Her Prisoner

Chapter 14

"Home?" he asks.

The man in the leather coat nods. "New York. You don't belong here — you never have."

He almost can't believe what he just heard. He spent so much time trapped in that facility and that he had begun to think that his own had given up on him. The part of the journey that terrified him wasn't all the obstacles to face to cross the border but to come home to a land that had made him a stranger.

One of the agents turns and gives Colonel Fury a nod. "Time is running out, Captain Rogers. We must leave now."

Fury motions to his men to retreat. The two men standing above Natasha raise her up on her feet unceremoniously. Steve steps in and grabs one of the agents' arms.

"Let her go."

"Captain Rogers," Fury called from behind. "She is dangerous."

"She saved me," he roars, flipping around.

"And she is an assassin. I cannot trust her."

Natasha looks at him with a defeated expression, then looks away ashamedly.

"You're putting my men, myself and all of us in danger by keeping us here," Fury continues. "We must leave immediately."

Steve turns to look at Natasha, pensive. It pains him to see her in this position but he feels he cannot argue against it in the current circumstances.

He nods to Fury, and all evacuate the main entrance. He walks behind to keep Natasha in his line of sight. Handcuffed and submissive, she is escorted by three armed men.

They soon come to a technology-advanced jet. They get on from the tail and the heavy platform closes behind them. Natasha is sat down on one of the seats and her handcuffs attached to the ground with a chain while Fury gives the order to take off. Steve goes to sit next to her but neither dares look at each other.

The wheels go up, and with it, his heart rises in his chest with anticipation. He is leaving behind Russia and what was his servitude; he is headed to his home country with relief and uncertainties.

"Can you take off those handcuffs, now?" he asks Fury as the plane is flying above Europe.

Fury says and looks straight at him.

"You don't seem to understand what I going on here and I can't really blame you. Romanoff is a wanted criminal in over a dozen countries and she has broken at least 50 federal laws. It is my duty to bring her back to the US where she will face trial."

He hears those words but they sound hollow.

"But she helped me escape. You wouldn't have found where you did if it wasn't for her."

Fury arches an eyebrow, skeptical.

"And she was there when you were locked up, wasn't she?"

He purses his lips. Of course, he can see the logic of the colonel's approach but it couldn't further from the truth. Their truth — his and hers. "This is more complicated than that. Natas—"

"The Black Widow," Fury corrects him, "is among the most dangerous spies. She has no qualms and regrets. Do not underestimate her. I did and I made the mistake years ago not to send my best agent after her. That won't happen again."

Steve goes quiet and stern, aware he is facing a wall that cannot be crumbled, let alone broken. And although he knows those words once applied rightfully to Natasha, he feels deep down, that this isn't the person he has gotten to know the past months.

Fury has only been confronted to one side of her — the Black Widow —, but he has never met Natasha. And how can one plead a cause to someone blinded by virulent animosity?