Vertigo: Hydra's Greatest Weapon

Chapter 28

The next time my eyes open again, it's all one long blur of moments. I see bright lights, and so many faces, I hear voices that I recognize and some that I don't. My consciousness doesn't last too long. My eyes close again and stay closed.

-

Bright fluorescent lights interrupt my sleep. My eyes open slowly but I come to find that one eye can't. The sudden pain that hits me also brings back memories of how I ended up in a med bay room at the compound. Apparently, I'm too important of a government worker to be in a regular hospital.

I look around with my eyes. I don't see much. Just lights. I groan from how uncomfortable I am and in seconds, Natasha's hovering over me.

"You're awake, good. I was getting worried." When I don't answer, she continues, "So what happened? You leave the room and the next thing I hear about you is that you're in an alley all bloody."

I slide my hand around next to me and find the bed remote to adjust myself to a sitting position. Nat repositions so she's sitting next to me. "It's nothing."

"So clearly, Fury didn't hire you for your lying abilities."

"It's nothing you have to worry about."

"No? So you lying near-dead in an alley isn't cause for worry? Let's not forget that you were found outside..." Nat pulls out a manilla folder and flips through it. She stops on a page. "A Camden Bynes' apartment. And if I remember correctly, he was one of your friends, no? So my question is why would one of your best friends jump you? Not to mention with a knife long enough to go all the way through your shoulder."

I don't even question how she knows all of this. It's Natasha Romanoff and SHIELD. Of course, they know.

"So what are you planning on doing about it?"

"Well, we have a few young men in custody right now. They're being questioned. The name Juniper Cherry was mentioned. I know her. We're trying to find her."

"Find her?"

"She's very hard to find."

"Did you check her house?" Dumb. Why in the world would I help SHIELD bring in June?

"No, we didn't think to check her home. Yes, Callie. Obviously, we checked where she lives. Her cute red Kia isn't there and neither is she."

"You really did your research, huh?"

"Well, when one of my teammates gets jumped, I do what I can."

"Teammates. Is that what we are?"

Nat furrows her eyebrows and looks at me. "I'm not sure what you're getting at."

"Yeah, you do."

She sighs and looks down at her hands. "That's not important right now."

"I think it is."

"What's important to me right now is that you're lying in a hospital bed with your eye beaten shut and some nice knife wounds."

"Come on, Nat. Let's stop playing. We're dancing around this thing between us. Let's just stop messing around already."

"Is that what you want or is this the drugs talking?"

"I think for the drugs to be talking, I would have to be on them."

Her meanor changes instantly back to worry. "What? Are you in pain? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Don't change the subject."

"How would we work? We both risk our lives every day. It wouldn't be easy."

"No relationship is easy. And those are just excuses. So what's the real reason you're holding back?"

"How do you know there's any other reason?"

I smirk a little. "Maybe I can read minds."

Nat now stands, avoiding eye contact. But she talks anyway.

"There was this woman. A while ago. She was another Avenger. Just like you without powers but the skills to make her an exceptional addition to the team." I let Nat talk even though I'm a little confused as to where this is going. "I used to really hate her, you know? Like, 'damn, this girl was hired for her pure human skills so she must be better than me.' Then Nick sent us on a fake mission and long story short, we fell in love. It was great until she was sent on a solo mission that basically ruined her. She left the team so suddenly one day. I haven't seen her since."

I'm at a loss for words. But before I can find the right ones, Nat is speaking again.

"There's a reason I'm so emotionally blocked off. Everyone I've ever... loved has left in some way or another. I'm just-"

"Scared?"

She breaks eye contact. "Yeah. Scared."

I smile a little at her. "Well, if it makes you feel any better, I'm not planning on leaving you in any way anytime soon."

"Don't make promises you can't keep," Nat says, a tad bit breathlessly. She sits back down on the bed and kisses me with more passion than ever.

When we part ways, what she said sets in. "Wait, did you hate me, too? Because I'm just a normal person and was recruited?"

Nat's thumb on my bottom lip drags across as she smiles and says, "Yes, but I know I'm better than you."

Before I have a chance to react, her lips are back on mine.

-

A couple of weeks later, I'm back in my room at the compound. The Avengers family has confined me to my bed unless it's vital for me to get up. So in all my spare time, I've been looking through all my VRTO stuff, trying to see if I missed anything or if there's more to interpret from these files. I've been conducting secret "interviews" with the people who visit me. I just need to wiggle out all the information I possibly can about this.

Nat still hates that I'm looking into it but she knows I have nothing better to do these days so she tolerates it. So that is precisely how she acts when she walks into my room around nine at night.

"You gotta stop reading this shit. It's frying your brain." She sets my dinner on my nightstand, leans down to kiss me, then joins me on my bed.

I slide the files over so she can look. "I've marked every time someone in Hydra was mentioned, whether it's by name, which isn't a lot, or by initials or some nickname. One keeps standing out to me. G.A.P."

"Gap?" She gives me a look.

"No, not 'gap'. G.A.P. Someone's initials."

"Who's initials are they then?"

"That's the thing. There isn't anyone with G.A.P. initials. But I've been looking through everyone who works at SHIELD and their initials. I'll get a hit, I know it."

Nat sighs, closing the files. "Just don't kill yourself over this. Get some rest. You need it more than you'll admit."

"I just have—" I go to grab my files back from her hands but she keeps them out of reach. "Just one thing, Nat. Please?" I do grabby hands like a child.

She drops the papers on the floor. "Nope. You and I have plans."

"Plans? I can't go anywhere, remember?"

She smirks. "Oh, don't worry. We aren't going anywhere."

She gets to her knees and crawls in front of me. With a gentle but firm grip, she drags my legs to the edge of the bed so I'm lying down. When she has me where she wants me, she gets herself into position, hovering over me between my legs that she bent.

"I'm wounded," I point out.

"I'll be gentle," she assures me, coming down for my lips.