The Reaper's Keeper

You gently took Natasha's offering hand in yours once again and allowed her to take you in front of the two other people you had just spotted in the room.

“Gentlemen, this is Y/N…” Natasha stepped out of your view to introduce you. You take a curious glance at them. They both gave you a kind smile as they stood side by side from each other.

The shorter one is the first to approach you, extending his hand out presumably for you. “Welcome to the Avenger’s tower kid, my name’s Tony Stark and you can call this fossil beside me, Capsicle.” He pats the other guy’s back playfully. When you didn't move to shake his hand, he clasped his hands together.

“Very funny Tony. Don’t listen to him, I’m Steve.” He only smiled in your direction and his smile radiated warm that made your wariness waver around them for a bit. You have a faint recognition on his voice but you can’t remember where you’ve heard it.

You could only nod at them as you’re unsure on what to do. “Oh, before I forget. Don’t be startled if you hear this voice. JARVIS, please introduce yourself to Y/N.” Tony added shortly.

“Hello, Miss Y/N. I am JARVIS. The tower’s virtual artificial intelligence resident. Please allow me to assist you during your stay.” The robotic noise out of nowhere doesn’t surprise you.

“As JARVIS said, do not hesitate to tell him, including us, if you need help with anything.” Tony offers. You could only reply in silence.

“Why… why are you being…” You mutter struggling to find the words. Kindness just simply doesn’t exist for you. You don't even know what it's called.

“Hey, don’t think about it. One thing I can assure you of is that you’re safe here.” Natasha gently squeezed your hand in hers.

You don’t doubt that. However, you're wondering if it's a smart idea for you to be here with them. You don't believe you're deserving of the things they're giving you.

“We’ll continue this tour, then I’ll get her to her room, okay?” The two men waved at both of you as you continue your journey.

You followed Natasha around looking like a child. She showed you the kitchen, as well as the other communal areas in the tower. When her tour was over, she said she'd take you to your room. You presumed that she’s taking you back to the cell.

Instead of the familiar route, she led you to a different floor. You both stopped in front of a door. “My room’s just there,” she points across to a room before opening the door, “and this will be yours.”

Once inside, you let go of her hand and turned to her. “I – I don’t think I should be here.” You started to fiddle with the hem of your shirt and averted your eyes from her questioning gaze.

“I’m not taking you back to that cell, you’re not a prisoner here.”

“No, I meant… here,” running your hand through your unkempt hair, you risk a glance back at her, “in this tower. With y-you and the others.”

“And why is that?” she says, crossing her arms. You can’t exactly tell her why.

“Look, we’re worried about you—I mean, of your condition. My colleague, Bruce, identified the presence of gamma radiation on your body. It’s dangerous, Y/N.” You furrowed your brows at her. You’re not aware of that.

“You could die. Heck, you should’ve died in the mere presence of it in the first place.” You didn't realize how close she's getting to you. You lightly flinched when you felt her hand on your arm. “Allow us to help.”

Still, you don’t get why she’s like this with you. “Why?” You take a step back, shrugging her hand off you. “You barely even know me.”

"We can work that out later," she starts to leave the room, "In the meantime, I'll let you settle in here. There's some stuff that I needed to do first. I'll let you know through JARVIS when I'll be back." And with that, she left you with your mind still reeling.

You let yourself sit on the bed, deciding to forget everything for a while. As you take a look around, you notice the side of the room with curtains. You approached it and gave it an experimental tug. The curtains revealed a glass window panel, similar to the ones in the living room, with a busy city view below.

The sun starts to settle and the sky manages to take your breath away. You sat down on the floor and allowed yourself to relish in your new surroundings. You wished to stay in that moment for a long time and reminded yourself to thank the redhead for this opportunity.

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After an hour, Natasha returned to get you. She takes you first to the lab, where you'll meet with Bruce. They will explain your profound situation to you and request that tests be conducted on you.

When you both arrived, you noticed a man in a lab coat who was oblivious to the two of you since his eyes was fixed on the screen in front of him. Natasha made your presence known by knocking on the table. He finally looked up to face you both.

“Hi, I’m Dr. Bruce Banner. Nice to finally meet you, Y/N. If you’d let me, I’m going to show you what we've gathered so far."  He didn't waste any time and got right to the point, which you already liked.

Your attention went on the screen that Bruce had been looking earlier. It displayed your name beside numerous data and graphs that you didn’t understand.

