"Are you really sure you're okay?" Ksenia asked Natasha as the two ran escape scenarios while they did a light workout.
"I'm fine, 'Sen, we need to be ready for anything," she responded as Ksenia ducked a swipe to her head. They were doing a light spar session as well to keep their energy up after having been cooped up in the small room for the past few days. Natasha had recovered a considerable amount but she still wasn't where she wanted to be. Her headaches had mostly passed and the dizziness went away the day after she woke up after the whole spinal fluid drain. She flinched as Ksenia's fist barely made contact with her abdomen but it was her own fault, her whole body felt sore. She was still stuck in her head after her dream a few nights ago. She felt like she was back at the tower and in Loki's arms. Everyone looked good, almost how she remembered them, save for their tired eyes. If she was to bet on it, she knew that it was probably real and due to her connection to Bobbi...if she was even still alive. She couldn't be sure, she really was missing her team more than she ever had.
"Hey, you okay?" Ksenia asked as she saw the far away look in Natasha's eyes. When her mother stopped the session and sighed in frustration, she knew she was thinking about her team again. "Do I have to be the adult one here and tell you to keep your chin up? We are getting out of here. You are going to get back to your team, and I'm going to get back to Juliette. And then we are going to figure out where to go from there."
Natasha smiled at her thankfully. "I know, I know, it's just that things keep…" she started before being cut off by company at the door. Their eyes shot over to the sudden intrusion and saw Arina and Ana standing there with guards behind them.
"No," Ksenia protested when they shoved her back and attempted to take Natasha into custody. "She's just now getting over what you assholes did to her last time! Give her a break!" she yelled until one of the guards used the butt of his gun to try and hit her in the temple. She grabbed the gun and used it to pull the guard towards her, where she skillfully kneed him in the groin and then jammed her elbow into his back as he doubled over, breaking his spine and instantly killing him. Natasha almost mirrored her although she managed to knock two guards down compared to Ksenia's one. By the time the ordeal was over, several more guards had surrounded the both and took their turns tasing Ksenia until she crumpled to the floor. The whole time, Natasha was trying to fight her way towards her but the grip Arina and Ana now had on her forced her towards the door. She was proud of getting some good blows on the two Triad members but she was concerned that she was able to affect them at all. In her experience over the past few weeks, they were usually untouchable; something was off with them.
She didn't stop struggling out in the hallway until she saw every guard who had entered the room, besides the ones they had killed, leave. A shaky sigh of relief left her and she took comfort in the fact that Ksenia could have endured much worse. "I take it Yuri wants to do another drain?" she asked, trying to distract herself from the look on Ksenia's face when she went down.
"Among other things," Ana said in an almost shaky breath. Natasha almost missed it, something was going on with the Triad today. "He won't be joining us today, he has some unfinished business after the death of your former teammate. Agent Morse I believe it was?"
No, she realized in horror as she came to the conclusion that Dove must have finally done his job. It had to have happened in the last few days. Or maybe she had succumbed to her injuries which allowed her to see the agent in her 'dream'. Thoughts on what she was going to do to Dove when she got out of here gave her a temporary distraction as they marched towards the lab.
"As soon as you are done, your little spawn is next," Ana threatened while digging her nails into the skin on her shoulder.
They needed to get out of here, things were lining up almost perfectly and she thought that today could be their chance. Something was off with Arina and Ana, and she only hoped that Yelena was with Yuri. When she saw Bucky in the lab, she would have to give him a signal. She could NOT go through another drain and be there to protect Ksenia at the same time.
When she got to the lab, she saw Bucky already strapped to the table, but with a new accessory this time. He had a metal cuff on, similar to the one she had that Loki and Tony had designed to pull her out of the 'time machine'. Her eyes were then drawn to his knuckles and saw that they were raw; he had been fighting. Looking at the two Triad that were leading her to a table next to him, she finally noticed that they were sporting a few bruises. She thought they couldn't bruise easily. Glancing back over to Bucky, their eye contact told each other that they were thinking the same thing, this was their chance. Just as she was about to make her move, a snap of cold metal ensnared her wrist and she realized that she had been cuffed too.
