''This is really not necessary, you know. I can do this myself,'' Natasha laughed.

Katya had pulled Natasha to the edge of the bed, sat her down and crept behind her, braiding her hair. She had been dying to do that for days and today she had finally grabbed her wrist and pulled her out of the bathroom. 

''You like it when I do this. So stop moving around or I'll mess it up.''

Natasha hummed, chuckling. ''So bossy.'' But no matter what she said, it did feel nice to have her hair done, Katya's nails gently running over her scalp, carefully tugging strands into the tight braid down her back. She could see her focused eyes in the mirror on the wall, not missing one single hair. 

The longer Natasha watched, the more she disappeared into her head. Today could be a big breakthrough, the day their whole lives changed. And it was impossible to miss the optimism, especially when Katya was out of bed before she could. Katya was nervous, Natasha could see that, but it was understandable. 

''What do you think?'' she finally asked when Katya had reached her neck. There was no need for explaining her question. 

Katya sighed and sat back on her calves, avoiding the green eyes in the mirror staring at her intently. ''I think that I don't know what to think. Do I have confidence it could work? Yes, 100%. Do I have confidence in Bruce? Not really.'' No offense to Bruce, but they needed the smartest mind for this, and that was Tony. She asked for the small elastic Natasha had in her hand and tied the perfect braid off. ''You?''

''I think that this is crazy,'' she admitted. The sun shone through the blinds, leaving bright strokes on the floor by her feet. 

Katya wrapped her hands around Natasha's shoulders from behind, her chin on her shoulder. ''But that's not why you have had that frown since you woke up.''

There was a short silence where Natasha had to collect her thoughts and Katya simply waited patiently. ''What if it doesn't work? What if all this hope is false?'' She gently unwrapped Katya's arms and stood, pacing in front of the mirror. ''What if we have to go back to work tomorrow, knowing we tried everything but still failed. Knowing we have to do this for our entire lives?'' That fear sat really deep.

Katya shook her head and scrambled from the bed, stopping the pacing by taking her hands. ''I don't want that for us, Nat. We didn't go through shit our entire lives just to end up in the deepest pit ever. If this fails, we disappear, we leave everything and go. To hell with responsibilities and expectations,'' her voice slowly got louder, the frustration seeping through. ''I can't do it again, I can't go back. It will kill me.''

Natasha studied the blue eyes in front of her for any kind of lie, but everything Katya had said was true. So without doubting it for a second, she responded, ''Deal.''

''Wait, really?'' Katya asked, beyond surprised it was that easy to convince her. ''That was just an outburst of frustration.''

Natasha smiled, ducking her head slightly to capture Katya's eyes again. ''But you meant every single word.''

For some reason, Katya felt guilty. Guilty for thinking about it so easily. Leaving their job behind wasn't a simple decision. It would mean dropping all the people who needed their help and trusting others to pick it up instead. ''Baby...''

''No. I feel the same, but I didn't want to say it. This place, it's eating me alive.'' She hesitated before continuing. ''I just don't know if I can leave it all behind. Who are we without the Avengers? What would we do?''

Katya grew more confident now that she wasn't the only one feeling this way. Gently, she tugged some baby hairs behind Natasha's ears. ''Whatever the hell we want. We'll figure something out, and if it doesn't work, we'll try something else.'' 

She smiled, the idea of getting out suddenly sounding very nice. ''That sounds amazing. But I'm still betting on this time travel plan.''

''Let's go then,'' Katya started tugging her towards the door, ''before they invent time travel without us. Can't have them taking all the credit.'' 

She felt lighter now that there was a backup plan. Now that she knew she didn't have to go back to her old life, the depressing one. If it failed, she'd at least try and be happy away from the Compound.

Natasha followed Katya through the hall, keeping up with her fast pace. Suddenly she was very eager to get to work. ''I don't know what we will be able to do to help.''

Katya raised a teasing eyebrow. ''You said you studied Quantum Physics, which is very hot by the way.''

Natasha rolled her eyes. ''I know just enough to keep someone talking.''

To have more space and also a buffer in case something went wrong, they decided to park Scott's van in the enormous shed behind the main building, which had once been the storing place for all the Quinjets. But after the Snap, they sold a lot of them to organizations who could actually use them. So now the place was almost empty, just some junk here and there. Mostly crates with all kinds of electronics.

Nobody came here anymore, but it was actually a very nice building. Very clean with white walls and floors, and the floor-to-ceiling windows flooded the space with light. But the huge 'A' on the wall was the real eyecatcher. Not that there were any Avengers, but it brought everyone a sense of nostalgia. Of the good days.

