Chapter 13

It appeared that Steve and Natasha already had a "game-plan" in the works. Now it was in the hands of them and the rest of the team, including Maria Hill and other rogue members of SHIELD, to piece it together.

Steve stood leaned forward at the table with his upper body weight pressed into the palms of his hands; tapping the end of his pen against the metal table with his pinky. There was a large, blank sheet of white paper rolled out in front of him. Natasha stood next to him with her arms crossed, looking over at the paper. Across from them sat Bucky, Sam, & Scott – and Clint stood against the wall beside them.

Steve clicked his pen and looked at Bucky, wanting to engage him in the conversation. "Buck, do you remember the uniforms Ross' men were wearing when they attacked you?"

Bucky lowered his eyes and shook his head, "It was dark outside... everything looked black to me, but I don't know."

Steve lowered his head loosely and sighed, gave a soft sigh in Bucky's direction, and then turned to Sam. "Alright... Sam? Can you do better than that?"

"Like he said," Sam exhaled, tapping his foot up and down against the floor, "It was dark and we were running away from them – not towards them. Sorry, Steve."

"I remember from the prison." Scott confessed, knowing that he would be the next person Steve would ask. "When they locked us up they were wearing jumpsuits – like military uniforms minus the camo crap."

"Do you remember the color?"

"They were a dark navy blue – might've been black, but I don't think so."

Steve chewed on his lower lip, "Okay, so deep navy blue military uniforms?" They nodded. Natasha eyed him.

"Hats or no hats?" She asked.

"Helmets. Black helmets. That I remember." Sam assured.

"Alright... Maria – do you think SHIELD could hook us up with some navy blue hats and jumpsuits?" Natasha asked, transitioning over to the other side of Steve so she could better see Maria.

Maria nodded and brought her hand to her earpiece. Natasha predicted that she had some SHIELD official on the other line. Maria began to walk off, "Yeah, hi – could you do me a big favor and send over some military suits to our Waco facility?... Navy blue... with black helmets & goggles..."

Steve waited until she had left the room before looking back down at the white paper to write something and continuing the conversation, "Alright, so we've got those on the way." Natasha leaned over and saw him scribble down the words, 'Disguise... ✔️ '

"What's the plan?" Bucky asked.

Steve, too deep in thought to answer, nudged Natasha as if telling her to answer the question instead. Simply, she said, "We get Ross to come to us, as per usual."

"By...?" Scott raised his eyebrows, as if her answer wasn't good enough (which to be fair, it really wasn't).

She scratched the top of her cupids-bow and pressed forward with her explanation. She looked at Scott. "You, me, and Clint will go into the city and make a scene, drawing in Ross' men and letting them capture us."

"Define 'make a scene'," Sam questioned.

Natasha tilted her head and bounced her shoulders, "I don't know – crash a car, maybe throw a rock through one of the windows at the DP; do whatever, just don't kill anybody."

Bucky lowered his head, "That's not my strong suit..."

Don't worry; you won't be there, Natasha thought. But instead of saying aloud, she gave him a look he couldn't quite decipher; some sort of mixture between annoyance and pity. "Well, try it on for size."

"So while you guys are causing a ruckus, Sam and I will dress as Ross' men – hints the navy uniforms – and we'll step in last second to be the ones that cuff you and take you aboard their jet; or whatever method of transportation they force you to take." Steve explained.

"What happens after we get to the prison?" Bucky asked, adjusting his himself in his seat and resting his hands on his propped-up leg.

"We'll leave the cuffs unlocked just enough to the point where you guys can escape from them. Halfway on our walk to your cells, you guys will get rid of the cuffs and we'll take care of the other soldiers." Steve finished, straightening up and tossing his pen onto the table after scribbling down a few more notes.

"'Take care of them'... like, kill them?" Scott asked with his eyebrows raised.

Steve thought about it for a second, then brushed it off quickly and mumbled, "If we need to."

Whoa, Scott thought. An ex-army guy/ex-assassin/ex-brainwashed best friend who popped back into his life seventy years later to try and kill him but then changed his mind; and an ex-enemy/ex-Avenger/nineteen-year-old Sokovian weapon of mass destruction... I guess that makes two people Captain America would kill for.

