Walking After You, 1/ 6.
Title: Walking After You
Author: Eustacia Vye
Author's e-mail: eustacia_vye28@hotmail.com
Pairing: Steve/Peggy, Wanda/Vision mentioned
Rating: PG-13
Notes: Not mine! Characters you recognize belong to other people, and I am just playing in their sandbox for fun. This is born of a text conversation with mynuet regarding the possibility of Peggy getting a version of the serum at some point in her colorful history. Civil War compliant (no, really!) because I was actually very pleased with characterizations in it, even if some of the plotting made me go O_o at times. I do reference things from season 3 of Agents of SHIELD as well as season 2 of Agent Carter, but I think it would still make sense if you haven't seen that. Part of chapter 1 inspired by this photo, because of course that's how they should be.
Summary: In the wake of the Sokovian Accords, the Avengers scramble to find a safe haven. That gets complicated when Nick Fury arrives, announcing that he found Peggy Carter. The real Peggy Carter.
One - Escape
"I was surprised you let us walk away," Steve said as Natasha slid into a seat beside him. He shouldn't have been surprised that she was able to track him down in Kiev, knowing how resourceful she was.
"I told him I would help him find you, not arrest you or kill you." Her tone was matter of fact, and Steve took in the dyed black hair, nondescript clothing and careful way she kept her eyes looking around at all lines of sight.
"You're in trouble for that," Steve guessed. His own disguise was nondescript clothing and a ball cap; as much as he kept thinking it wouldn't work, no one ever seemed to see him for who he was outside of the suit. He was sure that facial recognition software would find him sooner or later, but it at least changed the shadows across his chiseled features. He would probably have to dye his hair or get contacts, which Natasha would find hilarious; she had been after him for years to learn a little spycraft.
Her smile was a little bitter around the edges. "Looks like we get to stay together after all."
Steve sighed and reached out touch her hand. It was a park bench where she had asked him to meet her, open and public in a way he hadn't expected from her. Then again, likely no one else was, either. She knew how to hide in plain sight.
"I'm sorry," he said softly, meaning it. "I know how much it meant to you to be an Avenger."
Natasha turned to him, sadness in her eyes. "It meant a lot to all of us. We all handled this badly, and there were too many hidden agendas."
"You still believe in the Accords."
"I believe in the theory," she said quietly. "That we're better together than apart. That Tony might have been able to get them altered and adjusted. He kept saying that something worse was coming down the pipeline."
"You believe that?"
"Don't you?"
He sighed again and looked down. "I don't know. I don't... They don't know what it's like, the constant comparisons I keep making. It feels like the same mistakes all over again. They kept Wanda locked up at the compound. A gilded cage, maybe, but a cage nonetheless."
"There's a lot of fear out there. Inhumans, powers, aliens..." Natasha gave his hand a squeeze. "I know you lost a lot of people very important to you."
"And because of me, you have, too."
"Steve, you don't own the pity party," Natasha told him firmly. "We're all adults here, we knew exactly what we were getting into."
"Did you, really?"
"Could you really have done anything else? Steve 'I care about choices and damn the consequences' Rogers? Or Tony 'I have to make up for everything ever done in my name no matter the cost' Stark?" Natasha shook her head. "I knew there was no contest for you. You had to save him. You would do anything for family."
The words sank in, and he looked at her with a stricken expression. "Oh, Natasha..."
"Do you think I would ignore you just because I disagreed with you in some aspects?" She shook her head. "But sometimes you have to be part of the system in order to subvert it."
He stared at her. "We're your family, too."
"We're not so different in that respect, you and I."
"What do you have planned?"
"I suppose I always knew you would pull on that thread when I gave you that file on Bucky. I suppose I wanted to give you the choice. So you could have an out." Natasha paused. "And I would have an out, too. I knew a lot more than I let on. And sometimes I would pretend to, if only because then I could get more information that way." She looked out over the park. "I'm a spy, Steve. First and foremost, that's what I was trained to do. Always have an exit. Always have a contingency plan." She blew out a breath. "We're all on the run. It's going to get worse before it gets better, you know that."
