BUDAPEST WAS A PLACE Natasha didn't think she'd go back to. What transpired there placed a stain on her ledger, but a necessary one at that. At least that's what she made herself believe.

She took the elevator up to the flat and made sure to take out the handgun from the hidden compartment in the hallway. Natasha kept it in her waistband and went up to the door, picking the lock as a muffled voice came through

"I know you're out there."

"I know you know I'm out here." Natasha spoke back as she took out her pistol. She entered the room and held the gun up as she surveyed the space.

"Then why are you skulking about like it's a minefield?" 

"'Cause I don't know if I can trust you."

The voice chuckled. "Funny. I was going to say the same thing."

"So, we gonna talk like grown-ups?"

Natasha swiveled around a corner and faced the blonde-haired assassin, who also had a gun raised.

It was her sister.

"Is that what we are?" Yelena asked.

Natasha didn't respond as she closed in on her. Yelena stepped back to keep the distance between them. 

"Put it down before I make you." Yelena warned.

"You put yours down." She rebutted.

They made their way into the kitchen, guns still aimed at each other. There was a halt before Natasha attempted to grab her gun but Yelena did the same. They ended up basically switching pistols and aiming at the other again.

Natasha tried to take her gun again but Yelena kicked her in the stomach. She then grabbed her shoulder and slammed her against the wall. Yelena hit her against another wall but Natasha grabbed her neck and crashed her into the kitchen cabinets. Yelena tried to leave her grasp but the redhead pinned her to the counter.

"Stay down. Stay down." Natasha demanded.

Yelena let out a yell before grabbing a plate from the nearby sink and smashing it against Natasha's face. She stumbled back as Yelena wrapped a towel around her hand. The blonde tried to hit Natasha but she countered her attack and wrapped it around Yelena's neck.

She tried to pin her sister to the counter again but Yelena leaped off of it with her foot and flung Natasha backward causing her to crash through the double doors.

Natasha slowly got up as the two stared at one another. Yelena panted and she turned back around to grab a kitchen knife. Natasha quickly picked up a stapler from the nearby desk. Yelena ran up to her and swiped a few times before her sister parried the attack with her arm.

Natasha put her in a hold and made Yelena drop the knife. The blonde ultimately escaped it before grabbing Natasha's waist and slamming her against the wall near the window. The redhead pulled off the curtains and tried to wrap it around Yelena's neck, but she reciprocated the move and tied the other end around Natasha's.

They both fell to the floor and started to strangle each other using the drapes. Natasha knew her sister wasn't going to go down without a fight, even it meant suffocating herself at that moment. The redhead decided to end it.

"Трукс (Truce)." She strained.

Yelena hesitated for a moment, but ultimately let go of the curtain. The sisters rested on the floor and caught their breaths.

Natasha untied the fabric from her neck and looked at her. "Ты вырос (You've grown up)."

"Никакого дерьма (No shit)." Yelena said and got up.

She made her way back to the kitchen. Natasha got on her feet and followed.

"You had to come to Budapest, didn't you?" Natasha asked.

Yelena took out a bottle of alcohol from the fridge. "I came here because I thought you wouldn't. But since you're here, what bullet does that?"

She pointed at the markings behind Natasha. The redhead looked back and remembered her mission with Clint years ago.

"Not bullets. Arrows."

"Ah. Right." Yelena drank from her shot glass.

"If you didn't think I'd come here, why'd you send me this?" Natasha placed down the red vials and photo onto the table.

"You brought it back here?" She asked with a raised tone. Yelena walked out of the kitchen and into the hallway.

Natasha followed. "I'm not here trying to be your friend, but you need to tell me what that is."

"It's a synthetic gas. The counter agent to chemical subjugation." The blonde entered a room and picked up a bag. "The gas immunizes the brain's neuropathways from external manipulation."

"Maybe in English next time?" Natasha asked.

Yelena huffed. "Это противоядие от борьбы с минами. (It's an antidote to mind control)."

"Реальные зрелые. (Real mature)."

Yelena continued to pack her bag as Natasha looked through the set of clothes on the rack.

