Hey guys! I just wanted to thank you for the overwhelming feedback I got from chap 1! Thank you so much, I love you :3
Ps. The Russian Part is actually accurate- had a Russian friend translate it for me.
Without further ado, enjoy!
Tony was at an absolute loss. He stared at the young girl in front of him, his mouth agape, his mind running wild. What the actual fuck just happened? One second Natasha was here, the next... this child was. His machine absolutely cannot do what it just... did.
Baby Romanoff was staring at him right back, her green eyes filled with tears.
He contemplated actually making a run for it. He had the money to fake his death (although he doesn't need to- death by Romanoff is very plausible) and hide for the rest of his days in Poland or something. It would be less painful than having to deal with Fury's wrath when he finds out what happened, or Natasha's when (if?) she gets back to normal. He was so screwed.
He gulped audibly, and stalked towards Natasha slowly, waving his hands in the air in the international "I surrender and I'm unarmed" sign. He knew Natasha started training at a very young age, so he didn't know if this child was a trained assassin, or if she was simply a kid with no memory whatsoever of her old life. She could either be a blank slate, or a replay button. And either way, Older Natasha was gonna have his head.
The little girl/master assassin looked up at him, pure terror on her face. She looked like your average toddler, with big cheeks, and long flaming red hair (Tony didn't know that red was her natural color, and that genuinely almost gave him whiplash). She was wearing the shirt Older Natasha was wearing before she... transformed, though it looked more like a dress on her than anything else at the moment.
He crouched down in front of her, smiling gently. He started reaching for her, trying to soothe her, when he noticed something... almost odd in her expression. He couldn't quite place it. Something was wrong.
He narrowed his eyes, and looked closer at her face. Tears were rolling down her fat cheeks (he didn't realize Romanoff had so much baby fat- he was so gonna hang this over her head), her full lips in an adorable pout. That was when he finally noticed what was wrong. Her eyes were completely dull. Her face screamed terror, while her eyes were neutral pools of... determination?
Oh, fuck.
Natasha seemed to notice his realization, and quickly sprung into action. Faster than he could even see, she roundhouse kicked his side, and he fell to the ground with a groan.
She was on him in a second, straddling his chest, a knife in her hand, just under his throat.
The most terrifying was that her face had morphed into a neutral expression- almost bored.
Tony gulped, and saw her arch an eyebrow, and look around her.
"Господин? Я закончила. Можно мне его отпустить?" She asked in a monotonous voice that sent chills down his spine.
"Jarvis? JARVIS! What the fuck is she saying?" He yelled and thrashed in panic, but Baby Romanoff pressed her knife closer to his Adam's apple, making him sweat like Steve Rogers on a date.
"Sir, she said 'master? I'm done. Should I release him now?' Anything else, Sir?" The A.I said calmly, like Tony wasn't on the verge of being killed by a child.
Natasha's head snapped up to the ceiling, curiosity etched on her face.
She conversed with Jarvis for a few seconds, before Tony snapped.
"JARVIS. Enlighten me, buddy."
"She asked me who I was, Sir, and I answered that I'm Jarvis, an artificial intelligence."
"Charming," Tony grumbled, before sighing. "Tell her this isn't a test before she kills me."
Jarvis relayed his words to Natasha, whose eyes narrowed immediately at the words.
She said something back at Jarvis, who didn't waste a second before saying it into his calm, collected British accent:
"She's saying 'I don't believe you.'"
It all took a split of a second. He remembered the training that Natasha herself had bestowed upon him (she had kicked his ass repeatedly, but he firmly believed that he acquired at least some of her skills) and pushed the child off him, before she could slit his throat. He rolled to the side, his arms brought up in front of his face to protect himself.
Natasha smirked, a gesture that eerily reminded him of Romanoff herself, and lunged at him.
"Where the fuck did you even find a knife?" He yelled, dodging attempt after attempt from the small menace.
"I believe she found the knife that Miss Romanoff always carries around with her, Sir."
He really hated Jarvis right then.
He stumbled to his desk, the redhead hot on his heels.
