The Strengthening of Sisters & Weakening of Friends
Natasha heard the sounds of voices entering through the front door. Besides maybe Melina and Alexei, there was no one else who knew where to find Yelena.
Natasha silently leaves her room, armed with two glocks and her widow bites. She still doesn’t relax when she hears the voices clearer: Yelena and Hill. What were they doing up? And together?
She waits for Yelena’s door to shut before making her move. In an instant, Yelena’s on her feet and them both have guns pointing at each other.
“Jesus, Natasha, what are you doing?”
“What was Hill trying to do to you?” Natasha examines Yelena, looking for any cuts or wounds. “I’ll take care of her. She holds no power over you or me.”
“Nothing, we were just sparring. I couldn’t sleep.” Natasha’s taken aback, and her shock must be clear on her face.
“Ew, not like that.” Yelena crinkles her nose. “I didn’t have sex with your girl. She’s practically my sister, or like a mom. Speaking of which, she’s a lot like Melina. Do you—”
“Shut up. You don’t know what you’re talking about.” And she really doesn’t, because if there’s one thing Natasha and Hill would ever be doing, it’s that.
“Yeah, yeah.” Yelena plops down on her bed. “So what can I do you for?”
“Where were you really?” Natasha can tell Yelena isn’t sharing the whole story. She’s not holding eye contact with her. Her eyes are darting every which way and her finger is twitching like it always does. Natasha still knows her sister.
“We went to go spar. Which you really could’ve given me a head’s up first, how was I supposed to know that you taught your girl all the Red Room tricks?”
“I barely know her.” Natasha doesn’t know why she’s lying to her sister. It feels like a force of habit out of anything. That and she doesn’t appreciate Yelena’s change of subject.
“Well I call bullshit.” Natasha knows she has no tells. There’s no way she has any tells. Yelena’s grasping at straws here.
“I call bullshit back.”
“You can’t call bullshit back, that’s not how it works!” Yelena whines loudly and sticks her tongue out like a little kid. Which really is what she is. An annoying kid sister.
“Well it is now.”
“I’ll tell if you tell.” Yelena’s brows are high on her face; she really thinks she’s gonna get away with this? Natasha can do this all day if she has to.
“I told.”
“Did not.” Yelena crosses her arms and Natasha’s attention is drawn to some fabric held tightly in her grip. There’s no way she had enough time to grab something from her room after coming back, which means she had to have gotten that from Hill.
“What is that?” Natasha points to her balled up fist. Her sister looks like a deer caught in the headlights. Gotcha.
“Nothing.” Yelena instantly dismisses, only making Natasha even more suspicious.
Natasha reaches out to grab it but Yelena puts her body between it and her. They struggle for a while until Natasha’s able to get a hand on it.
“Stop pulling, you’re gonna rip it!” Yelena complains. “Fine, here it is.” She lets go and Natasha can finally look at it. It’s Yelena’s vest.
“You got another one?” Last Natasha’s seen this vest, she was wearing it when they battled Thanos. She hasn’t been able to wear it since. She didn’t know Yelena got a replacement.
“No, it’s the same one.”
“That’s why I couldn’t find it in my apartment! You took it!” Natasha made sure to look for all her most valuable things and the vest was nowhere to be seen. She had to come to terms with the fact that it was lost for good.
“You took it first!” Yelena argues.
“Well you gave it to me. Why didn’t you want me to see it?” And then the smell hits her. “Why’s it smell like mothballs?” Natasha gags.
“It was buried, okay. Maria and I dug it up.”
“You buried it in your front yard?” That’s a little weird, even for a child assassin.
“It was buried in the cemetery. It was the closest thing I could think of, okay?” Yelena snatches it from her unmoving hands and cradles herself in the fabric, hiding her face.
And it finally hits her. Her little sister thought she was dead. She mourned her for a year. She’s been so incredibly stupid.
“Yelena…” Natasha sits next to her on the bed. “I’m here, okay? I’m here.”
Yelena leans if her outstretched arms, finally taking her vest out of the smelly vest. She can feel her sobs against her chest.
She was so caught up in her own shit that she didn’t check up on Yelena. Her strong, caring little sister.
Natasha knew what it was like to mourn a sister. In fact, she’s mourned her sister twice. She thought Yelena died the second they were first separated when they were younger. And then Yelena went away in the blip.
