Major Signs

Some say, ‘There is a fine line between hate and love’.

Kate and Yelena had been treading that line like expert tightrope walkers for months, leaning towards the hate side of things more often than not, before the incident happened that may have tipped them into a more neutral position.

It had been a bad idea in general. The whole mission was racked with flaws that went unaccounted for and when things started to derail, there was no backup plan to fall back on.

Natasha had always cursed herself for the failure of that mission because she knew better.

She knew better than to leave flaws in a mission plan. She knew better than to charge into an unknown environment without much backup. She knew better than to not have a backup plan. She knew better.

That’s what made it worse.

The overall goal was simple enough; subdue the briefcase and get out as fast as possible.

Though problems began to arise quickly. The earpieces were staticky and had a bad connection. Clint could barely hear them from where he covered them and Yelena and Natasha had no other way to communicate with him.

Kate had been forced to wait on the rooftop of a nearby building, still too inexperienced to be on the frontlines - no matter how much she grumbled about it - and now she had no way to know if things went wrong, making her position virtually useless.

Then there were the goons. Usually, Kingpin’s men weren’t much of a problem.

They were heavy footed and often untrained, meaning they were easy to take down. This time however, they seemed different, stronger.

Natasha chalked this up to have something to do with the formula in the briefcase they were searching for, which had the capability to give someone superhuman abilities.

Another problem was the sheer difference in numbers. Between Clint, Yelena and Natasha, three non-supes, they were severely outnumbered by the hundreds of goons that swarmed them all at once like bees.

It was difficult to even see each other through the hoard of suits that just continued to expand with every body that hit the floor.

“Once you — take down one of them — it’s like another three shows up — in their place.” Clint had grunted through the static of the earpiece and as Natasha subdued another goon, looking to the other rapidly approaching suits, she couldn’t help but agree.

Despite their best efforts, it was only inevitable the three had gotten caught.

Clint had been dragged away to a different room, he stayed behind to give Natasha and Yelena cover as they progressed and he had no way to warn them due to the faulty earpieces.

They had been so close. Practically touching the briefcase when an alarm was triggered and they had been swarmed and taken down.

Natasha and Yelena were tied to two different chairs. The goons joking around and laughing triumphantly in their faces.

Yelena couldn’t help but taunt them back, earning herself a gag and a few punches that only served to make Natasha pull harder at the ropes that held her to the chair.

It was then the questions started.

One of the men, larger than the rest, presumably the leader began to interrogate Natasha.

What are you doing here? Who sent you? How did you find out about this place? Yada, yada, yada. The usual spiel.

Nat had played this game before and gave them no answers. She didn’t give the satisfaction of seeing her flinch at the beatings they gave her, though she could only beg Yelena to close her eyes as the most painful part of the experience was hearing her sister’s helpless anguish at the sight in front of her.

She had already caused Yelena so much pain. Now, her sister had to watch as she was beaten and humiliated in front of her. While Yelena could do nothing about it.

It was a hopeless situation. Though Natasha had gotten used to hopeless situations in her life, she had hoped her sister would never be subjected to another.

That was when it happened. After one particularly hard punch and another bout of laughter, the staticky earpiece crackled to life in Natasha’s ear.

“In — coming!”

With precision that could only be rivalled by Clint Barton himself, an arrow shattered the glass window behind them and lodged itself between the ropes binding Nat’s wrists.

She was quick to stand, but before she could even begin to wail on the goon in front of her, a purple gas began to spew from the arrow.

Nat was quick to cover her mouth and nose with her shirt, Yelena doing the same after another trick arrow freed her from her own ropes.

The two were free to sit back and watch as the goons began to cough and groan and drop to the floor like flies.

Once the gas ran out, a low hissing coming from the arrow, Natasha double checked the unconscious states of the suits before looking up, catching Yelena staring through the broken window with an unreadable expression before she was broken out of her musings by Natasha’s call.

In the end, they managed to get the briefcase out and keep all limbs intact, though it seemed Natasha and Kate had sustained the worse of the damage.

A few of the goons managed to get the jump on the archer, cracking a few ribs and breaking an ankle as they tossed her from her perch but all in all, it was a successful mission.

The change happened when they had gotten back to the Avengers Tower.

Natasha’s injuries were mainly cuts and bruises, a broken nose and some other superficial injuries, though Bruce insisted she stay in the ward ‘just in case.’

As expected, Yelena would stick by her side throughout the process. She would remain there when she was asleep and be right there next to her when Nat awoke.

Though one night, during an unrelated bout of insomnia, Natasha had woken up without Yelena by her side.

She had thought nothing of it, but still decided to take a stroll in search of her sister. As she left the room, there was the sound of hushed chatter coming from nearby.

Frowning, Nat made her way through the dark hall of the infirmary, when a dim orange light caught her attention.

Squinting through the glass, she could make out the sight of Yelena sat at Kate’s bedside, the archer propped up by her pillows as the two regarded each other in the low lamplight on the bedside table.

They talked easily, casually and Natasha was sure she even saw Yelena smiling and laughing a few times.

She didn’t say anything about it. She merely smiled at the sight of her sister being happy, finally smiling again after the incident before heading back to her own room.

It happened a few more times. Even after Natasha was free to return to their own shared room again, Yelena would be gone in the middle of the night, only to be found sat in Kate’s bed with her, watching a movie on the archer’s laptop or sharing a take out.

Natasha knew if she brought it up to Yelena, the blonde would deny it or at worse, stop doing it in general and Nat didn’t want that to happen.

So when she woke up in the night, with Yelena missing from her bedside as her midnight escapades to Kate’s room increased in frequency, she only grinned to herself and turned over.

Knowing that as much as her sister would deny it, she was beginning to get along with Kate.