CARSON STOOD UP straighter at the sound of the voice coming from his left. He turned his head to the side, a huge smile tugging at the corner of his lips as his eyes landed upon Wanda. She too turned her head and met his gaze, slowly lowering down her hands and allowing her red wisps to fade out, a wave of relief washing over her.

Wanda began walking over to him. But the happy and relived demeanour she had soon changed. As she got closer, her eyes suddenly narrowed along with her head tilting to the side making Carson practically choke on air.

Oh shit.

He cleared his throat. "Wanda I—"

"No, no, no. Don't you Wanda me." She shook her head, pushing him backwards as she approached him.

Carson furrowed his brows and let out a small scoff at his girlfriends reaction. So much for a wholesome reunion huh?

"Jesus Witchy. What the hell was that for?"

"Oh, I'll tell you what that was for." Wanda raised her voice. "You disappear on me AGAIN for a few more days—"

"Wanda let me explain."

"I'm still talking." She glared and him, instantly making Carson shut up. "After you went completely ghost again I started to get worried but I figured, oh no it's fine right? He'll be fine, just like he told me he would be. So I just tried my best to brush it off and not think about it for a few days because I didn't want to seem like a psycho girlfriend who has to know you are all the time! But then you, I don't know how but... this strange link that we have... I— I suddenly couldn't get a connection anymore and I thought... I thought that—"

Wanda's hands were all over the place as she continued her rant, visibly getting more worked up as she continued explaining. Carson frowned when he noticed her eyes starting to well up, her breathing starting to become erratic. He carefully moved forward and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into his embrace.

After a few seconds, Wanda relaxed in his hold and threw her arms around him too, nuzzling her face into his chest. Carson put his hand on the back on her head and ran his fingers through her hair like he always does to soothe her.

"I couldn't..." Wanda sniffled. "I couldn't feel you anymore. I thought you— I thought you were dead."

"Shhh, it's okay." He kissed the top of her head gently. "We're okay."

Wanda pulled back and looked up at him. His chest tightened when he saw the tears streaming down her face as she cried.

"You can't die." Wanda shook her head.

Carson cupped her face. "I won't."

Wanda's breath hitched in her throat as she tried to speak while crying. "I'm serious I— Like never... you can't..."

"Never?" Carson chuckled lightly and used his thumbs to wipe away the tears that were falling down Wanda's cheeks. "I think I might have to someday, Wands."

"Well just..." She sniffled. "Just do it after me."

Wanda pulled herself back into his embrace and wrapped her arms around his neck, closing her eyes as she rested her face in the crook of his neck.

"Okay, deal." He wrapped his arms back around her and kissed her shoulder.

As Wanda moved her hand up to his shoulder, Carson flinched as her fingers accidentally brushed over one of his wounds that still hadn't healed yet. Wanda instantly pulled back and looked down at his shoulder.

"You're hurt..." Wanda looked up at him.

"It's nothing, don't worry about it." Carson told her.

Wanda stepped back and took him in, her eyes
scanning over the multiple injuries and wounds that were dotted around his body. She looked down at his hands and picked them up, gently tracing her fingers over the bruises on his knuckles with a small frown on her face.

"I don't understand. Why aren't you healing?"

"When we was at Melina's, soldiers from the red room attacked us and they shot me with some sort of dart that temporarily suppressed my powers." Carson sighed and intertwined his fingers with Wanda's. "They're coming back though, just way to slow for my liking."

Wanda nodded slowly. "Is Melina another one of Nat's friends?"

Carson raised a brow at his girlfriends question, smirking to himself as he watched her keep her eyes trained on their hands.

Before he could reply, the sound off rubble moving around caught their attention. They both looked to the side, watching as Tony pushed himself up from the pile of rubble that he was launched in and start walking towards them while brushing the dust from off his Iron Man suit.

"Oh don't worry, I'm fine by the way." Tony said sarcastically. "I didn't need any help or anything."

"Uh, Sorry T." Carson scratched the back of his head.

