Chapter 11
And that's exactly what they did. Went looking for trouble. To start with they just drove around Russia. But then Rosie realised it was pointless. Russia was about the biggest country in the world, expanding over two continents, it would take years to search it, though they would if it meant they could find Natasha, not matter how brainwashed she was.
"I might have something." Rosie whispered, just so Alisa could hear it over the roar of the engine. "But... You know how I said I stay clear of Russia? It's because of this. It's a lead to the Red Room, where the X-Men and Avengers took down one of their bases." Alisa nodded and let Rosie continue to drive to this place.
Rosie was shaking. She couldn't go back there, could she? So many awful things had happened. To go back to the place was unfathomable, yet she knew she had to. It sounds cheesy, but to get Natasha back, she would do anything.
After another half hours tense drive Rosie stopped suddenly. "From here we go on foot." She said quickly. She didn't want her car damaged, and also the road ended there. They quietly picked their way through the landscape until they reached a building which didn't look like it had been touched since Rosie and the others had bombed it, all those years ago. Ivy grew over the crumbled walls, bricks lay on the ground untouched.
As they picked their way closer to the centre, Rosie saw a wall which had fallen in. "Hope... Kitty... Rogue... Mello..." Alisa didn't disturb her thoughts, or question in to what the names meant. Rosie pushed the mostly disintegrated rock aside, and carried on down the hallway, if you could still call it that, where she found the room Annabeth, Michael and the others had been kept in. The red head said their names in the same manner as the X-Men's and Mello's earlier. She hadn't seen them in years, they were probably all grown up now. Even little Anna, it made Rosie feel so old. Rosie pushed those thoughts aside and carried on, seeing the still-stained brown patches on the walls, and the bones which lay everywhere.
"YOU RED ROOM BASTARDS!" Rosie screamed putting the gun in its holster and snapping the nearest neck. She then pulled out her Katanas and sliced the remaining guards to pieces. Realising what she'd done she started to panic. The whole hall was covered in blood and body pieces. Amy nearly threw up at the sight and Mikey had to turn away. Angus however put on a brave face and walked through the puddle of blood and disembodied body parts.
Rosie leant against the wall struggling to breathe. She couldn't have a panic attack, not now! She hung her head between her knees as she fought to remain calm.
"Rosie... Rosie, I know you fear this, but it can never happen again. This place has been bombed, no one would be able to fight here. To the people you mentioned, you're a hero, you save their lives as well as many other people... Rosie... you're a hero."
Another memory came flooding back to Rosie, of only a few minutes later.
"Oh god oh god…" she whispered, "What have I become Angus?"
"A good person, a hero and the person we all knew you were from the moment we met you, well remember you," Angus told her, "We need you to help us get out of here."
Rosie came back in control of her breathing, her eyes stopped swimming, her head cleared a little. She was still crouched on the floor, but doubted her legs could hold her.
"Rosie, you okay?" Alisa whispered one final time before she heard soft footsteps coming ever nearer. She let a knife fall out her sleeve, and caught it, Rosie still too wrapped up in her own thoughts to notice, and pointed at the neck of the attacker. Rosie looked up, looking to reply to Alisa, but instead saw Alisa with a knife to the throat of the Black Widow wannabe she'd met in Budapest.
"Who are you? What do you want?" Alisa cried.
"I think your friend knows who I am, and I want to kill you." The woman said, looking back and forth between Rosie and Alisa's steely eyes.
"Belova..." Rosie whispered, then in an even lower voice said, "If we're going to find Romanoff, this is just like Budapest all over again." She then shakily stood up focusing on Belova.
Alisa screwed her face up in confusion before relaxing and shrugging. "You and I remember Budapest differently, if that's what you remember." Rosie's eyes widened. This truly was Clint and Natasha's daughter, she even knew their lines.
The two of them began to fight Belova, with Alisa doing most of the attacking, as Rosie was slightly shaky, though Rosie made a lot of moves that counted. She had experience, having fought the villain before, who knows how many years back. The two worked together almost naturally, Rosie thought she fought more like Natasha than Clint, she had the body shape to do so. Also, she had had Natasha train her, whereas Clint had never met her.
Alisa saw the chance and Rosie finished it off. The brunette was given a boost from a slightly higher brick that she had perched on, and grabbed Belova's neck with her thighs. "Go Stark," she said, struggling to hold on Rosie closed her eyes and shot Belova in the stomach as a further memory of that day came back to her.
