All the Colors of Earth (Natasha Romanoff)

4.6

                                         Marzda

The barren planet looms before us, a giant tan mass with no color to be found. It wasn't always like that though, Darmus Prime was once a beacon of civilization and beauty. But now, it was all but dead. Even from space I could see the craters where the oceans used to be.

"You ready kid?" Rocket asked.

Zipping up my jacket I give him a look, "obviously." I turn to Natasha who is zipping up her own suit, "you good?" She nods and I tell her, "touch down in five."

"It will be interesting to see you in action," she tells me.

"Oh but you've seen me in action plenty of times," I half tease.

It has more of an effect than I thought it would because her face goes red and she mutters, "shut up."

The ship jolts and I look at Quill, "who taught you to fly?"

"A bounty hunter," he says as he lands.

Everyone gathers by the ramp and I look at them, "you all know the plan, stick to it and everything should be ok. Once the ramp opens split into your groups, do your assigned tasks and then get back here. Easy in and out." Everyone nods and I turn to the door, tapping my gauntlets and then opening the ramp. Dry dusty air rushes in followed by a wave of heat. Walking out I'm momentarily blinded by the light. "Alright, Alpha Team with me. The rest of you, good luck."

I head off towards the left followed by Natasha, Yelena, Gamora and Valkyrie. Quill headed to the right with Steve, Banner, Rocket and Groot. Mantis, Drax and Barton stayed behind to watch the ship. Stark was left on Asgard because, let's face it, without his suit he's pretty useless and the twins stayed to watch Olympia as they'd promised.

We follow a path for a while that runs alongside a rocky hill, coming out on a small ledge that overlooks a canyon. Crouching down we crawl to the edge and look over, our mission objective far below us.

"What is this?" Yelena whispers in horror.

"A prison mine," I tell her. Holding a pair of binoculars up, I watch the slaves below me. Our sources had said that it would primarily be Colorian slaves, and while they were right, there were many more species down there.

Natasha watches through her own set, "they aren't even chained. Why don't they fight back?"

"They can't," I say as I look away from the slaves and focus on finding the masters. "They have implants that'll explode if they try." My hand subconsciously goes to the base of my skull, feeling the small scar that is just under my hairline.

Natasha notices the movement, "were you here?" She asks softly.

I shake my head, "not here, but it was very similar."

Her hand on my arm pulls my attention, "I'm sorry Marz."

I give her a reassuring smile, "it's ok."

We stare at each other for a minute until Valkyrie clears her throat. "This is all very touching but we have a job to do," she says.

"We should get on with it," Yelena adds.

"I couldn't agree more," I point towards the far side to a large satellite, "I'm going to go and take that out, I need you guys to take out the guards. There should only be ten or so and when I'm done with the satellite I'll join you."

They all nod as I stand up and Natasha asks, "how are you going to get over there without being seen?"

I give her a grin, "I'm not."

Stepping off the ledge, I shoot a pulse out of my gauntlets towards the ground that propels me into the sky. It shoots me high enough that I make it to the other side, smashing down onto the satellite and destroying it easily.

An alarm sounds and I blast the debris away from me, walking towards the mine and the slaves that were watching me. "The bombs in your head are gone! Take your freedom if you want it!" I yell at them.

I don't wait to see if they move, instead I run at the incoming Daxomites and blast them into pieces, sending red chunks flying. "Quake," I hear several people behind me say and it spreads like wildfire.

Kneeling down I put a hand on the ground and closing my eyes I let out a sharp sound, looking for the others. I find them fending off a horde of soldiers on the other side of the mine and I take off towards them, thundering footsteps following me.

We get there just as the girls are taking care of the last soldier, and the newly freed slaves behind me cheer. My eyes find Natasha and check her over quickly, aside from some blood spatter she looks unscathed. Through the Bond I can feel that she's actually enjoying herself.

Turning to the crowd I tell them, "we have a refuge on Asgard, all are welcome to come with us until we can find you a safe place to live."

"Quake! What about our children? They are in another mine not far from here," someone from the crowd yells.

Putting a finger to my ear I ask, "Quill, what's the status of the kids?"

"On rout to you now," he answers.

"Your kids are safe and will be here in a few minutes. In the meantime, you should collect the things you want to take and when your children get here, all who want to can leave with us," I tell them.

"Quake!" Some of them yell as I turn to the others.

Yelena and Valkyrie were comparing how many they killed and Natasha was listening with a slightly amused smile. "What's the final tally?" I ask her.

"Valkyrie says she has eight and Yelena swears that she has nine, but between me and you she only got seven," Natasha whispers to me.

"What about you?"

She shrugs, "I didn't keep track, did you?"

"Nah, I don't think they could have handled loosing." She laughs and as she's about to say something, a cry goes out as the newly arrived children run towards their parents. We watch the reunions and a wave of longing washes over me. "We'll be back with her soon," I promise Natasha.

She nods, "I know, I've just never been away from her for this long before."

I sniff, "it's hard, but todays work is almost over and we'll be back in a few hours."

Unfortunately a few hours turned into almost ten.

Most of the freed slaves wanted to stay on the planet, so we helped them set up a relay in case they needed help they could call. All the Colorians decided to come with us, not that I was surprised, our people tend to stick together.

By the time we had everyone crammed into the ship and made our way back we had been gone over twenty-four hours. Natasha and the others immediately went to their rooms to pass out but I stayed with the refugees, getting them settled into their new temporary homes.

After I was finally done, instead of heading back to my room, I go to Keema's. She's still awake and waiting for me, as she always is after a mission. Neither of us speak as I crawl into bed with her and fall into a fitful sleep.