From the files they discovered that Operation Paperclip was a failure. The SSR, the precursor of SHIELD, brought Armin Zola to America and gave him his freedom as long as he worked for the SSR. Hydra's science was a siren song that politicians and some who should have known better couldn't resist. Steve thought if he lived he could have convinced them not to take the chance. Zola convinced them to bring other scientists over and offer them the deal. Those scientists turned out to be relatives to Zemo, Strucker, Schmidt and others. The seed of Hydra's revival was sown.
Fury wasn't sure how much of SHIELD was now corrupt but he wasn't going to take any chances. He handed out assignments to those he trusted. They were supposed to weed out those who were Hydra. The assumption was that they wouldn't be able to expose them all, but they expose enough to stop Hydra's corruption of SHIELD.
Steve's assignment was to keep an eye on the five Strike teams that appeared to be compromised. He spent a great deal of time in the gym watching their training, which included much of the same brutal tactics as Rumlow used. At the end of day he'd pick a member to follow for a few hours. Most of the time the Strike team member would get together with several other Strike team member, go out for drinks at a bar or pub, and act like bullies. On one occasion he almost interfered as three Strike team members intimidated four guys playing pool. They appeared ready to physical harm the men, but the four guys backed off and let them have the pool table. The more he watched them the more he was sure that they were compromised and Hydra, the more he disliked them.
He was readying to leave for the evening, having decided not to follow anyone tonight, when he ran into Natasha in the lobby on his way to the garage to get his bike. She was out of her SHIELD uniform and in civilian clothes. Of course, it didn't matter to him what she wore as he couldn't help but observe how beautiful she was.
"Hey, Fossil," she greeted him with a smile.
He was starting to get used to the old age insults. Steve smiled back at her.
"What are your plans for Thanksgiving?" she asked him.
"Uh?" was his response.
"You know Thanksgiving, a time when most Americans salute the flag, dress up like puritans, and overeat," she stated.
"I'd forgotten all about it," Steve sighed. "It's tomorrow?"
"Yes, it is, Captain," she said.
"I guess I'll go shopping buy a small turkey and all the trimmings and cook it up," he said.
"Really? Just for you?" Natasha asked.
"Well, I'll really be doing it to honor my mother and Bucky, who I used to have Thanksgiving with us when I was a kid. Bucky used to skip his family's Thanksgiving to eat with me and my mom. He said he preferred my mom's cooking but it was because he thought of me as his little brother," smiled Steve. "So, yeah, I'll cook up a traditional meal even if it's only for myself."
"What's a traditional meal?" she asked.
"Turkey, a sausage stuffing with sage, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, creamed corn and spinach, and cranberry sauce. Oh, yeah, and Boston cream pie. Well, that's the meal my mom and I would talk about. We'd have a small turkey, bread stuffing, mashed potatoes and corn. If there was money left over we'd have apple pie," he described to her.
"Sounds delicious," she smiled.
"What about you?" he asked.
"I've been invited to Stark's Avengers Thanksgiving," she replied. "Not sure I can handle Tin Head and turkey with guys watching football all day."
"Football? There are games on?" asked Steve.
Natasha laughed then she told him, "There are I think three games on. See what you've missed."
"Does Macy's still have a parade?" he asked.
"Sure does, though it'll probably be the Amazon Thanksgiving Parade soon," she smiled. "You know it's on TV."
"No, I didn't," Steve responded.
"Now you have something to watch while you eat so much turkey that you fall asleep," she said.
"I don't know if the serum will let tryptophan work on me," Steve grinned.
"Sounds like fun, Soldier," Natasha said then she walked away from.
Steve watched her go hypnotized by the way her jeans hung to her buttocks. She may not be Clint's girlfriend, but she is definitely out of my league, he thought. Gathering his thoughts, he headed off. He had some shopping to do.
AVENGERS
Steve had the Macy's parade on the TV, as he started to cook his meal. He was dressed to cook, which meant gray sweatpants and US Army tee shirt. Unfortunately, his choice of turkeys was between a small frozen one that would have taken days to thaw and fresh large turkey that was eighteen pounds. He chose the fresh turkey. Now that he prepped turkey, he put it in the oven. He still had sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, and creamed corn to prepare. The cranberry sauce was coming out of can and the rolls were store bought, just like his Boston cream pie was store bought.
