i would like to start by saying: This chapter was inspired by: guest, or GuestINeedNewNam (creative name btw). Without him/her/them this chapter never would have happened. so yeah!
also I got the SWEETEST reviews last chapter. omg amazing! I'm floored by how nice you guys are.
Thanks to everyone who reviewed: CookieWorkout, smh204, Beachgirl25, Odie.18, NoobMaster69, Guest, Orange pumkin, estellaaavee, acompletenerd, GuestINeedNewNam, M, Kerfluffle, Impatient, SabrinaInWonderland, Amir-015, Agent-of-SPOOF, Guest, salty milkshake, liv, and amy.
And I love all of you but like HOW COME SO MANY OF YOU ARE GUEST REVIEWERS? I CANNOT RESPOND TO U THRU PMS. haha jk but here lemme respond to all of u:
CookieWorkout: yesss i did end up using that idea. Very true, your double crossing idea gave me an idea for this/next chapter so THANK U
NoobMaster69: oh, NoobMaster69. how i love your name. and your very long review. i especially loved the long review. thanks, i always try to listen to what you guys want to see in this fanfic. you gave me tons of ideas for chapters in the future. oneshots and trevor-bashing will happen in the future. and absolutely nat will stay main character. steve and tony, i love them, but they can watch from the back
Guest: oh no, i'm really sorry that happened to you. i have no experience with child abuse so i really hope i'm not writing anything inaccurately. if you feel up to talking about it, you could tell me if i did anything wrong. also, you had some great ideas. i added them to my list :)
Orange pumkin: haha yeah I tried not to make Natasha too un-Natasha because it kind of weirds me out when she's all gooey. NO TRUST ME THAT MADE TOTAL SENSE. never doubt your sense.
GuestINeedNewNam: the enemy organization shall stay a secret for now. BUT SERIOUSLY YOUR SUGGESTION WAS GREAT. i actually used it in this chapter (and next chapter). Yes, I'm in the US and we're on two-week winter breakwooooooooooo. i am so sad it's almost over. but good times :)
M: yeah i was like why not, i'll just write tony in the end there. took all of ur suggestions! thanks for reviewing!
Kerfluffle: ANOTHER LONG REVIEW and soooo sweet. ur amazing, honestly. you gave such sincere and critical feedback, i always love it when that happens. play date with the manchesters sounds fun, i wrote it down :D And yes! I am doing well, thanks for asking
Impatient: THATS SO ME HAAH except i do that on the review page can you tell how uncool i am
Guest who reviewed on Dec 30: yesss that will come up next chapter
liv: YET ANOTHER LONG REVIEW AM I LUCKY OR WHAT. wow its so cool that my little fic is top 5 thats like woah. love all ur ideas, i'm planning on using some of them ;) in response to ur p.s., i am so not worrying about ur so-called "rant" being long. I LOVE RANTS. I tend to rant too. in fact in all of my authors notes it's me brain spewing ok that sounds gross. so yeah. rant rant. rant away. i have actually watched agents of shield but it was a long time ago so i dont remember a loooot but it's a good show! i loved sky/daisy in the earlier seasons
amy: i've actually never played mario cart. but i will include that in later chapters. thanks for reviewing!
whew ok that was a lot. enjoy:
Cat woke up in the back of a moving truck. It took a few seconds for her to register what was happening before a wave of confusion and fear slammed into her.
The trunk. The mission. The safehouse. She'd gotten kidnapped.
It had all happened so fast. She hadn't had time to use any of Natasha's training moves to help herself. She should've been on higher alert, but the only thing she'd been focused on was how angry Natasha had been in the car. The kidnappers had outnumbered her, and they had the element of surprise. There had barely been any time to react. Still, Cat was upset at herself for not putting up at least a fight.