Steve looked at her warily. "Define worse."
"What do you know about the consequences of breaking the Accords?"
"Arrest," he answered. "They're going to make examples of us."
"Right now, it's imprisonment without trial."
The expression on Steve's face was downright murderous. "What?"
"General Ross' idea," Natasha continued in neutral tones. "Don't draw attention, Steve. Walk, don't run. How many times do I have to remind you?"
"I can't imagine over a hundred countries are comfortable with withholding due process."
Natasha gave his hand a tight squeeze. "The thing is, laws are different in different countries. You can't apply the same standard. And not all of them signed the Accords."
"Which is why we're here."
"Someone at some point will think of looking here. There are other places that are far less obvious to hide in, once we get them out."
Steve froze. "What?"
She smiled at him, and he could see the edge in it, the shadow of the fearsome Black Widow in that tilt of her lips. "You're right. They took my family from me. Oversight is one thing, and having a discussion is admirable. But to lock away humans in a powered prison is not. Laura and the kids are gone underground, and they were out as soon as Clint decided to get back in because of all of this nonsense."
He blinked at her. "He couldn't have known he was going to be imprisoned."
"We were prepared for the possibility," Natasha corrected with a slight shake of her head. "But the assumption was a federal prison in the EU. Those are much easier to tolerate or break out of, if it comes to that. But not the Raft."
"Do I want to know how you know that?" At her pointed look, he smiled in spite of himself. "I know, I know, dumb question. So what do we do?"
"Thank you for trusting me, even though I didn't agree with you."
"I'm sorry it came to this." Steve sighed. "What now?"
"Time to hijack a transport ship. The one we need leaves in an hour."
***
It probably shouldn't have surprised Steve how easily Natasha was able to hack into the Raft security systems, or how he was able to drop all of the guards on his own. He missed his shield, the comforting weight of it on his back or on his arm. You don't deserve that shield. My father made it! Tony had shouted at him in Siberia. It was the cry of a hurt child, not a grown man, and Steve realized just how much Tony had been broken on the inside. He had never really seen it, maybe because he hadn't wanted to. His memories of Howard had been good ones, and it easier to slot Tony into them. It was easier to pigeonhole Tony, to take him at face value, to think it was all about ego. Not that it wasn't there, but it covered up years of hurt and trauma of his own, and Steve realized in that moment that no one won in Siberia at all.
He could only hope that Tony wasn't going to catch hell for what he was doing now.
Steve smiled at Sam as he stepped out of the dark and into the containment area. "Hey."
"Took your damn time," Sam mock groused as Steve approached.
Their hug was tight once the cell was unlocked, and Steve hoped that Sam could feel his apology for the internment. "I had to find a ride that would fit us all."
"Well, okay, then. You're forgiven, I guess."
It was short work to disengage the other locks and Wanda's collar with the force fields, bars and electric fields disengaged. Wanda looked so lost, Steve couldn't help but put an arm around her shoulders. "I'm sorry I got us into this mess. I don't know how I'll fix it, but I will."
She lifted her eyes to him. It wasn't hope in her eyes, not exactly, but more than mere acceptance for her fate. "I knew of this possibility when I left New York," she said heavily. "I've been in cages like this before."
Tightening his grip around her shoulders, Steve gave her a determined expression. "We have an exit plan. I hope you never have to be in one ever again."
Her lips quirked in amusement. "We shall see, won't we? Even I cannot see the future."
Steve wanted to smile and laugh and cry and despair. "Yeah, that's a flower that doesn't grow in your garden."
The improbable phrasing made her laugh out loud and nod, falling into step when he started leading them out of the Raft. Steve apologized to Clint and Scott as well; Clint simply waved him off and reiterated that he had been prepared. Scott shrugged. "Not my first time doing time, you know? Though I was hoping to have a better record this time around. Hank Pym is going to be pissed that they got the suit, though."
