Summary: A Black Widow rewrite in a universe where Bucky and Natasha escaped the Red Room together.
His head is clear. For the first time in decades, there are no triggers hiding between memories and no fear that someone may be able to turn him back into the machine that he was. The Wakandan princess had assured them of it; she'd had Natalia test the words and everything. It was confirmed: He's finally free of them.
Unfortunately, the reason he'd finally got the help he needed was that the words had come back to haunt him in a very public, very disastrous way.
The Accords are a disaster. He knows that. He also knows that between her mornings with him and afternoons plotting on how to break into the Raft with Steve, Natalia has been working furiously on rewriting them. She isn't publicly involved because, officially, she's in hiding, but T'Challa appreciates her input. James knows she's brilliant at wordplay, so it's really no surprise that she's turned it into her own little side mission while he finishes recovering and they wait to break out the others.
Once the Raft has been emptied of her teammates, it's time for them to take the next step.
T'Challa is welcoming and kind, but they don't want to overstay their welcome. There's one last feast and one last night of laughter, and then they all leave.
Steve ends up somewhere in Ireland with Wanda nearby, Sam and Clint take plea deals to go home, and he and Natalia say they're heading to France, but go to Norway instead. They can't help it; being on the run makes both of them more paranoid than they already are and seeing as General Ross is primarily after them, they mutually decide that it will be safer for the others if they simply don't know where they go.
Natalia connects with Mason and James hotwires a car. On the way, they contact General Ross, tell him to fuck off in not so many words, and go dark. No phone, no laptop, nothing. Just them and the Norwegian countryside.
At least, it will be once Mason actually gives them the keys to their trailer and leaves. Natalia, however, prolongs his departure when she catches sight of a box sitting in the kitchen.
"What's this?" She glances inside, brow furrowed, and gives nothing away.
"I pulled it from the Budapest safe house," Mason answers.
James and Natalia share a look.
"Yeah, neither of you is using it," Mason reminds them, "so I found another interested party."
"We don't want it." Natalia shoves the box toward Mason, but he doesn't take it.
He shrugs. "Then throw it out."
He tosses James the keys, salutes them both mockingly, and finally leaves the property. While James doesn't mind Mason as a person, the man does not represent a particularly great part of his life: when safehouses were a necessity and he and Natalia were breathing targets for everyone. He tries not to let it show, though.
While Natalia steps away from the box, James peers inside. It's just a few tattered shirts and a briefcase he doesn't recognize, but he's not that worried. The things they left behind in Budapest hold no value to them and for all he knows, the briefcase is just one of those things that happened to escape his mind.
They spend the rest of the afternoon settling in. Natalia makes them pancakes for dinner because James promises to make it worth her while (and she's the only one capable of making the stove work), and when night falls, he makes popcorn because the supersoldier serum ensures they're both hungry only a couple of hours after dinner.
"What are we watching?" he asks in Russian, joining her on the little sofa bed that they had made good use of just a few minutes ago.
Natalia doesn't give him an answer, but she does give him a shit-eating grin and that's answer enough.
They're only halfway through when the power cuts out.
"Fucking Mason," James grumbles. He gets up to check the generator only to poke his head inside a minute later and say, "It's empty. I'll have to run into town for more gas."
"I'll come." Natalia unwraps herself from the quilts and grabs the box Mason left for them. "We can dump this as well."
Together, they climb in the old Jeep they stole out of Stockholm and make their way into the nearest town. Neither of them speaks Norwegian, but Natalia still turns on the radio loud enough that he can't tell if she's on pitch or not when she attempts to sing along to the music. He can, however, tell that the words she's saying are just gibberish.
He laughs at her, shaking his head as he turns a corner. Before the impact even comes, he braces himself and throws an arm across Natalia's chest.
The Jeep crashes into the side of the bridge and tips precariously forward, but his first priority is Natalia. After being assured that she's fine, they both wrangle their way out of the Jeep and end up fighting what has to be a robot. It anticipates their moves even before they make them and as a metal shield soars over his head, James realizes that the thing is mimicking their teammates.
Natalia's the one that gets a lucky hit and the moment it's clear, they both go flying over the bridge and into ice-cold water.
Spluttering and coughing, they stumble ashore and quickly find cover. He doesn't get a word out before she's talking a mile a minute.
"Yelena," she says breathlessly, "it was from Yelena. The box that Mason left us in the trailer had these―" She holds up a fistful of vials― "which is what that thing was after, but there was also a photo of us when we were younger and―Goddammit!"
She pulls at her hair and takes a shaky breath.
"I thought she was dead," she mutters, dropping to the ground. James follows, checking to make sure she isn't injured even as she curls in on herself. "I thought she was dead, but she's not and I just left her there―"
Her voice cracks and James hastily pulls her to him. She lets him, but her hands stay firmly around the vials that she's tied together with a hair tie.
