Since she returned from Russia last month, Natasha had all but given up on trying to reach Steve. She knew she only had herself to blame; even though she was still furious that he dropped the I love you bomb on her. And of course she still denied that she was in love with him. If he had any sense at all, he'd give up and just take her advice and call Sharon. So she did what she thought was right when she returned to Avengers Tower. She got back to work, she used Tony's vast resources to cover her tracks, even managed to cobble together a couple of new identities. But what she thought would be the best idea popped into her head when she ran into Bruce.
"Hey Doc."
"Natasha, when did you get back?"
"To the States; a month ago. To the tower; a couple of days ago, you would have noticed if you weren't locked up in your lab."
"Yeah, sorry about that. Tony and I have been working on something pretty big."
"Can I get a hint as to what it is?"
"Not yet, but it has something to do with the Hulk if he ever gets out of control."
"Speaking of the other guy, I was thinking back to the incident on the helicarrier."
"Come on Natasha that was three years ago. I said I was sorry."
"Not what I was thinking about. I spent some time in Russia recently, and I remembered something the KGB did to, for lack of a better term, pacify students of the Black Widow project."
"Oh yeah, what did they do?"
"The instructors developed what they called lullabies. These lullabies triggered a calming response whenever a trainee got overly hostile or tried to escape."
"Uh-huh, and how do you know all this?"
"Let's not worry about the how I know it, as much as the fact that I do know it. I didn't think about it on the helicarrier for the whole running away from him. But I think if we tried it, it might work."
Bruce was hesitant at first. He knew that if they tried this, Natasha could be putting herself in serious danger if the other guy got extremely out of control. But Tony knew that anything was worth a shot until Veronica was complete. So the first few attempts didn't work very well, but Thor was there to subdue the Hulk when he did start smashing. It took a few months, but Natasha finally found the right combination of words to get Bruce back. They tested it on the training levels with Thor making Hulk just angry enough to lose control.
"Wow Widow. I didn't know anyone could control the Gamma bomb."
"Well; be grateful I found a way, Stark. This way we can get Bruce back if something goes wrong."
"No doubts that I'm grateful. But I'll still need to finish developing Veronica for the worst case scenario."
"And what or who is Veronica?"
"Hey, I haven't seen or heard from Spangles in quite a while. You know where he's been?"
Natasha noticed the immediate change of subject Tony went for. The question angered her, and she didn't even bother to hide her emotions on the subject.
"I'm not Steve's keeper Tony! He's a big boy, he's free to go wherever he wants to! Hell, he's probably still trying to hunt down the Winter Soldier. That's the last thing I knew of his intentions!"
"Whoa, chill out Red. I just..., you two seemed to be working well as partners. I would have thought…"
"I don't care what you thought! You want to know where the Boy Scout is, you should try and contact him yourself."
As Natasha storms out of the training room, Clint is walking in. When she doesn't even greet him, he knows how pissed she is. He also knows to leave her alone when she's this upset. When he sees Tony, he can guess what got to her.
"You know she could kill you fifteen ways with her thumb. It's not wise to piss her off."
"I wasn't trying to Legolas. I just asked her about Rogers."
"Do yourself a favor, don't ask her about him again. It's a sensitive subject."
"You know something; don't you."
"It's classified Stark. Leave it at that."
Both Tony and Bruce were dumbfounded at both Natasha and Clint's dismissal of what happened and where Steve is. When Clint put his ear buds in, and started his target practice, they knew they weren't going to get any more answers. After leaving; Bruce went back to the labs, and Tony had to answer a call from Maria.
"Hey Boss, I've just gotten word from some of my contacts. We have a possible twenty on Loki's scepter."
"Fantastic. Where?"
"Some country called Sokovia. I'm working on verifying the info now. I'll let you know when I have something concrete."
"Good, and find Rogers. If we get a positive hit, we'll need Captain America."
Three days passed as Maria traced the energy signature and the coordinates of Sokovia. While her tracer program was running she managed to get a location on Steve and Sam. When his phone starts ringing, Steve pulls it out of his pocket and sees the name.
"Who is it, Natasha?"
