The Widow's Daughter ✔︎

Chapter Thirty-One

When I'd started telling the story of how we all came to be here and the truth about the past, Holly was pinching the bridge of her nose.

Fifteen minutes later, when I'd ended the story, she was still pinching her nose. "Uh...so that's how...um...you came to be. Uh, please don't kill us?" I winced at my lame-sounding ending.

Holly let out a long slow breath and gave me a look that I'd seen many times before in Natasha. "So let me get this straight," she said slowly, "You two losers are my sisters. And the Black Widow is my mother. And I was grown in a lab then stolen by somebody you think might be my psychopathic guardian, Kristoff Agnelsson, then somehow split into three and, while you two were carted off to be experimented on by Russians, I got to stay with Agnelsson? And we're known by the rest of the world as the Red Triplets and theoretically could destroy the universe with out power?"

"Uh. Yes?" I couldn't believe how many times I'd said 'uh' these past fifteen minutes (67, I was counting).

"OK." Holly stood up, stress wrinkles lining her forehead that no fifteen year old girl should have. "In any normal case, I would have screamed at you for being an insane weirdo and not believed you at all, but it kinda makes sense." Seeing the gorillas confused expressions, she added, "These two losers do look exactly like me. And I was raised by Kristoff Agnelsson."

"Sure." Afia, the tall frizzy-haired girl, stepped forwards. "But how do we know we can trust them? The spider-boy looks a little shady to me."

"Hey!" Peter tried to look menacing from his position next to the hay bales. "I'm not a boy! I'm a man! And I'm not shady!"

Holly looked doubtful. "This does seem kinda sketchy," Endie said, pushing his glasses further up his nose. "They didn't freak out that much when they saw I was a pyrotechnic, which says that they've obviously been working with Agnelsson on the other gifted children."

"Other gifted children?" Evie breathed.

"Oh yeah," Todd put in. "A bunch of kids just like us are being experimented on by Agnelsson and his crew. We managed to escape and formed the Salvatore Squad. Our main goal is to get all the kids out and also annoy people."

Addison nodded violently. "Annoying people is fun."

"Guys, we're not working with Agnelsson," I said firmly. "We're working against Agnelsson. People like him and Ivan are determined to blot out any form of life that's remotely different, but we're not like that. We work with the Avengers."

While the rest of the Salvatore Squad looked doubtful, something about what I'd just said made Holly angry. She turned away, her face red. She was quiet for a long time but nobody dared to speak up. "If what you're saying is true," she said finally, in a low, dangerous voice, "Then where are they? Where are the Avengers? They wouldn't send a couple of loser kids to find me."

I blushed a bit. "Um. Well. About that..."

"We didn't come with their permission," Evie finished. "We stole one of Tony Stark's jet planes and flew here but then it exploded."

"Go figure," Peter ended, sighing. "Poor Mr Stark."

"You STOLE one of TONY STARK'S jet PLANES?" I didn't know what Holly was more freaked-out about - the stealing, the fact that we stole from Tony Stark, the fact that we stole a plane, or the fact that we exploded it.

"You sound like my mum," I grumbled.

"The Black Widow?" Holly snorted. "Yeah, right."

"Having the Black Widow as a mum would be cool," Endie said, his laid-back personality a nice change from Holly's intense badass. "She could, like, teach you how to kill people. And blow stuff up. I suppose that's how you managed to explode Tony Stark's jet."

"That's fairly accurate," I said to him. "Also, Steve Rogers is a great history teacher."

"I like history," Todd mused thoughtfully. Addison smacked him on the arm.

"Guys, stop," Afia said. She had a pretty Irish accent. She turned to me. "Please continue your explanation before Holly starts to scream."

I chuckled. Evie tensed behind me, Ben's head in her lap. "Well, we went without the Avenger's permission. They didn't exactly want us to find you, because of the whole getting-the-Red-Triplets-together-could-destroy-us-all thing."

"If it is true, then why where were they?" Holly's expression was taut and strange. "Where were the Avengers when we needed them? They're here in this world to fight crime, right? So why haven't they stopped Agnelsson? Or Ivan, for that matter. According to your story, they only went to fight him when they found out that he had Tori, and they only rescued Tori because they thought she was the Black Widow's daughter. They won't do anything unless they have a reason for it, Kira. They're selfish. They only do things for themselves. They think they're so much better than all the other people in this world."

"She has a point," Evie whispered from behind me.

I swallowed. "That may be true," I began, "But they're kind, too. They care about the world, which is why they defend us. I think the only true reason they don't reach out to others is because the others never reached out to them."

Seven sets of eyes blinked at me, confused.

"Do you know how lonely the Avengers are? Cooped up in their big tower with nobody but each other?" I thought of how gloomy Nat had been before I came into her life and shivered. "The general public doesn't know who they are other than that Tony Stark is Ironman. They're people too, and they're lonely, guys. I think that was half of the reason why the engineered us." I looked pointedly at Evie and Holly. 

"Apart from being a weapon, that is," Evie added.

I nodded. The Salvatore Squad stayed quiet for a very long time.

Peter broke the silence by swinging to my side and saying, "So are you going to let us go now, or do we have to break out by ourselves?"

Holly pursed her lips. "I think... I think we need to band together," she said finally. "I think you guys need to join the Salvatore Squad and track down Agnelsson with us."

"What?" the other Salvatores burst into outrage. "Are you kidding?" Addison stomped her foot and Todd looked like he was about to kill somebody. Afia scowled at all of us and Endie's arms began to smoulder.

"Holly's right," said a small voice. We all turned around to see Ben rubbing his head blearily and saying, "We have to track down this Mr Kristoff. He's not being very nice to all those other kids and, while I'm sure that you guys-" he looked to the Salvatores "-would do a great job by yourself, Agnelsson obviously didn't want Holly to find Evie and Kira. Maybe combined, you guys have some power that can defeat him."

Holly nodded. "The squirt is right," she said.

"Hey!" Evie glared at her. "Only I get to call him that." She moved her body in front of Ben protectively, which didn't do much seeing as she was tied to a chair.

Peter smiled. "So are we all friends now?" he asked. "Can we go and bust bad guys?"

Holly smirked and I saw the other Salvatores begin to giggle behind her. I frowned at them, anxiety creeping into my brain. "Why are you smiling like that...?" I asked, concerned.

"Well, to truly be a Salvatore, you have to act like a Salvatore," Afia's voice was full of amusement. "And acting like a Salvatore means you have to break the rules."

"I'm good at breaking things," Ben piped up. "And Kira's good at making things go BOOM."

I scowled at him. "Whatever you guys want us to do, we'll do it," I said, determined.

Holly chuckled. "Well, sister dear," she said coyly, "We want you to prove your loyalty to us by..." She looked deep in thought, then smirked and said, "...Kidnapping Nick Fury."