A/N: Prepare yourselves for this update folks...Sending love your way today and always! :)

"Hey! Chica,' Lucy opens the door to the office, met with silence upon her entry, 'Agent Hill?"

She steps further inside with a weary glance, moving toward the open computer first and then paces the office. She charges from the room and dashed back toward the lobby. Spotting her friend she steps up to her;

"Hey wait up. What's going on?"

Izabella turns to give Lucy a hug;

"Agent Hill and I, we going to field."

Lucy's eyes widen, "Yeah so are we."

Brody pushes forward shaking his head, "We're not letting you go alone."

Maria waves for the younger teen to follow, "Come on, we're gonna miss our window. If you're all coming, then come. We need to go, now! Don't plan on fighting directly. You all need to take orders is that clear?!"

The kids cheer over being accepted with the agent standing beside them. Maria can't help but smile a bit over their ambition.

Darcy coughs, "Ehem, not to be a Debbie downer here- but I can fit about 6 in the Prius..."

Lucy waves dismissively, draping an arm over Izabella's shoulder;

"Ok how many can illegally fit in your car?"

Maria widens her eyes and holds her head, "No one is getting in the Prius!"

Garrett points his thumb over his shoulder;

"Or we take the emergency Stark jet."

Darcy crosses her arms, "That's great you guys, except, we don't have a pilot."

Garrett raises his hand, "Actually..."

Lucy shoots him down with a point, "No! You're not driving us. You're a kid."

"Flying is," Riley corrects with her arms crossed.

Garrett snaps, "I'm 16 Lucy! Which technically makes me one year older then you."

Ian raises his hands, "I'll drive! Happy?"

"Ehem. Fly?" Riley corrects.

Maria raises a hand to take command of the room. She presses forward and stands over the steps in a wide stance, not quite feeling herself. She pushes through;

"Everyone shut up and listen! I'm flying! Im a licensed pilot and I will be taking control of this situation. You all need to take this seriously! We are walking into an active battle..."

Riley coughs, "Flying into...?"

"Alright wise ass- ugh. I mean-"

Riley raises a thumbs up and nods. Lucy brushes in off for the team;

"Move along. Mom swears, I've heard it's all. Keep going."

Maria shuts her eyes, "You all need to focus on the assignments given. Zero in on the targets, dismiss the world. It could get ugly. This isn't target practice, this is war. The criminals we're dealing with- technically two can snatch your abilities. Keep your guard up and trust no one but me, Fury and the Avengers. Avoid the Hulk- we've never tested him on you all and I don't plan on having this be the first introduction- I'm looking at you Garrett! Support your teammates. And for gods sake listen?! Can you do that?!"

Lucy raises her arm, over their opportunity, inciting the crowd;

"One for all and all for one!"

She groans, "Okay! I'm in charge! Not Lucile."

Ian raises his arm for a tentative sarcastic chant with a focus on Darcy;

"Let's send ourselves and these kids...to their doom?!"

Darcy nudges him fiercely.

Brody raises an arm as he translates it to a positive chant, urging his friends to follow and repeat;

"To our dooms!"

The cheers erupt, Darcy holds her head and hides her face from the crew that surrounds her, "Okay! Fine! To our dooms, yay...but if Natasha asks, I was against this the whole time!"

Riley raises an eyebrow and rests an arm over Darcy's shoulder;

"What if Hulk asks?"

Darcy snaps, "If you send the Hulk on me, I so swear to earth sun and sky almighty I will smash you into the ground myself!"

She laughs and points to Lucy, "She has two to sick on you."

Izabella shakes her head, quiet for the majority of the discussion as she finally speaks, "Hulk is misunderstood. Vrach Banner always inside. Not to revolt against order-"

Lucy gives her friend's neck a squeeze, "Green's just a color. He knows us."

Maria whistles to silence the crowd to which they obey immediately and follow her direction as she leads the team out the back.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Jameson navigates his keyboard frantically, running out of ideas even with his submitted information. He calls in his favors with their clock running low. His eyes flicker an aqua blue over impending danger on the bridge. The director motions over Jameson's subtle hints. He turns upon his recognition;

"Grenade!"

. * . * . * . * .

She-Hulk pauses in her attack with her green eyes drawn upward toward the craft as it explodes above. Her roar echoes through the city, charging forward with the Captain to find and track the injured. The corner of her lip quivers in disgust, teetering between anger and concern.

Steve holds his com, "Jameson! Fury! Do you copy?!"

Barton pulls from Romanoff's trail;

"I gotta-"

"Go Clint! I've got this."

She nods and continues to run with the goons on her tail. The hulk tears the street in his wake, wiping out each Asgardian beast without a second thought.