He almost tripped, but still got a hold of his iron man glove, which was laying on the desk desperately waiting for an update.
He prayed to whatever god was out there that it would work, and fired at baby Romanoff, who screamed, and fell unconscious on the ground, red seeping through her oversized shirt.
Okay, he had to admit this wasn't his smartest move.
"FUCK." He ran to her, holding her shoulders, and shaking her desperately. "NATASHA! No, no, no, kid, don't do that-"
"Sir, should I call Miss Potts?" Jarvis asked smoothly, making Stark's heart beat even faster in terror. What will Pepper do when she sees that he killed Natasha?
"Yeah- Yeah, do that. I'll... I'll, uh, yeah, medical wing. I'll be in the medical wing."
Patting himself on the back for installing a damn hospital in his tower (complete with x-ray and MRI machines, a lab for testing, and even an operating room), he scooped baby Natasha in his arms and ran to the elevator and repeatedly pushed the button that would lead him there.
To say he was panicking was an understatement.
He looked down at the child in his arms, and couldn't help bringing her closer to his chest, muttering "it's gonna be okay," repeatedly, though he didn't know if he was trying to calm himself, or the unconscious child. Probably himself.
He arrived to the medical wing after what seemed like hours. His chest was covered in red by now, and Natasha was as white as a sheet (which was saying a lot, since she was Russian, for god's sake- she usually looked as pale as a vampire), her breath coming ragged and shallow.
"BRUCE!" Tony screamed, almost tripping over his own feet as he ran into the man's lab.
Bruce was calmly sitting behind his desk, writing something down in his notebook. He looked up in alarm when he heard the desperate yell, and his eyes widened at the sight.
"Tony- what the-"
"BRUCE! SHE'S DYING!" Tony heaved, tears streaming down his face. He looked very close to having a heart attack.
Bruce looked at the child in his arms, and took her, settling her into his own, and ran outside the room, not even questioning who she was, or how the fuck Stark managed to get himself tangled into this mess.
With baby Romanoff and the worry lifted, respectively, from his arms, and his shoulders, Tony fell in a chair in the waiting room outside the man's office, short of breath, tears still drying on his cheeks. He didn't know what prompted the crying- he didn't like the woman/child, whatever form she was. He could confidently say, without a shadow of a doubt, that he hated her guts. She tried to kill him, for god's sake, as a child and as an adult. They weren't on the best of terms.
But seeing her innocent, chubby face contort into shock and pain when she was hit by his laser was definitely seared into his mind now. Oh, joy. More nightmares.
If she doesn't make it, Natasha would be his first actual kill. The first person he killed with his own two hands, not via his weapons, with the hands of someone else. He looked at the ceiling, his eyes filling with more tears.
Just then, the elevator opened, and Pepper ran in, pure panic on her face.
"Tony!" She exclaimed, worry tainting her beautiful features, when she saw him slumped over in his chair, crying.
She ran to him and hugged him as hard as she could, and caressed his hair, muttering comforting words in his ear.
When she heard Jarvis calmly announce that Tony had severely injured Agent Romanoff with his Iron Man Gauntlet, she hadn't believed it at first. She genuinely laughed and asked Jarvis if it was another prank Tony was pulling on her (he did almost make her believe that he killed Cap once). His response chilled her to the core.
"Mr. Stark is in the medical wing and Dr. Banner is doing everything he can."
Bruce never gets involved in Tony's shenanigans. That was when she started running towards the elevator, telling Jarvis to alert every avenger, especially Clint and Peter.
Clint was Natasha's partner and best friend (though she didn't actually understand how exactly one can be friends with Natasha Romanoff, much less best friends), and Peter started to bond with the spy when she once suggested training him and sparring with him. She never held back on him once just because he was a kid, like all the other avengers do, and always respected him as a sparring partner. Natasha probably didn't know, but the kid idolized her.
As Tony cried on her shoulder, she mentally started making a list of possible lawyers to hire against S.H.I.E.L.D. Nick Fury would go hard on their asses. He loved Natasha. He considered her his daughter, and did everything she asked. He spoiled her with missions and equipment, and if he ever heard someone say something bad about her, he would fire their ass faster than they could say sorry.
