Avengers: Altruism [N. Romanoff]

4. Crazy Cat Lady

CHAPTER 4
Crazy Cat Lady

February, 2004

Claire moved round the kitchen counter, placing a mug onto the pile of dishes. Her phone had lit up in the corner of the small room, a notification blinked for the hundredth time that morning.

Her gaze wandered over to it for a second, before she turned back and switched the hot water on to start getting rid of her pile. She wanted to avoid acknowledging those trying to get a hold of her, she wanted to avoid replying to messages, and she wanted to avoid her birthday.

When the first plate was dropped into the water, a pounding on the door caught her attention instead. Her head whipped to look behind her, past the single couch and early 90's television set. Slowly, her hand inched towards the bread knife, and she rolled down her sleeves. As cautious as possible, she stuck her back to the wall and placed her hand on the doorknob.

"Come on, Houdini. Let me in!"

Claire let out a giant sigh when she heard her older sibling's voice, she had never felt so relieved to listen to the squeak in her tone. The newly eighteen year-old peeled herself off the wall, and started to undo her locks that kept her hidden in the four walls around her.

"Surprise! Happy Birthday!" Cassia O'Connor wore a grin that stretched to either ear as soon as the door swung open, but then she noticed what her sister was holding, "What the hell do you need a knife for?"

"What the hell are you holding a kitten for?" Claire's eyes narrowed to the puff of fur in her sisters arms, a small cliché bow wrapped around its collar.

"Would you believe me if I said it was just an uncanny stuffed animal?"

"No," Claire shook her head at the mad woman.

She should've realised it would be her sister trying to break into her home that morning, she was the only person Claire had trusted with her home address. Since a month ago when she had an encounter with an inconspicuous Phil Coulson, it had felt like everything in her life had been thrown into a washing machine, spinning round and round...

After Social Media digging, and NYPD research, Claire and Cassia had discovered that William Thorton did not exist and nor had he ever. With the bad thought blocking the light in their minds, Claire had taken it upon herself to listen to Phil's words and isolate herself from the world. There was a reason 'Mesmero' had taken her under his wing, and she was going to find out why for herself.

She wasn't able to tell her parents the truth, no matter how hard she wanted to. With the closest person in her life already knowing, that was one person that could be used against her. Instead, she told them she was enrolling herself into an online school, dropping out of her high school, and working for a further degree. They claimed it impossible, but they had never met Phil Coulson. With one phone call, he had managed to set her up with a small apartment fit for one person, and a study for degrees in psychology and hypnotherapy with 'S.H.I.E.L.D's' academy.