The Widow's Daughter ✔︎

Chapter Thirty-Seven

When I'd finally come to consciousness, it was the next morning. I climbed out of bed, clutching my head, and brushed my hair back into a high ponytail, wincing as I found a massive egg-sized lump on my temple. Brushing my entire tub of concealer over it (which did literally nothing), I had a quick, painful shower, got dressed in my mission leathers, brushed my teeth, then headed downstairs to the breakfast bar.

"And... YOU get some toast!" 

I only just managed to catch an airborne piece of flying toast directed towards my head. "Hey!" I whipped around angrily to see who threw it, raising my eyebrows at Evie, who was depositing toast around the breakfast bar. "Evie, what're you doing?"

"Making sure you get fed," my sister said brightly, biting into a slice of wholemeal. "Toast is a very nourishing breakfast." 

She threw a piece of toast towards the ceiling and I heard a yelp. Looking up, I saw Peter dangling from the roof in his spider suit, a slice of toast in his outstretched hand. The rest of the Avengers were looking at us strangely from where they were all assembled in the corner of the room. Nat walked over to me and gave me a hug, smirking when she saw my attempts to cover up my injury. I glared and pushed her away. "Did you really have to knock me out?" I demanded angrily.

Nat pointed two thumbs at herself and grinned. "Natasha Romanoff."

I nodded sarcastically. "Yeah, yeah. I think that your parenting skills need a bit of work." I paused. "A lot of work."

Nat smiled but I could see the hurt in her eyes. "Well, now your ship name can be called Roman-I-got-hit-in-the-face-by-my-mum." She kissed my cheek and said, "We're leaving in ten minutes."

After a round of hugs with everybody - a particularly bone-crushing one from Bruce - me, Peter, Nat and Steve got beamed up into the sky using help from Thor's Bifrost bridge. We arrived in Ireland, standing in a street outside a large, flashy mall. Snow was gently drifting down in spiralling flakes out of the sky and I shivered in my cold, tight leathers. The sky was wolf grey and cloudy. Once Thor had left, Nat started digging around in a black bag Steve was carrying. She pulled out a blue zip-up hoodie and jeans and threw them to me; a flannel shirt and trousers for Peter. Steve was wearing glasses, a hat, and a T-shirt that read World's Greatest Dad and Nat was wearing a cream-coloured blouse and denim jeans. I went into an alleyway to change and emerged five minutes later dressed in what seemed like the world's daggiest hoodie.

Steve handed me and Peter American passports with photos of us on them, but with completely different names. I was Karen Rushman; Peter was Patrick Rushman. I looked at Steve strangely. "That's your cover," he explained. "If anybody asks - and they will ask - we are a family on a holiday going shopping. Nat's cover is Natalie Rushman and I'm Samuel Rushman." He glanced at Nat and grinned. "Just like the good old days."

Nat smirked. "Don't get full of yourself, Rogers, we were partners hunting a deadly assassin." She stopped smiling and turned back to Peter and I. "We'll have to infiltrate the undercover base through the back of an ice cream shop up on the top level. There will be guards who will most likely spot the resemblance between Holly and you, Kira, and put together the pieces that you're one of the Red Triplets. That's why I didn't want to bring Evie on this mission - they will be looking for two, not one, and definitely not a family of four going shopping, but we can never be too careful." She looked directly at me as she said, "I don't want either of you getting hurt. This is an incredibly dangerous mission and both Steve and I didn't want to bring you two along."

Peter shrugged. "We're stubborn."

I elbowed him. "I like to think of us as determined," I said, grinning. "The word stubborn has such negative implications."