Taking a few minutes from the kitchen he sat down on the couch and watched the parade. Currently, a female singer was singing a song he didn't know on a float promoting a movie he didn't know. Happily, he watched. Suddenly, he heard his doorknob turn. In a second he was up off the couch and headed towards the door. It opened and Natasha stepped into his apartment.
"Hey, Cap, you need a better lock," she smirked.
"You could have knocked," he said.
"I know," she said as she took off her black leather coat. Underneath the coat she wore sweatpants and a SHIELD sweat shirt. He noticed she had running shoes on instead of her usual knee length boots. She offered him a brown paper bag then she dropped a large gym bag on the floor. "Here's some wine for dinner."
"You here for dinner?" he asked.
"I invited myself. I also brought movies to watch in case you don't want to watch football and an appetite," she smiled.
"Glad to have you, Nat," he said. "There's coffee in kitchen. Help yourself."
"I have to admit that your apartment smells good," she said.
"Thank you," he grinned.
Natasha walked into his kitchen and made herself at home. Steve sat back down on the couch. After a few minutes Natasha joined him on the couch. She sipped a cup of coffee.
"Good Joe," Natasha remarked.
"Joe. Very funny. You trying to sound like a dame from the 1940s?" he asked her.
"Trying to make you feel at home," she smirked. "So how many clams the turkey cost you?"
Steve laughed then he said, "Too many."
"We just going to sit here on our keisters all day?" she asked.
"Why you khaki wacky? Maybe you want to jits and jive later?" he asked her.
"Okay, you lost me," she said.
"I asked if you were boy crazy and maybe you want to the jitterbug or listen to jive music latter," he explained.
"You interested in dancing, Rogers?" she asked him.
"Don't know how to may and I never found the right partner to learn," he said with a hint of sadness.
"Not even Peggy Carter?" she asked.
"Peg and I never got the time to dance," he said. "First the war then a trip into the ice stopped that."
"Maybe you'll find a partner this time," she said.
"There's always a chance," smiled Steve.
AVENGERS
Natasha set Steve's dining table, as he brought the food out. He set the turkey in the middle of the table, as Natasha opened the wine and poured them a glass. With all the food out and ready, Steve sat down. He looked over at Natasha.
"Do you mind if I pray?" he asked.
She chuckled then said, "If you believe go right ahead."
Steve blessed himself, "In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Bless us oh lord for these gifts we are about to receive from your bounty through Christ Our Lord. Amen."
He blessed himself again. Natasha looked at him and smiled, "Do you want me to carve the turkey?"
"Do you want to carve?" he asked.
"I enjoy my knife skills," she said.
"Be my guest," Steve said.
Natasha picked up the carving knife and got to work on the turkey.
"What do you like?" she asked.
"I like dark meat as much as I like white meat," he said.
She placed a generous amount of white and dark meat on his plate then she filled her own plate. Once she was done with the turkey they started in on the fixings passing bowls back and forth with each other. Finally, they topped their meal with Steve's homemade gravy and started to eat.
"You can cook. You can really cook," she stated.
"Can you cook?" Steve asked.
"I can make a few Russian things, like borscht, but on the whole I live on takeout," she told him. "Maybe if you teach me to cook, I can teach you to dance."
"You dance?" he asked.
"Like a professional, Captain," she miffed "The KGB and FSB thought it would be a useful skill. Haven't you read my file?"
"Not really. I asked Fury about you and thought his answers were good enough for me to trust you as a teammate," he said.
Natasha smiled. She started to eat her meal occasionally glimpsing at Steve between bites of food. He seemed to relish the food, as he ate with gusto and speed.
"You may be too trusting, Old Man." she teased.
"What movies did you bring?" he asked.
"I'll leave action films to Clint, so I brought Disney animation," she told him. "You said that you like to sketch so I thought you'd enjoy the evolution of animation. There are three old fashion films, Aladdin, The Lion King, and Beauty and the Beast, though that one does have CGI, and three new ones, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, and Ratatouille."
"I kind of look forward to watching them," smiled Steve.
"Even more than football?" asked Natasha.
