Hey! I'm back! This chapter may be a bit more buildup but things should start to get rolling. Thanks to Crowley's Apprentice for unofficially Beta Reading BOTH of these chapters! If you've read Ranger's Apprentice, you should go read her fics. Seriously, go do it as soon as you finish this chapter.
Chapter 2
"This is big. I didn't even know about this – did you even look at the classification on this folder? What exactly were you looking for?!" Natasha's voice varied from disbelief to scolding as she finished reading what Steve had brought her. "Did you find anything else related to this issue?"
"This report and the documents mentioned in it were the only things in this folder," Steve explained. "Before it was just boring status reports, a lot of departmental status reports, and a few complaints about having a woman in charge. I, well, I got kind of distracted, and I didn't look at whatever was after it."
"We'll start there, then." Natasha strode off towards the archives with the folder in her hand and a look of determination on her face. Steve had no choice but to follow.
"All of this stuff is more of the same. It's like the folder fell off a stack and landed in a totally different pile! Dead end." Steve couldn't keep the frustration out of his voice.
"I thought as much, but it was worth checking." Natasha treaded carefully, heading deeper into the dark room.
"Where are you going?!"
"Think of the classifications on the folder as a code. If you know what it means, It'll lead you back to wherever it came from." Flicking on a small light on her wrist, she began examining the file cabinets, occasionally looking down at the folder for reference. A few rows down, she stopped. "Here." Opening the drawer, Steve saw maybe four other folders, marked similarly with black ink. Flicking through the pages, a scowl grew over his face. "They did, like, nothing. They saved their own skin. This stuff here is details. They assessed the risk, attempted contact, then closed the case." Anger crept into his voice as the reality hit him. "I want answers," Steve growled. As he turned down the hall to storm away, Natasha grabbed his arm.
"We have to do this ourselves."
"What?" Steve looked at her incredulously. "We can't break into a HYDRA facility by ourselves! Heck, we need to run intel & observations. The two of us aren't even half the manpower we need!"
"Forcing them to admit they were wrong won't work. No matter how much Hill likes us, Fury won't let us do squat. If we try going up against him, that'll only tip him off, and then we really won't be able to rescue her."
"I assume you have a plan?"
" I know people. We can get others on our side. You're an army brat, but if we do this, we'll need to do this the intelligence way." Natasha looked him in the eye, dead serious. He could feel her examining him. "I can make this happen on your signal. "
"Let's do it, then." Steve didn't hesitate for a moment. He'd left Peggy behind all those years ago, and now he would get her back. He had to. Natasha nodded.
"Follow me." Together, they wound through the industrial halls. Nat knocked lightly on the vent above her head. "Code Black." Reaching for the comm in her ear, Steve heard a burst of static as she changed her channel. "Maria. Code Black, please." Steve frowned. Y'know, I think I have an army buddy I can call."
"I thought all your army buddies were dead," Natasha shot back.
"Yeah, yeah. Where are we meeting?" Steve was starting to see how this so called "plan" would work.
"Nuclear war bunker. Clint and I have been using it for ages. We know it's clean."
"Alright. Tell you what: you get your people, I'll get mine." Natasha raised an eyebrow, apprehensive. All Steve saw was her questioning his sanity. "I can do this. I'll meet you in your bunker, 30 minutes." With that they headed their separate ways.
Steve poked his head into the room full of people. It looked like the meeting had just disbanded, which was perfect. He was looking only for the person who had been leading it.
"Hey Steve, what's up? Come on in, this is basically my office."
"Thanks, Sam, I was wondering if you could help me with something." Sam took a seat, and so did Steve. "I'm just gonna say this at the start, you're welcome to decline."
"Well, that's not the usual way to get people to help you out." Sam raised an eyebrow. "Now I'm curious. What do you need?"
Steve had always found the whole classification levels thing rather stupid, so he had no qualms about telling Sam the entire story.
"So, you want me to help you and a few of your friends rescue this girl, going against the wishes of your superior officers, as well as possibly putting myself on the radar of an evil association that would otherwise not care about me, in addition to the possibility that I could die?" Sam had been an exceptional listener for the past few minutes.
"Like I said, you can always say no." Steve had to admit, when you put it that way, it was a lot to ask of your running partner.
"Don't worry, I'm in! Let's go rescue your girlfriend. I have some gear that might be useful…"
Steve was shocked. "Thanks! We can get your gear, then we have one more stop before we meet Natasha."
45 minutes later, Natasha opened the bunker to find Captain America, Iron Man, and a stranger with a winged jetpack (who looked a lot like Steve's new running partner) standing at the door.
"You're late. Wanna tell me what happened?"
