Chapter Text
Tony,
I'm glad you're back at the compound; I don't like the idea of you rattling around a mansion by yourself...
"About damn time." Sam crossed his arms; revealing that same grin he's always worn so well.
Steve smirked at him from the outside of Sam's cell bars. "Well I mean, what can I say? I am a –"
"–slow old man?" a voice finished from the darkness.
"You're kidding..." Sam tilted his head at Steve, and then looked beyond him to see Natasha Romanoff step into the faint light; raising her eyebrows.
"I was going to say an elder, but yours works too." Steve cocked his brow at Natasha.
"What'd you do to get her into coming with you to bust us out?" Sam placed his hands on his hips and eyed Steve with amusement, but then his face darkened. "You are here to bust us out, right?"
"Nah, we're just visiting." Natasha winked.
Sam rolled his eyes. "Ha, ha – hilarious – do you mind gettin' to it?" he patted the bars to his cell and pursed his lips. "Just out of curiosity, how'd the two of you get in here? You know this entire place is under twenty-four hour surveillance–"
"We're aware." Natasha interrupted, "I may have 'borrowed' some Tony-tech on the way here..."
After her confrontation with Stark, Natasha disappeared for a while to regather her self-control and take her sweet time to sort things out. After everything that happened with the accords and the fight at the airport, she figured it was only necessary that she remove herself from the situation until further notice. During that time, she had thought about Steve and Bucky and how she had helped them escape to wherever. I did the right thing, she told herself – and she did, or at least, she believed that she did; which was all she could ask of herself.
She worried about the two of them; more so Steve than Bucky. She knew Team Cap had been put in jail for their actions because Tony had told her so, along with the fact that she too would be put in jail for helping the two of them escape. She knew where the facility the team was imprisoned in was located. It took some time, but she came to the realization that she was no longer on Tony's side of things – she was practically on Steve's instead. So, she decided that she would offer her help to Steve in order to bust the rest of the team out of jail – that is, if he accepted her offer... he did.
How she actually found him after coming to her conclusion is really quite an interesting story, but can be later explained. He agreed to let her help him and Bucky – and it's safe to say he's more than thrilled that he did.
After her encounter with Steve and the acceptance of her plead to help, she stopped by Stark Industry's and "borrowed" a few lovely items from Tony's desk-drawer in his office along with some handy SHIELD tools as well.
And now, here they are.
"How bout' that?" a voice asked from behind them. The three of them turned their heads. Clint had his body leaned against the bars and a look of interest spread across his face.
Natasha's heart flipped, seeing one of her dearest friends again, but covered it up with her usual smirk. "Yeah, how bout' it?" She rubbed her hands together and paced over to his cell. She placed her arms flat on top of one of the bars and lowered her head on top of them, "We're still friends, right?"
Clint eyed her, and then he turned away dramatically with his hands in his pockets. "I don't know, Nat..." his voice drifted playfully, "You hit me pretty hard..."
Natasha rolled her eyes. "I'd do it again." She patted her hands up and down against the top of the bar her arms were rested on.
"I know. Thing is – you'll have to get me out of here first." Clint teased.
"Don't worry; I expect to." And with that, she straightened up, turned on her heal, and walked back over to Steve and Sam.
Steve looked at her, "Alright, Romanoff – you got a plan?"
Natasha half-smiled and brushed past him. "Don't I always?"
We all need family. The Avengers are yours, maybe more so than mine. I've been on my own since I was eighteen. I never really fit in anywhere – even in the army. My faith is in – people – I guess; individuals. And I'm happy to say that for the most part, they haven't let me down... which is why I can't let them down either.
Natasha pulled the ML-20 from her old rifle green duffle-bag and held it tightly in her hands before loading it.
"This is the ML-20. SHIELD created it last year after our delightful encounter with Ultron – for situations like this. You pull the trigger and instead of shooting a steel bullet, it creates a matter-altering mist that turns any substance it touches into a vapor." Natasha explained.
"Is that how you plan to get us out of here?" Sam questioned.
"It is." Natasha breathed, she pointed the gun at him, "Get back."
Sam didn't hesitate. He ran and pressed himself against the side of the wall and held his breath, Natasha shook her head and narrowed her eyes at him. "You don't have to hold your breath."
Sam kept his eyes closed and his face squished tight together, "You do you, and I'll do me." He spat.
Natasha rolled her eyes and exhaled, then she pulled the trigger and a puff of mist shot out from the barrel.