"Why don't you take it to one of your super-scientists friends? They can explain it to you. Tony Stark, maybe?"

"Oh, yeah. We're not really talking right now, so..."

"Not even the Star-Spangled Man? His son that you're mingling with? Do they have degrees?"

She chuckled. "Not in that field, I think."

"Great. Perfect timing." Yelena scoffed. "Where's an Avenger when you need one?"

Natasha turned back around. "I'm on the run. You could've gotten me killed."

"Well, what was I supposed to do? You're the only superhero person..." She trailed off once she looked at the undressing Natasha and noticed the bruising on her back.

Unbeknownst to her, it was from Taskmaster.

She continued. "...that I know. That was the whole reason I sent it to you." Yelena zipped her bag and started walking away. "I kept checking the news, expecting to see Captain America bringing down the Red Room."

Natasha exhaled sharply at her statement and turned back around.

"What?" She left the room and put on her jacket. "Taking down the Red Room? What are you talking about? It's been gone for years. Dreykov's dead. I killed him."

"You don't actually believe that, do you?" Yelena asked as she started packing some ammo, then she noticed her expression. "You really do believe that."

"Dreykov's dead. It took almost destroying the entire city just to get to him."

"If you're so sure, then tell me what happened. Tell me exactly."

"We rigged bombs."

"Who's we?"

"Clint Barton." She answered. "Killing Dreykov was the final step in my defection to S.H.I.E.L.D."

Yelena shrugged. "Simple as that?"

"Yeah, sure, simple." Natasha said as she walked away. "That's what I'd call imploding a five-story building and then shooting it out with the Hungarian Special Forces."

She continued as she poured herself a shot. "Took 10 days in hiding before we could even get out of Budapest."

"And you checked the body?" Yelena asked. "Confirmed the kill?"

Natasha drank the shot and paused for a moment. "There was nothing left to check."

"You're forgetting Dreykov's daughter." Yelena blurted out.

Before her sister can say anything, they heard rumbling above. The ceiling in the living room suddenly blew open with two Widows dropping in. The front door of the flat burst open as well and several Widows entered.

Yelena took cover and turned a knob that blew up the lights in the corridor. It gave her and her sister time to run out of the flat, but Widows were outside in the courtyard waiting and fired in their direction.

They peeked out into the staircase and saw two incoming Widows. Yelena pulled the pin of a grenade she had and dropped it near their feet.

"Where are we trying to get?" Natasha exclaimed as they ran up the stairs.

"Motorbike! East side of the building." She answered back.

The two sisters evaded sniper fire as they escaped through a window and ran along the rooftops. Ingrid left her post and chased after them.

They made it to a smokestack and held into it. Yelena knocked off the bolt holding it and let it drop towards the next rooftop. The Widow caught up and leaped onto it, but before she can slip off Natasha grabbed her hand.

"I got you!"

Ingrid didn't care about her good deed, though. Her mission was to eliminate them. She took out her knife and tried to stab Natasha, but ultimately couldn't hold on any longer and fell into the shallow water below.

Once the smokestack made it to the other side, Yelena crashed through a window but Natasha fell onto a couple of vents before dropping down into the same water. Natasha stumbled towards Ingrid, who was bleeding and had a broken leg.

"Hey. Don't move. You're hurt." Natasha spoke softly and extended her hand. "Let me help you."

Amidst her pain, Ingrid activated her widow's bite and raised her arm. She knew with her current condition, it meant only one thing was going to happen. Termination.

"I don't wanna do this." She sobbed and slowly moved her wrist towards her face.

"What are you doing?" Natasha asked.

"He's making me."

Those were her last words before she shot herself with the red electric blast. Natasha's eyes widened as she knelt beside her body. Yelena had made it down and looked on at the body of what was once her colleague.

"Do you believe me now?" She asked her sister.

Natasha looked up at her. "How many others?"

"Enough." Yelena said as she walked away.

The two left the complex and ran down the street. They saw a few bikes and motorcycles parked nearby.

"Which one's yours?" Natasha asked.

