The Younger Agent - Natasha Romanoff x OC

Chapter 37 - Skydiving Version Two

The three soon arrived at the Triskelion after Natasha had almost committed multiple hit and runs whilst weaving in and out of traffic. Eleanor really wished that she could have worn a seatbelt and firmly believed that her time on Earth was up, but her beliefs thankfully did not come true, and they swiftly made their way over to their lockers with spare uniforms in; or in the Captain's case, his only uniform. It had been redesigned since the Battle, it was now navy coloured. Eleanor liked it, the old one felt a lot more "showy" than this one.

"Have you two eaten today?", Steve asked them as they were speed-walking through the halls. He was aware that it was very early and assumed that they had been on the go all morning because of the emergency call in.

"No, we haven't. Why?", Nat replied and looked at him curiously as it was very out of the blue. Eleanor was just as confused, and also very hungry.

"I have some granola bars in my locker, take some, we don't wanna go in on an empty stomach".

"Thanks, Steve", the younger woman felt guilt yet again, and so did Natasha. He had always just shown them kindness in their interactions at work. They hoped that if Steve ever found out about the various ways they've had to go behind his back during their shared time at SHIELD they would understand that it was not personal and could at least remain on talking terms.

The lockers also contained some weapons that were favoured by them, so Natasha and Eleanor grabbed some guns to put in their holsters, and Cap got his trusty shield. 

Once the uniforms, weapons, and granola bars had been collected, they headed into the changing area, there was always one near groups of lockers planted around, due to uniforms being the main things that are stored in them. 

"Do you think we have time to nap on the way?", Eleanor shouted from her cubicle.

"No!", the other two shouted back at the same time, laughing when they heard a disheartened "Damn", in response. 

It didn't take much time to get dressed, they were very well-practised in swiftly changing due to emergency situations, so they would be right on time to the jet, having only been in the Triskelion for a total of four minutes. So, they soon found themselves heading outside to the jet that Rumlow and the STRIKE team had prepared for them.

It was easy to spot which jet it was as Rumlow was outside, he sent a sickly sweet smile Eleanor's way as she hopped onto the jet first, making Nat shoot him a blank look when it was her turn to get on. Anyone who knew Nat though knew that this look said 'back off'. 

It was a field day for jealousy.

"Here", Steve handed them both a granola bar, which they gratefully accepted, happily munching on their breakfasts as Rumlow started shouting orders to get the jet into the air.

The SHIELD jets were already fast, but new models had been coming out that were even quicker, so it wouldn't take long to get there at all, they only had about ten minutes of rest time before rumlow was going to go through the briefing, and Cap would outline the plan.

After Eleanor inhaled the breakfast, she huffed and moved to stand in front of Nat, then let her head flop onto Nat's shoulder. "What's wrong?", Nat asked as she gently rubbed circles on her back.

"I'm just tired". She shook her head to nuzzle into Nat's shoulder more, it was comfortable and Nat was warm, it was getting dark out due to timezones, and even though the temperature in the jet remained the same, the darkness from the outside made Eleanor crave some warmth. Her brain was being bamboozled. 

"Well, we can take a nap when we get back before we carry on with work", Nat reasoned. But that only made Eleanor internally groan, when they got back it would still be daytime at home and they'd have half a days work ahead of them. The timezones were messing with her brain and she's only been in a different one for five minutes.