Berlin, Germany

Spring 2016

Natasha could feel a headache coming on. A bad one. Yes, she'd been hoping Nadine would make it out, but everything else that had happened?

That she had certainly not been hoping for.

Things were going from bad to worse.

Not to mention she was rather starting to wish that Steve had taken Nadine up on her offer to get rid of Secretary Ross...

She'd never been a fan of the man. Not knowing what she did about him. Not knowing how dogged he could be, or unscrupulous. His past with Bruce alone made those traits perfectly clear. Nadine had been completely right when she'd said he was one of the worst options to bring the Accords to the Avengers. Truthfully? She was rather certain that Ross was a big part of the reason Steve was so staunchly against them.

Especially once it had been announced that Ross had been nominated and appointed to the UN Committee set to work with the Avengers for the next term.

That had been troubling. But it was reality, and there was nothing to do but deal with it. And that's what she and Tony had been doing. They had negotiated for Rhodey to be on standby in case Steve, Sam and Nadine had shown up in pursuit of Barnes to keep things from escalating. Good thing too, as it turned out. Tony had even laid the groundwork for Sam and Steve to be forgiven for what had happened in Bucharest.

But now that Steve and Sam had slipped away? Now that they were in the wind with Nadine and Barnes?

Now that everyone knew who Nadine was?

Bad to worse was an understatement. What little credibility the Avengers had left was quickly eroding away and Steve acting the loose cannon and acting against the Accords was not helping in the slightest. It was bad enough that Nadine's past had come to light and that the UN Committee was dangerously close to reprimanding the Team for turning a blind eye to the fact that she was on just about every wanted list imaginable and letting her stick around without turning her in. But Steve's open rebellion was making it all a hundred times worse. It was turning the Committee quickly over to Ross' point of view that The Avengers were too independent; as it stood, he was now the shoe in to be chosen as the chair of the Committee. Natasha squashed the uneasy feeling deep in her chest that was growing stronger and stronger with each new twist in the road they were coming up to.

They needed to contain this. They needed to get Steve and Sam to come in. They needed to fix this.

Or the Avengers risked being disbanded.

That much was clear in Ross' very body language.

"I don't suppose you have any idea where they are?" the former General said slowly as he circled the conference room table, the thread of accusation in his voice only barely perceptible, but there. Natasha fought against the way it set her teeth on edge. It was like he was stalking Tony, sniffing for weakness. She needed to play nice, she reminded herself forcefully, or they risked getting shut out too.

"We will," Tony said with calm confidence, without a trace of his usual flippancy or dramatics. He looked it too, despite the fact that he was a mess; his shirt collar opened and stained with drops of blood, bruises blooming dark and nasty around his right eye while blood crusted along his hairline. Yet he still managed to look composed. Barely. Natasha could see through the façade, through to just how shaken and impatient he was. Mercifully, Ross didn't seem to see it. Not so far as she could tell, at least. "GSG-9's got the borders covered," he continued, "Recon's flying 24/7. They'll get a hit. We'll handle it." But no sooner was Tony finishing his piece than Ross was speaking.

"You don't get it, Stark," Ross objected dispassionately. "It's not yours to handle. It's clear you can't be objective." And Natasha's stomach twisted, threatening to sink as her gaze snapped from her absent observation of the techs working outside the conference room to Ross. She kept a firm hold of herself, though, halting the dismay and unease that threatened to furrow her brow. She would keep her head. She needed to keep her head and not let her emotions run the show. Too much depended on staying rational through this. "I'm putting Special Ops on this," Ross finished with an air of authority. And Natasha couldn't keep her mouth shut. That suddenly sounded like the worst idea imaginable. He had seen what had happened in Bucharest, right? It was a miracle no one had been killed.

"What happens when the shooting starts?" she asked, unable to quite keep the bite out of her voice. "What, do you kill Steve Rogers?" Ross fixed her with a harsh look. But Natasha wasn't cowed. She'd been capable of withstanding far more threatening looks before she'd even hit puberty...

"If we're provoked." Ross countered irritably, nearly glaring at Tony as her friend tenderly settled into one of the conference room's mesh-backed chairs. "Barnes would've been eliminated in Romania if it wasn't for Rogers. There are dead people who would be alive now. Feel free to check my math." Natasha's temper sparked, especially at the blunt admission that the plan had never been to take Barnes alive. Oh, she was very tempted to check his math...