Both times were a direct result of Natasha not being strong enough or good enough to stop bad things from happening to her sister. Both times her sister’s demise was because of her and that guilt and crushing sadness ruled her every decision.
Natasha softly began to do her whistle, Yelena followed suit.
“Here.” Natasha pats the ground. “Let me braid your hair.” Yelena obeys and sits gingerly on the ground. Natasha holds pieces of her golden locks in her hands. She wiggles her fingers through her hair, combing out knots and collecting three strands. The familiar motions and patterns calm both of them.
“So, what have you been up to in the past year? Did you finally get a dog?” Natasha realized that she’s missed so much of her sister’s life. Everything she thought she knew about her could be changed.
“Yeah.” Yelena smiles. “Her name is Fanny and she’s the smartest dog. I know you’re a cat person and I respect that, but even you will love her.”
“I’m not sure if Liho will…” Right now, Liho is having the time of her life in the barn, keeping all the chickens in line.
“Good, I don’t want your scary demon cat anywhere near my angel child.” Liho and Yelena have an interesting relationship to say the least. Yelena has more than a few cat scratches to show for it.
“Well then where is she now?” Natasha’s certain she hadn’t seen a dog around.
“She’s with Melina for her check-up. They were here just a few days ago. They came to visit you.” Huh, that’s a weird coincidence that they were here. Natasha didn’t even know she would be here a few days ago.
“How’d they know I’d be here?” Natasha thinks about it for just one second more. “Oh.”
“Yeah, they came to your grave. Alexei hates it, he thinks it’s way too small. Melina tells him that he’s an idiot if he actually thinks a giant mausoleum is what you would want.” That puts a small smile on both their faces.
“I’m glad things are the same then.” And honestly, Natasha is glad. With so much going on and years of her life being ripped from her and then being placed back in a world she didn’t know, at least she could count on Alexei.
“Yup, the world is ending but you still know what to expect from him.”
“Hair tie?” Yelena passes back a tie from her wrist and Natasha ties it off.
“Perfect.” Natasha cups Yelena’s ears and places a soft kiss on the top of her head.
Yelena gets up to look at it in a mirror and pats the back, making sure everything is in place and not too loose.
And then Natasha has an idea. “You have any sleeping bags?”
It’s a little chilly outside but it’s nothing the sisters can’t handle. They roll the bag out on the grass in the backyard.
They lie side by side, looking up at the sky, just like they used to back in the Ohio suburbs as kids.
“So you were really up there?” Yelena asks quietly, a wisp of longing in her voice.
“Yup. Not even in this galaxy apparently.”
“Were you scared?”
“Fucking terrified.”
“Ha, wimp.” Yelena gently shoves her and they both roll and sway in their sleeping bag cocoons.
“You would’ve pissed yourself out there.”
“Pssh, yeah right.” Natasha’s almost certain Yelena’s rolling her eyes right now.
“Which constellation is that one?” Yelena points up to the sky. Natasha has no idea at what, all the stars kinda look the same to her. Honestly, she couldn’t tell the difference between a helicopter and a star.
Before she can really think through her answer, Natasha yawns. “I don’t know, that’s a Hill question.” Then realizing what she said, she adds, “I mean, she kept droning on and on about them in space. Like wouldn’t shut up about it.”
“You’re rambling.” Yelena smirks, Natasha can feel it even though she can’t see it. “It’s cute. And I guess she’s not the worst.”
“No, she is the worst.” Natasha corrects. “There’s a form that says we’re not even allowed to work together.
Which isn’t a complete lie. Because there technically was such a form, but it ended a long time ago.
Like what? Almost 15 years ago maybe. Natasha can’t remember the exact date, but the memory hasn’t yet become as fuzzy as others.
It started when Fury called her and Maria into his office randomly.
He was holding out a piece of paper.
“You wanted to see us, sir.” Maria stated, not drawing closer until he gave permission. Meanwhile Natasha stood forward, picking the bottom of the paper up so she could read it. It read something about a form, honestly it was hard to read the first couple of sentences, so she took a step back to let Maria interpret it for her.
“I think it’s about time for this to expire, wouldn’t you say?”
“Sir?” Maria questioned, still waiting for him to give her the okay. Natasha rolled her eyes and grabbed her arm, pulling her forward.
“Form G25.”
“Form G25 has no expiration date, sir.”
“Well this one does.”
