Chapter XVII

Getting into Madripoor unnoticed hadn't been a problem for Natasha. It was second nature to her and thankfully her man had no problem to follow her lead in areas that weren't his expertise. Natasha hadn't been in Madripoor in years and a lot had changed, but she still managed to find Yelena's safe house without any problems.

Steve followed her up the stairs to Yelena's apartment and she gave him a quick kiss before she knocked on the door. It got opened seconds later and Yelena pulled them both inside.

The second the door was closed, Yelena threw herself into Natasha's arms. She closed her eyes to enjoy the embrace.

"How's Chloe?" Yelena asked after they pulled apart.

God, how she missed her sweet girl.

"Good and safe. Clint is watching her at Stark Industries. No one can get to her there."

Steve had greeted Bucky and Sam in the meanwhile and Sam came over to her to give her a bone-crushing hug. "I'm sorry. I should have realized my phone is bugged."

"It's not your fault. It's no one's fault but Sharon's." She assured him. Steve was right.

"I can't believe that she played us." Bucky shook his head. "I should have seen right through her."

Steve smiled weakly at his best friend. "We all should have done a lot of things, Buck. Now is not the time to dwell on them. Sharon still here?"

Yelena nodded. "Yeah, she's still at her mansion. She stocked up her security, so she probably suspects that you figured out who she truly is."

Sharon could have the best security in the world, it didn't matter. Nothing was going to keep her safe. Even if Natasha didn't manage to get to her, Steve certainly was going to. She'd seen the look in his eyes. Nothing was going to stop her super soldier.

"So, what's our plan?" Sam asked.

"We need access to her servers. To find out who knows what. If others know that Sharon suspects that Chloe has the super soldier serum."

"Does she have the serum?" Yelena asked quietly.

Natasha knew that she could trust everyone in this room. Sam, Bucky and Yelena would never betray them so she nodded.

Yelena left shortly after to gather more intel while the rest of them discussed how they would move forward from here. Thankfully Sam and Bucky had already been at Sharon's place and knew the ins and outs of it.

Sharon herself wasn't that big of a threat on her own. Each of them could take her in a fight. Getting to her could be tough. She had a lot of people on her payroll and was probably going to put a bounty on their heads as soon as she knew that they were in Madripoor. She'd done it with Sam and Bucky when they'd been here for the first time.

Neither she or Steve mentioned that they had the intention of killing Sharon, but Sam and Bucky probably already suspected it. Natasha knew that Sharon wouldn't hesitate to kill them so they had to strike first. Sharon couldn't beat them in a fight, but she could get them by surprise.

Yelena came back after only an hour. She plopped down next to Steve on the couch. "Looks like we're going to a party tonight. Sharon's throwing one to sell art. I guess, she needs money to fund her security."

"Or to keep up appearances so no one notices that something is wrong." Natasha said. "But that party could be helpful-" She looked at Steve.

"That way we can get in without too many noticing. Hide in plain sight."

"Aww, it's cute how you two finish each other's sentences." Yelena grinned and then looked like she'd eaten the canary. She looked at Sam and Bucky. "Which one of you hotshots is gonna be my date?"

"I'm old enough to the your great-grandfather!" Bucky laughed and Sam looked horrified.

"You need to date guys your age, Yelena!"

Natasha was in Yelena's little bathroom applying her make up for the party. They'd decided to just walk in without any disguise. That way, Sharon would hopefully lose Madripoor's support if people thought that she'd invited four former Avengers to their safe harbor. Sure she could buy them, but how many of them would really want to go up against two super soldiers? Bucky had left quite the impression the last time he'd been here.

She recognized the knock on the door as Yelena's and told her to come in.

"You okay, sis?"

"Yeah." She smiled a little at Yelena before she continued to paint her lips in a deep red.

Yelena closed the door behind her. "I just wanted to say thank you. Thank you for taking in Chloe. Thank you for loving Sarah's little girl."

"You don't have to thank me for that. And I have to thank you for bringing her into my life."

They smiled at each other. Natasha would always be grateful that Yelena had decided that she was supposed to be Chloe's new mama.

The door opened and Steve walked in. "Oh, sorry! I thought you were alone in here, Nat."

"Now is not the time for a quickie, Rogers." Yelena joked and then she surprised Natasha because she hugged Steve who looked pretty surprised himself. "Thank you." She whispered before she let go off him and left.

"What was that?"

"She's glad that we decided to become Chloe's parents."

"Oh." Steve smiled fondly. "That's sweet, but we're the ones who should thank her."

He came over to her and slipped her necklace underneath her neckholder top. She sighed when she felt the C against her skin. She missed her baby girl so much. It had been so hard to leave her with Clint in New York. She knew that he would keep her safe, but being apart from her daughter almost hurt her physically. She wanted to end this nightmare as soon as possible so they could go home.

"I miss her so much." Steve whispered.

"Me, too." She wrapped her arms around him and looked up at her. "I feel like I left my heart in New York."

