It was early morning and the quinjet was packed with the escaped Avengers who were tired and weary from the long few days that had just gone by. First from taking down multiple Hydra facilities and camps multiple days in a row up until yesterday morning, the supposed final one, to Ultron, what was supposed to be a protector of the Earth and its peoples, not a destroyer.
Natasha huddled in the copilot's seat next to Clint who was currently piloting the aircraft. Quietly she peered over her shoulder to take stock of the team who, only a few hours ago, were trying to make sense of the whole thing through muddled thoughts and half lidded eyes but now were somehow managing sleep, however fitful or light it may be. Natasha herself had only just awoken a few minutes prior. Eyes flickered over to her partner, "Want me to take over for awhile Clint?" she offered, "After all, I am the only other one here who knows the way and you could use a nap before we get there too."
The hawk looked like he was contemplating it for a few seconds before a sharply raised eyebrow caused him to sigh and cede in defeat. Passing the controls to her he slumped back in his seat and settled in to get some rest. "Thanks Tash." he mumbled, tiredness finally hitting him now that he was curling up to take a nap.
As her team rested and she flew the quinjet, Natashas tried to let the autonomous motions take over and clear her mind of anything but the necessary to maintain flight. It was only a short while that she was successful and her thoughts turned back to the Hydra facility. Something had happened there. Something that scared Tony enough to spur the genius on to create weaponized artificial intelligence and he drug Bruce with him. She hadn't voiced it to anyone besides Clint just yet, but prior to their arrival at this particular base she had been digging and was sure that Hydra kept enhanced individuals here. After the encounter, she became sure of it. What else could explain the blue-gray blur that had knocked the wind out of more than one of them? What else could explain the green mists that stopped Steve's shield, Clint's arrows, and even Thor's hammer? She was fairly certain one else had noticed the hammer's movement had been impeded, but she had. Natasha was nothing if not observant, and she prided herself on that fact.
In the back of her mind she wondered if Thor had indeed noticed as well, could he sense the movement of his hammer? Feel the flow of it as it arced through the air? She frowned. Perhaps he did, after all he could call the hammer to himself and often held out his hand just in time to catch it. If he had felt the green mist affecting his hammers' movement, why did he not voice it yet? Thor was practiced in many things, however, subtlety was not one of his specialties.
When they were still fifteen minutes out from their destination, Clint grogilly grumbled and rubbed his eyes next to her, waking from his nap. "Ugh." he shook his head, "What'd I miss?" his voice was raspy as he asked and again tried to rub the sleep from his eyes.
She smirked in amusement at her partner. "Nothing too interesting, just some clouds."
His eyes were piercing and she could feel them looking right through her as she kept her gaze forward to the controls and open sky. "How about in that head of yours? I know you've been thinking about it." Sometimes she thought he knew her too well, but he was her best friend, and therefore the only one truly allowed to know the real Natasha Romanoff, the woman behind the Black Widow. He didn't have to explain what he meant by 'it', she knew exactly what it was about.
But just as she licked her lips and took a small breath, he spoke again before she could. "I saw one." Her eyes flicked over to meet his immediately and she stared into them as he continued. "One of the enhanced, I mean." he waved a hand, absently before shaking his head and twitching his nose. A telltale sign that something about this was bothering the Hawk more than he would care to admit.
"And?" she prompted gently, cocking her head ever so slightly.
"Nat- he was just-" he rubs his hands over his face, "Nat, he was just a kid." Clint clenched his jaw and then his eyes shut. "Just a kid..." he murmured, trailing off. 'Like we were kids', the rest of the sentence going unsaid hung heavily between them.
"So was she." Steve's voice surprised the pair and Nat was glad she had heard the surprisingly quiet footfalls of the Captain as he approached as it kept her from jumping, although she hadn't been expecting him to actually speak as he joined their conversation.
"She?" Clint voiced her question for her.
"Yeah, there was a kid following Strucker like she was his shadow or something. I don't think she even knew that I had seen her because she was trying to hide around a stairwell corner." he paused. "She was almost unblinking as she stared at Strucker, I don't think she even looked at me she was so focused on him. It...it was almost like her life depended on keeping him safe." he finished almost hesitantly.
"What makes you say that?" Clint turned to look over his shoulder at the Captain.
"Well, for starters she threw me down the stairs to protect him." He clenched his jaw in the same manner Clint had done earlier before continuing his explanation. "She looked hollow, like she'd been kept in captivity for awhile and there was this inherent terror just in the way she was holding herself." Truthfully, it reminded him of the soldiers at the very first Hydra base, the one where he rescued the 107th regiment and gained a team in the Howling Commandos. His heart panged at the connection. "It was familiar." he admitted in a whisper to the questioning silence. "It was almost like when I found Bucky and the Commandos." Almost, but somehow worse even. The girl, she really looked like she was just a kid. She looked like she had been trapped at this compound far, far longer than any of the soldiers had been at the Hydra facility.
The assassins stayed quiet as he shared.
It wasn't often that Steve brought up the past, more specifically, brought up his past, and this made his voice ring with the pain of memory. It was why he threw himself wholeheartedly into every fight sent his way, it distracted him from the loss of everything he knew and held dear. The whole world was different, but so was his whole world. The people he knew, his friends, his family. Everything was gone and the one thing, the one person he had left, he didn't truly have left because she too was succumbing to illness in her old age. It was painful for the both of them, for him to walk in the room to visit and have it be like it was the first time every single time.
The one to break the somber and silent mood was Thor. He clapped his hand on Steve's shoulder comfortingly and shared an acknowledging look with him. He knew some of the pain his friend was going through and wished he was better at comforting others.
"Though I did not see them, I felt a strange pull on Mjlolnir." he admitted, "I am unsure how, but they managed to move my hammer without ever touching it." His expression was bothered, and the others felt his worry and confusion. They had just had this discussion last night. Thor's hammer was not something anyone could just lift, according to Thor, they must be worthy to do so. This begged the question, how exactly had someone manipulated the hammer's movement without ever touching it? And did this mean they too were worthy? If they too were worthy, did this make them a friend instead of a foe?
As they approached their destination, their discussion weighed heavily on their minds.
"We're here. Time to look alive boys." Natasha announced teasingly. "Someone wake Bruce and Tony." she instructed, "Or don't and carry them in. Your choice." The four Avengers who had never been here, didn't even know this place existed, got their first real good look at the so called safe house Clint took them to as they exited the quinjet. In front of them was miles upon miles of grass, hills, and trees. In the center of it all was a large farmhouse and barn style shed.
The real surprise of it all was the small voices calling out, voices ringing through the air. "Daddy!" "Auntie Nat!"