And we're back for part 2! I have it mostly planned out, but I don't know exactly how long this part will be. It will be around the same length as part 1, though, so 20 something chapters.

Also, this takes place during Iron Man 3. If you haven't seen the movie, it might be confusing because I won't include every single scene. I don't like it when people literally rewrite the whole movie and I refuse to do that unless necessary. But, if there is a part confusing to you, PM me and I can explain. If you have seen the movie, there will be obvious changes. It will be sort of AU. So, buckle up because it'll be a wild ride.

The flame licked the end of the cigarette until it began to burn a dim ember. She raised it to her lips and released a puff of smoke. It surrounded her head like a cloud, mixing with her breath. Her throat itched with the faintest cough that she quickly suppressed.

Saniya tapped her foot against the brick wall, sizing up the building across the street. There were cameras strategically positioned by the doorways, along with floodlights. All the windows on the first floor were pitch black, but the second was lit up like a Christmas tree. Every three minutes, a shadow passed the window. It was rhythmic and utterly predictable.

Looked like Agent Musa was going easy on her this week.

Her head rested back on the bricks. Inside the store she was loitering in front of, a customer was arguing with the cashier about the hike in price of cigarettes. Funny, the cashier hadn't charged her as much for her pack. Maybe it had something to do with her low-cut top.

"Any time now," Agent Musa droned in her ear. Saniya looked down the street at the totally-not-suspicious black van.

She blew another puff of smoke. "I'm staking out the building. Gathering intel."

"No, you're not. You're forming a dangerous habit. I didn't arrange this so you would smoke all night."

Saniya snuffed the cigarette out with the toe of her boot, then kicked some snow on it, just in case. She shrugged, despite knowing that Agent Musa couldn't see her. "Fine. I'm going. But, it was you who said I needed to take my time in the first place."

As she crossed the street (after almost dying because of a sneaky patch of ice), she zipped her leather jacket up to the base of her throat. She then stuffed her hair into her black beanie. Completing her sketchy outfit, she slipped a pair of leather gloves over her fingers. Though she looked like the typical burglar, she felt like a real spy. It was less exciting than wearing her SHIELD uniform, but it still made her feel like James Bond.

She stood further down the sidewalk to examine her options. The front door was a no-go. It had been locked about several hours ago. Even if she was a master locksmith, the camera would be hard to avoid. If she wanted to, she could climb to the roof and enter through the vents, but Clint had warned her about making things more difficult than they needed to be. She didn't have to make her criminal activity that fancy, so she was opting for the fire escape.

She made a wide circle around the building to avoid being seen by the cameras. The alley was dirty and she could have sworn someone was sleeping near the dumpster, but it was camera free.

"Is Agent Romanoff planning on showing up tonight?"

"I... uh... not tonight," she answered lamely. "She can't make it." Saniya reached for the lowest rung of the fire escape. With her newly acquired upper-body strength, she pulled herself up the ladder, cringing at how cold the metal was.

Agent Musa's sigh was full of disappointment. "She needs to show up to at least one of these otherwise I'm revoking her status as your SO and trainer."

Saniya crouched under the second story window. "Don't do that," she whined as quietly as possible. "You know how much she wanted to come. She always looks forward to these nights."

"Don't lie to me, Ramakrishna."

She suppressed a wince. Natasha only showed up when she needed to teach Saniya something new. When it came to the actual training part, she preferred Saniya to have what she called "independent studies". Though she was amazing at her job, Natasha wasn't a particularly attentive teacher. Saniya learned that the hard way when Natasha taught her how to properly punch and was out of the tower not even five minutes after. No, Nat wasn't one to stick around long.

So, it wasn't much of a surprise that she was MIA. In fact, Saniya was almost certain she and Clint were having a romantic getaway in Mexico. Or maybe they were there killing bad guys. Either way, they were probably making out.

Saniya peeked over the windowsill. Not a single person was seen from the limited view she had. She tried to lift open the window, just in case someone was stupid enough to leave it unlocked. It refused to budge.

Along the wood was a small black strip flashing a soft red. She reached into her jacket pocket, fingers brushing across coins and, finally, a handy black clip. Saniya stuck it to the window and crossed her fingers that the technology was old enough for this to work. SHIELD didn't consider her important enough to give her the fancy equipment that Natasha liked to flaunt. Basically, she had the spy equivalent to a flip phone. But, the old tech was on her side that night. Several seconds later, it was a dull green. She gave herself a high five. Security system bypassed. Now she was free to break the window however she wanted.

