Yours Truly
In the morning, Natasha started to wake up but she was still half asleep. She could see the sunlight creep in from the edges of the worn curtains that blocked the window. She didn’t remember the last time she shared a bed with Maria. She could feel the light touch of her hand moving up her leg sweetly, practically crawling from the side of her knee to her thigh.
“I guess you missed me.” Nat smirked to herself in half asleep state, digging her head into her pillow.
She could feel Maria’s hand move even further up her thigh.
“Oh, give it a rest.” Natasha laughed as she smiled widely to herself but as she opened her eyes she could see the a blurred image of two figures sitting at the counter in the edge of the room. She blinked a few times to make them out and then Natasha could see that Yelena and Maria were sitting at the counter drinking some coffee and staring at Natasha in her sleep.
“What are you dreaming about?” Maria snarked as Natasha woke up.
“Or who?” Yelena smirked.
Natasha made a shocked face, she was so sure she could feel Maria next to her, physically touching her. Then Natasha’s face changed from shock to confusion as she could still feel something on her outer thigh moving.
“What’s wrong?” Maria asked concerned as she saw Natasha’s change in expression and then Natasha jumped out of the bed as fast as humanly possible flinging the sheets off of her as she jumped a giant cockroach was climbing up her leg and she slapped it away.
“Oh my god!” She yelled frustrated.
“Gross!” Maria looked sick “you said there were no bugs!”
“I can’t explain that!!” Natasha said wiping her legs off and then wriggling in frustration. “I need to go take a ten year shower.” Natasha groaned as the cockroach scattered over toward Maria and Yelena and Maria took out her gun and pointed it at the pest.
“Oh give me a break.” Yelena rolled her eyes as she jumped up and then stomped on the bug with her boot effortlessly as she eyed the two grown women.
“I didn’t have my shoes on yet.” Maria mumbled.
“I could have taken care of it I just needed a minute…. and a blowtorch.” Natasha sighed as she headed into the bathroom and then Natasha turned and she glared at Maria. “I should have that planted roach to get rid of you!” Natasha huffed and Maria and Yelena laughed.
“That definitely would have worked.” Maria snickered and Natasha turned around to go clean herself up in the bathroom.
Maria and Yelena exchanged a quick glance as they sat back down.
“How does it make you feel that your hands apparently feel the same as a cockroach?” Yelena teased.
“Clearly she was dreaming about someone else.” Maria rolled her eyes to herself and Yelena laughed shaking her head no.
Natasha returned from the bathroom after a few minutes, she had pulled some pants on, and pulled her hair up she was brushing her teeth as she exited the tiny bathroom.
“Okay, first thing, we need a new place to stay.” She said taking her toothbrush out of her mouth and pointing it at Maria and then popping it back into her mouth to continue brushing.
“Aww but the vermin give this place so much charm.” Yelena joked with a bratty smirk.
“And you…” Nat pointed at Yelena like she had something to say but then Natasha paused with the brush hanging out of her mouth. “I don’t know what you are doing, but whatever it is, knock it off.” Nat warned between brushing her teeth and then she returned the bathroom to spit and rinse.
“How close to Moscow do you want to be?” Maria asked as Natasha returned to the counter and he took Maria’s coffee from in front of her and helped herself to a sip.
“Gross, right after brushing your teeth?” Maria made a face as Nat drank from her coffee.
“Yeah, I did regret that immediately.” Nat nodded.
“What were you two talking about while I was sleeping with the roach?”
“That’s not a nice thing to say about your ex-girlfriend.” Yelena looked at Natasha.
“I meant the literal one that was crawling on me.” Nat clarified.
“Just talking about your plans.” Maria gave Natasha a smug look and Natasha squinted at Maria with contempt.
“I have a mission to finish with Dreykov.” Nat said coldly, gripping Maria’s mug tightly in her hand.
“No I didn’t….” Yelena started at the same time as Natasha spoke and then Nat looked at Yelena and then back at Maria. Maria was lying pretending Yelena told her everything.