Shit, she thought, but she would have to worry about that later, whatever that was. They were going to get out of here. As the grip on her arms tightened and they led her to the table next to Bucky, she snapped. She snapped when she saw the third table being wheeled up by a guard, and she knew that it was going to be for Ksenia. They were going to bring her in after her and Bucky were being drained because… they were too weak to have grabbed her earlier.
She stopped walking then and froze. Somehow, the grip on her arms got just a little bit tighter and all seven of the guards took a few tense steps forward with their tasers drawn. She steadied her furious breathing and tried focusing on her pulse. If adrenaline was the key to making her stronger, she was going to have to master controlling it now rather than later. The small cracks of a smile formed in the corners of her mouth as she felt her pulse speed up as her excited heart beat just a little bit faster. Everyone in the room seemed to hold their breath until Natasha disrupted the silence in a flurry of movement.
She dropped her weight and the grip on her arms released in the confusion. Her best bet was to distance herself from Ana and Arina right now, at least until she could get Bucky out of his restraints. There was no way she could take everyone out by herself, and taking the time to get Bucky out wasn't going to be an easy option. So, she fought her way over to him and did her best to at least get his hands free so he could do the rest himself.
Guards who were unlucky enough to get close to her were thrown towards Ana and Arina to keep them off of her while she got Bucky's hands free. When she got that task done, she focused the rest of her attention back to the crowd around her. The room froze as Bucky rose behind her after freeing the rest of his body from the table. Natasha half turned to see the beginnings of a smile form on his lips as he stepped up beside her. She also could have sworn that she saw doubt flicker in the eyes of Ana and Arina. As the remaining guards steeled themselves for the fight, Bucky unleashed his fury and together they worked on the very skilled men. In the end, Natasha and Bucky came out ahead and went after the two Triad members. Bucky had pulled a grenade from the belt of one of the men and after pulling the pin and throwing it at the two women, he grabbed Natasha and flipped over the desk behind them, hurling Natasha over with him in an effort to take cover. The resulting explosion knocked Ana and Arina out much to their surprise, and the flurry of burning papers stunned Natasha for a moment. Bucky grabbed at one that landed next to him and scanned over it for a moment before showing Natasha and peeking his head over the desk.
Natasha scanned the document and smiled when she saw their location. It was somewhere in the Kolyma mountains in a base code named The Birdcage. When she realized that she had no way of letting anyone on the outside world know though, she crumpled the paper and threw it behind her as they rose and hurried from the lab. They burst from the room while they still had time with Natasha shouting at Bucky amidst the chaos of burning files and sparking equipment. They had surprised two guards outside the door who had come as backup but quickly took them down as they headed out of the danger behind them.
"A left here is where I think an exit is," Natasha said almost out of breath. "Im getting Ksenia first but you can..." she trailed off when Bucky simply glanced to where she pointed out the exit but remained hard on her heels. "...Or you can follow me," she finished in surprise at his decision. Natasha retraced her steps and in their hurry almost ran into another group of guards. Bucky grabbed her and pushed her into a small alcove in the wall, hiding themselves in the shadows with their bodies pressed together. The guards rushed passed, clearly on their way to find them with their weapons ready. With Bucky now pressed against her, she couldn't help but feel a tinge of fear. How would he react to meeting Ksenia? Would his mind snap and he hurt her? The coldness of the hallway seeped back in when Bucky moved back into the light and she snapped back to attention, following him for a moment before taking the lead again.
They just knew they were going to meet trouble when they got closer to the room. Waiting for them was a very serious looking task force. They looked to be the best that the Red Room had to offer, apart from the Triad that was. Both assassins took a deep breath before working together once again to get to the door imprisoning their daughter. Bucky made it to the door first and wrenched it open, only to be met with Ksenia springing from the opening and slamming her body into his, knocking him to the ground before fighting to take him out.
