Happy early Christmas everyone! I am so sorry it took me FOREVER to post this chapter, but I just couldn't bring my self to write it. Horribly lame excuse I know but life got busy and I forgot about writing for a while and then I had a kind of writer's block, more of a lack of will to write. Alas now I have posted. This is not my favorite chapter but hopefully I will write better. Maybe I will come back and make edits to this chapter because I am not happy with Emma relations, but I wanted to post before Christmas and well I am! Will start work on 15 very soon! Enjoy! Also I do not own the Avengers or their wonderful characters.
Emma had been worried Steve would tell Director Fury that she was able to open the box, then Fury would come (or send some agent, more like) and take the box and the doll from Emma before she got the chance to figure out what it all meant. However, so far Steve had kept his promise and now Emma's time was running out. The following morning Steve had told Emma she had three days and then he would inform Fury. They had spent an hour on the first morning running the string of letters through various keys. They spent the rest of the time running the letters through various language translations on a search engine.
Now on the third day, Emma was getting frustrated, but something in the back of Emma's mind said not to trust all of the SHIELD agents and she couldn't figure out why.
Steve and Emma were sitting in the lounge on the lower level of the floors that had bedrooms. Occasionally she would pick up a word but not a full phrase or sentence from the translators. Emma found the whole thing as much thrilling as it was annoying.
"You do realize that there could be thousands of possible combinations?" Steve asked her.
Emma, who had been looking at the list they had started of all the letter series to possible codes, answered without looking up, "Actually there are 6,227,020,800 if you shift the letters without any order, but my father always made sure that he kept them in order, which brings the total down to 26."
"How are there 26 when we only have 13?" Steve asked.
Emma thought about it for a minute before responding. "If you can write it forward you can always right it backwards. Like A would become Z and B would become Y."
"I hadn't thought of that." His eyebrows creased in frustration. Emma had originally noticed it when she tried to teach him chess, but now she realized how cute it looked he when couldn't figure something out. Emma suddenly felt her checks grow red. No she couldn't think like that now. She bent her head again and stared at the piece of paper in front of her.
A minute later Steve handed her a newly decoded phrase. "It still doesn't make sense," he said.
Emma read it and nearly laughed. Of course he didn't know Italian.
"What?" Steve asked looking thoroughly confused by her smile.
Emma picked up the paper she had dropped and wrote something down.
"The last word doesn't match the rest…" Emma trailed off, her thoughts already whizzing in her mind. Something about the phrase was so familiar to her. She just couldn't put her finger on it. She wanted to read the original note again.
She shifted through the papers on the coffee table. It wasn't here. They left it in Emma's room.
She got up and was almost to the door when she heard Steve, "Hold on, What does it say?"
"I am not entirely sure yet," Emma answered, which was true but she had a pretty good idea what the entire message said. "I have to read the note again. It's not on the table." She turned back to the door and left.
Emma made her way up to the elevator and up one floor to the living room. Natasha nodded to Emma as she was just sitting down on the couch. The assassin didn't say anything but Emma knew some talk about figuring out the cube was coming soon and Emma wasn't sure how to tell her the truth. She opened the file in her hand and started reading it.
Emma walked down the hall and saw her bedroom door cracked open. Emma inched the door open and found Tony standing with his back toward her. He was holding something in his hands. Emma noticed the cube was no longer sitting on her bed. A flash of panic ran through her body. He knew.
"Close the door." Tony said without turning around. His voice was thick with anger and maybe something more. Disappointment? That was odd.
Emma closed the door softly. Natasha was sitting in the living room after all. Tony turned around.
"How long?" he said softly.
"This is the fourth day."
"Why didn't you tell us?" he said. His face was full of hurt. Did he feel betrayed? Why? It wasn't truly any of his business.
"You all would have gone to Fury. He would have taken it away."
"Why didn't you tell me at least?" He practically hissed. "You knew I wouldn't run to Director Fury and his little lackeys. You don't have to do this alone."
Emma knew Tony was right. She could have, no, should have trusted him. At the time it just seemed safer to tell no one. But she didn't tell none. She told Steve. Oh my goodness she fell for a pretty face and blabbed her secrets when he expressed his concerns for her. If he had known what he was doing he would make a great SHIELD agent. Luckily for her, he was born in the 1920's and had greater moral standards than most people she knew today. He wouldn't use her like that. Emma knew she could think about this right now. Her eyes went to Tony's face.
"You weren't alone," Tony said. "You told Steve. Didn't you?"
"Yes," she said softly.
"Mr. Super-soldier? Why him and his high morals? He would feel obligated to turn this information in."
"He said he would give me three days," she admitted. "But now I think I know what the code means."
"What code?"
"The one on the letter."
"What letter?"
"The one beside the doll…" she trailed off again, not seeing the piece of paper. Where did it go? She pushed passed Tony and searched the bed. She looked under the pillows and even checked the desk. It was missing. It definitely wasn't down stairs.
"I don't have much time. They will look for me soon…." That wasn't Tony. It was female. Emma slowly turned
Leaning against the door frame was the red haired woman herself, Natasha. She held the SHIELD folder in her hands.
She picked up the paper, which had been resting in the folder, and kept reading.
"I am sorry but we will never speak again. I hope you can forgive me someday. Know that I love you always-"
"Wait!" Emma said excitedly " Always! But why-" she trailed off into her thoughts. But why would her father take the time to write a message in crypt when he already told her its contents? And why would he write that twice when she already knew that he loved her? Why did he take the time to write the not in the first place? Wasn't he supposed to be on a mission? One that required stealth and not a trip to the post office? The whole thing was suspicious.
But maybe its not the content but the language written in that was important?
Well the I LOVE YOU, was in Italian (io ti amo), while the ALWAYS was translated to immer. But was language was that?
"Germany?" she ended up saying out loud.
"What does that have to do with anything?" Tony said behind her.
Natasha was quicker on the draw and Emma could tell she came to a similar conclusion that Emma did. Natasha frowned.
"You don't mean to say…" Natasha trailed off.
"Hydra."
P.S. please review! I love reading your reviews! Everyone is soooooo nice!