Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Zoe was used to being lied to. 

When she was four, her mother told her that the family hamster had run away. When she was five, her father told her that if she ate all her vegetables she would be able to see in the dark. And when her sister, Dasha, was born and her mother was clinging onto life, her father told her everything would be alright. It wasn't. 

Up to her tenth birthday, Zoe lived a relatively normal life; she went to school, helped her little sister with her homework and made regular excuses as to why she hadn't done her own homework. 

One day, after the rain had stopped and the ground was finally drying, Zoe was teaching Dasha how to jump the fence by their house. Their neighbourhood was small, most houses holding less than five people and each road made of less than seven houses. 

Zoe tied up her dark hair before showing Dasha how to swiftly climb and jump over the fence. She landed gracefully like a ballerina and then looked to her sister. Dasha was half her sister's age and mirrored that in height. Her small hands tugged on the fence as she awkwardly placed her feet where they fitted. Struggling to pull herself up, she glanced towards her sister for guidance.

"You can do it!" Zoe encouraged. Dasha picked up her dangling feet and hopped over. She landed with a thud, scaring away the few birds which seemed to be watching them. "Did it!" She shouted, proudly wiping the dirt from her hands.

"You'll be able to do it as well as me soon - if you practice." Zoe said, smiling down at her sister and ruffling her short hair. 

Slowly, they walked home, stopping once in a while to stomp on any wet mud. The girls had been spending more and more time out of the house since their dad had started drinking more often, savouring their time together. 

Darkness had came quicker than expected and Zoe and Dasha soon found themselves on a dim road, bare of any streetlights or moonlight. On a normal day, kids would be hanging around on the street or coming back from school with their siblings, but today was quiet. No muttering voices filled the empty streets and the squeaky sound of swings moving back and forth couldn't be heard. 

Coming to the end of the street, the girls saw a large, shadowy van. Dasha gripped her sister's hand as it came closer.

"Who's that?" She whispered, cautiously checking the street. Zoe ignored her and pulled Dasha closer, turning them the other way. 
"I don't know Dash..." Zoe surveyed the area, hoping to catch the eye of another kid or an adult they knew. Her breath quickened as she watched the van turn around promptly. "Dash, in a minute we're gonna run, okay?" She said urgently. She tugged on her younger sister's hand, willing her to understand. "Three...two...one." They sprinted down the road, dodging the uneven pavement and dips in the road like experts. 

A few steps later and Zoe let go of her sister's hand to check her bag for a phone. "It's ok. It's going to be fine." She muttered quietly to herself. Rummaging through her bag, she pulled out a small phone she had gotten for emergencies; she immediately tried to call her dad, not surprised when he didn't answer. "Dash..." Zoe glanced around, feeling an absence of movement around her. "Dasha..." she stood up, shakily wiping her palms on her skirt. "Dasha!" She shouted and turned in a full circle, eyes rapidly searching for a glimpse of her sister's messy hair and snarky smile. "Das-" her small voice was silenced by the presence of a tall man looming in front of her. 

The next few seconds were a blur; she screamed and kicked while simultaneously looking for her sister. The fear radiating off her was palpable. 

Inside the van Dasha could see all her friends; Lola was huddled into her older sister; Viktoria was holding her two sisters; Annie was comforting her twin. The doors open and shut quickly, dispersing another five girls into the back of the van. Some were holding stuffed toys or photo frames while others were too distracted to grab ,and hold onto, any of their belongings. Dasha scanned the new girls for her sister. She found Zoe on the floor near the doors. "Zoe?" Her voice was dwarfed by the screams of the other girls. Despite her size, Dasha pestered at the older girl, poking and prodding her shoulder for a sign of life. Tears streamed down her face and she furiously brushed them away, staring intently at her sister.

Meanwhile in the Red Room

Evelina was the perfect widow: obedient, strong and heartless. She wasn't quite old enough to go on solo missions, however Madame assured her that soon it would be her time to prove she was a worthy widow. 

Her long braids were held into an exemplary bun on her head by ten pins and her legs were perfectly straight as she danced flawlessly across the room. "Faster." Madame's voice rung throughout the space. Evelina complied; swiftly increasing the speed of her turns and jumps, never once stumbling. The other girl's watched apprehensively, waiting for their chance to go. 

Evelina was filled with pride as an extra piece of fruit was placed on her food tray: today's performance had been good. Taking a bite of her food, she listened closely to echoes from downstairs; There had been rumours that new girls were being brought in. She smiled to herself at the thought of new competition and continued to eat her meal.

5 years later  

The room was silent as the teacher went through the complex fighting techniques, her heels clicking periodically across the floor. Instead of the usual training groups - which are grouped based on age - the girls were put together randomly, each pair varying in age, height and size. This was for two reasons: to get used to fighting bigger ( or smaller ) opponents and for the younger girls to find out what it's really like to get hit.

To Zoe's surprise, her small opponent was much tougher than she looked; Evelina kicked and punched, knowing the exact points on the other girl's body to cause them to flail in pain or tap out. Zoe was strong but had only been training since she was ten, so her blocks were sloppy which gave Evelina multiple chances to attack. She tapped out after the first four minutes and stood there wheezing. Madame shook her head in displeasure and instructed them to go again. She lasted six minutes before the other girl's merciless kicks forced her to tap out. 

"Sloppy. You are years old than her. If you are to graduate you must be strong - stronger than the little girl in front of you, Zoe." She spat, gripping Zoe's shoulders and pushing her back into a fighting stance. Zoe pushed back the thought of her sister fighting opponents the same size as herself. Although they had been separated, Zoe clung onto the hope that she would see her little sister again,disregarding the idea that Dasha had forgotten her completely. 

Looking at her opponent, Dasha knew she had no chance: the girl standing in front of her towered over her.

The first fight was brutal.

Dasha was barely nine ( or so she thought. It was hard to keep track of birthdays in the Red Room ) and her fragile hands couldn't withstand the gruelling punches she threw. Every punch she managed to land was answered with a sickening crack or click. Madame had told her she had 'speed and agility' on her side but ,with every step she took, she saw Madame's face bitter facade falter. Dasha was on her  fourth fight when she noticed a chance to attack. Eagerly, she pushed forwards and toppled her opponent to the floor, wrapping her small legs around the other's neck and landing a hard punch to the jaw. Her opponent's beefy neck pulsed for at least a minute, until she tapped out. The younger girl watched tears form in her opponent's eyes while Madame walked over.

"Well done, Dasha." She remarked and turned to the other girl. Her opponent looked smaller now, her wide eyes darting around the room aimlessly. "What was that?" Madame asked with enough spite to fuel hell. Her opponent shook her head and apologised profusely.
"Again. Do better." Madame ordered and left to check on another pair.

Dasha later learnt that her opponent's name was Adalia and - unlike her - had been in the Red Room her whole life. When Adalia didn't return to the rooms that night, Dasha knew it she was undergoing punishment and she knew it was her fault.

Sleep came and went unevenly: she tossed and turned constantly. Whatever was happening to Adalia in another room was her doing. She seldom thought about what happened to the other girls after they lost but tonight all she could think about was the wild eyes of Adalia and the way she trembled at each of Madame's criticisms.

The next day, Dasha couldn't see neither Zoe nor Adalia at breakfast. She assumed Zoe was doing some sort of extra training however, she knew for a fact, that Adalia wasn't with her. She longed for a chance to even catch a glimpse of her sister and ate her cold porridge sombrely, glancing at the girls with waffles: they had earned them in training or some other tedious activity. She wondered what they would be doing today, hoping for something less practical to allow her body time to recover.

Following breakfast, Dasha was called to Dreykov's office. She felt the eyes of the other girls trail her as Madame escorted her. In the room was a girl a few years older than her, she had dark skin and braids which were tied out of her face.

"Sit down," Dreykov commanded and pointed to an empty seat next to the girl. She somewhat recognised the girl but not enough to know her name. The door swung open again and another girl walked in; she immediately recognised the girls round face and long brown hair. Zoe looked different from what Dasha remembered: her eyes looked darker and so did her hair and her face now adorned new scars and bruises. Desperately wanting to talk to her sister, Dasha tucked her hands under her legs to stop herself squirming and fidgeting and waited for instructions.

Zoe stared at her little sister in disbelief. What had they done to her? Her once lively sister now looked chronically tired and she saw the girl's hands shake as she moved them.

"You girls have been chosen to go on a mission. Zoe and Evelina will infiltrate the local secondary school and Dasha," he turned slightly towards her, "you will be going to the primary school there and making friends with the targets' younger children whilst Evelina," he looked towards the girl with braids,  "your lock picking and valuable programming skills are needed elsewhere. You'll be joining the local ballet classes."

He took a breath and continued.

"Zoe, your skills have proven to be less than adequate. This mission is your chance to prove you can graduate and go on solo missions without having to be constantly looked over. Your job will be to join an older group of boys and get information on their parents anyway you can - use ALL you have to offer and the skills you have been shown. We would prefer an older girl on this mission, however, your all we have right now." He spoke to Zoe with venom. 

Two adults walked in: a tall white man with a scruffy beard and a shorter black women with braids like Evelina. 

"These will be your parents from now. You leave tomorrow afternoon. Read the mission briefing and don't screw this up." He said, mostly to Dasha and Zoe. He stood up and left them to meet their new parents.

Chapter Text

The new house stood at the end of the street, across from the park. It had three bedrooms ( Dasha and Evelina were going to share ) and a library which fascinated the girls as they walked in and explored. 

Despite the car ride being awkward, Dasha quite liked their new parents. Her 'mum' explained the mission further while they drove, her 'dad' staying quiet behind the wheel as they slowly made their way into the city. 

When they got to the house, the girls were ordered to go straight to bed and so they did. Zoe felt isolated in her room; over the past years, she had adapted to sharing a room with bunches of other girls. A strong blast of wind blew through the cracks in the widow frame causing the house to shudder.

She thought about her job in this mission. It was fairly simple: befriend a group of older boys (that shouldn't be too hard, she had always been good with people ) and gain information on them and their parents. If the boys' parents weren't home, she would only have to hack into one of their computers - granted they hadn't took it with them to wherever they were - and copy the information onto a memory stick. This was her last chance to prove herself. If she didn't... 

Her thoughts were interrupted by a soft knocking noise.

Thinking it was just the wind, she ignored it and tried to get some sleep. A few seconds later, the sound appeared again, louder and more clear this time. Hesitantly, she walked over to her door and placed her hand on the handle. She took a deep breath before opening it. Instead of one of her 'parents', she found her little sister Dasha standing awkwardly outside her door.

"Dash? You okay?" She asked, confused. Dasha stared at her sister, taking in her changed features and making sure she was real, before launching herself onto her sister's waist. Zoe hugged Dasha and took her into her room - wary of being seen out of bed.
"I missed you," Dasha dared to whisper. They sat huddled together on Zoe's bed.
"I thought you had forgotten me," Zoe whispered back, gently stoking her sister's dark hair; it had grown a lot since they had last seen each other. 

"I didn't. I saw you sometimes, in ballet with the big girls. Madame saw me staring once..." Dasha rambled, quieting at the sound of footsteps. A shadow crept past the bedroom door, stopping a second longer at their door. The girls held their breath. Four seconds later, the shadow dispersed into the darkness and they were alone once again. "Who was that?" Dasha questioned her big sister.
"I don't know. Maybe you should go back to your room." Zoe said.

Dasha shook her head. "Well... it is quite cold and my bed is quite big..." Zoe said. They laid down. Zoe kissed her sisters head, "night Dash."

Evelina had heard the floor boards creek as the girl across from her crept out of bed and walked down the hall. She debated following but decided against it when the quiet echo of footsteps stopped outside the other girl's - Zoe - room. Perhaps they were talking about the mission plan and strategy. Both of their objectives were similar: infiltrate a group of kids and gain info. Evelina was a bit more difficult - not that she couldn't handle it. She had trained her whole life being taught how to kill, torture and fight ( she had even grown to like it ) and this wouldn't be much different. The mission brief had said it could last up to four years, but Evelina doubted it.

She was effective and more than efficient at what she did.

Sunlight flooded Zoe's room, embracing the two girls in warm, resplendent light. Both girls yawned and stretched as they got up; Their bodies were awake before their minds. It was 6am and they didn't have to be up for at least two hours but they were used to waking up early due to the rigid schedule the Red Room enforced.

Sundays in the red room included: breakfast, training, lunch, training, sometimes a movie ( in a different language of course ), dinner and more training. Training could be target practice, fighting or even just cold blooded murder; It depended on their handlers' mood and if any of them were in trouble. 

"Morning." Zoe said, going through her bag to find some clothes. "You should go to your room and get changed too." She continued. Dasha nodded and went back to her and Evelina's room. 

Zoe didn't have many clothes. The Red Room had given her some clothes to take with her until her new parents would take them to get new clothes to fit in with their targets. She picked out a skirt and blue jacket. They looked to be almost falling apart yet they kept her warm enough. Usually, at this time, she would be fighting or doing ballet, so she felt restless sitting on her bed. Dasha hadn't come back and she assumed Evelina was already up and ready. 

"Girls, breakfast." Their mum - she really needed to learn her 'parents' names, Zoe thought - called from downstairs. Evelina walked downstairs wearing blue jeans and a purple jacket and her braids neatly tied up in a perfect ballerina bun. Dasha followed, looking less tidy, in a red top and ripped jeans that probably weren't made like that.

The other girls watched as Zoe sat at the table first. They copied, Dasha next to Zoe and Evelina opposite. Their mum came and sat next to Evelina and picked up her knife and fork to eat the pancakes she had made. The girls sat motionless and barely glanced at the food. Their mum paused.

"You can eat." She said finally, after realising they didn't know if they were allowed to take the food prepared. Dasha hurried to stuff her plate with pancakes and chocolate sauce and syrup while Zoe and Evelina took a modest amount of pancakes and didn't dare indulge themselves in chocolate and syrup.

 "Evelina, you have a ballet class this evening. I'll be dropping you off. The girls you'll be befriending are called Charlotte and Grace. 12 and 13 years old." She said. "Dasha and Zoe, you'll be with me all day. Oh and - if you didn't see in the mission brief - you have fake names, which I'll be calling you room now. Diane, Riley and Eliza from now on, okay?" She nodded to Dasha, Zoe and then Evelina. They nodded in acknowledgement and kept on eating their food, Zoe having to nudge Dasha so the girl would stop eating with her hands.

***

Evelina - now Eliza - loved ballet. She loved turning and leaping and watching herself in the mirror. The uniform at the ballet school was vastly different to that of the Red Room and ,despite the fact that Evelina had been wearing pointe shoes for years, her class didn't and so neither did she. 

She saw her targets immediately. Charlotte had blonde hair and a fair skin while Grace sported ginger curly hair and had freckles which danced across her light brown skin in the sunset glow. She watched them as they chatted and put their dance shoes on. When they both walked over to the barre to stretch, she walked over and introduced herself.

"Hi! I'm Grace. This is Lottie. So you're new here? Where did you do ballet before?" Grace smiled widely, excited at the idea of having a new friend.
"Yea, it's quite an advanced class." Charlotte - Lottie - said.

Evelina had memorised her excessive background info and recited it perfectly: "My family moved here after my mum married my stepdad. I used to dance at a popular ballet school in Russia, it was tough but I love to dance so it was worth it." Grace stared at her for a few seconds. She realised she might have sounded a bit robotic and added, "how long have you guys been dancing?" 

Lottie looked up from her position on the floor, "I've been dancing since I was four and Grace for the last five years. It's a pretty easy class to be honest, the harder one is on Wednesdays and Thursdays."

"Oh, that's cool. I'll ask my mum if I can sign up for it." Evelina replied.  "You should! If you've trained in Russian you're probably amazing." Grace said, easily sliding into the splits while smoothing her curly hair. 

"It's invite only. Normally, you have to be in this class for at least six months and then there's a audition." Lottie said. 

"Oh." Was all Evelina managed to say.  "Lottie's being a bit dramatic. I'm sure the teacher will let you audition, she's really nice.   If not you can speak to the owner - she isn't here a lot but she'll make sure your with the best if you're good. I heard she used to dance pro before deciding to open this place." Grace said, swiftly dispersing the tension. At that moment the teacher walked in. Like Lottie, the teacher has long blonde hair which was tightly braided back into one French braid. 

"Good evening class. Charlotte, would you please lead warm up and stretching while I speak to our new student." She said. 

"Yes, miss Belova." Lottie said, taking her place at the front of the class. 

"Your mother told me you danced in Russia before?" Miss Belova asked. Evelina hummed in acknowledgement. "She said you were quite good, so I'm expecting you to be able to do the advanced combinations. Oh, and Eliza, I'm sure Charlotte has already told you, we have more advanced classes on Wednesdays and Thursdays, hopefully you'll be attending." 

Class went smoothly. Evelina tried to holding bak a bit but she soon found herself doing a turning competition with Charlotte and the other oldest girl in class. They looked at her in amazement, her legs fully turned out and toes pointed to precision.

Charlotte faltered first leaving her and the older girl to win. The girl looked smug and continued turning, choosing progressively harder turns. Evelina copied with ease; she had trained her whole life to be able to dance and her Red Room technique was to perfection. The Red Room had given them turning techniques to ensure they would have excellent balance and strength. They had been turning for what seemed like hours and ,although Evelina wasn't getting tired, she could see her opponent's breathing rate increase as she struggled to keep going.

Finally, the other girl stopped. The girls clapped and cheered for her but she didn't stop: she couldn't. Madame would punish her if she stopped now. She needed to be the best - she had to keep going, didn't she? Spotting Grace, her mind calmed and she realised she wasn't in the Red Room and there would be no punishment if she stopped.

"Eliza, you've won. You can stop now." Miss Belova's voice broke her rhythm completely.

Her brain spun in skull as she came to a halt, scolding herself for slightly wobbling. For a few seconds her vision darkened and her hand went her head instinctively.

 "Class, go take a break. A proper break with no competitions. Get a drink." Evelina listened intently, only just detecting the Russian accent in the teacher's voice. "Eliza."She put a hand in the young girl's shoulder. Instantly, Evelina flinched and grabbed the older women's arm.
"Sorry. You scared me," she said, letting go. She berated herself internally for letting down her guard; she wasn't here for fun or for silly competitions.

"Those turns were quite impressive. I'm busy after class today however, next Sunday the owner will be coming to watch the classes and I'm sure we'd both agree for you to join the advanced group." Evelina nodded and then went to get herself a drink. 

At the end of class, her mother, Zoe and Dasha arrived to collect. She heard the teacher explain the class situation and vaguely distinguished the words, 'amazing' and 'advanced' said serval times.

"Bye Eliza!" Grace shouted, shutting the door too quick for her to reply. Sitting at the back of the car with Dasha her mother asked her if she thought she had made any progress. She replied that she believed she had and that getting an invite to Grace or Charlotte's house wouldn't be a problem 

Yelena watched Eliza dance curiously. Her technique - in spite of the girl trying to down play her ability - was amazing. Her leaps graceful and balances precise. Dare she think, the girl's technique might even be as good as her sister's when she was a widow. It bugged her that she couldn't figure out which ballet teacher the girl had had before her and she had a niggling feeling that Eliza had lied on the application form about previous experience. Yelena dug out her phone from her bag. "Natasha? You there?" She asked into the phone.
"Yeah, what do you need?" 
"Wow, can't a girl ever just say hi to her big sister." The line was silent.

"Okay, you caught me. There's this girl in my ballet class and..."  

"Yelena, you can't keep calling to tell me how one of your girls reminds you of younger me or you." Natasha sighed, hiding the fact that she did in fact like it when she got a call from her little sister saying there's a girl with blue hair in her class that dances like her.
"No, it's not that. I think... I think she's from the Red Room. Her technique... it was. Just come to class next Sunday." 

Chapter Text

The week had gone by quickly yet nothing much happened.Dasha had met with her targets and Zoe had hung out with hers. Evelina noticed the smaller girl sneaking out the room at night but didn't bother to ask about it; it wasn't her business and it obviously wasn't affecting anyone negatively.

Their new parents were kind enough - the meals they were fed weren't horrible and the clothes they had shopped for were more than enough. Dasha almost felt a sense of trust between them and herself before she had to remind herself this wasn't for ever. It was just a mission; she was just a widow.

Natasha arrived at the dance studio early, ready to watch the younger children dance. It had been difficult at the beginning - to watch the children at her studio dance. After a while, she realised the kids who were dancing loved it and loved the safe space she had created to learn new steps and turns.

Yelena, too, had been reluctant to teach dance but Natasha had changed her mind by showing her the studio. Yelena often had a hard time dealing with dancers who refused to dance or messed around, continuously having to stop herself from giving out Red Room punishments: they were just kids. 

Evelina walked into the room and spotted Lottie immediately. Her once-blonde hair was now a striking pink with purple highlights. 

"Hi Elle !" Grace said, beckoning Evelina to them. "Is it alright if I call you that? Or do you like Lizzy better? Lili? Elise? Ellie? Elsa? Zari? " She rambled until Lottie hit her shoulder gently.

 "Sorry! Just excited you came back, you know some only come once. I knew you'd be back though. You were so good last time. I heard Miss Belova offering the advanced classes to you. Training with the older kids is so much better. You'll love it."

Evelina hesitated for a moment before replying, "Hi, um Eliza is fine. And, yeah, she said the owner is coming today and they can discuss if I can train with the advanced group." 

It didn't take long for Evelina to sight the owner .The woman carried herself confidently - she knew she was in charge. She had bright red hair and piercing green eyes that watched Evelina intently, along with a body perfect for ballet.

"Class, as I'm sure you can see, today Miss Romanov is here to observe." Miss Belova stated, looking at the clump of girls. The class went through the basic warm ups and strength conditioning. Evelina didn't struggle at all, unlike the other girls, which didn't go unnoticed by Natasha. 

After a multitude of different exercises and combos, Natasha had not once caught the girl - Eliza - look out of breath.

"Eliza, you're up next." Yelena said and pressed the button to play the music. Natasha watched the small ballerina with interest. Yelena was right: her turns were flawless and her strength and flexibility almost better than hers. Her movements were fluid and precise, mirroring the deadly grace she possessed.

When the music stopped, the girl didn't look out of breath, in fact, she looked rather bored and passive - almost as if she had done this routine over a thousand times and was ready for something much more challenging. Natasha thought back to the Red Room and the 'compliments' they would receive if they did well.

"That was good Eliza. Do it again." She studied the small girl's face. The other dancers looked to each other in confusion, Grace's mouth morphing into a frown while Lottie smiled in amusement. Eliza complied, doing the dance again, somehow more perfectly than before.
"Your strength is amazing. I might even say you're as strong as..." Natasha trailed of and - just like she expected - she heard Eliza whisper the word, "marble." Yelena looked to Natasha at once, finally deciphering what her sister was trying to do when she asked the girl to repeat. 

Evelina prayed they hadn't heard her; if there was even a slight chance they knew anything about the Red Room, her mission cover was blown. She dug her fingers into her palm, desperately rewinding the last hour in her head to check she hadn't done anything suspicious as she walked over to Grace and Lottie. How could she have been so careless? One moment she was dancing in front of Miss Belova and the next she felt she was back in the Red Room, craving Madame's praise.

The surroundings had blurred together, she was in the perfect flow state, about to do her most impressive turns...until she wasn't. She was in class; She was on a mission; She might have just failed...

"You did it perfect the first time. I don't know why she asked you to repeat." Grace said to Evelina as she walked over. Evelina shrugged and took her drink out of her bag.

"Well it wasn't perfect but you did good." Lottie commented, glancing over at the two woman who were quietly discussing something intensely. "I guess we'll be seeing you in class on Wednesday then." Lottie continued, gesturing at the woman. Evelina could have sworn she saw the two women share a look of hatred as they eyes studied her from the corner of the room.

Evelina shuddered under their gaze and turned back to Grace, "so um... what kind of stuff do you do in the other class?" She said, awkwardly trying to fill the silence. 

Grace ranted about the performances and showcases and Evelina stood there quietly, humming in acknowledgment when she was expected to, her brain more focused on her mistakes than some stupid showcase. 

Showcases in the Red Room were less fun. The girls would be put into their best leotards to perform ballet in front of a group. If they were old enough to have wielded a weapon, that would also been highlighted; Evelina even remembered being forced to execute a live hostage for the sake of buyers considering her skills. Often, groups of men would come to watch and to hire them for a job. Most of the time the jobs were killing - quick and easy - however, sometimes they would want much more. On those nights Evelina would pretend to be someone else, someone older and more experienced at what she needed to do; Someone who was a widow by choice, who didn't just accept they were made to kill but was thrilled by the sensation of a body going lifeless at their touch. 

Evelina's already dampened mood was further sullied by the downpour of rain which started as soon as class finished. She attempted to make a quick exit but was stopped by Natasha; her mother and Miss Belova appeared to be deep in conversation by the front desk.

"Hey kid, where'd you learn to dance like that?" It took Evelina a few seconds to process the question.
"Um... oh, I trained in Russia. A ballet school." Her skin tingled under Miss Romanov's fierce gaze.
"Mhm. Well..." Miss Romanov paused and reached into her bag to pull out ,what looked to be, a business card. "If you ever need me. Or just wanna have some time at the studio. I'm always looking for a dance partner who might be able to keep up with me." She laughed and pushed her hair from her face. Evelina nodded obediently and went back to her mother.

