Chapter Text
Natasha had known Cap would never stand down. And Tony was a fool if he thought Steve would actually fall in line. Abandon a noble cause just because Tony Stark asked him to. Steve had never once waivered in the face of an oncoming storm, never lowered his shield or dropped his gaze. No. For 70 years he'd fought for what he thought was right, no matter the cost. Why would he stop now?
Most people thought it was the super soldier serum that made the man. This almost god-like being who stood above the rest. But Natasha knew better than that.
Steve Roger’s had never been made who he was by Doctor Erskine’s serum, it had only enhanced the noble man that was already there.
Doctor Erskine’s serum couldn’t create something from nothing. It couldn’t manufacture altruism, nobility, and strength. It could only enhance what already existed. Sure, the serum had given Steve the physical strength to carry the shield, to fight Nazi’s and represent the red white and blue. But, all of those chemicals in a vial didn’t make Steve Rogers who he was- they merely enhanced him. He’d never been special simply because of what had come out of a bottle to quote a very arrogant Tony Stark.
What made Steve Rogers special was his heart- the heart of a good man. His infinite capacity for empathy and compassion and drive to do what was right even in the face of the most insurmountable of obstacles. Natasha never told him how much she envied him- envied his capacity to always believe the best in people, even her. An ex- KGB spy who gave him no reason to trust her and yet he treated her like family. No, it had never been the serum that made the man. It had only enhanced the good man that was already there.
And that was why she knew this couldn’t end any other way. Steve would never come quietly- his heart and his principles would never allow for it. And Tony’s ego wouldn’t allow him to tuck tail and admit defeat. Two clashing ideologies finally coming to a head in a battle which was sure to end in a lot of property damage.
Natasha loved Steve in her own way and he had more than earned her respect. But, it was time for her to walk away. Away from this family, the family she’d chosen, and the only true home she’d ever known. Sure, she could lay blame at Tony or Steve’s feet and absolved herself from blame, but the truth was this one was on her. When this shit show had begun she’d tried to strategize, tried to play the game like the old Natasha. The Natasha who thought she could stay six moves ahead of everyone and always maintain control of the game. But she’d miscalculated, oh man had she miscalculated. That Natasha had been playing a solitary game of one. A game where she had nothing to lose and everything to gain. Because if she fucked up, if she missed a step, then only she fell prey to her own folly. No one else got hurt when she miscalculated. And contrary to popular belief this did happen- even to the Black Widow. Natasha had ended up broken and bloodied on the bathroom floor of more safe houses than she could count, yanking sutures tighter with her teeth as she snipped ends off and pressed on wounds hoping all the Vodka she drank would dull the pain.
And up until recently this strategy had been working pretty great for her. Barring the blood on various bathroom floors, Natasha was great at the nothing to lose everything to gain strategy. And yes sure, she’d found a family- but if she was being honest with herself, she’d always had one foot out of the door. It was in her nature- be prepared, don’t get too attached, and always be ready to run if things go sideways.
Spiders can always build new webs.
Sometimes Natasha missed her lone operative days. To say everything always went according to play would be an…. exaggeration, but more often than not things would go off without a hitch because she made the plans and then executed the plans. No Tony to go off whenever he felt like it to ogle some new tech and then play god with it, no Bruce to get pissy and then rampage half a city, no best friend from half a century ago to get into a bromance with. No, ever since Natasha had joined S.H.I.E.L.D and her little ragtag team of fuck ups not one damn thing had gone according to plan. And that means a fuck ton of things hadn’t gone according to plan…. God, Natasha sighed. No wonder it all led to this knock down drag out of a fight. They were all barely functioning disasters. like one of those shopping carts with the bum wheel. Or an Ikea desk missing a few integral screws. You hope the thing will hold together for a good amount of time, but hopes just not as strong as those few integral screws or four good wheels. Had Bruce pegged them right from the very beginning? Had the avengers been a time bomb just waiting to explode?