"It's alright, Natalia," he promises, pressing a kiss to her head. "We know where she's at. She's okay now."
"You don't know that!" Natalia cries and it breaks his heart just a little. "I left her alone, in the Red Room, and I'll never forgive myself for it."
Unfortunately, he knows she isn't exaggerating.
"It'll be okay," he echoes. "If she's contacting you, then she must have gotten out. We can go get her."
It takes a little bit longer before Natalia stands, but he knows he won't have to convince her. When she's finally caught her breath and dried her tears, she nods and they both get to their feet.
They have to lay low until the masked attacker leaves, but when it does, they're able to hotwire a car from a nearby village and within two days, they're on a flight to Budapest with a single carryon between them and a stashed duffel bag of weapons in the cargo hold.
* * * * *
Yelena almost shoots them, but James isn't really surprised.
He lets Natalia meet her first and stays up high where he can survey the area. It doesn't take long for trouble to find them and he barely makes it into the apartment in time―hastily explaining to Yelena that no, he is not there to kill either of them―before the ceiling caves in and they're being shot at again.
They don't all fit on Yelena's motorcycle, so Natalia steals an SUV and the door is promptly ripped off, but the masked attacker is back again and has a goddamn bazooka. The missing car door is the least of their worries.
"Here!" Natalia grabs Yelena's arm, pulling her down the subway stairs and James follows quickly.
Natalia is brilliant and he loves her for it, but he's also terrified of whatever the hell is chasing them and what it means for them. She forces them both into an air vent and Yelena grumbles and whines, but neither he nor she criticizes Natalia's plan.
That night, they tend to Yelena's arm, steal a car, and he finally gets a chance to doze off while the sisters talk softly in the front seat. It isn't until morning that he learns just what Yelena had told Natalia before he'd barged into the Budapest safehouse.
Tucked under his arm on a beat-up sofa, Natalia all but whispers the news that Dreykov is alive.
"We killed him," James hisses in Russian. Yelena's fast asleep in the other room and he knows she speaks the language, but he's so used to addressing Natalia in Russian that that's just the language he chooses right now.
"I thought so," Natalia murmurs. She isn't meeting his eyes. "Yelena says he just moved out of sight. He's still training Widows but this time, he's taking inspiration from the both of us."
He frowns but when she clarifies, he almost wishes she hadn't.
"Chemical subjugation," she says. "He's using some sort of chemical compound to take control of their minds because―"
She swallows and glances in the direction Yelena is in. He can see the guilt flood her face.
"Because I broke through the conditioning," she whispers, catching his eye only briefly, "and you figured out how to keep your memories."
He understands her guilt now, but Yelena interrupts before he can tell her that it isn't either of their faults.
"God, you two are gross." She wrinkles her nose at them but James doesn't see what she means. "You and your―" She waves her hand in their direction― "affection."
Natalia snorts and moves away from where she'd been tucked under his arm. He pretends like he doesn't miss her.
"I already called Mason," Natalia announces. "He'll meet us with a jet in three hours."
"Great," Yelena says, "then we have two hours for breakfast."
* * * * *
They rescue Alexei in an avalanche and a rainstorm of bullets, but it's the most fun that James has had since the disaster with the Accords in Germany. For once, he feels alive and gets high on adrenaline. Alexei's presence effectively kills his mood.
"Goddamn," he mutters, sharing a look with Natalia when Yelena finally snaps.
She just nods, then slips away to give Alexei a piece of her own mind, and James is left with Yelena.
"You good?" he questions softly. She nods sharply. "Cause," he muses, a tilt of his head, "you don't have to be, you know? Families can suck."
"What would you know about families, Winter Soldier?"
It's a little harsher than he thinks he deserves, but he doesn't take it personally. Yelena has no idea who he was before the Red Room and he doubts she knows who he is now. Instead of flaunting his happier past life, though, he simply shrugs.
"Take it from an old man," he says, and it works because she smiles. "Families can suck, but they're almost always worth it."
"Yeah," she chuckles. He doesn't think she means it when she says, "Sure."
With his headset pulled back on his head, Alexei interrupts whatever other words of wisdom James would have tried to offer by announcing that Melina Vostokoff is in Saint Petersburg and they must go there immediately.
Yelena taps the fuel indicator. "Uh, we're not going to make it to Saint Petersburg."
"We'll make it!"
James shares a doubtful look with Yelena at Alexei's exclamation and she purses her lips.
With a shake of her head, she concedes. "Okay."
* * * * *
They crash in an empty field miles away from Melina's home and bicker the entire walk there.
* * * * *
Of all the plans they've made so far, James hates this one the most. Not because it's a bad plan, but because it's a good one and he knows he can't argue with it.