Natasha's voice suddenly filled Carson's ears, making him groan and cover his ears with his hand at how loud it was. He needed a moment to readjust to the enhanced hearing while his powers came back.

"Yelena...? Shit, shit, shit, wake up... please I need you to wake up."

Tony and Wanda both moved forward to help him but he shook his head and let out a breath before standing up straight and looking around the area for Natasha and Yelena.

Carson began to walk forwards, his head snapping in different directions in search for the two sisters. Tony and Wanda shared a look before quickly following behind him.

"What is it bud?" Tony asked him. "What's wrong?"

"I need... Yelena... I need to find Lena." Carson mumbled.

"Who?" Wanda questioned.

Carson stopped in his tracks when he saw a torn up parachute wrapped around and draping over some parts of the wreckage, Natasha's red hair sticking out. He instantly ran over, his eyes widening when he saw Natasha kneeling down next to Yelena's unconscious body on the ground.

"Yelena..." Natasha said shakily.

Carson moved next to Natasha and placed his hand on her shoulder, giving it a squeeze to let her know that he was there for her.

"Come on Lena." He muttered to himself.

After a few more seconds, Yelena's eyes fluttered open once more and she let out a small groan as she moved her heads positioning.

Carson smiled as he made eye contact with the blonde. "Hi."

"Hi." Yelena returned the smile before turning her attention towards her sister. "We're both upside down."

Natasha let out a soft chuckle at Yelena's comment and helped her sit up, making sure to be careful with her. Once she was upright Natasha cupped her face, tears starting to run down her cheeks as she took a deep breath before speaking.

"Прости меня сестренка. (Forgive me, little sister.)" Natasha whispered. "I should've come back for you."

Yelena shook her head. "You don't have to say that Natasha, it's okay."

"It was real to me too."

Yelena froze and looked up at her sister, finally meeting her gaze. A huge smile formed on the blondes face from Natasha's words and she moved her head down to rest their foreheads together. Carson took a step back in order to let the two have their moment, watching with a smile on his face as the two sisters both sat up and pulled each other into a hug.

Tony and Wanda caught up and both slowly approached the group, each looking just as confused as the other.

Natasha broke apart from Yelena and looked between Wanda and Tony. Wanda smiled at the redhead and gave her a small but awkward wave, Natasha grinned and waved back at the girl.

"Romanoff." Tony greeted.

Natasha gave the man a nod. "Tony."

Carson cleared his throat and scratched the back of his head at the silence that suddenly fell over the group. "Well, this is awkward."

"Tell me about it." Yelena mumbled.

The sound of footsteps approaching from behind caught everyone's attention and they all turned around, watching as Alexei and Melina approached them. Alexei had his arm wrapped around Melina's waist in order to support her as she walked. Natasha and Yelena both stood up and joined the group.

"Everybody good?" Natasha asked.

"I am clearly injured." Melina remarked.

Natasha turned her gaze towards Alexei. "You got something to say?"

"I'd just mess it up." Alexei shrugged and reached out for Natasha's hand. She seemed to hesitate at first but she gave in and moved forward, taking hold of his hand.

"Alright." Tony clapped his hands together, the moment now being ruined. "I'm sorry but am I missing something here? Who are these people?"

Carson ran a hand over his face along with letting out a small scoff at Tony's horrible timing. Natasha and Carson shared a look. She was clearly nervous about telling them.

"Uh this is my..." Natasha began. "This is my family."

The mask on Tony's suit came open and he looked around at everyone, completely dumbfounded. "I'm sorry, what?"

Yelena leant over towards Carson. "This is Tony Stark?" She whispered. Carson and Yelena both looked over at Natasha who started to explain everything to Tony and Wanda.

Yelena pursed her lips together in thought. "He's like a man-child, no?"

Carson tried his best to stifle a laugh but accidentally let out a small snicker, which caught Wanda's attention. She tilted her head in confusion as she looked between the two, but once she met Carson's eyes her facial features softened. He gave her a warm smile to which she happily reciprocated before turning her attention back towards Natasha.

