A.N: I am seriously so sorry to anyone who has been waiting for a chapter from me for a while now, I've just got back from being away in another country for five weeks and the wifi there was really not that good. I also have a serious lack of motivation and on top of the heaps of school work it makes it hard to find time but I wrote another anyway bc I'm off school today so it really was the perfect opportunity.
Thank you to anyone who is reading this and enjoying it, it means so much.
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The next day Seven woke up and glanced over at her clock, realising she still had thirteen minutes until her alarm was supposed to go off. She groaned and angrily ripped the duvet from her body, exposing herself to the cold, icy air.
She stormed over to her wardrobe and proceeded to stub her toe as she grabbed her clothes and she cried out, hopping over to the bathroom to take advantage of the extra time she had to shower.
Seven soon forgot about her stubbed toe as she let the warm water run over her body and she used her favourite scented soap to make herself feel better, the events of yesterday still fresh on her mind. If she concentrated hard enough she could feel the chilling coldness from being drenched by the rain, and the immense fear she felt listening to the conversation in the van.
Seven sighed as she heard her alarm she forgot to cancel going off in the next room, which would probably drive her crazy if it didn't wake someone else up first. She left the shower in a rush and ignored the dampness of her body as she pulled her clothes on, rushing to silence the blaring noise.
The green-eyed teenager reached down to grab her school bag, catching a glimpse of the letter before grabbing it abruptly, ready to rip it into a million small pieces and bin it, or just burn it with the matches she had for her abnormally large candle collection.
Instead, she decided she wasn't in her right mind to decide right now so she shoved it into her drawer in her nightstand and decided that all thoughts were staying in the nightstand with the letter until further notice.
"Morning Seven" Steve nodded at her as he entered the kitchen, sweaty from a run. The kitchen was otherwise empty except for Natasha and Bucky who were sitting reading newspapers and drinking coffee at the island. When she saw them she considered turning back and eating the stale granola bar on her desk in her bedroom but upon hearing Steve's words they had looked up, so that option was obviously not available anymore.
"Morning Steve, good run?" She asked, going to sit next to her mother instead of Bucky. "Hey Mom" She whispered to her, leaning into her for a quick hug.
"It was good" Steve proclaimed, jogging over to grab coffee.
"Morning sweetheart, sleep okay?" Natasha whispered back, both women aware of their still fragile state from yesterday.
"As well as I could've" Seven answered and Natasha nodded, giving her a sympathetic look.
"I don't know how you do it, man," Bucky said, "Runs at like 6 am in October? I'd freeze, and we both know that can be unpleasant"
Bucky looked around proudly at his joke, Natasha chuckling slightly and Steve giving his typical disapproving look.
"Resilience and Stamina" Steve answered plainly which got a laugh from Seven. "What?" He asked, eyeing her.
"You sound exactly like those PE videos we have to watch of you, did you write those scripts yourself?" She teased, Natasha and Bucky laughing along, both used to Peter teasing him about those videos.
"No" Steve grumbled, "but it is true you know, resilience and stamina are both important"
Seven just laughed at him as he droned on about the importance of resilience and stamina in sport and she got up to grab a waffle, groaning and lightly smacking her head against the counter when she opened the box.
"You okay?" Natasha asked, "you'll give yourself a concussion if you keep doing that"
"It's empty!" She whined, showing them all the completely empty box where the waffles were supposed to be. "Who eats the last waffle and then puts the box back!"
"Oops sorry" Peter apologised not so sincerely as he walked in, hair wet and school bag strung over his shoulder.
Seven threw the box at his head so quickly that he didn't have time to react and it smacked him straight in the face.
"Ow!" He picked the box up from where it had fallen onto the floor and attempted to throw it back at her head but she managed to catch it and throw it into the recycling.
"You need to buy me more after school," She said threateningly and Peter nodded, afraid to say no.
"Why don't you just grab an apple?" Steve suggested, pointing at the fruit bowl.
"An apple?" She deadpanned.
"Yeah?" He shrugged, "You know apples are great fruits which give the body lots of energy which is great for your stamina"
"No thanks Steve, I'll just give breakfast a miss" She smiled but it was strained, she was trying to make it seem like she cared about the stamina.
"But breakfast is the most important meal a day?" He almost sounded confused as to why she would possibly want to miss it.
"I think I'll survive."
"Ready to go?" Peter asked, a granola bar stuffed in his mouth.
"Mhm," Seven gave her mother another hug and Peter grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl and saluted Steve as he walked away, causing Steve to roll his eyes at Peter mocking him.
"See you after school!" Natasha called after them as the elevator doors closed and they made their way downstairs to where Happy was waiting.
Seven couldn't possibly think of a place she would like to be less as she wandered into fifth-period geometry and took her seat right at the back of the classroom, next to Peter who actually looked excited to be there.
"Ugh, I forgot the homework was due today" MJ muttered as she sat on the other side of Seven and Seven almost gave herself whiplash while turning to look at her.
"What homework?" She asked, eyes panicked.
"This one" Peter waved a sheet with his handwriting scribbled all over in her face and Seven snatched it from his grip.
"Yeah, I have absolutely no recollection of this" She shook her head.
"Maybe Mrs Crain will give you an extension," Peter said before laughing. They all knew she wasn't the type for second chances.
"Maybe she'll forget" MJ posed and Seven sighed exhaustedly, maybe if yesterday hadn't been her birthday then she would have remembered.
"I'll think of something" Seven muttered before the class was shushed and her teacher began speaking.
