Shipping out
The cold breeze was not helping the ache in her leg. November in New York was always on the way to frigid but the cold didn’t bother her much anymore. It seemed her body regulated its temperature somewhat independently these days. Though her outfit was doing nothing for the chill. Black shorts, boots, and an oversized sweater. If she couldn’t feel the weather she might as well take advantage.
The wound had been deeper than she’d thought. Almost two centimeters deep. It was nearly healed, all that remained was a pink ridge and the incessant ache. It seemed that while she healed fast, scaring was still unavoidable.
Her leg wasn’t what she was thinking about. Even the billion-dollar view from the massive balcony of Avengers Tower couldn’t distract her. The fact that this balcony was the same place Loki had used the tesseract to open up a massive portal was just a passing thought. No, last night was the thing currently consuming her thoughts. She had handled herself far better than she had thought she would. She had killed at least one of the Hydra agents, the rest had killed themselves to avoid being taken in. Except for Daniel. He had gotten away.
But she’d killed someone and tortured someone else. Sure that was the job, but, it had just never hit her before. And it wasn’t the doing it that bothered her… it was the fact that she had enjoyed it. Some dark part of her soul had been singing during the events of last night. A dark part she wasn’t sure had existed a couple of years ago. Before the Avengers there had at least been the events and characters of everyday life to keep her grounded.
But now? She was surrounded by people like her. People with unchecked abilities and dark pasts. Not that she would ever blame them for it. But without anything keeping her tied down in the real world, what was there to stop her from giving in and going out of control? Since the accident, her abilities had been a siren song. She had spent a year trying to ignore them, and the past few months indulging. Maybe she was enjoying all of this just a bit too much.
Ren tried not to think twice and she pulled out her phone and texted an old friend. It was just a coffee date. Something normal. Easy. Something to pull her back to herself before she risked losing it.
“You did good yesterday,” Nat said as she walked toward her.
“Thanks,”
She sat down next to her, legs dangling off the edge. “I know it’s not easy, all of this, what we had to do. But it doesn’t make you a bad person. As long as you’re fighting for the right thing,”
Ren knew that Natasha wasn’t just trying to reassure her, “Does it ever scare you? The things that you can do?”
“Yes,” That was the nice thing about Nat, she was always honest when it mattered, “But there’s always people out there who can do the same things we can. If we don’t fight, they’ll win,”
Tearing her eyes away from the city skyline she looked at her friend. That is what they’d become. “We’re not just tools though,”
“To the rest of the world, we are, and right now we are the best tools Steve has to find his friend,”
“Are we going to Czechia then?”
That’s where the agent claimed Hydra had tracked Barnes. He’d been on the move since D.C. and it was a race to catch up with him before he was moving again.
Clint walked out onto the balcony as he hung up his phone, looking anxious, “We gotta go,”
Nat looked back toward him, “What’s up,”
Clint hesitated, “Agent 19 just called. The uh, package, is coming in,”
She paused, “Now?”
“Yeah,”
“What package? Is everything alright?” Ren asked.
“Yeah,” Clint responded quickly, “Everything is fine, there’s just… something we’ve been waiting for,”
“Looking out for,” Nat interjected.
“Exactly, and now we need to go pick it up,”
She nodded, “Alright,”
Nat and she stood up, “You should stay here, in case Cap needs help,”
“Oh, yeah, that makes sense,”
She and Clint rushed back into the tower to pack, they were gone in under 20 minutes. Strange, that they didn’t want help on their retrieval mission. But maybe it was just a two-man job. Plus, Ren was more interested in tracking the Winter Soldier right now. It would’ve been helpful to have at least Tony around to help her look into the guy. But he was back in Malibu spending some much-needed time with Pepper and, even if he wouldn’t admit it, trying to get over everything that had happened during the battle of New York.
…
Moping was the only way to describe her mood for the next two days. The empty tower was depressing, but she couldn’t bring herself to go back to her old apartment. Truthfully she wasn’t sure why she was still paying rent since most of her stuff had been moved into her room in the tower. But with all the money she’d inherited from Johnny and the checks Tony insisted on giving all the Avengers it wasn’t difficult to keep up with the payments.
Halfway into the second day, her pity party was interrupted. “Miss Wright, you are currently receiving a call from Steve Rogers,”
“Oh, how do I pick that up JARVIS?”
“In the meeting room ma’am,”
“Right,”
She hurried up to the room, even though it felt ridiculous to be there alone. Steve and Sam were waiting on the large screen. Ren was very glad she hadn’t stayed in pajamas today. Both heroes were in their full gear, and looking a little beat up. Definitely not a good sign. She and Steve had been keeping in touch since the battle, and she’d hit up some old contacts to get information for them lately. Still, she felt the need to address him by his formal title right now.
“Hey Cap, what’s up?”
It was Sam who spoke, “Nothing good. We finally managed to track this guy down, but we weren’t the only ones,”
“We need backup,” The Captain told her.
She shrunk, “I’m afraid I might be all you got right now. Tony’s on the other side of the country and Nat and Clint just left on a mission,”
Steve's face was calculating, “We can make it work, but I need you out here ASAP. Agent Hill is already on her way, be ready to leave in 30 minutes,”
Guess I’ll have to reschedule that coffee date , she thought.
…
”Flashy and impractical, why am I even surprised”
On her bed lay a set of jet-black gear, and a set of bronze bands to cover her forearms.
The calf-high boots had a small heel, the sort that would be handy for riding a motorcycle if she knew how. They fit seamlessly over the reinforced black pants. They had extra armor around the knees and edges of her thighs.
The thick black top clipped around her neck, the hard shell kept it from being suffocating. The rest of the top closed down her right side via a zipper and a series of small latches that made the seam nearly invisible. Like the pants it was reinforced, and she was confident the material was bullet and flameproof. Small pockets and holsters were hidden throughout the entire suit. She assumed the other box on her bed was full of toys to fill them.
Stark had thought of everything. The final piece of the ensemble was a mask that covered the lower half of her face. It clipped into the high neckline and would completely conceal her identity. There was a small note attached to the mask. It explained that it was designed to filter out smoke, even though she healed faster than most people Tony figured she’d appreciate being able to breathe properly.
If she didn’t fear Pepper so much she could kiss the man. Sadly there was no time to try it on or figure out all the complicated latches. Instead, she stuck with her jeans and t-shirt, throwing on some boots and a leather jacket. Her suitcase was quickly packed with the essentials, a few outfits, and a first aid kit.
By the time she made it to the landing pad, the Quinjet was already idling. Climbing into the open back hatch she set her bag down and wandered up to the cockpit. As soon as she was clear of the door it closed and the plane began to rise. She reached the copilot seat and turned to the woman next to her, “You must be Agent Hill,”
“Maria,” She said, “I don’t suppose you remember the first time we met?”
Ren cringed and Maria laughed, “Well that figures, you were unconscious,”