“Okay I’ll bite.” Natasha butted in, tired of them having this private conversation with her right here. “What’s Form G25?”
“’Natasha Romanoff and Maria Hill will not be able to work together on any missions. Starting on this date due to unresolved differences that would affect their performance and that of S.H.I.E.L.D.”
Huh, that was right. They weren’t allowed to work together. They spent so much time together that Natasha sometimes forgot that this was all by choice. Hell Natasha saw Maria more than she saw people she worked with every day. What would it be like to work with Maria?
“Sir, like I said, form G25 does not expire. If we throw one document out, all others are put in jeopardy.”
Natasha didn’t know why Maria was protesting it so much, it didn’t really matter anyway. Coulson was in charge of her and Clint. There would rarely be any time that he wasn’t.
Fury ripped the document right in front of them. Natasha saw Maria’s eyes widen. She was sure Maria would have a heart attack at any moment.
“I can’t have you not able to work with one of my best agents, and member of our newest phase with the proposed plan of elite agents. I need my new deputy director to watch over all my agents without any trouble.”
“Sir, I thought you nominated Coulson for the job. I didn’t even run for it.”
“Yes, I was rather surprised that I didn’t see your application in the running, but as far as I’m concerned you’ve spent the last decade proving why you’re the perfect fit.”
“Sir, are you sure?”
“Yes. Your new name plate will be at your office by tomorrow. Dismissed.”
Maria looked shell shocked as they left the office, Maria slowly closing the door behind them.
“I thought you told me you applied for Deputy Director?” Natasha questioned. She knows she heard her tell her this. Why would Maria lie straight up to her face about something as mundane as that?
Maria shrugged. “Like I said, I heard that Coulson was getting the position. That wasn’t like Maria at all, she primped and preened over titles and advancing levels. She’d been that way for all Natasha’s known her. It didn’t make sense why she wouldn’t have applied for it.
“Huh, Deputy Director. I think I like the sound of that. Does that make you the Commander of this shit or something?” Natasha’s eyes were tinkling.
She couldn’t tell if she liked deputy director commander better, she better test them out both extensively to make sure she comes to a decision.
It fit their relationship. Because as Natasha’s found out, maybe she kinda liked letting someone else take control. She’d always been looking out for herself, for others, but fuck it felt good to let go. Like she was taking all her troubles off her shoulders and giving them to someone else. Someone who honestly was better at carrying them than her.
Letting Maria take charge just happened so naturally. But it wasn’t like Natasha was changed, she was sure that if she went to someone else she would be the same as before. But that was because no one else was like Maria. The trust built up between them wasn’t easy and it wasn’t quick. Honestly, she wasn’t sure if she could get that with anyone else. And since she had Maria right now, really there was no reason to try. She didn’t have to put her effort into someone else, she could just relax.
And Maria knew exactly how to make her relax best. It was like going to your favorite restaurant that had a special dish, and although it might not be her favorite dish, it was almost like she had to choose it. Because she couldn’t get it anywhere else. It was perfect. It was perfect.
Sure she was really busy all the time. And Maria was really busy all the time. But they made it work.
Or at least it worked for a while. As someone who never really had the chance to have friends or a romantic partner, Natasha thought this was fine. Sure, maybe it wasn’t the conventional way of doing it, but Natasha had no complaints really. I mean, she planned it out pretty well and she was right. She felt comfortable enough around Maria that it was okay it she went to her if she wasn’t feeling all too great. She was allowed to show just an ounce of emotion. Maria didn’t seem to get super clingy. And most of all, no one knew about them. Maria hadn’t said a word to anyone.
There were no weird looks, no judgement, no stupid comments. No one was asking to trade her around like candy. She was growing more and more public, and honestly that was scaring her. She knew what Fury wanted to do. He’s dropped off the record remarks alluding to displaying her to the world in some world saving crime fighting team. Frankly, Natasha called bullshit, there was no way that was actually going to happen. But Natasha could feel the prickling sense that her anonymity was about to expire.
Having something that no one knows about gives her like a crutch almost. It remains her of her roots. What she’s good at. It’s like her apartment. A hidden place only for her.
And Natasha’s craving for secrecy is why she never told Yelena. So having this conversation now, years after everything happened feels so weird.
“Something tells me that that’s a load of bullshit.” Yelena yawns. “You used to be a better liar, sestra.”
Natasha rolls her eyes. “Okay, so it may not still be valid, but I wasn’t lying.”
