Chapter 2

"Nobody's turning anybody in." Natasha explained. "And as long as we prepare, nobody's going back to jail – but if we don't start thinking ahead of the situation then we can't rule it out as a possibility."

"How do we do that?" Steve asked, "How do we prepare? It's General Ross. We don't know this guy; we don't know how he thinks."

"I know somebody that does."

All eyes turned to see Clint, standing in the middle of the kitchen.

Natasha smirked. "Somebody finally got their ass out of bed."

Clint tucked his hands behind his back and bowed his head, "G'mornin'."

"Wait, back up – what do you mean; you know somebody that's had a few go-at-it's with this guy?" Sam cocked an eyebrow. Clint nodded.

"Who?" Steve asked.

Before Clint had a chance to answer, Natasha's expression contorted with discomfort, "Banner..." she whispered.

Steve turned to meet her eyes. "Banner?"

Natasha exhaled. Steve turned to Clint, "Banner?" he asked again; this time with an undertone of annoyance in his voice. Once more, Clint nodded.

Steve sank into his seat. His eyes shifted to Natasha a second time. Her face screamed displeasure; tribulation – indisposition. Steve looked back at Clint, who shrugged his shoulders, and Steve shook his head. "Absolutely not."

"He's our only option, Steve." Clint claimed. "The only way we'll be one step ahead of the game."

"We can get by just fine on our own." Steve scolded.

"You say that now, but just wait until an actual challenge comes our way."

"You don't think this is an actual challenge?"

"I think this is only the beginning compared to what's about to come."

"And when what's about to come does, we'll overcome it together like we always have."

"We do need help, Steve. I think Banner could be a good recourse." Sam joined. Steve shot him an icy look, causing him to step back with his hands in the air.

"It's Banner or Stark. Those are our only options." Clint demanded.

Natasha sighed.

"We're not reaching out to Banner." Steve decided. "We can't; he's been off the grid ever since our fight with Ultron – even if we wanted to, there's no way to contact him." Natasha exhaled with relief. Her face relaxed and her eyes shut. Ever since Bruce left without explanation after the outburst in Sokovia, Natasha had been on edge – with him, and herself. Steve knew this. For the longest time, a small part of her personality had shut down completely as if it didn't even exist within her conscience anymore. Between then and the chaos in New York, it had slowly blossomed again after being withered for so long, but she still silenced at the mention of Banner's name. If she had to work with him again, Steve could only imagine how much it would change her – temporarily or not. The fact that Clint even had the nerve to bring up the option disgusted and angered Steve. But even more so, he wasn't even going to allow that possibility the chance to become a reality.

After that, the room fell silent; no one person sure of what to say next since it seemed they had come to a conclusion.

Steve broke the silence. "I believe that we can do this by ourselves. Besides, calling anybody else in would just put them in danger and I'm not willing for us to be the cause of anybody else's death."

Another eerie silence fell upon them. But after a few moments, Bucky spoke. "I'm with Steve."

Every head in the room turned to look at him. "If we do this, we do this together... but alone."

Natasha's lips formed a tiny smile. "Looks like you've got a supporter, Rogers." Steve smiled at Bucky, then at Natasha.

"I'm with him too." Sam stated.

"Me too." Wanda claimed.

"Me too." Natasha said softly, meeting Steve's eyes.

Scott laughed and tossed his hands up in the air, "I guess I am too; seeing as it looks like everybody else is..." he paused, "And I'm kind of... um, I'm not very fond of the way Dr. Banner loses control and uh – you know, turns into an enormous green rage monster." Bucky chuckled.

"Get in line." Natasha eased.

Steve turned his attention to Clint, who grinned childishly at Natasha's remark. But then his goofy smile faded and Natasha eyed him.

"Clint?" she tensed.

He took a brief pause, but then shook his head with amusement. "I'm in."

Every soul in the room relaxed. "Alright then," Steve exhaled, "Nobody gets called in." The team nodded and went their separate directions.

Steve got up from his seat and made his way over to the sofa table. He picked up his cup of coffee and smelt it; making a gross face. He dipped his finger in it and rolled his eyes. "Waste of produce."

Natasha chortled and watched him as he made his way over to the coffeemaker aside the microwave. She smirked, then said "You know, if you aren't gonna drink it – why make it?"

Still with his back turned, he quipped "If you aren't gonna say anything nice – why say anything at all?"

Natasha laughed and Steve looked over his shoulder to smile.

After a moment or two, Natasha stood up from her seat and made her way over to Steve's side. She propped herself up on the counter. "Hey," she kicked his hip playfully, forcing him to look up at her with a cocked eyebrow.

