It was the time all teenagers, children, and young adults alike hated more than anything: going back to school. Danielle was no exception.
She knew she could handle school, she'd been going to Midtown since October. But something about returning from a stressful Winter Break only to be greeted by crowded hallways, smelly teenagers, and ringing bells just didn't sit right with the enhanced girl. It was all so overwhelming. In that moment of being pushed for the fifth time that day, she wanted nothing more than to teleport to the Compound and just have some chamomile tea with Wanda or Jack or Natasha or even Vision. She didn't care, she just wanted to go back.
But, sadly, she couldn't, and had to push through the first day back.
Halfway to her fourth period, Peter and Ned run up to her in the hall. "Hey, Danielle," Ned greets her with a refreshing smile.
"Hi," she replies in an equally as friendly tone.
"Hey," Peter greets her as well. "You missed the subway today. I just wanted check and make sure everything was okay."
"Yeah, no. I'm fine. Really," Danielle assures him.
"Is it because you moved?" Ned asked abruptly. Danielle tilts her head in confusion, how had he known about that? Ned realists from her look that it was information he wasn't meant to know, so he motioned over to Peter who had his eyes still glued to Danielle's calculating gaze. "Sorry, Peter told me."
"Oh," she says simply, unsure of how she felt about Ned and Peter discussing her whereabouts behind her back. Comforted? Weirded out? The first option seemed most fitting. "But, yeah. It's because I moved. I get a ride to school from my...other Aunt."
"Cool," Peter replies. "You're still gonna be able to make it to Decathlon practice today after school right?"
"Depends on what time it starts. I also have soccer practice today after school."
"It starts at 6," Ned exclaimed.
"I think I can make it. I'll probably be a few minutes late."
"We'll let Mr. Harrington know," Peter assured her.
"Thanks. See you guys later," she called after them as she began to walk away towards the direction of her class.
"Bye, Dani!" Ned waves goodbye. Once she's out of earshot, Peter immediately turns to Ned and hits him lightly in the. "Hey!"
"Dude!" Peter retorted. "Why'd you have to tell her that I told you about her moving? Now she's gonna think I can't be trusted with private info."
"What does it matter? She's our friend, she tells us stuff. Hey, why did you tell me about her moving?"
"Because I thought you should know." Peter shrugs it off, when really deep inside he had the full intention of telling Ned to have him check up and make sure Danielle was really alright. He hadn't seen her anywhere in the city the entire break while running around vigilante-ing as Spiderman... Not like he was looking for her or anything because he wasn't, he was just keeping out a watchful eye.
"You mean it had nothing to do with the fact that she might have moved towards where I live?" Ned prompted his best friend.
Peter let out a heavy sigh. "I just wanna make sure she's safe. Like you said, she's our first real friend."
"We have Michelle," Ned pointed out.
Peter frowned. "She hates us."
Ned shrugged, "True. But still, Danielle isn't going to vanish off the face of the Earth if she moves a few blocks North, Peter. Just chill."
"Yeah, you're right. I'm worried over nothing."
"See?" Ned pats Peter's shoulder. "Now, we should probably get to class before we're late."
"Yeah. Let's go." The pair quickly dash off down the hallway just before the bell rings, starting class.
Inside of her own classroom, Danielle had laser sharp focus. Unlike how she used to be, always checking her phone, worried she might miss a text from Sharon, Steve, Jack, or Wanda about an urgent mission. She didn't have to worry about that anymore. Steve didn't talk to her anymore, Wanda couldn't talk to her anymore, Jack was trying his best to keep his distance, and Sharon was transferred to the Berlin Deputy Task Force in Germany. Danielle felt as though she was truly, and completely alone.
When lunch time came around, Danielle didn't even feel in the slightest bit hungry. She entered the cafeteria and stood there for a moment, taking in all the students talking, laughing, enjoying each other's company. She couldn't handle it.
