Natasha and Steve both woke up at the same time, that was an important day and, the sooner they got to the base the better. She wasn't exactly looking forward to invade the base, but, at least, had a dreamless sleep and she was grateful for that, it was good to get a bit of rest once in a while. Natasha equipped herself with all kinds of weapons, from the lightest ones to the heaviest, but not something too big, she needed to prepare herself for all kinds of situations they might find themselves in. She and Steve took almost the same time in preparing themselves and she even noticed he was taking his shield with him. She was almost telling him not t take it because it was too big when she noticed him pressing a button and making the shield even smaller.

Natasha nodded in approval of his action, it was a gesture she made more to herself than to him. She finished checking the weapons and went to car being followed by him. She drove them there and noticed that, this time, Steve didn't have his notebook in hand, he wasn't staring at the window like he normally did, instead, he was rigid against the soft leather seats of the car. She gripped the steering wheel tightly, her heart racing for a reason she couldn't quite figure. She could feel the adrenaline run through her veins making her speed up perhaps a bit more than necessary, but in a way that she still had full control of the car.

When the car stopped, they got down and walked in a faster speed towards the base, it seemed to be a much more important day for them. They entered the base after going through all the security processes and made their way towards the elevator. Natasha took a deep breath as they waited before the metal doors, the lab smelled of chemicals, many which she couldn't identify and that, along with the situation they found themselves in unnerved her. Silently, the doors slid open and they entered the metal box. Since it was used not only to transport people, but cargo as well, it was very big. Steve pressed the button and, as expected, they needed to identify themselves so they could go down, since only authorized personnel were allowed down there. It was a tense moment, none of them was sure that it would work. Natasha was used to carefully premeditated plans and she didn't like the sensation of knowing they were following a plan in which there might be flaws. The elevator moved smoothly, she could barely feel it. Unlike many other elevators, it didn't make such a big bump when it arrived at the last floor.

The doors slid open again and her eyes widened at the sight in front of her. It was a big room with many separate floors all connected by suspended bridges. The room was completely secure, the walls were all lined with plumb, so the Gama radiation that the scepter emitted wouldn't leak, even if it was an insignificant quantity. There were many tables and scientists walked quickly all over the lab taking notes and carrying stuff. Natasha stepped slowly out of the elevator, as if she was scared of the environment. She spotted Steve's tall figure and blond head already walking amidst the crowd of white lab coats.

It took her a little longer to spot the scepter, but, when she did, it was as if no one could stop her, as if the scepter was calling her. As she approached it, the extremely appealing object made of gold and one of the gems of the universe, it seemed to glow even more. When she was close enough, she started to reach for it, but a strong hand placed on her shoulder made her stop. That touch, it belonged to Steve and it broke her transe.

"Nat," He whispered, "What are you doing?"

"I am..." She started to say, but she didn't actually know the answer for his question, "I... I don't know. It seemed to be calling for me."

"I'll see if I can get my hands on any useful information and you should do the same." He told her before turning his back on her, "Oh, and try to maintain distance from this, you saw what it did to Loki. I'd hate to see you the same way." The last part was an almost inaudible whisper.

"Fine." She replied and walked away from the scepter, trying – and succeeding – to ignore the energy that seemed to pull her back to it. There were many other chemicals being submitted to experiments, so, knowing what they were and that they were used in whatever mix she and Steve were studying. As she stopped at the many balconies and read the files of what was being studied there. Most of the chemicals they were working with had the same effect as drugs such as cocaine and some others used by athletes to increase their resistance. Most of them aimed to increase the number of mitochondria and hemoglobin in the blood. Those traits, they seemed familiar, just like the serum she had taken. The serum.

Then, realization hit her, they were making a serum just like hers and Steve's, an improved one, to create even better soldiers and spies. Why? She had no idea, unless Russia was planning on attacking the U.S... But why would they want that? Despite the usual grudge held towards each other, she couldn't seem to find any major reasons for the rivalry between the two potencies at the moment.

Along with that doubt, came so many more of them, how did Zola manage to get his hands on the recipe of the serum? It had died with the American scientist, Dr. Erskine and the Russian one whose name she did not know. She remembered a man - she couldn't seem to remember his name, but his face seemed very familiar to someone she knew – telling her that no one had ever written down the formula, since it could get into the wrong person's hands. And what was the scepter being used for? It wasn't like it could enhance one's power or anything.

