Always Okay ─ n. romanoff ✓

six

THE hospital was buzzing with doctors, patients, and concerned visitors moving about the halls. Natasha scanned the surroundings cautiously, Sasha's wrist locked in her hand and ready to be violently yanked whenever she saw it fit. Sasha saw no S.H.I.E.L.D. agents around, or anyone who seemed like a person of interest. She had no idea why they had come back to the hospital.

"What are we doing here?" she asked. "S.H.I.E.L.D. has completely cleared out. We aren't going to find anything here."

Natasha just handed her four one-dollar bills.

"Go over to the vending machine. You'll know what to do with it."

Sasha looked at Natasha like she was crazy. She wasn't even sure how to respond. Sasha instead chose to say nothing and do as she was told. The vending machine stood just a few feet away, appearing as normal as any other vending machine Sasha had ever seen. She walked up to it, a USB drive immediately catching her eye from behind two packs of gum. She slid a dollar into the machine and punched in the numbers, sending a pack of gum into the tray.

Sasha repeated the process until the USB clattered to the bottom of the machine. She grabbed everything out of the tray and slunk back over to Natasha.

"You're looking for this, I presume?" Sasha opened her fist, the flash drive and both packs of gum sitting on her palm. Nat snatched the USB and a pack of gum. Sasha raised an eyebrow. Natasha rolled her eyes and slid a piece of gum between her teeth.

"I paid for it. Might as well use it." She blew a bubble. "You can have the rest if you want."

"Uh..." Sasha couldn't find a way to look at the nutrition facts without drawing attention to herself, but the fact that the gum wasn't labeled sugar free was all she needed. She felt a little stupid, being unable to chew a few pieces of gum without panicking about calories, but if Natasha knew things were bad again, it would be straight back to having calories shoved down her throat. The more inconspicuous she could be, the better.

"So can we go? What does this have to do with the Winter Soldier?" she suddenly asked, shifting the topic. Natasha gave her The Look.

"I'm already regretting letting you come with me. We're waiting for someone."

"Who? Call me crazy, but I'm pretty sure no one is in the mood to come back here after last night."

Just then, a largely built, suspicious-looking figure wearing a hoodie came shuffling through the hallway. Sasha's breath hitched in her throat as she saw him make a beeline for the vending machine. Her eyes caught a glimpse of his reflection, and suddenly all of this made sense.

"Hey, Nat?" she asked, but Nat was already creeping up behind Steve. She blew a bubble with her gum. Without warning, Steve turned around and pushed her through the open doorway of a closet-like room. Sasha ran after them. Someone was going to tell her what was going on, even if she had to punch it out of them.

"I hate to intrude on whatever this is..." She gestured to Steve holding Natasha against the wall, "but is anyone going to explain to me what you're doing and why everyone is all up in arms about whatever's on that USB? Is that why Fury reinstated me?"

Steve just stared at her, unpinning Natasha from the wall.

"You shouldn't be here," he said. He looked back at Nat. "She shouldn't be here. We all saw what happened to Fury."

Sasha's face went hot.

"For your information, I was with S.H.I.E.L.D. long before you were. Fury approached me two nights ago and told me he wanted me to come back, and I'd rather die than not fulfill the last thing he'll ever say to me." She took a step forward and said something she knew was completely false: "You need me. I'm more than qualified for combat, and I know my way around a computer."

The false part was that they needed her. The other two were her only redeeming qualities she hoped made up for her big mouth and lack of brain cells.

Steve looked at Natasha, who shrugged.

"I know who killed Fury," she said as though nothing had happened. "Most of the intelligence community doesn't believe he exists, the ones who do call him the Winter Soldier. He's credited with over two dozen assassinations in the last fifty years."

"So he's a ghost story," Steve said after a moment of silence.

"Five years ago I was escorting a nuclear engineer out of Iran, somebody shot out my tires near Odessa," Nat said. "We lost control, went straight over a cliff, I pulled us out, but the Winter Soldier was there. I was covering my engineer, so he shot him straight through me." She lifted up her shirt, causing Sasha to gasp audibly. "Soviet slug, no rifling. Bye-bye, bikinis."

"Well, let's find out what the ghost wants." Steve held out his hand, and Natasha gave him the flash drive. "Are you sure you're okay with bringing her along? Once she's in, she's in. A kid shouldn't have to be dragged into something like this."

Natasha could hear the subtext loud and clear: Are you sure that letting a teenager come along on this dangerous mission is a smart parenting move? She also knew the answer to that question went without saying. But leaving Sasha alone at home would mean that she'd be walking around with a target on her forehead, and though Natasha would never admit this out loud, Sasha was an asset. A very young, very rebellious, very sickly asset, but an asset nonetheless.

"Sasha?" she asked. "Are you sure?"

Sasha winked.

"Who doesn't love being shot in the head by a maniac with a metal arm? It is my favorite pastime."

Natasha rolled her eyes. Sasha shrugged. Steve simply looked baffled. These are three people who should never work together.