Fated Marks

I reached for the door handle and pulled the door open. I took a look around and saw that the place was mostly empty except for all the armed guys dressed in civilian clothing.

“Stop, arms and legs spread out.” Jesse said.

“Bag.” Gerald said taking my clutch.

“I don’t have any weapons on me and even if I did you all out number me.” I deadpanned.

“Spread them.” Jesse said. I handed Gerald my clutch and did what he asked. He pat me down and when he got to breasts the asshole started groping me.

“Dude if you’re going to cop a feel do it when I’m dead.” I said.

“Feels stuffed. What do you got in there?” He said with a smirk. I kneed him in the groin. “Fuck!” Everyone stood up and pointed their guns at me.

“Enough, stand down.” Hadrian said. “Someone get him an ice pack.”

“You’d think he’d be used to it by now.” I mumbled.

“Sit down.” Hadrian said kicking the chair out from where he was sitting at a table.

I slowly moved to sit down and scooted in. I looked at him and he hadn’t changed much. Still had the same piercing green eyes. He was buff so he was lifting weights and probably lived off nothing but protein shakes.

“You look well, interesting outfit choice.” He said.

“Well figured if I ended up getting stabbed someone would notice the giant red stain and call an ambulance this time.” I said.

“Funny but as you can tell no one here gives a shit what happens to you.” Hadrian said.

“Yeah I noticed.” I said.

“Your coffee, French toast, and bacon mushroom and avocado omelet.” One of the waitresses said. “Can I get you anything to drink?”

“No thank you.” I said.

“Bring her a coffee, espresso if you have it.” Hadrian said.

“Uh right away.” The waitress said. Hadrian moved the plate of French toast in front of me.

“Eat.” He said.

“I-I’m not hungry.” I said. My hands were shaking and it felt like ants were crawling up my arms.

“Even pigs get a last meal before they get slaughtered. Eat, its what you always order when you’re here.” Hadrian said. “I didn’t poison it if that’s what you’re worried about.” He stared at me waiting for me to take a bite.

I slowly picked up the fork and knife and slowly cut a piece off before taking a bite. I’m sure it tasted great but all I could focus on was how I could feel my stomach churning.

“This place reminds me of that diner we used to go to when we were in Chicago, what was the name of that place?” He asked.

“Mick’s?” I asked.

“Mick’s, best bacon cheese burgers ever. I should go sometime.” Hadrian said.

“So how are we doing this? Stabbing me? Bullet between the eyes? Strangling?” I said.

“Not sure yet. Why you in a rush?” Hadrian said.

“No I just suck at small talk.” I said.

“You really do.” He said with a smirk. “You remember what mom used to say,”

“You’re going to have to be a bit more specific, she said a lot of stuff.” I said.

“No one outlives their usefulness.” Hadrian said. “I realized something in Flagstaff. I thought mom was the goose that laid the golden eggs but she wasn’t you were.”

“I’m not going back to working with you so you may as well kill me.” I said.

“Oh Calliope, you and that stupid moral compass of yours, what a pain in the ass.” Hadrian said. “You’re more trouble than you’re worth to keep around but you’re still useful. Why do you think you’re still alive? I’ve known where you’ve been for months. Did you know they take your fingerprints when they dump you in the drunk tank?”

“Thanksgiving.” I said.

“Yup, you really are getting sloppy. Put on quite a show for the locals.” Hadrian said.

“I’m guessing charming comments like that are why Delilah left you.” I said.

“What?” he said switching his hold on his knife.

“I’ve heard the chatter so what you’d do to finally make your own soulmate walk out on you?” I asked.

“None of your fucking business.” He said through clenched teeth.

“Must have been something bad. She went dark and for someone like her to do that, turn her back on her family…” I said.

“What family?” Hadrian said.

“Still don’t approve of you huh?” I asked.

“Don’t think it matters considering they’re all dead.” Hadrian deadpanned.

“Your doing I assume.” I said.

“When you assume you make an ass out of you and me but yes.” He said smiling proudly.

