A.N. There is ballet in this and while I have taken ballet before I am no means an expert, so if the center work that I have Natasha do is a little unrealistic forgive me. I just chose a bunch of movements that were known to be difficult. Also points if you get what song this title is from.

Natasha's P.O.V.

"What do we do now?" Rocket asked as we walked back into the compound, tail tucked between our legs.

"There's nothing to do," Thor stated, "He's dead and the stones are gone and there's nothing we can do."

"That's not true, the stones can't be completely gone," I said, stepping in front of the group. "It's simple science, matter cannot be created nor destroyed, it only changes forms. The stones have to be out there somewhere, right?" I glanced toward Bruce.

The man sighed, "Maybe, if these things even follow our rules of physics. I'm sorry Nat, I can't help." Bruce left the exited the room on a path that I knew led to the building's exit.

"While I admire your determination, I need to take care of my people first," Thor said, his voice softer and quieter than I'd ever heard it before, quickly following Bruce's trail.

"Anyone else," I said, sweeping my eyes over the team.

"I have to go back to my old post," Carol said. "This thing affected the whole universe and while I trust you guys to take of here, there are a lot more planets that could use my help. But," The woman added, setting a hand on my shoulder, "if I hear anything, you'll be the first to know."

I nodded, "Thank you. If you don't mind staying until tomorrow, I can help get a channel set up so we can communicate."

"I know so pretty shady space scientist that might be able to do something," Rocket said, "Not like I don't got anything better to do, whole family's gone."

"I'll make sure he doesn't get into trouble," The blue girl, Nebula said.

I smiled, "Thank you. I'll make sure you're on the same channel I'm setting up for Carol."

Maybe we can reverse this thing after all.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

One Year Later

Tendu front, side, back ...dégagé front, side back....grand battement front, side back...Relevé....demi détourné...rond de jambe...repeat and repeat and repeat.

After my warmup and I moved to the center of the room and began my workout. I began with a combo of arabesques and pirouettes followed by a variation from Grand Pas Classique before moving on to Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy, straying from the traditional choreography and ending it with thirty-two fouettés.

I was enjoying the pointe work and the pain and pressure that came with it, when I voice that I had become accustomed to over the past year spoke up.

"Was that your knee by ear? Is that normal for terrens?"

I brushed some small pieces of hair that had fallen out of my ponytail away from my face, "What's going on. We weren't supposed to have a conference yet?" I asked taking in the holographic forms of Rocket, Nebula, Carol, and Okoye.

"I wasn't the one who started this meeting. In fact, I was about to dig into the ripest yaro root I'd ever seen."

I shook my head at the Racoon's words but looked to the other two women, "It was me, Natasha," Okoye said. "We had sent some volunteers to help with the aid efforts, but two of them came back with rather worrying reports."

"What's going on?" I asked leaning against the barre that I had used for my warmup.

"Two mass slaughters on two different continents."

"And you think it's the same person?"

"In both incidents, the victims were all stabbed or had their throats cut."

I nodded, "I'll see if Rhodey can't dig up any information, now any reports from anyone else."

"Other than making sure that the Sovereign didn't try to take to over the rest of the galaxy, I don't have a lot."

"Me and big blue here, have come up with zilch as well."

I nodded, "Well, we should keep trying there has to be answered out there somewhere. If there's any urgent news remember that this channel is always open. Just remember tomorrow afternoon I'll be away from the compound. I'm going to check in on some of the orphanages in New York with Captain Rogers."

The other all nodded before stopping the call.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Two Years Later

Tendu front, side, back ...dégagé front, side back....grand battement front, side back...Relevé....demi détourné...rond de jambe...repeat and repeat and repeat.

"Hey, Nat."

I stopped my warmup and turned my attention to Rhodey.

"What's up?" I asked, grabbing my water bottle.

"I think we have an ID on our mysterious slasher, but you're not gonna like it."

"Unless Stark finally snapped from one too many episodes of Caillou, I don't think there's a whole lot that can except me at this point." I put a small smile on my face trying to dilute the tension I felt radiating off of Rhodey.

Rhodey took in a small breath before closing his eyes and trying to steel himself, "It's Barton."

My smile dropped and every single one of my limbs felt like they'd been filled with concrete. "Rhodey that's a really sick joke."

"I'm not joking Natasha. I managed to get my hands on some footage, and he had Barton's build and moves the same as Barton."

"Yeah, but the killer used a sword. Clint hates using melee weapons, it has something to do with his life as a child. I never pressed it. I know what it's like to have skeletons that hurt too much to dig up."

"Yeah there might be a reason behind that," Rhodey said, handing me a manila folder. "One of the acts at Carson's went by the stage name Swordsman and after a couple of calls including Carson's daughter I found out that Clint had a few lessons with Swordsman. I really didn't want it to be like this Nat but-"

"Please go."

"Natasha," Rhodey whispered, taking a step forward.

"Go," I commanded.

The other man sighed but left none the less.

After he was gone, I rose up onto pointe while letting the tears fall. I wanted Clint to be alive but not like this.

