Chasing Shadows ;; Steve Rogers

five.

"So you're what? Playing house with her in her cell?" Natasha asked as Steve piled the beef stroganoff Yelena had ordered onto two plates.

"Of course not," Steve said. "But she's not going to tell me anything if I try to force it out of her. I need her to trust me."

"She can't be manipulated that easily," Yelena said. "I mean, it is very good stroganoff and it was always her favorite, but we are taught to withstand manipulation when we are 5 in The Red Room."

"I'm not manipulating her," Steve said, putting the plates on a tray. He sighed and turned to face them. "Look, I know what I'm doing. She's not going to tell us anything if she doesn't trust us. And we can't exactly force it out of her."

"We probably could," Rhodey said. They all looked at him, Natasha and Yelena glaring at him. "Okay, calm down. I don't mean by torture. I meant you guys are forgetting about our favorite mind reader. She can find out the information we need without even breaking a sweat. Just get her ass up here from Westview or wherever she's holidaying and tell her we need her to use some of her mojo."

"No," Steve said. "Wanda is not doing so great with the loss of Vision. I don't want to call her back here unless we absolutely have to. She shouldn't be around this right now."

"You know that her DNA is in the Harvest Sample too, right?" Tony asked. "We're risking a second Scarlet Witch controlled by the bad guys. And I'm sure that one won't have Wanda's sparkly personality. Maybe we just call her up for a day, get her to do her thing, and then go back to sipping Mai Tais or whatever they do in Westview."

"No," Steve said again. "Wanda doesn't come back until she's ready. I know how important this is. I get it. But trust me, Wanda cannot handle this right now. So unless anyone has a better plan, this is going to be the best way to get the information and your sister back."

"By playing house in her cell," Natasha said skeptically.

"It's not--never mind," Steve said.

• • •

"So then Bucky punched him, square in the face," Steve chuckled. He had come to visit her again that evening, bringing dinner with him. She didn't tell him beef stroganoff was her favorite. They only got it as a treat once a month in The Red Room, but it had always been her favorite day. She was silent as she ate, though she only took a bite after she saw him eat it first and switched their plates. He hadn't commented on that, instead deciding to regale her with tales of his youth. She had grown more suspicious of him. He was treating her like — a friend. And she didn't have friends.

"I'm not going to tell you where the microchip is," she said, causing him to stop his story.

"Did I ask you where it was?" Steve asked.

"That's why you're here," she said, putting down her fork. It was plastic of course, though even that was foolish. Even a plastic fork could be a weapon. Though she supposed it wouldn't have much effect on Captain America. "So you can stop the charade."

"What charade is that?" he asked.

"You're trying to get me to like you, to trust you so I tell you what you want to know," she said. "I've played this game before, on the other side. And it's not going to work. Besides, you're really bad at it."

"You're right, I'm bad at games," Steve said. "I may look like this because of the serum but I'm still that scrawny 90 pound kid inside. This isn't a game. This isn't a charade. Besides, Yelena said you learn to master manipulation at 5 years old. I'm sure you would see it coming a mile away."

"You're right, I would, and I do," she said.

"Don't get me wrong, I want to know where the microchip is, and I do want you to trust me. But I have a feeling you don't trust easily. So until you do, this is called being nice. It's not manipulation. It's what people do."