Nomad (Steve Rogers)

12

I don't sleep much these days, not as well enough as I'd like to. Instead I'm on high alert, my guard always up in case Ross' men track us down. I know they won't. We're too isolated, and no one really recognises us. Certainly not Steve with just how much he's changed.

Even now as he lies next to me, I know I'm safe with him, however I'm wide awake with a feeling of uncertainty. Something just doesn't feel right tonight. I roll over and drape my arm over his waist, his arm now repositioning itself around me so I'm against him. I can't quite tell if he's awake or not, but I choose not to disturb him either way.

After some time of lying there again and not being able to sleep, I get up and put on my tactical suit, looking around the cabin that's in pure darkness. My senses are telling me that something or someone is near. 

"Aster, what the hell are you doing?" Steve yawns as he sits up, eyes adjusting to the darkness.

"I have a feeling..."

He frowns. "Pardon?"

"Someone's out there..." I say and reach for my weapons. "Someone's here I know they are."

He doesn't brush this off as paranoia and is up immediately shielding me, one arm barring me from making another move.

Then comes the banging on the door.

"Could be Ross' men?" He says quietly

"You honestly think they'd knock first?" 

"I dunno, but we're about to find out." Steve points to himself and then the door, then pointing at me and the corner behind the door itself. I nod and move quietly to the place before he throws open the door and grabs the person on the other side, throwing them in.

"IT'S ME, IT'S ME!" Comes a startled voice and Steve turns on the light, looking down at who he's just launched across the floor.

"Sam?" He looks surprised and in through the doorway strides a woman with short blonde hair.

"Still got the magic touch." She smirks and helps Sam Wilson to his feet.

Natasha Romanoff.

"You're a hard guy to find these days." Natasha says to Steve as he shuts the door and locks it. "Managed to get a signal from where you last where though."

Sam grins. "We ended up in Amsterdam at one point."

"It was certainly an experience." Nat confirms and then spies me and looks interested. "So...this is the widow..."

I shoot her a warning look. "Don't call me that."

"Why? It's what you are, with or without the whole 'graduation' process." She says calmly, and it's almost like she wants a reaction so she can see just what I can do.

Steve senses the tension. "Nat, Sam this is Aster..."

Sam moves forward and extends his hand for me to shake, which I do. "This is Assassins Creed?" He chuckles as he studies me. "No way. She tried to kill you?"

"Yup." Steve looks mildly amused.

By now Wilson is smiling nervously. "You're about to put a knife through me aren't you?" 

"You weren't on my hit list big bird." I tell him as I look him up and down. "You're safe...for now."

Nat changes the subject, "So how long have you been here for? We tried sending messages, but they didn't go through. We only managed to get a good hit on your location the other day."

"Few months, the signal's temperamental." Steve gestures for them to make themselves comfortable and I go to make them some coffee. "But there's a lot that we've got to talk about."

"Looks like your girl is already preparing us for what we're gonna hear." Sam states and I glance over briefly but say nothing, choosing to focus on making the coffee instead. Steve also doesn't say a word which only confirms Sam's suspicions.

Steve has begun to relay what we've found out about Ross. "I always knew there was something sketchy. But Hydra?" Nat frowns.

"That's low." Sam says and thanks me as I pass him and Nat their coffee, then giving Steve his own.

He slips an arm around my waist as I perch on the arm of the chair next to him, and this doesn't go unnoticed by Nat, who looks at Steve's arm and then at me. She doesn't trust me and I know why. If I was her then I wouldn't trust me either. "Aster's found the four key people to take out, Ross included. It's just a case of hunting them down and doing so."

"Looks like we have a new mission then." Nat eventually takes her eyes from me and rests them on Steve. "One each, should be easy."

Steve looks at me for confirmation and I nod silently before getting up and making my excuses to give them some time to talk alone. They don't trust me and I know that once i leave the room then something will be said.

Taking myself into the other room, I listen as Nat and Sam then launch into a million reasons why they don't trust me. "She tried to kill you man!" Sam now states. "That's enough of a reason not to trust her! She could be biding her time and waiting to stab you in your sleep!"

Steve sighs. "She told Ross I was dead before then making herself a fugitive because of what she knows. He's after her. If I trust her then why can't you? If she wanted me dead then she'd have done it by now." 

"He's got a point." Nat now says, seemingly sticking up for me. "But how do we know that she hasn't got an agenda of her own?"

I've had enough.

"Because you'd have been dead and bleeding out from the moment you walked through our door." I now emerge and tell them, then looking to Steve. "I told you I should've handled this one on my own." And go to get my stuff.

"Aster..." he sighs.

I stop him. "I don't need your help or anyone else's to take down Ross and the others. I've done this plenty of times before. He's just another name on the list with all the others." I then look to Sam and Nat. "You want a cold hearted assassin. You just got her. Consider this my way of proving that you can trust me."

I'm hurt, but how could I have thought that this would work. Even if Steve is the only one who trusts me, his friends never will. He's better off without me in the long run. I was never meant to fall in love with him but somehow have. 

Throwing everything I need in my bag I look at Steve. "I'll let you know when the job is done." I tell him softly. Once Ross and the others are gone and the government is sent the files to expose everything, he'll be pardoned. It's my last favour to him. "Goodbye Steve." 

Then in the dead of night, I'm gone. 

And the worst part? 

He finally lets me go.