The mist reached the cell bars and within a few moments, there was a cloud of gas floating upwards to reveal a giant, gaping hole in the bars large enough that Sam could crawl through.
Locks can be replaced, but–
"Damn," Sam observed while nodding his head, "not bad."
–Maybe they shouldn't.
"'Not bad'" Natasha mocked, "Come on." She reached through the hole and yanked Sam's arm; forcing him out of the confined cell.
"Okay," Steve stood in the center of the ring of cells and looked out to everybody, "Who's next?"
"Clint." Natasha looked to her friend sitting patiently on his bed and twiddling his thumbs. She beat the barrel of the gun softly against the palm of her hand as she tauntingly walked towards him. "Alright Clint – your turn." She clicked her tongue and gestured to the back of the wall.
"Yes ma'am," Clint climbed on top of his cell mattress and bounced to the wall. Once again, Natasha pulled the trigger.
Clint examined the hole in the wall before remarking, "How quaint." Then he climbed out the gap and followed Natasha too the center of the ring.
"My turn now?" The four of them turned to see Scott with his face pressed against the bars.
Natasha tilted her head and nodded, "Your turn now."
Scott did a little happy dance and marched over to the side of the wall, waiting anxiously for Natasha to pull the trigger and bail him out. As she held out her arm and pointed the gun to the bars, Steve stopped her.
"Wait," he scanned the ring and the cells around him; something, or rather, someone was missing. "Where's Wanda?"
Natasha looked over her shoulder and lowered the gun, causing Scott to roll his eyes and sink to the ground. Of course.
"Um, that's a good question," Natasha turned to look at Sam, "Sam?"
"I never saw them bring her in–"
"I watched them take her," Clint interrupted, "I didn't exactly see where. But she was on the same jet the rest of us were."
"That makes no sense – why would they put all of you together in the same ring but exclude her? There are at least three more cells in this ring with nobody in them." Natasha pondered.
"Hey – how about we make that four cells and get me outta here?" Scott proposed with his face yet again pressed against the bars of his cell.
Steve exhaled and turned to Natasha, "Natasha – get him out."
Natasha nodded and turned to face Scott. She elongated her arm out and pointed it directly at him, "I'd move out of the way if I were you." She suggested; narrowing her eyes for emphasis.
Scott quickly dashed to the side of the wall and Natasha sighed before loading the gun and pulling the trigger. After the gas disappeared and there was a hole in the bars, Scott leaped out. "Thank you." He looked at Natasha.
"Mmhm." Natasha tossed the gun into her bag and shoved her hands into her pockets. "So, what's your plan?"
"I thought you said you always had a plan." Steve mocked.
Natasha smirked, "It was more of a question than a statement. Speaking of questions – answer mine: what are we gonna do?"
Steve opened his mouth to answer, but stopped himself. He took a few moments to think about it – because in all honesty, he wasn't sure. He wasn't sure where Ross' men took her, he wasn't sure whether or not they split her from the rest of the team because she belonged in a more – restricting – cell... heck, he wasn't even sure if he and Natasha had slipped into the ring unnoticed. He hoped to God that whatever had happened, wherever Ross' men had put her, that Wanda was alright. Since her coming to live in America and joining the Avengers, Steve had always felt like Wanda was his responsibility. He felt the burden of watching after her and protecting her like family rested on his shoulders – because as far as he was concerned; it was. Steve understood Wanda. The both of them never really had much family growing up; the both of them had volunteered to be experimented on for reasons larger than them. If it were anyone's responsibility to care for Wanda, it was definitely his.
"Well," Scott began, "There's five of us right now, so we could split up and search the facility – three go one way, the remaining two go the other."
"I'd rather we not split up like that. I don't want to risk anybody getting caught and thrown back in a cell a second time." Steve explained.
"Okay, well, it's not entirely a bad idea. Bucky's waiting at the top with the jet ready – why don't the three of them go to him and you and I can look for Wanda?" Natasha suggested.
"Natasha," Steve looked to the floor and pinched the bridge of his nose between his fingers, "What if they get caught on the way up there and imprisoned again? What if we get caught down here?"
"Then..." Natasha hesitated, but then she sighed, "We stay behind."
Everyone's head popped up from looking down at the floor and stared at Natasha.
"Pardon?" Sam crossed his arms.
Natasha looked around. Shit, she thought. She exhaled and grabbed Steve's arm; pulling him over to the side to talk.
"Natasha – what do you mean, 'we stay behind'?" Steve whispered.
