Before we get back to the ass kicking, here's another helping of fluff, with a pinch of sass and a dash of spice. Enjoy!
And, as always, thank you for sticking with me. You are my people.
"Well, Hayward is still a massive ass," Tony said, sinking into an armchair in the middle of the living room where Natasha, Steve, Sam and Wanda were already gathered, awaiting his return. He shrugged off his jacket and adjusted the sling holding his right arm tight to his chest. He'd checked out of the hospital that morning, despite protests from the doctors and Pepper.
"He said no," Wanda said, without a hint of surprise in her voice.
"Yeah," Tony shrugged and casually picked lint from his shirt, "But I didn't really expect it to go our way."
Steve and Natasha exchanged a glance from their spot on the couch. She raised a suspicious eyebrow at Tony, "You're uncharacteristically chipper for someone who hates being told no."
"Ah, you know me too well, Romanoff," he said, smirking. "Which means you should know I've always got a contingency plan."
"So, what's the play?" Steve asked, glancing in Wanda's direction. She was leaned against the wall, expressionless, her eyes locked on Tony.
"I'm so glad you asked Cap," Tony said, pulling a narrow metal tube from a bag next to his chair. He tossed the tube in Steve's direction and sat back looking satisfied with himself.
Steve popped open the container, pulled out a large rolled-up piece of paper and spread it out on the table in front of them, "S.W.O.R.D. blueprints?"
"S.W.O.R.D. blueprints," Tony said slapping a small device down onto the document. It lit up blue and projected a three-dimensional image of the plans. "They were already on high alert for Wanda, and now they're probably expecting all of us to make a move. We've lost the element of surprise, but with these, I think we can still get in and out mostly undetected."
He began adding circles and X's into the 3D image, indicating the routes each of them would take. "Wanda, Wilson, you'll stand watch on either side of the building, here…"
"No, Tony," Wanda said, cutting him off. It was the first time she'd spoken since he'd arrived. She pushed off the wall and moved closer to the rest of the team. "This whole thing was my idea, and I want to be there."
"Wanda…" Steve started, but she cut him off, too.
"How useful am I, really, playing look out on the roof?" She challenged, then glanced a Sam, "No offense."
"Hey, none taken," Sam said, holding up his hands in mock surrender, "I, actually, kind of agree with you."
She gave him an appreciative nod, "If the goal is to minimize collateral damage, I can help you do that. Or have you forgotten that I can control people's minds?"
"No, we definitely have not forgotten," Natasha said under her breath, thinking back to their first encounter with the Maximoff twins, and Wanda shot her a mildly amused look.
Steve rested his hand on her shoulder, "Your skills aren't in question here, Wanda, but I think Tony's right. You're too close to this."
"If you're worried about me keeping my emotions under control, don't be," she said with a steely reserve in her voice. "I know we have one shot at this, and I'm not about to jeopardize that. You have to trust me."
"We do trust you," Steve said, glancing toward Tony and raised a questioning eyebrow.
Tony responded with a heavy sigh, "All right, Maximoff, but one whiff of you losing your cool, and we're pulling you out."
"Understood."
They spent the next few hours laying out the plan. Because Tony had correctly assumed Hayward would refuse to give them Vision, his visit that day had served a second purpose. While there, he was able to plant a handful of nano cameras, giving them eyes on the inside. And since he was still recovering, he would stay behind on comms. Sam would be the on-site lookout, using Redwing to scan for potential threats. Tony had also managed to snag access badges during his visit, so Natasha and Wanda would simply stroll through the front doors, using more nano tech to disguise their faces. Steve would be positioned outside the lower level, waiting to help with extraction.
Using the cameras Tony had planted, they could see blind spots and determine the best time to get into the lab where Vision's body was being kept. It was a simple but effective plan designed to minimize contact with anyone inside the building.
"All right," Steve said, looking at his watch, "We've all got our assignments. It's a little after 10. Rest up; grab what you need. We'll meet back here at 0100."
Wanda was the first to retreat to her room, leaving the others behind without a word. Natasha laced her fingers through Steve's and leaned into him on the couch, "I'm going to go check on her." He nodded and pressed a kiss against her temple.
Her bedroom door was cracked open, but Natasha knocked anyway. After a second she pushed the door open and found Wanda sitting cross-legged in the middle of her bed. Her eyes were closed, as if she was meditating. Not wanting to disturb her, Nat leaned against the door frame and waited.
"You know, you really shouldn't linger. It's not polite."
Natasha looked up at Wanda and was relieved to see a ghost of a smile on the younger woman's face, "Tony's good mood seems to be rubbing off on you."
Wanda's smile fell slightly, but her calm demeanor remained, "I've just learned to temper my expectations when it comes to these things."
"That's not a bad thing, you know," Nat said, sitting down on the bed next to her. "If we can get this done the right way, all the better."
"I just … I need him back," Wanda said, sighing. "I know he's gone, but it all happened so fast. I destroyed the stone, and Vision along with it, and before I had a second to comprehend what was happening, Thanos had it undone, and I had to relive him dying all over again. Once he snapped his fingers, I could feel myself disappearing, and I welcomed it. At least then I wouldn't have to live in a world without Vision. And now… Well, I'm grateful to be here. I'm grateful for what you guys did for me, for all of us. But it's all so unfinished."
"Believe it or not, I do understand how you feel," Natasha laid a hand atop Wanda's and gave it a light squeeze. Tears pricked at the corners of her eyes. "I'll never be able to give Clint a proper funeral. Laura and their kids will never have that closure, but we have a chance to give that to you."
