Scarlett
Part 27
Steve Rodgers tucked the blanket around the child and sat at the side of Scarlett's bed. He volunteered to put the child to bed and as Black Widow wasn't totally against this, even though her mood today was a little bit snappy after the prison break, he and Scarlett disappeared as soon as they finished their supper.
"Mom is pissed off with me," the child said sadly hissing as she was trying to settle down in such a way in order not to lie down on her wounded side.
"No, Fox cub, she was just scared a bit. Don't worry. She'll get over it." Steve wanted to calm down the girl.
"I couldn't let that guard die because of me," the girl pronounced with some determination in her voice.
"What if he had killed you?" Captain America responded with a question.
"He could have. I was the one who penetrated into the prison." She said as if apologizing for the thing done.
"So, who is right in this case?" The conversation began to turn into a philosophical discussion about good and evil which led to justice.
"The guard, of course…" She thought and then continued, "Why did they put you in prison? Did Tony do it?"
"No, no, Tony didn't do anything. You know, life isn't just black and white. It can be of multiple colors."
"Like grey?"
Steve smiled knowing that the girl couldn't tell one color from the other.
"Yes, like grey. It means, on the one hand, all of us including you are criminals. On the other hand, people who sent us to prison also were wrong."
"Then I don't regret being a criminal." She tried to smile in return but grimaced instead because of her wounds.
"You are a little brave girl and we owe you. Don't worry about mom, I would also be like that if I were in her shoes." He confessed.
"Why?" The child asked innocently really not understanding why all adults were so attentive to her.
"Imagine that Nat is your daughter and you're her mother. What would you do if anything happened to her?" Like a wise teacher Steve gave Scarlett pause for thought.
"I would tear anyone apart if something happened to her." She told in a flurry of words.
"That's the answer to your question. Now sleep tight."
He kissed the child on the forehead and left the room.
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Natasha was standing outside in her pants and light sweater smoking and inhaling vigorously. The blizzard didn't make any impression on the woman. Her blonde hair fluttered in the wind and became a mess but she didn't care.
"Didn't know that you were a smoker," Captain America's voice was heard from the door.
"Yes, I do it sometimes, Rogers," she greeted him gloomily without turning to see the man. "What, came to chew my ear off?"
"No, just brought you a jacket. It's kind of cold out here." He carefully put a parka over Black Widow's shoulders.
"A gentleman as usual," this sounded as a thank you from the woman.
Steve looked at her face and saw that she was either crying or this was just the wind and cold that made her eyes wet. He couldn't tell for sure.
"Don't blame yourself. She'll be fine."
"Really, what a monster would let her child be nearly killed? Would you do that?" She turned to him throwing the cigarette away in the snow.
"If I were 95 percent sure that my child was safe, I would do that. Especially, if she had such a great supervisor." He told nonchalantly. "Nat, you are asking yourself whether you are a good mother. You are the best that this girl has ever met in her life. Remember how hard was it at first and how fearless she is now."
"She was nearly killed because of me!" the woman cried out trembling.
"Not only you. We are also the ones to blame but she is there alive and confused and sad because she loves her mother and doesn't want to fail you. Instead of asking yourself stupid questions, don't waste your time. Be there for her because our lives are nothing without the ones we love."
"Cap, sometimes you're pretty dumb but you always know the right words to say," she kissed him on the cheek and rushed inside.
Maria Hill and Fury left the next day while Natasha and Co stayed for three more days to get Scarlett a chance to heal or at least not to be in so much pain. Nevertheless, the kid had a chance to shake Fury's hand which miraculously cured his blind eye, even though the girl had to spend the whole day in bed sleeping afterwards. Fury had a mixed feeling about that but thanked the child anyway. Cap, Bucky and Wanda took a charter flight to Florida, nobody knows why but they had the tickets to the place and fake passports to disappear. According to Barton's passport he was Mr. Edwards who had a wife Alice and a ten year old girl Melisa. His wife had a short haircut which Natasha did with the help of a dark-haired wig. Clint also had a very funny mess of red hair but Scarlett didn't have any kind of disguise except her own not so attractive face and hand that was supported by the special arm sling. They came home in a day after the flight because the way to Clint's house in nowhere was long and tiring.
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Next day in the morning Natasha kissed Scarlett good bye and the child went to school. At lunch a woman rang the doorbell.
"Good afternoon, Miss… How can I help you?" asked Black Widow opening the door.
"Mrs. Adler, my name is Fiona Grange. I'm a social worker. Today we took your daughter temporary to the orphanage because we had a complaint from the teaching staff that she was beaten black and blue. Can you tell me anything about it?" told the woman as a matter of fact.
