Maria Hill stands with her arms crossed near the glass windows. She is in the common living area of the Facility where most of Tony's parties were held. But unlike those times, the bar area is now dry and empty. Having alcohol at arm's reach is the last thing she wants for her recruits and trainees.
She peers outside the huge glass windows and watches as an SUV pulls up and Clint and Wanda step out.They both disappear as they walk through the front door. Maria Hill smiles for a second and takes it back. Nobody sees her smile.
She turns around as the elevator door opens and out come Steve, Sam and Bucky. She sure is happy to see Steve and Sam but if she is being honest with herself, she's still a little apprehensive about Bucky. I just need time to know him better, that's all. Maria tells herself.
They greet each other with hugs and handshakes and the elevator door opens again. Clint and Wanda walk out. Wanda runs and gives Steve and Sam a hug and a courteous smile to Bucky. But Clint being the overall nice guy that he is gives all of them a hug. After several minutes, pleasantries and catch up talk are cut off by a familiar voice.
"Good, you're all here. Now we can begin."
They all turn and see Nick Fury from across the room. Smile drops off Steve's face.
He turns to Maria, "You didn't say anything about a mission when you called."
"Would you have come if I did?" Maria replies. Steve doesn't respond.
"Sorry, Cap. I wouldn't drag all of you here if it wasn't important," Fury says.
"It's okay. I was just disappointed that after everything, I thought we no longer have to lie to one another," Steve says with slight sarcasm but genuine disappointment.
It's not that he's not pleased to see Fury alive and well after coming back, but his history with the super spy has always been shaky. Sure, he can trust that Fury would always have their backs but his habit of keeping his motivations from them is a huge turn off. Like this one. He is so naive to think that Maria's surprise call was truly about a cute reunion. Apparently not.
"Are you sure it's okay for me to be here?" Bucky asks.
Everyone turns their heads at him, surprised at his question at first but slowly understanding where he's coming from. After coming back from the snap, Bucky pretty much had no choice but to stay in Wakanda while Steve and the others sort things out with the Accords. But even when that was settled, he still couldn't step foot in the Facility because Tony didn't want him anywhere near him.
"Yes. Stark doesn't know you're here," Fury assures him.
"And if he finds out?" Wanda asks.
"I'll deal with it," Fury replies. Everyone is silent for a moment, no idea where to go from there.
"What's this about, Boss?" Clint finally butts in to diffuse the tension.
He's technically not his boss anymore, but Clint's training is still there, including the respect for his former superior. Fury nods and brings out his tablet, taps a few buttons and the TV monitor on the wall comes to life. They all watch as Fury lines up faces of almost a dozen men on the screen, composed of either old mug shots or surveillance photos.
"It's going to be a bit of a preamble but bear with me," Fury warns them. "Meet the Big Boss Company. During the Decimation, a lot of prominent mafia bosses disappeared, leaving their organizations, well, chaotically headless. Smaller, but ambitious Scarface wannabes took advantage of the situation and snatched these vacant top positions in their respective towns, states, and countries. For some sick twist of fate, these new bosses crossed paths and formed a worldwide mafia conglomerate, operating in five countries."
"Doing what?" Sam asks.
"The usual --- gun running, drug trade, several legitimate enterprises to front their illegal ones," Fury replies. "When the former bosses re-appeared, the Big Boss Company is already too strong so needless to say, they all disappeared. Again."
"So you want us to track this Company down?" Clint asks.
"No. Not really. We're already doing that. Last year, I sent an agent to gather intel on these guys and in six months we've taken down their bases in three countries --- US, Brazil and Iceland," Fury says with pride. "Six months ago, we received a new intel from our agent that new persons of interest connected to the Company surfaced."
Everyone turns to the screen and sees a photo of a man, in his 50s, with glasses and graying hair flash on the screen.
"Dr. Michael Stahl, German surgeon, reported missing by his family. And her ---, " Fury says. A woman in late-20s with brown hair, hazel eyes, sharp nose and cheekbones appears beside the doctor's photo. "Our agent was hoping we can dig up any info on her but we came up empty. Until now we don't know who she is," Fury says with frustration.
"The last report we got from our field agent was this woman seems to be heading a specific operation for the Company that we don't know yet. Even the doctor, we ran a check on him, he's clean so far. So this is what our agent was intent on finding out. Our last contact with our agent was four months ago."
"He's dead?" Steve asks.
"I hope not, Cap... I sure hope not," Fury replies with an unmistakable sadness in his voice.
"It's Romanoff," Maria reveals, swallowing her own emotions.
"What?!" Clint stands up, eyes fuming with anger.