“Okay I’m just going to cut to the chase before you and your goons put a hood on me and drive me down to a land fill in Jersey and kill me.” I said having nothing left to lose. “You have a gun to the heads of three people I care about and you want me dead. You have a wife who walked out on you and you can’t find and from lack of trying. I’m the only person alive who has ever outrun you.”

“Look at where you are, does it look like you out ran me?” Hadrian said.

“It took you years to find me and the only reason you did was because of a drunken slip up. Your wife is a lot of things, but a runner isn’t one of them. No one is better at running and hiding from you than I am. I can find her.” I said.

“You? Why would you help me?” Hadrian said.

“It’s not personal, it’s business. I’ll get you Delilah and in exchange you leave me and the people I care about alone. We never see or speak to each other again.” I said. This could go one of two ways. He kills me where I’m sitting and buries my body where no one will ever find me or He goes along with it and kills me later on.

“What makes you think you can find her?” Hadrian asked.

“My awesome people skills and the fact that most of our old contacts actually like me or at the very least don’t hate me as much as they hate you.” I said. “I can find her you know I can and unlike everyone else in this room you know I won’t kill her when I do find her.”

“You need to learn your place.” Hadrian said.

“I know my place you’ve made that very clear.” I said touching the scar on the back of my neck.

“Maybe I should remind you.” He said grabbing my arm and pulling it towards him. “I saw three then, Now I’m seeing four, didn’t think you could become a bigger slut but you did. One.”

“AH!” I said as he slashed across my hand.

“I wish you had died with mom.” He said “But we can’t always get what we want. You’re going to find Delilah and you’re going to do it before let’s say the year-ends and if you fail I’m not just going to put a bullet in Romanoff, Barton or Roger’s heads I’ll put one in each of your soulmates’ heads.”

“H-How did you…” I said.

“Not that hard considering your marks and who they are.” He said. “It’s revolting how much they love you. Imagine how they’d look at you if they knew you like I did.” With that he let go and took the napkin from across his lap and started cleaning the knife he used, the same one he stabbed me with five years ago.

“You’re going to need stitches. Or actually Rumlow you have a lighter?” Hadrian asked.

“No.” he responded giving me a wolf like smile.

“I’ll take a trip to the ER or use a curling iron like I did last time.” I said wrapping a napkin around my hand before getting up.

“What ever…” Hadrian started.

“Don’t tell anyone or everyone you love gets a bullet in their head etcetera etcetera.” I said.

“You’re going to need another one.” Rumlow said handing me another cloth napkin.

“Fuck you.” I said walking out of the restaurant.

“I’ll be in touch.” Hadrian called out.

I walked down the street and started feeling light headed. I felt my stomach churning, I ducked into an alley and puked.

“Hayley?” I heard someone say.

“Josh?” I asked.

“Wow, you do not look good.” He said.

“No shit.” I said. “Buah.” I puked some more. Josh moved behind me and held my hair back.

“What’s going on?” Josh asked.

“You busy?” I asked.

“No, Will had to go to work for something why?” He asked.

“I need you to drive.” I said handing him my keys.

“Where to?” Josh asked.

“Plaza, brunch part two but we may need to stop by the ER. Ah.” I said as I accidentally put my cut hand against the wall and leaned on it as I got up.

“Uh should I call someone?” Josh said.

“No! This stays between us.” I said. “Come on I don’t want to keep Rebekah and Kol waiting.”

“Where’d you park?” Josh asked.

“Down the block.” I said standing up. Josh helped me up and walked me to the car. I sat down in the passenger seat and opened the glove compartment. I took out two Xanax and swallowed them.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Josh said.

“I’ve done a lot of reckless things today, taking anti anxiety meds is not one of them.” I said leaning back. I took my phone out and checked to see if it had worked. If I wanted to find Delilah I needed to know everything Hadrian did so I cloned his phone. I still can’t believe I made it out of there alive.

“Hayley what’s going on?” Josh asked.

“Josh the less you know the better. Take a left here it’s faster.” I said.

“I thought you wanted to go to the hospital?” Josh said.