If it hadn't been for Rhodey stepping in, Steve, Sam, Barnes and Nadine would've torn through the GSG-9s as though they were no more than paper.

And really, they had been doing just that. Natasha had read the preliminary incident reports as they'd come in. There was no doubt that the GSG-9s sent in in Bucharest had been out of their league with Barnes alone, much less against all four of them. It was only T'Challa's interference that had held them up long enough to be cornered and brought in. If the Wakandan Prince hadn't been involved?

Natasha had no doubt the four of them would've long disappeared by now. And if they had?

There was a good chance the fiasco barely a couple hours previous wouldn't have happened at all...

Now wasn't that a seditious thought...

One she kept to herself, though she was only barely able to restrain the urge. Right as the thought might be, it wouldn't actually help anyone to say it aloud.

Mercifully, Tony spoke up, cutting Ross off himself before her thoughts had a chance to make a break past her tight control, giving her a chance to wrestle them back into submission.

"All due respect, you're not going to solve this with boys in bullets, Ross," Tony countered, fixing Ross with a hard look of his own. "You gotta let us bring them in." Natasha had to force in another calming breath at the way Ross only barely restrained fixing Tony with an all out scathing glare.

"How would that end any differently from the last time?" the Secretary challenged, his voice laced with clear contempt as he stepped forward to loom over Tony. Straightening, Tony's eyes flashed, his temper coming perilously close to breaking free. If the situation weren't so serious, Natasha might very well have been tempted to smile. Tony really had grown up. It had never been clearer than in this moment.

"Because this time, I won't be wearing loafers and a silk shirt," Tony declared tightly, meeting Ross' gaze head-on. "72 hours, guaranteed." Ross' eyes narrowed in thought. Natasha could practically see his mind working without even needing to see his face, balancing risk and reward and how likely he thought Tony was to get results.

She didn't like the way he was standing over Tony as he did.

"36 hours," he conceded. Natasha frowned. She very much didn't like how...accepting Ross nearly seemed. Frankly, she'd anticipated more pushback from him. But the feeling faded as he continued, a chill skittering across her skin. Her gaze dropped to her lap, her focus on controlling her breathing, suddenly fighting to keep her flash of unease and panic carefully hidden away. "Barnes," Ross listed contemptuously, beginning to pace toward the door, punctuating each step with a name, "Ryker. Rogers. Wilson." Natasha fought back the urge to react. Especially since she could feel Tony looking to her at the way Ross nearly spat out her sister's name.

"Thank you, sir," Tony called after the former General even as the door swung shut behind him, the words quick and absent, as though they were an afterthought. And considering his suddenly shuttered features as she looked up to him? Natasha couldn't say she'd be surprised if they were. The billionaire let out a shaking breath then, his posture slumping as he leaned forward, a riot of emotions flashing in his eyes as he rubbed at his breastbone. She was suddenly and unaccountably reminded of a drowning man as she watched him process what had just happened, what Ross had just agreed to.

What he now had to do.

After a moment he all but jerked, his dark eyes snapping up to Natasha. "My left arm is numb, is that normal?"

Natasha nearly smiled at the glimpse of the pre-Accords Tony breaking through with the seemingly random statement. Though harder to read than he usually was in this moment, there was still no mistaking the flash of unease and trepidation—even fear—she saw flickering across her friend's face even as he blurted out one of his characteristic non-sequiturs, his instinct to deflect via theatricality when he was feeling vulnerable returning in full force now that they were free from Ross' presence. Standing, she crossed around the table to his side, looking out over the command centre as she laid a gentle pat on his shoulder, letting her hand linger in a small, silent gesture of commiseration with what they both knew he'd left unsaid.

He didn't want this. Any of this.

And he certainly didn't want to have to go after Steve.

"You alright?" she asked softly, giving into the urge to ask now that she finally had the opportunity—or rather, the privacy—to do so. It was an open question, one he could answer however he deemed best; physically, emotionally or otherwise. She knew he was hurting in more ways than one. It was written clearly in every line of his body and across his face no matter how adept he was at hiding it all away; he'd always been far better at hiding what he felt than most people gave him credit for. She felt him tense minutely beneath her palm before slumping further. She swallowed back a sigh, looking down at him, carefully considering even the smallest, most unconscious cues he gave.