"Yeah," he shrugged.
"Well, eat up and then we can get to watching films. Oh, by the way I brought a change of clothes. Do you have an extra bedroom?" she asked.
"Yeah, I do," he said.
"Good. I'll be staying the night," she told him.
Steve didn't know what to say. He continued eating. This was turning out to be one of the better Thanksgiving he had.
AVENGERS
They were well into the Incredibles when Natasha fell asleep beside him on the couch. Her head rested on his shoulder. Steve felt a tingle of energy having her rest her head on him. He considered his options which were either watch the rest of the movie or to be Natasha to bed. When she moved from his shoulder to his lap, Steve started to think it was a very good idea to move her to the spare bed.
Gently he moved out from underneath her then he reached down and picked her up bridal style. Natasha moaned. It was a moaned that touched Steve deep inside his core. He started walking to the spare bedroom.
"I hope carrying me doesn't hurt your back, Old Man," she purred.
"You're light as a feather," he said.
Entering the spare bedroom he placed her gentle down on the bed then he got a blanket for her and covered her over. For a moment Steve looked down at the red head. She evoked the same feelings in him that Peggy evoked. He took a deep breath and exited leaving her to sleep.
Returning to the couch he continued watching the films until he finally fell asleep on the couch. The smell of freshly made coffee woke him. Steve opened his eyes to see that he had slept on the couch. Sitting up, he peered into the kitchen and saw Natasha making breakfast. It was basically toast, but she was making it, which made him smile. He got up and went into the kitchen.
"Good morning," he said.
"Morning," she replied. "Coffee is ready and I've made toast. I noticed you had some nice jams in the pantry."
"Yeah, I have a bit of sweet tooth," Steve admitted.
"Is toast enough food for you?" she asked.
He blushed then he answered, "No."
"I could make more," she said.
"Nay, I'll grab a couple of bagels or some donuts after a jog," he told her.
"I'm going to shower after breakfast," she sipped her coffee, "then I'm headed to SHIELD. You?"
"Jog, shower, then SHIELD," he said. "I have to talk to Fury about the Strike teams. Five of them are corrupted."
"And the one that isn't?" she asked.
"They are treated like second class citizens. Rumlow has influence of the Strike teams, so they get the worst of everything. I want Fury to make them my personal Strike team. I'll train them and work with them," he said.
"Rumlow will hate that," smiled Natasha.
"I know," Steve replied.
"I like how you think, Old Man," said Natasha. "I have to start weeding out agents."
"Sounds like we have work to do," said Steve.
"And we'll get missions on top of this," she pointed out.
"No one said it would be easy," nodded Steve.
AVENGERS
Steve was called to Fury's office. He arrived and was let right into the office. Much to his surprise Tony Stark was sitting in a chair talking to Fury.
"Hey, SHIELD and the Avengers have a relationship. I want to strengthen that relationship," said Stark.
Steve entered the office and Stark looked over his shoulder. He saw Steve in his stealth uniform and nodded.
"Not Captain America, but not bad," Stark smiled. "You know I have a new Captain America uniform designed for you. It will have Kevlar and adamantium wore through it as protection. I wanted to use vibranium like your shield but it's a bitch to get. I just need the okay to fabricate it."
"I'm not sure I need a Captain America uniform anymore. The public doesn't seem like it would respond to that," Steve admitted.
"I think there is a part of the public that would eat it up, especially when they find out that you are the original Captain America all thawed out," said Stark.
"I don't disagree, though I don't know when Captain Rogers will be able to work with the Avengers," said Fury.
"Why don't I make the suit and we take it from there," said Stark.
"I agree," said Fury. "Cap?"
Steve thought about it for a moment. He hadn't been Captain America in quite some time. It was almost a relief, yet Erksine made him promise to be a good man. Captain America was a duty he couldn't shirk.
"Sure, make the uniform. We'll take it step by step," said Steve.
Stark grinned as if he just won an argument then he said, "So, AIM. I'm afraid that is entered the big league. They've convinced some scientists of importance to join them. Andrew Forson and Monica Rappaccini have taken over the leadership. They are smarter than the old leadership."
"Who is AIM?" asked Steve.
"A terrorist organization and weapons dealers," said Fury.
