Russian Roulette (N.Romanoff)

Break Up With Your Girlfriend, I'm Bored [11]

Looking into the eyes of the devil is never supposed to be easy. Staring into the eyes of the beast that means infinite pain... That's what a wide eyed Sapphire and a pursed lipped Natasha were thinking as they looked up at the large device that Ned and Peter were doing jazz hands at. This truly was the end of a long story, or just another sad chapter in a book that has no end. A tragedy.

"What if this doesn't work."

Natasha turned unexpectedly as she faced Sapphire who's voice she heard... in her head...

"How the hell are you-" She responded in her head unsurely.

"Thought projection. Apparently it works with verbal thoughts as well..."

Natasha turned back and looked down at the ground. Her foot began to tap almost subconsciously. The doubt in her mind was running wild and the fact that she was so vulnerable to Sapphire, the one girl she was supposed to protect and be strong for... was the same person that could quit literally just read and feel all her doubts. Because she had many.

"You broke up with Sam, didn't you?" She asked when she realized Nat wasn't going to answer her first question. Nat looked towards Liz, Ned and Peter who were arguing about the machine and it's functionality. Then she sighed and answered the question. "Yeah... kind of. He kind of did it for me, I guess that he just saw what everyone else already did." She responded. "Are you sad?" Sapphire continued.

Natasha looked around. She was suddenly cold and the constant stress of trying to hide certain emotions so Sapphire maybe couldn't read them were starting to strain her mind and cause a headache. So she answered quickly, but truthfully.

"I should be."

"Hey! You two, what do ya'll think?" Ned asked, looking over at the mother and daughter duo. The two snapped back into reality and something in Natasha's head fluttered away, almost as if Sapphire's mind was a presence in hers. A guest that had left.

"I, I'm sorry, what are you guys arguing about?" Natasha stuttered confused. "Ugh. Ned and Peter think that by using the same Quantum theory that Hank Pym made up some years ago mixing it with the space theory HYDRA leaked some time ago will get us to the Mirror Realm." Liz explained. "I'm sorry, HYDRA?" Natasha raised an eyebrow. "Listen, I've been looking at Hank Pym's work for years and once the HYDRA information got leaked by yours truly.." Peter said, gesturing to Natasha. "Ned and I spent weeks working on understanding and deciphering it. It works, I promise." There was a strong silence that represented a big fat, "Hell no."

"Look, it's not like we can just get Dr. Strange to open a portal there or it would have happened already if it were that simple. And Saph... I know your history with HYDRA, I know what they did to your mom and what the tried to do to you. So trust me, I love you... and I would never have even suggested this theory if I hadn't done the research and known confidently that this would work." He concluded, his hands were on Sapphire's shoulders now. She had her arms crossed and was looking away, but of course she had already read his emotions, and there was not one shred of doubt within him.

She sighed, looked over at Natasha and nodded. "It's okay, mom. He thinks it's gonna work."

Peter smiled at the support of his girlfriend, but Peter's lack of doubt just left more room for some of Sapphire's own. This was her mother after all, and this story needed to come to an end. The chapter was getting kind of repetitive and boring.

Nat remained quiet for a while longer, though. And rightfully so. Natasha had seen first hand what HYDRA's tricks were. How they played unfair games with people who didn't even know they were apart of it. How they betrayed countless people for the claim of "science" and "knowledge". When really, it was just money, power and control.