Gotham Knights Chapter 1

She died.

Knew it was always going to happen sooner rather than later, she had already beaten the odds countless times, but this time their was no getting away from it.

She died.

At least it was for a reason she considered worthwhile, for her family.

The family she chose to be part of not the one she was born into and all to just give them a chance.

To get back everybody they had lost in the battle against the Mad Titan.

"Whatever it takes"

She regretted not being able to know if they succeeded, but with a lifetime of regrets what was one more to the pile.

So Natalia Alianovna Romanova aka Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow was quite surprised to find herself alive, with a problem.

Two arms, two legs and with their usual five fingers and five toes. Not to be confused with her usual body check after waking up in an unknown location after a combat situation (Clint had been very determined to be the one to die). These facts were being told to her by two looming figures in sing along voices, which while disturbing was sadly not the creepiest thing she had ever woken up to, as they pointed them out to the red-headed, green-eyed toddler next to her.

Who was definitely a toddler about 3 years old, she had spent enough time with Clint and his family to gauge a toddler's age. Bringing us back to her problem cause the toddler next to her looked her size. While the parents of the toddler Nat assumes would be the looming giants. Again if you know a man that can make himself as small as an ant or the size of a giant you take these things in their stride.

No her problem was she wasn't just toddler size, she was a toddler !

Her body felt wrong, the physically fit and well-trained body she remembered was not this, and her hands and feet were uncoordinated and clumsy. She felt powerless, vulnerable and exposed. She felt like crying, she was crying, add lack of emotional control to the current list of problems.

You do not however survive the RED ROOM and years as an elite agent of SHIELD without some mental fortitude. Nat gathered herself as much as possible and cut her crying short, using years of mental discipline and training to focus on the situation.

Everything was unknown how did she get here, her age regression, who these people were, the toddler next to her. Is this due to the infinity stone ? Before making a move information is needed so gather information!

While still gathering herself she was suddenly lifted up under her arms into the embrace of a looming …eh… parent? The woman's eyes were worried, looking all over her face and body.

"Hi sleepy head, did you have a bad dream ?" the woman asked a frown marring her pretty young face, and it was a young face. A bit tired and worn looking but striking with her pale skin, dark red hair and green eyes. No guess needed as to which parent the toddler most resembled.

"Tasha are you hurt anywhere?" parent number two asked now also holding the toddler in his arms. Two meters tall if just shy of it and solidly build he looked intimidating with his full dark brown very Tony Stark-like beard or would have if not for the open concern in his dark green eyes.

Nat had spent too many years analysing people, reading their thoughts and intentions in their body movements, facial expressions and eyes, and all of it in these simple sentences were shouting at her. Yelling it loud and clear they cared for her, they loved her with all their heart and they would do anything to make her pain/fear/panic go away be it real or imagined.

As any normal parents would for their child.

-‐-‐-

Her parents were panicking, calling paediatric neurologists and psychologists for appointments and seriously considering exorcism offered by the "nice" old lady in the apartment across from us. Seriously that old woman has my SHIELD villain radar going off like crazy either as one or one-in-the-making.

Back to my parents however, it was fascinating to watch how they transitioned from worried to downright blind panic into considering exorcism as a solution as the second day after the EVENT rolled around. The EVENT, that was what she decide to call the sudden transition from dead to alive, adult to toddler. Taking its place among such memorable, traumatic moments in her life as SHIELD IS HYDRA and THE SNAP.

One of their twins has been acting peculiar since yesterday ever since waking up from a seemingly normal nap. While at first worried by their daughter's unexplained crying for a second or two, they were quickly reassured that it was just a bad dream. Elite SHIELD agent, no matter how physically old they find themselves to be, can sell that bag of good. Especially if an excuse is provided so conveniently by a parent, it also helps when their focus is immediately taken by the toddler. A toddler that loudly proclaims that " Wow, this dream is so real, but it has way too many red heads" , then following up with "Over did the Stark look-alike beard their big guy".

Our parents were not expecting those kind of comments from their 3 year old son and his insistence on taking everything as a dream or LSD trip started getting them worried. When a child starts mention drugs, aliens invasions, protecting earth and not having time for this while trying to wiggle out of a father's arms it put their parental concern on high alert, asking who they were and saying "Nope I don't have any parents" and if they were "Trying the childhood brainwashing bit again" placed them into the blind panic mode.

All this actually helped me to center myself and allowed me to processes the fact that a.) I'm alive, b.) a child again, c.) have parents and d.) have brother. Also that I am not alone in this EVENT my brother appears to have also undergone the same thing and was not handling it as well.

