A week passed since that incident and Maj had kept her word. She still worked at the bar, but she always made sure one of the guys were able to accompany her home. In reality, Maj could take a cab, but she didn't feel like blowing the cash on one. Luckily, if it wasn't one of the guys, Wade was always down to escort her. She had told him what had happened, and the man had chewed her out something good. Maj felt a bit foolish for not calling him, but she stood by her choice. While she had almost been hurt, she would have rather not taken him from his home or the bar.
As Maj rushed around Sr Margarets, she found herself thinking about the man who had come to her aid. She still hadn't drawn him, something she wanted to do. While she got a decent look at him, Maj wasn't sure how exactly she was going to draw him. She wanted to do a full body portrait, but in the end she would settle for a quarter one. The moment she saw that the guys were good for a moment, Maj grabbed her sketchpad and began to draw.
Wade had showed up while she was mid-picture. He didn't say a thing, just patted her on the back and went to talk to one of the guys. He'd left her to her drawing for a few more minutes before he took his usual spot beside her. As she sat there and tried to get Steve's nose right, Wade's hand grabbed hers. Maj gave him a questioning glance but shrugged it off. A few month into their friendship, Wade had figured out a way to get her to stop drawing without causing her to ruin her work. He'd learned the hard way about what happened when he didn't so as time passed, he'd grab her hand to stop her.
As she went to speak, Wade removed his hand and motioned to the drink in front of her. Maj muttere a thank you and downed half the glass. Thirst quenched, she closed the sketchpad and gave her attention to her friend. The pair talked about a few things, although Wade was eager to tell her about his most recent job. Maj cringed a bit as he went into detail about the target and how he handled him, but she said nothing. There wasn't much for her to say, but the more he described the man, the more disgusted she felt.
Eventually, Wade took a hint, probably from her deep breathing, and stopped taking about the man. Instead, Wade turned to his usual jokes and whatnot. It helped get Maj into a better headspace, but she couldn't stop thinking about his target and what a vile person he was. Soon enough, Maj was knocking back drinks with the guys, mainly Wade's idea. He'd definitely taken notice of her demeanour change was even sang along with her when she asked. Weasel had just rolled his eyes and put her to work after her sixth shot. It seemed they all took humour in watching the drunk woman stumble about as she did her duties.
After her shift, Marty was given the task of making sure Maj made it home safely. He wasn't particularly threatening, but she knew that looks were highly deceiving. The man was capable of taking down a man twice his side, if one believed the stories told about him. As the two walked towards her apartment, Majs phone went off. With a furrowed brow- it was an unknown number- she answered it. Maj was relieved to hear Natasha's voice on the other end. The redhead however sounded exhausted. She only gave Maj a small window to speak before Natasha said she'd be picking her up in the morning. When Maj questioned her, Natasha just reiterated her statement ant hung up. As she tucked her phone away, Maj shared her concern with Marty, with the old man telling her not to worry too much and that she'd get her information in the morning. He was also kind enough to offer to tell Weasel that she wouldn't be coming in for a while. Maj thanked him and went inside.
Maj woke the next morning with the comforter being ripped off her. When she opened her eyes, she saw the woman she hadn't seen in months standing over her. Without a thought, Maj jumped out of her bed, and rushed to the woman, wrapping her arms around her. Natasha returned the embrace for a moment before she pulled away. Maj studied her, making sure she was alright. Nat didn't look as tired as she sounded the night before, which made Maj feel a lot better.
"Did you pack a bag?" the eighteen year old nodded. "Go get ready then. We're leaving in an hour."
"Nat? Is everything okay? I haven't heard anything from either from you in months and now you want to take me somewhere."
"I'll explain on the way." Maj opened her mouth to respond, but the look on Natasha's face had her closing her mouth and going to do what was said.
It took Maj a twenty minutes to shower and throw on clothes. By the time she made her way to Natasha, the redhead was sitting on the couch with Lucky. Natasha had informed her that Mrs Barnibus agreed to take care of the golden while they were away. Maj hated the thought of leaving him alone for a decent amount of time, but she knew that wherever Nat was bringing her, Lucky couldn't tag along.
