Chapter Three
Natasha woke in Steve's arms. It felt wonderful, safe, but she decided it was also a mistake, a momentary lapse of good judgment. Steve Rogers did not date women with her background. No, she needed to make a quick and easy break making sure he knew this was a one-time thing, even though it was tempting to wake up in his arms every morning. He stirred beside her. Opening his eyes, he looked at her with affection, maybe even love in his eyes, and Natasha insides knotted. She could fall in love with this man, maybe she was already there, but it wouldn't be right. Black Widow and Captain America, the names said it all.
"Good morning, Natasha," said Steve softly.
"Morning, Captain," she said coldly as she separated herself from him by pushing herself away from him.
"Captain?" he said. "I'm back to being Captain."
He was surprised if not hurt by this. Although he wasn't ready to admit it, he was falling in love with Natasha Romanoff. He had always been attracted to her. There was a strength about her that reminded him of Peggy, and the more time he spent with her the more he wanted to spend time with her. But now she was pulling away from him.
"It's morning. Last night was nice, real nice, Captain, but now it's time for us to get back to business," she said.
"You mean last night was just a way to pass the evening for you," he said.
Natasha got out of bed wearing no clothes. She stood there in front of him looking desirable and beautiful, yet the message she was giving him was telling him that she'd had enough.
"It was for one night, Captain. It won't happen again," she said. "Now I have to take a shower then we should get on the road."
"I see, Agent Romanoff," he said quietly. "I understand."
He didn't understand anything. Once again, he was reminded that he was a man from a different period of time. He didn't belong here.
She looked at him and saw the pain in his eyes. Instead of pushing him away, she wanted to get back in his arms, but she was Black Widow not some woman he could share a life with. She turned, grabbed her SHIELD jumpsuit off the back of a chair, and walked into the bathroom. Running the shower, her eyes burned with tears. No, she didn't cry, not for a man. She didn't want to cause him pain, but this was for the best.
Steve got up. He wanted to be angry but all he felt was gut punched and sad. Quickly getting his jeans, collarless jersey shirt, boots, and leather jacket quickly on, he unpacked Natasha's weapons and SHIELD communicator from his saddlebags putting them on the bed. Once that was done, he slung the saddlebags over his shoulders and took off. There was no reason for him to stay and he had decided he didn't want SHIELD's help with Red Skull. He would deal with the Red Skull with the help of friends.
Finishing her shower, Natasha dried herself, dressed in her SHIELD uniform, and exited the bathroom. Steve was gone. She should have anticipated this reaction. On the bed laid all her weapons and her communicator. He had left them for her. She picked up the communicator and punched in Hawkeye's code.
"Hey, Tasha," Clint's voice came over the communicator.
"I need you to pick me up, Clint," she said.
"Why? Where's Cap?" he asked.
"He took off without me. Please, pick me up," she said.
"I'll be there in an hour in a quinjet. I got your back," he said. "Are you okay? You sound upset?"
"I made a mistake with Captain Rogers," she said.
"Hey, we'll figure it out. He's a good guy. Trust me he won't hold anything against you," said Clint.
"Thanks, partner," she said then hung up then sat down on the bed. "What the hell did I do?"
She looked at the unmade bed and mumbled, "Lyoo Bov neek."
Avengers
The quinjet hovered about seven feet off the ground in front of the lodge. The back ramp opened up and a muscular arm extended out grabbing the leaping Natasha and pulling her into the transport. She found herself in the familiar arms of Clint, who gave her a lascivious smile.
"I thought we agreed no more sex, that we are just friends," he chuckled.
"Not in the mood, Clint," said Natasha.
The back ramp closed and she took a seat, while he barked an order to the pilot. She sat down in one of the seats and Clint into the empty seat beside her.
"Take us to Stark Tower in New York," Clint ordered.
"New York?" asked Natasha, as Clint sat beside her.
"Fury wants us to confer with Banner and let Cap and Stark do what they have to do. We'll give them room and act as their backup, which they don't know about," he explained.
"Oh," she mumbled.
Part of her was glad to be avoiding Captain Rogers, while another part wanted to desperately to see him. Clint observed her closely.
"What happened?" he asked.
"I don't what to talk about it," she said.
Clint looked at the beautiful red head beside him and smiled. For all her strength and he knew that she was the strongest person he knew, there was always a hint of vulnerability about her that made her even beautiful. She thought this vulnerability was a weakness, but he knew it was what kept her human.
"Tasha, you can tell me. I'm your partner. I have your back," he said.
"I slept with him," she said.
"Slept with who?" he asked.
"Steve," she answered softly.
Clint leaned back in his seat, "Wow."
For a few moments, they were silent. Clint was shocked that his partner had slept with his idol. Captain America and Black Widow, in a strange it made sense. They were both so strong, so good at what they did, yet they were both missing something. He looked at her and saw her maudlin Russian blood was kicking in, so he decided to lighten the mood.
"So, how was he?" he smiled.
She looked at him and he could see the anguish in her eyes.
"That good," he said and the he did something surprising and gave her a hug. "What happened?"
He half expected for her to kick his ass in the back of the quinjet, but she surprised him. Natasha accepted some comfort from her best friend.
"The next morning I blew him off. I can't be seeing Captain America. You know who I am, what I am. I told him it was a one-nighter then I took a shower. He left," she told him.
"Shit, Tasha, you really like him don't you?" Clint said. He could see it in her eyes and feel it in the tension of her body.
"I think I'm in love with him, Clint," she said. "I don't do love."
"Of course, you do love. What you don't do is anything easy," he said then he kissed the top of her head. "How does Cap feel about you?"
"I think he was falling for me until I pulled my one-nighter act on him," she said. "I hurt him."
"Yup, that's a complicated little situation you've got there," he said.
