As the three settle in a 'borrowed' car (Steve insisted it wasn't stealing), with Steve driving, Natasha in the passenger seat with her feet up on the dashboard and Katerina sprawled out in the back, conversation is sparse at first until Natasha looks over at Steve with a smirk that Katerina immediately recognises as one that suggests something uncomfortable is about to be said.
"Where did Captain America learn to steal a car?" she asks, the same smirk still plastered on her face.
"Nazi Germany" he replies shortly, to which Natasha hums a response before he adds "And we're borrowing. Take your feet off the dash. Kat, you're gonna get hurt not wearing your seatbelt and sitting like that"
Katerina rolls her eyes and sits up, but doesn't put on her seatbelt as an act of silent rebellion, whilst Natasha takes her feet of the dashboard and looks over at him with the same smirk as before saying "Alright, I have a question for you, oh, which you do not have to answer. I feel like if you don't answer it though, you're kind of answering it, you know?"
"What?" he asks in a tired voice.
"Was that your first kiss since 1945?" she asks and Katerina snickers.
"That bad, huh?" he responds.
"I didn't say that" Natasha says.
"Well, it kind of sounds like that's what you're saying" he responds, a hint of teasing in his tone.
"No, I didn't. I just wondered how much practice you've had" she says as both other occupants of the car smirk.
"You don't need practise" he replies, to which both women in the car look at each other, also with a smirk.
"Everybody needs practise" Katerina says as she continues to make eye contact with Natasha.
"It was not my first kiss since 1945. I'm ninety-five, I'm not dead" he rolls his eyes as he speaks.
"Yeah, but you're like grandpa age" Katerina replies.
"Nobody special, though?" Natasha questions, to which Steve chuckles and responds "Believe it or not, it's kind of hard to find someone with shared life experience"
"Well, that's alright, you just make something up" Natasha says.
"What, like you and Kat?" he asks, and Katerina instantly stiffens in her seat.
"I don't know. The truth is a matter of circumstances, it's not all things to all people all the time. And neither am I" Natasha replies, not noticing her partner's sudden change in attitude.
"That's a tough way to live" he comments, noticing Katerina's stiffness as he looks in the rearview mirror "Kat?" he asks, concerned.
"It's a good way not to die" she says softly, her eyes distant.
"You know, it's kind of hard to trust someone when you don't know who that someone really is" he says, trying to divert the conversation.
"That someone happens to be different depending on who she's known as" Katerina replies, making eye contact with Steve through the rearview mirror.
"Yeah. Who do you want us to be?" Natasha asks.
"How about friends?" he asks and both women laugh softly.
"Well, there's a chance you might be in the wrong business, Rogers" Natasha remarks with a humorous grin.
~~~~~
After a while longer, the three reach the location that the tracker traced the algorithm to, an old abandoned army base and get out of the car, leaving it a distance from the rusted and locked gates to the base.
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The Raven's Call (Avengers FanFiction)
ActionAgent Katerina Raven was one of SHIELD's most promising agents, level only with the Black Widow for fighting ability and stealth, quickly managing to climb the ranks despite her shady background. That was until one day when she disappeared, sharing...