Her vision swimming, Cat blinked hard and tried to analyze her situation. She wasn't blindfolded, but her eyes were uselessly squinting into the pitch-black darkness. The space in the truck was wide and empty. A chilly wind ran through the back of the truck. For a second, Cat's mind raced to the lonely, cold nights she'd spent sleeping on the sidewalks when she was living on the streets, and a shiver ran down her spine. She tried to squash down the memories. She was dressed only in a pair of black leggings and a thin, wispy shirt that hardly protected her from the cold. Cat wished her kidnappers would've at least thought to bring her a winter coat.
Speaking of, she could hear the faint murmur of voices in the front of the vehicle. Her kidnappers, she guessed. She couldn't make out a distinct voice, but there seemed like there was more than one. No, at least three. She recalled three guns pointed at her back at the safehouse. Her body shivered uncontrollably, making her tremble from head to toe. She liked to think it was more due to the cold than the paralyzing fear gripping her. There was no one else in the back with her.
I'm all alone, she thought, but shoved that thought away. This was no time to panic. Focus. You're going to get yourself out of this.
Cat tried to reach out a hand to feel around, but she was met with resistance. After a few moments of fumbling confusion, she realized that her hands were bound at the wrists by a thick cord. Great. Her hands were so numb that she could barely feel the cord on her wrists. She tried to stretch out a leg and realized that her ankles were also tied together. Double great. A headache was throbbing at her temples. She'd been hit pretty hard on the head. She could feel wetness at her hairline. A sharp pain flared in her head whenever she moved the upper half of her face.
Fucking fantastic.
The situation was hopeless. She couldn't see, she couldn't move, she was cold and miserable and was wishing that she'd never gotten into that stupid trunk. What an idiotic idea.
For a moment, Cat allowed herself to entertain the thought of rescue. Surely the Avengers would finish their mission soon. They'd come back to the safehouse. Natasha would realize that she was gone. Would she be worried? Would she be relieved? Their curt, stilted conversation in the car came to mind. Maybe Natasha wouldn't even want to rescue her. Cat had overstepped her bounds, the moment she'd decided to crash Natasha's mission.
Cat realized that she didn't want the Avengers to rescue her. Getting rescued like some kind of damsel in distress? It was humiliating. She wasn't some helpless princess waiting for a knight in shining armor, although that probably wasn't the most accurate analogy. More to the point, she didn't want to be more of a burden to Natasha. No, this was her mess, and she was going to get her damn self out of it. With a sudden jolt of determination, Cat's mind whirled.
What could she do?
Nothing, the rational, sensible part of her brain murmured. It is hopeless. Sit here and wish to die.
Before she could argue with that course of action, she realized that the trunk had slowed to a stop. She heard the door open and slam, twice, and then the fall of footsteps approaching the back of the truck. Cat struggled against her bindings in vain, but her limbs felt like they were made of paper.
The doors opened. Dim light flooded into the back of the truck. Lights blurred in her vision. Another rush of cold wind ripped at Cat's hair. She suppressed another shiver.
"She's awake," one of her kidnappers growled.
Immediately, Cat started screaming as loud as she could. Someone had to hear it. Please let someone hear, please—
Her scream hardly lasted a full second before one of her kidnappers struck her across the face. Hard. It was so unexpected and painful that Cat's scream was abruptly cut short. The blow jerked her face hard to the left, and her body followed as she hit the side of the truck with a crash. Her shoulder bore the brunt of the impact, but her head had also been thrown to the side of the truck. It was hurting like crazy. For a few moments, Cat couldn't see straight. She crumpled to the ground and laid there, unable to move or even breathe without some part of her body screaming in pain.
Strong hands yanked her to a sitting position. Her head lolled back, too heavy to lift. There was the sound of tape ripping, and without warning, another kidnapper slapped a piece of tape over her mouth. Before she could protest, a bag was yanked over her head.