Natasha came out of the storage area loaded down with several duffle bags. "Not anymore," she announced with a broad grin. "And whoever thought they could do research on it has a very nasty computer virus now. Any online copies are rapidly disappearing as we speak."
"Oh, wow," Scott said, staring at her. "This is... Sorry about hitting you back there."
"I told you not to stress about it," Natasha replied, deadpan.
"I guess you're used to fights?" he asked awkwardly. "I mean, you're on the news a lot."
"Guess what? Now you are, too," she shot back, unimpressed.
He blinked, stricken. "Cassie."
"I got a message to your family," Natasha said, handing him the duffle bag with the Ant-Man suit and his other belongings. "They know it's a political maneuver, not of your own doing, and that they shouldn't believe whatever press is coming out now."
"Hopefully, they'll believe it," Scott said glumly. "I'm gonna miss my peanut."
"Let's fix the political mess," Natasha told him, moving to return the others' gear. "Then we can straighten out visitation and extradition treaties."
"You think that it can be fixed?" Sam asked dubiously.
"I think Secretary Ross is going to be very embarrassed, and will do just about anything to keep word from getting out about this," she replied with a smirk.
"Good," Wanda said, lip curling in distaste as she took her own duffle bag. "I know his kind, and I'm not sorry for whatever discomfort he gets."
"I think that makes all of us," Sam remarked. "Now, let's blow this popsicle stand."
***
If the others were surprised that Bucky had piloted the plane while Natasha had gone hunting down their gear, no one said a word. The plane touched down on a deserted airstrip, and then it was an army surplus jeep over a bumpy back road until they reached a massive cargo ship that was bound for Mombasa. Tense, exhausted, running on fumes, they huddled in the corner of a storage area. Natasha hadn't been able to make any better arrangements, but exhaustion and hunger tended to make even metal decking and an old parachute comfortable as a bed. At first they all chose different corners of the storage area, but the heating was barely adequate. By unspoken agreement, after Natasha and Clint started snuggling close for warmth, Steve and Bucky did. Then Sam came in on Steve's other side, and Wanda hesitantly approached. Scott dispensed with his awkward stuttering and merely shrank down inside of his suit before resting on Steve's chest. Natasha and Clint scooted in closer, and Wanda used a tendril of her scarlet magic to tuck the parachute around all of them to conserve warmth.
This was hardly the homecoming that Steve had wanted for Bucky, but he didn't seem to mind it at all. His smile was soft and more than a little broken, as if he couldn't believe Steve and his friends would go to all of this trouble for him.
I'm with you 'till the end of the line, Steve thought, pulling Bucky in tightly.
Whatever the future held, it always worked better when they were together.
In the morning, most of them were up on deck when Mombasa came into view. Steve caught sight of Wanda, expression drawn and sad when she saw the port. Natasha reached her first, so he hung back for a moment, not sure if Wanda would want him around. It was his fault she had been locked up, even if she had chosen to fight alongside him.
"I miss him," Wanda told Natasha softly. "I wonder if he hates me for what I've done."
Natasha stood very close to Wanda, but didn't quite reach out to touch her. "He cares about you," she said quietly. "It could have been something more if there had been time for it."
"That's the thing," Wanda said, a sad and bitter smile on her face. "I suppose I thought there would be more time. That I could take things slow, see what I really felt, see what he felt. I think... I know he didn't fear me, ever. But I think it could have been more."
"It was," Natasha murmured, nodding. "And still could be, if things ever work out legally."
Wanda sighed. "I miss him," she repeated.
"That part doesn't go away," Natasha told her quietly. "But don't ignore it. Don't push the emotions away so you don't feel it. It might hurt, but it keeps you human. It reminds you why we do what we do."
"Because you feel the same way," Wanda observed.
Her smile was a mirror of Wanda's sad one. "We don't get normal lives in this line of work, and we have to try for happiness wherever we can." She reached out and touched the back of Wanda's hand in a comforting manner. "He cares, know that. It's real, and I don't think he hates you. I think he'd be more disappointed that he wasn't enough for you."