“Clinic down the street’s always empty on Sundays. It’s free and they don’t ask questions.” I said. If I went to the hospital Tony would know right away. Then my phone started ringing. I looked at it and saw that it was Clint. Shit. “Hey sweetie.” I answered.

“Hales, I just wanted to check in. Are you okay?” Clint asked sounding really worried.

“Yeah, just got out of brunch and I kind of had one too many mimosas. I tripped and broke a glass. I’m on my way to a local clinic to get this thing stitched up.” I said.

“Crap, how bad is it, send me a picture.” Clint said.

“Ew no, Clint it’s all bloody.” I said.

“I’ve had worse send a picture.” Clint said. “Or go to the tower and have Bruce stitch it up for you.”

“It’s to far besides it’s just a cut it’ll be fine.” I said.

“Hayley.” Clint said.

“Clint.” I said and things were quiet until I heard him sigh in defeat.

“Go get it taken care of but I’m skyping you later so I can see if they did it right.” Clint said.

“Deal but not today, tomorrow I kind of have a date with Bruce tonight.” I said. Fuck I actually get to go on our date. I was going to give him the best date ever.

“Tomorrow morning then. Be careful please. You’re not driving are you?” Clint asked.

“No Josh is, got to go we’re here.” I said.

“Be careful. Love you.” Clint said.

“I know.” I said hanging up and getting out of the car. We walked in and just like I thought the place was empty.

“Can I help you?” The receptionist said.

“Hi, I need some help. I tripped and fell on some broken glass. I have a really nasty cut on my hand any chance the Doc or a nurse can stitch me up?” I asked.

“Of course, follow me.” she said getting up immediately. The doctor sat me down and got to work.

“That’s a nasty cut, how’d you get it again?” He asked.

“Fell on a broken glass.” I answered.

“Huh, is that how you got the bruise on your wrist?” He asked. I took a look and that’s when I noticed the finger shaped bruises. Shit that was going to be harder to explain. “We see that a lot in domestic abuse victims. Is that your boyfriend outside?”

I couldn’t help but laugh at that. “No no no, uh Josh is my best friend’s soulmate. The guy couldn’t hurt a fly.” I said.

“Oh.” The doctor said embarrassed. “Well I’m done. The stitched need to be taken out in a week. You can come back here or go see your regular doctor.”

“Thanks.” I said getting out.

“We have a support group…” he started.

“I’m gonna stop you right there. My boyfriend didn’t do this and neither did Josh. I appreciate your help but there isn’t a support group for my issues. Have a nice day.” I said walking out. “Let’s go.”

“Everything okay?” Josh asked.

“We’re good. Late brunch awaits.” I said.

“Is your hand still bothering you?” Josh asked.

“No whatever they gave me to numb hasn’t worn off.” I said taking the phone out. I started searching through his data. Nothing out of the ordinary, same taste of music as before. “That’s new”

“What?” Josh asked.

“Why would someone need a military grade encrypted second line connected to their phone?” I asked. I was going to need to hook this up to my laptop to get through the encryption.

“They’re trying to hide something. My old work phone had a similar encryption” Josh said.

“I know I designed it a few years back this is different.” I said putting it away.

“We’re here.” Josh said.

“Valet park.” I said not bothering to look up.

“Yes ma’am.” Josh said. “Actually I need to go meet Will.”

“Take my car, I’ll catch a ride back with Rebekah and Kol. Thanks Josh for you know…” I said.

“Picking you up in an alley and rushing you to a back alley clinic where I got accused of domestic violence? Don’t worry, I used to work for the Mikaelson’s this isn’t even in the top ten weirdest or most random things I’ve done.” Josh said.

“Still probably not what you pictured you’d be doing on a Sunday. Drive back, Jarvis will recognize the car and open the garage.” I said.

“Thanks Hayley.” Josh said.

I got out of the car and walked into the hotel. I probably looked wrecked. As far as I could tell from the car mirrors my make up was still perfect so it was probably all in my head. I walked in and Rebekah and Kol were already seated in their usual table.

“You’re late.” Kol said.