“Natasha, I don’t care if the world is ending, you would never take just anyone here. Fuck, even when you had to land, you let your team discover Barton’s secret family before me.” Natasha doesn’t like where this is headed. She still feels a tinge of guilt that she threw Barton a little under the bus like that. It honestly would’ve made more sense for them to land in Ohio. There was a whole base set up here. And there were no children to be endangered.
“Well that’s because you’re a supposedly dead wanted fugitive and his family isn’t.” That’s what Natasha’s been telling herself for the past decade to try and calm her guilt.
“Just admit it, you wanted to make sure I was protected: from Ultron, from the twins, from your team, from the government. I know how paranoid you are; in another life you would’ve definitely been a doomsday prepper.” Yelena laughs at her own bad joke.
“Yelena. Enough.” Natasha doesn’t want to think about it. What’s done is done. She did not put Clint’s family in danger. She would never do that.
“Hey, listen.” Yelena’s voice lowers in intensity. “I like that you think I need protecting, okay? You’re the only person in my life who’s always had my back. I didn’t mean to push you. I love you.” Yelena leans into Natasha.
“I love you too.” Natasha wraps her arms around her baby sister and squeezes.
Natasha wakes up before Yelena and before the sun can make its full appearance.
Natasha slips her grip from around her sister without waking her up. Any amount of sleep Yelena can get Natasha wants her to have.
She can hear Peter and Hill talking just inside.
“There’s nothing to eat!” Peter complains when he sees Natasha coming through the back door.
“I don’t know what you want from me.” Natasha rolls her eyes. It’s not like she’s been here in the past five years. “Go get some eggs or something.”
“No.” Hill glares at her. “I’m not dragging his ass away from pecking chickens, that’s where I draw the line.”
“Fine.” Natasha sighs. “No breakfast for us I guess.”
“I heard about your little night time adventure.” Natasha addresses Hill, sliding in the bar seat next to her at the counter.
“Wasn’t keeping it hidden.” Hill replies coolly. Peter just looks confused but keeps to himself.
“So what’d it say?” Hill tilts her head, not understanding. Natasha adds more context. “The tombstone.”
Hill shrugs. “Couldn’t really see it.” Bullshit.
“Hmmm.” Natasha doesn’t believe her for a second. “I want to see it.”
“Don’t have time. I want to get out of this hell hole as soon as we can.” Hill completely dismisses her.
“Yelena’s still sleeping, we have time.”
“I said no, Romanoff.” Hill’s voice is sharp. It’s not quite louder, but it’s a few octaves lower. Dangerous and clipped. It makes Natasha squirm a little in her seat under Hill’s locked blue eyes.
“Peter, wanna go on a quick little field trip?” Natasha tries to bring Peter into it, hoping she can out number Hill or make it less personal.
“Romanoff. Stop.” Hill gets up and struts to the front door, slamming it behind herself.
“I don’t think we should go.” Peter says, twisting his fingers around. “She seems mad.”
Natasha lets out a breath. “You’re probably right.”
She’s not sure what Hill’s deal is. She’s used to the anger in her voice, but there was something else. Disappointment? Concern? Something that seemed raw and desperate almost.
She’s heard this before. She’s heard it when her life started to slowly unravel. The beginning of Fury’s plan. The beginning of the Avengers.
It happened faster than she thought it would, she still didn’t think Fury was serious about all of this. But before she could object, she was shipped off to Stark to play babysitter. And then of course the only people she was allowed contact with were Fury and Coulson.
She had to spend every waking moment working on her cover, she wasn’t even allowed a personal phone.
She used to love deep undercover work, but after the first few weeks, she just wanted it over with. Clearly Stark wasn’t doing okay and he was refusing all help. It was infuriating. Natasha truly believed that anyone could’ve ran this stupid mission.
She didn’t even get her monthly check in with Yelena. She told her beforehand she was going to be gone for a while and by now she trusted that Yelena wasn’t loyal to the Red Room, but fuck she missed her little sister.
She even missed stupid Clint and his kids.
She supposed Pepper was nice and everything, definitely better than Stark, but she didn’t come close in what she was missing.
And of course there wasn’t Maria.
She constantly toyed with the idea of just going downtown and hooking up with some random guy like she used to. Surely that would be allowed in her character’s actions. Natalie Rushman could use a little fun, I mean she was a model. Models were allowed to hook up with strangers, right?
