𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐘-𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐑 || 𝘋𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘎𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘒𝘪𝘯𝘨

"DID YOU HEAR ABOUT THOSE WIDOW'S THEY BROUGHT IN?" Alexander asked from his seat at the security console. Toying with a stress ball he looked back at Dmitri.

"Yeah. Same with the Red Guardian, dah?" He asked, turning from one of the computers and walking over to the seat beside his shift partner, yanking the chair from beneath his reclined legs and glaring at the man.

Alexander huffed, sitting up in his chair. "Taskmaster and Melina came in, right?"

"I still don't understand why Dreykov is keeping that withering bird. Just have someone else learn the mind control and then kill her. Easy as that."

Dmitri laughed. "If you think it's that easy to kill a veteran widow, I would like to see you be the one to kill... her- What the hell is that?" The man's eyes had drifted out to the window behind the main console.

The pair looked closer, eyes squinting beneath their masks as they saw dark figures floating idly. But their gaze shifted to the larger one to see them aim for something that could unmistakably be a rocket launcher. And by the time they realized, it'd been far too late.

"Oh, what the fuck-!"

The explosion to the hull of the security room destroyed the wall and ripped the console and men out to meet a long demise of a nasty fall. Nova flew her and Andrei inside, both rolling across the ground as they grasped their weapons and shot the two guards who came rushing into the room.

Andrei stepped in front of the woman, planting his feet firmly at the gentle pull of the capsized hole in the wall. The wind grabbed at his legs and body, wishing to take another unfortunate soul to face the impact of the Earth. Nova worked quickly, grabbing at the thrusters on his back, watching pieces of the material dissolve into matter that she pressed to her chest, fully completing her suit.

Tapping his back, they marched through the door and stood in an ever-revolving hangar that was on high alert from their bombastic entrance. But that didn't deter the two from running toward some crates and finding cover.

Andrei inhaled deeply and exhaled carefully. "All right, plan. If they're in holding, we gotta get down to floor zero. Dreykov will be on the highest floor."

"Anything I should expect?" Nova asked, pulling the M240 from its holstered position on her back.

"Other than half a dozen soldiers? He has a door dividing the hall and his office that can only be unlocked by his command. And if that isn't bad enough, Taskmaster will likely be at his side guarding him," he explained, watching the woman still be unbothered by the stacking chips ready to run her clean for everything she's got. "Nova, we should worry about getting the other three. At this point, I'm not in the mood to help my Mom."

Nova pulled the charging handle on the machine gun and lifted the heavy piece of weaponry, sighing. "Get the other three. I kill Dreykov. End of story." Pushing from the cover, she began to open fire on the soldiers, the half-hazard firing from the hip made bullets dance all over. Cutting through soldiers with splashes of blood left in the wake of the corpses hitting the ground. "We'll meet back here and I'll fly us out!" She yelled out as she backed herself into a doorway before turning and running.

Andrei clenched his jaw as he pressed his back firmly to the crate. "That was my weapon."

Moving down the halls, Nova was beginning to understand why the decision to go on her own could've been a short-sighted decision. It felt endless the amount of turns she could take with no sign of an elevator to alleviate the search. Only kept herself focused by fighting and the multitude of bodies left in her wake like broken glass. Shattering beneath the weight of her resolve that didn't waver under any circumstance.

How could she? Somewhere in this spiralling creation funded by bodies of women, her wife was alive and well. And for that, Nova was going to do everything she could to hold her once more. Even if it was done with her last breath.

Coming to a set of doors, Nova inspected it quickly. Seeing the lights above flash with each passing floor. With a growl, Nova yanked the doors open with a yell. Listening to the moans of the metal forced against the locks as she continued to pry them open with her entire body.

When they were, she was met with an elevator shaft. Sighing, Nova brushed a hand through her hair. She leant into the shaft and fired a repulsor blast at one of the cables, causing the elevator to jostle before quickly descending. Nova stepped back as the brakes screeched in agony and slowly came to a stop in front of her. Stunting her plans of just flying her way up.

