Changes (A Prequel to "Through, Together")

Two Steps Back

It was roughly five in the morning when Natasha's phone rang. Thankfully, she was already awake. There wasn't much sleep to be had, as waiting to hear back from Max had created quite the stir of nerves in her. She'd tossed and turned in bed and then had some unfortunate dreams about her past when she finally did manage to fall asleep. As a result, when she woke up around 3:30 AM, she decided to stay up. Maybe Wanda would at least be able to get some sleep without Natasha shaking the mattress every two seconds.

She slid out of bed, put on a warm, green cardigan and headed outside with her computer and her phone. The still, dark; quiet night air was almost eerie. There was scarcely a car heard going down the street. It felt like the whole world was sleeping, but her ringing phone soon reminded her that it was anything but.

"Max," she said quietly upon answering. "What do you have?" She took a breath and tried to ignore the fluttering feeling in her stomach.

"Good morning to you, too." The man teased from the other end of the line. "Your target has been spending an ample amount of time a place called 'Lady Angelique's.'" Max informed her. "Looks like it's some kind of fetish studio."

Natasha furrowed her brow in confusion. "So he's... letting off some steam at a brothel?"

Max chuckled. "Hard to tell. We can't exactly get eyes inside the building. I was able to get a photo of him leaving, though. He comes and goes through a back entrance. Looks like the same woman escorts him out every night. Sending you the photo now."

Natasha pulled up her email on her computer and loaded the image. Garrett was seen with a tall woman with ear-length brown hair with deep red frosted tips. She had a slightly muscular build and a strong jawline. Something about her eyes looked very familiar.

"She goes by the name of Lady Dust," Max said. "Their resident, 'Rubber Diva'. Specializes in latex and electricity."

"What a lovely combo." Natasha mused. She pulled up the establishment's website and found a sort of profile page for all of the ladies in its employ. Lady Dust was a dominatrix who liked to enforce pain and perversion. Someone who specialized in hurting people in very specific ways and got paid to do so.

"Looks like I went into the wrong profession." Natasha noted.

"Never too late for a change, Fraulein." Max joked.

"Do you know her real name?" Nat asked.

"Nein," he replied. "Their real names are withheld for privacy purposes."

"Hm," Natasha tapped her finger to her chin. "Shouldn't be too hard to run her through facial recognition. How many times have they met?"

"Two so far."

"Alright," Natasha said. "Keep a tail on him. Let me know if he leaves the district. Thanks, Max."

Natasha ended the call and stared at the leather-clad diva on her computer screen. Her blue eyes were so light they were almost gray. They stared at Natasha, threatening to pull forth a memory that just wouldn't come. Why did she look so damn familiar?

"I have to admit," Steve's tired voice sounded from behind her, "this is... not what I expected to see you looking at on your computer at five in the morning."

Natasha jumped a bit, turning around in her seat quickly and looking at Steve with wide eyes. He stood just outside the door, barefoot, in a pair of gray sweatpants and a white t-shirt. His unkempt hair said he'd just gotten out of bed. Color rushed to her cheeks. "It's not..." she began, but could only huff out a frustrated breath. She furrowed her brow at him and tried again. "What are you doing up?"