“Hi can I get you…” the waiter started.

“Bloody Mary, easy on the blood heavy on the Mary.” I said.

“Uh right away ma’am.” The waiter said before scurrying away.

“What the bloody hell happened to your hand?” Rebekah said taking my hand and gently running her hand on the finger shaped bruises.

“I just got out of brunch with Hadrian.” I said.

“What!” They both shouted making everyone turn and look.

“Sh.” I shushed.

“You had brunch with your brother? Why the hell would you do something that stupid?” Rebekah said.

“He could have killed you.” Kol said.

“He’s on the same STRIKE team as Natasha, Clint and Steve. He said I showed up or they get a bullet in the back of the head, so yeah I literally just stared death in the face managed to talk my way out of there somehow.” I said as the adrenaline that had kept me going up to this point was starting to wear off.

“One bloody Mary.” The waiter said putting it down in front of me. I took it and started chugging it. “Can I get you anything?”

“Just bring her an order of stuffed French toast.” Kol said.

“Hayley, what happened?” Rebekah said as I put the empty glass down. I had essentially just chugged down straight vodka with a splash of tomato juice.

“He sent the wonder twins to tail me and Clint to Aruba, to deliver the message that he wanted to meet me for brunch and showed me a live feed of Steve and Natasha on their mission. When we got back we ran into him and he said how happy he was to be working with him. I thought he was going to kill me, I was ready for it but I brought up Delilah and things just went to hell. He knows about my soulmates, he knows who they are.” I said.

“Hayley it’s going to be okay.” Kol said.

“he gave me until the end of the year to find Delilah, if I don’t well…” I started.

“You do realize that even if you do find her…” Rebekah started.

“He’ll still try to kill me? Yeah but at least now I bought myself some time.” I said. “And I got this.” I said pulling out the cloned phone.

“His cell phone?” Kol asked.

“A clone of his cell phone.” I said.

“Nice.” Kol said.

“I still need to decrypt it but it’s a start.” I said. “I also found out why Delilah probably left Hadrian.”

“Did she finally realize how mad your brother is?” Rebekah said.

“Well he killed her entire family for not approving of them being together so that was probably a dead giveaway.” I said.

“Shit.” Kol said.

“Yeah, How are you feeling?” Rebekah said.

“Well the two Xanax I took before walking in there did nothing but the two Xanax I took after along with whatever they gave me for my hand and that Bloody Mary I’m feeling floaty.” I said.

“Yeah you’re not supposed to mix those.” Kol said.

“Whoops.” I said laughing. “I chose to die in this outfit, It looks like a wedding dress. I was going to die in a wedding dress.” I said laughing.

“Oh that’s not good.” Rebekah said.

“We need to get her home.” Kol said. “Come on Hales.” Kol said helping me up.

“He made me eat French toast, that was going to be my last meal.” I said laughing.

“Go, I’ll meet you at the car.” Rebekah said.

“Up and attem.” Kol said standing me up and walking me out. I didn’t stop laughing the entire car ride home.

“That moron gave me a pat down and I kneed him in the balls.” I said laughing as we walked into the common room.

“Hayley we need to talk.” Tony said looking upset.

“You’re the terminator, you’re use a robot suit.” I said laughing.

“Uh, why can’t she stop laughing?” Bruce asked.

“She took her anxiety meds, mixed with mimosas and whatever they gave her when they stitched up her hand and she’s pretty loaded.” Kol said.

“My cheeks hurt.” I said laughing.

“She’s stoned? First she lied to us about having brunch with Will and now this. What the hell is going on?” Tony demanded.

“You need to ask her.” Rebekah said. “But for now try feeding her and whatever she says don’t believe her.”

“She’s really out of it.” Kol said. “Luck.” With that they walked out.

“Tony,” I said elongating the last syllable.

“What?” Tony said frustrated.

“Put on the suit and do the robot.” I said giggling. “Come on, Domo Arigato Mister roboto.”

“Hayley, how about we go take a nap.” Bruce said sensing Tony was about to explode.

“Cuddles.” I said hugging Bruce.

