Steve bristles a little at that, but it's not like she's rubbing it in. Just saying what was true.
"Sure," he replies with a humorless smile. "'Cut off one head' and all that." It will be a long time before they discover the full extent of Hydra's reach, and it's more personal than ever now. Steve may never get Bucky back, but he will hunt them until his dying breath for what they've done.
The TV drones on in the background as he starts on the food, eating slowly and methodically. About halfway through, his phone buzzes in his pocket. Steve wipes his hand on a napkin and swipes it open, feeling a little apprehensive, relaxing when he sees who it's from.
"Sam sends his regards." He also mentions Steve being needed back at the Tower, but it can't be urgent or Hill would have arranged for an extraction
Natasha loses interest in the food pretty quickly - instead she props her chin on her hand, elbow on the table as she regards Steve with her disconcertingly full attention. Raising an eyebrow as he brings out his phone, she says nothing for a full thirty seconds.
"It's not just HYDRA you're fighting now, is it?" She sits back, drumming her fingers absently on the edge of the table.
"How bad is it, Steve? Be honest with me." God knows she's never been fully honest with him, but he's a bad liar. It's painful when he tries; she'd prefer to avoid the headache.
"Bad," he says simply, because there's no point in being dishonest. "A lot of things have started crawling out of the woodwork." Not to mention the amount of red tape involved if the Avengers want to run themselves, especially considering their previous affiliation with SHIELD.
"We can't do as much as we'd like. What we can might not be enough."
Natasha's skill set would be more than a little useful, they both know that. Steve considers asking her one more time, but it might ruin whatever had prompted her to stop him leaving. He returns to his food instead and waits to see what she has to say to such vague information.
"And you're not going to tell me anything more about it unless I come back." Not a question. She reaches for her coffee; it's cold, but she takes a long drag from the mug anyway.
"You've picked up tips from Fury." Her eyes don't leave Steve's face. "Is he involved yet?"
And this may be the question that brings her back. Natasha knows she wouldn't have hesitated if the former Director himself came after her, but she also knows he wouldn't have been able to even if he wanted to. Steve's close in her circle of trust, but Fury is the epicenter of it.
"Hill won't confirm or deny that she's in contact with him, but we do have an unusually good overview of what's going in Europe."
Steve will never develop a taste for subterfuge, but he does understand the need for it from time to time. He's learned a lot from Nick Fury; respects the man for what he does, even though they don't agree on methods.
He meets Natasha's gaze steadily. "Would you come back if he was?"
Tellingly, she looks away after a few seconds. She'd thought Fury retired. How ill-informed she turned out to be. She wonders if she would've left had she known what Steve knows, and feels a bit bitter that she didn't know until now. But she'd sworn off this kind of life when she'd left...A mistake, considering this kind of life is all she has ever known.
"Yes," she says, sounding faintly surprised at her own answer. "But I think I'm going to come back regardless. I think we both knew that when I walked in the door." She sighs, resignedly, and finally meets Steve's gaze with a small smile on her lips. Probably the first genuine one she's managed in months.
Steve smiles back. "This wasn't some well thought out plan to bring you back, but I'm glad you think so."
They would be happy to have her back, of course. Stark had put a lot of thought into the tower redesign, and there had been quarters set aside for her from the beginning. Probably a new suit and upgraded weaponry as well, if what Clint had been greeted with was any indication. He looks forward to seeing her realize that she's not just needed on the team, but wanted too.
He polishes off the rest of the food and goes to the counter to pay. One of the people watching TV glances at him, a little too deliberate to be just an offhand look. Haircut and scruff or no, Steve's face had been splashed all over the news after SHIELD. He's not that hard to recognize if someone knows what to look for. They don't seem hostile, but he's not going to take that chance.
"Time to go," he says to Natasha as he returns to their table.
"I was wondering when you'd notice that guy," she says in a low voice as Steve returns. "He's been watching us this whole time."
For the moment, more immediate worries have eclipsed her anxiety about returning. Worries that have her gripping her Glock underneath her coat. She rises to her feet, letting go of it briefly to make her way with Steve to the door. The guy getting up to nonchalantly follow them doesn't escape her notice.
"How do you want to play this?" she asks Steve quietly out of the corner of her mouth. "I've had to put down a few interested parties these last couple of months, but if I know you, you'll be preferring something bloodless." She can still break a man's kneecaps without bullets, though.
"If possible," Steve agrees, setting a brisk pace down the road.
There are people around, too many witnesses for their tail to try anything, though if taking them out had been the objective, they wouldn't have been able to leave the diner so easily. Now it's just a question of who they are and what they want from either Natasha or himself.
The list of people wanting to track them is long, ranging from HYDRA to the government, or worse, the media. Their interest in the Avengers had never really died down after New York and had only spiked after the hearings.
"I'm thinking we can go get your stuff, and then have a chat with him on the way out of town."
"Fine." It's ambiguous enough - 'chat' can mean anything from 'talk' to 'breaking kneecaps'. She's done some of that since she left civilization. HYDRA had tailed her out of the city and she'd played a cat-and-mouse game with them for weeks before massacring them all. She knows she should probably feel guilty about that, but she doesn't. And she's not likely to speak to Steve about it, either.
There's a deep frown on her brow as she walks, tension in her shoulders, her hand always lurking close to her waistband under her coat. But she's silent until they get back to her motel room, and then it's a flurry of motion - throwing things into bags - mostly weapons, a couple of changes of clothes, a necklace she grabs from the bedside table.
"There's an alley next to the motel," she says to Steve as she shoulders her backpack. "Shortcut?" Her smile is shadowed, not a pleasant expression at all.