Yelena passes him one of the vials with the mind control antidote and he takes Melina's motorcycle into the city. From there, he returns to Wakanda and gives it to Shuri in hopes that she can replicate it for them. In the meantime, Natalia, Yelena, Melina, and Alexei infiltrate the Red Room, which is apparently now in the goddamn sky.
It's agonizing to leave, but only because he knows how difficult it will be for Natalia to stand in front of Dreykov after all these years. Nightmares will resurface and neither will sleep for the next several weeks, but there's nothing he can do about it. They need to replicate the antidote and since he and Natalia are currently on not-great terms with Stark, their only other option is Wakanda.
It takes two days for Shuri to replicate the antidote safely and when it's done, he agrees to meet Yelena outside of Belarus to pick it up.
He's seen the fallout from their infiltration on the news so he knows they were successful, but he still hardly sleeps during the time he spends in Wakanda and the private flight back up north. They were loud, drawing the attention of enough news outlets that he knows Ross will have heard about it, so he doesn't contact Natalia when he arrives in Europe or when he's done with Yelena. They'd made a plan before he left and he'll stick to it.
Unfortunately for James's peace of mind, they had not agreed on when they would meet. He'd assumed she would go there as soon as she ensured Yelena and the others were safe, but she isn't there when he arrives and two days later, she's still nowhere to be seen.
Almost a week after the fallout, he gets a call in the middle of the night. The number is familiar, but he's groggy with sleep so he doesn't immediately know why that is.
He grunts into the phone.
"James?" She almost laughs and his eyes widen.
"Natalia!"
"Yes, it's me." She's speaking English; it's strange since she should be between here and Russia, but he doesn't read into it. "Are you there?"
"Got here a week ago," he tells her. She apologizes. "It's okay, I met Yelena and caught up on sleep."
There's a very long pause then makes him frown.
"I'll be there in three days, okay?" she says. There's a noise on her end of the receiver and she grumbles something he doesn't catch. "Don't call back," she instructs sharply. "Three days. I promise."
She hangs up and James is left in the dark, both literally and metaphorically as it is 2am and he has no idea what she's up to. He'll find out in three days, though, he supposes.
* * * * *
Three days later and Natalia is late. It's well past sundown and although she never specified the time she would arrive, it was understood that it would be before sundown.
He paces for a while, trying to work out all of his nervous energy, then reaches for his phone.
She'd said not to call back and he didn't plan on it, but he did consider contacting Yelena. It was entirely possible she had asked Natalia for another favor and neither had had the time to let him know. Even if that wasn't the case, perhaps Yelena would know where she'd gone. Or if her flight was late.
He's snapped out of his thoughts by scratching at the door. He hesitates, but only until he hears Natalia's voice muffled through the door. In two steps, he's pulling the door open and face to face with a battered and bruised Natalia.
"Hey, Soldat," she says with a soft smile. "I missed you."
He pulls her into a tight hug before she's even finished speaking. She groans, but he flips the lock before turning to assess her injuries. Predictably, she brushes off his concern.
"Just bruises," she assures him. "Tony took care of the rest."
"Stark?" James echoes.
It does explain why she'd spoken English over the phone; if she'd been with Stark, she would have had the decency to at least let him understand what she was saying on his phone. It also explains why he had recognized the number even in his sleepy state of mind. However, there is no logical reason for her to have gone to New York after her stunt in Russia.
Natalia nods hesitantly and he frowns.
"What happened, Nastasya?" he asks carefully.
"Spent three days with Ross," she answers reluctantly and James's breath catches in his throat. "Tony got wind of it."
Three days in the Raft; three days with General Ross. God, there's no telling what they had put her through, and right after the stress of the Red Room and Dreykov. He hopes against all odds that Ross didn't think to take her blood; they've come this far, keeping her serum a secret.
"Cho looked me over," she tells him, relaying a list of her injuries. "Most were from dealing with Dreykov, actually."
It is not reassuring, so he pulls her into the bathroom and she lets him fret over her. As he works, she tells him that Melina and Alexei took in the girls they had found at the Red Room. She talks about Yelena and how she is hunting down the rest of them. Then she mentions their masked attacker and her voice is soft.
"It was Antonia," she murmurs. James's hands pause. "She didn't die like we thought, either, and Dreykov turned her into his own personal task master."
The news twists James's gut until he fears he might be sick.
With a gentle hand on his face, Natalia presses a reassuring kiss to his lips and promises that the girl is safe now. She's with Melina and Alexei and all the other girls.
"We never could have known what Dreykov would do," she says.
He sighs and drops his head to her shoulder. She's sitting on the bathroom counter, shirtless and covered in bruises, but she's breathing and she doesn't falter when he leans into her a little too desperately.
"I'm glad you killed him," James tells her. And even now, they can't be certain that she did, but the alternative is too much to think about.
"Me too," she echoes in agreement. "Me too."