Capability - Wanda Maximoff

↠ CHAPTER THREE ↞

CHAPTER THREE

23 hours after the rescue (24.04.2016) / Location classified / new Avengers compound

P.o.V. Natasha:

I woke up in a hospital room, as I notice immediately. Panic grows inside of me. Waking up in a hospital room is never a good thing. Also, it isn't the same room as I had woken up a few times before in the last days. I try to sit up, but my whole-body hurts, at least this time I'm not strapped to the bed or chair. Unexpectedly I notice something in the corner of my eye, while I am lifting up my body. When I finally had managed to sit up, I turn my head around and I am in shock for a moment about what I'm seeing.

In the chair next to my bed sits a sleeping, Bruce Banner. I gasp silently in panic. 'What is he doing here?' I try to lift my legs out of bed. I groan in pain and instantly cover my mouth, but it is too late Bruce is already awake. "Natasha!" He says loudly and immediately gets up from the chair.
"You are awake. Thank God. I thought I had lost you forever." He sounds relieved, but in my head, I cannot process anything that it is happening right now.
Bruce takes my hand. "Please, stay in bed Nat." He blocks my way. "Everything will be alright, I promise. You're in bad conditions right now and your body needs to rest." He gently puts my legs under the covers again.
My head still hurts. I look at Bruce with pinched eyes, still not convinced if this is real. Bruce pushes a button next to the bed and I instantly panic again. 'What is happening?' My body and brain are locked in defending-mode. I tension my whole body and look around in panic. My breathing increases rapidly.

But a few seconds later, Tony und Strange are rushing into the room.
"She is awake, but she seems confused, tensioned and scared." Bruce says, while only turning his head towards the two other men, his hand is still sitting on my leg over the covers.
"Romanoff!" Tony rushes over to my bed but stops as soon as he notice I don't make any movement in his direction and look at him without any emotions in my face. "Can you remember anything?" He asks and puts cautiously his hand on my shoulder. I flinch and he instantly takes his hand off the next second. Worried about my next move if I might try to hurt him.
"After we had left for a mission..." He slowly starts to explain, shortly after he had realized he won't get an answer from me right now. But before he can say more, he was interrupted by Strange. "Natasha, you are save here with us, we're at a new temporary compound, with a secret location. You're not with them anymore." I don't trust him and look back at Tony.

"After we had left for a mission..." He starts again. "There was an explosion at the compound and you, Wanda, Pietro, Steve und Peter were kidnapped. We don't know who kidnapped you yet, but yesterday we were able to rescue you and the others. The base, where you and the others were held was completely empty. Absolutely no sign of life, except for the rooms you and the other were in. We don't know how, but they must have known that we were coming on that day. But we will hunt them down for what they have done. We won't let them get away with this." He says and at the end he sounds really angry. I feel a tear dripping down my cheek and try to lift my hand a little into his direction to touch his hand.
Tony's eyes are nearly filled with tears. "Steve is already awake, we thought we had lost you guys. All of you looked horrible." I smile at him. "You'll not get rid of me that easily Stark." I say and start coughing. 'Fuck my chest hurt.'
Tony gently hugs me. "I'm not made out of glass." I try joking around, but again I start coughing as soon as I started talking. Tony moves a bit away from me, smirks and shakes his head. "Romanoff." He says and pauses for a second. "I am going to tell Rogers the good news. See you again later, don't let us down." He says and leaves the room shortly after that.

I look over to Bruce, reaching for his hand. "How are you feeling?" He asks and takes my hand. "Better, when can I get out of here?" I ask nearly whispering, but without coughing this time. He smiles at me. "Give it a few days Natasha. You will be out of here soon enough. But you really need to slow down a bit at the moment." He strokes over my hand with his thumb, then gently kisses my forehead. He looks me deeply in the eyes, but I turn my head away. I feel bad for him. I know that he has feelings for me, even though he never admitted it, but I don't. I see Bruce as one of my best friends but nothing more.
I look over to Doctor Strange. "Doc, what can you tell me about my injuries, honestly please?" I ask him, already a bit worried about the answer. At least my coughing is getting better, and I cough less every time I talk. He hands over a glass of water for me to drink. "Nothing too bad, actually." He says and take a file from the table next to me. "Peter and Pietro are looking the worst from all of you. You have a lot of bruises, a few cuts, but not too deep, two broken rips and it looks like you had an internal bleeding, but this was already fixed by them, so I can't really tell you what it was right now. And of course, a concussion." "Explains the headache." I say facetious. "We need you to stay under observation at least until tomorrow, after that, we will see. But you are tough." He nods his head and continues.

"May I?" He asks suddenly with a needle in his hand. "Sure." I nod, and he takes a sample of my blood. "Steve said, he knows that he got injections there, so we need to take samples of your blood every day for the next few days. We don't want any of you to end up like me." Bruce jokes and smiles at me. "Everything is blurry, when I try to remember anything, I'm sorry." I say quietly. "You just woke up Nat, slow down." Bruce says with a small laugh. "The most important thing right now, is that you are alive and alright so far." He nods and pets my hand.
I don't think so. I can feel the tears dripping down my face. I feel so worthless, I want to help, but I can't. I feel like I have failed, but there was no fight to win. I had absolutely no chance. I look away from Bruce and Strange, out of the window. A fake window, thanks for nothing.

"You seem fine at the moment Natasha, so I will leave you two alone." Strange says and leaves the room a few seconds later.
The same moment he opens the door, Barton rushes through into the room. "Romanoff!" He says loudly. "You just could have called me if you wanted to see me. You don't need to let yourself get kidnapped, to keep me away from my retirement." He laughs. I smile for a short moment. 'Typical Barton.' "What's wrong Natasha? Tony said you are alright so far." He rushes over to me, as he instantly notice the tears in my eyes.
"Bruce, could you give us a second? And maybe bring me something normal to wear, not this hospital-robe-dress-shitty-thing?" I ask and look at him with the best puppy eyes I can make right now. "Sure, you need anything else?" He asks. I response by shaking my head. He looks at me one last time with a smile, before he leaves the room. Clint comes closer and I move over a bit, so he could sit down on the bed too. Every movement hurt, but it is worth it.

I lay my head on his shoulder and just take a moment to relies that my best friend is here with me right now. I sigh and look at him. "Tell me everything you know Barton, please." I start asking him. "Please, Tasha, you need to rest." He replies and imitates me at the please. I roll my eyes. "Yeah, my body needs to rest, but I can still use my mind. Please, you know me Clint, maybe sometimes even better than I know myself. I can't just lay here and do nothing! I'm a trained assassin just like you. Please Clint, I feel like I've failed, and I never fail, you know that! My mind is totally blurry about the last few days, and I want to remember. Maybe you guys know something that helps me to remember, please." I beg him. "I'll see what I can do, but no killing people till Strange allows it." He says with a smirk around his lips. "Fine." I say irritate. "Promise?" The archer asks and lifts an eyebrow. "I promise." I response quiet but just about loud enough that Clint can hear it. He smiles and hugs me. „Thanks." I whisper. „Never ever do this again, or this is the last thing you'll do." Clint warns me with a smirk on his face. „The last time you tried doing this didn't went so well. I'm still here. I don't think I should be worried." I start joking around. „Good to have you back Nat!" He speaks. "I've missed you." He whispers and I smile. I missed you too Barton. I think to myself, but that's something I would never tell him. I have missed, him, Rogers and one other person so bad, whenever I was awake, while I was kidnapped.