''I thought we were time traveling and not landing on the moon?'' Katya teased Scott as she passed him. His suit was big, to say the least, and in his hands was a helmet that looked like one an astronaut would wear. 

''We can swap if you want!'' He called after her, but Katya shook her head. There was no way she would be a test subject for this, but admired Scott's bravery.

''Okay, here we go. Time travel test number one. Scott, fire up the uhhh... the van thing.'' Bruce had created a little workspace for himself, stacking some crates on top of each other and placing all kinds of electronics on top. Katya had no idea what any of it was, but Natasha got a tablet shoved into her hands and seemed to know exactly what it said.

So Katya guessed she was simply emotional support here. That was fine too.

Scott threw the back of his van open and the tunnel inside powered up. It was nowhere big enough to walk into as a person, which confused Katya. Was Scott getting sucked in or...? What should she expect here? 

The tunnel was mesmerizing and narrowed as it grew deeper. All kinds of bright colors flickered and were very inviting, begging someone to take a huge risk and step in. If this was going to work, Katya would have to go in there herself, which made her nauseous deep in her stomach.

''Breakers are set, emergency generators are on standby,'' Steve announced, walking back to their little club. Were these five people really going to save the Universe and bring everyone back?

''Good. 'Cause if we blow the grid, I don't wanna lose Tiny here in the 1950's.'' 

Scott stopped in the middle of securing his suit, spinning to Bruce who tried to laugh it away. ''Excuse me?'' 

Katya swallowed her groan as she made a motion to Bruce to stop the jokes. Scott couldn't give in now. 

''He's kidding,'' Natasha tried to save the situation, putting on her best smile. Towards Banner, she said in a hushed tone. ''You can't say things like that!''

''Just... It was a bad joke.''

Scott nodded hesitantly, not trusting the situation fully but just enough. Slowly, he walked towards his van, leaving Natasha to hiss at Banner again. ''You were kidding, right?''

''I have no idea,'' he whispered back harshly. ''We're talking about time travel here. Either it's all a joke, or none of it is.'' He turned to Scott and gave him a thumbs up and a confident smile. ''We're good! Get your helmet on.''

Katya almost had to laugh at the fake display of reassurance they were trying to show. Natasha's beaming smile was all but real, anyone could see through that, and Steve didn't even try to join. Scott was either very blind or didn't care.

''Scott, I'm gonna send you back a week, let you walk around for an hour, then bring you back in ten seconds. Makes sense?'' Bruce asked optimistically. Probably nobody understood that by the way he explained it, but again, Scott was all ready to go.

''Perfectly not confusing,'' he said, jumping around a bit in his place to get ready. Katya just stood there with her arms crossed, watching the whole thing. She didn't trust the van not to explode or suck them in too, but she could hardly wait outside.

''Good luck, Scott. You got this.''

''You're right. I do, Captain America.'' Even before the last syllable left his mouth, he got sucked into the machine. It went so fast and abrupt that Katya jumped in her spot, grabbing Natasha's underarm in a reflex. She went to mumble a sorry, but Natasha quickly took her hand again, squeezing it tightly as she shuffled in her spot.

Katya just smiled and let her look for support with her. She herself was nervous too, hell, maybe more than Natasha, but in a sort of self-protection, she had created an emotional distance between herself and the events around her. If she stayed skeptical about the whole thing, it would hurt less when it failed.

Bruce waited exactly ten seconds, everyone's anticipating eyes on the tunnel where Scott would come out of. ''On the count of three. Three... two... one!''

And out came Scott again. But something was... different. He was now a teenager instead of a full grown man. His suit hang loosely around his body as his unsure eyes jumped through the room. ''Uh, guys? This- this doesn't feel right.''

''What is this?'' Steve's voice was somewhere between confused and panicked.

''What's going on?''

''That- who is that?'' Natasha furrowed her brows and narrowed her eyes at the kid in their hangar. ''Is that Scott?''

''Yes, it's Scott!'' The teenager yelled. Before he could say more, he got sucked into the tunnel again.

''Babe, stop laughing,'' Natasha said strictly, dropping her hand and trying to see what Bruce was doing, flipping all kinds of switches and pressing buttons.  

Because Katya was laughing. More like chuckling and smiling at everyone's panicked reactions, but still, she found the whole situation very funny. The others didn't though. ''Sorry, sorry.''

Everyone stared at the tunnel, waiting for hopefully the right Scott to come out while Katya pushed her chuckles down. But also this time, it wasn't good. 

''Ow, my back!''

Scott was old, very old. About to die old. This test was not going well in any way.