She skipped lunch completely, and found herself sitting on the library floor all the way in the back by the Non-fiction section. She was rereading The Lord of the Flies when someone spoke asked her, "What are you doing here?"
Danielle looked up to see Michelle standing at the end of the aisle of books. "Uh, reading."
Michelle stares at her for a moment before shrugging. "Whatever." A moment passes while Michelle grabs a book off the shelf and makes her way towards the wall which Danielle is sitting against. The teenage girl then does something Danielle never expected in a million years: sits down beside her.
"W-what are you doing?" Danielle wonders in confusion.
"Skipping lunch to sit on the floor and read. Just like you," Michelle answers simply as she flips open the book in her lap.
Danielle should have just left it at that, but she just had to ask, "Why?"
"Because I feel like it," she replied. Danielle shrugged and dropped the subject, knowing better than to push Michelle. Besides, Danielle didn't mind the company, especially Michelle's because she knew Michelle wouldn't pressure her into talking about what was wrong, why she was on the library floor during lunch, or really much else. And in that moment, Danielle wanted nothing more than to do exactly that: ignore the problem.
The rest of the day goes by slowly, Danielle tried her best to avoid most of the people she knew, but she couldn't hide away in the library forever. Of course, the moment she walked out to her locker to grab her things at the end of the day, the seniors from the soccer team just had to approach her.
"Hey, Dani," Ashley greeted, Amber and Maggie at her side. "You ready to hit the fields for practice today?"
Danielle forced a smile that looked almost like a grimace. "Yeah. Definitely."
"Cool," Maggie chimed.
"Be ready to run some laps," Amber added.
Danielle nodded. "Got it." She continued to give short answers, hoping the girls wild catch onto it and leave, but they just kept talking.
"Don't forget, our first game is next Saturday, just before the Valentine's Day dance," Ashley reminded her.
"I'll be there," she assured the girls before they walked off into the crowded hallway to their classes. Danielle's smile and fake-happy facade drifted the minute the soccer girls were out of sight. She immediately spun around back to her locker and began to hurriedly shove her things into her bag. She didn't need anyone else approaching her right now.
"Hey, Danielle."
The enhanced girl bites back an exasperated grown and peers behind her locker door to be met by a friendly Liz Allen. "Hey..." Danielle forces a smile back onto her face and manages a small wave.
"I was just coming to remind you that there's Decathlon practice right after soccer," Liz exclaimed.
"Yeah, I know. Peter and Ned told me this morning."
"Okay..." Liz took notice of the bitter after tone in her friend's voice along with her body language. Danielle had her body hidden behind her locker door, her fingers gripping it as if it were the only thing holding her up. Not to mention, her clenched jaw and darting eyes, as if she had better things to do than talk to Liz. But her eyes told a separate story entirely. They looked lost, helpless, exhausted, hopeless. "Hey, is everything alright?"
"Hm?"
"It's just, you seem a bit... off."
"Oh!" Danielle quickly tried to rack her brain for an excuse for her somber mood so she wouldn't have to try and explain the complicated– and classified– situation she was in. "The allergies," Danielle finally stammered out. "I've been sick and I guess it's been affecting my mood. Sorry."
"Oh, don't be. It's fine. Happens to the best of us," Liz assures her, buying into Danielle's lies.
"Mm," Danielle hummed in agreement.
"Okay, well, I'll see you at practice. Bye," Liz smiles before starting off down the hallway.
"Bye," Danielle waves after her. Just like she did with Amber, Ashley, and Maggie, Danielle did the same to Liz; spinning back around to her locker, instantly dropping the façade.
The enhanced teen slammed her locker shut and pressed her forehead against the metal door, trying to pull herself together. She had almost burst into tears in front of one of her friends and she couldn't have that anymore. Danielle had to be completely normal as if nothing was wrong so she didn't raise any questions, questions that demanded answers, answers Danielle wouldn't be able to give without crying or trying to lie about what was really hurting her; the fact that she was alone and away from the people she loved because she wasn't strong enough to defend herself.