"Rosie, Avengers save lives not take them," Cap told her.
"Breathe, Rosie, breathe," Alisa said again as Rosie's eyes swam back to reality. Rosie smiled weakly at the younger girl before both their heads snapped up and two pairs of eyes circled in on Belova.
"Your fall will come... The first Black Widow will rise again... Natalia will finish you... Where the Hawk almost finished her..." Belova died maniacally laughing.
On the way back Rosie and Alisa thought and thought. Where Hawk almost finished her... Rosie knew the only time Clint had almost killed Natasha was when they first met and he was ordered to kill her. The obvious thing to do was to call Clint, and ask him where he had first met Natasha but both of them had chucked their phones and phone boxes could be traceable. "Rosie... I might be being a bit inept, but who's the Hawk?"
"Inept?" Rosie asked.
"An idiot." Alisa explained, thinking of no better word. Maybe it wasn't the dictionary definition of inept, but she used it to mean that growing up.
"No, no it's fine. He's your dad. I would call him but..." Rosie trailed off, casting her eyes over, before letting them drift back to the road.
"We have no phones, and pay phones are traceable. Did it occur to you that if you knew his number, you could drive far away and then call him." Alisa finished for her.
"That's another problem." Rosie only knew her dad's number off by heart. She could call him and ask but what would She say, 'oh hi dad, I just want Clint's number because you know, trying to find Natasha. Sorry I've gone rogue, again. See you soon!' That sounded crap even in her head. Would her dad even still have Clint's number? Rosie was pretty sure they hadn't talked since May 10, 2016, the day the Avengers split up.
"Is he even still with S.H.I.E.L.D? Can't your super cool car do it?" Alisa was still mesmerized by the car. And J.A.R.V.I.S. probably could call Clint, who had left S.H.I.E.L.D. in 2017, not being able to stand being there without Natasha.
"Yeah actually... J.A.R.V.I.S; Can you call Clint and make the call untraceable? Alisa don't talk, you can meet him later, I want to do this quickly and explanations are not quick." Alisa nodded and J.A.R.V.I.S. called Clint.
"Hello?" Clint asked hoping it wasn't someone he didn't want to talk to. Too many people wanted to talk to him and mostly he really couldn't be bothered.
"Hey Birdbrain, where did you first meet Natasha?" Rosie smirked. She knew Clint wouldn't hang up on her.
"ROSIE!?" Clint cried, which made Rosie's smirk grow.
"Hallelujah it's moi. Answer the question, I'm kinda on the clock."
"Down some alley, edge of Sochi, west, by the sea, I think. There was a clock tower in a square a few streets away and the rooftops were close together. Why?" It wasn't an amazing description, but Rosie could work with it. It had been a long time ago.
"Because. Thanks Feathers, bye." Rosie cut off as Clint started to protest. "Sochi here we come," Rosie muttered, before hitting the gas.
Rosie sped along road after road as fast as the car would take them. She was breaking numerous laws but who gives a dam she does that nearly every week. Her job sometimes forces her to break laws. Beside her Alisa clung to the door for dear life causing a smirk to cross Rosie's face. After hours of being in a car with Rosie at the wheel and she still wasn't used to Rosie's crazy driving but mind you her friends, superhero friends my I add, back home hardly cope with her driving after years. So if superheroes hated being in a car with her when she's driving poor Alisa has no hope even if she is the daughter of Barton and Romanoff. She still couldn't get over the fact that they had a kid! Sure everyone knew they were sleeping together and then later, in a relationship but then they all thought it was impossible for Tasha to have kids! It's a bloody miracle this kids even here considering what the Red Room did to her. Pushing that to the back of her mind she focused on getting to Sochi as fast as she could. If what Belova said was true they had to get their quick so they could set up a plan. One thing though that was really bugging her was what she'd said.
"Natalia will finish you... Where the Hawk almost finished her..."
Why were the Red Room being so sentimental all of a sudden? Why did they want her dead? As far as she knew by killing her that would only give S.H.I.E.L.D., X-Men, Fantastic Four, her other superhero ties to attack Red Room and possibly for the Avengers to reassemble. Surely the Red Room knew this… they must want a war between themselves and nearly every god dam superhero in America (what she has a lot of superhero ties!) More importantly though do they know about Alisa? No she has enough time to think about this when they get Natasha back.