If an alien was standing at the door, Natasha would have understood better than this fat woman in plain clothes with an accusing look in her eyes. Romanoff gulped and let the woman in.
Three hours later Scarlett was sitting in a strange house. Outside in the yard kids of different ages from 5 to 13 years old were playing. They were running after each other shouting something. When she arrived here with the man, who presented himself as Mr. Cronsky, children came out to oogle her as if she was some kind of precious stone. Now she was in this simply furnished room sitting in the chair and staring at Mr. Cronsky.
"Scarlett, you won't see your mom until you tell me what happened to your hand. How did you get all those bruises three weeks ago? Where have you been all this time? Why didn't you go to school?" The man fired question after question while Scarlett was examining the room.
"Mr. Cronsky, mom always warned me against talking to strangers. I told you before and I'll repeat this again. I won't speak with you until I see my mother!"
She looked up at the man with a challenge. Living with Nat the girl learned a lot of useful rules she had to follow. One of them was if Nat was far away she shouldn't panic because her mother would always find her no matter where she was. It was a matter of time. Secondly, the child had to behave as a usual kid. Romanoff used a phrase "to blend with the environment". So, Scarlett tried to stay calm and adapt to wherever she was. Until now nobody did her any harm. There was too much talking but 'silence was gold' Nat usually said. That's why the girl was quiet and silent watching different adults from the principal and school psychologist to this social worker going mad because of her phlegmatic way of dealing with the situation. Other children would have started hysteria or would have been scared but not Scarlett. She observed this circus like a boa, which was ready to eat a bunch of monkeys.
"Listen to me, the doctor said you have a kind of hole in your bone which started covering already with tissue. Unfortunately, he can't tell more because it happened like two or three weeks ago. It means that you went at that time to the gymnastics competition with your mother. The thing is that such a wound in the bone can appear only if something round hit you." Finally, the man opened all his cards.
"So, you mean somebody pierced me with something round while I was at the gymnastics competition. Crazy people!" The child exclaimed. "If you know everything better than I do, why do you always ask me what happened?!"
"Scarlett, I just want to understand how your mom treats you. The sooner you talk the sooner you go back to your mother." He sat on the edge of the table to be closer to the girl but also to dominate and look down at her.
"I don't think so." She crossed her arms in front of her making it clear that she didn't have any intention to cooperate.
"Why?" He was surprised to hear such speech from a kid even though he had many interesting cases in his long career.
"Because I know my rights, you can't interrogate me unless I am with my parents or a lawyer. I don't see either of them here."
"Or unless you have a social worker who is in front of you." Mr. Cronsky retorted.
"I don't know anything about social workers. Enlighten me, please."
The man began explaining his duties to the child.
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Clint saw a strange woman leaving Nat's house with a huge bag. He came to the door and pressed the doorbell. It opened immediately because Romanoff thought that the woman forgot something and returned.
"Oh, it's you." She said in a calm voice letting her friend in.
"Nat, I heard about all this stupid foster stuff. How are you?"
Black Widow didn't answer but everything was written all over her face. She didn't want to hide her emotions from her best friend. Without saying a word he hugged her.
"What now?"
"I told them the official version. We were at the gymnastics competition. She fell from the beam and broke her arm. So, she couldn't compete anymore but we stayed for the whole competition to see the performances of other gymnasts."
"Do you think her arm has already healed?" Clint asked worriedly.
"No, her regenerating ability is rather fast but in four days to heal the bone. I don't think it's possible." Nat concluded.
"Do you know where they took her?"
"That social worker didn't want to tell me but I can trace Scarlett by the watch on her hand."
Romanoff grabbed her phone from the coffee table and opened an app to her sheer surprise the point on the screen showed that the child was still at school.
"Oh, no!"
"What?"
"Either she forgot her watch at school or they made her leave it there." Romanoff explained.
"That's bad. What about that woman who came. Did you give her Scarlett's clothes?"
"Yes, of course. Still, she told that Scarlett will have everything she needs."
"Did you put any bugs?" Clint asked this as if all parents did the same.
"Barton, you talk to me like I'm a three year-old lost girl. Of course, I did, three actually. One is an additional button in the pocket of her shirt and another is in a form of a flower pin on her favorite cat-toy, and one in a pair of jeans in a shape of a small snap fastener. I hope she'll understand what those are."
"Do they have feedback communication?" He asked.
"No, I just can spy on her but she won't hear me. You know, usual tapping mission bugs."
"I can't even tell whom you should address to in such cases." Clint shrugged sitting on the sofa.
"I think I need a family attorney."
She went out to another room to take her computer.
To be continued…
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