The Widow's Daughter ✔︎

Chapter Ten

"Hello?" Himara's voice filled the receiver and echoed around the room. 

I sighed in joy at hearing my adopted mother's voice. "Himara, it's me," I said into Tony Stark's amazing phone. "It's Kira."

"Oh my god, Kira!" Himara exclaimed. "How are you? Quick, switch to Facetime, I want to see your face." I did, and her face, once beautiful, now worn and tired from years of raising seven naughty kids, filled the screen. She squinted at me. "You dyed your hair?"

I sighed. "Yes," I groaned, ignoring the chuckles of the other Avengers behind me. "Yes, I did."

"I liked it red," said Himara. "Also, your voice has a bit of an accent. What did those Avengers do to you, make you swallow an all-American pill or something?" She shook her head, scolding me. "Kira, you should never take pills, no matter how safe they look. One second you'll be flying through the air, high as a kite, and the next you'll be six-feet under. I'm warning you."

"Himara," I interrupted her. "The Avengers are with me."

She gasped and squinted at me through the screen. "Oh yes, they are," she realised. "Hello, Mr Stark. Rogers."

"Agent Akiro," Steve and Tony said in sync, inclining their heads towards her. 

Himara glared at them. "That's not my name," she said. "I left that life behind a long time ago." She glanced at me. "Don't worry, Kira, dear. They just call me that because of a minor boo-boo back when you were a kid."

"The 'minor boo-boo' being, rescuing me from a psychotic Russian agency training me up to be a murderous assassin, wiping my mind, and replacing the memories of my terrible childhood with false ones about an orphanage in London?" I said sarcastically. I felt Wanda, Natasha and Clint tense behind me.

Himara's eyes had been getting wider each second as I said that. She appeared speechless for the first time in her life, her lips unable to form proper words. I could see she was upset but I didn't say anything else, just waited. Himara swallowed and whispered, "how do you know that?"

"We accessed her memories," Bruce said. "Only because we knew that she was a part of the Black Widow Program and, possibly, had something to do with the disappearance of Project Evelina." I saw Natasha's left eye begin to twitch.

Himara began to speak but I interrupted her. "What happened to Tori? You said we would both be reunited!" I ask.

I see Himara freeze and sigh. "After I rescued you, Kira, something bad happened. I had Tori waiting in my getaway van, which was stupid even though I had many S.H.I.E.L.D agents guarding her, but Ivan slaughtered them all. And he took back Tori, too a different base this time, and I'm not really sure where it is."

Himara let out a long exhalation of breath. "There were many reasons why I wiped Kira's brain of those memories," she said softly, as if the remembrance hurt her. "Project Evelina was one of those reasons."

"Why?" Natasha demanded. "What does Kira have to do with my daughter?"

All of the Avengers leaned in to hear Himara's answer.

"Tori, for one thing," Himara explained. "That's all I can tell you. Find Tori, and then you will find the answer."

All of the Avengers exploded. They all began yelling at Himara, speaking over each other to try and get more out of her. Tony yanked the phone out of my hands and screamed into the receiver: "WHERE IS TORI?" Thor began to thunder (literally, he started smoking) and Wanda's hands began to glow. Steve and Clint began to yell at each other and Bruce started to turn green. Natasha took the phone off Tony and tried to talk to Himara in a calm tone, but my adopted mother wasn't buying it. Neither was I. I was beginning to sweat, the loudness of everyone's voices stabbing into my ears, which were ringing like an anvil chorus.

So I did the only thing I could think of. I stood up on Bruce's lab table and screamed at the top of my lungs, "I WONDER WHAT THIS BIG RED BUTTON DOES!!!"

Everyone froze and turned to me, yelling at the exact same time, "KIRA NO!" 

I threw my head back and laughed despite the situation. "Punk'd ya!" I giggled, hopping down and grinning at all of their shocked, angry expressions. I turned to Tony's phone. "Himara," I said. She looked at me through the screen.

"What is it, Kira?" she asked. She looked even more tired now.

I took a deep breath and asked the question that we'd all been avoiding. "Is Tori Natasha's daughter?"

"Do you still have your locket?" Himara answered.

"You can't answer a question with a question," I heard Thor grumble. "Silly mortals."

I took it out of my hospital gown, the red stone in the centre glimmering like a dying star. "I never take it off," I said.

"Then you have the answer," Himara said simply. "I love you, маленькая птица."

And then she hung up.