Disclaimer: The Avengers, its characters and The Marvel Cinematic Universe belong to Marvel Studios and The Walt Disney Company, among many others. I'm only a fan, writing this for love of this film franchise and personal pleasure.
A.N.: Also in CA:TWS, after they meet Fury at the bunker and before they set out to destroy the helicarriers. I'm expounding on a couple of old tumblr theories concerning their battle against the Winter Soldier (mostly about how awesome Nat was in that whole sequence; seriously, go watch that scene from the moment The Winter Soldier throws Sitwell out of the car window and everything she does, look at her eyes and how you can see everything she's thinking) and adding some comics details to Nat's backstory.
To Build a Home
5. Trust
Steve's mind was still reeling. This had to have been the most intense, confusing, mind-blowing 48 hours of his life, starting with suddenly finding Fury in his apartment segueing into his assassination to becoming a fugitive from SHIELD then going on the run with Natasha, the two of them finding out HYDRA had been hiding inside SHIELD this whole time to almost getting blown up to dragging Sam into this mess to almost getting killed (again) and finding out Bucky was alive and the Winter Soldier then being rescued by Hill and finding out Fury was actually alive. He was still having a hard time processing all of this new information and focusing on what they needed to do now, but one thing was clear in his mind: no matter what Fury said, SHIELD had to go. And he was glad he could count on his friends to help him with that.
They only had about 12 hours to stop the launch of the Insight helicarriers, however he and Natasha had been up for nearly 60 straight hours now since before the mission on the Lemurian Star, so they'd agreed to take a short break to rest and recover as they were at risk of burning out once their adrenaline rush came crashing down on them. Super soldier or not, even Captain America had his limits and he didn't want to risk finding them in the middle of such an important battle.
He really should be heading over to the beds to crash for a few hours, however there was still one thing he needed to take care of before he could do that. As Dr. Fine came out of the makeshift room he'd been in stitching Natasha's wound on her shoulder, he quietly asked the man for a few minutes with his partner.
"Hey," Steve said, pushing back the hospital-like partition curtains and walking up to her bed. A short while ago he might've hesitated to do so, but after everything they'd been through it didn't feel like such a big deal as he sat down on the bed next to her facing her. "How are you feeling?"
"Better now," she said, giving him a small smile as she sat up and leaned back against the pillows. "What about you?"
"Still getting there," he answered truthfully with a small half smile of his own, but then he grew serious and cleared his throat a little before continuing. "I hate to do this, but I gotta ask: Were you trying to get shot?"
"What are you talking about?" She blinked her eyes a couple of times and tilted her head forward a little as she stared back at him.
"I know you, Nat," Steve said with a small sigh. "We've worked together for a long time now. I know that you know the best way to avoid being targeted is evasive maneuver. Yet when you were running from…" He suddenly trailed off, as he didn't know what term to use. The Winter Soldier? Bucky? He just shook his head lightly to himself and continued. "Anyway, you ran in a straight line, in an open space, instead of taking cover."
Natasha stared back at him for a moment, biting at her lower lip as she thought of what to tell him. "I didn't want to endanger any civilians around me," she finally said honestly, giving him a rather helpless gesture of the hands. "If I had run in an evasive pattern, other people might get shot instead of me."
"I get that," Steve said, looking back at her earnest face, then he was shaking his head at her. "But that was extremely foolish."
"I couldn't live with myself if someone got hurt because of me," she told him quietly and they just stared at each other for a moment, before she gave him a small smile. "By the way, I owe you again."
"You saved me first," he smiled softly back at her. He knew that if she hadn't jumped into his lap and forced him forward when they had been in Sam's car he would've got a bullet in his head. Sam, too, as she'd pushed him out of the way of an oncoming bullet with her foot. This whole ordeal was making him question how he'd ever thought he couldn't trust her. But in a way he couldn't have helped it; Fury had said not to trust anyone and her secretive nature didn't put him at ease. Yet now he knew that after this was done he'd always trust her with his life.
"Let's stop keeping score, okay?" He added, still smiling softly at her. "It's not a competition and I have a feeling we'll save each other too many times throughout our lives." At least he hoped they would. He patted her lightly on the knee next to him that was under the covers. "Try to get some rest now."
She frowned at him as he made a motion to get up and leave. "Not until we finish planning."
"There's nothing to plan," Steve countered with a frown of his own, though he did sit back down on the bed. "You'll stay here with Fury until we clear the way."
