Romanogers: Cold as Ice

Part 3: What do you know?

Natasha's POV:
"What do you mean he's dead" I ask.
"He was assassinated on the way here. In his car by a guy. No one could get a good description" says Hill.
"We've got to find him" Says Steve.
I nod as my hand makes its way down to the flash drive in my pocket. Is that why he was killed? I think Steve noticed me thinking.
"What is it Nat?" He asks.
"Can I see his body" I ask.
"Yeah sure" Says hill leading us to where Fury's body was.
I look at his body. Steve behind me. Hill left the room. I put my hand on his forehead. Strange. Something felt off about it all. I wipe a tear that almost rolled down my cheek. It caught me off guard, I hadn't cried since I was seven. I turned around and walked out to Hill.
"He was shot twice in the chest. One person said the shooter had a metal arm." She says.
"The bullets, were they Soviet slugs, no rifling" I ask.
"Yeah, why? Asks Hill confused.
"Excuse me" I say leaving my room.
I hear footsteps behind me, Steve's footsteps.
"Where are you going" Steve asks.
"On the run" I say.
"What?" Asks steve.
"I've been here too long anyway but I've got to track someone down" I say.
"How did you know about the bullets. What do you know about this" asks Steve.
"Too much" I respond.
"What does that mean" he asks grabbing my arm as I go to turn around and leave.
"I means what I said." I say angrily.
Without realizing it my hand had made its way slowly down to the gun tucked in the back of my pants.
I think Steve realized it too because he glanced down to my gun. He let go of my arm and his eyes slowly made their way up to my face, pausing a second to look a my lips.
"What are you gonna do, shoot me?" He asks.
"We've been in enough missions together for you to know that I won't kill you" I say, "I'm different"
"Well if you're going on the run then I'm going with you" Says Steve.
He wanted to go with me which made me feel good but I knew he couldn't. He'd see too much of my past and then he'd for sure leave. I could not have Steve leave me. He was the one person that I couldn't have leave.
"No you can't" I say.
"Why not" he asks. He was basically pleading me to let him come.
"You'll know too much. About me and about my past" I say.
"Why is that a bad thing" he asks.
"Because I can't you lose you too" I say quietly.
"Why would you lose me" he asks.
"Because only two people in the world have accepted my past and that is Clint and Fury" I say.
"What makes you think I won't" he asks.
"Because it's something that I haven't even accepted. Plus this will probably get me killed" I say.
"No I won't let you die" he says, "not if I'm coming with"
"It's fine I should've died a long time ago" I say.
"That's not true" he says.
"You know nothing about me" I say getting angry.
"That's because you won't tell me anything about you" he says back.
"You know what Fine, I don't care. I wasn't going to stick around as an avenger for long anyway so why does it matter" I say motioning him to follow me.
I hand him a gun.
"You're going to need that where we're going" I say.
"Where are we going" he asks.
"How good is your Russian" I ask.
"No very" he says.
"Well this should be interesting" I say.
I hand him his tickets and and clothes for Russia.
"Run don't walk, even when we get back we might have to stay low" I say.
"Okay" Says Steve.
We make our way to the airport and get on a plane heading to Russia. When we land we get off and go to a motel.
"Can we have one room" I sat in Russian.
"Yeah sure, room 206" she says in Russian giving us the key.
"Thank you" I reply back in Russian.
We go up to the room. It was a little run down but not bad.
"Our cover is we are a couple who likes to travel" I say, "got it"
"Yep sounds good" he says back smiling at me.
I give a little smile back. I must admit, I was happy that I was tracking this guy down with someone. And it was even better that that someone is Steve.
"So how do you know this Assassin guy" asks Steve.
I lift up my shirt a little so he can see my scar, "he shot an engineer I was covering, forced my car off the road. I pulled us out of the wreckage. I cover the engineer with my body so he shot him straight through me. Soviet slug no rifling" I say, "by by bikinis."
"Yeah I bet you look terrible in them now" Says Steve stepping closer to me.
"He's know as the winter soldier, a ghost story, 40 assassinations in the last 20 years" I say.
"Well let's find this ghost. But how do you know he's Russian" asks Steve.
"Because the best assassins come from one place and I happen to know that place" I say.
"Is that where you were taught to be an assassin" asks Steve.
"Yeah but we can't go their because they want me dead so I'm going to some contacts I have and see what they know" I say.
"Okay when do we go" asks steve.
"In the morning, and you'll be back up. I go in the building first and up the stairs then five minutes later so will you" I say.
"Okay sounds good" Says Steve smiling at me before sitting on the bed. "You can take the bed I'll take the floor"
"No you take the bed" I say.
"That's not gentlemanly of me" he says.
"I don't sleep anyway so you take the bed" I say.
"Okay Fine But I don't want to" he says.
"You'll live" I reply jokingly.
He chuckles back as I let out a small smile.
"Did you just smile Romanoff" he asks.
"No I think you're seeing things" I say back.
"You're a very good liar" he say.
"I know" I reply.

Steve's POV:

"So tell me about here, what was it like growing up in Russia" I ask.
Pain washes over Natasha's face the moment I ask that.
She doesn't answer. She just stops moving.
"I'm sorry I didn't mean to upset you" I say sorry I asked.
"I'll tell you once we're done with this" reply's Nat.
"Okay" I say.
I was worried about her. She wasn't usually this tense. I mean she is a tense person in general but not around me anymore anyway. I was scared for her as saw her looking out the window into space.