Drowning - Pietro Maximoff

Chapter Eight

Echo's POV

Entertaining Lila was easy, especially since it was the most simple thing I've done in years. I spoke to her like she was my equal like I spoke to the other girls in the Red Room, I respected them and I respect Lila. However, in the back of my mind, I was still listening to the other Avengers as they moved throughout the house, silently or not. There was another person here, one that I haven't seen yet and he knew quite a few things that I don't believe one person should know.

"Lila, honey," Clint called from the kitchen, "why don't you go grab your crayons and color some pictures for our guests."

A wide smile broke out on her face and she immediately ran away from me, stomping up the stairs. I cautiously stood to my feet and walked slowly into the kitchen, Clint was pouring noodles into boiling water. "I assume you wanted to talk to me," I said emotionlessly and expressionlessly.

He glanced up at me with a playful look on his face and a kind smile, "You don't need to be so tense, Echo," he told me, saying my name almost fondly. I narrowed my eyes at him as he began chopping up herbs, "I'm not going to hurt you, your mother would kill me, and if I've paid attention to anything she's told me I wouldn't be able to lay a finger on you as it is."

"No, you wouldn't," I told him blankly and his smile only grew. He was quite amused with how I was acting.

"You are just like your mother," he smiled, shaking his head and sliding the herbs into another pot full of sauce, "she didn't trust me one bit when I first met her. I was sent to kill her, you see so I can't blame her for not trusting me." His eyes rested on me for quite a few moments and his eyes narrowed playfully, "You might be a bit harder to crack than she was."

"Should I be offended by that comment?" Mama asked as she walked into the room, making my tense shoulders relax almost entirely as my eyes landed on her. "I feel like I should be offended," she finished and walked up next to Clint and began to help cook, bumping into him on purpose.

"You know you love me," Clint told her chuckling and turned to the fridge, pulling out what looked to be raw meat.

Mama snapped her fingers at me, "Echo Romanova," she said specifically with an accent, "wash your hands and help him make the meatballs," she told me. I stared at her blankly for a few moments, I had never in my life even eaten meatballs and now she wants me to make them. Her eyes narrowed on me and waved her knife in my direction, "Now." I looked between her and Clint for a few moments before quickly walking over to the sink and washing my hands. As I began to help Clint, Mama seemed to be ranting, "I taught you to be respectful and polite and I expect you to act like that no matter who you're around."

Clint snorted and I glared at him from the corner of my eye, gaining a smile from him, "Easy, Mama Spider," he said, "Echo's been through a long day. Getting tazed, seeing her mother for the first time in years."

We continued making meatballs until I felt panicked prodding in my mind from four consciousnesses. I tensed slightly from the slight headache I got from it and I know the two assassins in the room with me noticed, and without warning I promptly walked out of the kitchen and out of the house. I leaned up against the barn and slid to the ground and focused as hard as I could to make the ache go away before trying to figure out what the twins and wolves were saying.

Echo can you hear us? Wanda called out, Are you okay? Please be okay. The worry in her thoughts were almost overwhelming.

I'm okay, I said softly, linking all of our minds together to speak, did you guys make it out alright?

You want to know if we're alright!? Pietro basically shouted at me and I closed my eyes in annoyance. They took you, how are you even able to talk to us right now?