Natasha was already shaking her head before he'd finished his sentence. "Out of the question. I'm not staying behind, Rogers." She used his last name to punctuate just how serious she was about this.
He sighed heavily, as he should've seen this coming. "Nat, you were shot." He used her given name, not even that, a nickname of her given name to convey his point as well.
"It was a through and through," she argued back. "It didn't hit any bones, major blood vessels or vital organs. I'll be fine."
"You could've died." He looked back at her with a pained look in his eyes.
"Not the first time it happened, and it won't be the last." She shrugged her uninjured shoulder as if the matter were as simple as that.
"You should be resting and recovering," he insisted. "You won't be able to fight like you normally do." He raised his eyebrows pointedly at her.
"I'll work through the pain." Her face was set in determination as she looked back at him. "Believe me, I've been through worse." She raised a rather sardonic eyebrow at him.
"I believe you," Steve told her earnestly, as he had no doubt about it. "I still don't want you to risk yourself."
She set her jaw firmly, a gleam of determination visible in her green eyes. "You need me out there."
"Natasha…" He sighed heavily, growing tired of the argument but unwilling to give in.
"Steve, listen to me," she said, leaning forward and looking intently into his eyes. "Even if you storm operations control, you'll need someone with Pierce so he doesn't pull anything on the World Council. And if you want to take down HYDRA, I know just the way to do it." She raised an eyebrow at him.
"What's that?" He raised an eyebrow of his own back at her.
"Disable all the firewalls and security protocols then dump everything on the internet," she explained. "SHIELD, HYDRA, all the files will become public and they'll have nowhere to hide, so even if we can't stop the helicarriers in time, they'll have no way to cover it up."
"Are you sure about this?" Steve furrowed his eyebrows in concern at her. He knew there were a lot of things in her files about her past, most of which she'd worked very hard to keep hidden. "There are a lot of things in those files."
"I'm sure," Natasha nodded firmly back at him, as she knew what he was referring to. "Sometimes you need to tear things down in order to build them up again. Clean slate, right?"
He kept looking at her in concern, then he finally sighed and nodded in agreement. "Fine, then I'll have Hill with the Council and Sam on operations."
"You can't storm three helicarriers on your own, you'll need Sam's wings," she frowned at him, growing frustrated with him now. "Stop being so damn stubborn."
"You're the one being stubborn," he raised his eyebrows back at her. "You lost a lot of blood."
"I heal fast," she countered at once.
"I know you're good, Natasha, and that you hate being left behind, but even you won't be up to fight by tomorrow morning," Steve argued, shaking his head at her.
She paused with her mouth slightly open ready to argue back, then took a deep breath in and out. "Okay," she said, and something in her tone told him she wasn't actually agreeing with what he'd said, but steeling herself for what she'd say next. "I never told you this before, but I was raised and trained in the Red Room in a program that was the USSR's response to Captain America."
"Really?" Steve could only raise his eyebrows back at her at what she'd said. He knew about the Red Room, but she'd never told him any details before and he'd never known the Black Widow program had actually been connected to him, in a way.
"Yes," she said firmly, looking into his eyes for a moment as she let the information sink in. "So I have a Soviet version of the super soldier serum running through my veins. It didn't work exactly like your serum, but it gives me added strength, agility and faster metabolism than most people." She paused for a moment and they continued staring at each other. Steve often wondered how she'd been able to keep up with him on many of their missions; he'd assumed it had been due to her training in the Red Room, but he hadn't thought she'd been enhanced like him. Natasha then continued. "So when I say I heal fast, I mean it. By morning, my wound will be closed and almost completely healed."
He continued to frown in concern, looking straight into her eyes. "Are you sure about this?"
"You told me you trusted me, remember?" She said quietly, reaching out and taking his hand in hers. "Let me do this. Besides, there's no one else better at infiltration than me, I guarantee you that."
"I know that," he smiled back at her, as he'd seen her work firsthand. Finally, he relented, as he could see this was something important to her, and she was right, he needed her help. "Alright. What do you need?"
She smiled gratefully back at him. "I'll check with Hill what equipment she has here and have her track Councilwoman Hawley. After that, it should be easy."
"I'll set it up," he said, as he got up to his feet and squeezed her hand reassuringly. "You get some rest now. Captain's orders." He gave her one last soft smile before he turned to go and she gave him one of her smiles in return before she did as ordered and settled back on her bed.
