The Widow's Daughter ✔︎

Chapter Sixteen

It was dark down the mine. Cold, too. The frozen gale roared outside on the mountain but some of it still managed to whistle into the dank, black mine shaft. We'd been going down for only a few hours, but it seemed like years had passed until we finally reached the ladder.

If I won the prize for being the most impulsive, act-before-think person ever, then Natasha certainly came in a close second. She set her eyes on the top of the ladder, which was shrouded in shadow, and immediately started to climb up, us following her closely behind. The beams were freezing cold and dripping wet, which, even though I was so close to slipping off, I took as a good sign. Ice and wind meant we were getting close to the top.

We reached the top of the ladder and found that it split into two pathways - one, heading left to what Tori described as the laser field, the right heading to the centre of Ivan's base. Each of the pathways were stark white, like I remembered: blinding bright strobe lights flickering overhead. 

"So I guess this is where we split," Clint remarked.

Bruce nodded. "Nat and I will take the right passage, to Ivan. You and Kira go left and get the girls."

"Stay in touch with your walkie-talkie-thingos," Natasha said, looking down at hers, which was clipped onto the hem of her black leather all-in-one suit. A gun was strapped to her hip. I didn't get a gun, which was unfortunate but probably for the best. "If you see something, say something. I want to be notified that all of the girls are out before Banner and I confront Ivan and burn this place to the ground."

I gave Bruce a hug. "Be careful," I whispered, moving over to hug Nat. She smoothed my hair, which was tied into a messy plait at the nape of my neck, and told me to stay safe in Russian. I nodded and moved back, looking up at Clint. He raised an eyebrow at me but didn't say anything.

We parted our seperate ways. Clint and I took off onto the left route, our footsteps echoing eerily in the cold white hallway, very much like the one that was responsible so many of my nightmares. I shivered and moved closer to him, rubbing my locket like my life depended on it.

At the end of the hallway there was a dark steel door. Just seeing it made my heart start to pound and my palms begin to sweat. Flashbacks to what seemed like yesterday entered my head: a little red-haired girl leaning towards a door, the coldness of the handle biting into her skin as she twisted, slowly but surely. A pair of red ballet shoes, a tall, stern woman, a gun in her hand.

"You OK, kid?" asked Clint, looking at me in concern.

I broke out of my flashback and looked up at him, giving him a weak smile. "Yeah, I'm OK," I lied.

Clint tried the door handle but it didn't budge. He sighed and pulled a bright yellow arrow out of his quiver, nocking it to his bow. "Best cover your ears, kid," he said.

I slammed my hands over my ears just as a loud boom echoed through the hallway. I shuddered - the floor underneath me visibly shaking. I winced and uncovered my ears, surveying the wreckage: The entire door had been blown off, it's steel hinges swaying dangerously. Clint gave me a small grin and gestured towards the door, which led into a dark, cavernous room which I knew contained the laser field. "Ladies first," he said, smirking.

"Well aren't you a gentleman," I said sarcastically, pushing past him to look into the room. It was massive, and a glowing red button about fifteen metres away sparked ominously. "You'll have to hit that," I said. "And then we'll have ten seconds to run across before the lasers come back on again."

Clint glanced behind him nervously.

"Do you think you won't be able to make the shot?" I asked him.

"Oh, no," Clint replied, his dark eyebrows inching towards each other in concern. "I'm certain I can make the shot. What I'm worried about is the fact that HYDRA operatives and Ivan's soldiers might know we're here and come after us, not Nat and Banner."

I snorted. "Well maybe you should have thought about that before you exploded the door!"

Clint raised his eyebrows and gave me a stern look that could have made a god tremble. "Did you have a better plan?"

I shrugged. "Nah. You did good."

Clint nocked another arrow, black this time, to his bow, and released it into the darkness of the laser room. I watched in horror as the lasers, bright, blinding red, began to move around, almost disintegrating the arrow as it sped past. By the time it had reached the button, only the arrowhead remained, the shaft lying in splinters on the ground. 

BEEP!

Clint and I ran. We sprinted with all our speed across the room, running like all of hell's demons were after us (which, in a sense, they were). Just as we were about to reach the end of the room, I did something stupid.

I fell over.

Clint had already reached the door on the other side, but I was lying sprawled on the ground. I could hear the beeping of the time counting down, the mechanical voice saying: "THREE..."

"Get up kid!" Clint screamed.

"TWO."

I tried to get up but somehow fell over again.

"ONE."

"KID!"

The lasers danced in front of my eyes. They flew straight towards me, but I was ready. I thrust my arms out, channelling all of my powers of probability into them, my mind straining under the effort but my heart full of determination to survive and free my sister. Just before the lasers sparked into me, snuffing out my life for good in a gory, horrific death, I switched the probability of the event occurring and they simply turned off, the mechanical voice slowing to a halt as it said softly, "ZERO."

Clint ran towards me, his face a ghastly white with fear. He wrapped his arms around me, every part of him trembling. I clung to him, my heart pounding at the speed of a sprinting cheetah. "I'm OK," I whispered into his arms. "I'm OK."

He let go and pulled me up. He was only trembling slightly as he said softly, dangerously, "never scare me like that again."

I gave him a weak smile and took his hand. We looked towards the door in front of us, knowing that in just a few steps we would be crawling through a ventilation shaft that would lead us to Tori. 

"No promises," I whispered.