ROYAL ⥇ N. ROMANOFF

1.8

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

"Wanda, you have to know this is wrong."

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

As a child, Eloise and her sisters liked to play "infiltration games" that were often encouraged by their Governess. One of them, usually Margaret, would act as the target while the rest of them tried to sneak up as carefully as possible to steal away whatever false documents she would be hiding and bring them back to a base camp. The location of the base camp always changed but more often than not, the base camp was the West Wing Courtyard that the fifteen sisters knew impossibly well. If one of them got caught, they were forced to sit out for the rest of the game. Eloise never got out.

Now, sneaking into Klaue's base of operations, Eloise couldn't help but realize the similarities between this and the game. Except for this time, if she did get out, it was possible that it would be for the rest of her life.

She had been paired off with Natasha, the two of them taking on the left half of the ship while the rest of the team had scattered themselves towards the middle and off to the right. Peter had been asked, been ordered, to stay on the ship with Banner. If things went south, Peter was the second most capable of getting them out without incident.

That and they didn't want to leave Banner alone, not with his homicidal and green tendencies. No one had said it upon leaving the ship but Eloise could pick up on the silent conversations happening throughout the team.

She could tell that they hadn't been a team long, most of them were barely even friends with one another. They each held a certain amount of respect for their teammates, some more than others, but when it came down to it Eloise knew that they rarely conversed outside of saving the world.

Natasha reached up to turn on her communication device, prompting Eloise to follow in her footsteps. There was a moment of interference static before the voices of the rest of the team flooded into her ear.

"He beat me by one second," came Stark's voice, leaving Eloise confused as to what conversation he was currently having.

"Ah, yes, he is funny," Pietro's voice came from somewhere. He talked louder than usual, most likely putting on a show. Eloise sent out another pulse, feeling around for Pietro's static energy. When she found it, she motioned for Natasha to follow.

"Eloise has a lock," Natasha reported to Clint, who had entered through the opposite end of the ship. "They're in the middle. We're close."

"Mr. Stark," Pietro's accented voice sounded closer now, "It's what? Comfortable? Like old times?"

They were just around the corner now, Natasha putting her arm out to prevent Eloise from moving any further.

"This was never my life," Stark said. He sounded regretful and Eloise believed him. In the short two days that she had known the man, she knew that he hated where his juvenile choices had led him.

"You two can still walk away from this," Steve's voice came next. He was talking to Wanda and Pietro now. Eloise only hoped that they were smarter than that. They couldn't walk away, they lost that ability the second they volunteered for Strucker's experiments.

"Oh, we will," Wanda's voice rang out in the metal space they were enclosed in.

Eloise peeked out from behind Natasha, watching as Steve took a step forward. "I know you've suffered--"