Novi Grad, Sokovia

Spring 2015

No matter the anxious thrum of anxiety in her chest and the simmering anger that lingered in the back of her mind, Nadine was almost bewildered to realize that she was finding the assault on Strucker's fortress exhilarating...even—and she was on the verge of resenting herself for it—fun.

For so much of her professional life, at least when it came to her second life as the Ghost, she rarely got to really take advantage of her combat skills; it was very rare that she encountered a situation where she had any true need of them. Her round with the Captain in Prague a few days before had been the first real fight she'd had in years. She'd never been involved in an engagement like this; though it prepared her for it to some extent, adaptable as Nadine and her abilities were, her training wasn't meant for pitched battles. It was her skills as a sharpshooter that she used most often, given that her reputation generally relied on her proficiency as a long distance assassin over the more challenging close-quarter and intimate approach that many others favoured; it was far easier to take out another assassin from a distance, after all, and her ego was not wrapped up in the challenge of her hits, only the success of her missions.

She had missed fighting like this. The physicality of it, the fast pace, the adrenaline. It was a fine balance of calculation, instinct and trust in her own body's abilities that, for the most part, she had enjoyed even back in the Red Room. But in the years since she'd taken up the mantle of The Ghost, she'd had only a handful of situations arise where she had to resort to close-contact fighting of any kind, and even then, she was rarely given a good fight.

Well, she was certainly getting one today; the sheer numbers that they were up against made it challenging, even if Strucker's soldiers themselves were practically substandard, especially when compared to her and the Avengers. It felt good, simply letting herself go, letting the thrill of the fight and her sharp instincts take over.

Her long-ingrained discipline and regular training had kept her skills honed, and it was more than enough to help her keep up with the Avengers. More than enough that, between her and Natasha, the perimeter guardhouse never stood a chance, the two of them breezing through the building with ease and driving out with a stolen jeep with far less effort than it should have taken. More than enough that any of Strucker's soldiers she faced had no hope against her. More than enough to take on a tank and gun embankment of her own, the competitive side of her leftover from the driving environment of the Red Room not willing to be outdone by the Avengers.

Mostly Nadine just listened to the banter the Avengers team threw around at each other, reserving her focus for the fight. But every now and then she couldn't help but get drawn into the (mostly) good-natured bickering that the team aimed at each other. The odd quip was even thrown toward her, especially when she took advantage of the gun embankment she'd cleared and turned the high powered weapon toward another a couple hundred yards away, clearing a path for the Captain and Natasha to slip through the HYDRA lines.

As nice as it felt to be fighting, it felt—bizarrely enough—nicer still to be fighting as part of a team. She'd always worked alone, and she'd always been okay with that. Not that she'd had much of a choice, really. She certainly hadn't expected to be anything more than an outsider tagging along with the team.

But strangely enough, as the Avengers pushed closer and closer to the base, Nadine nearly felt like she was a part of their team. It was surprisingly easy to fight alongside them, Nadine instinctively falling into place among them as though she'd fought with them before. She'd never experienced anything like it, save when she and Natasha had teamed up all those years before.

It was almost as exhilarating as the thrill of the fight.

And it left her feeling like she almost—almost—belonged somewhere.

And that was a feeling she'd believed long since trained out of her.

Not that it stopped the anxious fear clinging like a slithering shadow in the back of her mind. She couldn't help the way she kept glancing up toward the base where it sat looking down on the small Sokovian city of Novi Grad. She couldn't just turn it off the way she'd been trained to, to compartmentalize away her frustration at being so close to getting her daughter back but still feeling a million miles away from her.

She knew Nina was up there. She just knew it. And the silent vow that she would get her daughter back repeated like a desperate mantra through her mind, fuelling her onward with a drive no previous mission had even come close to inspiring.

It was personal this time. And that made all the difference.

She was snapped back to the fight when Natasha barked out that Barton had taken a hit, only for Rogers to advise them all that there was an Enhanced in the woods as well.

As the Captain urged Stark to hurry up and get them past the energy shield—the metal-suited Avenger complying eagerly with a healthy dose his characteristic flippant remarks—Nadine's eye was caught by a HYDRA jeep roaring toward the embankment she was still perched upon.

Taking barely a heartbeat to consider, Nadine only shrugged to herself with a silent 'why not' before jamming an armed disc-charge from her belt onto the gun-base. With a running leap, she just barely cleared the embankment to land on the jeep as the mound with its gun was reduced to a flaming torrent of debris. She had barely touched down among the HYDRA soldiers in the jeep before she was springing into action.

In seconds she was sending the three soldiers flying from the vehicle, all but dragging the driver from the seat after kicking one of his fellows clear, sending the stunned soldier careening into the third to topple them both from the jeep. The driver put up a little more of a fight, but he was no match for Nadine, who easily dodged his attempt to keep her back before slamming him forward into the steering wheel and pitching him over the low door and settling herself into his seat.

A flash of lightning off to her left was more than enough indication where Rogers and Thor were. Having dimly heard the conversation going on between them and Natasha, Nadine was immediately wrenching the jeep around to intercept Rogers as he made his way up to the base. They'd said nothing about her, and Nadine had no intention of being left behind in the woods on clean-up duty.

