The Ghost [Marvel | Steve Rogers]

Chapter 44

Leipzig, Germany

Spring 2016

As with a great deal the past couple days, things were certainly not going as Nadine had hoped. Though, she did have to admit, they were also going just about as expected.

Stark was not interested in bending. Though, from her read of him through the scope of her rifle up on the roof of the airport's brick administration building and what Steve's mic was picking up of their conversation?

It wasn't exactly his choice, either.

Stark was under a lot of pressure and he was getting desperate. Undoubtedly thanks to the one and only Secretary Ross, she mused, her nose inadvertently wrinkling with irritation. He was the one who'd imposed the time limit on Tony's directive to bring them in, after all, so it seemed pretty clear that, a much as Stark was trying to moderate the former General's hard-line stance, he was quickly realizing Ross was simply far too hostile toward Enhanced persons to be influenced.

She really didn't like that man...

And that was why she honestly felt a modicum of sympathy for Stark despite the position he'd put them in.

Because unlike Ross, Stark respected his conscience...mostly because he actually had one. She'd seen him falter when Steve mentioned the existence of the other Winter Soldiers. She'd seen the flicker of doubt. And she was fairly certain Steve had too.

He knew Stark a whole lot better than she did, after all.

Of course, Stark had doubled down then, pushing the flicker of doubt aside; doubt and insecurity were things she knew the billionaire did not handle well. Just as they'd been afraid of.

What was even more concerning even if it wasn't entirely surprising? Stark had two new recruits of his own.

One of which was the new King of Wakanda.

Nadine had nearly winced when T'Challa had leapt into view down on the tarmac where Steve was facing off with Stark, Rhodes and Nat.

While she was wary about 'Spider-Man,' as he'd introduced himself, and the slick way he'd simultaneously disarmed and bound Steve's hands with what looked unsettlingly like spiderwebs, she was far more genuinely worried about T'Challa. Though they hadn't spoken about him much in the interim between Berlin and Leipzig, Barnes and Steve had said enough.

T'Challa was dangerous.

Especially since the Wakandan was intent on seeking his revenge on Barnes.

"So we've got Stark, Rhodes, these two new guys and Nat," Barton listed lowly through the earpieces as Stark, Steve and the kid—he sounded troublingly young to Nadine—went back and forth, "any sign of Vision?"

"Maybe he didn't come?" Pietro offered with a faint tone of optimism, "maybe whatever Wanda did to him kept him benched?" Nadine hummed, unconvinced. She shifted once more in the course of her sweep of the airport. Redwing glinted through her scope, heading toward the North runway, but that was the only movement she caught.

"Good news for us as it would be not to have him on the field, we can't count on it," Nadine murmured back. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Pietro deflate.

Down below, Stark's temper was rising, the thread of desperation Nadine had detected earlier becoming even more pronounced in his voice.

And it was quickly clear why.

"You're gonna turn Barnes over, you're gonna come with us, now!" Stark snapped angrily, sounding distant, relayed as his voice was through the earpieces Clint had brought, "because it's us! Or a squad of J-SOC guys, with no compunction about being impolite." Nadine stiffened before forcing herself to relax once more. She could read between the lines easily enough even without the trace of anxious dread in Stark's voice. Ross was contemplating a kill order.