"So," Matt said, as they entered his apartment. He rested his cane against the wall and threw his bag on the couch. Walking home, Natasha hadn't given Matt any answers. "You wanna tell me what's going on now? How do Sam and Steve know where to find Barnes? What the hell is this mission? What do you actually want me for? If you've got Barnes, why do you still need me?"

"Because right now we're a little short on allies, and you're good, Matt," Natasha said, finding Matt increasingly testing.

"That's spin, Natasha. That's damn spin."

"It might be, but it's true."

"What do you all want, Natasha?"

"God, Murdock!" Natasha yelled, "Do you really need me to spell it all out? It's all there in the files, Matt. You're supposed to be a lawyer. You're supposed to put the pieces together. It's all there. Hydra called Barnes 'The Assest'. SHIELD code-named him 'The Winter Soldier'. You've read this, Matt. He's their asset. You legal types, you'd know what an asset is, I assume?"

"Natasha,"

"You know what it is, right? The definition of the term? Sure, a person can be an asset, but that's not what they meant when talking about Barnes. To them he is an object of value that can be used, traded or sold for a profit. Or he was. You saw him, Matt. He's not an asset any more. He's a liability. Hydra don't want him back, they want him out."

"Hydra? They're out there now?"

"Yes," Natasha said, "And they need to take Barnes out, but he's good. They made him good. They made him better than they are. All of Hydra couldn't find one scared, injured guy. But now they have, and they've finally caught up with him. That's why he'd have been bleeding, Matt. Because they found him."

Matt felt his stomach drop. "They're out there now. Right now, in Hell's Kitchen," he said. Karen and Foggy were out there. Claire. People he cared about. His city. He was right. Someone had attacked Barnes and that 'someone' was just about as dangerous as a threat could be.

"Yes," Natasha said. "Which is why we have to wait. Because you have 'I'm going to go and do something reckless and stupid' written all over you, Murdock. We have to bring Barnes in safely. First we gotta give them time to save him."

"You care about him, Natasha," Matt said, "You actually care about saving Barnes himself. You say it's about Steve, but it's not. I can hear it in your voice. You care about Barnes."

"I care about the job at hand," Natasha said, ignoring Matt's comments.

"What aren't you telling me?" Matt asked.

"It doesn't matter."

"I think it does," Matt said. At least she had inadvertently admitted there was something.

"No, Matt," Natasha said, "It really doesn't. It doesn't affect the case."

"It does, because if someone gets hurt because of whatever it is you're keeping form me, well, hell, Natasha,"

"Matt, please just let it go."

"No," Matt insisted, "What's not there? It's something you've taken from the files, isn't it? You're censoring them,"

"You did it for Foggy,"

"To protect him," Matt said.

"My motives exactly. And it's not important, which was why I had it destroyed."

"You had a file destroyed?"

"Part of it, yes. Because there are some things, Murdock, that will never help a case. Parts of history that are just so horrible that the best thing to do is pretend it never happened."

"What happened, Natasha?"

"I gave Fury the recommendation to have that part of the file destroyed. He agreed, and acted upon it."

"You know what I mean."

"Matt, let it go."

"Is it about Barnes?"

"Matt, it,"

"What did they do to him?" Matt wasn't actually sure he wanted to know. He'd read Barnes's file twice, and it wasn't pretty that way it was. Matt shuddered at the thought that there could be anything worse.

"See," Natasha said, "They're still twisting us, turning us against one another,"

"Natasha, please,"

"I wish I'd never read it, Matt! I wish I didn't know."

"Well right now, I'm thinking some pretty horrible stuff,"

"You wouldn't understand,"

"No, I wouldn't, because I'm not some crazy Nazi-era sicko." Matt took a deep breath. "Please Natasha. What happened? What did they do to him?"

She shook her head slowly. "Once they get him back to the Avengers facility, they'll have him scanned. It might take a few days or weeks even, but they'll see the scarred muscle tissue, and the lines where his bones healed…"

"What did they do?"

Natasha looked at Matt and swallowed. If she was going to tell him, she'd stare him down, whether he could see her or not. "Four times in the first 22 years, Bucky won. He escaped the drugs and the wiping and the brainwashing and cyrofreeze, and everything that did to his senses. Everything they'd done to him. Four times, he remembered. And four times he ran." Natasha reached up and removed Matt's glasses. She wanted to see his eyes. His mid-distance stare was better than her reflection in the lenses.

"And?" Matt said, prompting Natasha to continue. She placed his glasses on the table.

"Every time they caught him. He was good, but a lone man in Eastern Europe with the entirety of Hydra searching for you - the fourth time he was less than 10 miles from central Vienna, just north of the river. If he'd made it there, he could have gone to the American Embassy, where I believe he was headed. Sure, it was Soviet territory, but he would have been safe. There was a SHIELD Agent stationed in Embassy in Vienna, and," Natasha swallowed.

"But he never quite made it."