Then a flurry of hands grabbed at her, grabbing her arms and legs and carrying her out of the truck with no particular gentleness. Cat saw a flash of limbs and faces before she was thrown roughly into a black bag, landing in a heap. A tall, bulky man reached down and gathered up the ends of the bag and pulled them closed over Cat's head. The bag was thrown over the man's shoulder, and she was bounced up and down to the rhythm of his pace. Cat closed her eyes and prayed.
I take it back, she pleaded to whatever gods could hear her. She wasn't religious in any way, but she'd exhausted all of her options and she had nowhere else to turn. I want to be rescued. Please, I don't want to die here. Please, please, please, let Nat rescue me.
She repeated that mantra again. She didn't know if she was praying correctly. Was she supposed to hold her hands a certain way? She'd seen people do it at church. Clasping her hands, she muttered the words to herself again.
The gods were silent. What did they want? A peace offering, perhaps? She had nothing to give.
Please, please, please, let the Avengers come and rescue me.
She sounded unbelievably pathetic. Reality settled in. The Avengers had no idea where she was. She'd been taken from the safehouse, which was located where there were no witnesses or civilians, to a secondary location where her kidnappers would torture her. Or worse. Cat had no idea what they wanted from her. Were they child traffickers? Were they hoping to hold her hostage? Tears pricked at her eyes. When was the last time she'd let herself cry, let alone twice in one day?
The bag she was in was thrown down on the ground. The bulky guy opened it, yanked the bag off of her head, and placed her on a chair in front of a table. Cat quickly took in her surroundings, unsure of how long her freedom from the bag would last. There wasn't much to take in. She was in a small, dimly lit room, which surprised her. For some reason she'd assumed that her kidnappers were going to take her away from civilization and let the wolves eat her. Now, she realized that that made no sense.
The room looked rather like an interrogation room. It did not have decor or furniture except for a single table placed in the middle of the room, and two chairs. Cat was occupying one of the chairs. The other was empty. Cat wanted to speak, but her mouth was still covered by the tape.
The other two kidnappers had vanished. Only the bulky kidnapper remained. He silently placed a set of handcuffs on her already-bound wrists and locked the handcuffs to a table. He then tied her torso to the chair. Cat didn't dare to struggle. Her head and ribs were still smarting from being thrown against the truck. The bulky man left the room without saying a word.
So… now what?
Cat sat there for a few minutes, helpless and still freezing her ass off. The room wasn't much warmer than the outside, but it didn't seem like they'd be turning on the heat anytime soon. What if she got hypothermia? Slowly, her fear turned into impatience, which slowly morphed into a burning fire of anger.
After a few more minutes, a tall man entered the room. He presented himself elegantly, and walked with a careful grandeur. He looked like he was heading to the Oscars. He was dressed in a black three piece suit, and his hair was neatly gelled and swept to the side. He was a handsome man, with fine features and ice blue eyes. The way he moved reminded Cat of Natasha. Each movement was precise, like he'd planned it step by step.
"Hello, Cat," Oscar— that was what she was calling him— said pleasantly. Instantly, Cat could tell he was one of those people who had disarmingly charming voices to cover up their wicked personalities.
He took a seat across from her. "You're probably wondering," he continued, smiling at her, "why I'm wearing a suit."
He paused, as if waiting for her reply. Cat glared at him, tape still preventing her from telling him she didn't give a crap about him or his suit.
"Well, to be honest, they don't pose much importance to my line of work. But I like the way they look. Black and white. So clean and sharp. I've been told they bring out my eyes. What do you think?" Oscar smiled at her again, a shark's smile. Cat didn't trust people who smiled that much, or at things that weren't funny.
Her glare intensified.
Oscar's face turned more serious, dropping the fake smile. "No small talk? Well, then. Let's get down to business. We've been watching you for a while now, Catalina Gray."
Why? Cat wanted to ask. Who's we? What do you want? How do you know my name? Also, stalker much? There were a million smart-aleck responses, all at the tip of her tongue, but Oscar had yet to acknowledge the tape on her mouth, or to make any move to remove it.