"The will become weapons makers now and probably advanced ones," said Stark. "Remember Forson is a genius and so is Rappaccini. She's also an expert in chemical weapons."
"I guess we'll have to keep an eye on them," said Fury.
"The Avengers will be more than keeping an eye on them," said Stark. "I'm making them my enemy number one."
"That's your choice, Stark," said Fury.
Stark stood up and put one his dark glass. He smiled at Fury then he looked at Steve.
"We'll have to have you to New York soon. Maybe for our New Year's Party," he grinned. "Pepper is dying to see more of you."
"We'll see," said Steve.
Stark waved at Fury then he said, "Toodles."
He left. Fury leaned back in his chair and growled.
"The man is arrogant but he's also good at what he does," said Fury. "Our intel gathering missed AIM's change of management. That can't happen unless some agents are doing their job for someone other than me."
"Would Hydra want to partner with this AIM?" asked Steve.
"Yes," said Fury. He picked up his telephone and spoke to his secretary. "I need Hill and Romanov in my office now."
He hung up and looked at Steve then he said, "I have a mission for you and Romanov."
"Yes, sir," Steve replied.
AVENGERS
The mission for Natasha and Steve was to go to Milan, find Rappaccini's lab and destroy it. Fury wanted to let both AIM and Hydra know that SHIELD was still SHIELD. According to Fury's intel she had an estate on Lake Maggiore on south side of the Alps. It was an impressive place with plenty of mercs guarding it. Fury told them it was either a to person job or need a all the Strike teams.
Natasha and Steve sat beside each other in first class. She was enjoying a vodka on the rocks, while Steve nursed and apple juice. He had to admit that he could be a nervous passenger.
"I hope we have the time to grab a meal in Milan. Milan has the best ossobuco," she remarked. "You ever have ossobuco?"
"No," replied Steve tersely.
"Don't be nervous, Cap, we are not going to crash," she said.
"Okay, I won't be nervous," he said then offered her a phony smile.
"Listen, we check into the hotel then I'm taking you to dinner. Tomorrow we'll start planning the op," she said.
"If it makes you happy, I'll agree," said Steve.
"Good attitude," she smirked.
Two hours later they found themselves seated at Alla Cucina delle Langhe at a table for two with pristine white table cloth and being served a bottle of Malbec wine. According to the sommelier it was an earthy spicy, dry red wine with blackberry, smoke, and black cherry. Natasha sampled it and nodded her head in a approval. They had already ordered the ossobuco. Now all they had t do was enjoy themselves.
"Look happy, Cap, this is the fun part of our work," she said.
"If you say so, Nat," he said.
Nat. Natasha suddenly realized she liked when he called her Nat. It was informal, intimate. The Old Man was growing on her.
"I'll have to give you spy training. You're too much of a soldier," she stated.
"I guess being a soldier is the only thing I've been successful doing," said Steve.
"Okay, soldier," smiled Natasha.
The food arrived. The look and smell of it made Steve's stomach growled, which then caused him to blush. Natasha laughed.
AVENGERS
Phil Coulson was their handler for this mission. When they left the hotel the next morning, a BMW was waiting for them to drive into the Alps. In the trunk was their gear, including Cap's shield. As for the exfil, he'd have a stealth Quinjet waiting for them hovering over the lake. Natasha trusted Phil, as much as she trusted Barton and Fury.
"I'll drive," she said, as she got in the car.
Steve smiled and shook his head, as he got into the passenger side.
"Phil probably has the explosives we're using in the trunk. They'll be serious explosives because we'll with potential chemical weapons. We don't want an accident, we want to destroy the material completely," she told him.
"When do we change into our gear?" he asked.
"Once we are a couple of miles away from Rappaccini's estate. We'll leave the car and hike to her place. In about two hours, two agents pretending to be us will check out of our hotel with our luggage and head to the airport to go back to the states," she explained. "Phil runs a tight op."
Steve nodded. As they drove he remembered parts of the area from another time when he was hunting Hydra. Schmidt loved mountains to build his labs and house his soldiers. The Howling Commandos did a lot of mountain climbing and blowing up mountain facilities.
"Hey, Soldier, you still with me?" Natasha asked.