Natasha shook her head. "They found him. It's so hard to get away, and he'd made it so far…"

Matt could hear her choking up, but he wasn't sure what to do. "So they caught him, and…?"

"They'd throw him in the truck, and drive him back to wherever their dark hell holes were. One of their resident sickos would come in, and they'd beat him, and break his legs, and leave him in a cell. Then rinse and repeat for a few weeks, if you get my drift."

Matt nodded.

"They knew what they were doing. They never damaged his knees or ankles, too hard to fix. Eventually they'd decide it was time to patch him up, wipe him, and stick him back in cryrofreeze."

Matt felt sick in the stomach. "And if they catch him again,"

"No," Natasha said, "Like I said before, he's not an asset anymore. He's a liability. They'll kill him, Matt."

"But he got away. This afternoon. They had him, but he got away."

"We could not have got a luckier break, with him running past your office."

"Why did you remove this from the files?"

"And let Steve see it? It's hard enough as it is to try and keep him vaguely rational about this case," Natasha said, "Let's just get the call they've got him first, ok?"

Matt nodded. His stomach felt tight. "Is this why you don't care he shot you?"

"I got shot, Matt. Of course I care that he shot me, I just," Natasha shrugged. "I was shot by a ghost. Not many people can claim that."

"By the Winter Soldier. Not Barnes."

"Exactly," Natasha said.

Matt noticed that the room felt lighter. He and Natasha finally seemed to be on a similar page regarding the case. "So now what?" he asked. "What's this big plan?"

Natasha took her bag off her shoulder and opened it, taking out a number of papers. She unfolded a large sheet. "I don't know if you can read this, we didn't have time to add the braille, but we know whereabouts of certain Hydra hide-outs around New York. But it's a catch 22 - we take them all out, they know that we know a lot more than we're letting on, and they push us harder where they know they can hit us. But if we leave them, well," she sighed, "Then there was always a chance they'd catch up with Barnes. Which is where you came in. When you found him, and spoke to him, no less, we knew it wouldn't be long."

Matt ran his fingers across the map. He was beginning to understand what Natasha was implying. "Ink-jet printing. It's not as easy as braille, but I can read it."

"There's a Hydra cell on the edge of Hell's Kitchen, near the Hudson Yards," Natasha said, taking Matt's hand and placing it on the correct part of the map, "There's an abandoned packing shed. We believe they'll still be there. Having engaged with Barnes, likely in full daylight, they'll need to lay low until dark. However," Natasha tapped her fingers on the table, "They might get some visitors first."

"We're going after them," Matt said.

"You wanna punch some bad guys, Murdock?"

"Huh," Matt said. He did. He wanted to punch these guys more than anything. "But still, why me?"

"We're a bit light on numbers," Natasha said, "Light on fighters, anyway. And we're fighting with one hand tied, no thanks to Stark and this damned accord. Steve and Sam were always going to bring Barnes in together. If I was there too," she shrugged, "Well, we don't want to crowd the poor guy. But we have to clean up the Hydra cell operating closest to where we found Barnes. It's something I could do alone, but it's better to have back-up."

"And why not use your magic pink friend? Or the weird girl? Or that airforce guy?"

"I need someone who knows the terrain," Natasha said, "Someone I trust. Someone who can fight, and hold there own. Who won't need me to hold their hand, and who won't try to take control. Ain't many guys who tick all the boxes."

"I usually work alone."

"I know," Natasha said, "I used to do that too. I thought there was no way I could team up. Co-ordinate with others. Too many added variables. Too many extra liabilities. But eventually you realise, it's easier."

Matt traced his fingers over the map. "But we have to wait for Steve to call."

"We need to have Barnes safe, and clear of the area before we engage."

"How long will that take?"

Natasha looked at her watch. "I don't know. Possibly a couple of hours."

Matt nodded. "So what do we do in the mean time?"

...

Natasha's phone rang. She reached across Matt and grabbed it off the bedside table. "Steve? I'm here with Matt. I'm putting you on speaker," she said, as calm and smooth as ever.

Matt felt a little uncomfortable, sitting propped up naked in bed, with Steve Rogers on loud-speaker. He pulled the blankets up over his chest, as though Steve could somehow see him, or sense what he and Natasha had been up to while he'd been rescuing Barnes.

"Hi, Nat," Steve said. His voice sounded tight. Matt could hear the car engine. "We're almost back at the facility. We - we've got Barnes. Sam knows a guy who can… We're umm," Steve was distressed, but he was holding it together. Out of necessity, Matt thought. Besides, Rogers seemed like a tough nut to crack, but everyone had their tipping point, and Matt had long since realised that for Rogers, it was Barnes.

"Are we good to go?" Natasha asked, her voice even.

"Yeah," Steve said, "You're good to go."

"Ok," Natasha said, and hung up. She turned to Matt. "You got a suit?"

Matt knew she didn't mean the suit he'd been wearing earlier at the office. "Yes."

"Good," she said, and pushed back the sheets. "Then suit up."