𝑩𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝑴𝒐𝒐𝒏 ✘ 𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐀𝐒𝐇𝐀 𝐑𝐎𝐌𝐀𝐍𝐎𝐅𝐅

{2⁵} {UNOPENED WINDOWS}

∆ {2⁵} {UNOPENED WINDOWS} ∆

TO BOTH OF their surprise, Fury had let Venus off relatively easily. All he'd done was ask why she hadn't told them about her powers, and when she'd given her answer that she didn't know, he'd left it alone.

She did know why she hadn't told them, and she was pretty sure that both Natasha and Fury had picked up on that, but thankfully, neither of them had brought it up. They'd left it alone, and she'd started to go on harder missions again.

It had been her fourth or fifth mission when things began to change. It seemed that up until that point, both Venus and Natasha had been determined to be as civil as they could while not getting too close to each other, neither one wanting nightmares to resurface. Natasha had felt slightly guilty initially, especially after Venus had revealed what she had gone through in the years after Natasha had left, but the way that the golden-eyes woman was back to her blank shell and showed no indication of friendliness, and that had been enough to drive any doubt from Natasha's mind.

But then Fury had sabotaged both of their attempts to separate them from their pasts. Their assignment was to take down the Red Room, or at least, the one that they had been trained in. Venus highly doubted that there weren't any more scattered throughout the country, but she only hoped that she wouldn't have to see any. Natasha had protested sharply, and that had been enough for Fury's resolve to weaken, but Venus hadn't allowed herself to appear mask, and had simply set her jaw, determined to keep her blank expression and remain professional, and so the mission was going ahead. She could tell that Clint, Natasha and  Fury were all surprised by her supposed indifference, and knew that both the redhead and her boss had suspicions that she was hiding things, and it was possible that Clint did too.

Venus was currently sat in the Quinjet, her hands firmly curled around the straps as they streaked through the air. Natasha sat opposite her, but the pair of them were firmly ignoring each other. Neither of them wanted to talk about what was to come, and they were both preparing in their own way. Clint was piloting, and for the first two hours, he'd tried to make conversation, before deciding that neither women were remotely in the mood for small talk or sarcasm. After all, they were going back to their childhood. It was where they had grown up, lived, met, and yet the memories it harboured were so awful. He didn't know the full of extent of what they had gone through, but he got the impression that they were things so awful that they'd lived enough trauma to fill two people's lives each, maybe more.

Natasha was slightly annoyed at Venus. She knew that the woman, secretly, was just as terrified as the redhead herself was, and that Venus had adapted not to show emotion. It still frustrated her that Venus hadn't even presented any form of protest with Fury's announcement, regardless of what Venus was so used to. This was what both of them dreaded. It was what haunted them during both the day and night, what drenched them with both with cold sweat and every ounce of pure terror that they could hold within their bodies. So yes, she understood why Venus hadn't said anything, but she still wished that the woman she had grown up with would've taken more means to stay as far away from their past as she could.

"We're five minutes out," Clint called as softly as he could, trying not to disturb the two women behind him, or potentially rile them up. He was going in with them, if only to stop them from being too caught up in their past. Though, Fury had told him to give them whatever time they needed, and that if he needed to, that Clint should carry out the majority of the mission on his own. Fury may have stopped trying to hide his closeness with Natasha, but it seemed as if his fondness for the golden-eyed woman was something the the Director of SHIELD was determined to keep private. They touched down a few minutes later, a few streets away from the address that Venus had given them, with great hidden reluctance.