BEAUTIFUL CRIMES ▹ Mama!Nat

SIXTEEN. in which the mind is the strongest muscle

[ BEAUTIFUL CRIMES ]
chapter sixteen; in which the mind is the strongest muscle

❝ You sound like you killed somebody.
Tell me you didn't kill somebody. ❞

SHE SUPPOSES IT'S A REASONABLE HOUR OF THE DAY, as other people are inside, reading or using the computers. The Asian assassin ends up beside an older man. His pale skin is littered in wrinkles and liver spots, and he has a hunch that makes him look more timid than he actually is.

I'm not even sure how he's still here. She thinks cruelly.

Adelina logs into the computer, her fingers moving on their own. She doesn't even know what she wants to type. Her brows furrow when Tony Stark's phone number appears on screen. Her eyes flit to the search bar-

'ttony statk phone #'

Why her fingers wanted to look that up, she has no idea. Adelina sighs softly, looking over to find that the older man had left at some point. Her shaking hand reaches out for the little phone that the older man must've forgotten to grab. It's an older model, she's not even sure how the hell it's still in service. Still, she pushes her dark hair out of her dry eyes before dialing the number into the phone.

Adelina listens as the phone rings. Her heart is pounding louder than the phone is.

She shuts her eyes tightly when there's no response.

Another dial. Another round of ringing. Another sigh when there's no response.

So, she calls again. And again. And again.

There's. No. Response.

Go to the Red Room. Dreykov will forgive you if you forgive yourself.

Call again. Just call again.

Dial. Ringing. Nothing.

What are you doing? Are you trying to rat yourself out? Just accept that this is a hoax number and move on!

Call again! Call 'til your damn fingers fall off!

Dial. Ringing. Nothing.

The marble is cracking. What are you doing?

Don't give up, just redial, it's not that big of a deal.

Dial. Rin

⧗ ⧗

"Mr. Stark," A slightly nasal, feminine voice comes through Tony's office phone. "There's a Maine number that can't seem to stop calling this line."