“I knew it! I knew you were doing something insane.” Maria said with a light smirk.
Natasha rolled her eyes. “If you knew it, then why did you have deceive it out of me?” She asked tilting her head and Maria just smiled taking her coffee mug back from Natasha’s hands.
“How did you fall for that?” Yelena asked.
“It’s the morning, she knew I was groggy and crabby.” Natasha looked away from Maria. “The coffee is terrible by the way.” Nat added with a little sass to goat Maria.
“I made it…” Yelena mumbled and Natasha sighed loudly.
“How’s Dreykov’s not dead?” Maria asked glaring at the two of them.
Both Yelena and Natasha were quiet. Natasha discovered this when battling Taskmaster, and learned the Red Room was still active.
“How do you know that’s true?” Maria asked again sternly.
“It is.” Yelena answered confidently and Maria took a pause and stared at Natasha who was pressing her lips together.
“That sounds like a trap for you.” Maria cautioned.
“He’s still running the Red Room, he’s just doing it somewhere else with better cover.” Natasha mumbled.
“We would have known.” Maria said in a serious voice and Natasha shook her head no.
“He knew I went to SHIELD, he laid low, he played it careful so I wouldn’t come back. The Red Room and Hydra aren’t friends either, so…”
Maria still didn’t completely believe it and Natasha could tell by her face that she thought it was some kind of set up to lure Natasha out.
“He’s still torturing little girls, Hill.”
“Yeah, you don’t have to sell me on the reason for doing it.” Maria rolled her eyes, of course she wanted the Red Room gone for real and and Dreykov killed. She thought that was done a long time ago.
“Even if it’s not real, if it is a trap it’s still worth it to make sure he’s not really there doing it.”
“He’s still there, he’s still doing it. Hello, Taskmaster.” Yelena added in.
“What is Taskmaster?” Maria asked looking at the two of them.
“A mirror superhuman.” Natasha mumbled and she took Maria’s coffee mug back and another sip and it seemed like she was done elaborating on this. Maria tilted her head confused about this explanation.
“Oh, do you need me to expand on that?” Natasha asked sarcastically with a smirk.
“That would be helpful.” Maria snarked.
“Whoever Taskmaster is fighting, they can mirror their moves, skills, strengths abilities in the moment, making them very hard to fight.”
“So if you want to beat them you have to put someone with shitty skills in front of them?” Maria asked.
“Are you volunteering?” Natasha grinned.
“Funny.” Maria took her coffee mug back a second time and took a sip of the barely lukewarm coffee now.
“Even if this is true, how are you two, alone, going to get past an army of widows?” Maria asked.
“By freeing their minds.” Yelena said as she then pulled a collection of red vials out of her bag and put them on the table.
“They won’t defend Dreykov if they know what a monster he really is.” Yelena sighed.
“You have like ten of these…” Maria looked at their slim amount of antidote. “There’s probably more of ten of them defending him. What are you going to do then?” Maria asked fishing for the information that Natasha was refusing to share with her.
“Are you volunteering to be bait for me?” Nat grinned.
“Is that what you want me to do?” Maria asked seriously.
“I want you to find us a place to stay that is secure and safe and has food and that is free of pests, and then for you to stay there and then you can do what you do best, which is help me succeed while you sit around on your little Bluetooth telling everyone else how much time is left before we all die, and to watch out for incoming missiles or people or whatever.” Natasha worked hard to suppress a laugh and smile as she could see Maria’s irritated face.
“On my little bluetooth, huh?” Maria narrowed her gaze at Nat.
“Or you can drive me around.” Nat laughed and Maria made a unpleased face at Natasha’s jokes.
“How many times have I had to save your ass again?” Maria tilted her head.
“Did you really or did you just happen to be in the right place at the right time?” Nat cut with her words competitively, Maria raised her brows and Nat went to reach for the coffee mug and Maria pulled it away from her out of reach shaking her head no.
“You were going to escape Hydra’s assassination from the back of their armored truck how exactly?” Maria asked waiting for an answer.
“I would have figured it out.”