"Miss Belova and I were just talking about you moving to the advanced classes!"  Evelina hummed in acknowledgment and made her way to the car where Dasha and Zoe were sitting patiently.

Zoe noticed Evelina's hair was slightly out of place and her usually stoic face bore dark shadows and unshed tears; the amazing Evelina had reached her downfall. Zoe thought for a moment, asking the girl if she was okay would most likely be pointless, on the other hand, over the past few days, Zoe had seen a soft spot in the deadly assassin and felt compelled to help her out. She had watched the girl smile over a simple card game and be encapsulated by a kids tv show.

"Evelina? Are you okay?" She questioned hesitantly. Evelina kept her head down, eyes staring blankly out the window. The splatter of rain on the widow calming her bouncing nerves.                              
"I...I'm sorry." She mumbled into her hand.
"What for?" Zoe hoped she wouldn't lead the younger girl to snap and lash out. Her question was met with a stagnant silent.

Dasha picked up on the somber energy and switched her attention to Evelina. Dasha was younger than Evelina ,by at least three or four years, but had learnt the ways of the Red Room fast and progressed with ease, her small and fragile brain soaking up the new rules like a sponge.

Dasha knew that what ever had happened in that ballet class wasn't good and ,unlike Zoe, she knew that talking about it wouldn't help. If Evelina had messed up, it was her fault and she would be punished. There was no point them interfering just so they could all be disciplined together.

Natasha watched Eliza walk out the studio, her head down but eyes cautiously surveying the surroundings. Although her initial thought had been to that the girl was just talented and had trained in Russia, she know saw what Yelena saw. The phone call she received did hardly anything to inform her of the situation.

The Red Room made sure that every widow on a mission had a polished background story, and like her mission in Ohio, would leave no evidence behind if that perfectly curated family would suddenly disappear.

If Eliza was with the Red Room, she had to get her out. When she was eleven she couldn't stop Yelena being taken to the Red Room but now... now she would do anything to save another little girls soul from being taunted in that nightmare. Getting Eliza alone would be difficult and getting her to make the decision not to go back to the Red Room would be near impossible depending on how long the girl had been subjected to the torture. But Natasha would try her best. She could save her.

Later that night, Dasha decided she didn't need to venture to Zoe's room and was content on being with Evelina. If the older girl had messed up, she shouldn't be left alone with her thoughts.

"Evelina?" The youngest girl's voice filled the room, despite her whispering.
"Yes, Dasha." Evelina muttered in reply.
"What did you do wrong at dance?" Dasha quizzed the other girl.
"Nothing... everything is going to be fine." She said, comforting herself mostly and ignoring the worry laced into Dasha's words.

Chapter Text

Natasha spent the next week running the studio with her sister; She wanted to stay close to the studio in case Eliza called her. From watching the girl, Natasha gathered she was most likely one of the best widow and trained with the older girls ( if she was a widow, of course ), meaning that whatever reason the girl had been planted here wasn't good.

Good widows were used for difficult missions; perfect widows were used for impossible ones.

She couldn't exactly force Eliza to admit to being a widow - she had doubts herself - however, she could courage her, help her feel safe enough to do so. This resulted in the red head doing several things; Including doing simple things, praising Eliza for her performances, and attempting to subtlety drop hints that she knew about the red room. 

On Wednesday, Natasha gave the girl a harder combo than the other girls and, upon finishing it, gave the girl harsh feedback and hidden praise by comparing her to the others. Eliza responded well, smiling and promptly changing her movements as needed.

Usually, a girl her age would either disagree with her or ( in extreme cases ) start crying at the harsh words, yet Eliza simply considered her words and adjusted accordingly. Natasha considered cornering the young widow but it was difficult to find the girl alone. From what Natasha could tell, Eliza had made two primary friends: Charlotte and Grace. Both girls were kind enough to take Eliza under their wing, showing her the studio and introducing her to the others. 

Natasha's first job, in attempt to help the girl, would be to figure out her mission objective. Widows were trained from from the age of six that their only reason - their only purpose in the world - was to complete their mission. To help Eliza, Natasha would need to either make sure the mission had a reason to end or complete the girl's mission for her. Both ways were risky and had a high probability of failure. 

Natasha knocked on the door three times before turning the handle and walking in. The plasticky smell of box mac and cheese filled her nose as she whistled two notes and waited for the reply. Not long after two notes were whistled back. 

Yelena was sat in the living room, eating from macaroni straight from the pot while browsing through action films. She moved her attention to the red head.
"You look stressed. Any luck on finding a way to free our baby widow?" She asked, grimacing looking at a movie about teenage spies.

Natasha's face contorted into a deep frown, her green eyes suddenly dark. Yelena glanced at her sister, "I'm sorry." She didn't know exactly what she was apologising for but it felt like the right thing to say. Natasha ran her hands through her hair, undoing her braid, and took out another fork. She took a bite of yelena's food before continuing the conversation, "don't be. It's not your fault. I just need to find a way to help her. If I knew her objective or at least her targets I could intervene - I could help. Watching her dance knowing there's a possibly her training is from the Red Room and that's where she'll be going back to in a few months... it's too much. If I hadn't had failed at taking down the Red Room..." Natasha blurted her feelings in a mess of jumbled sentences, some words spewing out in russian.

Yelena thought hard at their options. Natasha watched her sister pick a movie and switch the language to russian. She sat down, silently scolding herself for being so weak ; she was an avenger, she should be able to handle this situation, to not let her silly emotions overpower her.  

They were half way into the movie when Yelena suddenly paused it to stare at her sister. "Yelena? Put the movie back on."
Yelena shook her head. "I have an idea... to help Eliza. You've probably already thought of it and ruled it out though. We could kidnap her." The silence that filled the room was deafening.
"Yelena, we can't just kidnap children - it's illegal." Natasha replied steadily. Yelena ignored her comment , "what if... we staged it to look like... like the Red Room, when they took us. No one would notice. She could stay here for a while or... I don't know I haven't figured it out yet, I just thought of it." Yelena knew there were flaws in her plan, however she also knew that she and Natasha - the best widows the Red Room has raised in years - would be able to solve any problems ( especially with the help of a few of Natasha's friends ).

"Hypothetically, of course, if we were to do that..." Yelena watched her sister do the mental calculations. 

"Does Eliza have any sisters enrolled? Widows come in pairs. To make this work we need Eliza's cooperation. We would have to convince her to abandon her home. It'll take time..." Natasha was shaking her head, her red waves tangling. "One step at a time," Yelena said softly, switching to russian. Natasha nodded, "One step at a time."

***

Evelina spent a copious amount of her time at the studio trying to undo her mistake, trying to blend into the background. She made her moves sloppy, forgetting to point her toes or forcing her steps to be a little less graceful. No one except Miss Romanov had noticed the shift in her movements. Lottie was becoming friendlier and Grace had even invited Evelina - and her sisters - to a barbecue they were having next week. Her parents had been thrilled at the prospect, her mother excitedly chatting to Grace's parents after class one evening. Evelina knew this was her chance to gain info; perhaps she could tear off from the group and sneak into Grace's parents' room, it would be fine as long as she didn't get caught skulking around the house alone and ,even if she did, she hoped the house would be big enough that she could blame her mistake on getting lost.

Dasha and Zoe had been preparing for the party together for most of the week. Zoe's targets wouldn't be there meaning she would be able to do numerous things, like plant listening devices or cameras around the house. For Dasha, her job would just be messing about and meeting other kids at the party. She and Zoe had come up with multiple distraction techniques for when either one of them needed to get away without being noticed. 

Zoe woke up panicked and frightened. Her dreams seldom stray from being about ballet but tonight... Dasha had been so young when the Red Room had gotten to her, so innocent and soft. Zoe sat up shakily and walked to the bathroom to get a glass of water; The cold drink calmed her nerves slightly.

Looking in the mirror, she questioned her appearance. Had her eyes always been so narrow? Had she always had frown lines drawn across her young face? She pictured Evelina's face. Her perfect smile and pearly white teeth; her long braided her and piercing brown eyes. Despite being a few years older, she felt insecure in contrast to Evelina. The younger girl was better at her at everything; she really was made of marble.

On the way back to her room crept into Dasha's room to sneak a glance at the peaceful girls. Evelina was tucked into her bed, back against the wall and body towards the door, arm raised towards the top of the metal frame; she had picked her bed strategically.

Dasha also had her wrist adjacent to her headboard, though she looked much less comfortable. Both girls slept silently, their deep breaths the only noise in the room. Zoe saw Evelina twitch as she shut the door, slowly walking back to her room.

By now, all three girls were pretty much accustomed to each other and didn't find it odd when they heard one of them walking around at night. Zoe often got up to splash her face or get a drink; Dasha often snuck out her room to find comfort in Zoe's; and Evelina often tiptoed downstairs to check the door and window locks or simply to watch the other two girls sleep unbothered.

***

The sun shone through the widows, illuminating the room and sparkling down on the girls' dark hair. Evelina brushed her teeth, counting the seconds in her head. She lifted her eyebrows in surprise going downstairs to find Zoe already at the table. "Morning." The older girl said groggily, still wiping the sleep from her eyes.

"Your ballet teacher emailed me. Miss Romanov?" Her mother questioned, sitting down at the table with the two girls. Evelina nodded hesitantly, "what did she say?"  "She thinks you would benefit from some private lessons, you have one this afternoon. I was hoping you'd be ok if Dasha sat in and watched. Miss Romanov has already approved."  "Of course."

"Anyways," she turned to Zoe, "you're good with technology, yes?"  Zoe hid a frown but nodded; she needed to prove she was good - that she was useful. "And you're Russian is..." Their mother gazed at Zoe quizzically. "Да. Мой русский хорош." She answered back, taking a sip of orange juice. "Good. We have a job to do this afternoon." 

Evelina resisted the urge to tell their mother how much better she was at technology. How she could easily hack into a secure company or take down a chain of websites with a few simple clicks of a mouse.
But she didn't.

Evelina knew Zoe was almost sixteen, she only had so long to prove herself, whereas Evelina was young and demonstrated her abilities at every chance. Besides, widows don't talk back - they don't argue over who goes on a mission. They sit down and keep their lips sealed, answering when expected - never more.

Chapter Text

Maria: Hey, is everything okay? You were pretty distracted during the meeting, and you've been spending less and less time at the tower.

Natasha: yeah, everything's fine. I've just been spending more time with yelena at the studio

Maria: Just checking. Maybe you could come round mine sometime soon? There's this new show I've been meaning to watch.

Natasha: sure. Maybe next week? 

Maria: I'll text you when I'm free.

Natasha was stressing out and everybody could tell, even if they pretended not to notice. The usually cool and calm black widow was distracted - Laura had even messaged her to check in as well. She ran her hands across her braided hair and sighed. 

Yelena walked into the kitchen and poured herself and Natasha some coffee, handing it over to her sister with a small hum: even Yelena had realised the toll Eliza was taking on her. "Any plans for today?" Yelena asked. It took a few seconds for Natasha to reply, "I called Eliza's mum to book a private dance lesson this morning. She has a sister. Maybe another? I heard an older girl in the background..." 

"Do you want me to teach the lesson? All the classes today are this afternoon." Yelena replied; she knew dancing could bring back unwanted memories for her sister and that she was already stresses out. "No. I'll be fine." She said, sensing her sister's worry.

Evelina woke Dasha and told her to get dressed and ready. The smaller girl was hesitant at first but quickly put on some clothes and packed a small backpack full of things she might need. Evelina told her they were only going to her dance studio when she saw Dasha hide a pocket knife in her jean jacket. Dasha shrugged and Evelina saw her place it in her bag instead. "Where's Zoe going?" She asked as she got up. "Somewhere with our mother. I'm not sure where." Evelina said, guiding them to the front door where Zoe and their mother were waiting. 

The car was silent while they drove to the studio, the only sound being the quiet radio playing in the background. They reached the building shortly after leaving and their mother took Dasha - now Diane - and Evelina to greet Natasha. Dasha noted how Evelina stiffened as they approached the older woman. She took Evelina's hand in hers, attempting to offer a small amount of comfort, though she knew Evelina would just believe it was part of their mission - acting like a normal family. Standing outside the studio, Evelina positioned herself in front of Dasha, blocking her from seeing ( or hearing ) much of what Natasha and their mother were discussing. When the conversation ended, Dasha found herself being guided into a large room with even larger windows which encouraged the sun's sharp gaze to shine directly into her eyes. 

Mid conversation, Natasha glanced around to see another girl - a few years older than Eliza - in the front seat of the car they had came in. From what she could see, her features matched that of the smaller, young girl hid protectively behind Eliza. Three widows. It was uncommon for widows to come in more than pairs, although not impossible. More widows meant the mission was bigger - more difficult. Maybe saving these girls was going to be a lot harder for the black widow than she initially believed.

"What's your name, little one?" Natasha questioned, leading the two girls into the dance room. The girl stared blankly at her and then looked to Eliza for, what looked like, permission or assurance. "Diane," her voice echoed through the hall. "That's a pretty name."

The girl - Diane, she know knew her as - nodded. "I'm Miss Romanov, but you can call me Natasha if you want." The last bit was said quieter, like she was entrusting Dasha with a secret. Maybe it was, Dasha thought to herself, maybe she was only ever known as Miss Romanov. Walking into the room, Natasha directed Diane to a corner ,where she could sit and watch out of the way, before instructing Eliza to put on her pointe shoes. "No warm-up?" Eliza blurted out, looking quizzically at the teacher. "Do you need to warm-up?" Natasha knew that being a widow meant being ready at all times, for anything. Eliza shook her head and put on her pointe shoes, lacing them differently from how she did in the Red Room.

Dasha watched the two intently. 'Natasha' she felt as if she knew that name. She repeated it over and over again in her head until it finally clicked. "Natalia?" She accidentally said out loud. Luckily, the sound was muffled by their dancing. In the Red Room, there had been a widow, the Black Widow; she was the best, better than Evelina, better than her whole generation of widows. She remembered hearing the name be whispered by Dreykov when mentioning Evelina's skills. Evelina was the next Black Widow... and the previous one was standing straight in front of her.

Miss Romanov was right in assuming Evelina had already stretched. She had taken ten minutes this morning to make sure she'd be ready for class. Evelina was surprised to see Miss Romanov ( Miss Natasha Romanov, she had found out ) also putting on pointe shoes. She sat down next to the girl, pulling out a pair of shoes which must have been newly brought, or hardly ever used, and began to lace them. Evelina tensed slightly. She felt uncomfortable next to the woman, as if she were back in the Red Room learning ballet with the older girls.Trying not to stare, she utilised the reflection in the mirror to watch her cross the ribbons just as taught in the Red Room. 

"Okay, let's get started. Would you rather start with barre work or go straight to learning a new routine?" Natasha took a gamble by giving Eliza the choice. She knew options weren't given in the Red Room, they couldn't ever be earned either, but being a widow meant knowing how to make the correct decisions in half a second without causing suspicion. "Barre." She said, covering the uncertainty in her voice with a stiff smile. "Alright then." Instead of shouting out the positions ,like she normally did in class, she took a place at the barre in front of Eliza and ordered her to copy, glancing at the mirror at regular intervals to check the girl was following. 

Evelina mirrored the woman's fluid movements, they were delicate but strong, soft yet powerful. Miss Romanov's ballet was perfect - even by Red Room standards. She felt unsure of herself as she replicated the red head's movements. Finally, after five teen long minutes, Miss Romanov stopped and turned to her. She was asked to redo some things, which she did easily with alacrity.

After she had finished, Miss Romanov told her to take a break. "I don't need one." She retorted immediately. Miss Romanov looked at her for a few seconds, her gaze breaking down the emotional shields Evelina had put up. "Does your sister dance too?" Confused at the change in topic, Evelina looked over to where Dasha was sitting on the floor, colouring in a colouring book she had found somewhere. Dasha looked up from her writing and smiled at Evelina oddly, with urgency. Evelina took the hint and corrected herself, "I think I might need a break after all..." she went to Dasha and took a water out of her dance bag. 

"Natalia Romanov." Dasha said instantly. "What?" Evelina almost didn't hear due to the speed at which the younger girl had spoken. 

"THE Black Widow. That's her. Natasha...Natalia... Romanovna or whatever. The best of the best, remember?" Dasha rattled off, not taking her eyes off of the paper. "What are -" she was interrupted by Miss Romanov. "Eliza? Are you ready to learn the routine?" 

Natasha performed the routine first, demonstrating exactly how it should be done to Eliza. Eliza and her sister watched her turn and leap, both girls looking eager to try themselves. When she finished, she gave Eliza a moment before asking whether she wanted to learn it in a few parts or learn the whole thing. Eliza didn't reply, instead she moved herself into the starting pose and started repeating the dance from what Natasha had just done. There were a few mistakes and she faltered on some parts, but from memory, it was amazing. "ух ты." She said, seeing the dance was almost over. 

Evelina stopped. "Did I do something wrong?" Her voice shook, not quite realising the russian spoken wasn't harsh. Madame's only used praise to taunt or reprimand and she knew she had done some step incorrectly. Miss Romanov furrowed her eyebrows and came towards her. Evelina flinched as the woman put her hand on Evelina's shoulder. "I'm sorry," she whispered, now directly opposite the woman. "I can do better - I promise," she stumbled. Dasha had stood up after the russian and was now quietly making her way towards them, her small frame making it easy to be ignored. Miss Romanov looked at her, her voice soft, "you did nothing wrong. I was just thinking your memory is amazing." Evelina couldn't make out the words being said, her entire focus on stopping her rapid breathing. Her heart was racing and her palms had somehow started sweating. She closed her eyes for a few seconds, trying to grab onto a memory to ground herself. "Eliza?" She heard her name, her fake name, being called. "Eliza? Here sit down." She felt herself being pushed to sitting on the cold,hard floor. 

"Diane, can you get her water please?" Dasha hadn't realised she had been seen. Miss Romanov - the Black Widow - must have been keeping track of her when she got up. She huffed and went back over to her bag, pulling out a water and the small knife she had stowed away, just in case. She concealed it under her jacket and held the water clearly in her hand, treading slowly over to them. 

Natasha scanned the girl as her face contorted into fear, her eyes wild and deer like. "I've been a good girl, why..." the girl uttered, curling herself into a ball, ready to protect herself. "Eliza. Look at me," she lifted the girl's head up to look at her, "you did well. You were good." She hated saying the last sentence; she knew what had happened to Eliza, why she needed to be a 'good girl'. 

Evelina felt her heart beat slow down and the room come into focus. She stood up abruptly, distancing herself from Miss Romanov. "I'm sorry you had to see that." She wiped at the tears on her cheek and used the mirror to make sure she at least looked perfect. A hand appeared in hers and she saw Dasha next to her. "Let's finish the dance. I won't mess up." 

And just like that it was over. Natasha watched as the girl went from being overwhelmed to seemingly calm and collected. She sighed and continued the lesson, taking interest in the corner of the room as the knife Dasha had hidden in her jacket was placed back into the bag.

Chapter Text

Zoe and their mother had been driving for over half an hour and Zoe was bored. She started off counting the number of yellow cars that passed and then switched to red when the number wasn't rising. Neither her nor the other woman in the car were speaking, so the car was filled with an awkward silence; You know, that odd type of silence when you and your fake mum are travelling to a location unknown to you with nothing but a bag of wires and technical gear...   "So... what's your real name?" Zoe waited a minute. "Or not... what can I call you?"

"Mum, mother, mama. I don't really care which." Her 'mama' replied. "Oh. I meant like... never mind. Where are we going?" She asked instead. Her 'mum' replied by telling her the plan.
They were going to meet some men and she was going to be look out, hence the need for hacking and fake camera glasses. She would need to hack into the security cameras around the area and watch out for any unexpected guests. Not easy but not exactly the most difficult thing she's had to do. 

"What about Dasha and Evelina? Is our father picking them up?" She wondered if they were walking back; walking home - even in mid day - wasn't safe, even if both girls are trained killers and that Evelina could easily kill sometime with her bare fists.

"How long will we be there?" Silence again. Huffing, she turned up the radio and switched it to some music.

"What kind of music do you like?" Silence.

Zoe found a song that reminded her of when she was little. She wasn't sure who sung it, or the name of it, but it reminded her of the times she and Dasha used to play in the park together.

"How am I meant to be your daughter if we can't even hold a conversation?" She mumbled. Her mother sighed and decided that talking to a bored teenagers perhaps wasn't the worst the thing in the world, "I've never listened to much music." 

"Huh... are you a widow?" Zoe blurted out, though she already knew the answer. Her mother didn't say anything in reply, so she changed the topic. "What's your favourite Disney movie? I liked big hero 6 and um that one with the emotions." 
"I guess Snow White." 

Snow White: the movie they were forced to watch on repeat to learn languages, it's how she learnt Russian and French and partly Norwegian. She stayed quiet after that. 

***

Laura: hey Nat, you haven't messaged lately. Everything okay?

Laura: 1 missed call

Natasha: sorry, been busy. Random question 

Laura: it's ok, just call when you're not please. And yea?

Natasha: When you guys let Yelena and me stay with you at the farm, we had nightmares and panic attacks

Laura: have you been having them again? Or Yelena?

Natasha: what did you do to help? I remember you somehow always knew how to calm us down.

Laura: are you sure you and Yelena are okay?

Laura: well, neither of you wanted to talk about it so we mostly just sat outside and watched the sky. When Yelena started to trust me, she let me hug her and comfort her. You liked to go on drives, if that helps. Oh and Yelena liked to help cook and bake, to be helpful. Panic attacks were different. Hugging helped but other than that me or Clint would just sit with you talking.

Natasha: thanks, that's a lot of help :)

Eliza and her sister were sitting in the corner, Diane colouring and Eliza taking a drink break. Natasha checked the time to realise they still had over an hour left of the lesson: they had managed to do everything she wanted to practice way faster than she had planned.

She looked at the two girls, "Diane?" She asked, watching as the small girl turned away from her scribbling. "Yes?" Diane replied as her eyes scanned the room. "Do you want to dance with us? I thought maybe you two would want to learn a duet." Natasha could tell they weren't biologically sister but wondered whether they were still sisters like her and Yelena or were just put together for the mission.

Widows were trained to work against each other, not with, so she decided to that she would teach them a jazz duet she has choreographed a while ago; they needed to know they could be friends - not just opponents. "I don't have dance clothes." Diane's voice broke her train of thought.

"You can wear what you have. We can go find some spare shoes, I keep a few pairs in the back." Natasha saw Diane's hesitancy.  'We'll only be a few minutes, I promise." 

"Okay..." Diane muttered, standing up and walking over to her. 

Dasha saw no reason in lying and saying she didn't dance and wearily agreed to go with Natasha to get a pair of shoes. She heard Evelina whisper for her not to say 'anything about the Red Room'. She wasn't an amateur, even if she wasn't the best widow, she was still pretty good. Natasha pulled out a pair of jazz shoes and Dasha screwed up her face.

"They aren't ballet shoes," she said, pulling them closer and inspecting them, "what are they?"  Miss Romanov smiled at her and gestured for Dasha to try them on. Dasha obliged, pulling on the black shoes and wiggling her toes around in them.

"They're jazz shoes. Have you ever done jazz. I hadn't until a few years ago... I had to do ballet. I didn't really like it that much." Dasha looked at her. "But you like ballet now?" 

"Yes," she paused, looking Dasha in the eye, "I like ballet now because I decide when I do it. I decide when I want to dance and how I want to dance. When do you like to dance?" Dasha was silent. "I like to dance in the morning, before the sun rises, or sometimes when I'm stressed it helps calm me." Miss Romanov continued.

Dasha hummed in acknowledgment. "These shoes fit." She said, ignoring the question and walking around in the shoes. "Alright then, let's go dance." Miss Romanov said, taking Dasha's hand and leading her back to her sister. 

Evelina was about to go look for them when they walked in, Dasha wearing strange black shoes. She glanced down at her own shoes, "should I change into my ballet slippers?" She asked, grabbing the soft, pink shoes out of her bag. Miss Romanov nodded.

"Eliza, have you ever done jazz? Or just ballet?"  The question stuck her as odd, she had only ever danced ballet and knew nothing of other types of dance. "Jazz?" The word felt foreign in her mouth. Miss Romanov must have realised she didn't know what jazz was as she walked over,with Dasha, holding her phone. She turned it on, fingerprint access, and clicked on a video showing two girls, both around her age, performing a dance routine. Similar to ballet, it had turns and jumps but it wasn't graceful, it wasn't perfect, it was fun. The movements looked sloppy compared to the skills she had. "It's not..." she trailed off, not exactly sure what she was trying to say.

"It's not perfect but they had fun learning it and I'm sure you two will as well." Her teacher said, as if reading her mind. Evelina nodded.

Dasha liked the shoes; They were different from her pointe shoes which crushed her tiny feet and bruised her toes. She turned, watching herself in the mirror as she adjusted to comfort of the new shoes. Dasha could tell Evelina didn't want to learn the dance, but Evelina always wanted to be perfect and precise.

Natasha caught Diane smiling to herself in the mirror, practically jumping for joy in the shoes. "You can keep them if you want?" She said. 

Diane stopped immediately, eyeing the older woman. "What do you want in return?"  "Nothing, you can have them.For free." She clarified.

