BANG//Marvel

V.VI.: It's going down

Liam woke up to a jolt of pain in the back of his head. Again. Groaning, he pushed his body into a sitting position and raised his hand to his head. He hissed in pain when his unfeeling metal fingers pressed into the spot Natasha hit to knock him out.

"Natasha. I can't save us. I need you to know that I'm sorry." The voice of Alexei broke through the silence and Liam looked to the wall on his right where the voice was coming from. "I pledged my life to a cause. You know, I thought I was being very brave. Possibly the bravest. But I wasn't being brave. I was a coward. In Cuba, when they came and took you away from me... No cause is worth that. You should only sacrifice yourself for something..." The glass door squeaked as Melina, disguised as Natasha, opened Alexei's cell.

"How did you do that?" Asked Alexei and Liam got up from the bed. Walking over to the cell door, he laid one hand on them. It opened without protesting.

"I designed these cells myself." Answered Melina and turned to open Liam's cell, only to find him walking out of it on his own. She raised a questioning eyebrow.

"What?" Asked Liam with a pleased smile.

"I bared my soul to you, and it was just you the whole time?" Ignored him Alexei.

"Yes, I'm afraid so. But wait, shh, I'm on comms with Yelena. Yelena, it's me. It's Mama. You have a two-inch blade concealed in your beltline. Outside right hip."

"I'm off to the security room. You can reach me through the comms if something happens." Melina frowned at him.

"You don't have an earpiece." She stated, confusion written in her expression.

"Don't worry, I'll hear."

***

Climbing through the ventilation system felt like coming home for Liam. Six years ago, he was alone, running around the world, destroying gangs and trafficking organizations from the inside. Now he had a team, a brother, a lover. A lot changed. He stilled his movements as he heard two of Black Widows walking by. They stopped and Liam held his breath.

BANG

"SHIT!" He cursed as a bullet shot through one of his prosthetic fingers. He quickly jumped through an opening to his right and fell into the hallway. The widows aimed their guns at him again and Liam rolled to the side, barely missing the bullets. He quickly got to his feet and ducked around a corner. There on the other end of the hallway was Yelena, her eyes wide with surprise. She threw something red his way.

"Down!" She yelled and Liam jumped away. Yelena then proceeded to shoot the tiny vial of red liquid that then sprinkled over the widows. They coughed, holding their heads.

"Uh. Thanks!" Liam breathed out and Yelena smirked.

"Gee, where's that strong man? All I see is a damsel in distress."

"I didn't say I was a strong man."

"Yelena, slight change of plan. I completely demolished one of the engines and we are going into a controlled crash." Melina said through the comms and Liam na Yelena nodded to each other.

"Fantastic. I'm heading to the widows now." Together they jogged over to one of the training rooms and busted in. It was completely empty. "No." Whispered Yelena and Liam grabbed one hand grenade from the rack on the walls.

"Strap the vials to this." He said and threw it to her. She slapped it from the air and the grenade flew a couple feet to the right where it bounced off the wall. The two stared at it for a moment.

"Did you just throw a grenade at me?"

"I see my mistake now, yes."

***

"Hey!" Yelena shouted and threw the vials strapped to the grenade above the widows. It explodes and covers them in red dust. Liam doesn't wait to see if it worked, he just pushes his way to Natasha, crouching down next to her.

"Are you okay?" Natasha's groan is enough of an answer. Her dislocated shoulder being the cause. "I'm gonna pop it back on three, okay? Don't punch me. One. Two. Three." Natasha let out a shout that made Liam cringe.

"Get as far away from here as possible. You get to make your own choices now." Natasha says to the other widows and they run out of the room.

"We gotta get out of here. We need to find Dreykov. Are you coming?" Yelena said and turned back to face Natasha.

"I'm right behind you."

"'Tasha." Liam held her wrist.

"Go and find us a ride. I'll be fine, I promise."