Bored and annoyed out of her mind, Natasha went downtown to the bar she always passes coming back from Stark’s tower. And things were going well. She didn’t have to pay for a single drink.
She was instantly spotted by a guy and he never left her side, ordering her whatever she wanted. Natasha just had to flash him a sultry smile and blink her eyelashes every now and then and he would do whatever she wanted. Honestly he was hot. Natasha didn’t mind when he got closer, pressing up behind her. His hand was attached to the small of her back and she could feel his breath. His presence wasn’t a bother; in fact, it was welcomed.
After a double shot of vodka, she got up, the man quickly following behind. She put out her hand and the man took it and led her to a corner. His stubble scratched Natasha’s face when he started kissing her. Maria was so soft. His mouth tasted like beer. Natasha hated IPAs. Maria was a strict tooth brusher. She always tasted like mint.
Too much tongue. So wet and cramming down her throat. She put her hands on him and turned away to break the kiss. His hands were still firmly on her hip and he grinded against her. She didn’t like where his hands were. Something about their placement felt off. She tried to move them to where Maria usually put her hands. They always felt secure there, but he kept moving them back.
He didn’t do much else and it wasn’t doing it for her. Maria would always be nipping at her ear or kissing her neck. Something. Anything.
Natasha tilted her head up. “Kiss me.” She mumbled, hoping he could finally follow directions.
He started slobbering on her neck. Heavy and wet. Sucking at her delicate skin. Maria kissed her softly, leaving no marks. Hickeys were trashy and he was sucking the skin off her neck.
She couldn’t go into work at Stark’s with hickeys all over, she would never hear the end of it.
“I have to go.” She said, trying to step back from him.
“The night’s still young.” He remained attached to her.
“Yes, but I have work.” Natasha replied firmly, not liking where this was about to be headed.
“Work can wait.”
“It really can’t.”
“Come on, babe, I’ve been buying you shit all night, the least you can do is give me an hour.” He whined and his grip on her hips started to become painful. His mouth chewing on her neck unbearable.
“I have to go.” Natasha socked him in the stomach.
He finally let go with a, “bitch.” And she grabbed his incoming hand before he could slap her. She gave him a slap back in return and stormed out of the bar.
What a stupid fucking idea. So stupid. She wanted out of this mission. Out of this ridiculous plan to team up with Stark and who the fuck knows who else. Fuck this.
She got home and looked in the mirror at the ugly red marks forming on her neck. She got some ice out of the freezer and held it on her neck. And now she had to call Fury. Even though Fury was honestly the last person she wanted to talk to. Any incidents that occur had to go through him and she just punched a guy in a bar.
The phone picked up.
“Fury?” Natasha questioned.
“No, sorry, he’s in a meeting right now.” Maria’s voice traveled across the line. Fuck, suddenly the thought of talking to Fury wasn’t so bad now. Natasha felt her stomach drop. Maria wouldn’t like this. Because she was a stickler for rules, clearly.
“Will he be available soon?” She couldn’t handle Maria’s disappointment right now. Not when she could feel herself close to breaking. Everything was terrible.
“I don’t think so. Just tell me why you called and I can get him if it’s really bad.” Her voice was calm and steady. So unlike Natasha right now and she could feel the power imbalance, one that she hopes Maria couldn’t see.
“No, it’s not bad!” Natasha hastily corrected.
“Okay, so just tell me.” Her voice remained determined. Natasha knew she had to tell her.
“Something happened.”
“With Stark? I knew that guy was bad news. What’d he do?”
“No, nothing to do with Stark.” Natasha didn’t know why she was stalling. It was inevitable. But it wouldn’t come out of her mouth.
“Natasha. Just say it.” She wasn’t impatient or demanding. Natasha knew the way she spoke wasn’t different from the way she would talk to any other agent. But something about it. The more she insisted, the more nauseous Natasha became.
“I was in an altercation with a civilian. I went to a bar. He was getting too handsy and it was getting late. He wouldn’t stop kissing me and I punched him once or twice to get him off.” There, that wasn’t that bad. But the lack of instant response had Natasha feeling on edge. Like she was waiting for an ambush she knew was going to happen.
Maria took a while to reply. “Did he hurt you?” That wasn’t the response she was expecting at all. Maria should be more focused on the fact that she could’ve blown her cover. She should’ve been asking who was watching or something like that. It wouldn’t matter if she were hurt. It was her fault to begin with.