Until that moment, she had managed to ignore, if not forget, about the existence of that damned artifact, but its call for her got louder and louder until she couldn't ignore it anymore and she had to make her way back to where it was. All the other scientists ignored her as she neared the table where she was heading to. When she stopped in front of it, she pretended to be reading some files and that her hand touched the artifact. She touched it briefly, only once, but it was enough to send a wave of power, something like energy, through her body. Natasha felt her head start to hurt again as, in the speed of light, images flew through her head, blue colored images, she knew they were memories, but couldn't distinguish them.

A small groan left her mouth as she stumbled towards the elevator where they had come from. She could barely think straight at the moment, her vision was blurry and her head throbbed with images and memories and voices of her past, she couldn't focus on anything, but to get to the lab where she reckoned to be the safest place around.

~X~

Natasha opened the door, still tumbling, tripping on her own feet. When she heard the familiar sound of the door closing behind her, she on her knees, panting in pain as she allowed it to fill her body, an excruciating pain on her head, spread all over her body, so strong, she found herself unable to move. She couldn't stop them, the voices, the images, all of them were part of her past, some she couldn't even remember living. Then she fainted. Just like the other time she tried to remember, just that, Steve wasn't there to help her that time.

She opened her eyes and blinked twice. The first time to defog her eyes and the second to adjust her pupils to the dim artificial lighting of the lab. The scent of chemicals was strong in the air and, for a second, she wondered if she had accidentally hit a glass containing something toxic, but she dismissed the idea. She forced herself to stand and finding with satisfaction that her legs were obeying her and so was the rest of her body. Then she moved her hand to the comlink in her ear.

"Steve?" She asked after clearing her throat, "Are you there?"

It took him a while to answer, but he finally did, "Yeah, I am. Nat, we have to evacuate now"

Natasha didn't even question his orders, she didn't even ask why, not only she understood the situation they found themselves in but also she was eager to leave the place. She walked quickly towards the door and found that she couldn't walk too fast, else her head started to spin and she had to stop. She sighed and kept her head low all the way to the elevator, hoping she wouldn't have to share it with anyone.

As she wished, the elevator was empty and she pressed the button that led to the exit once, trying to keep her demeanor calm, not to show anyone – even if she was alone – the internal battle she was having with herself at the moment, trying to keep her feelings under control, trying to keep them in, because she knew that, if the leaked, even the smallest drop, she wouldn't be able to restrain the flood that came after it.

She was back outside, it had started to snow again and the wind was cold, she lifted the collar of her coat to protect her neck and rubbed her hands together, even though she was wearing gloves, it was still cold. Natasha waited for Steve outside the car when she heard gunshots. Natasha immediately reached for the 50mm automatic handgun she kept attached to her leg, she had one made especially for her when she entered S.H.I.E.L.D, its colors were graffiti and black, a mix between the two and only she could shoot it – it had system that recognized her fingerprints (a small gift from Stark) – the bullets were also specific, they entered the body through a small hole and shattered inside the victim's body.

She clicked off the safety and ran silently to the place where the gunshots were coming from, doing her best to ignore the dizziness. It didn't even bother her anymore, she had to find out what it was and nothing would stop her. Nothing. There wasn't an obstacle she couldn't overcome. When she was close enough, she saw it, Steve running from men, around thirty of them. Natasha sighed and reached for her other gun. While Steve was using his shield to protect himself and eventually dodge any bullets shot at him, Natasha aimed to kill.

Each one of her shots hit the target perfectly, headshots, instant kills. Deaths that didn't even leave time for the victims to process what was happening. She watched as many more of them appeared from the woods, she knew she couldn't take all of them down on her own. Dozens of men dressed in black running after them. She had no choice but to run. Fighting in that situation was a suicide call.

"Steve!" She shouted looking back, he was fighting the men, but not killing them. He was giving them a chance of a fair fight. "Run!"

"Go, Nat! I'll catch up with you."

"I'm not leaving you here." She ran back to where he was, knocking out whoever dared to step in her way. More of them seemed to come from everywhere, materialize in front of them. She took his hands and dragged him with her to the car, wondering what he had done to be followed by those men.

They got to the car and Natasha sat in the driver's seat, she waited for Steve to enter before driving off fast, too fast, almost. As they went away from the base and into relative safety, their breathings steadied and the adrenaline left their veins, the headache returned. It was much lighter than earlier.

"Steve." She said, her voice was unsure, almost a murmur as she spoke, "What did you do?"

"I... I don't know." He muttered after spending a few seconds in silence, "I mean, I was just walking around casually checking the files, when two guards told me they wanted to speak to me. I went with them and they attacked me."

"Um... That's weird." Natasha stated, "They must have realized that we're not scientists, perhaps not them, but somebody else, someone who's always watching."

