Chapter Text
They break into the window of a rundown apartment building in Queens, both dressed head to toe in black. Nat had shoved Peggy’s shield, raised ready to smash, aside and picked the old hinges loose. Peggy only looks a little disgruntled.
“Just because we’re breaking and entering doesn’t mean we have to break.” Natasha whispers sternly as she pushes the glass aside and slithers into a cosy, cluttered living space.
“I was just trying to be efficient.” Peggy snipes back as she clambers in behind her.
“Efficient at getting us caught?” Nat gracefully slips past an overstuffed couch. Watching her work makes Peggy feel a touch ungainly in comparison, but she knows that while their skillsets overlap, they also diverge. Nat might be able to sneak up on a man silently from behind, but Peggy can catch his eye then take him out with a single right hook if needs be. Still, she follows her wife’s path gingerly, hoping her thick soled work boots aren’t thunking as loud as she thinks they are on the scuffed wood flooring.
The apartment is mostly in darkness, a thin strip of light glowing softly from under a closed door.
They make their way towards it, scooting around mismatched but well-loved furniture. Muffled noises are just audible through the wood of the door; in tandem, they both press an ear to it, noses inches apart as they listen to see what sort of danger they might be walking into.
“Ned, this is our final chance.” A male voice is saying. “We need to identify the location and send in a team immediately.”
Nat’s eyes meet Peggy’s, understanding flashing between them. Whatever is being discussed behind that door could be the answer to why Parker made it onto the lists of both their organisations.
“We have to make this top priority.” The voices stresses.
Nat and Peggy have a silent conversation; Peggy raises an eyebrow, Nat rolls her eyes but then nods. They both take a couple of steps back, then Peggy’s boot slams into the door sending it rocketing open.
A teenage boy squawks in surprise, jumping up from a desk chair and ripping a headset away from his ears as they crash into the room. He is shorter than both of them, with messy dark hair, wearing a t-shirt that reads ‘gravity is such a downer’. His eyes are startling wide, expression panicked, then confused, then panicked again.
Identifying this to be a time for her skillset over Nat’s, Peggy steps forward and throws her aforementioned right hook.
Peter Parker crumples to the floor.
*
They tie him to his chair with rope found in his closet along with a bunch of old tech that looks like it was scavenged from a dumpster. He jolts back to consciousness like a frightened squirrel, panicking under the restraints until Nat puts her hands on both arms of the chair and stares him down.
“What are you trying to recover?”
“Huh?”
“We heard you talking to someone. Saying you had to recover something. What is it? What is Stark sending you after?”
Peter blinks at them. “The… the plans for the Death Star?”
Peggy doesn’t understand that reference. Nat does.
“Are you messing with us, kid?” She grabs the rope around his chest and uses it to pull the chair closer to her, tipping it back to get into his face.
“No ma’am!” Peter’s feet kick uselessly, hands scrabbling for something to grab onto as the wheels of his chair shift and squeak beneath him. “Just then- I was- my friend Ned-“ Nat narrows her eyes and tips him further.
Peggy wrinkles her nose in distaste; violent intimidation tactics aren’t generally her cup of tea, but she understands that they don’t know how long they have before backup could arrive.
Peter yelps. “Lego Star Wars!” He cries, voice going up almost the whole octave. “I was playing Lego Star Wars with my friend Ned!”
Nat is so taken aback with that answer she lets him go. The chair groans in protest as she drops it back onto all of its wheels, Peter teetering dangerously for a moment before it settles.
“My laptop…” He tries to gesture with his head to his desk where a battered computer sits.
Nat touches the keypad suspiciously to make the screen flash on, only to be greeted by a smiling yellow Luke Skywalker. She looks over at Peggy, bemused, then flicks her gaze to Peter who is staring at her in part awe, part terror.
“Don’t most guys your age just watch porn?” She drawls.
“Be that as it may,” Peggy interrupts quickly as a bright pink flush blooms up Peter’s cheeks. “We might have… misunderstood what we just overheard, but that doesn’t stop the fact of the matter being that one of us was hired to kill you and the other to protect you. Now the people who hired us want to kill us. All paths leave back to you, Mr Parker, and we want to know why.”
Peter does a rather uncanny impression of a goldfish, mouth opening and closing as his eyes bug out.
