Chapter XVIII

Sharon was smarter than Natasha had hoped for. She'd jumped out of a window and had a getaway car waiting for her that she used to drive away before Steve could get to her. He was extremely fast, but he wasn't able to outrun a sports car.

"What happened?!" Yelena yelled, bursting into the room.

Natasha turned away from the window from where she had been watching Steve chase after Sharon's car.

"The bitch got away. But I shot her and she's loosing blood. She'll need medical attention."

"I know a few places for that." Yelena looked at the window and then at Natasha. "Which car is she driving?"

"A black Ferrari." Natasha answered and Yelena grinned, and she knew what her little sister had done. "Did you put a tracker on her car?"

"Yup."

"That's good!" Steve said behind Natasha, climbing through the window. She had to admit that she was a bit jealous that he could basically jump three stories high. He was so going to chase after Chloe once she was able to run around. Steve pulled her against his chest when he was by her side. "We'll get her. She won't leave Madripoor."

"I know."

His hand moved to her hair and he pulled a piece of glass out it. He smiled down at her, cupping her face in his big hands, and Natasha felt calm despite everything around her. Steve was her safe haven, her home, and with him by her side she could do everything. Together they were going to find Sharon and put an end to her.

"Ugh, I want a boyfriend who looks at me like that!" Yelena grumbled.

Yeah, Natasha loved the way he looked at her. Steve shook his head in amusement, his cheeks are bit pink. Natasha smiled fondly at Steve before she left his embrace to get back to the real world.

Bucky and Sam came running into the room.

"We need to leave, guys!" Sam yelled.

All hell had broke lose after the explosion, people were fighting all over the place. They had to dodge a few attempted attacks, but they managed to get out of Sharon's place without any real incidents.

They ran down the street and jumped into the van and Bucky drove them back to Yelena's safe house. Yelena and the boys had been more successful than Steve and Natasha. Thanks to them, they now had complete access to Sharon's servers. Yelena had announced the death of Chloe and even put a bounty on Sharon's head. Now everyone was looking for her. One thing you could always count on was that criminals could be brought. Even those loyal to Sharon would now turn on her.

Yelena was watching her phone, tracking Sharon's whereabouts. She was still driving around Madripoor, trying to get rid of the people who were now after her because of the bounty.

"She's been driving around now for an hour, she'll need to see a doc soon or she'll bleed to death." Sam acknowledged.

Well, Natasha had no problems with that scenario.

"There are three "doctors" in the area where's she currently in. I know that one is on the payroll of the Power Broker." Yelena said, but then shook her head. "Okay, she's not going there. She's driving near the port. I know from Karli that there's some kind of underground base. Pretty secure."

"She'll probably meet someone there to stitch her up." Steve theorized and Natasha was sure that he was right. There she could tend to her wounds and regroup, plan her next moves.

"Any idea how we'll get in?" Natasha asked her sister.

"We'll need to try to trick her security system."

Bucky smirked. "I don't think that will be a problem."

Turned out that Bucky was right and getting into the underground base wasn't a problem. The security system was easy to override thanks to the fact that they could access the Power Broker's servers. They could also see that Sharon was in fact here and they locked down the bunker. She wasn't going anywhere now.

"We need to split up. That way we can cover more ground." Bucky decided. He was going to search with Yelena and Sam, while Natasha and Steve stayed together.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Sam asked them, a pleading look in his eyes.

Natasha gave him a sad look. She knew that this wasn't easy for him. "We have no choice. She'll sell Chloe to the highest bidder. She'll never see the inside of the Raft. Her knowledge is too valuable and then the authorities will be after Chloe. I wouldn't put it past Ross to come for her. You know how obsessed he is with the super soldier serum."

"Sam, I know we ask a lot from you. I know it's not easy to turn a blind eye, but this is something we have to handle ourselves. You know yourself that we can't always trust agencies and governments. This is something that Nat and I have to do to protect your child and no one can stop us."