"You're a very interesting girl, Cat. Intelligent. You're only, what, nine years old? And you're already attending Midtown Science and Technology. My sources tell me you have a… what was the phrase he used? Oh, yes. An 'almost inhuman' memory. Do you know what that's called?"
Here, he paused again, waiting for a response that would never come. Cat could do nothing but stare at him. A smile twitched at the corner of his mouth, amused at his own hilarity.
"Perfect recall. Eidetic memory. Photographic memory. You can memorize books, images, code, perfectly. And retain the information as well. It's very impressive. It's part of what made us decide that you could be… useful."
Oscar threaded his fingers together. He kept eye contact throughout his entire speech. Cat found herself unable to look away, strangely drawn to his ice-blue eyes. He kept pausing, then doing that infuriating little amused twitch-smile.
"You've led a sorrowful life, Cat. Parents died in a car crash. You were eight. And with that memory of yours, I bet those memories are just as painful as they were back then."
His face was cruel. Cat didn't want to wince, but it was like he could see right through her. He was right, in every way. She did remember her parents. They were amazing people. Every stupid habit they had. Every stupid thing that ticked them off, made them smile, made them laugh in that contagious, wheezing way that made everyone else collapse into a fit of giggles. She hadn't realized how lucky she was until they were gone.
Oscar continued. "You then lived with your uncle Trevor Gray. He was a drunkard. Abusive, no? I bet he beat you," he said with a placid smile. He spoke the words with a nonchalant air. It made Cat want to throttle him. "That's why CPS came knocking at your door, didn't they? But you ran away. You lived on the streets for a few months, then you… disappeared. Which brings us to now. You've taken residence with one of the Avengers. The Black Widow."
Oscar watched her face carefully for a reaction. Cat didn't give him one, but her heart tightened in anticipation. What did he want with Nat?
"Not only that, but you've made connections with Captain America, Hawkeye, and you have potential to make connections with the rest."
They don't know about Peter, Cat realized. At least she had one thing against them.
Oscar's tone grew soft and persuasive. His eyes, however, remained cold. "This is what we want, Cat. We want you to be a spy."
Unable to resist, she jerked in surprise. Whatever she'd been expecting, it certainly wasn't that.
"You'd be the perfect spy on the inside. No one would suspect you; You're merely a child. And you have a beautiful memory— useful in so many ways. Not only that, but you're right smack in the middle of everything. It's all very simple. So here's the proposal. You'll give us the information we need. If anything goes sideways, we will protect you from the Avengers. And you'd be rewarded handsomely, of course. Anything you want. Money, toys, opportunities. Name the price and it'll be yours. So what do you say?"
Cat stared at him blankly.
Oscar shook his head. "Ah, yes. I'd forgotten." He reached out to Cat's face, fingers grazing her cheek. His fingers were cold as ice. Delicately, he tore the tape off of her mouth.
"You're fucking insane," she spat at him.
He raised his eyebrows, folding the tape onto itself. He placed it on the table. "My, what language! Is that a no?"
"Of course it's a no, you dimwitted idiot. You can go to hell," she spat at him. "What the fuck makes you think I'm going to help you?"
He laughed, a short, humorless laugh that made his eyes narrow threateningly. "You can't possibly be this loyal to the Avengers. You barely know them."
"Wrong, I barely know you," she retorted. "They're the good guys."
Oscar chuckled. "Oh, little Kitty-Cat. So naive. Well, I suppose there are other methods of convincing you." He turned to the corner of the room. Cat followed his gaze, and noticed a small black camera with a blinking red light.
"Bring him in," Oscar told the camera.
Cat didn't like the sound of that.
The interrogation room door opened, and a man was shoved inside. He looked understandably terrified. He was trembling harder than Cat. He looked younger than Stark, but older than Steve. Probably in his thirties. He was wearing a baseball cap, an I-Heart-NY shirt and khakis, looking like any other tourist roaming around on the streets of Manhattan. His left eye was swelling up, and he had fresh bruises and cuts over his face.