It was all her fault.
This was all her fault!
"Elle?" Oh, God... Danielle looked up to see Peter standing a few feet away, a concerned look in his eye as he studied her face and the tears falling from her cheeks. "Are you alright?"
Danielle freezes before quickly swiping the tears from her face. "Yeah- no. I'm fine," she assures him.
Peter raises a skeptical eyebrow. "You sure-?"
"Yes," she quickly replies.
Peter frowns, knowing full well his friend was full of crap. "Danielle, you can tell me if you want. I'm your friend, it's alright to-"
"I said I'm fine," Danielle snaps. She immediately begins to regret it when she notices the hurt in Peter's eyes. He was only trying to help. "I'm sorry... Please, just..." She trails off and shakes her head, quickly looking away at anything other than him. "I'm fine," she says a final time before walking off, afraid if she stayed any longer she wouldn't be able to hold back everything she'd been holding in these past few weeks. Danielle had noticed the way Peter had reached out to comfort her, but she was already halfway down the hall. She'd wished he'd hugged her, she knew she needed the comfort and that he was the only person she had left, but she didn't want to become a burden to anyone.
She needed to get away, she needed a distraction.
Thankfully, soccer practice gave her just what she needed. A distraction and exercise. Ashley, Amber, and Maggie had the entire team running drills all after school for an hour and a half straight. They ran five laps around the field, ten laps through the tires set out in the field, burpees, lunges, jumping jacks, push ups, kicking the ball back and forth in two seperate lines. Danielle and the rest of the girls on the team were all drenched in sweat from their heads to their toes.
Luckily, it also gave Danielle a chance to meet her new teammates. Of course, she already knew Amber, Ashley, Maggie, and Betty, but now she had a chance to really get to know the rest of the girls. There was the blonde and brilliant Courtney who was in Art Club; Malory who seemed to always shop at Hot Topic and made tons of pop culture references; Max– Malory's sister; Daisy, a girl obsessed with protein shakes and Adidas who had long lime green hair Danielle loved; Jean, a dark skinned girl who had cool braids in her hair with the ends dyed royal blue; and Heather, a friend of Betty's Danielle came to find was really sweet and loved all sorts of nature.
After practice ended just as the sun was going down, Danielle took a quick shower in the locker room and changed from her team uniform into some more comfortable jeans and t-shirt. And as she was leaving the locker room, heading out to the school bleachers, she heard Amber call after the rest of the departing team, "And be sure to keep practicing, girls! Our first game is the day before Valentine's Day!"
Danielle could only nod in response before finding her way out from the locker room to the bleachers. She climbed up to the top and watched the sky bloom into bright, mellow colors. In her hand, she held the phone Natasha had given her the day she left the Compound for 'emergencies only'. This may not have been an emergency, but she was tempted to call the Team and tell them she wants to come back, that she made a mistake and she wants them to fight for her. She'd d whatever they wanted her to do– ditch school, try to control her powers better, follow instructions, train more– if they'd just take her back. But Danielle knows they can't... they won't– that they believe it's better for her to stay away. And if that was what they thought, then it must have been true.
Danielle looked up from the phone in her hands to watch the sunset. It was almost 5:45, about to be six. She could probably catch the end of the Decathlon meeting in the library if she hurried. And that's exactly what she did.
"Hey, guys," Danielle greeted with a bright smile on her face and her gym bag over her shoulder as she entered the library.
The rest of the team along with Liz, Peter, and Ned were all seated around the table. Peter was staring at his friend with a calculating look, trying to see if she was really okay, especially after their last conversation a few hours earlier. She seemed to be okay– brighter, happier after coming from soccer practice. Maybe she really was better, Peter couldn't tell just yet.
"Danielle," Mr. Harrington replies. "We were beginning to think you weren't going to make it."
"Of course not," Danielle chuckled as she pulled up a seat at the end of the table and se her bag down at her feet. "We have a competition to win."
