(In The End) It Doesn't Even Matter

by A. X. Zanier

Steve Rogers might be a hero, but to some, he's a thorn in their side. So, it shouldn't be any great surprise that hits had been taken out on him. Yet, somehow he's remained completely oblivious... until now.

1. Chapter 1

A/N: The idea for this just randomly popped into my head and was supposed to be a one-off. Instead, its developed into a multi-chapter story with an actual plot.

Sorry about that.

Updates will be somewhat random as I finally started my new job and the work hours are leaving me with little time to, you know, write. While this is mostly MCU-based some comic and Netflix series lore does ooze in. My comic research involves mostly trolling the Marvel wiki pages and adapting the info for my needs.

The title does indeed come from the Linkin Park song and will make sense in the long run.

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(In The End) It Doesn't Even Matter

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"So how many times have you tried to kill me?"

"Hold real still and I won't have to try again," she informed me with a deliberate smirk.

I sighed heavily not having the time or the energy to deal with this… with her right now. "So you set off a bomb in the subway to set up a chance to kill me."

"What? No," she sneered, quite obviously finding the mere suggestion of doing something so crass distasteful. "I simply told no one about it, knowing you would show up to assist once the initial explosion went off. The secondary collapses were not expected. Idiots clearly have no idea what they're doing. The yield on the primary explosion was too high and revealed unexpected weaknesses in the tunnel structure."

"Clearly," I echoed torn between wanting to hit her for not warning anyone what would be coming and being openly amazed and astonished at her nonchalant attitude for anything other than her goal. She'd placed herself in harm's way for a chance to kill me. Guess I couldn't complain about her dedication to her work.

Especially given the gun she currently had casually pointed at my midsection.

She'd arranged to be at the exact spot I entered this underground maze with every intent of aiding the survivors of the first explosion, which meant she'd taken the time to study my patterns. And that… that meant she'd been watching me for a while.

"You intending to finish the job?" I waved my hand in the direction of the weapon she held with every bit of comfort and confidence. "Collect your payday."

She tipped her head to the side eyes narrowing. "Thinking about it, yes. It is my job after all."

Not that I needed the confirmation of her hitman… or would that be hitperson status. "May I propose an alternative option?"

"Sure," she offered magnanimously, "though don't bother suggesting money, you couldn't afford it."

I wanted to argue that point as I imagined Tony would loan me any amount needed were her price to exceed my own savings. "Wouldn't think of it." The muzzle of her gun slid upwards, the angle would place the bullet in my chin and assure an impact somewhere in the vicinity of the lower half of my brain. My armor might be mostly bulletproof, my skin still comparatively fragile and would easily be pierced by the projectile. Tony might have theorized my extended life, but dying of old age not the same as being killed. A well-placed bullet or two might easily end me with little fanfare. "I was thinking more along the lines of a truce."

Her eyes narrowed for an instant as if trying to suss out the lie in my words. "And why would you do that?"

"Because at the moment we are both trapped in here and I suspect working together will get us out faster," I explained. "Besides if you really wanted to collect your reward you'd have shot me already."

She raised the gun her target shifting from chin to eye, and I had little doubt she'd hit dead center at his range. Then she shrugged, flicked on the safety and holstered the weapon. "Sure. I want a twenty-four-hour headstart once we're out though."

I chuckled softly. "Done. Provided…" I let the sentence hang just to gauge her reaction.

"Provided what?" she grumbled.

"You help me rescue those trapped down here."

She just shook her head with a hint of a smile on her lips. "Always the hero. Fine."

I must have twitched at her quick response.

"What? Just because my job involves killing doesn't mean I'm a total asshole. This," she gestured at the extensive rubble from the collapsed tunnels, "was not part of the plan."

Honestly, I figured she wouldn't care about any lives other than her own. I stuck out my hand. "Truce."

"Oh, you are so old school." She grasped my hand firmly in her own. "Truce." She released me and rotated a full circle, looking over everything with a gimlet eye. "Train is that way. Nearest station is that way about a half mile. There's a service tunnel in this section, but the entrance is on the other side of the collapse." She pointed the same direction as the train.

"Possibly blocked by the collapsed roof, though."

She nodded in agreement. "So, make our way back to the station or towards the train full of trapped passengers?"

I doubted I actually needed to answer but did so anyway. "Train." I shifted to take a good look at the wall of debris blocking our route. The dust had mostly cleared out, a fair sign the air intakes still functioned in this section. Still, we were technically trapped, the ceiling having collapsed to either side of us. My team would be making their way down here as well, though they might have pulled back during the secondary explosions. I tapped the comms suspecting it to be dead given the fact I'd heard nothing since the collapse had occurred. "Nat? Clint? Anyone read me?"

