Part I: She's Been Everybody Else's Girl, Maybe Someday She'll Be Her Own

And I Ride to Work Every Morning, Wondering Why

The screaming was back. She hadn't heard it in years, but... Even while she covered her ears, it was in her head. Going on and on, long past when he should have tired himself out, and it was her fault. Then that face, unrecognizing, a stranger's face, and the metal hand around her neck –

"Hey, Natasha?"

She awoke with a start, almost falling off of the couch where she had been dozing. "Sharon. You're back. How was your day?" she asked, recovering quickly.

Sharon looked down at her skeptically as she stretched with forced nonchalance. "Fine. How was yours?"

"A bit dull. Any luck?"

Smiling slightly, Sharon walked over to her laptop. "Yeah. I hope you slept well because it's a long flight to Beringovsky."

Natasha quickly got to her feet to join the other woman, who was looking at a map. "You're sure?"

"Nothing's ever certain. But there's some good chatter that there was a recent acquisition. There's a plant owned by Kronas Corp. in the area. AIM's been sending supplies and people there for the last couple weeks."

Nodding, Natasha began pulling her boots on. "It's not exactly a prime vacation spot," she stated lightly.

"Natasha... What's your plan?" Sharon asked quietly.

"Get in, find Jin-Taek, get him out, escape?" she offered with a grin.

Sharon was less than amused. "You think you can handle it by yourself?"

"Your concern is very touching but not very flattering," Natasha replied as she began gathering her information and other accoutrements.

To her surprise, Sharon put a hand on her arm. "SHIELD's gone, the Avengers are effectively gone. Even if Fury is alive, he doesn't have the resources to rescue you. And, I'd imagine, neither does Steve."

"What are you suggesting?"

"That you don't do this alone."

"You offering to come? I know we had a nice evening last night, but I didn't think we'd become best friends," Natasha deflected with a smile.

Sharon took a deep breath, looking away for a moment. "AIM almost got the best of Tony Stark a couple years ago. They've been on our radar ever since, but we aren't SHIELD. We don't know as much about them as we should."

"I'll be fine," Natasha insisted, turning away.

"No, you won't. Let me come with you. I was part of SHIELD Special Service, I'm more than qualified to go into the field on an op like this," Sharon continued when Natasha tried to interrupt.

"That was two years ago."

Frowning slightly, Sharon took a step forward. "Don't you think we've all lost enough lately? What would Fury say, or Steve? Or Barton, if you were lost to AIM just because you think you work better alone."

"I do."

"You need backup. It doesn't have to be me, but you shouldn't do this without it."

Though her gut reaction was to refuse, Natasha forced herself to stop and consider the offer. The city was not one with which she was familiar, and she had not personally encountered AIM before. Extraction was always a challenging part of the job, so having someone on hand to help out would not go unappreciated. Even if things went smoothly, it might be essential to have a sort of getaway driver.

Sharon clearly wasn't going to turn her in to Ross or the task force, despite how things ended with T'Challa. The CIA was not, as far as she knew, looking for her in particular (no more than the rest of the missing Avengers), so this shouldn't be a trick. Being a spy often involved a strange combination of trusting no one while regularly putting your life in someone else's hands. Was she willing to trust Sharon that far?