To be honest, Saniya was not prepared for this. If she had been, she would have brought a crowbar or maybe even a brick, but there were more than two ways to open a window. She clicked her heels together. The sweet sound of two blades swishing out from her boots gave her chills. She jammed the blade underneath the window as an improvised crowbar. With all her strength, she pulled upwards.

"Come on you stupid window," she hissed.

The window cracked open. Part of the frame was splintered, but it was open. Saniya ducked through her entry point, grabbed her clip, and tugged the window down before the light turned red.

She pressed her finger to her ear. "I'm in," she reported in the most stereotypical spy voice she could. Agent Musa didn't find it as amusing. "Where do I go now?"

"Maybe you should have spent the time you used for getting cancer to study the schematics."

Saniya didn't argue. She was sort of purposefully wasting time smoking.

"The information is in a windowless room. You're going in blind."

Windowless. That usually meant in an interior room. Her eyes wandered to the vent above her head. She was small enough to fit and there would be no risk of being spotted by anybody. On the other hand, it would be painstakingly slow. She hadn't mastered the art of crawling through vents like Clint had.

A man turned the corner. His mouth opened as if to shout, but everything paused. Saniya's twisted her hand like she was breaking into a safe. With each turn, time reversed.

Her chest began to burn, but she gritted her teeth. It was easier to push through that now.

One more turn.

Saniya relaxed her hand. All the coiled stress in her chest loosened. There was the dull throb as if it was a muscle she hadn't used in a long time, but she didn't have a pounding headache like the first few times she tried this. She had truly grown over the months.

"How did you do that?" Agent Musa gasped. It was the closest thing to surprise Saniya had ever heard from the woman.

She made down the hallway, peering into the occasional unlocked door. "Do what?"

"You... Don't be coy with me. You were literally right outside the window a moment ago."

Saniya smothered a smirk. The wood was still intact on the window. It was like she had never broken it in the first place. As much as she wanted to tell Musa that she bent time and space to her convenience, it was better to keep silent about her abilities. The small leverage she had over SHIELD was that they didn't fully know what she was capable of. That was something she would give up anytime soon. Besides, she didn't understand much about it either. Loki seemed to be more of a master of her abilities than she was.

She froze when she saw the camera at the end of the hallway. There was a long moment where she just stared at it until she noticed that nothing was happening. Nobody was rushing down the hallways. No alarms. Nada.

"Uh, are the cameras working?" Saniya whispered.

"The cameras are working fine. This is why I hate those warehouse agents. They constantly slack off if I'm not right on them."

"They're nice," Saniya defended. "And they're trying their best. If you want to blame anyone, blame Agent Klemmer for training them."

"I'm not going to be the person who blames a paraplegic."

While she didn't like the way she had put it, Agent Musa had a point. Even Saniya, not even six months into training and a huge skeptic of SHIELD, put more effort into her work than they did. But, ever since Klemmer lost feeling from the waist down because of a strategically placed knife, the warehouse headquarters had become a joke. Morale was low and work quality was even lower.

Saniya bit her tongue. Some things were not worth arguing about.

It wasn't hard to find the room Agent Musa was talking about. There were only so many places in the building with windowless rooms. Not to mention, there seemed to be only three guards roaming the halls. Whenever she came across one, she'd turn back time and continue on her way. Though it felt like she had a bad case of heartburn, everything was going smoothly.

There were maps lying around, only room numbers. But, luck had been on her side when she opened the right door. There was a large computer that looked like it had come right out of the 90's. A man wearing a too-tight tie watched the screens focused on the outside doors. To his left was footage from the cameras inside the building, completely ignored.

Saniya clicked her heels together. "It's go time," she growled.

"Take this seriously," Agent Musa snapped.

Her lips tightened as she fought back a smile. She spun the chair around. Milhouse's hands flew into the air. He flinched when her boot landed between his legs, the blade digging into his khakis. Saniya held out a flashdrive. "Put everything on that computer on the flashdrive or this blade is going right up where the sun doesn't shine."

"Romanoff has too strong of an influence on you," Agent Musa said.

Saniya smirked. "She's the one who told me to do this," she replied. Her attention returned to Milhouse. "Come on, nerd."

He plucked the flashdrive out of her hand and plugged it into the USB port. The file manager popped up. The knife pressed harder into his inner thigh. He inched as far back in his chair as he could. "That's right. Control A, click and drag." Slowly but surely, the information downloaded. She reached over to pluck the flashdrive out of the USB port.

"Whoa, what do you think you're doing?" he exclaimed.

She raised an eyebrow.

He waved her hands away. "You have to safely eject the flashdrive."

"It's fine. I'll just take it out and—"

"Safely," he insisted. "It'll take just a second."