“You’re… you’re The Captain?” He asks, awestruck. He moves his shoulder like he’s going to hold out a hand for her to shake before remembering its tied behind his back. “Aw man! I’m a huge fan! I kinda hoped I’d get to meet you during all this. Mr Stark said not to get my hopes up, but well, you’re just so cool!”
Peggy looks nonplussed; Nat is frowning deeply.
“You… knew I’d been assigned to you?” Peggy asks slowly, trying to connect dots that don’t seem remotely linked. Avengers missions were all top secret, top security. How would Stark know she’d be involved? Unless he knew about the S.H.I.E.L.D hit, in which case why wasn’t he protecting his intern himself?
“I…” Peter looks like he wants the floor to swallow him up.
Nat sighs, pushing away from the desk to join Peggy. “Parker. You seem like a good kid. A smart kid. Good school, probably get a nice recommendation letter from Stark Industries to get you into a top college. Probably study something scientific or develop technology, right? Maybe make some big discoveries, put us on track to cure a disease or fight for world peace.” She smiles sweetly at him. “But if I fulfil my original objective, you’ll never leave this room again. No college, no breakthroughs, no helping people.” Nat’s face drops into an impassive stare. “Your call.”
Peggy can’t help but be impressed with Nat’s move to reasoning tactics, playing on Parker’s responsibility. She tries not to let it show, however, fixing him with her deadliest expression.
“Okay, okay!” Peter shrinks under their collective glares. “I was a… fake job, I guess? S.H.I.E.L.D and the Avengers realised their top operatives were married and they panicked that if you ever found out you’d share all their dirty secrets with each other and bring them down.” He’s speaking almost too fast for Peggy to make out his words, but they still hit her in the chest like a bullet to Kevlar. “So, they formed a temporary alliance to take you both out, turn you against each other. I think they thought you’re both so good you’d end up killing each other, or if one of you died the other would be easier to get rid of while grieving. They asked Stark Industries for a false story and a pretend target to set you both.” He swallows hard. “I’m just an intern so… I kinda gotta do what he says so I flew to the desert, sat in that car for a bit and then they said I was done! That was all they needed me to do, said you had been alerted to each other and everything else should fall into place. Plus Mr Stark said if I played my part he’d let me work in the lab that are developing the new supersuits and it’s all interactive and you can build them from holograms and implement this awesome design algorithm-“
He snaps his mouth shut as he realises neither Peggy or Nat shares his enthusiasm for super suit design.
“I’m… I’m really sorry Miss Captain ma’am.” He says sheepishly but sincerely. “I didn’t really know what I was getting into.”
“Stupid Stark getting kids involved.” Nat grumbles. Peggy remembers her story about Dreykov’s daughter, realising the amount of guilt Nat would have carried around if this teenager’s blood had ended up on her hands. And for what? So the organisations they had dedicated their lives to could wipe away everything they’d done and get rid of a problem they hadn’t even been aware existed? To ruin their lives for a scenario that might never have come to pass? They’d hidden from each other for so many years, had honestly been on the brink of separation before this had given them a desperate reminder of what they could lose.
The Avengers wasn’t the only thing she’d dedicated her life to.
Peggy crossed to Nat and gently put a hand on her stiff shoulder. “We’ll need to face them, sooner or later.”
“Or,” Nat responds in a waspish tone. “We can leave the country, move to Budapest and never return.”
Peggy lets her stew in her anger for a moment before trying again. “The Winter Soldier is probably tracking us as we speak and we can’t lead him here.”
Nat softens slightly under her touch, still simmering with rage but seeming clearer-headed. “Let’s go.” She agrees. “I’ll call Clint.”
Peter’s head shoots up. “Could you please untie me first? It’s just my aunt will be home any minute now and-“
The bedroom door bursts open to reveal a willowy brunette, who promptly drops the grocery bags she had been holding.
“What the f-!”
*
After profusely apologising to May Parker, assuring her her nephew isn’t part of some weird sex thing and then politely turning down multiple offers of tea and wheat cakes, they head to the roof of the building to recalibrate.
Nat has a getaway boat on speed dial courtesy of Clint. Peggy puts a gentle hand on her wrist.
“If you run away, you’ll always be running. I say, we stay and fight.”
“Ugh.” Natasha grumbles, but slips her phone away. “You always did love a motivational speech, Cap.”
*