He was tired. And she couldn't blame him. Their life, their chosen role as Avengers even without being complicated further as it by the added demands of The Accords, was wearing on him, weighing heavier on his shoulders with each passing day.

For a split-second, she nearly thought candour might win out as he hesitated to answer. But then he seemed to shake free the melancholy that had settled around them both without their notice. Natasha withdrew her hand as she noted the shift in him.

"Always," he answered almost flippantly, the careless ease she was used to seeing in him emerging even if it was slightly dimmed. The corner of her lip nearly quirked as she straightened too, absently flipping her hair back over her shoulder as she looked back out over the JCTC's command centre as her thoughts circled back to the task looming before them. Dread threatened to pool in her gut as she considered what Tony had committed them to. Evidently, Tony's had done the same. "36 hours," he murmured mostly to himself, "jeez..." She nearly faltered as the gravity of their task settled around her, her mind already kicking into gear as she considered their objective and their options for ways to achieve it. Their biggest obstacle after the fact that they were being forced to go up against their friends—their family—was glaring and immediate to the redhead.

"We're seriously understaffed," she pointed out dryly, looking down to Tony. It needed to be said, even if she knew he was just as well aware of the fact as she was. It was written all over his face and the way he barely restrained a grimace.

"Oh, yeah," he agreed instantly, hiding the reluctant expression with an—almost—roguish smirk as he leaned back to meet her eye. "It'd be great if we had a Hulk right about now." Natasha nearly chuckled at the half-hearted teasing, her lips curling into a fondly exasperated grin before she could help herself. "Any shot?" She shook her head even as another idea was beginning to form, looking back to him from the now abandoned office she'd found herself looking at as she'd thought.

"No. You really think he'd be on our side?" she asked right back, only half joking. It was so slight she nearly missed it, but his expression dimmed just enough that it was clear he knew precisely what she meant as his eyes slid away from hers.

"No," he admitted under his breath sobering just as Natasha was. She inhaled, preparing to lay her musings on the table. "I have an idea." Still looking sightlessly across the conference room as she had been, Natasha recognized the stirrings of an idea of his own building behind Tony's eyes.

"Me too," he confirmed before looking up to her, a faint but surprisingly welcome mischievous glint beginning to surface in his eyes for all that it left her tempted to frown. "Where's yours?"

"Downstairs," she offered slowly, her eyes narrowing in curiosity. "Where's yours?" The roguish smirk was suddenly back in full force. Natasha nearly groaned in exasperation. She knew that look, and she was more than familiar with the feeling it inspired suggesting she was likely not going to entirely approve of what he'd come up with.

Her eyes narrowed as she ran through who he could possibly be considering: Rhodes, obviously; Vision, likely.

Her eyes narrowed on him then at the next two names that automatically sprang to mind.

"You're not thinking about the Maximoffs, are you?" The look Tony shot her was nearly plaintive even as it was condescending. Ah...that explained a few things about just how stressed he'd been even before Steve, Sam and Nadine had been brought in.

"Considering how Ross was making noises that Wanda would be better off in the Raft if she won't sign instead of agreeing to let her and Pietro stay confined to the Compound," Tony quipped back tightly, his tone almost caustic. "Something tells me that's not likely to be signed off on. I think our Powered Probies would both prefer to stay out of jail."

Natasha actually felt the blood leave her face. The Raft had been rumour for a long time; a specter of bogeyman proportions to the Enhanced of the world, really. To hear its existence so casually confirmed? To hear that Ross was already angling to detain Enhanced who declined to sign the Accords? To effectively arrest Wanda? It was a shock, one that left dread pooling sickeningly in the pit of her stomach. And she was suddenly far less annoyed with Tony over what she'd initially assumed was a borderline arbitrary decision to confine Wanda and Pietro to the Compound.

But she pushed thought of the Raft and the reasons behind Tony's call about the Twins aside. All that would have to wait until later. Steve, Nadine, Sam and Barnes were the priority right now. They could deal with Ross and the rest once they got their current crisis under control.

So, if the Twins were out...who was left? The scheming look had returned, if somewhat diminished by the reminder she'd provided about how precarious things were for certain members of their Team. After a moment she sighed, recognizing that he was not about to volunteer much of anything.

"Who are you thinking of?" she prodded resignedly, feeling a little like she was a parent interrogating a recalcitrant child. Tony just smiled sweetly, or at least, as sweetly as a conspiratorial smile could be given.

