Spider-Man: Duty And Loss Chapter 54: Worried

(Avengers Tower)

Natasha sat in the living room of the penthouse as the night sky reflected in her eyes. In her hands she held a small gla.s.s of liquor; the liquid was red and was a new recipe on the rise in clubs and bars. It was called a 'Black Widow'; the irony wasn't lost on her as she looked down at the red drink for a second.

Though she had to admit they had done a good job as she took another sip. Having the base of the drink made up of platinum Russian vodka was always a good start. Having heard of the drink just before getting here, it was lucky that she always kept a good stock of the vodka in the tower.

If Tony touched any of it, he knew what the consequences would be. Pulling her eyes away from the drink she continued to stare at the skyline outside. It was just visible from her current height, with the night sky dominating the rest of it.

There was something calming about looking at the night lights of the city at such a quiet time; it was around 1 am right now. The fall of s.h.i.+eld had happened a few hours ago, there were a lot of things she would have to do going forwards, but that could be dealt with tomorrow. She didn't get many chances to relax like this, not in front of a window anyways.

But knowing Tony and having checked herself, all the windows were bullet proof and if someone wanted to look in from outside they would find the windows so tinted it would be impossible to sight a target.

Right now there were a lot of thoughts racing through her mind, but it mainly resolved around what happened the last few days. Finding out that s.h.i.+eld had been infiltrated by Hydra had been a big mental blow for her, though she didn't show it.

She had joined s.h.i.+eld because she thought it was an organization for good, a place that took down terrorist and stopped threats to the world. Finding out that it was no different than the Red Room had truly left her lost.

Her thoughts spiraled as she went over ever mission in her mind, trying to figure out which missions truly left a good lasting impact, had she ever been used by Hydra without her knowing? Better yet where did she want to go from here?

She had been an operative for so many years, a peak a.s.sa.s.sin that got the job done when most others couldn't. Now she had no organization, no mission heading forwards, it was for her to decide now and if she was being honest with herself that thought scared her a little.

So she continued to sip her drink lowly, pouring a refill every now and then as her thoughts drifted over and over again.

As she raised her hand to take another sip of her drink, it froze as a memory came to her mind. The times she had been spending with Steve, the talks about moving on, the talks about getting a life, about life after the job, after the...

At that moment those small talks came to the front of her mind and she truly started to think about them, she had no reason to get back in the game; she had no reason to continue the life she had right now. But it was all she knew; could she have a steady life outside of it?

Getting to know Clint didn't count, he was about the only person she got along with, she didn't even trust Nick as much as she trusted Clint, and he was like her, an operative on the lines. Nick might have once been like them, but he had changed as he became the director of s.h.i.+eld, him and her wouldn't trust each other fully, ever, it was too much of a liability.

Speaking of Clint, he was the perfect example, he was just like her, but he has somehow made a life, had a wife, kids even. Something that no one else save, possibly Fury would know about, or could; it was too dangerous to have a family in their line of work, but he made it work.

Though sometimes Natasha thought about ways she could convince him to leave their life behind, he had them to go back to, he couldn't die out on a mission and leave them behind. She had promised to herself she would never let that happen. She would rather die than let that happen.

As her thought continued to think about the possibilities the image of a person appeared in her mind, their clothes were ragged, the eyes slightly hollow, but there was always a small smile that made its way through.

His eyes sometimes showed hurt but he had made her laugh whenever he could. Her thoughts began to think about a life with that person, giving his hair a proper cut, adding a brighter twinkle in his eyes, seeing his face when she or he made it home, a little girl with red hair running around in a back yard….

Natasha sat up abruptly almost spilling the contents in her drink as her eyes went wide. 'What the h.e.l.l was I just thinking about?' She was shocked at what she had just been thinking, that hadn't happened before, ever.

She shook her head as she focused her scattered thoughts and put down her drink. The thoughts had brought something to mind, something she had almost forgotten in the hectic last few days. The safety of that boy who lived on a bench.

"Peter, I hope you are ok." Natasha whispered that to herself as she stood up and took her drink over to the sink. She would go and check out the park over the next few days, hopefully he turned up to set her fears to rest. If he didn't she would….. 'No he's fine.'

And with that thought she moved out of the lounge heading off to her room to catch some sleep, it was already 3 am. She had things to do in the morning.

(Xavier Mansion)

"Professor….Professor!" Charles Xavier shook his head as he regained his clarity, looking up at the source of the noise he saw Hank standing next to him, his blue figure holding out a file towards him. "Yes?" His mind was muddled for a second before he reached out and grabbed the file.

"I said; here are the results of Laura's medical exam." Charles gave a slow nod. "Yes, Yes thank you." Hank had a worried look on his face as he stared at the man and his wheelchair. "Are you Ok Professor?" Charles looked up and gave hank a smile as he looked over the file.

"Thanks for the worry Hank, but I'm fine. I'm just concerned that Laura and Jean haven't woken up yet, they should have by now." Hank rubbed his chin as he also thought of the matter. Both of the women should have woken up sometime during the day, at least a few hours ago each, but they were still asleep.

At first it was considered nothing, but Jean had been asleep for over 24 hours now, and Laura was also about to reach that number. Scott was getting very anxious himself, going to Jean's room every hour. Hank could find nothing wrong with them himself, they were just sleeping.

But for some reason they didn't respond to any outside stimulus, they couldn't be woken up, but they weren't in a coma. It was truly a vexing problem for the scientist. There had been a suggestion to wake them up using the Professors physic powers, but they hadn't gotten that desperate yet.

Finally Hank replied. "They'll be alright Professor." Charles gave a half hearted nod as he continued to read the file, talking to himself. "So she has the same healing factor as wolverine…but her bones aren't coated in Adamantium, only the claws?"

Hank gave another nod. "Yes, I found that a bit weird myself, seeing as she is nearly exactly the same as Logan. Their genetic makeup is also an almost 100% match, except of course she is a female. Actually they are so close that I'm afraid that she might not actually be Logan's Daughter."

Charles was taken aback for a second at the revelation before his scientific mind processed what had been said and he looked down at the numbers on the page. "A clone?" Hank gave a solemn nod. "That might be the only explanation." Charles looked into the distance for a few seconds lost in thought.

"Logan is not going to like hearing this. " "No he won't." Charles started to move towards the door. "Thank you for the information Hank, I'll talk to you later." Hank gave one final nod before Charles left, it was getting late. He was going to bed.