“Yeah, you just had to lose a few more liters of blood and then you would have had it.”
“My best inspiration comes in my potential final moments.” Natasha shrugged, knowing fully that she would have died without Maria’s intervention back when she was arrested by Hydra operatives with Sam and Cap. Maria glared at her, she wasn’t one for keeping score, usually, but Natasha was being a brat.
“What? If somebody needs to be saved they are calling me, not you.” Nat spoke with a casual sly tone with a confident smug look.
“Do you want to put that to the test? You think anyone is dialing up a fugitive they can’t find, for help right now?”
“The people who need to know how to find me, know how to find me.”
“Oh, like me?” Maria asked.
“Well, now that you’re here, what can I help you with?” Natasha grinned as she forced the coffee mug out of Maria’s hand and held onto it herself.
“BUG!” Maria yelled with concern and Natasha swatted quickly and urgently.
“Fuck! Where is it!” She huffed as dropped the mug on the table, some coffee splattering as she jumped checking herself and Maria smirked and laughed and Natasha groaned as she realized she was being tricked for her bratty comments. Maria took the mug back.
“Hill! I swear to god.” Nat muttered wiping her pants off from the fake bug sighting.
“This is fascinating. Is this what a normal romantic relationship is like?” Yelena asked after taking a sip of the burnt, stale, and over powering coffee.
“No.” Maria and Nat said in unison.
“And we’re not in a relationship.” Maria added.
“Romantic or otherwise.” Nat scoffed and Maria glared at her.
“Yeah, seems like it.” Yelena mumbled to herself and Maria and Natasha glared at each other again.
“Maria is right, Nat, this is only going to get us so far.” Yelena gestured to the antidotes they had.
“That’s why I have a different plan…” Natasha said a bit uncertain.
“Which is?” Maria asked and Yelena looked curious at that idea too.
“I can’t tell you.”
“Oh for the love of god.” Maria sighed loudly.
“I seriously can’t tell you.”
“Because you know it’s wrong and awful, and probably illegal it might get you killed.” Maria groaned.
“Yes.” Natasha answered and Yelena looked at Natasha curiously.
“I can’t tell you, I really can’t, but there is something that you can do for us, that would really help us.” Natasha’s voice sounded sincere finally and Maria wondered if she should believe her.
“I swear to god if you say your hotel accommodations…”
“No, I’m serious… well, I mean if you want to help with that, though, I wouldn’t mind. But, I..” Natasha paused thinking of how to word this. “Where’s Fury, is he around?”
Maria looked stunned and Yelena tilted her head at Natasha’s question.
“Why?” Maria asked skeptically.
“I need some information about something that happened at SHIELD, at the North Institute, long before our time there, but near and dear to Fury’s time there, and you know he can’t be seen with me right now.”
Maria made a face.
“If you are sending me on a fake fact-finding mission just so I will fuck off and leave you alone…” Maria glared at Natasha with a high level of skepticism.
“I was only eleven, so I don’t really understand everything that happened there, if you want to do what you do best, get me the information as stealthily and quickly as possible.” Nat shrugged
“All of the SHIELD documents were uploaded…”
“By yours truly…” Nat smirked and Maria rolled her eyes.
“Online..” Maria continued over Nat’s interruption. “If you need something just search for it.”
“These things don’t exist anymore I can’t just search for it.”
Maria didn’t look convinced or surprised.
“Look, can you help me or not?” Natasha asked in an over exaggerated annoyed tone switching her position on accepting Maria’s assistance.
“Oh, so now you want my help?” Maria responded in a sharp tone.
Yelena crashed her head down on the table and groaned loudly, these were the most frustrating two women alive, how did they find each other? Maria and Nat looked over at the frustrated Yelena whose head was on the table now.
“What?” Nat asked with a shrug like nothing was wrong.
“This younger generation is just so dramatic.” Maria mumbled.
“Mhmm.” Nat agreed as she held her hand out for the coffee mug and Maria handed it to her as they both looked at the deflated Yelena exhausted by their back and forth.