The drive was silent for the most part. Along the way, Maj called Weasel to confirm that he knew she wouldn't be in and called Alec to let him know that she was going out of town with Nat. Alec was a bit worried, as something so sudden hadn't happened before, but he just told her to be safe and that he'd see her when he returned. Once she had ended the call, she asked Natasha what was going on.
"I'm taking you to work."
"Work? Wait, your job? Why?"
"Something happened and I want to keep you close."
"Is that even smart? You get injured all the time." Natasha shot her a very unamused glare. "Don't look at me like that. I notice things, okay? That day you both came home told me everything I needed to know. Am I safe there?"
Natasha shrugged. "Look, all that matters is you'd probably be safer than at home."
"Is Clint there?" Although most wouldn't have noticed the minute tick in Nat's jaw or the small flex of her fingers on the steering wheel, Maj did. "Nat? What happened to Clint? Is he okay? What's going on?"
"Clint was compromised."
"Compromised? Holy shit All this time, you guys are really spies!" She managed to catch one of Nat's eyebrows quirk up. It was telling enough of what she wanted to know. "I had this whole idea that you guys were. I can't believe I was right." Maj basked in her correction for a moment before she turned serious. "What do you mean by compromised?"
"He was taken by a hostile. We don't know where he is, but we're looking."
"So… I'm going to your job just in case he comes after me?"
"Yes. The hostile could easily get that information from him. I know you probably could have stayed at the bar, but I felt better having you with me."
"Okay," Maj blew out a puff of air. "Makes sense. So your job… where is-" Nat pulled the car off to the side and quickly got out, reaching in to grab Maj's bag. The younger woman followed after her, and stopped when she saw the jet in front of her.
"Come on. We don't have a lot of time. I was on a mission and got called in. As far as anyone is concerned, you're Clint's ward. As his partner I'm doing things right by him. Be yourself and stay out of trouble. We have a twenty minute flight to base." Maj nodded and followed her into the aircraft.
The flight was shorter than Maj expected it to be, even with Natasha's words. It was a lot smoother than most planes too. She honestly couldn't believe it. Then again, this was supposed to be a spy agency, so they had to have some pretty awesome technology. Maj had spent the trip actively listening to what was being said around her while playing on her phone. It wasn't much to listen to, with it being nothing outside of nondescript things. When they had landed, Natasha grabbed Maj's things and walked out, leaving the younger woman to follow.
Maj had been deposited in a room that was basically empty minus the bed and a dresser. It luckily had the bathroom attached, which made it better. Maj wasn't happy about being dumped in an unknown place with no one to talk to. Although she knew this was Natasha's place of work, Maj was peeved with her. She didn't ask to be here and she really didn't like being in an unfamiliar place alone.
The longer she sat there, the more she went over Nat's demeanor. The woman, although usually to the point, was more tense than usual, more tense than Maj knew her to be. She couldn't understand why the redhead had said what she did, other than to hide her from the other people there. A small part of Maj thought she was ashamed of her, but the more rational side figured it was more of her concern for her bond that made her that way. There was nothing from before that proved the former, and Maj really didn't want to go down that rabbit hole of doubt so she stuck with the former. Nat had a lot more to worry about than her at the moment and didn't really need her negativity, not when the woman had been her confidant for the past two years.
About thirty minutes after she'd been left there, Maj decided she'd had enough waiting and slipped out of the room. There were a few people milling about, but Maj was basically ignored. The other spies seemed more worried about their own thing, which definitely worked in Maj's favour. As she made her way down a random corridor, Maj heard a voice that sounded eerily like Natasha's. Not knowing where to go, the younger woman dashed into the nearest room and hid behind one of the desks further from the door.
Maj remained under the desk two or three minutes after Natasha's voice had receded. She had heard the door close, but she wasn't sure that the woman had left the room or was waiting for Maj to leave her spot. It wasn't until there was the clearing of a throat did the young woman jump, hitting her head against the desk. She rubbed at the spot as she crawled out, meeting the eyes of a slightly put together man with curly salt and pepper hair. Maj stared at him wide eyed, stumbling over her words as she tried to get out an apology.
"It's all right. How's your head?"