“All right. Let’s get you to bed.” Bruce said leading her to the elevator.

“Okie Dokie.” I said taking Bruce’s hand and following him to the elevator. We got downstairs and I kicked off my shoes. “Apartment!” I cheered.

“Hayley, you need some sleep.” Bruce said.

“Naptime!” I cheered.

“Come on.” Bruce said leading me to my room. The bed was neatly made and my suitcase from my trip was still packed.

“Oof, soft.” I said hugging the bed. Bruce grabbed a throw from the foot of the bed and tucked me in. “Cuddle.” I said making grabby hands.

“Hayley I have work to do.” Bruce said.

“Please?” I said with a pout.

“How about I stay until you fall asleep?” Bruce said.

“Okay.” I said taking what I could get. I patted the spot next to me. Bruce hesitantly sat down next to me giving me space. Yeah that wasn’t cuddling. I moved over and put an arm around Bruce’s waist and hugged him. I felt him tense a bit before relaxing and putting an arm around my shoulders. “You’re warm.”

“Sorry I’ll just...” He said trying to move.

“No, personality it’s warm and fuzzy.” I explained.

“Hayley what happened to your hand?” Bruce asked

“I fell on glass.” I said. “They put stitches. Look at it later please.”

“I will.” He said. “Looks like a big cut.”

“It was a big glass.” I said laughing.

“Why are you laughing?” Bruce said.

“Big glass big guy.” I said laughing.

“Sh, close your eyes.” Bruce said combing his fingers through my hair. That knocked me out in seconds. When I woke up I was alone and the room was dark. I sat up and the room started spinning.

“Uh, Damn it.” I groaned. I slowly stood up and put a hand on the bed to support myself. As I slowly walked into the bathroom I started getting nauseous. I’ve been throwing up way too much lately. “Buah.” I puked into the toilet as I hugged it.

“Morning sunshine.” I heard Tony say.

“I feel like death. Buah.” I heaved some more.

“Let it out.” Tony said sitting behind me and holding my hair back. “What the hell happened to you?”

“Meds, lack of food and mimosas.” I groaned.

“You’re losing weight again.” I heard him mumble.

“I knew my jeans were a bit more baggy.” I said.

“Here, rinse.” Tony said handing me a water bottle. I did as he said and rinsed out my mouth.

“How long have I been out?” I asked.

“Six hours.” Tony said.

“Shit.” I said. “I had a date.”

“Yeah, Bruce is looking over your medical records but can’t find any records on this.” He said tapping my hand.

“Didn’t go to a hospital, free clinic close by, it was faster and since I was bleeding a lot I figured it would be better than waiting in an ER.” I said.

“So you’re back on the anxiety meds.” Tony said.

“Clint?” I asked.

“He may have mentioned you haven’t been sleeping.” Tony said.

“Just stressed, it’ll pass.” I said.

“You didn’t have brunch with Will he was here at work.” Tony said and I knew where he was heading with this.

“Yeah, Josh is planning a surprise wanted to meet up.” I lied. “Went to go see Rebekah and Kol after.”

“Uhuh, you want to try that again?” Tony asked.

“Not really.” I said waiting for my stomach to settle. The heartburn I was feeling right now was probably because I hadn’t really had anything to eat all day. I needed to fix that ASAP. I slowly tried getting up but felt pretty light headed. I started to sway but luckily Tony noticed and held me up.

“You need to get back to bed.” Tony said.

“No, I’ve slept enough. I’m really hungry.” I said.

“Jarvis, you heard her.” Tony said.

“Miss Adam’s usual order of Thai food is on it’s way up.” Jarvis said.

“Yay.” I cheered.

“You need to get checked out.” Tony said. “Helen’s still upstairs.”

“Stop worrying, I’m fine.” I said.

“Hales you showed up stoned after mixing Xanax, mimosas and painkillers. You could have overdosed.” Tony said.

“Fine let’s go.” I said starting to walk towards the elevator before I felt the room start spinning. “Oh bad hangover, really bad hangover.”

“Yeah, hang on.” Tony said putting his arm around me and supporting me as we walked into the elevator.