"Hmm...a favor then?" Diane raised her eyebrow. "Ok, how about this, you can keep the shoes if you promise to come to class with your sister. You don't have to dance if you don't want to, you can just watch." Natasha said, watching the small girl glance at her sister before nodding. "Deal."  "Let's get started then."

***

Zoe pressed the enter key repeatedly, slamming her finger onto the button as if the force would magically make the computer load. "Ugh." She groaned. She repeated the instructions in her head, Madame's voice etched in the back of her mind. Her mother would be entering the building anytime soon and she couldn't get the damn computer to work.

"Why," she jammed her finger into the key, "won't you work? Stupid computer." She quickly surveyed the room, checking no one had heard her not so quiet outburst.

The tables adjacent to her were empty but ,across the room, two men were sat together and a woman was sitting my the window. The woman was young - maybe twenty one or twenty two - and the two men's eyes were glued to her, ignoring their plates, sandwiches long forgotten. The woman didn't look afraid of them, merely amused.

Zoe looked back at her screen: it had finally loaded. She sighed in relief and got to work hacking into the surveillance cameras nearby. A few minutes later and she was fully set up, ready to be an amazing look out. 

It got boring fast.

Twenty minutes in and she was practically dying of boredom. Her mother had barely said or done anything and she had no one else to talk to. She glanced at the clock continuously, urging the minutes to go by faster.

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock... The woman across the room from her had been watching Zoe curiously; why was - what looked to be - a child playing video games on a computer doing alone in a desolate, old coffee which usually only housed the elderly and tourists hoping to get a pretty picture of the landscape? Zoe ,being fully encapsulated by her boredom, failed to see the woman making her way over to a nearer table. She only noticed when the sound of a door shutting broke her out of her trance and she looked around, searching for the source of the noise at the three possible exits.

Zoe thought it wasn't strange that the woman had come closer. There was a multitude of reasons someone would move seats: the sunlights too bright, there's a cold draft coming from somewhere near, the table was sticky or wobbly. The third was the most likely, Zoe told herself; the table she was working at was slightly sticky from syrup and the chair she was sitting on rocked occasionally. She caught the woman's eyes as she took another glimpse at the clock.

The woman pushed her blonde hair out of her face before replacing the stone look on her face with a smile.

Chapter Text

Zoe, willed herself not to get distracted, looking back at the computer and watching it intently. "Hey." The woman had walked over to her table and now sat opposite her. Zoe figured talking to some random lady couldn't do much harm. "Hi?" She scanned the woman before her: not particularly tall or muscular - she could take her in a fight. "You're a bit young to be here alone, aren't you?" The woman was hiding an accent by accentuating an American accent. "I'm not that young," she shrugged and turned the computer closer towards herself. 

"Are you waiting for your parents? Friends? Siblings?" The woman would not leave her alone. Zoe sighed, "my mother, she'll be here soon."   "Cool, mind if I keep you company while you wait?" 

 "I'm kinda busy to be honest..."  "It's okay, I won't distract you." 

Zoe watched the screen as her mother entered the building with a large duffel bag. The woman had not left and hadn't said a single word - as she said she would. 

She was listening to her mother speak through her earpiece when suddenly a voice startled her. "Anyways, how about you? Have you got any siblings?" Zoe figured the woman was talking about her own family before she asked Zoe.
"Um... I have two sisters: Diane and Eliza. They're pretty cool, i guess, both younger than me." She felt annoyed she hadn't heard about the mystery woman's family but the feeling quickly dissipated when she heard a man shouting through her earpiece. Cursing under her breath, she checked all the cameras and swiftly surveyed the surroundings for hints there were more people than expected.

There were three men, not notably strong, walking towards the room her mother was in. Notifying her mother of their presence , she got to work looking up these guys, trying to find any information that wasn't complete garbage and her mother could make use of. 

It happened quickly: the bang of the gun shot ringing throughout the room and shattering the window. Zoe shot up from her seat, hurrying to  shelter from the hurricane of broken glass ricocheting towards her. The table served as reasonably good protection considering it's most likely older than she is. She snatched the computer off the table and hit the off button, hastily shoving it into the bag; her first priority was hiding evidence that she had ever been there. In her earpiece, she heard more shouting and gunshots. Great. Both her and her mothers cover had somehow been blown, literally. 

Mystery woman was nowhere to be seen as Zoe dug through the bag to find a weapon. At the bottom of the bag, she found a small revolver with enough bullets to do some damage. Her eyes searched for a figure somewhere amidst the dusty room, yet it appeared that the bullet had come from outside, possibly a sniper. Great.

***

Natasha called for break, hearing the distant ping of her phone: Yelena had messaged. The red head soon realised the seriousness of her sister's messages after reading Ohio in capital letters. Ohio: the place she and Yelena had lived for three years undercover, the place she had known home to be before the Red Room, the place she had felt safe enough to play and have fun with the other neighbouring kids. Something was wrong. Someone was in danger. Probably Yelena but she couldn't be sure. Her phone rang endlessly as she attempted to call her sister. The two girls must have picked up on her panic because they had gotten up and were walking over, cautiously looking at her for signs she was dangerous. Natasha ignored them, opting to instead spam her sister. After a few seconds a reply came through. 

Yelena: Eliza's sister and ma. Gunshots. 

Natasha: co-ordinates?

What followed was a mix of directions and numbers, which confused Natasha but only slightly. She furrowed her eyes, considering her options. She couldn't exactly bring the two children with her without permission, but she wasn't sure that Eliza's mother would notice...

She figured she would just take the heat when someone came to collect the girls and told them to follow her. 

Evelina had noticed a change in the woman's posture. Her shoulders were closed off and her face pulled into a concerned look as she glanced down at the small mobile. "Dasha." She nudged her sister. "Let's go see what's wrong." Dasha got up, not taking her eyes off miss Romanov. "Girls?"  "Yes." They both answered. "Get your stuff and come with me. Quickly, come on." 

Miss Romanov ushered them into the back seats of her car and pulled out the drive way. "Do you know if any of your parents are home?"

"They're not..." Evelina replied. Dasha had snuck closer to her, worried at the dance teacher's harsh tone. "Do you have anyone you could stay with?"  "No." Evelina replied, watching her teacher's face in the mirror morph into anger. "I'm sorry," she said, hoping to ease the woman's anger. "When we get there, you guys are to stay in the car. Okay?"  They nodded uncertainly, Dasha recoiling at miss Romanov's sharp voice. After a brief silence, they heard miss Romanov speak again, her tone much softer, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you guys." 

The girls stayed quiet, Dasha looking blankly out the window and Evelina retreating into the depths of her mind.

Natasha watched through the car mirror as the girls became blank and unresponsive. "Do you guys want to listen to some music?" She turned on the radio, tuning in to a random pop station. She knew that, if she had to, they would respond to commands, but she hoped they would come out of their haze soon and she wouldn't have to raise her voice again. Speeding up, she checked the co-ordinates; they weren't far from Yelena and would hopefully be there in the next twenty or so minutes. 

***

Guns. Yelling. Glass.

Zoe saw - well, she heard - the woman yelling at her to take cover somewhere safe. The teenager knew she shouldn't. She was there as a look out: a helper, a soldier, not a scared little girl.

She loaded the gun with avidity; this was her time to finally prove herself, to show she was ready to go on bigger missions and teach the younger widows. Her vision adjusted to the dusty environment, allowing her to see a large man skulking through the room.

She aimed her gun. It was perfectly directed to his head.

His death would be fast and painless, more than he probably deserved. One. Two. Suddenly, a body slammed into hers. Her hand collided with the rough floor in attempt to soften the impact. The mystery woman had shoved her away and was now leaving to go after the guy. Zoe furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.

She had yet to decide if the mystery woman was an enemy or not. Either way, she needed to follow them. Grabbing the gun, she shakily got up and stumbled to follow them.

***

"Where are we going?" Dasha dared to ask, peering at the woman through the mirror; In the Red Room asking such a question was instant punishment.

"Sorry, she'll be quiet." Evelina apologised for her, placing her hand on Dasha's arm in warning. Evelina knew Miss Romanov wouldn't hurt them, but she couldn't pull her mind out of the horrible nightmares and thoughts strategically planted by the Red Room. 

Natasha debated telling them; on one hand, they were much more likely stay in the car if she didn't tell them, but it was their sister and they were widows who could help. She chose safety. Eliza and Diane needed to stay in the car - away from the danger - and telling them wouldn't do that. 

***

Through the middle of the thick smog, Zoe could see a small car pull up outside the building. Moving her hair from her eyes, she could make out three distinct figures.

She shook her head, her eyebrows creasing as she stopped following the mystery woman to double check her eyes were telling the truth. One of the figures ( the only one she couldn't decipher ) was a tall women with burning red hair. The woman was holding a gun, very similar to the one she had seen the mystery woman clutching. Zoe squinted to see the faces of Evelina and Dasha at the back of the car, seemingly locked in from the inside.

Not for long, Zoe thought to herself; Evelina's proficiency in lock picking meant that the reason for them being locked in would be quickly forgotten and the two girls would be amidst the battle very soon. She silently urged them to stay in the car, away from her, but Evelina didn't ever back down from a challenge and Dasha... well Dasha... Dasha's mind was now engraved with the same thing every widows' was, that their only purpose was to cause destruction, which Evelina was clearly delighted to teach Dasha.

Evelina shook the door handle: Locked. Luckily, she didn't go to dance without a thousand pins stuck into her perfect ballet bun and could use them to break their way out. Dasha had a more violent approach, scanning the car for something she could use to smash the window.

A few minutes later, they were both standing outside the car. Without weapons they weren't the most amazing defence - or attack if need be - but Dasha had a feeling miss Romanov knew more than she had let on and something important was in that building. Together, they walked to the building, quickly accessing the damage before sneaking their way in.

***

Zoe found herself face to face with a man. She wasn't sure exactly how - or when - but ,somehow, she had ended up here. In a dimly lit room and a tall bald man with broad shoulders. In a fight, she'd lose; her only way out of this was to talk or...offer something he might want. 

In the split second she had taken to decide, the man was leaving having placed a large brief case in the corner of the room. 

Zoe crouched down, feeling the hard casing. The man had planted a bomb and the red and blue wires were staring at her, taunting her. She couldn't defuse bombs, everyone in her class had known it. Extra lessons, extra punishments, nothing had made her be able to do it. Yet here it stood, mocking her profusely. Evelina could defuse bombs, she could find the girl but... by then it might be too late. Zoe bit down on her lip, hoping the sudden pain would help her recover a hidden memory of her defusing a similar thing.

"Ok... all I have to do is... the red wire should be cut. No, the blue and yellow, together? Or maybe... great..." she mumbled to herself. She knew she could run, save herself but she couldn't. This was part of her mission, plus Dasha and Evelina would be lurking somewhere nearby and she didn't want to put her sister at a higher risk. "Ok...calm... push the...and then cut...almost," she cursed as the timer attached sped up ever so slightly. 

***

Natasha had found Yelena who was seemingly unharmed. "Where are the girls?" The blonde asked her sister, frantically scanning the isolated room. "In the car... well they've probably broken out so, actually, somewhere near, with their sister most likely." Natasha rambled, still checking her younger sister for injuries. "I'm fine," she said, noticing Natasha's actions, "let's focus on finding the girls and their mum. She must be with the Red Room so finding her is the key." Yelena huffed out. 

Suddenly, a loud bang rang out. They covered their ears in a hurry, fighting against the powerful blast as they were thrown to the floor. A bomb? Natasha got up first - mostly unaffected by it. "Where are the girls?" She panicked, staring at her sister who was sitting up, groggily wiping her eyes. Dirt and grime covered both their faces, suffocating them with its icky claws. 

The two older widows scanned the surroundings for any sight of the three girls. The smoke from the explosion was clearing but it was still misty. Searching through the rubble would take hours, however, Natasha felt she wouldn't have to for; except from the shattered glass and cement, the surroundings were lifeless.

The girls had vanished.

Chapter Text

Her sisters: all Zoe was thinking about was Dasha ( and Evelina ). Surely they had gotten out before the explosion? She hadn't seen them close by, so they must have.

She grasped at her throbbing head, her vision faltering as she attempted to sit up. The rubble around her was forming a small cavern, blocking her out from the world and allowing only a slither of light and air to enter. Coughing, Zoe climbed onto her knees, a jolt of searing pain travelling across her knee. Slowly, she began to look for an exit; glancing around, Zoe could see two possible options. Neither of them could be considered the easy way though: option one included pushing past some of the debris and moving to the cracks and weak points, hopefully she would be able to force her way past without it collapsing, and option two required her to crawl down a narrow passage way in which the end ( if there was one ) could not be seen. In addition to the headache that clung to her skull, the pain in her knee seemed to be radiating to her whole body causing her to wince every time she inched forwards - not helpful.

***

"Evelina?" Dasha called out into the rubble. "Evelina?" She tried again, walking further away from the crumbled building and calling out twice as loud. Spluttering, she brushed her dark hair from her eyes and continued journeying away from the wreckage. When she deemed herself far enough away to get a good view, she turned around, looking back. It wasn't difficult to believe that the everything in the building was probably dead (or at least disintegrated into tiny smithereens ). Dasha held back tears as her ragged voice called out again, "Zoe? Evelina?" With each name she called out the desperation in her voice became clearer. 

Evelina came to her senses quickly, scanning the surroundings for any sight of Zoe or Dasha. Zoe should be able to handle herself, but Dasha... Evelina knew widows were deadly;  she shouldn't judge Dasha based on age as she had been even more destructive than the her at a younger age. The Red Room trains soldiers - taught against forming attachments - yet Evelina felt a strange feeling towards the two other girls she had adjusted to living with. 

Walking the perimeter of the ruins, Evelina caught sight of a small,blue, jean jacket - Dasha. The body was shaking as it stumbled around, barely managing to walk in a straight line. Evelina thought for a moment before calling out to the girl: She wasn't sure who was around and what attention it would draw.

"Evelina?" The tiny voice called out. Evelina bounded over to the girl, immediately pulling her into a hug and checking her over for injuries. Luckily, they had both survived with only a couple of bruises and scrapes. Dasha wrenched away after a few seconds, her eyes asking the dreaded question. Evelina watched as the girl brushed tears from her eyes and once again surveyed the damage. "She's in there somewhere. We have to find her, we can't leave her."  Evelina took Dasha's hand, tightly gripping it, "Dasha..." she didn't know why it was struggle getting the words out- she had lots of experience with death. "Evelina, she's alive. I know it." Dasha shook her head frantically. 

Evelina took the girls head in her hands and smoothed out her hair. "We need to leave. Okay? We need to find our mother and get back to our mission. Dasha? Okay?" She said. Talking to Dasha helped calm her: it reminded her of how the older windows used to help practice learning mission briefings. "No. I'm not leaving until we find her."

***

Zoe had opted for option two: the unlit, slender pathway. Crawling on her hands and knees, she ventured on into the darkness. Every so often she would have to stop, her knee sending a jolt of pain throughout her body or the blood on her knees clinging to the grimy ground.

After what felt like hours of wriggling through the path (but was more likely minutes), Zoe saw a small flicker of light of the outside world. 

She sighed in relief and hurried towards it, not caring about the scratches appearing on her palms. Reaching the light, she looked through the gap; she couldn't see anyone but she could hear voices. The voices, she realised, were calling out her name or her fake name. Zoe settled down, understanding that staying hidden was of best interest right now. 

The hole was quite boring. Every so often the rubble would shake causing small flecks of dirt to land directly on her - she had to muffle her coughing more than once. She replayed the past moments in her head and tried to formulate an idea of what to do. It shouldn't be difficult, this is what she had been trained for, tough situations like this with no one to help. The first problem (she shouldn't really call it a problem, it was more of a... situation?) was Dasha. Zoe couldn't leave her behind, she would have to find her; No matter the cost, she would find her baby sister and they would return safe and sound. Hopefully, Evelina was with her, at least then she wouldn't immediately go looking for Zoe and get lost. Zoe didn't need her sisters help and she certainly did not need Evelina's. Of course, she had adapted to their help, however, she shouldn't have to be relying on a younger widows help - she was suppose to be in charge. 

Her mind berated her relentlessly as she considered every possible options of what to do (even the insane ones). 

***

"No. We cannot go looking for her, it's too dangerous. Let's find mother." Evelina spoke with authority, her eyebrows furrowed as she tried to think of how they could find their way back. Dasha shook her head again. Clouds gathered above them, casting shadows on Dasha's dainty face and making her look much more feisty than usual. "One look. Please?" she pleaded. The Red Room would have punished her for pleading, smacking her across the face, starving her for the next few days; Evelina wouldn't, therefore she allowed herself to beg and please and whimper. After a few minutes, Evelina couldn't bare to watch the girl implore any longer and agreed to do a quick search. 

"See Dasha.. she's not here. We need to go back." Evelina was waiting for the younger girl to come to her own conclusion about Zoe. 

"She's close by!" Dasha said abruptly. Evelina turned around: no one was there. Scared the girl had a concussion, she took her hand and gently tugged her away. "No. No. Stop, she's near." Dasha thrashed, still searching for any signs of Zoe. "No. Evelina. Stop it." She finally cried out. Evelina let go at once, her hand now hanging loosely by her side. "Dasha..." she whispered. "Please, Evelina. She's here somewhere. I can't leave her. I..." Dasha pleaded. Evelina stared into the rubble and destruction: no one was surviving that - even a widow. 

"Dasha, look at me," she tilted the girl's head to look at her, "your sister is gone; She would have wanted you to be safe. We need to move on, okay? Let's find our parents and get out." Evelina had even thought about her mother who was meant to be on this mission too. The most probable scenario was that both Zoe, their mother and (presumably) Miss Romanov was dead too. They were all dead because... because of their mother and Zoe? Or was it the other way round? Missions in the Red Room rarely ended in this much unnecessary and unwanted carnage...  

***

The voices cleared, leaving Zoe in a stagnant silence. Deeming it safe to come into the open, Zoe pushed her way through the heavy piece of cement blocking her in. It took many, many minutes before it budged and at last gave way. The crevice was scarcely big enough for a fifteen year old girl to wiggle through, resulting in shallow scrapes across her arms. 

The light blinded her as she was released into the outside world. Free. Fresh air filled her lungs and she inhaled it hungrily. Dasha. She looked around, analysing the surroundings for some sign of life. "Dasha?" She called out into the emptiness. They hadn't left her, had they? Perhaps they had got lost in the chaos. 

***

"Yelena..." Natasha pawed at her sister's face. Yelena woke with a start, "where are the girls? Did they get out? Natasha... I'm sorry." She spluttered, coughing at all the dust and grime in the air.  "They're... I haven't seen them. We need to get back. You're bleeding pretty badly. 

Plus if Diane and Eliza don't return home, there will be questions. I'll help you up, okay?" Natasha explained. She desperately wanted to look for the girls but right now, Yelena was her main concern. Without medical attention her sister could... 

She would look for the girls after. Well... Natasha shook her head, trying to clear her muddled thoughts. So much had happened over the last few days and she needed something she didn't ask for often: help. 

When they arrived back home, she settled Yelena onto the couch, moving her into a position where she was less likely to bleed out. Hurriedly, she got the medical supplies from the bathroom and began working on her sister. Eventually, Yelena passed out from the pain. As much as she looked up to her older sister, Yelena would not take her advice on taking pain medication. Natasha would have to slip some into her food or drink; Yelena - a trained assassin - would definitely know her food had been drugged, but Natasha hoped Yelena would know she was helping her and not decline the very much needed medicine. 

After finishing bandaging Yelena, Natasha pulled out her phone. Staring at it blankly, she looked through her contacts. Fury would most certainly ask questions - questions which she would not be able to answer. Maria would be of great help, however Maria was often busy and she was still Fury's right hand man. She scrolled again, only one person coming to her mind: Clint Barton.

Chapter Text

"I don't want to go back there," Dasha huffed, "they'll send us back to the Red Room."

"We have to Dasha. The Red room is our home, whether we like it or not." Evelina replied, practically dragging the small girl along.  "Evelina," she looked at the older girl. The girl who was top of her class; the girl who had never been punished like she has for messing up. 

"You don't get it. You're the best, perfect. But... girls like me - and Zoe - we..." Dasha struggled to find the words to describe her feelings. "I just don't wanna go back Evelina. Please?" 

Evelina thought about what Dasha was saying as they walked in an unknown direction. Despite what Dasha thought, Evelina had been punished - that's what made her so great. She was born from being broken over and over again: it made her stronger. But thinking about it now, looking at Dasha's face, holding her small hands. Evelina could only remember the Red Room, nothing before. It wasn't amazing but it was home. Dasha though... Evelina had overheard Dasha and Zoe talking about their life before - before the Red Room had taken their freedom.

*****

"Natasha?" Clint's gruff voice spoke through the phone.

"I need your help," Natasha said before rushing to tell him everything that's happened - omitting only a few details.

"Well good afternoon to you too, sunshine." 

"Clint."

"Okay, okay. What part do you want my help on?"

"Finding the girls... And also I need information on their father: job, age, anything you can get really." 

"I can do that but it might take a while. As for looking for them, I can get some others to help?" Clint figured they could use all the help they could get, even if it meant telling a few more people.

"I'm not sure Clint... if they're from the Red Room, getting more people involved is dangerous." 

"Is Yelena okay to help look?"

Natasha glanced over at her baby sister's limp form; she had beads of sweat dripping from her pallid forehead and her hands hadn't stopped trembling. "No, she's not coming." 

"What if I just bring Laura and Bobbi? I would say I'd ask Maria but I have feeling you've already considered that."

"Yep, she was my first choice." Natasha laughed.

"I'm wounded," Clint said, grabbing his heart in fake distress, "so, Bobbi and Laura?"

Natasha thought for a moment. She knew Laura and Bobbi wouldn't tell a soul and she trusted Laura with her life after she had let her and Yelena stay at the farm after escaping the Red Room. "Okay, but tell them as little as possible. Please."

*****

Evelina and Dasha had walked the last few minutes in silence, the only sound was their footsteps on the gravel road.
"The Red Room would find us anyway." Evelina mumbled, looking around as if Dreykov himself was going to overhead them.

"Huh?" Dasha said. "The trackers. They know where we are." Evelina explained to the smaller girl. "Oh," Dasha whispered. 

"We could take them out?" Dasha suggested, "where are they?"

"Near our collarbones..." Evelina had learned that listening to two of the Madams while she was doing extra dance lessons.

Dasha rummaged around the pockets of her denim jacket, her fingers searching for the familiar weight of her knife. Finally, after going through all her many pockets, she found it. "Here." She passed it to Evelina who looked had a puzzled look on her face. "Cut it out." Dasha told Evelina sternly. Evelina hadn't yet realised how far the girl would go in attempt to avoid going back to the Red Room. "Dasha..." She couldn't exactly explain how she was feeling other then confused.

"I can't..." 

"Yes you can. Please. You can leave me after, if you really want to go back. I'll be fine. Just tell them... tell them I died with my sister." Her voice barely audible. Evelina thought for a moment: Did she really want to go back there? Was it worth it? All the taunting, the fighting, never having enough food, the handcuffs, the dancing till her feet were bloody and bruised. 

"You do mine first." Evelina spoke softly. Dasha looked at her warily before reaching to take her knife back and watching the older girl slowly pull down her top until it revealed only her shoulders and collar. Evelina grabbed Dasha's hand and moved it to where the tracker was, "feel that?" She asked, waiting for Dasha to nod, "that's where to cut. I'm not sure how deep it is, so just keeping going until you can see it, okay."  Dasha nodded again. 

Hesitantly, Dasha brought the knife to Evelina's skin and started applying pressure. It was deeper than either of the two girls would have suspected and soon Evelina was wincing in pain as Dasha continued to slice through her skin in order to pick it out.

"Got it." Dasha mumbled at last, showing the small electronical device to Evelina. Evelina nodded. "My turn?" Dasha asked. 

"Have you got something to clean the knife?" Evelina questioned to which Dasha promptly reached into her pocket and retrieved some wipes that claimed to kill 99% of bacteria. 

Evelina hated hurting Dasha; It reminded her of all the other girls in the Red Room she was made to kill or harm. With the knife in her hand, she felt as if she were back there, as if they were there urging her on, telling her to destroy Dasha. But they weren't and she wasn't going back there. Evelina was careful and precise with her movements as she dug the blade into Dasha's unblemished skin. Dasha sat stoically, holding back any tears that threatened to fall.

"There. Done." Evelina was faster than Dasha, knowing the best way to get the tracker out without causing more pain than what was necessary. 

****

"Natasha," Laura greeted Natasha with a hug.

"How's Yelena doing?" Laura whispered in her ear, knowing it must be bad if Yelena didn't show up.

Laura remembered how, when Yelena was staying at the farm, she had watched the girl continuously deny the fact that she was sick - repeating how she was 'useful', despite Laura's constant reassurance that she didn't have to be . Even after she had fainted from exhaustion, she was still eager to prove herself as being helpful; for Yelena not to be there, it must have been very bad.

"She's gonna be okay I think," Natasha whispered back, aware of Clint and Bobbi listening. 