"Aching, but I'll live." The man gave a small smile. "I'm really sorry for being in here. I was exploring and… um, actually that's a lie. I'm your assistant."
"You work for SHEILD? Aren't you a little young?"
"SHEILD? Yeah… I work for them. I'm usually working in my own room… on uh, the computers and all that."
"Let's say I believe that. What do you know about thermonuclear astrophysics?"
Maj gave him a deer in headlights look before she let out an exasperated sigh. "All right, you caught me. I'm not your assistant, but I can be. Anything beats being stuck in a stupid empty room with nothing to do. Hell, my phone isn't even entertaining me enough and all my other friends are busy. So, can I stay and learn or are you going to kick me out?"
"Who exactly are you, if not a SHIELD agent?"
"Before I answer, what the hell is SHIELD?" Maj turned away from him and began to mutter to herself. "Oh, those assholes. Wait til I get my hands on them. They never want to talk about their job but they can't hide it from me now. Uh! I knew I should have questioned them more. Stupid spies. Stupid family. I'll eviscerate them both." All the while, the man was trying to grab her attention. It wasn't until she felt his hand on her shoulder did she return her attention to him. "Sorry. Um, I'm Majalia but everyone calls me Maj. I'm currently here against my will because the woman I consider to be my sister dragged me here because my brother was compromised. I'm assuming you're here to help find him? I mean, you're a scientist, right? Of course you are, you wouldn't be in this lab for no reason. Ugh this place is killing my brain."
"Hey, calm down. I don't know why you were brought here, but you can stay in the lab with me. Sound good?" Maj nodded and went to sit in one of the chairs. "I'm Bruce."
"Nice to meet you, Bruce. Just a heads up, if you don't see me after today, I've been murdered. My sister's scary when she wants to be." Maj shivered at what Nat could do to her, especially now that she had confirmation of her job.
"Who's your sister?"
"The redhead that brought you to the room. She's who I was hiding from. If she knew I was out of my quarters, she'd probably have a real creative means of punishment planned.
"Agent Romanoff?"
"That's what she's called here? Um, yeah, her. Love her to bits although the first time we met, she pulled a gun on me. I mean, who does that? How did you meet her?"
"She brought me in from Calcutta."
"Oh, India! I've always wanted to go. I planned to with my best friend after graduation, but we never went. His parents took us to Bali instead. It was fun, but I really wanted India. How was it?"
"It was nice. Very little stress."
"Oh, cool. Sorry, sometimes I don't shut up. I kind of didn't make it in until four this morning so I'm probably still kinda loopy from work. I'll just shut up now and stay out of your way." Bruce went to say something, probably negate her statement, but Maj shook her head and pulled out her phone and stuck her headphones on. She really didn't want to keep him from his work and she kind-of felt bad for talking so much. There was also the fact that Nat had told her to tell people she was Clint's ward and she went off telling him about their relationship. The less she spoke the better.
At some point, Maj was being shaken awake by Bruce. She'd fallen asleep at some point and looking at the man, he seemed a exhausted. As she checked her phone, Maj saw it was near two in the morning. The young woman stood, stretched her stiff limbs, and turned to the man. "Hey, you were just in India, right?" He gave a slight nod as she continued to stare at the screen in front of him. "Have you heard of this thing called sleep? You just crossed how many time zones? You should probably get some rest." He said something about not being tired but Maj wasn't going to take that. "Dude, to your body, you've been up for at least 48 hours, not to mention whatever you were doing before Nat got you. No matter how much of a workaholic you are, you need sleep. I mean, you being dead on your feet isn't going to help anyone and sleep is good for the soul."
Bruce sighed and removed his glasses, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "I need to keep an eye-"
"It'll be here later. Please, Bruce. Get some rest. You're the only one outside of Nat who knows about me at the moment and from the looks of it, you're spent. Look at this stuff with fresh eyes." It took a bit of convincing, but the man eventually caved. With a victorious smile, Maj wrapped her arm around his and dragged him from the lab.
Hey guys! Hope you're enjoying the story so far. I know it's moving a little slow, at least in getting to Babe but it'll be worth it. Funny story though. I gave a whole playlist dedicated to this story. I would love to hear from you but don't feel pressured to leave a review.