The Shadow and the Spider » Marvel |1| ✓

Chapter 8. A Shadow, a Different Spider, and a Freaky Nightmare

"Lina! Are you ok?" Natasha asks, bursting into my room.

"Yeah. I'm fine. Just had a bad dream."

"Do you want to talk about it, Little Shadow?" She says sitting on the bed next to me.

"I've noticed that people often know if they're broken or if they're piecing themself back together. Some people are broken. Some people are breaking. A few haven't been broken at all. I can't really tell where I am on that scale. I never know if I'm putting myself back together or if I'm just breaking more." I say. I had a dream about the Red Room but I'm not ready to reveal that. So I lie.

"My mom never really liked me. At least, that's how I felt. She was always working. Whenever I tried to show her the A+ I got on a test she would shoo me away. I never understood why she didn't like me. I always thought it was my fault. I wanted to be better, so she would pay attention. I always took the school bus to and from school. I started doing all the extra credit I could in hopes that I could get her to pay attention. Never worked.

"I sort of liked the fact that I was kidnapped and taken from my mom. Knowing that people payed attention to all of the good grades fixed me. Then, the people who fixed me, broke me even more. They always said that I would never have a purpose. That I'm useless.

"Meeting the Avengers, gave me a purpose. In my nightmare I dreamed that everyone decided to send me back. I wouldn't have a purpose anymore. I thought that I wasn't good enough for the avengers or that they knew me for two, maybe three days and they were already sick of me. I tried shutting out the voices. I tried ignoring them but with every single word, another piece of me broke. When I tried to get back to the Avengers, everyone stood in front of me and said that I would never be enough. That I would never be good enough." I lie.

Some of it is actually true. The part about being broken. The part about telling me that I had no purpose. So really, it's only a half truth. I look at Nat. She's just sitting there. Normally, I'm pretty good at reading faces but I can't read Natasha. She looks me in the eyes and hugs me.

"I'm so sorry, Little Shadow. You're not useless. We're not sick of you. We're not going to kick you out of the Avengers. I was talking with Tony, Clint, Peter, and Fury and everyone likes you. Peter was so happy that you two watched Hamilton together. Tony thinks that you're really smart, Clint says that he's probably never going to be able to prank you because you're so clever, Bucky knows that he doesn't want you on his bad side and Fury thinks that you're going to be a great asset to the team. You've only been here for a few days, yet Fury thinks that you will be a big help. And that's not something he goes around saying." Natasha says looking at me.

I didn't know that they thought so highly of me.

"Wow. Thanks, Mama Shadow." I smile.

"Ok, now I'm thinking that Maria's right!" Natasha exclaims.

"What do you mean?"

"I think that I'm your favorite."

"Probably right. You and Peter are tied. The scale is leaning more towards you." I grin.

"How much more?" Natasha asks.

"Oh, about twelve percent." I smile.

"Mama Shadow, huh? I like the sound of that. Ok, I think that you have a package." Natasha says.

"Sweet! It must be the stuff I ordered yesterday! I wonder how it arrived so quickly."

I dash down the stairs, dragging Natasha with me, exited to get my package and open everything.

"Where are you dashing off to?" Steve asks.

"I got a package." I point the box because it's really big.

"Want some help?"

"We're good, thanks." Natasha says as she picks up one end and I pick up the other.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, we're sure. But thanks, Steve!" I say.

"Time to open it!" I squeal after I've put my box in the middle of my room and shut the door. Nat and I sit next to each other and I open the box to reveal a couple pairs of jeans, some leggings, my Black Widow T-shirt, blue tennis shoes, a pair of boots, a pair of flip flops, a couple miscellaneous T-shirts, a leather jacket, a swim top, swim bottoms, and a wrap coverup skirt.

I take those out of the box and see the decorations I ordered. I got some LED lights, some star decorations, a couple shelving units, a rug, some paint, some paint brushes, some canvases, and an easel.

I set the clothes on my bed and organize everything before I start to put together the shelving units.

Once everything is out of the way I open the box with the parts for the shelves.

"Ok. Let's build some shelves." Natasha says.

About half an hour later...

"All done!" Natasha exclaims looking proudly at the shelves sitting next to my wall.

"Thanks for helping me. With my dream and the shelves." I say.

"No problem. Anything for my Little Shadow." She pulls me into a hug.

"Well it's..." I look at my clock. "10:00 and I'm still in my pjs so I'm going to go change." I say.

"Ok. Do you want me to wait here?" Natasha asks.

"If you want." I say grabbing my Black Widow T-shirt, my tennis shoes, and a pair of blue jeans and walk into my bathroom.

"Eliza, can you please change the color of my bracelet and earrings to match my shirt?" I ask.

"Of course!" Eliza chimes.

I see that my bracelet has changed from blue to red.

"Thanks, Eliza!"

"No problem!"

I walk out of my bathroom to see Natasha looking at me.

"Nice shirt."

I start laughing and say, "Now let's get some breakfast!"