ESCAPE ROUTES

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It was literally a block away from where Natasha had been. She was exploring the city, getting a lay of the land and getting to know people that were in it; establishing and sometimes re-establishing contacts as that was what she did. Even with an ear to the ground she still needed to do her own foot work and that was how she'd ended up here at this moment in time. Sirens sounded and blared as screams echoed and rang out, reverberating off bricking.

Natasha rounded the bend just as she caught sight of a purple fletched arrow that streaked across the street, the smoke headed trick arrow hit the wall dousing the space between the civilians running across the full parking lot and the WallMart currently under attack.

~Clint?~ Natasha thought of the only person she knew to fire trick arrows like that. Her hand subconsciously went to the arrow necklace around her neck. It was an improbability that teased her with the slightest of possibilities all swirled in a haze of smoke and a deep purple and black fletching.

Her eyes looked up to spot some hired thugs on rooftop firing down into the parking lot at the people running chaotically away from the building, well all but one woman who Natasha just caught the final glimpses of as the young woman slid through the automatic double doors heading in. Thinking Clint there as well Natasha instinctively moved into action taking the indirect route this time because everyone expected one to go running across the parking lot, no one expected to come around and flank. So where the police started their little barricade, Natasha headed the other way to stop the gunmen on the roof.

Misdirection was her specialty and tackling things from an oblique angle was what she did so as she came up to the building and pressed her back against the adjacent building's wall she fired a widow's line towards the rooftop and allowed the cable and winch to pull her up at a steady speed. Getting to the roof silently from behind the shooters they never even saw her coming so the two shots to the back of each of the gunmen's neck caused them to go down without further incident. Non-lethal SHIELD issue ammo was what she used; which incapacitated the targets. She'd switched from live rounds to these the moment she decided to enter the building. These were just common criminals, thugs and hired hands, not worth bloodying herself over. Natasha might be an assassin but that didn't mean that she killed indiscriminately and if she didn't need to kill then she wouldn't, especially for something as menial as a bash and bag looting spree. The men she tranqued would be out long enough for them to be secured with no harmful side effects other than a really wicked headache. Yes, ICER rounds were definitely handy in times like these.

Securing the rooftop to make sure no one else was up there, Natasha moved into the building silently once more she moved within the shadows and kept herself up in the rafters of the building as she got a better tactical view of things. It was then she heard voices down towards the vegetable aisle.

"Hawkeye, in the interests of health and safety...we're going to have to ask you to leave.” One of them said. 

~Hawkeye?!~ Natasha couldn't help the autonomic response her body had at the notion that Clint was here; her partner. It made no sense that he would be here in New York. Last she heard from him he was half way across the globe. ~What's he doing here? And taking on common thugs?~ Natasha wondered only to have her musing stunted by the sound of a young woman's voice.

“Then ask.” the young woman said and Natasha watched as the woman abandoned the arrow and straightened up putting one hand out and beckoned the other men closer.

~Was she with Clint? And ...is that my...~ momentarily Natasha moved her hand to touch her Widow's belt and looked down at it if to confirm it was still on her person. The fact that the other woman had a replica of her belt around her waist was a bit disconcerting but the voice of one of the men below caused Natasha to pull out of her confusion and look down at the escalating situation.

Oh snap! Bulldozer you better wreck that bitch.

Natasha's eyes narrowed. Clint was nowhere to be seen and it was five super powered villains against one young woman. Natasha didn't like those odds, besides making her appearance would bring out Clint in a heartbeat, or so she thought as Natasha mistakenly assumed he was around. So appear the Black Widow did; materializing from the shadows above to drop down silently on the closest member of that group and firing into their face her Widow's Kiss which was a fast acting aerosol mist delivered from her wrist cartridge. It was more potent than the ICER rounds from her guns. This spray once inhaled knocked a person out within seconds; from the moment they breathed in the mist and with a little luck the man would hit the ground the byt the time her feet touched the tiled floor. If not she'd have a hell of a fight on her hands, but then again it might just be fun to get her hands a little dirty.