A half-hour later Seven was doodling in the corner of her page and trying her hardest not to fall asleep. She had stopped listening when the teacher had begun explaining countless things she could never begin to understand, sometimes she felt like she was just way too far behind to ever catch up.
The speaker overhead began crackling, insinuating that it was about to be talked through and Seven placed her pencil down slowly as Mrs Crain trailed off, sitting on the edge of her desk.
"Would uh, Seven, uh Seven Thomas please report to the reception desk" A weary voice that could be vaguely recognised as the receptionist's voice came through the speaker and most eyes turned to her.
"Seven" Peter whispered from beside her as she began clearing the contents of her desk into her bag.
"Mhm?" she turned to look at him, not expecting his expression.
"I have a bad feeling about this" he whispered and Seven tilted her head.
"What kind of feeling?"
"It's bad Ven, my senses are going crazy"
"Well," She paused, "alright."
"That's it?" He whispered, the class had returned their attention to Mrs Crain who had returned to her lesson, expecting Seven to just leave when she was ready.
"Pete you forget that I'm a highly trained assassin, granted I never got to do any assassin work but still, I'm pretty good. Plus, I have some other talents" She spoke quietly so MJ wouldn't hear.
"I know what you can do Ven, but this feels bad."
"Well, would it make you feel better if you came with me? Ask to go to the bathroom and I'll wait outside" She shrugged, mostly unbothered.
"Yeah okay," He agreed and then watched as she walked out the door, waiting a moment before he raised his hand and asked to go to the bathroom.
"Alright," Mrs Crain agreed, "But be quick."
"That was easy" Seven observed as Peter slipped through the door and joined her in a leisurely walk to the office.
"Just be on the lookout okay?" Peter said, "My senses are still going off"
"Okay," She agreed, looking around them for any passing students.
The two walked in tense silence as they neared the reception desk, as much as she hated to admit it, Seven too was beginning to feel uneasy and she kept looking over her shoulder, feeling as if she was being watched.
As the pair rounded the final corner Peter stopped dead in his tracks but Seven carried on walking, Peter jogging to catch up, his eyes set dead on the gun pressed against the side of Mrs Winchester's head and the two guys stood there, one with his finger over the trigger.
The pair stopped three meters away from the desk and Seven glanced at Mrs Winchester who she felt extremely bad for, she didn't want anyone to get hurt because of her.
"What the hell?" Peter whispered under his breath and Seven
"Who are you?" Seven asked, coming to a halt three meters away from the desk.
"Our names aren't of significance to you вдова" He spoke with a heavy Russian accent and Seven's blood ran cold. (Widow)
"кто послал вас?" She demanded, narrowing her eyes. (who sent you?)
"Пора домой, субъект седьмой, он ждет" Mrs Winchester sat silently sobbing, her eyes flickering between Peter and the girl who was now speaking Russian. (It's time to come home now Subject Seven, he's waiting)
Seven was irritated by their evasiveness, and she turned to Peter, "Ivan" She spoke and his eyes went wide.
"How did he find me?" She said, and the men pulled a small card from the table, throwing it at her which she caught instantly.
Her school ID sat in her hands. "Apparently, you are easily recognisable" The taller man spoke, his accent stronger than his associate.
"скажи ему, чтобы он оставил меня в покое, я сейчас дома." She knew Peter was surveying all the ways they could escape the school and get back to the tower but she also had no idea what leaving would mean for all of the innocent children and teachers who were still here. (tell him to leave me alone, I'm home now)
"Он настаивает" (he insists)
Seven sighed and placed a hand to her temple, thinking. She didn't have her suit on her so there was no way for her to silently communicate with the tower or the police. She knew Peter could easily shoot a web and have the gun straight in his hand but that would end up revealing his identity so they couldn't do that either.
Seven glanced at Peter and hoped he knew what she was insinuating. Peter nodded before sprinting back the way they came, immediately getting the attention of the two Russian men. With them distracted Seven vaulted over the desk and grabbed the gun in her right hand, using her left to support her landing.
Before either man could reach another weapon she shot them each in the leg, sending them to the floor, grasping at their limbs. She holstered the gun between her belt on her jeans and her bare skin, hissing at the cool metal.
Mrs Winchester glanced between the gun on Seven's waist and her outstretched hand. Seven sighed as she watched the cogs turn in the receptionist's head as she decided whether she should take the hand of the teenager who had just shot two men.
Seven could see the men beginning to reach for other weapons out of her peripheral view and without thinking she outstretched her hand, sending a gust of air that sent them flying back into the wall, winding them both.
Mrs Winchester's eyes widened and Seven decided that it was enough, they were losing time and if she wanted to take the guys down and find Peter then she needed to remove the civilian from the potentially lethal situation. The teenager grabbed her hand and began pulling her down the corridor and around the corner to an empty supply closet, opening the door and pulling them both inside.
"Wha- what?" The older woman gawked at the redhead and Seven smiled awkwardly. "The Russian and the-the gun, and the wind from your hand?"
"Hi, Seven Romanoff, nice to meet you" Seven outstretched a hand and the woman shook it flimsily. "You should stay in here, someone will come to get you when it's safe again" Seven spoke, reaching again for the door handle.
"Wait" Mrs Winchester reached for her arm, "You be careful dear, okay? And don't worry, I won't say anything" she smiled as much as she could bring herself to and Seven smiled back.
"I will." Seven slipped out the door and closed it quietly behind her, trying to figure out where she should begin, and what the hell had just happened.