But even though she'd turned around, he kept his eyes on Wanda, his smile never fading.

"Whatcha staring at?" Yelena teased, nudging his arm.

Carson cleared his throat. "Nothing."

Yelena looked in his direction, the dots starting to connect when she saw Wanda. "Ah, I see now." She grinned. "Is your girlfriend aware that you're currently staring at her like a creep or—"

Carson rolled his eyes and playfully pushed Yelena away from him, the pair of them laughing. "You're a pain in my ass Lena."

The sound of multiple vehicles approaching suddenly caught everyone's attention, they all looked up, breaking away from any current conversation they were in and watched as a line of armoured trucks drove down the road.

"Here comes the cavalry." Natasha mumbled.

"So, what's our plan?" Melina asked.

Natasha sighed. "You guys go. I'll stay."

"That's insanity! We fight and we fight with you." Alexei chimed in.

"I'll hold them off." She replied. "Just go, all of you."

Everyone's faces simultaneously scrunched up at Natasha suggestion. They all shared a look with each other before each blurting out with their own words in disagreement to her plan at the same time.

"Natasha, we fight." Alexei repeated.

"We can't split up, you're so pig-headed." Melina shook her head in disapproval.

"Oh my god are you serious!" Yelena scoffed.

"For the love of god Nat." Carson gripped the bridge of his nose.

"Nat, just let us help." Wanda groaned.

"I'm supposed to be taking Pepper out to dinner tonight, so the quicker this gets wrapped up, the better." Tony added.

Natasha blinked a few times, a little taken back by everyone talking at once.

"Hold on, let's just press pause for a second." Carson furrowed his brows and looked at Tony. "You and Pep are back together?"

"It's a work in progress." Tony shrugged. "But I think we're getting there."

"Well it's about time." Carson smiled and Tony did too, giving him a pat on the shoulder.

"Focus people!" Yelena threw her hands up in the air. "We need to figure out a plan."

"I'm serious you guys." Natasha huffed and looked between Yelena, Melina and Alexei. "You need to go."

Yelena shook her head. "But—"

"Yelena, please." Natasha grabbed her hand. "I can't let Ross find out about you, all of you. And what about the other widows? You still need to help them. I don't think you'll be able to do that from behind bars."

Yelena sighed in defeat. She knew deep down that what Natasha was saying was right. But she had just got her sister back, and now she had to leave her again?

"Besides, if it can work out with the four of us, you know, there may be some hope for the Avengers." Natasha told them, looking over her shoulder at Tony, Carson and Wanda. "Little bit."

"Um, what's that supposed to mean Romanoff?" Carson quipped.

"Uh, yeah, I'm rather offended." Tony scoffed.

Wanda looked between Carson and Tony, biting the inside of her cheek to supress a laugh. "No, I see what she means."

"Okay, well, if you're leaving, then I guess you should take this." Yelena unzipped her vest and took it off, holding it out to Natasha. "I know how much you like it."

"Shucks." Natasha laughed and snatched it from her. "It does have a lot of pockets."

"Very handy pockets, yeah." Yelena nodded along proudly.

Carson reached into one of the pouches on his belt and pulled out the vial of the antidote that he picked up earlier. He walked over to Natasha and Yelena, holding it out to the blonde with a small smile on his face.

"Consider this a parting gift." He placed it in her hand. "He had widows implanted all over the world. Melina will need to copy the formula, but... you should be the one to tell them that it's over Lena."

Yelena looked down at the vial in her hands for a little while before looking back up at Carson.

"Also." Carson began. "Are you just handing out presents to Nat or are you—"

He was cut off by Yelena throwing herself into his arms, wrapping hers around his neck and pulling him into a hug. At first he was a little taken back by the contact, especially from her, but once he stabilized his footing he slid his arms around her back and reciprocated the hug.

Yelena cleared her throat and pushed him back after a few seconds. "Okay, too much hugging."

"Oh come on, you enjoyed it." Carson taunted.

A small jet landed further up from where they all stood, at first everyone thought that it was Ross but to their surprise, it was the widows.

