Chapter 2
Valeriya and Nikolai arrived at the compound just before nightfall. Taking the elevator up she anxiously pulled on the ends of his hair while she waited for it to finally reach the right floor. As soon as the doors opened Nikolai darted out, seeing Tony standing there.
“Grandpa!” Nikolai yelled before being swept up into Tony’s arms. Letting out a small chuckle Valeriya commented “I can’t believe you got him to call you that.” Tony looked towards the elevator where he saw Valeriya. Tearing up, he invited the woman into his arms. As soon as she accepted the invitation he hugged her tight, missing the relieved sigh she let out.
Rocking a somewhat sleepy Nicky on his hip he quietly spoke “I’ll show you to your rooms, lay him down and we can talk for a bit, okay? Giving an affirmative nod they began the quiet walk down to the rooms.
Breaking the calming silence he pointed to two doors and said “this one on the left is Nicky’s and the one on the right is yours”
Seeing the apprehensiveness on her face he reassured “Come on, you're an adult you need your own room. What if you wanna do…adult things-” “Tony!?” Giving her an incredulous look he spoke “what? Can you blame me? I want more grandkids.”
Ignoring the tinge of sadness the comment brought, she walked through the door on the left. Looking around she saw a room that she knew Nicky had been dreaming of since he was younger.
There was a large bed with a toddler railing on it in the center, a toy box, an incredibly soft rug, bookshelves, a dinosaur mural, and several stuffed animals scattered around the room. A warm smile graced her face, the first one in a long time.
Taking the boy from Tony’s arms she tucked him in and left him with a kiss to the forehead. Tony followed close behind and carefully shut the door.
Before he could get a word out, she clung onto him refusing to let go. Shocked Tony wasn’t quite sure how to react. The woman wasn’t much of a hugger. As a matter of fact, she hadn’t hugged him since she was a teenager. With a loving look in his eyes, he rubbed her back, albeit a bit awkwardly.
Tony silently pulled her to the elevator, and up to the penthouse. When the doors opened, Val loosened her hold and looked up. There pepper stood, waiting with open arms. Overjoyed she rushed to embrace the woman. Pepper spoke “I missed you so much” Val only responded by squeezing harder. Whenever she sought out comfort she would look for Pepper, The woman bought so much consolation, that Val would often call her mom, and pepper in return would refer to her as her daughter.
Laying across Pepper’s lap, she began giving a detailed explanation of what happened. When she finished she was met with odd looks from the two. “What did she look like?” Taking a moment to look back she responded Val replied with a detailed description.
Tony knew exactly who this was and Pepper probably did too. Oh, she is not going to like this. With his heart racing, he spoke “I need to make a quick call.”
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Natasha was in the shower when her phone started ringing. Opting to ignore it, she went on washing her hair. But after the fifth call, she was sure she’d be driven insane if she didn’t pick up.
Snatching her phone off the counter she picked up and quickly said “What do you want?!” Tony hastily replied, ignoring her outburst “Nat, I have answers for you but I need you to listen carefully and do this first.” Once she was sure of what to do she scrambled to get dressed, falling more times than she’d care to admit.
Tony found himself walking down the hall with Val while carefully explaining the situation. Reaching the door to the interrogation room, he hesitated to open the door. Turning to Val, he spoke, “try to hear her out, okay?” Nodding her head she walked through the doorway and took a seat across from Natasha. While Tony found his place in the viewing room.
“Name?” Natasha was slightly taken aback with how straightforward the questions were, she’d expected her to be long-winded and emotional. I guess not. “Natasha Romanov.” blankly staring at her for a moment Val once again demanded. “Name, not an alias your name.”
“I’ll answer all of your questions if you answer them too,” she said with a smirk. Contemplating the younger woman spoke.“Valeriya Aleksandrov” Caught off guard by the honesty, she replied, “Natalia Romanova” feeling the heaviness in her heart when she said that name she looked away.
From?” “Stalingrad” quirking an expectant eyebrow, she waited for Val’s reply “Stavropol, neighbor” Feeling a smile creep up her face she quickly moved on.
“Raised?” Narrowing her eyes, she felt on edge by the woman’s thoroughness. “Belarus, you?” Furrowing her brows, Val grew more aggressive. “Let’s cut the small talk, because you already know where I’m from, don’t you?”