Interrupting his train of thought, Natasha continued where Steve left off, "Then we'll go find Wanda and, hopefully, we'll get her back."

"We'll get her back." Steve said firmly, only he wasn't saying it to assure Natasha or the others so much as he was saying to assure himself.

Natasha realized this and nodded her head, "Hopefully, as in surely. That would be a better word." She hoped the gesture would ease his nerves and maybe even make him smile.

He didn't smile.

Bucky looked around the room and narrowed his eyes towards Steve in confusion, "Wait, if you and Sam are gonna pretend to be Ross' men," He gestured towards the other three, "and they're gonna be making a scene... what am I doing?"

Maria had long since finished her call with SHIELD and had been standing at the back of the room long enough to know where they were in the conversation, and she approached the table. "You and I will be waiting in the jet outside of the prison."

Bucky looked at her, and then at Steve – who nodded. His eyes softened, "I'm not fighting with you guys?"

Steve sighed and shook his head, "An hour ago, you had a hole in your leg, Buck. Physically, we can't risk anything."

"Yes, an hour ago I did. But I'm better now. I'm just fine to–"

"No."

"If anything goes wrong, you need to be the first person out." Maria rested her hand on Bucky's shoulder. He looked around the room, waiting for someone to object. But everyone kept quiet and sank their eyes towards their feet. That only made him angrier. He shrugged Maria's hand off of him and shot the whole table a desperate look.

"C'mon, guys! I'm fine!" He tried to stand up for emphasis, but then he remembered that he had strict orders from the medical team not to put any unnecessary pressure on his leg for the next couple of hours just to avoid the possibility of his stiches popping open. Steve knew that too – Christ, he had been there when Bucky was told that. But Bucky was determined to fight with the others. He sat forward before adding sharply, "I'm not some wounded animal!"

Steve began to walk towards him and reminded him calmly, "No, but you are wounded."

"Exactly how many injuries do you think I suffered from as the Winter Soldier? Not to mention the ones I got during our time in the army?"

"You're staying in the jet. End of story." Steve ended the conversation – his expression firm and cold.

Sam, sensing the uncomfortableness of the situation, changed the subject. He walked towards Steve, blocking him from Bucky's view as if setting a barrier between the two of them, and questioned, "The uniforms still need to get here – so until then, what do we do?"

Steve opened his mouth to respond, but Natasha jumped in and placed her hand on his shoulder. "How 'bout we relax? It's the only chance we're gonna get for a while."

He gave her a cold look. Relax? How could she possibly find a time to relax during this mess? You can't be serious, right? He thought. And for the first time in literally his life – he was mad at her; not frustrated, not disappointed... but mad. She knew pretty well that Steve wasn't the type of person who could just "relax" on command, let alone while one of his friends was being held hostage by the person who wanted all of them behind bars.

His breath shook as it exhaled through his nostrils, and his eyes hardened slight enough to catch her attention. "You have fun with that. I've got planning to do." Then he turned away from her and left the room.

~

It was uncomfortable enough being forced onto a jet surrounded by Ross' men, but it was even worse when all of them were staring at you. Literally, every single one of Ross' goons had their eyes locked onto Natasha, Scott, and Clint – who sat with their hands cuffed behind their backs with two of the men holding them still them with their weapons loaded.

Actually, the two men holding them in place were Sam and Steve. That made it a little less uncomfortable and even a little humorous because as far as they were concerned – the other men surrounding them had no idea.

Good news was, obviously, that their plan to draw Ross' men into the city had worked. Thought Natasha had been joking when she suggested they crash a car, that's exactly what they did. Car incidents weren't new to them, and all three of them had survived multiple crashes – so when Natasha flipped their rental car (courtesy of Maria Hill) into a fire hydrant, she wasn't surprised when they all climbed out of the remains with multiple scratches and cuts, but no fatal injuries. And she wasn't surprised that when she did this in front of the P.D, an entire squad of officers came piling out to help or possibly arrest who they figured was probably a drunk driver. But when they saw the Black Widow climb out from the upside-down driver's seat, along with Hawkeye and Scott; they didn't hesitate to call Ross. And of course, because it was the most important part of the plan – they let them.

