To The Moon And Back (Fanfic)

Prologue

     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 remarked, arms crossed below his breastbone. He flashed a teasing grin. And although it hadn't been too long since Steve had seen it worn proudly across his lips like a shade of lipstick, it felt as though he hadn't seen it in ages.

     Steve huffed a short laugh from the opposite side of Sam's cell bars, "This is cozy." The room was shaped like a disc with six large cells aligning the outermost circle, facing inward. Each cell had a twin sized mattress with white sheets and pillows, paired with a steel frame, and a metal stool in the corner closest to the bars. 

     "Hospitality doesn't quite serve in Ross' best interests." 

     "Or any government officials', for that matter," a voice jested from the darkness. 

     Sam looked beyond Steve to see Natasha Romanoff emerge into the faint light with her eyebrows raised. "Look who decided to join the party," he said. Sarcastic emphasis on "party." 

     "I'm just visiting." Natasha quipped.

     Sam rolled his eyes. "Ha, ha – jokes – do you mind getting to it?" he asked. He patted the bars to his cell, trailing his hands along the metal as he pressed on in a ramble."And just out of curiosity, how'd the two of you slip in unnoticed? What, with the entire place under--"

     Natasha interrupted to finish Sam's sentence, and the two of them said simultaneously, "Twenty-four hour surveillance." He stopped speaking, amused and not at all surprised that she was already one step ahead.

     "I may have 'borrowed' some Tony-tech on the way here," Natasha hinted. 

     After her confrontation with Stark at the Compound, Natasha disappeared from the grid for some time to regroup and to sort things out - with Tony's threat deeming it even more so necessary for to remove herself from the picture until further notice. During that time, she thought about Steve and Bucky and how she had helped them escape to wherever. I did the right thing, she told herself, no matter how many times outside forces prompted her to believe otherwise.

     But Natasha worried about the duo, Steve and Bucky, and knowing that Cap's team had been sentenced to time in jail for their actions brought guilt upon her morals. She knew where the prison facility was located. It took time, but Natasha soon forced herself to admit that she and Tony no longer shared a unified perspective on the Sokovia Accords or the airport brawl that took place in its response. It was around such a time that she extended her help to Steve.

     Nothing had changed in the way the two of them worked together once reunited. She and Steve worked efficiently as always and were conscious of the repercussions they would face if the jail-break went south. Nevertheless, if there was one thing Natasha had learned about Steve in their partnership, it was that he doesn't abandon or give up on his friends. This was something that she she initially found overrated, but grew to strongly admire about him after seeing that it made him not only a reliable partner to work with but also a loyal friend to lean on in distress. It's why she worked so well with him rather than other agents. 

     Playing to her strengths, Natasha stopped by Stark Industry's and "borrowed" (a.k.a "stole") a few helpful items from Tony's desk-drawer in his office along with some remains of SHIELD tools. After all, Stark was, if nothing else, a genius-billionaire. 

     "How 'bout that?" came a voice from behind. The three of them; Natasha, Steve, and Sam, turned their heads. Clint Barton had his body pressed against his cell bars, his interest peaked.