"Come back to me Runaway." Steve caressed her face and held her close to him. "Come home." He sighed the word home and her heart fluttered. She wanted to go. She wanted to follow him. As he stepped away a wall of glass fell before her, stopping her from stepping with him and another voice sounded out behind her.
"Just as we were beginning to trust you Double Agent." Tony Stark stepped backwards, into the darkness. "Just as I began to care."
"Wait!" She called out as his face swam out of view.
"So disappointing," Madame B whispered behind her, her breath raising the hair on the back of her neck as it brushed past her. "You are weak Talia. Again."
She span to face her and was greeted instead by the sad eyes of Vision as he reached towards her.
"We could have helped you Talia." His voice wavered. "I could have helped you."
"Vision?" She held her hands against the glass as he stepped away from her, shaking his head. "Come back. Please come back."
Steve stepped towards her, placing his hand against the glass, against her own.
"I want to go home Steve." She cried as he looked to the floor, avoiding her eyes.
"You can't." His voice was just a whisper as it tore the world around her into a dark oblivion and she shouted out into the abyss.
*
She woke shaking, a sheen of sweat slick over her body as she cried out. The terror that had pulled her in for so many years tore at her as she lay gasping for breath, a soft blanket she had no recollection of getting thrown over her and a pillow propped beneath her head. She wiped her eyes as she sniffled and she sat up, pushing the blanket from her and wrapping her arms around herself.
"Nightmares, Winter Widow?" Zemo held out a bottle of water, smiling sympathetically as she took it and unscrewed the cap.
"Don't call me that." Talia stared at him as she drank, unsure of his motives.
"If you do not want to wear the mantle of the Winter Widow then we cannot fail here Talia." He looked out of the window to the vast land that sprawled out beneath them as the plane began its descent. "Do you understand."
Talia brought the comfort of Steve's hoodie to her face, breathing in the faint traces of her home, and she closed her eyes. This was their plan all along. Zemo had figured it out; he had the proof.
For years she had been watched. Monitored. Every second of running and hiding had been known; every fight, every broken bone, every second of abuse and heartache endured had been documented by them. They had always known she ran. They had always known she lived and now they wanted to make her their deadliest assassin yet. They wanted their very own Winter Widow.
"I understand." She whispered.
*
Steve...
I am so sorry. I'm okay and I will be home as soon as it is safe, I promise. I can't tell you where I'm going, or what it is that I need to do, but I'm not running. I know this looks like I'm running and I wish I could have told you but I need you to trust me. I love you so much Steve, and it breaks me to do this to you, but I swear I will come back and when I do I won't ever leave again. I am so sorry. I'm doing this to keep you safe. I need to keep you safe. I love you. I love you so much and I will come back.
Please forgive me.
Your Runaway
x
*
Steve stared at the note on her phone. He had read it countless times. He had it memorised, and yet he couldn't tear his eyes from it now.
When he woke he had felt a shift in the atmosphere - like the air had dropped twenty degrees and the light had gone from brilliant white to a dull grey - and his heart felt heavy. Talia was no longer in his arms, and despite Bucky's snores at the foot of the sofa, he felt alone. When his eyes landed on her phone on the coffee table his worry had become abject terror. She hadn't left the compound without her phone since Matthieu...
*
"Rogers, I know. Okay? I know." Tony was furiously typing commands into the computer in front of him as Steve paced the room, frantic energy pouring from him as he tried not to fall apart.
"FRIDAY said she left at 4am Tony, but she just disappears. There's no CCTV, nothing." Steve's voice was shaking with his hands as he reached out to push Tony aside and tried to search for her in the hundreds of faces that filled the screen now. "Tony, I have to find her."
"Cap!" Tony's voice was firm as he placed his hand on Steve's shoulder and pulled him back. "I agree, I do. And I know that right now all you want to do is help. You feel like you need to control this because you are scared, but right now you are making it worse. I can't work with you like this, okay. We have nothing on her Steve. Nada. And I'm going to keep looking, I'm going to find her, but I need you to just wait it out okay."
"I ca-"
"Go sit with Barnes. The two of you are just getting in the way." Tony raised his eyebrows as he looked over at his friend and he tried to remain firm. "As soon as I know something you will know something."
Steve nodded as he passed Tony, his hand still holding tight to her phone, and he felt the grip of his friend's hand on his wrist.
"Cap?"
"Tony."
"We will find her."
Steve felt the wrap of Tony's arms as he pulled him in for a hug, uncharacteristically soft for the man who prided himself with being the emotionless one of the team. He felt Tony pat his back in a sign of comfort and he couldn't hold it anymore. With that Steve crumbled.
*
She had not been here since she was seventeen. She did not want to be here. Staring through the thick fog that was rolling in she scanned her surroundings as she waited for Zemo on the tarmac. She pulled her jacket tighter around her body and shivered as she waited, the creepy old guy from before watching from the top of the stairs.
"Would you like a thicker jacket Miss?" He called down over the roar of the wind.
She shook her head, unwilling to pull her eyes from the empty runway before her, and tried to keep her mind on the task ahead of her.
The rumble of an engine approaching made her turn around and she couldn't help but smirk as Zemo pulled up in a steel blue 1976 Cadillac Eldorado. She knew it wasn't necessarily the fastest car he could have chosen, but she also knew it was a beauty. 500cid V8 engine, construction steel body and chassis, and a top speed of 109 miles per hour. They may not get to their destination quickly, but travelling in the last American Convertible was definitely going to make it less of a bitter sting.