Then there was Wanda. Wanda had come into Natasha’s life like a bulldozer. How many people can say the love of their life had tried to kill them numerous times with nebulous magical powers before starting up a whirlwind romance? Maybe it was a superhero thing…. For so long Natasha had been sure she was incapable of love. That it was a concept made up for children, storybooks, and movies. She’d been programmed to believe that love and happiness would destroy her- and so she’d always made sure she had one foot out of the door and never allowed herself true happiness. It wasn’t something Natasha was sure she would even be able to fundamentally understand if presented with it.
Should she tell them? Should she tell the Red Room they didn’t do as good a job programming her as she’d thought? That when Wanda began to fall in love with her Natasha was able to return that love. It was a slow process sure, but somewhere along the way Natasha felt that dead thing caged within her ribs suddenly begin to skip a beat. Should she tell the Red Room that they had failed? That she was happy and it hadn’t destroyed her. That she was in love and was loved in return and instead of reverting to her programming she’d finally come alive. Now, that foot that had always been one step out of the door was firmly planted next to Wanda’s side- growing stronger and stronger roots with each passing day.
But in this newfound love and desire to protect she’d miscalculated. Because this was a new game she was playing and she didn’t yet know all of the rules. She’d tried to keep Wanda hidden away to keep her safe when she should have trusted the young woman to make her decisions regarding her own fate. Is this what happens when you think from a place of emotion instead of logic? She’d tried so hard to keep her safe that Natasha took away Wanda’s autonomy instead of truly listening to the her. And look where it had gotten them. She hadn’t kept Wanda hidden away she’d locked her away.
Years ago, the Avengers had been the family Natasha chose, and for some reason they’d actually chosen her back- flaws and all. They’d loved her and welcomed her despite a past they still had almost no concept of. But if she had to choose between Wanda and the Avengers…. she’d choose Wanda- every time.
She’d put a plan into motion. Now it was time to hope things didn’t go tits up.
“Romanoff,” Tony snapped his fingers in her face the metal of his suit bolstering the sound, “are you up for this, because it doesn’t look like Cap’s backing down.”
“Do you want to keep that hand?” Natasha refocused here attention on the task at hand.
“Errr. Yes. Yes, I do.” Tony quickly moved his hand back to his side and took a small step backwards.
“Then I strongly suggest you never do that again.” Natasha narrows her eyes at Tony before letting go of a deep sigh and looking across the tarmac at Steve. The man didn’t seem phased by the webbing binding his hands and Natasha could see the lines of his suit strain slightly as he tested the strength of the material- unable to break the webbing to free himself.
Tony took a few steps closer, closing the distance between him and the captain, “alright I’m done. You’re gonna turn Barnes over, you’re gonna come with us, now. Because it’s us! Or a squad of J-SOC guys with no compunction about being impolite.” Tony paced a bit, clearly anxious for an answer. “Come on….” He tilted his head, imploring Steve to stop all of this and come home. He didn’t want this. Tony didn’t want an all-out fight any more than Steve did- but it came down to a fundamental clashing of ideals. Honestly, Natasha was always surprised to find out Tony had any morals or ideals that guided him.
Especially ones that were strong enough to help rip their family apart.
Tony Stark made weapons all his life, but he didn’t understand tactics. When it came down to it he was just an engineer. A brilliant one, but he wasn’t like Steve, Natasha, Sam, or Bucky. His mind didn’t work like theirs. He couldn’t see that Steve was stalling for time- one of the greatest military minds of the century was about to hoodwink all of them. And Natasha wasn’t about to say anything- she needed to chaos that was about to happen.
And suddenly it was very apparent, at least to the trained eye, that Steve wasn’t listening anymore. His focus had been drawn to something off in the distance.
The motion was swift and abrupt, his bound hands cutting through the air as he hoisted them above his head- the webbing sliced away by an arrow that had come in an arc from above. He’d found what he was looking for.
And for the first time since Natasha had defected from the KGB and joined S.H.I.E.L.D, since she met Steve, she found she didn’t care. She didn’t care that Steve had found his Waldo or that Tony was about to explode as his helmet fit seamlessly into place around his head. She didn’t care that some random guy was little and now he was big (which she had to admit was... super odd).