"Thank you." She acknowledged. Steve lowered his head with his lips curled and nodded.

"Looks like I owe you again." She suggested. He rolled his eyes and pressed the grind button on the coffeemaker, "No." he said simply.

Following his gesture, Natasha rolled her eyes and kicked him in his side again; this time with a little more force.

"Will you stop that?" he whined; pushing her foot away and causing her whole body to shift to the right. But she forced herself back.

"You can't just keep brushing it off," she explained, "-like it's nothing."

"It is nothing." He assured her. "Don't worry about it."

Natasha wasn't in the mood to argue with him, so she bit her tongue and gave up on trying to convince him. Instead, she brought up another, slightly lighter subject. "What are you gonna do without your shield?"

Steve sat his freshly made cup of espresso down next to the machine and laughed. "Haven't quite figured that out yet."

"Why'd you give it up?"

He sighed. "It's complicated... Tony brought up the fact that it was his father's shield and that I didn't deserve it–"

"So you just gave it to him?"

"I just gave it to him."

"You know you didn't have to, right? It was just Tony being Tony."

"I didn't have to. But I did."

"Are you regretting it, now?"

"I have Bucky back and he's with a group of people he can trust and rely on. That's worth more to me than a Frisbee."

Natasha lowered her eyes. "I can't relate."

Steve sighed. He hopped up onto the countertop and scooted next to her. He placed his hand on her thigh, interrupting the twiddling of her thumbs. They met each other's eyes, and Steve gave a curt nod indicating that she doesn't have to worry. But he knew that what she said was untrue. I think you can relate, Steve thought. You just don't realize it...

Breaking the silence, Steve asked "What exactly did Tony tell you the day you came reaching out to me?"

Natasha rolled her eyes and sighed. "Not much. Just that I was a fool for helping you and Barnes escape – also that T'Challa told Ross what I did so they'd come looking for me."

Steve's expression tightened. Son of a gun, he thought. "Do you think they'll actually come for you?"

Natasha tilted her head to consider it, but then brushed it off with a laugh of seer amusement. "I'd love to see them try."

"Any ideas on exactly how we can pull this off without help?" Clint asked; scratching the back of his neck.

"That... is a question you'll have to ask Steve." Wanda said crossing her arms.

Clint groaned, "Please – he's not gonna have any ideas. He's probably just as empty handed as we are."

Wanda tilted her head. "Either way, we'll figure something out. This is Steve we're talking about. I trust him." She pursed her lips, "Besides; when has he ever let us down?"

"Never... oh wait; never – except for that one time he got us all arrested and rewarded us all with the lovely title of criminals." Clint laughed.

Wanda narrowed her eyes. "Why are you being so pissy? Are you actually opposed to the fact that he wants us to do this by ourselves?"

"I'm not opposed to anyone – especially not Captain America. I just want to make sure that we consider all our options."

"We have. And we've made a decision."

"I understand that. I'm just not completely convinced that the decision we made is the best."

"So you are opposed."

"I'm not opposed. I'm just..." Clint lowered his head. "I'm just worried."

Wanda sighed and her eyes wandered. She stepped closer beside him and extended her arm to touch his shoulder; rubbing circles with her thumb against his collarbone.

"I know you are," she soothed; sliding her hand to the other side of his neck and wrapping her arm slightly around his upper body. He looked up and at her; relaxing slowly. Wanda half-smiled, "I can read your mind, remember?"

Clint chuckled and removed her arm from his shoulder before standing up, "Get outta' there." He said; swirling his pointer-finger around in circles a few couple inches away from his temple. Wanda smirked. He reached his hand down and wiggled his fingers; indicating for her to grab on. Following, she grabbed his hand and he hoisted her up from her seat and patted her on the back.

"You got a good thing going here, kid." He said; walking a couple feet ahead of her before turning his head back, "Don't blow it." And with that, they both walked down the hallway into the kitchen to find Steve and Natasha deep in conversation.

"Wanda, Clint," Steve nodded.

"Miss Romanoff, Mr. America," Clint bowed.

Steve raised his eyebrows, "Captain America," he corrected.

"Same difference," Clint claimed; skipping to the other side of the island and leaning himself against the counter. "You know, I gotta ask – do you have any idea how we're gonna do this without help from outside?"

"Clint..." Wanda warned, raising her eyebrows.

Clint put his hand in her face, "Chill," he hushed.

Steve began, "So far; no–"

"–but he'll figure something out; we'll figure something out – together – with no help from anybody outside. Understood?" Natasha demanded.

Clint raised his hands above his head and leaned back father against the countertop. "Yes ma'am."