MONSTER --- natasha romanoff x fem oc

Chapter 33

"Was there whipped cream on the hot chocolate?"

"What?" Freya turned her head to Natasha, lying next to her on the bed. "What are you talking about?"

"In your dream. I am trying to picture it right now."

Freya's heart warmed up and she gave Natasha a small kiss on the cheek. "Yes, there was."

"Mmh." Natasha closed her eyes and smiled. "Yes, I see it. We should definitely do that one day."

"We will. I-" She got interrupted by a knock on the door and Steve peeking his head in.

"I am sorry, is this a bad time?", he asked.

"Actually-", Natasha started, but Freya interrupted her. "No, it's fine, what is it?"

"I..." He entered the room and closed the door behind him. Freya sat up straighter and next to her Natasha did the same.

"What happened?", Freya asked, already expecting the worst.

"You better come downstairs and see for yourself."

Freya and Natasha exchanged worried looks before following Steve out of the room and down to the lab.

In there, everyone has already gathered around a table. When Natasha, Steve and Freya entered, they all fell silent and looked up from a screen.

"What's wrong?", Natasha asked no one specific.

Bruce cleared his throat and stepped aside so they could see the picture in front of them - and it made Freya's blood boil.

It was a picture of Strucker, lying dead in front of a wall which had 'Peace' written on it with his blood. In front of him, Freya could barely make out some metal - Ultron.

She clenched her fists. Everyone looked at her, waiting for her reaction, scared of what she would do now.

"I am sorry, Freya", Natasha said. "I know how bad you wanted to kill him." She reached out a hand and Freya pushed it away. Immediately she regretted it.

"I'm sorry, I'm just..." She hesitated. How was she feeling? Sad? Angry? Happy? Relieved? "I don't know what to say. I..." She clenched her fist and then relaxed it again. "I'm just a bit confused." She shook her head and turned around to the others. "What is this? How did you get it?"

"A message", Steve simply answered.

"And he did a Banksystemen at the crime scene, just for us", Tony added.

"This is a smokescreen", Natasha pointed out. "Why send a message when you've just given a speech?"

"Strucker knew something that Ultron wanted us to miss", Steve said.

"I bet he-", Natasha started, but interrupted herself when something popped up on the computer. "Yeah. Everything we had on Strucker has been erased."

Everyone turned around to Freya again, who just shook her head. "I am sorry, guys, I told you everything I know about him."

"We might still have something", Steve said and a few minutes later Freya found herself surrounded by boxes and papers, looking through it in the hope to find anything related to Strucker.

"Known associates. Baron Strucker had a lot of friends", Steve said.

"Well, these people are all horrible", Bruce added, not looking up from the stack of paper in front of him.

"Wait, I know that guy", Tony said and pointed to something in front of Bruce. Freya stood up from the ground where she'd been sitting and walked over to get a better look. "From back in the day", Tony went on. "He operates off the African coast. Black market arms." After a disapproving look by Steve, he added: "There are conventions."