Romanogers Stories

CW Part 6

A/N: This hairstyle is for later in the chapter. 

**WARNING: This one is beginning to spiral down a darker path.**

**Quick Recap for the end of CW Part 5** (cause it has been a while)

CW Part 5 ended with Natasha turning her back on Team Iron Man, letting Steve and Bucky go, subsequently branding herself a traitor. The last thing she saw before her world went dark was the quinjet with Steve and Bucky flying overhead.

Steve's POV

It had been weeks since the incident at the airport and both sides were suffering. I'd heard Rhodey had been paralyzed from the waist down and that weighed heavily on my mind. Several members of my team had been imprisoned on the Raft, which was supposed to be impossible to infiltrate, but I'd managed it, barely. Thanks to lessons from Natasha.

She had been surprisingly absent from the prison cells. It made me wonder if she managed to get away or if she were somewhere else.

I'd never meant for any of this to happen, but I just couldn't agree with the Accords. It felt wrong and inhuman.

"Did any of you ever see Nat while you were there?" I ask them before we part ways.

"None of us saw her, Steve," Clint replies. "She was taken away before the rest of us. Ross must have her elsewhere."

Shit. I needed to find her. There was no telling what he would do to her. We all knew how much he hated her and wanted her gone.

I searched for weeks, but she was nowhere to be found.

It wasn't until I saw Ross doing a press release about the Accords that I saw something I never wanted to see.

She was with him.

And that wasn't what bothered me. It was how she looked.

Her vibrant red hair was shaved along the sides, and a little longer on top. She wore dog tags that hung down her chest. Her suit was black much like usual, but more tactical. One arm was covered by a sleeve, and the other was bare, revealing an angry mark, in the same spot the star on Bucky's arm was. It was a blood red hourglass. And that wasn't the worst part. Blood ran down from the symbol. Ross probably did it to show her no matter how hard she tried, she would never be good. She would never be anything better than what they made her.

He'd marked her for the monster she was. He was proving to her that's what she was. He'd made her a soldier, when she was no such thing. She was everything she hated.

What hurt me the most was the haunted look in her eyes and the mask she wore. It was an exact copy of Bucky's.

"What are you looking--what the hell?" Sam asks, as he moves into the small living room of our current residence.

"Steve, are you alright?" Wanda worries as she comes running in. "I could feel your anger flare."

I storm away from the television. I couldn't look at her anymore.

A gasp from the living room reveals she knows why.

I was already angry at Ross for other issues, now, he was going to regret ever laying a hand on her. I knew he purposely made her new look to target me. He knew how I felt about Bucky and this was a way for him to hurt me.

Well...

He'd pissed off the wrong soldier.

It was late evening when I went back into the small cottage. I just had to get away from it all, hope it was just some dream.

If only we were so lucky.

"What's going on?" Bucky asks as I walk back in.

"They didn't tell you?" I snap.

He recoils slightly and my shoulders droop in response.

"Sorry."

"Steve, we've been keeping an eye on the news. He's making another announcement tonight," Wanda comments from the living room. "Should be in a few minutes."

As much as I didn't want to, I wanted to see her again. Not like this, but we had to plan. I needed to see where we stood.

Soon, we're gathered around the television.

"I'm surprised Clint hasn't called. He'd be furious about this," Wanda thinks aloud. "Maybe he hasn't seen the news yet."

Ross makes his way to the podium, Nat following by his side. She was still armed with a gun like Bucky had, and in the same outfit as earlier.

"Natalia?"

We all turn to Bucky in confusion.

"What the hell did he do to her?!" He snarls.

They watch as a guard drags someone up on the stage.

They force the person to their knees and Ross motions for Nat to come forward.

Ross pulls the brown sack of the person's head and to everyone's horror, it reveals Clint.

Nat didn't move. Her eyes were fixed on him, her body taut with fear.

"This is what happens to those who do not follow orders," Ross commands from the podium. "The world cannot be allowed to continue where persons of inhuman status roam uncontrolled. No one would be safe. This is what the Sokovia Accords were built for. For those to work for us, not for themselves. And anyone refusing will meet his fate."

He looks to Natasha and she raises her gun. Clint turns to look her in the eye and he doesn't show fear. No...his eyes shine with unshed tears. Probably for his family, and for his best friend.

What did Ross have on her to make her do this?

It's several tense moments before a gunshot sounds and Clint's body falls lifelessly to the ground.

Natasha hadn't shot. So who did?

A man in all black steps out onto the stage, placing a gun into its holster. He was built, much like I was, but with dark brown hair and green eyes.

"Take her away," Ross growls.

Natasha stares down at Clint's body, tears in her eyes, but she didn't let them fall. She wouldn't show that kind of weakness to anyone.

The man grabs hold of her gun, smacking her across the face with it before locking it in a holster on his back. Then he grabs her by the back of the neck and pushes her roughly offstage.

"Alexei," Bucky growls darkly. Both hands were in fists as he tried to stay calm.

"This is a warning for all who fall under the Sokovia Accords. You have two weeks before we use force."

Sam turns off the tv and Bucky runs his real hand through his hair.

"We have to get her out of there," he breathes shakily.

"How do you know her? And the man who forced her offstage?" I inquire, fearing his answer.

"I trained her," he replies, looking up in sadness and guilt. "She was the best student I had, and she brought out the humanity in me. If it weren't for her, I wouldn't be as stable as I am now. And that man...damn him...is her ex-husband...Alexei Shostakov."