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Nora strapped the knife across her ankle.
Before leaning back on the leather seat, staring blankly at the scenery that passes through the window. She could hear the faint strumming of the gears of quinjet, the rhythmic tapping of Natasha's feet against the floor, the voice of the plane wings cutting air.
Steve's shield glinted in the fluorescent light by his side, Clint's arrows were arranged systematically in their quiver.
The first two were electricity induced.
Then there were the ones which were poisonous.
To the right were the ones with propofol.
To their left were-
God, she was losing her mind.
She had been trying hard not to think about the one who was currently flying the Quinjet, she was trying very hard not to recognize the familiar pine cologne of his, she was trying impossibly hard to not think about the Iron man suit that was shining beside Steve's seat. She was trying to not think and in return save herself from the emotions that were thrashing her nerves.
But it was impossible.
He was so close.
And her heart was being squeezed painfully. He looked so thin, the dark circles under his eyes worse than ever– looking like shadows. His physique had detroit, bones gaunt and veins visible. He looked like he had aged ten years in the past month. The familiar warmth or mischief in his eyes were missing, replaced by some other haunting definition of pain and his palms bore numerous small scars jagged one upon another, possibly from all the tech he was making or repairing.
The subtle clench of his jaw, the way his fingers were holding the control panel as if it would disappear if he would let go, the tension in his shoulders, the straight way his eyes rested on. If anything was not a sign, it surely was that nothing had changed.
It sent a fresh wave of agony through her making her draw in a sharp breath. She was the reason, she was the fucking reason, he was like this. Everyone was right back at that base, that monster Damir was right when he said that she was meant to taint everyone near her with darkness.
She was causing his pain, wasn't she?
She was making him go through pain, and burn in the agony of her past because she was being too selfish. Too selfish to not leave him, the team, even though she should have. The five missions were done as promised by Fury, the base she wanted gone was also dissolved into ashes. She had gotten her revenge. That was the plan. To leave once all of that would be done.
That was why she was trying her best to not become close with others, or let them make her someone worth remembering or thinking about. Because she thought she would leave and never see them again, and if they would begin seeing her as someone more than just a new avenger member who would be in the shadows- it would hurt them.
