Awesome, it's chapter four! This one's kinda short and fluffy. It's setting up for big stuff to happen in upcoming chapters. As always, thanks for reading and reviewing!
Enjoy!
Agent Romanoff, though an assassin first and socialite thirty-second, makes for at least decent conversation.
She walks alongside Adam to the mess hall and agents running about in a flurry after the recent attack on the helicarrier surround the two. He notices that she carries herself tall and the sea of people parts for her. Adam notices he's slouching and immediately rectifies the problem, trying to look at least presentable.
"You don't have to tell me anything," she starts, out of the blue. "I've already read your case file."
Adam winces at the thought, though he's not sure why. "Well, I guess that makes this less awkward, at least."
She laughs slightly, only one small hiccup escaping her. He smiles unintentionally.
"You wouldn't mind me asking you a few questions though, would you?" he insists, trying to disguise the hopefulness in his eyes.
"Depends on what those questions are," she responds casually and with a nod of her head as if to signal him to go.
"Well, I mean," Adam starts of awkwardly, not having actually thought out a question to ask her. "I've just sort of been calling you Agent Romanoff. Do you have a first name, Agent Romanoff?"
"Natasha," she replies simply.
"Natasha," Adam repeats. He likes the sound of it.
"Any other questions then?" she asks after Adam goes silent for a moment.
"Well, not you, per say," he fumbles, trying to think of the right words. "Would you care to tell me the names of all the Avengers? Besides Stark, of course." The name Stark makes him gag a little.
"I'm assuming you've already met Thor," she begins as the two round a corner.
"Yes, obviously. Where'd he go? I haven't seen him since the battle with the Hulk…"
"He was, uh, he was jettisoned from the ship."
"Jettisoned? So is he… alive or…?"
"He's a demi-god, after all. I'm sure he survived."
"And the rest of the team?"
She tightens up a bit at the mention of the word 'team,' but quickly recovers; "Well, you met the super soldier already."
"Yeah, Rogers," Adam nods, remembering his brief encounter with Steve earlier. "He's a nice guy. Real stand-up. Kept callin' me sir but I could get used to it. Who was your very vague friend back there?"
"Uh…" she pauses for a moment as the two finally reach the mess hall and enter it. It's almost completely empty. "That was Agent Barton."
"Agent Barton? Anything else yah… you can tell me?" Adam coughs. His speech was slurring again against his will. He'd have to watch it better.
Romanoff releases another small laugh, like a quick exhalation of air. Adam hides a blush under olive skin.
"Agent Barton is known as Hawkeye. Clint, er, Barton, is a pretty sharp shooter with a bow and arrow, I guess you could say."
"Why's the crew nervous about him then?" Adam interrogates, taking a Styrofoam cup from off a rack and moving over to a coffee machine.
"Up until the attack on the ship, Barton had been… compromised," she tries to explain, specifically excluding a mass of detail.
"Compromised?" Adam questions, filling up his cup slowly and stopping once it was only three-quarters full.
"It's awfully confusing, especially if you weren't around to get introduced to Loki," she sighs, taking a small plastic container from under a heat lamp. It looked like a pre-packaged lunch, though he could not tell the contents.
"Yeah, what's that guy's deal anyway? Brother of Thor or something? Agent Hill tried to explain it to mean but it was awfully rushed," he continues, sipping at the hot coffee. He'd left it black not because he didn't like putting anything in it but because he actually couldn't find the packets of sugar and creamer. He'd searched around for a bit and felt stupid when he couldn't locate them. He tried to hide the embarrassment with another sip.
"Just another man with something to prove," she says with a sigh, passing Adam a small tub filled with fixings for the coffee. He accepts them awkwardly and pretends that he hadn't even been looking for them. "Just another villain trying to take over the world."
Adam steps aside as she too plucks a Styrofoam cup from the rack and fills it. She tears the tops off several packets of sugar as Adam waits idly by. Then she gently blows on the surface and Adam can't help but watch. Her lips are not that of an assassin. In fact, her face is not the face of an assassin. It's soft and round and he wonders how her face has remained undamaged over the years.
