Interlude
Once Hana is dropped off at the Med Bay, Clint disappears to find Natasha. The moment he saw this girl, he knows that this girl is connected to Natasha. Seeing her, first on a security photo then in the diner, made his chest ache, like he couldn’t breathe.
She finds him first, a frown marring her features. She could feel his distress the moment the quinjet landed at the tower: it made her hip burn.
He says nothing, just motions for her to follow him.
He takes her to Hana's cot in the Med Bay. First, all she notices is the hair. It’s long and blonde, matted with blood and dirt. Next she sees the scars– scars from years and years of rough training. Then, she puts two and two together. She has never seen hair that blonde, has never seen cheekbones like that, except…
Natasha reacts like a hurricane: first, just a shuttered breath, then a flurry of impossible motion. In seconds she has removed the IV and pulse monitor from the frail girl. The machines beep shrilly, and the medical assistants protest for a moment before realizing that they were facing against the Black Widow. She ignores them, and ignores Clint's raised eyebrows too. Sure, he knew, but he didn’t expect this. He could count on one hand the times he has witnessed Natasha lose her cool.
"Go get Banner," She snaps at him, and carefully lifts Hana into her arms. Despite her muscles, Hana is as light as a feather. The Red Room does not have a protein plan, nor do they particularly care that their girls were healthy: they just had to be strong.
She reaches her personal apartment in minutes, and Jarvis opens the doors for her. She places Hana gently on the spare bed. She's lost a lot of blood, but her heartbeat and breathing is steady. This isn't fatal.
Part of her mind is smooth and analytical: we don’t know what she is like now, this might be a trick, she might wake up and try to kill us all, this could be a trap
And the other part just cried: Hana hana hana I’m so sorry I left you I shouldn’t have left you–
Banner arrives, Rogers on his heels.
"Romanoff, are you crazy? Clint brings an unknown hostile into the avengers tower, and then you bring her into the residence floors! We don't even know who she is–"
"Her name is Hana," Natasha interrupted, voice thick. Rogers doesn’t notice.
“No offense, Romanoff, but just because she is your friend doesn’t mean that I trust her enough to be–”
"She is..." Natasha trails off, absentmindedly stretching her shirt to reveal her shoulder, and the barely visible writing. It had been burned and sliced and bruised, but the words were still there. It is impossible to completely erase a soulmark.
Steve softened. "I didn't know you had a platonic soulmate…"
"I thought she was gone." Steve’s eyebrows furrow when he thinks of when he lost Bucky. He knows that Natasha’s story cannot possibly be very similar to his, but his heart aches for her anyway. Losing a soulmate hurts like hell.
Natasha hovers behind Bruce as he checks Hana over, and confirms what she already knows. Hana will be fine after rest and a few good meals.
Natasha doesn’t know what she will tell her when she wakes. I knew we were soulmates but I left you behind because I didn’t think you were strong enough? No. I’ll protect you, even though I didn’t bother last time? Even worse. Clint touches her arm, and she retreats back to his apartment to plan her next move, leaving Rogers and Barnes in her apartment to guard Hana.