New York, 1996
"We should play 'Never Have I Ever'", suggests Tony. "I know your parents have vodka bottles here, Nat."
Natasha rolls her eyes. "Yeah, as if they'd be completely fine with a bunch of teenagers wasting their drink. It's legit Russian vodka, Tony. Only for special occasions."
"I'm not a teenager, I'm at college."
"Still a minor", Steve mumbles.
"If you wanted to play alcohol games", says Clint, ignoring Stark's reply, "you should've brought some from your own house."
"You guys are no fun", Tony huffs. "Why do I even hang around with you?"
"Because we are the only ones who can stand playing RPG with you", Bruce replies quietly, but loud enough for everyone to hear. Thor is the first to laugh, followed by Steve. Soon everybody but Tony is laughing.
"You all done?", he asks after they calm down. "Let's get to the game, since it's all you guys are worth for anyway."
Ignoring his attempt at insult, they agree to start the campaign. Thor is the master this time, since he wasn't been able to create a whole new character for their new story, despite being the one who came up with the worldbuilding.
"Where were we last session, again?", Clint asks.
"You were stuck under Paris catacombs", Thor answers solemnly. "And the Chitauri are lurking around. One wrong turn and they will attack you."
"How did we even end up in Paris", Barton mumbles. Natasha pats his shoulder with a soft look and smile. He gives her a half smile.
"Well, I'm sure Iron Man has a map of the catacombs and can detect the Chitauri", Tony says.
"A map of the catacombs, sure", Steve argues. "But the Chitauri are alien life. How can Iron Man's suit detect it?"
Tony shrugs. "We can roll the dice for that." Thor agreed, and so he did. "Shit, I can't. We are screwed, guys."
They play for another hour until Bruce asks for a pause for them to eat. "I can really use some pizza to finish those Chitauri."
"True", Natasha agrees. "I'll make the delivery." She stands up to grabs the phone. As she dials the pizza delivery number and waits for them to pick up, she glances at the front window.
It seems that Mr. and Mrs. Titan were having another fight. It's the third Natasha witnesses that month alone, and there probably were many others she didn't get to see. Poor Georgina and Nikki, she thinks, having to endure all of this.
From what little she manages to talk to them, Mr. Titan is the responsible for most of the fights. And he's violent. The 'accident' (Nat doubts it's the truth) that left Nikki's legs paralyzed happened after he got home drunk.
She can't tell whether he was drunk or not tonight, but the fight looks huge. No words are discernible, but she can hear shouts.
Suddenly Mr. Titan grabs something big. He raises it, and Natasha jumps slightly at the realization it's a knife. From the corner of her eye, she sees someone standing up.
Mr. Titan stabs his wife. Once. Twice… By the time they pick her call, the knife reaped through Mrs. Titan five times.
"Hello, it's from pizza delivery", the person tells Natasha. "What's your order?"
The voice takes Natasha from her shock, only to have her mumble. "Call 911, p-please. I just witnessed a murder."
"A… a murder?"
"Y-yeah. Right across my street. 45 Shield Street. C-can you call them for me?"
"Of course, miss. Right now." And the call is finished.
Only after that Natasha realized Mr. Titan is looking at her. She quickly turns to see that all of her friends stood up to see what was going on.
"Guys", she whispers. "We have to run and hide. Now."
They are found by the police in Natasha's basement two hours later, thanks to Nikki's warning. Apparently her father didn't catch on the fact that they saw everything until the police came. He just ran away, leaving Nikki crawling to her mother's body while screaming for Georgina, despite the girl not being at home.
Natasha and her parents stay at Clint's in the week that follows. Bruce, who lives in the same street, goes to Thor's. At the end of the week, the police calls them all back.
"We haven't found him", they say. "It's not safe for you to stay in New York, kids. Or even in US. We'll have to place you in the witness protection program."
None of them argue, especially after they are informed that it hadn't been Mr. Titan's first murder.
"Apparently our father was known as Thanos in the 70s", Georgina told Natasha two days prior. "He had no specific target, but he always burned his victims and placed their ashes on colorful boxes." She looked away. "I knew dad was violent and abusive, but I thought he was only like this at home. I… We had a serial killer under our roof, oh God..."
It was the first time any of them saw Georgina cry.
"What about my sister?", Nikki's quite voice makes Natasha come back to reality. "Isn't she in danger too?"
"She wasn't at home when the crime happened", the police officer explains. "She's not completely out of danger, but for now we believe he'd only be after people who witnessed the murder. She will be under our watch, of course, but for now she can stay at town."
There is little time for goodbyes. In a couple days, they are all spread around the world, alone and scared of the future.