Berlin, Germany
Spring 2016
Nadine had grown complacent during her time with the Avengers. And look where it had gotten her.
She'd been caught.
Since she'd been led through the halls of the JCTC after her arrest, she'd been mentally berating herself for letting this happen. Yet...she couldn't even entirely say she regretted it...which was a baffling thought all on its own. Sure, she was regretting just how badly Steve was blaming himself for her arrest—it had been so plainly visible on his face in the van and again when Agent Ross had ordered her taken into custody, she had actually ached. It had been her own decision to come along, not his, and she couldn't regret it. Not when they'd finally had a real chance to get to Barnes.
No, what she regretted was that they had failed at all.
And that she'd allowed herself to get caught. Even with how things had fallen out in the field, she should've been able to slip away somehow or even fight free.
Yet she hadn't.
And she knew precisely why.
She'd been too unsettled to think straight. As if it hadn't been bad enough how poorly she had been controlling and compartmentalizing her emotions before they'd even left Vienna—she refused to let herself fall back into thinking about her inability to properly restrain herself around Steve...she couldn't afford to let herself think about any of what was or wasn't going on between them right now—seeing Barnes again? To be so damn close! She'd hesitated. God, even now, she couldn't get the mental image of him pinned to the pavement, twisting to meet her eye—his eyes widening in bewildered shock at the sight of her...and awareness...the awareness in them—or of just how resigned and hopeless he'd seemed restrained in that ridiculous containment pod of the JCTC's, obviously striving and failing to keep from looking to Steve...and her...
She'd been working toward that moment for years...and yet...she had hesitated.
Hell, just now? Part of her felt like she deserved to be where she was, and it was hindering her instincts for self-preservation.
But yet, another part still believed it was more practical for her to be here at the JCTC, arrested or not. That this turn of events might be a blessing in disguise and an opportunity she could take advantage of. That was the instinct she tried to focus on.
Either way, she was in a tight spot, that was for sure. Because this was bad. As soon as the JCTTF properly processed her, word would begin to spread that The Ghost had been caught.
And then the world really would come down on her. Hard.
No, she'd meant what she'd said to Steve.
She needed to get herself out.
Then she could turn her attention to Barnes.
Dire as her situation was, though, Nadine couldn't help the lingering flash of amusement she'd felt as the JCTTF agents left her alone in the holding cell. Not only because they left her alone, but because it didn't take a whole lot of discreet study to determine that, for all that the JCTTF was meant to be prepared for any type of threat, the cell—despite a particularly impressive glass and steel reinforced door—was not originally intended to contain Enhanced persons...or even highly trained assassins. So either the JCTC didn't have any specialized cells left for Enhanced detainees, which Nadine doubted given the showy unit they'd stuck Barnes in, or far more likely, they didn't realize she was more than just a highly trained assassin.
Either that or they didn't quite have the concept of just what it took to effectively contain someone like her.
It meant her next task would be all the easier...regardless of them ensuring she was once more dressed in civilian clothes. As if she wouldn't still be prepared...
She wasn't an almost-graduate of the Red Room and one of the best assassins in the world for nothing.
So as she sat facing the door to the cell she strategized, cataloguing options and picking through her memory to decide on the best way to proceed once she got out of the holding cell. No point in hurrying, after all. If anything, the longer she waited, the more prepared she would be; the longer she was locked up here, the better an idea she'd have of how many agents were assigned to this section—rotations of three agents—and how often an agent on duty made rounds—every twenty minutes. Even the trip down to the holding area had furnished her with a decently comprehensive picture of the security that stood between her and freedom.
The only real cause for concern that she could see were the cameras, both inside her cell and, to a lesser extent, throughout the building. Giving the JCTTF agents a heads up would certainly complicate things, after all. She had a small EMP device in the liner of her right boot, but using it would undoubtedly tip off her captors just as effectively as them seeing what she was doing. She needed to play this carefully. The device would take care of her cell and possibly the cameras in the hall outside along with any electronics in the door's locks—she was pretty sure from the barely audible hum that had sounded as the door closed there was some sort of circuit built into the doorframe prevent tampering—but that would be it; it didn't have a particularly large range, after all.
And then there would be the task of slipping away; no mean feat in a facility such as this one—
Her planning was abruptly cut short as she was plunged into darkness.
