A/N: Hello all! Welcome to the second sequel to The Changeling! It is indeed an Elizaverse fic, but this first chapter does attempt to introduce any new readers into the universe I've created through my first, 250 chapter fanfic in this series. I suggest reading that one first, but it isn't necessary. Just know a few things: Eliza is a teenage girl (now 19 years old) who was trained by Black Widow and Hawkeye who both became parent figures to her. Any references to a girl named Eliza are to her. When this pics up, it is former Clint/Natasha and former Bucky/Natasha.

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the OCs used in this work. If there are any...

Thank you for reading, and possibly reviewing!

Love,

Silz

"To die, to sleep,
To sleep, perchance to Dream; Aye, there's the rub,
For in that sleep of death, what dreams may come,"

Hamlet by William Shakespeare

They were sharing a bed tonight, to save money. After all, they only had what Fury had given them before sending them out of the country. They hadn't shared a bed for many, many years and it made Natasha slightly uncomfortable. But she could deal with it. After all, she and Bucky were friends. Nothing more. At least not now. They had been more almost fifteen years ago. But that was well in the past by now.

No, the real reason Natasha couldn't sleep was because she knew that somewhere out there, her close friend Steve Rogers was a captive of HYDRA. She'd been through that before, and she didn't wish it on anyone but her most ruthless opponents. HYDRA was brutally efficient. But Natasha wondered, why Steve? Why Captain America? After all, with the Civil War, not many Americans liked him. So it wouldn't destroy them to have him held captive. The American people saw him no longer as the symbol of freedom, but of opposition to the will of the people.

Steve had opposed the Superhuman Registration Act, and along with his two friends Natasha and Bucky, had conducted covert operations for a few weeks as they tried to resist the law. Others had joined up with them, including a pair of new Inhumans named Kamala and Naja. But in the largest battle between pro-registration and anti-registration forces the Civil War had yet seen, Naja was killed when one of Iron Man's repulser blasts deflected off Cap's shield and killed Naja. Feeling responsible, Steve gave himself up and the next day he'd been marched to court for his crimes.

That's when the unthinkable had happened. While standing to enter the court house, Steve and dozens of other innocent bystanders became the victims of a mass shooting. Steve was the first one shot, but someone soon took out almost all the witnesses. Among the dozens of bodies, Steve's hadn't been found.

But SHIELD hushed it up, deciding that a story about the innocent death of a former Avenger was better than leaving loose ends. Fury began spreading the lie that Captain America had died in the shooting and that SHIELD had removed his body as soon as possible. Agent Hill and Director Fury were the only ones that knew the truth.

For the night after Fury received word about the shooting, he and Maria Hill were having dinner while discussing what to do next. Suddenly a transmission came through, an anonymous transmission, though Fury and Hill immediately knew who it was by the sickly sweet voice.

"Hello, Director. We have your Avenger."

That had been all she had said. It had been Sinthea Schmidt, the leader of HYDRA and daughter of the Red Skull. She was a devious, rash, but intelligent young woman who was quite confident in HYDRA's abilities. She had succeeded in capturing four members of the Avengers family, including Pepper Potts and her nephew, Jane Foster, and Darcy Lewis. She held them captive for a long while before the Avengers barely managed to rescue them. The ordeal had left Pepper permanently infertile, as her uterus had been so damaged by guns shots that the SHIELD medical personnel had had to remove it.

The next day, Fury had called Natasha Romanoff and Bucky Barnes in to discuss the matter with them. Letting the two former rebels know that Steve was alive caused not only a great deal of relief, but also of anger. Natasha still couldn't get over the fact that Fury was keeping the other former Avengers in the dark about Steve's real fate. She didn't think it was fair, but she supposed she understood it. But she sure didn't have to like it.

Natasha and Bucky had been given a choice: help SHIELD had have their Persona non grata sentence reduced to three years, or be permanently banned from entering the United States. Eager to help their captive friends, the two former SHIELD agents eagerly agreed and by that time the next week, were on a plane to Russia.

And so here she now was, laying down in a motel bed, tossing and turning as Bucky slept soundly. She didn't know how he did it. Getting up from the bed and slipping on some slippers, Natasha walked out onto the third story balcony of their cheap motel. She felt the crisp cool air of the mid May weather brush up against her skin and breathed in deeply. She looked up at the stars. They were beautiful here, more beautiful than in New York City. Heck, she could actually see stars here in Russia.

Natasha sighed. She missed Clint and their other partner, Eliza. To her, Eliza was like a daughter. They had gone through a lot together. And Clint… Clint had been her fiancé. In fact, glancing at her phone's calendar, Natasha realized that tomorrow had been their planned wedding day.

Damn Civil War. Damn it all.

If it hadn't been for the war, she'd have been happily married by this time tomorrow. She'd have been celebrating with all her friends and family. Family. Those were the Avengers to her. But now they were broken, scattered. Tony had locked himself up in his tower after Steve's "death". Clint and Eliza were required to stay in the Triskelion for psychological testing after Steve's "death" before being sent to the West Coast to start up a new Avengers team. Bruce had gone off-grid after moving back to Avengers Tower and eventually leaving. Thor didn't even know that Steve was dead, unless Heimdall had told him. After all, during the Civil War he had returned to Asgard with Jane to keep her and her unborn daughter, Finna Rose, safe.

Natasha allowed one single tear to fall on her cheek. That was all she would allow. She had to be strong to find Steve. She had to be in control. She put on the masks she was so confident wearing, the masks that she'd let slip over the last couple years so others could see her true self. The woman who actually had emotions, but knew how to be strong too.

She thought about the mission ahead of them. The long trek across Europe, maybe across the globe, that it would take to find Steve. There were several people she thought to call on, like T'Challa in Wakanda. Maybe he could help them. There was the ex-Shield agent Falcon, Sam Wilson. He was said to be hanging around in the Ukraine area, not too far from them actually. Perhaps he would help.

There were also rumors of an X-Men like group that was stationed in London calling themselves Excalibur. If Natasha and Bucky could seek out their help, they would be even more likely to find Steve. Maybe in their trip around the world, they would make new friends, new allies. People that Natasha would be able to trust.

Trust didn't come easily to her, but she would try.

She would try if it meant saving Steve.