➶ ｡˚ ° ➶ ｡˚➶ ｡˚ ➶ ｡˚ ➶ ｡˚
(𝐑𝐔𝐍)
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE---▹

"How sweet, little Iskra, and her little archer friend."

"What the hell do you want?" Iskra asked, "To talk." he replied, Iskra's patience was running thin, "I have nothing to say to you, Mikhail." she said dryly. "I was wondering if you happen to know anyone by the name of August King?" he asked, "Doesn't ring a bell," she replied, "Who is she?" Kate asked, and Iskra shot her a look, trying to tell her to stay out of it.

"Ah, the archer speaks," he said before turning to Iskra, "You may know her by another name," he began, "The shadow, perhaps?" realization flickered in Iskra's eyes, but only very briefly, "Sorry, never heard of her. C'mon, Kate, we've got things to do." Iskra forces herself into a standing position acting as if, she was in no pain at all, and Kate followed right beside her. 

Once they were in a uber, Kate spoke up, "Was that the guy you were fighting the other night?" she asked, "Yeah" Iskra said, "Who is he? What does he have to do with all of this?"Kate asked, "His name is Mikhail, and as far as I know, his only connection to all of this, is me." Iskra replied, "You? How?" Kate asked, but noticing Iskra's shift in mood, she reached over for the redhead's hand, "You don't have to talk about it right now," she said softly, and Iskra nodded.

The pair sat in silence for a while before Iskra broke it, "He said something to me the other day...and it really got to me, I uh... can't stop thinking about it," Iskra whispered, and Kate looked over at her, "He told me that my uh...biological mother gave me to the organization where I was until Mama saved me," Kate squeezed Iskra's hand, "I'm so sorry." Kate said, "That's not even the part I can't stop thinking about, he said that my father, was closer to me than I thought." Iskra paused, "It doesn't matter, it was probably just him trying to distract me, but..." Kate nodded in understanding, "You can't help thinking about it." Iskra nodded, "exactly."

-------

Clint walked down the street, hood up, calling Laura, "Hey. Perfect timing. I just put Nate down to bed." Laura greeted, "Yeah good, we need to talk." Clint said into the phone, "Oh, no fun conversations ever started that way." 

"Yeah." he said, "Look I...I'm sorry, this problem just keeps getting bigger. This Maya is relentless, She's got her hands on the watch. Looked into our family. " he paused, "Someone has hired a black widow. And I...I don't want to think about where all this goes. " he said, "Clint we've been so careful, really I...I mean the kids and I are so far away." Laura spoke, "It's not far enough. It's never far enough." he replied.

"If I don't end this tonight...umm, it's just a matter of time before the big guy gets involved." Clint spoke, "Jesus. Are you sure?" Laura asked, "You can't be sure, it's just a sinking feeling." Clint replied, "Then follow your gut." Laura said, there was a pause of silence.

"What? It's not what you wanted to hear?" Laura asked, Clint, chuckled dryly, "Yeah, no." he said. 
"Well, listen you didn't need to call looking for permission and you don't need it from me so,  I trust your judgment. You do what you have to do." she reassured, "Ok."

"And know that I'll always understand more than anyone else ever could," Laura said, Clint had moved to get the suit out of the locker, "I love you." he said, "I love you, go end this," Laura said.

-----

"I got his location." Kate said, "Fat Man Auto Sales." Iskra nodded, "Ok, we know where we need to go, suit up Pretty eyes." Iskra said rewrapping her wound, Kate hesitated, "Are you sure it's a good idea for you to come?" Iskra shot her a look, "I'm not letting you go by yourself." She said, "Now go, hurry up." Iskra said motioning for Kate to get ready.

Iskra winced at every movement, she could really kill Eleanor Bishop right now, the only reason she hadn't was her daughter, and the fact that Iskra could barely move without being in pain. She looked at herself in the bathroom mirror, she had put on one of Nat's old suits, due to the stab wound hole in her own, and the fact that it was covered in blood.

 She splashed some water on her face, before exiting the bathroom, "Wow." Kate mumbled looking at Iskra, " 'Wow' yourself Bishop, we've got work to do." Iskra said, the pair called yet another uber, they really were gonna have spent a lot of money on uber's by the end of the day.

Maya stood in the middle of the parking lot, her motorcycle sitting right next to her, Kazi and the other tracksuits  were out of sight, hiding in various places, on high alert. Maya was constantly checking her surroundings for anything that seemed out of place.

Kazi was looking through the gun, when the sound of a blade by his head, caused him to turn slowly, "Ok, let's talk." he said lowering his gun, but before he could get the sentence out, Clint knocked him out. 

Ivan and Thomas crept forward, also on high alert, but to be fair, they were kind of idiots, Thomas got dragged to his feet, and pulled underneath a car before he could even process it, that damn ghost Bro 

At the sound of his bat crashing to the ground, Ivan snapped around, and somebody else was pulled away from behind him, before he was sent flying over the hood of the car. Once startled, another guy literally shot himself in the foot, these guys almost made it too easy on Clint.

Maya started to notice the tracksuits missing, and immediately reached for her gun, looking around the parking lot, catching the edge of a figure who slipped behind one of the cars. She shot out multiple bullets in that direction, following the figure with her aim, she soon realized she was out of bullets though.

It didn't take Maya long to attack when Clint, stepped out of shadows in full Ronin gear, she tossed, the magazine of her gun at him which he knocked away with the blade of his sword. She sent multiple kicks in his direction, which he always countered with another movement the one time, Clint's sword hit her leg, but it wasn't her leg it must've been a prosthetic. 

Catching him off guard, she managed to disarm him, and use his own weapon against him, hitting him in the side with the blade, he grunted in pain but continued to kick her back eventually hitting the sword out of her hands. 

So there they were, back at hand to hand combat, he sent kick in her direction sending her flying back, but she quickly got back to her feet issuing another attack in his direction. 

"Holy shit, she's kicking his ass." Iskra whispered, as they saw the edge of the fight taking place, "He can handle himself." Kate paused, "Right?" Iskra laughed a little, "You go up," Iskra said motioning towards the roof, "I'll stay here."

Kate nodded, she was about to make her way up the ladder but she spun back around and kissed Iskra's cheek, Iskra's jaw dropped but Kate started making her way up the building before Iskra could say anything, "Holy shit" she muttered in Russian.

Iskra walked back down another alleyway trying to get better sights on Clint and Maya without climbing up a building, that would cause her too much pain, "Natasha Romanoff." a voice said from behind her, the person had an accent but Iskra couldn't quite figure out what the accent was, damn she really should've thought twice before putting on one of Nat's suits with the red hair. 

Iskra turned around slowly, the weight of her gun in her hand. 

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Yes, this chapter is shorter then usual, but I wanted to end the chapter in a better spot so ther you have it! I hope you enjoyed!