She pulled out her phone. "No signal down here. Probably knocked out the wifi relays when the roof came down."

I sighed softly, agreeing with her. Add in the tons of dirt between us and the surface the likelihood of getting a signal out would be slim and none. "All right. My team will assume I'm fine and focus on the getting the trapped out first."

She grinned. "I'm kind of regretting the truce now."

"And why is that?" I asked as I moved towards the pile of rubble we would need to move to get to that train and the passengers trapped inside.

"The perfect opportunity to complete the job and I agreed to not. Silly me." She moved to a few steps away, testing the footing of the broken concrete and loose earth that had spilled down from above.

"You have nothing better to do than shoot at me?"

She snorted. "I've taken other jobs. You… you're a white whale of sorts. Not just for me, but a lot of hitters."

"And yet you keep missing." I pulled out a flashlight to better see. The tunnel lights hadn't gone out by some miracle but also weren't nearly bright enough to truly illuminate the potential routes through of the rockfall. "Hey, you got a name?"

She turned to gaze down at me. "Yes, why?"

I huffed out a breath. "Because I'd prefer to not use 'hey you' all day. And I'm polite."

She snickered. "Yes, you are. Jade. Call me Jade."

Though she showed no hesitation with her response, her 'call me' made it clear the name bore no relationship with the one she'd be given at birth. I would have been extremely surprised if she'd supplied me her real name. The fact that I had seen her face of more importance in my opinion. "All right, Jade. What do you see up there?"

"A way through, maybe." She'd almost reached the top of the rubble, which, even from my position on the floor, appeared to disappear into the void where the collapse had occurred.

I tucked my phone away and made my cautious way up until beside her. Light could be seen through a hole not much larger than a breadbox. I glanced up to see that a slab of concrete had fallen just right to create a plug for this section, leaving the way clear to possibly crawl through to the other side.

If you were an underfed and stubborn cat anyway.

"Maybe we can widen it without bringing the whole thing down on us."

"Maybe." She produced a ponytail holder from somewhere, quickly braided her hair and shoved it down the back of her jacket, which she zipped up tight. The gun I knew to be in a shoulder holster invisible to the naked eye. She took a moment to make certain her footing was solid then planted her hands firmly in the opening and wriggled in.

I grabbed an ankle before it vanished. "Jade, wait."

She didn't kick her booted foot at my face, just shifted enough to look back at me. "Captain, I'm already in here. Let me go. Please."

She had a point. I released her. "Be careful."

Her only response to continue crawling on her belly away from me. The distance no more than a couple yards so it only took a few minutes for her to make it across. "The tunnel is mostly clear. Only minor damage to the roof in this section." She started moving again, twisting so that she could ultimately make her way out feet first. The instant her body no longer blocked the light I heard a yelp and watched her vanish from sight.

"Jade. Jade!" The pile of rubble I stood on shifted under my feet. I launched myself away to the more stable footing of the tracks and waited for the mini-avalanche to settle.

"You alive over there, Rogers?"

I did not heave a sigh of relief to know she'd survived the shifting of the rocks. "Yeah. You good?"

"I'll have some impressive bruises come tomorrow, but nothing to write home about. Your side safe to climb?"

I made my way back over and after a quick inspection of where the rocks had settled, did so with few issues. The gap had actually widened slightly heightwise, the opposite for the width. I could see Jade across from me, what appeared to be blood smeared down her left cheek. I could probably fit through, but it would be tight. That flat slab hadn't shifted in the slightest which suggested it remained secure, the spill of dirt and rocks beside it, however, probably the furthest thing from stable.

"Now or never, Rogers. Unless you trust me to rescue the civilians without you."

The taunting tone more than enough to make my decision an easy one. "Ah, no, but thanks for the offer."

She chuckled and held her position as I hoisted myself into the tight space and began to inch my way forward, back scraping along the rough stone above me. Thank god for body armor, it might get scratched up, but I'd be just fine.

Of course, three-quarters of the way through I got stuck. My belt hooking on a solid upthrusting of stone, manmade or natural it didn't really matter and stopping me cold. "Shit," I groused, wedged in tight.

"Stuck?" she asked trying in vain to hide her amusement.

"Yes, damn it." I planted my hands and tried to force my way past the obstruction. I stopped quickly when dirt began to spill down along my left side. "Some help here."