They came back for them.

The doors to the jet opened and the girls exited the jet. The group all watched as Yelena stuffed the vial into an inside pocked that was in her suit and walked over to the group of widows.

A few of the girls broke apart from their huddle and made their way over to Dreykov's daughter, who was actually Taskmaster believe it or not, the young windows helped her up from the ground and escorted her over to the jet. She would be safe now, with them.

"You came back for us." Yelena looked around at them all.

"Мы не могли оставить тебя позади. (We couldn't leave you behind.)" One of the girls spoke up.

Yelena smiled at them all gratefully. "Thank you."

"Hey..." Melina turned around and looked at Natasha. "You take care of yourself, okay?" She turned her attention towards Carson. "You too."

Natasha nodded. "Don't worry, we got this."

Melina took hold of Natasha's hand and gave it a small squeeze before pulling away, a sad smile gracing her lips. Alexei moved forward and kissed Natasha's head. They both gave their daughter one last look before walking towards the jet and stepping inside.

Yelena placed one foot inside the jet before turning around to look at them. She smiled to herself before whistling a note, waiting for a response. Natasha looked up instantly and whistled back.

Just like they used to do when they were kids.

Once Yelena had situated herself inside the jet she looked at Carson through the window, smiling brightly at him. She leaned down and drew a small smiley face against the glass. Carson chuckled at her antics and gave her a thumbs up, telling her that it was perfect.

And with that, the jet started to power up and raise from the ground. Carson threw his arm around Natasha's shoulder and allowed her to lean into him, the pair of them leaning their heads together as they watched the jet take off until it was a safe distance away.

"Don't worry." He whispered. "You'll see them again."

Wanda and Tony joined them too, Tony standing next to Natasha while Wanda stood next to Carson. Even though they both didn't know exactly what was going on, they could easily sense the tone.

Tony refrained from making any sarcastic comments and placed a hand on Natasha's shoulder, giving her a small smile. Wanda moved her fingers down Carson's free arm and interlocked their hands together, he looked down at the girl with nothing but love in his eyes and leaned down, placing a soft kiss on her lips.

They all looked towards the road, watching as the trucks and cars started to get closer and closer.

"So," Carson began, looking around at all of them. "You all ready to get outta here?"

~~ ᗢ ~~

IT HAD BEEN two weeks since the Red Room and Dreykov's rein of terror finally came to an end and everyone had gone their separate ways. After barely managing to escape Ross and the government, they all agreed that it was what was best, for the time being.

Tony flew back to New York and did in fact make it in time for his date with Pepper. Carson and Wanda returned to their apartment back in London. And Natasha, well she decided to law low in Ohio for a while, taking a trip down memory lane while she was there too.

Right now, she was on her way to meet up with Rick Mason after he gave her a call to let her know that he had a surprise for her. She parked up her motorbike at the side of the dirt path and hopped off, removing her helmet and allowing her newly blonde her to be exposed.

Natasha chuckled a little when she approached Rick, who was lay on the ground fast asleep, snoring away. She moved forwards and kicked his leg, abruptly waking him up.

"You ever not sleep?" She smirked.

Rick propped himself up and scrunched his face as his eyes adjusted to the light. "I've been in six different time zones in three days because of you."

"Oh really?"

He stood up. "Yeah."

"What, are you scrapping together some parts?" Natasha teased making Rick let out a small scoff. "What'd you get me this time, like, an upside-down lawnmower."

"Ha Ha, very funny." Rick gave her a wry smile. "Why don't you turn around and have a look?"

Natasha did as he said and turned around, her eyes widening in shock when she saw the quinjet ahead of her. She looked back at Rick with her eyebrows raised.

"You see what I can get you with a bit of time and money?" Rick boasted.

The blonde looked back at the jet with a smile on her face, still not quite being able to actually form words.

"Go on, say it." Rick continued. "I wanna hear it. It would be really good for me to hear it. Really."

Natasha nodded. "I'm impressed."

"Well, yeah." Rick shrugged, pretending that her response wasn't a big deal.

