After one of the worst nightmares of her life, Yelena was finally able to get a bit of sleep. Natasha was concerned for her, but knew that she'd be safe with her. At around the afternoon, they both got out of bed. Nathaniel quickly gave Yelena a really tight hug. She always liked how much Clint's youngest loved her. They had lunch with the family, because as was planned the night before, they'd skip breakfast due to the tough night that they had. They were really joyful for the time that they got to spend with the Bartons, but knew that they sadly had to return home now. They packed their backpacks, said their goodbyes, and then started flying back. Natasha flew back, as she knew that Yelena likely wasn't in the perfect mind state to fly back. Hours later, they were home again. They were greeted by Fanny and Kate Bishop. Fanny immediately leapt onto Yelena, and she joyfully hugged her dog. Kate told her, "You have a really good one. She is honestly adorable." Yelena proudly smiled and replied, "Aww, thanks. I love her a lot. How's Lucky? Is he still doing well?"
"Yeah, my good old buddy. He definitely makes me feel less lonely. He's actually here right now, he and Fanny get along well." Yelena and Nat looked at each other, and nodded. "Y'know, you're welcome to stay here a bit longer if you'd like. We both know how bad it can be to be alone. Also, we're glad to hear that Lucky's here, too!" Kate thought about it, and then decided that this was probably best for her. She had only recently turned 21 years old, and living alone after her mother's arrest definitely hurt at times. She also had an internship at Stark Industries. She was an extremely trained fighter as well, knowing karate, jiu-jitsu, judo, and aikido. She also played several sports, like archery(obviously), basketball, and fencing. She saw the sparring mat, and while smirking, asked the two, "Have you guys ever watched Rocky III?" Yelena, confused, said, "Yeah...we once watched it with Tony Stark for a movie night at his home...why?"
"Y'know how Apollo and Rocky fight for fun at the end of the movie?" Natasha said, "Why? Do you wanna get your ass kicked?" Kate said, "I will graciously accept. Hopefully I'll surprise you!" Yelena decided to sit aside, and watch the two have their fight. Natasha started off with several punches, to which Kate eventually countered with a grapple and a take down. Natasha broke free and got up. After a few blocked punches, she took a hard blow to the ear, and then forehead. She knew that she couldn't go easy now. After Kate attempted a face kick, she grabbed her foot and kicked her other leg on the upper part. Yelena gasped, and made sure that Kate was okay, which she was. After a few shared blocked punches, Natasha managed to catch both of Kate's wrists, and kicked her hard in the stomach, knocking her over. The young athlete had was far outclassed, but would never give up on a fight. She would exchange several hits with Natasha, until she faked a punch to do a hook kick to the face, followed by kick to the gut to take Natasha down. She tried to pin her, but Natasha got her by playing possum, and dodged swiftly. After a kick to the head and delivering a heel to the ribs, she managed to get her in a headlock using her leg. Kate reluctantly tapped out, and Natasha let out a huge sigh. They both got up, very tired, and shook hands. Yelena told Kate, "Very impressive. I haven't seen anyone even close to as skilled as you in ages! Well, other than me and Natasha." Natasha was embarrassed. "First, I lose to my baby sister, and now some kid gets this close to beating me? I really am out of practice!"
"Out of practice? You're the first person to ever beat me in a match since junior year of high school! You were amazing. I do have to tend to my ribs though." She felt comfortable being able to take her shirt off with only women in the house, so after Yelena gave her a hot and damp tissue, she put it over a minorly bruised area over her ribs. Yelena said, "Huh, impressive Kate Bishop. Those abs must be hard to get! Me, I eat whatever I want, so I definitely don't have abs." Kate smiled, "Y'know, I haven't actually had anything sweet in two months, do you have candy or anything?"
"Say no more, Kate Bishop." Yelena got her some sour patch, to which Kate delightfully ate. "Thanks, Yelena. I would ask you to fight, but if you can beat Natasha, I think I'm good." Yelena was flattered. "Natasha is about as skilled as I am. I just managed to get the upper hand in that fight," she noticed that Natasha was listening, so she knew she had to a bit of trash talking. "Then I kicked her ass after I managed to land a few hard moves to hinder her abilities."
"Shut up, Yelena. It's never too late for a rematch, y'know."
"Oh yeah? Let's go! Right here, right now. Wait, your head, it's a little red over the-why didn't you tell me?"
"It's not that bad, quit being so dramatic." Yelena got another hot and damp tissue, and placed in on Natasha's forehead. "Okay, that actually feels a lot better, thanks" Yelena smirked. "So, Kate, where did you learn all of this fighting?"
Kate was feeling a bit better now, so she put her shirt back on. She explained, "My rich mom, err, I'll get to that after, could always afford me training, as I had a lot of interests growing up. You know about archery, as I was mentored by Clint, but I also trained in karate, jiu-jitsu, judo, and aikido. I got my first black belt four years ago. It took me long enough, but to be fair, I was doing a lot."
"Sounds intense. And Clint told you about how we learned our fighting skills, so no need to go over that. What were you saying about you'll get to that after?"
"My mom...worked with the Kingpin. She hurt a lot of people. Even ended a few lives. I had to arrest her. As I was interning and being mentored by Clint...I came to the unfortunate discovery. She's currently serving her sentence. Even if she's not a great person, I still love her, y'know? It's...complicated." She was being comforted by both sisters now. Yelena told her, "Family can be complicated some time. Our parents, who weren't our biological ones, were actually undercover agents, and I never knew. Natasha gave me all of the love in the world, but she wanted our time to be real, and never wanted to return to the Red Room." Natasha added, "Yeah. Our sisterly relationship was always real, but sadly, what we had with our parents wasn't. They're just living out in Russia, we talk to them every now and then, but honestly there's not much to say. Our so-called mom doesn't really say anything, and our so-called dad...well, he says too much. Way too much."
"You can say that again." Yelena and Natasha both laughed together. Kate guiltily asked, "I don't want to be invasive, but...do you guys remember your biological parents? They both said that they didn't, and Natasha elaborated. "Our parents selected us for the Red Room hell, and eventually were killed so that they couldn't ever find us. It sucks to never know where you came from, but..."
"We can't really feel any love for strangers who sent us to that hellish place for two decades." Kate said, "Yeah, I miss my family a lot. My father actually passed away in your fight, Natasha. The Battle of New York. And I can still remember seeing Hawkeye and you fight, it was so amazing."
"I'm so sorry you had to deal with that. I just want to make this world free from danger." Yelena then had a cute little idea. "Kate Bishop, I think that you could really use a hug right now." Kate smiled. "You know what, I'd like that." As they hugged, Kate had a very warm feeling. Physically and emotionally. Yelena's hugs were really tight, but extremely loving. "It feels good to see you again, Kate."
"Likewise. Also, you're a really good hugger!"
"Aww, thanks" As they finished hugging, they noticed Natasha on the side, looking offended. "You guys are really gonna hug without me?"
"Aww, does my big sister want a group hug?"
"Yes I do."
"And to think that I just finished tending to a rib injury..." They three girls had a nice group hug, but Kate was the one who enjoyed it the most. She hadn't been hugged in awhile, and it felt great to get her first hug in all that time from Yelena and Natasha. They ended up talking for awhile, until it was time for bed. Yelena warned her about her night terrors, but Kate told her that she's a very deep sleeper, but she can hit her up if she needs to talk. Yelena smiled, and thanked her. They all went into their rooms to sleep for the night.