𝐀𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 | 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐑𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐬

The Final Line

"𝘐 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶, 𝘊𝘩𝘭𝘰𝘦, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘐 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘵 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘧 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘶𝘳𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥, 𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭."

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"We're going to start talking strategies in a bit...if you're interested..." Natasha stood by the doorway of the room Seren had recused herself to. It was as shabby as the rest of the rooms in the base.

"If it involves Fury, then I can't be sure he won't try to do something in the shadows," Seren retorted, turning around to Natasha. "He might just let Chloe die for the 'bigger picture'."

"He wouldn't let that happen, Seren."

"He was prepared to shoot me down when Loki brainwashed me," Seren snapped. It all made perfect sense now. She was always so blind focusing solely on the mission that she never considered what was going on behind it. "Everyone at SHIELD is disposable, Natasha. Everyone. I finally got that. Me, you, Steve, Chloe...if we're in the way of the bigger picture, we're disposable."

"Dial back the identity crisis before you really hurt your head," Natasha said.

"It's not funny, Natasha. This is something truly hurtful to realize and, yes, I know it took me forever to realize it. It's my fault for being so blind."

"You weren't 'blind', you were just painfully optimistic," Natasha flashed Seren a little smile. "You have and will always look for the brighter side of things. It's in your nature. Always has been."

"Making me stupid," Seren said with a huff. "Honestly, I should be taking lessons from you. You don't even seem affected by everything we've learned."

"Seren, the things I have seen and done in my life make this whole thing just another passing-by situation for me. Does it affect me that SHIELD turned out to be another red room? Yeah, of course it does. But in the grand scheme of everything, it's not the worst thing that's happened to me."

"You came up with that yourself?" Seren said, slightly unconvinced. Natasha chuckled.

"Steve may have had a hand in the realization."

Seren playfully rolled her eyes. "Of course."

"For what it's worth, real or not, you have always done the best damn job for SHIELD."

Seren lowered her head. She used to like thinking the same thing. "Except now I wonder when I was doing my best for HYDRA, and how much of their agenda I helped push through."

"I wouldn't do that...it's not going to lead you to better thoughts."

"But how do I do that, Natasha? How do I stop wondering when the bad guy was actually the good guy and when the good guy was actually the bad guy?" Seren rubbed her forehead. "I keep thinking about it and I feel horrible. How do I make it stop?"

"By not holding yourself responsible for what was out of your control!" Natasha exclaimed. "You're suffocating in senseless guilt. It's not your fault. You didn't know that HYDRA still existed. None of us did! Not even Fury!"

"He should have said something, Natasha," Seren muttered.

"Maybe, but then what? We were outnumbered, girl. He played the cards he had; they weren't the best cards but it is what it is."

"So I'm supposed to forgive and forget?"

"That's up to you, Seren," Natasha shrugged. "Right now, I just think that we should pull our numbers together and get Winters the hell out of there."