No attempt to blend in but trying to get out the apartment at all times. Which had our parents on edge, as the apartment is on the 5th floor and he was trying to go out the window. He finally fell asleep in our mother's arms in their bedroom, looking very red-faced squished against the mother's chest . Our father (still weird thinking of them as "my" parents) slept with me in the room I suppose I normally share with my brother. They at first thought it was possibly something contagious and so kept us apart, and I was unable to say anything privately to him. They changed their minds when they realized he had no fever or any other viral symptoms, which lead to going the whole neurological or psychological problem route. They still kept us apart, just in case , so I had to wait for an opportunity to sneak in an talk to him.

"Papa" looked exhausted, he called in for a few off days at work , and I could hear his boss didn't sound too happy about it, also during the phone call how much his boss considers him replaceable. Looking around our apartment I can see that we can't afford too many of these off days, everything looking a bit worn and outdated. So time to sort out "my" brother, cause I have a feeling we are gonna be here awhile.

I sneak into our parents bedroom leaving our father snoring away in our room, considering it an accomplishment as my physical skills have been severely reduced. I am going to prioritize training myself up to my old standards again ASAP, cause being this uncoordinated and clumsy is driving me crazy. I do not enjoy feeling so powerless, it brings back too many memories of my actual childhood.

Not really surprising I suppose I find my twin at the window , while "Mama" is fast asleep clutching a pillow?

"Why you keep trying to get out through a window instead of a door, is really a bit of a puzzle to me little brother." I whisper to him as not wake up "our" mother. His head whips around spotting me, then looks to see if it had woken up "our" mother.

"Maybe I just want to see the view from here" he whispers while looking back through window. "Definitely not in Kansas anymore Toto" he quietly mumbles . Looking at him now he does seem calmer than yesterday, more introspective. I can work with that better than how he was previously, but now was not the time for a long conversation with "our" mother just sleeping a meter away.

"How about we talk about identity crises after our worried parents are reassured about your mental health and we have more privacy little brother" I say to him as he looks back at me. I can see in the widening of his eyes he quickly gets what I am saying as well as what he needs to do. He gives me a quick affirmative nod with his head and tries to leap off the window sill onto a dresser underneath it. I say try cause what happens is that he more falls onto it which causes it to tip over with him on it and crashes onto the floor.

Which results in our mother waking up to find she is holding a pillow (he has got to tell me how he managed to do that) him on the floor with a tipped over dresser and me looking at him while he is looking around with a very confused look. Suffice to say it took us awhile before we had time for a private chat.

-‐-‐-

After assuring our parents that little brother was not going for the window again , which I don't think they believed. "Mama" had him once again firmly in her arms, while Dad, who had come stumbling into the room still obviously half asleep with an alarmed look, placing the dresser back to where it was before underneath the window. Little brother's very child like expressions of "Mama" and "Papa" did a lot to reassure that them he was "recovered" as he now remembered them and his child like explanation of his over the top imaginative play as a hero being plausible, including the "I heard it all on tv shows" putting it over the top. Nothing sells like a cute toddler's adorable smile while "mimicking" adult hero talk all excitably to your parents. I can see however that in the future certain tv watching privileges are going to be revoked, if the looks between "our" parents is anything to go on. I will have to revise my opinion on "my" little brother again he is a lot more adept at deception than I thought initially. Then again having your consciousness dropped into the body of a 3 year old will unsettle anyone, it did to me.

So that is how after a lot of whispered arguments back and forth between our parents "Tasha Roman" and "Petro Roman" have found ourselves back in day-care. At first the "kind" old lady volunteered to look after us for a while until Petro is better, but my shouting and crying aka tantrum which included the I don't want to be "exercised" by her put a stop to that, what can I say how often can you use that strategy successfully if your not 3 years old.

So this is how my brother and I find ourselves across each other at a pink plastic table sitting on pink plastic chairs in a little corner. All the other kids are running around or watching television or generally being well kids and the day-care staff looking worn and exhausted. With this many kids and so few staff I can understand why they look like the walking dead, but it works in our favor as quiet and well behaved kids are left alone so we can have a private chat.

You can honestly only stare at each other so long before someone has to say something and he spoke first. "So uh Tasha have an identity crises recently or is that just me ?" he asked with an awkward look.

"I don't know Petro, does waking up as a 3 year old after remembering dying count ?" I asked with a raised eyebrow. I saw him suddenly slump and I wondered in what I just said caused him to look so defeated.

"I hoped I was wrong, that all of this was just a dream ? an illusion? But I have too much experience with those, with villains trying to trick me, using my wishes and desires against me" he was saying looking at me but not really seeing me lost in his thoughts ."It just feels too real, and I have learned to trust my instincts" when he came back to himself he gave me a wry smile and grabbed my hand giving it a shake "Hello, my name is Peter Parker and I remember dying too".