"A couple of whos actually," he said with an absent, nonchalant gesture. Natasha narrowed her eyes further before scoffing in defeat when he didn't seem at all inclined to elaborate.

"Fine. Keep your secrets," she muttered dryly as she began turning away, slipping her phone from her pocket as she did.

"Payback," he quipped, causing Nat to spin to face him, an unmistakable look of exasperation on her face that Tony merely grinned at. She huffed, not deigning to dignify the taunt with a serious response as she looked down to her phone. She had something to do before turning to recruitment. A call she'd hoped she would have better news to share over...

Only to frown at a rather distinct symbol flashing in the upper left corner of her screen. Her breath nearly caught in a flash of panic. "Why don't I have cell service," she asked, fixing Tony with a piercing look. Tony hummed, her question registering after a moment.

"Oh, cascading effect of the power outage. EMP, by the way. Homemade and rather simple, to be honest, but effective; JCTC is bringing it back to examine now. But it hit the cell network around the city hard. It's still rebooting...so to speak. It should be back in a few minutes," he explained, sounding almost nonchalant. "I'd know better if Barnes hadn't smashed my glasses and my interface with them," he grumbled with a trace of his usual theatricality. He fixed her with a probing look then. "Why? Who would you call? Even if you could get Rogers on the phone, or your sister or Wilson, something tells me it'll take a little more than a phone call to reel in our Fugitives." Natasha pursed her lips. Much as she might like to try, she knew better. Even if she had a direct line to them, she knew Steve and Sam knew better than to accept any calls. It was a moot point, anyway. Neither of them had their phones anymore, having lost them when they'd been arrested. They were no doubt relying on burners by now, if they were risking cells at all.

And Nadine definitely didn't have her phone anymore.

It was in Natasha's pocket, after all.

No, it wasn't Nadine or the others she needed to try and call.

"Nina still doesn't know Nadine was even arrested," Natasha said softly "She was in class when I tried calling before. I could only leave a message and I wasn't about to tell her over text." Tony groaned, his head falling back. The reaction rather mirrored how Natasha felt just then, actually.

"It's probably news better delivered in person, anyway," Tony offered almost cheerfully after a moment, straightening. Natasha just blinked.

"You're volunteering?" Tony shot her a look at the clear doubt lacing her tone. "To tell Nina. How close have you two gotten?" He shrugged, and it didn't settle the odd feeling in her gut that she was missing something...he didn't know about her Enhancement, did he?

"Not quite at protégé," he answered almost flippantly, not quite looking to Natasha, "but in that realm. She's a smart kid. And back on point? Someone should probably tell her Mama Ghost is in the wind and I'm heading Stateside anyway." Natasha turned to face him fully, her arms crossing over her chest as she studied him. He was holding something back.

"She's not going to be able to tell you where Nadine is, you realize." Tony feigned a wounded expression, hand skimming over his heart.

"Obviously, Romanoff," he scoffed, as though offended that she'd thought he'd think as much. "Even if Ryker risked contacting Nina, I know Mini-Ghost wouldn't spill the beans, even to you." Natasha's lips pursed, not wholly satisfied. But Tony was in earnest.

"I'd still rather be the one to tell her," she said sedately after a moment. "In person or not, it should be me. She is my niece, after all." Tony just shrugged before standing.

"Your call," he quipped back as he crossed the conference room.

Before he could get too close to the door, Natasha stopped him, a concerned look rising to her features as she laid a cautioning hand on his bicep.

"Tony, I think we need to get Nadine on our side for this fight." He started, his brow furrowing even as his gaze became veiled and calculating.

"Ryker? You think we should recruit Ryker?" he blurted, incredulous. "Romanoff, you know that's not an option. Even if she wasn't a—she refused to sign. That makes it a no-go right there even if she wasn't already adamant that she wasn't going to get involved...not that that lasted long..." Natasha hesitated before fixing Tony with a firm look.

"If we don't, Steve will."

"Fact that she's just as in the wind as he is aside, you think she'll say yes to him? I know they're making goo-goo eyes at each other, but I thought she said she was getting out of this," he gestured absently around them before continuing, his voice pitching lower as he stepped closer to Natasha, "Besides, look where getting involved got her in Romania: she's not going to risk getting arrested again." Natasha was unmoved, her green eyes still serious even as she shrugged in response. She knew, deep down, that it was a long shot, but she couldn't fight the feeling that they needed to try. Nadine was quite possibly the best chance they had at convincing Steve to stand down. If they could at least get her to stay neutral...

