Chapter 16
After a few minutes of catching up with each other, I asked her to tell Banner and Rocket I was going and jumped until I was on Nat's quinjet.
"So, Clint went insane and is now a serial killer?" I asked as I took a seat next to her.
"So glad you could join me. And no, well yes but he has his reasons, like any of us."
"OK, so not a serial killer, just a killer who kills other killers. Because that makes everything OK," I told her, raising an eyebrow.
"If you kill a killer the number of killers in the world remains the same. If you kill more than one the number goes down," she said landing the plane.
"But revenge isn't a path well travelled by anyone."
"We need a better hobby than finding random sayings on the internet."
"Or we could do this mission and save the world, my world," I said thinking back to the last time I spoke to Wanda on our girls night before she disappeared.
"I get it, you want your sister back. But we need my friend back to get her and the others back."
"Why can't life be easy?"
"Because a life worth living is a life hard fought."
"Yeah yeah yeah, I get it Nat. Fight for what you believe in, don't trust the government and stark is an idiot. Any other life lessons you want to teach me or can we catch us a serial killer?" I asked her.
"Not today. And for the last time he's not a serial killer."
"He has killed multiple people that he had no connection with, correct?"
"Yes?"
"He's a serial killer. That's the definition of a serial killer."
"Then I'm one too, little Maximoff."
"So am I and your point is?" Then I came to a realization, "Was that meant to scare me?"
"Why do I get stuck on watching duty?" I whined to Tony and Steve.
"Because we don't know what this will do to your developing brain," Steve told me as I glared at him.
"Plus, we don't like you," Tony said to me when Steve walked away.
"Steve! Natasha! Tony's being mean to me!" I screamed, acting like a child.
"Tony play nice, she's just a kid," Nat told him.
"Why do they side with you?" he asked me.
"I'm sweet, nice and I make cookies for them," I told him, "The way to the captain's heart is through chocolate chip cookies."
"Steve, she's a bitch," Tony said, moving away from me.
"Language!" I yelled back going to the briefing room ready for the briefing.
"Okay, so the "how" works. Now we gotta figure out the when and the where. Almost all of us has had an encounter with at least one of the six Infinity Stones," Steve told the team.
"Well I'd substitute the word encounter for damn well near been killed by one of the six Infinity Stones," Tony spoke up.
"I nearly destroyed one," I said, shrugging.
"We only have enough Pym Particles for one round trip each, and these stones have been in a lot of different places throughout history," Bruce said.
"Our history. So, not a lot of convenient spots to just drop in," Tony added.
"Which means we have to pick our targets," Clint told the room.
"Correct," Tony replied.
"Let's start with the Aether. Thor, what do you know?" Steve said as all of our heads turned to Thor in the corner, with his sunglasses on it was impossible to tell if he was asleep or not.
"Is he asleep?" Nat asked.
"No I think he's dead," Rhodey replied.
"I'll find out," I told them, picking up a pen and throwing it across the room at him, hitting him square on the head.
He woke up straight after and I could feel him glaring at me, "Where to start? Umm... The Aether, first, is not a stone, someone called it a stone before. It's more of a... an angry sludge thing, so... someones gonna need to amend that. Here's an interesting story though, many years ago... My grandfather had to hide the stones from the Dark Elves..." He wiggles his fingers to imitate a spooky ghost, "Wooooh, scary beings. So Jane, oh, there she is. That's Jane... She's... an old flame of mine... She... she stuck her hand inside a rock this one time... and then the Aether stuck itself inside her... And, she became very, very sick. So I had to take her to Asgard, which is where I'm from. And we had to try and fix her. We were dating at the time, you see. I got to introduce her to my Mother... who's dead," he started to look broken, and seemed on the verge of tears, "and oh you know, Jane and I aren't even dating anymore, these things happen though you know, nothing last forever," Tony started to push him back to his chair in an attempt to quieten him, "I'm not done yet, the only thing permanent in life is impermanence."
"Awesome. Eggs? Breakfast?" Tony asked the group.
"I'd like a Bloody Mary, thank you," Thor said as I scoffed.
"And I'd like my family to be alive and yet here we are," I told him getting up to go to the kitchen, "So do it yourself, asshole."
"Quill said he stole the Power Stone from Morag," Rocket said, pacing on the table.
"Is that a person?" Scott said while I played on my phone.
"Morag's a planet. Quill was a person," Rocket snapped out.
"A planet? Like in outer space?" Scott looked like a small boy going to go to the museum for the first time.
"Oh, look. It's like a little puppy, all happy and everything. [Imitating talking to a puppy] Do you wanna go to space? You wanna go to space, puppy? I'll get you to space," Rocket said to Scott as I raised my hand and he high five me.
"Oh god why were you two introduced," Nat muttered into her fork.
"Thanos found the Soul Stone on Vormir," Nebula informed us back in the meeting room.
"What is Vormir?" Natasha asked seriously, taking notes with me.
"A dominion of death, at the very center of Celestial existence. It's where... Thanos murdered my sister," Nebula told her. Nat looked up, and an awkward silence fell upon the room. She writes what Nebula has just said.
"Not it," Scott tried to joke to the crowd.
Nat and Tony were laying on the table with all of their papers scattered around them, while Bruce was on the floor and I was lounging in the desk chair, braiding Nat's hair. When the time stone popped up on the monitor.
