~ Call me friend but keep me closer ~
Nat's POV:
NYC, United States 11/17/2014
Her straight red hair bounced on her shoulder as she walked around the corner of the medical station's hallway. Most doors were open, the rooms empty. A few were closed, names of recovering agents written on the doors. Natasha stopped in front of a glass wall, designed after the heallicarrier's prison. She scanned her hand on the panel beside it and after the door opened, she stepped into the otherwise completely normal, hospital-like room, where Steve was sitting, notepad and pencil in hand. The pulse rate had come up to forty beats per minute and her blood pressure looked promising, but she knew it would take longer until the food that flooded into her stomach through a tube would strengthen her enough.
"What are you doing here?", she asked Steve, while her eyes wandered from Kate's sunken-in face to his tired eyes.
"Waiting. She shouldn't be alone when she wakes up." He gave her a kind smile, then continued to speak when she just looked at him confused as to why he would care. "I know what it's like to wake up alone. It's very scary. And if she is, like you said, just someone who has been used by Hydra, then it might be good to explain why we keep her in cuffs and in a cell."
"What, it's easier to take from a nice face like yours?", Natasha growled jokingly, and Steve shook his head smiling to himself.
"She's not Bucky. I know that there's nothing you want more than to help him, but you can't take her on as a replacement project. She is her own human being.", she warned him.
"It's not just that. We don't know how long she has been like this. I wish I had someone who was with me when I woke up.", he admitted and looked at the slim body before him.
Nat put an understanding hand on his shoulder, while they both let their thoughts guide them away from their conversation. But her wandering mind quickly returned to the present, when she felt his blue eyes looking up to her.
"What?", she asked, already defensive.
"You know her, don't you?" His words surprised her, but only because they came from him. She had expected other parts of the team to come to that conclusion before him. Her silence was an answer loud enough for him to understand. "Who was she?", Steve asked empathetically.
"Agent Kathrine Davis. I lost her on a mission after she saved my life.", she murmured staring at the scars on her lover's wrist underneath the cuffs.
"You recognized her from Zola, right?", he asked her, and she turned her head back to him, frowning. She forgot that he saw those pictures as well. Or maybe she just didn't expect him to make that connection.
"Yeah.I-" She broke her sentence off when she came face to face with the picture of Kate that had haunted her most nights since she had seen it. Steve had flipped over several pages of his notepad revealing a drawing of young Kate. She reached out and took it. The lump in her throat didn't go away when she cleared it.
"How long did they have her?", he asked looking between her and Natasha, more questions forming in his head.
"Five years, but this...", she gave him the sketch back, "This is from before that. This is from about ten years ago." Tears wanted to fill her eyes, but she didn't allow them to until he asked that dammed question.
"Ten years ago? How old is she?" He feared for his math to be right, but it was.
"At that point? Fifteen." It hurt for her to say a number so small with the immense pain Kathrine had to endure on her mind.
"Geez. She was just a kid.", he exclaimed, a heavy breath leaving his chest.
"Mr. Stark requests a meeting for the Avengers on the community level.", Jarvis's voice sounded through the room's speakers. The two Avengers exchanged looks, then Steve got up and walked away.
Natasha waited until the blonde had left the area, watching him over her shoulder, then stepped closer to the bed. Her tears began to roll, as they did every time, she was alone with her. Gently she took the boney hand in hers as she contemplated how she should've saved her. How she could have saved her from the agony. The formerly blonde hair had lost its magical glow and her skin was paler than it ever was. The scars went up her arm and stopped just before her collarbone. Some still looked fresh, others were healed completely, but it was clear, that each one of them must've felt like hell. "I'm sorry.", she whispered, wiping away her tears. "I'll be back as soon as I can." It felt like betrayal to let her hand go, to turn away and leave her yet again, but she had to.
As the door closed behind the vigorously marching redhead, a pair of brows formed a frown.
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"Do we have a name on our Hibernator, yet?", Tony asked the group that assembled around an oval table but directed his question mostly at Natasha and Clint who had done most of the description work.
"Nope.", Clint answered blatantly then stuffed another scoop of chicken soup into his mouth. Natasha grinned at his response and posture, but that changed quickly when Tony announced what he called them in for.
"We found another Hydra post. Apparently, some idiots are still working for their "cause" there. Anyway, we should go and take a look around. I bet they have some interesting secrets hidden there.", he proposed to the team, and most started to nod.
"Where is it?" Steve's question was directed at Toney, but it wasn't him who answered.
"The coast of England, near Lake District National Park.", Rhodey stated, walking into the conference room. Toney clapped and Jarvis showed the map and information on the screen at the end of the room.
"We don't know how long they'll stay there though. So, if we don't want to stare at some ruins, we should get a move on.", Tony joined his pal and Natasha was about to speak up to convince them that she was of no help there, but he just talked over her. "We need everyone since Thor isn't available right now. Get your stuff together, we leave in an hour.", he clapped and turned but no one got up, so turned back to them. "Chop, chop, people!", he called, and they hurried away. Most of them went to their rooms or the lockers. However, Natasha chose a different path.
She knocked on the door of HR's main office and she was called inside, where five people worked at their desks, including the black-haired and blue-eyed woman she was looking for. Natasha stepped to her desk and waited until Maria lifted her head to look at her.
"Hi.", Nat greeted, and Maria smiled.
"Hi to you too. To be honest I'm a little surprised to see you here.", she admitted and got up when she saw the serious manner of the spy. "Is everything okay with her?", she asked, worried since this was the only reason, she could think of for Nat to come down to her office.
"Not here.", Natasha answered, and Hill guided her into the small separate room where all kinds of office utensils waited to be used. "She's fine.", Natasha rasped, keeping her voice down, nevertheless.
"But your visit is about Kate, isn't it?", the former agent insisted, and the redhead nodded.
"We will leave in-", she checked Kate's watch around her wrist then looked up again "15 minutes and I need you to keep an eye on her. I don't want her to be alone. I haven't left this building since we brought her here, but now I don't have another choice. Would you do that for me? Keep an eye on her. Make sure she's not alone." It was unlikely that anything would happen. According to Bruce's words her body was too deprived for her mind to risk losing function by waking up from her hibernation. But then again, what did any of them know about the ability and strength of her body since she had been modified?
"Of course. Don't worry, I got your back. She's just as important to me as she is to you.", Maria said offering Natasha a hug which she reciprocated. Yet she knew, believed, that there was no one who felt this way for her.
"Thank you.", Natasha whispered and then left. Jaw clenched as much as her fists as she fought her reflex to stay behind and followed the team into a tough battle.
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Why do books have to start this slow?
It's kind of exhausting to do the groundwork, but then again, I chose to do this, because I do enjoy it too...
Hope you liked it
~1442~