I was confused by what the Natasha lady had said about me being better before. I stood there thinking it over until she spoke again breaking me out of my train of thought. I look at her as she speaks up.
"I'm sorry I didn't think before I spoke. It didn't mean anything." She apologized, with a light chuckle and smile at the end.
That smile. A true happy smile. Something that comes so easily to some yet is the best feeling for others to see, to experience, to feel. It's common for everyone to smile when they have happiness and joy in their lives, yet those who are submerged in darkness their whole lives, never truly smile.
Putting my distraction behind, I ask "Before?"
I watch as she hesitates before answering, but before she can get anything out Maggie come barging through the doors. The look cast upon her face is pure fear. Terror even. Terror that has never been on her face before, not even during the most strenuous torture she has been through.
"Sage." She says.
She says it in a low and scared voice as if saying it out loud seems to make it real. I immediately make my way over to her, Natasha still standing up from the ground on the mat we sparred on.
"I can't find Sage." Maggie clarifies once I'm in front of her.
"Did you ask around, or immediately come and find me?" I ask, knowing that she did exactly that without thinking.
"I-uh, yeah." She says, and gives me a small grin.
"Alright let's go ask around ok?" I ask.
She nods her head as she turns around to exit through the door she came in. She decides that we should go find either Stark or Banner since they seem like they would know where she was, or be able to find Sage.
When the two arrived at the lab where Stark and Banner were both tinkering with random things, River let Maggie go in first.
"Do you know where Sage is?" Maggie asks into the room, not directing it at anyone.
"I'm here momma!" A sound comes from behind the desk Stark is at.
Sage comes running out with her teddy bear and jumps into Maggie's arms. Maggie let's put a relieved laugh as she catches Sage. River turns to the mother-daughter duo.
"Found her." River says teasingly towards Maggie.
Maggie gives River an unamused look with a side eye. River just smiles back innocently and then redirects her attention on the room. Tony Stark is looking at her, mouth agape as if he was surprised. Banner was wide-eyed and staring at her. River gives them a weird look and then looks back at Maggie and Sage once Sage speaks to her.
"Auntie Rain, guess what!" Sage asks.
"What?" River replies matching her enthusiasm.
"I finally named him!" Sage exclaims as she holds up her teddy bear.
"What's his name?" River asks.
"Cardi Bear! You know after Cardi B! But Bear!" Sage is really excited about this and River doesn't hesitate to match it with her own enthusiasm.
"That's a great name! What a smart kid you are." River compliments.
River then speaks to Maggie, complimenting Sage to her, then she decides that she needs to get back to her sparring with Romanoff.
"I've got to go finish sparring with Romanoff, I'll see you later?"
"Yeah. See you later." Maggie says back, before smiling at River.
River makes her way back to the gym and see's Romanoff sparring with Rogers, her obviously winning. About three minutes after she walked in Barnes walked up to her.
"Wanna spar? Seems like our partners are sparring without us."
River answers with a swift nod as she makes her way to a mat for sparring. They both get into fighting positions, and prepare for a spar. Neither of them rushing to start.
Eventually Barnes swings at River, which she dodges. River then sweeps Barnes' feet out from under him, he falls to the floor with a loud thud.
Barnes doesn't even make it five minutes before he's on the ground panting as River stands on the other side of the mat, breathing normally.
"Damn kid, you're good." Barnes says between heavy breaths.
"I know." River says back, her voice sounding almost remorseful.
By this time Rogers and Romanoff are done sparring. Romanoff and River spar once more, Barnes and Roger's periodically watching.
"Surprisingly, I'm a much better assassin, when I'm not brainwashed to do assassin work for an evil organization." River speaks up to the group.
"What the fuck?" Romanoff asks dumbfounded.
"Just saying, me as a non brainwashed assassin, would have never let you put that tracker on me."
"Did you just think of this?" Rogers asks, completely dismissing the fact that Romanoff just swore.
The response he gets is a shrug before River turns and make her way over to the boxing bags.
Once Rogers, Barnes, And Romanoff are done they head out of the gym, leaving River to finish up.
By the time the clock hits 1:30 River is just now unwrapping her hands from boxing, her body sweaty. She had taken off her shirt a little while after everyone left, now able to without someone seeing her scars, or tattoos.
Once River was done she made it back to her current quarters and took a shower. After her shower she opened up her computer to continue her tracking of a certain someone.
3:56 came and her laptop suddenly pinged, signaling that she had found who she was looking for. She quickly packs up her very few things into her getaway bag and goes to tell Maggie where she was going. Just as she knocked on the door, Maggie opened it, looking very awake and like she had yet to fall asleep.
"I know." Maggie says looking at River with a small smile, "I know you have to go."
"I wish I didn't." River says returning Maggie's sad smile.
"You need to sort out your head," Maggie states, "you, sadly enough, can't do that here."
River pulls Maggie in for a short but very meaningful hug. "I'm gonna miss you." She states.
"You already know me and Sage are gonna miss you." Maggie says pulling away from the hug. "God you asshole."
"Language." They both say at the same time, Maggie predicting River words.
"It's not cute." Maggie whispers tears brimming her eyes.
"I'm so sorry I have to leave now, after everything that's happened, after Nathan. I'm really sorry." River empathetically states.
"It's what you need to do for yourself. You need to get the real River back." Maggie puts emphasis on the word 'real'.
"I'll do my best." River says as she backs away from the door and gives Maggie a mock salute, which Maggie returns.
River then hands her two envelopes and walks away, not describing what the envelopes are for or what's in them.
By the time 6:00 come around everyone in the compound is awake, except Tony Stark. Everyone has realized that Maggie seems off in a way but can't exactly figure out more than that.
At this point River isn't even in the same city as the compound is. She's off to find that special person who can help her. Help her find herself again. Help her find her mind. Help her become the River that all her friends can rely on and not have to wonder about what fight is currently happening in her mind.
She really has to hurry, since this person isn't the easiest to get a hold of, and is really never outside the comfort of their own country. The country where she will hopefully get to see once all the Hydra stuff is out of her head. And once River knows for sure that they, and more specifically the person she's trying to catch up to.
Hey my peeps!
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
Please comment on spelling mistakes and grammatical errors, I will fix them.
Sorry this one took so long to get out! A lot has been going on with the holidays and school stuff still.
Word count-1323
Word count does not include A/N at the end of the story