But when the doors opened, Nova inhaled sharply at the multiple widows inside, eyes finding her and immediately climbing out. From what Nova could tell, there had to be 7 - No. 10, maybe? She couldn't tell just by the mass number of them slowly approaching her. And with the fluorescent lights now turning a dark shade of crimson, her vision was disfigured.

"Hey, I don't know if you can hear me, but if you can, you don't want to do this - I know you don't want to do this. And I don't want to hurt you," Nova reasoned, backing away with her hands held out in surrender. "Natasha and Yelena are here to help. They just want to free you-"

One of the widows attacked, which Nova quickly deflected with a glare. "Stop. You can stop this. Just...fight!" They stayed unresponsive to her insistence, still attacking to urge her back until she was cornered.

When she was, Nova pursed her lips and sighed. "I'm not letting you get between me and my wife."

From there, it was chaos all dumped into Nova who defended and attacked the best she could. Sending a widow or two into the wall she was pressed against and took punches to the body and head. Still, she kept herself against the wall, forcefully staying upright to attack the best she could.

There'd been very few times when Nova had fallen into a flow state where she anticipated and threw perfect punches or kicks. Most of the time, it was aerial combat that this happened—moving with precision and firing blindly like it was a circus trick for her. But here, despite her legs trembling beneath her and her entire body aching in agony, she deflected and landed her own shots.

But when a sudden gunshot went off, Nova crumbled to the ground with a cry. Panting, she pressed a hand to the wound and crawled back. Crying out at the kicks landed on her sides, making her tremble as she continued to crawl. All until she was sat against the wall, faced with her attackers.

Her breaths were stuttered and rapid as she shook her head. "P-Please..." she whimpered, lips quivering. "You don't have to do this."

The widow in front of her pulled out her baton with a blade emerging from the side. Lifting her arm, repulsor whirling up to fire, one of the electric batons was stabbed into the core and caused it to combust. In a flash, her ears began to ring with her eyes flinching shut at a sudden splash of warmth across her face. Through the adrenaline, Nova managed to angle her gaze down at her side to find her entire arm missing.

She stared at the wound, breathing rapidly with sharp grunts falling from her lips as she shakily looked up at the assassins. Whatever told them so, they turned and walked in the opposite direction toward their original goal. Leaving Nova to sit in a pool of her blood building every second.

With a trembling hand, she placed it against the wall as support. Shifting her legs beneath her, she attempted to stand but ended up falling face-first from the puddle of blood. Her body writhed as she continued to stand to her feet. Adrenaline did enough of the job to numb the pain for a short time until she eventually passed out. But she had to keep going and get to the hangar. At least then she could hope Andrei had been able to get Natasha, Yelena, and Alexei.

As she made it to the corner of an intersection of halls, she rounded the corner and was greeted by the sight of two soldiers who opened fire on her within a pinch. She ducked away just in time as chunks of the wall broke off from the bullets that continued. A trail of her blood smeared across the wall as she reached into her back waistband and pulled out her pistol. Lining her aim up at the crossway, she fired a shot into the first soldier's head and another in the leg of the second. Pushing off the wall and killing the second with a headshot.

Exhaling sharply, Nova rested her head against the wall and closed her eyes. Inhaling shakily as a wave of drowsiness was beginning to settle in her bones and limbs. An echoing voice whispered in her ear to just lay down and sleep–everything would be solved if she just did that.

Swallowing the lump in her throat, Nova forced her heavy eyelids open and continued down the hall, stepping over the bodies that she cut a slew through. Passing by the M240 she had driven the barrel into a soldier's chest.

Coming to the set of double doors leading into the hangar, she gripped her pistol tightly. Pressing down on the bullet button, she flicked the pistol to send the magazine flying before driving the pistol down toward her hip, catching a magazine that snapped into place. Fairly aware of the explosions shaking the entire flying fortress.

Using her body, she drove through the door and was welcomed by the relieving sight of Andrei, who was covered in dust and likely gunpowder from the idle position his shotgun held on his back.

