What If...? Rumlow Turned Against Hydra: Book One

19

Natasha and Rumlow, exhausted by days of little sleep, were finally able to retreat from the apartment stuffed with computer equipment for another of the seemingly endless places the Winter Soldier's organization had for their people to use. Paine and Creigh had finished downloading, dissecting and generally doing whatever they needed to with the equipment taken from the deep cover site before returning to their jobs at SHIELD, announcing progress had been made in tracking the Zola AI. Natasha had a stack of notes she'd taken from other laptops, and Rumlow was already in constant contact with the organization, giving them everything he knew to allow them to begin some long-range planning toward ending Hydra's threat to the world once and for all.

It had been Barnes who suggested they all go to another location, both Natasha and Rumlow had no energy to argue. They'd needed to move on anyway, all of them had to avoid staying in one place for very long and Rumlow in particular was suddenly operating in at least four different time zones. The new location was a small house in a Baltimore neighborhood that would have been avoided by anyone with enough money to stay away. All of the houses were generally dilapidated, with peeling paint, overgrown yards full of trash some with windows boarded up. Most of the homes were rentals, owned by landlords who could care less about any upkeep with tenants that had neither the money nor drive to do anything themselves. It was a place where no one asked any questions and was therefore perfect for their current needs.

The house had three bedrooms, looking as if it was well maintained - sixty years earlier. Natasha could see the potential of the house as they'd looked it over after they'd arrived, well after midnight, until Barnes had basically ordered both her and Rumlow to get enough sleep to be able to focus once again. Both had obeyed, only after they'd managed to get showers, Natasha had been asleep as soon as she'd laid down on the bed in one of the bedrooms, with Rumlow in the adjoining room. She woke slowly, head and neck aching from the thin pillow as well as everything she'd been doing for the previous few days. It was midafternoon, which wasn't a surprise. She'd been very tired and in spite of the aches, she felt far better able to handle whatever would be coming at them next.

She left the bedroom, looked in the bathroom for something resembling ibuprofen or Tylenol, but left disappointed in not finding anything. She felt better having had the shower the night before but wished she had a change of clothes. Her wish was granted as she walked into the living room, to see Rumlow gesturing to a pile of clothes.

"He said they're all clean, and I ran a load of laundry anyway." He looked profoundly proud of himself which made Natasha want to laugh. He seemed determined to be helpful and knowing him as she did in SHIELD, it was amusing. But then, considering her past, she was probably just as amusing. The idea of Barnes getting them clean clothes was somehow also funny, and as she thought about it, slightly disturbing. Everything about him was vaguely disturbing, but she couldn't deny he was the best chance they had at getting Steve free of Hydra.

"Did he sleep?" She asked with forced casualness.

"No idea, I was out as soon as my head hit the pillow. Somehow, I doubt it."

"Me too." She offered a smile, which he responded to with his own smile as he handed her a small bottle of ibuprofen. She grabbed it immediately.

"How did you know it's just what I wanted?" She asked him. He chuckled.

"Because it's exactly what I wanted too, as soon as I woke up. It was sitting on the kitchen counter; Barnes must have got it for us."

"Not like he needs it," Natasha said. She took three pills, with a cup of coffee from the coffee maker in the kitchen. "This is really comfy here. I'll be sad to leave."