Where most would have probably made some witty quip upon entrance, Natasha simply rose to her full height and smiled that enigmatic smile of hers ready to either take on another for finish what she started earlier. To the young woman that she now stood next to Natasha simply gave a silent nod before turning her attention back at the men around them.

"I'll take the left if you want to take the right." Natasha said pretty much splitting up the clean up duty evenly (or she tried to).

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Emergency exits lay straight ahead, between the deli and dairy products, another was the main entrance behind the female archer then another down the northwest corner of the department store. Having put to memory exit routes earlier was instinctive for Natasha, as natural as breathing; know all your entry and exit points before dropping into a hot zone. They had mentioned Hawkeye and it was the only reason she'd been here in the first place. She needed answers and she hoped if her old SHIELD partner was here that he'd maybe be able to shed more light on this whole predicament they were in. That and it never hurt to have a bit of familiarity in a crazy situation. But first things first, now being in the middle of the fray the safety of the remaining civilians suddenly took priority and so change of plans. First order of business was the help the female archer who looked to be surrounded by men twice the young woman's age and size. Dropping down on them and hoping to have gained the element of surprise Natasha made her presence known along with her suggestion to the young archer. Natasha's suggestion of divvying up the enemies elicited a strange reply back as well as a personal request from the archer.

“Well hello to you too. Sounds like a plan to me. I get the red ugly one though, he called me a bitch.” The young archer smirked.

The young woman spoke to her with a familiarity that Natasha did not share. She never forgot a face or a name so the fact that she ran a blank was a mild concern and she looked to be too young to be someone she crossed paths with during her time with RedRoom and Department X so there was no way she was a blocked memory. Natasha still suffered from a few of those but logic informed her that this woman could not possibly be from that time; the girl was too young. But it wasn't the time to figure it out now.

"He's yours." Natasha answered with her usual succinct, detached tone and a stoic nod of consent. Then just like that she was on the move.

“We need to move them back, there's people behind us trapped.” the young archer had said but Natasha was well and already on it; on the move with a similar idea she was luring her adversaries away from the civilians and taking them down one by one.

Running down one aisle Natasha looked over her shoulder to make sure she wasn't too far ahead and with a very subtle almost indiscernible smirk she dropped to her knees and slid on the tiling spinning about to now face her opponent as he careened down the aisle after her. Widow discs were cast on the floor at his feet just in time to get a shocking jolt of electricity enough to painfully spasm muscles and incapacitate. For good measure, Natasha fired her Widow's line to grapple a nearby shelving unit and pull it over top of the fallen criminal causing heavy soup cans and the likes to bury him along with the shelving; messy but effective, it wasn't like it was a stealth op after all. Not to mention it now cleared a better path for the trapped civilians to head straight for one of the exits with less barriers to obstruct them.

"GO! GO! GO!" Natasha waived some of the civilians just in time to hear a gut retching scream and then the sight of the female archer's arrow embedded in the eye of one of the criminals. Natasha almost cracked a smile...almost but no. The young archer continued on that strange tone of familiarity with her, yet Natasha still couldn't place the young woman.

“So. What you doing around here? Thought street level crime was above you Miss Superspy Shield Lady?”

"Less talk more action." was the curt reply mostly because Natasha was still trying to figure out who this archer was and how she knew about her being a spy and SHIELD agent, it wasn't like it was common knowledge. Unless Barton told her but why? Natasha could see Clint's influence in the young archer in how she fought and used that bow but Clint never mentioned a woman like this archer in his life so who was she and why did she have a belt like hers?

Kicking up one of the soup cans she discarded earlier Natasha caught it in mid air turned and pitched it hard at the man she downed earlier that was rising from the pile of food she left him in. Natasha threw the can hard and fast aiming at the man's temple as he rose slowly from the debris and if successful the impact would cause the brain to swing violently against the skull lining and cause a blackout.

"Where's Hawkeye?" Natasha asked.

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“You're always ever so accommodating.”the young archer stated.

"Yeah, I'm flexible that way." Natasha replied deadpan, making her statement difficult to tell if it was a joke or dry matter of fact detail and she left nothing to deliberate on as she moved into action herself luring her opponents away from the civilians. 