“I don’t know. I thought I would like it but I didn’t.” That was true. And it made sense. But for some reason Natasha didn’t like saying it out loud. Why wasn’t Maria asking her important questions?
“Did he assault you?” Still not where she thought Maria was going to go with her questioning.
“I don’t know.” That was the truth. Sure, many people had explained to her the legal definition of assault, but it hardly mattered to Natasha. She was a trained assassin, nothing could hurt her. But if Maria was asking for the legal definition of assault then… “I mean, not at first.”
“Not at first?”
“It was…” Natasha felt wrong. “Consensual. But He wouldn’t let go when I tried to leave.”
“What’s his name?” Finally, a question that made sense.
“I don’t know. I just…” I hit him okay, I hit him. My cover was not blown. I’m not pressing charges and he isn’t either. I just wanted to complete my incident report.” Natasha was covering all of the things Maria should’ve been asking.
And then came a voice. A voice she’d never heard her use before. Certainly had never used it with any other agent before. “Natasha…” It was soft and low. It pierced through her. Not all at once, but like a thousand tiny cuts.
“No, it’s fine.” She needed to end this fucking call.
“Natasha, what he did was not okay.” There was that voice again.
“And I know that, which is why I hit him.” Natasha stated defensively.
“Nat, you did nothing wrong.” Natasha snorted at that, she completely fucked up. Why was Maria treating her like a baby?
“Make sure to fill out the paperwork and give it to Fury.” She wasn’t having any more of this.
“Nat, wait, please don’t hang up.”
“Good night, Deputy Director.” Somehow Maria’s care and concern hit her harder than a scolding would. Fuck.
Her voice left her feeling hollow. She was confused and frustrated. She did something wrong, so she should’ve been punished. Yeah, she knew that the guy shouldn’t have grabbed her, but she started it. She knew what she was getting into. She deserved what was coming to her and shouldn’t have put the mission in jeopardy by striking at him.
She messed up. And mistakes had consequences.
But maybe that wasn’t the only place she messed up.
She was with someone. She was with someone and Maria knew. And she didn’t care.
Did she not care because she was also with someone else when she was gone? It would make sense. Maria was a beautiful woman; she could have whoever she wanted. It wasn’t like they were dating or anything, Natasha didn’t think she could ever date anyone, and Maria, well she wasn’t sure how she felt. But like she said, Maria could have her pick of anyone to date, so why would she want Natasha? Natasha wasn’t a real person like Maria. She was a killer. A weapon. A monster.
Maria was dedicated. Ambitious. And so full of life. She was real, and she deserved someone real. Natasha was just there for convenience and that was fine by her. Maria was her best friend and she’d go to the end of the earth to make her happy.
So if Maria had been with other people, then good for her, she deserved it. It didn’t bother Natasha that someone could be filling in the left spot on the bed this very moment. Or that someone was cocooned in Maria’s favorite sweatshirt that always smelled just like her.
Maria wasn’t mad at her. Her voice was full of pity. Pity everyone had for the girl who wasn’t really a girl. The hollow shell that had as much personality as a manikin.
Well good. Natasha was happy Maria wasn’t mad. She was happy that Maria was okay without her. So happy.
Natasha almost bites off her lip when the sound of a closing door startles her. She whips around, hand on hip before she remembers she left her gun in Yelena’s room.
“I come in peace.” Hill raises her hands, one holding a basket. “And with breakfast.”
“Skillet’s in the bottom drawer.” Natasha mutters, jumping off the stool to grab it.
“Aw, how come you got to see the chickens and I didn’t?” Peter mopes.
“Because I didn’t jump in a pig pen for no reason. But you can find me the butter if you want to be helpful.”
Between the three of them they manage to settle on just making a bunch of scrambled eggs. Which is what’s cooking when Yelena joins them.
“How domestic.” She quips. “You make breakfast together a lot?”
“Hmm, very subtle.” Natasha pinches her face together. “Where’d you move the plates?”
“Top right.” Yelena grabs them from the cabinet.
They huddle around the small table in the kitchen and Yelena sets her laptop down in the middle.
“So the information finished loading this morning.” Yelena starts off, facing the computer towards them. “It looks like you’re dealing with at least two groups.”
“Explain.” Hill interrupts, like Yelena wasn’t just about to.
