And so they go in, the knife team composing of Clint, Sam, Bucky and Wanda, sneak into the mansion from the river at the back to retrieve the girls while the hammer team of Steve and Natasha draw out Anya's little army by kicking their way in through the front door.
"There's only two of them," one of the guards says arrogantly at the sight of Steve and Natasha making their way through the courtyard.
"Idiot!" another guard remarks. "That's Captain America, he's worth ten fighting men and that's Black Widow and she's not just a woman."
And so Steve and Natasha fight their way through the guards and into the mansion where they find Anya standing at the top of the staircase, waiting for them with her creepy curly smile. She's wearing her blue coat that seemed to mesmerize Natasha before.
"Hello, sister. Nice of you to bring a friend."
Natasha doesn't respond. She's too angry to play Anya's game.
"We're here for the girls. Let them go," Steve demands.
"Why bother, Captain? This is their home," Anya mockingly replies.
"No, it's not!" Natasha yells and runs up the stairs to Anya.
Steve looks puzzled as Anya doesn't show any intention of running away from Natasha. Instead, she opens her arms, welcoming Natasha's fury. He's about to warn Natasha when a hoard of guards come attacking him all at the same time, some firing their guns, some flinging their fists at him.
Natasha goes for Anya, tackling her down on the floor. Anya falls backwards as Natasha stands looming over her. "Stop this, Anya. Just let us take them and I'll leave you alone."
Instead of responding with another of her menacing sass, Anya stands up and lunges at Natasha with a blade in her hand. Natasha deflects it and throws a punch that sends Anya back pedaling against a wall. "You know you're no match to me," Natasha warns her.
"I know. But he is," Anya replies with a smile.
Natasha's brow furrowed as a big black shadow loom over both her and Anya. Anya runs out of the way as Natasha turns around to see a huge man tower over her. The man grabs her by the neck, choking her. Natasha tries to pry his grip from her neck but he's way too strong that he manages to lift her a couple of inches from the floor.
Steve sees Natasha and the man but he can't do anything because he's still dealing with five to six men at the same time, not to mention there are at least a dozen more surrounding him, waiting for their turn.
Natasha's lungs are screaming underneath her ribs as the man's humongous fingers cut out her air supply. Pooling her strength down on her legs, she kicks the giant man hard on the balls and the moment he leans over in pain, Natasha throws her knees at his chin, giving him some sort of an uppercut. Natasha feels his grip loosen and she immediately gulps for air. He comes for her again but this time, Natasha's prepared and she unleashes the Black Widow on him.
Bucky watches with fascination as the two guards standing by the chain-link fence bordering the mansion from the river, obediently open the back gate to let them in. He turns to his side and sees Wanda doing her magic. As soon as they step in on the other side of the fence, he and Clint knock the two guards down unconscious and tie them to a post. They crouch as they walk across the backyard, from the fence towards the back door, ducking and hiding behind anything they can find to avoid the cameras. They wait for a few minutes until they hear gunshots from the other side of the mansion.
"That's it, that's our cue. They're in," Clint signals them and they all enter the back door. Once inside, they lie low for a bit as guards pass by near them. They retreat back into the shadows until the guards are gone. Bucky looks around and Sam senses his anxiety as rounds of gunshots continue echo in the other side of the mansion.
"They're fine, Barnes," Sam says with optimism. "They're amazing fighters, and even amazing when they fight together." Bucky releases a small grateful smile. He and Sam bicker most of the time but deep inside, they both like each other. They're just too proud to admit it and too busy with their pissing contest on who's supposed to Steve's best friend now.
"Let's go," Clint says and they follow him across three other rooms until they reach the kitchen and see an access stairwell. Clint memorized the mansion's blueprint so he knows that it leads to the second floor where Natasha said the girls' bedrooms would be. They hear several guards from the next room running and shouting, "They're trying to escape! Secure the students. Don't let them get away." They don't waste any time and run up the stairwell.
They reach the second floor and can hear guards from inside the bedrooms shouting at the girls. The guards sound frustrated because they can't make the girls obey. Some are already crying hysterically. The lookouts outside the bedrooms see Clint's team and they go into a fight. Clint, Bucky and Sam engage the guards as other muffled commotion can be heard on the third floor - men shouting, screaming and gunshots.
Get the girls first, Wanda remembers Steve's orders. She goes to one room, fights the guard with the keys and frees two girls from their handcuffs. Once she successfully frees the two girls, she instructs them to follow her. But when they exit the first bedroom, one guard comes chasing them. Wanda throws the keys to the one of the girls with brown eyes.
"Go!" she shouts. The girls nod at her and disappear in the next room. Wanda then turns to deals with the guard.