Wanda's jaw drops in disbelief and then buries her face in her hands trying hard not to cry. Sam takes a deep breath, closes his eyes, and shakes his head. Steve, who's already standing, eyes Fury before walking across the room where he stands on his own, arms crossed, head down.
Bucky watches as everyone blatantly expressed their personal reactions --- Clint's obviously surprised and angry, Wanda's scared, Sam's worried. He looks at Steve and sees all of those emotions in him and more. All those years Bucky has known Steve and from all the memories he gained back, he doesn't seem to remember seeing Steve infuriated like this before. Steve's been mad, yes, but Bucky never remembers Steve taking it too personal like this.
"You sent her back out there to do your dirty work for you?! After everything that has happened you let her back out there on her own!" Clint shouts accusingly at Fury.
"Wait, you didn't know?" Sam asks Clint, genuinely surprised that he doesn't know. Clint sighs, shaking his head, his anger now redirected to himself.
"But she texted you back, right? When you greeted her last Christmas!" Wanda said with hope in her voice.
"Wanda,"Clint says softly. "That was four months ago."
"Oh," Wanda says and she goes back trying to hold back her tears .
"Why did you let her, Nick?" Clint continues but this time he's not angry anymore. "Why didn't you call me?"
"She didn't want me to," Fury replies. He looks defeated too, shoulder slumped and sighing heavily before sitting himself down.
"She insisted she doesn't want to bother any of you. I said to bring you along, you might be getting too bored being retired, she didn't say no but eyed me like she was already killing me in her head so, I said, take Wanda, she sure could use some practice. She said if she can avoid dragging Wanda into the dark corners of this world, of her life, she would."
Wanda smiles, thinking of Nat who wholeheartedly took up the responsibility of being her big sister.
"Then I suggested you. You'd make a great wing-man in every sense of the word," Fury said and pointed at Sam. "She said those vets need you more than she does. And then I said bring Rogers and make him shake off those dust from his shield. You know what she said? You know what she said, Cap?"
Steve doesn't turn. He keeps looking outside the glass window.
Fury continues, "She said, she doesn't want you fighting anymore... says you've been fighting all your life and you're supposed to be done with it. Especially now that you have Barnes back, she wanted you two to have a chance at a life without fighting."
Every word from Fury slices through Bucky's heart. He barely spent any time with Natasha after coming back from the snap but realizes with sadness that's she's right. He's done nothing but fight. Even his first encounter with the redhead was a fight.
Was that really our first encounter? Bucky often wonders whenever his mind would drift off to her. He got his memories back, thanks to Shuri, but he still feels like there still one piece of the puzzle missing for him to be complete and for some reason, instinct maybe, he feels like Romanoff can provide that last piece. He would always seems giddy and excited at the same time whenever Natasha's name is mentioned. Like now, but with an added touch of worry too.
Bucky's thought is cut off by the sound of glass shattering. They all turn around to see a panel of the glass windows broken and Steve's right fist clenched in a ball, bleeding.
Sam runs to Steve to check up on his wound which isn't too deep. No one speaks for a while. They all share the same loss and guilt. Especially Clint who didn't see it coming.
After a few moments, Wanda speaks softly. "What about Nat? Doesn't she want a life without fighting?"
Clint, who is now more worried than angry replies, "Natasha grew up with demons, brought up by demons, and she's convinced she became one herself for a time. She's drenched in neck-deep blood from all the things she's done that she believes not even her death would be enough to pay the price. She said dying is easy. So she went on the hard route of living, hunting down and fighting as many demons as she can. And she has already accepted it."
"Accepted what?" Wanda asks.
Clint looks at her, about to cry and says, "That she's going to die out there, fighting." And tears finally escapes his eyes and starts to sob silently. Wanda goes over to his side and lays a comforting hand on his shoulder.
Steve can feel the tension in his jaw, he has been clenching it since he saw Fury. But now, it seems like every muscle in his body is locked in anger --- at Fury, a little at Clint, but most importantly at himself. He knows Natasha is more than capable of taking care of herself but the thought of her captured, tortured or worse, dead, scared him. She has become one of the most special persons in his life ever since he came out of the ice and he's angry at himself because it seems that he has forgotten her, abandoned even, just because he was so focused on having Bucky back. He's now realizing that he barely talked to her these past months. He was so keen on his own life that he didn't bother checking up on her.
Steve finally walks back to them. After eyeing Fury one last time time, Steve says, "Gear up."
Sam and Bucky nod in agreement. Wanda smiles widely. Clint wipes his face, composed himself, nods at Steve and says, "Let's get our girl back."