It was a testament to Nadine's strict training that she didn't outwardly react as the power died, the light from the narrow window high on the wall above her head the only illumination left. But internally, she nearly jerked, her breath catching in surprise...then anticipation.
It was the perfect opportunity.
A brief consideration that it was a set-up—a convenient one for sure—flashed through her mind, but she quickly discarded the notion, though she didn't push it from her mind completely. Because despite the stroke of luck that the opportunity had been so conveniently served up before her, she couldn't fight the sudden, insistent feeling that something was very wrong.
But even if it was a trap, she would deal with it. She simply had no other choice. She had to take advantage of whatever opportunity she was presented with.
Besides, considering the shouts and sounds of rushing bodies building out in the corridor beyond her line of sight, she very much suspected it was anything but an expected outage.
Whatever it was, it had nothing to do with her.
Which meant no one would notice for a while if she were to slip away.
Perfect.
In a heartbeat she was on her feet and moving. She only had so much time before someone was bound to appear to make sure she was secure.
A well-placed kick had a hole punched through the wall next to the doorframe. She smirked as her suspicion that there was no reinforcement directly surrounding the door was proven correct as was her guess that there was a charge circuit that would've easily incapacitated her had she tried it when the power was on. By touch alone and some careful fiddling, she was quickly able to pop the lock open. The fact that the power-outage had also disabled the electronic lock certainly didn't hurt; most of the work had already been done for her. She didn't even have to retrieve any of the tools left to her that the JCTTF agents hadn't even considered to check for.
And then she was slipping out the door and down the hall.
Only to all but collide with Natasha as her sister rounded the corner. If either's sudden appearance startled the other, neither let it show. A trace of a smirk appeared on Natasha's face.
"Aww, you stole my thunder," she grinned mischievously.
"And there I thought thunder was Thor's thing," Nadine quipped back dryly. Nat smirked for real before she gestured Nadine back the way she'd just come, her expression sobering as she broke out into a brisk jog. Sensing the tension and worry in her little sister, Nadine didn't hesitate to follow.
"What's going on lisichka?" Natasha glanced to Nadine, her lips thinned with stress.
"The Winter Soldier is on the loose," she replied quietly. Nadine paled; the distinction wasn't lost on her. Someone had activated Barnes' programming. Nadine swore softly, though the Russian curses didn't make her feel any better. It wasn't hard to figure out what Natasha had in mind.
"You think we can take him? Last time we only managed because we had the element of surprise during a one-on-one sparring match...and a third...and because his orders kept him checked and non-lethal." Natasha shot her a grim but still faintly amused look.
"Well, we were only girls back then. I don't know about you, but I'm a lot better than I was as a teenager." She sobered again as they reached the stairwell, "but the only ones who have a chance against him are Steve and us if we work together...and no one's seen Steve since he raced down to head off Barnes the instant he realized something was wrong." Nadine's chest clenched, fear bubbling up her throat. But she forcefully pushed it away. There was no time for that now.
It seemed she and Natasha had a job to do.
It felt like their race through the building took forever. All around them people were streaming toward exits and evacuation points, security herding personnel at every turn. And not one of them spared Nadine and Natasha's dash past with more than a wondering glance.
A few even with a flash of hopeful recognition as they recognized Black Widow.
Nadine heard the fighting before she saw it. Following the updates Stark or even his U.I. was likely saying into Natasha's earpiece, her sister led them quickly down to the facility's cafeteria area.
Where Barnes had already been engaged.
They turned the corner just in time to see Barnes engaging with Stark, snapping Tony's head back with a sharp jab of his elbow before launching a powerful hit into the centre of the billionaire's chest. With a crash and clatter of seating and abandoned tableware, Tony was thrown bodily back into the scattered bistro tables.
And it was like a switch had been thrown in Nadine's head. It was like those days all those years ago. There was no time to think, just to perceive and to react. No time for her breath to catch in anger and fear that it felt just like it had back then, as though she'd been thrown back in time nearly twenty years.
Just to fight.
There was no room for anything else.
Anything else would get someone killed.
Without even a glance to her sister, already knowing Natasha was right there with her, Nadine launched herself forward, taking full advantage of her Enhanced speed to charge ahead of Nat as she raced across the wide open space of the cafeteria. She barely paid attention to the downed JCTTF agents, remaining civilians or a dazed Sharon Carter save to note their positions in the back of her mind.