Sam chuckled sadly and looked at Yelena and then Bucky. Both seemed to be on their side which didn't really surprise Natasha. Yelena wanted Sharon dead as much as Steve and Natasha did, and Bucky knew that this job sometimes came with doing ugly things.

"She had my best friend killed and went after her baby. She deserves no mercy." Yelena gritted through her teeth. Natasha's heart still broke for Yelena. Her first real friend had been brutally taken away from her after she'd done everything to save her and her unborn baby.

Sam slowly nodded his head. "I know. I still don't like it, but I won't try to stop you. You two look for Sharon while we make sure that no one bothers you. I'm sure we'll find out more about her operations down here."

"Thank you." Natasha said sincerely and Steve gave his friend a nod before they took off to find Sharon.

Steve was leading the way, Natasha behind him trusting his enhanced hearing to find Sharon. The underground bunker itself wasn't connected to any internet which was pretty smart. Artificial intelligence was a great invention, but it also made you more vulnerable in other areas. They couldn't find Sharon via security cams, so they had to do it the old fashioned way.

Steve stopped in his tracks and held up his hand. They were at a crossroads and after a second he chose the left tunnel. Natasha followed him and he stopped right before another corner. The look he gave her told her that Sharon was behind that corner. He held up six fingers, signaling that six people were in there. She charged her widow bracelets and gave Steve a nod. He stormed around the corner and took out the first two who tried to attack him. Natasha took care of the other two guards, striking one down with her widow bracelet, the other one went down after she jumped on his shoulders, breaking his neck.

The guy taking care of Sharon's hand tried to flee, but Steve grabbed a heavy binder from a table near by throwing it at him, knocking him out. Natasha didn't think the man had survived.

Sharon's expression was a mix between fear and annoyance. "So this is it, huh?" She didn't look at Natasha, only at Steve. Definitely trying to manipulate him which was pointless. Steve had made up his mind. Sharon didn't know Steve at all. "Captain America is really here to kill me. What would Aunt Peggy think?"

Steve scoffed, moving closer to her. "Don't bother trying to play that card. I'm not Captain America anymore and Peggy would be appalled by you if she were still around!"

Sharon tried to get out of her chair, presumably to reveal another ace up her sleeve, but Natasha wouldn't let her get one over them again. She drew her gun and shot Sharon into her thigh before she could pull another trick.

"God!" Sharon screamed. "Why do you have to keep doing that?!"

"You went after my daughter!" Natasha yelled.

Sharon laughed. "You two playing house is pathetic. We all know that Peggy is Steve's true love. Hell, that's why he was interested in me. Because I'm the next best thing after her. You're not a mother. You never had one and you'll never be one. You're just a killer."

"That's enough!" Steve bellowed, his voice leaving no room for objection. "Who else knows about Chloe?"

"That's her name?" Sharon rolled her eyes. "How vulgar. The serum in her veins is mine! I went through so much fucking trouble and then Karli steals it from me! One vial was meant for me! I would have given Chloe a good home. I would certainly make a better mother than you!"

"Who knows about Chloe?" Steve repeated.

"You really think I'll tell anyone about a possibly enhanced baby? I'm not an idiot. My inner circle thinks I want the baby to blackmail someone."

Steve looked over to Natasha who nodded. There were no signs that Sharon was lying and Natasha would have done the same if she'd been in her place. If anyone knew how valuable Chloe was, they would have wanted her for themselves. He took a deep break, took the gun out of Natasha's hand and pointed it at Sharon.

"God, Steve. Stop it. You're not-"

Steve pulled the trigger and Sharon's body hit the ground. He'd shot her in the head, killing her instantly.

"Steve, honey?" Natasha asked softly. She should have been the one to kill Sharon, so Steve wouldn't have to carry that with him.

"I'm okay. I did what I had to do to keep our baby safe."

She searched his eyes and found nothing that made her doubt his statement. She moved closer to him and cupped his face to pull him down to her. She rested her forehead against his. "I love you."

"I love you." He echoed.

