Suddenly, the whole ship shook beneath their feet, and Yelena and Steve shared a glance before Melina explained, "Yelena, Steve, slight change of plans. I completely demolished one of the engines and we are going into a controlled crash. I'm going to collect Alexei from the detention center and we'll convene with you after."
"We're going to crash?" Steve spat, breaking into a run behind Yelena as they sprinted towards the main area of the ship. The lights turned red, and sparks erupted overhead, causing Denver to shriek and bury her head into Steve's chest. He held her back a little tighter, easily keeping up with Yelena as she led him into a workout room.
An empty workout room.
"No… they should be here." Yelena said, then ran into the room and grabbed a grenade before sprinting back past Steve, "C'mon, we gotta go!" After running a couple hundred feet, Yelena bit her lower lip, looked down at the vials, then turned to Steve, "Get to Melina and Alexei. They'll know how to get out of here."
Steve nodded and sprinted in the other direction, back towards the detention area where he'd come from. He stopped when the Red Guardian was thrown through a wall of glass at his feet. Looking up, Steve saw Taskmaster stalking towards them.
He slowly put down Denver, whispering, "Stay hidden. Don't make a sound," before pushing her behind a metal cabinet.
Alexei grunted, pointing up at Steve accusingly, "I don't need your help!"
"Maybe not, but you're gonna get it." Steve replied as he lunged at Taskmaster.
They used the shield to bash Steve in the face, then in the thigh, a move Steve had used himself often. He leaned back before getting his neck sliced, then kicked Taskmaster back at the same moment he chucked the shield.
Seeing his opportunity, Steve scrambled for it, reaching it just as Taskmaster grabbed Alexei by the arm, holding him down with their foot as a blade emerged from their gauntlet. Steve wound up and threw the shield, hitting Taskmaster and knocking them into the cell as Alexei stood to close it, locking them in.
Steve panted as he picked the shield back up, looking at the Russian super soldier as his chest heaved, "That really hurts."
Alexei nodded and took hold of Steve's arm that he held out to help him up, "It really does. Who would have thought a metal disk could cause so much pain."
"Daddy?" Denver whimpered, peeking out from behind the metal cabinet. Steve dropped the shield and grabbed her, holding her against her chest and swinging around to look at Alexei with Taskmaster pounding the glass behind him, "This is Denver. My daughter."
"Ohhhh," Alexei cooed as he pinched Denver's cheek, "She looks just like you. A little Captain Americaaa."
Melina sprinted into the room, looking between the two men and the captured Taskmaster, "We have to go… oh, she's absolutely adorable!" She pushed back Denver's blonde hair, rubbing her cheek as she looked the young girl over, "Precious baby, but we have to go now."
Steve turned towards the core of the ship, seeing a massive piece of metal breath through the ceiling, "Where's Natasha?"
Melina looked up into Steve's eyes, tilting her head and taking a deep breath, "They don't call it a suicide mission for nothing, Captain. She's going to kill Dreykov so no other little girls like yours can be taken. The likelihood of her surviving isn't very high. I think it's best that we get to safety so you two can get back on the ground with your lives."
"I'm not gonna leave her here to die." Steve shoved Denver into Melina's arms, surprising the woman, "Get her to safety. If anything happens to me, take her to Dallas Wells. You'll find her with the Avengers." He looked to Denver, leaning down to kiss her hair, "Stay with them, be good. I'll see you soon."
Alexei grabbed Steve's arm tightly, then handed him Taskmaster's shield, "You're a good man, Steve."
His words produced a shy smile on Steve's face that was interrupted by the lights going out and an explosion echoing in the distance. He started sprinting towards the explosion, knowing he needed to find Dreykov to find Natasha.
The resounding thud of Steve's boots echoed in his ears as he blocked out everything else, focusing all his energy on finding Natasha Romanoff. He slid to a stop when he saw an older man in glasses being escorted away. Dreykov.
A little voice in Steve's mind told him to kill the man, but his heart told him he needed to rescue his teammate and friend. They could kill Dreykov another day, but if he didn't save Natasha now, he'd never get her back.
If he ever returned to the Avengers without the Black Widow, they'd kill him on site.
Once Dreykov and his men had rounded the corner, Steve ran towards the direction he'd come from, hearing the undeniable buzz of Black Widow's bites and the whack of her batons. When he came to the open door, he saw a dozen widows attacking Natasha.
