Steve Rogers looked around in awe as he found himself in a bustling 1940s-esque jazz club, trying to figure out how he got there as the music continued to roar.

"Are you ready for our dance?"

Steve felt his heart stop at the sound of a familiar voice, turning around to see Peggy Carter, young and beautiful and vibrant, standing before him, offering her hand.

The Founder of SHIELD tilted her head as the soldier remained as still as a statue, his eyes full of confusion and conflict. "Steve, what's wrong?"

"I can't."

"I'll show you how," Peggy told him with a smile, remembering that he never learned to dance.

"No." Steve took a step back as he started to remember: being frozen in the ice, becoming an Avenger, meeting his soulmate. This was all wrong. "This isn't my home anymore."

The second those words left his lips, Steve heard a loud crack, looking down to see that the floor had somehow turned into a large sheet of ice. And he was standing right on top of the crack. Steve's heart stopped as he fell through into the arctic waters below, the strong, vicious currents dragging him down into the cold, dark abyss below.

"Steve."

The soldier suddenly found the strength to keep his eyes open at the sound of a familiar voice, looking up to see a bright red light shining from the surface.

"Natasha." Captain America struggled to rise off his hands and knees as he fought against the powers of Wanda Maximoff, trying to make differ fantasy from reality, a single thought keeping him sane. "Natasha."

Natasha Romanoff felt her heart attempt to leap out of her chest as she found herself walking down a familiar wooden staircase, where she found a trio of rooms full of young girls, deep in their studies of ballet, markmanship and hand-to-hand combat.

"It's time."

Natasha felt knees begin to shake at the sound of familiar voice, turning around to see an old woman in black standing before her, a red hourglass pin attached to her dress. The headmistress of Red Room.

"No." Natasha quickly attempted to draw her gun, only for it to disappear the second she pointed it at the headmistress.

The former Russian spy felt the color drain from her face as she suddenly found herself strapped to a hospital bed, being wheeled through the medical wing of the complex. Not again. She could not go through the graduation ceremony again.

"Natasha."

As the female Avenger began to lose hope, she heard a familiar voice, keeping her eyes locked one of the operating rooms as they wheeled past, a glowing blue light coming from the seams of the door.

"Nat." Clint Barton let out a sigh of relief as he found his best friend sitting on the staircase, her face pale and covered in sweat as she stared off into the distance. The archer quickly closed the gap between them, kneeling down in front of her and bringing a hand to her face. Whatever the Maximoff girl had done to her, it left Natasha with a serious fever. "Nat, it's me," he said, as she failed to even recognize his presence "It's Clint."

"Steve," she said in a weak voice, completely unaware that she was using her Russian accent. "Steve."

"I'll find Steve," Clint promised, helping Natasha to her feet as he draped her arm over his shoulder "First I need to get you out of here."

"Rogers." Thor's head pounded with the roar of thunder as he fought against the Maximoff's magic, finding the super soldier lying on the ground on all fours. "Get up Rogers," the prince of Asgard demanded, helping Steve to his feet.

He was shaking. His skin was pale and cold. His lips were turning blue. He looked as if he'd been dropped in the land of Frost Giants and left for dead.

"Natasha," Steve gasped in a shivering voice "Natasha."

"I'll find her for you Rogers," Thor vowed, draping one of the soldier's arms over his shoulder to help him walk "You have my word. First we need to get you to the jet."

"Natasha," Steve repeated "Natasha."

"Steve! Steve, I'm in here!" Natasha shouted, fighting to break free of her bonds as she lay in an operating room, surrounded by a small army of doctors. "Steve!"

"Your soulmate cannot help you now," the headmistress informed, as she filled a syringe with a sedative.

"Natasha."

It was at that moment the Black Widow realized that her soulmate wasn't calling her name because he was looking for her. He was calling her because he needed help. "What are you doing to him?"

"Molding him into our image," the headmistress answered "just as we did with you."