"That Time Stone guy..." Nat started.
"Doctor Strange," Bruce spoke.
"Yeah, what kind of doctor was he?" I asked the group.
"Ear-nose-throat meets rabbit from a hat," Tony told me.
"Nice place in the village, though," Bruce said awkwardly.
"Yeah. Sullivan Street," Tony said.
"Hmm... Bleecker," Bruce corrected him.
"Wait, he lived in New York?" Nat asked looking up at me seeing if I connected the dots.
"No. He lived in Toronto," Tony said.
"Guys, if you pick the right year, there are three stones in New York," Me and Natasha said in unison.
"Shut the front door," Bruce said, sitting up faster than I ever could.
"How many PhD.s do you have between you again? Because it sure seems like a teenage girl and a former ballerina outsmarted two of the smartest people in the world," I said cheekily.
"So you guys have a plan?" Steve asked standing in the doorway.
"We sure do," I told him, there was a gnawing thought at the back of my mind but I wasn't sure what it was.
As they all walked into the hanger I had to yell at them, the urge was not something I couldn't overcome.
"STOP BEING SO DRAMATIC!" I screeched at them, "You're not models your superheros who have to go and save my sister and everyone else who went snap. OK this is not the time for drama this is the time for action and if I can't come with you, you're going to do this as though I'm hunting you down until you get the stones. Kapeesh?"
"Yes ma'am," Steve told me, while some of the others looked at me scared.
"I like you," Nebula told me.
"So do I," said Rocket.
"Love you little one, I'll see you real soon," Nat said to me as they all climbed the stairs to their doom.
"Wait!" I said causing everyone to stop, "Can I have a hug, Nat?"
"Sure, come here," She said as I ran up to her, giving her a hug that I hoped conveyed how much I love her and look up to her, "I love you, Yulia. If anything happens to me you know where everything is buried and I want you to find Yelena and Melina and give them the boxes marked for them. And you and Wanda get my apartment in little Odessa. Everything will be OK. I'll be OK. But if I'm not you have to move on and be brave for me. I love you Yulia, you're like my little sister." She spoke to me softly in Russian.
"OK, but if anything happens to you, I'm killing whoever is responsible or guiltiest," I told her going down the steps.
"Yulia, go to the control room and flick the switch, we've got it from there," Bruce told her as she walked away.
"Cool. I love you Nat, Steve, little raccoon thing! Nebula, keep being a badass!" I yelled, flicking the switch as Steve gave the team a pep talk.
When they arrived back a minute later, I stood up. I then noticed something. Nat. Where was Natasha?
"W...W...Nat?" I screamed at Clint trying to calm my breath, "She said you would protect her, that you would make sure her fate changed! She knew she was going to her doom and she thought you would stop it! That's why we came to find you! YOU BASTARD! YOU WERE MEANT TO KEEP HER SAFE!! AND WHERE IS SHE ASSHOLE! WHERE IS NAT! WHERE IS MY MENTOR," I kept yelling at him while Steve ran up to me to calm me down.
"It's OK Yulia, she might be late and anyway I'm sure Clint tried his hardest," He tried to sooth me as I cried into his shoulder giving up on yelling at Clint.
"I don't think he did, I really don't think he did, Steve," I cried.
"It's OK, just breathe. It'll be OK, it'll be OK. We can bring her back. And Wanda and maybe Pietro," Tony told me.
"Kid, I'm sorry," Clint said as I tried to grab Nebula's sword to stab him but Steve stopped me.
"Violence isn't the answer, Yulia. What would Nat do?" Steve asked me.
"She'd get revenge, Steve. She'd forgive and then stab him as Brutus did to Caesar," I said looking up at him hurt. Natasha was my only family left, none of these other people had become family. So what was I meant to do now? My parents are dead. My sister's gone. Pietro's gone. Kat, Ruby both gone. Now Nat. Who do I have left in this world? Steve? Not really, sure he's kinda like a brother but he doesn't know Russian and he doesn't know what the experiments feel like when not done in safe American labs. Tony? No, he hates my guts. Carol? She's in space too much. Kate. I still have Kate, though currently, I don't know where she is or if she's alive since the last time I spoke to her.
I have no one. SO I have nothing to lose. If this doesn't work I can find Kate and hope she and Steve can become my family, but if it does I might have everyone back except my parents. I have to make that happen, I just can't have ghost Nat appear otherwise she's actually dead, well as dead as Pietro which isn't very dead. I mean it's deader than Wanda but still not that dead.
Death's confusing truly.
I was spiralling at this point, on the floor of the hanger just waiting for it all to dissolve into the stream of consciousness when Steve spoke to me, "Yulia why don't I take you to Nat's room and you can have a nap while we discuss this as adults?" All I could do was nod in response and try to push myself off the ground unsuccessfully. "Don't worry I can carry you," Steve told me as he picked me up, my brain still whirling at the thought of Nat being dead.
Once I was in her room and Steve was sure that I was safe I got up and walked over to her closet to see the message she told me to look at in a situation like this, it brought a smile to my face: "A Widow Never Really Dies Yulia, and I will always be with you in your heart. I love you little M."
"A widow never really dies," I muttered to myself curling up in her old winter coats for a nap. It smelt of her that's the only reason I did it truly. I miss her so much.