"Black. Brown seat." Once they made it, she rummaged through her pockets. "Where are my keys?"

Natasha brandished them in her palm before inserting them and starting the engine. She was going to drive.

Yelena shook her head. "Ах, сука. (Ah, bitch)."

Suddenly, a wrecked car flew across the road and a tank arrived.

"Any day now!" Natasha exclaimed before Yelena mounted the bike. The redhead revved the engine and sped down the alleyway with the tank on their tail.

The driver within it: Taskmaster.

The sisters made a right down a narrow passage and evaded the tank. Once they made it to an adjacent road, another Widow on her motorbike pursued them. She shot out of their back tire and they flew off onto the road.

Yelena got up quickly and aimed her gun at a man leaving his car. He immediately let them have it and ran off.

"You can't just steal a guy's car." Natasha said as she entered the driver's seat.

Yelena hopped into the passenger's side. "So you want me to chase him down and un-steal it?"

Natasha backed up and hit the front of a parked car. Yelena rolled her eyes.

"Okay. Any time now, please."

"Shut up."

Natasha accelerated forward and down the road with the Widow still following them on her motorbike. She fired her submachine gun which shot out their back windows.

"Okay, you got a plan or shall I just stay duck-and-cover?" Yelena asked.

"Yeah, my plan was to drive us away." 

"That's a shit plan."

The blonde grabbed the steering wheel and spun the car around. Once they faced the incoming Widow, Yelena kicked open her door which hit a parking meter and broke it. The car door flew off and knocked the woman off her bike.

Natasha reoriented the car and continued down the road. Yelena panted. "You're welcome."

They made a turn into an intersection and sped down the street. They weren't in the clear though, as Taskmaster's tank arrived and plowed through cars behind them.

"Oh, shit. He's back." Yelena breathed out.

Taskmaster stood out of the hatch and looked at the vehicle in front of him. He took out a bow and arrow from his pack and aimed at the fleeing sisters.

"Put your seatbelt on." Natasha told Yelena.

"Ugh. You're such a mom." She scoffed but obeyed nonetheless.

Natasha swerved around but Taskmaster wasn't going to miss.

"Not good enough..." He muttered to himself and let the arrow fly.

It bounced off the asphalt and through the undercarriage of the car. The arrow exploded and sent the vehicle upwards in a ball of fire.

"Boom."

The car rolled down the street and down a set of stairs into the subway below. Bystanders were startled at the sight of the wrecked vehicle.

Natasha got out of the wreckage and pulled her sister out. She noticed blood coming out of her arm.

"I think I'm bleeding. I'm..."

Yelena tried to wrap her wound with a piece of cloth. Natasha thought for a moment and stopped her. She had a plan that would need her to continue bleeding for a bit. "No! Not now, trust me."

They ran through the crowd. Taskmaster was already coming down the stairs and spotted them fleeing. Civilians looked on in bewilderment at the sight of the mercenary.

"You can't escape!" His bellow echoed through the room.

Yelena and Natasha made it to the escalators and slid down the railing between them. Taskmaster saw this and threw his shield, but the sisters were able to make it down safely as the disc impaled the pillar in front of them.

Natasha helped Yelena up and they continued running. Taskmaster made it to the lower floor and looked around. People had already scattered off leaving the area empty.

He followed the blood trail on the floor and made it to a grate on the ground. Taskmaster ripped it off the concrete using his enhanced strength and dropped in.

Meanwhile, Natasha and Yelena were in a vent above looking on. The blonde finished tieing the tourniquet on her arm.

"You okay?" Natasha asked.

"Yeah. Great plan." She replied. "I love the part where I almost bled to death." She looked around at the small space. "This is cozy."

"Barton and I spent two days hiding up here." The redhead replied.

"That sounds fun." The blonde said, looking at the markings of tic-tac-toe and hangman on the vents.

There was a pause as Natasha looked out of the grate. She wondered what was the attacker's deal. "Who was that guy?"

"Dreykov's ultimate weapon." Yelena answered. "He can mimic anyone he's ever seen. It's like fighting a mirror."

