Disclaimer – I do not own anything you recognise. The Avengers and the characters therein, belong to Marvel.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
It was the sixth house they had looked at that afternoon. Nadia and Steve had been dragged around upstate New York by their real estate agent, Javier, perusing properties that he had scouted for them. They had all been lovely, ranging from towering estates that had tennis courts and pools, to quaint heritage homes that had been renovated beautifully. In each property, there were many things that they each loved and detested. Steve enjoyed the heritage homes the best, the familiarity of the ceiling roses, brass tapware and subway tiles reminding him of his childhood. Nadia liked the homes with modern appliances, with open plan living and plenty of natural light. It was proving difficult to find a perfect medium for them both, but Javier seemed up to the task, displaying determination instead of dismay every time Nadia and Steve would reject a prospective property.
Nadia stood in the living room of the latest suggestion. It was a newer home but had a very classic feel to it, which pleased Steve. He especially appreciated the high ceilings, as he was a tall man and didn't enjoy bumping his head on doorways. He was busy inspecting the appliances in the kitchen, not a single detail escaping his notice. It was something Nadia suspected that Steve retained from growing up during the Depression – he ensured his purchases were worth having, that they had value for money. He still struggled grasping the prices of groceries.
The home was lovely, in fact it was nearly perfect but to Nadia there was something…missing. She and Steve had looked at seventeen houses altogether, and not one of them felt like home. It was important to her that she make the correct choice, as this was technically her first house. Nadia had grown up in foster care and had bounced around quite frequently, until she went to college, where she stayed in the same dorm room for nearly three years as she completed her studies. Afterwards she moved into her own apartment, which she shared with two other residents and when she had enough money, she signed a lease on her own. After that she had lived with Steve for a while in DC, then they had moved to Avengers Tower and now, the Compound. Everywhere she had ever lived it had never really belonged to her and had always lived with someone else. Purchasing a house with Steve was monumental – it was the place they would live together as husband and wife, the place where they would grow old and hopefully start a family one day.
"What do you think?" Steve asked quietly, startling Nadia out of her musings. She looked around the room, nodding.
"It's nice."
Steve smiled wryly. "But it's not the one, right?"
Nadia sighed, frustrated. "I know I'm being picky, but I just want it to be perfect."
"I understand," Steve assured her, his hands gripping her upper arms as he looked down at her. "I'm probably being too picky as well, but, if this is the place where I'm going to grow old with you, I want to be sure."
"Exactly." Nadia agreed. They shared a glance before looking at the door, where Javier was waiting for them outside. Steve let out a heavy sigh and held her hand in his.
"We should probably go to Javier," Steve supposed, unwilling. The couple hated that they were making this difficult for their agent, seeing as he was such a friendly and helpful person. However, they justified their indecisiveness by assuring themselves that when they found the right house, they would know it.
Javier looked up from his phone as they approached him, a hopeful gleam in his eye. He was a good-looking young man of twenty-three. His mother (he had told them on one of their long car drives) had immigrated from Venezuela to find work, and she had met his father while she was cleaning a local community college. He had seven other siblings, him being the youngest of them all. Nadia had liked him immediately, but Steve had been a harder sell, as he was convinced the young man was flirting with his fiancée.
His face fell when he saw Nadia and Steve's expression as they descended the porch steps towards him. "No good?"
"I'm sorry Javier." Nadia offered immediately. The young man sighed and put his hands on his hips as he considered.
"I thought that this would be the one, honestly." He admitted ruefully, glancing between Steve and Nadia.
"It's very nice," Steve explained, "It's just that we haven't gotten that feeling of home yet."
Javier nodded his understanding, looking more perplexed that irritated. He took this as a challenge, not letting their refusals bother him, but spur him on instead.
"I have an idea, actually," He said suddenly. "It's a little different than what you've been looking for, but I think you'll love it."
Steve raised his eyebrows at Nadia, who shrugged indifferently. "I think we'll try anything at this point."
