Chapter 44

She called Tony from her hotel to tell him that someone already took the list. She voiced her suspicion that it had to be Ward and that she would go after him. She considered to tell him about Steve and Bucky but decided eventually against it. It was better if no one knew about them. She promised Tony to be careful and to come back to the States if she didn't find Ward soon. Apparently the Council wanted to have a meeting with all of the Avengers. Tony promised to buy her more time. She almost felt sorry for Ross and Malick, Tony's tatics for distraction were sometimes a bit much. She thanked him and ended the call. She needed to find Ward soon. He was hopefully the key to all of this. She didn't think he was behind the attack on the White House but she was sure that he knew who ordered it.

She was a bit scared that Steve and Bucky wouldn't be at the location they gave her yesterday but they were both standing on the field of an abandoned property when she landed her quinjet next to the one Steve stole.

Steve looked like he didn't know how to greet her when she walked down the ramp and she didn't know it either. Did she want him back? Yes. But was she ready to forgive him? Not really. Bucky gave her a warm smile and walked her into their quinjet. She almost laughed at the fact that the Winter Solider turned out to be a calming presence in her life. She was so glad she was not alone with Steve right now. She didn't trust herself to be alone with him. Who knew what she would do, maybe something stupid like having sex with him again.

FRIDAY was going through every traffic and surveillance cam around the world and would alert her if Ward showed up. Steve kept glancing at her while Bucky informed her about what they had been doing in the last days. They had been in Argentina and then came to Romania to track down leads. HYDRA was really good at covering their tracks. They agreed that someone who had influence in Washington had to be behind the attack. Maybe someone who wanted a higher position. Elections were next year and people wanted a strong leader and President Ellis still didn't bring the Winter Soldier in. That could backfire next year at the voting polls.

Bucky suddenly got up and announced that he would get food for them. She was pretty sure she looked as panicked as Steve did when Bucky walked down the quinjet ramp. They both stared after him until he disappeared out of their sight. Should she go back to her quinjet and wait until Bucky was back? No, she wasn't a coward and she knew she had to work with Steve to bring down HYDRA and that weird thing between them could jeopardize the whole operation.

"If we don't find Ward and don't get to the truth, Steve. What's your plan?"

"I can't let them kill Bucky."

She gave him a sad smile."I know. I don't want that either."

"He'll have to be on the run for the rest of his life..."

"And you want to be by his side." She finished for him.

He seemed defeated. "I have to. I owe it to him."

"I know a thing or two about debts." She sighed. "What does that mean for us?"

"I want to be with you, I need you to know that. But I don't want you to throw everything away to be on the run with us. I can't ask you to do that."

Could she do that? Leave everything behind for him? Never see Clint and his family again to keep them safe? Change her name and appearance and move to Australia? She would have done all those things for him. She loved him, she loved him more than anything. But what if she came with them and one morning Steve was gone again? She realized in that moment that she lost some of the unconditional trust she had in him.

"I don't know what to do." She said honestly and hoped that they would find Ward soon and get their answers from him.

"Do you want to figure it out?" He asked softly. "Together?"

"I can't just pretend the last days didn't happen, Steve. I asked you to never leave me and you did."

"And I will regret that for the rest of my life."

She wanted to be with him again but it would take time. Time to heal her broken heart and for him to regain her trust. "We track down Ward and then we'll see where it takes us."

"Whatever you want."

Bucky thankfully returned shortly after with lunch and they ate it in silence. Her phone started ringing and she saw that Matt was calling her. She had been dodging his calls since the attack because she didn't know what to tell him and HYDRA obviously knew that Matt was Bucky's lawyer because someone posed as his assistant to lure Bucky out of the Tower. She had the theory that whoever got him out of the tower was unsuccessful in triggering the Winter Soldier and must have drugged Bucky. It was the only was she could explain Bucky's memory loss.

"Don't you wanna get that?" Bucky asked.

She shook her head and pressed ignore on her phone. Matt was probably pissed at her but what was she supposed to do. She didn't think he wanted to deal with Nazis besides his weird ninja stuff. She scrolled through her phone until she got to the files of Ward. She found a picture of him and held her phone up to show it to Bucky.

"I know your memory is not the best but have you ever seen this man?"

Bucky looked at the picture for a few moments. "No, I'm sorry. That Ward?"

"Yup." She nodded and checked if one of her contacts sent her something on the bastard but nothing. Damn, where was he? Where would she go if she was in his shoes? Did Ward really lead HYDRA or did he just want money? She read Coulson's files on him, apparently he never considered himself to be a real HYDRA member and tried to get sympathy from his old team members. If you were running around with Nazis and killed for them that made you a Nazi in her book. She read what he did to Agents Hand and Koenig, what he did to Fitzsimmons. She couldn't wait to put a bullet in his brain. Fitz was a nice and brilliant man, he didn't deserve what Ward did to him. None of them did.

"Natasha?"

She was so deep in thought that she didn't notice that they were talking to her. "Yeah?"