Her boot lifted to poke at his stomach. "Just give it to me!"

"Not until it's safely," he stuck his tongue out and clicked the mouse quickly, "ejected. See? There you go. You can take it out now. I don't get why people don't take the time to properly eject flashdrives and just yank them out. It takes two seconds."

Saniya glared as she reached over to grab the USB. It was tucked into her bra for safe keeping. She reached behind her back, gripping the familiar weapon. "Leave no witnesses," she said in a low voice. Saniya pressed the gun to Milhouse's forehead. After a dramatic groan, he fell limp in his chair.

"Agent Romanoff and I will have a long talk later tonight."

"What? I couldn't let him go free!"

Milhouse opened his eyes and nodded. "Yeah, I totally agree with Ramakrishna. Leave no witnesses."

Saniya nudged him with her boot. "The dead can't speak. Shut it, Milhouse." His eyes fell shut after he rolled them.

"Your ethics are being put into question."

Her gun was tucked back in her jeans. "What should I have done? Tie him up with some computer cords?"

Milhouse perked back up even though he was supposed to be playing dead. "I used to be a boy scout. I could show you some knots."

She pushed his head back down. "Like I said, the dead can't speak."

"Just... go. Next week we'll practice non-lethal methods of restraining people."

"Bye, Milhouse," she whispered before slipping out the door. The "dead man" waved in reply.

The escape was easy. The man who was supposed to be watching the cameras was "dead" (not like he was watching the screens in the first place). In fact, the whole things was repetitive. She tried harder to avoid the guards, but she kept accidentally running into all of them a second time. That was easily fixed with a small twist of the hand. Of course, every time she did do that, Agent Musa would make a sly comment about her abilities. So, with the third guard, she returned to reversing everything, like she used to always do. It was a nice change to flow with time instead of being rooted in place while everything shifted around her. Agent Musa didn't notice anything different that time.

She placed the clip on the window. And when the light turned green, she unlocked it manually and slipped into the night.

Agent Musa was getting out of the van before she had a chance to knock on the door. Her white hijab stood out like a veil of light against the dark background. "I was hoping they would put up more of a challenge. And the flashdrive?"

Saniya slipped it in her palm. "What's on it anyways?"

"The recipes from the potluck a few weeks ago. I've been dying to get my hands on Hill's casserole." She couldn't tell if Agent Musa was serious of not. The woman had a knack for saying everything straightfaced and monotone. "Have a good night, agent. We'll keep in touch."

Greg was watching her like he was falling in love all over again. At the beginning, she welcomed the attention. It was nice to be looked at like she was amazing, especially after feeling so alone for so long. Apparently, several years of being separated hadn't curbed his affections for her. It was like he had never gone to prison or ended their relationship. If she wanted to, she could have him wrapped around her finger.

But then the guilt came when she remembered how she had treated him when they had been together. She hadn't been the perfect girlfriend and she wasn't proud of how she had acted. Not to mention, she wasn't interested in being with him. There was a reason she never visited him in prison, after all. Where he felt love, she felt sick.

"Greg. No."

He raised his hands. "Sorry. You're just so beautiful today. Can't blame a man for being stunned by a goddess."

Saniya pursed her lips. For a moment, she entertained the thought of returning his compliments. He was attractive. His floppy hair had been cut short and he shaved more often, giving him an almost refined appearance. Time had changed both of them, Greg most definitely for the better. But if she tried to feel more than a platonic fondness, she couldn't do it. Not even the smallest flicker of lust.

So, Greg wasn't an option, even if he considered her one.

She ducked her head under the hood of the car, checking that everything was in the right places and trying to escape his gaze. Two warm hands linked around her hips. Saniya paused her work. He apparently never gave up. Greg stiffened when she turned around with a glare.

"Stop or I'm suing you for sexual harassment."

His hands dropped to his sides, but he didn't back away. "Marry me," he said quietly. "Prison set me straight. I'm an honest man now. I can take care of you."

"Just yesterday you tricked an old woman into paying an insane amount of money for a simple repair," Saniya replied. "So scratch honest off that list."

Greg placed his hands on either side of her, careful not to touch her. "You always said you liked me bad." As he leaned his face closer, she turned her head. He sighed and took several steps back. "I'm serious. Marry me."

Saniya's face scrunched with a dull pain. "We talked about this. It's been too long. Things have changed."

"You've met new people," he added. Greg ran his fingers through his hair, his other hand clenched in a fist. "I'm sorry. I love you. That has never changed. Not for me. When I picture spending the rest of my life with someone, all I see is you."

She kicked her foot at the concrete floor. "I care about you too, just not in the way you want me to." Saniya watched his face morph from sadness to resignation. "You're going to find someone else and they're going to love you just as much as you love them."