Wanda watches with the corner of her eyes as the girls emerge from their rooms one by one. She's now dealing with three more guards. When the girl with the brown eyes gives her the thumbs up, she finally concentrates on the guards she's fighting. But she watches in horror as two guards run past Bucky and Clint and all the way to the end of the hallway where the girls are waiting. She tries calling for help but all three guys have their hands full. Since she's a bit distracted, one of the guard's fist connects with her jaw and she loses balance. The guard's about to kick her in the face but she stops him with her magic. She's so angry right now that she choked the guard in two seconds. When the guard falls, she immediately turns to the girls but she's surprised at what she sees - the girls are ganging up on the two guards, all 24 of them, kicking them, pulling their hair, biting their arms. Wanda can't help but smile.
"Move back!" Wanda hears Bucky shout. The girls immediately let the two guards go and Bucky fires. The guards fall limp. Wanda turns around and see all of the guards either dead or unconscious on the floor. She notices Bucky aim his gun towards the stairs where two unarmed men come running down. They raise their hands the moment they see Bucky's gun.
"Don't shoot," one of the men pleads. Bucky lowers his gun, recognizing them as the Physicist and Hacker taken as hostage too.
"Where are the others?" Clint asks.
"They're dead," the Hacker replies.
Clint takes a deep breath and nods at them. He then turns to Bucky, "Go to Steve and Nat. The transporter is already in position in the river. We got this." Bucky nods and runs.
"Alright. Let's go!" Clint says to the girls, with a soft smile on his face. They waste no time as they usher the girls and teachers down the access stairwell and into the back door where they see a transporter lifts off its cloaking device and reveals itself floating on the river.
"There's our ride," Wanda tells them and they all give her the first truest smiles they ever had for more almost a year.
When Bucky reaches the foyer, the first thing he sees is Steve against a dozen guards. A guard sneaks behind Steve and whacks him with this rifle. Steve falls on one knee and that's when Bucky raises his gun and fires.
One. Two. Three.
Three guards fall down. Two guards see him and start firing at his direction, leaving Steve with the rest of their team. Bucky uses his metal arm to shield the bullets as he hides behind something. He waits for the guards to run out bullets and when they do, Bucky goes out of hiding and pulls his trigger.
Four. Five.
The two guards fall and he runs to help Steve.
"Natasha! Go to Natasha!" Steve shouts at him.
Bucky turns around and sees her on the second floor balcony near the staircase. A huge man grabs her by the hair and flings her across the hallway. Bucky tries firing his gun but he's out of bullets too. So he runs up to the balcony and gives the man a massive smack on the head with his metal arm. The man falls down and Bucky takes the chance to get to Natasha. She's already bleeding and when he grabs her at the waist to pull her up she yelps in pain. "Broken rib?" Bucky asks.
Natasha shakes her head and tries to shout, "Watch out!"
Good thing Bucky notices the man's incoming fist. He blocks it with his metal arm as he catches the man's other punch with his flesh hand. The man's heavy, way heavier than he estimated but he pushes, he pushes with all his might until he hears the man's back crash against the wall. But the man manages a counter attack by kicking him in the stomach. Bucky falls backward and the man starts to come for him again.
He's surprised as Natasha runs straight to the man then steps on the man's own knees and arms to hoist herself up and sit on the man's shoulder. She gives the man succeeding blows to head and tightens her thighs' grip on her neck as the man trashes around in attempt of throwing her off. Bucky retrieves his knife and throws it to Natasha. Natasha catches it mid air and plunges it on the man's chest without hesitation. The man stops moving, he wobbles at first then falls on his knees before finally falling on his face allowing Natasha to land gracefully on her feet. Bucky runs to catch her.
"I got you," he says and instinctively grabs her by the waist. She yelps in pain again but before she can explain her bruises, Bucky hears someone else.
"You do get everything you want, don't you?" Anya says in a voice with anger and envy. "You get to be the Widow and I see you even got your soldier back."
Bucky looks at Anya. She knows, he panics. She knows about - us.
Anya meets Bucky's eyes and notices that they're blue. She smiles even wider. "Of course, why didn't I realize it before. You really like my coat because it's blue, like his eyes."
Natasha turns around to face Anya but instead of shutting up, Anya provokes her even more. "You were so good... so good at hiding it that it took a while before everyone knew what was going between you two."
"Shut up", Natasha warns Anya and releases herself from Bucky's support. She slowly walks to Anya. Bucky on the other hand is frozen in place, holding his breath as Anya continues to blabber.
