So I went back and did some editing on earlier chapters. Holy cow! How do you guys put up with me and my horrendous typos?

Anyway, as alway, I hope you enjoy this chapter

Strange she thought.

She could see up into the room above the gym. Her mind immediately jumped to the ridiculous conclusion that she must have x-ray vision. A side effect of some weird Red Room experiment perhaps? She wouldn't put it past them. Clint would laugh at her.

Her mind snapped back into focus and sound returned to the world around her. Numbly, she took in her surroundings. There was fire and the air was thick with smoke. Above her, the ceiling had a wide gaping hole in it with a limp, bloodied body hanging over the edge, staring sightlessly down at her. To her left was a student; his skull crushed under a large piece of rubble. Distantly she heard people shouting and calling out to each other.

The lights flickered and then went out completely.

Yuri is here.

They'd found her. She had hoped they would believe her dead or at least that they wouldn't be able to get to her here, safe in the arms of SHIELD. How childish of her. How naive.

Fuck

She had to move. Now.

"gah!" she gasped. Pain laced up her arm as she tried to sit up. A large chunk of cement had her wrist pinned, judging from the pain, it was probably broken. How'd she miss that?

Shit.

She was suddenly all too aware of her injuries. Her head ached, and she could feel warm liquid sliding down the back of her neck. A decent size rock must have struck her knee because there was a nasty gash and it hurt like a bitch. Could've been worse she guessed; she could have ended up completely buried under the rubble.

Suddenly Weiss was there, gingerly pulling her hair away from her face, and lifting the debris off of her. She cradled her wrist to her chest as he helped her sit upright. She'd never been so happy to see someone. He was cover in dirt but appeared to be unharmed.

The relief she felt was overwhelming, but it evaporated immediately as the devil himself appeared behind Weiss's shoulder. Before she could breathe a word of warning, Yuri reached around Weiss and buried a combat knife deep in the old man's chest.

Hot blood sprayed her and a strangled sob tore from Natasha's throat. Weiss wheezed in shock and began to choke as blood came up his throat. Yuri kept his eyes on her, leveling a challengie, daring her to attack him. He withdrew the knife, allowing more blood to bubble out, and then tossed him aside like he was a piece of garbage.

She couldn't move, couldn't think as he lay there gasping for breath; his body twitching unnaturally as his life slipped away. Tears burned at the back of her eyes. His eyes finally dulled and she found she couldn't breathe.

"Time to come home Natalia."

Yuri's voice cut through her. He said it so casually, as if he were merely collecting her from the dance studio and she was still a stubborn child who wanted to stay and dance for an hour more.

Looking up at him, she felt all of her grief drain away, replaced by white hot rage. Letting out an inhuman cry she threw herself at him. Injuries be damned, she was not going to let him leave here alive.

She slammed her good hand into his sternum, knocking him back a few steps. She gave no quarter, striking again and again. He met each blow with a well-timed block that only served to infuriate her more and more. Finally, she nailed him in the face and felt stratifying crunch of his nose beneath the heel of her hand.

He grunted and stumbled back, bringing a hand up to his bloodied nose. He glared at her and she grinned in return, tilting her head in challenge.

"Well," he wiped his nose with the back of his hand. "That's quite enough of that." his tone was still that of an annoyed parent.

When he attacked, it was vicious. He struck at her injured knee. She managed to dodge, but then he caught her on her shoulder and threw her off balance. His blows were powerful and unrelenting. She'd had more than a few broken bones at his hands over the years. An unforgiving kick to her stomach sent he sprawling on top of Weiss's body. She landed on something hard that was strapped to his waist and came up wielding Weiss's gun.

She fired three shots in succession without hesitation, and…

Missed. He was five feet in front of her, and she fucking misses. Her hand had jerked to the side of its own volition. Yuri looked down at her unimpressed.

She stared in shock as pressed his throat into the muzzle of the gun. God help her, she tried to pull the trigger. Focused all her energy into her index finger, willing it to squeeze and kill the bastard. But it wouldn't. fucking. move.

She'd always suspected that she'd had behavioral conditioning. But she'd never run up against it so blatantly. She was physically unable to kill him; her body would not obey the command, infuriating her further.

He smiled arrogantly at her. "You want to kill me little Natalia?" he feigned hurt, "but…we're family." She growled in response and he lashed out, knocking her across the chin. He grabbed ahold of her injured wrist and gave it a painful twist. She gritted her teeth, unwilling to give him the satisfaction of hearing her cry out.

She heard her name in the distance, and was vaguely aware of agent Hill attempting to come to her aid. She was prevented however, by Yuri's partner. Who overpowered her, knocking her down and keeping her there with his boot on her chest and a gun to her head. After that, Natasha lost track of her, too focused on her current struggle with her dear brother.

"Stop being," he backhanded her, "such a child." He grabbed her around the throat and gave a threatening squeeze. "We are going home now." His voice was low and dangerous.

She bared her teeth and snarled at him. He laughed at her reaction, lessening his grip on her throat ever so slightly. She kicked out with her foot, surprising him and allowing her to jerk free of his grip. She sank her teeth into his arm until she could taste blood. She might not be able to kill him, but she could sure as hell hurt him.

He howled in anger and shoved her away; she took a chunk of his arm with him.

