A.N: Hey all
This one is not as long or as action filled as I had wanted it to be but I felt the need to get something out there so it ended up being more of a filler.
The next one will be more interesting, promise. Thank you so much for reading :)
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Seven tossed and turned in her bed, the rock hard mattress underneath her making sleeping much more difficult. Whenever she closed her eyes she was met with the image of a gravestone with those words engraved.
She ended up staring at the ceiling for the next six hours, listening to the sound of Yelena's light breathing.
"Catch." Seven jumped awake as something landed on her stomach. She had a knife in her grasp in an instance before realizing it was only Viktoria, and she put the knife down.
"What is this?" Seven asked groggily, trying to figure out when she had managed to doze off. Viktoria threw something at Yelena and Seven watched Viktoria duck as a knife flew past just where her head had been.
"I almost killed you." Yelena observed, stretching.
"You didn't almost kill me, I ducked. You are your knives are too predictable."
Yelena frowned.
"Also please don't throw knives at me Yelena, I quite like my head." She stated, pulling the curtains apart. Seven groaned and sank into her duvet. The mattress was still hard so she sat up again.
"You're fine," Yelena dismissed her and pulled the object closer, "A duffel bag?"
"Pack, you're going to Barcelona ladies." Vik threw them a slick smile before turning and heading out of the room, making sure to swipe Yelena's knife, despite her protests.
"Barcelona?" Seven tied her hair back.
"Apparently."
Natasha knew something was wrong the moment she woke up. Death was in the air and she was familiar with the scent.
The woman swung her legs over the edge of her bed and pulled on a pair of white ankle socks, pocketing the gun she kept in her wardrobe.
Natasha's instincts led her to the medbay. The hallway was quiet and the hairs on Natasha's neck were raised.
She was about to push the door open when footsteps behind her caused her to turn, gun pointed.
"Romanoff?"
The widow lowered her gun and sighed, "Sorry Hill." She hadn't meant to point a loaded weapon at the deputy-commander's head but the darker haired woman didn't seem phased, sending her a smile.
Natasha could tell she was faking it. She could always tell.
"Why the gun?" The older woman asked, trying to balance two coffees and pulling the door open.
"Somethings off, I can tell." Natasha pulled the door for her, forcing herself in front of Hill to check out the hallway. Nothing. She kept the gun in her hand anyway.
"Alright Batman, calm down." Hill rolled her eyes, used to the red-head's antics. The two had become somewhat familiar since the funeral, the deputy-commander spending more time in the compound than she ever had in the tower.
"I'm serious Hill." She took a glance at the other woman but she still didn't seem concerned.
"You look nice, did you just wake up?" Hill asked, changing the conversation while still not looking over at her.
Natasha tried not to blush as she remembered the conversation she had been having with Clint just a few hours earlier.
She didn't like Maria Hill. The woman was infamous for not showing any emotion. She had even gained the nickname 'hardass hill,' which Natasha knew she secretly loved.
The problem was that she wasn't hardass hill, not with her.
Natasha had also forgotten to do anything with any part of her body, still being in her shorts and loose shirt. She hadn't even tied up her hair.
"Yeah," Natasha knew that Hill had been up for at least two hours at least. "Why are you here?"
"I promised Coulson a coffee from Starbucks," Natasha raised an eyebrow. "He's a coffee diva and apparently the medbay coffee is no good."
"I can attest to that," The redhead nodded.
"Not as much as you should I assume."
Natasha ignored the dig about not always going to the medbay when she was supposed to. What could she say? She hated doctors.
"FRIDAY? Is Coulson up?" The deputy-commander asked. They were met with a thick silence. "That's weird, is she down?"
"No." Natasha held out a hand and the brunette walked straight into it, cursing as some coffee hit her skin.
"Ow, Romanoff." She sent the widow a pointed look.
"Did that burn you?" Natasha asked, concerned for a moment. "Better make sure you go to the medbay." She added snarkily, trying not to seem too concerned. Most of all she was wondering why she was overthinking this so much. Stupid Clint.
"No," Maria shook her head.
"There's something wrong, FRIDAY is never down."
"Maybe it's a system fault." The two had arrived at Coulson's med room and Maria pushed open the door, coffees in hand. "Phil? I've got your- oh."
Natasha was surveying the room in an instance, stepping carefully over the nurses and doctors unconscious on the ground. She took a note that whatever had knocked them out must've been good, she also took a note of the stray widow bites around. Her heart sunk.