“Too bright.” I groaned.

“Give it a minute.” Tony said as the elevator started moving. We arrive in one of the R and D floors. Not sure which one, I never really bothered to venture down here. “Helen I have a patient for you.”

“Set her down over here” she said clearing an area. Judging from the look on her face I must look pretty bad.

“So you’re the famous Hayley. Tony and Bruce can’t stop bragging about you.” Helen said.

“Really? What exactly did they brag about?” I asked.

“You’re programming and hacking skills.” She said. “You’re severely dehydrated, need to start you on some IV fluids. I can take a look at that hand if you’d like?”

“It’s already stitched up.” I said.

“I think I can do better than that.” She said proudly sharing a look with Tony.

“Eh what’s the worst that can happen?” I said with a shrug. Helen shuffled around the lab and hooked me up to an IV with a saline drip my body absorbed pretty fast. Then she slowly pulled off the bandages from my hand. I winced as she pulled off the last of it that had some dried blood on it making it get stuck. Helen started muttering in what I think was Korean before grabbing surgical scissors. I knew what was coming next.

“I need to take out the stitched for the cradle machine to do it’s job. This might sting a bit, would you like me to give you a local anesthetic?” Helen asked.

“I think I’ve had my fill of meds for the day. Just do what you have to do.” I said.

“Alright.” She said. I heard snipping and felt a bit of blood drip out. About half way the pain got worse.

“hey, look at me. What’s the first place you’re going to visit when you get to London?” Tony asked trying to distract me.

“Honestly, I’m going to grab some fish and chips then I’m going to visit platform nine and three quarters at King’s Cross station.” I said.

“You’re such a nerd.” He said.

“Coming from the world’s biggest nerd I’ll take it as a compliment.” I said.

“Almost done.” Helen said.

“Definitely going to Italy, authenic Italian pizza and pasta, yum.” I said.

“It is. Tiramisu.” Tony said.

“Stop you’re making me hungry.” I said.

“Food should be here soon.” Tony reminded me giving my uninjured hand a gentle squeeze.

“I want to go to Amsterdam but during the spring to see all the tulips when they’re blooming. That’s on my bucket list along with Saint Patrick’s day in Dublin.” I said.

“Sounds fun. I might join in for one of those.” Tony said.

“You mean for all of those?” I asked.

“Maybe.” He said he said giving me his patented smirk.

“Just call before you head over, don’t want you crashing any orgy’s that may or may not be going on.” I said with the most serious expression I could muster.

“Well in that case I’m never going to let you know, when I’m in town.” I said as I heard a strange sound.

“You know that out of the both of us you’re the one that’s more likely to host an orgy.” I said.

“You’ve given this a lot of thought. No more mixing pills, especially if you’re going to be on your own.” He said.

“Did I forget to mention Rebekah is going to be in London branching out the family business overseas?” I said.

“No you did not. What exactly is her family’s business?” Tony asked.

“Exporting commercial goods and rare antiquities.” I said. It wasn’t exactly a lie. There was a legitimate side to the business that did that.

“Huh, is that what your mom did?” Tony asked.

“Yeah, mostly focused on sales though.” I said. Again not a complete lie.

“hey, you’re awake.” Bruce said as he walked in.

“I finally got a human subject.” Helen said.

“What?” I said hoping I hadn’t heard right.

“The regeneration cradle, the machine uses synthetic materials to create patches to fix wounds. Eventually your own cells will grow over it but the recovery time will be minimized.” Helen explained.

“Cool, How many people have you tried it out on?” I asked and everyone just exchanged looks. “I’m the first one aren’t I?”

“First human, congrats you’re patient zero.” Tony said.

“Can I see your results from the lab animal trials?” I asked wanting to know what I’m in for.

“Hales, it’ll be fine. All the lab rats survived.” Tony said.

“Tony.” Bruce said giving him a look. “By the way you may want to call Natasha. And Steve. And Clint.”

“Who spilled the beans?” I asked and they each pointed fingers at each other. “I’ll call them later, preferably on a full stomach. Speaking of Jarvis?”