When the dozens of men sent by Ross came flooding in to arrest them, Steve and Sam – who were dressed identically to the rest – joined them from around the corner, made their way to the front, and volunteered as the two men to handcuff and escort the three onto the jet.

Now, here they were. They were perfectly on track with their plan, and the end-result depended on one not-so-tiny 'if' – that being, whether or not Ross was planning to take them to the same place as Wanda.

One of the men – who judging by the alpha-looking structure of his expression (and his badge that had the word "COMMANDANT" plastered across it), Natasha guessed was the head of the troops sent to arrest them – dangled his gun at his side and began to approach them. Natasha held her breath as he stood in front of the three of them.

"Phew," the commandant rolled his lips and shook his head, "I don't know what you guys were thinking back there – but thank you." Clint looked at him with his brow cocked in annoyance.

"Now all you have to do is sit patiently in your cells, wait for confrontation from the General and the UN – maybe spill the beans on where Rogers, Wilson, and Barnes are –and then continue to sit in your cells. Well done."

Whatever methods of taunting this man was trying to pull off, Natasha wasn't having it. She rolled her eyes and turned her head away from the commandant and exhaled sharply through her nostrils. The commandant tilted his head and took a few steps closer to her – to a point where he was right her face.

Natasha was unaware that he was inches away from her face until he spoke, "If that fiasco back in the city was some sort of attempt at saving that Maximoff girl, I can assure you–"

Then she snapped. She whipped her head around to face him so quickly and harsh that he was slapped with the strands of her red hair. "That Maximoff girl is a kid. Any and everything she's done against the worldwide civilians was for her own self-defense and you locked her up for something she has no control over. So enjoy your little victory dance – but don't get too comfy being a step ahead because whatever she did to deserve this kind of treatment is nothing compared to what she will do to you once it's over."

The commandant smiled. "You seem close. Like friends." He waited for a response, but instead he received an icy glare – and that was probably the nicest response he would receive from her.

His face hardened. "Listen, Mrs. Romanoff – I don't know what game you think you're playing, but I promise you," He narrowed his eyes, "You're gonna lose... If you know what's good for you and your friend, you'll keep your mouth shut and your boots off of our faces. Are we clear?"

The corners of her lips softly curved upward in a sarcastic semi-smile. "Crystal."

They looked at each other, disgusted by one another, for a small lingering moment before the commandant gave his head a little nod of satisfaction and turned his back to walk away. But Natasha was not the person to give in to anybody and she snarled before he could get to the other side of the jet, "But let me ask you,"

The commandant stopped in his tracks to listen but didn't turn to face her. She continued, "When the game ends – and it will... how long do you think Ross can keep us locked up?"

~

Once the jet landed and the backdrop opened, all three of them –including Steve and Sam – exhaled with relief when they saw that Ross' men had taken them back to the supermax facility in the Pacific.

Hallelujah, Natasha thought, one 'if' down – one more to go.

The men stood up from their seats in almost perfect unison, guns loaded and all, and they waited for the commandant to signal them to exit. He took his time standing up, looked at Steve and Sam through their face-hiding gear, and gestured for them to escort Natasha, Clint, and Scott off of the jet. It became clear that the other men wouldn't be allowed to leave the jet until the three of them did – because no smart soldiers would allow their prisoners to follow behind them (but then again, these were the same "smart" soldiers that were clueless to the fact that they had two phonies on board with them).

Sam, keeping with his character, grabbed Scott and Clint harshly at the backs of their necks – which he can't say he hadn't thought about doing many times before – and forced them off of the jet. Steve attempted to follow along, but found himself placing his right hand gently onto Natasha's shoulder to escort her off. Then, to serve as a reminder that everything would turn out just fine, he snuck his free hand down to meet hers (which were loosely cuffed behind her back) and laced their fingers together.

If the commandant had been standing in front of them, he would've surely seen Natasha grin childishly. But even though he wasn't, she cleared her throat, gave Steve's hand a secret little squeeze, and let him guide her off of the jet.

As they were being marched down the hallways, evidentially, they crossed paths with the Ross himself – who was quietly sipping a cup of coffee when he noticed his men approaching with his "prisoners".

