you!"

Natasha's own aqueous look slowly crinkles into one that is admirable.

And with her final moments, she uses them wisely when telling this orphaned girl who could have been her, but isn't, "No..."

"You're better."

Dani's eyebrows raise from being drawn together, and her jaw drops.

And with that... comes the end.

"Please―," Clint says while his hold on Natasha undoubtedly loosens, and that was unchangeable.

Natasha Romanoff kicks off the wall with momentum, falling off the rope they shared... and definitively plummets to her death. Her sacrificed life brings a large white boom to the sky and with it, her soul rising to the clouds is seen from above.

Dani Rockland yells out in complete anguish and grief, it becoming too much for her as she loses the courage to stare down at her mother figure's body on the ground, and immediately her head digs into Clint Barton's chest―crying into him. The man's own tears blur his vision and grief overcomes him as pain is heard in his voice as well, and the two are sent elsewhere as the Soul Stone has been earned.

They leave Vormir with the essential Infinity Stone needed, but with a hole forever left in their hearts. The experience will forever bond them for life.

For... the need for the stone required losing who was precious to them. Three became two, and Dani's count of parents fell to one.

... And the time heist is now complete.

❀❀❀

"I WILL RESCUE YOU."

I will send out an army to find you
In the middle of the darkest night
It's true, I will rescue you
I will never stop marching to reach you
In the middle of the hardest fight
It's true, I will rescue you

―Lauren Daigle, Rescue