The teens around the table began to whoop and cheer. Mr. Harrington smiled, "Let's call this meeting to order then."
Mr. Harrington then began lecturing the team while Liz added in her two cents every once in a while. As they talked, Danielle felt a nudge on her arm. She turned her head to see Peter looking at her. "Are you okay?" He mouthed.
Danielle smiled slightly before mouthing back, "I will be."
It was the day of competition. Danielle was petrified, and of course when she was scared, nervous, angry, upset, or sad, she'd write on one of the postcards she had on her desk in her room. It was six in the morning, the enhanced teen was seated at her desk doing exactly that. Her previously written cards were all stacked in a pile in the corner. The ones she wasn't sure if she should send or not, the ones she wasn't sure if she wanted to send.
"Danielle!" She heard her Mom call from downstairs. "We're gonna be late if we don't leave soon!"
"Coming!" Dani shouted back just before grabbing the yellow Decathlon jacket on the back of her chair and rushing out the door.
Alice decided to drive Danielle all the way to the school that morning for her first Decathlon competition. She pulled the car up to the school with two minutes to spare. The rest of the team was beginning to board and Danielle was just arriving.
"Good luck, sweetheart," Alice called to her as she began to climb out of the car.
"Thanks, Mom," Danielle replied over her shoulder before opening the door. She was halfway out of the car when she stopped in her tracks and climbed back in to lean across the seat and press a kiss to her Mom's cheek. "Love you, bye," she added quickly, climbing out of the car and running to the bus.
"Danielle," Mr. Harrington greeted as she climbed not the bus. "Welcome aboard. Take a seat."
Danielle nodded and slid into a seat beside Michelle, just across the aisle from Peter and Ned. Both boys waved and she waved back.
"Alright, guys," Liz began, standing in the aisle of the bus as they drove to the competition a half hour away. "Let's do some practice questions to start us off. Abe, can you pass out the bells please?" Abe took the bells from the nearby bag Liz had and began passing around the little ringing toys. "Okay." Liz had taken out note cards to read. "Question one, who was the founder of the Federalist Party during the American Revolutionary Era?"
Danielle's bell rang out. "Alexander Hamilton," she answered– thank goodness for her love of Broadway Musicals.
Liz smiled and nodded. "Very good," she praised. "Question two, what are the four lobes of the human brain?"
Flash rang his bell first. "Frontal, cerebellum, occipital, and aorta."
"Incorrect," Liz told him.
Peter then rang his bell, "Uh, frontal, temporal, occipital, and parietal."
Liz nodded. "Great job, Peter." Flash frowned and glared at the teenage boy in the seat in front of him. Let the games begin.
As Liz asked back-to-back questions, the ten gave answer after answer. Cindy was a bit rusty, and continuously looked at the books in her lap, but thankfully each answer she had was correct, it just took her a while to get it. Ned was able to answer the math questions. Charles answered every single pop culture question having to deals with books, movies, TV shows, or celebrities. Michelle was an all around smart person apparently, but just didn't feel like participating too much as she read quietly beside Danielle. Sally was brilliant when it came to all things English terms. Peter's strong suit was definitely science, though he tried his best to answer mostly everything. Flash would try to answer, but got a lot of things wrong, to which Abe would ring the bell to announce he was wrong.
And then Danielle, who answered everything music related and she somehow knew a lot about American History, despite not even being an original American citizen herself. Maybe it was because Steve taught her a lot by talking about his war stories and because of Sam sometimes having to educate his friend on some more recent events in US History.
After the quizzing, it wasn't long after that the team arrived at the Regionals Competition. A lot of the teams were dressed to impress with tucked in collared shirts, pantsuits and pencil skirts, some people were even dressed in all expensive looking tuxedos with their school emblems on them. Danielle suddenly felt very intimidated in her small black skirt, Lana Del Rey graphic tee, and red Converse sneakers.
Liz noticed the way Danielle nervously clasped her hands together and twiddled her thumbs. "Hey," she said, nudging Danielle in the arm. "Don't worry. Appearance isn't everything. Just focus on the competition and you'll be alright."
