Just when Natasha and Bucky think that they can put their past in Russia behind them and start over, a mission goes sideways and they come back with more than they expected. A lone survivor of the Red Room. Will she be able to help them heal? What w...
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The girl had lost count of how many missions she had been on. She lost count of how many lives had been taken by her hands, how many children lost their fathers and mothers. The Little Ballerina didn't have the luxury to know, she wasn't aloud to grieve the lives lost by her hand. She was a weapon, and weapons do not weep. She simply cleaned the blood from her hands and moved on. Two Hydra agents always accompanied her on missions, she did not know their names, she called them Shadows while they called her unpleasant names. She learned to ignore them, they only intervened if she was unable to accomplish the mission. They were also there to put a bullet in her head if she went rouge. But the girl tried not to think about the last part. She would accomplish her missions and they would put her to sleep until she was needed again, the only time she saw sunlight was during her missions.
On today's mission the Little Ballerina was supposed to find a traitor to Russia and put a bullet through his head and the heads of his family. She made her way to the roof of the building across the street from the man's apartment, her rifle slung over her shoulder. She was dressed all in black clothing, not armor, the Superiors didn't care if she lived or died, they only care about results. Since she was showing good results, she was kept alive. She laid on her belly, her rifle pointed through the apartment window, she had a clear shot of the entire family. There was a middle aged man with blonde hair and a beer belly, a small and slender woman with fiery red hair and two small girl, no older than five with blonde curly hair. She surveyed the family through her scope, the girls were playing on the floor with the latest toys while their father sat at the kitchen table reading over papers. The mother stuck out the most to the girl, she couldn't get the woman's red hair out of her mind. After about an hour of waiting, the woman left the room and the Little Ballerina saw her chance, her finger tightened around the trigger and a small hole embedded itself into the man's forehead. He slumped onto the table, dead. The daughters and the wife came into the room and screamed, something about their screams made the Little Ballerina hesitate. Something stirred in her memories, flashes of a red haired woman holding her singing an old Russian lullaby, "dreams always come true and many years ago I was just like you, my little soldier" the woman sang sweetly as the girl weeped, "and the light of the star beckoned me and the sun ringing laughter, he will not find us here". As the song played in her mind, the woman with the red hair and her daughters were getting away, her Shadows scoffed and she heard three shot being fired as she stared blankly into the apartment building. One of her Shadows cursed in Russian before hitting the back of her head, "what is wrong, pretty girl? Did you forget how to do your job? They are getting away" He said roughly, spittle flying as he spoke down at her. She shook herself from her trance, "I never miss" she was all she said before grabbing her rifle from the ground and running after her escaped targets.
Natasha, Maxim and Steve were canvassing the perimeter of a building they suspected Hydra would target. Maxim took they entrance while Steve took the back and Natasha the sides. They were dressed the civilian clothes with armor underneath to avoid suspicion and to blend in better. After not even two minutes of observing the building, a red headed woman came running out of the building, dragging two little blonde girls out by their hands. She looked panicked but was doing her best to hide it, all three girls had tears streaming down their faces. Maxim followed them out of the building, sending a comm to the other two to follow his lead. He followed the small family into an alleyway, being sure to keep his distance, hiding between dumpsters and boxes that lined the dirty alleyway. The woman stopped in the alleyway, looking over her daughters for injuries, her face looked as if it was made of stone, the stone only cracked when she was sure that both girls were alright. She allowed her face to break into a smile as she enveloped the toddlers into a hug, placing a kiss atop both of their curly heads. Maxim smiled at the sight but his happiness didn't last long when he say movement on the roof across from him. He didn't even hesitate, he knew who it was, after all they had been trained together, he would have done the same thing. Without thinking, he pushed the woman and her daughters into a side alley, "take your daughters and run, don't look back" he told the woman, the woman nodded and pressed a hand to his cheek, "thank you" she said before grabbing her children's hands and she began to run without looking back.
Maxim sighed and took out his gun, "Ekaterina?" he called as he pressed his back against the wall. He heard a scoff, "who the hell is Ekaterina?" a voice he knew all to well called back. He looked down at his gun and knew he wouldn't be able to shoot her so he put the gun back into his waist band. He could hear her footsteps in the alley and he knew he didn't have a choice, he stepped out into the alleyway his hands raised in surrender. His heart broke at the sight of her, she was painfully thin and had dark circles under her eyes from lack of sleep but what broke his heart the most: she didn't even recognize him. He had known her since they were toddlers, toddlers being trained to kill, somehow he knew it would always come to this.
He tried to reason with her again, "Ekaterina, it's me. You've know me your whole life" he tried again. She shook her head, "I don't know you. But you have interfered with my mission" she raised her gun, "I'm sorry" she said quietly and closed her eyes. Maxim took advantage of this, rushing at her and kicking the gun from her hand. They fought in a series of punches and kicks. Maxim stumbled back, blood streaming from his nose, cheek and forehead, his hand immediately went to his waistband, he knew what he had to do but the holster was empty and when he turned around the girl was pointing his gun right at him. Maxim didn't have time to react before he heard the shot.
All sound seemed to disappear from the world as Natasha ran down the alley, the silence only breaking when she heard the shot. She saw Maxim stumble back before falling to the ground, clutching his stomach, "no, no!" The woman cried as she ran faster but she couldn't stop the outcome. The Little Ballerina lowered the gun, she felt something stir deep inside her but she ignored it, her mission was complete and she could rest now. She pushed the button on her wrist to signal for her extraction but moments later she was being tackled to the ground by a blond man and a needle was being pushed into her arm. The girl's fighting body fell limp as the drug Tony had given them was taking effect. Natasha kneeled next to the boy, "kid, kid you're gonna be alright" she lied as she pressed against his stomach trying to slow the bleeding. Maxim let out a faint laugh, "you don't need to lie to me, Red. I know it's not good, I'm just glad that I got to be the hero... for once" he said. Natasha was about to respond when she saw Hydra soldiers running towards them, "you have to go" the boy said trying and failing to push her away, as he spoken blood bubbled up to spill onto his lips. "Nat, we have to go" Steve said, the girl was slung over his shoulder. Tears were streaming down her eyes, "it'll be okay, I'll see you in a minute" she lied before pressing a kiss to the boy's forehead, she took off running, swerving to avoid bullets. She made to the van, jumping in the back while Steve drove off.
She finally allowed herself to break down into tears, that was another life that she couldn't save. She cried for the boy, who was trying to atone for his sins and the life he would never get to live. But she also cried for the girl next to her who had killed her best friend, Natasha knew something about what that was like.
The ride to the jet and the jet ride home was silent. She walked out of the jet, where all of her friends were waiting. Her eyes were still damp from her tears and her face was taught with pain, she saw Bucky looking at them, counting one less than what they had left with. She walked up to him, "I- I lost the kid" she said her voice cracking with emotion. He didn't say anything just took her into his arms while they looked to Steve who was holding the "sleeping" girl in his arms. As she watched, she took into account of how much she had lost and how much she had gained but how could one justify the other? It just didn't seem fair that others had to die for her to live. She saw the blue eyes of the boy in her mind each time she closed her eyes and she knew that those eyes would haunt her forever.
Ok this was kind of a sad chapter I'm sorry! But not really, how do we feel about Maxim's death? I loved writing his character but I have lots of plans!! I'm currently evacuating from a hurricane so I had lots of time to write in the car! Xoxo, Renee