"Okay, so how should we do this? We could split up, each take a different direction, or we can search in pairs?" Clint looked to Natasha, who had just finished talking to Bobbi. Natasha didn't know which option was better. On one hand, if Clint alone found one ( or more ) of the girls, Natasha was sure the widow would attack, so going in pairs might help. However, splitting up meant they could cover more ground. "We'll split up. Bobbi, you take north. Clint, east. Laura, west. If anyone finds one of the girls, call me first. They won't react well..." Natasha stated. 

****

Zoe was out of ideas; Well, she didn't really have any in the first place. Alone, she sat amongst the rubble, head in her hands as she thought over everything that had happened when she heard footsteps. The footsteps weren't heavy, instead airy and well balanced - probably a woman then. Zoe wondered if it were a Madam coming to tell her she failed and that she had failed one too many times. 

The footsteps were getting closer quickly. "Hello?" Zoe called out. She knew it was stupid of her, widows know better, but what really did she have to lose. Whether it was someone from the Red Room or not, Zoe had no energy to fight and ,with her injured knee, she knew she would lose anyway. She didn't recognise the voice that replied, it was warm and sounded like a mother calling to her children. "Eliza? Diana? Riley?"  It took Zoe a few seconds to realise the names being called out were her and her sisters. From the dusty surroundings, Zoe could make out a figure of a woman. 

Frozen in place, Zoe scrambled through her pockets to find a weapon, or anything which could be used as one. "It's okay. I'm not going to fight you." The voice said comfortingly. The silhouette approached with her arms up, "I'm Laura. Natasha's friend. I'm not going to hurt you."

Zoe stood up, willingly herself to do something other than stand there. Soon the woman - Laura - was mere metres in front of her. 

Zoe watched as the woman reached into her pocket, rapidly moving away from the older woman. "It's just a phone. I'm gonna call Natasha, is that okay?" Laura asked her, seemingly willing to stop if she said no. She nodded anyway, eyes glued to the screen. After the call, Zoe watched as Laura slowly inched closer to her. 

When at last Laura was face to face with the child, she took note of the scrapes and dirt covering her and the way she was holding all her weight on one leg. "Did you injure your leg?" She asked quietly. The girl shook her head, grimacing at the dull pain throbbing in her skull.

"It's fine. I'm fine," she stated, "my sisters? Have you seen them?" The girl spoke intensely. Laura hid a frown as the girl continued to ask about her sisters. "Honey, slow down. You need to breathe. Deep breaths. In. Out. In." Laura attempted to soothe the girl, however her breathing just got faster and Laura could tell she was causing herself more pain. Gently, Laura clasped the girl's hands. At first, she flinched away, shaking her head as her wild eyes scanned for danger. Laura took one of the girl's hands and placed in on her chest, "match my breathing, okay? Can you feel my heart? In...out...in...out." Laura hoped she was helping and not overstepping.

"I'm useful. I'll be good. I'm sorry. I won't do it again, promise," the teenager spluttered, looking at her warily, "I'll be good. I swear it."

"Honey, look at me. You didn't do anything wrong." Laura whispered sincerely. 

Zoe shook her head again. This woman didn't know what she was capable of - what she had done. What she could do. The blood, screams and tears she had caused. The families which had died because of her and the other widows she had killed. The men she had questioned. She was a monster and she wasn't even good enough at it. 

She and Laura stood together for what seemed like hours for Natasha to arrive. "Have you seen my sisters?" Zoe demanded immediately. Natasha shook her head, "not yet. But we will." Natasha looked over the girl' body, tallying the scrapes and cuts she saw. If the girl hadn't found her sisters, then there was little chance anyone else would - except the Red Room that it.

Chapter Text

Evelina and Dasha were lost. Extremely lost. For must have been at least three hours, the girls had been journeying across unknown terrain in the growing darkness. Everyday it got darker earlier and earlier and - for some irritating reason  - today was the day the autumn weather decided would be the darkest yet, soon they would be walking around in the pitch black.

"Where do we go now?" Dasha questioned the older girl, scanning the surrounding for some sign of life. Evelina did the same, her hand moving to fiddle with one of her long braids. If they kept going straight they would end up deep in the forest but the grounds to their left and right were merely endless fields, like the ones they had been walking on. Other than a few odd trees, bushes and rocks, the only hope of shelter they would have was in the forest.

Evelina tugged on her braid, "there's nowhere to go."

****

"Who's we?" Zoe asked, "I don't need your help. I'm going to go and find my sisters." She went to move forwards but was stopped by the jolt of pain which shot up her knee. Hiding a grimace, she away from Natasha and Laura, focusing on keeping herself standing "You can go now. Why are you still here? I can find them alone. I don't need you." She repeated to the woman steadily.

"Okay, sure. Do you have any idea where they might be?" Natasha paused, not really expecting the girl to reply, "how about your knee? Are you going to venture after them while hardly being able to stand?" Natasha gesture to her knee. "What about... What about the Red Room when they find you? How useful are you really going to be to them? Especially since you lost two other widows." The last part was kind of a gamble but she was willing to risk a lot to convince the girl she and the others could help.

"Why don't we take a break. You can meet the rest of the people who are helping look for your sisters and we can take a look at your knee?"

Truthfully, Zoe knew she needed their help. Natasha was right that ,one, she could hardly walk and, two, she had no idea how far they could have gotten in the time she had been searching around the rubble.

"Others?" She decided to take everything one problem at a time: the first problem was that Natasha had told others and they were here too.

Natasha saw her worried look and quickly corrected herself, "friends of mine. You can trust them." Zoe nodded in acknowledgement although they both knew Zoe wasn't about to trust either of the people who claimed to be helping.

Twenty minutes later, Zoe, Natasha and Natasha's friends were standing beside - what she assumed to be - one of their cars. Natasha and Laura had helped her walk there and now she stood face to face with two other people. The man had gravitated to Laura ( they're probably together then ) while the woman was standing equal distances from her and Natasha. The woman eyed her with the obvious unspoken question they shared, 'Who are you?'

"This is Bobbi," Natasha said, motioning to the blonde haired woman, "Bobbi, this is..." She waited for the girl to fill in the blank. The Red Room would often give out fake names to the girls, especially if they were going on a large scale mission; Natasha wondered how long the girl had been on a mission for and what name she would pick.

Zoe was wondering the same thing. Natasha had made it clear she knew she was from the Red Room, so was there really much point in giving a fake name? Then again, if the Red Room found out she had lost two widows - one of which was the best there has been in years - and exposed her cover... However, Zoe was pretty sure that, if needed, the Red Room would be able to give her any entirely new identity anyway.

Natasha sensed her trepidation, "you can tell us your real name. We won't tell anyone else. Promise." That was all it took for Zoe to make up her mind.

Did she trust these people? No. Were they actively trying to hurt or deceive her? Also no.

For Zoe that made it pretty simple, "I'm Zoe, but if anyone else asks I'm Riley. It's, umm, nice to meet you?" She muttered, unsure what was meant to happen now. "Back at you, kid." The woman - Bobbi - replied. "I'm guessing the other girls we're looking for are your sisters, huh?" She asked, her voice firm but not unkind. Zoe nodded.

"How about I take a look at your knee and then we get back out there?" Bobbi said, her tone suggesting there wasn't much of an option. Zoe looked to Natasha for guidance; despite her not fully trusting Natasha, she knew even less about Bobbi and she didn't yet know the blonde's true intentions. "Can't you fix it?" She asked the red-head, aware of the weakness she was showing. Natasha moved closer, "I won't let her hurt you," she whispered to her. Zoe hoped Natasha wasn't lying as she hesitantly agreed let Bobbi help her.

"Here," Bobbi said, opening the passenger seat of the car for Zoe to sit down in, "sit." Zoe obeyed silently, her gaze never once flickering away from Bobbi. Crouching down to look at the injury, Bobbi's hands hovered over the girl's skirt which was partially covering the damage. She felt the girl flinch away as slowly moved the skirt, pushing it up a bit, to see the extent of the trauma.

"I know you don't know or trust me - heck I wouldn't either - but I'm not going to purposefully hurt you, okay? You know, I actually have a degree in Biology so I'm not all too bad at this." Bobbi said, attempting to ease some of the her nerves. Zoe winced, feeling the sting she associated with antiseptic wipes; Bobbi felt her knee jerk and held it firmly in place, "it's just to clean it." Zoe made a small noise of acknowledgement as she watched the woman clean the wounds on her knees - maybe wearing a skirt on a mission wasn't the best idea, even if it was only meant to be a surveillance one.

After Bobbi had cleaned both knees, and bandaged the one which only had a few scrapes on, she set to work examining the one which was causing obvious pain to Zoe. She asked Zoe a few questions and Zoe tried her best to answer them.

"It's not broken but it's definitely sprained." She said finally, looking to Natasha. Natasha nodded, "there's not much we can do for it now then. I have some painkillers if you want them?" She was sure that Zoe would deny them - widows were made of marble after all - but wanted to ask just in case. Unsurprisingly, the girl shook her head, "I'm fine. Can we go look for them now? It's almost dark and they're still out there."
Natasha nodded, understanding the unspoken message being conveyed, 'the darkness brought dangers and they were out there alone'.

********

"It's getting dark." Dasha said, her legs aching from the long walk despite all the ballet training she's had. "It is," Evelina agreed. Without a watch, Evelina could only guess what time it was, and with the changing weather patterns, her guess wasn't accurate. Darkness blanketed the atmosphere, cloaking the surroundings in a deep navy blue haze. "We should find some shelter and rest for a while," She said to Dasha, taking note of the girls tired voice.

They ended up underneath a large tree adjacent to the forest; it was close enough that they could easily hide in the tall woods but far enough away that they still had a 360 view of the area.

******

Two hours passed before Natasha called the others and told them to stop searching. As much as she desperately wanted to find the girls, the team needed to sleep and she had to get back to check on Yelena.

"We'll start looking again tomorrow. Five am. I promise," Natasha argued with Zoe. Zoe shook her head in protest. "You need to at least rest and ice your knee," Natasha explained, gently placing her hands on the girl's shoulders and guiding her back to the car. Zoe stood her ground, literally, she would not move. Natasha sighed, she couldn't exactly force the girl to come with her. "We won't be more than a couple hours...Please Zoe."

Zoe's eyes moved to look at the woman. Scanning her face, Zoe could tell there was something else she needed to do back at her house.
She didn't want to give up, for Dasha to think she had left her for the Red Room to take; she had just started earning Evelina's trust and this, leaving her, would break it instantly. But Natasha was right about one thing - she needed to rest. With each rushed step, Zoe felt an agonising sensation crawl up her knee, making each step more and more painful and the search more and more difficult. Zoe crossed her arms, regarding the older woman with suspicion.

"Tomorrow. Five am. Promise it," she demanded stubbornly, though wary of being punished for stressing Natasha.

"Five o'clock tomorrow, I promise." Natasha swore.

Zoe didn't hesitant to climb into the passenger seat, watching Natasha as she starts the car and turns on the music. Slowly, they drove back into the inner city, the sound of cars beeping and people talking steadily increasing in volume.

Zoe realised half way into the journey that she wasn't even sure where they were going. Was the woman taking her back to her house? Would she pick her up in the morning? Would her 'father' even be there? Did he know what happened? She furrowed her eyebrows, focusing on the low music sounding throughout the car.

"Where exactly are we going?" She asked nonchalantly. Natasha blinked, through all the chaos and arguing she had forgot to mention the fact that they were going back to her house. Natasha thought for a moment; the Red Room had trained her never to disclose a location meant as a safe house, specifically not to someone you didn't one hundred percent trust. She knew that this could all be some elaborate way of finding out her and Yelena's location and returning back to their  true 'home'.
"Somewhere safe," she said vaguely, "my sister is there too, just to let you know."

The first thing Zoe noticed about the apartment is the silence. If Natasha's sister was there surely there would be some sound being made, right? Footsteps shuffling around the house or the bed frame creaking as they slept.

Natasha stepped away from Zoe, who was taking of her shoes off, to check on Yelena. Her sister was just as she had left her: laid across the couch. "Yelena?" She muttered, bending down to feel her temperature. Yelena squirmed away, groaning something that might have been English but could have equally been Russian or just confused gibberish. From what Natasha could tell, Yelena was doing better than she had been.

"I'll be back in a minute, okay?" She said, brushing the hair from her sisters pale face. Yelena grabbed her arm as she did, "did you find them?" She murmured. "We found the oldest," Natasha said and quickly continued before her sister could ask more questions, "Zoe. She's injured but not as badly as you are. She's taking her shoes off right now." Yelena nodded weakly, "mhm."

"Are you hungry?" Natasha asked her. Zoe shook her head. 'Okay. You can rest in my sister's room. I'll get you some ice for your knee."
Natasha lead the girl to Yelena's room before leaving and bringing back an ice pack. "Do you need anything else?"
"Thank you for helping me," Zoe blurted out, conscious of the fact that just because Natasha hadn't hurt her yet that didn't mean she wouldn't but still thankful she wasn't looking for her sisters alone. Natasha raised her eyebrow, "I thought you didn't need any help."  Zoe bit back a smile, "I don't, but thank you anyway."

Chapter Text

"Natasha?" Yelena asked, drowsy from blood loss. Natasha was instantly at her sister's side, "are feeling better? You passed out when I was closing your wound." Yelena moved to shrug her shoulders but was quickly stopped by the sharp pain radiating across her upper body. Wincing, she slowly moved to sit up right. "It's not too bad," she said, watching her sister's face scrunch up each time she moved. Yelena looked down at her shoulder, finally witnessing the extent of her injury - it wasn't too bad.
"What happened?" She asked, still looking at her shoulder. Natasha sighed and explained everything she that had happened while she was passed out.  

"Do you think they're still out there?" Yelena asked her sister, "the Red Room was always quick  to clean up messes." Natasha bit her lip, she hoped they were but she couldn't be sure.

"Fuck," Natasha mumbled under her breath, she had been so busy worrying about Yelena and the girls she had forgotten a very important fact about how the Red Room kept control of the girls: trackers. Yelena realised this too, "they're still being tracked, aren't they? You need to destroy the tracker before they realise her mother's gone too."

Natasha was relieved to find that Zoe was still awake, staring vacantly at the ceiling.

"Natasha?" She heard the girl say as she walked up to her door. Natasha knocked on the door before walking in.

"Can I sit?" She asked, motioning to the bed. Zoe nodded, discreetly shifting closer to the wall as Natasha sat down. "Is everything okay?" She asked the the older woman.     
"I need to ask you something and I need you to tell me the truth, okay?" Natasha said quietly. Zoe nodded obediently.
"The trackers the Red Room use," Natasha began slowly, "did you take it out while you were looking for your sisters?"

A confused look passed the girl's face before she glanced down at her shoulder, remembering the scar she had gotten when she first arrived at the horrid place. Zoe pulled down her t-shirt to to reveal her collarbone, "this? I thought it was a vaccine or something," she said, her panic rising, "is it tracking me now? Are they tracking them...?"

"We need to take it out," Natasha stated calmly, moving her hand to hover above the tracker embedded in the girls skin. She paused to look at Zoe who nodded slightly, allowing her to feel how deep it was into the skin.

When Natasha and Yelena had escaped the Red Room, shield had taken the trackers out for them as they were implanted closer to their necks. Natasha gently pressed her hand onto the girls skin - almost removing her hands when she felt Zoe instantly jerk back - to judge where the tracker was, wondering why the Red Room had decided to change the location of where they placed trackers.

"It's not that deep, I... I can take it out," she said softly. Zoe nodded.
"I'll go and get the medical kit. I'll get some ice for your knee too."

As soon as Natasha was out the room, Zoe shot up of the bed and quietly started pacing ( or rather limping ) around the room, hoping to soothe herself. Was she really going to let Natasha dig out a 'tracker' that she didn't even know she had? She barely knew the woman... She had trusted Bobbi and that didn't backfire but... Zoe shook her head, her thoughts going back to Dasha and Evelina.

Surely they had taken theirs out already? That's if Evelina hadn't called the Red Room herself and asked to be collected. If Dasha had somehow convinced Evelina that running was there best option, Evelina must have thought about how the Red Room could find them at least one... right? Or maybe Dasha didn't even have a tracker since she was so much younger then herself? Zoe stopped pacing and sat back on the bed, hearing the light footsteps of the women she was trusting to cut her open - well not actually cut her open but still...

***

"I'll take first watch," Evelina said to Dasha. It was far to dark to even consider continuing travelling, so the best they could do was watch each other's backs for the night. "I'll wake you up if I hear, or see, anything. Sleep."
Dasha nodded, too tired to protest and laid her head down on, using her jacket as a pillow.

***

It was obvious to Natasha that Zoe had been panicking since she had left however, there was little she could say to calm the girl. She was thankful Zoe was trusting her with this but if she took one wrong step, she knew Zoe wouldn't hesitate to fight back.

"I can give you an injection to numb the area?" She asked Zoe. Zoe - not trusting herself to speak without fear creeping into her voice - shook her head: no needles.

Natasha nodded, "ok. I'm just going to clean the area and then I'll take it out." She said, explaining every movement she made as to not frighten the girl further. She watched Zoe shudder at the sight of a scalpel and quickly reminded herself why they were doing this. If Zoe wanted to find her sisters, she wouldn't be able to do it with the Red Room on their heels.

"Okay, I'm going to make a small cut and take it out now. Is that okay?" Natasha needed make sure Zoe knew she was in control, that if she said 'no' Natasha would stop at once. "Zoe, can I cut it out?" Natasha asked again, keeping her voice gentle, "we don't have to..."
"You can do it." The words came out barely a whisper.
"You can ask me to stop whenever you want to. Okay?" Natasha said, making it clear she wouldn't force the girl to do this. Zoe nodded again.

Zoe managed to only wince once as Natasha gently pulled out the tracker, shuddering when she finally saw the thing which had been monitoring her every movement.
"Can I see it?" Zoe asked, gesturing to get a closer look.
"Sure," Natasha said, handing it over, "you wanna destroy it too?"
Zoe turned over the chip in her hand, inspecting the small numbers on it, before snapping it into pieces. Natasha cleaned the wound and placed medical tape over it, her eyes glazing over the abundance of scars covering the girl's skin.

Zoe saw Natasha's eyes linger on a particularly nasty scar she had gotten after failing a mission; she had led her team head first into a trap and, for that, she had earned a pretty bad beating and a grizzly scar to go with it ( along with missing lunch for extra training and ballet ).
At the time, it was mostly bruised, however, Zoe could now make out just how many scars she had collected in that moment: one long, deep one - the one currently intriguing Natasha - and sixteen small, lacerations all over her shoulder and collarbone area.

"That one was my fault," Zoe said, feeling Natasha's fingers gently trace the scar.

Natasha nodded, "how so?" She kept her voice soft, using the silence as tool to get Zoe to talk more. Natasha had a lot of questions and if she wanted answers she needed to build Zoe's trust. Zoe winced as Natasha cleaned the scar before remembering what she was saying.

"I was leading a smaller team than usual, only four of us... It was my job to find and explain the exit/entry points... my job... well. They had put some of the best girls on the team... The Red Room lost some of their best weapons that day..."

Natasha was unsure of how to comfort the girl. She knew telling her that it wasn't her fault - that she wasn't the one to blame - would go over her head. Before Natasha could even attempt to offer some comforting words, Zoe was mumbling more about the mission.

"It's sad cause I was kinda excited for the mission. It didn't sound difficult and... my friend was put in the group. There's not much time to have friends but... but me and..." Her voice broke, tears threatening to form. She looked down at the floor, ignoring Natasha's watchful gaze.

"Her name was Nova," she mumbled, "I know missions aren't exciting - I didn't like doing anything I did, but Nova... Nova made it bearable... She... um... I tried to save her - bring her back to get medical. They knew how, they could have fixed her... She wouldn't ever be as good as she was though, she'd be broken... And the Red Room doesn't want any broken soldiers." Zoe held her breath, willing herself not to cry.

She had basically just bared her soul to a woman she hardly knew; a woman who, for all she knew, could well be part of the Red Room. She would not cry as well - she wasn't that weak.

Natasha met the girl's eyes, "None of that was your fault. You know that, right? What happened to Nova was not your fault. The people to blame are the Red Room." Zoe shrugged.
"We're going to find them, right? " She said, staring at Natasha. Natasha nodded.

***

Natasha had told her before they left that they were meeting Laura and Bobbi at the same spot they had found her ( Clint was apparently preoccupied at the moment ). True to her word, Zoe watched Natasha as she bundled up supplies for their search in the early morning light.

Zoe was asking Natasha where she should sit in the car when a blonde woman - Natasha's sister, she guessed - walked over and told Natasha 'I'm coming too'. Zoe watched as Natasha attempted to tell the woman that she needed rest but the woman protested and sat in the front passenger seat anyway. Scanning the woman's face, she realised she had seen her before; before the accident she had been talking to a woman - this woman.

"This is Yelena. She'll help us look for your sisters," Natasha said, seeing the suspicion etched on the girl's face. "She was Eliza's dance teacher," she said, hoping to clear up any confusion Zoe had. Zoe stared at her wearily before looking back at Natasha and nodding.

Bobbi and Laura were chatting idly when they arrived. Laura and Yelena greeted each other fondly while Natasha started devising a plan for how they were going to look.

"How's your knee?" Bobbi asked Zoe, "you iced it, right?"
"Yea... It's a bit better today."
Bobbi nodded, "well if you need to take a break while we're searching..."
"I won't."

The plan they had come up with was as follows: Bobbi, Yelena and Zoe would drive a few miles (or as far as Zoe believed they would be able to walk in one night) and start their search there while Laura and Natasha would stay closer to where the girl's originally went missing.

Zoe wasn't one hundred percent sure she could trust them all, but she needed as much help as she could. The Red Room were fast at collecting their assets and she knew that if she didn't find them soon, they would.

***

Evelina let Dasha sleep until she could just about see the sunrise, waking her up with a gentle tap. In contrast to Evelina, Dasha was not the greatest at keeping watch, constantly getting distracted and wandering off. She tried not to think about Zoe, instead looking at the shapes in the clouds and making pictures and stories.

The sun had almost fully risen when Dasha heard the quiet echo of voices. At first she thought she might be imagining it - sometimes her mind got a bit muddled - but the voices kept calling, growing louder by the minute. For as far as she could see there was no one around but she wasn't willingly to take that chance.

Hurriedly, she woke Evelina up. Evelina quickly agreed that there was in fact people and they were coming closer. "There must be a road or path somewhere near here," Evelina said, taking Dasha's hand and leader her away. Watching the older girl, Dasha wondered how she was able to be up and ready after maybe two hours of sleep; Evelina didn't even look tired, her face more a mixture of annoyance and ( possibly ) fear.

"Where are we going now?"
"I don't know yet, Dasha. Lets find a shop first, gather some supplies."
Dasha froze, hearing what she thought was her name being called.
"Dasha, we need to keep going," Evelina said, tugging at the girl's hand, "Dasha?"
"I can hear... I think it's Zoe," she said, spinning in a circle to figure out where the noise was coming from.

Evelina sighed, not wanting to disagree; there was a very high chance that it wasn't Zoe and it never would be. "We'll come back. We'll find supplies then we'll come back here and wait for her, okay?" She said to Dasha.
Dasha nodded reluctantly.

Chapter Text

They trudged on slowly, very slowly. Evelina was constantly telling Dasha to stop dragging her shoes along the dirt and pick her feet up, not that Dasha listened much.

"Dasha, come on." Evelina didn't want to say it out loud, but if there were people searching for them, it was most likely the Red Room and they needed to put as much distance between where they had ditched the trackers and wherever they were going. Dasha shrugged nonchalantly.
"Do you want to go back to the Red Room?" Evelina finally asked, annoyed at the girl's carelessness. Dasha froze at the words spoken, her eyes hardening, "I'm not going back." She muttered and kept on walking, her body tense.
"Well then hurry."

***

"There's a gas station near here. Do you think they might have gone there?" Bobbi asked Zoe as they walked. Zoe paused for a second. If Dasha or Evelina were injured they would need supplies but widows were trained to use what they had... There didn't appear to be any running water nearby either... However, there was a high chance that Evelina would steer clear of any place that might have surveillance.
"Yeah, they might have," Zoe said noncommittedly.

***

They arrived at a gas station not long after.

"We need water and food - that's it," Evelina told Dasha firmly, knowing the girl had an affinity for candy since being on a mission away from the Red Room. Dasha nodded, "food. water."
They walked the length of the shop quietly, sneaking small items into their pockets as they went. Dasha tried to close her eyes every time she passed a chocolate bar but eventually she couldn't help herself - quickly taking a few reeces treats and shoving them in her jacket.
Evelina pretended not to notice the amount of candy Dasha was taking and instead focused on grabbing more important things - things which would help them on their journey to no where.

***

Yelena stayed behind while Bobbi and Zoe drove to the gas station, paying careful attention to their surroundings.

"So kid," Bobbi said, trying to make conversation, "how long you been living here?" Natasha hadn't told her much about the three kids but she had told her their family had recently moved here. Zoe broke her graze from the window and looked over to the older woman, "not long." Bobbi hummed in acknowledgement and turned her attention back onto the road.

