The Ghost [Marvel | Steve Rogers]

Chapter 17

Upstate New York, USA

Spring 2016

Nadine was starting to think her discipline was slipping. It was taking far more effort than it should have to maintain her mask of patient attentiveness to the US Secretary of State, Thaddeus Ross. Though, honestly, prevaricating like he was with his little anecdote about golfing and finding perspective? What was so wrong with just coming out and saying what it was he obviously wanted to say?

She was familiar with the man. She'd heard of him before through her past digging on the Avengers after the Battle of New York and, upon hearing just about a month back that he'd been made Secretary of State, she had dug into him further.

She was not terribly impressed. The man was far from being considered friendly to Enhanced persons and their allies. In fact, unless she was reading too much between the lines—which she rather doubted—he'd all but come out and said on several occasions that he was almost categorically against allowing Enhanced persons their freedoms unless under very strict governmental and even military control.

But then, this was the man who had gone on record years before to say that Bruce Banner was no longer a man with rights, but a weapon belonging to the US Military; something the US Government had been very quick to whitewash upon the former General's appointment as Secretary of State.

No, she did not trust the man in the slightest, and she could all but feel the contempt for all of them radiating off him.

Still, unreadable mask in place, she was a credit to her training, paying careful attention to not only what he said but to how and to what he didn't say; almost always the more interesting part, anyway. And judging how carefully still her sister was sitting? Natasha was doing precisely the same thing.

And she had a feeling Natasha was coming to exactly the same conclusions. It was a meticulously rehearsed speech. Ross was good, she could give the former General that, but there was a barely perceptible lack of true sincerity that had Nadine wary.

But, of course, like all facades, the Secretary's only went so far.

"You have fought for us," he was saying solemnly, "protected us, risked your lives." Only for his tone to subtly shift, the civil, even appreciative address hardening ever so slightly. "But while a great many people see you as heroes, there are some...who would prefer the word 'vigilantes'." Some like him, she read in his voice. Nadine wasn't sure if the rest of the Team caught it, but she certainly did, as did Natasha and Wanda, judging by the faint change in her sister's posture as she straightened in her seat between Rhodes and Steve and the way Wanda drew in an uncertain breath from her place between her brother and Vision. Nadine's carefully maintained expression nearly faltered into a frown; Ross was walking a fine line bordering on outright accusation. Natasha's lip curved slightly as she caught Nadine's eye for a split-second—understanding that they were on the same page passing easily between them—before turning to Ross.

"And what word would you use, Mr. Secretary?" Natasha asked politely, though there was no mistaking the challenging thread to her tone. And judging by the way Ross looked up to the redheaded spy? He was not impressed.

And it showed. "How about 'dangerous'?"

Oh, yeah...there it was...

All at once the tension in the room spiked. As her eyes flicked from Avenger to Avenger, Nadine noticed nearly everyone froze or at least inhaled in barely concealed unease at the shift in the former General. A faint feeling of vindication surfaced in the back of Nadine's mind at how clearly the Secretary had just made his personal sentiments known, sentiments she had already picked up on. The man certainly had a chip on his shoulder.