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I've been busy with work and studying, but thank you for your patience!


Natasha landed on her feet, catching herself on the ledge. She glanced at the parkour course and calculated her next move. She ran against the asphalt block before jumping to grab a hold of a bar. She swung herself across it, ignoring the nagging pain from her back. She somersaulted into a foam pit and then clamored up the wall before grabbing the ledge again. In truth, she needed a distraction from everything. The de-briefing from her latest mission was just icing on the cake to make her second guess her decisions. Her hand reached out for the buzzer and the clock froze. She was still slow in her form. If Clint was there, he would shred five seconds off her time.

"You're going to break the buzzer."

"I'm not," she punched it again to reset the clock. "Who sent you?"

"No one." Steve leaned against the railing, glancing over his shoulder, "How long did you know about all of this?"

"Several years now…thanks to the Red Room." Her green eyes darted to him.

"Right."

"I read your file." She walked up to him and grabbed her water bottle from her duffle bag. "You're the only one that made it."

"The Super Soldier Serum?"

"That's the one."

"None of this makes sense."

"It never will," she adjusted her back strap.

"Aren't you supposed to be in the infirmary?"

"I never listen," she shot him a look.

"When did you ever?" He recalled their high school days.

"Thanks for saving our asses back there."

"You're welcome." He looked across the massive layout, "How's Barton?"

"Besides the chest tube and pain meds, he'll survive." Memories from the quinjet flashed through her mind as she remembered plunging a needle into her partner's chest. It was something she had seen on the field before with Alexei. Strike Team Delta's debut wasn't the best and wasn't the worst, but there was room for improvement. "He'll probably leave AMA soon enough."

Steve let out a chuckle. "Maybe."

"You have no idea." Quickly, she turned on her heels and ran through the course again. She leapt over several concrete barriers and then attacked the rope that was attached to one corner of the room and flipped to the bars.

Tony sat in his lab and tried to break into the firewalls that JARVIS had become accustomed to hacking. Everything was starting to fall into place, and his father was right all along. The technology was changing and he needed to be ahead of the game.

"Ms. Potts is arriving, Sir."

Tony pulled the plug on his mini project and looked over to his girlfriend. "My dear Pepper, how can I be of service?"

"Funny Stark." She placed her bag down on the counter, ignoring her boyfriend. "You know you have your second trip planned. The board wants you to present this time and there's going to be a missile demonstration."

"Why do you have to be so serious?"

"I have to be," she stated matter-of-factly. "You're lazy!"

"On the contrary," he tossed several papers into the wastebasket. He saw her turn for a moment, and checked on the progress of his mini project. "What do you think of having a Stark Tower in Manhattan?"

"What?" She dropped her tablet on the counter, "It's your ego talking."

"I guess that's a yes."

"Focus, Tony."

"I am," he swiveled in his chair.

"I have your itinerary."

"You can put it down over there." He pointed to the wastebasket.

Pepper gave him a shortened look of annoyance, "I don't know how your former secretary put up with you."

"You're hired."

"Funny." The strawberry blonde walked away to grab a cup of coffee.

"I really mean it," he called out after her.

She peeked her head around the corner and mumbled several things under her breath.

"You're welcome." Tony resumed back to his work after his banter. An incoming message was on his screen. "Oh Bruce…how have you been? How's India?"

"Cut the crap, Stark." The scientist's web cam cut in and out. "Can't chat too long, but you should see these scans."

"This can't be good." His eyes raised suspicion. "Are you sure about this?"

"I ran the models five times."

Stark was about to say something before the connection was lost. "Pepper? When is my Afghanistan trip?"

"Check your schedule."

...

Fury looked out from his office. The Pacific Ocean now surrounded his massive armada. With Stark's technology, it gave them coverage from prying eyes. He peered at the monitors, watching the prospects of his future team. The process was slow and drawn-out, but with all their imperfections coupled together, the odds weren't in their favor. It was highly improbable that they would pass on their first try. Even with his secret meetings with Howard Stark prior to his death, the physicist had reservations of putting his own son into the mix of highly combustible personalities.

He walked over to his desk and found Coulson's report from New Mexico. It was short and concise to the point. His good eye furrowed in regards to Thor's hammer. The true potential hasn't been realized but judging from eyewitnesses the Asgardian will not disappoint.

"Sir, if I could have a moment?" Hill waited by the door.

"What is it?"

"Here's my report on Steve Rogers. Judging from the preliminary reports, I would recommend him to be team leader."

"Is that so?" He flipped through her scribbles and saw some of Peggy's handwriting as well. "He barely has any military training."

"Agent Carter has been training him."

"What about Agents Barton and Romanoff?" He countered.

"They're expert tacticians and spies." She crossed her arms, "Barton will go off the book, and so will Romanoff."

Fury nodded in agreement. "So be it then. Will need to initiate the next phase. The Council is growing weary, but they'll need to deal with it." He crossed his hands under his chin, "We now have bigger problems."

"Come again? I thought there was only one problem."

"They found a Extremis prototype in Agent Barnes' blood."