“Here, take a look at this. This is your x-ray. The object lodged on your sternum gives off the highest gamma ray…” Bruce took approximately an hour to explain everything. You're used to having your body tested and altered by the doctor, so you simply agreed to the whole situation you’re getting into.

“You’re surprisingly pretty calm about all of this, Y/N,” Natasha stated beside you.

You simply shrugged at her, “I’m used to it. It’s nothing new.”

“What do you mean by that?” Bruce asks.

You look at them, contemplating whether to tell the partial truth or not. You opted for the former.

“The doctor. He used to conduct tests on me since I can remember…”

“Is he responsible for this? Did he forced you to it?” There’s a tone in Natasha’s voice that you can’t identify.

“Yes, and uhh, I can’t exactly say… forced.” Your head hung low in quite shame. “I didn't have much of a choice.”

“Is this him?” Natasha conjured a tablet that displayed a photograph of the man you'd known from birth.

Your body went rigid. Even with this younger version of him, the exact same look he'd give you every time is unmistakable.

“Y-yeah… H-how – Did you find him?” Fear evidently rose in your voice.

“We haven’t yet. That's what we're aiming for as well. If we find him, we’ll have the Reaper.”

“Oh…” was all that you could say.

“You don’t have to worry about him, the others are already working on finding him.” You’re not that thrilled to see the doctor soon.

“I don’t know about you, but I’m kinda hungry. We’ll pick this up tomorrow. Right, Bruce?" Natasha motioned for you to follow her. The appeal of the food made your stomach grumble a bit. Which Natasha heard, obviously. The little smirk on her face says so. "Besides, Y/N’s gonna need all the nutrients she could get."

“You go on, you two. I just need to look into a few things first." And with that, you both left Bruce to his tasks.

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You sit silently at the counter, watching Natasha prepare food for the two of you. “Not much of a talker, are we?” The redhead tries to strike up a conversation.

“I don’t exactly have stories to tell.” You hear Natasha hum in acknowledgement.

“Tell me, do you have a favorite food?”

“Uhm, a cupcake…and earlier those things you gave me.”

"Nothing else? Does the doctor ever serve you anything other than cupcakes?"

"Well, he gives me those grey nutrient bars. They taste bland but that was all I needed."

"I hate that guy even more now," Natasha sets a plate in front of you, "I’m not much of a good cook, but I can heat up leftovers decently. We got some chicken and mashed potatoes. Eat up.”

You gave her a small, appreciative smile. "Thank you, but…" You gestured the unfamiliar cutlery in front of you, not knowing what to do with it. “How do I use this…” You could feel your face heating up a bit.

“No need to be embarrassed, here let me show you…” After that, you both began to dive into your meals, and you relished the new flavors you’d just discovered. "This is much better than those nutri bars I’ve had in my entire life."

"Well, I’m not gonna feed you sandwiches and leftovers everyday so Dr. Cho’s gonna take over, monitor and provide your needed nourishment starting tomorrow." You give her a nod and continue eating your meal.

Both of you ate in silence for a few minutes before Natasha started asking you questions.

"Back there, with Bruce, what do you mean by already getting used to tests? Do you have some illness that requires treatment?"

"Not that I’m aware of. Only the doctor knows. He never even told me his name." You took a little pause before deciding on what to say next. “He’d inject something into me and strap me to bed…”

You felt Natasha’s hand on top of yours, “We’re not gonna do that to you. Or anything intentionally that could hurt you for that matter.” You feel like your hand just got burned. You remove it from hers and look her in the eyes.

“Even when I am potentially a danger to all of you? I-I can’t… you shouldn’t trust me, Natasha.” You saw her eyes narrow a bit.

“Why? Do you want to hurt us? Are you planning to harm us on purpose?”

“You don’t understand… Even if I don't intend to hurt you, you will be.”

“Hmm. Pretty sure we can manage ourselves just fine if that happens. We aren’t the world’s mightiest heroes for nothing,” she finishes her own meal. “Besides, I’ve decided to have faith in this, Y/N. In my teammates. In you.”

“You’re making a mistake. I don’t want to burden you…with me.” You try to argue.

“That’s on me then, I’m willing to take the responsibility.” You realize there’s no point in arguing with the redhead as she seems to be determined. “Want some refill?” You shake your head at her as you’re feeling full already.

After you've finished your meal, you wait quietly for Natasha to finish cleaning up.

“Is there something you wanna do after this?” You certainly have no idea so you meekly shake your head once again.

“I’d like to go back in my room, please…” Natasha nods in understanding and extends her hand to you, which you accepted without any hesitation.

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