What did you say? (Avengers fanfic)

Chapter twenty: "Safe"

Sorry I've been a ghost for months lmao

Homage- Mild High Club
Mari's POV
I lightly knock on my occupied bedroom door with one hand holding a tray of a continental breakfast. I used my free hand twist the doorknob.

"Morning Nat." I said walking in. "I made you some-" I start to say before realizing the room was empty.

I set the tray down and walk to my bathroom, only to find it empty as well.

Maybe she went downstairs

I grab the tray and head out of the room.

"Oh, hey Mari!" I bumped into a sweaty Steve in the hallway.

"Hi Steve." I say quickly and start to walk away.

"Hold on! You missed our run, what happened?" He asked slightly disappointed.

"Sleep happened." I said in a serious tone. "Have you seen Natasha anywhere." I asked curiously.

"Oh, she didn't tell you?" He ask with a slight frown.

"Tell me what?"

"She left for Japan on a solo mission." He said.

"Oh." Was all I could say as I looked down at the tray in my hands.

"Did you make all this for her? Gee, I'm sorry kid." He said apologetically.

"What, no. I- uh, this is for me." I tried to save myself the embarrassment. "What? A girl can't make herself a nice meal."

"No, no it's just that, those are her favorite flowers." He points to the case at the corner of the tray.

How does he even know that?

"Well, they're my favorite too okay!" I said frustratedly and sped away.

"Stupid Natasha." I murmured while angrily throwing away the food.

Which I immediately regretted. Less than a month ago I would have killed for some food like this. Great, now I'm wasting food.
"UGHH." I grunted angrily shutting the trash can.

Why does she keep on leaving? We haven't even had a chance to properly talk. She didn't even have the decency to tell me she was leaving, hell a fucking note would have sufficed but nooooo, that's too sincere for the notorious black widow. She hasn't seen me in years and it seems like she could honestly care less.

Well if that's how it is, then so. fucking. be it.

I am currently on the common room couch with a blanket, covering my whole body, including my head. Thankfully, no one was here, so I was allowed to sulk in peace.

All of a sudden, a loud alarm goes off. Not as loud as the last time, thank god. It was a mission alert.

Almost immediately, every team member had gathered in the common area.

Well that's just great.

So much for wanting to be alone.

I tried my best to blend in with the couch, hoping to go unnoticed.

"Okay so our mission is in Bloomington Indiana." Tony says reading off his tablet. "A man named Nathan Williams and his team are injecting random civilians in Austin Texas with a highly toxic dosage of a drug called and "silver epiphany ".  Side effects include flu-like symptoms, drowsiness, inflammation of the skin, hysteria, memory loss, blurry vision, muscle spasms, migraines, nausea, heartburn, cardiac arrest, and eventually, death."

"So, if we don't reach them in time, they will die?" Wanda asked curiously.

"Correct, so let's not mess this up." Tony says.

The room of people exchange glances at each other.

"We have a list of 42 civilians who have been injected. Apparently, they were all in the doctor's office around the same time, thinking they were being given the flu shot but instead, being injected, with silver epiphany by the 'nurses'. " He air quotes, hinting that the nurses were actually a part of Nathan's army. "He managed to secure the victims in an abandoned warehouse in Bloomington however. 3 of them managed to escape."

"We have the cure, but if we don't act now, many people could die."

All of them nod in agreement

"And it's going to be incredibly hard with Nat out of the country and Clint with family. We need another person on the field but I don't know if we can get a hold of a ready to go shield agent on such short notice."

Everyone starts muttering and thinking of a plan.

"What about Mari?" Bruce says everyone is focusing on me now.

"What?" I said muffled with my mouth filled with Doritos. I wasn't really paying attention to what they were saying until now.

"No." He said with a cold tone.

"But Tony she is perfectly capable. Her and Nat have the same skill set. She'd be a perfect fit." Bruce argues.

"I said no." Tony says snaps back

"Well I say yes." Steve finally speaks
The attention is on him now.

"We need the job done and she's the only one we have right now." Steve says

This then turns into an argument where everyone is putting out their opinion of me going to the mission.

"Uh hello, I'm right here." I say waving my hand. I didn't wish to be THIS invisible.

There was a hush among the people and all eyes were focused on me

"And no, I'm not gonna do it" I finally answer

"See, she doesn't want to do it, case closed."

"Tony, there is too much at stake here for you to act like this right now, people could die."

"Steve, I promised Natasha I would keep her safe while she was away." Tony admitted

What.

"Safe" I repeated.

Is she serious? Now she wants to play big sister. Are you kidding me?

"I'm not a child, I can take care of myself, thank you very much." I said squinting my eyes at him.

"Mari, you know I didn't mean it like that-" Tony starks to say before a sound interrupts him.

"But that's what she said, right?" I ask hoping for a genuine answer.

No response, his silence as an answer was all I needed.

"Thought so. In fact, Steve, I WILL go." I said with a wide grin.

"Great, I'll fill you in, just get changed into your old mission suit and we'll head out."

"Roger that. HA, SEE WHAT I DID THERE?" I laugh at my joke as start I head out of the room.

"Gosh, I'm so funny" I said to myself.

Yelena walks in after sleeping in the early afternoon. "Hey guys, what'd I miss." She yawned, stretching her arms up.

BYEEE THANKS FOR READING, SEE YOU SOON