Danielle smiled and nodded. "Thanks, Liz."
Mr. Harrington signed the team in before leading them all to the first round. "Okay, remember, guys, try your best. You've been studying all year for this, I believe in you. Now go kick some butt and don't forget to have fun." The teens cheered and high-fived each other just before he added, "But also win. The bus ride over here was kind of expensive and the prize money offers us more leverage for next year."
"Midtown School of Science and Technology?" An older man in a suit announced from his place out on the stage.
"That's us," Liz exclaimed.
"Go get them, guys," Harrington told them before Liz, Danielle, Peter, Michelle, Abe, Cindy, and Ned all took a seat at the table on the stage. Charles, Sally, and Flash were all standing to the side of the stage for support as alternates.
The small audience clapped before the next team was brought on stage. They were from some school on the upper-west side of Manhattan. They were color coordinated, all wearing dark blue and bright red. Danielle shifted uncomfortably, was it too late to back out? She didn't think she was ready, she was too nervous to be ready. She needed to study more-
"Elle," Peter's voice cut into her thoughts. She turned to her left to see him giving her a reassuring smile. "Breathe, okay?"
Danielle then sighed, releasing air she didn't realize she'd been holding until that moment. She felt the tension releasing from her shoulders and her stomach beginning to unclench itself. She took another deep breath to calm down before lifting her chin and boasting her chest. She could do this. She was an Avenger, she could lift meteors from the sky and take on killer robot armies. This would be a walk in the park. Not to mention, she had her friends with her. She could do this.
Danielle watched as the older man standing beside the pedestal in the front of the stage held up a note card in his hands. "Question one," he began, and competition started.
The team started off with a steady lead, Danielle answering all she could, getting a few wrong and a bit more right. She got nervous during the math questions, but tried her best. Science was always a bit easier due to all the refresher courses she'd taken with Selvig and Cho. History was a breeze, as was music. She had trouble on newer pop culture questions, but older ones she had in the bag. Technology definitely wasn't her forte, neither was engineering or philosophy.
But by the end of the round... It all came down to one question; "What are the four valves of the heart?" The older man asked.
A buzzer from the opposite team rang as one of the older looking members of the team answered, "Papillary, pulmonary, aortic, and mitral."
"That is incorrect," the older man exclaimed. "If Midtown Tech gets his answer correct, they win the Regional Competition. Midtown?"
There was a pregnant pause just before Peter hit his button. "Tricuspid, mitral, pulmonary, and aortic," he answered.
There was silence as the man glanced at the card. "That is correct!" He exclaimed, Danielle, Peter, Ned, and he rest of the Midtown team all jumped up and cheered. "Midtown School of Science and Technology wins the Regional Academic Decathlon Competition!"
Danielle gasped and squealed as she hugged Liz before turning to her right and hugging Peter. "You did it!" She exclaimed.
"Oh my God, I actually did it..." Peter muttered in awe as they both pulled back from their hug. "We won!"
"Yes!" Danielle laughed at how in awe her friend was.
Peter's eyes went wide. "Holy-" he cut himself off before suddenly wrapping his arms around Danielle and lifting her off the ground in a spur of the moment, off the ground spin. She laughed before he put her down and ran over to tackle Ned in a bear hug.
Danielle couldn't stop smiling as her and the rest of the team all exchanged excited hugs. Liz beaming while Peter made his rounds of being congratulated and Mr. Harrington going over the moon with pride as he declared, "We're going out for pizza!"
"Yeah!" All of the team cheered.
Later that day, sure enough, Mr. Harrington treated the entire team to some pizza at an arcade sort of chain restaurant. Everyone ran off to go play games before eating. Flash and Charles were having a basketball battle, Cindy, Ned, and Abe all ran to the bumper cars, Liz and Sally were having fun going head-to-head in air-hockey, and Peter had challenged Danielle to a game of air hockey.