While both women were far too stubborn to admit, they shared a fear. Having to tell the whole truth. Val sensed this and reached around unclasping her necklace. She slid it forward until it was in the center of the table. She was uncharacteristically nervous because this would be her trying. Trying to extend an olive branch and remind herself and the woman across from her that she was not a robot and had feelings.
“I don't mean to intrude” she quietly spoke “I just need to make sure my family is safe.” Following a moment of silence, Natasha thought aloud and whispered “Украшения Петровой” Petrova’s Jewelry.
“You know them?” Natasha questioned. Nodding along, Val spoke with a smile “well, I guess we were neighbors. You know, my sister bought me that. Nearly a year of saving the money we’d managed to get she bought it, as a gift, to make sure I could have her with me wherever I went.”
With a sad smile and teary eyes, you spoke up “As much as I do enjoy this, I do still need an answer.” Anxiously she nipped at the skin of her lip, feeling comfortable enough, to be honest in her body language. She doesn’t want to pry, she just needs enough to know you’re not here to harm her. But what will she do with the information?
Sighing she said, “The Red Room, I did not know before I approached you but soon after I did I started connecting the dots out of paranoia. It was fairly obvious, your son spoke Russian, the way you stabbed me, and the tattoo on your finger.
Looking down Val, smiled at the tiny tattoo of a tiny spider with a tiny web. While it may have seemed like an ode to her training as a Black Widow. It was a tattoo that represented Nikolai, her детеныш паука baby spider. “Is that what made you think I was looking for you?” Receiving a nod she continued. “The tattoo is for my son, Nikolai. I call him детеныш паука.” “Why?” Natasha said skeptically. “He’s very good at climbing and very hard to find. Maybe you’ll get to see it. Now, that I know you’re not trying to kill me.”
“May I ask, what your relationship is with Tony, I doubt he’d do this for just anyone. “ Taken aback by her politeness she answered “Tony and Pepper are like parents to me. I met Tony when he saved me almost five years ago. I was six months pregnant with Nicky when I got stuck in a building during an earthquake. Then a while later he came back with Pepper to visit me and the rest was history.” She said, leaving out the more painful parts of the memory.
“Anyway, thank you for this. It helps to know you won’t kill me in my sleep. I’ll see you around, Natalia.” Natasha watched as she walked away, puzzled by Val. If anyone else had dared to speak to her in the way she had they’d pay for it with a painful death, and calling her Natalia- god, that should’ve been enough for her to get up right then and kill her. But she couldn’t ever see herself doing that, not to Valeriya.
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Val had been staying at the tower for two weeks now. She planned on going back home, now that she knew the coast was clear but Tony begged her to stay. Between leaving sad little notes on her door and sighing loudly every time she left the room, she was more than tired. Though, the last straw was having F.R.I.D.A.Y. wake her up to tell her how much he’d miss her every day at the crack of dawn. Finally, she’d agreed to move in until further notice.
Team morale was noticeably higher with her around- well with Nikolai around, but they’re a package deal. She’d gotten up about twenty minutes ago and was currently looking for Nicky. She’d asked Tony and Pepper and checked his room, but he was nowhere to be found.
Feeling the panic begin to rise, she started searching more frantically. She was not yet aware of the way the wind grew stronger, the licks of fire on the stove became higher, the way her roommates’ bathwater began to overflow at an uncontrollable rate or the way the ground began to shake. Dashing, at this point, she went to the common room, hysterically demanding to know where Nikolai went. Growing louder and louder as she repeated herself, she started hyperventilating.
Clint, having kids of his own understood the familiar panic and tried to calm her. Putting his hand on her shoulder he was about to ask when the last time she’d seen him but before he could get anything out she grabbed his hand in a grip so crippling he could’ve passed out from the pain. Unable to remove his hand, from her grip he tried to flip her, but in the blink of an eye, he was laid out under her foot. Something wasn’t right.
The wind was banging on the windows, what use to be breakfast was now enveloped in flames, water was up to their ankles, and the items on the bookshelves toppling over. Bucky saw this and quickly stepped in. Learning from Clint’s mistake he refrained from physical contact. Getting in front of her and bringing himself eye to eye with her, he calmly yet firmly told her to let go.
