Sometimes, after a big battle, there isn't anything to do. No injuries to be tended to, paperwork is all done, and nobody wants to talk to anybody else because you're all too busy keep afloat in a sea of shadows and demons.
But your knuckles don't feel like being split at the moment, and there aren't any live targets available at this time.
So Natasha Romanoff retires to her room and thinks, reflects, and wonders.
A~A~A
There are several things a person needs to be a superhero. Requisites, if you will.
Things like bravery, selflessness, courage, strength…those are obvious.
But there are something that heroes have that you would never expect them to need or have.
These things are a little darker, things that the best of the best do not need but they have them anyways.
Things like pain, guilt, demons, ghosts…scars.
Scars.
Every single Avenger has at least a dozen. Somewhere. With some they don't show physically.
.
Steve Rogers has scars. The guy survived World War II, of course he has scars.
However, thanks to Dr. Erskine's serum, you can't see them.
To the untrained eye, the casual observer, Steve's skin seems unblemished, still smooth and tan as the day he got the serum. He would be pegged as a model if nobody knew any better.
But his teammates, his comrades, his friends? They know better. They know much better.
They know that the scars did exist, once, on his skin; his arms, legs, torso, hands and feet. But at the same time they were burned into his brain.
And, thanks again to the serum, Steve can't forget.
Steve remembers every scar, every burn, every blemish. The scars from the needle injections pre-serum, the scars from the actual serum injection, the bullet holes, the stab wounds, even down to the paper cuts.
If you look close enough, get beyond the styled hair, charming smile, rippling muscles, baby blue eyes, and tan (unmarked) skin, you can see the scars.
Scars that, if you can see them, you should understand the meaning of.
Because the people that mind don't matter and the people that matter don't mind.
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Tony Stark's scars are much, much more obvious.
After all, he is only human, no super serum over here.
The most obvious and eye catching is the four inch wide, four inch deep hole near his sternum that houses a glowing, neon blue life source and eternal night light. His heart, essentially.
If you look closer, however, you'll notice the less obvious yet just as telling marks.
Take his hands, for example.
Tony Stark in an engineer. A tinkerer, in simpler words. He deals with metal, tools, and sharp thing on a daily basis. And his hands show this.
Because they are calloused and rough, their entire surface littered with tiny white lines, showing where he sliced a thumb or didn't move a finger fast enough.
There's one, on his right pinkie, that Taylor deeply enjoys explaining.
She says that he was using a mallet one day, back in his weapons manufacturing heyday, when Dummy and Butterfingers came up to him, quarreling about something small and insignificant. Tony's attention went towards his bots, but the part of his brain controlling his left hand and the hammer was still on track and swinging down before he realized what was happening.
Long story short, his pinkie was shattered, the ER did surgery, and he was left with a scar across the finger and a better sense of awareness (for a few days, anyways.)
So, in recap, Tony Stark has a few obvious scars. But if you can get close enough to see the smaller ones, you should enjoy the stories.
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Bruce Banner does not have many scars.
And it's not a disappearing act like Steve. The guy literally does not have all that many scars.
Because he has the Incredible Hulk (the Other Guy) at his back and in his head, and Hulk doesn't get hurt.
Any blemishes or marks the scientist does possess are pre-Hulk. Pre-Hulk, pre-University, pre-Ross, and pre-Avengers.
And also technically pre-Betty, but she's back now and she doesn't give a crap about his scars – about anybody's scars – and nobody knows where to plant her on the timeline that is the life of one Dr. Robert Bruce Banner.
There's a scar about the size of a dime on his shoulder from a chicken pox vaccine when he was a kid.
A scar on his calf from a broken bone he got while climbing a too-tall tree and then looking down.
A scar on the bottom of his left foot he got from a Lego he left lying around.
Bruce Banner's scars tell stories too. Stories from a lighter time, an easier time, and a time that everyone wishes they could go back to.
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Thor's scars are a little odd.
His scars are produced by swords, axes, magic, and horse hooves; things humans would never encounter on a normal basis, let alone be wounded by one.