"Ksenia!" Natasha shouted when she saw Ksenia on top of him, "That's Bucky, he's on our...shit that hurt...side!" she called as she caught a taser to her back before twisting and ripping it from the man's grasp. She shoved it into the man's side, partially impaling him, and left it there before pushing him into two more men behind him. Another glance back showed Ksenia now helping Bucky to his feet before Bucky swinging Ksenia behind him and taking a bullet to his arm. He was okay, but very pissed off now. With the three of them, they managed to get enough distance behind them to run back the way they came in search of the possible exit Natasha had noticed.
When the door came into view, they couldn't believe their luck when the handle turned and light flooded into the dim hallway. As soon as the door opened, a gush of frigid air smacked right into the trio. From the looks of it, they were up very high, it had to be somewhere in the mountains just like that paper had said.
"Lets go," Natasha demanded, She wanted to put as much distance between the base and them as they could, even if that meant running into the unknown where they could possibly die. Death was better than the monstrosities of the Red Room. Their tension mounted as they half ran, half limped their way down the pavement and into the rocky wilderness before them.
"Mom, slow down," Ksenia panted.
Damn, I don't know if ill ever get used to being called that, Natasha thought. "We have to hurry, I don't know what's going on with Ana and Arina, but we are screwed when they wake up."
"No," Ksenia argued, "We are screwed if we rush ourselves right off a cliff."
Natasha looked back at her and then met Bucky's eyes. The light in them seemed to be agreeing with Ksenia and Natasha couldn't help but smile; it was smart of him not to say anything. And then, seemingly out of nowhere, a shot rang out as a bullet grazed her thigh and she fell hard into the snow.
"Natasha!" Bucky yelled as he dropped to her side and pulled her up, looking around wildly at the source of the attack. When he looked back at the wound and saw that it wasn't life threatening, he grabbed Ksenia and shoved her behind him next to Natasha. Natasha could tell that he was having just as hard of a time as she was looking for where the shot came from. When a mound of snow seemed to move, it was then that they realized there were sharpshooters dressed in full winter white gear who almost appeared as one with the snow.
Natasha gave the command to run as soon as several more shots kissed the snow around them. Their footprints ran through the crimson where Natasha had fallen and they shot towards the easiest path they could see. It only took minutes until they were soaking wet from the snow. It clung to the scarce clothing they had and they could only hope the cold wouldn't get them.
"Shit, we need a plan!" Natasha yelled as she looked for anything that could help them. All she saw was white and grey rock, as well as a powerful river that seemed to cut through the mountain below them as they ran alongside the cliff. As she dragged Ksenia along as they ran after Bucky, she found herself yanked back as her daughter pulled her into a small dip in the rock before calling to Bucky to wait. Ksenia ripped off a piece of her shirt while Bucky seemed to shield them, and tied it around her leg to keep the bleeding at bay.
"There's no point in running if they can just follow our trail," the young girl pointed out as she gave a final tug on the binding.
"Thanks 'Sen," she muttered before cursing herself; she should have realized sooner. She put her hand on Ksenia's shoulder and peered around a very impatient Bucky. "We need to move, who knows how many…"
"What's that?" Ksenia interrupted when she saw the metal cuff on her wrist, and then on Bucky's as well. "Could that be a tracker?" she wondered as Bucky's gaze snapped back to look at her and Natasha with slight concern.
"Whatever it is," he began, "we don't exactly have time to worry about that right now. There's bound to be dozens of Red Room agents on our trail and we have no idea where we are going or how to get off this damn mountain."
"Agreed," the women said in unison before following Bucky back into the harsh wind. The three stepped up their pace and then started to get slightly more concerned when they ran into no more agents after a few minutes of running. Their concern reached a peak when they stumbled upon another snipers nest. No one had bothered following them because this cursed mountain was covered in agents to protect against this kind of escape.
A single shot rang out and Bucky had barely caught Ksenia from falling when yet another rang out and hit him in the same spot as Ksenia, right in the shoulder. Natasha hit the ground right behind them after dodging a shot that sent frozen rock and dirt spraying into the air around them. She grabbed Ksenia and Bucky both, struggling to drag them around one of the large boulders behind them. Her grip on the cold metal of Bucky's arm lessened when he shook off the surprise and helped her move Ksenia.
