"I didn't bring the cavalry… I AM the cavalry." – Luke Hobbs, Fast and the Furious 7
"Nat…"
"Nat…"
"NAT…"
Natasha jolted awake. Feeling the light sting in both her eyes, she blinked twice before glancing towards the door. Laura was standing at the doorway, her right hand placed on the door knob.
"Hey…sorry to wake you, but Phil's here."
At the mention of Coulson, Natasha felt the remnants of sleep dissipate from her brain.
"Hey, Laura…thanks for waking me, how long was I out?" Natasha asked and pulled herself out from under the covers…
Wait a minute, when did I ever get under the covers? Natasha wondered to herself.
"Oh, about 6 hours or so. Its 5 a.m. now" Laura answered.
Natasha stood up from the bed so abruptly that her body was swarmed by a sense of vertigo. Must be the pills.
"6 hours?! It took Phil that long to get here?" Natasha blurted out, and when she could no longer remain standing, gently plopped herself down onto the bed.
She realized that she was still clad in her bathrobe.
"Yeah, I came up here to wake you as soon as he arrived. That was 5 minutes ago. He said that there were some unavoidable delays. He's in the living room now." Laura answered as Natasha reached for the comb on the make-up table.
"How did I get under the covers? Did you get me under the covers?" Natasha asked, a playful smirk plastered on her sleep-deprived-yet-still-so-flawlessly-beautiful face as she ran the comb a few times through her hair.
"Yep, I did. Came in to check on you after noticing that the hot water had run out. I thought you fainted in the bathroom or something. Then I found you asleep on top of the covers, so… I tucked you in. Oh, and that's quite a nice picture you were sleep-hugging by the way…" Laura replied with a smirk of her own.
"Picture? What pic…?" Natasha's brows scrunched up in confusion. Oh. Oh.
"I took the frame out of your hands and placed it on the nightstand." Laura said, the smirk never leaving her face.
Natasha's eyes flicked towards said furniture and saw the elegant Handel-Blackford picture frame standing diagonally atop the nightstand. The angel figure of herself stared back at her, beautifully. A soft glint emanated from the sketch as light from outside the bedroom door reflected on the flawlessly smooth glass surface of the frame, overall, giving the tiny body of her angelic doppelganger a breathtaking radiance.
Suddenly realizing that she might have been ogling at the frame for a tad bit too long, Natasha's gaze snapped back to Laura's. And from the playful glint in Laura's eyes, Natasha knew that she was in for a major goading session by her surrogate sister.
And so it began…
"Steve really had such great artistic talent doesn't he? What great hands he has. Oh, and a damn fine set of eyes too; I mean capturing all the details of your figure and all…" Laura quipped, firing off the first shot. Natasha blushed slightly before quickly recovering.
"And a good morning to you too…Laura. You know, for a woman whose husband is currently incarcerated in an underwater pressurized container, you sure sound chipper. Must be some anniversary gift Clint left in your wardrobe to make you this happy." Natasha gave back as good as she was given.
Laura chuckled slightly at that.
"Ooh yeah…. It certainly did. You see, unlike a certain someone…I actually admit it when a man makes me happy…You know what, Nat? Maybe you should try that for a change... who knows, might be good for you." Laura replied wittily.
Natasha gaped at Laura, unable to formulate a response. Damn the Vicodin.
"I'm gonna go ahead and start making breakfast. From the looks of it, you're gonna need coffee… A lot of coffee." Laura said before turning to leave the doorway.
"Yeah, okay. Tell Phil that I'll be down in 10." Natasha responded, raising her voice slightly since Laura was already 5 feet away from the doorway. Laura acknowledged the response by throwing a smile over her shoulders.
When Laura was out of sight, Natasha smiled amusingly.
That woman is sharp. How the heck did she even know about Steve's artistic talents? It can't be the internet because the internet has so much junk that it's difficult to tell the correct information from garbage… and she sounded so sure of herself, so it means that whatever source she used must be a legit source…
The answer came to Natasha when she was descending the stairs, dressed in the same outfit she wore when she arrived at the farm. The Smithsonian, of course. A lot of legit information about Steve could be found there. His artistic talents, his pre-serum life, his hobbies and many others. When she reached the bottom of the stairs, she saw Laura preparing breakfast. Glancing towards the living room, she saw the distinct profile of Phil Coulson, seated on the couch with his back towards her.
It's show time.
"Good morning, Phil. What took you? You know, one would expect you to pull a quicksilver stunt when the life of your childhood hero is at stake. Don't tell me that you've officially resigned as President of the Captain America fan club, because then I'd know for sure that hell had frozen over." Natasha sass-greeted as she strode confidently towards the living room.
Phil stood up and turned around as soon as he heard Natasha's voice.
"Oh, how I've missed your snark, Natasha. It's one of the reasons why I absolutely hated Fury for bringing me back alive." Coulson deadpanned.
A smirk was all Natasha gave him.
Coulson began explaining his delay.
"The quinjet arrangement was a little trickier than I had expected. Couldn't get one from the usual places without rousing suspicion. Had to sneak one out from the Theta Protocol Helicarrier. Figured that something which came out from a non-existent Helicarrier would by extension be non-existent, that way people won't realize that a quinjet is missing and start asking questions. And…MOSTLY cleaning up your mess." Phil answered, giving Natasha a pointed stare.
Oops. He knows. I'll probably never hear the end of it. Dang.
"I have no idea what you're talking about." Natasha averted her gaze, knowing full well what Phil was referring to.
