A/N: Thanks for reviewing!

There will be highs and there will be lows

Going back to Russia was never something she enjoyed doing. It had been too difficult a place to escape the first time. Too many bad memories came back to the surface when she was in the old country. Not to mention the fact that she had far more enemies here than anywhere else. But she was never one to shy away from doing what had to be done, so off to the town of Raduzhny.

It was a decent size, though getting there in winter could be challenging. She was lucky enough that there wasn't a storm to slow down her progress. Once she landed, she looked thoughtfully at her phone and considered whether or not to tell anyone where she was. Cautiousness won over and she sent Clint a text. Then, after a moment, James. She managed to convince herself that it was just in case Clint was busy.

One of the benefits of doing a job in Russia was that passing for a local was extremely easy. Since she technically was one. Though Russians could of course tell a Moskvitch from a country girl, so she still had to do some acting. Natural gas and oil kept the town in business and the people employed, unlike the places where she usually worked.

She had researched Kronas' imprint in the region during the flight, and, dressed as a worker, went to investigate them. The first one was just an empty plot of land – recently purchased, not yet used. The second was an administrative office, hardly large enough to warrant searching. But she was always thorough. The third was a refinery and it was almost a relief to see the number of guards around it.

Taking out the sentries would show her hand, so she moved very carefully through their lines. There were some tense moments of her with her back to the wall, praying that the guy didn't turn his head another twenty-five degrees, but she made it inside unnoticed. The place was large and she searched the upper floors first to get warmed up. She didn't expect to find anything – or anyone – but wanted to make sure she'd shaken off the drowsiness from the flight before she got to the basement.

There was a guard next to the fingerprint scan and she weighed her options. A swift kick knocked him out and he fortunately had clearance to get through the door. She could remember a time or two where the guard posted outside was not able to get through and she'd had to find someone else's prints.

The basement was not empty. She managed to get inside silently enough and search it. Same cells of scientists as the other ones, though there were more here. Same kinds of equipment. No Yelena.

Going back upstairs, she propped up the guard and pulled a flask out of her coat. She poured some of the vodka into his mouth and let the rest run down his shirt. Then leaned him against the door in what would hopefully look like a drunken stupor. It would explain his headache as well unconsciousness. This being AIM, they might still be suspicious, but she hoped it would be passable.

Then she left the building and checked into a hotel. The next two days involved staking out the facility and waiting. When she was too tired to think straight, she went to the hotel to sleep, leaving behind a small camera. So at least she would still know if Yelena showed up.

On the third day, she did. Natasha had only been sitting in a car up the street for half an hour when a cavalcade of new cars streamed by. It was unusual and she smiled grimly at Yelena's foolishness. She was clearly more interested in the title than the reality of being a Widow. Natasha had a reputation but she was never flashy about it. That was kind of the point.

Carefully, she took stock of her mental state and her resources. She'd been asleep recently but not so recently that her reactions would be slow. Her Widow's Bites and Stingers were charged, she had two garrotes, and she'd gotten her hands on a pistol. Clint and James knew where she was, but she sent them a quick message that she was going in now. She didn't wait for a response.

Security was higher this time, but she managed. It took the better part of an hour to get inside and off the ground floor. There were three guards posted outside the fingerprint scan and she held back a sigh. Then she walked out of her hiding place confidently.

"Halt," one of them ordered, clearly the senior officer. "Who are you?"

"The real Black Widow," she replied calmly, and launched herself at him first. The others were armed and tried to aim at her, but she brought them down easily enough. There were only three of them, after all. Hardly a challenge.

Unfortunately, none of their fingerprints opened the door. So she hooked up her phone and waited patiently for it to work its way through their security system. Once it finished, she listened to the voices and determined that Yelena had put the scientists to their mysterious task and was giving orders.

There was one thing in her arsenal that Natasha had been intent on finding for just this kind of situation – a flash grenade. Tossing it down the stairs, she turned away and waited. When it went off, so did the fire alarm – and the sprinklers. Smiling grimly at the unexpected complication, she slipped into the shadows and waited for people to run past her.

Two guards led the scientists up, Yelena shouting orders behind them. Then two more guards followed and Yelena brought up the rear. As soon as she was close enough, Natasha jumped out and knocked her backwards, causing her to slip on the wet concrete and nearly fall down the stairs.

The younger woman snarled a string of obscenities and Natasha smiled. "That's no way to talk to your superior," she told her.

"Superior? I don't know how they do things in America, Izmennik, but our hierarchy is based on skills. I seem to recall throwing you into a river last time."

"Did you think it was that easy to kill me?"

Yelena grimaced. "I suppose I will find out today, won't I?"

"How difficult it is to kill a legend? Yes, you will."

Their banter ceased as they settled in to work. It was a challenge to keep their footing on the wet stairs and they soon had made their way down to where there was at least the flat floor of the lab. That also provided more dangerous weapons since there were chemicals sitting around. When Natasha had a moment to check the screen on her phone, she was relieved to see that everyone else was out of the building. So she set off the charges she'd planted earlier.

Explosions deafened her and she watched in silence as Yelena stared upward in shock. Her hearing returned in time to hear the other woman ask what she was doing.

"I don't know why you're so upset. You did the same thing in Brussels," Natasha replied.

Yelena glared. "You think this will stop us?"

A crack in the ceiling forced both of them to jump apart, and Natasha leaned against the wall, coughing and aware that Yelena was probably doing the same on the other side of the rubble. Getting to her feet, she hurried over to find Yelena's leg pinned. "Looks to me like it's working."

The fear in Yelena's eyes was palpable, but she put on a brave face. "If you are going to kill me, Natalia, get it over with."

Instead, Natasha kneeled next to her. "I don't want to kill you."

"You must if you want to live."

A sad smile flickered across her face. "How about a story? Once upon a time, there were twenty-eight Black Widows. They were young and highly-skilled and determined to be the best agents Department X had ever produced. Do you know what happened to them, Yelena?"

Yelena's face twisted in pain as she attempted to free her leg. "They failed," she snapped when she was not successful.

"No. I killed them. Because I was told they were obsolete and I was better than them. Sound familiar?" Yelena looked sick. "Do you have a family, Yelena? Parents, brothers, sisters?" The other woman didn't answer. "Can you imagine what it is like to kill them? To do it because they will kill you if you don't? Do you understand what setting off Lukin's weapon is going to do to people? Do you understand what the Red Room has always done to people?"

She pulled out her phone and played the recording of Madame B. The part where Yelena was about to be obsolete.

"This is one of your tricks, Romanova," Yelena said, but she didn't sound convinced.

"Maybe it is. Or maybe you're going to wake up one morning and find your tenure isn't what you'd hoped. Particularly after this failure. What will you do then? You can't fight people like Madame B and Lukin. You can only run. So, run, Yelena. Now, before they no longer have any use for you."

With that, Natasha stood up and turned away.

"Why don't you kill me? Live up to the title, Natalia," Yelena called after her.

Natasha glanced over her shoulder with a bitter smile. "You don't understand the point of the Black Widow, Yelena. Killing people is easy. Making them suffer is an art." Then she left without looking back.