The Ghost [Marvel | Steve Rogers]

Chapter 18

She just needed to let herself trust her little sister with her biggest secret first.

But Nina was worth it.

She only came back from the dark place deep inside her own head at the sound of several different treads approaching.

As she looked up from where she sat, the very person she desperately needed to see walked into view.

Natasha's eyes went wide as she stopped in her tracks, shocked nearly into silence...nearly. "Nadya! What—how—what are you doing here?!" As Natasha all but stuttered with surprise, the rest of her companions were filing in after her, each freezing upon seeing Nadine sitting in a sleek, dove-grey pant-suit with measured poise on one of the couches in the heart of the Avenger's Tower.

"Wait, Intruder Alert anyone? Who is this?" Tony Stark was the first after Natasha to react, his abrupt exclamation feeling like a nail driving into Nadine's temple. Natasha, startled from her surprise, shot the billionaire a quelling look, silencing the man before he could make any more snappy quips. Satisfied that she'd made her point, the redheaded assassin turned back to her old friend, warily climbing to the level where Nadine sat on one of the cream-coloured couches. Steeling herself and pushing away the simmering rage and the anxious fear vibrating in her chest, Nadine stood, her grey eyes fixing on Natasha.

"Natalia, I need your help." The look of wide-eyed shock appeared again on Natasha's face at the blonde's bluntness, even more so than a mere moment before. "I—I don't know who else to go to, lisichka," she added softly in Russian, her nerves and her discomfort getting the better of her. Natasha didn't immediately answer her, searching Nadine's face as her mind worked furiously. A sudden flicker of uneasy supposition appeared in her sharp green eyes.

"That doesn't answer the one, very salient question that is still unanswered: who are you, and how did you get up here?" Nadine grit her teeth at Stark's renewed questioning, his irreverent tone laced with wary but genuine curiosity. Stark, along with the handful of other people who had appeared the same time Natasha had—Rogers and Barton among them, looks of recognition appearing on their faces—were slowly making their own way up to the level where Nadine had been waiting for Natasha to return. A look of utter frustration passed over Natasha' face as Nadine's expression threatened to close off at the interruption before she rounded on the billionaire.

"Shut up, Tony," Natasha snapped, sending the man a second, harsher glare. Stark looked taken aback, blinking widely in surprise. Had Nadine not been so fretful and fixated on her purpose in the Avenger's Tower, she might have been tempted to snicker at the unsympathetic looks he got from the other members of his team. Natasha's worried green eyes turned back to Nadine.

"Nadya? What's going on?" The genuine worry in her little sister's voice was enough to crack through the wall Nadine had struggling to keep her anxieties behind, setting her fear loose. She'd barely dared hope that Natasha would even want to help... Almost instantly Nadine's hands began trembling. Natasha's eyes went wide again as they fixed on the blonde's slender hands, fear and concern of her own flickering in the green depths.

In an instant Natasha had closed the space between then, reaching out to clasp Nadine's cold fingers in her own.

"What's happened," she asked, switching to Russian herself, easily picking up on Nadine's anxiety as the blonde's walls threatened to crumble further, "I've never seen you so scared." Nadine drew in a shuddering breath, her grip tightening painfully on Natasha's. Natasha didn't even flinch.

"They took my daughter," she blurted out, not even realizing she'd reverted to English. This time Natasha's brow furrowed, bewildered shock flashing across her face.