Chapter Text
SEPTEMBER 31, 2016, 2:45 PM
UNKNOWN CLEARING (SOMEWHERE IN RUSSIA) - EARTH 616
Natasha and Steve glanced at each other nervously as they walked out into the clearing. It had been two days since his phone call and they’d been arranging this ever since. The rest of the group had stayed in the safe house until the couple could determine this wasn’t all some sort of trap.
“Do you think he was telling the truth?” Steve asked, turning to look at the redhead. Natasha looked up into his eyes sadly. A year ago they'd never doubted their friend’s intentions. Steve had been so trusting back then, before the Accords. And Natasha had just been settling into a comfortable life where she didn’t constantly have to keep her guard up.
“I hope so,” she replied honestly. “But we need to be ready either way.”
Steve nodded as he looked around again. Being out in the open like this was frustrating, to say the least. There were so many openings, so many things he couldn’t plan for but he knew this was necessary. If there was another extraterrestrial threat, it didn’t matter what his personal feelings towards Tony were. He could put aside their issues and deal with the invasion and hopefully, he could disappear before getting arrested and imprisoned without a trial.
The sound of jet engines entered the clearing a second later. Instantly, Natasha had two handguns out and was pointing them at the quinjet as it descended to land.
“You know I really would feel better if you agreed to carry some kind of weapon with you,” Natasha stated as they waited for the ramp to open. “I know you have used other weapons before.”
“They just never feel right. I figure I can take whatever weapon I need if I’m attacked to buy myself enough time to escape.”
“I know how you feel,” Natasha responded. “I just don’t know that we have that luxury at the moment.”
Steve nodded in understanding before grabbing the extra pistol she kept in her thigh holster and putting it in his waistband.
“I won’t use it,” he said stubbornly.
“I know you don’t want to, Steve. But it's just in case.”
He nodded as a loud click indicated the quinjet doors lowering. Steve was tense as he met his former friend’s eyes. Natasha kept both guns up and pointed at Tony as Steve approached meeting the billionaire at the bottom of the ramp.
“Steve,” Tony greeted curtly.
“Tony,” Steve responded equally brusquely.
They stood there in silence for a moment neither really sure what to do.
“Where’s the rest of the gang?” Tony asked finally.
“Safe,” Natasha responded, moving forward slightly, her grip on the weapons never wavering.
“Do you have to be pointing those things at me right now? I’m not here to fight.”
“That’s what you said in Siberia,” Steve pointed out.
“No. You don’t get to pull that shit here, Rogers. You know damn well what happened in Siberia. You defended a murderer.”
“And what do you think I am Tony?” Natasha responded angrily.
“That’s different,” Stark argued.
“Is it? I killed hundreds of people for the KGB and as a freelance assassin before Clint found me. I was wanted in every country in the world. I may have not killed your parents Tony, but there’s blood on my hands,” Natasha growled
“Nat,” Steve warned softly. He knew she rarely ever lost control of her emotions, but this was a sore subject for her. No matter how much she did to save, to redeem herself, she still saw herself as a monster. Tony tensed as she said that, his hands tightening into fists.
“Maybe this was a mistake,” he said coldly, backing away from the fugitives.
“You said there was an alien threat,” Steve reminded him. “That’s not something to brush off or try to deal with on your own.”
“Why not? I’ve dealt with plenty on my own before. I don’t need you, Cap.”
“Then why are you here?”
Another silence descended on the trio and no one seemed to want to break it. Tony looked between the Soldier and the Spy and chuckled to himself.
“I don’t know,” he replied frustratedly. He reached into his pocket slowly keeping an eye on the guns currently pointed at his head. Taking out a flash drive, he tossed it over to Steve who caught it confused. “That’s all I have on the energy readings. I hope you figure it out.”
“You’re just leaving now?” Natasha asked glaringly. “You said there was a threat and you’re just handing it over to us to deal with.”
“Well if you two hadn’t decided to piss off the entire world by galavanting across borders with no regard for the law, maybe we wouldn’t be in this mess.”
“If the accords weren’t in place, we could all be dealing with this mess. Not having furtive meetings in the middle of nowhere because we have to watch our backs or they’ll get shot,” Steve shot back.
Tony shook his head in contempt.
“You still don’t understand what you did wrong?” Tony asked. “After all that’s happened you still have no remorse?”
“I’m sorry about what happened to your parents,” Steve replied. “But other than that no. I don’t regret standing up for what’s right.”
“Don’t talk about my parents,” Tony yelled in anger moving forward towards Steve with a snarl. “You knew what happened to them the whole damn time. You knew your murderous ex-friend assassinated them in cold blood and you said nothing!” A bullet flew through the air missing Tony’s head by a centimeter.
“Don’t move or the next one won’t miss,” Natasha stated, keeping her gun trained on him. “Steve didn’t know Bucky had killed your parents. I was there when Zola told us there was a conspiracy. Neither of us could have known and since I was shot and Steve ended up in the hospital less than a week later, it was impossible for either of us to remember.”
“Is that supposed to make it better. He stopped me from getting justice for my parents.”
“No he stopped you from making a mistake,” Natasha refuted. “Killing someone isn’t something you can just walk off.” Tony glared at her and then at Steve.
“Good luck with the aliens,” Tony said, walking off. “If I get UN Approval, maybe we will see each other again. And then you’ll both be in handcuffs.”
“Don’t hold your breath,” Steve replied as he and Natasha made their way to the edge of the woods. They hid nearby for a few minutes until they were sure Tony had taken the quinjet and left.
“So what do we do now?” Steve asked looking at the flash drive still in his palm.
“We go home,” Natasha responded. “We find out what’s on the flash drive and we stop whatever is going on.”
Steve nodded as they both began the trek back to the house. He knew the rest of the group would want an explanation of what happened and that was going to be an interesting meeting.