"It's not a go-to option; it's a last-resort – if something happens and we can't make it to the top in time."
Steve clenched his jaw and sighed sharply; almost irritated. "Look," Natasha began, "I know what these people mean to you – they mean something to me too, but what happens if we can't get Wanda out in time and Ross' men figure out that they're at the top waiting for us? We can't just make them stay put and wait for us to come if we can't get up there in time."
Steve's face relaxed and he met Natasha's eyes before sighing. "I know it's not the best idea in the world... but it's the safest. It's better if only we stay behind than if everyone stays behind." Natasha explained.
"I know." Steve whispered softly, "You're right."
"Besides," Natasha and Steve both turned their heads to look at the team in the center, "It's only if something goes wrong."
Steve nodded. Natasha patted him on the back and half-smiled, then the two of them paced forward and re-joined the rest of the team to explain.
Natasha grabbed her bag and pulled out five tiny earpieces. She tossed one to Sam, then to Scott, and then to Clint. "Alright, put these in."
The three of them nodded and placed the tiny devices inside their ears and turned them on. Steve explained, "Bucky is waiting at the top of the facility with a jet ready to take off on cue."
Natasha pitched in, "The three of you are going to carefully make your way to the top to join him; try hard as possible not to draw attention to yourselves."
Steve nodded. "We'll talk through the earpieces Natasha just gave you. If anything happens on our end and we signal you to take off; you take off. If anything happens on your end; you take off."
"Signal us and if we have Wanda, we'll try our best to get up there as soon as possible, but if all of you feel like you need to get out of here then get out of here." Natasha ordered, "Don't wait up."
The three of them nodded, but Clint spoke, "Nat,"
"Don't wait up." Natasha choked. Clint sighed and lowered his head, but he agreed.
"Alright; go." Natasha urged. And with that, the three of them forced themselves out of the ring and disappeared around the corner.
She turned to Steve and met his gaze before speaking, "You ready?"
He nodded and half-smiled, "Let's go find Wanda."
Natasha grabbed her duffle-bag and the two of them took off around the corner. They began to make their way up the stairs to the control room where all the security panels were located. Natasha had visited this place on more than one occasion due to her work with SHIELD, so she knew her way around. One of the many things she knew was that, because the facility is stranded in the middle of the Pacific, the signal can come and go from time to time. Last time she was here, the connection to the security cameras in the control room went out twice. Normally, if the signal is lost, it's lost for between two minutes to ten minutes tops. After ten minutes, the men working in the control room go downstairs to the electrical boxes to look at things and fix the problem if there is one. There's always three men in the control room, when this happens – two of the men go to check things out while the other man always stays behind.
"Well, it's been roughly ten minutes," Natasha whispered while checking her watch, "So the guys in the control room should be leaving to go look at the electrical box right about..." two semi-bulky men walk out from the doors to the control room and turned the corner; small-talking the entire way down. Satisfied, Natasha finished, "... now."
Steve pulled the ML-20 out of Natasha's bag. "What are you doing?" she asked as he stood up with the gun in his hand.
"Ten bucks says the guy in the room is scrawny and unarmed," he said as he reached his arm down for Natasha to grab. He pulled her to her feet and motioned to the room – where he made quite an entrance.
He opened the doors casually. Natasha smirked... because Steve was right – the guy sitting at the control panel was thin as a rake and completely unarmed; no visible guns, no Tasers in his pocket or on the table... okay... what are you planning to do, Rogers? Natasha thought.
The scrawny man in the chair didn't turn around or even look back, but instead assumed the other guys had come back and began to talk, "Back so soon?" he chuckled, "Well, if you're planning on saying 'problem; fixed' then we've got another problem because the original problem is certainly not–" the man swiveled casually around in his chair to face his two friends, but instead faced Natasha and Steve; who had a gun pointed at his face. He gulped, "–fixed..."
Natasha followed the man's eyes to the walkie-talkie on the opposite side of the table and as he began to reach frantically for it, Natasha leaped over and kicked his chair out from underneath him; causing him to fall flat on his tailbone. With that, she swiped the walkie-talkie from its spot on the table and clutched it tight in her hands. The man moaned from the floor; a moan of pain, shock, and confusion.
Natasha took out the "Tony-tech" from her bag and flicked a few switches on it; re-rendering the viewing-screens and the security cameras of their use. She nodded at Steve and crossed her arms.
Steve tossed the gun to Natasha and grabbed the man by his shirt. They were nose-to-nose as Steve demanded, "Where are you keeping Wanda Maximoff?"