"suka!"

She spit out the chunk of flesh and managed a wicked smile. Apparently that was the last straw, because now he looked ready to kill. His face contorted into a mask of bitter rage. She was no longer the annoying little sister.

He came at her harder than ever before, hitting her weakest points with brutal force. She evaded and dodged and much as possible, but he had always been faster than her, stronger. It also didn't help that she seemed to be pulling her own punches, he body betraying her even as she fought for her life. For every hard blow she dealt him with full strength, two more hits landed with almost playful force. It was aggravating beyond words. Perhaps he'd always been better than her only because of the conditioning that prevented her from killing him.

He had her pinned to the ground, his full weight pressing her into the uneven ground and his hand gripping her throat. She had neither the strength nor energy to throw him off of her.

No matter, she reigned herself and waited for the final blow, better he kill me here than drag me back with him. Surely they wouldn't waste time trying to drag her dead body out of here.

Unexpectedly, the head of an arrow sprouted from Yuri's chest. The look of surprise on his face elicited a cruel manic laugh from her. Clint appeared, pulling the bastard off of her and shoving an arrow into his belly before he was able to react. It was his turn now to be tossed aside and left to die, choking on his own blood.

She couldn't take her eyes off of him as he bled out before her. She stared transfixed, even as Clint pulled her into his arms.

Clint gave her a firm shake, forcing her to look at him. "Tasha?" he stared into her eyes, worried for her. His warm had found its way to the back of her neck and he rested his forehead against hers. "You okay?" he asked one the verge of sounding frantic.

Glancing at Yuri's prone form, she smiled, "I'm fine."

He held pulled her to her feet and would have pulled her close and held her tightly (and surprisingly, she realized, she would have let him) but the chaos around them came into focus. There were shouts and gunfire amid the fire and smoke. This wasn't a small strike team there to extract her and get out, this was a full on siege.

Maria Hill had taken down Yuri's partner and was working organize her students and secure the gym. Her crisp orders cutting through the turmoil and demanding obedience.

They didn't have time for sediment at the moment; they had a job to do. Without thought or discussion they jump into the fray together, falling into an easy rhythm. She would set up a target for him, luring them out into the open to receive a present from the resident archer, and then return his arrows to him.

If she were not the professional that she was, she might find fighting alongside him a bit distracting. In their sparing sessions, she could focus completely on him. So if she chose to admire his fighting skills and/or his beautifully chiseled muscles, is didn't distract her from the fight.

Now though, she did not have the time to take in the sight of his arms tensing as he skillfully nocked an arrow and released, not even looking at his target as his sharp eyes were already seeking out his next victim. He used his bow like an extension of his arm, loosing an arrow and then bringing it around to defend himself from a close attack. He'd smoothly draw an arrow, kill his attacker, and then seamlessly nock it and take out another just over her shoulder.

His close combat skills hadn't been anything to sneeze at when they first met. But now, after months of sparing with her consistently, his fighting style was more refined and allowed for better maneuvering and recovery. Where he struggled before with sambo trained fighters, he now easily dodged and countered.

A guy came at him with a knife. He ducked and sidestepped effortlessly. The guy lunged at him. Clint caught his wrist with one hand and placed his other on the guys shoulder. He jumped and wrapped his legs around the guy from behind, bringing him crashing to the ground. A quick twist and crack, and the man did not get up again.

The battle was long and grueling, but exhilarating as well. By now they knew each other's moves and style so well that they needed no words to coordinate their efforts. The rest of SHIELD seemed to be operating just as smoothly.

After the initial shock and confusion, commanding officers were quick to take charge and craft order out of chaos. Search and rescue efforts and systematic sweeps were conducted simultaneously. Everyone's identities were checked and double checked before they were evacuated to medical facilities and nearby military bases as needed.

By the end of the day fresh agents had been shipped in to serve as mop up crews. Coulson ordered Natasha and Clint to report for medical care. Clint, in true Barton fashion, began whining almost immediately.

"uhhh," he groaned as he leaned into her, throwing an arm around her shoulders for support. She gave him a playful, warning look. "What? I've been shot!...Twice!" she rolled her eyes. "One of which was in the leg."

"And yet you've faired perfectly well throughout this whole ordeal, managing to do far more than walk without assistance. I think you can manage a little longer."

"but now the adrenaline is wearing off, duh." He flashed a boyish grin and she shook her head at him, fighting back her own smile. In all reality, she knew they were both drained, and she was leaning into him just as much.

Her guard was down almost completely; this was the effect he had on her.

It was a stupid mistake.

His face fell, and before she could react, he grabbed her and swung around to shield her with his body. Shots rang out and his body shuddered against her as he took two bullets to the back. SHIELD agents all around drew their weapons a fired upon the gunman, bringing him down in record time; but the damage was already done.

A couple other agents hit the ground, wounded or dead, Natasha didn't know. She was only aware of Clint's weight slumped against her, his breathing labored and his blood slipping over her hands.

She watched for the second time that day as someone she'd allowed herself to care about slipped into oblivion.

What's that? Three cliffies in a row? I'm not even sorry….

What's going to happen next? If you want to find out let me know! Bribe me with reviews, I'm quite the addict :) and you guys never disappoint.