"I kept you waiting too long, didn't I?"

She didn't bother mentioning that, even before he was sent to prison, she wasn't his.

He sighed and leaned against the workbench. His smile was sad. "Time's a bitch." She silently agreed. "All the other boys are still rotting in the big house. You're the only one that didn't get caught. I'm glad. It's hell in there."

"But, like you said, prison set you straight." Saniya gestured around them. "All that time got you here today: making a legal living. Guess it's good for something."

She glanced at the building. It was damp and moldy. The black smudges were ominous enough that she had a feeling they were slowly poisoning themselves. The siding in the front of the building was chipping away, not to mention the ant infestation in the office. The sign outside was the only redeemable part of the building. But, it was bought legally and used for legal purposes. Honestly, she was proud of him.

He hummed in agreement. "I think I bought this dump with the money I made off of stripping cars." His gaze dipped south of her neckline then back to her face. "Thank you. I know I'm paying you dirt, but I appreciate you being around."

"I won't stick around if you keep promising that you'll make me marry you." She jabbed her finger at his chest. "Got it?"

The tips of his mouth slowly grew upwards. "Fine. I promise I won't propose to you ever again."

"Good." She ran her hand down the hood of the car. "Maybe later we can head to the bar and I'll be your wing-woman. We'll find you someone great."

His face shifted like he had swallowed a lemon. "Sure, Saniya. Whatever you think is best," he forced out.

Greg retreated to the office like he always did when she told him they were never getting back together. That usually left her doing all the hard labor.

She used "hard labor" loosely. Greg didn't care if she took as many breaks as she wanted. Or if she snapped at customers. Maybe he would act differently if they didn't have history, but he was a very lax boss. Besides, she didn't need the job. It was optional. SHIELD more than paid the bills. Working for Greg was more of a favor for an old friend.

It was a welcome distraction.

All her tools slammed onto the workbench. It was too quiet in here. She flipped on the radio. Greg constantly mocked her for listening to talk shows instead of actual music. What he didn't understand was that the current media fascination was the only thing she could focus on.

Saniya rested her chin on her hand and shifted through the stations until she came to the right one. The topic of New York was all they could talk about nowadays. After a minute of commercials, a familiar voice came over the airwaves.

"Welcome back to the program. Now, back to the controversial topic of the decade. Nearly one hundred percent of New Yorkers believe that the invasion happened, as the mainstream media has been saying. But, according to a national survey, only sixty percent believe that to be true! Here is expert Violet Perkins and Thomas Yu to help us better understand why. On our twitter, we have links to the released videos. Feel free to explore those. Hello, Ms. Perkins and Mr. Yu. Thank you for coming."

"Thank you. I'm pleased to be here."

"It's a pleasure to have you, Ms. Perkins. Now, you seem to side with the sixty percent of the nation, correct?"

"Correct."

"Why?"

"Well, we have no solid proof that the invasion actually happened. We know that there was a large amount of property damage. We know that something happened. But claiming that it was a so-called alien invasion is childish. There is no other intelligent life anywhere in the universe that we know of. How can—"

"You have seen the videos, right?" This voice was different it must have been Thomas Yu.

"Of course. And I, like a large number of Americans, am concerned. There was a huge coverup. Who's to say the video wasn't tampered with or... or recreated in a movie set. There simply isn't enough evidence to say that New York was invaded."

"You've got to be kidding me."

"I most definitely am not! These are reasonable concerns that are not being addressed. The—"

"Listen. I'm sick of people like you going around and saying that it couldn't be aliens after seeing the video. I'm from New York. I say the hole in the sky. Hell, one of those freak creatures nearly killed me and my family. It's offensive when people like you come out and say that it didn't happen. You weren't there and you're smothering the voices who were."

"Mr. Yu, I didn't mean to offend you, but I want to raise a good question. Why did the government wait so long to release the videos? Why were none of our questions answered until months after the supposed invasion? Doesn't that strike you as suspicious?"

"I'm not arguing that the coverup was justified. I'm simply telling you that the threat was real. That was what this whole conversation is about: the question is if there were aliens in New York."

"I don't—"

"There were! I saw them with my own eyes! Honestly, I think more time should be spent hailing Tony Stark as a world hero instead of arguing of whether or not earth was invaded!"

"That is... that is not true. You're insane."

"He saved us! Tony Stark, if you're out there listening, we're all thankful. Don't listen to the people who are denying your heroism. You're truly a god among man."

Saniya stifled a snort. Amazing, yes. A god, no. Tony was great, but not that good.

