An hour later Natasha sat in the command room, reminiscing the missions she had completed with Clint.
She was wearing her Black Widow suit with new improvements from Stark, her weapons loaded, just waiting for Tony, who was as he called it fashionably late, though what could possibly make him late she didn't know. In the room the rest of the Avengers were scattered across the room, dressed for battle. She missed Clint, the memories of the great but dangerous times they'd had working for S.H.I.E.L.D.
He'd saved her, given her a second chance, something to fight for, and a friend. She shook herself out of her nostalgia, it wasn't like he was dead. He was just retired, with his family, on a farm. Really? A farm? She wondered how he could stand it. After years of action and adrenaline, just one day retiring to a farm. She would always miss him.
She looked up at Steve who was staring intently at the clock. This mission was the hardest on the both of them. Steve had died to destroy Hydra, then they had both risked everything to do good for an organization seeking terror and world domination. The KGB for Hydra, the good of the world was pretty hard to find.
Tony finally entered the room in the Iron Man suit twenty minutes late and took a seat at the table.
"So glad you could join us." Steve said pointedly
"Yes, well I've been very busy, you know, planning your new room design." Tony reclined in his seat, "You gonna start the meeting or what?"
Steve glared but let it go.
The remaining Avengers had taken their seats around the table and looked to their leader. Fury and Hill had already left. Natasha felt uneasy about the whole thing. Why would Fury fly in from Europe to be in the states to pick up Hill and be on the ground for a total of twenty minutes? It was suspicious and Fury operated under a layer of suspicion so it was probably nothing, but she would look into it later.
"The plan is to observe who is occupying the base before attacking." Steve said, "We'll take two small planes. Romanoff you fly one, Sam you got the other. Rhodey and Vision, you'll be in Nat's plane, Stark, Wanda, and I will be with Sam. We'll land three miles away from the base and send a scout team, Stark and Rhodey, to gather intel without being noticed. Right, let's go finish these bastards."
The planes flew high, with retrospection panels keeping them undetectable. Natasha enjoyed flying. She liked the view, the solitude, the control she had over the aircraft, and the power she held over the people inside. Today she was worried about the mission. It could be mindless, but she remembered that day on the highway, when the Winter Soldier had attacked them, how Steve had froze. There was a chance Bucky would be there, a pretty good one, and if that was the case, this mission would be anything but easy. She hoped Steve was prepared.
They landed three miles from the base and the scout teams went out. Stark had added retrospection panels to the Iron Man suits so they were unnoticeable against the clear blue sky.
They came back with nothing really important. The protective barrier that had once surrounded the castle-like structure had not been restored since Tony had disabled it. There were two guards at each door, but there was no way to tell whose side they were on. Steve decided on an infiltration plan to take the castle first and negotiate later.
After a walk through the woods Natasha took her place at the back of the castle. Using a piece of Stark Tech she climbed the fence and sneaked up on the guards. They both had unmatching, worn clothing and one had a smaller gun. They looked tired and unshaven, and terrified when then saw her. One even tried to run away as she expertly swept them off their feet and knocked them out, but even if they came to she doubted that they would be much of a threat.
"Two guards down, entering now." she whispered into her coms.
"Copy." Steve whispered back.
She crept along the halls but found nothing, not a person anywhere.
"Not anyone here." she reported.
The others reported the same thing, Steve called them all to a large room in the center of the building, with Sam, and Rhodey keeping watch outside.
"I got heat signatures, coming from a passageway over yonder." said Tony, pointing to the wall where he had found the secret door the last time he was here.
Steve pushed it open.
"Don't mind if I just stay here to keep watch." said Tony.
Steve rolled his eyes.
Tony's eyes widened innocently and he pointed to Wanda."It is all her fault, for the record."
They continued down the passageway with Tony remaining upstairs. Natasha had both guns raised, Steve held his shield high, Wanda's eyes were glowing red, and Vision looked as calm as ever. When they reached the bottom there was a moment of stunned silence before the shooting began.