"NO!" The Black Widow suddenly found that one of her legs had broken free and kicked the headmistress away as she attempted to apply the sedative, the needle flying through the air and into the female Avenger's hand. Natasha quickly used the syringe to cut away the strap at her wrist and threw it into the neck of one of the doctors, rendering him unconscious as he fell to the ground.

The Black Widow kicked two of the doctors away as they attempted to restrain her, grabbing one of the scalpels from the medical try beside her and throwing it into one of their necks with deadly precision. Natasha quickly reached across the table and undid the strap tying down her other wrist, only for one of the doctors to pounce on her again and pin both her arms down. Natasha kicked the doctor hard in the groin before she slammed her forehead against his, disorienting him long enough for her to grab another scalpel and stab him three times in the stomach.

After freeing her other leg, Natasha jumped down from the bed and ducked as the last doctor swung at her wildly. The Black Widow slammed her fist into his throat, causing him to choke on his breath as she dislocated his knee with a mighty kick. As the doctor fell to his good knee, Natasha grabbed his head with both hands and snapped his neck with one perfect twist. Realizing that there was only one thing standing between her and saving her soulmate, the Black Widow drew her gun and aimed it right at the head of the headmistress.

The old woman gave her student of murderous glare. "We made you."

"You broke me," Natasha disputed "I won't let you break him." And she pulled the trigger.

"Nat, wait!" Clint's eyes widened in confusion as his best friend suddenly turned away from the exit, stumbling her way to the center of the installation "Where are you going?"

"Steve," she answered, leaning heavily on the railing as she kept walking.

"Judging by the fact all you can say is Steve, I'm guessing this is a soulmate thing?" Clint presumed.

"Steve."

"I'll take that as a yes."

Natasha shot and killed two guards as she burst out of the operating room, sliding under the leg of the third before she popped up on one knee and but a bullet in the back of his head. As the Black Widow quickly reloaded her now empty gun, she heard a voice.

"Natasha."

"Steve!" she shouted. Where was he? How did Red Room even get to him? This was all her fault. Natasha never should've pushed Steve away. But after shooting him in her sleep, she was so terrified that she would end up killing the only man she had ever loved. And now her past was trying to kill him.

No. She wouldn't let that happen. Steve was the most important thing in the world to Natasha, even if she hadn't been acting like it recently. And nothing short of an army would keep her from saving him.

"Steve!"

"Rogers, what's wrong?" Thor glanced at his friend curiously as Steve suddenly stopped walking toward the exit, turning his head towards a corridor on their left.

"Natasha." The soldier stepped out from under Thor's arm and made his way to the center of the complex, stumbling into the wall before he propped his arm against it, using it to stay upright as he kept moving.

Thor wasn't surprised. Whatever the depths of the Maximoff girl's powers, they were nothing compared to the bond fate tied between two hearts.

"Follow your heart, Rogers. I'm right behind-," the god of thunder's words turned into a strangled grunt as the pounding in his head intensified, the visions of Asgard in flames causing him to stumble back into a corner. "I'll be along in a minute."

Steve swam through the arctic waters as fast as he could, the current fighting against him every step of the way. But he kept going. He had to get back to the surface. Back to the red light. Back to Natasha.

"Steve."

She was in trouble. He could hear it in her voice. Feel it in his heart. He never should've let her leave that Tower that night. He should've broken the door down and held her in his arms until she knew that he wasn't angry her. That he loved her and always would love her. No matter what. Now she was in danger and he wasn't there to help her. But not for long. Natasha was Steve's soulmate. And he would swim across thousand oceans to save her if he had to.

As the first Avenger made his way closer to the wall of ice, unaware that up had somehow had turned to forward, he saw his soulmate on the other side of the ice, the Black Widow wearing a thin linen hospital gown as two large men in nurse uniforms attempted to drag her into a dark gothic castle in the distance.