As the archer moved firing off her arrows, Natasha turned to one of the other men tossing his way a Widow's disc that exploded at his feet releasing a bright flash and some smoke momentarily blinding her opponent. Vaulting over a produce display and using her momentum to give her a bit of extra power, Natasha placed her booted feet to the man's chest and drop kicked him sending him staggering back and off balance. As her blinded opponent stutter stepped back and blinked trying to get his vision back, Natasha continued her attack as she sprung back to her feet and ran at the man, using his thigh as a step up to leap up and knee the man on the chin hard. The guy's head whipped back from the impact of her strike and fell onto some produce display. As soon as her feet touched ground again and she turned back around, her opponent was already rising his vision blurred but returned he came charging at her with a fist that Natasha caught and bound with her widow's line as she pulled one end tight and then wrapped it about the man's wrist when he extended his punch. Drawing him in, she kicked at the inside of his knee causing his leg to buckle and lose a bit of his balance and as he lurched forward from her strike she extended her line and looped it around his neck entangling his arm and neck in her line and pulling it tight so that his arm was now pressed to his face as she then leaped over him in a twist to land behind him and pull her line back. The momentum pulled the man down hard as he slammed head first onto the tiled flooring. Twisting around to see how the young archer was fairing Natasha found the young woman more than holding up her end of the fort.

Natasha watched as the young archer's opponent fell back crashing though a display and cracking the back of his head off a shelve. “Is that enough action for you?”the young woman asked causing Natasha to crack an uncharacteristic smirk which by her standards in a situation like this would be considered a smile.

"It's a start."she replied with a shrug.

The man at her own feet started to stir and rise so Natasha pointed a closed fist at the man. A pellet escaped from one of her wristband cartridges and exploded onto the man's face delivering a fast acting concentrated knockout gas; her Widow's Kiss, knocking the man unconscious. Looking back to the young woman Natasha had asked where Hawkeye was and the other woman's response was a strange one.

She looked at Natasha for a moment before looking down at the ground and shrugging her shoulders. “I don't know, I haven't seen him since the multiverse collided. Kate explained softly before she sat the bottom tip of her bow onto her shoe and frowned.

"The...multiverse...collided?" Natasha looked at the young woman quizzically.

“Last thing I heard he was in New York with Madam Masque on his tail....then again when she not trying to kill one of us.”

New York? That seemed odd to Natasha as last transmission she got from Barton he was on hiatus halfway across the globe and being hunted by Madam Masque? Natasha had a thousand and one questions but she allowed the young archer to finish speaking.

“I don't think he came through with the light show. Lucky did....he'd been staying at mine. Though as much as I do love that doofus it's probably better I get the dog....he'd just feed him pizza all the time otherwise.”

"Light show?"Natasha asked her brow furrowing mildly as she was trying to piece together information that just didn't seem to add up. As much as she loved him? Clint never said anything about a woman in his life much less this young and he has a dog too now?! Barton was gone a bit but this was just a little bit too much even for him.

"You love...He...you and him... ugh not my business..."Natasha shook her head as if to relieve herself of any continued thoughts in that direction. Clint was a grown man he could make his own decisions but she couldn't help but be surprised by all this. None of it sounded like him at all.

"...Aaaand he has a dog...named Lucky?"Natasha looked at Kate skeptically. None of this was adding up and didn't sound like the Clint she knew. "None of this makes sense. He doesn't have a dog...And what are you doing with one of my belts?"

Natasha was pretty sure Clint wouldn't have given it to the girl; girlfriend or not. He knew how Natasha was with her gear. He was even lucky she let him touch it so if he gave the girl one of her spare belts the man would be in for a world of hurt. 

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"I know what the multiverse is. " Natasha smirked. " It was your choice of words about collisions that surprised me. Something that causes dimensions to cross is never a good thing."

As the girl started talking about a light show Natasha vaguely remembered a flash of brilliant light just as she was shot; had thought it was from the explosion of pain that made her see lights but maybe it wasn't the pain and it certainly explained the strangeness of this place. It was the same New York but different all at once and she nodded at the girl's explanation.