"Nat... can I ask you something?" The silence that reigned between them was broken again.

"Sure." It was her reply.

"What was that with the scepter?"He asked, his voice was almost cracking, as if he was scared of asking that, scared of her reply, scared of her. And that almost broke her.

"I have no idea, and thanks for not letting me touch it, I don't even know what could happen if I did." She told him, her voice did not crack or falter, it was clean and remorseless just the contrary of what she felt, she felt bad because she was lying to him, something she had promised she wouldn't do, but she shrugged it off. It wasn't like he was going to find out anyway.

"And where were you while I was running from them?"

"I discovered something." She told him, never straying her eyes off the slippery road. "I discovered what they are doing."

"And what is it?" Impatience bled in his words.

"They are creating a version of the serum, an improved one and they are using particles of that stone in the center of the scepter." She said.

"What are the particles for?"

"I don't know I'll see if I can find anything out."

They were already entering the city again, she hadn't even noticed the time pass and she was grateful for that. She needed a hot shower and drink and a painkiller (though she knew it wouldn't work on her). She gave the car to the valet that stood in front of the hotel and they both went to the room.

"I'm going to take a bath now, Steve." She announced, she didn't actually know she did that, but she did before walking to the bathroom.

She undressed and, for the first time in a long while, she had a bath in the tub. She allowed herself to relax completely as the water touched her limbs. She closed her eyes and sighed. After around 15 minutes that way, her headache stopped and she started to wash up. When she was done, she went back to the bathroom wrapped on her towel and went to the closet where she chose her clothes. Jeans and a big loose shirt. Then she laid on the bed staring at the ceiling trying to figure why they were using the scepter.

She remembered what it did to Clint and to those who Loki touched with the tip of it, their eyes turned blue and they obeyed his orders without questioning. Mind control. She was almost getting to an answer, but there was still one piece of the puzzle missing. There was something more she needed to make the final connection.

She stood and paced around the room to see if that would help clear her mind. She also needed to understand what had happened with the scepter, she had no idea but it had awakened memories she didn't even know she had. Then her phone rang, breaking her line of thought.

"Hey." She answered.

"Natasha." Fury's voice sounded from the other side of the line.

"Did you put the dogs outside? I don't want any robbers to enter the house." She said.

"Yes, I did. Don't worry."

"Great. I have to tell you what I found." Natasha said, she knew that they were speaking through a secure line. "H.Y.D.R.A is developing an improved Super Soldier Serum."

"Very well. What else?"

"They are using particles of the stone in Loki's scepter in it. I still haven't figured out what it is for."

"Good." He muttered, making the corner of her lips curve lightly into a smile. She enjoyed the approval that sounded in his voice. "Natasha, I have a job for you. I need a sample of the serum they are making."

"What for?" Her smile dropped. "For you to test it on innocent citizens, create more soldiers? Spies? Don't we have enough of them already?"

"Yes, we do. That's why we are going to use to improve the quality of people's life. Imagine that, no diseases, people living for a longer time..."

"Stop. Just stop. I'm not going to take the serum back to the US. I would never forgive myself for being the cause of all of the American citizens pain and demise. I want to wipe the red on my ledger and not stain it even more. If you want someone to do this kind of dirty work for you, then you better ask Steve, because I'm not going to accept any job like this one."

"Very well. I'm just telling you dr. Banner's request."

"Okay. Well, good night, Direc- ,I mean, Nick, I had a long day." She hung up and sighed running a hand through her hair. It wasn't night there, she had lied to get rid of Fury.

Natasha then went to the living room, where she found Steve watching a show in Russian.

"Hey, Nat." He said.

"Hi, Steve." She replied and sat on the couch by his side. "What are you watching."

"I don't know, I wasn't even paying attention."

"I have an idea." She suddenly blurted after watching a few moments of the show. "You told me you hadn't seen much of Moscow that day, so I'm taking you to the Pushkin Museum."

"Great." He nodded and smiled at her, "I just need to have a bath and change."

"Okay. I think I need to change too." She told him and both of them went to the room.

Natasha decided on a warm sweater and a black long coat with fur. She also wore a hat to protect her ears and head and the leather gloves and high heel boots she loved. She got her purse and put in it the things she thought she would need, lipstick, money, her phone and a small handgun just for precaution. In fact, carrying a gun had become an habit for her, she carried guns whenever she went out, it gave her a sense of safety, even if it was a fake one. Then she went to the living room and continued watching the same boring show.