She kissed him gently. "Go find the others. I'll deal with it." By it, she meant dealing with Sharon's body.

"I should help you."

"No, baby. I'll do it." She assured him and he left, trusting her.

Natasha walked over to Sharon and closed her eyes, paying her last respects even though she didn't deserve it. It was sad that it had to end like this, but Sharon was the only one responsible for her fate. She could have chosen another way, but she hadn't. She went over to the laptop on the table, downloading everything onto a flash drive. The Power Broker's intel was very valuable.

She looked around and found a can of gasoline and emptied the it over the dead bodies. She lit her lighter and let it fall down on Sharon's chest. Her body immediately caught fire, but Natasha didn't care or felt any kind of remorse. Chloe was safe again and that was all that mattered.

Natasha left the east wing of the bunker and found the others near the entrance. Sam and Bucky had file binders underneath their arms and Yelena was sitting on the floor, typing on her tablet. Sam didn't look too happy, Natasha knew that they had asked a lot from him, but he would get over it.

"Okay, I uploaded everything the Power Broker had after I removed every mention of Sarah and Chloe." Yelena looked up at Natasha. "And I did what you asked me to."

"Thank you."

"And what is that?" Steve gave her a curious look.

"I asked Yelena not to reveal that Sharon was the Power Broker."

"Why?"

"I don't want to tarnish Peggy Carter's legacy." She told him and Steve smiled at her gratefully.

Sharon had had operations running all over the globe and with the new information online, the authorities would be able to stop a lot of crime rings. Criminals would turn on each other which was always a good thing. So maybe, they hadn't only saved Chloe's life tonight.

The fire would soon spread all over the bunker so it was time to leave. Yelena got off the floor and wrapped her arm around Natasha's waist. She pressed a kiss to her sister's temple.

"I miss Sarah." Yelena whispered.

"I know, Leni." Natasha whispered back. "But you still have me. And Chloe."

"And me." Steve said gently from behind them.

Yelena smiled before she rested her head on Natasha's shoulder. The two of them were following Sam and Bucky out of the bunker, with Steve right behind them. It was time to go home.

Natasha was definitely breaking a few laws right now, but she didn't care. She just wanted to see her baby girl, so she raced through Manhattan towards SI HQ without obeying the speed limit or any other rules. Steve and she immediately had flown back to the States while Yelena, Bucky and Sam had stayed behind to tie up a few loose ends.

"Sweetheart, slow down or we'll hit the garage door." Steve warned her, when the SI underground garage was in front of them. But Natasha knew what she was doing. The door started to slide open and as just it was wide enough for her SUV, she passed through it.

She parked the car near the elevator and her and Steve quickly got in to get to Chloe. The ride up to the 25th floor took forever and Steve took her hand in his to calm her down. It was sweet since she knew how much he longed to see Chloe himself. 25 finally showed up on the elevator screen and the elevator stopped, opening its doors. Natasha dragged Steve out and both walked down the corridor towards the suite Clint and Chloe were staying at. They went in without knocking and found Chloe in Clint's arms who made silly faces at her.

"Chloe!" Natasha felt all her fears and worries of the last weeks just disappear.

"Hey, guys!" Clint greeted and Chloe looked at the direction from where Natasha's voice had come.

"Mamama ma mamama!" She yelled and almost knocked Clint in the jaw with her little fist.

"Hey, Mohamed Ali, watch out!"

"Hey, munchkin!" Steve said softly, walking over to Clint to take Chloe into his arms. Natasha was eager to have her baby girl in her embrace, but she knew that Steve needed this more than her right now.

Chloe grinned at her dad who dotted faces all over her beautiful face. "Mamamama ma mamama!"

"Looks like she thinks your mama, too." Natasha chuckled and walked to her two loves. "Hi, sweet girl. We missed you. Did you miss us, too?"

Chloe reached her tiny hand out and Natasha pressed a kiss on the back of her hand. Steve handed Chloe over to her and Natasha breathed in her baby's smell, closing her eyes. They were finally home again. Now they could be a normal family.