The lost Widow - Natasha Romanoff x Female

Chapter XIII

TW: sad child?

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 "So, Pheobe Rubyelle Corbyn?" Steve twisted and turned the ID card in his hands, looking for any indication that it might be a fake, but he found nothing to cast doubt on its authenticity. They all stood outside the interrogation room, Tony had reactivated the sound barrier so they could speak freely, even with Pheobe sitting next to them in the interrogation room. Steve handed the ID card to Tony, who had already had it and pressed it into Wanda's hand. "What do we do now?" asked the captain. Pheobe had been instructed to stay quiet and wait, so she did.
  "Pheobe." Wanda dragged the name out a little, "It's a pretty name, isn't it?" No attention was paid to her and perhaps that was for the best. She still didn't know what to make of this situation and of Pheobe.

  "She's 22, from England." Bucky had received the card in the meantime.
  "I've already searched everything possible, nothing on social media, nothing in any databases we have access to," Tony intervened. "I could find absolutely nothing on her."
  "She doesn't seem dangerous, does she?" Wanda stared through the glass. "Wasn't it your arm she nearly broke?" asked Steve. He couldn't quite wrap his head around how Wanda seemed to develop such sympathy for the prisoner.

-

  "Director Fury." Steve stood almost as straight as he had in the army when he saluted the director. Once again, they were standing in the large office, in front of the man in the dark coat.
 "Rogers, what brings you here again?" Fury seemed a little more relaxed now than on their last visit, whatever had upset him must have calmed down. "Our prisoner, what are we doing with her?" he asked, quickly getting to the point of his visit.
 "Right, the person from the base..." Fury nodded thoughtfully. "Who are we talking about?"
 "Pheobe."
Fury nodded again. "Anything else?" Rogers hesitated a little at the Director's dryness, he was quite frankly completely uninterested. That was odd, usually he would have turned up at their HQ by now, taking the whole matter with Pheobe into his own hands.
 "She says she's not part of Hydra." At least that's what Steve deduced from their first cryptic conversation. "But she's damn clever, managed to get out of Tony's cell."
 "Mhn." he mumbled, nodding thoughtfully. Steve shifted from one foot to the other, somehow, he had hoped for more than a reaction, after all, they had done a really good job of finding Pheobe so quickly after their first encounter. "Sir, what should we do now?" Steve asked into the silence. Nothing happened for a few seconds, then Fury seemed to have moved on with his thoughts. "You keep them with you," he decided.
 "With us? How is that supposed to work, we can't keep them in a cell forever.'
 "I never discussed that either." Fury leaned back in his chair, one arm on the backrest. "She'll stay with you. As part of the Avengers." That dropped the bombshell and left Steve speechless for a moment. "As an Avenger?" he repeated incredulously. Again, Fury nodded calmly, as if there was nothing more obvious. "She can fight, can't she?"

"Yes," Steve nodded. Her 'appearance' at the base alone had spoken volumes.

-

  "So she doesn't seem dangerous to me," Wanda took the card from him.
  "I'll talk to her again," Tony walked into the interrogation room.
  "So, Pheobe. One more question." He sat down, "Why were you trying to kill us? If you're supposedly not working for Hydra." She eyed him briefly before she began to speak, in her calm but cold voice, "For one thing, I don't work for Hydra. And for another, I have never tried to assassinate you or your companions."

  "Oh yeah, and what kind of attack was that then?"
  "Self-defence, did I seriously injure any of them?"
Silence. Tony looked at her for a moment, then his eyes wandered to the table top. She was right, apart from the explosion she had detonated in Bucky's face, none of them had been in serious danger. He looked up again and saw her eyes narrow slightly before she tilted her head ever so slightly. "Believe me, if I'd really gone for it, none of you would still be alive." Tony swallowed. He wasn't easily intimidated, especially not when he was in his own headquarters, with his suit and the Avengers as his life insurance. But something about her words, or perhaps the way she had spoken them, the way she looked at him, scared him. Not the kind of fear that makes your heart beat faster instantly, no. The kind of fear that slowly, starting from deep inside, began to paralyse you, so quietly that you ignored it until it was too late. This is how a prey must feel, face to face with its killer and unable to move.