VENUS VADYAEVA. RED Room trained assassin, graduate of the Black Widow program. She'd nearly always been at the top of the class. Cold; smart; ruthless. The qualities that they were looking for. It'd taken a little while, but eventually, she'd gotte...
"WHAT?" NATASHA'S TONE matched her expression, which she had currently lost all focus on, resulting in them showing on the redhead's face as it twisted in disbelief and shock. The was a certain kind of annoyance lingering in the brew, which Venus could only hope was meant for Clint. They'd considered the fact that she might have somehow had something to do with killing the guards, but since they'd found no plausible way for her to do it, Fury had instructed her, however reluctantly, to leave the matter alone. But now, Clint seemed so sure, so confident in his assumption that genuine fear of Venus had risen inside of him, and he didn't bother trying to hide it. The only thing that Natasha had seen Clint make cold was if his family were in danger or if he was purely scared.
Natasha turned to Venus, expecting her to react similarly to the way she had, but the golden-eyes assassin's eyes were wide, but the look on her face was one that Natasha could actually read for once, and it was a mixture between relief and guilt, creating a strange contradiction in Natasha's mind as she tried to figure out what this situation actually meant.
"Venus?" She almost cringed at how lost she sounded, hoping that the woman would deny Clint's claims, but still, no reply came, and for a few moments, the three of them stood in an awkward silence filled with more emotion than Venus would ever want to be around. It was almost overwhelming, and the whole room had become remarkably tense in a couple of seconds. Both Clint and Natasha's eyes were set firmly on her, and Venus was suddenly thankful in that moment that no-one else was in the room with them. Her lack of response seemed to be enough for Clint, because his hands tightened on the grip on his bow and Natasha's soldier, and Venus caught the distrust that flashed through his eyes. She felt her heart deflate slightly, and hid the hurt that had rushed through her systems, trying to assure herself that not trusting her was just common sense. She didn't even want to be here. Fury had been the one to insist that she joined, and she hadn't given them any reason to trust her, and she was sure that Fury didn't, and apparently, Clint didn't either. Maybe even Natasha didn't. Something stirred uneasily inside Venus as she realised that she barely trusted herself. All that she was certain that she could do was what she had told she could do, or something that she had been trained to do. Nothing more, nothing less. This was an entirely new situation. She'd never had to be nervous about killing before; no-one had expected better of her, but guilt was beginning to bubble in the pit of her stomach, and it was something that she was determined to get rid of.
"How did you do it?" Clint's voice was wary as he asked the question, but still kept that edge. He wanted to know why the guards had dropped down dead, so that he could prevent it from happening again. He also didn't know if it was intentional, but from the way she'd warned them and how she'd reacted both now and when the first time Natasha had tried to touch her, it was much more likely that she was trying not to kill people simply by touching them. The image of her simply sitting in her chair, her face as blank as it had always been, didn't help the argument. He wanted to believe that she was on their side, that she was trying to change, but so far, he had no evidence of it. He wished he could find some, but until he couldn't, he needed to act carefully. A glance towards Natasha showed that she was still shocked, though that had faded as she tried to gain understanding of the situation.
"They- they just have to touch me." Venus answered, her voice still wavering slightly, and her Russian accent beginning to fade through while her concentration was lacking. It was that, in fact, that reminded her that she needed to keep a level head in this situation. So, she cleared her throat as discreetly as she could, letting her worries dissipate with the nervous feeling that had been clawing up her throat, regaining her concentration as well as she could. It was evident that she had pulled herself together. Her posture straightened, she wiped her features of any emotion, and she plucked the glove from Clint's slightly loose grip where he held it in the same hand his bow was in, sliding the material over her hand, and sagging in relief inside that no-one else was going to get hurt. That was all she could do for now.
"Touch you? I've touched you," he said, as if still trying to keep his case together, though the integrity in his voice was fading and he seemed less convinced that he couldn't trust her than he had been a few seconds ago.
"You need to touch my bare skin. It's poison, from what they told me. Lethal, too, so I would recommend letting me keep my gloves on." Venus' reply was much stronger now, not allowing herself to hesitate in her reply, the brief Russian accent that had appeared had disappeared almost as quickly, and the glint her eyes was nearly challenging now, when it had been almost scared a few minutes ago. In just a short space of time, the whole atmosphere of the room had changed. Venus had put her walls back up, reprimanding herself for her moment of weakness, while Clint seemed much more inclined to be forgiving. On the other hand, Natasha's face had almost hardened, settling as quickly as Venus' had as she opened her mouth to ask about the other woman's choice of wording.
"They." Her voice was harsher now, not cold, or blank as the other woman's was, but slightly more aggressive and seemingly adopting the edge that Clint had lost moments ago. Venus let her gold eyes snap to Natasha, regretting that she had said anything. She didn't really want to go into great detail about her past, even if it was an obstacle she needed to get by.
"You said they, Venus. Who are they?" It was completely silent as Clint glanced between the two women, having no idea what to do. Natasha's toe was underlined with both worry and fear. She was nervous that Venus would say that 'they' were exactly who she didn't want anything to do with any more. The past was the past, it had all gone by. The only good memories she had had probably been with Venus, who she felt almost unnervingly disconnected from at this point in time. Natasha almost held her breath as she waited for the answer, though Venus didn't pause for long.
"I think you know who, Natasha."
{A/N:} Yeah, I know this is a day late, I'm sorry. Just had a lack of motivation for writing in general recently but I think it's coming back, so hopefully I won't have trouble with the next update.
Out of curiosity, what do you think of Venus' character?
I'm also back to school :/. Still online, for now, but only the next few weeks. Not gonna lie, I really don't want to go back to school, my social anxiety (if it is actually that) has gone wheeeeee over the last few weeks (up) buttt I don't have choice so oh the fck well.
Anyway, please vote, comment, let me know what you think, etc.,
1300 Words
Written: 23 / 02 / 2021
Published: 23 / 02 / 2021
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