He wound up and hurled his shield at the woman pinning Natasha to the desk, causing her to cry out and fall over as Steve stormed the room, grabbing a woman by the arm and throwing her at another to knock them both away.
Natasha gasped out angrily, "I can do this on my own, Rogers!"
"I know you can." He picked up the shield and held back four batons that tried to reach them, "But I can't." She looked at him, and he swallowed hard before shoving the widows back, "I can't do this without you."
She stared at him for a moment, then spun around and kicked a woman who tried to stab her. The distraction allowed a woman to reach around Steve and cross her batons around his neck while she shoved her knees into his back in an effort to shove him into the electrical current. Natasha responded by shooting the women with her widow's bites to knock her away from Steve.
Steve bounced the shield off the floor, smacking into one of the widows before driving two more into the ground with his bare hands. He looked up when he heard Natasha yell, seeing her thrown across the room into Dreykov's desk before landing on her knees.
The Black Widow desperately tried to get to her feet, but the others kicked her down over and over again as Steve held the women until they passed out. When he started running back, two of the widows electrocuted him while another bashed his legs in from behind, taking him down while the others took turns kicking the shit out of Natasha.
Steve was stronger than this. He was better than this. He couldn't accept that they were better than him, even though he knew they had the same training as Natasha. Everything that made her great at her job was on display against her in the form of these Black Widows. But there was only one Natasha Romanoff, and Steve realized as he watched her weaken, he loved her.
He yelled out as he pushed himself to his feet, but a ticking bomb was thrown overhead, exploding red over all the widows. They ducked and released Natasha, letting her fall to the floor as Steve dove to her, cradling her as they looked around in shock.
Yelena stood in the doorway, breathing heavily as the other women began to realize what they'd done.
Blood dripped from Natasha's broken nose as she gasped, allowing Steve to hold her as she watched the red smoke dissipate around them. She was vaguely aware of Steve caressing her side, swaying her slightly as he pressed kisses to the side of her head.
"Natasha." He whispered in her hear, pressing his forehead against her, "I love you so much."
"I love you, too." She panted, allowing herself to fall into his chest. Not because she needed his comfort, but because he did, "Thank you for coming to save me."
"You didn't need me to." Steve murmured, tilting her jaw to look at her face. He wiped the blood from her upper lip before kissing her sweetly, "But I couldn't leave my girl behind."
Yelena jogged into the room, reaching down to help Natasha up, "Hey, you okay? I see he was completely useless again. Typical Steve." Natasha smiled down at Steve as he pushed himself to his feet, shaking a little as the floor trembled beneath them. Yelena looked at the metal piece stuck in Nat's shoulder, then prepared to take it out, "Oh, that looks like it hurts, I'll take it out on three. One-" She ripped it out, causing Natasha to look at her in shock for lying, "I'm sorry."
The ship exploded beneath them, and Yelena started ordering the other widows to get out of there. Meanwhile, Natasha sprinted back towards the desk, pulling it open and running a ring across a keypad.
"What are you doing?" Steve asked as he looked over her shoulder, then to Yelena who was waiting by the door.
"Go, get out of here, I'll be there in a minute!" Natasha called as she inserted a flash drive into the computer, "I'm downloading all of Dreykov's information on the Black Widows. We gotta set them free, Steve, we can't just let them live their life like that."
He took a deep breath as an explosion radiated through the hall, "I agree, but we gotta go." He tugged her wrist as soon as she ripped the flash drive out, tugging her into the hallway before pulling her back away from a ball of fire that threatened to overtake them.
Natasha pulled him in the opposite direction before reaching for her guns, shooting out the glass before diving out the side of the ship. Steve grabbed the railing below and caught Natasha's hand, gasping as he looked down at her. He'd caught her. He didn't let her fall. He didn't let her die.
She swung away from Steve into the broken side of the building, calling for him to follow as he jumped in after her. She led the way down the halls as explosions shook the flooring, but she never stopped. She was determined to get them to safety.
"Where's Denver?"
"She's with your parents." Steve yelled back, lunging forward as the floor beneath him crumbled, "I told them to get her somewhere safe while I got you."