Movement stirred from the first man she downed when Natasha came dropping down from the rafters earlier; slow to stand he was. Blue green eyes flared to alertness at the movement and just as naturally her facial features hardened as she moved with a fluid and efficient manner towards the rising man. The Russian leaped up and kneed the man in the chest as he rose, placed a closed fist before his face as she released another knock out pellet just as she pushed off and flipped back landing on her feet. The thug won't be getting up anytime soon. Moving back to face the young woman her face changed again to a less ruthless look and more of a neutral repose as she listened to her explain Clint or the woman's Clint at least.

“oh my god no.” The woman burst out laughing as she shook her head, held up a hand trying to communicate how hilarious she found Natasha's conclusion and internally Natasha couldn't help but crack a smile at her initial conclusions.

"Well when you said you loved him and you got to keep the dog..." Natasha replied

“No, Clint and I, never! With that doofus, oh my god you have it completely wrong he's more like....big brother...actually he's kinda like my dad.”

"Yeah...." the thought was quite amusing now that she knew it wasn't what she thought at first it was.

Then the young woman started explaining her Clint and how he faked his death and how she ended up with the same moniker. It wasn't really in what the man said so much as her body language, cadence and pitch of her voice that told Natasha of an underlying sadness in the young woman and understandably so. Natasha herself could relate as she found a part of herself deflated at the notion that Clint wasn't here. It wasn't until all the mention of Hawkeye came up that Natasha found herself thinking of Clint and that she missed her partner as well. Maybe it was because in a place where she felt lost and out of place some familiarity was a comfort or maybe it was just that man had gotten under her thick defenses enough to actually matter more than just another agent.

“...We kinda work you know. We're a team.”

"Yeah. I know exactly what you mean." Natasha answered with a rare understanding smile. She knew what Kate was feeling and what she meant, right to the 'T'.

~We were a team too and a damn good one. ~ Natasha thought but kept the words to herself masking it with an enigmatic smile to the other girl that. It was evident to Natasha the young girl missed her Clint.

There was a sad smile Natasha noted on the young woman for a moment before she swallowed the lump in her throat and continued to talk about the dog he saved and adopted. Natasha had to smirk at the story, in some ways it sounded like Barton but in other ways not.

"Yeah. Barton has a way of rescuing strays." Natasha replied. ~He rescued me...~ she thought of that crucial moment when he could have killed her; that moment he made a different call. Barton stuck by her then, had kept her on the up and up and for a while she actually believed that she just might be able to be an ok person with him around. But that was before the Chitarui, before the HYDRA conspiracy and SHIELD. She hadn't heard from her partner in a while and she felt like his hiatus was a sign that maybe things were drifting; listless. Her hand touched the arrow pendant briefly before she spoke again asking about her belt to change the topic a bit.

“Eh you kinda gave to me after I stole it, which is a really long and complex story that kinda involves Cap being a jerk about things and taking my stuff....but you kinda just...let me keep it...apparently breaking into the Avengers Mansion was impressive...but I was like fifteen then ok I broke that habit a while ago.”

Natasha snorted at the mention of Steve being a jerk. "He can be a bit rigid but he means well. Next time he gives you crap about stealing though, just tell him it's 'borrowing'." Natasha offered. "He kinda said that to me when I called him on hot-wiring a vehicle."

The memory was an amusing one to her and an eye opener in that the man everyone thought was such a boy scout. The fact that he knew how to steal a car was probably one of the highlights to that day. Well that and watching defend his kissing prowess. She saw a different side of Rogers that day; she got to see Steve the man and not just that soldier though it was fun to poke at him none the less.

"And don't break that habit. It's a life skill." Natasha said of the young woman's statement of breaking the habit of stealing.

"And it sounds like the Avengers Mansion was a feat to break into. so you earned it. After all who am I to argue with Alter-me " Natasha made a face like it sounded awkward to say. "The Avengers in my world don't have a ... mansion. That's more Stark's style." Natasha smirked as she adjusted her gauntlets and looking over the scene. Her face moving back to business.