“Well, these are your guys.” Yelena shows them the security footage from outside Peter’s school when they confronted the skrulls. “But at the same time, there were these guys.” Yelena then scrolls to a blurry ATM picture of another Fury and Hill duo. Both were time stamped at the same time, but the locations were an hour away.
“From what I’ve seen, they’ve yet to cross paths. I don’t know if they know where the other group is, but from what I’m guessing is they might not. I mean, why would they both take the same identities when there’s so much more to choose from?
“The ones that you can in contact with were actually not the ones that have been with Peter this whole time. As you can see, Peter’s little friends seem to have a base here.” Yelena taps her finger against the laptop.
“Yeah, they’ve taken me there before.” Peter pipes up.
Yelena nods. “It’s where they’ve been spotted most and it’s a very secure spot, especially for being near New York City and all its cameras. I haven’t been able to find any cameras I could access here, so I don’t have a clear shot of anything going on too close to the building.”
Yelena scrolls to another picture of a different Hill and Fury. “The other pair I think is responsible for your little house explosion. They’re the ones that have been tracked to the house and they’ve been interacting with the Captain America skrull. You can tell them apart on what they wear, each one has a different style of how they think you two dress like.”
“Okay,” Hill starts, “assuming you’re right about there being two separate groups of skrulls—”
“And she is right.” Natasha interrupts. No one doubts her sister’s intelligence.
Hill sighs and restarts. “So if they’re two groups, which group should we go after then?”
Natasha will take this one. “Well so far only one group has tried to kill us. Clearly, Peter was safe this whole time with the first one and they had ample opportunity to do something to him if they wanted.”
“Yeah, but what if the other group was the one whose space ship we were in?” Hill argues. “Then both groups have tried to kill us.”
“They could also be on the same team here.” Yelena adds. “Just because I haven’t seen any substantial interactions between the two, doesn’t mean there aren’t any.”
“So where’s the second base, the ones who weren’t with Peter?” Natasha asks. She’ll be taking charge here, thank you very much.
“That’s were things get tricky. They’ve been all over the place. I think they’re definitely acting more secretive. The other ones mainly have been doing Maria and eye patch guy role play with Peter, while the others have taken a lot of different identities, making it harder to track. But, I do have a list of addresses it could be at.”
“Well, we don’t really have access to anything other than our car, so we’d need to narrow it down more.” Hill points out and Natasha has to agree with her. While she’d love to split up and search for clues, getting away from Hill for once, time doesn’t seem to be on their side. Or resources.
“See, I can’t do that, too many variables.” Yelena frowns.
“Yelena, if we can’t then we’ll be spending months just trying to track them down. I’m going to need your best guess.”
“Fine. Factoring in that they were able to beat you to Peter from Maryland means that they were in the area. I’m assuming they didn’t fly there, since the air travel around New York has been a little restricted since your little fly in.” Yelena types something into the laptop and a few red dots disappear.
“Ugh.” Yelena groans at the map. “That stills leaves about three locations. I’m not sure how to narrow it down from here.”
“Are there any more of them in the group or just the two?” Hill asks. “You said they knew Captain America skrull, so that’s at least one more member of their party. Assuming there’re others as well, could you try and track those?”
“Well I’ve been tracking mainly your face or the other guy’s. Like I said, trying to find other faces when I don’t know what I’m looking for is harder.”
“Did they come to the explosion at all?” Hill asks. She’s hunched over the laptop with Yelena, making it so Natasha and Peter can’t even contribute.
“They were in New York with us.” Natasha frowns. Surely Hill didn’t think they could be two places at once.
“Maybe someone else went to Maryland? At least to see what happened.” That might be a good point. Natasha hates when Hill occasionally has those.
“I can check. The Ring cameras on the next door houses caught most of it.” Yelena pulls up a video of the explosion. It shows her and Hill driving away and then the firetruck rushing in. Concerned neighbors were leaving their houses and talking with the firefighters who were ushering them away from the site.
“There.” Yelena pauses the film. The fire is already put out and most of the people have lost their curiosity. “That’s one of the cars that the software flagged could be of interest. And it was seen at…Quakertown, Pennsylvania.”
“And results like that are why you’re coming with us.” Before anyone in the peanut gallery could argue with her, Natasha claps her hands together in finality. “Pack your bags, boys, we’re going to Wawa country.”