"You've always been a really good friend to me." Natasha told him sincerely.

"That's what every man wants to hear." He joked. "So, where you gonna go?"

"It's funny. My whole life, I didn't think I had any family. Turns out I got two, so..." Natasha looked down at Yelena's vest that she was wearing, then over at the quinjet. "One of them is a bit of a mess right now. I'm gonna go break a few of them out of prison, see if I can help patch things up."

"Yeah about that..." Rick added. "There's one more surprise, well, actually two."

Natasha tilted her head in confusion at his statement, but he just smiled and pointed back towards the jet.

She turned around, watching as the door to the jet opened and the ramp lowered itself onto the ground. Natasha smiled brightly as she noticed the familiar figure walk down the ramp.

"Nice hair, Romanoff!" Carson shouted over.

Natasha chuckled and made her way over to Carson, instantly pulling him into a hug once she reached him. Rick watched the interaction from afar with a smile.

"What are you doing here?" Natasha pulled back from the hug and rested her hands on his shoulders.

Carson shrugged. "Ah, well, we thought you could use some help with the others."

She furrowed her brows and looked around. "Wait, we?"

"Mhm." A voice coming from the jet hummed.

Wanda emerged from the back of the jet and smiled warmly at Natasha. Natasha opened her arms for Wanda who giggled and pulled her into a hug.

"I'm glad you're both here." Natasha said from over Wanda's shoulder.

Wanda pulled back from Natasha's arms and looked at her hair, wiggling her eyebrows at the woman as she lifted up a strand of her hair.

"See, I told you that you'd suit blonde hair." Wanda clapped her hands together excitedly before turning around to look at Carson. "Maybe I should finally dye my hair."

"Whatever you want, love. You'd look beautiful no matter what." Carson chuckled and Wanda made her way back over to him, giving him a kiss on the cheek. "However, if you're thinking about blue then I'd talk to Nat about that, she has experience in that area."

Wanda's jaw dropped slightly and her head spun back around towards Natasha who was glaring at Carson.

"You had blue hair?!" Wanda stifled a laugh.

"I was like, ten, alright?" Natasha defended.

"YOU WERE TEN?" Wanda's jaw dropped even more.

Natasha facepalmed and shook her head, moving past them and stepping into the jet. "That's it, I'm taking off without you both."

Wanda and Carson both burst out into a fit of soft laughter, Wanda leaning into Carson's shoulder as she chuckled. Although, their laugher soon died down when the jet suddenly powered up.

"Wait, is she serious?" Carson whispered.

Wanda furrowed her brows. "Do you think we should..."

They both looked in the jet, seeing Natasha smirking in the reflection of the glass along with her hand hovering over the accelerator tauntingly.

He nodded quickly and pulled her into the jet with him. "Definitely, yep, come on."

The doors to the jet slowly closed and Natasha started to flick a few switches on the control centre at the front. Wanda and Carson made their way over to the pilots seat, standing behind it as they looked down at Natasha who was laughing to herself.

"You should've seen your faces." Natasha told them with a triumphant look on her face.

Carson rolled his eyes while Wanda ran a hand through her hair. "So, the Raft?" He asked. "I'm not sure Ross will take too kindly to another prison break."

Wanda shrugged. "I'm sure he'll get over it."

"Poor fellas gonna have to get another bypass." Carson faux frowned and Wanda slapped his shoulder.

Natasha playfully rolled her eyes at the two before fiddling around the the quinjet's controls in order to begin their take off before switching to auto pilot.

Carson moved towards the map and started to put in the co-ordinates for the Raft, but before pressing confirm he looked over at the two women.

"One last hurrah?" He asked them both, raising a brow.

Natasha and Wanda both turned around and joined him at the map table, Wanda taking a spot next to him while Natasha stood on the opposite side of the table, looking down at the route. She took a deep breath and looked up at them both, a mischievous grin spreading on her face.

"One last hurrah."

~~ ᗢ ~~

— END OF ACT FOUR —

see you in the next one mfs ;)

[Not edited]