"Im fine," Ksenia grimaced when her back hit the frozen rock, "I've had worse."
Bucky held a finger to his lips to silence her before suddenly skirting around the rock and looking for where the dangers were. Natasha slinked up behind him and saw him tense up from her presence before relaxing slightly and pointing out two snipers about 40 yards ahead of them. He motioned for Natasha to go for the one on the left and after a few seconds of strategizing, they sprung from their hiding spots and made it to their targets without injury. She managed to take out the agent in white in seconds, smiling when she scored a new handgun in the process. Glancing in the direction Bucky went, he seemed to emerge with a new toy as well.
A new gunshot rang out and echoed amongst the mountains, squashing their small victory and causing them to hurry back over to Ksenia when they couldn't pinpoint where the source came from. They found her in the same spot, but this time another agent dressed in white laid at her feet, staining the snow with crimson as the life drained from him from a single bullseye shot to the forehead.
"It wasn't me!" Ksenia yelled in surprise as Bucky pulled her up and behind him before setting off again. Ksenia fought against his protection, not used to the one being protected anymore until Bucky half turned to glare at her. A defiant stare from her caused Bucky to roll his eyes in annoyance before rushing along. Natasha was hard on their heels as she struggled not to let the fear in. Was that shot aimed at Ksenia and the guy got in the way? Or was there a friendly in the midst? Based on the perfect shot to the man's forehead, she leaned more towards there being a friendly on their tail, maybe even the mole. Either way, they had to keep moving, especially with how much blood was coming from Ksenia's shoulder. Bucky on the other hand seemed unaffected by the pain although it was also bleeding.
A rush of commotion then startled them, and another white form seemed to spring from a snowbank to their left and crashed into Ksenia, rolling her onto the ground. Before Natasha or Bucky could react, another form sprang from the same spot when they were distracted and grabbed Natsaha, pulling her backwards before stabbing a knife into her side.
"That's for earlier," a voice sneered, venom dripping from Ana's lips as she twisted the blade before ripping it out and throwing her into Bucky who was going for Arina and Ksenia. Instead of slowing her down, the pain anger that radiated from her body steered her back towards Ana, trusting Bucky to take care of Ksenia. She crashed into her with as much force as she could convene and they hit the ground rolling. Remembering her gun, she pulled it from her waistband while she had Ana pinned down and wasted no time in emptying three of its bullets into her stomach. Ana screamed in pain and rage before choking on the blood that was now spilling from her mouth. Natasha, glancing at her own side, noticed herself already starting to slightly heal and smiled in relief.
With no regret in her entity, Natasha lifted herself off of her old Red Room sister and turned back towards Ksenia. She noticed that Arina was a little further down the trail, presumably where Bucky had just thrown her when she locked eyes with Ksenia. Horror reflected back in the lavender orbs as they seemed to stare at a spot behind Natasha. Before she could react, Ana's weight crashed into her as she felt the assassins legs wrapped around her waist and teeth bite into her neck as they hit the ground. She let out a pained yell when she felt her blood running down her neck and down her side as she fought to throw the woman off. When she finally managed, she grabbed her neck to staunch the bleeding and looked at Ana in bewilderment as the sounds of fighting went on behind her. Her blood dripped from the woman's wicked smiling lips, and then she noticed the bullet wounds to her middle begin to close.
A tinge of fear crept in at what this meant; her blood could cure them. She tried to play it off by making a snarky vampire joke before attacking again but then realized that Ana was motioning towards her leg. Natasha looked down and saw a syringe sticking out, and then grunted as Ana shot her in the arm with the gun that had almost killed her moments before. When the healing didn't set in, she realized that it was an adrenaline blocker that had to have been pumped into her. And then is seemed like Ana had given up. She had turned away from Natasha and headed towards the fight with Bucky and Ksenia against Arina. Natasha wondered why and then barely heard it, but the air above her suddenly seemed to thicken as the air rushed around something, so she threw herself to the side to avoid whatever it was, and then she saw her.
"Yelena."