Barton runs to catch up with the team, Fury's figure barely spotted through the rubble. The archer pushes forward with the Captain as they search. Walters keeps her head up, releasing the breath she's been holding only once she hears a howl. She pivots and scans for her prey. She waits, bang falling over her snarling expression as she spots Crusher taking the form of her green counterpart. Lifting an abandoned taxi she presses forward and thrusts it aggressively toward her enemy;

"Identity theft is a crime asshole!"

Rogers dives head first into the rubble and aides Jameson in lifting a shorter agent from under the dust. Barton lifts the additional rubble around the director;

"What happened?"

Nick frowns, brushing off the dust as he continues to move forward;

"Grenade."

Rogers pants heavily, "How many were on that ship."

Jameson shakes his head, an agents arm wrapped over his neck as he aides her to her feet;

"Fifty. But we got this Cap."

Clint scoffs, "You're our last techy hope when it comes to this damn hole."

John shakes his head, "Yeah well. Without software that's a useless skill. And I don't think Fury needs my wolf side right now."

Steve looks up, "Do you hear that?"

Clint shrugs, "Choppers?"

The director nods, "It's Hill..."

The archer snaps, "What?!"

"She wanted a job, I gave it to her."

Rogers shakes his head, "That's louder then a chopper..."

With a gust of wind the large fighter jet enters the space with it's cloaking suddenly lifted. Nick addresses the group;

"The Calvary has arrived."

Clint's eyebrows raise over the visual. John lifts an arm over the opened door to their nearby craft. He waves toward the blue haired figure with her friends behind her;

"Oh hey it's my baby girl!"

Steve stutters, "Uh...the kids?!"

Barton chuckles, "So? Don't say that too loud. Brody's about to laser focus your head off."

The Captain dodges the boy in flight. Thor shouts from on top the building;

"Yes! My adopted son has arrived!"

Lucy gives her dad a wink as they land close enough to the site, a hovering helicopter nearby. Izabella calls in an attempt to reach the main craft and switch out. Darcy tumbles forward, guarded with her head tucking low as she reaches Nick;

"For the record, this was not my idea. Maria's in charge."

Barton shakes his head and fires an arrow toward the incoming beast;

"You're gonna need a good lawyer Hill-"

She retorts brazenly from the craft, "Shut up."

Fury waves his agents to follow and moves toward the craft with an intention of taking over. Lucy lifts an eyebrow;

"Oh, you think you're still calling the shots?"

The director narrows his focus with a firm tone;

"You wanna keep your job? You're responsible for the fallen agents, teammates and pedestrian casualties. You wanna make that call to the government and share the final numbers?"

She bites her lip and removes herself from his way. Pointing toward the smaller minions she divides the group;

"Hey! Maria gave me info; air team spot Brody. Ground team! We split in two. Tommy leads team A team B with me!"

Hill steps forward with a crooked smile, Fury brushes past addressing Darcy and Ian;

"You plan on helping?"

The two-some salute. He nods;

"Good. Get a space ready for Jameson to work. Stark?"

He speaks over the com, "What up."

He snaps, "You're in charge of the kids. Widow lost her com."

Tony laughs, "Oh fun! Hey Grandpa Steve! Wanna babysit?!"

Rogers' voice sounds tired as he pants over his com, "Huh?! Did I hear you right?! The KIDS are here?!"

Lucy holds her recently installed com. She adjust the piece within her ear;

"I can hear ya Old Man. You got a problem with a young Joan of Arc with her own army?"

He scoffs, "That's...way older then me kiddo."

Maria steps past with a determined expression, "The bridge is yours Director. Izabella is ready to help where she can. The rest of the team is under Lucy's thumb."

Nick breaks into a smirk over the eagerness in Lucy;

"Oh I'm aware."

He spots Izabella with her own willingness to help, hanging back on the bridge with her bandaged hands and wide blue eyes.

Jameson enters with his tattered outfit, far too dumbfounded over the encounter to process. He pauses with a friend over his shoulder who the medics swarm to aid. He points;

"She's the warper?! She's 12!"

Izabella nods with a sincere expression, "Let me help. I am 13"

"Thirteen..."

Nick chimes in, "She saved us all last time. She's been studying with Banner since she joined. Give us the codes Izabella. Do your thing and help John where you can."

John sighs, thoughts on his own daughter;

"...Alright kid. Let's see what you've learned...here's what I need..."

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Lucy takes her position beside Clint who smiles to himself. He can't help but correct;

"Fix your shoulder, wider stance."

She smirks with an eye roll, "Yeah, yeah...Brody's doing a fly over-"

"Duck."