''What is this?'' Steve exclaimed again. He might be most worried out of everyone, feeling the worst if this wouldn't end well. 

''Hold on a second. Can I get a little space here,'' Bruce asked impatiently, growing more anxious by the second. 

''Yeah yeah.'' Steve moved away from the setup and joined Katya's other side. ''Can you bring him back?''

''I'm working on it!'' He was more so slamming random buttons and slapping the equipment than purposefully doing science. At this point it had turned into a guessing game, praying Scott would come back. And someone came back through the tunnel, but again, it wasn't the right Scott.

Katya had to lower her gaze to not even two foot high. On the ground sat an adorable little baby, probably not more than a year old. He stared up at the Avengers with big eyes.

''It's a baby,'' Steve observed dryly. 

''It's adorable,'' Katya gasped

''It's Scott,'' Banner protested.

''As a baby!'' Steve exclaimed. He was not having this. 

''He'll grow.''

''Bring Scott back!''

Reluctantly, Bruce gave in and turned back to the machine, making the baby disappear. ''When I say kill the power, kill the power.''

Natasha hurried away, muttering frustratingly to herself. ''Oh my god.''

''And... Kill it!''

Natasha pulled the lever and cut the power to the building. Apparently that was the right move, because Scott came out, and this time it was the right one.

''Somebody peed my pants,'' he said casually, not moving. Yeah this was Scott and he was alright. ''But I don't know if it was "baby" me or "old" me... Or just "me" me.''

Natasha placed a hand on her heart and exhaled heavily. ''Oh thank god.'' Her relief was mirrored by everyone else, even by Katya who had laughed during the whole thing. 

''Time travel!'' Bruce said proudly, his arms wide.

Steve shook his head and walked off, taking a break outside.

''What? I see this as an absolute win!''

Katya shook her head like Steve had done, although she gave Banner a smile for trying. She didn't know what to think and neither did Natasha, who still stood by the lever, chewing on her thumbnail again.

''Do we paint this as a success or not?'' Katya joked when she joined her, breaking her train of thought. 

''I don't know, but the fact that Tony is here might turn the odds in our favor.'' Natasha smiled when Katya's eyes lit up the moment she saw the billionaire outside. Yeah, she might have known Tony the longest out of all the Avengers, but Katya and Tony's friendship was special.

Her footsteps echoed in the empty shed as Katya ran outside and without saying anything, flung her arms around Tony's neck. It was what she wanted to do in the cabin, but he had felt uncomfortable and distant. But this time, he showed up here, and according to the shield around Steve's arm, came back to join their risky adventure.

Tony simply being here said enough. It said: I figured it out, I am saving all your asses once again. They could actually fix this now. 

''Wow, easy there Petrova, my bones are old now,'' he joked, secretly enjoying the crushing hug she gave him. He would never say so, but he had missed her dry humor and smart remarks. 

''Where is my accessory or suit or cool gadget?'' She frowned, eyeing the shield.

Tony pushed past her to the front door. He wanted to see the tunnel himself, which was understandable. ''Nowhere. You weren't supposed to see it.''

''Well then maybe you shouldn't have handed it to him out in the open,'' Katya teased. She had really missed this, joking with Tony. Just talking to him in general really. But it was her own fault she had lost it.

Natasha nodded at Tony as she passed him in the hall, gesturing for Katya to come find her afterwards. ''So I assume you and Romanoff will be going after Barton then, since we're getting the team back together.''

It was true, they had contacted their friends in space to come back, telling them they had a solution. And while that solution was Banner's weak attempt at time travel at first, it now was a real chance with Tony. 

Rocket and Nebula would be coming to find Thor and drag him down here. Rhodey was also coming. And Natasha and Katya would be going after Clint, since that was the most obvious choice and neither of them could do much to help at the Compound anyway. A long journey to Japan was the result. 

Katya nodded. ''Hopefully he listens to two of his best friends instead of one.''

''Yeah I heard about that,'' Tony spoke gently, eyeing the sad look on his friend's face. Rhodey had told him all about their failed attempt to get Clint back in Budapest. It must have given her a huge blow, but here she was, smiling and ready for another adventure. It surprised him how much resilience she had.

''I was desperate, he wasn't ready. But now I'm hopeful and he is finished.''

He stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. ''Good luck,'' he said sincerely. ''I heard Tokyo is really nice this time of year.''

~~~~

Tokyo was not nice.

At least not tonight and not this neighborhood. It poured, water coming out of the sky in floods. Luckily the jet had an umbrella, so both Russians huddled together under it. The bright neon lights reflected in the pools of water on the dark asphalt, Katya's black heeled boots splashing through them.

Natasha had a frown on her face the entire walk, and that wasn't surprising, since they were following the sounds of fighting and a trail of dead bodies. ''Now I understand,'' she whispered, the sound barely audible over the raindrops falling on the black umbrella.

Katya turned her head, the lights playing with the color of her eyes. ''Understand what?''

''Why it took you so long to deal with Budapest.''

It was true. It took Katya months to accept what had happened with Rhodey in Hungary. She wouldn't eat for the first few days and didn't come out of bed for weeks. The idea of her friend suffering on his own, his demons and loss darkening his world, that was worst to accept. 

She could deal with him killing people. Hell, besides Natasha, she had seen Clint take out the biggest amount of people while standing right next to her. But that was different, that was with SHIELD and The Avengers. That wasn't emotionally driven, pain driven.

And as her and Natasha snuck up behind their friend, she saw nothing had changed. She turned her head into Natasha's shoulder to avoid having to see him stab his sword into a man's chest in cold blood. No, Katya didn't care about blood or murder, but she cared about the icy man Clint had become.

Slowly, Clint smeared the blood from his sword on his sleeve and pulled his hood back. With his back turned to both women, he said, ''You shouldn't be here.'' Of course he knew they were there.

''Neither should you,'' Natasha spoke slowly and calculated. Katya was nervous, shifting in her spot uneasy. What if he wouldn't listen again?

Finally, Clint slowly turned around and for the first time in years, his eyes met hers. They found Katya's too, but quickly jumped away again, the memory of Budapest popping up. ''I've got a job to do.''

''Is that what you're calling this?'' Natasha responded coldly, her face clear of any emotions. ''Killing all these people isn't gonna bring your family back.'' Clint didn't answer, because he knew she was right. ''We found something. A chance, maybe...''

He teared up, voice breaking. ''Don't.''

''Don't what?'' she questioned. 

Katya didn't say anything. She knew if she would, everything would come out. Natasha was much calmer.

Clint shook his head. ''Don't give me hope.''

''I'm sorry I couldn't give it to you sooner,'' Natasha said softly, tears filling her own eyes too. 

For a second, it looked like Clint would accept her offer, her plea, but then he took a deep breath and took another step back. ''But you should go.''

Natasha's face fell and Katya made a decision. She wouldn't leave here without him.

''No. No, you don't get to do this again!'' She stepped away from under the umbrella, into the pouring rain, slamming her hands into his chest. She was absolutely furious, tears streaming down her cheeks. ''For fucks sake, I have thought years about what I would say, if I would punch you for what you did to me in Budapest or beg you. But all I want to do is yell at you to open your eyes!''

''Katya,'' Natasha warned lowly. Clint was too stunned to do anything but stare at Katya, blinking slowly.

Katya pointed behind her without looking back, the rain running into her eyes and soaking her clothes. ''She is too kind to tell you, to knock some sense into you, but I'm done. I'm done lying awake at night, wondering if you are even still alive. I'm sick of seeing Nat tear up at the thought of you. I'm sick of your way of dealing with this.'' 

She knew she was being very harsh, but this was her subconscious talking. All emotion coming loose. ''We have all lost people, but we haven't turned into the rogue murderer you wanted to kill that day in Serbia.'' 

Because that was the reality. How was Clint doing anything else than Katya in the two years after her escape from HYDRA?

Katya took a shaky breath in, biting her lip to smother more mean words from coming out. ''This chance to bring everyone back... it's real, it's true.'' She took his gloved hand gently, muttering over the loud sounds around her. ''You know I wouldn't come here with half assed hope again, if I didn't think I could convince you. This will work, I guarantee it.''

The amount of words she had thrown at him overloaded his brain. It was a torturing couple heartbeats where Clint weighed the pros and cons and the weight of her words. But eventually Katya saw something change in his eyes. Acceptance. 

''I'm so sorry,'' he choked out. Some part of him wanted to hug her, but he didn't. Not yet. 

''I know,'' she chuckled sadly, pushing her body against Natasha when she stopped next to her, shielding her head from the water. ''I'm sorry for yelling.'' The absurd situation only now dawned on her.

Clint shook his head. ''It was exactly what I needed to hear.'' Slowly, the three of them walked back to the Quinjet, leaving the carnage behind. ''I'm sorry about Budapest. It broke my heart to leave you standing there.''

''You should apologize to this one,'' Katya gestured to Natasha, who pulled her eyebrows together in confusion. ''She broke her phone throwing it at the wall when she was angry at you for messing me up.''

The three of them chuckled. It was a sad sound, but it felt right. The three of them against the world again.