"He could have been. Maybe. I'd like to think so," she murmured, shy and hesitant as she ducked her head to look at the ocean.
"You can find out someday. When all this blows over."
"Do you think it will?"
"I hope so," Natasha said. By her tone, Steve could tell that she didn't think it was very likely, and Wanda could hear that, too. She looked up and beckoned Steve to come closer. "Hey. Ready to join our pity party?"
Steve shot them a rueful look. "I'm kind of the cause of the pity party, don't you think?"
"There were a lot of causes," Natasha told him firmly, reaching out and pulling him closer. "You were just one of them. If it hadn't been you, it could have been something else."
"Will we be okay, wherever we're going?"
"We'll be refugees, but there are no extradition treaties and they never got a chance to sign the Sokovia Accords. And right now, there are no plans to because of how things went down in Bucharest and Germany." Her mirthless smile was sad at the edges. "The Accords can't guarantee cooperation, containment or lessening the potential damage from powered threats."
"Were they even meant to? We weren't given time to read it or even discuss it," Steve said, resentment in his voice. "Ross just threw that down on the table and expected us to roll over and sign it, taking his word for what was in it."
"The theory was that there would be oversight. That a semblance of control would prevent any further mistakes on our part."
"On my part," Wanda murmured glumly.
"Our part," Natasha said. "Lagos was an excuse. They were waiting to pounce."
"So now we hide?" Wanda asked.
"Now we hide," Natasha confirmed.
Steve's mouth twisted as if he had bitten into something sour. "Not fond of that plan, but I guess it's the best we can do right now."
"Just put one foot after the other and keep walking," Natasha told him. "Remember? You have to walk when you're on the run. Walk. Take it slow and steady, don't stick out in places where they'll think to find you."
By the time they all arrived in Wakanda, Steve was determined to do just that.
***
***
To Chapter Two - Misdirection And Discovery
Author: Eustacia Vye
Author's e-mail: eustacia_vye28@hotmail.com
Pairing: Steve/Peggy, Wanda/Vision mentioned
Rating: PG-13
Notes: Not mine! Characters you recognize belong to other people, and I am just playing in their sandbox for fun. This is born of a text conversation with mynuet regarding the possibility of Peggy getting a version of the serum at some point in her colorful history. Civil War compliant (no, really!) because I was actually very pleased with characterizations in it, even if some of the plotting made me go O_o at times. I do reference things from season 3 of Agents of SHIELD as well as season 2 of Agent Carter, but I think it would still make sense if you haven't seen that. Part of chapter 1 inspired by this photo, because of course that's how they should be.
Summary: In the wake of the Sokovian Accords, the Avengers scramble to find a safe haven. That gets complicated when Nick Fury arrives, announcing that he found Peggy Carter. The real Peggy Carter.
One - Escape
"I was surprised you let us walk away," Steve said as Natasha slid into a seat beside him. He shouldn't have been surprised that she was able to track him down in Kiev, knowing how resourceful she was.
"I told him I would help him find you, not arrest you or kill you." Her tone was matter of fact, and Steve took in the dyed black hair, nondescript clothing and careful way she kept her eyes looking around at all lines of sight.
"You're in trouble for that," Steve guessed. His own disguise was nondescript clothing and a ball cap; as much as he kept thinking it wouldn't work, no one ever seemed to see him for who he was outside of the suit. He was sure that facial recognition software would find him sooner or later, but it at least changed the shadows across his chiseled features. He would probably have to dye his hair or get contacts, which Natasha would find hilarious; she had been after him for years to learn a little spycraft.
Her smile was a little bitter around the edges. "Looks like we get to stay together after all."
Steve sighed and reached out touch her hand. It was a park bench where she had asked him to meet her, open and public in a way he hadn't expected from her. Then again, likely no one else was, either. She knew how to hide in plain sight.