"Goose."

"You...turd."

"Asshole."

They fire back to back, a moment Barton is sure to take in as his student applies the lessons she's only begun during the course of the week. Her leadership and skill with the bow remains everything he was ever hoping for.

"Told ya you didn't need powers."

She raises a brow, "Let's see what happens after sunset."

He scoffs, "I hope we're out of here before then. At your age I was just breaking out of the circus."

She contorts her mouth with a shrug in between firing her arrows;

"Circus huh? Teach me acro sometime."

"Doing okay?"

"I'm great!"

He nods, seeing a young Natasha Romanoff in her determination and eager expression.

"I'm moving forward, watch my back," he winks. She replies with her own.

"With pleasure."

. * . * . * . * . * .

"After all the hoops you've jumped through to hide your identity...confronting you on the roof of an abandoned building? It was the last place I thought we'd meet."

Olga stammers over the sudden presence of a fully uniformed Black Widow. She stumbles briefly;

"What do you mean."

Natasha forces the upper hand. With a dismissing of all motherly connection, her curls sway in the breeze. The cuts on her face exposed to the air as he rushes past. Slowly she steps forward and takes her stances with a disappointing shake of her head;

"Releasing Alexei- that was bold."

Olga grits her teeth over being exposed. A look of disgust over her face since she'd been pinned by the no nonsense assassin;

"You're brave Romanova. I'll give you that..."

Natasha glances downward, the flames behind her as her new home burns to the ground from the amount of hero's clashing and wrestling. She brushes a stray hair from her cheek with her voice calm and collected;

"Was it worth it. All of this."

Olga shouts her eyes with a refusal to look Natasha in the eyes, "It's necessary to keep the metas from going off. They are dangerous Natalia. You don't know about their programming, how they were created, they are designed to turn on you. With the Avengers on their side, you have become the enemy."

Natasha glances downward toward her boot with no desire to fight her friend;

"That's the thing about people Olga, young and old. They can change...for the better. Where would I be."

"This is different-"

"I was created to kill. But I...decide my own path. You are out of Black Ops you have a choice to make-"

Her expression changes with her hands on a mechanical trigger. She shakes her head, "I can't Natalia. They're a threat. You don't have all of information and you won't listen-"

"You had a chance to share it. Hurting the kids- my kids, isn't the answer. Threatening me is one thing. Kidnapping my girls? Sending my ex out to kill me?! You've drawn a line I can't cross."

"Our countries are at risk. I had to try to save our country our home."

"You don't stop violence with violence. Make Loki stop the black hole, stop freeing criminals!"

Olga glances disappointedly with her eyebrows lowering;

"If you are not with us, then you have condemned the world. Dlya russkogo!"

"For you, Olga."

Natasha doesn't need to speak to convey her thoughts as she looks directly into Olga's eyes. Her hands raising in a surrender as she pleads for her friend to have a change of heart...

She doesn't need to add to her 'body count'...

She doesn't want to hurt a friend...

She doesn't want the impending nightmare of taking out an enemy just because she has the upper hand as always...

Giving up takes a courage and a restraint she only has because of him. She's searching for the good in her friend because he sees the good in her...

Because he forgives her. Not with his voice but in his dark cocoa stare...

He looks at her with love...

She can afford to see a friend in the same way...

For the first time in her life Natasha sinks to her knees over being held at gunpoint. She's tired of fighting people she should trust. She's strong in her soul with her heart full of empathy. She forgives Olga. She forgives Kyle. She forgives her fallen friends. With the cocking of Olga's gun she shuts her eyes and prepares for the worst with a lump in her throat and a piece of metal aimed toward her temple.

Natasha can sense darkness. It feels personal...the taking the life of the black widow spider in her vision... choosing her own fate...

Bruce loves her. Her teammates have her back. She will not take a stand against her friend and condemn a life- let alone a life she's trusted for the past few years. Olga doesn't have the strength to shoot her sister...if it takes a life it takes a life. Olga is good at her soul... and if Olga fires? Natasha will stand up for what she believes in...being loyal, brave, and true.

Lowering her head feels strong. Perhaps it shall be a life for a life. No more running. No more missions. No more chasing down a soul she knows is still inside of her friend. She twists her ring under her glove.

No more trauma. No more pain.

With her closed eyelids she pulls herself back to an illusion;

Back to the Calla Lillie's. Back to wedding day in her sleek and simple halter top dress. Back to her Vrach and his teasing smile. Back to their precious dog. Back to the Willows at Morningside. He will hold her this time. She will be safe in his arms.

If worse comes to worst? May her Vrach forgive the decision.