All she cared about was Clint was there with Wanda in tow running across a parking garage like their asses were on fire. Well, Clint was running like his ass was on fire. Wanda was doing that adorable T. rex jog she did when she was worried her boobs may hit her in the face because her outfit was impracticality designed for tactical situations.
“Alright I’ve got two on the parking deck one of them is Maximoff. I’m gonna go grab her. Rhodey you wanna take Cap?” Tony looked off towards the parking deck, the mechanics of his suit clicking and sliding into place as the repulsors in his boots geared up to propel him forwards.
Natasha chanced a glance at Wanda’s figure running along the parking garage- wishing she could tell her how much she missed her incredibly awkward run. Or how much she missed kissing away the frown that appeared on Wanda’s lips when Natasha made fun of her for it.
But if this worked. They’d have all the time in the world for that. She’d have all the time in the world to apologize for everything she’d done wrong and hope that Wanda would still love her.
“Stark!”
“I’m a little busy right now Romanoff.” Tony was halfway in the air looking towards the parking garage, impatiently hovering in place to respond to her.
“You’re definitely about to be more than just a little busy.” Natasha shot a grappling line towards Tony’s left boot, throwing the other end of the line onto the ground as she’d been instructed to do by FitzSimmons.
“When you let this loose you’re gonna want to stand back” Fitz had told her when she’d opened the case containing numerous pieces of tech.
“Why...?” Natasha looked dubious.
“Mmmm just stand back.” Simmons echoed the other scientist’s comments with a smile. “We’ve tried it out a few times, but there’s always room for error. I mean. Honestly, there’s only truly room for a .000001 % chance for something to go wrong with the device including but not limited to, quite a nasty shock which isn't so bad, loss of limb- not great, temporary blindness, and a touch of amnesia. Which we found out when Mac asked us three times in one day what the device was and we realized he’d gotten zapped by it one too many times…… So, I’d say it’d be best to back up and be cautious.” Simmons wrinkled her nose like she was delighted at the prospect of finding out if any of these errors could occur.
Natasha, on the other hand, was not so delighted- so she’d done as instructed and backed up a few steps out of the devices immediate vicinity and watched as the main body of the device found leverage before crashing its butt end into the ground- burrowing deep into the concrete as legs unfurled from the side to anchor the device into the ground. Lines sprang from the head of the device in a direct trajectory for Stark, each trying to find a way in through the seams of Starks suit.
“And what exactly will the lines do Simmons?”
“Oh, nothing too fancy. They’ll just find any and all ways into Mr. Starks brilliant suit. Bypass all of his systems with a type of energy Fitz and I have been working with from our time in the future on a Kree space station and shut him down for a little bit.”
Natasha paused for a second. Kree. Future space station… “I’m sorry I asked.”
Tony attempted to evade to the left, but the maneuver was clumsy and allowed the first line to snake into the small openings in the plating of his boot where it worked quickly to short circuit the repulsor and limit his movements. “Goddamn it Natasha! I don’t know where you got this tech from but it's good. It still won’t be enough to take me off the board.” Stark shook his foot as sparks flew from his boot.
Natasha could hear him grumbling and issuing requests to Friday, trying to get everything under control.
“I don’t need to take you off the board Tony. I just need you out of my way.”
Natasha knew even with this diversion Tony would be able to make repairs and return to the battle relatively quickly. The man was a genius and knew his own tech-FitzSimmons work would only stop him for so long. But if she worked quickly and things went relatively to plan she didn’t need long.
Natasha spared him one final glance before breaking into a full sprint in Wanda’s direction. If everything went according to plan this might be the last time she ever saw him.
“Goodbye Tony.”
As she ran the rampant beat of her heart thudded in concert with her boots as they slammed against the ground. She willed her heart to quiet as she dug into the side pocket of her belt, fishing around for an earpiece she’d stowed there. She didn’t have time for anxiety or fear, they had no place on the battleground. Natasha took a breath as she fit the earpiece into her ear.
“Widow to Coulson. Plan Disassemble is a green light I repeat. Plan Disassemble is a go.”