Javier grinned at them and they all returned to the car. Javier drove while Steve sat in the passenger seat, with Nadia in the back. They had taken one of the nicer cars in the Compound's garage, a simple BMW that was sleek and clean. Javier was enjoying driving it, Nadia could see.
They drove for nearly twenty minutes, heading back towards the compound. Steve and Javier talked about baseball the entire trip while Nadia alternated between looking out the window and laughing at the commentary from the front of the car. Finally, they turned onto a private lane, and after another few minutes of driving, stopped in an empty field. Overgrown weeds took up most of the property, which was fringed with tall trees. It was quiet and private, two things that Nadia and Steve had been looking for in earnest. Javier got out of the car and after shooting Nadia a bewildered look, the couple followed.
"What are we doing here?" Nadia asked. Javier turned to look at them, a proud expression adorning his face.
"I present your perfect home." Javier exclaimed grandly, arms wide open as he gestured to the vacant lot.
"There's no house here." Steve pointed out.
"Exactly. You two have very specific ideas about what you want in your home, and I don't think anything I find for you will suffice. So, why not build your dream house? This lot is just over an acre in size, which will afford you two the space you want, as well as privacy as this is all private property. The best thing is, this land backs onto the Avengers Compound estate. You'd be ten minutes away in case of an emergency."
Nadia blinked at him, and then looked up at Steve. His face was thoughtful, but she could see the glimmer of excitement in his eyes. Her own heart sped up in delight. "What do you think?"
"I…think it's brilliant. We can design the house however we want, and it would really be ours. We'd be close to the team if they need us, but far enough to have our privacy."
"It's a bit bigger than we wanted." Nadia reminded him.
"More room for kids to run around." Steve shrugged, a grin on his face. Nadia chuckled at his enthusiastic response.
"We'd have to choose everything – tiles, flooring, tapware, curtains, the whole shebang. That's going to be expensive, sweetheart." Nadia reminded him. Steve's grin slipped a little as he considered.
"Yes…but at least we would be one hundred percent happy with our home when we move in. We won't need to make a list of things we want to change later on. We have the money, doll." He reminded her, referring to the small fortune he had tucked away, thanks to his careful investments from during the war. "Not to mention, you and Helen are working on those new prosthetics with Tony, as well as the Regeneration cradle. You would be entitled to a piece of the profits when they eventually go to market."
"True." Nadia agreed, looking around the property again. They would need to organise the garden as well as designing the house, and she immediately imagined green grass and simple flowerbeds, perhaps even an apple tree or two.
"I can put you in touch with this great architect. She has a real eye for detail and her homes always turn out incredible." Javier proposed, his arms crossed as he listened to the two of them talk, a hopeful expression on his face.
"How much is the property itself?" Nadia wondered. Javier told her and she nodded. It wasn't overly expensive, but it was still a large sum of money. She weighed the options for a few silent moments before Nadia met Steve's eyes, earnestness in her every pore. "I think we should do it."
"Really?" Steve beamed, his entire body lighting up. Nadia couldn't help but smile.
"Yeah. It'll be a challenge to get everything organised on top of a wedding, but I think we can manage it."
"I have no doubt." Steve agreed, his smile unwavering.
"So, we're doing this?" Nadia asked, somewhat giddy at the prospect of having their own home.
"I think so."
"We're building a house?"
"We're building a house!" Steve chuckled. With an elated squeal, Nadia launched herself into Steve's arms, both of them feeling high on the happiness that this next step afforded them. It was a monumental decision, but Nadia refused to overthink it.
Javier whooped, elated. Nadia and Steve laughed, their arms wound each other's waists as they turned to face him, happiness etched all over their faces. "I can't tell you guys how happy I am that this worked. I was really going out on a limb here." He admitted with a laugh.
Steve's phone began to ring, and he excused himself to answer it, walking away a few paces so as not to be overheard. Nadia crossed her arms, unable to wipe the smile off her face.
"So, what is our next move?" She asked, brushing her hair off her face.
