Chapter 14: Infirmary

Steve and Anastasia arrived at the infirmary in five minutes. Anastasia walked up to one of the medics. "Where are Agent Romanoff and Agent Barton?" she demanded. The medic looked at her.

"I cannot give you such information," he stated, glaring at her. "You are not authorized access to this area either." Anastasia glared back at him.

Then the medic noticed Steve standing behind her. "She is Agent Romanoff's sister, she is allowed to know where she is, sir," Steve declared. Without another word, he stepped passed the medic, who practically jumped out of the way. Anastasia smirked at the medic, who was looking at her in surprise, as she followed behind Cap.

Thankfully, there were windows to see into the rooms, and when they walked through the hallway, all they had to do was through the windows to find them.

They walked down the hallway, peeking in the windows. Sometimes they found unconscious agents on hospital beds, and other times there were people covered in blood and moaning in pain. One person even flipped the bird at Anastasia, who gave the person a death glare in return.

Suddenly, Steve tapped Anastasia on the shoulder and pointed to the room that he spotted Natasha in. They didn't walk over to the window, because they knew that Natasha would somehow notice them. Anastasia saw her sister sitting on a bench across the room from a man, who was sitting upright on the hospital bed, struggling against the restraints which kept him tied down. The room was soundproof, so they couldn't hear Natasha talking to him, but they could see her lips moving.

They didn't approach the door, they just stood there watching as Natasha spoke to the man, who Anastasia presumed to be Clint, and as he struggled, squeezing his eyes shut and shaking his head, and eventually replying to her words.

Natasha stood when he replied and walked to the bedside table to pour him a drink. She then placed the drink back on the table and sat on the bed, facing him. She said something to him before removing the restraints from his wrists.

Natasha watched him as he got up off the hospital bed and walked to the door, looking out of the window in it. Anastasia gasped and stepped backwards when Clint spotted her and Steve watching, accidentally standing on Steve's foot. She looked at him apologetically before looking back to the window.

She saw Clint facing Natasha, blacking Anastasia's sight of her sister. Then Clint moved out of her way as she stood, and they both walked over to the door. Anastasia turned back to Steve to see if he had any idea of what to do: hide, run, walk over to the door, or stay there. He just shook his head, looking at the door that was now opening. Anastasia silently panicked and ran to hide behind Steve when Natasha walked out of the room with her hands on her hips.

Natasha walked over to the window and peeked around Steve's arm to see Anastasia hiding there. She looked up at Natasha, who was smirking at her. She shook her head at her younger sister before turning to Steve.

"This is pretty much what I'd expect from her," she said to him, nodding her head in Anastasia's direction. "But I didn't expect Captain America to be sneaking up on people and spying on them." Steve only looked embarrassedly at Natasha in return.

She turned back to Anastasia. "You happy? I came to the infirmary to get myself cleaned up. I'm waiting on a medic now," Natasha lied smoothly, though Anastasia saw through it.

"No, you came down here to see Clint. But I know that you're waiting on a medic, because they knew that you were here, because they didn't let me come to see you. Cap helped me get through the medics out the front, though." Anastasia looked from Natasha to Steve, who blushed more when she thanked him. Natasha raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything.

After a slightly awkward silence, Natasha walked off, waving for them to follow. When they were at the door, Natasha walked right in and sat on the bed next to Clint, who was sitting there drinking the cup of water that Natasha had poured before. The other two hesitated, standing in the doorway.

Clint put his drink down on the table, looking up at the two that were spying on him and Natasha before. "Well, who have we got here, Nat?" he asked, but before anyone could say anything, he answered his own question.

"Steve Rogers, aka Captain America. Height: 6'2". Birthplace: Brooklyn, New York," he said cheekily, looking at Steve as he said that. Then he turned to Anastasia, smirking. "Anastasia Oktoba Romanova, aka Oktoba 'Cobie' Ryan, aka Alianovna 'Ally' Winters. Height: 5'3". Age: 17. Birthplace: Volgograd, Russia." After his little speech, both he and Natasha were smirking at Anastasia and Steve, who both look frozen. Steve even had his mouth hanging open.

It took the two of them a second to recover. "Where did you get this information?" Anastasia glared at him before turning her icy gaze to her sister. "Did you tell him?"

Steve had a scared look on his face when Anastasia's hands coved themselves in black and green flames. Natasha and Clint both kept straight faces, not at all scared or worried that Anastasia would do anything to them.

"SHIELD had no information of your existence until I brought you in. I told Clint everything that he knows, because it's easier to work undercover with someone when you know everything about each other." Anastasia nodded, calming down and making the flames disappear.

Natasha continued with her story after glancing at Clint. "We went looking for you between missions, and we found you working at a cafe in Barcelona, using the name Ally Winters. We didn't make contact with you because SHIELD would have been able to trace it, so we left right away. Two years later, we accidentally found you during a mission in Croydon, England. You were using the name Oktoba Ryan. We were observing one of the targets who happened to attend one of your gymnastics competitions. Congratulations on coming first, by the way," Natasha said, smiling at her sister. Steve looked at Anastasia, surprised.

"Well, I do have a bit of an advantage," Anastasia smiled at Steve before turning to grin back at Natasha.

"Nice to finally meet you, Anastasia," Clint said warmly, putting his hand.

She shook his hand. "You, too, Clint," she replied, smiling at him.

"Good to meet you, Cap." Again he put out his hand, which Steve shook.

"Likewise, Agent Barton. Good to have you back," Steve said, a bit hesitant.

Clint nodded and stayed quiet after that, and an awkward silence spread through the room.

Anastasia and Steve shared a look before they started to back out of the room. "Well, we should leave you two now. Natty, make sure you have a medic look at you," Anastasia said. Then, taking one last glance at Clint and her sister, she walked out of the room, Steve following behind her.

"Where are we going?" Steve asked her after about ten minutes of walking, when he was sure they'd gotten lost in the maze that is the Helicarrier.

"Good question," she replied, stopping in one of the many hallways to look at him. "Um. Oh yeah. Do you happen to know where the kitchen is in this place?"

Steve nodded. "Follow me."

What did you all get for Christmas? Ooh and by the way, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

XXOO Tigger