"Stark didn't—"

"Don't you dare."

A long period of silence passed.

"That man did something a lot of people wouldn't have done. Don't you dare."

The radio announcer piped in, cheerfully saying that they would be back after the break. A weird commercial about toothpaste came over the air.

Saniya hadn't realized she had been holding her breath throughout the entire interview. It felt nice that Thomas Yu was able to voice all the thoughts she had been itching to scream at anyone who said otherwise.

Screw SHIELD for keeping everything a secret.

They only made things worse.

Natasha sighed as Clint massaged her shoulders. Her head rested on the sand crusted towel. "Any sign of the target?"

His hand rubbed at a particularly tense spot in her back. "Relax, mamacita. If I see him I'll tell you." Clint had magic hands that seemed to unknot every muscle. Natasha found herself becoming a limp mess on the beach. "What's got you so stressed?"

"I saw you on the roof," she said. "I know you overheard everything."

"It was hard not to. Agent Musa sure has a set of lungs on her." Clint reached over to apply another layer of sunscreen on her back. Her toes curled as the cold lotion hit her skin. "She thinks you're corrupting her."

Natasha just smirked in reply.

Her phone vibrated next to her arm. With a flick of her fingers, it was unlocked and downloading a constant stream data. "Saniya's home."

Clint ran his hand underneath her swimsuit straps in what he claimed as being thorough. His nose scrunched. "Is she smoking in her apartment again?" He tapped on her phone, leaving a small glob of sunscreen. Several images flashed on the screen. "Oh, she is. That little brat lied to me. She's going to stinkify all of her stuff if she keeps that up."

Natasha pressed the phone to her ear.

"Nat?"

"You'll burn your apartment down if you keep that up," Natasha replied. "Plus, you won't be able to run if your lungs are full of smoke. Toss them out. I'm surprised Agent Musa hasn't confiscated them yet."

"Fine. They're gross anyways. I don't know why my friends liked them so much in high school." She fell silent. And given Saniya, that usually wasn't a good thing. "How did you know that I was smoking?"

"Agent Musa's been complaining about it to me. It was a lucky guess." The lie was easy and Saniya believed her. "She's also upset with the way you used your boots last night."

Clint leaned close to the phone. "It's making her question your morality. Plus, I think Nat's proud, so that means you're doing something wrong." He received the famous Black Widow glare and shrunk back. His hands were extra careful when massaging her shoulders.

"You're really proud of me? I did exactly what you said."

Natasha felt her hard glare slacken. The words were so full of hope. Saniya was so eager to please. It almost reminded her of... of herself when she was in the Red Room. Of course, their motivations for pleasing their higher ups were far different, but there was that same desire. So, instead, she avoided the question instead of confronting the weird revulsion in her gut.

"How'd he react?"

"He didn't, really. I think he' knew that if I did anything to him, he could report me. Is it bad that I can't wait to do this one someone for real?"

"A psychologist would call that a troubling desire," she teased. Clint tapped her arm then gestured to a man walking into the beachside restaurant. He mouthed the words "I got him". She moved so she was sitting on her knees, watching her partner tail the target. "I called for a reason. How do you feel about going on your first mission?"

"I... Nope. I don't think that's a good idea."

Natasha watched the door of the restaurant. Slowly, she began rolling up the towel and placing it in the beach bag. "You don't have much of a choice," she said. "It's busy work. They give the rookies these sort of jobs so you can get the hang of filling in paperwork."

"Nat. Please don't make me," Saniya whined.

"It's a paid vacation," she phrased in a way she hoped would appeal to Saniya. "There's no real responsibilities. All you have to do is fly out to Malibu, talk to Pepper about the new technology Stark Industries is coming up with, write a report, and fly back."

"That's it? Really?" Saniya hummed quietly to herself. "Actually, that sounds pretty easy. What's the catch?"

Natasha slipped her feet in her sandals. What was taking Clint so long? "No catch. Like I said, it's busy work." The bag dropped to the sidewalk as Clint tumbled out of the restaurant with a man at his neck. "I'll send you the details." Without so much as a goodbye, she ran over just in time to watch Clint punch him in the face. The man fell limp, a bruise already forming on his jaw.

She helped Clint off the concrete. "Definitely Hydra," he rasped. "I swear, there's more of these guys every day. They have to be tracking us somehow."

"Cut off a head and two grow in its place," Natasha muttered.

Hydra had been silent for years. Like everyone else, she assumed they had crumbled except for small groups unable to unite.

No. That was right. Hydra wasn't much of a problem. SHIELD had made sure of that. This was an isolated problem that Natasha and Clint were more than happy to take care of.