When Steve walked into the room again, he was dressed nicely in his winter clothes and she couldn't help but stare. They went down to the lobby and she noticed that he seemed pretty excited to get to the museum. He insisted on driving them there and she agreed, she knew he like to do gentlemanly acts like that.

Finally, they arrived at the Pushkin, the beautiful building, constructed in a classical style, resembled the ones from Greece made of pure white marble and with the pediment fully decorated with sculptures. The snow that fell intensely from the sky painted the scenery white, and it was beautiful, immaculate. Natasha marveled at the building and the landscape around it. They parked the car at a nearby parking lot and walked a small distance to the entrance of the museum, even though it was extremely short, it was cold and she held on tight onto Steve's arm as if it would protect her from the wind that made her shiver. Apparently, he noticed that she was practically shaking, because he wrapped his arm around her and pulled her closer, shielding her from cold.

They climbed the slippery staircase that led and Natasha continued gripping on his arm, she couldn't risk falling down the stairs. The inside of the museum was even magnificent than the outside, there was another staircase – a much bigger one – made of marble for them to climb. Since there was no snow and a carpet so the visitors wouldn't slip, it was with much resentment that Natasha let go of Steve's arm and climbed on her own. She was still close to him, though. Sometimes, their fingers brushed against each other lightly, sending small waves of electricity through her body.

They stopped in each room to see the works of art carefully, Steve seemed to have the same taste for art as her, since they both stood a long while observing the ballerina paintings of Degas. The one she liked the most was the "Blue dancers". It reminded her of the old days in which was a ballerina, she missed it, even if it was an illusion. After they went through all the rooms, it was very near the closing time and they went out of the museum. Natasha grabbed onto him again, and, just as during the visit, no word was shared between them during their way to the car and that was when she realized that the silence between them wasn't an awkward one – not to her at least – it was comfortable,a as if no word had to be spoken for them to understand what one was feeling.

When they were back in the car with the heater turned on, Natasha finally spoke, "I never knew you enjoyed art."

"Well, most people don't know. In fact, besides Bucky, you're the only one who knows." He replied straying his eyes off the road for a mere second.

"Really? I feel honored." She said, words that could be considered mocking if said by any other person, coming from her mouth didn't sound like it. Natasha spoke the truth when she told him that.

"Thank you. I even went to art school, but I only studied one year. It was during the war, y'know?" He told her, his words were dark, as if he resented not being able to study one of the things he loved the most. "I think art is a very deep form of expressing the feelings, with each line traced on the canvas, each movement of the brush, you are able to read a bit of the painter's soul."

"Wow... Those are very beautiful words." She muttered thoughtfully. "I never thought of it that way."

"Thank you." He replied smiling. It was a warm smile that was reflect in his eyes as well and she smiled back at him. Seeing him happy made her happy.

~X~

Natasha was sitting in front of the computer writing her report of the mission, her finger tapped quickly on the keys, making a low noise. She tried to ignore the sensation on the back of her head that the familiar face that had appeared in her mind a few hours earlier held the key to what they were searching. But whose face might it be? She closed her eyes and tried to rescue the memory, but she found herself unable. At the moment, her mind was a complete mess and she would need a while to reorganize them.

"Hey, why are you still awake?" Steve asked, his voice coming from behind her made her turn to face him.

"I'm writing the mission report." She told him tiredly.

"Oh... Nat, did Fury call you?"

"Yes, he did." She replied, so he had taken her suggestion.

"Did he ask you to bring the serum back to the U.S.?"

"Yes."

"And what did you tell him?"

"I told him I wouldn't do that. That I wouldn't be responsible for anymore suffering."

"I thought so." He said looking down. She didn't know if his words were good or bad.

"Did he call you?" It was her turn to inquire.

"Yes."

"And what did you say?" She didn't know what to expect.

"I told him the same. I guess only you and I know how it is like to take the serum. I didn't expect him to understand our decision either way."

"Yeah..." She smiled at him and stretched.

"Well, I'm going to bed. Good night, Nat."

"Night, Steve. I'm going in a few minutes." She watched him as he went to bed and laid on it.

It wasn't even weird for her anymore to share the bed with him and he seemed not to mind either, in fact, he seemed almost comfortable with that. She typed a few more words and, deciding she should sleep, she closed the computer and went to the bed. She covered herself and turned on the bed so she was facing the window. Natasha watched the snowflakes hit the glass until she fell asleep.

~X~

A/N: Hey, guys! Sorry for the delay. I tried to make this chapter longer because of the amount of time I spent without updating this one :3 Well, I hope you enjoy.

R&R