"P-please," he whimpered, "what do you want from me?"
"Shut up," Oscar told him calmly. Turning back to Cat, he said, "This is Rob Martinez. He's thirty-five. He has a beautiful wife, Marianna Martinez."
Rob's face lit up at the sound of his wife, then crumpled in worry. "Hey! What do you want with my wife?"
Oscar's face darkened. He reached under the table and produced a gun. He pointed it at Rob, who raised his hands, the color draining out of his face. "What," Oscar said slowly, "did I just say? Shut. Up." He continued speaking to Cat in a perfectly pleasant manner. "They have three kids: Julie, Jolene, and Jason. All J-names. God, I hate it when they do that."
"Get to the point. Why are you telling me this?" Cat interrupted.
Oscar gave her a sharp glance. "Patience, little Kitty-Cat. As I was saying, Rob and his family were having a nice day in New York before my men kidnapped him. Marianna and their kids were expecting him back for dinner, but he hasn't come back and now they're wondering where he is. If you agree to my terms, I won't shoot him."
"Wait, what?" Rob said, forgetting about Oscar's warning to stay silent. "You can't—"
Without looking in his direction, Oscar fired a shot at him. Rob screamed, but the bullet buried itself in the wall, three inches from his head. Cat looked over at him. The front of his khakis were wet.
"Rob will go back to his family, and they'll live happily ever after. However, if you don't agree—"
"You'll shoot him," Cat finished. She shook his head. Her hands were trembling, and there was nowhere to hide them. "You're a lunatic."
Oscar titled his head. "I'd go easy on the name-calling, Kitty-Cat. After all, I am holding this gun, which decides the fate of Rob and his lovely family." He pointed the gun at Rob, who stood shivering in terror. "So what'll it be, Cat?"
"I— I—" Cat couldn't think. Her mind was a mess, thoughts and ideas piling on top of each other, making it impossible to focus on one. Rob's eyes were green, she noticed. Were Julie, Jolene, and Jason's eyes green, too? Was sparing one man's life worth having to betray the only person she trusted? Natasha would never forgive her.
Rob had completely understood the gravity of the situation. He was sobbing, frantically trying to open the door. When his efforts failed, he turned to Cat desperately. "Please, girl, please! Please! My Marianna! My children! Please!"
"You have three seconds," Oscar said. All traces of amiability in his voice were gone. He started counting. "Three, two, one—"
"Wait!" Cat cried.
"Too late."
Two shots fired. Cat stared, helpless as Rob staggered back, one bullet finding its target in his chest and another in the center of his head. A dark red stain was blossoming over his I-Heart-NY shirt. Rob's green eyes bored into Cat's, impossibly desperate and sad. She could do nothing as they glazed over, and Rob Martinez fell to the ground, dead.
"Wait," Cat whispered, not sure what she wanted to say, feeling as if she had pulled the trigger herself.
I killed him.
She turned her gaze on Oscar, her voice hoarse and shaking. "What the hell? You killed him!"
No, I killed him.
"That's on you. Should've made your decision faster. Doesn't matter. I have plenty of people to waste. They're all lined up behind this door, and their lives are in your hands." Oscar looked up at the camera again. "Bring another in."
This time it was a woman. Brunette, dark eyes, wearing a blazer and a skirt. She screamed when she saw Rob's dead body sprawled on the floor.
"Okay!" Cat yelled frantically. "Okay, I agree! Don't shoot her!"
Oscar studied her. A smile crept onto his face. "Take her away," he told the cameras.
The bulky kidnapper who'd tied Cat to the chair led the woman away. The door closed behind him.
Cat didn't trust herself to speak. She didn't know what might provoke Oscar to kill another person. Clearly he didn't have issues with wasting lives. To him, they were bargaining chips, no more valuable than litter on the ground. A rush of hate so powerful rushed over Cat. The last person she'd been so consumed with hate at had been Trevor.