It seemed to fall on deaf ears, so he resorted to restricting her arms in hopes that’d get her to let go. His hand came in contact with her forearm, and she quickly turned around and grabbed onto his metal one. Metal slowly dripped onto the floor, dumbstruck he tried to pull away when she didn’t budge he used all of the force he could muster and she’d barely moved. What the hell is going on?!
By now you could feel the chill from the broken window, the stovetop was nearly completely on fire, water was rising up their shins, and it became hard to stand up straight with the ground quaking. She began yelling a slew of quickly spoken Russian words, louder than before, and just as Bucky’s arm was about to be detached from his hand. A little voice spoke “мамочка?” mommy?
It was as if the world came to a stop, the whistling of wind slowed, the spreading fire died down, the water stopped rising, and the ground stopped vibrating. Running over to him, and scooping him up she began to question him.
“Где ты был? Разве ты не слышал, как я тебя звал? Я так волновалась.” Where were you? Didn’t you hear me calling your name? I was so worried. Nicky answered sheepishly, “Прости меня, мамочка. Я хотел посмотреть, что было в лаборатории, пока ты спал. С тех пор, как ты не отпустил меня.” I'm sorry, Mommy. I wanted to see what was in the lab while you were sleeping. Since you wouldn’t have let me go.
Before she could scold the boy, she felt a sudden wave of intense fatigue so strong her knees nearly buckled. Setting Nikolai down so she wouldn’t accidentally drop him, she gripped onto the closest surface. Noticing this, Bruce asked her permission to lay her down in Medbay and she quickly accepted. Bruce nodded at Steve who was only wearing yellow rubber ducky boxers as a result of an interrupted bath, to help her.
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Val didn’t even remember the trip down. She bounced in between consciousness for a few hours, until she’d felt a little less like death. Still laying in the hospital bed, she heard a rapid knock at the door. Before she could invite them in she saw several heads walk through the door.
The people she owed the biggest apology in the world to. But she wasn't completely sure how to do that. How does one say sorry for ruining your house, melting your arm, and nearly snapping your wrist clean off? Spotting the guilty look, Steve spoke up, “Look, there’s no need to feel bad it's over with now, and anyway it didn’t seem intentional. But what you owe us, is an explanation.” “I'm not quite sure where to start…” “How about when and how you got them?” Bruce kindly suggested.
A bit reluctantly she started “okay, well my sister and I were in The red room since I was eight, and then we were separated. I got sent to hydra where they ran experiments on me and she stayed. I have no idea what they were trying to accomplish since ninety percent of my time there was spent passed out. Eventually, I was sent back to The red room and then I broke out when I was seventeen.”
“Don’t withhold information, how did you break out?” Natasha interjected. “I killed her, Madame B,” I said glaring. Silence fell upon the room. “No way I would’ve recognized you immediately, do you know how wanted you are?!” Nat said with an incredulous look. Pulling her hair out of her face and into the tight bun she used to wear she smirked, she asked, “recognize me now?”
Filling the silence “After that I tried to stay in Russia for as long as possible but they were still searching for me, it was no place to raise a child. So I fled to the U.S. and here we are.” It was silent for a moment until I was hit with a sudden slew of questions. Answering the first one I heard, I spoke.
“After I was sent back to The red room I searched high and low for my sister and I still couldn’t find her. I asked Madame B, but she only laughed which should’ve been expected and I guess I…just lost my head” I said with a humorless chuckle, trying to lighten the mood.
The taller Maximoff asked me “Hey, then when did you have your son?” Feeling the dread rise in me, I prepared to come up with a quick lie. Before I could speak, an exhausted Pepper came through the door carrying Nikolai “Tony and I tried staying with him while you got help but he kept asking for you.” Reaching out, she placed him in my arms where he immediately curled into me. Pepper quickly said something before escorting everyone out of the room. But, not before I saw Wanda elbow her brother in his side for “acting like a nosy old woman.”
Oddly enough Steve was still there, he stared at me for a while before speaking “I know this may seem sudden but I’d like to offer you a position in the Avengers. You would be a great addition to our team. You did a lot today and I have a feeling that wasn’t even the tip of the iceberg. So what do you say, wanna be an avenger?”