"I guess we'll be heading back now then," she knocks him from his stupor, taking hold of the small plastic container in one hand and the Styrofoam cup in the other.
He nods for a lack of words.
"Aside from Stark, there is one more person I forgot to mention… though I don't know if we'll be seeing him again…" Natasha mutters, taking a quiet sip of her coffee as the two begin their journey back to where they started.
"Really?" Adam remarks, also taking a drink from his cup. The burning liquid should singe his tongue but he'd grown a high tolerance to heat. "I guess I haven't met 'em yet then."
"Well, I guess you did. But only technically," she continues with her usual vagueness.
"I 'ave? Musta bumped into 'em in the hall or somethin'."
A faint smile grows on Natasha's face. Adam looks at her, confused for a moment but then realizes the reason why.
"I don't know what's up with me today," his cheeks turn red. "I, ah, I don't even know where I picked the accent up from."
"It's endearing, at least," she assures him, hiding her face in her cup to hide a smile.
"Ha, not really," he shakes his head. "But you were saying something about another guy. Continue."
"I'm sorry, I'm not usually like this," her tone becomes serious once more. "I'm not usually so…"
"Giddy?" he provides.
"Positive," she replaces his input for her own. "Especially considering how serious everything is right now with Loki on the loose trying to take over the world and what not."
"You don't have a right to smile?" he asks, feeling a bit like a hypocrite. Immediately after, he feels like a dumbass for saying anything.
"Not know, at least," she sighs again. "But no, you asked me something."
"Uh yeah," he responds to her casual subject change. He could tell she wasn't used to being happy about anything and it probably made her uncomfortable so he might as well drop it. "Who was the other guy on your te—I mean, who was the other guy you forgot to mention?"
"You probably know him as the Hulk."
"The Hulk is one of you guys?" he says, so surprised that he actually spits coffee on himself. His face is burning hotter than the coffee but he doesn't think she's all too interested in humor anymore.
"Not the Hulk," she continues, "Bruce Banner is—or maybe was—one of us."
She stutters at the mention of his name and Adam suddenly remembers what she'd said earlier when he'd gone to save her the first time. The master assassin was actually afraid of something. She was in her right mind, of course, Adam himself had been scared, but he was still slightly surprised by this revelation. Like he'd expected her to be totally fearless.
"But I don't think we'll be seeing him again soon… if at all…" Her lip quivers and she tries to cover it with a sip of her coffee. Adam still notices.
"So you're saying that that thing is an actual person? Like, he's not just that monster?" he words awkwardly.
"Of course he's an actual person," she snaps at him. "He's one of the smartest men I've ever met. He just…"
"Just happens to turn into a giant, destructive force of nature?"
She glares at him, as if she's offended on Banner's behalf. "I've read your file, Adam. I know you're not always in control of your actions either."
Adam stares at her blankly, still in shock that she'd mentioned anything. "Yeah, I know. I try not to think about it."
"I didn't mean it like that," she recants, "Just that… people aren't always in control of their actions, but that doesn't mean they aren't good people."
Adam nods half-heartedly as the two reach the room that he'd bumped into her coming out of.
"I'll just… I'll leave here," she states, cracking to door open.
With a lack of enthusiasm, he picks his head up and down. She eyes him for a second and then abandons him in the hall.
He stands there for a moment before turning to sulk back to the control center. Why'd he have to say any of that? Why was he so consistently an asshole? He goes into things with good intentions; he knows that, so why can he never communicate with other people?
"Mr. Knox, nice of you to return," Fury greets Adam's entrance to the control center.
"Where's my suit?" Adam suddenly asks.
Fury turns around to face him, confused for a moment. "Your suit?"
"You know the one I'm talking about," he continues, suddenly determined.
Fury flashes a smile. "Yeah, I know where it is. Why the sudden interest?"
"Show me where and I'll explain."
"Right this way then."