Chapter One

Natasha groaned as she forced her eyes open, clouding her vision with a strange orange light.

"Clint?" She mumbled, struggling to turn onto her side.

Before she could properly sit up, she was forced back down by a strong force to her shoulder and had a blade pressed to her neck.

"Who are you?" a voice hissed from above.

As Nat's head cleared, she was able to focus on the face hovering inches from her own, which belonged to a gorgeous green woman with bright pink highlights and piercing brown eyes.

"I…I'm Natasha. And you are?"

"Who do you work for, Natasha?"

Rule #1 of the Red Room? Never tell anyone who you're really working for. Especially total strangers.

"I'm with the Avengers. We're trying to stop Thanos."

All at once, the alien girl got off of Natasha and offered her a hand up, which she gladly took.

Rule #2: Never trust anyone.

"If you're looking for Thanos, then what are you doing here?"

"I was kinda hoping you could tell me that."

The stranger's expression softened as she continued her questioning.

"What's the last thing you remember?"

"Well, I was…" Natasha racked her brain, trying to focus on something, anything…

"On this big mountain, with my best friend. We were fighting for some reason, over…I don't know what."

"This friend, did they turn on you?"

"What? No! Clint would never…"

"Then why were you on that mountain? What made you fall?"

"I…fell?"

Her face lit up before slackening in horror.

"Oh, my god! Vormir, the Soul Stone!"

"Bingo. Tell me more."

Natasha's eyes pooled with repressed tears as she stared at an intangible floor of orange smoke.

"We were trying to keep each other from sacrificing ourselves, I…told him I had to do it."

The alien's mouth gaped, as if in awe.

"You…you volunteered?"

"He has a family. A future. I couldn't take that from him, not after all I've done."

The other girl nodded with an oddly knowing look in her eye. Natasha buried her face in her hands, barely managing to contain the sobs that were swelling throughout her body.

"I'm sorry. That must have been very difficult." The girl whispered, placing a cautious hand on her shoulder.

"I'm Gamora." She continued, extending her free hand. After a minute, Nat allowed her body to relax and took Gamora's hand in her own.

"You know, I'd say it's nice to meet you, but…"

Gamora laughed curtly. "Trust me, I get it. Probably better than anyone."

"What do you mean?"

"I used to be the only one in here, for about five years. And then you showed up."

"So, where are we?"

"I don't know. Some dimension of the Soul Stone, I guess."

"How did you get here?"

Gamora took a deep breath before continuing, like she was trying to brace herself. Her next words were said through gritted teeth, with a fury Natasha could only hope wasn't directed at her.

"Thanos killed me to get the Soul Stone. He took me to Vormir, and threw me off a cliff."

"That bastard."

"You're telling me." She responded with a rueful smirk.

"Wait…I think I remember now. Nebula told us about Vormir…about you."

Gamora smiled fondly. "You know Nebula?"

"Partially mechanical, but wholly terrifying?"

"That's her. She's my little sister."

"I bet you two make quite the pair."

"Oh, we did. We didn't always see eye to eye, though. But Thanos threatened to kill her if I didn't tell him where the stone is. I would have rather died than see her in that much pain."

"I guess we've got that in common."

The two assassins shared a knowing smile.

"I think we're going to get along just fine, Natasha. Follow me, I'll show you around."