Not for the first time, Steve is grateful that Natasha isn't an enemy.
He nods, missing the feeling of the shield on his arm. He had left it in the car he'd arrived in, parked a few blocks away from the motel. It was too conspicuous to carry around even in the portfolio bag Steve used to hide it when he was off-duty.
She does, in silence, her shoulders tense and her movements suddenly precise, deliberate, like a coiled wire rests just under her skin. She won't ever admit it but she lives for moments like this. There have been a few since she left, but not enough. She needs the life, whether she can admit that to herself or not.
They reach the motel room, and it only takes Natasha five minutes to throw everything she owns in a backpack. Then she turns to Steve and gives him a nod. She's ready.
Their tail had been doing a terrible job of looking nonchalant, lingering across the road as Steve exits the motel and goes into the alley where Natasha will be waiting.
The man follows, of course, and finds himself pinned against a wall within seconds.
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boxedmuses2014-09-12 05:50 pm
no subject
"Sure," he replies with a humorless smile. "'Cut off one head' and all that." It will be a long time before they discover the full extent of Hydra's reach, and it's more personal than ever now. Steve may never get Bucky back, but he will hunt them until his dying breath for what they've done.
The TV drones on in the background as he starts on the food, eating slowly and methodically. About halfway through, his phone buzzes in his pocket. Steve wipes his hand on a napkin and swipes it open, feeling a little apprehensive, relaxing when he sees who it's from.
"Sam sends his regards." He also mentions Steve being needed back at the Tower, but it can't be urgent or Hill would have arranged for an extraction
no subject
"It's not just HYDRA you're fighting now, is it?" She sits back, drumming her fingers absently on the edge of the table.
"How bad is it, Steve? Be honest with me." God knows she's never been fully honest with him, but he's a bad liar. It's painful when he tries; she'd prefer to avoid the headache.
no subject
"We can't do as much as we'd like. What we can might not be enough."
Natasha's skill set would be more than a little useful, they both know that. Steve considers asking her one more time, but it might ruin whatever had prompted her to stop him leaving. He returns to his food instead and waits to see what she has to say to such vague information.
no subject
"You've picked up tips from Fury." Her eyes don't leave Steve's face. "Is he involved yet?"
And this may be the question that brings her back. Natasha knows she wouldn't have hesitated if the former Director himself came after her, but she also knows he wouldn't have been able to even if he wanted to. Steve's close in her circle of trust, but Fury is the epicenter of it.
no subject
Steve will never develop a taste for subterfuge, but he does understand the need for it from time to time. He's learned a lot from Nick Fury; respects the man for what he does, even though they don't agree on methods.
He meets Natasha's gaze steadily. "Would you come back if he was?"
no subject
"Yes," she says, sounding faintly surprised at her own answer. "But I think I'm going to come back regardless. I think we both knew that when I walked in the door." She sighs, resignedly, and finally meets Steve's gaze with a small smile on her lips. Probably the first genuine one she's managed in months.
"They were smart, sending you to retrieve me."
no subject
They would be happy to have her back, of course. Stark had put a lot of thought into the tower redesign, and there had been quarters set aside for her from the beginning. Probably a new suit and upgraded weaponry as well, if what Clint had been greeted with was any indication. He looks forward to seeing her realize that she's not just needed on the team, but wanted too.
He polishes off the rest of the food and goes to the counter to pay. One of the people watching TV glances at him, a little too deliberate to be just an offhand look. Haircut and scruff or no, Steve's face had been splashed all over the news after SHIELD. He's not that hard to recognize if someone knows what to look for. They don't seem hostile, but he's not going to take that chance.
"Time to go," he says to Natasha as he returns to their table.
no subject
For the moment, more immediate worries have eclipsed her anxiety about returning. Worries that have her gripping her Glock underneath her coat. She rises to her feet, letting go of it briefly to make her way with Steve to the door. The guy getting up to nonchalantly follow them doesn't escape her notice.
"How do you want to play this?" she asks Steve quietly out of the corner of her mouth. "I've had to put down a few interested parties these last couple of months, but if I know you, you'll be preferring something bloodless." She can still break a man's kneecaps without bullets, though.
no subject
There are people around, too many witnesses for their tail to try anything, though if taking them out had been the objective, they wouldn't have been able to leave the diner so easily. Now it's just a question of who they are and what they want from either Natasha or himself.
The list of people wanting to track them is long, ranging from HYDRA to the government, or worse, the media. Their interest in the Avengers had never really died down after New York and had only spiked after the hearings.
"I'm thinking we can go get your stuff, and then have a chat with him on the way out of town."
no subject
There's a deep frown on her brow as she walks, tension in her shoulders, her hand always lurking close to her waistband under her coat. But she's silent until they get back to her motel room, and then it's a flurry of motion - throwing things into bags - mostly weapons, a couple of changes of clothes, a necklace she grabs from the bedside table.
"There's an alley next to the motel," she says to Steve as she shoulders her backpack. "Shortcut?" Her smile is shadowed, not a pleasant expression at all.
no subject
He nods, missing the feeling of the shield on his arm. He had left it in the car he'd arrived in, parked a few blocks away from the motel. It was too conspicuous to carry around even in the portfolio bag Steve used to hide it when he was off-duty.
"Lead the way."
no subject
They reach the motel room, and it only takes Natasha five minutes to throw everything she owns in a backpack. Then she turns to Steve and gives him a nod. She's ready.
no subject
The man follows, of course, and finds himself pinned against a wall within seconds.
"Can we help you?" Steve asks lightly.