Red Room

RR42 Within These Walls

"Damn that looks a hell of a lot better." Natasha was helping Bobbi change her bandages after she woke up and couldn't help but be surprised at how good the incision looked. Most of the redness had gone away but the stitches still looked a little angry.

"Awesome," the blonde said bored. "Can I get up now? If I lay in this bed one more day I'm going to go insane." She hated laying around and doing nothing. She would rather be training or picking fights with Hunter. Plus, she hated showing weakness, especially in front of the Black Widow. Bobbi had heard stories where Natasha had been injured in missions and kept on fighting, never showing an ounce of pain. Bullet wounds, stabbings, being impaled by shrapnel from an exploding grenade...But those could just be stories, right? What about that one where she purposely stepped in front of a throwing knife, just so she could have it impale her so she could then pull it from her body and use it back against her attacker? There was video of that though. I wonder if she would really tell me if I asked? War stories always seemed to get a little more interesting each time they are told, especially if it's one where you were on the mission with the famous assassin. Damn those meds are messing with my head, stop doubting yourself Morse. Bobbi snapped out of it when Darcy called her out with that horrendous nickname.

"Barbie, you already are insane, going all that time without telling me you were hurt. So, as your punishment, you are banned for one more day before you can get up." The blonde agent reached over to a spare pillow and hurled it at Darcy. Darcy dodged it and missed the impact by barely an inch. "Hey now! Besides, Jemma said a few days, it's only been since yesterday morning that you had surgery. You really do have one more day anyways."

"One more day my ass," Bobbi mumbled with a slight grimace as her stiches pulled some from the movement of throwing the pillow.

"See," Natasha said as she reached over to the bedside table and shook out one of the painkillers from out of the bottle. "That hurt didn't it. Darcy is right, one more day and then you can move around, lightly, or so help me I will strap you to that bed myself."

"Ooooh kinky," Darcy joked before another pillow was thrown at her, this time with perfect accuracy and hitting her squarely in the chest by Natasha. Ignoring the assault, Darcy hopped over to Bobbi's bed and sat next perpendicular to her with her back against the wall. "Anyways," she began changing the subject. "Nat, you said your morning was eventful or something?"

"Uggggh do we have to do this now? I need a hot shower first, maybe a shot of vodka, or three." The red head sighed in discontent.

For the first time, Bobbi noticed her mud streaked pants. "Natasha, what happened this morning? Are Skye and Jemma okay?"

"They are fine, no trouble on the way to the jet. Skye gave me secured laptop also so I can get a message out to the team, letting them know we are okay." She saw Darcy smile, she had to be aching to let Jane know.

Before Natasha continued, she pulled the feather from out of her pocket and studied it for a moment. "I met a guy in a bar the night you two got here..."

"Look at that! Natasha the assassin meeting guys!" Darcy shut up after receiving yet another death glare from both Bobbi and Natasha.

"As I was saying, this guy came in and sat next to me at the bar. There were a bunch of old HYDRA agents sitting a table behind us telling old war stories. Aside from me, they were talking about 'a ghost' that just struts into HYDRA bases and takes them all out, no warning. He used to be ex HYDRA so now everyone pretty much hates the guy. No one seemed to know why he defected."

"What does this have to do with the random guy sitting next to you?" Bobbi asked.

"That's just it, he wasn't some random guy. I ran into him before leaving this room just hours before that. He was right outside of the door and before that, I could swear he was following me. It was too many coincidences. When I confronted him at the bar, he very subtly let me know he was 'the ghost' the old men were talking about."