"I can see you had some fun," he commented, quickly running to her side, wrapping her in-tacted arm around his shoulders and marching toward one of the jets. Flinching at parts of the hangar exploding and going up in flames.

"I couldn't get to him. The widows, I think they're escorting him out," she explained through breathy exhales, feet stumbling beneath her as they walked into the jet.

"Natasha's got it. Don't worry," he reassured, sitting her down into the co-pilot seat with himself sliding into the main seat.

Nova's face twisted in confusion. "Natasha? Wha- What do you mean? Was she not on floor zero?"

"My Mom and sisters might as well have created the definition of infiltration. Swapping identities with some tech Mom was working on?" He let out a laugh, flipping switches and grasping the joystick as the jet's engines powered to life. "We should be so lucky they're on our side."

None of it was fully computing with Nova but her worries had to be put on hold as the jet lifted off the ground and shot out of the hangar. Debris from the Red Room rained down around them as Andrei flew through the chaos beautifully. His eyes zeroed in on getting to the ground as soon as possible.

Reaching over, Andrei stabbed a syringe into her thigh. Her words were lost as she inhaled sharply, eyes shooting wide. Groaning as Andrei glanced over for a moment. "Adrenaline will keep you awake in the meantime. Once we land, I have to cauterize the wound and wrap it."

Nova let out a breathy laugh. "You focus on getting us to the ground. I'll deal with tending to my mistake."

Lifting her right arm, she pressed the palm to the wound with a cry. Powering the repulsor up enough to generate heat and cauterize the wound. With the drugs flushing through her body, the pain simmered to a sting that was bearable enough. Although, it did not save her from the disgusting scent of burning flesh. Pulling her arm away, she forced the nanobots to wrap tightly around the wound and stop the bleeding.

By the time it was done, they were gently landing amongst the destruction. Able to see everyone gathered with the same widows that had taken Nova's arm there as well. But their attention was on them, watching them carefully. With Andrei's assistance out of the seat, they stepped out from the side door of the cabin and approached.

A shaky smile formed on Nova's lips as Natasha's expression fell. "Mind giving me a hand?" Nova tried to quip but quickly noticed the angered and relieved look on her wife's face. "Tough crowd-

She grunted at the arms that tightly wrapped around her. "You scared the shit out of me." Nova smiled softly, leaning her head onto Natasha's shoulder. Just happy to have her there even if it costs a part of herself.

"So, you know how it feels now, huh?" Nova laughed, turning her head just enough to press a gentle kiss on Natasha's jaw. "Next time you pull some shit like this again, you give me something to go off of, you hear?"

"I think we handled ourselves fine," Andrei commented with the couple turning to him. "I mean, you should've seen her after you guys were taken. Scared the shit out of me to the point where I had to help."

"Yeah, she has a tendency to do that," Natasha commented, grinning down at Nova who rolled her eyes.

The sound of engines grabbed their attention to see a convoy steadily approaching their position. 16 cars at least and Nova could only think of one true person being escorted with so many guns at his disposal. "It's him isn't it?"

"It is," Natasha confirmed, turning toward Nova. "You can't stay. Melina should be able to patch you up."

Nova let out a shaky laugh. "Funny of you to think I would even dare to let that old fuck see me like this," she quipped, glad to see the smile cut across Natasha's lips. "Either way, I asked for a few favours from my Dad. I'll get those before I see you again."

"Be safe." Hugging Nova once more, she forcefully pulled herself away. "I expect us to use some of that energy I've built up for the past 4 days."

"Oh, that's fucking gross," Andrei groaned, walking past the pair.

A laugh fluttered at the back of Nova's throat as she pressed a gentle kiss to Natasha's lips, Nova painfully pulled away with her right hand ghosting over her pelvis before walking toward Alexei who smiled down at her.

It'd been so long since she had to leave Natasha's side for anything. She hated it, truthfully. Her home resided in one person and her family resided in that home as well. Nothing about stepping away would come as easy. But as they lifted off the ground, leaving Natasha to deal with Ross, Nova could only smile. Because in the depths of Nova's mind, she could feel it.

The growing of a new life to be welcomed with open arms.