After sizing her up, she realized that she wasn't affected by whatever was up with the other two, and that was a problem. She took one last look towards Ksenia and saw that that Ana had tipped the odds in favor of the Triad; Ksenia and Bucky were losing after being injured so much.
"Nataliaaa," Yelena sang out, snapping her back to attention just in time to avoid getting hit. As the two went at it, it was clear that Natasha was not going to make it out of there without further injury. She was barely even affecting Yelena, but Yelena was raining serious blows upon her. When Yelena produced a small dagger, she tried her hardest to avoid the blade. Yelena's strength and training quickly gained her the upper hand and soon, Natasha had fallen.
Cuts, bruises, and bumps littered her body like a painted mosaic and the pain kept her pushed into the scarlett stained snow. She could only watch as Yelena left her to struggle, and walked over to Ksenia and helplessly dragged her next to Natasha as Bucky tried his hardest to fight her off. Arina managed to subdue him long enough for Ana to get a hold of him as well and drag him next to Natasha. A blow to Ksenia's head managed to knock her out and Natasha saw daggers of hate reflect in Bucky's eyes towards the Triad. When he was forced to admit defeat, he looked down into the snow in anger, and noticed just how much red seemed to stain it from Natashas wounds, and now Ksenia's. His head snapped back up then and met her eyes, and worry replaced the anger. That much red in the snow was not a good thing, Natasha was hurt, but the look she was giving him told him that she could handle it, but that they needed to submit to the Triad in order to keep Ksenia from getting anymore hurt. They were at the point now where they couldn't fight off the Triad.
When Natasha coughed blood into the snow, Bucky had had enough, and reached his hand towards hers and turned over her damaged knuckles. His hand then made it to her wrist and stared deep into Natasha's eyes, trying to get her to focus for just a moment before looking to Ksenia. When he then glanced to the Triad deep in conversation above then made quick eye contact with her again, Natasha tried her hardest to focus and blink the blackness from her vision. Bucky's gaze found the edge of the cliff and then Natasha understood; he was going to pull them over. When he looked back at her as if asking her permission, it only took a glance to her daughter and back that told him that they would rather die going off the cliff than going back to the base for more of Yuri's twisted experiments.
His grip on her wrist tightened and then his other hand shot towards Ksenia's in a matter of seconds. He pulled and launched himself backwards and over the cliff and the three fell. They could hear the yells of protest fade above them as they free fell onto a surprise ledge about fifty yards down. The landing knocked the wind out of them but the fall was cushioned by the pillow of accumulated snow, which was now surrounding them and hiding them from view. They lay beneath the white while trying their hardest not to move so their breath could come back as well as hope that the snow would blend in with the terrain and foggy river below them, which was actually what Bucky had aimed for. It was sheer luck that they landed on an outcropping. Natasha only hoped that her bleeding wouldn't stain the snow-blind above her.
After several minutes of laying there invisible, Natasha heard Bucky rise from the snow, so she followed. A few seconds of panic set in when they couldn't find Ksenia but Bucky was the first one to find her as they quickly dug around. She was still out cold, so Bucky helped Natasha to her feet before picking Ksenia up bridal style. He moved them closer to the cliff and out of sight, there was no doubt in any of their minds that the Red Room wouldn't still be looking for them; it would find them dead or alive. Another stroke of luck hit them when there was a small trail that led them away from the ragged edge of the cliff. It led them down and away from the Triad so they took it, even though it was rough going with everyone injured to some degree.
Ten minutes had flown by and they had hardly made any distance when Ksenia started to stir. Bucky stopped to lower her to the ground and a pang of concern struck him when Natasha carefully collapsed onto the cold ground next to her. He could tell that Natsaha was hurting but she was holding it back just like they used to back in the day. Memories of his time in the Red Room suddenly breached the surface and a pang of fear caused him to shiver. One look to Natasha though squashed that fear when her knowing gaze met his.
"Bucky…" Natasha began.
He shook his head and then knelt beside them. "I'm fine. I've got more control over this than ive had in awhile."