"That's not going away anytime soon," Nadine heard Rogers mutter through her earpiece in response to Stark's quip about 'language' even as she manoeuvred her newly acquired jeep next to Rogers.

"Even having known them for as short a time as I have—especially Stark—yeah, even I know you're going to be living with that for a while," she piped up with a mischievous grin, unable to help herself. Rogers merely shot her an exasperated look before eying the jeep. Stifling an eye-roll, she gestured impatiently for him to get in.

"C'mon Captain. It's faster to drive than to run, even for you." Unexpectedly he grinned with amusement.

"Wanna bet?" The quip startled a laugh from Nadine as Rogers swung his powerful frame lightly into the jeep. Almost as soon as he landed, Nadine was hitting the throttle, sending them racing up the winding roadway up into the base.

The way was mostly cleared, Stark having taken out more than just the shield as he made his way into the base before them, but there were still plenty of HYDRA soldiers left for Nadine and Rogers to deal with. With little more than a glance at the other, the Avenger and the assassin both leapt from the jeep as Nadine sent it barrelling into the final gate left between them and the base proper. Both of them were rolling back to their feet in an instant, engaging with the HYDRA soldiers rushing to head them off.

In moments they had made their way into the base, picking off the remaining soldiers in their way. But even as her focus was locked on the fight, Nadine couldn't help the thrum of urgency beginning to grow in her chest; she was so close.

With a dull clang, Nadine sent the last HYDRA soldier headfirst into Roger's shield. The soldier had barely hit the ground before the Captain was focusing on their next moves, even going so far as to give her orders. But now that she was inside the base, Nadine was not the least bit interested in his idea to assign levels to search and clear. Nadine had one thing on her mind and one thing only: find Nina...

...and then kill Strucker and Katerina.

Not even sparing the Captain a glance, she turned to continue on down the corridor, only for a gloved hand to hook her arm, pulling her to a stop. Instantly she was spinning to fix Rogers with an incensed glare, wrenching her arm free, not that he'd been truly restraining her.

"You can't just go running off, Ryker," Rogers said firmly, ignoring the way she'd pulled irritably away. Nadine's glare didn't ease.

"You can't order me around, Rogers; I'm not part of your team. I'm just here to get my daughter back." Rogers' jaw tensed as she spoke, looking like he was restraining a few choice words for her.

"You're right, you're not an Avenger. But you asked to come along with us on this mission, so for today, you're part of our team, which means working with us, not rushing off on your own." Now it was Nadine's jaw tensing as he spoke, but he didn't let up even though his firm expression eased as he continued. "Besides, you'll get your daughter back faster if we're smart about this. You clear the lower levels; I'll take the upper ones."

As though anticipating her imminent interruption as he repeated his order, the Captain cut her off with a placating raised hand, "if I find her first, you'll be the first to know, Ryker. I'm not about to get in your way on that." Though she refused to let her challenging expression fade, Nadine couldn't help how the anxious frustration building in her chest at his orders eased with his assurance. Somehow she knew he was being utterly genuine when he said he wouldn't keep her from Nina, the words ringing with an unspoken promise.

With a mute nod, the blonde assassin took a step away from him before turning and grudgingly complying with Rogers' orders.

"And Ryker," Nadine glanced back at him again, biting back a frustrated groan at the second delay. The Captain levelled her with a knowing look, "I should probably remind you not to kill Strucker if you find him first." She nearly growled at him...until she noticed the faint, hard cast to his warm blue eyes and his specific choice of words registered through her impatience; she abruptly realized it wouldn't hurt his feelings in the slightest if she ignored that directive. And he'd said nothing about Katerina. She felt her lips curl of their own accord into a faint, cool grin.

"No promises, Rogers," she responded softly. He simply nodded once. Without another word he was turning and heading deeper into the base, leaving Nadine to do the same.

There was really very little resistance left in the base, the remaining soldiers she came across proving little challenge to the blonde assassin. Distantly, Nadine registered Natasha reporting that things had wound down outside the base and Rogers deciding that Hulk wasn't needed anymore. Not long after that Rogers sent out a warning of a second Enhanced and confirmed that Strucker was in custody but unconscious for the time being; Nadine had to fight back a flash of resentment at that development.

Even more worrisome, there was still no sign of Nina. It was getting harder to keep her anxiety in check the longer they went without finding her.

But as she was wrapping up her search of the lower levels and beginning to think about meeting up with the rest of the team, Nadine was suddenly on edge, her body instinctively going loose in readiness as a faint, fleeting prickle skittered across her skin.

In an instant her side arm was in her hand, the blonde assassin swinging around only for a sharp kick to knock the compact handgun from her grip, leaving her fingers stinging. But she was already twisting away as a dark-haired blur dove at her.

With a cry of frustration, Nadine's attacker spun, a flash of metal glinting in her hand, even as Nadine ducked to avoid another powerful kick, lashing out with her own leg to nearly knock her opponent off her feet. Even as Nadine straightened, hands rising into a loose guard before her, she was met with a pair of familiar dark eyes that she hadn't seen in a lifetime, but was suddenly immensely pleased to see.

"Hello Katerina."

A/N: Thanks for reading!

Be sure to vote and comment! I'm dying to hear your reactions!