Heart Of Stone

Chapter 21

The next week passes smoothly enough. I occupy myself by speaking with whoever is trying to talk to me, mostly Steve since he just seems to be the type of guy who likes making sure everyone is happy and Loki because the others still don't like him too much, save for Thor who still has a brotherly love for him despite all they've been through together.

Thankfully nobody has touched me again or even tried to. Surprising enough they're even more respectful of my personal space now that they know the full story, though Stark has been talking about it a lot, asking dozens of questions for some annoying reason. If I try to read his mind to find out what he's getting at all I see are bunnies, some kind of defence mechanism he's set up to counter my abilities. I can easily get past it, but for now I let him think he has the upper hand.

Natasha and Wanda take me out 'shopping' one day. We go to a large building they call a mall, filled with several sophisticated shops. I've never seen anything like it, so the girls have to keep explaining things to me as we go. It's mostly Wanda, really; she has more patience for this sort of thing than Natasha.

They help me pick out some clothes first, starting with a place called Victoria's Secret, which I am not going to describe. We picked out as much as I needed, nothing more. I refused to stay any longer than I had to.

Then it was off to another shop I didn't even catch the name of. This time I let myself take my time as it wasn't as... revealing as the previous selection had been. The girls helped me pick out items that were more popular these days, but I was still not fond of anything that showed off too much skin. It wasn't that I wasn't comfortable with my body, I just wasn't used to it since the last time I dressed according to a time period was when Queen Victoria was still ruling.

I ended up with plenty of 'jeans' and 'leggings' along with 'T'-shirts and blouses. It was strange to not wear a dress or skirt, but they seemed to grow on me more as I chose to buy them.

"What about this?" Wanda asked me after a while, holding up a dress. It was a pretty black dress with a silver belt. The sleeves were long, but it was quite short and the neckline was a little more than plunging, so I hesitated.

"I might take that one, actually," Natasha remarked. "It does seem like something you would wear," I agree. "It is a lovely dress, but I fear it would not look right on me. You have more of a figure for it, Miss Romanoff, along with the confidence necessary to... how do you say it these days? 'Pull it off'?"

She just nodded and took the dress from Wanda, draping it over her arm. She and Wanda were picking things out as they saw them, but I got much more since they insisted I needed to fill my wardrobe.

They showed me around a bit more, getting me new shoes (they made me try high heels on just for the fun of it. Little did they know I've been to 18th century balls before and can therefore withstand any kind of heel with the elegance of a professional dancer) and even took me to a place that supplied me with some new sleepwear so that Tony wouldn't keep making jokes about the other one.

Eventually they decided it was time to eat and we ordered a McDonalds, something I've heard of and even seen before but have never tried since I never had any money to do so. Let me tell you one thing; it is delicious!

Wanda didn't use her powers in public, so we were more dignified and tidy in the way we ate than that first night I ate with the 'Avengers' as they call themselves. We made light conversation as we ate. It was a pleasant experience.

I started to hear people murmuring around us, occasionally glancing over at our table. I tuned into peoples minds to find out what was causing such a fuss.

Is that the Black Widow?!

Woah! It's that witch girl!

What are they doing here?!

"You both are attracting attention," I remark to Natasha and Wanda. "I did not know that the people of this era were this... nosy, I suppose is a suitable word."

"We're practically celebrities," Natasha sighed, biting at her food. "It's annoying. We can't even just go out for one day anymore."

"We have company," Wanda muttered, glancing upwards since her head was down. I looked into her head and saw a man and a woman walking over, the man carrying something bulky over his shoulder and pointing it at us. The girls did not seem disturbed, so I made the assumption that it was not a weapon.

"And here we are at a shopping mall where none other than the Black Widow and the new Scarlet Witch are enjoying a lovely meal with an unnamed young girl!" The woman started speaking to the bulky not-a-weapon. "Could she be a criminal caught by two of the Avengers? An undercover operation in the works? Or maybe a possible new Avenger?"

The woman turned to me and held some sort of stick at me. "And what's your name?" Do I answer? I ask Natasha and Wanda quickly. Only if you're happy for people to know your name, but I wouldn't recommend it, Natasha replied.

"My name is not of your concern," I tell the woman. "Now if you would kindly leave us be, we were partaking within an enticing conversation that we do not wish to open to just anybody."

She looks confused for a moment, then laughs in an especially annoying way. "Well I guess it's just another secret identity!"

She turns the stick to the girls. "Black Widow, Scarlet Witch, who is this girl and how do you know her?"

"You heard her," Natasha says bluntly. "She chose not to tell you anything. I don't have the right to say."

The woman frowned slightly, then gave an evil smirk. If I wasn't excited for this to end before, I was now.