Of Monsters and Men

by aly.lynn122

Because the only thing she sees in this monster is a reflection of herself. What she can become. What she has become before. Might become again.

5. Chapter 5

He's back.

Riding in on a broken down bike with borrowed clothes and borrowed dignity.

But he's back.

And it's not the Captain he looks in the eye.

It's her.

I'm always angry.

A threat. An explanation. A challenge. An admittance. A dare.

A prayer.

A plea whispered to an empty room in the dark of night when nothing and everything surrounds you.

Don't make me do this.

And it's her. Her own words, echoed back straight from the only other monster she has ever known.

A monster born of human cruelty and childish prayers and false hopes and broken dreams.

A monster that answers those prayers and crushes those dreams and lifts you from the rubble to tell you that you have known worse.

But this time, they have permission.

Let me do this.

Permission to fight and spill blood and roar and be the monsters they are.

And all at once, just as Bruce Banner learns what it is to be wanted, Natasha learns what it is to be accepted.

I'm always angry, he says,

You've known worse, the monster says.

I've seen worse, she says.

And they were right.