Before Natasha could respond, the ship started to tilt sideways and the ceiling collapsed on them. Steve pushed Natasha out of the way before he was buried, but the debris broke through the floor and sent her into the level below. She popped up and yelled, "Steve?"
A thud across from her drew her attention to Antonia, locked in a glass cage to die. Natasha looked back up, hearing Steve groan as he got out from under the debris. She approached the glass, reaching out and murmuring, "I'm gonna open the door. You're gonna come after me… I know you're still in there… and I'm not gonna leave you, okay?"
Natasha hit the keypad to open the door, backing up slowly as Antonia stalked towards her. She started to turn and run, but before Antonia could go after her, Steve fell from the ceiling and landed on Taskmaster, knocking her to the ground. He flipped over and kicked Antonia back, causing Natasha to gasp, "Steve, no! Don't."
He whipped around, staring at Natasha as she shook her head, "Please don't. I'm the reason she's like this. Taskmaster is Dreykov's daughter."
Antonia kicked Steve in the back, causing him to fly forward towards Natasha, but before she could reach them, more ceiling fell and sent Nat and Steve flying forward as all the furniture broke through the glass side of the ship.
Nat grabbed her batons and dug them into the flooring with both hands as Steve grabbed onto her waist. They reached the edge of the ship, dangling precariously over the land miles below. She began to slip as the ship creaked, and Steve called up, "If you make it and I don't, make sure Denny gets back to Dallas okay."
"Don't you dare let go, Rogers, I swear-" Her words were cut off by an explosion below and they started drifting towards the landing pad. Natasha strained, feeling Steve's grip loosen, but she wasn't about to let him fall without her, and when his hands slipped, she let go.
Both went tumbling onto the tarmac, but Steve bolted up first, grabbing Natasha to pull her to her feet into a run. They sprinted forward until they saw Melina and Alexei off to the side, but a flash of white farther forward caught Nat's attention.
She quickly looked to Steve, grabbing him behind the neck to kiss him quickly, "Go with them. I'm getting Yelena."
Steve watched her sprint away, slowly backing towards the jet that Melina was trying to start up. He turned when he heard the sound of crunching concrete, seeing the tarmac fall away beneath their jet.
He sprinted towards them, diving into thin air in an attempt to reach the jet. Steve tried to grasp at the inside as they fell, but it was Alexei's strong arm pulling him in that finally got him to safety.
"Thanks." Steve panted up at the man, who just nodded and helped him up.
"Like I said, I always kind of thought of us as contemporaries. Coequals. We're made from the same cloth, it's just yours is blue and mine is red and-"
"Do either of you men see the girls?" Melina called from the front of the jet, where she steered while Denver sat buckled in, watching curiously. Melina leaned over to Denver and said, "We're looking for Auntie Natasha and Auntie Yelena, do you see them."
Denver looked through the windshield, then yelped, "There! Right there!"
Steve and Alexei rushed towards the front of the jet in time to see Yelena pierce Dreykov's jet with her baton, causing it to explode and send her flying backwards off the side of the ship. Without a second thought, Natasha went sprinting right over the edge after her.
"Go after them!" Steve ordered, leaning out the side of the jet as Melina dove downward, but a piece of falling debris knocked out their back wing, causing them to lose control. Alexei grabbed Steve's shoulder, pulling him back into the jet as Melina desperately tried to regain control. Denver giggled and clapped as they started to spin, and Steve looked forward, seeing Melina had enough control to get them down safely. Before they could tell him not to, Steve grabbed a parachute and jumped out of the side of the jet.
Yelena's chute had been deployed, but Natasha was still falling. She was falling, and Steve had to catch her. The last time he didn't catch the woman in his life he lost her forever, and he wasn't about to lose Nat. He dove headfirst downwards until he saw Taskmaster pull her parachute, tumbling down with Natasha in tow, inspiring Steve to follow suit.
The parachute softened the blow, but Steve crashed into the ground and ripped it off, sprinting towards where Antonia was coming after Natasha.
But she didn't need him. She punched the antidote, flooding Taskmaster's senses and causing her to collapse. Steve stopped, keeping his distance as Natasha leaned against the woman crying. Steve swallowed as he heard Natasha wheeze through her tears, "I'm sorry."
"Is he gone?"