"Your phone is beeping again."

She looked at her phone that was still in her hands and saw that FRIDAY sent her grainy pictures of a man and according to facial recognition there was a 77% chance that it was Grant Ward. The photo from the traffic cam was two hours old and taken on Crete. What the fuck was he doing there? HYDRA was a Greek word. Did they have a resort there?!

"I hope you boys packed sun screen." She stood up.

Bucky and Steve gave her puzzled looks.

"Looks like we're going to Crete. There is a 77% chance that Ward is there doing god knows what."

Steve and Bucky followed her in their quinjet to Crete. The island wasn't that far away from Bucharest and they reached their destination after two hours. Natasha wondered what the hell Ward was doing here. Her gut told her that the man on the photo was Ward and the chances that he was still in Crete were pretty high. But why was he here? Did HYDRA hide something here?

Bucky stayed at the quinjet because a guy with a metal arm was pretty obvious. Steve on the other hand grew a beard over the last days and was with a baseball cap on his head pretty incognito. She wore one of her summer dresses and walked with him to the place where Ward was last spotted. FRIDAY was going through every security cam and server on the island to find him.

Thankfully FRIDAY alerted her that Ward showed up on the background of some instagram post. Thank fuck for teenagers taking pictures all the time. The photo was uploaded five minutes ago and she raced them in their rental car to the area the photo was taken. They look around the small village but didn't see him. The village was surrounded by hills and on one hill was a mansion. Steve was looking at it too.

"You think he's there?" He asked her and she nodded.

"Yeah. It's the perfect place to overlook the area. We can't drive up there, we have to walk." Which also meant that Steve couldn't take his shield with him or they would be immediately made. He didn't seem to be very happy with the fact that he had to leave it in the car and had to take one of her guns. They climbed their way up the hill through bushes who scratched on her naked legs, she should've really worn pants. Steve was behind her and when she looked over her shoulder she caught him looking under her skirt.

"Really, Rogers?!" She couldn't help but laugh.

He blushed and looked away from her legs. "Sorry."

She had to snort."Well, it's not like you haven't seen it before."

He chuckled and the way he looked at her made her heart race. Despite what he'd done to her she was still head over heels in love with him. A bit dizzy on her feelings for him she missed her step and stepped on a lose rock. She lost her balance but Steve caught her in his arms and helped her stand.

"You okay? Are you hurt?"

She shook her head and fought against her desire to kiss him. Nope, she wasn't ready for that yet. She thanked him and got back to climbing up the hill. A few minutes later they reached the top and hid in the shadows of the big trees. Two cars were parked but she didn't see anyone. Everyone must be inside. She made FRIDAY hack a satellite and infrared cameras showed three individuals. Should be a piece of cake for her and Steve to take them down.

They snuck to the backside of the villa and Steve used his enhanced hearing to check the area. "It's clear."

They went inside and swiped the floor. A big man with a HYDRA tattoo on his arm was with his back to them and before he could react Steve had him already in a chokehold. She walked further into the house and shot another man before he could pull his gun. She hoped that Ward didn't hear it. She creeped up the stairs careful to not make any noises. There was only one person left and it had to be Ward. The other two had been probably his lackeys.

She stopped in front of an opened double door and a man was standing with his back a few feet in front of her. The hair colour and body shape fitted Ward. He was on the phone and when she heard his voice she knew she was right. It was Ward.

"I keep telling you, Coulson. You will never find me. I'm always two steps ahead of you." He paused to listen to Coulson. Was Ward really so full of himself and called Coulson? "Please as if Romanoff could find me!" He laughed. What an arrogant ass! "Too bad she didn't turn out to be HYDRA. I don't know what she sees in Captain America. He seems so boring!"

He knew about her and Steve?! How? They weren't keeping their relationship a secret per se anymore but they also hadn't been flaunting it. Did all of HYDRA know about them?

"Was good to talk to you, Phil." He laughed again. "I'll send you a postcard."

He was still occupied with his phone and she used the chance to attack him. He tried to grab his gun from the back of his pants but she got it before him and threw it out the window. She hit him hard on the head and stung him with a widow bite. He went groaning to the floor.

"What the fuck!" He screamed at her and she could only smirk.

She aimed her gun at him. "Don't move if you don't want a hole in your head."

Steve must have heard the fight because he came running up the stairs. Ward looked annoyed that Captain America was here.

"Where's the list?"

"You're too late. It's destroyed."

"What do you mean?" Steve asked. Was Ward telling the truth?

"I burned it in exhange for a lot of money." He explained and moved.

"Don't!" She put her finger on the trigger of her gun. "Don't test me, Ward!"

He rolled his eyes. "The video of me burning the list is on my phone. The buyer wanted prove."

Steve grabbed his phone and checked. "Looks like you're burning it but something tells me you're smart enough to make a copy."

Ward grinned. "Maybe, maybe not. Who knows."

She shot Ward in the leg. "Answer him." Now it was her turn to grin.

