Stained (N.R)

Chapter 16

After five months of turning HYDRA bases into rubble, Nick treated me to a tour around Dr. Helen Cho's science lab. 

She was a renowned scientist in genetics, and was immensely interested in my automatons. For her magic did not  make any sense, and so for the rest of two months, we curled up in her science lab, conducting research on my powers. 

I hadn't contacted Natalia in seven months. I simply never carried any electronic device. I didn't want her to ask me how my so called vacation was going. 

It was going horribly. 

Nick wanted me to know Helen for more than the technology. I knew it, and I thanked him for his efforts. 

Helen was intelligent, beautiful, and a great intellect. Yet somehow, I still could not forget Ilya's flame like hair and ocean green eyes, her slightly husky voice and her stubborn nature.

 I thought back to Fury's catechism a few weeks back. 

"Why all the ghost soldiers in New York," he huffed. "You are not one to care about civilian damage?"

"You still haven't given up trying to make me predictable?" I snorted.

"Humour me," he shrugged. "I'd like to think I'm getting close."

I pursed my lips. "Natalia... She's that kind of person who'd doubt herself after every incident. She'd... be guilty about the loss of civilians. She is insecure about not having a super power or something like that, you know. So I wanted to minimize the damage."

"And decide not to join the Avengers?" He pressed on, a smirk on his face.

"Teamwork is not my thing." I focused my eyes on Diana's card, which I spun around my fingers. 

"You worked well with them in New York." He commented.

"And got myself bedridden for two years." I snorted.

"And with Rogers?"

"I work well being an outlaw, Nick. I only helped him with how to hide from government officials." A lie, and he knew it.

"He says you are a friend."

"Who said friends had to be teammates?" I argued. "Speaking of friends, I barely know Thor, Banner and Barton."

"You would have, if you stayed."

"I don't want to know them well, Fury."

"Katyusha?" A familiar soft voice asked as a hand waved across my eyes. 

 "Helen?" I jumped slightly, and the doctor gave a smirk. 

"Some new reports came in about Diana, I was a bit puzzled about some of the qualities of the metal and the energy which combined with them. There was no distinguishable science in the magic but there was some trace of structure resembling a DNA strand so...." She paused, leaning towards me slightly. "I might require some assistance."

"Help maybe the appropriate word here, Helen" I grinned, gesturing towards the lab. 

"Oh no, not help," she insisted, her smirk growing into a smile. "Your assistance will make the process slightly faster. That is all. My team and I can definitely figure it out on our own."

"Alright, Miss Intelligent person, lead the way." I sauntered after her as she walked towards the lab, laughing. 

Three hours later.....

"See, if we zoom in here, the structure in which the magic constructs inside her...."

"Dr. Cho," a man scurried towards us. "Mr Stark just contacted us, one of the members are badly hurt. They want us to go over to the tower now."

"Prepare the cradle for transport." She ordered, striding towards the entrance, then turned to me. "I need you to come with me on this one, to get some comparative results on structure and energy levels in different human structure."

I followed in tow, nodding absently,my eyebrows knitted. Could it be Natalia? There was a one in six chance that it could have been her. 

I wanted to kick myself. Half a year I haven't seen her, walloped in my own self pity.  I've forgotten how dangerous the world was and left her to face it on her own. 

So I started to question myself, angrily. 

Why was I not with them. 

Oh, because I was jealous of the angry green bean called Bruce Banner.

Why was I jealous. 

Because I love Natalia.

Will the love go away.

No, it had been there since I've first seen her. 

Is avoiding her going to change anything then?

No.

And what should I do next?

Get my ass to her side to protect her.

With a mind made up, I strode into the lab to find the team assembled there, and Barton groaning at his left arm. 

'Hmmm,' my cowardly mind rounded back on me. 'She's fine, she's safe, mayday, disappear.'

Then, before I could make my escape, I was crushed into giant hug. 

"Kid." 

"Hey Stark." I patted his back. He pulled back and smiled. 

"We've been trying to find you everywhere. We have this little party coming up soon. You are invited."

"You were trying to find me for a sake of a party?" I freigned hurt. 

"We were trying to find you because you are a friend." Steve patted me on the back. 

Bruce nodded shyly at me and Thor grinned and waved, even Barton gave me a thumbs up.

Then, I saw Natalia stalking towards me, like a really angry mama tiger. Helen was looking over her shoulder at me, an eyebrow raised. Apparently Natalia had just finished a little chat with Helen, and by the looks of it, it was about me.

"Ilya," I took a step back. "I can expl..."

'Crack'

She slamed me into the tiled floor, her hands around my neck, her green eyes bright with anger. "You better explain, do it quickly. I've been losing a lot of patience recently."

I fake a smile, giving Tony a 'help me' look. 

He shrugged. "No can do, kid, Romanoff is much too scary for me."

"When you told me you would be taking a break, I didn't think that meant throwing your phone into the ocean and disappearing for seven months." Natalia hissed. 

"I don't work well with electronics." I argued weakly. 

"You are in a lab filled with electronics." Natalia's eyes narrowed dangerously. "You worked in a tower filled with electronics for years."

"I'm not an Avenger, Ilya." I sighed. "You guys didn't need me."

She gritted her teeth, "that's exactly why we need to talk."