"Tony- Tony, honey, talk to me," she whispered softly, her hand still in his hair.
He looked up at her, his eyes red-rimmed, and his face crunched in sorrow.
"She- she tried to kill me- I... Pepper, I messed up. I messed up-" He took a deep breath, trying to compose himself. He knew he had to tell Pepper that Natasha wasn't... the Natasha they knew, and fast, before she whooped his ass to France.
"Remember the machine told you I was working on?" He took a deep breath, and Pepper's hands in his own.
She nodded, narrowing her eyes. She didn't see the relevance of it right now. Maybe Natasha found out about it and they had a fight? She knew in the back of her head that, despite her fiancé's childishness and Agent Romanoff's cruelty, they wouldn't actually try to kill each other. They were a team... Right?
"I... I came up with the idea while I was drinking with Romanoff one night." He chuckled bitterly, rubbing his neck "She has nightmares too," he added to explain the weird situation. "So I call her down to test the finished product. She puts it on and- Pepper I swear I was sure it would work, okay? You know me, I'm never wrong with these things!"
"Wait, so your invention killed Agent Romanoff?" Pepper asked with a raised eyebrow.
"She's not dead yet!" He exclaimed, his breathing becoming faster. He stood up and started pacing. "She puts it on and then Bam! I don't know how or why, but suddenly, fucking baby Romanoff was standing in front of me. She SHRUNK, Pepper! I swear to fucking god, I was never as afraid as I was right then."
Pepper's jaw was slack.
"Pepper! You know I wouldn't lie about something like this! I swear to you! She just- She just transformed into a fucking kid! I started approaching her, because she was crying, and she fucking flips- She tries to kill my ass. I don't know what they taught her at assassin's school, but she thought it was a test, or something- Pepper, she's just as deadly as a child as she is as an adult, but she's even faster, fuck."
Pepper nods along, dumbly. She was honestly speechless. Tony ignored her and continued rambling.
The other avengers, along with Peter, were standing in front of the elevator, listening to Stark's far-fetched explanation, mouths agape.
Tony didn't even notice. "She kicks me and pulls a fucking knife- A KNIFE! From god knows where. So, I try to defend myself, you know, because I don't wanna die, and I grab the first weapon that fell under my hand, my iron man gauntlet- and I - I-"
Pepper apparently regained her ability to speak once she heard that last bit. She was livid- paler than Baby Natasha, if that was even possible. "Please don't tell me you blasted a child."
"You- You believe me?! Oh thank god-"
"TONY STARK. PLEASE TELL ME YOU DIDN'T BLAST A FUCKING CHILD WITH YOUR IRON MAN GLOVE!" She screamed at him, feeling tears of frustration well up in her eyes. Of all people- why did it have to be her that fell in love with Tony Stark?
"I'm going to fucking murder him." They heard quietly from the corner of the room.
It was then that they noticed the other avengers in the room- especially one furious archer. He had murder in his eyes.
"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" He screamed, before lunging himself at Tony.
It all happened in a split second- Tony's black eye, Clint's fall through the window, Pepper's scream of fright, Peter's jump through the window, Peter coming back up with Clint in his arms.
Half an hour later, they were all sitting in the waiting room, silent. The tension was so thick, you could cut it with a knife.
Tony was nursing his black eye with some ice, wincing every once and again, when he pressed too hard on a spot that hurt.
Peter occasionally shifted in his seat, keeping an eye on Clint, who looked positively smoldering.
After a period of time that honestly felt like a fucking decade, Bruce came out of the operating room, relief evident on his face.
"She's fine," he said softly, smiling at everyone's sighs of relief, and Tony's tears of joy. "Now, can someone explain who the hell I just operated on?"
And, that was chapter 2! Hope I stayed true to the characters!
What did you think of everyone's reactions? You'll have the detailed reaction of every single Avenger, and an awake -and ready to maim- little girl next chapter!
Ps. A chapter of (Not Used To) Having a Family coming tomorrow! Stay tuned!
Please leave a review to tell me what you think- they make me really happy :3