"Get in Talia," Zemo smiled widely as he watched her run her fingers over the hood of the engine before she opened the door. "Our work is about to begin."
She slid in to the passenger seat and sighed a little as she felt the supple leather give way to her. Her fingers instinctively reached for the dial on the radio and she grinned as Zemo pulled away from the jet and put his foot on the gas.
"Seeing as I'm doing this, I get music control." She chewed on her lip, attempting to suppress another smile.
"A fair price to pay, Miss Romanoff."
*
The drive from Minsk to Maryina Horka took just over an hour, but the journey through the depths of the Maryina Horka Forest took its time. The roads were winding and hidden in the darkness and Talia had muted the radio as her mind raced and her heart hammered.
*
She was just five years old and she was sitting in the darkness of the trees, tears streaming as she shook and tried to quiet her sobs.
"Talia?" The singsong of her sister's voice called out to her in the thick of the forest. "Talia, where are you?"
She continued to cry as she heard the cracking of twigs and the footsteps approaching her.
"Talia?" Natasha rushed to her little sister's side and wrapped her in a soft embrace. "What happened?"
"I - I missed the target," she sobbed, "and Madame B took my gun and - she - she hit me."
She shook in her sister's arms as Natasha soothed her, stroking her hair and humming a soft lullaby as she comforted her.
"Next time you will not miss the target Talia." She whispered. "Next time you will not miss."
*
"Are you ready Talia?" Zemo's hushed whisper broke through her memories as she stared blindly before them.
The sun had begun to set as a mist of rain fell above them in the large clearing, hidden deep in the forest. A building that had once stood tall in the heart of the forest was now dark and demolished in places. The decaying walls seemed to lean with the wind that ripped through empty alleyways and broken windowpanes and Talia was transported through time as she looked up at the place that had once been home. The place that had once been hell.
*
"What if you don't want to do it?" Talia whispered in the dead of night, careful not to wake the sleeping girls around them.
"What are you talking about Talia?" Natasha sighed in the dark. "It is part of it all. We know this. We understand this. This is our purpose."
"But what if we want something else?"
"You're speaking in a dangerous way Munch. You know we cannot have anything else - not ever." She rolled onto her side and peered through the darkness at the girl laying across from her. "The graduation ceremony is a right of passage Talia. It's the moment we have trained for and it has to happen." She rolled back, staring at the ceiling to hide her tears as she repeated what Madame B had told her just days before. "We will be grateful when it is done."
*
Talia felt every muscle in her body tense for a fight as she climbed from the car and closed the door behind her. Zemo followed as she approached the crumbling building and her movements slowed.
"Stay here," she ordered, not even turning to look at him. "I'll check it out. If I'm not back in five minutes..." Her voice trailed off as she placed her hand on the thick wood of the grand entrance and took a deep breath. "Well then we have a problem."
Zemo quickly darted up the steps to her side, grabbing her arm as she went to step inside.
"What?" She snapped, her fear building and bubbling into anxiety and anger.
"To keep communication open. If you need me, just ask Miss Romanoff." He held out a small earpiece for her and turned to show her his already in place. "We do this together, so that you can return home."
She nodded calmly and slipped the earpiece into place, watching as he retreated to the car. When she pushed open the door it was like her whole life had come crashing around her in memories she did not want to recall.
*
"It is broken Sir," the small girl cried.
"I said again!" The man had watched them dance for four hours without break, hitting them when they fell, making them do it over and over again.
Their feet bled and their ankles were swelling as the pressure of pointe began to break them.
Talia stumbled as she got back to her feet, ignoring the screaming fire burning in her ankle as she tried once more to get into position and perform.
"She should not be dancing," the girl continued, pleading for the teenager who had been kind to her when she was brought here, not understanding the price for such insubordination.
"Alina," Talia whispered, her eyes cold as she stared at the child, "stop."
"But your foot..."
The crack of the cane echoed around them as the child held her hand to her face, tears now mixing with the crimson of her blood and Talia closed her eyes. She closed her eyes to shut off her mind, where the image of the bleeding child who tried to help her would now be forever burned.
*
Her footsteps echoed around her as she walked the length of the hallways and into the spaces that had haunted her for over a decade and her fingers ran over dusty banisters and broken glass. Above her the ceiling was falling apart. Gaping holes now took the place of previously ornate marble flooring. Walls had been torn down and small trees grew out of the floorboards. This place that had once held her prisoner was now the shell of its former self.
She raised her finger to her earpiece and sighed.
"No one is here Zemo." Her voice bounced around the empty building and flew back to her. "No one has been here in years. You brought me back here for nothing."
There was nothing but silence over the coms line.
"Zemo?"
Talia's palms were sweaty and her knees began to shake as she waited for a response. She could feel the skin of her neck prickling with anticipation.
When he finally responded there was an edge to his voice. Anger perhaps?
"Miss Romanoff." No. The shake of his voice, the tremor, the way it seemed to contain both too much breath and not enough in one go, nothing said anger. Zemo was afraid. "Miss Romanoff, run!"
The echo of the gunshot ripped through the space around her and she tore the earpiece out quickly, her ear ringing from the crackle of the shot, her mind reeling and vomit rising in her throat. She could hear nothing but her blood thumping in her veins and the horrific echo of death as she spun on her heel ready to run, unsure of where to go.
A sudden jolt of pain pushed her to the floor and the metal pole that had just been used to smash into her skull clattered as it dropped beside her. As her eyes closed and darkness came she heard just one whisper.
"Welcome home Winter Widow."