"Is it pretty much like this in the city now? Who hold's the order?" she asked. "I hear we're all cut off. Anyone tried to establish a communications network? Anyone even trying to get out of here?"pcolor] Natasha started asking, she couldn't help it, it was habit. "Who else have you run into that didn't belong here?"

Ok so that probably wasn't so subtle a question but can't blame a girl for hoping for some familiarity in all this crazy

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"I wish I could say the whole dimension crossing thing freaks me out but I’m so used to it now…”

"Used to it?" Natasha couldn't help but eye the young woman skeptically although reading her body language she did not detect a lie. "I do not know whether to be impressed or concerned that this is such a frequent occurrence for you."

“Of course I kept the dog. Would you trust Barton with a dog? He kept feeding him pizza.”
Natasha didn't reply and simply smirked. The question was rhetorical that much was plain to see though it was interesting to watch the myriad of emotions play out within the young woman even if she tried to mask it, Natasha had a unique skill set, reading others' body language as well as their tone, cadence and inflection to learn what they were really saying. This woman's Clint meant the world to her similar in lines to the way she saw Barton; similar but different. Barton meant even more to her than even this one felt for her version of Clint. In fact there weren't any words to describe what Barton was to her but thankfully she never had to form words to describe it; it was in their actions.

Natasha noted the way in which the female archer shrugged her shoulders as if shrugging off the idea that she had been one of those strays. “He’s the stray, I just keep him alive and inline.”Kate explained with a smirk.

"If you say so." Natasha replied arms crossed as she did not bother to hide her smirk. Even still Natasha could sense and inner strength in the young archer as well as a vulnerability. Natasha even wondered if that was what drew Alternate Barton to 'mentor' this young woman. She had spunk and was a fighter, she seemed intelligent and yet there was a sense of rashness as well. These were all Natasha's assessment of the archer and may not be 100% accurate but it was an early assessment. It couldn't be helped really; Natasha by nature always sized people up; occupational habit.

Then the young archer got down to business and started answering Natasha's questions.

“Well it was Starks mansion, then he made it the Avengers HQ….then it got blown up and Avengers tower happened…I mean it’s nice and all I just wish it looked less like a llama.”

Natasha smirked at the comment. "Now that you mention it...it really does. You should tell that to Stark."

“I managed to get the emergency telephone lines back up using Avengers Tower, Starks looking after it now, so at least we have emergency communications up for the emergency services…that’s it though the rest of the lines are down. We just don’t have the infrastructure to support the entire network. We might beable to get landlines up and running but cell phones…hell no.”

Natasha nodded at the Intel. "So it's just Stark right now manning the tower. Don't suppose you know if Pepper is there too?" It would have been nice, Natasha thought though wasn't gonna hold her breath. She liked Pepper. Sure they got off to a slightly rocky start when Natasha was assigned to be Tony's shadow pretending to be the man's assistant but it didn't take Natasha long to win Pepper over when the woman was given the lofty position of CEO. Natasha had built a working relationship with the woman growing into mutual respect; after all you had to be of a certain breed and tolerance to be able to be Tony Stark's assistant and well Natasha could empathize now with Pepper's 'pain'.

"Sounds like the city is just barely tied together by thin strings right now." Natasha assessed. "There needs to be a commanding force shown otherwise anarchy will begin to settle in."[/coolor]

At Natasha's mention of anyone getting out, the woman did not waste time telling her the bitter reality of their situation. “…you can’t get out...Anyone who touches the barrier disappears…they don’t come back. As far as we can tell there’s just…they’re gone. We’ve been trying to keep people as far away from the barrier as we can.”

"Fantastic." Natasha grumbled not masking the fact that she hated the idea of being stuck here unable to help her own dimension. "You do realize that there is a finite amount of resources and food here. If we don't try to find a way to either get out and return to our world or find a means to connect with other cities, if there are even other cities..."[/colors] Natasha shook her head at the useless thoughts, there was no point in playing out that scenario.

"So is this what you do then to pass the time? Chase after the danger?" Natasha joked. "And do you actually have a name or you just want to be called Hawkeye?"