"No Sam, it's Hill. Maria, what do you got?"
"I've got a possible twenty on Loki's scepter. Tony requested that I find you."
"Well you found me. I'm still out searching for…,"
"I take it you haven't found him yet. Is Falcon with you?"
"Yeah he's right here. Does Tony need us both?"
"Tony said you. Sorry Steve, I know how much your search for Bucky means to you. But…,"
"I know, this takes precedence. If I can get a flight, I should be there tomorrow."
"You know we could just send the Quinjet. Maximum travel time there and back would be four hours."
"I know, but with public opinion on the Avengers and SHIELD the way it is, better stick to conventional methods. If Stark asks why, just tell him to keep his pants on. I know that's difficult for him to do sometimes."
"You want me to tell the playboy to keep his pants on? You know how that's going to sound right?"
"Yeah, scratch that. He might think you're coming on to him. Just tell him the flight is nine hours. I'll be there tomorrow."
"Copy that, see you soon."
"Well Sam, looks like my time of searching for Bucky is over. Avengers priorities have to be my focus."
"Hawaii was a dead end, no reason to believe Tripoli and Japan won't be. Say the word."
"Sam, you know I can't ask you too…,"
"I'm doing it man. I'll be back in D.C. checking out what my contacts have learned."
"Well, keep me updated."
"I will, but you have to do something for me. Talk to Natasha. Just don't tell her you went out with Sharon."
"I'll try, but I'm not holding out hope that she'll talk to me. Even if she does…, no she's not going to talk to me."
For the second time since they began their search, Sam and Steve were parting ways. Each dead end has been more frustrating than the last, but they're both determined to find Bucky. As Steve was making arrangements for his flight, Clint was in with Natasha, being her best friend.
"Nat, you know Tony suffers from an extreme case of foot in mouth disease. Don't let him get to you."
"But he acts like I should know every detail of Rogers' life. Just because he and I were partners doesn't mean I know everything."
"That's not the way he meant it. Cap just hasn't checked in for some time."
"Yeah so, Cap's a big boy, he can take care of himself. I'm sure he wouldn't appreciate it if Tony was hounding him day and night. It's not like Steve feels it's important enough to check in with us, or answer a call."
"So that's what this is all about."
"What are you talking about?"
"When you left in the early morning hours after dinner, I didn't question it. I'm sorry Nat, I should have been more attentive."
"You don't have anything to be sorry for. But I still don't know what you're talking about."
"Steve, either you stopped trying to call him, or you called him and left a message, and he didn't respond. Did I hit the mark?"
"You've never missed a mark. I stopped trying. It's best that if he comes back, he and I go back to a colleague relationship."
"Bullshit Nat. Why won't you just admit to yourself that you love him. You put the mission ahead of everything. He puts everyone else ahead of the mission, and the mission before himself. I don't understand why the both of you have this insane need to not have a personal life."
"I thought you didn't know him that well."
"I know him well enough to see that a personal life isn't something he's chasing. The first thought I had he might actually be trying was when you told me what he said."
Natasha hits Clint with a death glare as if to say don't remind me. He knows that's his cue to leave, but he hasn't finished with this yet. If his best friend has resolved not to talk to Steve, then he's going to. Meanwhile, Tony is getting an update on the search for the scepter.
"What have you got Maria?"
"Sokovia. That's where the scepter was taken after the Fridge was taken down. It's currently in the hands of one Baron Von Strucker."
"So who is he?"
"Shouldn't be a surprise that he's HYDRA. SHIELD had our eyes on him for a few years, but we could never get anything concrete on him until now."
"Good, get me everything you can on his base of operations. And what's the status on Capsicle?"
"Booking a flight back from Hawaii. He was there chasing his own lead on HYDRA. Says he should be back tomorrow."
"Why didn't he ask for a Quinjet? We could use him here today, not tomorrow."
"He knew you'd ask that, and he had a good point. Public opinion on the Avengers is shaky, and on SHIELD, downright hostile. He felt conventional means were the better option."
"Well if he wants to get mobbed by all the passengers on his flight, that's his choice. Soon as he gets here, we plan out the attack, and we move.
