Bird Set Free | Natasha Romanoff ✓

Chapter Twenty-One

"You so are hurt," Natasha said as her way of greeting as she met back up with Aquila at the Quinjet. Thor had already come by, dropping off Clint, who was in worse condition than she was. 

"It's really nothing, it will heal up soon," Aquila said, but her body soon betrayed her as drops of blood tainting the white snow beneath her feet. 

"Stop talking," Natasha said with a small smile. "And come here." 

Aquila walked towards Natasha and allowed her to start and heal her wound, eventually wrapping it, protecting the wound until they got back to headquarters. 

Aquila smiled up at the woman who she had missed too many times in the last year. 

"Missed you."

"I missed you too." Natasha agreed with her. "You have no clue how hard it is to stay in the tower with pretty much only boys, it was hell."

"I can imagine." Aquila chuckled before Natasha pulled her into a hug, careful not to touch her injured shoulder. "Ah, this is nice." 

The Quinjet headed out of Sokovia, the scepter secured after Tony had retrieved it. 

Aquila sat against the wall, facing where Clint laid, checking up on him every now and then. But right now, her eyes were shut, deep breaths circulating through her nostrils as she breathed in the familiarity of the Quinjet. 

Bruce was sitting not too far from here, headphones placed firmly on his head as Aquila could hear the soft opera music that played from the headphones from where she was sitting. 

"Hey, the lullaby worked better than ever," Natasha told Bruce, sending a small smile Aquila's way before turning back to the man. 

"Just wasn't expecting a code green," Bruce replied roughly, his eyes making contact with Aquila who sent him an encouraging smile. 

"If you hadn't been there, there would've been double the casualties. My best friend would've been a treasured memory." Natasha joked, trying to add humor to try and diffuse the situation. 

"You know, sometimes, exactly what I wanna hear isn't exactly what I wanna hear," Bruce said bitterly. 

"How long before you trust me?" 

"It's not you, I don't trust."

"Thor, report on the Hulk?" Natasha asked Thor as Aquila widened, surely Bruce didn't need to know. 

"The gates of Hell are filled with the screams of his victims."

"Seriously?" Aquila asked Thor as Natasha glared at him, hearing Bruce's groan of despair. 

"Uh, but, not the screams of the dead, of course. No no, uh. . .wounded screams. . .mainly whimpering, a great deal of complaining and tales of sprained deltoids and- and, uh. . . and gout."

"You aren't making it any better," Aquila said lowly to Thor.

Tony let Jarvis take control of the flying before turning around his chair to face the rest of the team. 

"It feels good, yeah?" Tony said with a grin. "We've been after this thing since S. H. I. E. L. D. collapsed." He said turning to Aquila.

"I know! I wasn't gone for that long."

"Yeah, but long enough that Romanoff spent most of her days moping."

"Hey!" Natasha called out from the other end of the Quinjet. 

"Well, I find it quite funny that you lot were so lost without me that you couldn't find the scepter until I showed up again."

"That's not what happened at all."

Aquila had followed Natasha and Dr. Cho into a glass room, where Clint was laid down on a bed, while Aquila said in a nearby chair, her left shoulder receiving the same treatment as Clint's side. 

Natasha was clearly caught between checking on Clint or Aquila. So, in the end, she settled for intertwining her fingers with Aquila's and her eyes never leaving Clint's form. 

This decision proved to be particularly useful to Aquila as she hissed in pain, clutching tightly onto Natasha's hand. Aquila almost felt like she was getting another tattoo before the pain suddenly disappeared and Aquila let out a small breath of relief. 

With her hand still entangled in Natasha's, Aquila was pulled over to stand beside Clint as it was his turn to receive treatment. 

"You sure he's gonna be okay?" Natasha asked Dr. Cho. "Pretending to need this guy really brings the team together." Natasha tried to say humourlessly but her tone of voice betrayed her. 

"There's no possibility of deterioration. The nano-molecular functionality is instantaneous. His cells don't know they're bonding with simulacrum."

"I'm sorry, what?" Aquila asked, tilting her head to the side in confusion.

"She's creating tissue," Bruce said, entering into the room, a lab coat thrown on roughly. 

"If you brought him to my lab, the regeneration cradle could do this in. . .20 minutes."

Tony entered holding several smoothies in his hands.

"Oh, he's flatlining," Tony teased. "Call it. Time?"

"No, no, no. I'm going to live forever." Clint replied to Tony before chuckling. "Aquila and I are gonna be made of plastic." 

"Here's your beverage," Tony said handing the smoothie to the man, ignoring his previous statement.

"You'll be made of you, Mr. Barton," Cho said to Clint. "Your own girlfriend won't be able to tell the difference. The same applies to you, Ms. Cadman."

"Well, I don't have a girlfriend," Clint responded. 

"Neither." Aquila agreed. 

"What about a boyfriend?" Cho asked her. 

"Don't have a boyfriend either. Not a huge fan of commitment."

"Well, that I can't fix," Cho joked with Clint and Aquila. "This is the next thing, Tony. Your clunky metal suits are going to be left in the dust."

Aquila looked between Cho and Tony, a grin appearing on her face as she witnessed the banter between the two of them. 

"Well that is exactly the plan," Tony said as Natasha reached around Aquila to get her own drink, a flirtatious look gracing her face. "And, Helen, I expect to see you at the party on Saturday."

"Unlike you, I don't have a lot of time for parties," Cho responded with a small smirk. 

Tony gave her a look in almost disbelief before Cho finally spoke up again.

"Will. . . Thor. . .be there?" She asked. 

Aquila couldn't stop laughing at Cho's response and only managed to stop when Natasha whacked her on her good shoulder, to shut her up.