“Your food should arrive shortly Miss Adams.” Jarvis answered.

“Ten more minutes and you should be good to go.” Helen said.

“Good to go as in good as new or with limitations?” I asked.

“Good as new but your sense of touch may be limited for the next few days as your cells grow over it.” Helen explained.

“That’s understandable.” I said.

The regeneration cradle prototype worked perfectly. I couldn’t even tell where I had been cut except for where I lack sensibility. Afterwards we all went upstairs and dug into a very late dinner. Helen had excused herself early on to go record the results of the first human trials.

“Sir there is an incoming call from Miss Romanoff.” Jarvis said.

“Put her through on the big screen.” Tony said.

“Tony, Krasivaya.” She said looking relieved once she saw me.

“Hey Nat, sorry for not calling you sooner I was knocked out then being used as a human guinea pig.” I said.

“What!” I heard someone shout.

“Tony!” I heard someone else shout. Natasha flipped the screen to reveal Clint and Steve sitting on an adjacent couch.

“Hey guys.” I said awkwardly.

“Hayley. Start talking before we get on a plane over there.” Steve said.

“It’s not a big deal, I was a clutz and the medicine I was given mixed with some mimosas and what I had already taken had some adverse side effect but I’m okay. I’m finally off the IV.” I said.

“You were on an IV?” Steve said.

“That’s it, I’m booking plane tickets.” Natasha said.

“Nat no, I’m okay perfect not a scratch on me. I said showing my healed hand.” I said.

“Hales put Bruce on.” Clint said.

“I’m right here.” Bruce said stepping into view.

“How is she really?” Clint asked.

“Dehydrated and low blood sugar from not eating all day but she’s fine. She’s eating and off the IV. She’ll make a full recovery.” Bruce said.

“Hales I’m not even gone a full day and you get in trouble.” Clint said.

“In my defense I didn’t do this on purpose shit just happened.” I said.

“What I still don’t get is how you went to not one but two Brunches and didn’t eat anything?” Tony said.

“Meds messed with my appetite.” I said with a shrug, “But I’m good I finished my pad see ew had like three bags of saline pumped into me and my cut’s taken care of, I’m good stop worrying.”

“Are you sure you don’t want us up there? We do have those extra vacation days you got for us.” Steve asked.

“No, save them for later.” I said. “I think I’m going to head back downstairs it’s getting really late and I’m beat.”

“You should get some sleep, you look exhausted.” Steve said.

“Thanks, I’ll call you guys tomorrow night.” I said.

“Night.” They all said before the screen went black and the call cut off.

“See you tomorrow.” I said kissing Bruce and then Tony on the cheek before heading back to bed.

Third Person’s POV-

Tony and Bruce waited until they heard the elevator doors close before speaking again.

“Jarvis reconnect the call.” Tony said. In a second the three avengers reappeared on the screen. “Any of you buy it?”

“No.” they all said.

“She’s hiding something.” Clint said. “There’s this uneasy feeling that doesn’t go away the only time I felt something like this was when she told us about her brother.”

“You think he has something to do with this?” Steve asked.

At that instant a light bulb went off in Tony’s head just as Bruce had the same train of thought.

“What?” Natasha asked.

“We thought she was going to brunch with Will but he was working all day.” Bruce said.

“Before she left she said she was meeting her brother…” Tony said.

“You don’t think…” Steve started.

“Cut on her hand, do you have a picture?” Clint asked.

“Jarvis?” Tony said.

“Image has been sent sir.” Jarvis said. Clint’s phone dinged and the look on his face said it all. Natasha took the phone and saw what Clint immediately noticed.

“That wasn’t a cut from falling on broken glass.” Natasha said. “How did you two not notice the bruises on her arm?”

“Bruises?” Steve said taking a look at the image. “Those are…”

“Bruises you get from someone grabbing you.” Clint said. “The scar on the back of her neck was made with a knife, same as the scar on her side.”

“She saw her brother, he found her.” Natasha said before letting out a string of Russian curse words.

“Shit.”