I've been working on this baby for a while now and it's finally ready for posting. The following chapter takes place right at the end of CA:CW (but before the post credit scene with Bucky).
"Hey, solider."
Steve whirled around; fists coiled and taunt shoulders dropping with surprise upon recognizing the red head perched atop the security camera desk. Behind her an unconscious guard sat slumped in his chair. She uncrossed her legs and jumped down from the desk gracefully.
"Where's your shadow?" She inquired, peering around him and down the corridor where numerous bodies lay in Steve's wake.
"Safe," he answered, his muscles tightening again in anticipation of a fight. What is she doing here? He eyed her suspiciously, trying to determine if she was poising herself to attack. The last time he'd seen her they'd faced off at the Leipzig airport and he wondered if maybe this time she wasn't going to simply step aside.
As if having read his mind, she released a short exasperated sigh and explained her presence in the maximum-security prison. "Didn't think I'd let you attempt a prison break without me did you?" She cocked her head to the side; green eyes alight with mischief. "Nice work on scrambling the bay doors security system during shift change, Rogers. I'm impressed. Did his majesty lend you some of his fancy toys?"
"I don't know what you're talking about," Steve denied, still unsure as to the Black Widows motives and more importantly – her allegiances. A part of him longed to believe that maybe, just maybe, she had been on his side from the beginning and that she'd never really been swayed by the dubious prospect of the Accords. However, with everything that had happened with S.H.I.E.L.D and Hydra back in DC, the Captain had begun to grow suspicious of every single persons agenda around him nowadays. The only person he could wholly trust without doubt was himself.
"Well I'd love to stand here while you weigh up whether you can trust me or not, but we've only got seven more minutes before the security cameras I've just disabled come back online. If it's all the same I'd really like to be long gone before General Ross figures out I'm here." She arched an eyebrow at him and inclined her head towards the hallway behind her. "You coming, Rogers?"
Steve chewed on the inside of his cheek, uncertainty echoing in his mind and heart. A beat later and he found himself nodding and taking a step forward to follow her. Satisfied, Natasha took off in a dead sprint, turning right down a short corridor that splintered off into two different directions – all of them unmarked and identical in nature. She motioned left while pulling a gun and a security card from the holster of her cat suit, an indicated that they should take the large door at the end of the hallway. He slid to a stop, glancing behind them for any guards while she swiped the card through the security reader.
Seconds later the door unlocked with a dull beep and he exited the brightly lit grey hallway and stepped down onto a narrow steel catwalk. The size of the RAFT prison had been deceivingly small until now. The catwalk the duo stood on wrapped around the entire circular perimeter of the prison. Three narrow catwalks crisscrossing across the mammoth hollow interior of the circle. Following Natasha closely onto the middle catwalk, Steve cast a wary glance below. An onslaught of wind and sea spray ruffled the hair on his head, the roaring gusts threatening to pull both of them down below into the churning sea. Despite the thin metal railing bordering the catwalk, Steve didn't like his chances of balance if a fight broke out on the flimsy looking walkway. "Where is everyone?" he asked, sweeping his head back and forth to study their surroundings.
They reached the end of the catwalk and paused at the bottom of a metal stairwell. "Three on your far right. Fully armed. I'll take these two," Natasha whispered. Steve nodded his understanding and sure enough, no sooner had they ascended the steps two guards whirled around and charged towards them.
The crackle of stun batons rang in the air and Steve ducked low, avoiding a reckless swipe from one of the guards and shoved him heavily into Natasha waiting kick. Leaving her to it, he streaked further down the hallway and found his group of guards loitering around the corner of the next hallway. While unaccustomed to fighting without the surprise element of his shield, Steve made sure to land a hard kick to the middle of the first guards spine, effectively shoving him awkwardly into the other two guards. They cried out in a mess of limbs, scrambling to activate their batons and attack the infamous Avenger. Two quick jabs to the taller of the trio's sternum and another to his shoulder left one man incapacitated and falling in a heap. The next guard attempted to stun the Captains knee, and while the electric jolt sent a ripple of pain to his surrounding muscles, it wasn't strong enough to stop him from grabbing that attacker by the scruff of the neck and throwing him head first into the wall behind him. The guard crumpled much like the first guard had, leaving the last guard throwing his baton aside and reaching for his firearm. The bewildered man barely got a shot off before Steve elbowed him in the nose, and swept his legs out from under him, cracking his head on the super soldiers knee cap before falling unconscious like his comrades.
"Where to next?" He asked, turning in time to see Natasha disarming the next security door in front of him.
"Through here – I'll take care of the light show and alarms."
He nodded in thanks whilst Natasha darted off towards the large double doors at the end of the hall. He was eternally grateful he hadn't been left to navigate the complicated prison from the vague map King T'Challa has sketched him. Every corridor and door looked identical from the last, without any numbers or nameplate indicating what door held what. Pushing the useless thought aside, he slipped through the door and made his way to his imprisoned teammates.
Steve paused momentarily as above his head the lights flickered and were extinguished, leaving only the murky shadows from emergency lighting. He recognized Barton in the cell closest to the door, the bored archer glaring up at the ceiling. In the cell next to him, Scott paused from drumming his hands on his desk. Directly ahead of Steve, Sam turned around in his cell looking suspiciously into the darkness. A familiar grin lit up his face as he recognized his friend as he stepped into the light. "Well it's about damn time."
"Sorry I'm late. I had to stop and ask for directions," Steve apologized, removing a small square handheld device T'Challa had given to him before he'd left. From what the Wakandian King had explained, it was some sort of contained C4 explosive. The blonde Captain glanced over at Wanda on his right who still remained seated with her back to him. He cast Sam a concerned glance and found the man's response less than reassuring. "You guys ready to go?"
