∆ {3¹} {GRAVESTONES} ∆

ROXI, AT THAT moment in time, wasn't too far from where Fury was 'buried', but she wasn't here to see his grave. Did it really matter if he was still walking around, live and well? But some people didn't come back from the dead. Phil Coulson, Howard Stark, and nor would the person who belonged to the name carved into the stone in front of her would be walking the earth now, like Fury was. It sparked a small amount of anger in her, which was overshadowed by a sense of cold grief washing over her. It wasn't new, but it didn't stop the raw pain she felt. She could clearly remember the day she got the call. It'd been a spring day, like it was now. The sun had been shining, the sky had been blue, the birds had been singing; it was all incredibly similar. And Roxi had been happy.

She remembered everything about it. She remembered the way she'd gotten back from a day of training at S.H.I.E.L.D and the way she'd started to make dinner as she waited. She'd hummed along to the songs on the radio and had been looking forwards to a night of soft chatting and watching Netflix. She remembered the way her phone had rang, barely audible over the radio, which she'd cranked right up to almost it's highest volume. She remembered the way she'd let it ring for a few seconds casually as she put the spatula down, picked it up without checking the number - a habit she'd picked up since - and answered. She remembered the way she felt her face drop as she heard what the person on the other side of the line was saying, and the way that as soon as the call had ended, she'd turned off her hob, slid on her shoes, fumbling, and rushed out of the room, forgetting her gun in the rush. She remembered the way she'd arrived at the hospital as the sun began setting, and the way she'd finally got to the room. She remembered the way that images had flashed through her head as she'd stared through the glass into the operation room, and she remembered the way that the room had been filled with a long, quiet beep that seemed to tear the air in half and split Roxi's world apart.

She flinched when her phone rang, and for a moment, the scene of the kitchen flashed in her mind, before she realised that it was her real phone, and that a real, alive person was actually calling her. Roxi brought the phone up and checked the name quickly before answering.

"Hey Ryder," Natasha's voice filtered through the phone smoothly. At some point in the last year, while she'd started coming here again, Roxi had realised what these butterfly feelings in her stomach were. It'd taken her by shock when the realisation finally dawned on her that she liked the redheaded assassin. It wasn't something she'd ever considered, but once it popped into her head, it made sense. She pushed all of her thoughts out of her head as she gulped thickly before responding.

"Hey Natasha." Her voice was softer than it'd been in a long time, and the raw emotion she held in it seemed to take the redhead by surprise.

"You okay? You sound a bit... emotional," Natasha joked. However well-intentioned it was, Roxi straightened up in her place (as if the redhead could see her) and calmed herself down so that her voice was cool and hard again.

"I'm fine." On the other end of the line, Natasha frowned at the other woman's sudden stiffness.

"Ryder," the redhead reprimanded her softly, shielding her eyes from the bright sun as she did so. She heard a quiet sigh on the other end of the line, before she got a reply.

"What is it?" Roxi asked more softly, the breeze blowing her hair - which was still dyed black - into her face, causing her to push it out of the way with a small amount of irritation.

"Stark's got a hit on a possible location for the sceptre, we need to get ready to leave," Natasha informed through the phone, smiling slightly at the ex-agent's more relaxed tone.

"Alright then," Roxi said simply, her gaze still fixed on the headstone.

"Seeya in a minute," Natasha lead playfully, completely expecting the response she got.

"Don't be late." They'd taken to saying the two phrases recently, and it made them both smile softly before one of them hung up. In this case, it was Roxi, knowing she had to get ready for the mission. The breeze blew harsher for a moment before she finally looked away from the gravestone. The name Ara Blackwell danced in her mind, even as she changed into her suit and was picked up by the quinjet, the cursive font embedded in the stone seemed to taunt her. Roxi hadn't been there to stop it, she couldn't save her. But maybe, just maybe, she could help keep Natasha safe, she reasoned as her eyes landed on the redhead.

Natasha must've felt her looking, because she turned around and smiled at Roxi before making her way over, her red hair set in a bob. Roxi liked the look on her, it suited the other woman.

"Hey," Natasha greeted, her eyes sparking slightly.

"It's been a minute," Roxi smirked at the redhead as she said it, her own eyes, glimmering with a trace of amusement. The redhead grinned back at her.

"And you're a bit late." Natasha was right; it'd taken her a little while to get back to her house and get changed, so she was later than she'd had liked to be. Roxi shrugged it off and picked her quarterstaff out of the weapons crate that sat near the back wall of the seated area that separated the cargo hold and the cockpit. It was the silver one she'd been given by Fury; they hadn't found the black one on the wreckage on the bridge, as far as she knew, anyway. She took a slight step back from Natasha, not wanting to accidentally hit the redhead's face with it as the weapon extended. She pressed the button, and the shafts shot out from the handle, and then the blades followed. She'd taken to checking her weapons after being reminded of a previous mission she'd had when she'd almost been compromised because her gun had become blocked halfway through.