He was the opposite of Trevor. Trevor was mean, cruel, and a drunk, but he'd never killed anyone. Oscar was elegant, charming, and smooth, but he was much more dangerous. At least with her uncle, Cat had known what set him off. A spilled beer, a smart-aleck remark, a simple sneer. But Oscar was like a ticking bomb. And Cat had no idea what he wanted. Why did he want her to spy on the Avengers? Who was he? Did he work for anyone? She didn't even know his name.
"Looks like we have a deal," Oscar said smugly.
Cat clenched her jaw, squashing an insult. She needed to be careful. "If I have to do this— spy for you— then I want to know why."
Oscar shook his head. "Nice try. I don't owe you anything. Just follow the orders, and you'll be rewarded. Oh, and also—" He leaned closer. "We'll be watching you. We have ears everywhere. If you try and tell the Avengers anything about this agreement, just know that we have a lot more civilians to kill. We'll come after your friends, too. Lance McBride. Chelsea and Jonathan Manchester. T.J. Greenfield. It would suck to see them dead, too, wouldn't it?"
Cat's heart thudded. They knew so much about her. "I won't tell anyone," she said. "As long as you don't hurt anyone."
"You keep up your end of the deal, and we'll keep ours. This is what you're to do. I want you to get closer to the Avengers. Gain their trust. You're already close with Romanoff and Rogers. Talk to Stark, Barton, and Banner. Find out as much as you can. A friendly reminder. If you give us any misleading or false information—"
"I know. You'll kill me, my friends, and everyone I care about," Cat snapped. "Jesus, for someone who knows I have a perfect memory, you seem to repeat yourself a lot."
His eyes narrowed. "I'd be careful with using that tone of voice with me." He regarded the gun in his hand with a lazy boredom.
"You're forcing me to betray everyone I trust. I think I've earned the right to—"
Lunging across the table, he punched her. She saw it coming, but there was hardly any way for her to dodge it. The sound of flesh against flesh echoed around the small room. Cat's head snapped back from the blow. Her retort died in her throat. She felt the blood rush to her face. Her cheek was stinging. Her right eye was blurry.
"I'll warn you again," Oscar said menacingly. "You will treat me with respect."
Again, Cat was reminded strongly of Trevor. Her hate for him grew tenfold. "Of course," she said as the vision in her right eye focused, injecting the most passive aggressiveness in her voice she dared.
"Splendid. Now that that's done, this is what will happen next. We've left the Avengers a trail of clues that will lead them straight to this room. My men will pretend to be holding you hostage." He turned his wrist towards his face, revealing a gold Rolex. Tacky. "In approximately one hour, they will break in and 'rescue' you. You will say nothing about our agreement. You will give them no clues. You will tell them that a truck brought you to this location, and you were briefly interrogated on your living situation and the Avengers. Nothing else. Remember, if you tell them otherwise… "
Cat refrained from rolling her eyes. Here he was, reminding her again. It was like he didn't trust her or something.
"We'll be in touch," Oscar finished. He stood up from the chair and left the room.
Three men came in, wearing official black uniforms and carrying large guns. They wore helmets and large, clunky boots. Cat didn't see a logo on their clothing. They did not speak to her, but instead faced her with blank expressions.
"Hi," Cat said, just to see if they would do anything. "I'm Cat."
All three stood stiffly, gaze fixed forward.
"What are your names?"
Silence.
"Intriguing. I'm going to call you Fluffy, Muffy, and Duffy." She went from left to right. "You okay with that?"
Nothing.
She sighed loudly. "So, exactly what are you three supposed to be doing?"
Cat wasn't expecting an answer, so she was surprised when the one on the left spoke up— Fluffy. The voice was surprisingly high. Cat realized that Fluffy was probably a woman. "We're your fake captors."