"And why would I do that? So long as I have proof I'll get paid."

"Truce," I snarled.

"I agreed to not kill you. Said nothing about sitting back and watching."

"You also agreed to help me save those on the train."

I could see her thinking it over. Thankfully, not for long. "Fair enough. Scoot back and rotate your hips until you're loose. Don't get caught when you start moving again."

Considering I had planned to do that exact thing I groused, "Really. Never would have thought of that."

She snorted, eyebrows bouncing upwards. "Well, hurry up then would ya."

I unhooked myself from the outcropping and had begun to scoot forward when everything about me began to shudder and shift, sending dirt and debris tumbling down atop me from my left.

Jade permitted a small eep of surprise to escape but recovered quickly, adjusting her footing until secure on her side. She reached out toward me. "Move it, Rogers, I doubt even the serum can protect you if that chooses to come down." She glanced upwards at the slab of concrete above my head.

I didn't argue, not particularly interested in discovering that out either. I suspected that being flattened into a smear of jelly would inhibit my saving the world schtick. I grasped her hand and she pulled, managing to heave me forward a fair distance, much to my bewilderment.

I got a solid hold with my foot and shoved, my back scraping along the slab above. This time I didn't get caught on anything and within moments found myself standing on the tracks on the far side. Just in time too as the loose scree finally collapsed, descending down at our feet and filling the gap we'd just managed to get through. "Another explosion?"

She shook her head. "I don't think so. Probably another collapse."

"Which means this whole area is unstable."

"Most likely," she agreed, sounding almost sprightly about it. "Train shouldn't be too far ahead, we can check if the service tunnel is clear on the way."

She turned to take the lead, but I reached out and set a hand on her shoulder. "Hold up, you're hurt."

She shook off my hand. "I've had worse, trust me." She gave me the once-over. "You need me to put band-aids on your boo-boos before we move on?"

"Ah no." Hint taken. She could and would take care of herself. "You first, Jade."

"Don't want me behind you?"

"Uh, I usually take the rear," I explained, but shifted to walk beside her to show her that while trust might not exist I'd honor both the spirit and letter of the truce. "So, when was the first time you tried to kill me?"

Her head snapped about as if in shock I had asked. "D.C. You like riding your bike without a helmet."

I'd had only one accident when on my motorcycle in DC. "You wanted to make it look like an accident by blowing out my tire." I'd gone down hard on the highway while going well over the speed limit. "That… that was one hell of a shot. But why not go for the head, after all, I wasn't wearing a helmet."

"Hard to identify a body with a hole punched through the face."

I grunted as if kicked. "Well, that was graphic."

She shrugged. "You asked." She trotted off to her left. "The service door." She grasped the knob, which turned, but the door refused to budge.

I joined her. "Looks like the frame shifted during one of the explosions. Let me–" I didn't get a chance to finish before she put her shoulder to the door and shoved just once. The door squealing across the concrete floor even as the frame popped, a noticeable kink forming in the metal now that the door's support had been removed.

The door wedged open with more than enough space to enter, however, the lighting appeared to have failed. She produced a flashlight from somewhere and shined it about. "Looks good. Some minor debris and power loss, but otherwise clear."

"You thinking we get everyone out through here?" I poked my head in and agreed with her assessment. If there were any collapses they would out of the range of her light, but considering the slight breeze, signaling airflow suspected the way was indeed clear.

"It should work, it's how I got in."

Well, that explained a few things. Not that I'd figured she'd come in on the train and risk being trapped in the explosions she knew to be coming. I attempted to move the door, finding it firmly stuck in place. Oh, I could have shifted it with a bit of effort, but I had an excess of strength.

Cleary she was something more than your typical hired hitman.

I then heard voices in the direction she claimed the train had stopped. Her head turned as well though she should not have been able to detect the noises.

"Time to get to work," she said with a grin as she moved towards the sound.

"Such enthusiasm," I muttered.

"Come on, now, Captain America, isn't this what you live for, saving the day?"

The sarcasm dripping from her words told me exactly what she thought of my chosen profession. "Not many other options for a super soldier," I pointed out.

"Because you were nothing before," she sneered.

Whatever she might have said next cut off when we came around the bend to find a dozen or so people trying to remove a pile of rubble that had come down on the end of the train, blocking the emergency exit out of the rear car. One fairly large slab seemed to be holding the whole mess in place. The people who'd been on the train were trying with some desperation to displace it with little success.

