Remnants of Time

Chapter 12

Natasha came. She came with a look on her face that didn't say anything, but when she was done taking care of Sam, who just groaned and whined a lot, she walked over to Steve. The blond wasn't sure what he was expecting, but her face didn't spoil any information regarding her thoughts or her emotions. Another weight weighed heavy on Steve's shoulders - having left a teammate back, even if his reasons were justified. It shouldn't have happened. After his fight with Tony, Steve had sworn to himself to never leave a teammate behind again. And yet, one assumption had arisen, suggesting Natasha might be working for Hydra or someone bad and Steve had fallen for the trick. He was ashamed.

And this unintelligibility radiating off Natasha just made it worse - Steve felt she punished him by pulling away every feature he normally used to read her. Her body language - silent. Her eyes - silent. Her hands - silent. She didn't say anything and Steve had never been so irritated by the Russian before. For moments, he considered confronting her, but then he remembered how she had reacted the last time he'd done that. He frustratedly sucked in a breath of air. The redhead didn't react to it. Steve didn't have any words anyway. So he agreed to her silence.
When Natasha didn't get the cuffs off his hands, Steve nodded, grateful for a topic that could start a conversation.
"They won't go off. I've tried. Just go and get Zola and Lomawu. They-"
Natasha shook her head.
"I'm not leaving you back, Steve. We can only get this done together. And that is the whole truth."
With those words, she left the blond. Speechless, Steve sat on the cold ground of that basement. Natasha had promised she wouldn't leave him. Like he had promised to not leave her. And done it anyway. Steve shuddered. She must've felt shaken, to be betrayed by him like that. But even if she hated him, Steve hated himself more for what he'd done. If she really would come back, how could he ever apologize for breaking their trust - and quite possibly their friendship?

Only a few minutes later, the Russian returned, with a glass full of a swishing liquid in her hands.
"Why wasting our energy", she finally smiled at him, "when there is a huge museum with tons of chemical substances right above us?"
With exemplary care and petite fingers, Natasha poured some liquid - probably acid - onto the chains and set a chemical reaction in motion that freed Steve's hands from those unnerving cuffs holding him captive. When the blond's bare skin came into vision, it looked scarred and bloody.
"Don't worry", Steve waved it off, "I'll be fine. We should really get going, though. What do we do with him?"
"I've got that covered", Natasha promised. "Rogers. There's one thing. Whatever I do, I need you to trust me to do the right thing."
Steve's heart did a little jump. Natasha offered him a second chance. Just like that. Without hesitating. Without listening to any of his apologies or whatever. She knows what it's like to make the hard call. Steve cleared his throat. Natasha was on his side and he wouldn't mess it all up this time.
"You were the only thing that Zola and Lomawu couldn't anticipate in their plan. You're our ace. I got your back."
With that, the two of them ran.

Natasha texted Clint mid-way. Steve and she had lost the way, whatever the way really was. Basically, the Russian was running and Steve just trying to follow and spot any possible ambushes or even enemy forces, but so far everything looked clear. He couldn't afford to care about pedestrians right now. At least he was still in normal clothes. Those didn't draw as much attention as Natasha's dark suit.
Clint wrote: The Remnant is here. Hurry up or you'll - Wanda! - just hurry! The hospital is close. Run north now.
His face hurt like hell, from that hit he'd taken from Bucky's metal hand, but he didn't tell Natasha that. Or about his neck, or his ear. She worried about enough things right now. He mustered her face that lit up when that hospital Clint was texting about came into sight, still way ahead of them. He wondered if she thought about Bucky. The image of the two Soviet spies snuggled up next to each other in that bed in Cologne reappeared in his mind. Maybe they were a couple and no one knew.
More thoughts found their way through the supersoldier's mind and he let them. Hopefully, his friends could have a life after this, he tried to imagine it. Bucky and Natasha. She let the brunet so close so fast. Steve smiled.
Then, he noticed the eight level of the empty, abandoned hospital the looked like it was from the 50s. A window clinked loudly and then crashed. Someone's head looked out of the hole, then an arrow flew past it.
Steve's forehead was in wrinkles.
"What is it, Steve? What plan are you cooking up right now?"
"How does Clint text while he's fighting? I just can't... picture it."
Natasha just stared at the blonde, as if he was the most bizarre person on the planet. Maybe he was. He shrugged.
"He uses the speech-to-text function, Steve."
"Ha! So that's how you text me while driving."
Natasha grimaced.
"You're too precious for this world, golden boy. Make sure to stay alive in the battle ahead!"
In shock, Steve noticed the helicopter on the roof of the hospital. The rotators began to move right then and two persons were entering it. A woman and a man, from what Steve could tell. Zola and Lomawu.
"Nat! Can you hit them?"
She checked her handguns and shook her head. Their ranges were too short.
"Didn't bring my rifle. Sorry, Rogers."
Steve kicked a stone in disappointment. They were too late. But the fight seemed to continue on the inside. A scream reached Steve's ears and he sped up.