If Steve hadn't been pretending to be one of his soldiers, he would've thrown punches at him then and there. But instead, he bit his tongue and tried not to stop in his path.

But Ross noticed them, of course he noticed them, and he smiled devilishly. "Good afternoon," He greeted.

"Go to hell." Clint, who wasn't having it, snapped at him.

Ross gave his eyes a quick roll and continued on his path to wherever, but not before spitting back, "Great. See you there." If the remark had come from anyone other than Ross – or Tony Stark – Natasha might've laughed.

As they continued walking down the prison hallways to their cells, Steve pulled the key to Natasha's handcuffs from his jumpsuit pocket and began unlocking it out of the other men's sight. Once the cuffs loosened and Natasha could slip them off easily, he slipped the key into her hand, nodded at Sam – who was right beside him with Scott and Clint – and the two of them whipped around to hit the men behind them with a full-strength uppercut punch.

That was when the chaos ensued.

Taken aback by the unexpected harassment, the other men frantically tried to re-load their weapons – but Steve and Sam were going full out on them and they knocked every single one of them off of their feet. As more violent punches and kicks were thrown between the two of them and Ross' men, Natasha flung her handcuffs across the narrow hallway and leaped over to Sam and Clint's side. Using the key Steve had given her; she unlocked both of their cuffs in a swift movement and yanked them to their feet.

When the three of them looked back, Steve was bringing his elbow down hard on top of the back of a soldier's neck – who collapsed immediately onto the ground at the contact with Steve's bone.

Natasha took a moment to look around. She counted about eight men lying unconscious on the floor. They all looked like dead fish – which they weren't, but Ross would definitely think otherwise if they saw them.

Unfortunately, eight wasn't all of them. There were still five soldiers throwing punches at Steve and Sam. Clint charged towards the mess and began fighting alongside the two of them and called for Scott to do the same.

Before Natasha could regather her thoughts and join the others, Sam called, "Steve! You and Nat go find Wanda!"

One of the men swung a round-house kick at Steve – who ducked beneath the kick and rolled out of the way. As soon as Steve was clear out of the way, Sam tackled the man while Clint and Scott held off the remaining four men – allowing Steve and Natasha the head start they needed to get to Wanda.

The two of them took off in a fast sprint – running as fast as they could down the hallway in hopes that they would find Wanda in one of the cells. But as they approached the end of their original hallway and took a sharp turn around the corner, they collided head-on with someone from the other side.

They and the person they collided into went flying backwards. Natasha was fairly the same height as the person and they smashed their foreheads against one another, whereas Steve was so much taller, he got crashed into by the rest of the person's body – forcefully knocking the wind out of him.

They were all three on the floor in pain – nothing Steve and Natasha hadn't dealt with a hundred times before, of course. Natasha pinched the bridge of her nose and widened her eyes in attempt to get them to adjust back to normal.

Steve and the other person shared a grunt of agony – only Steve recognized that sound slipping from that person's lips. He had heard it a million times before during the training of the Next Avengers. It sounded just like the grunt Wanda would force out every time she would fall while trying to use her powers to fly.

He blinked his eyes and finally stared at the person in front of him. Dark hair. Green eyes. Fair skin. "Wanda?"

Wanda rubbed her eyes and stared at the two of them. Her face flipped. The three of them scrambled to their feet and Natasha coughed, "Are you okay!?"

"Are you?" Wanda ignored the question, seeming to be completely surprised by their appearance at the prison.

Steve squinted his eyes and nodded his head. In a flabbergasted manner, he answered, "We're fine... are you–"

He was cut off by Wanda throwing her arms tightly around him and Natasha in a hug – and it wasn't like one of those sweet little hugs that you share with your friend after returning to school from summer break, no, it was like one of those hugs you share with your friend when you thought you'd never see them alive again (not that very many people have those kinds of hugs).

Wanda closed her eyes shut and whimpered against their shoulders, "You came back..."

Natasha felt little droplets of liquid hit her clothes; tears. Wanda was crying.

Now Natasha wasn't the type of person who would let you cry on her shoulder, but she looked down at Wanda and she couldn't help but want to cry herself. Okay, Maximoff... she thought as she pulled her in tighter, just this once.