"Really? You three are the most unconvincing captors I've ever seen. Your outfit screams 'henchmen.' Or 'guards.'"
"That's insulting," Muffy grumbled.
"We are guards. We're here to make sure you don't escape," Fluffy added.
Cat raised her eyebrows, holding up her handcuffed and bound hands. "You need three people to guard a nine year old girl? My legs are tied together, my wrists are tied together and handcuffed to this stupid table, and I'm tied to this stupid chair. Also, why would I escape anyway? Even if I managed to, where would I go? The door is locked, I have no idea where I am, and it's really freaking cold. Also, the Avengers are already coming to rescue me."
Fluffy, Muffy, and Duffy said nothing. Probably because she was right, as always.
Cat shivered. "Speaking of how cold it is, could I get a jacket? I already agreed to your terms, and it doesn't do any good to your plans if I get hypothermia. Also, Oscar said that I could have whatever I wanted if I did the job."
Muffy turned to Duffy and muttered, "Oscar?"
Duffy shrugged.
"Oh, sorry Muffy, that's just what I've been calling your super not-intimidating boss in my head. Seeing as none of you do introductions around here." Cat watched the three of them. "Well? Fluffy, can I get a jacket or not?"
Fluffy looked at the camera. Cat looked at the camera as well. The red light blinked twice.
"Ranger," said Fluffy to Duffy, "get this girl a jacket."
Duffy, or Ranger, left the room and came back with a large blanket. He threw it over her head.
"Are you kidding me, Duffy?" Cat yelled, her voice muffled by the blanket. "You do realize that my hands are tied to this table, right? How am I supposed to arrange the blanket in a comfortable position? I could suffocate under here!"
There was a pause, and Cat heard Fluffy's voice. "Adjust the blanket."
Grumbling sounds. Then the blanket was taken off her head and wrapped around the chair. It was warm and fluffy, and stifled the cold comfortably. Cat's shivering stopped. Duffy stepped back, a glare firmly on his face.
"Thanks, Duffy," Cat said.
He glared at her harder. "Stop calling me that."
"Well, you haven't given me any other choice. And I'm not calling you 'Ranger,' because that most certainly is a fake name. And it's also stupid-sounding."
Duffy turned to Muffy. "Can we shut her up?"
Muffy glanced at the camera. Two blinks. Yes. Muffy started heading out of the room, presumably to get something to shut Cat up, but Cat stopped him.
"Wait! Don't gag me. Shutting up now."
Cat took the time to mull over her situation. Now that she knew what she was in for, she wasn't as scared as she'd been before. She knew that Oscar wouldn't kill her. She was too useful to him. She just needed to be a good little soldier. She needed to figure out what his plans were. Then, she'd give him just enough information to satisfy him, but not enough that it would further his plans. Once she understood what he wanted, she would tell Natasha and the Avengers would bring them down.
But not before. She didn't know how much Oscar and his groupies were capable of finding out. They already knew too much about her life. There was no doubt she needed to be careful about it. She thought of Rob, and his green eyes. The clawing guilt gnawed at her again. If only she'd agreed a little faster. Then, maybe… But she'd make it better. She would search for Marianna Martinez, and their kids: Julie, Jolene, and Jason. She'd already committed their names to memory.
Cat sighed again.
Fluffy noticed. "Why are you sighing?"
Cat looked up. Her voice sounded almost friendly. Cat had promised to shut up, but it was Fluffy who'd first asked her, so… "Because I'm bored. Do we seriously have to be here for a whole hour?"
"Yes," Muffy said shortly.
"We should play a game to pass the time," Cat said.
"No."
"You're no fun, Muffy."
I was originally going to write a lot more for this chapter, but then it was getting too long and I decided to split it up into two chapters. Hope that's okay! I know there's not much of nat or the avengers, but curious to know what y'all think about this chapter... I wasn't sure how to write the "enemy organization" at first but oscar was so easy to write for some reason.
Happy new years everybody!