All she was focused on now was the fight.
On taking Barnes down.
Her first lashing kick slammed into Barnes' hastily raised arm followed by another set of hard, spinning kicks that he only barely managed to turn aside. A faint flood of satisfaction bloomed as he backpedalled in the face of her assault. But it was short lived. She couldn't afford overconfidence.
With a snarl, he swung out his metal arm, but Nadine was already moving, ducking beneath the intended blow to swing herself onto his back. Her moves came as instinct, and without wasting a moment to think, Nadine was latching her arm tight around his neck, yanking hard to pull his head back and unsteady him just in time for her sister to throw herself into the fight.
And Natasha didn't disappoint, her knee driving into Barnes' chest hard enough that Nadine felt more than heard the air gusting out of his lungs, nearly positive she heard a faint creak of his ribs protesting beneath the blow.
He staggered beneath her, grunting in pain as Natasha immediately landed a hard blow to this upper thigh that had the powerful muscles there immediately spasming in shock. His whole body shuddered, his leg very nearly giving way beneath the combined force of Natasha's punch and Nadine's weight hanging from her arm tight around his neck.
Feeling his body going momentarily lax, Nadine pressed their advantage while he was still stunned from Natasha's hit, hooking her leg around his metal arm. "C'mon, Barnes," she muttered as she solidified her hold around his neck, "you can break out of this. You did it for me once, and I know you've done it for Steve. I know you know me!" With a final wrench, she managed to pin the limb to his side with a grimace of effort.
And she managed it only just in time. Natasha was not so lucky. For all that Nadine's tight hold was hindering his movements, Barnes was still able to lash out a hard kick of his own, recovering far quicker than they had both hoped. A split-second before his blow connected with her chest Natasha's eyes widened, already moving. But it wasn't quite enough and she was thrown back, hard, into the closest dark-wooded table, the legs snapping from the force with a resounding crack.
Nadine couldn't react to her sister's fall. She didn't have a chance. The force of his kick had Barnes' body twisting beneath hers, and her grip slipped.
She could only react to the fight. And react she did. Her focus snapping back instantly to the man they were struggling to subdue, she propelled herself up onto his back once more the instant her feet touched the ground, using her momentum to swing herself around his torso to snap her knee sharply against his jaw, her fingers digging hard into his shoulders, looking for purchase.
But he was too quick and too hard to hold onto as her grip currently was; her fingers were slipping on the smooth metal hidden beneath his shirt. But that was a fortunate development.
Right then, his left hand was snaking back toward her, the metal limb flashing in the bright light of the cafeteria as he snatched at her. Reacting instinctively, Nadine let herself fall from her position on his back, the gleaming fingers only barely missing her. So close, she could swear she felt the cool metal graze the skin of her throat.
It was only by sheer virtue of her training that panic didn't flare through her at the near miss. Nothing did, just resolve. The instant her feet hit the ground, she was shifting away and darting back up onto his back, snaking her arm once more around his neck, silently thankful for the advantage of her Enhanced speed and her sparring sessions with Steve keeping her skills honed and her reactions sharp.
If she could just get that damned metal arm taken care of and his head immobilized, they had a chance. Already, Natasha was pulling herself back up, shaking off Barnes' hit as her sharp gaze took in Nadine's status, already coiling in preparation to strike.
Gritting her teeth, Nadine let herself swing around, her leg lashing out to once again hook her knee around his arm even as she wrenched his head back, unbalancing him. Struggling to loosen her grip, he twisted...
...and those vivid, blank steel-blue eyes met hers...and Nadine faltered, feeling like she'd just been punched in the gut with the force of a Quinjet.
She knew her daughter had his eyes, but seeing them again in his face after so many years...
...to see them so empty and brutally emotionless...
In the space of a heartbeat, it all came rushing back, every uncertain, horrible, surreal moment from all those years before. And in that terrible, reeling moment as she faltered, he was using her momentum against her.
In that split-second, the world seemed to stand still, and she knew she'd miscalculated.
His arm curled around her hooked knee and he heaved her forward.
Hard.
Before she could so much as draw breath, she was hurtling over his head.
The last thing she heard was a strangled cry as glass shattered with a riotous crash around her, pain radiating through her body with the impact.