Natasha was concerned, she couldn't handle a relapse right now, especially when she was injured the way she was. But, the way he looked at her and Ksenia convinced her that maybe he was telling the truth. Besides, she was kind of stuck with him at the moment, there was no one else that could get them out of there…
"Loki!" she yelled into the sky, praying that he would hear her and come get them out of this hell hole.
"Shhhh," Bucky shushed as he roughly slapped his hand over her mouth, "they might hear us!"
Natasha pulled his arm away while shooting him a glare that seemed to say 'don't ever do that again' before whispering back to him. "Loki can find us and get us out of here. He's always found me…"
"Oh yeah?" he said motioning around, "then why didn't he come the moment we got out of there?"
"He's right," Ksenia said chiming in. She was finally coming to and a sigh of relief escaped both Natasha and Bucky.
"Sen!" Natasha wrapped her arms around her carefully. Ksenia did the same before sitting herself up and examining her injuries. Overall, she was pretty okay apart from the blow to her head she had received that knocked her out cold.
Ksenia looked them both up and down before looking around to where they were. "You both look like shit," she said playfully. "Where the hell are we? Where is the Triad?"
Natasha looked to Bucky thankfully before shakily standing. The wounds to her neck and thigh oozed just as fiercely as her knife wound, but she forced the pain to the back of her mind to try and think more clearly. "Bucky pulled us over the cliff, he saved our asses momentarily but we have to get a move on. They are bound to find us soon."
"Wait," Ksenia uttered as she grabbed Natasha's wrist to look at the cuff. "What if this isn't a tracker. I mean, it probably still is but what if it's made from the same thing that is keeping Loki from getting to us?"
Hope flickered into Natashas mind as she pulled her arm back. "Ksenia, you don't have one, call Loki..."
BOOM! The snow and rock around them exploded into fire and chaos as they all flew back from the force of it in opposite directions. Natasha's back exploded in pain as she hit the rock wall and then she cringed when she saw Ksenia do the same. Bucky was spared but it looked like he got burned from whatever bomb was thrown down at them.
"Ksenia, call him!" Natasha yelled to her, but the confusion in her gaze told her that she must have a concussion. "Shit! Bucky, grab her, we need to go now!"
Bucky scrambled back over to them and did as he was told while Natasha pulled herself up, but then fell again. Shit, she muttered when she realized that a piece of stone was sticking out of her lower back. She inwardly counted to three before pulling it out and gasping from the pain that followed. It was loud enough for Bucky to turn around with Ksenia propped up against him. He went to put her down when he saw the stone in Natashas hand as well as the wound she had pulled it from when Natasha stopped him.
"No," she protested, "you take care of her, dont worry about me, im fine." To really drive it home, she threw the shard down and took point, summoning all the energy that she had left to do so. Loki, please feel her. Please feel Ksenia and get her the hell out of here!
Meanwhile, back at the tower, things weren't going any better for the team. With their new members composing of Skye, Fitz, and Jemma Simmons from the SHIELD team, Tony and Loki had explained to Fitz everything that they could about the 'shield' that kept Loki out. Frustration ran rampant because Fitz still didn't really have anything to go on, and Jemma wasn't of much help since she wanted to do some testing on Bobbi. Skye ran between the two but ultimately sat back until she was needed and talked with Darcy.
Loki was the most annoyed out of all of them. Wires ran from all over his body as Fitz did his testing, and when Jemma finally joined him, she poked and prodded at him as she excitedly as well as nervously took blood samples from the god. He was starting to get antsy but he got his escape in the worst way yet; someone was calling him and he knew just who it was.
Standing up and ripping the wires from his body, he yelled for the pack he was supposed to bring just in case. Darcy and Skye had taken to calling it the 'Oh Shit Pack' although no one else was. It was full of 'just in case' items and although he had protested against it at first, he saw sense in it.