"I've never played this before," Danielle admitted as Peter put in the quarters to play.
"It's easy. You get the little... thing-" he gestured to the green plastic object he held in his hand. "-and you try not to let the puck get into your goal," he explained as he took out the neon yellow puck from the side of the game. "Don't worry, I'll go easy."
Danielle shook her head as she stood on her side of the arena, holding her green plastic thing in her hand.
"You ready?" Peter called out to her. Danielle nodded. He then placed the puck down and used the green thing to hit it across the board. Danielle quickly used her green object to deflect it, knocking it back. Peter quickly knocked it back at an alarming speed, scoring a point into Danielle's goal. "Yes!" He cheered.
"What?" Danielle gaped. "I thought you said you'd go easy!"
Peter grimaced and shrugged. "Sorry."
Danielle glared at him while taking the puck out from the goal slot and setting it on the board. She narrowed her eyes before launching it across the board. The puck went back and forth before Danielle pointed at somewhere nearby. "What's that?"
"Huh?" Peter followed where she was pointing allowing her to hit the puck into his goal while he was caught off guard. He spun back around and laughed once he realized what she'd done. "Oh! Hey, that's cheating!" He pointed an accusing finger at her.
Danielle couldn't help but continue to laugh hysterically.
"Oh, it's on now." Peter took out the puck, but just as he was serving it, the TV screen over his shoulder caught Danielle's eye. Her smile and laughter faded and turned into a blank expression as she froze. Peter hit the punk and watched it land in her goal, but as he began to cheer, he noticed here look of fear on her face. "Hey, Elle? What's...?" He trailed off and followed her gaze to the TV. On it was a breaking news broadcast that had something to do with the Avengers.
Danielle, all but forgetting the air hockey game, travelled over to the TV where most of the other restaurant goers were gathered around to watch the broadcast. She listened carefully to what the news anchor was reporting, "Breaking News: it seems that the Avengers have just apprehended several armed mercenaries that carried out an attack in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia killing almost ten innocent bystanders. The armed men were apart of a sting operation of arms dealers led by this man," an image of an unfamiliar man appeared on the screen beside the anchor lady's face. "Brock Rumlow, also known as Crossbones, a former SHIELD agent inside the HYDRA organization. He was also involved in the Triskelion Tragedy three years ago."
Brock Rumlow, Danielle repeated the name in her head, why did it sound so familiar? Maybe because he was involved with the Triskelion mess, Sam, Nat, Steve, or Sharon might've mentioned him before.
"Few other injuries have been reported from civilians, but the well-being of the Avengers is still unknown," the lady exclaimed. Danielle felt her heart stop for a split second because all she could think about was her brother. Jack. She needed to call Jack and make sure he was okay. "Oh, and here they are now, we have a live shot of the scene," the anchor lady explained as the TV began to show a bird's eye view of a small collapsed building. Danielle automatically caught sight of the Quinjet to the side.
"And there are the Avengers; Black Widow, the Falcon, Captain America himself, War Machine, and the new addition, the Vision," the lady listed off as each uniformed figure walked out of the building. Danielle heard every name and saw every person, but where were Jack and Wanda? "It seems that there are two other teammates inside the jet– oh, there they are. Statix and Scarlet Witch have been sighted. No Avengers casualties..."
The news broadcast continued, but Danielle was no longer listening as she tried to calm herself. They were fine, they were all fine. It was okay, she could breathe. Everything was alright, no one was hurt, she was here at a pizza parlor, having fun with her friends. She was safe, they were safe. Breathe... Danielle remembered Peter's words to her before the Decathlon competition began and slowly regained her breathing until she was calm again.
"Hey, come on!" Ned called to Peter and Danielle as him and a few other members ran by. "Pizza's ready!"
"Okay. Just a second," Peter called back to his friends before turning to Danielle. "You alright?"
Danielle nodded. "Yeah, it just... looked important and scary. Wanted to see what it was about," she lied. "If you wanna eat pizza, you don't have to wait up for me."