I spotted the conductor, the MTA uniform torn and dirty, and headed for him. "How many still trapped inside?"

He spun about, eyes going wide, which meant I'd startled the poor man. "Cap… Captain America?" His eyes flicked over to Jade who had stepped past me to take a closer look at the pile of rubble then back to me.

"Yes, sir. How many inside?" I asked again, hoping to get something coherent out of him.

"Dozens. I'd only just begun getting them out when the roof collapsed."

The group swarmed closer, wailing the need to rescue children, friends, loved ones still trapped in the cars.

"Easy folks, we'll get them out." I raised my hands to get their attention. "Does anyone have a signal?"

The MTA agent shook his head. "We're in a black hole in this section."

It had been a faint hope, but still, the question had the effect of calming the building hysteria for the moment.

"Captain, if we shift the big slab the rest should come down on its own."

I turned to see Jade standing on the rear car; this section of the tunnel one of those with the high arching brick and mortar roof. Probably part of the original system repurposed for the new one. Modern tunnels had much less clearance. "Is the roof stable?"

"Ish. I can see pipes about ten feet above me." She pulled out her flash and shined it over her head. "Looks like power conduits for the lighting. Should hold unless there's another explosion."

"Then let's not waste any time." I looked over the crowd. "All right folks, let's move back around the curve–"

"But we want to help," a young man built like a linebacker stated in a near-insistent voice.

"And you will after I've gotten the door cleared. Until then, I would prefer all of you remained safe."

He frowned but nodded in reluctant agreement. He led the group, the MTA driver taking the rear to make certain everyone had been herded a safe distance before we risked bringing the roof down.

I made my way to the train, the clearance on either side blocked so I could not easily communicate with those inside. "Jade, can you get them to move away from the door. Maybe even into the next car just in case?"

"Gotcha." She walked down the roof of the car away from me then dropped. I heard banging on the metal of the car and muffled voices from within. She must have been hanging down the side of the train and communicating through the window. It only took a couple minutes before she reappeared. "Done. They seemed thrilled to know they rated a rescue by Captain America himself."

"My whole team is here," I reminded.

"No, they are not." She raised a hand when I tried to argue. "Yes, they're somewhere nearby working on this, but they are not here and that's what these people will remember at the end of the day. Saved by Steve Rogers. Oooo, now that's a marketing idea. 'I was saved by Steve Rogers and all I got was this lousy t-shirt.' " She snickered when I rolled my eyes.

"I'll suggest it to Tony, he'll love the idea." I only added enough sarcasm to be certain she could hear it.

She grinned. "Get up here. If we shift this one I think it'll take the rest out. Just need to get the angle right."

I took all due care climbing up but, aside from some small pieces breaking loose, nothing shifted, meaning it had remained fairly solid once it had settled into place. Not good. This would actually take some effort.

I stood next to Jade, scouting the pile below us. The one big slab stuck up past the top of the train enough to get a grip on, if barely. "Push and twist to the left."

She nodded. "That's what I was seeing. Should take out most of the rest. We should be able to easily clear out the remainder from the ground."

Observant too. I knew nothing about this woman other than she wanted to kill me and here I was trusting her with the lives of those in need of rescue. Perhaps not one of my better ideas, but we'd come this far, might as well push through to the end.

I got down on my knees to get a better grip on the section of brick and mortar roof and shoved to gauge how much effort would actually be required to pull this off. It barely budged, so a lot.

I planted my feet and put in some real effort, the section coming off the train a few inches before my feet slipped and it thudded back into a place.

Jade got down beside me.

"Uh, what do you think you're doing?"

"Helping. Or did you think I climbed up here to watch and take selfies with you in the background?"

I wanted to argue, but the determined look on her face meant it would be a waste of time. "All right. On three. One. Two. Three."

This time the slab moved forward a fair foot before it stopped. With me, to the right side, I shifted the angle in hopes of getting it to rotate the direction we wanted. Instead, the section under my hands crumbled causing me to tip forward and barely catch myself on the edge of the train in time and not fall face first onto the tracks below. "Fuck."

Jade grunted, somehow managing to lock her legs and hold the damn thing in place while I scrambled back to get out of the way. "I got this, think you can pull it from below?"

I wanted to question exactly how she had managed to hold the slab of roof in place, but it wasn't the time.