"You think that makes me talk, Romanoff? Everyone here can withstand torture." He whined in pain.

She shrugged her shoulders and shot him in the kneecap. "Maybe, maybe not. But it sure makes fun to shoot you." She turned to Steve. "I need you to hold him while I shoot him in the lower back to paralyze him. It's tough to find the right spot. I might need a few tries."

Just like she knew he would, Steve went along and walked over to Ward who looked terrified. "Okay, okay! The list is in my bedroom in my dopp kit."

"Go check." She told Steve while she didn't let Ward out of her sight. He was gritting his teeth in pain. Oh, how she enjoyed this picture.

Steve came back with a piece of paper."Looks legit. There are cells on it we took down in the last months."

Finally, they had something! "Do you know who is behind the attack on the President?"

Ward changed his sitting position and groaned in pain. "You think I give up my last bargaining chip? You'll kill me if I tell you!"

"I'll kill you either way, Ward. It's up to you if you go quick or if I slowly kill you in ways you can't even imagine." She smirked at him. "The Red Room was quite creative in that area."

He looked like he was weighing his options and the look on his face told her that he knew that he wasn't going to leave Crete alive. "I only came in contact with him recently. Tried to overpower him and take his position in HYDRA but he offered me a nice amount of money if I got that list for him. He knew that the Avengers would eventually go after it."

"Who is it?" Steve barked.

Ward grinned. "Someone who was at that gala but miraculously left ten minutes before the attack. Someone who has been supporting your case despite backlash from the other members of his offical job."

Oh God. He was talking about Gideon Malick! He told her how lucky he was that he and his daughter left before the explosion. "It's Malick!"

"The Councilman?" Steve asked surprised.

Of course it was Malick! No one would suspect him. Who thought that the man who defended the President and the Avengers was behind the attack? The man who appeared on CNN two days ago and said that the Winter Soldier was a victim of HYDRA? God, he had played her the whole time and she didn't notice it.

"What's his plan?"

Ward looked at Steve and sighed in annoyance. "Probably wants the Winter Soldier back and to make sure the Avengers are done for good."

She had to give it to Malick, he was smart. The attack and blaming the Winter Soldier for it almost destroyed the Avengers. It still could if they couldn't prove that it wasn't Bucky and that he had been set up. They needed bulletproof evidence that Malick was behind it. He was too powerful and admired in DC to just accuse him of being HYDRA. He did manange to hide his involvement when SHIELD fell.

"Anything else you like to say?" She asked Ward who just shook his head. She nodded and pulled the trigger. Ward fell backwards to the floor. He would never hurt someone again.

She and Steve walked down the hill in silence both lost in their thoughts. The best way to play this was if she would go back to New York and pretend like nothing happened. She had to make Malick think she didn't know that he was HYDRA. She would tell Coulson about Ward's death when she was on her way back to the States so SHIELD could deal with the body. Steve and Bucky couldn't come with her. If Bucky got arrested, she was sure that Malick didn't want Bucky to die, Malick would get his hands on him and that couldn't happen. She drove them to the field where the quinjets were hidden.

Bucky was coming towards them. "How did it go?"

"We got the list." Steve pulled it out of his jeans.

"And we know who ordered the attack." She added and Bucky looked at her with interest. "Malick."

"The man from the World Council?"

She nodded and Bucky whistled. "Wow, HYDRA is really everywhere. And now?"

She had been thinking about that. "You and Steve stay away from the US and can take down HYDRA cells in Europe. I go back and act like nothing happened to find out what Malick's next steps are. We need a lot more than what we have right now to get him and to prove you're not behind the attack, Bucky."

Bucky nodded but Steve looked sad. "Natasha..." He began but then stopped like he didn't know what to say.

Bucky hugged her tightly and kissed the top of her head. "Thank you for everything. And be careful!"

She smiled at him. "You too, Bucky."

He left her alone with Steve and walked up the ramp of the quinjet.

"I guess this time I get a goodbye?" She only halfjoked.

"I am so sorry for that. I will do whatever it takes to come back to you, Nat." He paused. "If you want me to."

"Yes, I do."

He smiled. "I will make it up to you, I promise. I love you, Natasha."

She couldn't say it back but she cupped his face and poured everything she felt for him into her kiss. He kissed her back with desperation and she believed him that he regretted what he did to her.

"How do we stay in contact?" He kissed her again. "Can we even stay in contact?"

"Wait! I have something!" She pulled her bag out of the car and shoved a flip phone in his hands. "My number is on it. Call me."

"I will." He kissed her again and she watched the quinjet take off before she got into her own. She informed Coulson about Ward's death but didn't mention the list. She called Tony and told him that she would come home after finding nothing. She would tell Tony in person what had happen in the last days.

She didn't know exactly where she stood with Steve right now but she thought that the worst was over now. She knew where he was, he apologized and promised to never do it again. She could heal now while putting a stop to HYDRA's game. They were finally one step ahead of Malick.