"I'm sorry," he said softly, meaning it. "I know how much it meant to you to be an Avenger."
Natasha turned to him, sadness in her eyes. "It meant a lot to all of us. We all handled this badly, and there were too many hidden agendas."
"You still believe in the Accords."
"I believe in the theory," she said quietly. "That we're better together than apart. That Tony might have been able to get them altered and adjusted. He kept saying that something worse was coming down the pipeline."
"You believe that?"
"Don't you?"
He sighed again and looked down. "I don't know. I don't... They don't know what it's like, the constant comparisons I keep making. It feels like the same mistakes all over again. They kept Wanda locked up at the compound. A gilded cage, maybe, but a cage nonetheless."
"There's a lot of fear out there. Inhumans, powers, aliens..." Natasha gave his hand a squeeze. "I know you lost a lot of people very important to you."
"And because of me, you have, too."
"Steve, you don't own the pity party," Natasha told him firmly. "We're all adults here, we knew exactly what we were getting into."
"Did you, really?"
"Could you really have done anything else? Steve 'I care about choices and damn the consequences' Rogers? Or Tony 'I have to make up for everything ever done in my name no matter the cost' Stark?" Natasha shook her head. "I knew there was no contest for you. You had to save him. You would do anything for family."
The words sank in, and he looked at her with a stricken expression. "Oh, Natasha..."
"Do you think I would ignore you just because I disagreed with you in some aspects?" She shook her head. "But sometimes you have to be part of the system in order to subvert it."
He stared at her. "We're your family, too."
"We're not so different in that respect, you and I."
"What do you have planned?"
"I suppose I always knew you would pull on that thread when I gave you that file on Bucky. I suppose I wanted to give you the choice. So you could have an out." Natasha paused. "And I would have an out, too. I knew a lot more than I let on. And sometimes I would pretend to, if only because then I could get more information that way." She looked out over the park. "I'm a spy, Steve. First and foremost, that's what I was trained to do. Always have an exit. Always have a contingency plan." She blew out a breath. "We're all on the run. It's going to get worse before it gets better, you know that."
Steve looked at her warily. "Define worse."
"What do you know about the consequences of breaking the Accords?"
"Arrest," he answered. "They're going to make examples of us."
"Right now, it's imprisonment without trial."
The expression on Steve's face was downright murderous. "What?"
"General Ross' idea," Natasha continued in neutral tones. "Don't draw attention, Steve. Walk, don't run. How many times do I have to remind you?"
"I can't imagine over a hundred countries are comfortable with withholding due process."
Natasha gave his hand a tight squeeze. "The thing is, laws are different in different countries. You can't apply the same standard. And not all of them signed the Accords."
"Which is why we're here."
"Someone at some point will think of looking here. There are other places that are far less obvious to hide in, once we get them out."
Steve froze. "What?"
She smiled at him, and he could see the edge in it, the shadow of the fearsome Black Widow in that tilt of her lips. "You're right. They took my family from me. Oversight is one thing, and having a discussion is admirable. But to lock away humans in a powered prison is not. Laura and the kids are gone underground, and they were out as soon as Clint decided to get back in because of all of this nonsense."
He blinked at her. "He couldn't have known he was going to be imprisoned."
"We were prepared for the possibility," Natasha corrected with a slight shake of her head. "But the assumption was a federal prison in the EU. Those are much easier to tolerate or break out of, if it comes to that. But not the Raft."
"Do I want to know how you know that?" At her pointed look, he smiled in spite of himself. "I know, I know, dumb question. So what do we do?"
"Thank you for trusting me, even though I didn't agree with you."
"I'm sorry it came to this." Steve sighed. "What now?"
"Time to hijack a transport ship. The one we need leaves in an hour."
