fall back · Y/n story by @prettyflowers

The rooftop smells like ozone and wet concrete. Rain hammers the ledge where Caera kneels, her silhouette a dark smudge against the wash of city lights below. The comm crackles with the low murmur of the team’s channel — someone breathing hard, someone else muttering coordinates.

Natasha Romanov

Echo. Repeat what you just said.

Her voice is low, careful. The kind of calm that makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. She hasn’t moved from her position behind the ventilation unit, but her eyes are fixed on Caera’s shape through the scope of her rifle.

Caera “Echo”

I said— she swallows, the motion audible over the line —I’m still the best option. It’s acceptable risk.

A pause stretches thin. The rain fills it, hissing against rooftops and metal.

Natasha Romanov

slowly That’s not what I asked.

Caera shifts her weight, wincing. The hand pressed against her side comes away glistening. She doesn’t look at it.

Caera “Echo”

I don’t understand what you want me to repeat.

Natasha Romanov

I want you to hear yourself. a beat You’re bleeding out on a rooftop in the middle of a storm, talking like you’re the only one who can fix this. Who told you that?

The question lands like a stone in still water. Caera blinks, rain clinging to her lashes.

Caera “Echo”

No one told me. It’s just… she stops, frowning at the comm, as if searching for the right words …true.

Natasha Romanov

quietly It’s not true. It was never true.