We'll Fight Together (Romanogers / Steve X Natasha)

Answers

Sam returned minutes later. Even though it was night, everyone could make out the scowl that was plastered on his partially covered face.

His wings folding once more, he removed his silver-framed, red-tinted glasses. "I lost them."

Natasha crossed her arms against her stomach and stated, "They're a shapeshifter. They could be halfway across the city by now and we'd never find them."

"I can't believe they got up so quickly," Sam said, baffled. "After I plowed them? Damn."

"I'm not so surprised," Clea replied, twiddling her thumbs on the roof's ledge. Steve sat beside her, his chin resting on his fist as he was lost in thought. Then, Clea pointed out: "If that thing can survive a plan crash, it can survive a finch attack."

Sam shot an aggravated finger at the teenager. "Right idea, wrong bird."

"He's supposed to be a falcon," Natasha side-whispered.

An eyebrow raised, Clea leaned back in bewilderment, ignoring the two-story drop below her. "Are falcons not brown in America?"

As Natasha sought to explain the meaning behind Sam's costume, he quickly butt in. "I know my suit doesn't make sense, but can somebody please tell me what the plan is?"

Clea pondered for a moment before looking up again. "If we could run a DNA test and figure out who they really are... we wouldn't have a full house but it's would give us an ace."

Sam nodded, impressed. "You play poker? I never would've guessed. But how are we going to get DNA?"

Steve had been lost in thought until then. He couldn't shake the sight of Sam's unexpected arrival. Watching "Natasha" crumple to the ground like that, even though it wasn't actually Natasha? He played it off, of course, deciding that Sam was more important. Still, the uneasiness of worry settled in his bones and as a plethora of thoughts crawled into his mind, he was desperate to divert his focus. Lifting his chin, he looked up at Sam and asked, "Well, it depends. How hard did you hit them?"

Natasha walked towards the spot where her doppelgänger fell. Crouching down, she ran her fingers across the ground, turning her wrists in small, delicate circles. Finally, she leveled her hand with her eyes, studying the pads of her fingertips. Looking back up at Steve, she replied, "Hard enough to draw blood." Then, getting up, she headed for the ladder. "I have a DNA kit in my bag."

As Natasha disappeared from earshot, Sam suddenly shot Steve a stupid grin. Referring to Clea, he joked, "I leave you alone for five months and you two already have a kid? Damn, you work fast."

Steve crossed his arms. "I missed you too, Sam, but now's not the time for jokes. Clea is in real danger if we don't stop HYDRA."

"Okay, big man. Tell me, how are the three of you– and me –going to stop an entire organization?" Sam raised an eyebrow at his pal.

Steve was silent as he tried to figure out how to explain their plan. Now that he thought it over, it sounded insane. Could they even do this? Luckily for him, he didn't have to explain anything.

"After today's HYDRA attack, the warehouse will be barren for awhile," Clea spoke slowly. The men looked her way and so she continued. "You know as well as I that the streets are crawling with police cruisers right now. After their little stunt, many HYDRA agents are going to return home and lay low. All agents that remain in the warehouse, if any, will only be there to guard Ward." She softly shook her head, trying to think. "If we can somehow trick them into letting us inside, I can get us close to him. Our best bet would be to bait them-"

Steve inhaled sharply, a fire igniting in his blue eyes. "I already told you this morning that we aren't using you as bait. My decision hasn't and won't change. End of discussion, okay?"

Natasha appeared moments later, a small contraption in her hands that resembled one of S.H.I.E.L.D's heat-seeking devices. Trotting towards the bloodstain that Sam so graciously provided them with, she bent down, sticking a short, plastic rod into the thin puddle before promptly slotting it back into the machine. As it processed, Steve gave her a puzzled smile.

"Just about how many things did you 'borrow' from S.H.I.E.L.D?" Steve asked.

"Fury let me 'borrow' all I could get my hands on," Natasha clarified.

"Interesting," Sam grumbled. "Last time I checked, Fury was more than ready to blast me out of the sky when I needed to 'borrow' something."

"That's because Ross overrides Fury's control," Natasha explained further. "You may have been able to bypass the security system but I have security on the inside. Not that I needed it, but why give Ross another reason to put a warrant on me?"

As the device let out a shrill beep, Natasha redirected her attention towards its glass screen. "Here we go." Squinting slightly, she read the information out loud. "Kevin Sydney, A.K.A. Changeling. He's a HYDRA operative that's been in commission since 1996 and he can, wait for it, change his appearance to mimic any living person at will."

Steve, leaning over Natasha's shoulder, studied the picture next to the description. The man was bald and had broad shoulders. Then he said, "That's our guy."

Beside them, Clea nodded. "I recognize him from the experiments."

"Sydney is one of Strucker's experiments?" Steve asked, concerned.

Clea quickly shook her head. "No, he just helped conduct them. I remember him strapping victims to chairs and turning on machines."

Sam spoke up. "Well, I'm guessing he's tired of pushing buttons now that Strucker is gone. How are we gonna find him?"

"We don't need to find him," Clea replied, crossing her arms. "If Ward is gone, Sydney will no longer have a mission."

"She's right. All that matters now is that we come up with a plan to take down Ward." Natasha stated, studying the device once more before shoving it in her back pocket. "Now, c'mon. The night is still young, so let's get some sleep for once."