While the redhead's eyes were on everything, scanning relentlessly and storing everything into her impeccable filing system memory, the brunette's were only on one thing: the knife lodged in his neck.
Natasha didn't hear when the coffees hit the ground, only that she was currently standing in a pool of brown liquid and her white socks were ruined. She didn't care though, moving carefully towards the brunette to block her view of the scene.
The monotonous sound filled the silence and Natasha had never seen Hill like this, actually she didn't think she had ever seen Maria shocked about anything.
"Maria..." The brunette's eyeline snapped from the lifeless form to meet the redhead's green stare. "Let's go." She placed a hand on the woman's forearm as she led her out of the medbay and towards the elevator.
Maria didn't even hear Natasha place the call to alert the director.
"So why are we going to Barcelona?" Seven asked as they boarded the plane that had been strategically hidden in the foliage of a dense nature reserve. Getting there had been a trek.
"And why are we going at six in the morning?" Yelena added, still recovering from being hastily awoken twenty minutes ago.
"The avengers will have a mission in Barcelona in a few days." Anya said, " So that's where we'll be."
"Will have? What kind of wording is that?" Yelena asked, confused.
"There's a hit going out on a Spanish politician in about-" She paused to check her watch. "Forty minutes."
"How do you know?" Seven asked, at the same time Yelena questioned why they never got told anything.
"You never get told anything because you sleep in, and I'm the informant. And I know because I'm the one who queued the hit."
"I wouldn't call 6AM sleeping in but whatever." Seven grumbled, sinking down into the co-pilot seat. She pulled her sunglasses from her pocket and slid them onto her face, the glare of the morning sun too much for her, even in the cold months.
"There will be a hit on a Spanish politician, this politician has been closely working with SHEILD recently to investigate a case that isn't getting solved, it is in SHEILD's interest to send someone out to protect the politician, and I have a pretty good idea of who that will be."
Seven did have to admire her craftmanship, even if she still felt out of the loop. Yelena didn't share the same precedent.
"Why is a politician trying to solve a case?" She asked, trying to fill her head in with an adequate answer.
"To gain favor, people are on edge as a major murder case remains continually unsolved." Anya pulled off the ground and Yelena stumbled before regaining her feet.
"SHEILD is helping a politician gain favor? Are they running out of useful things to actually do?" Yelena mocked.
"She's a good politician, doing it for the right reasons. Plus they think that there might be some ties to the murders that happened in Georgia three weeks ago."
"There are no good politicians." Seven mumbled, watching as the clouds got closer.
Yelena hummed in agreement.
"Why the hit then?" The blonde looked over. She had managed to remain standing as they continued climbing higher.
"While some of the avengers are out in Spain, four others are set to go to Norway later which leaves the compound relatively empty, Sophia and Vik are going in tonight to plant mics around the rooms."
"So are we actually killing the politician?" Seven questioned,
"Nope, we make it seem like we failed to do it, the avengers feel good and stop being so damn uptight."
"No killing?" Yelena scrunched her nose, "Where's the fun in that?"
"Agreed." Seven nodded.
Anya sighed, "Just shut up and go back to sleep."
"Happily," Yelena stalked off to one of the seats further back and Seven pushed herself further down the seat, dozing back off.
The team were disgruntled and disorganized, slowly filing into the conference room one by one. Peter was confused and tired, he was mostly upset that he had a chemistry test later that day her had to sit.
"What's this about then?" He asked the witch who sat down next to him, also exhausted. Seven AM was still early for those who were definitely not morning-people.
"I know nothing." She waved him off, clearly not awake enough to be having a conversation requiring consistent conscious thought.
Peter tapped his hand on the desk as everyone else looked around at each other, unsure why they were there. He smiled at his parents, Tony clearly coming straight from the lab, having not even gone to sleep yet, and Pepper sitting sleepily beside him. It must be serious if she was here.
The room shifted when Natasha pushed the door open, leading a stone faced Maria behind her. Peter had never seen Agent Hill so void before, she was completely expressionless. Judging by the silence in the room, neither had anyone else.
Fury was close behind and surprisingly, he took a seat at the head of the table rather than standing as he normally did.
The small motion spoke volumes.
He sighed and dropped his head down into his hands, rubbing at his temples. Peter swallowed thickly.
Natasha rubbed comforting circles on the older woman's palm.
