(5 months before invasion)

FRIDAY

The last couple of months had gone through without many problems for FRIDAY. There had been occasional attempts to breach Mansion's security or the regular digital attacks, but nothing big. HYDRA and SHIELD had been responsible for the former, while the latter had been easily handled by JARVIS and FRIDAY. She had destroyed some SHIELD and Wakandan systems for their attempts, but nothing that would have cost them much. Although the Wakandan Prince and Princess had started to bother her more these days, with their attacks now focused on disabling JARVIS. But on Boss's advice, she had held back from retaliating, for now.

The nanite's construction was well on its way, and with the fabricators installed, she had been able to increase the construction speed. But the rate was still slower than she had planned for. At her best estimate, there would be enough nanites by the time of invasion to create three mark L suits. At worst, not even a single one. The nanites that she had brought with her, were not on the level required for Mark L. Still she had asked boss to fabricate a reactor to hold enough of them for one suit, in case he needed it.

The plan to inform the army about Steve Rogers had been delayed, as due to some reason, his vitals had not yet stabilized till the day before. But today, an internal memo had been received by Director Fury's office. Captain America would wake up from his decades-long slumber soon. She had already informed boss about it, and a meeting with The President and CSA had been scheduled for the next day, courtesy of Colonel James Rhodes.

Dr. Banner had raised a point that FRIDAY had not considered till now. SHIELD would know that Mr. Stark was the one to inform the US army about Steve rogers location, as soon as The president made the request. Boss had not spoken for some minutes and then waved it off.

"They owe me for disabling JARVIS, the night the pirate broke in my house."

But the rest of them were still worried about that. Even Ms. Romanova had tried to warn him, in her own way.

"Don't put your ego in this matter, Tony. SHIELD is not to be underestimated."

While in the last dimension, Ms. Romanova's words like this were accompanied by scathing or sarcastic tone, here they were spoken in a serious tone.

Even boss must have noticed the difference because even though he still wanted to go with the plan, he agreed to replace his chest reactor with the reactor containing nanites.

Ms. Romanova's behaviour was another thing that had differed from FRIDAY's plans. She had thought that she would act like her old self, but with FRIDAY's monitoring her actions all the time. But since the trip to Germany, she had changed. She spoke much more than before and would show a relaxed state inside the mansion. She spent most of her time either staying with Morgan, talking to Boss lady, or checking up on her siblings who were both working for SI now. FRIDAY still couldn't believe how that happened.

After hearing Nela and Virgil's comment on never leaving the continent in either dimension, boss had decided that instead of just boss lady and Ms. Romanova, the entire group would take visit Germany. With little help from Ms. Romanova and her, he had created the photostatic veils for Dr. Banner and Ms. Ross, changing their faces completely. Boss lady and Mr. Hogan had helped them to change the rest of their appearance and after 5 hours of work, no one could recognize them.

So one and half a week later, the entire group along with the Parkers had left for Germany. Even Mordo had come along, stating that he needed a break from his research.

They had not visited the city of Bonn straight away. Instead, they had travelled all across the entire continent, stopping in every city where a major branch or office of SI was. While Ms. Potts had used the trip to do some actual company work, Mordo, Nela, Virgil, Morgan, and boss had taken full-day tours of every city along with the Parkers and Mr. Hogan. Dr. Banner and Ms. Ross, instead of joining the group, had opted for visiting places alone. The last stop had been the city of Bonn.

They had spent the first day at SI headquarters, while VERONICA had tracked Ms. Romanova's siblings. FRIDAY had done a little snooping on Ms. Romanova's request and found out that they would be visiting one of the city's famous shopping streets for holiday shopping the next day. The plans had been modified immediately and with a little pleading from Nela's part, Ms. Potts had agreed to accompany Mr. Stark, Morgan and Ms. Romanova for the shopping trip.

(3 and a half months earlier)

NATASHA

The original plan had been to shadow her siblings, doing shopping along the way and then return to the headquarters in the evening. No contact was to be made, as it may bring them under SHIELD's notice. And that was something that nobody wanted.

But the entire plan had gone down in the recycle bin, during lunchtime, halfway through the day. Mr. Romanoff, while taking a seat at a table in a restaurant, had noticed her staring at him. At first, his eyes had just moved across her, dismissing her. But then his entire body had frozen, halfway in his seat. His eyes had snapped back at her, just staring in her direction. She was going to look around, to see where he was focused, but his lips moved, and she read her name being spoken, her real name.

It was her turn to freeze. She could see that her sister had heard him speaking, as she also turned to face in direction of their table. When her sister's hand covered her mouth, she knew they had identified her. How she did not know, but they had. Her brain kicked off immediately, planning and discarding multiple options. The best option was for her to disappear, and lose them in the crowd. But she couldn't bring herself to do it. She had wanted a family for so long, she was not going to let this chance slip away.

So she chose the next best option. She moved her head side to side and signed the German police department's sign, praying with everything in her mind, that he understands it. And he did. He changed his motion of moving towards her into moving their younger sister's head back. They had to get out of the public eye. She turned to face her companions to warn them, but it was not needed. Tony and Pepper had not missed it. Tony raised his hand to wipe his mouth, mouthing 'your lead' under it. She wrote a small message on a note and passed it to Pepper. The CEO grasped it under her fingers and moved towards the ladies washroom.

