𝑻𝒓𝒂𝒑𝒅𝒐𝒐𝒓 ✘ 𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐀𝐒𝐇𝐀 𝐑𝐎𝐌𝐀𝐍𝐎𝐅𝐅

{4²} {TEA AND PARANOIA}

Probably dead. If not, still stuck with her solo missions in Spain. Yes, she had been good at them, and she had enjoyed them, but even when she finished a mission, it never would have brought the satisfaction of saving the world, the idea that she had helped save billions of people. She supposed that it was selfish, that she was saving these people, these lives because of the satisfaction that it brought her afterwards.

She had brought it up to Natasha at some point while the pair of them watched an episode of FRIENDS – a past-time they had adopted for when they just wanted to have a quiet couple of hours to relax in. The redhead had simply shaken her head as if to scold her, and had told her that while Roxi might feel that way, other people did too, and that it was impossible to complete something entirely selfless.

It had left Roxi mulling over the statement for a few days, but what Natasha had said stuck in her mind, and she found it popping up whenever she had doubts relating to the topic. It was one of the reasons that Roxi felt that the pair of them had become so much closer; they could offer each other advice that no-one else could, support each other in exactly the right way, and of course, make sarcastic comments back and forth longer than anyone that either of them knew, except maybe Sam and Tony.

They teased each other a lot, often letting mocking insults hang in the air before the other thought of something different to respond with. It was a playful kind of sarcasm that let a smile settle onto Roxi's face, that made both of them feel at home, and allowed them to relax. They weren't at home now, though.

The sunbeams heated Roxi's back as she sat half-under the shade of the parasol at the Nigerian café, trying to focus more on the conversation that was going on in her ear than the way that she could feel her leather jacket and top cling to her scarred back with heat. It was uncomfortable, and made her skin crawl as if the flames that had burned her still seared against her.

"All right, what do you see?" Despite the incredible heat beating down on her, Roxi had ordered a cup of tea to drink as they surveyed the situation, which, a few tables over, Wanda had joined her in. While Roxi was perfectly content with her tea plain, Wanda was mixing in several pouches of sugar, and Roxi rolled her eyes discreetly at the action.

"Standard beat cops. Small station, quiet street. It's a good target," Wanda answered. A few months ago, they'd started taking her on the smaller missions for training, to help her learn and  improve. Roxi was quietly glad that the girl had something to keep her busy, to stop her mind from straying to her brother. There was only so much a person could do to keep memories of those they lost from their minds. Though, thankfully, Roxi had managed to stop her mind from going to Ara fairly well, and she didn't doubt that it was mostly to do with Natasha, who sat another few tables away from Roxi.

The redhead had changed her hair. It now fell to just below her shoulders, curling into thick waves near the ends, framing Natasha's face delicately. Roxi took a moment to admire her.. girlfriend? They hadn't put a label on it yet. Her eyes were hidden by the pair of sunglasses that she had picked up off of Roxi's dresser at some point in the past year, wearing a beige jacket that complemented her hair well. She held a drink too, her hands carefully clasped around the mug as she listened to Steve and Wanda discuss the situation.

"There's an ATM on the south corner, which means?" Steve trailed off, waiting for Wanda to answer the question as Roxi let her icy eyes sweep over the scene before her as subtly as she could. To someone else, it might have seemed like a normal Nigerian street, but she and Natasha specifically had been doing what they had for far too long to dismiss the scene as ordinary. It was anything but.

Roxi was wishing that she had taken similar actions to Wanda and Natasha at this point, and put on a pair of sunglasses or a baseball cap; anything to disguise her face. She had decided it wasn't needed before, because the public had seen her as an Avenger far less than they had the others, including her face on video. It could be because nobody knew her name, or because she wasn't a particularly public person. Should they ever be on a mission where they needed to pass unrecognised, for whatever amount of time, as they were now, then she would rather not have to go to extremes to avoid being pointed out as one of the Avengers.