"Let's find out." I jumped from the train to land well clear of the pile of debris, but wasted no time, rushing to get my hands around the edge of the slab and heaving in the direction we needed it to go. At first, it didn't budge, the weight perhaps too much for even the two of us. "Can you…"

A growl emanated from her then the whole section shifted forward just enough to loosen whatever it had wedged against. I pulled and it conveniently twisted in the correct direction. She gave another shove and the entire thing toppled over, falling clear of the train as I hopped to the side. A tremendous crash followed by dust and debris kicking up into the air. Thankfully the ventilation system still worked, clearing out the cloud with swift efficiency.

"Is everything all right?"

I spun about to see the MTA employee with the entire group behind him staring hopefully at me. I glanced back over my shoulder to see the worst of the debris had indeed been tumbled out of the way. We still had some clearing to do, but not all that much. It would not take long to free those trapped inside. Jade sat on the end of the car, legs dangling down and appearing satisfied with the results.

I had about a thousand questions I wanted… needed to ask, but they would hold for a later time.

"I'll let them know we had some success if you'll work on digging the exit out, yes?"

I nodded. "Works."

With the whole group working together we had the door cleared and everyone out in no time at all. The brakeman and I walked the entire train to make certain everyone had been accounted for. Getting them to and through the service tunnel comparatively uneventful as everyone had cellphones with flashlights, which meant the pitch dark tunnel ended up being quite well lit.

We arrived at the station in due course to be greeted by EMTs and other rescue workers all about to head into the tunnel to assess the damage and rescue anyone trapped within.

All of our cells began pinging and binging as signal returned. I tapped my comms. "Sit-rep."

"Cap," I got instantly from Nat. "Where the hell have you been? Are you all right?"

"Fine. Got everyone out with only minor injuries. No signal in the tunnel is all." I caught movement out of the corner of my eye and turned to see Jade standing out of the flow of people her gun drawn and pointed at my midsection. "Nat, I'm at the Fifth Avenue–59th Street station. I'll meet you topside in fifteen to regroup."

If she responded I didn't notice as I tapped the comms cutting her off. "I agreed to give you a head start."

She tipped her head to the side. "Which I do appreciate. That said, you didn't ask for one so… I still have a job to do."

I huffed out a breath. "Which you aren't going to finish now, so you might as well put the gun away."

"You think you know me so well after a couple of hours?"

I didn't know her at all and yet… "No, I think you have a sense of honor though."

She grinned, the glint in her eye dangerous instead of cheerful. "You willing to bet your life on that?"

I took a couple steps towards her, the gun never wavering from my midsection which would hurt but definitely not kill me given the kevlar I wore. "Yes."

"Captain," one of the EMTs called and I turned my head towards the sound.

When I turned back Jade had vanished, most likely back into the service tunnel.

I jogged over to the man who had called, not more than the tiniest bit concerned that a bullet might impact my back.

. . . . .

I had to wait two days before mentioning I'd run into my personal assassin. The damage to the subway tunnels had been impressive and we'd done our part to make certain everyone had been either rescued or their bodies recovered. Less than a dozen had died, still far too many in all our minds, but we'd done our part to assist the first responders until it had become plain we were no longer needed. Repairs were not in our job description though Tony generously offered to assist if the city's budget could not handle the disaster.

"You what?" Clint questioned sounding only a touch astonished.

"I met my hitman," I repeated as I kept working on the sketchpad before me. "She helped me rescue a train full of trapped passengers."

Tony swiped a hand over his face. "And we're just hearing about this now, why?"

"Well, I promised to give her a twenty-four-hour head start and we've been busy," I explained though none of them seemed to like that answer.

"And it didn't cross your mind at any point to just arrest her?" Nat questioned, one eyebrow rising high on her forehead.

"I gave her my word."

"Of course you did," she muttered. Then she grabbed a tablet and got to work, most likely trying to track down my assailant to be. "Any chance you got a pic of her?"

I shook my head and continued to draw, working on the next best thing. "Height about five six, five eight with the boots she wore. Dark hair, almost black, but could have been dyed I suppose. Eyes were blue but again could have been fake. Build similar to yours," I nodded to Nat, "and strong as hell."

"What do you mean by that?" Tony asked.

"Exactly what I said. I suspect she's been enhanced. Uh, at a wild guess, a similar rating to Miss Jones." Yes, we kept a database of other enhanced individuals. Mostly for possible recruitment, but also as potential threats. Miss Jones seemed to mostly want to keep to herself and run her business in peace. In fact, New York seemed to have a surfeit of enhanced heroes and while we watched we didn't interfere. The Avengers generally had more global concerns.

"Age?" Nat asked, obviously going through our extensive database in an effort to identify her.

