Never Alone Again |N.R|

Almost over.

I waited at the door patiently, listening to the light footsteps that approached it. As soon as it opened the person on the other side smiled in pure relief. "Ah kid, we were starting to get worried" Clint said as he pulled me into a hug, closing the door behind me. The embrace was nice, although it placed uncomfortable pressure on my almost fully healed surgery site. But I couldn't even afford to drop my smile, that would draw too much attention to the fact that I was far from okay. So I gritted my teeth as he squeezed me a little tighter. I felt pure relief when he finally let go, only for Natasha to pull me into her arms and Bucky straight after that. Once everyone had finished greeting me I started to speak, getting straight to the point.

"I can't stay for too long, else they'll get suspicious, but I'll quickly explain the last two weeks." I looked at everyone's faces, making sure I had their attention before continuing because I only had time to explain this once.

"They have me separated from the other girls at night, but in the day I train with them all. I so called 'earned' Madame B's trust in the first couple of days, so they give me quite a lot of freedom. I met with her earlier today for my mission brief, and she said that she'd speak with me again tomorrow." I took a brief pause before continuing to speak a million words a minute.

"Now, when I was walking back from some late night training last night I overheard some guards talking about a man higher up. They didn't use his name once, but they said that Madame B was due to be meeting him soon. Hopefully she'll bring me along, and that'll be the perfect opportunity for us to strike." Everyone seemed pretty overwhelmed by the large amount of information I'd offloaded, but no one looked confused.

"Okay, thank you kid. Is everything else going okay? Are you okay?" Tony asked, the first time I'd heard his voice since being in the room.

"Yeah, I'm doing good. Honestly." I smiled, just hoping that no one could see the pain and sorrow behind my eyes.

"Is it okay if I use the bathroom before I go? I haven't seen myself in a mirror in a while." They all nodded in reply and I made my way over to the bathroom, shutting and locking the door behind me. Natasha would definitely pick up on the locking part, so I was glad that there was no time to talk about that right now. Turning around I was forced to face myself in the small bathroom mirror above the sink. My cheeks were sunken, my eyes and the skin beneath them dark and I was sickly pale. Having gotten over my face, I unzipped my jacket and pulled up my top to look at my stomach. I hadn't been able to truly see the size of the incision, but now that I could my breath hitched in my throat. It wasn't a scar that would fade and disappear overtime, it would stay with me for life. A constant reminder of what I can never have, a reminder of the prospect of some normalcy that was ripped from me without a second thought. Tears sprang from my eyes and rushed down my cheeks, only for me to wipe them away in an instant with the back of my hand. I couldn't afford to break right now, else I'd never survive.

Once I'd composed myself I left the bathroom, forcing myself to smile again as everyone turned to look at me. "Right, I need to head back before they get suspicious. I'll try and contact you more, but it's been a bit hard recently." I looked down to zip up my jacket, accidentally lifting my top as I gripped the zip. Hoping that no one had seen I quickly pulled it back down before zipping myself up and raising the hood over my head.

"Be careful Rue" they all said, almost in unison. I gave them all one last smile before pulling my mask up and disappearing out of the nearby window. At least I could drop the charade now, because I was anything but happy. I'd never felt so broken in my entire life. So hopeless for my future.

Natasha's POV

I was sure that my eyes had deceived me when I saw Rue's top lift slightly. That couldn't have been a scar across her stomach, it must've been a shadow. They couldn't have, could they? And she'd locked the door.