"Sorry, just remembering this area the last time I was here," he replied.
"The war?" she asked.
"Yeah. Schmidt had a thing for the Alps," answered Steve.
"Well, we are going to be in and out quickly," Natasha said. "If I know Phil he left energy bars and water for us in the backseat. Have some if you want."
"I'm good right now," he told her.
They traveled until the got to the Lake Maggiore area. It was getting dark and cold. Natasha pulled the car off the road and into a tree infested spot. They got out and she opened the trunk. Natasha smiled when she saw that Phil packed her widow bites, the right Glocks and plenty of ammo, and her knives. She started to undress in front of Steve. He turned his back quickly.
"No time to be shy, Cap. I got to get into my catsuit and check my weapons," she stated, as she continued out of her clothes.
Steve took a few deep breaths and started to get undress. Once he was done to his underwear, Natasha stopped what she was doing for a moment to admire the Captain's physique. Quickly, he put on his stealth suit. After putting on his combat boots and securing his shield to his back, he put his helmet on his head. Now he was ready.
"Grab the rucksack," said Natasha. "It has our explosives."
"Yes, ma'am," he smiled.
He slung the explosives over his right shoulder then he started walking with Natasha beside him.
"This is going to be a piece of cake, Cap," she said.
"I wished you hadn't of said that," he sighed.
She smirked. He wasn't Clint but so far so good.
AVENGERS
Natasha found the lab on the second floor. It was a converted ballroom and she actually had human experiments in glass cages. She knew from looking at them that they were beyond help. Several were being changed into human and animal hybrids and the rest looked sickly. Instead of allowing herself to get derail, she took the rucksack off her left shoulder, opened it, set it for five minutes, and then she took off.
Firing her Glocks as she ran Natasha headed outside. Steve was already engaging the mercs in his unique style. His shield really did defy physics. Throwing it at one merc, it hit him then hit another merc and came careening back to him. He saw out of the corner of his eye Natasha exiting the estate. He pointed her towards the docks then he took off at full speed, which meant very few could keep up with him or even catch up to him.
He beat Natasha to the docks. There were three mercs guarding a motorboat. He took them out with little effort then he started up the boat. They were taking off once Natasha got on board. He looked over his shoulder to see her running full tilt. She made it to the dock and headed right for the motorboat. Jumping on board, she barked, "Take off."
Steve took off. He headed for what he thought was the middle of the lake when the estate blew up. It was a giant explosion ripping the large manor apart. The mercs got into their own motorboat and followed them. Once they reached the middle of the lake, Steve noticed an odd shimmer just above the lake. He was going to ask Natasha if she saw the shimmer but she was too busy firing at the mercs coming for them.
Suddenly, the shimmer disappeared and it was a Quinjet. Steve didn't realize that the stealth Quinjet could do that. The ramp in the back was down and Phil Coulson was waving them to get to jet. Steve turned the boat towards the Quinjet. He knew they weren't going to be able to slow down and climb on the ramp with all the three motorboats with mercs on them firing at them, so he decided to act quickly.
Leaving his spot stirring the boat, he went back and grabbed Natasha by the waist.
"What the hell?" she growled as he picked her up with his right arm that had the shield to protect her then he ran to the front of the boat and jumped exposing his back to the mercs. He cleared the ramp easily but landed hard in the Quinjet. Letting go of Natasha she rolled away from him. Phil shut the ramp then ordered the pilot to get them out of there.
"What in the hell was that?" growled Natasha.
Steve knew he was in trouble. He had taken four bullets in the back and two appeared to hit his spine.
"Rogers, answer me," she demanded.
Phil noticed that Steve was in distress. He ran to him and knelt down.
"What is it, Cap?" he asked.
Steve was lying on his back. He looked at Phil and answered, "I can't move my legs. Bullets in my back and I can't move my legs."
Phil looked up at Natasha. She no longer looked angry, but instead she knelt down beside his head, moved him gently onto his side, then put his head in her lap. Phil checked his back.
"Four bullet holes and two are in the spine," he said. "We need to get him to a medical facility right ASAP."
Natasha ran her hands through his hair and kept saying, "It's okay. You'll be fine, Steve. You'll be fine."
"Yes, ma'am," he said with a grunt of pain.