"Maybe. She likes Steve even if she won't admit it. But you know very well that she's not concerned with getting caught—the simple fact that the JCTC couldn't hold her proved that—that the only real reason she's refusing to sign is because she wants to protect Nina—"

"—which means that, even if she wasn't one of the most wanted assassins in the world right now, she still couldn't join us, Romanoff—" Natasha's stomach twisted as she made a final bid. She needed Tony on board with this and that called for drastic measures...albeit one that left her feeling distinctly uncomfortable.

But it would worth it if it saved her sister's life.

"She has history with Barnes," she interrupted briskly. Tony paused mid-sentence, looking at Natasha critically. She gave him an impatient look, easily hiding her unease at letting herself divulge even part of Nadine's most closely guarded secret, even if she was twisting it to convince Tony...just slightly. "We both do, Stark. When we trained together under the KGB, the Winter Soldier was brought in as part of that training. Together Nadine and I were the only ones who were able to take him down, and we were still practically children. And we almost managed it again today." Tony visibly reeled, swaying on his feet as a chaos of emotions flashed across his face.

"And you didn't think that might be an important detail to share?" he demanded, the incredulity of a moment before dialled up another notch. She stood firm, though. Now was not the time to even consider rolling her eyes at his dramatics. This was painfully serious.

"And risk Secretary Ross nailing her to the wall? He's already been implying to the Committee that she helped Barnes escape even though Nadine was very clearly trying to help bring him down a couple hours ago. The fact that their gear is gone and the two missing agents from the parking garage IDd her as their assailant saw to that. Not to mention that he'd be pretty darn quick to bench me," she responded, her tone clearly clipped. "It's not a part of my life I like reliving, Tony." Tony's jaw clenched for a moment, refusing to look at her. But after a moment, he sighed, his shoulder slumping as he lifted a hand to knead at the bridge of his nose. A silent, dismissive gesture indicated he ceded to her point even if he was too stubborn to admit it aloud, stressed as he was just now.

He looked up to her, then.

"Does he have reason?" he asked quietly, a thread of accusation in his voice. "Ross? To bench you for conflict of interest?" Natasha inhaled slowly and let the breath back out before she responded. There was the hurt she'd caught a glimpse of earlier. He was still stung by the fact that Steve had so vehemently rejected Tony's efforts to secure him a way out of the mess he'd gotten himself into. She met his eye head on, careful not to give even the slightest cue that, while she had yet to outright lie, she was far from telling the whole truth.

Her instinct was still to protect her sister and niece above all else, after all.

"No," she said calmly. "There's a certain...kinship there, you could say, but no." His mind was churning behind his eyes as he studied her, impatience at her ambiguity clear in his voice.

"Meaning?" Natasha drew in another long, slow breath, considering before deciding to lay another card on the table. This was Tony. She trusted that he'd have her back. She knew that he wouldn't run to Ross with this. She knew without question that his loyalty was to the Team, first and foremost.

Just like her.

"Meaning, Nadine and me? We were the attempt to create a 2.0 of what they made him. We were intended to be the next step. All the skill, drive and single-minded focus to complete the mission but with our minds still intact alongside our programming." She shrugged then, feeling abruptly weary.

She hated thinking about that particular chapter in her past...and the implications that went with it.

"So we both understand him, Tony. Nadine and I both know what it's like to..." she cut herself off, reining back the surge of emotion that threatened to escape. "We're both more like him than the rest of you like to remember. For all intents and purposes, we were him, once," she finished softly. Impassively. Retreating back behind her mask as she did. Though his jaw clenched and his features settled stubbornly, that he was chastened by her admission was clear to the former assassin.

After a long, tense moment, she sighed.

"If we don't get to Nadine first, even if it's only to convince her to stay out of it, she will side with them," she finally continued seriously. Tony's brow furrowed as he glanced to Natasha, dark eyes serious and even faintly uneasy.

"Is it enough history that she'd make that call," he asked tightly. It wasn't much of a question. Truthfully? Natasha suspected he'd already correctly guessed the answer. Natasha schooled her features, willing her very real concern not to show on her face.

Her concern that it was inevitable she and her sister would be on opposite sides of this conflict.

"Yeah."

He had no idea.

A/N: Thanks for reading!

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