"I'll contact the owner and make an offer. I think that we can knock the price down a bit, considering you're both prepared to settle it straight away and in cash." Javier said, pulling his own phone out and beginning to type furiously. "I'll contact that architect I mentioned and email you both her portfolio to look over. If you don't want to go with her, there are others I can recommend."
"Sounds good to me." Nadia replied, "I understand that land in this part of New York is expensive, and that price isn't horrible, but if we have to build our own home as well as purchase land, if you can get it any lower I'd appreciate it."
"Leave it with me." Javier assured her as Steve came over to them, looking troubled. Nadia immediately tensed.
"What's wrong?" she asked. Steve glanced at Javier, who stepped away discreetly in order to let them speak in private. "Steve?"
"Natasha just called. There's some trouble in Europe. We're getting reports that HYDRA collected the parts of the destroyed Ultron Sentries and the parts to create a giant robot. The agents have unleashed it on a nearby village. We don't know how many casualties, but it's bad, doll. Our help was requested specifically."
Nadia wasn't a field agent anymore, but if it was as bad as Steve was implying, then the team would need her. "I'm coming with you."
"I figured," Steve replied dryly. "Sam is bringing your bag and the jet is stocked. They'll be here in less than two minutes."
Javier must have noticed their tense faces and approached. "Is everything okay?"
"There's some trouble in Europe," Steve explained. "We've been called in. I'm sorry but we'll have to take off."
The faint sound of the quinjet's quiet engine whirred nearby. Javier's eyebrows shot up, both at the information and at the hull of the jet as it emerged over the tree line. The wind whipped around them from the engines, Nadia's hair flying in every direction.
"Go on, I'll drive back to the compound and collect my car," Javier called over the noise. The quinjet's ramp lowered as it hovered low enough to the ground to allow both Nadia and Steve to climb on.
They smiled their gratitude at his understanding and turned towards the jet, jogging forwards. Steve was able to simple jump onto the ramp, even if it was hovering eight feet off the ground. Nadia flew the short distance, and as soon as their feet touched the ramp, they hurried inside, the quinjet already ascending into the sky.
Wanda, Sam and Vision were all strapped into the seats while Natasha flew the jet. Nadia glanced up at Steve quickly and saw his face shift. Gone was her carefree fiancé – in his place was a soldier, a leader ready to do battle.
"What do we know?" He asked, and Nadia sighed. Even his voice had changed. It was more direct, controlled. Vision unstrapped himself from his seat and gestured to the monitor that hung in the corner. It flickered to life at his command.
"As of six minutes ago, the Belarus officials contacted the Avengers pleading for help. Over two dozen ex-HYDRA operatives have unleashed a sentient robot onto a small town called Rasna. There have been sixteen casualties and with at least forty-seven civilians injured. Local police have been unsuccessful in defeating either HYDRA or Ultimo."
"Ultimo?" Nadia repeated with a frown.
"It appears that after the destruction of Sokovia, many of Ultron's sentries were harvested by HYDRA agents and repurposed into a larger, more violent robot called Ultimo," Vision explained.
Nadia sighed. "Great."
"We do not know what their goal is, or why they chose to attack this particular town, but between the local police and military, they do not have the capability to stop this threat."
"Is Ultimo like Ultron?" Steve asked, expression grave as he looked over the information that Vision displayed on the monitor.
"Not exactly. He can make decisions and calculate threats, but he does not have a personality or…feelings."
"So, he won't stop to talk to us before he shoots." Sam deduced. Vision inclined his head in agreement.
"HYDRA is trying to say that they're still around. Their numbers may be small and their resources reduced, but they're trying to tell us that they still have the ability to cause chaos," Steve crossed his arms. "So, we to stop them. Sam, Natasha and I will go after the HYDRA agents and stop them."
"They might have information or files that we can use,' Natasha added. 'No doubt they'll be recording the destruction."
Steve nodded in agreement. "While we do that, Wanda and Vision, I want you two to take down Ultimo."
"Me?" Wanda asked, her face a little pale. This would be her first mission, technically. Natasha had taken her out into the field for training, and her powers had grown stronger under Nadia's tutelage, but this was battle. She was young and inexperienced – it was only natural that she would be nervous.