Steve rested his forehead against hers. "We'll be soon with her again."

"I want to hire contractors once we're back, so the house is sooner done. Are you okay with that? It's your-"

"It's our house, doll. I bought it for you and me. And yes, I'm okay with it. I want Chloe to take her first steps in our family home."

Oh, that would be lovely. They could mark her growth on the door frame like Clint did with his kids.

Bucky knocked on the opened door. "Sorry to interrupt, but we're ready to leave."

Getting into the party was easy. They just had to pay off the bouncer and were let in. People were dancing and some were doing drugs, while others were making out. The auction was supposed to start in an hour. Sharon was nowhere to be seen, but Natasha was actually counting on that. She had to be somewhere upstairs. Yelena was going to find Sharon's servers to spread the news that the baby was dead and the bounty was off with Sam and Bucky making sure she could do it unnoticed. Natasha and Steve were looking for Sharon. This was between the three of them.

Natasha could feel the bass of the music in her body and she took Steve's hand to lead him onto the dance floor. That way they could check out the area without drawing attention. She could see that Yelena, Bucky and Sam were making their way upstairs. Yelena had her arms wrapped around Bucky's waist and was hiding her face in his neck, so it looked like they were searching for a place for some alone time. Sam was following them with enough space between them so no one would realize that they were a team.

Steve had never been great at clubbing, but he moved rhythmically to the music while Natasha danced around him, checking each exit. Yelena and the boys went up the main staircase, but she knew that there was another one behind the door on her left. According to Sam and Bucky that door led to Sharon's apartment. Natasha could feel that Sharon was there. Maybe she already knew that they were here. Some people were looking at Steve, but that could also be because he was basically a god among men.

She wrapped her arms around his neck to pull his head down. "You see that door over there?"

"Yeah. Has to be the entrance to Sharon's quarters, right?"

"I think so."

"It's not guarded."

"If there are guards, then they're behind the door."

"Ready?" Steve titled up her chin.

"Yes."

Steve led her off the dance floor and towards the door that would hopefully lead them to Sharon. Just like they'd planned, he kissed her and pushed her closer to the door. People were chuckling and making room for them. They put on quite the show and once Natasha's back hit the door, she could feel how Steve started to pick the lock while he kept making out with her. And they say men can't multitask!

Natasha heard a click and Steve pulled away to give her a look. She nodded and turned around to push the door open. Steve quickly followed and shut the door behind him.

Two guards were sitting at a desk, eating take out, and before they could react, Natasha had already thrown two Widow Bites, taking them out.

"You really can't find good help these days." Natasha joked and Steve chuckled.

They moved quietly up the staircase and took out another pair of bodyguards who seemed to be protecting the entrance of Sharon's apartment. She had to be in there.

Natasha's phone buzzed and she checked her messages. Yelena had found the IT room and was currently hacking into it. She showed Steve the message and he nodded. Natasha stepped aside and Steve kicked the door in. No door could keep out a super soldier. Natasha drew her gun and followed Steve inside the apartment. Huh, it was actually a pretty nice place.

Sharon was sitting on the couch, airpods in her ears. She hadn't heard the door kicking in. What an idiot. She noticed them and jumped off the couch, trying to draw her gun, but Natasha shot her in the hand, the gun dropping onto the floor.

"You fucking bitch!" Sharon screamed, holding her bleeding hand with her unharmed one.

"Keep talking like that to her and I'll break the other hand!" Steve growled.

Sharon rolled her eyes. "You really went from Aunt Peggy to her? Speak about a downgrade!"

Natasha didn't give a fuck about what Sharon thought about their relationship.

"How can you sleep at night!? After everything that you've done!?"

"That's rich coming from you!" Sharon spat back.

"You ordered Batroc to kill a young mother! You're hunting down a baby!" Steve yelled. "What happened to you?"

"I'm doing what I need to do to survive!" Sharon's face was getting paler. She had to be loosing a lot of blood. Good.

"Survive." Steve chuckled darkly. "That's funny. Your way of survival is the reason you're going to die."

Sharon's face lost all of its remaining color. "What? You're here to kill me? You're not a murderer, Steve!"

"No, but I'm a father!" He growled and Natasha had never heard him sound like that. He was even scaring her a little bit. "You went after my daughter! You put the love of my life through hell!"

"You're not capable of murder." Sharon pleaded, slowly moving away from them.

"You have no idea what I'm capable of!" He warned her and a shiver went down Natasha's back.

Sharon was slowly trying to get closer to the wall behind her and Natasha knew that there had to be a reason for that. She ran towards Sharon, but Sharon reached the wall and moved a painting. The windows exploded and Steve was already throwing himself on Natasha to protect her from the glass.

"You okay?" He asked her.

"Yes! Go! We can't let her get away." She yelled, getting off the floor.

She could see Sharon running further into the apartment, presumably to another exit. She could try to flee, but the only way Sharon was leaving Madripoor was in a body bag.