The Ghost [Marvel | Steve Rogers]

Chapter 32

New York City, USA

Spring 2015

Naturally, Nadine barely slept a wink after the whole Ultron debacle. She was far too distressed. Part of her had wanted to cry, to scream, to rage at the injustice of it. Another part of her had wanted to plan, to strategize, to regroup.

Those parts had warred all night, long after the impromptu 'debriefing' in the lab had wrapped.

Nadine honestly didn't remember as much of it as she should. She had been far too lost in her own head.

The previous evening had ended up being far, far more exciting than Nadine would have liked. She hadn't been in the mood for 'open bar' excitement in the first place, so even though 'homicidal robot', had been slightly more fitting to her mood, it had been just as unwelcome.

Although, fighting said robots had been rather cathartic...

Nadine had nearly lost her temper more than once as the Avengers argued and debated what had happened and what to do about it. She'd watched the whole thing from where she'd stood just past Barton on the landing hemming two sides of the Lab, not far from the set of stairs where Natasha lingered, listening to the Avengers bickering about their new threat with half an ear. What little she did pay attention to left her hidden scowl dangerously close to emerging despite her enforced expression of neutrality.

It meant there was going to be another delay. She'd known it then with a sick, disappointed feeling in her gut. Ultron was going to take precedence over Nina. Tactically and rationally, Nadine knew it was the right play. A threat like Ultron had to be considered a priority and be dealt with accordingly and quickly.

But that hadn't stopped—still didn't stop—the slightly less rational, maternal side of Nadine that was rebelling violently against the idea.

At least she could take some small comfort that at least some of her new colleagues had felt some genuine remorse for having to bench their promise to help find Nina. She knew Barton and Natasha had been leaning on their old contacts in effort to help, and judging from the reassuring hand Barton had laid on her shoulder as he'd passed when they'd all filed into the Lab the night before and the matching expression on his face, she knew he was still planning on keeping up the search. Just as the determined glint in Natasha's eyes every time she'd glanced to Nadine had said the same thing, even despite her words to the contrary at one point.

For all that the terrifying, psychopathic robot with a 'destroy the Avengers' complex and all but unlimited access to anything connected to the internet worldwide should naturally take precedence over a missing teenager, it had been incredibly reassuring that at least some of the Avengers had shown no intention of forgetting her daughter completely.

Not that it was the biggest of reliefs just then...

Even when talk of nuclear codes had started or when Thor had stormed in to confront Stark by lifting him clear off the ground by the throat—which was oddly satisfying, if she was being honest—Nadine couldn't help but feel apathetic.

Oh, she was concerned. She wasn't heartless or wholly without a conscience. She could easily recognize the threat Ultron posed and the idea of him running about unchecked made her feel ill. But with the uncertainty of Nina's safety hanging over her head like a building waiting to come down on top of her, Nadine couldn't focus on the Ultron threat. Not completely.

Besides, Avenging was their world. Not hers. She was just a highly-skilled assassin who had been along for the ride in what was now starting to feel like a vain hope of getting her daughter back. Dealing with Ultron was their responsibility—twice over, really, since it was their fault he'd been created in the first place. Her responsibility was Nina. That was the promise she'd made to her child the very instant her baby girl had made her presence known with her first fluttering kicks in the womb. Nadine's responsibility was Nina. That had to be her priority, no matter that a small little voice in the back of her head was trying to convince her that helping in the fight against Ultron was the right thing to do. That the A.I. was just as much a threat to Nina as he was to everyone else...