When they arrived at the gas station, Bobbi asked the cashier if they had seen any children come in and gave a brief description. The cashier confirmed he had saw them and told Bobbi that they had 'taken a bunch of sweets' and 'the older one had a knife'. Bobbi went to tell Zoe, who was searching the store for some trace of either of them. "They left here not long ago, come on," Bobbi said, grabbing Zoe's hand and leading them out.
"We'll follow them on foot - they can't have gotten far. You go that way," Bobbi said pointing west, "and I'll go this way," she said following the road.
"What if one of us finds them?"
"You got a phone?"
Zoe glanced briefly at her pockets, "no..."
"Here, catch," Bobbi said, throwing her a pager. "Do you know how to use it?"
"I'm not an idiot."
"Didn't say you were," Bobbi smiled and turned to start searching.

***

"Natasha," Laura muttered. They had taken a break from searching and were leaning against the car talking. "I don't think they're here."
Natasha sighed, "they've got to be somewhere. If Zoe got out then they did too."
"Let's go check on Yelena and Bobbi. Maybe they're found them already but just haven't contacted yet." Laura watched as Natasha chewed mindlessly on her lip, running her hands over her loose hair. "It's going to be okay, Nat. We'll find them."
"It's not just that," Natasha shrugged, "what if... I can't even..."
"What else is bothering you?" Laura pried, aware that Natasha was becoming more and more agitated.
"What happens if I do find them? They're widows and... even if they don't act like it, they're scared and... they're just kids."

Laura knew what Natasha was trying to say, even if she was stopping herself from saying it. She knew that - as widows - they were taught that they were 'marble' and that meant that, no matter how tough the situation, they were strong - unbreakable. But, they were also just kids. Traumatised kids. When Natasha and Yelena had been staying on the farm, Laura remembered how they would dance themselves to exhaustion or refused basic necessities - like food and sleep - to prove their strength.

"I can't tell Shield. I can't tell Maria. If the government find out... they'll just go back to Russia... I can't just hand them over to foster care system - they need... they need more than that. I don't have enough rooms to house them and even if I could... I don't know what to, Laura." Natasha rambled.
Laura pulled Natasha into a hug before the woman spiralled, murmuring comfort words into her ear, "we'll figure it out. You guys can stay at the farm for a while or... we won't tell Shield but eventually... they'll probably figure it out, but I promise if you don't want Shield to know, Clint and I will do everything we can to help."
"What if-"
"No. No more what ifs. Let's focus on the now, focus on getting the girls first. Yeah?"
Natasha nodded numbly. Despite trusting Laura completely ( or as much as she could after being raised never to trust anyone ), she still had her doubts. "I'm sorry," she mumbled into Laura's shoulder.
"You have nothing to be sorry for. Let's go check on Yelena now, yeah?"
"Mhm."

***

Bobbi froze. Listening closely, she could just about make out the small pattering of footsteps and the quiet chatter of voices she associated with kids. "Hello? Diane? Eliza? I'm here with Zoe." She scanned the surroundings once more, checking for any clues the girls were nearby other than the faint footsteps. She debated calling out in Russian but ultimately decided to stick to English because of the small things she knew of Natasha's past. "Hello?" She called into the emptiness, "I'm not here to-"

Suddenly, she heard a rustling in a bush, followed by a blade being shoved against her neck. Against her instincts, Bobbi froze and calmly raised her hands to show her lack of weapons.

"Who are you? And what do you want? If you're thinking about lying," Evelina dug the blade further into the soft skin on the woman's neck.
The woman didn't struggle against the knife; managing to break free of the girl's grip would just put an even bigger target on her back. Instead she decided she would talk her way out of the situation.

"My name's Bobbi," she said clearly, "I'm here with Zoe and Yelena - miss Belova."
Evelina faltered at Zoe's name, seeing Dasha perk up, "what do you want?"
"If you let me go, I can take you to Zoe. In my pocket I have a pager. You can page her yourself if you want and then we can go meet with her," Bobbi said. She felt small hands reach into her pockets, taking out the pager and the weapons she had.
Dasha took the gun and held it steady, aimed directly at the woman. "You have Zoe?" Her mind was racing. If this woman had taken Zoe... Zoe was no where near as good as Evelina in hand to hand combat, or weaponry for that matter, but she was still a decent fighter from what she had saw while they were in training together a few times.

"She's looking for you guys right now. Page her and we can go back to her."
Evelina studied the woman. "Lower the gun, Dasha..." she said, switching to her native tongue. Dasha complied, now aiming the gun at the woman's knees, "she has Zoe."
"We don't know that for sure. She might be from the Red Room," Evelina said, the suspicion clear in her tone.

Bobbi listened as the girls discussed her in Russian: Dasha wanting to follow her and Evelina warning against it. Finally, the girls came to a decision and Bobbi watched as the older girl used the pager to page Zoe. "We can meet her at the gas station." Bobbi told the girls. She watched as the two shared a furtive glance and before nodding to each other.

***

Zoe jumped as she felt the pager in her pocket buzz. Rushing towards their meeting point, Zoe prayed that Bobbi had found her sisters and it wasn't a false alarm; she also hoped that - if her sisters were really found - Evelina hadn't gone full widow attack mode. She knew the girl would immediately be cautious, so it wouldn't have surprised her if either she or Bobbi came back injured. All Zoe could think about was Dasha as she arrived to the nearby store, her face a mixture of anxiety and trepidation while she fidgeted with her hands.

***

"Do you know the way back to the station?" Bobbi asked as they marched back the way they had come, Bobbi still at gun point. The girls ignored her.
"I'll take that as a yes then... You can drop the gun now."
"Give me the gun for now," Evelina told Dasha, reaching her hand out to take the object. Dasha put up little fight about giving away the weapon, her mind focused on other things. Evelina couldn't help but wonder how Dasha had been a reputable widow when she was formed attachments so strong and was constantly of in her own world.

"Do you think she really has Zoe?" Dasha questioned the older girl.
"I don't know, Dasha," Evelina sighed.

***

Zoe watched as three figures slowly emerged from behind the store, her heart hammering in her ribcage. Her knee injury forgotten, she sprinted over to them. "Dasha?" She called out, the figures becoming clearer by the second.

Relief spread through her body as she bounded into her sister. Dasha clung onto Zoe, tears pooling in her eyes, "I thought you were...", the small girl stammered. Zoe scanned her sister for any sign of injury, willing her heart to slow so she could process everything without the constant pounding in her chest. But she couldn't slow. Dasha was safe - or at least alive and unharmed.

Evelina stood awkwardly while the two sisters embraced.

"Why were you looking for us? Who are you?" Evelina demanded, looking at Bobbi.
"I'm Natasha's friend. She asked for help and now here I am... I should call her actually. Do you want to talk to her?" Bobbi answered.
Evelina shook her head, "what happens now?"
"I... I'm not sure."

Zoe walked over to Evelina steadily: the pain in her leg had been worsened from the short sprint. "You okay?" She asked Evelina, her eyes searching her body. Evelina returned the gesture and noticed Zoe's knee, the bandages hiding the mottle of bruises and swelling.
"My knee's fine. Bobbi and Natasha helped with it," Zoe said before explaining the rest of what happened. Finishing her story, Zoe moved closer to Evelina and pulled her into a hug. Evelina was too tired to resist and stood stiffly.

***

Natasha stared in disbelief; the two missing girls now sat huddled together on a bench, the youngest excitedly babbling while the other two listened with interest. Bobbi had caught her up on what happened and she wondered how the girls were holding up emotionally - the Red Room taught them to stuff down their feelings but Natasha could see the dried tear marks on two of the girls' cheeks. Yelena stood next to her, "we found them."

When Dasha finally took a breath after her long monologue about their journey, Evelina quizzed Zoe on the more practical issues they had.

"Our covers blown, right?"

"I told them my name and Natasha knows we're from the Red Room. I think they heard me shout Dasha's already... You can stay Eliza if you want." Zoe said, her words stilted. Although she had been in the Red Room's care for five years, her Russian was still stunted from having to learn so quickly and at an older age.

"Mhm... The trackers? We took ours out already, is yours gone too?"
"Natasha took mine out. I didn't even know about them..."
"What do we do now?"
"I... I don't know... I trust Natasha though - she can help us," Zoe replied, trying to find the words.
"Never trust anyone," Evelina murmured in reply.

Laura and Bobbi stood a few paces behind Yelena and Natasha, quietly discussing what would happen now. It was clear to Laura that Natasha wasn't about to just let the girls go off. They all knew the dangers the girls would face travelling alone and - while Laura knew she shouldn't judge the girls' ability to stay safe by themselves - she couldn't help but think they shouldn't have too. Laura had already told Natasha she would do anything to help keep them safe and she was willing to do a lot of keep this promise, even if it meant letting the girls' stay with her and clint for a few months ( or years, if it came to it ) at the farm.

Bobbi too was happy to help and had promised Natasha that she would keep this hidden from SHIELD for the moment. Despite only spending a tiny amount of time with Zoe, she somewhat saw herself in the girl and if protecting her and her sisters meant lying to her handler, then lie she would.

Chapter Text

Maria: Hey, you still up for watching that movie?

Natasha: Tonight?

Maria: Or tomorrow? I've got the day off.

Natasha: I'm sort of in the middle of something right now, sorry.

Maria stared down at her phone, rereading their messages; Usually, Natasha would jump at the chance to get Maria out of her office and away from work, even if it meant leaving Yelena to run the studio alone for a couple of nights, or missing out of Laura's famous apple pie. As far as she knew, she hadn't done anything to upset her... Maria shook her head, focusing back on the file she was reading. She was probably just overthinking things: the red head had always loved her alone time. Maria continued her work, diligently reading and signing off multiple documents.

However, half an hour later, her mind was still travelling back to Natasha. She knew it was unreasonable to assume the worst, but Natasha had become the woman's safe space and she knew that she was Natasha's too.

It had been at least six - not that Maria was counting - long weeks since she and Natasha had last seen each other for more than a twenty minute briefing and if it taking a toll on Maria, it was definitely affecting Natasha in the same way. Maria knew that, apart from Clint and Yelena (and maybe Laura), she was the only other person that Natasha trusted to let her guard down; with Clint constantly on missions and Yelena running the studio, Maria was sure the red head would be more than happy to spend a bit of time watching a movie and chilling out.

Checking her phone again, Maria read over their last messages - nothing seemed odd... except the fact that Natasha had, for once, used proper grammar; it was rare for her to full stops, let alone a comma. Maybe she would pay the woman a visit later on? Double check everything was okay and Natasha wasn't pulling 'i'm fine' when in fact she had gotten badly injured on the previous mission.

***

Natasha hated declining Maria's offer to hang out but there was way to much to be thinking about that Maria couldn't know about. 

After an hour of her and Eliza talking, the girl had finally agreed to stay with her and Yelena for a while. Now on the couch, Natasha watched as the three girls all sat down on the sofa; the youngest sat in the middle, still holding Zoe's hand; Eliza placed herself closest to the door, her skilful eyes scanning the room; and Zoe was switching her gaze between her and Yelena, her body language asking the obvious question of 'what do we do now?'. 

Natasha wasn't going to admit it but she really hadn't thought this far. Laura had promised they would figure something out; it was looking less and less likely that they would though, with Eliza's unwillingness to let her and Yelena out her sight, and clear distrust, not to mention Zoe's need to have Dasha in her view at all times. This made it near impossible for Natasha to even suggest they hide away at an unknown farm, far away from civilisation and communication ( two important things that widows knew they needed for missions, for survival ).

Yelena searched the fridge for some semblance of edible food, frowning when all she found was a few decaying vegetables and yogurt. She was healing quickly, no doubt because of the harsh training she had in the Red Room, and felt she - and the new little widows they had picked up - deserved more than that.

"You guys like pizza?" She called out, walking into the living room and sitting down next to her sister. Natasha smiled as Yelena read out the options to the girls. Zoe perked up at the sound of a Hawaiian pizza and Dasha was content on sharing with her sister (she couldn't remember the last time she had pizza, so the safe bet was to just share as they used to like the same things when they were little). When Yelena had read through all the options, Eliza still had a blank face, uninterested in the food. 

"They have a few sides if you just want one of them? Chicken wings, garlic bread..." Yelena said, listing the various different foods. It took Yelena a while to realise that maybe Eliza hadn't had pizza before and now, not only was trying a new food from a different country, Yelena had just given her a thousand different things to pick from. Yelena remembered how she had gotten overwhelmed the first time she went shopping with Laura because the Red Room seldom gives their weapons a choice, nevertheless the choice of something so small as what food they ate. "How about a peperoni?" Natasha asked the girl, pleased when she gave a small nod.

The food arrived quickly, easing the tension in the room as everyone opened their respective pizza box and dug in. Natasha watched as Eliza opened the box gingerly and took out a piece, staring at it wearily. 

Evelina didn't know how everyone was devouring the food: it was made by someone they didn't know, in a place they couldn't see and it could contain anything from laxatives to nightshade or potassium cyanide. Widows should know better than to trust food from an unknown source. She watched as Zoe and Dasha took turns taking a slice until it was almost gone, the two older woman doing the same with a larger box. Evelina caught sight of Natasha looking at her and turned her attention back to the foreboding box balancing on her lap. 

"Eliza, how about I try a slice of yours and you can try a slice of ours?" Natasha said, reaching over and swapping a slice of hers for a slice of peperoni. She made a show of taking a big bite and swallowing it before going back to taking with Miss Belova - Yelena. It worried Evelina how much she was trusting them as she took a bite into the now cool pizza - she should know better. The flavours exploded in her mouth. In the Red Room it was rare for them to get anything other than porridge or bland dinner food but this... the cheese was greasy and salty and tasted amazing and sauce and peperoni... She tried to restrict herself from having too many pieces, it wasn't like she would get the luxury of this everyday, no point getting used to it. 

Natasha watched as the girl's face lit up with unexpected pleasure of eating pizza. After Natasha had taken a bit, she had watched ,from her peripheral vision, as Eliza had gingerly taken a bite before engulfing two more. However, the distressed look which passed her face after the third piece didn't go unnoticed. When Natasha asked if she wanted anymore, the girl promptly declined despite Natasha's persistent assurance that she was allowed to have it. 

"Tired," Dasha mumbled to Zoe.

"Um. Where is everyone sleeping?" Zoe asked the two woman, aware that their apartment only had two bedrooms and not nearly enough beds for them all. Yelena looked over to her sister, an unspoken conversation passing between them. 

"We'll take the sofas. Two of you will have to share, but there are two bedrooms." Natasha said. Zoe knew Yelena was injured and immediately pointed out that she shouldn't be kicked out of her own bed. Yelena shrugged, "I've slept in worse places as worse times." 

***

Darkness seeped into the room as the sun set, casting deep shadows over Maria's files she was currently working on. Her work was interrupted by the sound of knocking followed by the door swinging open. "It is customary to wait for the person to say 'come in' before... oh, hey Bobbi," Maria said, pulling the file away from her eyes and putting it on a neat pile on the desk. 

"I've come to ask about the mission. Why has it not been assigned to one of the new recruits? It's super easy and good practice at gathering basic intel... I, on the other hand, need no such practice cause," Bobbi rambled, listing the multiple reasons she was too good for the mission. "Are you finished now, Agent Morse?" Maria said, switching on her deputy voice as Bobbi had clearly come here to argue her way out of a mission, though Maria did secretly agree that the mission was way too simple and a waste of her skills. Bobbi sighed, finishing her six minute long tangent. 

"You're still on the mission. If you really want, you can bring a recruit with you." 

"That would only slow me down." 

"Yeah, I thought you would say that. Is there any other reason you came here, or was it just to distract me from my work?" 

"I get it. I'm going." 

"Wait, actually, one thing: have you spoken to Romanoff lately?" Maria demanded, closely watching Bobbi's face for any signs of deception.

"Nope, see ya," the blonde said before traipsing out the room.

Maria rolled her eyes at the blonde and then turned back to her work. She was practically swimming in - organised - paperwork, piles covering her desk and shelves and the inbox of her email overflowing. Her restless thoughts drifting back to Natasha, she decided that she would work for two more hours and if she was still worried, she would go visit the woman herself.

***

Zoe and Dasha had gone into one of the bedrooms not long after, Evelina opting to stay in the living room a bit longer. She was trying to figure out an emergency escape plan but it was difficult with the layout of the apartment and the fact they were - again - in unfamiliar territory. 

"You can move the mattress to be with the other two if you want, or you could make a floor bed in the room?" Natasha offered the girl, watching her twirl one of her braids in a circle. 

Evelina nodded, annoyed that Natasha seemingly knew everything she was thinking and easily counteracted it. She was still suspicious of their nice behaviour, knowing that Miss Romanov - Natalia according to Dasha - was a widow and, like her, one of the best of her age group.

"Eliza, we're not going to hurt you, or try to attack you, or send you back. We want to help, that's it." Natasha said, as if reading her mind again. Yelena nodded, "what she said. If we wanted to hurt you, we would have already." Natasha nudged her sister, mumbling her sister's name in a warning tone. "Just trying to help," Yelena answered back.

"If you guys aren't going to hurt us," Evelina said carefully, "then what do you want in return?" She knew that both women knew they had no money and so there was only a few other things they could want from her and her sisters - none of which she would freely give them. Aware that she and Dasha was two of the best widows from their age division, Evelina wondered if they had been brought here to be trained and used as weapons.  

"We don't want anything from you. No payment at all." Natasha replied evenly, knowing the girl was probably going through all the possible ways that she could repay her and Yelena. 

"Promise?" Evelina said, stifling a yawn.

"Promise." Both women said after sharing a glance - it wasn't much but they knew this was the girl testing them, giving them a tiny amount of trust.

Evelina still didn't trust them, but she believed them when they said they wouldn't hurt her. Zoe had stayed here and she hadn't acquired any extra injuries from them and, although Zoe was way too trusting for a widow, she saw that the older girl trusted them more than she let on. Evelina got up and started walking to the other bedroom when she heard footsteps pacing towards the front door. Frozen to the spot, she looked towards Natasha for an explanation, the footsteps getting closer by the second, however, Natasha looked as confused as she did.

 Natasha got up and walked steadily to the front door, peering through the peephole to see who it was. She let out an audible sigh seeing the dark hair she associated with Maria before remembering why Maria couldn't be here right now. "Who is it?" Natasha heard Yelena call out. "It's Maria," Natasha replied.

Chapter Text

Maria knew she shouldn't have come the moment she parked her car outside the apartment block. Sitting in her car, work clothes still on, she looked up at Natasha's window and saw the shadows of three people. It wasn't exactly odd or strange for her to have people around but still, it piqued the brunette's curiosity. Before leaving the car, Maria shot Natasha a message saying she was coming over and hoped the woman would see it.

"Maria," Natasha stated, looking up at the woman's face.
"Natasha." Maria replied evenly, taking note of her, almost, dishevelled appearance.
"You got my messages, right? I'm kinda busy right now."
"I just wanted to check in." Maria explained, peering behind the door.
"Oh."
Maria stared at Natasha for a second, "so... how have you been?"
"Good, i'm good. How are you?"
"I'm good..."

A stagnant silence filled the air as the two stared at each other. Maria was about to turn around and leave when she heard a younger voice, no older than fifteen, speak in a hushed voice. "Who's Maria?"

Natasha glared at Maria, though Maria could see the guilty look hidden beneath the stoic gaze. "Are we going to talk about the voice I just heard, Roman..." Her words died out as she heard the voice speak again, the voice urgent yet fierce, "Why is she here?" It was quickly followed by what Maria knew to be Yelena's voice, seemingly calming the unknown voice.

"That's just one of my dance students," Natasha lied smoothly, "her parents weren't able to pick her up on time and I'm friends with her mum so I suggested she stayed here until she was able to be picked up."
"Uh huh," Maria said, obviously not convinced, though Natasha knew her lies could beat almost any lie detector. "Does this, by chance, have anything to do with Clint and Bobbi?"
"No, not at all."
"Well, I guess I should get going then," Maria sighed.
"How about tomorrow?" Natasha rushed, "your place, two o'clock?"
"Sure," Maria said before looking behind Natasha and then saying her goodbyes.

"Who is Maria?" Evelina repeated, staring down at Yelena. Yelena glanced nervously between the girl and Natasha.
"She's Natasha's friend," Yelena said quietly.
"You said that already, that's not what I'm asking."
"It's... complicated."
"Then explain it well."

Yelena sighed, desperately wishing Natasha would quickly turn down the brunette and return. She watched as the girl clenched and unclenched her fists. "Look, she's leaving." Yelena said, hearing the door shut.
When Natasha walked over to them, she noticed the tension immediately. "It was just a friend of mine," she said, ignoring the look Yelena gave her when she said 'friend'. "She's left now and she's not coming back, okay?"

Evelina looked at them both, "I'm tired," she said slowly. Natasha nodded and went to show her the bedroom she would be staying in. There was no point, but Natasha told her not to snoop around anyways, eyeing the young widow.

***

"So, what did Maria want?" Yelena pried.
"She was coming over to check if I was okay, that's it," Natasha replied, choosing her words carefully. "You're going to have to look after the girls alone after two tomorrow."

Yelena smiled, "You and Maria are..."
"Watching a movie," Natasha finished.
"Of course. Let me guess, the movie is..."
"None of your business. We have other stuff to think about, Yelena."

"Right." Yelena was great at doing things, preferring to just deal with the consequences of her bad planning rather than actually sit down and actually plan.

Natasha was well aware of this, "They can't exactly stay here forever?"
"We could send  them to Melina? Isn't she housing widows now?"
"They're too young."
"Then I don't know. Let's just find a bigger apartment and keep them."
"They're not pets. They're children, they need..." Natasha trailed off, unsure of how to finish. 

What did kids need? She could give them a bed, food, water but... she wasn't a mother. And Yelena definitely wasn't either.

***

The first thing Evelina did when the door shut was search the room. Her hands moved rapidly with practiced ease as she scanned the room. There were no weapons as she could tell but the glass in the photo frame by the bed would make do if necessary. She also looked for information, for knowledge. It was clear to her that Natasha wasn't trying to hide where she worked. In the photo frame was a picture of her in a tactical suit and a man with a bow standing together. Natasha was holding a water bottle with a logo displaying the words 'S.H.I.E.L.D'. From what Evelina could remember - which was everything she had been taught - SHIELD was an organisation which helped to 'protect' people, and contain threats they deem as dangerous to the planet. It seemed like an odd place to work as a former widow but they were probably better than the handlers in the Red Room.

Plus, Natasha also owned a dance studio, so they let her have enough days off to manage and run it, Evelina thought to herself.

After a few more minutes of spying on Natasha's personal life, Evelina found a few files containing information about the woman's work place and the jobs they did. Most appeared to be simple tasks: gaining information, finding people and such. However, digging deeper into the woman's stuff, she found - what looked to be - a personal file. It had handwritten notes scribbled all over and ripped clippings of police cases, mostly missing children. Evelina continued to sort through it, her prying hands pulling back every sticky note and clipping. Closer to the end of the papers, her eyes caught sight of a specific building.

A building she had been raised in once. Her pulse quickened as she pulled the photo closer to inspect it. There was no doubt about it: the decaying, yellow walls, the large windows, the twisting vines crawling up the bricks. Even now, being significantly older than she had been while staying there, she could remember the endless hours of dancing, the gruelling fights she was made to do, the people and children she had killed.

It was the old Red Room. The one she had been raised in before the Red Room went mobile.

Evelina curled her finger around one of her braids, tugging until she felt the painful sensation she was craving. Natasha had been keeping files on the Red Room. The possible location of it, the dead people linked to it, the police reports of groups of missing girls. Everything there was to know. The entire time, the years after the 'best student' had mysteriously disappeared she had known that the Red Room was still in operation and hadn't done anything. She worked for an agency which claimed to help people, yet hundreds of girls were currently suffering.

A part of Evelina's mind knew she was being extreme. At least the woman had tried to help, that part said, at least she wasn't ignoring it. But just because she was acknowledging it was there, doesn't mean she was helping stop it, doesn't mean she was a good person.

***

Evelina woke up early the next morning, even by Red Room standards, the city outside still covered in a hazy blue glow. Undoing her hair from the ponytail it had been during her broken sleep, she got up and quietly pried open the door. After checking on Zoe and Dasha, who were both sleeping peacefully next to each other, and going to the bathroom, Evelina made her way to the living room where the two adults were. Expecting to find them asleep, Evelina walked in to Yelena watching tv with the sound off and Natasha making hot drinks. The red head merely glanced at Evelina before pulling out a third cup.

Hesitating for several seconds, Evelina sat down at the opposite end of the couch to where Yelena was sitting. Yelena's eyes were glazed over, her stare blank as she stared at the screen.

"Hot chocolate," Natasha whispered to Evelina as she handed her the mug of warm, sweet liquid.
"Thank you," Evelina replied, eyeing the drink wearily before taking a small sip. Evelina saw Yelena shudder at her words and realised she was speaking Russian, quickly correcting herself, "thank you."

Natasha nodded before sitting down between the two, Yelena instantly leaning into her sister. Evelina watched in confusion as Natasha mumbled something to the other woman. Yelena seemed to grow more present as Natasha continued to talk, her foggy eyes hardening until at last she spoke, uttering a quiet, 'Nat'. Evelina looked away, focusing on the film being played.

A little while later, when the sun was finally making it's appearance although blocked by stubborn grey clouds, Dasha walked in. Dasha wiped her eyes and yawned before moving towards one of the seats in the room closest to Evelina.

