dark side of the moon ⋄ marvel

♦ chapter nineteen ♦

"Where's Nat?" Signy asked carefully as she sat beside Steve, waiting for the private jet to arrive from the Avengers facility. The twins were only about a hundred feet away, conversing quietly amongst themselves. Signy couldn't bring herself to worry about them as her mind wandered to the Balck Widow who she'd last seen being carried away in a truck's shipping container.

Steve looked at her, the glaze over her eyes worrying him."Ultron got her. She got the Cradle into the Quinjet and... he grabbed her. Right out of the sky. I had to make a call. I told Clint to get the Cradle out of there."

Signy closed her eyes and turned away from Steve, trying to keep her tears at bay. "Do we know where she is?"

"Clint's on it. You know him. If anyone can track her down... it's him."

Signy squinted her eyes further shut and nodded. Her facade dropped for only a minute. Blink and you'd miss it. But for that singular moment, her shoulders sagged and her mask crumpled, showing the devastation behind it. In an instant, her expression of indifference returned and her shoulders tensed back up. Steve scooted closer and tried to embrace her, but she shrugged him off, muttering a half-hearted excuse before stepping away.

But Pietro had glanced up from the conversation with his sister just in time to see the shattered look on Signy's face. And he wondered what could be so serious as to make the ever-stoic Signy Odindotter leave herself so vulnerable, even momentarily.

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Signy leaned back on the fake leather of the private jet seats. She had closed her eyes to take a few deep breaths while her leg bounced up and down when she heard the leather contract to new weight beside her.

"Are you... okay?" asked a familiarly accented voice.

Signy opened one eye, peeking to see the boy sitting next to her. "Motion sickness," she explained reluctantly. On top of the rough flying, her mind wouldn't sit still. Signy missed her brother hugely and kept wondering when she'd see him again. She was starting to wish he'd taken that letter-writing comment more seriously. Things were getting worse by the moment and she didn't want to face anything else without him. She may argue for her grown age and maturity, but at the end of the day, she needed her big brother by her side.

Then there was today. Today was supposed to be the moment she regained control and banished her feelings of powerlessness. Instead, she felt as insignificant and helpless as ever. Signy was the savior; She didn't like being the one who needed saving. Which made her want to shrug off the boy who'd embarrassingly had to step in to her aide even more. Not to mention, the loss of Natasha. She and Maria were the only people Signy wanted to talk to right now. One was off with Fury, the other trapped by a psychotic android. Today was not her day.

"I guess that explains you... um, what is the word? Bard, earlier?"

Signy rolled her eyes and tried not to laugh. Pietro immediately took the restrained smile as a win. "Yeah. That little jog we went on did not go over well." Signy watched as he rubbed the back of his neck, almost as if he was embarrassed. That's not how she wanted him to feel about that moment. He'd saved her and, no matter how much hatred she still held for him, her own motion sickness was no fault of his.She cleared her throat, hoping her next words came off as nonchalant. "Thank you. For not letting that train flatten me, or whatever. Guess I owe you one, huh? I'll pay you back. Next time, I save you."