The first Avenger felt his blood start to boil as he saw Natasha reaching out to him with terror-filled eyes, causing him to raise his fist and slam it against the ice. Over and over, the soldier attempted to punch his way out of the water, stopping only for a moment when he heard the strange sound of ringing metal.

Steve's eyes widened as his shield suddenly reappeared on his arm, raising it high and slamming it against the ice, finally causing it to crack.

The Black Widow left a trail bodies behind her as she searched for her soulmate, coming to a stop as she found a door surrounded by an icy blue light.

"Steve!" Natasha's eyes widened in horror as she looked through the window to the room where he was being held, the soldier tied to a metal chair with three armed guards surrounding him, his face covered in blood and bruises. As the female Avenger prepared to shoot the lock off the door, a pair of massive arms grabbed her from behind, pulling her back down the hall. The Black Widow clenched her jaw as she swung her head back into the guard's nose, disorienting him long enough for Natasha to swing her legs over her head and wrap her calves around his neck. The female Avenger let out a strained grunt as she used her legs to flip the guard over her head and onto the ground, the red-headed assassin landing on his chest right before she fired a bullet into the middle of his head.

Natasha's heart stopped as she looked back into the room where Steve was held, only to find that he had suddenly disappeared from sight. The Black Widow shot the lock off the door right before she kicked it open, shooting each of the guards dead with lethal accuracy as she marched in.

"Steve? Steve!" Where was he? There was no other way in or out of the room so where?

The female Avenger looked down at her feet as she suddenly noticed a strange thumping sound, realizing that she was standing on the locked doors to a water filled cellar. With Steve Rogers banging on the other side.

"Steve, back up! Back up!" Natasha repeated. The Black Widow quickly stepped off the doors and drew her gun, shooting the lock off its hinges right before she pulled off the chain and ripped open the doors.

Steve Rogers gasped for air as Natasha pulled him out of the water, the super soldier now standing on the shore of a beautiful Hawaiian beach at sunset, wearing nothing more than a pair of navy blue swim trunks. The first Avenger gave his soulmate a look as he wiped his wet hair out of his face. "Don't laugh."

"I'm not laughing," Natasha said with a smile, the Black Widow wearing a black bikini, her hair sticking to her face in wet curly strands "There's absolutely nothing funny about Captain America being scared of the dolphins he oh so desperately wanted to swim with."

"I snuck on me! I thought it was a shark!" Steve exclaimed, causing Natasha to let out a chuckle. "You said you wouldn't laugh!"

"I'm sorry," she said in between a string of giggles.

"That's it. Come here," Steve demanded, chasing her onto to the beach.

Natasha let out a yelp as Steve tacked her into the snow, the Russian spy and her soulmate wearing matching ski suits as they enjoyed a vacation in the Swiss Alps. Natasha let out a shriek as Steve grabbed a handful of snow, smiling mischievously as he smashed it against her cheek.

"That'll teach you not to laugh at me!" he laughed.

The Black Widow squirmed out from under her soulmate and filled her hands with snow, clumping it into a ball and throwing it right at Steve's face, running back towards the ski lodge as he chased after her.

Clint and Thor found Steve and Natasha in the middle of the compound, the soldier resting his chin on the top of her head as she used his chest from a pillow, sitting against the handrail, fast asleep.

"Unbelievable." Clint shook his head in disbelief as he knelt down in front of Steve and Natasha, making sure they still weren't experiencing anymore side effects from Wanda Maximoff's powers. Her fever was gone. And the color had returned to Steve's face. "Nat," he whispered as he gently rocked his best friend's shoulder "Nat, wake up."

The Black Widow let out a soft hum as she nuzzled her face into her soulmate's chest, causing Steve to wrap an arm around her and pull her close.

Clint looked away from his friends as the god of thunder started to laugh. "What's so funny?"

Thor looked at the sleeping Avengers and smiled. "I told Rogers fate would bring her back."