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Natasha listened to the talk of Witches and Wiccans, dead mothers, boyfriends and intergalactic playboys with apparently a beauty pageant winner Miss America punching her way through the multiverse. The desire to ask if the young woman was on crack was heavily on the tip of her tongue but well Natasha already had seen her fair share of crazy and while the young woman's story did seem further fetched than some science fiction novels even, Natasha also knew not to discount anything at face value. She took in the information as it was given, without the appearance of judgement and simply her usual neutral repose.

"So it would seem." was Natasha's simple reply.

Then came the question of why tell Stark. "Don't take it personal. Tony only likes Tony." Natasha stated plainly. "And I appreciate the humor in that truth even if he doesn't."

"He's a lot more...vindictive...then I'm used to here." She admitted honestly with a frown and a nod of her head before she shrugged her shoulders.

"Vindictive?" Natasha was curious then. She hadn't yet met the Tony of this world but she could just imagine what a man with his intellect and resources could be like if one added vindictive to that.

"I have no idea, I don't know who is there, let me put it this way Stark and I are from different universes quite literally and he's even more of an asshole than the Tony I knew. That and he thinks I'm a joke. Despite having been an Avenger since I was fifteen, that's six years, I'm still the kid." There was bitterness and sarcasm obvious in her voice.

"There are advantages to being underestimated. Don't be so quick to try to dissuade them otherwise if they think it." Natasha replied. She was always over looked when among the calibre of players she found herself around. She paled in comparison to their abilities but that didn't mean she could not produce results and hold her own. Part and parcel probably was that most people underestimated her, like the God of Mischief and Tricks who thought her nothing but a ...what did he call her again? Oh yeah 'mewling quim'. Well while he thought the basest of things of her, she managed to get out of him what the others were trying to figure out, which surprised even the Trickster himself and the look on his face was absolutely priceless. "You shouldn't hold too much stock in what others think of you. It is irrelevant to what it is that you can do. Words and thoughts are just that, but actions are quantifiable." Natasha smiled knowingly. "So let them think you are a 'kid' then show them just what that 'Kid' can really do."

Then there was more serious discussion of things afoot, the Avengers have apparently been taking a public role with costume presence around the city and television spots in an attempt to reassure the public however they were on a skeleton crew at the moment which was a bad sign and so was the news on their resources.

"Trust me, I'm painfully aware of the fact that we have finite resources. You have no idea how finite it is. Most of the cities power comes from upstate...we're cut off from it, same with the water...there's only so much we can deal with though. We have a refugee camps at the airport because people are stuck here with no where to stay...they don't even live here. Most of them are from outside the USA and have nothing here what so ever." Kate informed and Natasha nodded gravely.

"So basically we are a few square meals away from anarchy. Just Peachy." Natasha commented gravely though used one of Clint's terms to finish it off. They needed to figure out this barrier thing fast at least, and get the resources flowing again, then figure out getting back home to their dimensions.

"My names Kate....Kate Bishop. Though, Hawkeye in costume is better I mean, it's not as if it's a super secret but you know - let's not make it a big thing?"

Natasha nodded in understanding "Very well Hawkeye it is and well it seems you already seem to know me or my alter me so I am assuming Black Widow is the moniker of choice on your world as well? though I am curious...what was my alternate self like?"

Even as she waited and listened for Kate's reply Natasha looked out at the criminals they managed to round up Natasha smirked. "Guess we should probably notify the authorities of these thugs and get them off the streets...there is still some sort of law enforcing body here is there not?"

********************************************

"There's a lot of other words I use but they arn't exactly PG13. "

Natasha smirked at the young woman's comment but remained silent as it seemed Kate was mulling over some memories or injured pride. Either way Natasha used that moment to scan the area around them. It seemed so far that the threat was neutralized for the most part, no civilians lost or injured and simply foods and displays that were messed with. All things considered, she'd call this a win.