"Mid-twenties, though if she is enhanced she could be far older." My own enhanced ass being a prime example of that.

Clint narrowed his eyes. "Could she be a Hydra leftover?"

"Possibly? Though I got the distinct impression she's currently freelance. She had me call her Jade."

"As in Mara Jade?" JARVIS questioned.

Clint snorted. "Oh, that would be priceless." At my obvious lack of understanding, he added. "Spin-off Star Wars books. Mara Jade was an assassin hired to kill Luke Skywalker."

I made an 'ah' of understanding. I'd seen the movies but had not yet delved into the dozens upon dozens of novels that had been written based on the characters.

Tony stepped up behind me. "Luke eventually turned her to the light and married her."

"I think I can manage to avoid that," I muttered. Though the idea of turning her the way Clint had Natasha didn't seem like a half bad plan. If we could figure out who she was.

"Too many fitting that vague description, Rogers. Why didn't you snap a picture?" Nat complained.

"Had other things on my mind," I told her, concentrating on finishing the drawing.

Tony leaned over my shoulder, the scent of scotch emanating from him. "What are you working on… Oh. Nat, you won't need a pic. Give him fifteen minutes or so."

They waited impatiently for me to finish, Tony snatching the sketchbook from my hands the instant I did.

"JARVIS this enough to do facial rec?" He held it up for the room and the AI to see.

"It should be. Scanning now."

Within seconds the image had been delivered to Nat's computer. "Got it. Running facial rec on the CCTV footage going back two hours prior and post."

"She really said she'd tried to kill you?" Clint sounded truly curious.

"Several times supposedly and I have no reason to doubt her."

"Any chance she could be one of yours?" Clint asked of Nat.

She lifted her head from the tablet running the search. "Red Room? Possible, but Russia's not the only country with that type of program. She have an accent?"

I shook my head. "Exact opposite, in fact."

"Generic American voice number three," Tony intoned, causing Nat to snort in amusement.

"This is weird," Nat muttered.

I had a sinking feeling we'd struck out on tracking her down. "What's wrong?"

"She's not here. Any chance she can turn invisible?"

I chuckled. "Well, I didn't see her do so."

Clint laughed. "Could she have avoided all the cameras?"

Nat shook her head. "No. Thanks to Steve we have at least one instance where we know exactly where she is and the camera saw nothing. And before you say the recordings could have been damaged, I've already checked the timestamps, it's continuous." She rotated the tablet about.

I recognized the setting. She, Jade, should have been standing in the entranceway to the service tunnel, which had its own camera placement right above the door. You could even see me speaking to someone and yet where she should be was nothing. Just the wall and doorway. "Unless I got knocked upside the head and imagined the whole thing she should be right there."

"She made herself into a blind spot," Tony stated. "Probably wrote a macro that tells the system to ignore her. So yeah you could say she's invisible."

"I'll reach out to some of my contacts, see if I can put a real name to the face," Nat offered.

"Do it. I doubt I'm the only one on her personal hit list." Even if she hadn't fired on me in the end, she'd made no bones about the fact that she had killed others. My phone pinged then, the pop up informing me I had an email from one jadedandbored. Intrigued I took the bait and opened it.

The email itself short and to the point. Just in case you want to prevent the next bomb from going off. Followed with a set of coordinates and pictures. "Nat, did they figure out who the bombers were?"

She shook her head. "No. No one took responsibility for it, why?"

I turned my phone about to show her. "Looks like my assassin did."

Tony grabbed my phone from my hands. "No way this can be real. JARVIS."

"Yes, sir. Searching now."

"Well," Nat prompted after only a couple of minutes.

"See for yourself, Miss Romanov."

The tablet lit up and she whistled. "Your girl is good. This appears to be legit and Interpol has been after these guys for years."

"So she's an assassin who turns in bad guys?" Clint queried with the same confusion in his voice that I currently experienced. "Isn't that kinda against the bad guy code of thou shalt not be a stool pigeon?"

"How would I know?" I met Nat's eyes, the question unstated in mine.

"Oh, no, I am not getting in the middle of this." She managed a sly grin for me. "Shall I pass this on to the relevant authorities?"

Tony clapped a hand on my shoulder. "Hell no. We'll handle this. Wouldn't want to disappoint your girlfriend after all."

I instantly protested. "She's not my girlfriend."

"Yet," Tony reminded.

That earned a round of snickers from the others.

I gave up right then. I knew the jokes and needling would only get worse the longer I protested. I stood. "Suit up. Time to got to work."