Wanda felt her chest tightened at the mention of Clint's name. She certainly hadn't forgotten about his death, but she'd been so focused on getting Vision back, that she hadn't really stopped to think about it at all. "I know you miss him. I miss him, too."
"You meant so much to him, Wanda," Her visit with Clint's family still fresh in her mind, Natasha allowed a few tears to escape down her cheeks. "At first, I thought it was because he felt guilty that Pietro died saving his life, so he felt like he had to protect you. But you never needed protecting, not really. He saw something in you, just like he saw something in me."
Wanda wiped wetness from her own cheeks and leaned into Natasha's outstretched arm, thankful for the comfort, "Clint was the first one of you to really accept me, to see me as more than just a kid or something to be afraid of. He will never know what that meant to me."
"Maybe not," Nat said, brushing strands of hair back off Wanda's face, "But that's why we keep going. We make their sacrifice worth it when we keep doing good."
"Thank you, Nat," Wanda said, giving her friend a genuine smile.
"For what?"
"For the time you gave to Vision and me, even thought it risked exposing us."
Natasha smiled sadly, "I'd have given you more if I could."
"Do me a favor?"
"I'm kind of in the middle of the last favor you asked for," she said with a playful smirk.
"Smartass," Wanda said, giving Nat's shoulder a shove then quickly slipping a serious expression back onto her face, "Don't squander the time you have with Steve. With what we do, any moment could be the last."
The words hit Natasha like a ton of bricks. It was a fact they both knew, one that Thanos nearly proved several times, but one they hadn't yet openly acknowledged.
"Believe me, we won't waste it."
Natasha headed back toward the study with Wanda's words swirling in her head. She stepped back into the living room, unsurprised to find Steve still leaned over the blueprints.
He was deep in thought and hadn't noticed Natasha come in. Her heartbeat quickened at the way his brows pulled together in thought, the way he held the blue pen between his teeth as he ran his index finger across the paper making mental notes. Her eyes moved appreciatively to the long-sleeved gray henley he wore. It stretched against the muscles in his back and shoulders, and his biceps flexed under the thin material as he moved his hands across the blueprint page.
All thoughts of her conversation with Wanda were gone now, and Natasha bit her lip. She hadn't seen him in a week, which was, decidedly, far too long for her liking. Without a word she approached Steve on the sofa, sliding the blueprints out from under his hands, rolled them up and placed them back in the metal tube.
He cocked his head to the side and gave her a puzzled look but didn't say anything.
"Work can wait," she pulled him to his feet then closed the distance between them, pressing her lips to his. Her hands slid up his chest and into his hair. She scraped her nails lightly against the back of his head, and Steve responded immediately with a low groan.
"Yeah. It can definitely wait," he said, kissing her back, hard, and pulling her lower lip between his teeth. "I missed you, Romanoff."
"Clearly," Natasha hummed contentedly and smiled against Steve's mouth, "I missed you too, Rogers."
She pushed him back into a seated position on the sofa and straddled his lap. Steve's hands slid up her back, pressing her flush against him as their mouths found one another again. Natasha ground her hips down into him, and Steve dropped his head onto the back of the sofa in response, giving her access to the sensitive spot on his neck. She dipped her head to nip at the exposed skin above the collar of his shirt, running her hands under the soft material and up his chest.
Steve felt like he might explode at the feel of Natasha's hands against his bare skin. He pushed her back gently and lifted her sweater up over her head, revealing a cropped, black tank top. They were too lost in one another to realize that someone else had entered the room.
"Interesting way to mission prep."
They froze at the sound of Sam's voice. Natasha buried her head in Steve's shoulder, and he looked up over her to see their friend standing in the doorway with one hand over his eyes.
"Am I gonna have to start announcing myself every time I walk into a room in this house?" The tone of his voice was a mix of amusement and feigned disgust.
Natasha turned her head slightly and whispered against Steve's ear, "This isn't over," before removing herself from his lap. She reached across him for her sweater, giving him a quick second to subtly readjust.
"Sorry, Sam," Steve said, with an embarrassed half-grin. "We, uh, we got a little carried away."
Sam chuckled, "I'll say."
"To what do we owe this incredibly unwelcome interruption," Natasha said with an exaggerated sigh.
Sam shot her a side-eyed look and shook his head, "I left my jacket in here earlier."
They scanned the room, before Steve reached down and pulled a brown leather jacket out from under himself. He held it out to Sam, and Natasha had to stifle a laugh.
"Lovely," he deadpanned, taking the garment by the fingertips and exiting the living room. "Excuse me while I burn this."
"You're so dramatic, Wilson," Natasha called after him, falling back into Steve's lap in a fit of giggles. "Oh, that was too good."
Steve shook his head and scrubbed a hand over his face, "Embarrassing, Nat. That was embarrassing."
She stood up and pulled him off the couch toward his bedroom, "Come on. I'm not done with you yet."
"It'll have to wait," Steve said, dragging her back into him and pressing a lingering kiss to her lips. He held up his watch, and the time read 12:30 a.m. "It's almost time to go."
For the record, I don't hate what happened in Endgame, even though it broke my heart. BUT in my head, if Nat hadn't died, Steve wouldn't have stayed in the past with Peggy, and WandaVision may not have happened. I just think the two of them are too intuitive and care too much to not notice how Wanda's grief was affecting her.
Now, who wants to help me down off my soapbox?