Kate's voice though caused her to turn away from her threat assessment and back to the young archer. It still amazed Natasha that Clint would have trained a youngster, then again it wasn't her Clint but an alternate who obviously never thought twice about training a child to do work like him. Her Clint wouldn't have or at least Natasha had a hard time seeing Clint form her world having the patience to do so let alone think it appropriate. Hell in some ways Kate seemed quite mature and capable of holding her own but then other times Natasha would see that hint of vulnerability; that young girl that just seemed to grow up maybe a bit too fast.

"Yeah, it's just you get really tired of being a joke after spending years trying to convince everyone other side, Clint was the only one who ever gave me the time of day but he's not here....he's totally know what to do..." there was as heavy sigh from her as she lazily kicked a can that was rolling across the floor out of her way. And there it was, that child like vulnerability, but Natasha said nothing simply nodding in what seemed like understanding, never once letting her thoughts convey into physical form she was much too controlled for that.

Then the conversation turned to darker things, like the state of the city, Kate nodded her head then at Natasha's assessment as she held her bow close to her, wrapped both arms around it like she was hugging it to her chest. "Pretty much. "

The city was hanging by a thread which wasn't a healthy way to run a city just a threadline away from anarchy.
"We need to get communications back up and I mean outside past that damned barrier." Natasha replied.


"There's gotta be some kind of tech Stark has we can utilize or build. Back on my world Stark had all the toys; devoted 10 levels to simply R&D, not that he ever let me near those levels...but I saw it anyways." the Russian smirked, shrugging nonchalantly. "If this world's Stark has even half of what my Stark did well, we might have a chance."

Then as things started to wind down, discussions moved to her alternate self; something Natasha was quite curious about and Kate seemed more than willing to answer.

"Yeah, Black Widow's her code name and she's....she's utterly terrifying and possibly one of the coolest people I've ever met. " There was nothing but complete sincerity when she spoke as Natasha noted watching the young woman. "She has this weird habit of knowing when Clint and I are in trouble and an even weirder habit of being able to avenger information out of you... but she's a good person."

It was then Natasha cracked a small enigmatic smile. It seemed her alter self wasn't too far off from her. She and Clint had a bond unlike any other; difficult for people to understand or even qualify but in many ways they were everything to one another which meant they always had the others' back and yes she too had an uncanny way of finding the archer and bailing him out of trouble. And well it went without saying that Natasha was good at reading people, even Clint so no he couldn't lie to her without her knowing however she'd never known him to lie to her and Clint is one of the very few people she hasn't lied too. Omitted truths yes, but out right lied to? No. Her trust in him was deep enough that Natasha didn't find the need to lie to him. And yes, she as well had a way of extracting answers without a person even realizing it. It came with decades and decades of practice and experience.

Her eyes trailed to the men on the floor and Kate just shrugged her shoulders at Natasha's mention of calling in the authorities. "I notified them before I came in here and they still arn't here, chances are they wont be showing up soon. They're understaffed and over worked...I've been trying to pick up some of the work but...I'm one person and it seems the rest of the Avengers that are here are too busy sulking in their Ivory Tower to be of any use. "

And there was that hurt child again that Natasha noticed, oh not in the immature sort of way but the vulnerable young one that was sitll easily stung by slights of the older heroes. Some would even call it bitterness. However Kate did have a point considering nothing was being done about the state of the city. In the very least there should have been an Avengers patrol of some sort to keep the peace if the normal authorities couldn't handle it.

"Well not all of us are in that Ivory Tower." Natasha smirked casting the young woman a knowing look.
Kate looked tired though from Natasha's assessment, like she hadn't slept properly for days - and Natasha would bet the young woman hadn't - and she also looked like the girl could do for something decent to eat.

"Look why don't we get these guys rounded up and dropped off and after that get a bite to eat. I don't know about you but I wouldn't mind getting a quick bite to eat before making another patrol." Natasha said rather tactfully. She wasn't about to mention that the girl looked like she needed to eat or at least rest, that might come across and coddling or even condescending so instead turned it on herself which wasn't too much of a stretch since she was kind of hungry. Getting shot and having just arrived in a brand new world didn't really alot her much time to eat or even think about sustenance until now.

"What do you say? Wanna drop off these guys and head out for a bite to eat after?" Natasha asked. "Only one caveat...no pancake houses. I loathe those places."