"You guys hungry?" Natasha asked, unsurprised when they didn't answer. Natasha knew they didn't normally have breakfast until much later and so they wouldn't be expecting any, especially since they hadn't earned it.

"Dasha, do you like waffles?" She said, getting up. Dasha shook her head.
"Pancakes?" Natasha watched as the girl shook her head again.
"Cereal? Toast?" Again, Dasha shook her head.
Natasha thought for a moment, there wasn't much other food in the house. She listed a few more things. It took her five long minutes to realise Dasha wasn't declining the food because she didn't like it, but rather because Zoe wasn't awake yet and she didn't want her sister to miss out. Food in the Red Room was scarce; if you missed a meal, you wouldn't get a replacement.

When Natasha got up to go and make some breakfast, Dasha shot out her seat, ready to go wake her sister for meal time. Softly, Natasha shook her head, "your sister can have breakfast when she wakes up. I promise." To prove her point, Natasha left herself out when handing out the plates of waffles. Dasha raised an eyebrow at her, glancing at her empty hands.
"I'm not hungry yet, but I'll eat later." She told Dasha.

***

It was almost eleven when Zoe woke up. Stumbling, she walked into the living room, eyebrows raised at the scene in front of her: Dasha was playing a game of snap with Yelena while Evelina was talking to Natasha with no hint of spite or suspicion.

Instead of getting scalded for waking up late, Natasha simply offered her some late breakfast and then she was invited by Yelena to play their game. Although she hadn't said it, Zoe could sense Evelina's distrust and knew she was simply 'playing along' the same way they all did on a missions; to Zoe, however, it seemed kind of normal. Natasha had helped her without many questions and she hadn't yet thought of the two woman as a threat to them. She tried not to be so naïve, they could still be part of the Red Room or enemies they didn't know they had.

Zoe accepted the pancakes gratefully, watching as Natasha brought in two plates: one for herself and one for Zoe. She smiled as she tasted the sweetness, reminded of the meals she used to make for her and Dasha when their father was drunk. Most of the time they were half undercooked or lacked the general sweetness waffles have but it was food, hot food which didn't cost much to make.

They spend the rest of the morning watching films, all of them avoiding the obvious question floating around in the air, 'what happens now'. Natasha had given Zoe an icepack for her knee which was easing the pain, but apart from that, the morning had been rather still and stagnant.

When it started approaching two, after all of them had had 'lunch' ( some cheese sandwiches and snacks ), Natasha told them she would be leaving for a few hours.

"Where?" Evelina argued. "Why?" Dasha demanded at the same time, looking between Yelena and the card game they were playing.
"Not Yelena," Natasha said, noticing how Dasha was glancing between the game and Yelena, "just me. I'm going to meet someone for a few hours. Her name is Maria." Natasha hoped she was giving them enough information that they wouldn't put up a fight when she left.
"The same Maria who showed up at the door last night?" Evelina pressed. Zoe looked at her and she signalled that they would talk later.
"Yes," Natasha said evenly, "I'll be back tonight and if I'm not I'll tell Yelena and she'll tell you guys, okay?"

The three girls nodded uncertainly, Zoe and Evelina sharing another look.

***

It was raining when Natasha arrived at Maria's place. Not enough that she had needed an umbrella but enough for her hair to get slightly damp and her hands to freeze over.

Maria opened the door to see the shivering face of Natasha. Inviting her inside, Maria offered her a coffee to which Natasha immediately accepted. Natasha took her shoes and coat off, hearing Maria leave to go make the drinks. She would much prefer to keep her jacket on, feeling the harsh breeze from an open window, but she was aware of Maria's distaste for dirt inside her house.

Natasha had just sat down on the sofa when Maria walked in holding two cups of hot coffee and a hoodie looped around her arms. She placed them on the coffee table and sat down next to the red head, wordlessly giving her the hoodie. Maria put on the movie silently, both of them content with being in each others presence.

Half way through the movie, Natasha caught Maria taking short glances at her every so often.
"Masha?" Natasha asked, catching Maria looking at her for the millionth time.
"You know you could tell me if something was wrong?" Maria said in a rush.
Natasha tilted her head, unsure what had brought up this topic, "of course..."
"The girl in your apartment..." Maria said stiffly.
Natasha realised what Maria was hinting at, "no, I did not kidnap a child." She meant it more as a joke but Maria nodded as if what she had said was somewhat reassuring.
"Talia..." Maria mumbled.

This worried Natasha even more: Maria had only called her that a handful of times... Natasha fidgeted in her seat, a nervous habit she had developed after escaping the Red Room. A habit which would have gotten her killed if she was still there. Maria could tell Natasha was getting anxious by the way she kept sneaking looks at the exit.

"Is it something you don't want to tell me or can't?" Maria said, simplifying the question and trying not to sound so demeaning. 
It took Natasha a few seconds to reply; She didn't want to endanger any of the girls by telling Maria. "Can't." She mumbled, her eyes averting the brunettes gaze.
"Because of Shield?" Maria said, her tone firm yet understanding.
Natasha nodded, pausing for a few seconds, "can we not talk it?" She said in a hushed tone. "Please? Let's just watch the movie."
Maria raised her eyebrows, nodding slowly, "okay. Let's just watch the movie."

Chapter Text

Natasha had neglected to consider how draining this week had been and how good it felt to be back in Maria's presence. The movie had finished almost an hour ago yet neither one of them had made a movie to get up, Natasha wrapped snuggly under Maria's shoulder and Maria leaning her head on Natasha's. Natasha wasn't sure exactly when they had gravitated towards each other but she wasn't going to question it.

Both women were trying their best to stay awake, Maria doing better than her counterpart. Looking down at the sleeping woman, Maria placed a soft kiss on her forehead.

"Hmm?" Natasha mumbled, groggily opening her eyes.
"It's ok, you can go back to sleep," Maria soothed.
"What time is it?"
Maria hesitated, "nearly 12."

Natasha sat up, ignoring Maria's protests, "I've got to go."
"Tasha?"
"I'm sorry. I'll see you soon, ok?"

Maria watched helplessly as Natasha gathered her things and left.

***

Natasha entered her home to find Yelena and Eliza on the couch.

"Natasha," Yelena greeted, taking her eyes away from the tv to look at her sister.
"Hi, Yelena, Eliza," Natasha said, nodding to them both. She quickly made her way to the kitchen to make some coffee. Assuming the other two girls were in bed, she set out two extra cups - a coffee for Yelena and a hot chocolate for Eliza.

Returning back with the cups, Natasha glanced at Eliza; Her shoulders weren't so hunched over and she was sitting comfortably next to Yelena.
After she saw Eliza finish her drink, Natasha told her to go get some sleep. Eliza obeyed, wandering slowly to the room she was staying in.

"So, how were they?" Natasha asked when she was sure Eliza was out of listening range,
Yelena shrugged, wincing slightly as she did, "Zoe and Dasha are... adjusting. From what I can tell, Zoe's fully abandoned the Red Room as much as we have. Dasha will follow her sister and Eliza..."

"Do you think she might..." Natasha wasn't going to openly suggest it, but she had a strong feeling Eliza wasn't going to turn against the Red Room like her sisters - well not as easily anyways.

"I'm not sure. Contacting them is difficult." Yelena replied blandly.

Natasha nodded, thinking for a moment and letting Yelena interrupting before she could speak. "What about the Avenger's tower?"
"I'm not sure how Tony would feel about three kids running about his tower."
"Doesn't he have a kid too? Pedro? Penny? Porter?" Yelena replied.
"Peter."
"That's what I said. Think about it: it's safe, secure and protected by that weird security system. Or we could send them to Barton. He loves collecting kids. Plus Zoe's already met Laura."
"I'll ask Clint," Natasha nodded.

***

The next morning went similar to the last; Evelina woke before her sisters, sitting with Natasha and Yelena in the living room while they waited for the others to wake up.

"Do you know how to make waffles?" Natasha asked Evelina. Evelina shook her head, "no."
"I'll teach you," Natasha said, gesturing for Evelina to follow her to the kitchen.

Yelena waited dutifully for Dasha to wake up, knowing the young girl would immediately want to flick through the movie options in search of a new favourite show.

So far, she had given the title of 'best show ever' to three pieces of media: Mulan ( which she denied she liked for the first half until Natasha declared she liked it ), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ( which Zoe agreed on ) and My Little Pony. The last one she had whispered to Zoe in a muted tone, her eyes scanning the room as she did. It had come on the tv as a suggested show after they finished Mulan and neither Yelena, nor any of them, had reached to turn it off. Yelena had watched Dasha supress a smile as she watched the ponies plod along the screen.

Dasha arrived twenty-five minutes later, her hair pulled back into two plaits meaning Zoe was awake too.
Yelena handed the controller to her which Dasha accepted gratefully. Natasha and Evelina came back with strawberry, blueberry and chocolate chip waffles. They ate watching tv, Evelina taking small bites of the sweet dough while Zoe scarfed it like she had never eaten, though Yelena had watched her do the same with dinner.

After they had finished, Natasha snuck back into the kitchen, soaking the dishes as she dialled Clint up.

Her face broadened into a smile when she heard Laura's soft voice fade in, "Natasha?"

"Hi, Laura."
"Hi, Honey. Clint's busy fixing the truck right now. Is there something you needed?"
"I was just wondering if..."

"If..." Laura prompted.

"If Yelena and I, and the girls, come over for a while. The city is..."
"Of course. I'll double check with Clint, but I'm sure he'll be okay with it. When are you thinking of coming? I'll need to get some extra blow up beds or something," she rambled.

"Today or tomorrow, if that's ok. I can bring some spare blankets and pillows or whatever. Yelena and I can take the couch?" She hadn't really thought much through and was now seeing the obvious problems.

"One of the girls can take your room, and then the other two can share the spare one," Laura nodded to herself. Natasha thanked her and hung up the phone, her mind scrolling through the possible ways of convincing the girls to go. She walked back into the living room ready to explain to them but was stopped short when she saw how engrossed they all looked watching the movie, even Yelena.

She gently nudged her sister and gestured for them to go back into the kitchen. She told Yelena the plan and they both agreed it was best to tell them now and leave either tonight or tomorrow morning, giving the girls a few hours to think it over.

Zoe reacted how Natasha thought she would, asking a few questions before quietly assenting and focusing back onto the screen. Internally, she was sort of freaking out about having to move to another unknown place, but she could see Dasha looking at her from the corner of her eye. Dasha was content on following Zoe's lead, only asking one question 'is it safe?'. Which Natasha answered swiftly, giving a small anecdote about when she and Yelena had stayed there.

Natasha watched Evelina closely, ready for the girl to run or disagree, but she didn't. Yelena wasn't even sure that Evelina had heard them until the girl nodded and casually twirled a braid around her finger.

***

There wasn't much to pack up, so they left that night. Natasha driving and Yelena trying her best to make conversation with the girls. She gave up after seven minutes. "Music?" She asked Natasha after they had drove in silence for the past forty minutes. "Sure."

The rain began half way into their journey, barrelling down on them as though the sun had gone out and all that was left into the sky was the heavy droplets. Evelina watched them race down the window, her brain working double time to keep the directions memorised. She blocked out the loud spluttering and the quiet chattering from Dasha and Zoe every so often, focusing on every turn and road sign.

"Zoe, do you remember Laura?" Natasha asked when they were nearing the farm.
"The lady who found me, right?" She shrugged, turning to Evelina, "she's nice."
"Yeah. It's her and her husband's farm, Clint." She didn't fail to notice the flinch they all gave at hearing a man would be in the house. "If the weather is better tomorrow, i'm sure he'll let you see the animals if you want."

Evelina answered for them all, cutting of whatever Dasha was going to say, "no."

Widows don't waste time with senseless animals. They had already wasted value training time on watching movies and shows - they weren't even in a different language. Widows didn't need to visit animals and watch them mindlessly walk around their cage. They didn't need to stroke the horses or feed the baby sheep.

***

Laura and Clint greeted them at the front porch with smiling faces, shielded from the torrent of gushing rain. Evelina and her sisters stayed warily behind the two women as they approached. They watched nervously as Clint enveloped Natasha in a hug before nodding in greeting to Yelena. "I'm sorry it was so last minute..." Natasha started. Laura shook her head, ignoring the explanation, "we're glad you're here."

Yelena moved to the side, allowing the three girls to show their faces. Zoe was the first to speak, mumbling 'hi' to Laura, followed by Dasha and then finally Evelina. They didn't say much as they were led into the house. Walking into the living room, they were instantly welcomed by a blast of hot air.

"You guys hungry?" Clint asked.
"We already ate," Yelena answered after a few seconds.
Laura turned to the girls, "one of you gets Natasha's room and the others get the spare room," she explained.
"Where are they sleeping?" Evelina demanded, motioning to the two women.
"They're staying on the couch for now."
Evelina looked over to the couch. It wasn't small, but still, it wouldn't comfortably fit them both. "I can sleep on the couch?" She suggested. The living room was wide and spacious, and usually rooms with locks were better, however, it was also closest to the exit and it would be handy if she needed to escape. Yelena and Natasha looked at each other for a second. "Are you sure?" Natasha asked. Evelina tilted her head, giving a slight nod.

"When is breakfast?" Zoe interrupted.
"Normally, whenever we're both awake," Laura replied simply before remembering that rules were a big thing for Natasha and Yelena when they first came to stay, "half eight."

Zoe noted that. "Rules?" She continued.

Laura stated the basic house rules and let Natasha and Yelena add on any they deem necessary, which included 'no using any of Clint's bows' and 'no wandering and/or climbing out of windows'.

Evelina was the one inquire about punishments.

"Are you thinking about breaking any of the rules?" Yelena asked.
"No," Evelina said hastily, "but, if one of us accidently breaks a rule. Or we forget."
"If you forget, we'll remind you. If you purposefully break a rule then..." Natasha wasn't quite sure what a reasonable punishment was for children. She knew making them dance was wrong, Maria and Clint had explained that to her. And she knew that other physical punishment was also frowned upon.

"Then, you'll write lines or do chores." Laura supplied for her.

"Chores," Evelina repeated with distaste at the same time Zoe asked, "What kind of chores?"

"Just things like doing the dishes, helping with the animals, cleaning up the horses stables."

"Writing lines?" Dasha mumbled quietly.
"Writing the rule you broke as many times as one of say." Yelena said, glad to finally know the answer to the questions they were asking.

The three girls nodded obediently. "But no dancing?" Zoe said boldly.
"No dancing. No hitting. No missing meals." Natasha said firmly.
"Good." Zoe said, her grip on her sister's hand loosening.

"Well, it's pretty late. How about we all get ready for bed?" Laura suggested after a few minutes.

***

Dasha and Zoe were in the spare room for the night and they were both yawning as they got settled into the bed. It was a fairly large bed yet neither one of them spaced out, instead huddling under the blanket together ( for warmth, of course ).

"What do you think about Laura and Clint?" Zoe yawned.

"They are... nice," Dasha whispered, "they weren't lying about the punishments were they?"

"I don't think so," Zoe replied, turning over that thought in her mind, "we'll see tomorrow."

"Evelina?" Dasha said, knowing there was no way a widow like Evelina was content on knowing nothing about their surroundings or the building. "Yeah. I tried to warn her."

"She likes to wander. Natasha will know that I think."

"I like Natasha. And Yelena."

"Me too, Dash. Me too," Zoe mumbled, her eyes heavy, "night."

"Night."

Chapter Text

The wind wasn't as harsh as Evelina thought it would be given the recent weather. Silently, she opened the window and squeezed herself through it with little effort.

She had already given herself a tour of the house and checked everyone was asleep - or at least pretending to be - and decided now was the time to venture into the unknown ( Clint and Laura's farm which they seemed to take great care of ). 

The first thing she did was scout around the porch. Surprisingly, there were no cigarettes or remains of any, and no obvious signs that the people inside weren't who they said they were.

Evelina looked out to the acres of field, wondering what a person does with all the emptiness.  She continued her search of the property and soon found herself at one of the many barns. This one was on the smaller side, and had no animals as far as she could tell.

Inside were merely stacks of hay and a few, what she assumed to be, homemade sandbag targets. The wooden barn creaked under her weight as she traipsed along the interior and she suppressed a shudder feeling a cold breeze pass through.

She had almost finished her search when a specifically loud screech echoed from above. Instinctively, she moved her hands to her pocket for her weapon, cursing when she remembered she wasn't wearing her trusty jacket. Her eyes roamed the area, checking all places visible.

That's when she saw it, or rather them. 

"Well, hello there." The voice was male, she was sure, however, it also sounded familiar and... friendly? Her body urged her to rush to the exit, but she knew it would be no use. If he had successfully trailed her, there was a low possibility he was going to let her go freely. 

"Eliza?" Clint said, jumping down from the the wooden beam he was perched on, "wanna explain yourself?"

"Not particularly," Evelina retorted, her body still insisting on her fleeing. The man probably had way over 100 pounds on her, not to mention  Evelina remembered seeing a photo of him in Natasha's room, meaning they worked for the same corrupt company. 

"Let's head back to the house then... unless?" Clint moved closer and Evelina could make out the faint picture of a hawk on his t-shirt, lit by the slither of moonlight which had broken into the barn. "Eliza?" He prompted when the girl didn't move. 

This was it, Evelina thought. She was alone and weaponless and in a fight he would surely prevail. Stepping back, her arms moved mindlessly to cover her body, feeling oddly vulnerable.

"If you're going to punish me, just get it over with." She said valiantly, hating not knowing what was about to come.

Now that she had used her voice, and therefore admitted her presence and defiance, she debated whether or not she could talk her way out of this. Not knowing much about the man made it difficult to appease to him though. From their short exchange, she had categorised him as a 'family man', meaning she wan't confident offering any favours would benefit her. That narrowed down the possibility of her talking her way out, however it wouldn't be impossible.

Contemplating if she could cry her way out of if that was too much, she watched Clint take another step forwards, "look, I'm not-" She heard him say before deciding that she would not indeed be playing the role of a scared and frightened girl to get out of whatever he was preparing to say or do to her. 

She could handle herself. The best widow in her age group she was, the best in the last few years in fact. 

However, Evelina watched while the man barely glanced at her and starting walking back to the house. She followed, knowing that's what she was expected to do.

"Nat's back at the house waiting," he stated when they neared the porch. "hey, kid," he turned to face her, "I know this place is new to you, this whole situation is probably pretty strange and different than what you're used to," he said, trying to find the best words, "but you can't just leave like that. If you want to explore, you can. In the daylight, with one of us or your big sis." 

He gave up on his speech when Natasha's silhouette appeared through the curtains. "How did you know I left?" Evelina asked bravely. Clint shook his head, "intuition, I guess."

Natasha sat on the couch, patiently waiting for Evelina to do the same. The girl obliged, taking a seat a safe distance away. 

"What was the main rule of staying here tonight?" Natasha sighed.

Evelina hesitated, "do not leave the building," she mumbled knowingly. 

"And what did you do?"

"Left the building," she replied, eyes trained to the floor. 

"Can you look at me, please?" Natasha asked. She knew this would happen and prepared for the girl to space out while they had the conversation. Evelina lifted her chin and allowed her gaze to slowly turn towards the red head. 

"What were the punishments for purposely breaking rules?"

"Chores and... writing lines."

"That's right. It's 1am right now, so you won't be doing any of them until the morning. But after you've finished, you're forgiven as long as you don't try to do it again."

Evelina stared at her blankly. Forgiven? She could just be forgiven that easily? No grudges or paybacks ? 

"What were the punishments I said I would not give?" Natasha continued. 

Evelina thought for a moment, "no dancing, or hitting, or taking food."

"Seems like you were listening when she discussed this then," Natasha said, "you can go back to sleep." 

"I'm sorry," Evelina said as Natasha stood up. They both knew she didn't mean it, it was a phrase ingrained into the them when they were to receive a punishment, but Natasha smiled tiredly at her anyway, figuring they were making some sort of progress if Evelina didn't flinch at the word 'punishment'.

*** 

The next morning Dasha woke early to check on Evelina, quietly sneaking downstairs while the sky was still dark. She stared Evelina until the older girl woke up, confusion evident in her expression.

"Dasha? Don't watch me sleep like that," she said softly, glancing at the window before checking the nearest clock.

"Can't sleep?" Evelina asked. Dasha crept forward until she was sitting on the sofa next to Evelina.

"Did you get caught?" Dasha demanded, her small voice strong. Evelina nodded, "yes."

"Are you okay?"

"Yes," Evelina hesitated, "she hasn't punished me yet." Dasha hung onto the last word, 'yet'. It was, of course, inevitable that one of them would get in trouble and be punished, she just hoped it wouldn't be that bad. 

She couldn't remember the first discipline she had been given in the Red Room - she had only been five - but, she did remember that it was long and painful and tiring; that had been enough to teach her not to misbehave, not to talk, or laugh or ,most importantly, to cry.

The first punishment she could accurately describe was three winters after she had arrived. The glistening snow had been laying for hours by the time she was sent to run laps. It wasn't that bad until the snow got thicker, and the ice crystals soaked into her thin ballet leotard.

Every step burned her calf muscles. It felt like she was running in quicksand for the many minutes the snow covered her tracks. In the end, her punishment had ended early when one of the other girls had fallen and broken her fingers. Dasha hadn't been forgiven, but the attention of her handler had been averted and she was therefore able to go to bed. 

"Writing lines and chores," Dasha repeated from memory, "that's what they said."

"Have you ever written lines? Or done chores when you messed up?"

"I have not," Dasha shook her head, catching sight of the tv. She looked at Evelina pleadingly.

"It's too early for tv. We'll get in trouble."

Dasha pointed at the controller, "silent?"

"I..." Evelina listened to the empty house for a few minutes, "okay."

The show which came on was 'Bluey', a childish show about talking dogs. The older girl fiddled with the controller, but couldn't seem to get it to change to anything else, so they watched in together in silence until footsteps echoed into the room. Evelina shut it off in lightning speed and moved the remote control.

"Morning, girls," Laura yawned, scanning the room and finding they were one girl short. "Zoe still asleep?" She asked sleepily.

Evelina looked to Dasha who nodded in reply. 

"You guys hungry? I've got some cereal."

They both shook their heads.

"Well then you guys can watch the tv. Put the volume on low." Laura said before making her way to the kitchen for coffee.

Dasha reached for the controller, promptly turning the tv back on. They still couldn't figure out how to change the channel, so they continued to watch 'Bluey'. Natasha came down soon after Laura and Yelena not long after that. 

Evelina tensed every time Natasha passed her, wondering just how long Natasha would put off her punishment. Usually, the longer the punishment was subsided, the worst the punishment - it meant they were thinking off harsher things then just running laps. 

After what felt like years, Natasha sat down on Evelina's other side and brought up the subject of last. Evelina sat rock solid as Natasha spoke, only focusing on certain words. 

"I've spoken to Laura and we've agreed that today you'll just be cleaning out the stables," Natasha told the girl, "Clint will show you what to do when he wakes up."

"What else?" Evelina pried cautiously, wanting more information without pushing Natasha further. Zoe walked down before Natasha could answer, eyeing Natasha and Evelina warily before sitting across from them. Dasha mouthed something to Zoe which made her shudder automatically. 

"What's her punishment?" Zoe demanded, her voice croaky from just waking up. 

"Cleaning-"

"That's not- wait... what?"

"Cleaning the stables. Clint will show her how." Natasha answered simply. 

"Oh." She looked to Evelina for confirmation. Evelina met her eye and nodded. "Oh." She repeated.

"How's your knee?" Natasha asked Zoe. It had been a few days since it was injured, but Natasha knew old injuries could still ache. 

Zoe looked at her knee as if she hadn't realised she had one, "it's fine. Totally fine actually... I mean it aches but I'm fine."

Natasha nodded and got up, making her way back into the kitchen for coffee.

***

Clint was happy to give the job of cleaning the horse stables to someone else and gladly showed Evelina what she was expected to. He made sure to be exact and clear when he told her what to do, watching Evelina for a while until he was certain she knew what she was doing and then left her to it. 

Evelina watched in shock as he left her. He hadn't tried to dunk her head in the washing bowl, or even trip her into the horse manure. She had cleaned most of the stables when Yelena came and got her for lunch. 

"I didn't finish them all." Evelina said as they walked to the house. Yelena watched the girl fidget nervously with her hair, twisting it over and over until Yelena was sure she was going to pull the braid out. 

"That's ok - no one expected you to. You're punishments over," Yelena said calmly, "you're forgiven."

Evelina paused, stopping dead in her tracks, "I didn't finish. I'm sorry." She repeated meaningfully. 

"You didn't need to." Yelena watched Evelina get more and more agitated, "you're not going to be punished again."

Evelina shook her head, she had done something wrong and didn't want to have to pay for it later. 

Yelena continued walking and Evelina hurried to catch up.

"No one is mad at you," Yelena promised her when they reached the porch.

Chapter Text

Lunch was sandwiches, a side salad and apple pie which seemed way too much to the three girls sitting next to each other. Zoe noticed her sisters' hesitation and took a small bite of everything on each of their plates.
"Sandwiches - ok. Salad - ok. Pie - delicious," she said and began digging into her own food. Dasha ate slowly while Evelina regarded the food as if it were trying to kill her, glaring daggers at it. 

"You're allowed to eat," Natasha said gently, passing Evelina to get to her own seat, "no restricting food, remember. It goes both ways, eat."