The man looked like a deer caught in the headlights as he shakily spoke, "I don't know who that is!" The man closed his eyes and turned his head; scared half-to-death.
Steve didn't count out the fact that maybe this man actually didn't know who she was, but that didn't stop him from getting an answer. He yanked the man up off the floor by his shirt and turned him forcefully to face the screens. He observed all of them before pointing to the one with Wanda on it.
"Where is this cell located?" He asked aggressively.
"This one?" The man asked pointing to the screen, still shaking. He adjusted his glasses on his face and gasped, "Okay! That cell is on the..." The man paused to think, "–first floor; second hallway to your left... cell A47"
Steve let go of the man's shirt and looked at Natasha. Before he had a chance to object, Natasha roundhouse kicked the man right across his face; leaving him unconscious with an imprint of Natasha's boot on his right cheek. She smirked at the mark she had left on the man's face, and then she turned on her heel, swiped her bag from the floor, and dragged Steve out of the room. "You owe me ten bucks," Steve reminded her.
"I'm not giving you ten bucks." Natasha assured.
"A47..." Steve repeated on their walk down to the first floor. "Second hallway to the right..."
When they reached her cell room, Natasha jumped and reached into her bag; grabbing the 'tony-tech' and turning off the cameras. "We need to do this fast, it's a long walk from the first floor back up to the fourth but as soon as the other guys get there, they're going to set off an alarm."
"Wait, how do you know?" Steve asked.
"A; it's common-sense – there's an unconscious man on the floor with a boot mark on his face. B; one of the trips I took here was during their emergency protocol sessions – the alarm was one of them." Natasha assured.
"Do you think an alarm will go off if we tamper with the door while it's locked? This is a completely different cell used for completely different reasons–"
"–I think we'll be fine." Natasha aimed the gun at the metal door.
"And if we're not?" Steve asked. Natasha lowered her gun.
A couple moments passed before she raised her gun, loaded it, and answered "Then try not to trip when you run." The trigger was pulled and once more, the mist was sprayed all around the door. Once the hole was formed, Steve and Natasha exchanged a look, nodded, and leaped through to the other side. What they found on the other side was not what they wished to.
Wanda had been strapped into a straitjacket. Her ankles were cuffed with steel to the floor of her cell. And to top it off, she wore an electroshock collar around her neck.
Natasha covered her mouth, "Jesus."
They were horrified. What the hell did she do to deserve this? Steve thought. Wanda didn't speak, she didn't even turn her head. She couldn't, or she'd zapped with electricity of Lord knows how much. But her eyes shifted to the side to see them.
"Wanda," Steve softened as he approached her, "We're gonna get you out of here." The closer Steve got to her cell bars, the more he realized that the bars were lined with a glowing red. It was hot, radiating an extreme heat the closer he got. Wanda's eyes grew bigger and she grunted; trying her hardest not to shake her head. Steve misread her actions and came closer to comfort her, "Wanda, you're going to be alright–" extended his hand to clamp around the bars and Wanda yelped and turned her head to them.
"No! Don't touch the bars!" She cried fearfully and Steve jumped back. Wanda yanked her head back to the center and screamed. Steve watched the electricity from the collar strike against her neck. A chill traveled down Natasha's spine as she watched. Tears filled Wanda's eyes from the pain as the shocks went away and she breathed heavily.
It took both Steve and Natasha a moment to take in what had just happened, and once they did, Natasha spoke "That's enough for me." She ran up to the side of the bar with the ML-20 and stood to the side. She gestured to Steve, "Step back." He nodded and stepped off to the side.
Natasha examined the bars for a moment. The glowing red definitely worked as an electroshock collar for the cell. "I'm not sure if this will work or not..." Natasha loaded the gun and pointed it at the bars, "but..." she pulled the trigger. The mist reached the red, and it wrapped itself around it and traveled down every sign of it. Natasha gazed as the mist devoured the red and in a matter of moments, it was gone.
Both of them gasped with relief. "Okay... no more red." Natasha exhaled; joyful that it had been as easy as it was.
Steve ran up to the bars and wrapped his hand around one of them. He pressed his face against it and softened, "You're gonna be okay, Wanda. Hang in there." She couldn't move any part of her body in fear of being shocked again, but Steve swore he saw the ends of her lips curl upwards slightly in a smile. He lowered his head, "Can you get the bars?" he asked and turned to Natasha.
