➶ ｡˚ ° ➶ ｡˚➶ ｡˚ ➶ ｡˚ ➶ ｡˚
(𝐑𝐔𝐍)
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN----▹ 

"You," Iskra said her eyes landing on an all too familiar face. "Litlle Iskra...not so little anymore are we?" the man with the thick Russian accent spoke,  "And your hero Natasha, not here to save you anymore." Iskra's eyes had a purple glow to them as her anger built up, "Don't talk about her like that." Iskra could still hear crashing and fighting from both ends of the earpiece but she couldn't help either of them for now. "What in the hell do you want from me, Mikhail?" she asked, "Dreykov is dead. I thought I was done with creepy old men...I guess I'm not. Are you still stealing defenseless girls from their beds or..." Iskra asked, "I was only a baby when you stole me away from my family, I was barely one..." Iskra said shaking her head.

"A little help...either one of you?" Kate pleaded, darting away from another one of Maya's punches, "I'm a little busy Kate." Iskra mumbled. "You were not stolen." Mikhail smirked, "What do you mean 'not stolen'?" Iskra asked, trying to block all emotion from her voice, "You're mother hand-delivered you to us...willingly." he shrugged, "You're lying. Plus that woman never really was my mother if she did that." Iskra said, willing her voice not to break.

"Who was then...Natasha Romanoff?" he paused, "Natalia never really was your mother, and Maria never will be." tears threatened to spill out of Iskra's eyes, "That hurt." Iskra heard in her earpiece not really following the commotion very well.  "What do you want from me?" she asked, purple energy prepared at the tips of her fingers, "Your father was never told of your existence, he still doesn't know to this day. But he is a lot closer than you think." the Russian Man shrugged, "You're stalling." she spat, the hidden Russian accent slipping through her speech, Iskra moved her hands, purple blobs of energy forming, but before she could do anything she felt a large sharp pain go right through her torso. She gasped in pain the world around her blurring a bit, "Fucking hell" she spoke in Russian.

Meanwhile on the rooftop...

The figure dressed all in black pulled her gun on Kate, and Clint carefully stepped between the two his arms out in surrender, but Maya came swinging down onto the rooftop kicking the figure in the head, knocking the gun away from her.

Kate and the figure's gaze landed on the gun at the same time, and they both went for it, Kate managing to step on the tip of it and send it flying to the ground. The figure's movements were extremely smooth, and graceful, practically effortless, as they went after Clint again.

Kate was back to fighting against Maya, who had slightly faster movements than her, ok maybe a little more than slightly faster. Maya knocked her bow out of her hands, and kicked Kate right in the torso, she let out a large groan falling back.

To say Clint was having almost the same amount of difficulty fighting off this figure, wasn't even an exaggeration. Maya came at the figure and blasted her backward with none other than a set of red, widow bites. Clint saw the red, heard the electricity crackle, a widow. Not Natasha, a black widow assassin. 

Kate took this moment to try and attack the figure, but instead, the figure clipped a harness to Kate's torso and threw her backward over the roof, Kate yelled out in horror, just in time for Iskra's head to snap up towards her, "Kate!" she exclaimed, but was cut off when a punch was thrown in her direction. "You're being weak little Iskra." the Russian man taunted.

"No, no, no," Clint exclaimed rushing towards the edge of the roof, he was frozen, trembling in shock, a wave of PTSD running over him, he saw Kate hanging from the harness, but all he could see and think about was a certain redhead, 

"Let me go." the image of Natasha whispered.

"Pull me up!" Kate shouted, 

"It's ok." Nat's voice echoed through his head.

"Get out of here." Clint order cutting the rope sending Kate falling into a net of Christmas lights. Kate groaned in annoyance, lifting herself back up off the concrete, she spotted Iskra losing a fight to this man, "Iskra!" She exclaimed, "Go Kate. Clint needs you." Iskra urged not wanting the brunette involved, and so Kate did.

After dodging another punch from the man, she finally spotted the figure that stuck a blade through her torso, and she gasped...

The masked figure attacked Clint from the front, while Maya came at him from the back, the masked figure punched Maya and they all were detangled from each other for only a second when Kate shot an arrow that sent a shock wave of energy across the roof. 

A loud ringing went through the earpieces signaling that they were dead, so Clint and Kate had officially lost all contact with Iskra. Maya sent a kick in Kate's direction sending her flying across the rooftop, but Kate quickly drew an arrow shooting it into Maya's shoulder, Maya yanked it out deciding it was best to leave the scene.

Clint went up against the masked figure, holding the bow against her, leaning forward to tear away from her mask, but he was shocked in the face by the widow bite. Kate drew her bow back, not releasing the arrow, staring at the blonde woman who stood in front of her, the blonde woman stared back at her for a minute, and Kate swears something felt so familiar about the blonde woman.

She eerily shook her head, at Kate, basically giving her a tell, that she shouldn't shoot, and Kate didn't shoot, she lowered her bow. The blonde woman stuck down her grappling hook gracefully, jumping off the roof.

Iskra was huffing and puffing no the metallic taste in her mouth probably meant the blade clipped the edge of her lungs, she was bent over holding her side gasping for air, but she still managed to send a blast of energy knocking the Russian man out, and the person who stabbed her already slipped back into the shadows.

"Who the hell was that?" Kate asked breathlessly, "You don't wanna know Kate." Clint said, not facing the brunette. "I can not be your partner, if  don't tell me what's going on!" Kate exclaimed, "You're not my partner. Do you understand that? You never were." he said turning back towards Kate, he could tell that he hurt her, but it was for her own good, he didn't want anyone else to die because of him. 

"Someone has hired a black widow assassin." he said tears in his eyes, "This has gotten very real, very quickly. So I'm doing this alone." he added, "No you're not." Kate said shaking her head, "Look, I know tonight didn't go as planned. But I chose to be here. I understand the risk. I understand all of it." Kate spoke emotion seeping into her voice. "I'm not gonna do it. Do you hear me?" he paused, "Do you hear me?" he asked more forcefully.

"What about Iskra? Are you benching her too?" Kate asked, "Iskra is a trained killer, she has been dealing with this stuff most of her life. She can handle herself." He stepped forward taking the bow, "Go home Kate. It's over." The brunette looked so hurt under his gaze, so she stormed away, not even noticing the injured Iskra who was barely making her way towards the buildings stairs. 

Iskra was practically coughing up blood as she took the buildings elevator knowing she wouldn't make it up the stairs. The red-head limped on to the roof, spotting Clint, "We have a problem she choked out, before collapsing into his arms.

Iskra coughed up some more blood, "Where's Kate?" she whispered, "I sent her home. What the hell happend to you?" he asked, "I could ask you the same thing." she choked switching to Russian since she couldn't really think clearly. "Black widow assain." He said tearing a piece of cloth to put pressure on the wound, "Holy hell, that hurts." she cursed, "Eleanor...Bishop." she whispered, "Kate's Mom? What about her?"  Clint asked, "She stabby-stabed me, through the abdomen." Iskra mumbled, "I was being side...ouch...side tracked by my past."

"Eleanor Bishop stabbed you?"