The Ghost [Marvel | Steve Rogers]

Chapter 29

Berlin, Germany

Spring 2016

Nadine had grown complacent during her time with the Avengers. And look where it had gotten her.

She'd been caught.

Since she'd been led through the halls of the JCTC after her arrest, she'd been mentally berating herself for letting this happen. Yet...she couldn't even entirely say she regretted it...which was a baffling thought all on its own. Sure, she was regretting just how badly Steve was blaming himself for her arrest—it had been so plainly visible on his face in the van and again when Agent Ross had ordered her taken into custody, she had actually ached. It had been her own decision to come along, not his, and she couldn't regret it. Not when they'd finally had a real chance to get to Barnes.

No, what she regretted was that they had failed at all.

And that she'd allowed herself to get caught. Even with how things had fallen out in the field, she should've been able to slip away somehow or even fight free.

Yet she hadn't.

And she knew precisely why.

She'd been too unsettled to think straight. As if it hadn't been bad enough how poorly she had been controlling and compartmentalizing her emotions before they'd even left Vienna—she refused to let herself fall back into thinking about her inability to properly restrain herself around Steve...she couldn't afford to let herself think about any of what was or wasn't going on between them right now—seeing Barnes again? To be so damn close! She'd hesitated. God, even now, she couldn't get the mental image of him pinned to the pavement, twisting to meet her eye—his eyes widening in bewildered shock at the sight of her...and awareness...the awareness in them—or of just how resigned and hopeless he'd seemed restrained in that ridiculous containment pod of the JCTC's, obviously striving and failing to keep from looking to Steve...and her...

She'd been working toward that moment for years...and yet...she had hesitated.

Hell, just now? Part of her felt like she deserved to be where she was, and it was hindering her instincts for self-preservation.

But yet, another part still believed it was more practical for her to be here at the JCTC, arrested or not. That this turn of events might be a blessing in disguise and an opportunity she could take advantage of. That was the instinct she tried to focus on.

Either way, she was in a tight spot, that was for sure. Because this was bad. As soon as the JCTTF properly processed her, word would begin to spread that The Ghost had been caught.

And then the world really would come down on her. Hard.

No, she'd meant what she'd said to Steve.

She needed to get herself out.

Then she could turn her attention to Barnes.

Dire as her situation was, though, Nadine couldn't help the lingering flash of amusement she'd felt as the JCTTF agents left her alone in the holding cell. Not only because they left her alone, but because it didn't take a whole lot of discreet study to determine that, for all that the JCTTF was meant to be prepared for any type of threat, the cell—despite a particularly impressive glass and steel reinforced door—was not originally intended to contain Enhanced persons...or even highly trained assassins. So either the JCTC didn't have any specialized cells left for Enhanced detainees, which Nadine doubted given the showy unit they'd stuck Barnes in, or far more likely, they didn't realize she was more than just a highly trained assassin.

Either that or they didn't quite have the concept of just what it took to effectively contain someone like her.

It meant her next task would be all the easier...regardless of them ensuring she was once more dressed in civilian clothes. As if she wouldn't still be prepared...