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Three Years Later

Tendu front, side, back. There's no way that Clint would go around killing people no matter how much they deserved it. Dégagé front, side back. If he is alive why didn't he show up at the compound? Grand battement front, side back. It's not like Steve hasn't been on every television station ever since the snap assuring people that the Avengers that were trying to help in every way possible. Relevé. The man had a sleeve of tattoos as well. Clint doesn't have tattoos says that scars tell enough stories. Demi détourne.It has to be some twisted bastard that saw this a time to reenact the Purge. Rond de jambe. If it's just some shmuk why don't you go after him then? Repeat and repeat and repeat.

"Good morning comrade," Stark said, walking into the living room, his young daughter resting on his hip.

I rolled my eyes, "Very creative, Stark."

"I'm just saying if you don't want stereotypical Russian jokes, don't act like a stereotypical Russian. Now would you mind taking little miss for a second, while I whip up some breakfast."

I reach forward and take the youngest Stark, who is still obviously battling sleep, "Ballet is originally from Italy and the vocab is French, Tony." I look down at the young girl, "Please be more like your mom."

"Hey, no communist influences on the young child." I sat down at the island in the kitchen, moving Morgan into my lap. "I figured you weren't the coffee drinking type," Stark said handing me a mug filled with hot water and steeping teabag. "How long have you been up anyway?" Tony asked as he trudged over to pour himself a cup of coffee, which I assumed followed through his veins rather than coffee.

"Five or six?" I supplied.

"You didn't go to sleep until like at least one. That is like the sleep Pep and I got when Morgan was just born. Thanks for helping me out by the way."

I just waved the man off. Pepper had asked me to be on Stark watch and make sure Tony didn't try to teach Morgan to solder or anything while the woman was out on Stark Industries business of some kind.

"What have you been doing these past three years. I never hear from you unless we invite you over for something."

I shrugged, "I've been juggling a lot. I've been coordinating search efforts between Carol, Nebula, and Rocket while keeping in touch with Okoye to figure out what's going on here."

"And don't forget those weird field trips that you've been sending Platypus on," Tony supplied, beginning to mix pancake batter.

I bit the inside of my cheek at the statement. I had been sending Rhodey to try and stop Clint's rampages, but he always seemed to arrive just a little too late.

"Not all of us can go and live in a remote cabin upstate with our family, Tony."

"I'm not saying that, but I am saying even Cap moved into an apartment in Brooklyn. At some point, you have to realize that this is our new normal."

"Weren't you the one that said we're the Avengers. Well, that's what I'm trying to do."

"At some point, you have to realize that it's no use. It's not like I haven't tried to figure things out, I've lost people too."

"You don't understand Tony I need to do this."

Tony sighed, knowing there was no point in arguing. "Just know that there are still people out here that care about you Nat and we don't want to see you wasting away in some compound chasing red herrings and getting worked up over natural events."

"I know," I said, looking down and beginning to try and calm Morgan's hair just so my hands would have something to do.

There has to be a way to fix this all.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Four Years Later

Tendu front, side, back. There's no way that Clint would go around killing people no matter how much they deserved it. Dégagé front, side back. If he is alive why didn't he show up at the compound? Grand battement front, side back. It's not like Steve hasn't been on every television station ever since the snap assuring people that the Avengers that were trying to help in every way possible. Relevé. The man had a sleeve of tattoos as well. Clint doesn't have tattoos says that scars tell enough stories. Demi détourne.It has to be some twisted bastard that saw this a time to reenact the Purge. Rond de jambe. If it's just some shmuk why don't you go after him then? Repeat and repeat and repeat. That's all my life is now, a series of repeats with no results.

"Hey Natasha," Steve said leaning in the doorway of the training room.

"Hi, how was the therapy session?"

Steve shrugged, "It was good. It seems like having Captain America tell you that everything is going to be okay seems to make people a lot calmer."

"Well yeah, the US is the only free country that's better at propaganda than Russia and that's saying a lot given that I was living in a Cold War environment until I was seventeen."

Steve moved across the floor and took a seat next to Lucky and started petting the one-eyed dog. I couldn't leave him on the farm, and he was one of the few connections to Clint that I still had. "So, have you moved any since I left this morning?"

"Yeah, I moved to the range for a little and then I had a holo-conference and then I responded to a few countries asking for aid and then I came back here."

"Was food involved at any point during the day?"

The rumbling of my stomach made my answer obvious.

"You can't keep living like this Nat, he wouldn't want you to do this. I know what you're going through Nat, but-"

"No, you don't. You got to see Bucky again before what happened happened. I didn't get the luxury. You got to Skype and talk to Bucky. The last time Clint and I talked I was yelling him. So, no you don't know what's going on."

"Well, if he can't get you to stop this spiral can at least help. The Avengers need their leader if they're going to get anything and they can't do that if their leader is slowly killing herself. We care about you, Nat."

I couldn't understand why people kept saying that to me. Why they kept acting like all of this was unfixable. Why they could get what I was trying to do. With how many lives I've taken it seems only right that I try and bring some back. If it takes a few skipped meals and lost hours of sleep than that wasn't too high of a price. although I don't know what would be too high of a price to help bring my family and my Clint back.

I have to fix this no matter what.