"Ray?" Tony's voice injected into the air between then and Roxi rolled her eyes with such emphasis that it made her eyeballs ache. He'd taken to trying to guess her first name after he realised that she wasn't going to tell anyone it, let alone him.

"Stark, shut up and go away before I hit you over the head with this," she said icily, lifting the quarterstaff slightly. She'd started to find him less annoying, but she wasn't in the mood to deal with him right now. He gave her a slightly surprised look, but heeded her words and scurried off into a different corner. Natasha watched her analytically for a few seconds, before moving slightly closer to her, and asking in a low voice

"What's up?" Roxi met her eyes for a moment, before moving her gaze to her quarterstaff as she retracted it.

"Nothing." The answer didn't seem forced to Natasha, and that made her frown slightly. That only meant that the other woman was so used to denying what she felt that it was instinct for her to reply in such a way. But at the same time, she knew something was up. The little mood swings, the way something darker swum behind her icy eyes and the way she'd snapped at Tony were all little tells that let Natasha know that something was wrong. Natasha kept her gaze fixed on the other member of the Avengers until her eyes met Natasha's own, causing the other woman to let out a small sigh.

Roxi hadn't thought that she'd be able to slip her contemplation past the redhead, but she'd hoped to deal with it later, instead of now.

"Later," she said quietly, feeling quietly relieved when Natasha gave her a small nod in recognition. Instead, she now turned her attention to checking her other weapons such as her guns as she listened to the information that Cap was filling them in on. All of them were in the jet; it was one of the bigger models.

"All right, listen up," Steve began, his eyes watching Natasha and Roxi for a few moments before he started to pace around, "I know we've been searching for a while, but this location seems promising. All we have to do is get past the defences, and then we're on the home stretch. Strucker should be here too, so if all goes to plan, we'll take him into custody, grab the sceptre, and be home for teatime. We're going to Sokovia, so everyone be prepared to be a little cold. Ryder, Romanoff and Barton, you help me keep the HYDRA soldiers busy while Thor and Hulk take out their guns and bunkers and Stark, you grab the sceptre." The instructions rung around the jet, which had fallen quiet as the six of them listened to the Captain's orders. Roxi had paused in checking her guns halfway through, the mechanical clanking ringing a little too loud in her ears for her liking, and had set her gaze on Steve. They hadn't quite gotten around to mentioning her powers to the others yet, even after a year. There hadn't been a right time for it, so she was glad that Steve had put her in a position where she didn't even have to use her powers. She didn't want to become dependant on them as some others in the quinjet with them had; she wanted to be considered strong because she could fight, not just because she could manipulate metal.

Soon, they were whizzing over the snow-covered landscape of Sokovia, the naked trees clawing at the sky, as if beckoning them downwards to welcome them into the long, dark shadows cast by the pale sun in the bright sky. It seemed as if the world was determined for them to go to this fight, and Roxi found that strange. They landed a few minutes later, and as soon as the ramp opened, the chill seeped into the jet and she drew the leather jacket she was wearing (still Natasha's) closer around her body. She had no idea why Clint was wearing short sleeves in these temperatures. Bruce went out first, only standing in the snow for a moment before he grew into the Hulk, Thor following, before Tony flew out, now encased in his red and gold Iron Man suit. Steve set off next on his bike, which had been strapped to the side of the jet for the journey, then Clint, who smirked slightly at the swirling snow, muttered something quietly to himself before running out. Natasha and Roxi exchanged a glance, and the redhead seemed to understand the idea Roxi had, because she gave another small nod, and Natasha set off into the snow next, eventually followed by Roxi, whose breath fanned out in the air like a frozen cloud. As she began to encounter the HYDRA Agents, Roxi realised that she needed to focus on the battle, and shift guilt to the side. If she did this, she'd save hundreds of people, she realised, as she entered the fray.

{A/N:} This one's really quite short so sorry about that, but it's another introductory chapter and I didn't want to get into the film this chapter but I will next one. Thought I'd post an extra chapter seen as it's my other update day today and its also my birthday, so this is my present from me to you, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter. If I can write another one quick enough, I'll put another one up on Saturday, which I should be able to do. I also just realised that I'm starting to make a pattern of Roxi getting phone calls from Natasha in these introductory chapters (accidentally), would you want me to carry on with it or change it up a bit? Thanks for reading,

JabberJay_011

2080 Words

Written: 21 / 10 / 2020

Published: 21 / 10 / 2020