Evelina picked up the fork, twirling it before prodding a piece of lettuce. Each mouthful she scooped settling in her stomach like cement.

"How long are we staying here?" Zoe asked Yelena after she had finished eating. They were both  sat on the sofa, the tv's low humming filling the quietness; Evelina and Dasha were still finishing their food at the table, and Zoe could see Natasha encouraging Evelina to eat something other than the salad.
"I'm not sure yet," Yelena replied steadily, glancing at Natasha talking to the other two sisters. 

Zoe lowered her voice so that only Yelena could hear her , "can they find us here?"

Yelena shook her head firmly, "no. This place is off the grid."

Zoe nodded, appearing to be happy with that answer. 

Meanwhile Natasha was fighting a loosing battle with Evelina over how much food the girl was eating. "Two sandwiches, three bites of the pie," she bartered. The sandwiches had been cut into triangles, so Evelina wouldn't even be eating a full one. 

"One sandwich, one bite of pie and some juice," Evelina dared to counter. Challenging your handler in the Red Room could easily mean death, but here with Natasha, Evelina was sure the worst that would happen is the weak punishments Natasha was giving out. 

Natasha thought for a moment, "two sandwiches, one bite of pie and a glass of milk. Final offer, or you're eating everything on that plate." She knew the girl was simply testing boundaries again, and wasn't surprised when Evelina nodded.
Pouring a glass of milk, she watched from the corner of her eye as Evelina began chewing one of the cheese sandwiches. 

When she came back with the milk, one sandwich had disappeared from the plate. She quickly eyed all of the places where food could have been hidden. Finding they were all empty she placed the milk on the table and sat back down.

Dasha, who had been waiting for Natasha to come back, showed the older woman she had finished her pie. Natasha nodded that she could leave the table and watched as the young girl walked away, arms swinging playfully by her side.

"Done." Evelina said a moment later. Natasha looked at her plate and the empty glass, seeing she had eaten what they had agreed on. "You can leave," she told the girl. Evelina eyed her suspiciously before taking her chance and leaving. Since Evelina had barely touched the pie, Natasha decided she would save it and try to get her to eat more at dinner. 

***

By three o'clock, it was obvious to everyone that the girls were getting restless, presumably from being not used to having so much free time. Dasha had long abandoned the tv and her and Zoe were now deep in conversation with Laura - about what, Natasha had no idea. Evelina was playing cards with Yelena, though her focus seemed to be elsewhere as she absentmindedly twirled the cards around her fingers. 

"I have no idea what I'm supposed to do now," Natasha admitted to Clint, "long term and short term," she said quietly.

"Take it day by day," Clint suggested, "I think, for now, you just have to work on keeping them entertained." He gesture vaguely around the room which was devoid of anything that would keep a child busy. 

"Good point," Natasha said. She could tell Evelina would be close to sneaking away again if they didn't do anything worthwhile.

"Can I take them shooting?" Clint grinned, "think they can beat me?"

"We'll see."

Clint walked over to where the girls were and asked them if they'd ever shot an arrow. The girls visibly tensed at this, but answered nonetheless.

Dasha replied that she was 'too small' , however, both Zoe and Evelina nodded. Clint then asked if they'd all want to do it again and explained he had spare bows and a place to train. Zoe looked at Dasha, who looked at Evelina, who looked at Natasha. Natasha inclined her head forwards, a small nod. 

"Do you have a smaller one?" Zoe questioned, eyeing Clint, "she's only little."

"Yep. I've got two smaller ones at the back," he looked to Dasha and Evelina. Evelina glared at him, "I don't need a small one."

"It's for safety reasons," He clarified. 

"I've shot-" She stopped, catching Natasha's stare. "Ok." She didn't bring up how Zoe was hardly much bigger than her despite the two ( or three, she wasn't sure ) age gap. 

The weather was fairly good, and not as windy as Clint expected - perfect for shooting. Natasha and Laura decided to stay behind while Yelena accompanied Clint with the girls. Dasha stuck by her side as they walked across a long stretch of grass to get to the barn holding the weapons. Zoe by her side and Evelina trailing behind. Yelena did her best to not constantly check behind her. 

"Ok," Clint passed over the bows to each of them. Evelina began weighing it up instantly, feeling the steady grip in her hand. It wasn't what she was used to, but it would do. Zoe did the same, happy to find it wasn't much different from the ones she preferred. Clint showed Dasha the basics and explained to them all the rules of using his equipment. Clint and Yelena watched the girls nod. 

"We'll shoot in pairs," Clint instructed, "one pair can shoot in that direction," he said, wavering his hand towards a closer target, "and we'll swap after." Clint and Yelena would take turns shooting and supervising. 

 Clint ended up shooting with Dasha first, Yelena supervising the other two. He could tell she was unfamiliar with the weapon and gave her tips whenever he could, 'if you hold it like this', 'this makes it go farther'. To her credit, she caught on pretty fast.

Meanwhile, Zoe was trying her best not to taunt Evelina about her poor archery skills. She remembered how, back in the Red Room, the older girls were always compared against Evelina, 'see how Evelina does it?', 'why can't you be more like Evelina'. 

Zoe smiled as she hit another bullseye, the weapon feeling like second nature.

Evelina screwed her eyebrow in frustration, the scornful voices of Madames filling her head. Soon enough, Yelena could tell the girl was getting frustrated, and suggested they swap over. Dasha and Zoe switched places, so that Dasha and Evelina were now shooting at the closer, bigger targets while Clint and Zoe tackled the further ones. 

Clint turned to Zoe in surprise after she shot a bullseye her second try. "You're pretty good kid."

Her heart swelled at the praise and she was suddenly eager to prove herself to him. She shot three more arrows in succession, each landing on the red centre of the targets. "How many times have shot a bow?" The archer asked curiously.

"I didn't get to often," Zoe shrugged, "it's my favourite weapon though."

Half an hour later, all of them had had a turn and it was beginning to get dark. No one disagreed when Yelena advised they head inside. 

"What do you think of archery, Dash?" Yelena heard Zoe ask her sister. Dasha's reply was too quiet to hear, but by the tone of her voice, she had liked it. Yelena attempted to make conversation with Evelina, asking if she enjoyed it, though the girl was reluctant to meet her eye. 

When they arrived back inside, Natasha and Laura were finishing up on dinner. Clint walked over to them, kissing his wife and offering a kind smile to his bestfriend. "Older kid has some shot," he told her approvingly. Natasha looked over to Evelina, before realising he had been talking about Zoe who was smiling and talking with Dasha. "With a bit of training, she could be better than me."

Natasha was glad to find they hadn't had any trouble with the activity. She had been wary of letting the girls near any weapons, knowing how easily trigged she had first got when seeing a weapon in someone's else hand.

"Have fun?" She asked as the girls approached her. Dasha nodded, "it is better than shooting," she said, switching to Russian. Zoe agreed enthusiastically, "can we do it again tomorrow?" She asked Natasha. 

"You'll have to ask Clint, but I'm sure he'll agree."

***

Evelina seemed to eat even less at dinner, picking up her fork only to aimlessly move around the food on the plate. 

"So, what did you think of archery?" Natasha asked, hoping to take Evelina's mind off the food. Evelina folded in on herself, eyes glued to the table. "It was good," she mumbled, loud enough for only Natasha - who was next to her - to hear. 

When everyone had finished eating, Natasha told Evelina to stay behind. "Five bites and you can-" She trailed off as Evelina looked up at her. The girl's eyes were bleary and she was barely managing to stop them from watering. "What's wrong?" 

Evelina shook her head, "I'm sorry." A confused look spread across Natasha's face, "let's go upstairs, yeah?" She said softly, which only frightened the girl. "You're not in trouble. We're just going to talk."

She guided the girl into one of the spare bedrooms. "What happened?"

"Nothing."

"You're not into trouble," Natasha said slowly, "hey - look at me. You didn't do anything wrong."

Evelina stared at her, her eyes stinging as she took a deep breath. 

"What are you feeling right now?" Natasha pried. "First word that comes to mind," she said after the silence spread out. 

"Scared." Evelina dared, clamping her mouth shut immediately after; fear was weak and she shouldn't ever be admitting openly to it. Her fingers found their way to her hair and she pulled tightly on the strands. 

"Good - can you tell me why?"

Evelina bit the inside of her cheeks, focusing on the painful sensation. 

"You're not in trouble ," Natasha reassured her, "I just want to help."

Natasha waited for Evelina to say something, but all that sounded throughout the room was the her ragged breathes. Kneeling down in front of her, Natasha pried Evelina's hand away from her hair, "it's ok. You're safe..." she repeated over and over until Evelina's gaze finally found her own. "Can I hug you?" Natasha asked. Touch could often be grounding, however she didn't want to assume Evelina have the same reaction. 

Evelina, too overwhelmed with all the words, nodded, hoping it was the right thing to do. She felt herself being pulled into a tight embrace, the older woman's hand moving soothingly across her back. Instinctively, she pulled away from the gentle touch .

Natasha stepped back as soon as she did, her gaze kind and questioning. Evelina looked away and then, very slowly, walked stepped forward into the older woman's hold again. Natasha held her until Evelina broke a way again, apologising profusely for her weakness. 

"You don't need to apologise."

"I want to dance." Evelina whispered, shame spreading across her face. 

"You want to dance?" Natasha asked, waiting for confirmation, "ok, let's go and dance."

Natasha avoided Yelena's curious look as she and Evelina walked towards one of the empty barns. Clint had allowed her and Yelena to do ballet there when they first left the Red Room. He kept the area clear for them to use from then on, and even kept some ballet equipment hidden in the corner. Since the weather was still chilly, and they hadn't brought dance shoes with them, they danced in their socks. 

"Releve," Natasha called out, her voice firm. Evelina complied and they went through the sets the Red Room taught them both. 

Evelina stumbled through them, centring her mind on doing it correctly. Natasha made sure to correct and praise her every some often. 

When at last Natasha stopped, Evelina felt a strange sense of tranquility. "Thank you," she uttered. 

"Anytime. Do you want to try and eat something before bed?" Natasha said softly. 

Evelina nodded, "a few bites?"

"A few bites," Natasha confirmed, leading her back to the house, arm protectively around the girls shoulder.

Chapter Text

Yelena put her hand on Zoe's shoulder, temporarily stilling her. Dasha noticed the change in atmosphere and glanced over where they were both looking at the door. "Where are they going?" Zoe demanded. 

"They're probably just going to the barn." Yelena replied.

"What are they doing?"

"Dancing I suspect."

Zoe scanned the blonde's face for deception, her body tensing. Dasha read her sister's mind, "because she didn't eat dinner?"

Yelena shook her head, "we don't punish with dance." Dasha nodded, though Yelena could tell she didn't really believe - and nor did Zoe. 

"You can watch them if you want," Yelena said, turning to the older of the two, and giving her directions to the barn. "Come back straight away. Okay? They don't need to know you were watching."

Zoe nodded, quickly hurrying to put on her shoes before following the directions. 

Peeking through one of the windows, she could see Natasha and Evelina, both in their socks, going through sets. There wasn't any music, but Zoe thought she saw Natasha counting. Her gaze lingered on Evelina, her perfect arch, and amazing turns, her graceful arabesques. She watched a little while longer and surmised that Evelina wasn't in any danger, and she wasn't being forced to do this either. 

"They're dancing," Zoe confirmed when she got back inside. 

"I want to dance too," Dasha said suddenly, standing up. It had been a couple of days since she had danced, and even longer since she had been to one of her old classes with the other widows in her group. 

"No, Dasha. We don't have to dance anymore." Zoe shook her head at the thought of dancing. If Yelena or Natasha wouldn't make them, she wouldn't ever do it again. 

"I want to," Dasha said defensively and looked to Yelena.

"No, Dasha. You don't have to dance. We are not dancing." Zoe told her firmly.

"If Dasha wants to dance then she can," Yelena said smoothly. 

"No. She will not dance," Zoe told Yelena, her voice rising, "you will not dance, okay. Okay?" She demanded, standing over her sister. 

"Okay, Dasha?" 

Dasha nodded, "okay," she mumbled, not daring to look her sister in the eye, "I'm sorry."

"Zoe that's enough," Yelena said, pulling Zoe into the kitchen to talk to her, leaving Dasha in eye sight of Clint and Laura. "You're scaring her. If your sister wants to dance, then you're not going to stop her."

"No. We're not there anymore. She doesn't like to dance. She's never liked dancing." Zoe said, pushing Yelena away.

"Don't push me," Yelena said disapprovingly, "We all deal with events in a different way... Zoe, you don't have to dance anymore, okay?"

"I'm not talking about me - I'm talking about Dasha-"

"Can you lower your voice? you're shouting."

Zoe paused for a second, realising her behaviour, "I'm- I'm sorry... I didn't mean to..." Her mind raced as she thought of the right thing to say. "I'm sorry for pushing you. And for my raising my voice," she said timidly, before gritting out the sentence ingrained in her, "please correct me so that I may-"

"Its fine. I understand your frustrated, but there's no need to get physical. You're not in danger. It's okay," Yelena said, "why don't you take a couple of minutes and come back in the living room when you are ready to apologise to your sister."

"But she doesn't like to dance," Zoe replied, her voice small and barely audible. She kept her eyes on the wall behind Yelena and her hands neatly hidden by her back. 

"That's not for you to decide," Yelena answered softly. 

Dasha sat on the sofa, knees pulled to her chest, as she waited for Yelena and Zoe to come back. She hadn't meant to make her sister get in trouble, she knew shouldn't have answered back. 

Her endless thoughts were broken by a hand on her shoulder; it wasn't harsh or forceful, merely just there, almost comforting. 

"I'm sorry," she mumbled to her knees, not wanting to see who it was yet. She felt the sofa dip beside her when the person sat down. 

"Its not your fault, honey. How about we watch some tv?" Laura asked to the frozen figure, "or, do you like colouring?"

"Colouring?" Dasha repeated, a vague memory of her and Zoe sitting at a table scribbling on blank pages came to her mind. 

"Yeah, we can colour. I'll go and get some pencils and colouring pages." Laura would have asked Dasha to come with her, but she figured Zoe would want to Dasha back in her sight as soon as she emerged from the kitchen.

"Where's Zoe?" Natasha asked, walking into the living room with Evelina. Yelena tilted her head in the direction of the kitchen, a minuscule gesture which Natasha caught immediately. "I'm gonna go get a drink," the red head said and promptly left the room. Laura came back in with the colouring supplies and she and Dasha began colouring. Evelina, who hadn't wanted to join, watched from the sidelines. 

***

Clint and Natasha got pulled into a mission the next day. It hadn't originally been assigned to Natasha, but after a phone call from Clint at Shield, followed by a similar one from Coulson, Natasha knew she couldn't avoid it. 

"When will you be back?" Yelena asked, watching Natasha shove her shoes on.

"Three days at max," Natasha answered, "look after the girls." She looked up at Yelena's face, worry etched into it. "Laura's always there to help," she said in a low voice. Yelena nodded, "stay safe." 

"Always." Natasha said, shutting the door behind her and venturing into the early morning.

"Where's she going?" Evelina demanded at the same time Zoe asked, "Is she coming back?"

"She'll be back," Laura said when Yelena didn't answer either of the girls. "Come on girls, why don't we go and do some baking? Have you ever made cupcakes?" She directed her questions towards the youngest of  the three, while herding them all into the kitchen. 

"Chocolate or vanilla?" She continued. Dasha shrugged and looked towards Evelina's and Zoe. Evelina, though, looked just as clueless when it came to flavours and desserts. "Chocolate," Zoe grumbled. Laura nodded and started collecting the ingredients from their designated spaces.

"How many flavours are there?" Evelina asked timidly as Laura put the tray of batter into the oven. 

"Of cupcakes? I guess you could say it's infinite," Laura explained, "there's lemon, coffee, caramel, red velvet. The list goes on and on."

Evelina nodded, deep in thought, "why?"

Laura scanned the girls face for any hints of sarcasm, but Evelina genuinely looked equal parts confused and curious, "why not?"

That silenced Evelina, prompting Dasha to to continue. "We're not supposed to waste time," she said, her voice casual. 

"Did you guys have fun making them?" Laura questioned, motioning to the cupcakes in the oven and the mess around the kitchen. 

"Yes," Dasha said truthfully. 

"Then it wasn't a waste of time." Laura replied simply. 

Dasha nodded, listening to her words like they were rules. Laura told them they could go and watch tv until the cakes were baked. Evelina stayed behind and helped clean up the mess she's made.  "Do you work with Clint and Natasha?" She pried cautiously. 

"Not anymore, but I used to."

"Did you like it?"

"I... I liked helping people. Can I ask you a question?"

"Yes," Evelina answered.

"You haven't been eating."

"That is not a question." She said, hoping her voice didn't sound challenging, "I... I didn't mean to offend you and your cooking. The food is great here." She added earnestly. 

"Its alright, I understand. What food do you like?"

Evelina stayed silent, not wanting to 'uhh' or 'ummm' as a response. "Or what food are you used to?" Laura simplified. 

"Porridge," Evelina tested, continuing when Laura nodded, "rice, bread, fruit, raw veg." 

Laura was accustomed the food of the Red Room, though she had never stepped foot in the horrid place. When Yelena and Natasha had first appeared in their house, she had watched Clint sneak them packaged food after dinner and only buy the foods Evelina had listed. 

Laura didn't question anything after that and neither did Evelina, dutifully cleaning the counters and drying the mixing bowls.

Yelena watched as the two siblings watched tv, thinking about how they really needed to go shopping for clothes. Since they had been staying with Natasha and Yelena, the girls had been rewearing their clothes day after after. 
Zoe had shared some clothes with the older women and they fitted her fine, but Dasha was swamped by their clothing and Evelina refused the extra garments. 

"What do you guys think about going shopping today?" 

"What for?" Zoe asked. 

"Clothes."

Zoe shrugged, seemingly happy with wearing Natasha's clothes. 

"We don't have any money," Dasha said shaking her head, and muttering, "and we have clothes."

"Buying clothes can be fun," Yelena offered. After getting freed, she and Natasha had spent a lot of time in clothing shops, enjoying trying on new outfits and personalities. 

"Where are we going?" Evelina asked, walking into the room with Laura. 

"Shopping," Dasha answered, "for clothes."

"Where?" 

"There's a couple of shops in the town nearby, I was thinking we could have a look around today," Yelena said. 

"We're in need of some food too, we can all go together after the cupcakes have finished baking," Laura said.

The cupcakes finished baking ten minutes later, and Laura gave them time to cool before inviting the girls to decorate them. Zoe didn't see a point of decorating them if they were going to eat them and ate hers straight away. Dasha found the piping tips and patterns interesting, but ultimately gave up on trying to make hers look pretty. 

"Here, try another one," Laura suggested, handing her another cupcake. Dasha tried not to scrunch up her in concentration as she delicately iced the cupcake. 

"No more," she said after three cupcakes. Laura nodded, taking over. 

Evelina didn't want to ruin hers and asked Laura to decorate it for her, watching intently as the woman piped a perfect spiral onto the cake and uttering a quiet 'thank you'.

***

"How are they?" Clint asked as the prepared for the mission. 

"They're... adjusting. Eliza still isn't eating much, and Zoe's overly protective of Dasha."

"Like you are with Yelena?" Clint teased.

"I am not. Yelena's just..."

"I get it... Bobbi's been asking about them, should I...?"

"Tell her they're doing ok." Natasha said.

"Tell Bobbi about who?" A sudden voice said behind them. They turned to be face to face with Maria Hill. 

"Hey, commander," Clint said, "how have you been? I heard there's -"

"Never mind," Maria said to Clint, "Natasha, can I have a word?" 

Natasha nodded and followed Maria away from Clint. "What's up?" She asked.

"We've had reports of something which may - or may not - be connected to the Red Room." Maria told the other woman. A small 'oh' left Natasha's mouth. 

"I just wanted to let you know... You said you wanted to be alerted if we find anything, didn't you?"

"Yeah, I did... I... Are you sure?"

"We're pretty sure," Maria nodded, "we'll need your help confirming, of course."

Natasha nodded, "is that all?" 

"Yeah... I didn't know you had a mission today."

"It was a last minute thing."

"Well, stay safe," Maria said, walking back to her office.

"Everything alright?" Clint asked as Natasha over to him. 

Natasha lowered her voice, "I think they've figured out the mission the girls were on... they're probably going to start looking for them and their connection to the Red Room."

"They're safe at the farm."

"Clint, if Shield finds out... They're an enemy of the state and I won't be able to convince them otherwise." 

"We'll figure something out."

Chapter Text

That afternoon, Dasha sat squished between her sisters in the back of the car as they drove. Evelina had insisted on taking a window seat, no doubt memorising the route they were taking and Zoe had deemed herself too big to sit in the small space.

Staring through the window screen, Dasha decided to play a game she had often played in the Red Room - the counting game. It was exactly what it sounded like: you picked something to count and every time you passed it, you added to the current tally.

This time, she had chosen to count lamp posts, and ( so far ) she had counted only six. 

The count had reached thirteen by the time they had arrived. It wasn't much, a couple of clothing shops, a grocery store and a church. 

"We should get the clothes first," Yelena said, knowing they'd likely come out with barely anything. Laura nodded and directed them to a shop which sold clothes for kids and teens. 

"How about we split into groups?" Laura suggested, "I'll take Dasha to the kids clothing and you guys can check out the teens. Sound good?"

Zoe was the first to agree, prompting the others to nod as well.

"Each of you need at least three tops, three trousers, three sets of pyjamas and five pairs of underwear," Yelena listed, channelling her inner  Natasha. Evelina looked at Yelena suspiciously and started browsing the clothes.

After ten minutes, Zoe had already picked out a few things she thought looked nice.

Yelena turned to her expectantly, "have you found anything you like yet?" 

"Not yet," Evelina replied, avoiding the blonde's gaze.

Zoe caught her eye and noticed her confident expression falter. She walked over to where Evelina was searching and began rifling through the clothes.

It was difficult finding trousers without intentional rips on the knees or tops which covered more than just your chest, but at after a few minutes she had picked out most of what Yelena had asked of them for Evelina.

She had made sure to choose practical over pretty when picking the outfits, making sure all the clothing had pockets deep enough to carry a weapon and covered the majority of the girl's body.

Evelina didn't thank Zoe, but she did give a slight nod when Zoe presented the outfits to her and Zoe could have swore she saw a tentative smile creep over her sister's face.

"Do you want to pick out anything?" Zoe asked, wanting to a give her the opportunity though she knew it was overwhelming. Evelina shook her head. 

"We don't have any money," she reminded the older girl, "what if they want repayment?"

"They're not like that; they want to help, that's all," Zoe reassured, however Evelina saw a flicker of doubt in her expression. 

"Okay, Dasha, what should we start with?" Laura asked, guiding her to the younger section. She was quite small for her age, so Laura figured it wouldn't be hard to find things that fit her.

"Shirts or trousers?" She clarified, "or pyjamas?"

Dasha thought for a moment, there didn't seem to be a right or wrong answer so she picked the option in her eye line, "pyjamas." Laura nodded.

Sorting through the options they found two sets of pyjamas which Dasha didn't say no to. She had said no to nightgowns and any with shorts instead of trousers, which made it both easier and harder to shop for. 

"I don't want red," Dasha said tentatively after Laura had shown her a few more options. "No red, got it. Any other colours you don't want."

Dasha thought for a moment before testing her luck, "no grey, or white or black." 

"Mhm, so anything in the rainbow, apart from red," Laura hummed approvingly.

Dasha nodded, though she had never been taught the colours of the rainbow - or maybe she had and it had simply faded from her mind, like a lot memories she had - and therefore assumed it was made up of blues and greens. 

"How about some bows and ribbon for your hair?" Laura asked, catching sight of some hair accessories.

"Why?" Dasha questioned lightly, her tone genuinely curious. Laura shrugged her shoulders, "they're pretty. Don't you think?"

"But... what do they do? What purpose do they serve?" She implored further.
Picking up a pale blue bow, Laura led Dasha to a mirror and placed the bow gently in her hair.

"What do you think? There's other colours too: pink, green, yellow..."

Inspecting her reflection, Dasha wondered what her handler would have thought of her playing dress up, more so, what they would do if they knew she was enjoying it.

A bit more forcefully than intended she shook her head and the bow shot down onto the ground. 

Laura picked it up while Dasha stood rigid, her mirror self scolding her for the recklessness.  "Sorry," she whispered, keeping her gaze away from Laura.

"It's fine," Laura replied evenly, "let's go find some shirts." She smiled and reached for Dasha's hand. 

Laura was aware the young girl was waiting to be reprimanded and pushed further into the store, "long sleeves or short?" 

Unsurprised when she didn't get an answer, Laura continued shopping for her. 

Zoe ended up with about 75% of the clothing Yelena had instructed to find and Dasha too had found a fair amount, although Yelena noticed Evelina's pile held only a few items of clothing - the necessities and nothing more.

All the girls had shied away from the colour red, as well as most neutral tones, instead choosing vibrant colours or patterns.
Both adults had been wary of approaching the underwear section, avoiding it until that was all that was left to buy.

Dasha seemed fine with simply picking out a few things and then moving on. Evelina and Zoe were not.

