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A knock on the back door caught all three of the men's attention. Sam got off of the couch to answer it, leaving Steve and Bucky in the living room together. The three of them had been working out some sort of game plan to retrieve Marlena since ten in the morning, but they couldn't exactly do very much without a location, nor could they do anything without talking to Natasha first. Steve had managed to get in contact with Maria earlier and informed her of the situation, to which she was more than happy to help them out with. Her only issue was keeping the information away from Tony, but with her intelligence and her mindset it should be a fairly simple task for her.
Natasha, however, was a completely different story. She was very particular about the missions she took part in, and Steve feared she would brush this one off as seemingly unimportant and decide not to help them. Bucky also played a part in it as well. Steve was afraid she wouldn't want to help because he was involved. He had tried to kill her, and although Bucky was Steve's best friend, Natasha didn't take things like that very lightly. It was part of the reason why Steve refused to explain the situation to her over the phone; he felt that he had a better chance of convincing her to help if he was able to speak with her in a civilized manner. Steve knew better than anyone that they needed Natasha with them on the mission—with her they would have a better chance at retrieving Marlena, at least in Steve's opinion they would.
"What is so important that I needed to leave New York for, Steven?" Natasha's voice echoed throughout the small house, catching the attention of Bucky and Steve.
The two of them turned to see Natasha strolling into the room, her pin straight, shoulder-length red hair bouncing as she walked. She held an almost-emotionless expression on her face, much like she did throughout her days, but the moment she saw Bucky sitting on the couch beside Steve, her entire demeanor changed. She stopped and stared at the former assassin with her jaw clenched, and her green eyes glazed over with anger and slight fear.
Bucky (or the Winter Soldier in Natasha's case) was the one person in the world Natasha had truly been afraid of, as well as the person she was currently most angry with. She knew he was Steve's dearest friend, but she hadn't forgotten that he had tried to murder both him and her—as well Sam—a mere two months ago. He had been brainwashed at the time, and Natasha knew that, but that gave her even more of a reason not to trust him.
"I thought I told you not to pull on that thread, Steve," Natasha murmured, looking away from a guilty Bucky and up at Steve.
"I didn't," he started, inching towards her. "I mean, I did, but somebody else did too."
Natasha shot a wary look towards Bucky and moved to sit down on the recliner at the opposite end of the living room, where the side table was equipped with a fairly large lamp for her to use in case Bucky decided to make a move. "You have ten minutes to tell me what the hell you're babbling about, otherwise I'll be on my way back to New York."
"Okay," Sam said quietly before sitting down in the chair across from her. "We're getting the squad back together."
Steve ran a hand over his face and groaned before plopping back down beside Bucky.
Natasha raised a brow and sat forward in her seat. "The squad? As in that stupid Winter Soldier squad you made up at dinner two months ago?"
"Hey, it's not stupid," Sam defended.
"It's pretty stupid."
Natasha chuckled at Steve's remark and sat back in her seat, eyeing the three men sitting with her in the room. "So, if any of you nimrods would care to explain to me why you've called me here that would be lovely."
Steve perked up immediately, eliciting a chuckle from Bucky. "Oh, right! Uh, we need your help with something."
"Does it involve Winter over here?" Natasha questioned with narrowed eyes. She was still wary about Bucky, despite the fact that he had yet to engage in any kind of threatening actions.
"Not exactly," Sam answered. "It involves a very close friend of his, though."
Natasha was now confused. She wondered what insane person Bucky could have possibly befriended within the last couple of months. She knew it couldn't have been a Hydra agent, though, otherwise Steve and Sam wouldn't have called her here—hell, the two of them wouldn't have even agreed to help Bucky in the first place. "What person in their right mind would befriend the world's deadliest assassin?" Natasha inquired rather sternly.
Bucky sighed and looked up at her. "A very understanding person who is willing to see me as something other than just an assassin or a weapon!"
Bucky's anger towards Natasha caught her of guard, and almost instinctively she reached for the lamp beside her. The three men noticed this, and Bucky managed to calm himself down when he realized the reason for Natasha's actions. She didn't trust him at all, and that was understandable (he had tried to kill her not only once, but five times), but what he needed her to realize was that he wasn't there to hurt her—he wasn't there to hurt anyone. He was there to get his Marlena back, and he needed her help to do it.
"I'm sorry for snapping at you," Bucky apologized. "I've just grown tired of people treating me as something other than a regular person."
"But you're not a regular person," Natasha stated. "None of us are."
"Listen," Steve chimed in before anyone could say anything else. "There's this young girl. Her name is Marlena and she was taken by Hydra yesterday trying to protect Bucky. We need to find her, and we need your help to do that."
Natasha pondered over his words for several moments before speaking. "So, you dragged me all the way back down here to Washington just to ask me for my help in saving some random girl from Hydra?"
"Yeah, pretty much," Sam answered.
Natasha sighed and stood up. "Steven Rogers, you are an idiot. You could've asked me over the phone and I probably still would've shown up here. You and I are a team, we're partners—that won't be changing any time soon."
Steve smiled at her, feeling more than pleased with the sound of her words. "I was hoping that's what you would say."
"I have one condition though," Natasha stated, her eyes flashing over to Bucky. "Wherever we go, you are with me."
"Why?" Bucky asked with furrowed eyebrows.
"Because I don't trust you, and you need someone that's gonna keep you in check," she remarked. "You may have obtained a majority of your memory back, but you and I both know that the Winter Soldier is still down in there somewhere. It doesn't matter how deep he is, he's still there—he always will be, no matter how many times you choose to deny it. I'm not going to take the chance and allow you to hurt Steve or Sam because of a relapse, especially since we both know Steve is too much of a pansy to do anything, and Sam is pretty much just a disaster waiting to happen."
Sam scoffed and sat back in his seat while Steve scratched the back of his head awkwardly. Bucky just stared at Natasha with narrowed eyes. He knew she was right, but he would never admit it, at least not to her.
"How brave of you to think that you would actually be able to stand a chance against me," Bucky spoke, his voice low.
Natasha smirked and pulled the sleeve of her jacket off of her shoulder, revealing the freshly healed wound. "I believe I already have, and I'd be more than willing to do it again. I mean it, though, Barnes. One slip up on this mission and you're done for."
"All I want is my Marlena back. If there happens to be any kind of slip up or relapse, it will be taken out on Hydra, and I can promise you that," Bucky retorted.
Natasha smirked again and placed a hand over his shoulder. "Let's just hope you can keep that promise, Soldier."