"Give me the bag!" he yelled when he couldn't immediately see it in his frantic scan of the room. Just as he was about to say 'screw it', Clint tossed it to him and he was off. What worried him was that it wasn't Natasha that he felt, but Ksenia… Thea. He only hoped that this wouldn't be another dead end like the last time. When he landed, he was immediately disoriented as snow coated everything around him. The sunlight split through the clouds and then he saw the red that now coated the snowy, ash covered rock. She must be moving fast, he thought as he followed the half obliterated trail to hopefully find the girl that he had once buried. When he heard what sounded like a bomb going off, he hurried towards the sound as carefully as he could. He stupidly noticed that he was on the edge of a cliff with a long way to fall if he took the wrong step.
When he felt Ksenia calling out to him again, he apparated as the fear in that voice flooded every fiber of his being. In a matter of seconds, a gorgeous red haired, lilac eyed spitting image of Natasha invaded his field of view as he grabbed her and pulled her close, ready to get her out of this place. Her burgundy dyed hair had faded and it left her looking more like Natasha than ever. Instead of leaving at that moment, he caught her distracted gaze to something behind him. He turned quickly, putting the girl behind him and saw her. Natasha was there and he could almost reach her…
"No!" he yelled as he stood there and watched the blade pierce her porcelain skin.
"Mom!" the girl behind him choked out in a sob which seemed to shatter his already broken heart all over again.
Yelena had gained the upper hand once again and drove her dagger through Natashas back. She held her there, facing the two as they watched the blade disappear from Natashas chest as it was pulled from her back.
Loki ran towards them, but after only a few steps, two more women appeared before him. One of them threw a small device into his face and after a small blinding explosion, pain gripped his entire being. A powdery substance coated his senses as he coughed in an effort to get his breath back. He became so disoriented and out of touch with the world that he didn't even know what was what anymore. Vaguely, he heard the sound of someone else crash into them as he fought through the pain to get to Natasha. He dropped down beside her and to his dismay, Ksenia had followed him and tackled Yelena away from them.
"Natasha!" he yelled as he grabbed and held onto her like he had wished he had done all of his life. He could tell that she was finding it hard to focus but when she finally did, she smiled at him through blood stained teeth.
Another explosion rocked the cliff that they were on and Loki whirled around, blinking his own pain from his eyes as he frantically searched for Ksenia in the chaos. He saw Natashas old comrade, James, or Bucky as he was called today, pulling a now unconscious Ksenia away from the red haired Yelena. She started advancing on them, so he focused as hard as he could to use his magics to blast her off of the cliff. The green blast he produced was nowhere near as strong as he wanted it to be due to the effects of the powder that had exploded in his face, but it did the trick. The other two women regarded him warily before backing away and taking off behind where Yelena had gone over.
He coughed in unison with Natasha as fear flooded his body. "Natasha, dont you do this to me again!"
Another cough from the red head brought Bucky over and Loki's nature set him on edge as he wiped at his face to get the powder off. He held Natasha then as Bucky dropped beside them and assessed the damage. Loki wanted nothing more than to push him away but he was clearly on their side, and he had witnessed him protecting Ksenia, who was still unconscious.
"Loki," Natasha whispered as she reached out a hand to his face. It reminded him of when Bobbi had done that, when he knew it was Natasha speaking through her.
"Shhh, don't try to speak, I'm going to get us out of here," he pleaded as his eyes made contact with Bucky. Bucky looked at him and shook his head, showing him his wrist, and then Natasha's. Immediately he knew that that cuff would prevent him from projecting them out of there. "No," he whispered in horror. Here she was, right here in his arms, dying, and he couldn't do anything about it. "Natasha, I can't, I can't do this again. I don't want to lose you."
A faraway look entered Natashas gaze but her words spoke to him clear as day. "Take Ksenia somewhere safe," she choked out. She had said the same exact thing the night Ksenia was born; it seemed as if that phrase was seared into his soul. It was something he could never forget.
"No, Natasha. I'm not leaving you here." Again, he knew that he had lived in this moment before and his heart was shattering all over again. The desperation in his voice pleaded with her to get up. He knew though that the Red Room wouldn't let her die, they needed her… right? Yuri was just making some sort of a statement at the lengths that he would have his people go to keep Natasha under his control. He would have to leave her in order to save her.