Hearing that felt familiar. Y/N had that ability. Natasha speculated that maybe others could also do that.

Yelena continued. "Dreykov only deploys him for top-priority missions."

"This doesn't make any sense." Natasha blurted.

"Well, the truth rarely makes sense when you omit key details."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"You didn't say one word about Dreykov's daughter. You killed her."

"I had to. I needed her to lead me to Dreykov. She was collateral damage. I needed her to be sure."

Yelena nodded. "And here you are, not so sure."

They sat there in silence for a moment, before the older sister decided to speak again.

"I needed out."

• • •

NATASHA AND YELENA walked into the gas station. It's been about an hour since their whole ordeal with the Widows and Taskmaster.

"The Red Room's still active. Where is it?" Natasha asked Yelena.

"I have no idea." She answered and looked through items to purchase. "He moves location constantly. And every Widow is sedated on entry and exit for maximum security."

"I'm just finding it hard to believe that he could stay off my radar."

"Well, it's not smart to attack an Avenger if you want to stay hidden. I mean, the clue is in the name. Dreykov kills you, then someone like your boy-toy comes to avenge you." Yelena explained. "Maybe along with one of the big ones too."

"Wait, what are the big ones?" Natasha asked.

She placed items into her bag. "Well, I doubt the god from space has to take an ibuprofen after a fight."

Her sister nodded. Yelena paused for a moment before continuing.

"Where did you think I was all this time?"

Natasha hesitated a bit. She went over to wash her hands in the nearby sink. "I thought that you got out and were living a normal life."

"And you just never made contact again?"

"Honestly, I thought you didn't want to see me."

Yelena scoffed. "Bullshit. You just didn't want your baby sister to tag along whilst you save the world with the cool kids."

"You weren't really my sister." Natasha rebutted as she dried her hands.

Yelena took in her words and simply nodded. "And the Avengers aren't really your family."

Her older sister didn't reply, but the blonde kept going.

"Why do you always do that thing?"

"Do what?" Natasha asked. 

"That thing you do when you're fighting." She replied. "The...Like, the..." Yelena crouched down and tried to imitate her signature pose. "This thing you do when you whip your hair back when you're fighting...with the arm and the hair. And you do like a fighting pose."

Natasha looked on and rolled her eyes as Yelena whipped her head back and forth trying to replicate her pose. Yelena laughed.

"It's a..." She laughed again. "It's a fighting pose. You're a total poser."

"I'm not a poser." Natasha shot back.

Yelena snorted. "Oh, come on. I mean, they're great poses but it looks like you think everyone's looking at you, like, all the time."

"All that time I spent posing, I was trying to actually do something good to make up for all the pain and suffering we caused." She said. "Trying to be more than just a trained killer."

The lighthearted tone Yelena tried to bring out faded after her words. She took a breath in. "Well, then you were fooling yourself because pain and suffering is every day and we are both still a trained killer." She looked directly at Natasha. "Except I'm not the one that's on the cover of a magazine. I'm not the killer that little girls call their hero."

Yelena walked off, leaving Natasha at the counter paying for their things. The clerk just stood there, having mostly ignored their conversation as he watched the soccer game on the television.

Yelena winced and groaned as she poured alcohol onto her wound. Natasha sat across from her and put two beers down on the table.

"That gas, the counteragent, it was synthesized in secret by an older Widow from Melina's generation." Yelena explained. "I was on the mission to retrieve it, and she exposed me and I killed the Widow that freed me."

"Did you have a choice?"

"What you experienced was psychological conditioning. I'm talking about chemically altering brain functions. They're two completely different things. You're fully conscious but you don't know which part is you." She exhaled. "I'm still not sure."

Natasha sighed and scooted her seat beside Yelena. She started to tend to her sister's wound.

"Is that all?" She asked looking at the vials in her bag.

"Mmm-hmm. It's the only thing that can stop Dreykov and his network of Widows." She replied. "He takes more everyday. Children who don't have anyone to protect them. Just like us when we were small. Maybe one in 20 survives the training, becomes a Widow. The rest he kills. To him we are just things. Weapons with no face that he can just throw away. Because there is always more."