"I thought that program was terminated."

"Evidently not," he let out a sigh of frustration. "Secondly, the Tesseract has graced her appearance again. She has the capability of teleportation."

"A mind of it's own?" She walked closer to the image, "I thought she was an energy source.

"One and the same." He typed away on his computer before swiping on the screen and tossed the image to the mainframe, "HYDRA has lost its main leader. From Intel, Loki has cleared a pawn for us, but any leads to Extremis will be cold by now. The clean up crew came and went." A red dot appeared on the screen, showing the location of the blue cube, "We need to stop Loki before hell breaks loose."

"I'll let Coulson know…he's still in New Mexico."

Natasha walked through the halls. For the past twenty-four hours, they forced her to rethink her relationship with Clint. She admitted she can be a bitch at times, but that was the purpose to keep people away. Somehow Clint managed to break through her walls and now this happened. She remembered her mentor's voice, "Never fall in love."

She found an empty bench in a hallway and collapsed onto it. Her training sessions were taking a toll on her and every muscle in her body protested against her. She knew how to lie against those tests the doctors administered. She was Russian after all.

Maybe it was too soon to be back on the field. She never dreamt that her life would turn out this way…whatever happened to being a normal teenager and head off to college. That ship had already sailed. Now here she was in her early twenties and still trying to figure things out. The blood was getting thicker on her hands and she didn't need to add Clint's to the ever-growing list in her ledger. She never wanted to let any one down, but now she had to battle her own demons again.

She walked back to the infirmary and stood off the side, stealing glances of Clint through the window's blinds. The archer was half subdued but he managed to lift his head when he caught sight of her red hair. She waited momentarily, wondering how she'll drop the veil on him.

"Aren't you supposed to be resting?"

"You know me by now." She pulled up a chair and took in the solitude. Her eyes grew heavy but she fought off the pestering feeling.

"You're not you."

That was Clint for you, straight to the point and without the bullshit. "I'm fine, just exhausted."

"Talk to me, Tash."

"What is there to talk? You got injured."

"It's part of the job." He tugged at his chest tube and watched his partner tighten her hold on the armrests, "No serious injuries, just scrapes and bruises, and to top it off…a collapsed lung. I just can't dive or jump off a plane."

"I'm fine," she returned to his earlier question. She pulled aside her hair, which revealed an ugly bruise over neck.

"I swear you're bipolar. You need meds."

"I don't." Her green eyes flashed at him and she leaned in, wondering where he was coming from.

He reached out for her hands, capturing them in his calloused grip. There was something else he was picking up on. "I'm okay, Tash."

"I know." She tried to pry away from his grip, "I have to go now."

"No, you don't."

She pulled away from his grip. She felt his stare follow her into the hallway as she left his room.

She stared at the ceiling, watching her eyes play tricks on her. In the darkness, imaginary patterns circled above her. The stiff mattress didn't do any justice to her back, but slowly she gave in. And again, the carousel of nightmares began to start. The faces of her former targets mocked as they rode in a circle. Her mind slowly to fall into one hard belief that anyone that comes close to her will die.

She bolted up with her cami drenched in sweat. Her gaze cut across to the alarm clock. The numbers 3:00 mocked at her. Only four hours of sleep. She drew her knees to her chest and rocked herself before coming to the realization that she needed to get away.

As if on cue, her cell phone broke the silence. "This is Agent Romanoff."

"Suit up for your next mission," Fury's voice echoed in the receiver. "Rogers will be your partner, Barton's benched. Details to come."

Steve walked through the hangar in the early morning. He was starting to adapt to the military lifestyle that he created back in the desert. He found Peggy sitting in a cockpit with her pre-flight checklist.

"I heard you're going out again," she clicked several switches and checked to see the computer's response.

"Yeah. No rest for the weary." He tucked his hands into his beige pockets. "Thanks for believing in me."

"Don't thank me. You should thank Dr. Erskine," she flashed him a smile and pulled back her hair as she reached across the seat.

"Right." Steve took in the early sunrise. "That's true, I hope he found peace."

"He's probably enjoying some schnapps right now." She finished her checklist and grabbed the tablet before she stumbled out of the cockpit. Her foot caught the hidden ledge that she's always hated. Steve quickly dashed to her side and caught her in his arms before she hit the ground.

She looked into his blue eyes and pulled back. "I never did like that ledge." He let her go and she quickly adjusted her uniform from the wrinkles. "Thanks."

"No problem."

"Be careful out there, Steve." Peggy gathered her things and snuck in a small kiss on his cheek. Quickly, she walked away and saw the Black Widow make her way to the platform.

Steve froze in silence like a deer in the headlight. The infamous Black Widow walked by him with a small smirk forming on the edge of her lips. "Coming Cap?"

He grabbed his duffle bag off the ground and clamored up on the steps. This was going to be one of the longest flights for him.

"Wheels up in five."

"Roger that."

She took control of the console and saw the incoming message from Fury.

"Your next location will be…"


And they're off!

Is there trouble with Clintasha? Where are Natasha and Steve going?

Find out in the next chapter.

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