"Phil died," He spoke, his words leaving a void behind. Peter hadn't really known the agent but he had heard stories, and that was enough.
Natasha looked over at Hill, who was staring blankly at her commander, still expressionless.
"Naturally?" Steve spoke up, breaking the silence. "Where was Cho?"
"No." Fury shook his bald head. "This knife was found in his carotid," he placed a clear bag with a small knife in it onto the table, Peter estimated the knife to be as long as his middle finger. "Widow bites were on the scene and there is no footage of the attacker, so they obviously came to finish what they started, all medical staff survived but were made unconscious."
Peter exchanged a shocked look with Wanda.
"I expect those of you who knew Coulson to understand what a loss this is."
"I hate whoever did this." Natasha mumbled, noticing Maria's watery eyes. She felt the brunette squeeze her hand.
The team sat in a stunned silence. "There will be a full investigation placed into his death, and a funeral of the right standard will be organized shortly, you are all invited to attend."
A few of the team nodded, the rest just stared.
"There was a tip about a hit placed on a Spanish politician about ten minutes ago, the time of attack is non-specific but I'll need a small team to go to Barcelona to protect her, it is in SHEILD's interest to keep this woman alive." He changed the subject, desperate to escape the suffocating feeling of grief that was encasing them. "Barton, Wilson, Barnes, and Rodgers are all heading out to Norway in a few hours so they're out of the picture, any takers?"
Bruce shook his head, he wasn't keen on getting out his larger and less friendly friend unless he could help it.
"I'll go," Hill spoke up, the most movement any of them had heard in the last five minutes.
"Are you sure that's wise, Agent? You might need some time to process-"
"I'm fine, I don't need time. Sir. " She cut him off before realizing she had, trying to remain respectful. "I just need a distraction for a while." She added, looking at him.
"I'll go with her," Natasha added, trying to persuade the commander. She wanted to be as far away from the compound as possible, death seemed to be following her.
Natasha tried not to think of the fourth gravestone that would be going up shortly.
"Fine." Fury nodded, "Just pace yourself, okay Hill?"
The agent nodded curtly.
"I'll go." Peter spoke up, desperate to be helpful, desperate to escape the periodic table.
"You have a test Peter," Tony reminded him, Peter grimaced.
"I can go," Wanda volunteered and Fury nodded, content.
"The three of you should be just fine to cover it, get ready to move out in an hour."
"FRIDAY is down, by the way." Natasha looked over at Tony. "She didn't respond earlier or notify anyone when it happened."
"They got FRIDAY? That requires either experienced hacking or the wires to be cut in her mainframe." He considered it. "I'll check the wires." He stood and left, pulling the strawberry-blonde with him.
"You're all dismissed," Fury stood, readjusting his coat. "Take care of yourselves." There was a sincerity to his words that was irregular for the man. Peter couldn't help but feel uncomfortable and even more upset.
The team left in silence.
Seven woke abruptly and sat up, looking around. She blinked at the light, even through her glasses.
"Hey," Anya greeted and Seven just waved in acknowledgement, walking away from the cock-pit to escape the sun.
She pulled her disposable camera out of her bag upon noticing Yelena's sleeping form, her body contorted in a way that could not have possibly been comfortable. She smiled at the picture and put the camera away before she could be caught.
Seven's weight on the seat next to the blonde woke her and she sat up at a record speed.
"How long?" She asked the younger widow.
"I honestly do not know." Seven shrugged, "Not long now I guess."
Yelena nodded.
"Do you think she's gonna be there?" Seven asked after a moment, nudging her arm to regain her attention.
"Who?"
"Your sister, do you think she's gonna go?"
Yelena shook her head, as if to say how am I supposed to know?
Seven understood her hesitancy. "She was there last night," She explained, "Romanoff, I mean."
The word struck a chord and Seven pushed down what she was desperately trying not to think about.
Daughter,
Friend,
Widow.
Romanoff.
Friend,
Widow,
Daughter.
"She does live there Seven," Yelena smiled weakly, "I did think she might be there."
Seven cracked a smile, glad for the lighter change in mood. "Yeah, I know too much about her love life now for my liking."
Yelena laughed at that and Seven grinned, glad she was laughing.
"Touch down in ten, prepare for landing." Anya's voice echoed over the speakers and Seven pulled a seatbelt over her body.
Friend
Widow
Daughter.
What did it mean?