"I'm an assassin and he's a hero," she stated.
"You do realize that he doesn't hold your past against you, that he judges people on their current actions and based on them, you are a hero, also," he said.
"Clint, he's so damned good. He scares me," she said. "You know my background."
"Tasha, don't underestimate yourself," Clint smiled. "You are something special."
"I am an assassin," she said.
He chuckled, "Darling, I keep telling you that you are so much more than that."
Avengers
Stark Tower was new to the downtown LA skyline. It was the tallest and most impressive building around and, like its sister building in New York; it was powered by an arc reactor. Stark Industry still made weapons, though now it was exclusively for SHIELD, it had recovered its stock price based on clean energy and other factors. Tony was getting ready for a night out with Pepper when Steve arrived. JARVIS identified him as Captain America, code name Capiscle. He let him into the secure part of the building allowing him to take the private elevator to the penthouse.
When the elevator doors opened and Steve carrying his shield and saddlebags walked into the penthouse. Pepper, who was wearing a black evening dress, looked at him. She immediately knew that he was upset and it was more than SHIELD business.
"Captain, how are you?" she said.
"I'm fine, Miss Potts," he answered.
"Captain, I keep telling you to call me Pepper," she said.
Tony came out in an expensive hand tailored suit. He smiled when he saw it was Steve.
"Or Virginia. She loves when you call her Virginia," he said.
"Tony, you know I hate the name Virginia," Pepper corrected him.
"Really, now I know why you hit me so much when I call you Virginia," he said then looked at Steve. "So why are you here in LA, Capiscle?"
"Red Skull," he said.
Those were the only words he needed to say. Tony understood that the Red Skull was almost Steve's physical equal, but more importantly he was a scientific genius who had a penchant for making weapons of mass destruction.
"Tell me he's still dead and you just want to talk about old times," said Tony.
"SHIELD believes he is alive and back," said Steve.
"Sorry to hear that, Cap," said Tony, who then looked at Pepper. "Rain check?"
She smiled, "Rain check. I'll go put coffee on and maybe make us some sandwiches. I have a feeling it is going to be a long night."
Pepper left the living room area. Steve watched her go and felt a twinge of jealousy for a moment. As difficult and self-centered as Stark could be, he had a good woman loving and supporting him. Thoughts of his night of passion with Natasha entered his head, but he suppressed them. Women, he'd never understand, and love seemed like it would always just be outside of his reach. From here on, it would be about the mission and the mission only. That seemed to be the only way for him to fit in to this time.
"You're a lucky man, Stark," he said.
"I know, Cap. I don't deserve her," Tony said. "Let's get down to my workroom. We have to find the Red Skull, so Captain America can kick some ass with the help of a friend."
Avengers
Tony hacked into SHIELD's computers with ease and retrieved all current intel on the Red Skull. According to what they had, the Red Skull back in the plane with Cap, had been transported by the Tesseract to another world or another dimension. It had taken him years to find a way, but finally he found a way to return to earth. Coincidence being a bitch, it just so happen that he returned to earth during the same time period Captain America was revived.
The rumor was that Red Skull was now back in charge of Hydra, which explained their recent bold tactics. Unlike Zemo, he had world domination as a goal.
"Do we know where he is?" asked Steve, who was sipping on a fresh cup of coffee.
"There is a Hydra keep in the Bavarian Mountains. To be exact, it is in Hochwanner," he said. "It's hidden within the mountains, an advance weapons research lab and training area."
"Sounds like someplace the Red Skull would hide," said Steve.
"There is also a well-guarded compound outside of Kiel, Germany that is a possibility," he said.
"We should start with Hochwanner," said Steve. "If for no other reason than to take out their weapons producing capability."
Tony sighed, "I guess you're going to want Iron Man's company."
Steve walked up to him and put his hand reassuringly on his shoulder. Tony tried not to smile.
"You've done enough for me, my friend," said Steve. "All I need is all the intel we can get on Hochwanner and transport there."
Tony turned and looked at him and smirked, "You know how I hate to cause trouble, especially for SHIELD, Cap, but it looks like Iron Man is going to butt into SHIELD business and help clean up Hydra. This is now Avengers' business."
"Just the two of us," said Steve.
"I'm not in the mood to deal with Hulk, Thor is in Asgard probably feasting, and Hawkeye and Black Widow means we have to deal with SHIELD, so, yeah, just you and me," said Tony.
Steve smiled, "We need to start planning our operation."
"That's your job, Cap. I need to make sure Pepper is happy for the rest of the evening," he said.
With one graceful motion, Tony gathered all the virtual intel on Hochwanner up and threw it into a laptop knowing Steve could handle that level of tech. He then walked over to the laptop, picked it up then he handed it to Steve.
"Get to work, Cap," said Steve. "I'm going to check on my lady."
Steve smiled as he watched Stark stroll away.
Avengers
"JARVIS access the information Tony has been accessing," requested Bruce.
He stood in the computer lab of the New York building along with Clint and Natasha. When they explained about the Red Skull and Steve's unwillingness to deal with the Red Skull along with SHIELD, he agreed that they might need backup.
"It seems that they are interested in a Hydra base in the Bavarian Mountains," said Bruce. "It's in Hochwanner."
"I know the base," said Clint. "Captain America and Iron Man taking on that base by themselves might be too much for them. It's a weapons research lab and training center. They could face up to five hundred well-armed Hydra agents."
"Fool," said Natasha under her breath.
Clint looked at her out of the corner of his eye and suppressed a smile.
"So, do you want the information they've accessed?" asked Bruce.
"Give it to us, Doc," said Clint.
"We should let Fury know we are going to need some stealth transport and a special ops team," said Natasha.
"One step at a time, Tasha," said Clint, as he watched Banner access and download the information they needed.