Steve shook his head in relief and confusion, "Of course we did," Did Wanda not think that they would come back for her? "Wanda?" He looked down at her in concern.

Natasha broke the hug and pressed the back of her hand against Wanda's forehead. If she herself had such bad of a headache from running into Wanda a few moments ago, she could only imagine how much pain Wanda was in or would be in later. "How did you get out of your cell?"

"They didn't put me in a cell, they put me in an office with Ross' soldiers." Wanda explained. When she saw the confused expressions on their faces, she elaborated further, "They wanted to use me as bait to draw you in. When I heard they captured you all in the city, I was sick to my stomach."

"Wait so they just let you leave?" Steve asked. No way. They would never just let any of us leave.

"Uh... Not really..." Wanda confessed, tilting her head. "A few minutes after you arrived, I heard the alarms going off in the room – it was a signal for backup. All of Ross' soldiers in the room left in full gear except for one, who was told to stay and watch me. Fortunately, he wasn't extremely hard to get past... even with my hands tied up." She held out her arms for them to see the rope burns on both of her wrists.

"Let me guess," Natasha crossed her arms and smirked, "Scrawny and unarmed?"

Wanda looked at her, "Yeah..." She squinted her eyes in confusion, "How'd you know?"

"Lucky guess. Come on, we have to go help Clint and the others; considering you said there were more soldiers on their way down there." Natasha grabbed Wanda by her forearm and pulled her a few steps down the way they came and gestured for Steve to follow.

Wanda rolled her shoulder back, freeing herself from Natasha's grip, and stopped. "Wait, what happens if we run into more of Ross' men on our way?" She rubbed her knuckles, playing guiltily with her energy rays, and lowered her eyes to the floor... "What if they fight?"

Natasha looked at Steve, who shrugged, and she grasped Wanda gently by her wrists – trying carefully not to put too much pressure on her rope burns. She watched the red rays of energy circle around the fingers of Wanda's hand she was holding up, and as if giving her permission, she nodded, "Fight back."

When they made it back to the point in the hallway where the others were, about fifteen more men had beat them there in full gear. Sam, Clint, and Scott had done a pretty good job at keeping them occupied, but they were getting tired – which wasn't a good thing, because this time the men Ross had sent down weren't shy about using their guns.

Natasha looked to the other side of the hallway and saw a black handgun – probably one of Ross' men's – lying unattended on the floor. She took the opportunity and she flung herself onto the floor and slid across to grab it. "Wanda!" She yelled, signaling her to do something.

Wanda didn't hesitate. "Get down!" She yelled to Sam, Scott, and Clint as she conjured a glowing red sphere of energy and sent it flying towards Ross' men. The three of them ducked, and she the sphere took out two men. She continued doing this until Natasha made it back to them behind the corner of the wall.

Natasha looked around the corner, ducked back as a bullet was fired in their direction, and held her gun out to fire back. She turned to Steve and Wanda and gestured for them to follow her to the other side, where she could get a clearer shot at the scene. Steve pulled a gun from his jumpsuit, and on Natasha's cue, the three of them bolted to down the hall. Steve and Natasha fired bullets from their guns, taking down at least one soldier, while Wanda flung more energy spheres at them.

By the time they made it to the other side, the soldiers' guns had run out of bullets and Clint, Scott, and Sam had begun to fight them hand-to-hand. There were only four soldiers left standing after the firefight, and Natasha knew that she could easily take them out from the angle she was standing at.

"Steve – give me your gun!" She barked. He tossed it to her willingly; he had never been a master with guns to begin with, and he held Wanda back to keep her from getting shot. Natasha held up both guns – one in each hand – and fired both of them at the same time; taking out two more bad guys.

Now there were just two men left standing. Sam through a hard punch to one of their noses and when he stumbled back, he kicked him forcefully in the chest. The man flew back and landed hard on the floor, and Sam knelt down to deliver one last blow to the man's face. Then, he was out like a light.

Scott and Clint had been working at the last standing soldier for what seemed like the entire time. They were giving him everything they had to try and take him out hand-to-hand – but he was giving them even more. He jumped up and did a quick twirl and gave Scott a harsh roundhouse kick to the side of his face.