But he isn't human.
Thor is a god. The Norse god of thunder doesn't get normal scars.
Everyone has stopped expecting it to be that way.
But there are some scars that he shares with his teammates.
Memories.
Scars on the inside.
His little brother's betrayal.
His own naivety.
Every one of his young, foolish, rash decisions that went south.
His banishment.
Frost Giants.
Breaking the Bifrost (the rainbow bridge for us mortals.)
Thor has been alive for over one thousand Earth years.
And the guy has seen a lot.
Of course he gained a little bit of a darker, older soul.
But he still is goofy, and loud, and a big teddy bear where Taylor's concerned.
We love that about him.
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Clint Barton; former circus boy, archer, sniper, sharpshooter, assassin, and spy.
You'll only notice his scars after he lowers his walls and lets you take the first step inside.
His scars are cast in a darker light, a shadier image; they're usually made by the hands of the enemy.
Usually.
One between his shoulder blades was made by a tightrope. Somehow.
But ninety nine percent of his scars are the result of someone else hitting him, shooting him, or cutting him in some way or another.
If you, for some reason, want to know about his earlier scars as Hawkeye, Natasha or Coulson might be your best bet.
If you can convince them. Most can't.
For his more recent scars, Taylor is your go-to girl.
And you'll need to do even more convincing.
She's more tight-lipped about him than Natasha is.
And the reason nobody will tell you anything is because Clint's scars are usually tied to memories.
Painful memories at best.
Memories Clint would rather not be dragged through and nobody else want to recount.
His scars have stories, just like everyone else's.
Good luck finding them, though.
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Natasha Romanoff is covered in scar tissue, she wears it almost like a second skin.
She's no stranger to blemishes; in fact, she's used to them.
She's been in this game since seven, deadly since thirteen, and always a threat, a looming shadow.
Wouldn't you be used to it?
She's had so much stolen from her so many times.
She's been forced to be so many people to do so many things.
Scars are accredited as second nature by now for the Black Widow.
And most of these scars are only brought up inside her own mind, some with Coulson or Clint.
Not even her new teammates know the full extent; they've learned not to ask, learned that there are some lines that are never to be crossed unless you're invited to do so.
Natasha's scars tell horrific tales.
Ones that she would much rather keep to herself for the foreseeable future, thank you very much.
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Finally, we come across Taylor Stark.
Taylor's scars almost mirror her fathers'; reactor, scarred hands, give or take a few, with a few obvious exceptions.
And adding in one depressing factor: age.
Most people forget that Taylor's still a teenager and that no child should be subjected to what she has fought through.
A normal eighteen year old should be stressing about college, not fighting for her life in some dark, moldy prison cell at the hands of a twisted god.
She should not have been running from the law and multiple governments just before her one-year anniversary with her boyfriend.
She should not have been forced to imprison her own mother, her flesh and blood for crimes committed against an entire world, crimes committed for five decades.
Key word: should not. But she did. And she has numerous scars to show for it.
Next to the reactor, her most obvious scar is her right arm.
Her metal right arm.
Outside of the arm itself, the shoulder has the most to show for the missing appendage.
Her right shoulder is still a mass of angry, red crisscrossed lines and blisters even four years later.
If you were to run a hand over Taylor's shoulder and then a normal shoulder and compare the two, Taylor's skin would feel like burlap next to silk, most of her scars still raised slightly.
Her back is also an angry mess, dominated by seven long lashes from a stick wielded by a maniac set on breaking her.
She didn't break.
She still hasn't broken.
She's still here, and in one piece, albeit perforated.
We applaud her for that.
A~A~A
So everyone has scars.
Young, old, veteran, civilian, soldier, or spy.
That much is understood, laid out in concrete.
What is not sure is what the person plans to do with them.
Hide them?
Parade them?
Do you boast or be bashful?
Only you can decide that.
Because they're only your scars.
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(What? Natasha can be thoughtful. But only when she's bored. Now they're serving pizza downstairs, so she's busy with other things at the moment.)