***
It probably shouldn't have surprised Steve how easily Natasha was able to hack into the Raft security systems, or how he was able to drop all of the guards on his own. He missed his shield, the comforting weight of it on his back or on his arm. You don't deserve that shield. My father made it! Tony had shouted at him in Siberia. It was the cry of a hurt child, not a grown man, and Steve realized just how much Tony had been broken on the inside. He had never really seen it, maybe because he hadn't wanted to. His memories of Howard had been good ones, and it easier to slot Tony into them. It was easier to pigeonhole Tony, to take him at face value, to think it was all about ego. Not that it wasn't there, but it covered up years of hurt and trauma of his own, and Steve realized in that moment that no one won in Siberia at all.
He could only hope that Tony wasn't going to catch hell for what he was doing now.
Steve smiled at Sam as he stepped out of the dark and into the containment area. "Hey."
"Took your damn time," Sam mock groused as Steve approached.
Their hug was tight once the cell was unlocked, and Steve hoped that Sam could feel his apology for the internment. "I had to find a ride that would fit us all."
"Well, okay, then. You're forgiven, I guess."
It was short work to disengage the other locks and Wanda's collar with the force fields, bars and electric fields disengaged. Wanda looked so lost, Steve couldn't help but put an arm around her shoulders. "I'm sorry I got us into this mess. I don't know how I'll fix it, but I will."
She lifted her eyes to him. It wasn't hope in her eyes, not exactly, but more than mere acceptance for her fate. "I knew of this possibility when I left New York," she said heavily. "I've been in cages like this before."
Tightening his grip around her shoulders, Steve gave her a determined expression. "We have an exit plan. I hope you never have to be in one ever again."
Her lips quirked in amusement. "We shall see, won't we? Even I cannot see the future."
Steve wanted to smile and laugh and cry and despair. "Yeah, that's a flower that doesn't grow in your garden."
The improbable phrasing made her laugh out loud and nod, falling into step when he started leading them out of the Raft. Steve apologized to Clint and Scott as well; Clint simply waved him off and reiterated that he had been prepared. Scott shrugged. "Not my first time doing time, you know? Though I was hoping to have a better record this time around. Hank Pym is going to be pissed that they got the suit, though."
Natasha came out of the storage area loaded down with several duffle bags. "Not anymore," she announced with a broad grin. "And whoever thought they could do research on it has a very nasty computer virus now. Any online copies are rapidly disappearing as we speak."
"Oh, wow," Scott said, staring at her. "This is... Sorry about hitting you back there."
"I told you not to stress about it," Natasha replied, deadpan.
"I guess you're used to fights?" he asked awkwardly. "I mean, you're on the news a lot."
"Guess what? Now you are, too," she shot back, unimpressed.
He blinked, stricken. "Cassie."
"I got a message to your family," Natasha said, handing him the duffle bag with the Ant-Man suit and his other belongings. "They know it's a political maneuver, not of your own doing, and that they shouldn't believe whatever press is coming out now."
"Hopefully, they'll believe it," Scott said glumly. "I'm gonna miss my peanut."
"Let's fix the political mess," Natasha told him, moving to return the others' gear. "Then we can straighten out visitation and extradition treaties."
"You think that it can be fixed?" Sam asked dubiously.
"I think Secretary Ross is going to be very embarrassed, and will do just about anything to keep word from getting out about this," she replied with a smirk.
"Good," Wanda said, lip curling in distaste as she took her own duffle bag. "I know his kind, and I'm not sorry for whatever discomfort he gets."
"I think that makes all of us," Sam remarked. "Now, let's blow this popsicle stand."
***
If the others were surprised that Bucky had piloted the plane while Natasha had gone hunting down their gear, no one said a word. The plane touched down on a deserted airstrip, and then it was an army surplus jeep over a bumpy back road until they reached a massive cargo ship that was bound for Mombasa. Tense, exhausted, running on fumes, they huddled in the corner of a storage area. Natasha hadn't been able to make any better arrangements, but exhaustion and hunger tended to make even metal decking and an old parachute comfortable as a bed. At first they all chose different corners of the storage area, but the heating was barely adequate. By unspoken agreement, after Natasha and Clint started snuggling close for warmth, Steve and Bucky did. Then Sam came in on Steve's other side, and Wanda hesitantly approached. Scott dispensed with his awkward stuttering and merely shrank down inside of his suit before resting on Steve's chest. Natasha and Clint scooted in closer, and Wanda used a tendril of her scarlet magic to tuck the parachute around all of them to conserve warmth.