"Wait, you're not coming?" He asked, concerned.
She shook her head. "Not hungry," she explained vaguely. Not being hungry was true, though. She'd lost her appetite after that heart-stopping news broadcast.
"Okay..." Peter replied. He began walking away, but began to slow down his pace. Something was off about Danielle. Well, something had been off about Danielle since the start of school again, but he'd noticed her getting better. And now with whatever was on the news, it was like she was suddenly pulled back into whatever funk she had been in to start with.
Peter was tempted to turn back around and try and console Danielle when Ned called out to him, "Come on, Peter!"
"I'm coming!" He shouted back before walking over to the table. Danielle would be fine, he assured himself.
A lone man sat handcuffed to a metal table before him in an empty dark room. He stared back at himself through the mirrored window to his left where he knew the people that put him here were watching. He sent them a wicked smile, trying to portray that he didn't mind being in here, that he wasn't afraid despite their high-level status. He wasn't afraid, but he should've been.
Just then, the door opened and a woman with red hair dressed in all black clothing walked in. "Ah," the man sighed and slouched back in his chair as he looked the thin woman up and down. "The Black Widow. Rumlow tells me a lot about you, Miss Romanoff."
Natasha's expression remained calculating and cold as she sat across from the man at the table. "Not as much as we know about you," she replied, setting a folder on the table and sliding it over to him. "Michael Grant, born in Newark, New York to Bailey and Heather Grant on October 2nd, 1983. Joined the US armed forces just of high school, went on two tours in Iraq before being discharged. You married your high school sweetheart, Julie Sullivan, and had two daughters, Mikayla and Penelope, three years later. You live in a lovely two story house in Sacramento, California and both kids go to school just down the street." Natasha watched as the man's sly smile slowly faded into a fearful gaze. She had gotten under his skin, now to plant the piece to get him to talk. But she didn't need to ask him anything just yet.
"What do you want from me?" Michael asked the question Natasha was waiting for.
She smirked slightly before leaning forward. "Info on what Rumlow is trying to do with selling weapons."
"Make profit," he answered.
"Do better."
"That's all I know."
"You're lying." Michael cast his eyes down, it was as if he wanted her to read through everything in his head. But it was clear he wasn't going to talk again. "We already have your face in our database, mind telling me why?"
"You've fought me before," he replied.
"When? SHIELD?"
"No, a few months ago," Michael slowly lifted his head to meet Natasha's eyes. "When I helped kidnap Danielle Harper."
Natasha tried to hide the way her skin ran slightly cold and her face fell. No one was supposed to know that name. No one was even supposed to know Danielle existed other than a given HYDRA agents specializing in experimenting her, but they were all killed or captured in the first Battle of Sokovia when the Avengers first took down the base. So how did some knock-off soldier Rumlow hired know her? That was the real question.
A/N: HOLFY FUCKING SHIT GUYS WE ARE AT 100 FOLLOWERS! ahhhhhh i am so friggin happy rn! BIG THANKS TO THE FABULOUS THEAMAZINGSPOIDERMAN FOR BETA'ING THIS CHAPTER AND HELPING ME GET THIS STORY TO WHERE IT IS RIGHT NOW! Also, sorry for the late update, i've been busy with school and have a retreat coming up. Wish me luck.
Chapter song is: Panama by Quinn XCll for the somber parts of the chapter and Chocolate by the 1975 for the happy parts of the chapter.
Also, Reviews:
PondLake: Lol, glad someone got the FRIENDS reference. I wondered if it would make sense or not.
theamazingspoiderman: Thank you! Yes, Danielle really does need to grow up away from the superhero life for awhile and get to bond with her mother. Hopefully these next few chapters will captivate her growth and appreciation of normality. But it won't last for long, trust me.
Incorrect Quote of the Chapter:
Steve: You're grounded for...til...college.
Danielle: For til college?
Steve: fOr TiL c0LleG3!