Evelina refused to even look at any of the bras which Yelena wasn't too fussed about because the girl didn't look older than thirteen, and from the Red Room's training was quite underdeveloped. 

Looking between Zoe and plethora of bras she had to chose from, Yelena settled on buying a few sports bras of varying sizing.

After paying for their clothes, the group headed towards the grocery store. 

"I've got a list, but you guys are welcome to add anything to the trolley," Laura told the three girls. She glanced at Yelena too, wordlessly telling her the same thing, knowing Yelena wasn't as comfortable as Natasha with her generosity. 

A few aisles in, Laura saw the girls staring at some type of candy. Neither of them went to reach for it, shaking their heads when Yelena asked if they wanted it. Yelena didn't push and they continued their shopping. 

"Each of you can pick a piece of chocolate, if you want." Laura stated when they were nearing the end of the shopping list. 

Zoe browsed the options, watching Dasha out of the corner of eye to see what she would pick.

Dasha surveyed her options, taking a few minutes to decide and ended up choosing a kitkat. cautiously, she looked up at Laura, wondering if she'd made the right decision.

Yelena watched as Zoe and Evelina picked out theirs. Evelina chose a plain bar of dark chocolate and Zoe's hand hovered over several options until she finally picked out a twix. "Good choices, girls. Let's go pay."

The group were walking to the till when a familiar face caught Evelina's eye.

"I need the bathroom," she mumbled to Yelena. Yelena gave her directions to the nearest bathroom before adding on, "bring Zoe with you."

Evelina nodded, quickly pulling Zoe in the direction she had been told, walking a few paces out of Yelena's sight before doubling back and following the face. 

"Evelina, where are we going?" Zoe asked, slightly irritated. 

"Someone followed us," Evelina said quietly.

"Any idea who?" 

"It's..." she quickly pulled herself and Zoe round a corner as the person looked back at them. "We've got to run."

"What? Evelina-"

"We'll get Dasha and take the car. You can drive, right?"

Zoe fidgeted nervously, "of course I can. But we're not leaving Yelena. If this mystery person recognised us they might know Yelena too?"

"They don't," Evelina swore, "they-"

While the two girls had turned their backs, they had failed to remember an obvious defence tactic. Standing side by side, neither of them could see behind them, leaving them easily vulnerable to an attack. 

***

"Where's Zoe and Eve- Eliza," Dasha asked Yelena, noticing she hadn't seen or heard them in a few minutes. 

"They went to the bathroom." Yelena answered.Dasha nodded, eyeing Yelena warily. 

"They'll be back in a minute," Yelena assured, though she was now realising they had been gone an abnormal amount of time. Dasha must have seen this on Yelena's face as she immediately looked for a sigh for the bathroom, and headed towards it.

Laura caught her arm before she could run off, "hey. No running off. If they're not back, Yelena will go and get them." She told Dasha firmly. Dasha stilled immediately, looking nervously at the hand holding her upper arm.

"Okay?" Laura asked, softening her voice.

"Yes, ma'am."

"Laura."

"Yes, Laura," she corrected.

***

Evelina felt the presence of another person later than she usually would have, too slow to make a counter attack. A hand gripped the back of her neck, Zoe's too.

"Girls," a cold voice whispered in their ears, "I've been wondering where you got to." 

The person seemed to suddenly realise they were one short and loosened their grip to scan the area.

"Where's the other? The little one?"

Zoe and Evelina share a furtive glance at each other. "She's... gone," Zoe mumbled solemnly, the change in language feeling foreign though it was all she had used for the previous five years. The person wrenched the two girls towards the exit.

"Wait- we've... we've got a lead on Natalia Romanov," Zoe rushed, her mind focused on one thing only: her little sister. 

The man moved in front of them, "is this true?" He demanded.

Zoe nodded, "give us a way to communicate and we'll tell you what you need to know." 

The man considered this for several seconds. "Fine."

***

"I'm going to go and check on them," Yelena murmured to Laura who nodded. 

Yelena knew the bathrooms were empty before checking, the lack of movement giving it away instantly.

Hurrying across the store, Yelena scanned the rows of endless food. Pulling out her phone, she called Laura; the girls could have left the bathroom mere seconds before Yelena and already be back with their sister. "Are they with you?"

"No," Laura said calmly, watching Dasha get more and more agitated, "there's security cameras in here."

Yelena looked up in confirmation, glad to see blocky cameras in each corner, "on it."

Yelena was almost in full panic mode, explaining the situation to the store manager when she heard footsteps scurrying behind her. 

"Yelena," the voice rushed. Yelena turned around in a split second, relief flooding her features at the sight of the two 'missing' girls. 

"Girls," she breathed. The manager nodded to them and left the scene to go back to mindlessly reading files. 

Yelena latched onto both of the girls wrists, tugging them back to Laura. "What happened?" Yelena urged, an annoyed huff leaving her mouth at the lack of response.

"You cannot just run if like that, okay? That is not ok," she tried to stay somewhat calm but failed, "you worried me and Laura. You worried Dasha too."

"We're sorry," Evelina mumbled.

"Sorry isn't enough."

Chapter Text

"Where did you and Evelina go?" Dasha asked her sister as they lay on the bed. "In the store?" She continued.

"Don't worry about it," Zoe shrugged, "did you and Laura find any clothes you liked?"

Dasha eyed her sister, a glint of suspicion in her eyes, "you and Evelina," she redirected. 

"Forget about it. I found a few skirts I liked and some shirts-"

"I'm not stupid, Zoe. I'm a widow too; I trained from six in the morning until the late night. I was praised and punished. I've killed-"

"Stop it," Zoe blurted, "I know, okay? I get it, you're not stupid."

"But you don't. I'm not a little kid."

Zoe looked down at her sister; her sister who  wasn't even ten, yet was more familiar with a rifle than a Barbie dream house, better with a knife than a slingshot. "You are," She whispered, "so am I. We're not widows. We are not marble."

Dasha shook her head in frustration, "maybe you're not, but me and Evelina are... I don't remember before, not like you do. I don't remember dad and I didn't know mum."

"I can tell you about them?"

Two days later

Evelina woke bleary eyed and with a horrible headache, worsening with every movement. She looked around, wondering what woke her. Her eyes landed on two adults coming in through the front door. "Sorry, did we wake you?" Clint asked quietly, Natasha following closely behind. Evelina shrugged, standing up and stretching. "I'm gonna go shower," Natasha told Clint. Evelina watched closely as he nodded, mumbling something in return. He left the room too, returning with two granola bars and throwing one to Evelina. She easily caught it, eyeing it warily for a few seconds before opening the sealed wrapper and taking a bite after Clint. 

"So, anymore late night strolls since we've been gone?" Clint pried.

"No," she replied, trying best to decipher his tone while wishing one of her sisters or Natasha was with her - or even Laura.

"What did you guys do while we were away?" Clint could tell Evelina was nervous around him and switched the topic. 

"We went shopping," she replied evenly, hoping her answers were pleasing him, "my sisters and I got some new clothes and then we went to the supermarket too." Clint nodded nonchalantly.

Their conversation was ended when Zoe came trekking in, rubbing her eyes as she scanned the room. Avoiding Evelina's gaze, she sat down on the couch next to her. Dasha came in not long after, Laura and the rest of the household following not long after. With help of Dasha and Zoe, Laura made French toast while Evelina stayed in the living room watching tv. 

"You alright?" Natasha asked, taking the seat next to Evelina. Instinctively, Evelina backed slightly away to the corner, dropping the braid she was twirling around her finger and retying her ponytail. "I'm fine," she stated evenly. 

Natasha observed her for a moment, "do you need to dance?" 

For some reason, Evelina had the feeling that that question meant a lot more than a couple routines in the barn. She shook her head gently, averting her eyes in attempt to make sure she wasn't appearing defiant.

She also knew that Natasha would know she was lying. Of course she wanted to dance: it had been days since she had last done anything she considered 'training', clinging to ballet lessons she had had over a week ago.  "Do you want to dance?" Natasha rephrased, hiding her exhaustion with a smile. 

"I want to dance." 

They both turned their heads to find the voice. Dasha approached Evelina's side, "can we dance?" 

Natasha looked at Evelina, her gaze questioning. "Ok," Evelina answered reluctantly. 

Natasha brought music, in the form of her phone, this time. She picked one of her dance playlists at random and led the girls through a warm up and basic combos. Evelina and Dasha stilled when the music suddenly changed to a performance piece - one Evelina knew well as it was usually for the older age groups.

"I know this one," Dasha said, somewhat excitedly.

Evelina frowned; it wasn't the most difficult one she knew, but it was certainly cruel on your feet and calves.

"When did you learn it?" She blurted out. 

"A few weeks ago," Dasha replied.

"Who taught you?" She asked, wondering if Dasha had moved to her class after she was moved out.

"I was with another group, a new Madame. She was younger than the rest... nicer."

"Do you guys want to teach me it?" Natasha interrupted, sensing the conversation was heading in a certain direction. 

"It's taught to the older widows," Evelina instructively, her tone devoid of any emotion which was previously there, "sixteen and above. I learnt it at Dasha's age too." Natasha nodded, listening as Evelina described the dance. "It's a showcase dance." 

That sentence caught her off guard, "a... showcase dance?" She questioned. 

"Sometimes they want us to dance in addition to showing our more useful skills."

She didn't pry any further and they continued to go through the motions of the dance. 

Evelina was glad Natasha was picking up the steps so easily. Unlike when she taught the younger widows, there was no repeating, no corrections and no punishments.  

By the end of the dance, Natasha was aching, a feeling she hadn't felt for an extremely long time. She wondered how many times Dasha and Evelina had been made to do it. "Was this dance a punishment one?" She asked the older girl, though she only looked blankly at her. 

"Sometimes," Dasha supplied, "they made us watch a girl do it until she passed out once."

"Let's go inside. Zoe will be wondering where you've gone, Dasha." 

***

When they came back to the house, Natasha excused herself, quietly telling Yelena she was going to rest for a while. Yelena nodded, promising they'd keep their noise down and none of the girls would bother her. 

Zoe skimmed over Dasha and Evelina before pulling Evelina out of Yelena's hearing range, letting Dasha follow her to the living room where everyone else was. "They want to meet up," Zoe whispered, trying her best to sound casual, "Evelina, I don't want to go back."

"But... it's our home, Zoe. Russia needs..." Evelina mumbled. 

"No, it's not my home. I'm not even Russian," she rambled. 

Over the past two nights, Evelina had thought over the situation a million times; the options were slim and - so far - they ended up with three end solutions.

1) She and Zoe both end up going back to the Red Room. Without Natalia Romanova or any valuable information, they were bound to be punished.

2) Either one of them ends up in the Red Room.

3) They all end up back in the Red Room - including Natasha and Yelena and most likely Dasha.

"There's nothing we can do," she lamented. 

"I think..." Zoe started, ready for Evelina to immediately to shut down, "if we tell Natasha and Yelena, they can help."

"They might just send us back; It's the easier option."

"It's the only option we have. The end result of us giving them the information I promised is we all go back anyways."

Evelina shook her head, berating herself for even thinking about cutting her ties with the widows she grew up with. "Ok," she whispered.

"When should we...?"

"I'm not sure yet, Zoe."

They went back into the living room and Yelena could immediately tell something was off. She watched closely as they sat down on either side of Dasha. She watched Zoe avoid her gaze and awkwardly fight of the urge to fidget with her hands. Laura decided to put a movie on for them all to watch while Clint chose to go take a nap. She noticed the older two girls acting different too, though one was obviously doing better at hiding it. 

"Zoe, Eliza, can I talk to you two?" Yelena asked, watching them look nervously between themselves. They stood up and followed Yelena who led them to the kitchen, gesturing at the table. Obeying, they sat down next to each other. 

"What's going on?" Yelena questioned. 

"Nothing," Zoe stated, her voice giving them away.  "Nothing," Evelina repeated calmly, "is something wrong?"

"You tell me," Yelena said, sitting down opposite them, "you're not in trouble."

"We..." Zoe started before getting interrupted. "Don't." Evelina pulled on one of her braids. 

"Zoe, what happened?" Yelena decided directing her questions at Zoe was her best shot. Zoe looked hazardously at Evelina.

"I... Nothing. It was nothing."

"Zoe...?"

"Can we go back and watch the movie, please?" Evelina asked, her voice withering between polite and submissive. 

"You can. I want to talk to Zoe alone." 

Evelina wanted to object, but heard the dismissal and didn't think disobeying was an option.

As soon as her sister left the room, Yelena watched Zoe go still, her eyes dancing on all parts of the room aside from Yelena. 

"I'm not mad," she reiterated, looking at the oldest, "I want to be sure we're safe. You want that too don't you? You want your sisters to be safe." She knew what she was saying was unfair, but the silent game was not one she was willing to play, especially when it came to their safety (specifically Clint's and Laura's because it was their farm ). Zoe nodded. 

"Are we safe, Zoe?" Yelena questioned. "This isn't my farm - we're guests here...What happened at the store?"

"We... went to the bathroom-"

Yelena sighed, trying her best to hide her frustration but ultimately failed as Zoe tensed in anticipation. "Ok, fine," Yelena muttered, "you can go." She said and watched Zoe stumble out of the room. 

Yelena walked past the living room and made her way upstairs to her sister. Natasha had just woken up from a very much restless sleep and noticed her distress at once.

"What's wrong?" Natasha asked her and motioned for her to sit on the bedside her, "the girls?"

"We need to leave."

"Now? I can call Tony and ask if he'll help us out. You get the girls ready."

Yelena was glad for her sister's understanding and the wordless communication between them, promptly leaving to go and tell the girls. 

Natasha sighed and picked up her phone. She and Tony weren't on the best of terms, but she knew that he had a soft spot when it came to kids and their safety. Her assumption had been right as she only had to mention the girls once before he agreed, even arranging transportation, in the form of one of the jets they usually used for mission.

After being told how long their ride would be, Natasha checked the rest of her contacts, the first message coming up being from Maria. She had been trying to put aside her sort-of-relationship with Maria for the past few days; Not because she didn't desperately want to talk to her, but because she apparently had kids now. Three of them.

If she was being truthful it all felt like too much and she knew it was the same for Yelena. Laura, on the other hand, had been a literal miracle when it came to connecting with them. Never had she seen Dasha smile so much than when she was with Laura and Zoe couldn't have looked any prouder than when she came back from archery with Clint.

Guilt pooled in her stomach: she was taking away the small sense of security they had been adjusting to, trading it for the uncertainty of living at the Avenger's Tower. The only thing which soothed her was that there weren't many places more well protected. Still, that wasn't enough to convince herself she was doing the right thing though.

If they weren't too careful Shield could easily find out about the girls and she didn't want to think about what Fury would have to say to her. 

Chapter Text

Laura handed each of the girls a backpack, telling them to pack their newly bought clothes. Yelena had come to her, appearance slightly disheveled ( already alerting Laura that something was wrong ), and explained they'd be leaving within the next few hours. Yelena didn't seem certain, but she told her they were heading for to the Tower. 

"Where are we going?" Dasha asked her. She looked down at the small girl, the distress visible in her posture. "You'll find out soon, okay?" She promised, not ignoring the wary glances from both of the older girls.

 "Why are we leaving? Natasha said it was safe..."   

Her heart broke at hearing the quiet whispers, but there wasn't much she could say in comfort. There was no point promising safety again, and it wasn't like any of the girls would believe it. Instead she went for the option of distraction, "do you need help packing your bag?" 

Dasha nodded dejectedly, allowing Laura to take over the task. She listened to Laura talking, not paying attention to the content of her speech, rather just focusing on her soothing voice. "Does that sound good?" 

Dasha jolted from her thoughts at the question, "mhm." 

Laura looked away from what she was doing to look Dasha in the eyes, "did you hear what I said?" She asked softly. Dasha shook her head, "sorry..." 

"It's alright. I was just asking if there was anything you wanted to do until you leave." 

Zoe overheard and stopped fiddling with her bag for a moment to answer, "can we do archery again?" 

Laura glanced outside, "Clint's resting right now..." She looked at both of their hopeful faces, "but I'm sure he wouldn't mind. Eliza? Do you want to join us?" 

"Do I have to?" Was the quiet reply. "No, you don't have to. Can you tell Yelena or Natasha where we are if they ask?"

The girl nodded, "yes." 

Natasha knocked firmly on Clint's door, waiting for a permission before walking in and sitting next to him on the bed. Clint took one look at her and seemingly knew what she was about to say, "leaving?" 

Natasha nodded solemnly, "It's for the best."

Clint wrapped an arm around her, "you're always welcome here, okay? The girls too."

"Clint... I don't...What about Shield? Maria will find out eventually - All five of us can't be on the run together." She spiralled, "What if... Could maybe one of the girls stay here?"

Clint thought for a second, "you can't split them up, Nat." 

"I know... but it would be safer if-"

"We'll figure something out. Bobbi would be willing to help out, and if Shield find out call me. Okay?"

Natasha nodded, resting her head on his shoulder. 

"Where are your sisters?" 

"Archery with Laura," Evelina answered. Yelena hummed in acknowledgment, "can we maybe talk about what happened?" 

"Nothing happened, Yelena. We went to the bathroom and took a wrong turn on the way back," she replied robotically. 

"You wouldn't be in trouble for lying if that's not what happened." 

Evelina nodded silently, her hands finding their way to her hair. "Do you ever want to go back?" She asked quietly after a beat, looking nervously to Yelena. Yelena paused for a moment, "I don't miss being there..."

Evelina didn't question further. She knew wishing to be back there was messed up - Zoe had told her and Dasha that what happened to them was wrong more than once. Still, she couldn't help but think about what she would be doing if she were back there, if she was back under her Madame's control.

It was easier, for sure. Better? She wasn't positive yet. 

***

"What's that?" Dasha asked, pointing to the vehicle which was lowering onto the grass ahead of them. 

"That," Laura explained, "is a jet. It's basically a plane but smaller and faster. Let's go inside and tell Natasha." She took Dasha's hand and led her and Zoe back to the house. Natasha and Yelena were mid conversation when they entered the living room. 

"Your rides here," Laura said to them. Natasha nodded stiffly, telling the girls to go and get their bags. 

Clint came down to wish them goodbye. "We'll see you soon," he promised Zoe while Laura spoke to Dasha, who had latched herself around Laura's waist. "Come on," Natasha urged the girl, prying her gently away. Seemingly unaffected by the gravity of goodbyes, Yelena and Evelina were stood stoically side by side, watching the others. 

It took longer than expected, but they eventually managed to get onto the jet. "Who was driving?" Zoe questioned at the sight of an empty pilot seat. "It steers itself," Natasha said and ushered them to sit down. 

The jet wasn't anything special, the interior metal and cold. Dasha sat in between the two other girls and Natasha and Yelena sat opposite, Natasha closer to the pilots seat. 

The flight would be a few hours at least and Dasha wasted no time in settling against Zoe.

***

Tony wasn't there to greet them when they arrived and Natasha took charge of getting them all inside, out of sight from possible public. 

The girls followed her warily, Evelina scanning every corner of the room as they entered. Tony appeared a few minutes later, Pepper by his side. "Red," he greeted Natasha before turning his attention to the three girls. 

"Hi, Tony," Natasha smiled, "Hi, Pepper."

"I've had one of the floors prepared for you," Pepper informed them, "I'll show you now."

"Hold up," Tony interrupted and motioned to the girls, Dasha and Evelina standing behind Natasha. 

"We'll do introductions later, Stark," Yelena answered. Tony didn't seem all too pleased with letting three unknown people into his home, and Natasha was thankful when he didn't out right stop them from going to the elevator. 

The floor was basically an apartment, except way bigger. It had four spacious bedrooms, four bathrooms, a living space, a kitchen and also a private gym, which Natasha was immensely grateful for. Pepper showed the girls their bedrooms first.

The two bedrooms had a shared bathroom and were decorated simply. Two beds sat in the biggest bedroom, along with two wardrobes and nightlight by each bed. Dasha was the first to pull away from Yelena, walking the outskirts of the room. She noticed there were a few toys and books in the corner - including a dollhouse and a few race cars - and reached out to touch one before quickly withdrawing her hand. 

"You can play with them," Pepper assured her. Dasha nodded, though her hands stayed firmly by her side as she surveyed the rest of the room. After allowing the girls to look around for a few minutes, Pepper showed them the other room. This one was very similar, the only difference being that instead of light pink walls, it was painted a darker purple, and instead of a dollhouse it had a vanity. 

"I'll let you guys figure out which room you want while I show Natasha and Yelena theirs." 

Dasha, again, was the first to break the silence, "they bought us stuff."

"They did," Evelina confirmed. Zoe could hear the scepticism in her voice, "they seem... nice."

"Who's sharing with me?" Dasha turned to face them both, "I don't mind," she shrugged. 

An unspoken conversation passed between the two eldest and Evelina set her bag down on the bed. Zoe and Dasha went into the other room, via the joint bathroom, and set down their own bags.

They both began to slowly unpack, filling the wardrobe with the little clothes they had. "Is this stuff ours?" Dasha said, brushing her hand against the soft bedsheets. 

"That's what they said... Be careful with it though."

"I'm always careful." Dasha frowned. 

Evelina had a slightly different approach when it came to settling in. Her eyes searched the room over and over as she looked for anything a widow would deem 'suspicious'.

Nothing in the room went unchecked, however, the only hidden item she did find was a journal in one of the drawers of the vanity. It was dark blue with purple flowers on it, a pen attached to its side. She flickered through it, declaring it to be empty seconds later. Even so, she didn't let her brain switch out of its defensive mode.

After thoroughly checking the bathroom for hidden cameras and what not, she went back into her new room - at least, the one she would be staying in for the however long. Realising it looked as if a mini tornado had passed through, she hastily began clearing the room, making it look exactly the way it had when she stepped foot in it.

“Perfect.” She mumbled under her breath. 

***

Maria picked up her phone for the third time that hour, her finger hovering over Natasha's contact. She knew being worried was unreasonable: Natasha was the Black Widow, an assassin who could take down a room full of men and not break a sweat.

It was selfish too, if Natasha wanted space then she should give her it, no matter how much she wanted to call and check in. Debating returning to her work, Maria decided to send a short message to Natasha and returned to the mountain of paperwork beside her.

***

"You told Yelena," Evelina stated.

The three girls were in the bigger bedroom, Dasha doing another tour of the toys in the room, her hands fidgeting by her side in restraint. She remembered the last time she was caught playing with My Little Pony on a mission and sound made when her handlers hand had collided with her face. She shook her head as if the simple motion could clear her thoughts, besides, she was too old for this toys like these.

"I didn't," Zoe refuted, looking out of the large windows and suddenly feeling cautious of how high up they were. 

"Do not lie to me," Evelina spat, switching to her native language. 

"Why does it matter? We're safe now. We cut communication - They can't get us here."

Evelina sighed: how naive could this girl be? She held back the urge to disagree because the Red Room could get them. As soon as they figured out where the girls had gone, they would get them. They'd take them, and Evelina couldn't even think of what their punishments would be. 

Dasha was still doing laps around the room when she heard the change in tone between Evelina and Zoe. She quickly surmised they were referencing the Red Room and passively listened into their conversation. Storing the information in her head for a later date when she wasn't so tired, she opened the bedroom door and cautiously began exploring on her own. 

The lady - Pepper - had showed them around briefly, but Dasha wanted to see a bit more. 

She was drawing closer to the gym when she heard footsteps behind her. Assuming they were one of her sisters, she took her time turning around. "Oh..."

"Hey, Dasha. Where are your sisters?" The blonde asked her. 

She gestured vaguely to the bedroom down the hall. "Where's yours?" She replied. 

"Natasha is sorting a few things out with Tony. Are you hungry? I was just about to make some mac and cheese." 

Dasha walked to Yelena's side and together they headed to the kitchen. 

"Who is Tony?"

"He's Natasha's friend," Yelena answered, "he's safe."

"Is he friends with Clint and Laura too?" 

"He's friends with Clint, yeah... We'll see them soon again, okay?"

"How long are we staying here?"

"I'm not sure yet." Yelena said as they arrived in the kitchen. "Here, pour this into the pot." She passed the box of macaroni to Dasha who followed her instructions without hesitation. She handed the girl a wooden spoon, "mix."

"Dasha?" Zoe called out. 

"Kitchen," she called back, "we made macaroni. Want some?"

Zoe looked down at the bowl of pasta in her sister's lap, "no thanks." 

"You guys up for meeting Tony?" Natasha asked, walking in. 

"We're eating," Zoe replied instantly. Natasha eyed the pot of food and her empty hands, "later then, got it." 

There wasn't much for them to do that day and the room fell into an expectant pause. They were all avoiding the obvious question and the two older woman shared a knowing look. "We know you guys have questions, so if you want to ask, now's the time," Natasha stated. 

"What are the rules?" Dasha questioned, starting with the most obvious question - one which no one would get mad at. 

"For now, the only rule is to stay in the building, and don't leave the floor without either me or Yelena."

The three girls nodded. Evelina spoke up next, "How long are we staying here?" 

"We're not sure yet," Yelena answered. 

"What does he want in return?" Zoe mumbled, closing the distance between her and Natasha. Natasha made sure Evelina was close enough to hear her answer.

"Nothing. Tony does not want anything from either of you. If I thought he would hurt you in any way, I would not have brought you here. Okay?"