Scott stumbled back and fell onto his tailbone. God damn! He thought as he caressed his own cheek in pain, that guy is freaking sick at martial arts! To which everyone else thought the same thing.

Clint soon realized that he wouldn't be able to beat this guy by firing back with punches, so he focused more on blocking the punches and kicks thrown at him – which he was actually inexplicably good at. As the man came at him hard, he blocked his kick with his forearms and dodged the punches thrown at him. But one hook got him in the nose and he threw his head back in pain.

Natasha had had enough. "Clint!" She called. He looked back at her as he dodged the next kick and Natasha loaded the next bullet in her gun and held it out. "Catch!"

She tossed her gun through the air and he leaped up to grab it perfectly in his hands. He wrapped his finger around the trigger and turned around at just the right moment to point it directly at the man's chest.

He pulled the trigger.

All of the men sent were down.

Clint tossed the gun back to Natasha as the three of them came out from behind the corner and he helped Scott to his feet.

Steve exhaled, "The alarms are still going off. That means there's more men on the way."

Clint nodded. "We need to go." He said as he pulled Wanda in for a quick hug.

"Everybody get to the jet! I'll stay towards the back in case Ross' men have any ideas of sneaking up on us." Steve vowed.

Wanda turned her head and walked out slightly to look down the opposite hallway. She exhaled fearfully and walked back over to Steve, pointing down the hallway. "Those men are armed. You don't have your shield and let's be honest – you don't know squat about using a gun. Let me be at the end."

Steve exhaled and looked around at his surroundings frantically. His eyes fell on a metal door a couple feet away from where he was standing. He marched quickly over towards it, sized it up and down with his eyes, and then pressed gently against it – causing it to wobble slightly on its hinges.

He paused to think for a moment before swiveling around to face Natasha.  "Nat, can I see your gun for a second?"

She looked at the gun in her hands, looked at him, and then tossed it over to him. Naturally, everyone pushed back away from Steve and the door as he fired a bullet straight at the center of the door.

It barely made a dent. He exhaled. I can work with this.

He paced over to Wanda's side, grabbed her forearm, and pointed at the door. "Can you get that door off its hinges?"

Wanda tilted her head and looked at the door, sighing. She raised her hands and inched her fingers around to create more rays of energy. Like she had done similarly with the green gas in Lagos, she engulfed the door in red light and removed it from its loose hinges. When she released her grip on it, Steve was right below to catch it perfectly in his hands. It was fairly heavy, but it was manageable.

He looked at Wanda and nodded, "Now I have a shield –" he gestured his head towards the stairs, "Go."

They didn't waste a second. They bolted towards the metal staircase on opposite sides of the prison and didn't look back – or at least, not until they heard a swarm of rubber-sole footsteps charging behind them and the firing of guns.

Out of habit, Natasha and Clint ducked down as they ran, "Stay low!" Clint warned. But they found that most of the bullets being fired at them were being blocked by Steve's "shield".

As they made it to the stairs and started darting up to the top, Steve began reacting more physically to the men chasing them. When they got within his reach, he would kick them hard in their lower abdomens and they would tumble back down the stairwell. This easily took out a good three or four men just by throwing a kick at one. Any other bullets being fired at him were stopped at contact with the door Wanda had removed from its hinges. And when their guns ran out of bullets and the last few standing men came rushing towards him – he swung the door over his shoulder, winding up like he would his usual shield, and he hurled it at them; sending all of remaining men tumbling hard down the stairs with a loud 'CRASH'.

He turned his back to the scene and darted up the stairs with the others, "Go!" He urged.

The door to the top of the roof flung open, letting bright rays of sunlight into the greyness of the prison. They piled out onto the dark metal, one by one, and rushed to the sight of Bucky poking his head out from behind the chopper door and waving, screaming at them, "Come on! Hurry! Run!"

Then they heard a gunshot.

They urged themselves not to look back, because looking back while running is an easy way to get caught – but as Bucky's expression contorted and his entire face dropped, Natasha could help but turn around.

But she wished that she hadn't, because what she saw was Steve grasping his lower abdomen and slowly collapsing to the floor.