Natasha nodded against Antonia's head, whispering, "He's gone." She looked up at Steve, and he collapsed onto his knees beside her, holding his stomach as he tried to catch his breath. Nat sat up and leaned against him, weaving her fingers through his, "We're okay. We did it."
They looked up at the sound of little feet rushing towards them, and Natasha laughed when Denver ignored her father in favor of diving into her arms, "Auntie Nat I was so scared."
"I was so scared, too. I was so scared something had happened to you."
"Where's Auntie Lena?"
Natasha stood as the Red Room crashed into the trees in the distance. She looked around, trying to find her sister. "Yelena!"
"Lena!" Denver yelled, grabbing Natasha's hand to walk with her as Steve sat with Antonia on the ground.
"I- I'm sorry I took your girl." She whispered, her voice raspy from disuse. Steve looked to her and nodded, smiling weakly, "I know you didn't have a choice."
Natasha saw Yelena and took off running, letting go of Denver's hand but the little girl kept up easily with her. She knelt in front of Yelena, grabbing her cheeks as Denver pulled on the strap of her green vest. "Auntie Lena, wake up."
Her eyes slowly peeled open, and she smiled up at Natasha, "We're both upside down." She grunted and sat up, looking at Denver, "Hey little city girl. We made it."
"Прости меня сестренка." Natasha said as she clutched Yelena, her lip quivering as she added in English, "It was real for me, too." The two sisters crashed into each other, hugging deeply as Steve slowly walked towards them to collect his daughter.
Denver looked up at him as she took his hand, "Why they crying?"
"Because they spend a lot of time away from each other, and they are happy they're okay." Steve explained, kneeling down to grab her shoulder, "That's how I feel about seeing you. I'm never letting you go again." He pulled her into a rough hug, holding her tightly as she squeezed his neck. "I love you so much, Sweetheart."
"I love you, too Daddy. And Auntie Nat and Auntie Lena."
"I've officially reached Auntie status. It's like, the best part of today. Destroying the Red Room, saving the widows, and killing Dreykov are a close second, but Auntie Lena has a nice ring to it." Yelena teased, picking up Denver when Steve released her. She looked towards Melina and Alexei, then to another jet that landed beyond them. The door opened and the other widows came flooding out, causing Yelena to look to her sister, "I, uh, I guess I should go with them, right?"
"Somebody's gotta free the other widows." Natasha said, brushing back Denver's hair, "We'd help, but we've only got one vial."
Yelena nodded, "Melina can make more, I'm sure. Maybe someday you guys will talk to Tony Stark again. We could always divide and conquer, you know, if you aren't doing anything important."
Steve and Natasha shared a glance, and he just shrugged, "As long as we lay low, I got nowhere to be."
"It'll be faster with help." Yelena said, walking slowly back towards the others while Denver ran her little fingers through her blonde hair. She smiled at the little girl, then looked to the other widows, "I'll miss you guys though. This was fun."
"You know, you're welcome to join us." Steve said, surprising both Natasha and Yelena. He looked at Nat, smiling gently, "Family is important. You've got yours back. Maybe you shouldn't let them go so easily."
Natasha cocked her head to the side, considering Steve's offer, "So we'd work on freeing the widows. Stay off Ross's radar. Travel the world. Do something good."
"And I mean, since Steve's pretty useless, I'll kinda fill that void." Yelena offered, leaning against Steve fondly, "You guys sure you want a third wheel, because I'm pretty sure you two are about to… you know…"
Steve snorted and Natasha scoffed, shaking her head vigorously when Alexei narrowed his eyes at Steve. They all looked up at the sound of sirens, meaning Ross was almost there. Nat looked to Yelena and shrugged, "Is it a risk you're willing to take?"
"I think it might be." Yelena answered, looking back to Melina and Alexei. "We'll be in touch. Stay out of trouble."
"I should say the same to you. Be careful. Brush your teeth, don't forget to take the safety off your guns." Alexei called as the sound of sirens wailing got closer. He looked to Steve and said, "Take care of my girls, Captain America."
"You have my word, Red Guardian." Steve said with as little laughter as he could muster before turning to Natasha, "We better get going. Can't do much good behind bars now, can we?"
Natasha took Steve's hand and began leading him away, looking back at the other widows and her family as their jet took to the sky and flew away. Yelena and Denver waved, then passed Steve and Natasha to lead the way to safety before Ross could find them.