"Oh yeah? What made you think that stopping a sports car that was travelling at 205 miles per hour in the middle of a highway was a good idea? Oh, and what about the fact that you were driving at 205 miles per hour while you were on the run? Any idea how much attention that would draw? Satellite imaging caught the whole damn thing. Took me a couple of extra hours to clean that up." Phil stated accusingly.
"Right. Sorry. Something came over me…" Natasha said apologetically.
Coulson's gaze softened, but he said nothing. And Natasha appreciated that, the last thing she needed was somebody else's pity, especially from somebody she respected immensely.
"It's okay. I've got everything covered. The hideout that you asked for, I found a suitable one. Long before SHIELD collapsed, Fury suspected that SHIELD had been compromised, so he created 5 different hideouts in case of contingencies; 2 were in the States, 3 were outside the States, all off SHIELD records obviously. You guys will be using the one located in Stuttgart, Germany." Phil explained.
"Right. Sounds good. Does it come with–" Natasha was interrupted before she could finish her question.
"Yep, with training facilities, weight rooms, super computers, secure internet access and everything else that a group of super powered individuals might need. Back then, Fury prepared this hideout especially for the Avengers just in case he needed to assemble the Avengers to deal with SHIELD's compromise." Phil explained smugly.
How did he know? I never told him that-
At Natasha's slightly shocked expression, Phil continued, "I know the hideout's intended inhabitants, Natasha. You were planning on rescuing the arrested Avengers from the Raft weren't you? Wasn't that hard to figure out."
I guess Phil really does know everything. Natasha thought to herself. Nonetheless, she was relieved that everything had been arranged smoothly.
"Thanks Phil. The quinjet's outside?"
"Yeah. Specialized for stealth Ops. Full retro reflective panels, near invisible from distances greater than 50 meters. Undetectable by most standard radars, you can literally enter and leave most airspace unnoticed. Weapons and food supplies already stocked inside. Exact coordinates of the hideout already programmed in it." Phil explained.
"Okay. Perfect. Do you have a SHIELD issued laptop and the tracking software?" Natasha asked
"Got it right here." Phil said while he picked up the suitcase beside him.
Just then, Laura interrupted their conversation.
"Hey guys, I'm so sorry for interrupting, but breakfast's ready. Figured you guys might need to grab a bite before leaving, you guys are leaving soon right? Nat was saying last night that she had someplace to be?" Laura asked politely.
"Natasha's leaving after breakfast, to go find Cap. I can't go with her because I can't leave my post. While she's gone, I'm staying here until a second quinjet comes to pick me up, figured I can use the time to give you a full briefing about the protective detail that I have placed on the farm. Is that okay with you?" Phil spoke to Laura.
Natasha was halfway through booting the laptop from Phil's suitcase.
"Yes, of course. And you can stay as long as you like, you're always welcomed here, Phil." Laura answered kindly.
"Thank you, Laura. Now, breakfast, shall we?" Phil said.
Three pairs of eyes stared intently at the laptop screen. All three were shocked by what they saw on the screen.
"What the hell is Cap doing in Wakanda? I thought he was going after the Winter Soldiers." Phil stated in shock.
"Yeah, that's what he said... It's impossible that Cap lied to us in order to smuggle Barnes out. Because if he were really trying to help Barnes escape, then he wouldn't have taken him to Wakanda." Natasha conjectured.
"Why? How could you be sure?" Phil asked.
"King T'Challa kinda hates Barnes." Natasha deadpanned.
"Something else is going on here… unless… the Winter Soldiers were kept in Wakanda?" Natasha drawled.
Phil's face turned as white as a sheet of paper at that.
"That doesn't sound good at all… That would mean that, Wakanda, the only nation that has access to tons of vibranium is Hydra… Shit. We're gonna have to make some calls if this is true…" Phil stated in horror.
Natasha shook her head.
"No…No… I take it back, I don't think that the Winter Soldiers were kept in Wakanda. I know the Russians, they always choose meaningful names for their projects. If they chose the name Winter soldier, then it means that they were probably kept some place that actually has winter. Wakanda is in Africa." Natasha reasoned.
"You sure?" Coulson asked warily.
"Born a Russian, lived a Russian, remember? Trust me, I know how the Russians think." Natasha answered.
"Alright. That's a relief." Phil said.
Natasha was still staring holes at the screen.
"Something is going on here… what is it…?" Natasha drawled.
"Excuse me, guys… but… Is Cap even alive? Because from what I see on the screen, the dot isn't even moving…" Laura spoke for the first time since they found out about Steve's location.
"Oh, don't worry, Laura. Cap is very much alive. You can't see the dot moving because the screen's too small." Natasha said, already, her fingers had begun dancing swiftly across the keyboard.
A couple of new windows showed up on the screen.
"Here. This is a zoomed in version of the map of Wakanda. Now, if you take a look at the dot again, you can see that it's moving. And…from the speed readings, I'd say that Cap is… taking a stroll." Natasha explained, her expression was that of amusement. Well, at least he's alive. That's good for now.
"Okay…But we still don't know what he's doing there." Phil stated.
"Only one way to find out…" Natasha said as she began closing the lid of the laptop.
"Do me a favor and bring the quinjet back in one piece okay? Securing it for you guys wasn't exactly an easy task, you know." Phil reminded Natasha.
"Well… it should be possible as long as we keep Cap away from pilot duties. But just a heads up though, if you don't hear from us within a week or so, you should probably start looking for the jet. Oh, and it'd be a pretty good idea to start looking at a place with a lot of ice. And please don't take 70 years this time okay?" Natasha joked, adding a playful wink at the end.