All the Colors of Earth (Natasha Romanoff)

4.4

Marzda

As promised we find everyone mingling in the courtyard.

There's a table full of food and drink and everyone seems to be getting along, at least until I walk in. All the chatter dies down when I'm noticed and the Avengers, mainly Tony, all give me looks. There's a blond woman there that I don't know and I can't help but feel a little jealous at the embrace she gives Natasha.

My attention is pulled from them when I suddenly get pulled off my feet and into a hug. "I have missed you," Pietro says as he squeezes me tightly.

Hugging him back, "I've missed you too P." When he puts me down I give him a smile, "is there more gray in your hair? Oh my god and are those wrinkles?"

"You are one to talk," he teases back. "What happened to you?"

"A story for another time," I promise him. "Thank you for taking care of them."

He shrugs, "it was mostly Wanda."

"Don't let him lie, he helped," Wanda says as she comes over.

Pietro puts his arm around her, "no no, it was all her and Natasha, I just ran the errands." Wanda laughs and puts her head on his shoulder, Pietro leans in and kisses her head, "they were like supermoms."

"It was fun to have a family," Wanda says.

"You could have that here," I tell them quietly, unsure of how much the others knew. "Kids, a family. If you wanted to."

They look at each other and then at me, "what do you mean?" Pietro asks.

"It's not taboo here, you guys being together. Asgard isn't Earth, and there's plenty of orphans from the wars that need good parents," I explain.

"Excuse me!" Stark yells, "hate to break up whatever that is but what the hell are we doing here?"

I look at the twins, "we can talk about this later ok?" Turning to Stark I take a breath and remind myself not to kill him. "Thanks for your patience Stark. You're here because for some reason I decided to save your sorry ass and rescue you."

He scoffs, "we've been getting along just fine without you."

"Really?" I ask him as I walk slowly towards where he's sitting on the table. "Because it looked to me like you were getting your ass handed to you."

He stands up and by now we are toe to toe, "I'd be glad to demonstrate just how wrong you are."

I look him over and smirk, "you'd fight me without your suit? Not that you could win with it." I lean in slightly, "I've had a few upgrades since we last met. But as I recall, you couldn't even stop me then either."

"I don't need a suit to beat your ass," he hisses out.

"Enough!" Natasha yells. "We have bigger things to worry about then your petty rivalry."

I raise an eyebrow at Stark, "another time then." Backing away I look at the others, feeling slightly better when I see Quill and the rest of the crew with their hands on their weapons. I give them a nod and they relax slightly before sitting back down. "Now, I'm sure you have a lot of questions but frankly I don't have time for them," I tell them bluntly.

The blond woman walks towards me, "that's too bad, you owe us answers."

I look her over, sizing her up and she clearly does the same to me. "And who are you?"

"Yelena Belova," she answers with a slight accent. "The better Black Widow."

I look at Natasha who says, "my little sister. She showed up shortly after you went off world."

"Yes and good thing I did," Yelena says angrily. "Because someone had to help raise the child that you abandoned."

"Oh so we weren't there?" Wanda mutters.

"Thank you, Yelena."

"What?"

I look at all of them, "thank you all for helping Natasha to raise our child."

"Well someone had to," Stark said annoyingly.

Steve finally speaks up, "where have you been all this time?"

"Prison planet," i gesture to my crew, "with them. Busted out a few years ago."

"Of course she was in prison," Stark says as he waves his hands around. "That's where she should still be. That's probably why we got attacked, because she busted out."

"Actually they think I'm dead," I tell him.

"Dead? You mean like how your child almost was?"

"Watch your words Stark," I threaten.

The ground starts to shake under us, dust rains from the courtyard walls and Bruce puts a hand on Starks arm, "maybe don't make her mad huh?"

Glaring at him I take a breath and the shaking stops, "I appreciate all you have done Stark, but I'm not above killing you if you keep pissing me off."

"Quake!" Keema yells as she busts into the fray, "you ok? I felt the ground shake."

"I'm fine," I tell her. "How's the preparations coming?"

"Everything is ready."

"Thank you sister."

"What's going on?" Natasha asks.

I turn to her, "I have a mission in three days and I'll be gone a few days."

"Sounds like she's running again Nat," Stark tells her. "But we shouldn't be surprised, that does seem to be her specialty."

Ignoring him as best as I can I tell Natasha, "I'm coming back, I promise. It's only for a few days and you guys will be safe here."

"How do we know that what you say is to be trusted?" Yelena asks. "We don't know what you've been doing all this time, and after everything, your word is worthless."

"You want to see what I've been doing?" I look at them all angrily, "fine. There's a rescue mission of a prison colony in three days and as of now, all of you are going." I turn to Natasha, "except you. You are staying here."

"What?" She asks in shock. "Why?"

"Because," I tell her seriously. "You are the parent that Olympia knows. You need to stay with her."

"What I need, is to see what you've been prioritizing over us," she argues back.

"You and Olympia are my priority," I tell her. "You always have been. Everything I've done has been to keep both of you safe. And if you go, you won't be safe."

"We don't need your protection," she scoffs. "We have been fine for five years."

I can't help the hurt that flashes through me. "It doesn't change anything," I tell her.

"We can stay," Wanda offers. "Pietro and I, we can stay with her."

I turn to them, "you don't want to see what I've been doing?"

Wanda shakes her head, "I already have." I look at her in confusion and her eyes glow slightly, "did you really think that I'd let you anywhere near Olympia without doing a deep dive in your head? I don't care that you're her mother. Anyone who comes near her goes through me."

My heart sinks at her words. Not because of what she did, but now she could jeopardize everything. "We're going to have a long talk later," I warn her. She nods and I turn back to the others, "you have three days to prepare. Including you," I tell Natasha. "Don't make me regret it."