Tili Tili Bom (An Avengers fanfic)

Chapter eight

Showers are hot.

Very hot.

Especially when their temperature is being controlled by an angry robot.

That doesn't mean it wasn't good, per se. I stepped out with red skin, my hair smelling like vanilla. I couldn't get the hairdryer to operate because somebody was still mad about me breaking their glass, so I left it to curl into ringlets. I caught glimpses of myself in the mirror until I simply couldn't not look. It was part of my training not to be vain, so that I wouldn't stop a mission to protect my cleanliness. The person staring back at me, however, made it clear there was a truth in that statement. My sandy blonde hair, tipped with an icy white on the ends, framed my face and just brushed my bony shoulders. I blinked in unison with the wide blue eyes reflecting to me and cocked my head. I do look young. I knew I should be in my seventies, but this was insane! I cut off my gaze. I didn't want to see myself any more than necessary. HYDRA had told me no.

The closet was huge. That's not an exaggeration, that's fact. I finally chose a lavender sundress with a crooked silvery chain-link belt around the waistline. It was a little long, but I kept it. Jarvis chimed. "Miss, it's about four thirty. Karaoke will start soon." I walked out of the closet into my too-good room. "Jarvis, what's karaoke? No one bothered to explain." I entered the elevator and pushed the button for twelve as he responded. "Karaoke is singing an upbeat song with the supplied lyrics." In horror, I immediately began pressing the button for my floor again, but too late, I was in motion. "You didn't tell me this had to do with singing! I'm not doing this, Jarvis. Tell them I'm not doing this." The elevator pinged open on the karaoke floor. I didn't leave the elevator, my thoughts on overdrive. I'm not singing not singing not not not... I took a few deep breaths and stepped out. I just won't sing when it's my turn. Easy as that. The room is lit by dim fluorescent lights, lasers crossing every available surface. Romanoff was singing a song about boys and milkshakes with Stark, who, to put it lightly, sounds like a dying whale.

He catches sight of me and his expression immediately sours. The song winds down, Romanoff dropping the microphone with a self-satisfied smirk. They step off the carpeted stage to loud applause from Barton and the Captain. Thor and Dr. Banner seem a bit bored, however. Thor seems preoccupied with the pretzel bowl, and the doctor kept checking his phone. Stark wobbles his way to the couch, looking like he's suffering from a massive alcohol overdose. However, Barton catches sight of me standing awkwardly by the elevator and pops off the sofa. "We weren't sure you'd come! But you did! And now Nat owes me five bucks! Whoo!" Romanoff's smirk disappears, replaced by mild annoyance. She hands Barton something and flops down on a beanbag chair. Her voice floats up from the floor as I take a step forward. "Well, it's her turn to sing. I'm done for now." I take a deep breath, ready to explain to them that the only songs I know are Russian, which is not true in the least, when Stark stops me. "Yeah. It's your turn, Elsa. Get to it. Jarvis says you were humming in the shower."

I want to pile drive Stark's face out the window.

I walk forward to the stage, preparing a lie. "I, um, don't know many songs. I've just got the one, so I really can't..." Stark cuts me off again. "Then sing it." His voice is laced with venom, and it takes all my self control not to curse him into sailor-hood- or at least into oncoming traffic. I won't sing. Not without Racks. "Well, if anyone knows Russian, then of course I'll sing, serving as the one song I know is in that language," I snap. To my surprise, Romanoff rises from her beanbag chair with a resigned air. "Well, I'm Russian, so you're out of excuses. Which song is it? Lavanda? I know that one." She's in for a real treat. As she sinks back into her beanbag, I walk to the stage, whispering my command to Jarvis. It takes him a moment to find the track, but as soon as it comes on, Romanoff bolts up, eyes wide. I begin to sing softly, my voice rising with the track, carefully enunciating every word so she misses nothing. She knows my meaning. This isn't the only song I know, of course, but it's the one that I love best. My emerald green notes ripple through the air, spinning a story of monsters, death, and children.

I step off the stage to applause from Thor and Barton, feeling Romanoffs scorching gaze on me. I sit on a leathery armchair a few feet off of the stage as the Captain gets up. The rest of the night went without incident (and good singing) and it was around midnight when I finally trotted back to my room. Jarvis chimed as I collapsed onto my carpeted floor. "How did it go, miss? Was everything alright?" I pick myself up, exhaustion splitting my head and blurring my vision. "It was..." I yawn, "tiring. Stark sounds like a dying animal when he sings. Don't wake me up until at least seven, please." I clamber to my bed, slipping under its frame after a moment. The bed itself would keep me awake all night. I roll onto my stomach and clench my knees to my chest, an unidentifiable song drifting through my head. I hum it to myself, feeling the songs fragile yellow hue rip briefly through the darkness as I slip into sleep.

Heart and soul, I fell in love with your
Heart and soul...