Never Alone Again |N.R|

When?

I woke up to Natasha shaking me vigorously, my body cradled in her arms. A look of relief lit up her face when my blue eyes opened to meet her green ones. After a few moments I became aware of the pain around my neck, a cough escaping my throat which was quickly followed by many more. I sat up to avoid choking, Natasha now lightly patting my back as they became less violent and eventually less frequent. "What happened?" I asked, still struggling for air.

"It was a trap Rue. Someone has taken over the Red Room already, and they were waiting for us." Steve replied, although I still looked at him with reluctance. He was a man with good morals, but he'd still thrown me to the wolves when I was at my most vulnerable. After giving him a light nod I finally looked around, realising we were back in the quinjet.

"The girls must've been told about us, because they were all prepared to fight. We'll have to find another way in." Clint continued, offering me a hand which I gratefully took. Once he'd pulled me to my feet I stood still and quiet for a few moments, rubbing my neck.

"Here, sit down Rue. One of the girls got a jump on you. She strangled you until you were unconscious." Natasha lightly ushered me over to a seat, which I reluctantly sat in. I didn't like to look weak in front of people, especially since a few of them seemed to be out for my blood.

"When do we go back in?" I questioned, totally disregarding Natasha's description of events.

"Rue, are you kidding? You've almost just been strangled to death and now you want back in" Natasha sent me a disappointed look as she spoke, totally taken aback by my determination to stay on course despite the massive failure of a mission we'd just escaped. I quickly turned my attention to Tony as he cleared his throat, preparing to speak.

"We'll need to rethink our plan, find out whose taken over for Madame B and then we'll go from there. This isn't going to be as straight forward as we thought." He had trouble maintaining eye contact with me, but despite the hard feelings I was grateful for his honesty about our situation. Tony understood my need for this mission to go ahead, and as soon as possible.

"Thanks." I replied to him curtly, trying not to give him too much because he wasn't truly forgiven. That would take a long time yet. With that everyone took their seats, Clint making his way to the cockpit as Natasha took a seat next to me. She sat there in silence for a while before finally speaking up, although I'd predicted what she would say.
"Rue, you told me that you'd be careful. That once we captured Madame B you'd actually start thinking of yourself and your safety." She stared at the side of my head expectantly as I tried to conjure up some excuse, but I didn't have one.
"I know." I took a pause, trying to think of how best to word the rest of my sentence. "It's just that, as long as I know there are still girls out there like me, like you, I can't stop. I have the ability to put an end to their suffering forever, and I can't live my life like normal until that's done. That's my purpose, why I was given a second chance and I need to fulfil that before I can even start thinking about myself." I hadn't expected to be so open with Natasha in the moment, but I needed to tell her my truth else she wouldn't stop fighting against me.

"I understand that Rue, but that doesn't mean you can just carry on doing these missions with no regard for your health. You could've died today, but that doesn't seem to bother you one bit." I sighed once she'd stopped talking, truly stumped for how to answer. She'd read me like a book, and I had no excuse to throw her way.

"I'm sorry, I just don't think." I looked at her now, hoping she'd see the genuine regret in my eyes at making her worry so much. I didn't mean to drag her down with me, but I just couldn't stop thinking and worrying about those poor girls. They deserved so much better.

"It's okay, just please stop and think in the future. I don't know what I'd do without you." I didn't say anything in reply. Instead I just leant my head against her shoulder, to which she quickly wrapped her arm around me and pulled me into her chest. It felt like I could finally breathe again, like I was safe enough to let my guard down.