Sharon was tired. She was tired of being on the run, she was tired of running and organizing a criminal enterprise, she was tired of lying to people she once considered her friends. The aftermath of the Snap really put things into perspective for her. She found herself here in Madripoor, weak and injured from a job gone wrong and barely getting by. She got caught stealing by the wrong people, someone named the Powerbroker. Sharon accepted that she was going to die as she felt the barrel of the gun pressed against her temple, and then suddenly it was gone. She watched as people in the room turned into dust, but she didn't. She quickly grabbed all the weapons that had fallen, and conned her way into the Powerbroker position. Sharon was given a second chance to rebuild a life where no one was going to hurt her again.

Her people got her into the super soldier mess and it got out of hand. She tried to keep it under wraps, and then Karli and her faction stole the serum. The last thing she wanted was more Steves running around. She was still bitter. He never reached out, never tried to find her. They weren't anything special to each other, but the few times they'd meet up on the run for longer than a day they'd occasionally engage in pillow talk about the future. It obviously didn't mean anything to him, but it meant a lot more than she realized to her. She thinks she may have even loved him at a point - how silly of her to love something wasn't real.

It took three years for someone to find her and reach out, and that person was Tony Stark. He promised her he'd try to get her pardoned, told her he would have looked sooner but was stuck in space where he almost died and then started a family with Pepper. Sharon knew he meant well, but she didn't want his pity. She was doing just fine here, running her art gallery and building her empire. Then Thanos returned. She considered going back to join the fight, she wanted to feel like part of a team again, and then she remembered how that team forgot her and left her. She packed away her weapons and texted Tony to let her know if she was needed.

She heard about Steve going back in time to return the stones through rumors. She wasn't sure what happened after that, Tony stayed pretty tight lipped about it. There were a lot of details that didn't make it to public knowledge, and even with what Tony told her she knew he was holding back. When Sam and Bucky showed up with Zemo, and she heard some new army lunkhead was running around with the shield, she assumed Steve had stayed in the past with Peggy and died an old man. When she asked about a funeral, Sam and Bucky gave each other a look and Bucky later told her that Steve was still alive and young, just retired and in hiding. That new knowledge didn't help with her abandonment issues.

Sharon rolled her eyes as she heard familiar footsteps walk down her hallway. She turned and saw Natasha leaning against the wall.

"Your security could use an upgrade," she said nonchalantly as she stared at Sharon.

"You're cleared to come and go as you please," she shrugged. "What brings you by?"

"I am here to bring you back to the States," Natasha said and Sharon let out a snort. "It's Stark, Sharon. He needs you."

"For what?"

"Pepper is in a coma, he's lost his absolute shit because the Extremis came back tenfold. He's disappeared to work on a cure. He named you as godparent of Morgan."

"He did what now?"

"I know," she said as she pushed off against the wall and sat down on the couch. "I don't think he had this in mind when he did it. He named godparents before the battle. I think it was more of a reason to get you to, at a minimum, come visit. Morgan needs you."

"I don't know that I can just up and leave," she said, rubbing her eyes. "Everything I built might crumble."

"I get that, and I get your fuck the world attitude," Natasha sympathized. "I've been working on something with Fury. We'd like you to actually rejoin the CIA and feed information over here. He thinks there are still some Hydra agents out there looking to rebuild. We think you can help smoke them out."

"That's a lot to ask of me, especially after everything," she shook her head.

"I get it. I've been burned far too many times, so I get it. You've got a good thing going here. I just think you're not happy."

"Are we ever happy, Nat?"

"We can be," she shrugged. "Come back with me for a bit. We'll figure out the Morgan situation and go from there. That little girl has been through enough already."

"Am I a single godmother?"

"Uh, no," Natasha said, suddenly evasive.

"It's Steve," Sharon said knowingly and she nodded. "Figures. Bucky told me everything that happened with him and Peggy."

"I know, I also know you two hooked up," Natasha smirked at Sharon's blush. "Can't blame you for that."

"It was before you came back from Russia and you two became a thing. Didn't mean anything, more of a lonely/revenge type thing. He's not really my type, I don't think I'm his either," Sharon rambled. "He's really happy with you though. Came by last month with Sam to crash somewhere with beds after a mission, didn't shut up about you for like twenty minutes. I hope you're not mad."

"Mad? No, please. I'm glad you both had each other," Natasha said. "Will you come back and play house with the super solider who is your type?"

"Natasha," Sharon sighed as she slumped down on her couch. "Is there a timeline on this?"

"No, we have no idea where Tony is. Steve asked the same thing."

"Good to know he's just as excited for this."

"You don't need to be nice to him. He's kind of on everyone's shit list for the time being."

"I wasn't planning on being nice to him. Might just piss him off and tell him I fucked his best friend and I'm the big bad here in Madripoor creating new super soldiers."

"Knowing you like I do, I don't think you actually hired Nagel to recreate the serum," Natasha said as she leaned her head on her hand and Sharon shook her head no. "What even happened with that? That was really the most shocking thing I heard from all this."

"Club owner named Selby hired him, wanted to stage an uprising against me and use super soldiers to do it. I got wind of it and controlled the narrative, but was struggling over how to get rid of it. Then I was thinking of maybe contacting Stark and Banner to take it and use it if anything was needed for Steve and Bucky, but Karli stole the serum from me before I could do that. It was a blessing in disguise, I suppose," she shrugged. "I took out Selby before she could kill the boys, brought them to Nagel and Zemo took care of him. All the serum is gone now, I think. I don't have anymore of it. I've instructed my people to tell me immediately if they hear its being produced again or its still out there because I'm the only one in town to controls it. That's why I'm hesitant to leave, among other reasons."

Sharon looked down at her hands as she waited for Natasha to speak again. The silence after that confession was hard to bear. She didn't want to become this person, she still had her values and beliefs. She was just a woman scorned who wanted to control the world that hurt so it couldn't happen again. Sharon knew at the end of the day that wasn't a sustainable goal, that she should take Natasha and Fury up on their double agent offer. What the government and the Avengers did to her still stung, the abandonment was still fresh, so she didn't know if she could make any decisions on that just yet.

What she could do is be there for Morgan Stark. Tony did start the pardon process for her, which made it easier for Sam to guarantee it for her. Tony did keep in touch with her once he found her. She even talked to Morgan a lot over video calls. Sharon was sure Tony knew who she was over here, and never said anything about it. He didn't abandon her and she wasn't about to abandon him.

"I need a few days to put things in place and pack my stuff," Sharon said and Natasha nodded. "Can you hang or should I let you know when I'm ready to go?"

"I can hang for however long you need. Bucky is staying with Steve until you come in, and we're all close by even though we told Steve he's on his own," Natasha said with a smile. "I'm here for you, and I'm sorry I didn't look harder for you. Bucky recently told me you survived the Snap, despite our intel saying the opposite."

"You had a lot going on trying to keep everyone together and trying to find Barton," she said quietly, playing with her sleeve. "You also were dead for a bit."

"Yeah, that was a bummer."

"Time to pack," Sharon said as she stood up. "How many illegal items can I smuggle on the Quinjet?"

"As many as you want," Natasha smirked.