Natasha pulled her hand away and pointed to where Ksenia was laying close to Bucky's side. "Get her out of here, and don't bring her back, no matter how much she begs."
Loki was at a loss, he didn't want to leave her. He looked to Bucky for guidance but the same desperation Natasha had in her eyes reflected back into Buckys. A horde of voices then sounded from the other side of the rock and he realized that he didn't have much time. "I'm coming back for you. Quickly though, I need some blood so we can keep an eye on you. Miss Morse is connected to you and can see some things that you see." He pulled the pack off of his back and withdrew several syringes. Like he was shown, he carefully extracted some of her blood and then put them into his pocket. He withdrew another device and then handed the pack to Bucky. Before he could press the button on the device like he was meant to, another powder bomb went off before them and disorientation took over once again.
"Go now!" Bucky shouted as he all but pushed Loki towards Ksenia. "Tell your friends we are in the Kolyma mountains in a place called The Birdcage!" Several more bombs sailed around them and Loki watched Bucky then shield Natasha with his body before they detonated. Despair and anger filled his senses when the tracker device was caught in an explosion, but he had no other choice but to grab onto Ksenia and get her out of there. He grabbed her bruised hand and then pulled her into his arms. He focused as hard as he could, but he just couldn't get his powers to work. Pain flooded his senses when he tried and he was having trouble feeling his new friends back at the tower. The powder in the bombs must have been engineered to work against his powers and he briefly wondered if he would be able to make it out of there. He was also being pulled back to Natasha, he just couldn't leave her there again, and when his eyes found her dimming ones, he was ready to just surrender so he could spend even just a few more minutes with her.
"What...what's going on?" the voice in his arms asked as Ksenia started to come to.
He was startled back to reality and tried to focus again. Summoning even more strength, he felt himself begin to move even though the pain was almost blinding. He couldn't feel where he was going, but as long as it was away from here, away from Natasha, it would all be okay… away from Natasha. He just couldn't; he did it once before and it eventually turned him into a monster. He had to stay with her, he just had to.
"Mom? mom no!" Ksenia argued as she started to struggle. She watched Bucky try to drag her mother towards safety as smoke started to rise around them. The blood red snow struck horror into her consciousness when she remembered what had happened, so she struggled to get out of Loki's grasp. Her protests made Bucky hurriedly rush over to them and when he grabbed a pressure point on Ksenia's neck, she was rendered unconscious again.
"Go! Now!" Bucky shouted as the Triad rushed back into the clearing after regrouping with more men. The look of Yelena's face glared in rage as she moved toward Loki and Ksenia, she couldn't let the daughter of the Black Widow go free. Bucky rushed towards Yelena to give them time to escape but as Loki looked back over to Natashas unmoving form, he couldn't help but say 'screw escape' and grabbed onto the feeling of her. With all of his power, he focused and pulled at her as hard as he could, and as he screamed through the blinding agony, he confusedly disappeared from the mountain and collapsed with Ksenia on a cold, hard floor with a groan.
The room smelled familiar as he tried to get his breath back from the pain, and when he did, he looked up to see Darcy Lewis and Tony Stark fall to the ground in front of him.
"Oh god, Nat!" Tony yelled when he saw the blood and soot covered red head still in Loki's arms. He tried pulling her from Loki's arms, but Loki wouldn't budge. Tony then looked at the pained gaze of Loki and followed it towards Bobbi who had a similar look of torment in her eyes.
It was then that Loki understood. The moment he saw Bobbi's face and felt her being, he realized that she was the closest thing on this earth that was Natsaha. The look on Bobbi's face told him that she could feel it too. They couldn't feel Natasha, and it wasn't because of the cuff.
"Wait," Darcy said as she looked closer at the girl in Loki's arms, "this isn't Natasha, this is Thea."
"Her name is Ksenia," Loki said as he broke his heartbroken gaze with Bobbi. He looked back down at her and then pulled her closer into a hug as the dam behind his eyes finally broke. When Tony asked where Natasha was as he stared at the spitting image of her in the gods arms, Bobbi spoke for him.
"She's...gone."