"I remember, you used to pass by outside my window to reach hers then I would watch as she lets you in", Anya continues especially after seeing the confusion on Bucky's face. "Everyone just loved you didn't they, Natalia? The teachers, HIM, my OWN mother!" And before she can reveal anything else Natasha slaps her so hard that her other cheek hits the wall. Then Natasha's breath is on her face.
"No, she did not," Natasha tells her. Anya's surprised at her calm voice. "She loved you. You're her blood."
"You lie," Anya says, grinding her teeth. She looks into Natasha's eyes and sees the unwavering truth in them. "You lie," she says again but this time her voice is softer, lacking the conviction she had earlier. Natasha slowly shakes her head. By this time Steve's done with the guards and he's standing on guard at the foot of the staircase, listening.
"Why do you think your mother kept you locked in your room most of the time? Why do you think she sent you away?" Natasha challenges Anya to realize the truth. "That's because she didn't want THIS for you. She knew she could never leave that place and the only way to keep you away from that hell is by letting you go. You think she didn't get punished for what she did? It was her life for yours. If the Black Widow program failed, they would kill her and then no one will be left to protect you. So she pushed us, she pushed me. She was relentless, she didn't stop until she broke me into exactly what they wanted me to be. Your mother loved you so much that she didn't care what would happen to me."
"Is that why you killed her?" Anya asks, tears now forming in her eyes.
Bucky realizes for the first time that Anya's as broken as Natasha. She's a victim too.
"Because she deserved to die and she knew that. Nothing will ever justify ruining twenty-eight lives, Anya. But she didn't regret anything, because it was all for you. So she survived everything so she could, lived long enough for me to finally find her and knock on her door. The moment she disobeyed orders for your sake was the moment she accepted that she'd die by the hands of the monster she helped create," Natasha continues to explain.
She wants to make Anya realize that it wasn't Natasha's fault why Anya's own mother denied her of the things she wanted and also teach her remorse for the things she's done.
"You ungrateful child. You couldn't see what your mother had to sacrifice for you because you were too blinded hating me!" Natasha almost screams at her. "You know what her last words were?" Anya shakes her head. "She called out for you over and over again, until your name was the last thing I heard before I put a bullet in her head."
And Anya finally cries. Bucky looks at Natasha and is surprised that she too is crying. He didn't notice it earlier because her voice was so cold and savage. He understands her and where she's coming from because in a way, Anya is part of the reason why Natasha had to fight for her life when she was young. If she didn't succeed into becoming the Widow she would have ended up in a ditch like the other 27 girls in her class who failed. Natasha had only two options then, die or become the Black Widow.
"You realize that I'm fighting every muscle in my body from strangling you right here, right now," Natasha continues.
"You're hesitating,"Anya agrees.
"You and I are the same, Anya. We've done a lot shit. The only difference between you and I is that conscience finally caught up with me and when it did, someone hesitated from drawing an arrow between my eyes. So I'm hesitating right now, hoping just in time before you're too far gone."
"Why?" Anya asks. "Like you said before, I screwed up that chance my mother gave me before. What makes you think I won't screw up again?"
Natasha shrugs her shoulder, "I'm not giving you a chance. I'm giving you a choice."
Anya looks at her with confusion on her face.
"You can choose the hard way, live, face the consequences, atone and be better so your mother's sacrifice wasn't in vain or, you can choose the easy way."
Bucky watches as Natasha pulls out her reserved gun, removes the magazine but leaving one round in the chamber, and places it on the floor in front of Anya. "Die and be remembered as a monster."
Anya's eyes widen in fear at Natasha's last words. She looks at the gun, then to Natasha with pleading eyes. Natasha keeps her ground but Bucky's sure her heart is shattering in pieces right now for Anya.
"Don't look at me. It's up to you." Natasha looks at Anya one last time, one that doesn't have hate in it anymore but rather, with empathy.
She stands up, and slowly walks towards the staircase. Bucky meets her halfway and supports her with his metal arm. She's clutching her sides now and wincing in pain. Bucky is about to sweep her in his arms but Natasha shakes her head.
"I want to walk, James."
And so Bucky lets her lean on him, almost all of her weight against him, as he leads her down to the staircase where Steve is waiting for them. He greets them with a nod, signaling them that they've done what they came in to do. Natasha gives him a weak smile and they all head for the main door. As Natasha walks away from Anya, she hears her cry loud at first which turn into hysteric hyperventilation then gradually quiets down into childish sobs. They are already out of the main door and on the steps when a gunshot echoes from inside. Bucky and Steve glance at Natasha and see her cry silently.
Author's Note:I think we can all agree that Black Widow's Red Room history is super rich. It's one of the best story lines in the comic books and it's just enticing to delve into it and inspiring to explore all the mystery and possibilities inside the Red Room.*