Ever since her induction in the red room, she had worked with many people on different missions. But for the first time, she had trusted one of them without hesitating. Something had changed inside her, and she was happy with it. Out of the corner of her eyes, she noticed her sister leaving for the washroom too. It seemed her brother was not a bad police officer.

10 mins later Pepper came back, with a spring in her step. Reaching the table, she murmured slowly.

"That was exhilarating. I felt like a real spy"

Pepper kept on gushing for another 2 minutes until Tony interrupted her.

"Pep. Did you give the message?"

"Oh my god. Sorry, Natasha. They will reach the headquarters by 7 pm."

She released a small breath, and deep inside her, something loosened a little.

The rest of the day passed, without her noticing anything. She had to drop her always neutral mask, as she could just not focus on anything else aside from the upcoming meeting. As the sun started disappearing, they left the market, reaching the headquarters by 6 30 pm.

40 mins later, she was pacing in the hall of the Stark's flat. Even in these circumstances, her mind couldn't help but notice the expensive settlement around her, even if the flat was rarely used by Tony. The billionaire in question had gone to the private parking area, to escort her siblings himself, while the rest of the group except Pepper were at the main residential floor. The CEO was sitting on a couch, going through papers. Her normal routine was helping Natasha ground herself a little. Maybe she should thank Pepper later.

The sound of the door opening finally ended her observation routine. She forced her body to turn. Her eyes immediately connected to a near-identical set. A second later, a body slammed into her with enough force to push her backward on the couch.

FRIDAY

Seeing the young girl bodily tackle Ms. Romanova, FRIDAY immediately directed one of the suits from the upper floor to arrive in the hall. She knew Ms. Romanova may react very adversely. But it seemed her actions were unnecessary. Ms. Romanova while was not reciprocating the hug she was receiving, she was also not throwing the younger girl off. Her body was stiff, with her hands locked at her side.

She was directing the incoming suit to stay outside the door when boss made a weird sound in his communicator. Focusing in the room, she saw the reason behind it. Ms. Romanova, The famed Black Widow, was hugging the girl back. Her eyes moved towards the man standing in front of her.

"How did you recognize me?"

The smirk on his face was identical to one Ms. Romanova would have whenever she would make fun of Mr. Barton. He turned to look at boss and boss lady, and then looked back at Ms. Romanova, his eyebrows raised a little.

"They are okay."

It seemed enough for him, as he replied after a second.

"I am an agent of Budesnachrichtendienst, on special duty with Bundespolizei. Your name and picture came up more than once. We have been looking for you for more than 6 years, sister."

Ms. Romanova didn't say anything for a long time, just pointing at him to take a seat. After a while, she spoke up.

"Can I talk to them alone?"

While she was looking at boss, FRIDAY knew the question was directed towards her. Unfortunately for her, FRIDAY was not going to close off the surveillance completely. She sent her answer to Boss, who replied after seeing her message.

"Visual Only"

Seeing her nod, Boss and Boss lady left the room, while FRIDAY switched off the microphones in the room and her bracelet, leaving only the cameras working.

Nearly 2 hours later, Ms. Romonova came back on the upper floor, leaving her siblings in the hall below. She moved towards the couch, where boss and boss lady were looking at drawings Morgan had made of Germany.

"Tony?"

"Yes Natasha, what happened?"

"Nothing. I need a favour from you."

Boss's light expression changed immediately. FRIDAY knew what he was thinking.

Last time, Ms. Romanova had not asked for anything directly. Boss had deciphered the request for help on his own. This time she was asking for a favour. There was a lot of difference between the two.
Boss came to a decision soon, as he gestured her to carry on.

"My sister is looking for a job."

Boss's expression darkened immediately.

"I don't give people a job based on friendship, Natasha."

Ms. Romanova's eyes had widened a little and then narrowed once again.

"I am asking for a chance."

Boss looked towards Boss lady, who nodded.

"Tell her to meet Pepper in her office, tomorrow morning."

"Thank you, Tony."

"She cannot move to New-york or anywhere in states. Fury would know."

FRIDAY had told boss about the director knowing about Ms. Romanova's siblings.

When the reply came, FRIDAY knew it was not Natalia Romanova speaking, it was the Black Widow replying.

"For now."

As she reached the door, boss called out to her.

"It was not a favour, Natasha."

"I know."

And with that, she left the room.
Boss addressed her soon after.

"FRIDAY, you said her sister has majored in Finance law right."

"That is one of her subjects, Mr. Stark."

"Hmm... Could you make a copy of the files of SI's finance department, that we talked about."

"yes, Mr. Stark."

Boss lady interrupted him immediately.

"What are you planning now Tony?"

"If you find her worthy, give her these files. If she can find the money her sister's employers have been draining from SI's annual profit, then I have a job in mind for her."

Boss lady connected all the points immediately.

"SHIELD is stealing money from SI."

"It's much more than that Pepper. Don't worry FRIDAY and TADASHI are on that."

Boss lady addressed her then.

"FRIDAY?"

"Mr. Stark is right, Ms. Potts."

"You have plans to handle them right."

"Yes, Ms. Potts."

"I need all the details."

Since she had no issue with that until Ms. Potts decided to take some action herself, so she agreed.

"Sure, Ms. Potts."

(In present time)

A notification from JARVIS brought her attention back to present matters. She checked the camera's near the gate, looking for whoever had arrived.
When the visitor stepped in light, FRIDAY understood why JARVIS had pinged her.

Clint Barton had finally decided to answer Ms. Romanova's secret message.