"I have every faith in you, Wanda." Nadia assured and then her gaze flicked to Vision, "And you won't be alone out there."
"Rhodey is meeting us there." Natasha chimed in.
"Nadia, I want you on civilian control. Get them patched up and get them out of there. If anyone needs help or backup, you're it." Steve continued his orders and she nodded. Technically Nadia had retired from active field missions and while she was still and Avenger, she didn't want to be a warrior for the rest of her life. Medicine had always been her passion, and now she had found engineering and cybernetics.
"It's going to be a warzone by the time we get there," Sam said. "I know this thing is fast, but Belarus is on the other side of the world."
"I'm waiting until we clear American airspace, then I can get this thing moving." Natasha said. "That will be in about twenty minutes, so I suggest that you suit up now."
"How fast does this thing go, anyway?"
"This particular model of quinjet can reach a speed of up to mach 2.5, which is a travel speed of 1198 miles per hour. With Minsk being 4427 miles away from New York, we will reach our destination in approximately two hours and thirty-six minutes." Vision stated. Sam's eyebrows rose.
"Okay then."
Steve turned away from the monitor in front of him, his lips twitching at Sam's stupefied look. He reached into the compartment above where Wanda and Sam were sitting an pulled down two bags. He unzipped one and seeing that it had Nadia's things inside, tossed it to her gently. She caught it and then retreated to the corner of the jet to get changed out of view from everyone.
Tony had decided to revamp her old suit, saying that it looked too much like Natasha's. Her suit was now a dark grey colour, with her customary Kevlar breastplate being replaced with the latest technology from Star Industries. It was still black, but it was lighter and stronger than the old one. It allowed her to move more fluidly in a fight and for that she was grateful. Her boots were black as well and there was a splash of dark green on her forearms and on the vest. It was beautiful and very much her style. It didn't take long for her to shimmy into it, and when she was done, Steve took her place. While he was changing, she strapped her long knives to her back, slipping another two into her boot and clipping her thigh holster on as well.
"Sam?" she called to get his attention. He turned away from the window with his eyebrows raised in question. "Steve said that you grabbed a medical bag for me?"
"Yeah it's right here." He said, retrieving it for her and placing it on the seats opposite Wanda and Vision.
"Thanks." She smiled gratefully, unzipping it to take inventory of the contents. They were going into an active battle zone, so she wanted to be sure she had enough bandages, clamps, scalpels and sterilising agents. There was a small amount of pharmaceuticals in a side pocket and a defibrillator as well. The bag was big and bulky, but she could make it work.
"So how did the house hunting go?" Sam asked, while he watched her work. While he had been a pararescue and had some medical training, Nadia was a doctor and he liked watching her, taking mental notes for later.
"We made and offer on a property," Nadia replied with a large smile. Sam's face lit up.
"That's great! It's about time. You guys have been talking about this for ages."
"Well, we still have a long way to go."
"What do you mean?"
"Javier noticed that we couldn't seem to commit to any of the houses that he showed us, so he suggested something different," Nadia explained. "He took us to a property that was in our desired location and it was completely empty. He suggested that we build instead."
"Ballsy move." Sam smirked, crossing his arms. Nadia nodded.
"Yeah, but once we talked about it, Steve and I realised that it was the perfect solution. The property is a bit bigger than we wanted but it's only ten minutes from the compound and it's all secluded and private."
"So, let me get this straight." Sam said, raising his hand as Steve emerged fully dressed, his civilian clothes folded neatly in his hands. "You're planning a wedding, designing and building your own house, working with Tony on a new line of cybernetic prosthetics and developing the regeneration cradle technology with Helen. When are you planning on sleeping?"
"You've never been to medical school," Nadia laughed, waving a dismissive hand. "This will be a piece of cake in comparison."
"Time to burn the jets people. Strap yourselves in if you want to stay in one piece." Natasha called from the cockpit. She gave them all enough time to settle in before opening up the throttle and hurtling them through the sky.