This was hardly the homecoming that Steve had wanted for Bucky, but he didn't seem to mind it at all. His smile was soft and more than a little broken, as if he couldn't believe Steve and his friends would go to all of this trouble for him.
I'm with you 'till the end of the line, Steve thought, pulling Bucky in tightly.
Whatever the future held, it always worked better when they were together.
In the morning, most of them were up on deck when Mombasa came into view. Steve caught sight of Wanda, expression drawn and sad when she saw the port. Natasha reached her first, so he hung back for a moment, not sure if Wanda would want him around. It was his fault she had been locked up, even if she had chosen to fight alongside him.
"I miss him," Wanda told Natasha softly. "I wonder if he hates me for what I've done."
Natasha stood very close to Wanda, but didn't quite reach out to touch her. "He cares about you," she said quietly. "It could have been something more if there had been time for it."
"That's the thing," Wanda said, a sad and bitter smile on her face. "I suppose I thought there would be more time. That I could take things slow, see what I really felt, see what he felt. I think... I know he didn't fear me, ever. But I think it could have been more."
"It was," Natasha murmured, nodding. "And still could be, if things ever work out legally."
Wanda sighed. "I miss him," she repeated.
"That part doesn't go away," Natasha told her quietly. "But don't ignore it. Don't push the emotions away so you don't feel it. It might hurt, but it keeps you human. It reminds you why we do what we do."
"Because you feel the same way," Wanda observed.
Her smile was a mirror of Wanda's sad one. "We don't get normal lives in this line of work, and we have to try for happiness wherever we can." She reached out and touched the back of Wanda's hand in a comforting manner. "He cares, know that. It's real, and I don't think he hates you. I think he'd be more disappointed that he wasn't enough for you."
"He could have been. Maybe. I'd like to think so," she murmured, shy and hesitant as she ducked her head to look at the ocean.
"You can find out someday. When all this blows over."
"Do you think it will?"
"I hope so," Natasha said. By her tone, Steve could tell that she didn't think it was very likely, and Wanda could hear that, too. She looked up and beckoned Steve to come closer. "Hey. Ready to join our pity party?"
Steve shot them a rueful look. "I'm kind of the cause of the pity party, don't you think?"
"There were a lot of causes," Natasha told him firmly, reaching out and pulling him closer. "You were just one of them. If it hadn't been you, it could have been something else."
"Will we be okay, wherever we're going?"
"We'll be refugees, but there are no extradition treaties and they never got a chance to sign the Sokovia Accords. And right now, there are no plans to because of how things went down in Bucharest and Germany." Her mirthless smile was sad at the edges. "The Accords can't guarantee cooperation, containment or lessening the potential damage from powered threats."
"Were they even meant to? We weren't given time to read it or even discuss it," Steve said, resentment in his voice. "Ross just threw that down on the table and expected us to roll over and sign it, taking his word for what was in it."
"The theory was that there would be oversight. That a semblance of control would prevent any further mistakes on our part."
"On my part," Wanda murmured glumly.
"Our part," Natasha said. "Lagos was an excuse. They were waiting to pounce."
"So now we hide?" Wanda asked.
"Now we hide," Natasha confirmed.
Steve's mouth twisted as if he had bitten into something sour. "Not fond of that plan, but I guess it's the best we can do right now."
"Just put one foot after the other and keep walking," Natasha told him. "Remember? You have to walk when you're on the run. Walk. Take it slow and steady, don't stick out in places where they'll think to find you."
By the time they all arrived in Wakanda, Steve was determined to do just that.
***
***
To Chapter Two - Misdirection And Discovery