Natasha listened as she continued patching her arm. Yelena spoke again. "And no one's even looking for him, thanks to you and Alexei."

"Alexei?"

Yelena chuckled dryly. "Dad."

Natasha finished bandaging and went back to her seat. She took a swig of beer as the sisters looked on at the children playing across the street along with their parents watching. A man in his garage put away his keys and turned off the lights as he carried his son.

"Did you ever look for your parents? Your real ones?" The blonde asked.

"Well, my mom abandoned me in the street like garbage." She answered. "What about you?"

"They destroyed my birth certificate, so I reinvented it." She lightly smiled as she picked up her beer bottle. "My parents still live in Ohio. My sister moved out west."

Natasha chuckled. "Is that right?"

"You're a science teacher. You're working part-time, though, especially after you had your son. Your husband, he renovates houses."

"That is not my story."

Yelena laughed. "What? Am I not accurate? The Lieutenant not much of a handyman?"

Natasha wasn't sure what to say. A lot happened in the last 24 hours that the thought of Y/N's whereabouts hadn't crossed her mind. Thanks to her sister, now the idea and worry of it was back...at least for a moment.

The blonde noticed her mood and hesitation. She decided to move on. "What is your story?"

She shook her head. "I never let myself be alone long enough to think about it."

Yelena leaned over the table to grab the vest she bought from the shop. She started to put it on. "Did you ever wish for kids?"

That was yet another question Natasha hesitated with. Surely she figured she couldn't have them naturally, but Y/N brought up adoption.

"I want a dog." Yelena added, which brought the redhead out of her thoughts and let out a stifled laugh. She turned to her sister and smiled.

"Where are you gonna go?" Natasha asked.

"I don't know." She replied. "I don't really have anywhere to go back to, so I guess anywhere."

Natasha sat up and rested her elbows on the table. Her sister shook her head.

"Don't." Yelena said.

"Don't what?"

She chuckled. "You're going to give me some big hero speech, I can feel it."

"Speeches aren't really my thing."

"Huh."

"Even after spending years with my boy-toy and his dad I never got the gist of it." She added with a smile.

Yelena nodded. "Ah! You finally brought him up. I was starting to think you hated him or something."

Natasha laughed and held up her bottle as she continued. "No speech.
More like an invitation."

The blonde looked down at her hands. "To go to the Red Room and kill Dreykov?"

"Yeah."

"Even though the Red Room is impossible to find and Dreykov is too slippery to kill?"

"Yeah."

"That sounds like a shitload of work."

"Yup." Natasha sighed. "Could be fun, though."

"Yup."

Natasha rested her chin on top of her hand as she held the bottle. "I saw where he put the keys."

Yelena smirked, remembering where the man placed the keys to the car in the garage.

"Top drawer, green cabinet."

The two sisters smiled as they clanked their bottles together before taking a swig of their beverages.

• • •

TASKMASTER ENTERED DREYKOV'S office and saw the man by his desk looking through his tablet. He shot his head towards the mercenary's direction and glared.

"You!" He shouted.

"Hello to you too." He replied back with his modulated voice.

The general walked away from his desk and toward Taskmaster, anger still shown on his face.

"You said you'd deal with them!"

"I said I'd handle Belova. I didn't expect the frickin' Black Widow to be involved." He said. "Now the two of them are in cahoots."

Dreykov paced a bit before spinning back around and pointing at the man. "They got away. I don't keep you because of your snobby workmanship."

"Don't get your vodka-infused panties in a bunch." Y/N took of his helmet and spoke in his normal voice. "I'll track them down. Now get that finger out of my face."

The old man huffed and treaded back to his desk.

"I lost a Widow during this operation. Find them before I lose anymore."

Y/N held his helmet at his side. "Is it still a kill order?"

"No..." Dreykov answered after thinking for a moment. "We detain. Bring them back to the Red Room."

Taskmaster nodded. "Keep a look out for any associates, including Vostokoff. It's only a matter of time until they get to her." Y/N put his helmet back on and started to walk away. "If you excuse me, I got some more studying to do."