Natasha loaded the gun once more, "Let's find out." She aimed the gun away from Wanda and sprayed the mist from the gun. Hopefully that it would work as it always had, she waited for the mist to create a hole in the bars. After a few seconds, the mist cloud disappeared... but the cell bars didn't.
Natasha was dumbfounded, "No..." she whispered, "No!"
Wanda closed her eyes and tried not to move. Steve saw a tear trickled down her cheek.
Natasha was unable to function. She felt like she had let everyone down. In a few moments, Ross' men would come and set off an alarm, and then all three of them would be locked up. This is my fault, she thought; even though deep down she knew it wasn't. Her eyes watered, "I..." she began, "I'm so sorry, Wanda..." she fought the urge to cry. Steve rushed to her, stroking her arm.
"It's not your fault, Nat." He whispered.
"I mean... I know, but–"
"Natasha..." Steve interrupted, gripping her arm tighter.
"What?" she looked at him and he looked up at the bars. Natasha followed his eyes and looked at the bars, and what she saw rendered her speechless.
Small puffs of gas began to rise from the bars, like it did the others. As the gas rose, the bars became smaller. They watched in amazement, and once all the gas stopped rising and disappeared from their view... a hole was formed in the bars. Natasha leaned back and gasped.
"You're right – it's all your fault." Steve teased and ran over to the hole. Natasha chuckled slightly and watched him go before joining him inside.
Steve bent down on a knee to examine the collar around her neck and then he exhaled, "There's no off-switch." It got quiet. Wanda lowered her eyes.
Natasha paused, "Okay then... what do we do?"
Steve sighed, "We're gonna have to take it off while it's still on... there's a clamp in the back."
"Won't that hurt her?" Natasha raised her voice.
"You got any better ideas, Natasha?!" Steve turned to her; his expression and tone a mixture of anger and fear.
Natasha sighed. She stepped back and gestured for Steve to continue. He turned to Wanda. "Alright, I'm gonna try and do this as fast as I can. I'm gonna un-clamp the latch in the back and then I'm gonna pull it off, okay?" Wanda blinked knowingly.
"Okay – 1..." he wrapped his hands around her neck to reach the clamp, "2..." Wanda held her breath, "...3." He quickly undid the latch. He felt the heat and electricity developing inside the collar and before it had a chance to shock her or himself, he flung it across the room. The electricity pulsed around it as it landed on the floor, and they watched as it stopped.
Wanda breathed and leaned her head over; coughing. She rested her head against Steve's shoulder. He hesitated for a second, but then he wrapped his arms around her. She began to cry.
Steve rubbed her back. Natasha rushed over and got down on her knees. Wanda looked up and leaned towards Natasha as she extended her arms to hug her.
"I'm so sorry, Wanda..." Natasha apologized in their embrace.
Wanda shook her head, "No. It's not your fault." She raised her head.
Steve helped remove the straitjacket from her body while Natasha removed the cuffs from her ankles with a bobby-pin.
"Alright, we've got to go now." Natasha explained. Her and Steve helped Wanda to her feet. She wobbled slightly.
"Can you walk?" Steve asked with one hand on her back. Wanda nodded, "Yes."
"Okay... can you run?" Natasha asked. Wanda looked at her confused and paused, "What?"
"I'm taking that as a yes – let's go." Natasha pulled on her arm and Steve kept his hand on Wanda's back as they hopped out the hole in the door. Natasha paced to the end of the hall to see if the coast was clear, and then she urged them to follow.
I know I hurt you, Tony. I guess I thought – by not telling you about your parents I was sparing you, but... I can see now I was really sparing myself. I'm sorry. Hopefully one day you can understand.
They walked casually to the stairs on the other side of the floor; trying to avoid drawing attention to themselves. Natasha kept a close eye on their forward surroundings while Steve kept watch behind them. Wanda stayed low in between them.
I wish we agreed on the Accords, I really do. I know you were only doing what you believe in, and that's all any of us can do, it's all any of us should.
They made it to the top of the prison without being spotted. A couple steps away sat a jet with Sam, Clint, & Scott inside and Bucky at the pilot's seat waiting patiently and hopefully for them to arrive.
So no matter what, I promise if you...
They inhaled and walked over to the jet in the same formation they'd kept the entire walk up. They loaded Wanda onto the jet and waited for her to get strapped into her seat. Natasha followed behind her, and then Steve. The platform to the jet closed and Clint turned to them.
If you need us; if you need me...
"Aww darn it," he whined, "we were hoping we'd get to leave without you."
I'll be there.