Daisy’s voice came through the coms - a welcome respite from the chaos around her and the noisy beating of her heart.
“We hear you loud and clear Widow. Team Coulson is a go. Yo-Yo and I will be descending from the quinjet in 3 near your coordinates.” Natasha could hear movement in the background as they got ready and Daisy muttering, “we couldn’t have had a cooler name than team Coulson?” before her mic cut off.
There had been some dispute as to who should get involved in the Avengers family squabble. with the Sokovia accords in full effect Coulson had been reticent to send his Inhuman team members into the fray.
“They’d be in direct violation of the accords Natasha. I can’t ask them to do this.”
“Well then it’s a good thing you’re not asking” Daisy’s head poked into frame followed by the rest of her.
“Someone needs our help Coulson. What kinds of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D would we be if we said no? Besides, I’ve always shipped these two! I can’t leave agent Romanoff hanging when she needs help getting her lady love back. But I do expect an invite to the wedding if we pull this off!” the brunette crossed her arms over her chest with a smile. The S.H.I.E.L.D emblem on her uniform emblazoned proudly on chest. Natasha remembered when she used to believe in that logo. Some part of her yearned for the days when she still did. Before Hydra, before everything came crumbling down, before she’d found out she wasn’t doing anything to wipe her ledger clean.
For now, it was going to have to be enough that these people, good people, believed in what that emblem stood for.
The mic in her ear crackled back to life with Daisy’s voice, “Yo-Yo and I are coming in hot in 3. 2. 1.”
The sight was pretty impressive, she’d give Daisy that. The brunette had one hand around Yo-Yo and the other was creating just enough vibration to slow their decent from the quinjet they’d jumped from sans parachutes. The amount of control the woman had over her powers was nothing short of impressive. Had she upped the intensity of her vibrations the two would skyrocket to destinations unknown. Any less and they’d end up a messy smear on the tarmac.
Yo-Yo, meanwhile, had a look on her face like she didn’t much like being carried and would much have preferred a parachute. She hadn’t exactly agreed when Daisy said this would be a stealthier entrance, but had said yes to the plan anyways.
“Come on.” Yo-Yo said sarcastically as she stepped away from Daisy, her feet finally touching the ground, “it’ll be fun she says. Dios mio. I’m never doing that again. You can jump out of the plane, but I’m getting a parachute next time. I don’t care if it’s stealthy or not.”
“Oh, come on! It was fun!” Daisy grinned adjusting her gauntlets. “We aren’t dead and I got to try a new thing!”
Yo-Yo seemed to pale a bit before hitting Daisy in the arm. “New thing?! New thing!? You told me you knew what you were doing when we jumped Daisy!”
The other woman shrugged with a smile, “I mean. I’ve been practicing, but we haven’t exactly made a habit of jumping out of planes Elena. But hey! It all turned out alright!”
“I’m going to kill you. If we don’t die here or end up on some cell I’m going to kill you in your sleep.”
“Fair enough.” Daisy smiled before turning to Natasha with a small wave. “Hey. Coulson sends his best. Now- where can we be of best use?”
Natasha looked across the tarmac, everything had turned ugly and chaotic and her path to Wanda was now a complicated mess. It was hard to ascertain where everyone was and who was even fighting whom. Even so, Natasha had zero difficulty figuring out where Wanda was on the battlefield. All she had to do was follow the magic- Wanda’s signature red energy.
“I need to get to Wanda.” Natasha pointed towards the parking garage where cars were flying over the edge doing their best to crush Tony like a bug. Clearly Stark had put himself back on the board while she was putting her own plans in place.
“And you’re sure she’s over there? There’s kinda a lot going on here. She could be anywhere.” Daisy looked around, her hand shading her eyes from the sun.
“Trust me. That’s my girl.” Natasha grinned as another car surrounded in red energy came smashing down on top of Tony with a crunch.
“Ooookay. Then what are we waiting for?” Daisy gestured for Yo-Yo to follow as she and Natasha launched into a full sprint.
“Let’s go get your girl.”