"Nah, I was just considering redecorating my new digs. Maybe a splash of paint, some oak floorboards, a nice wicker basket... hurry up and get us the hell out of here!" Barton snarled, leaning against his cell door and waving at Steve to hurry up.
"Step back, I don't know how big the blast will be," Steve warned, jogging over to each cell and, thanks to the magnetic back, attached the small blinking devices to the center of each door. "Wanda, you with me?" He prompted gently when he reached her cell. The young woman slowly looked over her shoulder, her eyes empty and hollow. Yet she did as she was told – albeit sluggishly as her arms where bound in a straight jacket. Steve's heart sunk as he watched her and the anger that hadn't burned since his fight with Tony returned with full vengeance. How dare they do this to her? Treating her like she was some kind of rabid wild animal. It made him feel sick.
"Time's ticking boys." Natasha warned, yanking on the collar of Steve's shirt to pull him backwards before he activated the blast from a remote beacon. He shut one eye in anticipation for the blast but was disappointed when a small silver bolt of electricity, similar to Natasha widow bites, rippled from the device and radiated around the cell door frame.
"Was that it?" Sam asked and warily stepped forward. He pushed on the door experimentally to find it gave way as easily as tissue paper. "Nice!" Sam approved, exiting his cell.
"Well look what the cat dragged in." Clint leered, having now joined Natasha as she was pulling Wanda's cell door open.
"I spoke to Lara, she said you owe her a new bedroom furniture set," Natasha retorted, sending her friend a smug grin. She made short work undoing the clips and buckles on Wanda's straitjacket.
"That right? Well did you tell her you punched me first?" Clint contended, pulling the jacket up and over Wanda's head. The Sokovian native reached towards the collar around her neck timidly, but was stopped by Natasha who was already pulling what looked like a fat pen from her back pocket.
Steve watched through narrowed eyes as Natasha clicked on the end of the object and instructed Wanda to hold very still. Running a small red beam of light across the middle of the collar, the red head squinted in concentration as the beam released a sizzling sound while cutting easily through the metal. It only took a second for her to draw a line when the collar suddenly fell free and onto the ground with a clank.
Natasha reached towards Wanda's neck, gently inspecting to make sure there was no heat or damage to her skin before pressing a gentle comforting hand to the brunettes' cheek. "You're safe now," Natasha promised and wiped away an errant tear that had fallen from Wanda's eye with her thumb.
An ear piercing alarm shattered the fugitive's silence. "I thought you said you dealt with the alarms?" Steve shouted over the noise at Natasha.
She tossed him a glare and waved at them to exit through the way they came. "There must have been on in the collar!" she answered, drawing her weapon again. She led the way back to the stairs, only to find that with the introduction of the alarms, guards were now starting to pour from every hallway and door around them.
"So do you have some kind of an exit plan, Cap? Cos we could do with one right about now!" Sam shouted over the chaos of shots firing and the alarms blaring.
"This is kinda how I saw it going!" Steve yelled back, storming forth to take out two guards simultaneously as he led the way precariously back across the catwalk.
"Which is exactly why I knew I'd better have a plan B," Natasha called out and before any of them had a chance to act, she pushed Steve aside and tossed four silver egg-shaped objects towards the awaiting group of guards charging up the catwalk. "Hold on!" She shouted in warning. No sooner had they all grabbed a railing, a sonic wave blasted through the unsuspecting guards and the catwalk snapped in half and slammed down into a steep 60-degree angle. Natasha was the first one to regain her balance, leaping off the catwalk and onto the one below. The rest of them followed, their escape paths now clear ahead as the guards above frantically tried to rearrange themselves.
"That was… surprisingly well thought out." Scott appraised with a nervous laugh.
"Come on!" Steve growled, waving the rest of them along and across the top of the fallen guards. Making their way back to the entrance proved significantly easier thanks to Natasha and the absence of any guards. In record time they made it back to the waiting quinjet that he'd arrived in. Everyone save Natasha hurled themselves inside the aircraft panting from their mad dash. "Wait! Nat, aren't you coming?" Steve hollered, when he realized that Natasha standing by the entrance doors.
"Not yet, I'll catch up."
"Natasha!" Steve reached out for her arm, thoroughly confused as she waved them off.
"Steve, it's ok. I got this. Go!"
"But if General Ross-"
"I'll be long gone before he gets here."
"Nat!" Clint called, having settled Wanda in a seat and buckled her up. He came to see what the hold up was.
She smiled confidently at them both and continued to back away. "It's fine. Go. Tell Laura I'll make good on my promise."
"Ah guys, we've got company." Sam called from the front of the quinjet. He pointed at the ten plus guards charging their way down the staircases towards them.
"Dammit!" Clint snapped and sprung towards the pilot's chair and fired up the quinjet's engines. "Cap, it's time to go!"
Before Steve could respond, Natasha plundered back into the building, firing her weapon as she did so. Perplexed, he stumbled backwards in to the quinjet, the ramp raising, sealing him off from the red head. He staggered towards the front of the jet, sliding into the seat beside Clint to assist the man in launching, but the archer had it under control and was already calling for Scott to find a seat. The launch bay doors above them opened up, seawater raining down all around them. The engines roared with full power, the jet shaking slightly as Clint tilted them towards the sky. Worriedly, Steve turned once last time to look out the window and search for any sign of Natasha down below. To his frustration all he saw nothing but guards and seawater flooding the area they had just exited.
"She'll be fine." Clint assured him as he pushed harder on the throttle. "I know that look well – she has a plan. We'll probably see her in a couple of days."
"I hope so," Steve replied, his tone full of doubt. He braced himself as Clint banked a hard left and guided the jet into the looming storm clouds.
Feedback and comments always appreciated. :D