And then nothing.
Almost as soon as she was aware again, a groan rippled up out of Nadine's chest.
Everything ached, her head throbbing, but it didn't feel like any serious damage had been done. Her skin stung, a couple small places even feeling warm in a way that suggested she was bleeding at least a little. Her thoughts feeling fuzzy and dazed, a second, inadvertent groan slipped out as she rolled to her right side, struggling to piece together what had happened. How long had she been out? Minutes? Hours?
Shards of glass tinkled, jostled loose from her hair and clothes as she shifted, groggy even as everything flooded back. And she groaned again. She'd made a critical mistake, and she'd certainly paid for it...
By getting thrown through the plate glass divider between the JCTC's cafeteria and its seating area...
She jerked sharply then as a hand brushed across her aching left shoulder, twisting, hand instinctively flying up and ready to defend herself it the touch wasn't friendly.
Blonde hair and a pale, drawn face was peering down at her. Nadine blinked, momentarily bewildered. And with a sensation that felt like an elastic band snapping into place, her mind kicked back into gear, her familiar impassive mask falling back into place as she processed her situation properly.
Since she was still lying where she'd fallen when Barnes had thrown her off, she obviously hadn't been taken back into custody. In fact, as she spared a quick glance around her, Sharon Carter was the only JCTTF agent she saw; Tony was sitting heavily in a chair across the room near where he'd been thrown, still visibly recovering from the hit; Sam was standing close to Nat, his friendly features tense and deeply concerned as he helped her sister up, the pair of them glancing toward a young woman with a cloud of dark curls framing her frightened and bewildered features.
No one else. The cafeteria was virtually abandoned.
The only other person she immediately saw was Sharon. She was currently kneeling next to Nadine, a determined glint in her eyes.
It could only have been a few minutes.
And Barnes was gone.
She swore under her breath, the variety of Russian and German curses coming out stilted and breathless from her aching chest.
"You okay to move?" Nadine's attention snapped fully back to Sharon at the hastily murmured question. It was enough to give her pause. It was then that she noticed the younger agent was flicking quick, assessing glances of her own at their surroundings.
"What are you doing," Nadine asked softly even as she nodded in answer, not quite succeeding in keeping her discomfort from her tone as she forced herself to sit up.
"Getting you moving so I don't have to arrest you again," Sharon hissed as her hand closed securely around Nadine's forearm, Nadine automatically grabbing hers in kind, and helping pull her to her feet. Grateful for the help though she was, Nadine wasn't about to let it show, her instincts to hide even the barest traces of weakness too deeply embedded to just brush aside. The instant she was on her feet, she leaned away from Sharon, tugging her arm free. She narrowed her eyes at the younger woman, her mind mercifully once more up to speed even if her body was still catching up. Thankfully, though, even as she eyed Sharon, she could feel her equilibrium returning. Getting thrown through a window like this one was no small thing, but it took a lot more than that to keep a Red Room recruit down for long.
"Why?" she murmured, hesitating for only a heartbeat as Sharon gestured subtly for her to get moving, a hand grazing Nadine's arm. She'd obviously taken the hint that Nadine wasn't keen on being touched.
"Well, Barnes made his escape; I imagine yours wouldn't have been too far behind." Nadine couldn't help but raise a brow at Sharon's dry observation.
"He didn't exactly plan his, though," she countered even as Sharon held open the stairwell door she'd briskly led them to. Sharon shrugged.
"Fair enough," she said, indicating for Nadine to start climbing even as she spared a glance back out toward the cafeteria. "We both know I'm right, though." An exasperated look crossed her face as she looked back to see Nadine shooting her a skeptical look. Well, what did she expect? Nadine knew enough of the building to know that the way out was to head down. But Sharon held firm and gestured silently to head up. After a moment's study, Nadine chose to go along with it. A small smile tugged at the corner of Sharon's lip as she continued, "and you're no good to anyone locked up in here."
Nadine couldn't help a small, smug grin from tugging at her lips.
Well, she was certainly not wrong.
And pausing to let Sharon past to lead the way, Nadine easily fell into a light jog behind the JCTTF agent.
A/N: Thanks for reading!
I've been so excited to post this one for AGES! Ever since the JCTC scenes in Haven, tbh... ;D If you haven't read it yet, I very much recommend it!
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