Strix -SLOWLY UPDATING-

NINE

November 16th

     I jolt awake panting after having that terrible dream. After composing myself for a few moments I roll over in bed before slightly opening my eyes as I hear birds chirping. "eti chertovy ptitsy..." (Those Damn birds...) I curse under my breath.

They're so annoying...ALWAYS chirping, EVERY morning. You know what you hear at STRIX in the morning? BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. Loud alarms waking you up. I'd rather hear that then high pitch little chirps....

I climb out of bed and stretch for a moment before making my way downstairs.

Smells....good? Sweet...baked goods....

"Hey Natalia," Steve greets me with a smile as he's chopping up some fruit. "I made pancakes, eggs, bacon, sausage, and some fruit. If you don't like any of that you can have some cereal of course." He says warmly as he picks up the cutting board and scrapes the cut up strawberries into a bowl.

I haven't had a meal like this in.....never....

All the other Avengers slowly started waking up and coming downstairs.

Vision came through the wall causing me to scream and go into a defensive stance. "WHAT THE HELL KIND OF WITCHCRAFT IS THAT!?" I yelled still in the same position.

"Hurtful." Wanda rolled her eyes chuckling.

"Vision we've talked about this, no more walking through things. Use the door." Steve sighed as he started wiping some cream in a bowl.

"Apologies." Vision says sincerely as he places his hand over his chest in an apologetic way.

I sigh relaxing a bit as I walk over to Steve. "What are you making?" I ask curiously.

He turns and smiles, "Whipped cream, ever had homemade whipped cream?" He stops mixing the cream.

I shake my head. "I've never even had whipped cream." I say looking at the bowl. "What does it taste like?"

"Try some! Just dip your finger."

I hesitantly dip my finger into the bowl of whipped cream and then lick it. "Holy shit....." I say my eyes widening. "It's sweet!! And it's soft and milky and fluffy!" I describe out loud before sticking my whole finger in my mouth licking it clean.

"It's good right? Steve makes the best homemade waffles and whipped cream." Wanda compliments making her way over to us.

"Girls do you mind helping me set the table?" He asks picking up the plate of waffles.

"Of course," Wanda replies happy to assist Steve. She picks up the plate of Bacon and pitcher of orange juice placing it on the large dining table.

I hesitate for a moment before going over to the kitchen island and grabbing the bowl of fruit, placing it on the table next to the rest of the food.

Steve calls everyone else down and it takes a few minutes before everyone arrives.

"Morning...Anderson." Natasha says looking me directly in my eyes once again as she did the previous night.

"Good morning...Romanoff." I reply.

Things....definitely won't be good between us for a while to say the least...And everyone can clearly sense the tension in the room between us.

"So, how has school been lately?" Tony turns to me  breaking the silence.

I look over at him Who's sitting 2 seats down across from me. "It's alright, honestly it's easy I guess." I shrug taking a bite of pancake with fruit on it.

Of course it's easy, I learned all of this stuff and how to kill with a plastic spoon 15 or so years ago.

Everyone continues trying to make small talk with me all throughout breakfast.

"Natalia, we were thinking about going to a shopping mall later today. Would you like to come? We can buy you some new clothes, some more furniture if you'd like, jewelry, Anything." Tony Stark spoke up then took a sip of his coffee.

A shopping mall? Whats that? I think I've heard of it....that big place with a bunch of other places that sell things that you bring home to your place. Right?

"Sure, I'd like that." I reply with warm smile.

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Natasha's POV

I watch Natalia as she looks in awe around the large shopping mall. "Let's go in there!!" She points to Forever 21, then She runs into the store.

"Natalia!!! Natalia wait!!" Steve Rogers called out as he ran in after her.

She's a strange girl for sure. Is she just putting on an act? She acts like a normal teenager sometimes...but also has the mystery of a spy.

Maybe I'm just paranoid...but what she said to me last night. I don't know maybe I'm over thinking, she's probably just a normal teenage girl from Germany.

One thing I do find odd though is that she doesn't have an accent, she sounds American.

"Nat.  Nat. Earth to Natasha." Clint waves his hand in front of me.

I blink a few times before turning to face him. "Hm?"

"You okay? You were a bit zoned out for a while." He says to me concerned.

I take a deep breath. "I know it sounds strange, but does Natalia seem...a little...you know...off to you?" I ask with worry in my voice.

Clint sighs his gaze fixed on the Forever 21 store where Steve, Tony, Sam and Bucky were with the girl. "Honestly, I sensed something was a little strange about her but thought nothing of it." He admitted.

"I just...I think we should be careful, don't let our guard down." I warned him as we were standing side by side.

Clint nodded in agreement with me.

There was a moment of silence between the two of us before Clint spoke up. "So are we never going to talk about the fact that she has the same name as you?" He said in a joking manor.

I just chuckled before sighing with a smile on my face. "I'm Not Natalia anymore....I'm just Natasha."

The 4 of them come running out of the store looking worried.

I furrowed my eyebrows before walking towards them. "What's wrong? Where's Natalia?"

Tony sighs scratching the back of his head. "I gave Natalia one of my credit cards...."

"And now we can't find her." Bucky facepalmed.