Romanogers Stories

Civil War Part 3

Natasha's POV

Of course he didn't listen. I really shouldn't be surprised anymore. Not concerning him at least.

"This is what making things worse looks like," I grumble as I meet them in the hall.

"I couldn't just let them catch him," Steve responds.

"And that's exactly what you did," I snap. 

Sam looks uncomfortable at our exchange. T'Challa just looks impassive, and ready to murder Barnes.

I branch off from the group as Steve is lead into a room with Stark. I knew that would end well.

I watched Barnes through the security camera as the interrogation began. I still felt something fishy going on. I hated that I couldn't see who was interrogating him. 

So, I did what I do best. Spy.

I snuck my way down to where he was being questioned and it was then I heard words I never wanted to hear again.

His trigger words.

This man wasn't the one who was supposed to interrogate him. It had to be the man that set off the bomb, and he was just about to make things worse.

I hit the button on the wall, causing the doors to open and security measures go off, but I didn't care at that point. I had to stop the man before the Winter Soldier was back. Once the doors were open, I was immediately kicked back.

Ouch.

I looked up to see Barnes, but as the Winter Soldier. He had been triggered. I see the man still in the room and I make a move for him, only to be stopped by Barnes again.

"Natalia Romanova," the man smirks.

He had an accent. German? No. Close to Russian. Kind of like Wanda's. Sokovian. 

"I never thought I'd get the two of you together." He chuckles darkly. "Fire. Ballet. Ice. Red. Black. Nineteen."

I cover my ears to avoid hearing the other words, but Barnes pulls my arms away as the man continues.

Soon, there are footsteps that move our way and the man leaves, Barnes following close behind. I was left on the floor, my hands still over my ears, my mind fighting against itself.

I feel someone's presence in front of me and I lash out, hitting the target, causing a groan of pain.

"Easy, Natasha, it's me," Steve says, slightly cautious.

"Steve?" I ask in confusion.

"What happened? Are you alright?" he inquires, crouching down in front of me.

I go to respond, but a sharp pain pierces my head and I hold it tighter. I hear Steve call out to me, but it's muddled. Images I'd long ago locked up flash through my mind and it's rattling. Much more so than when Wanda triggered my past a couple years ago. 

The pain begins to dull and I slowly remove my hands from my face. Steve looks at me in concern, but I shake my head. He looks like he wants to push the issue, but thinks better of it.

"He's the Winter Soldier again, isn't he?" he asks after a moment.

I nod.

"Did he hurt you?"

"No more than normal," I respond. No need to know anything about our past, not yet.

Steve holds out a hand and I take it. That man had almost succeeded in turning me back into the monster I was. I wasn't going to let that happen. I couldn't. As dangerous as Barnes was, I was much worse.

We look at each other before going back up, following the trail of destruction he had left as he tried to escape.

Steve's POV

I was worried about her. I had never seen her in pain like that. I know Buck must've hit her, but it seemed deeper than that. She seemed to not be fully coherent. 

When I went to ask about it, she just shook her head. Despite the fact I wanted to push the issue, I let it slide, for now. 

We had bigger problems to deal with. 

I held out my hand, helping her to her feet. Then we followed the trail of destruction he had wrought. 

When we found him, Sharon was fighting him. I still wasn't sure how I felt about her. She lied about being my neighbor, who she was, and that she was related to Peggy. 

Natasha had kept pushing me towards her. Did she know the whole time? Knowing her, she probably did. But now was not the time to think about that. I had to stop Bucky before he killed someone.

He flipped Sharon over and slammed her down on a table, it shattering on impact. I knew she'd be down for a few minutes. Natasha runs from my side, slamming her knee into his stomach. He grunts as the air is knocked out of him. And she takes advantage of that, even as he takes a swing at her. She jumps on his shoulders, spinning up to a sitting position and slams her elbow on his head repetitively. He then grabs her by the waist, picking her up and slamming her down on another table. He locks her in a choke hold with his metal arm. I go to step in when T'Challa slams into him. 

I follow them, stopping to check on Carter and Natasha, both of which were fine, well, Natasha was better than Carter, but she said she take care of her.

Bucky had made it to the roof, getting into a helicopter. I knew I had to stop him, so I ran to the edge, grabbing one of the rails. I don't know how I managed it, but I pulled it back, almost getting chopped up by the blades as he turned it into me. 

Then he jumped off the roof, and I followed. He had been bruised pretty badly after the rough landing. I landed in the water much more gracefully than he had.

He was unconscious when I got to him, so I pulled him to shore and away from prying eyes.

I hoped everyone was okay, but I needed Bucky to be. I needed to know what happened, from his perspective. I needed him safe, knowing that this had caused the split in the Avengers to become much worse and most likely permanent.

The next time I saw Natasha, it would be facing off against each other. Against the rest of the team. She was supportive of Accords and the ideas Ross stated. 

Why she had been helping me so far, I did not know. She had to know it would get her in trouble. 

I couldn't focus on the negative now. I had to concentrate on Bucky.

There was no going back from this.