Withered webs || marvel

11. Sweet child of mine

I woke up to a dull ache in my shoulder. I groaned as I sat myself up to observe my surroundings. It was dark now, the only sounds I heard were the gentle hums of the machines next to me. My eyebrows furrowed in confusion. How long was I out?  Pushing back the warm blankets reluctantly, I swung my legs over the side of the bed to find my shoes were taken off.

"What the heck?" I whispered to myself as I spotted slippers to the side of me.

I assumed they were for me because they were by my bed and I had only socks to enclose my feet so I slipped them on. They were different than any shoes I've ever worn. I've only worn combat boots, sneakers, and high heels once but never slippers.

I walked through the plastic curtains hoping to see someone somewhere. "Natasha? I called out, eager to be close to my friends. "Sam?"

I continued my trek down the tunnel and into the room where we were all in before I had fallen asleep. I cautiously slipped inside to see Natasha at the table pouring over files while everyone was asleep on the couches and floor around her.

"Hey, Nat," I announced my presence to her even though I knew she was aware I was behind her.

She dropped the file in her hand and put on a friendly smile as she greeted me. "Hey Doll, how's the arm?" She asked, nodding her head towards my injury.

I looked at it before deciding I was fine. "It's good, already healing so now it just aches a bit," I inform her.

"The serum?" She questioned, her lips slightly pursed.

I shrugged. "I guess so, I've always been like that but it only heals to an extent it is not like, um...magical." I answered with a struggle to remember the correct English word.

She nodded thoughtfully as I pulled out a chair and sat next to her. "So what's going on, what is new?" I asked her.

"We got a plan, we're gonna hit headquarters tomorrow and bring it down from the inside."

"How are we gonna get in?" I asked, fully believing I would be included in this plan.

"We means me, Steve, and Sam kid, this isn't your fight." She informed me.

I scowled at her words. This was as much my fight as it was theirs, I wanted the people who took my childhood, my girlhood, and, my emotions dead. I wasn't going to let a stupid injury that would be better enough for me to fight by tomorrow stop me.

"But it is! HYDRA, the Red Room did things so bad to me I can't even say it, I want them dead Natasha, all of them," I argued.

"Listen Doll, you don't think I know that? I lived it too, but you're hurt and you're finally out, you don't have to fight anymore." She attempted to reason.

"I'll always have to fight Nat, for the rest of my life I will, it won't matter if I'm out or not," I mumbled, not meeting her eyes.

Nat's mouth formed into a line and her eyes were full of sympathy. It made me sick.

"I'm helping, whether you like it or not, you don't have to take care of me, you're not the boss of me," I demanded.

" I was at one point." Natasha retorted, her eyes not leaving mine.

At that, I felt all the air in my lungs escape out of my nose and my head lull back.

ⴵ

Great timing. I thought to myself as I saw my surroundings change.

Again, I was in a darkly lit room, not the same cell I was in earlier but a different one. This one contained a simple cot and a small table. My hair felt wet on my shoulders, for once it wasn't tightly braided or dangerously knotted.